I've just released a new Nprogram single entitled "Sunshine," and it's available at iTunes. It's a mid tempo R&B/Pop groove that kind of fits the season. The song is also available at Amazon, Rhapsody and Spotify. You can also hear the song by clicking the the Tunecore Widget to the right or the one below. A thirty sec video clip of "Sunshine," can bee seen at YouTube.
Also, I now have mobile apps for both Nprogram and John Hughley that are available for free from Reverbnation. Thanks for listening.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Audiam
I distribute my music through Tunecore, the online digital distribution company that was founded by Jeff Price and Peter Wells. Last year Price and Wells were relived of their duties and summarily dismissed. I was surprised to hear about this move. I know that conflicts can happen with a publicly held company that might find the company's founder/s looking for work, but these guys seemed to have set a new standard for independent music services. Unfortunately, after all this time, the reason for their dismissal remains a mystery.
On June 12th 2013 , Jeff Price and Peter Wells announced their return to the web with an all new company called Audiam. The goal of Audiam is to give independent artists the means to collect money from having their videos played on YouTube. Price and Wells estimate that half of the 25 billion videos posted to YouTube are bringing in about 1.3 billion in advertising dollars a year. Audiam will provide a system to get ad dollars for the other 12.5 billion videos.
The service is currently in beta and is only providing access to those living outside of the US, but Price and Wells expect it to go live sometime early this summer. There's no up front cost to use Audiam, just a flat 25% administration fee. Artists can upload as many songs as they want. Audiam will find videos that use those artists songs and authorize YouTube to place ads on them, and then administer the artists' share.
Audiam will also supply information to YouTube that will allow them to auto - generate buy links to iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play, for placement underneath each video.
Sounds to me as if Price and Wells may be on to something. Up until now most independent artists have not had access to money from views of their videos on YouTube. Clearly, the amount of money that will reach most users of Audiam will probably not be quite as much as major label artists, but at least it will be money that these artist deserve but weren't able to get. I think, and this is just my opinion, that this is definitely something worth looking into.
On June 12th 2013 , Jeff Price and Peter Wells announced their return to the web with an all new company called Audiam. The goal of Audiam is to give independent artists the means to collect money from having their videos played on YouTube. Price and Wells estimate that half of the 25 billion videos posted to YouTube are bringing in about 1.3 billion in advertising dollars a year. Audiam will provide a system to get ad dollars for the other 12.5 billion videos.
The service is currently in beta and is only providing access to those living outside of the US, but Price and Wells expect it to go live sometime early this summer. There's no up front cost to use Audiam, just a flat 25% administration fee. Artists can upload as many songs as they want. Audiam will find videos that use those artists songs and authorize YouTube to place ads on them, and then administer the artists' share.
Audiam will also supply information to YouTube that will allow them to auto - generate buy links to iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play, for placement underneath each video.
Sounds to me as if Price and Wells may be on to something. Up until now most independent artists have not had access to money from views of their videos on YouTube. Clearly, the amount of money that will reach most users of Audiam will probably not be quite as much as major label artists, but at least it will be money that these artist deserve but weren't able to get. I think, and this is just my opinion, that this is definitely something worth looking into.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Let's Do It Again
If you been accessing Classic MySpace,then you've no don't noticed that it doesn't exist anymore. Yep, everything from the old MySpace is gone. As of Wednesday, the New Myspace is the only Myspace you can access. But, I don't have a problem with that.
In fact, while the New Myspace was in beta, I got a chance to add or convert just about anything from the old Myspace that I might have wanted. In reality and in all fairness, that was actually zilch. I liked the look and feel of the New Myspace so much that I looked at it as a whole new website.
The launch of the New Myspace brings along with it a new app for iPhone users, adding the mobile experience that some felt had been missing. The app is free and includes an ad supported radio feature called, My Radio, that builds a station based on user input. Each user has his/her own station which that can programmed with the music that they like or feel that their friends or fans might like. And the app also includes a GIf creator.
The focus of the New Myspace is music and the people who love it. When you log on, the first thing that you notice is that those pesky ad filled pages have been replaced by large thumbnails of your friends/ fans and what they have chosen to share. That, I think, is enough in itself to get get new users into what the site has to offer.
