Collaborating with Established Artists

A friend wrote to me recently asking for advice about collaborating with a large Canadian band who had heard his mashups of their work. Collaborating with artists can be a tricky business, particularly if they are already established and the way you...

By Jez with 1 comment

Just what the world needs - another music social networking site

Apple have just announced the creation of a new music social networking site that exists solely within itunes. Wired has the scoop: Apple audaciously seems to think the world actually needs another social network — one that you even need special software to be part of, to boot. With the introduction Wednesday of ‘Ping,” a music-centered community that exists only within iTunes, they are probably...

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My Organ in your face - Free Kontakt Patch "Felix Organ"

Bit of a one trick poney when it first came out but Felix's "Don't you want me", or more specifically the Hooj Tunes remix had an instantly recognisable Organ sound - the "Rock Organ" preset from the Roland JX-1. Now you too can recreate that famous...

By Jez with 3 comments

Shameless Plug: Ban this sick filth!

Indulge me if you will whilst i add a shameless plug to a new remix by one of my alter egos:  Ban This Sick Filth. I've worked with AbandcalledQuinn before under the pseudonym Celebrity Murder Party - first under their single, the aptly named,...

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"How we get thousands of real facebook fans for artists":

Peter Tanham of Amp Music Marketing writes: IntroductionWhen we start working with any new musician, two of the most important goals we start with are: 1.Build a strong mailing list 2.Build a popular Facebook page From experience, these to platforms are where fans feel most comfortable interacting with musicians. They’re also the two that drive the most sales. So ahead of looking to drive YouTube...

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Seven Simple Steps for more followers on Soundcloud

Beantown boogiedown have a great article on how to get more followers on Soundcloud which can be summed up in one simple sentence:  Get involved in the community.  There's a bit more to that, but they have a good point in that the more...

By Jez with 19 comments

An Ode to the CD from CD Baby

Peter Kirn writes: Can music as a physical object have value and meaning again? For many music enthusiasts, that affection has turned back to the vinyl record, not the CD. (How many artists have we seen lately offering vinyl as the “premium” package for listeners?) At an extreme, there’s Alessandro Cortini’s SuONOIO, an album that has its own accompanying custom synthesizer. But while we ponder...

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Dirty Tricks - Part 2: Snakes and Adders

 In our last post about Nicky Kallongis' book Myspace Music profit Monster we investigated  Myspace as a hosting solution and method for reaching more listeners.  Nicky talked about using Friend Adders as a way of generating more "faans"...

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A New Low for Music

This one video has commentators and bloggers split.  The Reclusive Barclay Brothers are gaining lots of publicity by promising to give away £27 to 100 people who listen to their music.  Unfortunately for them, and assuming it's not an internet practical joke, most of the people who've actually heard their single "lonely together" complete with glossy video are commenting on how bad the...

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Myspace Makeover - Is it Dead or due for Resurrection?

Website redesigns are a bit like haircuts. Chop 6 inches, and people will definitely notice. Trim the bangs and add a few highlights, and some never know the difference. And so it is with MySpace Music, which overhauled its front door back in September. That was a much-needed facelift that was obvious to users. Now, the group is tweaking and pruning its look. On Monday, MySpace Music will refresh...

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Engineers with Attitude

Billie Ray Martin has been recording some new music in Berlin recently.  She tells all about the trials of tribulations of working with people passing themselves off as professionals in her new article on the Hospital Club website. It was in the pursuit of this endeavour that I placed two ads on Craigslist Berlin to find a studio and/or sound engineer.Hear my tale: I’m behind in my vocal recording...

By Jez with 1 comment

Self Promotion tools for (DJ's) (strike) Musicians

Great post over at DJtechtools.com about self promotion tools for DJ's - but it's equally applicable to Musicians / Bands and Producers One of the dirtiest jobs in the DJ business is marketing and promotion. If you already have a big following, you could probably hire a publicist to do the promo grunt work for you. But how do you get a following without promotion? There’s the catch. While DJing is...

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Dirty Tricks: Myspace, Monsters and Profit - Part 1

The subtitle of this book is "Easy online marketing strategies to get more fans fast".  I imagine this with a plethora of exclamation marks and ones after the title. The author, Nicky (the knife) Kalliongis is apparently a respected...

By Jez with 1 comment

Negativland's Mark Hosler on Copyright & Creative Commons

via http://www.radioclashblog.com/archives/2010/08/07/mark-hosler-of-negativland-on-creative-commo...

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Metropolis Records’ Dave Heckman speaks on whose got it right - artists or musicians?

From Art Design Cafe:  With humble beginnings, Metropolis Records grew out of a Philadelphia USA record store called ’Digital Underground’ in 1994 and has developed a strong reputation over the years as a leader in the music genres of electro-industrial,...

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Aspects Of The New Music Reality

Music 3.0 - The Blog Behind The Book: 5 Aspects Of The New Music Reality: "During lunch with a friend today, he passed some scenarios by me for breaking a new act. One of the things he said seems to be what's now seems to be accepted industry knowledge, although I believe the logic is faulty. "We're going to do vinyl and digital downloads but skip the CD. They're done." After discussing for a while...

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Interesting July Music Stats

Music 3.0 - The Blog Behind The Book: Interesting July Music Stats: "Digital music information and strategy company Music Alley puts together an interesting monthly report called NumberCrunch that includes somthat includes some interesting statistics culled from information sources like NPD, Forrester and Neilsen/Soundscan. Here are a few points that I found interesting (my comments in italics)...

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Free online mp3 hosting...

So you've written your magnum opus.  You've spent a long time recording it, mastering it, sweating over how it sounds and now you need to get it out there on the web.  You can either purchase some webspace and build your own webspace...

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Itchy Clips - Other avenues for artists

Recently Producer Sneak-thief and Stewart Walker have announced the creation of a new project - Itchy Clips.  Itchy clips is a web portal / community designed to sell Ableton Live files for aspiring remixers and DJ's...

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Trent Reznor: What to do as a new / unsigned artist

In September 2009 Trent Reznor writing on the NIN forums outlined his thoughts on what unsigned bands should do if they're hankering after success in the internet age. We're using this to inform the different avenues and outlets...

By Jez with 2 comments

We are living in a digital world....

Like it, or lump it, the internet has been a decisive force in music distribution for at least 10 years now.  From the very first p2p networks like Napster and Audiogalaxy to torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay or Mininova to Music Blogs to the...

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