How to Sell yourself

So check this out, Allison Weiss is looking for some funding for her new EP. She's using kickstart, an initiative where creative people can try to fund their artistic endeavors by creating customized products and provide them for the people who donate to their cause. She's breaking from convention and trying to become a successful musician without the help of big media conglomerates. According to Faris she's already raised $6G.

I think it's smart because she's branding herself and allowing her fans to get what they want most, a little piece of her. It helps that she's succint, funny, easy on the eyes and edits her short well. I like her approach because she's targeting her niche on the longtail by making herself available to the people who like her and her music most.

Musical Success In A Post Record Label World

Trent Reznor of NIN talks about monetizing creativity as a musician post record label.

Religion Underground - Super Sunday

I've never seen ravers with such enthusiasm. In fact these Baptists would put any glow stick wearing, fake ball throwing, break dancer to shame.

Top Music Videos of 2008

Creme of the crop songs and their accompanying music videos that made an impression on me in 2008. Not only are they great songs but they're great pieces of film. The exception is Collapsing at Your Doorstep, which is a great song, but in my opinion an awful video.

Buraka Som Sistema ft. MIA - Sound of Kuduro


Girl Talk - Feed the Animals


Air France - Collapsing at your doorstep (amazing song but this video might induce car sickness)


The BPA - Toe Jam Featuring David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal


Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul?


Feist - I Feel It All


Fleet Foxes' White Winter Hymnal


Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor


Arcade Fire: Black Mirror

MGMT: Time to Pretend


Portishead: We Carry On



Radiohead: House of Cards


Sigur Rós: Gobbledigook



Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma


Weezer: Pork and Beans

Yeasayer: Wait for the Summer

MuxTape

This is my new favorite internet tool and it will be yours too if you love music. It's called MuxTape and it lets you upload mp3s to create playlists that you can listen to or send to your friends. Check out my most recently created playlist.

Their site technology offers a clean and simple interface for uploading and playing songs. It's one of the best pieces of web software I've seen so far for sharing or preparing a playlist.

Sound of Color

We expect more from brands these days. Our generation has evolved into a culture of Free Love where we want experiences to function on different levels and expect a full bodied experience where things are given to us for Free. Companies have raised the bar and we've come to expect more than just a product or service, we expect a full experience from a brand.

The Sound of Color is a great example of just this. We think of color and we associate the artistic and entertaining experience with which we are engaged with the company who produced it. Experience THE SOUND OF COLOR for yourself. One of the biggest flaws is it's not made to be viral; but does it resonate with you? Watch the 'making of' on their site for a brief 3 minute explanation.

Pownce - How do you get your music?

I've been a member of Pownce for a few months now. To be honest I haven't completely figured out it's somewhat unconventional interface and I definitely haven't been a very good contributer, but it has been a great resource for exchanging... actually just getting new music.

I think it's actually a lot easier to use than it seems. It's essentially a posting board for you and your friends but the main feature that makes it nice is that you can upload large files and share them with your friend list. I realized pretty quickly that I didn't find myself needing to email my friends large files that often so I decided to expand my Pownce circle of friends to see what I could discover.

I found musicians and communities interested in good music and added these people to my friends list. I started accepting random friend invites and unlike Facebook I found myself pleasantly surprised to be receiving music files from these new friends. Now as they exchange songs and music files I can download and taste some of the newest sounds being produced and shot around the intrawebs.

Shoot me an email if you're interested. I have a bunch of invites that I'm itching to send out.

Predictions for 2008

Here are my top 5 predictions for 2008. Alright, they're probably not all going to happen next year, but they're coming.

1. Cell phone users will finally make use of the technology they have and allow users to view one another as they talk to each other.

2. Chevron will buy GM & Exxon will buy Ford - they will give their cars away for free, you will pay for the gas. Gas will be so expensive that people will choose the Tango and other alternatives.

3. Healthcare companies will start requiring the $1000 DNA test at birth to evaluate & assess customers healthcare fees. FDA will require restaurants to put calories on menus

4. Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us & Facebook become overrun by Mandarin, Chinese & Japanese leaving the US / English speakers realizing who's really running the world.

5. Record Labels try to buy and destroy the Internet in a last ditch effort to save themselves. MP3's On Demand puts the power and money back into artist's hands.

My Guitar Hero

My entire life I've avoided playing a musical instrument. I can speculate on a lot of reasons why, despite loving listening to my sister play both the guitar and piano. Well, 2 days ago that all changed with Guitar Hero III. I've played the game filled with a bunch of classic rock songs and it's tough. You grip it like a real guitar, strum it like a real guitar, play the whammy bar and use buttons that simulate chords; it's as realistic as a non-guitar player could imagine. So what's interesting about this you ask?

Video games are entertaining but they often leave us feeling void and depressed. Even when I beat a game I don't really have an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Whatever sense of accomplishment I get from imagining how I'm improving my hand eye coordination quickly diminishes when I realize I'm just living in someone else's puzzle world. It's like talking on the phone only to realize the other voice is just a recorded message.

Second Life was the first time I entered the world of gaming and felt like I had the ability to be creative and impact the environment in which I "existed." It was cool, I built some useless structures, talked to some Italian programmers and flew around a bunch, but my interested faded relatively quickly.

Tonight I got the feeling that we're heading toward an evolution in gaming, a place where we can be part of an environment that will let you engage in meaningful and creative activities. Video games are reaching a point where they are becoming a tool instead of the cage. With that in mind, why doesn't Guitar Hero III have a freestyle jam feature so players can leave the game side to play the guitar freestyle and create their own music?

I'm awful at the game but the fact is it inspired me to start playing an instrument; something I hadn't had interest in for 28 years. Now I want more. The interface got me started, why not help me grow and facilitate an opportunity to create my own music?

A new music experience

Arcade Fire recently released their new album Neon Bible and they've created an interactive music video that is a refreshing and creative online experience. Although they're only scratching the surface, it's surprising that we haven't seen more musicians look online to create ways to engage their fans. They're using the internet the way it should be used.
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