Today we’d like to introduce you to Raul Cano-Rogers.
Hi Raul, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I just wrote about this on my newsletter so I will copy what I sent the readers:
It all started with my mom, Beth. My siblings and I grew up going to the Hollywood Bowl’s summer classical series with my parents and we weren’t all that excited about it. I mean, what kid wants to sit in the second row of the pool section at the Hollywood Bowl on the keyboard side? Yeah, dumb, I know, I’d give my left pinkie to relive that knowing now what I didn’t know then. I could literally see the sweat building on the performers’ brow.
Anywho, the two to three years before LNSB began, my mom and I (and later joined by my beautiful girlfriend and dance performance enthusiast, Raegan) would sit around the living room and go over Classical Music, Dance, Musicals, and Guest Speakers we would like to see as a family. She would have her laptop ready with a bunch of tabs open to the venues in town we were researching, The Granada Theatre, The Lobero Theatre, The Arlington Theatre, UCSB Arts and Lectures, Music Academy of The West, and The Independent in case we missed anything happening at other venues around town.
I, at this time, was seeing/hearing a lot of live music at venues which my friend Jennifer would take me to when she was out with her friends. Having moved to SB in 2014 (for the second time) I did not know the venues so it was great to have someone show me around.
Seven Bar, when it was in the Funk Zone, became our home away from home. It was there that I saw Rent Party Blues Band for the first time and was blown away. As a potentially mediocre guitarist with a musical heart, I wanted to hear more and see as many of the local bands that I could!
But where could I find the information?
Turns out The Independent had a list but it was only published on Thursdays. And what if bands cancelled and the venue had no music or had to change bands? Royal bummer, though an opportunity for me to “discover” new bands.
Venue and band websites were old or hardly updated. Instagram and Facebook Events were where the music lived so I mostly centered my research there and only focused on Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Cold Spring Tavern. Now, 8 years later from when I started LNSB (minus the Covid year), I check around 250 websites and scroll through Instagram posts and stories for information on live music in SB county.
Yeah, it’s a lot of work… but it’s fun!
Can I use AI? Yes, to a degree. Do you know any artists? How far ahead of time do they tell you about their art or music shows? And where do they post the information?
Exactly. See my dilemma? There’s not a whole lotta lead time with artists. AI can’t find “word of mouth” or Instagram stories that last 24 hrs and then aren’t reposted. And the younger artists make it feel like finding where they are playing is part of being in the cool kids group… entrepreneurial genius or just a plain lackadaisical approach?… you be the judge though I can tell you it’s the latter for me who wants to get the info out to you as quickly and as complete as possible.
My friend Isis told me I should do a blog, hence the website but I wanted to list the info and not write about it.
I told my aforementioned friend Jen that I was going to name the website “Between The Notes” as a nod to Maya Angelou’s quote in her autobiography “Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas” where she declares, “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” Jen said, “why not just Live Notes? It’s for live music, right?”
Right you were, Jen, right you were. And here we are.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Mostly smooth but there was a learning curve to how and where search for the information on the live music shows. Formatting the listing so it was easy to read took some trial and error. COVID-19 was tough for the industry but I posted every day with any live streams I found or just a note saying, “No Music Today.”
The Instagram account was hacked in 2022 which slowed down the growth but I was able to get it back with the help of a friend who knew someone who worked at Meta. I was lucky because not many of the accounts that are hacked are recuperated.
I use Google sheets and docs and around summer of 2024, they stopped communicating with each other and the formatting from sheets to docs did not work. I had to reformat the information (bold, italic, underline) before posting on the website which added about an hour and a half of work. I ended up leaving it as it was because having a 9 to 5 limited how much time I could spend on it. It was a bummer but at the end, the readers/followers didn’t seem to mind or notice.
The biggest struggle is finding the time to create the listing whilst keeping a personal time and work time balance. I really enjoy the Live Notes SB world that has been created and for which I now feel responsible so I worry that the audience won’t have all the show information on time or as complete as possible.
As you know, we’re big fans of Live Notes SB. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are an online, live music resource for Santa Barbara County. The website highlights musicians from Santa Barbara County, as well as those passing through, and all the venues hosting live music.
The “Live This Week” page is a listing of weekly live music shows happening in SB County.
Though there may be similar sites offering live music listings, there isn’t one which highlights the county nor do they have complete information. Much of the information on shows is found in a grassroots manner which entails contacting the venues and bands which don’t tend to post the information anywhere online, hence, a webcraling program or AI search can’t find it.
We pride ourselves on having the most complete and up to date music listing.
If anyone who enjoys live music wants to see what is happening in their area, they can go to livenotessb.com and see who is playing.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Consistency. If we aren’t consistent with the content, we may as well not post anything. People grow to depend on the information so if we miss offering it to them as we have been doing so on a daily basis, we know we will lose our audience.
Pricing:
- No pricing for the listing. We are working on a price list for placing ads.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://livenotessb.com
- Instagram: @livenotessb
- Facebook: @livenotessb
- Other: Venmo and Threads: @livenotessb
