About Us

CV Music Monthly was created by Ruben Garcia in 2004. He previously contributed to similar efforts over the past years while working in the music industry from 1985-1999. In 2000 after consulting with a handful of labels (BMG, Sony, Universal Music, Capital, Trauma/Interscope), he decided that the landscape was slipping so dramatically that it would be foolish to neglect the opportunity with independent new artists. He had already fronted a business that was acquired after creating MP3 hand held players and portal software for emerging artists.. and he had been involved with the landscape dealing with Digital Rights Management while working as a Marketing and Products Manager at InterTrust Technologies in 2000-2001. In a nutshell, he was tired of watching the environment fragment. He set out to form an effort with a few studios and some help from friends. He currently produces at least 2-3 artists per month and aggressively pushes them to complete entire CD releases in less than 3 months in the studio. He has 22 CD credits to date and continues to forge on. Few realize his impact in the environment, especially early on as a proponent while at Intel Corporation pursuing audio software and content creation developers. His job was simply to drive software development in these environments and make the PC a primary authoring tool while displacing the Mac, Unix boxes and traditional stand alone audio recording hardware. Few know his depth of knowledge regarding digital nondestructive editing and spectrum analysis.. editing, mixing and mastering on digital systems. He has been doing it long before there were consumer tools as he was a beta tester for many cutting edge software developers in the 80's and 90's. He brokered deals while at Intel with major labels for content and compilations as part of the Content Group. While at Intel alone he managed 6 compilation CDs that were funded by Intel and licensed through Interscope/Trauma, Capital and Sony back in 1997. We can go on and on with regards to his career and the impact he had but there is so much to tell. For a full overview of his history go to the link below and check out the interview below.

These days, he scours the web at night and single-handedly searches for talent. He organizes their efforts and brings them into the studio if they do not have the where-with-all to deliver a track a month for distribution. He looks to creating a large community of proponents and rallying studios far and wide to create the next revolution in music distribution. Oh, and let's not forget his main target.. the publishers.. the newspapers and magazine that lack the ability to deliver next generation media or music through their traditional vehicles.

We are fortunate to have Ruben at the helm of Central Valley Music Monthly and we look forward to his ideas and vision coming to life.

Thanks for tuning in: Article by Frank Richie

For a peek at Ruben's other efforts and bio go to:

http://webpages.charter.net/bizdev/about.htm


Next article (for local publication, requested):

Interview With The Man with a Mission
Story and Interview by: Jane Lucky

Ruben Garcia's mission is clear: help local musicians showcase their music by revolutionizing the current method of distribution for little to no cost. Ruben has spent most of his life recording, performing, and publishing music. He is a beacon for independent recording and music promotion, where it has been and where it's going.

A transplant from the Bay Area, Ruben finds the Central Valley much slower paced and rich with the music of aspiring local musicians. Though the Valley abounds with talented musicians, local music exposure to larger audiences is limited by the lack of venues, and publishing opportunities. He sees this hole in the local music scene to be easily resolved. Ruben believes effective production and promotion are the first steps to thread local music into the average household. Promoting and introducing new music within the traditional, physical distribution of news and information is a concept Ruben developed while working in the high-tech music industry. Working for large corporations, developing content, only solidified his prediction of where the music industry was headed: Promoting artists not represented by a major record label, and making their music accessible to everyone, manifested itself into compilation CDs containing, media, interactive applications and marketing

How did working for large corporations further fuel your interest in producing and promoting music? When I worked at Intel Corp. I developed music-authoring deals and promoted content creation software efforts throughout the world. I left the corporate giant to work in online and off-line music distribution. My colleagues and I targeted portable devices (mp3) players for receiving content, back in 1999 before it was cool or the trend. I spent the next two years refining my expertise with the inventors of CD burning technology at Adaptec. Inventing next generation applications that would soon be developed by Roxio Corp. emerged shortly after, and while at InterTrust Technologies working with Digital Rights Management, I focused on new DRM technology that eventually changed the entire music industry. All of these corporate efforts confirmed my belief that content creation and distribution would and could be available at a local level.

What were your reasons for leaving the corporate world? I left for several reasons. Intel could not realize my vision and passion for accelerated content creation, distribution, and friendly consumer products that soon become pervasive on the Internet and traditional audio hardware. Also, I seized the opportunity to make the transition during a time of rapid market shift and consumer-adoption change.

Why did you choose the Central Valley to set-up shop? The Central Valley is an area burgeoning with untapped talent and no one is fueling this type of effort. I feel that I can do something worthwhile and beneficial for musicians here and perhaps for others living in areas that are screaming to be heard.

You came to the Central Valley to create and provide better avenues for locals to expose their music to the general public: what are you currently doing to achieve that goal? I am always searching for talent, gathering content and publishing compilation CDs for distribution. I utilize software, the Internet, advertising and more to be effective. Soon I will be releasing NEW music content along with
proprietary mp3 players, video, multimedia, advertising, images and text on CDs for FREE. Artists who want to license or participate in distributing their music are welcome with the understanding that IT MAY be copied, burned to audio disks and sent to other consumers on the Internet.

If I were a local musician, what could you do for me? I help artists get their music inserted into monthly CD compilation releases. In essence artists who don't have the time or money to put together an entire CD can create content and get it out on the streets in a very short period of time. My efforts are nonprofit and my web site, 'www.cvmusicmonthly.com' is dedicated to promoting artists and their efforts for FREE.

Why is your concept better than the promotions available to local musicians today? I am trying to revitalize and revolutionize the status quo, which is useless as of now to the average musician. There are many publishers that distribute news, culture and entertainment, yet NONE distribute music, media and advertising combined. It's not happening here in California or within the other hotbeds throughout the US. Lastly, no one has the "where-with-all" to go out on a limb and do this. I also begin working with an affiliate next month to broadcast music and video live via the Internet from a studio in downtown Modesto. And I don't see anyone doing that at this point in time for artists, at no cost.

What inspires you? Making music, and observing people when they're listening to new music still inspires me to a great extent. I continue to work in studios with musicians as I promote, and the bottom line is the
feeling I get when I perform on stage or listen to a fresh new track being distributed on the Internet or a CD.

What do you see for the future of music and distribution? Everything that I have mentioned will come to pass and it will eventually happen with larger entities owning or trying to regulate some aspect of it. A first mover advantage is here for me and others to ride on, if we choose so.. It's like I told people ten years ago, "Soon we'll be finding disks in cereal boxes."

Ruben Garcia is a person with a vision. He wants to help you see it too.