Ask Heather a Question!

This is an official thread initiated by Heather and Felix: "We want to let people ask Heather a question, any question. Heather will answer the most interesting ones in some video clips that will be put up on Youtube."

We will add the answers here as well, as we can embed Yoytube videos in postings.

So post your questions to Heather here in this thread please!

Dear Hearher,
It would be very interesting if you would record/ preform a few songs with a funk/ soul band (with horns).

I that something that you would like to do someday?
I play Baritone Saxophone in such a band, so that is why I wonder what it would be like if you recorded such songs.

George Michael recorded a CD "songs from the last century" that was a nice example of an artist who recorded some evergreens in his own way.

Please respond

Dear Heather,

Considering you as my favourite artist, it is hard to find music as outstanding as yours

What do you think of these singer/ songwriters?


Leslie Feist "The limit to your love"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyifHsGAwnI

Marike Jager "Lover"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVKrVFZbUdY

Sia Furler "Breath me"(starts at 0:40)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ncUQ-Vfjg&feature=related

Dear Heather,

A very hard question, but to my opinion also a very interesting one;

If you could make a "best off album" from all of your songs.

What would be on it?

Hi Heather,,


What was it like performing on the Lilith Fair, and would you do it again, now that it's being formed again for an outting this year.

Dave

Hi Heather,
Did you notice the Lilith Fair is alive again(http://www.lilithfair.com)?

Would you want to participate in that (or another similar) event?
Anderson

Hi Heather,

What do you think you would be doing as a profession
if you wouldn't have been making music/singing?


take care, Rosalind

Hi Heather,

Your last album was totally acoustic, will the next album be similar or will you use a full band?

Your fan
Mott

Hello Heather,


It's perhaps indiscreet but, when you compose a song,

what there is, in first, in your head, melody? Lyrics?

Your fan.

Louis.

Does Sebastian already show some musical talent?

When will you play in the United States (New York) ?
Are you touring at all in 2010 ?

"Doubled Up" was our wedding song in 1997...Hope to see you play soon.

hi heather
hope everyones ok.i got to see you play once in cardiff
on the siren tour unforgetable nigt.we would love too see you back here againwhich got me wondering do you ever go out to any concerts?and if so which were the top five shows you seen.

too start you off mine would have too be

big country with the late great stuart adamson and the alarm supporting germany and uk

bruce springsteen glastonbury festival

catherne feeny brian wright tom mcrae bristol

the cure newzeland

meghan toohey with the saw doctors

and of course youre show in cardiff ifor bach

hope you and your family have agreat year
love and life
lyndon

Welcome Dave (rockaddict), Rosalind (lilykonijn), timrd and Lyndon (longview) to the official Heather Nova forums!

Dear Heather,

which was the most "perfect" concert (subjectively seen) you ever gave and why?

Dear Heather,
I guess I have several questions, hope that's okay.. ;)

-Which of your own [few] songs are you most proud of and why?

-What's the most personally emotional song you ever written or recorded?

-If you had to pick five of your own songs to take on an ipod to a deserted island, which would they be?

I have loved your music ever since it's come out, thank you for doing what you do- it's helped me deal with/go through many situations!
Edie

Any chance of ever seeing you in australia again?

crp71 wants to know:

What moves you, musically?

Thanks--

Christopher

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[originally posted in an own thread]

Hi Heather and thanks to share some of your time with us ,
i hope your next record will be totally rock with the huge guitar sounds i like...

- will you record your next tour for releasing another live dvd ? we need another one please !
- during 1996-2005 , we've seen a lot of live footage over the net from different tv recordings , is there any chance to see them released at any time ?
- now as a new decade is begining ,which are your favorite records of the last ten years ?

- as your approach is very visual ,could you be interested to write a complete soundtrack for a movie in the future
and especially with music only ?

- could you quote us a book or a poem that you would have liked to write ?

- a lot of fans consider Storm as one of your best record and one the most experimental you've done in term of production and it sold very well...would you like to do another one in the same way soon ?

- in a lot of interviews you 've quoted some artists like patti smith , Kate Bush and so on...but can you quote an artist than no one imagine that you could like him/her ?

Hi,
Just one question:

What do you do, when you're in a bad mood ?

Peace
paul

Hi Heather,
How did you find the multi-talented Arnulf Linder?
I really enjoyed you play together.

What does this phrase I use in one of my songs congure in your mind "the sound of time"

Quote:

Nice question and Arnulf is such a nice man!!!

First some words about music in internet times, and then some questions about this text at the end.

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It gets more and more difficult to actually sell records. File sharing is very popular.

On the one side, there are musicians like Lily Allen, who fights for more strict laws "protecting artists", and states like France (President Sarkozy's wife is an artist herself) have already implemented a "three-strikes rule", meaning people are kicked off the internet for some months when they are accused (not convinced!) for three violations on copyright on the internet. In the United Kingdom, such a law is planned and may be in force from 2011 on. In the United States, last year a woman who has shared 24 songs on some file sharing application, was found liable for "willfully infringing all 24 copyrights" and the jury awarded the labels damages totaling $1.92 million, that's $80.000 for each song (and all the money will went to lawyers and labels, but not to the musicians themselves, and of course this is much more money than this woman will ever earn in her complete life, so she won't be able to actually pay it ever). Those 24 songs weren't new or rare, the songs were mostly well-known songs from the 1990's everybody knew already, like "November Rain" from Guns N'Roses. In Germany, the performance rights organization has forced Youtube to take down many music videos since months, because the rights organization cannot come to a compromise with Youtube how much Youtube has to pay to the rights organization for each click. Weirdly, even many videos on the musician's official youtube channels cannot be seen since then, and the musicians cannot do anything against it, as it's a battle between Youtube and the rights organization. Many labels were experimenting with DRM (= digital rights management), but failed. So many things were done against "file sharers", but nothing really worked well. It seems like just too many people are practising file sharing and too less can be "caught".

