A while back I scoffed at the advice that I should “get booked on the Oprah Winfrey Show” to gain more exposure. Well, I’d like your help in trying something close to that. Another female powerhouse, Ellen Degeneres, actually WANTS MUSIC SUGGESTIONS for her show.

If you’ve got just a couple of minutes, I’d love to get your assistance in reaching out to her. It’s a long-shot, I know, but I’ve always wanted to try something like this! Here’s all you need to do:

1. Go to http://ellen.warnerbros.com/show/respond/?PlugID=257
2. Fill out the feedback form there.
3. Put Matthew Ebel as the Artist Name
4. Put your favorite Matthew Ebel song as the Song Title (my favorite is Everybody Needs A Robot).

That’s it! It’ll take you, like, 30 seconds to do all this. Who knows? I may be playing a show live on ABC someday thanks to your help!

We’re now 12 days into Movember and, thus far I’ve got mixed results. For those that aren’t up to speed on this, Movember is the month when men grow out the mustache to raise awareness and funds to fight prostate and testicular cancers. Hey, it’s a lot more macho than wearing a pink shirt, right?

Anyhoo, thus far my fans and I have only raised about $185 for the cause. ACK! This is pitiful! It’s not even close to the $1,250 that C.C. Chapman has raised! This is unacceptable! We must TAKE HIM DOWN! All you have to do to assure victory (and help fight cancer) is donate right here…

Of course, on the lighter side of things, my Mo is totally beating the crap out of C.C.’s. And that’s what really matters, isn’t it? He’s even trying to make his Mo look bigger by losing a bunch of weight… nice try, CCFC, but your little stunt will do nothing for you (except make you healthier and look better), my ‘stache is already lifting weights and taking Tae-Kwan-Mo. WE WILL DESTROY YOU IN A STEEL CAGE! Or something…

It’s time to kick testicular cancer in the balls.

In case you didn’t hear the latest episode of Accident Hash, I’m challenging C.C. Chapman and others to grow out a ‘stache to help raise awareness and funds for men’s cancer research.

So do me and every man a favor… go to www.matthewebel.com/movember and donate some cash (or grow your ‘stache). All proceeds are split between the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, so every dollar helps!

UPDATE: All slots have been filled. Thanks so much to those of you who spread the word!

The next five people that join my mailing list will be gifted a FREE part of my next album at Sellaband. That means when I hit the goal and the album is produced, you’ll receive a free limited-edition version of the album and share in the sales for the next 5 years! Oh yeah, you’ll also get 3 free songs right now.

Along with them, anyone who referred those 5 people will ALSO get a free part. So if you’re already on my mailing list, go grab a friend and tell ‘em where to get their free music!

Of course, if you want more than just the one part, you can always grab more and get extra benefits right here:

http://sellaband.com/matthewebel

UPDATE: Hooray! I just made Artist of the Week! Thank all of you who voted, this is your victory!

Last week I made the #2 slot for Sellaband’s Artist of the Week contest. This week I’m back and I need your help to make #1 by Monday morning! Here’s what you need to do:

1. If you haven’t already, sign up for Sellaband as a Believer.
2. Once you’ve got an account, go to my page at http://sellaband.com/matthewebel
3. Click the giant button on the right-hand side that says:
   
4. BONUS: If you’ve invested any money in any artists (like me) on Sellaband, you can vote every day this week. Please do!

If I make it to the #1 spot this week I’ll get $200 towards my next album from Sellaband as well as a bunch of other promotional opportunities. So far they’ve been VERY good about not spamming people, too, so don’t worry. Please help by voting, thanks!

REAL quick, I promise… I’m part of their “Artist of the week” popularity contest right now and I need your votes. If you’ve already pre-ordered my next album you can vote daily, otherwise just make your mark once and you’ll help me out!

Just hit http://www2.sellaband.com/sixpack.html for more info and to see the competition.

Just LOG IN and VOTE at http://sellaband.com/matthewebel as often as you can. Thanks!

You can own a piece of my next album AND help me finance the recording!

I’ve recently become aware of what may be the coolest thing to happen to indie musicians, like, ever. It’s called SellABand. I’ve put myself up as a sort of publicly-traded company and folks like YOU can actually buy a share of my next album. They set the financial goal (I have no control over that), but when I reach it I’ll be doing a lot more than recording in my basement…

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If you remember me asking you via email to bug the folks over at Pandora, I’d like to thank you for your efforts. Even though one representative said they couldn’t find the CD’s I sent them months ago, it seems they must’ve found one. Goodbye Planet Earth is now available on the most cutting edge internet radio station, ready to stream!

(By the way, if you don’t remember me asking you about this, you’re not signed up for my email list yet.)

Why is this a slice of awesome pie? Two reasons: First, Pandora pays its BMI licensing fees like any other radio station, so the more my music plays on their system the more likely I’ll actually see a royalty payment (and, therefore, eat). Since the stations are built around a recommendation engine, my tunes will be played any time someone searches for someone famous like Ben Folds or Keane. They don’t even have to specifically search for my obscure name.

Second, since a lot of people will hear my music because I’m similar to the artists they’re searching for, there’s a good chance some of them might become fans of mine. I know more than a few people who have discovered new artists they like because of Pandora. As much as the RIAA likes to ignore it, people do in fact buy albums via iTunes and Amazon from Pandora recommendations.

So thank you, all of you, who helped raise the awareness! Hopefully some more of my albums will appear in their system soon, but for now you’ve really helped me break into a new playing field!

Update: Contest entries have ended… time to decide on a winner!

Pay attention, you could win a Matthew Ebel dot net All-Access Pass for one month! My room mate RoninOtter took this picture as we were testing out some of his new photography equipment. Right after he posted it, C.C. Chapman mentioned it looked like a mugshot.

Well, C.C., you’re absolutely right.

So what’s the contest? Reply to this blog post and tell me:

1. Where I was arrested
2. What I was arrested for

The winning entry will be picked on Feb. 1 by a panel of random friends who haven’t entered the contest. Yes it’s totally subjective and will be based on whatever makes us laugh the most. If you really want to skew your chances, try photoshopping this and posting to your own blog, but make sure you link to it here in the comments with your official entry.

Contest ends at the end of January 2009 and you can enter as often as you like!

Leave your entries here…


Update: I thought it would go without saying that entries containing vulgar language or epithets would be deleted. Apparently, it needs to be said. Be tasteful.

It’s the end of 2008 and I need to write a new bio for the next year. This is the story of my music, not the story of my life. It needs to be so compelling and interesting that reviewers will reprint whole sections of it verbatim and call it an article. Hence why I need your help.

I can write about cows, ninjas, birds, and beer, but writing about myself is rather difficult. If you are a Matthew Ebel fan, you already know why you’re reading this blog. Please take a moment to read draft one of my new bio (below) and help me tell others why they should be Matthew Ebel fans as well!
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