Who doesn’t love free music? AmazonLocal is giving away $3 mp3 vouchers here. Enjoy!
Jul 052012
Jun 042012
This morning, Pitchfork announced its latest entertainment venture with Soundplay. The music company teamed with its partners at Kill Screen (a video game art and culture magazine) to bring a new breed of video game.
Each game developed through Soundplay has more than a soundtrack–the games themselves are inspired by musical works. The first two games have launched today, and they are inspired by “Intro” (M83) and “Street Song” (Matthew Dear). The games were created by Jake Elliot and Santa Ragione, respectively. We can expect to see three more games released in July, including one inspired by a song by Cut Copy.
More promotion for Soundplay also includes the Soundplay Arcade at the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and a two day event in New York City hosted by both Pitchfork and Kill Screen where developers can gather to create their own games inspired by specific music.
Apr 022012
Earbits, the next up-and-comer in Internet radio, is utilizing a business model that many in the music industry look down on: pay to play. Historically, this setup has been found in venues that book bands to play and require that they bring a crowd. Now, Earbits is using it, in that musicians can pay to have their music on the streaming radio, though it’s not quite as simple as it sounds.
Even though they pay, the music that is submitted may not be heard by everyone. For example, if a person skips your track enough times, it will be taken out of rotation. For the listener, this is good, because it means bad musicians can’t get a lot of AirPlay just because they’re willing to pay.
According to Music 3.0, streams and payouts are significantly lower than the leading services (such as Pandora). Read more at the original blog.
Mar 202012
With The Hunger Games opening in only a few days (Friday, march 23rd), Lionsgate has debuted an interactive site for fans to completely immerse themselves in The Capitol and all of its splendor. The marketing tool uses HTML5 and has hidden pieces for visitors to discover.
Mar 142012
Google + is giving us yet another improvement with a new feature added to Hangouts. Now, users can utilize Google Docs within a Hangout and collaborate even more effectively! Read about it on the Social Times.
Mar 142012
Pinterest is the NKOTB and rising star of social media right now. It’s growing very quickly, but people are also beginning to look into potential copyright issues associated with sharing on the site. The Wall Street Journal gives tips for how to be (legally) safe when using the site.
Mar 062012
AT&T has announced that it will start “throttling” accounts once they reach their allotted amount of bandwidth per month. For people who use their smartphone regularly (most of us), even normal use could make you hit the limit. You don’t want to be on a throttled account-reports state that it can take two minutes to load a simple page, making me believe not much else can be accomplished.
For music fans, it’s far worse. If you have started streaming your music using a service such a Spotify, Billboard tells us that, on a regular plan, the most we could listen to is seven hours a day. And that is on the lowest quality. That’s seven hours of music while doing absolutely nothing else (no email, Twitter, videos, etc).
Will this affect any of you?
Mar 012012
Internet radio may not be the same as traditional or college radio, but it is growing in its influence, especially in the independent music scene. Music 3.0 shares some great stats and information about the medium.
Feb 142012
Onesheet: Onesheet provides artists a simple, but visually appealing, website. The idea is that it can be a one-stop address where fans can find social media integration, tour info, and anything else the artist wants to provide.
45 Sound: Are there any cell-phone videos of your shows that your fans or friends took? They probably don’t have the best audio quality. 45 Sound wants to fix that.
Tastemate: I’m a big proponent of rewarding fans who go the extra mile by coming out to your shows and buying merchandise. Tastemate provides the ability to give special discounts and deals only available at shows and events. Fans are encouraged to participate and engage with the app throughout the concert.
Crowdstream: This app is another for use during concerts, but it connects you (the artist) directly with your fans.
[Source]
Are there any other apps that you think musicians should be using?
Feb 072012
Spin is releasing a new version of its website next month (March 2012). In an attempt to compete with streaming media such as Spotify and Rdio, the website will feature tracks at the top of its page, all linked to editorial content and blogs. These blogs will have nine different focuses: various music genres and entertainment categories.
Could these additions add SPIN to your daily digital reading list?
[Source]