The New Myspace is the website that everyone has talked about for a very long time. The only question is, is whether those of us hungry for the unification of music and social networking will not only go and see what is going on there, but go there ready and willing to participate in the experience that they've all been waiting for.
In fact, while the New Myspace was in beta, I got a chance to add or convert just about anything from the old Myspace that I might have wanted. In reality and in all fairness, that was actually zilch. I liked the look and feel of the New Myspace so much that I looked at it as a whole new website.
The launch of the New Myspace brings along with it a new app for iPhone users, adding the mobile experience that some felt had been missing. The app is free and includes an ad supported radio feature called, My Radio, that builds a station based on user input. Each user has his/her own station which that can programmed with the music that they like or feel that their friends or fans might like. And the app also includes a GIf creator.
The focus of the New Myspace is music and the people who love it. When you log on, the first thing that you notice is that those pesky ad filled pages have been replaced by large thumbnails of your friends/ fans and what they have chosen to share. That, I think, is enough in itself to get get new users into what the site has to offer.
The New Myspace is the website that everyone has talked about for a very long time. The only question is, is whether those of us hungry for the unification of music and social networking will not only go and see what is going on there, but go there ready and willing to participate in the experience that they've all been waiting for.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
The Big Squeeze
Like most of us, when I listen to recorded music I usually don't give a thought to why the music I hear, sounds so good.
When you go to a concert or live performance, you usually come away thinking that the show had a great sound or a bad sound based on whether or not the band's FOH (front of house) used compression and EQ. The best live sound is most likely derived from using as little signal processing as possible. The engineer or FOH may deem it necessary to recreate a certain sound or effect from a recorded single or album. The compression and EQ,used during a live show will be mostly on vocals. But, a recorded track is another story all together.
Often, there's so much going on, on a recorded track you have to use compression in order to get a cohesive sound. Compressing a sound alters it's dynamic range. It can make a loud sound softer or a soft sound louder. When it's used in audio recording, compression can even the volume level of each sound, allowing them all to fit together into a mix.
Some compressors have a certain unique quality that can add a coloration to your sound that's actually desirable and many that are used in today's recordings are chosen specifically for that reason. However, when compression is over used, the result can be such a loss of signal dynamics that EQ, or equalization must then be used to bring back what has been squeezed out.
Equalization provides the ability to restore a sound's natural quality by the raising or lowering of specific frequencies. It's like turning up the volume without using gain or attenuation. This works especially well during mastering. When it's clear that a track has been compressed and limited heavily, EQ is used in order to raise the over all volume. This is when boosting or cutting certain frequencies can bring back a sense of the songs character.
Compression and equalization brought together in just the right amounts or used judiciously will not only make a track sound vibrant and fresh, but if they are done so, you will never even know they've been used.
When you go to a concert or live performance, you usually come away thinking that the show had a great sound or a bad sound based on whether or not the band's FOH (front of house) used compression and EQ. The best live sound is most likely derived from using as little signal processing as possible. The engineer or FOH may deem it necessary to recreate a certain sound or effect from a recorded single or album. The compression and EQ,used during a live show will be mostly on vocals. But, a recorded track is another story all together.
Often, there's so much going on, on a recorded track you have to use compression in order to get a cohesive sound. Compressing a sound alters it's dynamic range. It can make a loud sound softer or a soft sound louder. When it's used in audio recording, compression can even the volume level of each sound, allowing them all to fit together into a mix.
Some compressors have a certain unique quality that can add a coloration to your sound that's actually desirable and many that are used in today's recordings are chosen specifically for that reason. However, when compression is over used, the result can be such a loss of signal dynamics that EQ, or equalization must then be used to bring back what has been squeezed out.
Equalization provides the ability to restore a sound's natural quality by the raising or lowering of specific frequencies. It's like turning up the volume without using gain or attenuation. This works especially well during mastering. When it's clear that a track has been compressed and limited heavily, EQ is used in order to raise the over all volume. This is when boosting or cutting certain frequencies can bring back a sense of the songs character.
Compression and equalization brought together in just the right amounts or used judiciously will not only make a track sound vibrant and fresh, but if they are done so, you will never even know they've been used.
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