On the other side, there are more and more musicians who see all the changes in the last 10-15 years as a challenge and especially they do not see the internet and the file sharers as enemies. For example Kristin Hersh, solo artist and a member of the band Throwing Muses, gives away since some years many of her songs for free under a Creative Commons licence, with asking people to send them to friends, to actively upload them to file sharing applications, to play the songs in public as often as possible, and it is even allowed and encouraged to remix the songs for free. She is also asking for donations, and although nobody is forced to pay, many people support her, and in the end, she has stated that she makes more money than before. (http://kristinhersh.cashmusic.org/) Many other artists like Trent Raznor, Jill Sobule, and Amanda Palmer also try out new music business models with lots of success. For full details how they and other musicians make money these days, look here: http://techdirt.com/articles/20091119/1634117011.shtml

Also, the internet also brings together people from all races and countries and they can listen now to much more music than before. It's not important anymore if an album was for example only be released in Europe, but not in America yet. The internet really has no boundaries anymore. If you are on Dutch TV playing songs, a few hours later the performance can already be seen world-wide. It's also not important anymore if an album is out of print, you can still find it somewhere on the internet. Fans are covering your songs and proudly upload the videos on Youtube. Each upcoming musicians can have a Myspace page and low cost, even unsigned bands can receive there lots of recognition nowadays, like first they get famous, and later they get signed, not the other way round. No need to go with demos from label to label to finally get signed somewhere, at still bad royalties. No need to go to expensive recording studios anymore, recording songs professionally seems to be easier and cheaper than before with the internet, the newest software and fast laptops. Maybe with the internet, album sales drop, but it's gotten much easier now to connect with fans and to reach them, and for people finding good music that they won't find otherwise, as music television almost plays no music videos anymore and many radio stations are often nothing else than "chart shows", so the internet gets the first choice to search for good music. Personally, I'm a huge fan of some bands now that I discovered on the internet actually, not on radio, tv, or magazines, and I got sometimes e-mail from friends with mp3's as attachments, where I listened to the mp3's and I liked it very much and I immediately legally bought the music afterwards, and without the internet, most likely I would have never ever got the chance to listen to these great music tracks.

You also are now on Twitter, Facebook, iLike, Myspace and you have an own Youtube channel. You have an official iPhone app. You sell your latest album online. You sell your concert recordings online. You also give away songs for free, like recently the Nobel Peace Remix for "Every Soldier Is A Mother's Son". You connect with fans on the internet (for example with the Papercup Contest, also you have asked for sending in song requests for the fall tour, now you ask for questions), and you have a very loyal fanbase there. You have recorded "The Jasmine Flower" at low cost on a "sun powered laptop". You have written "Welcome" with Dido, without ever seeing her, just with sending e-mails to each other. Since "Storm", you license your music to labels, and you now have the full artistic control over it. As far as I remember, you were quite shocked as you heard that the "South" CD got copy protection, as you weren't asked. For sure, as you had lived in London for more than ten years, you used lots of e-mail to connect with the people, family and friends you had on Bermuda. International phone calls got much cheaper since the internet (also very important when you parents live thousands of kilometres away!). You were one of the first musicians ever who had a fanpage on the internet (good old heathernova.org made by Ewout in 1995), you were also one of the first musicians who had own newsletters and a mailinglist for discussions.

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So my questions (of course you can mix them together as you want or only answer a few of them)
a) how important is the internet for you now, especially for you as a musician?
b) do you think the internet is a huge danger for musicians, or a chance, a challenge, an opportunity?
c) what do you think about more strict laws against file sharing, or about file sharing in general?
d) what do you think about Creative Commons licenses for musicians?
e) is touring more important for musicians nowadays, as albums sell less?
f) do you think that in 10-15 years there will still be record labels and still be albums and compact discs, or everything will be like iTunes, just paying and downloading single songs, not albums, and no need for record labels anymore?
g) when you read how Trent Raznor et al are making music nowadays, with his fans together, not against his fans (like not suing them for file sharing, but for example even encouraging them to bring cameras at concerts and uploading their best videos on his website, and he is making lots of money with his ideas), do you also got lots of new ideas how to connect with fans in 2010?

And two bonus questions:
h) What was your first thought as you heard that Ewout was making a fanpage about you on the so-called "internet" (still something very new for most people at that time, probably for you as well, back in 1995)?
i) And just curious, which from your albums sold best? I guess Oyster or Siren?

Hi Heather,

you've done some great covers from other artists in the past...

If you have to choose a new song to cover -- which will it be and why?

Love and peace.

Your fan Verena

Dear Heather,

Enjoyed hearing your live tracks from your recent tour. Have you considered re-recording/re-working past songs in a stripped down version, and officially releasing them to purchase on your website? Also there is a U.S. tour in the works? Possibly Chicago? :)