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Kuroshio Sea + Barcelona = Simple, Cool Music Video

July 30, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

I just watched this amazing video.  The aquarium is the Kuroshio Sea in Okinawa.  It’s the 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world.  I’m totally digging the song too.  That haunting melody is just gorgeous and I love the chord changes in the chorus.  Check out the video:

What makes this really cool (and big news this week), is the song under the video, which is “Please Don’t Go” by the band Barcelona.  They found out about the video from friends and family and have seen a major increase in their iTunes sales due to the aquarium video’s viral success.  Check out this message from the band:

Filed Under: Music Business News, Videos Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sliimy = Prince?

July 29, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

Perez Hilton recently announced a deal with Warner Brothers to start his own record label. Many in the music industry wondered if Perez has the expertise to find real talent and show them to the world.  It seems Perez has signed his first artist, a French singer name Sliimy (it’s pronounced Sl-ee-my).  After seeing pictures and videos, I couldn’t help wondering if this guy is somehow related to Prince…

Sliimy Prince1 Sliimy = Prince?

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Spotify

July 28, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

I’ve been hearing for months about this music service in Europe called Spotify and how it’s simply amazing.  They say it will be the death of the MP3.  They say it will rival iTunes.  They’ve said that about alot of stuff and none of it came true.

However, I just saw the demo video of the Spotify iPhone app and I have to say I’m pretty impressed.  I can see how this will make buying songs obsolete.  Why would you store songs on your iPhone when you could just stream them, anywhere, anytime, nearly instantly?  Plus, you’re not limited to the songs you own, you get all six million+ songs in their catalog.  That doesn’t even mention the fact that you can sync it with your iPhone to play them when you’re not connected to the Internet.  I know Elliot Van Buskirk at Wired really likes it.  Am I a new believer?  Yep, call me converted!

Recent news says that Spotify is coming to the US, but I’m sure our greedy labels and the RIAA will find a way to screw it up and/or make it ridiculously expensive.  Let’s also hope that Apple doesn’t get a case of the stupids and reject the app.

Check out this video.  You’ll be blown away. I’m thinking this is exactly what The Future of Music described. This IS the future of music.  If you’re an artist, you gotta find a way to get your stuff onto Spotify!

Filed Under: Music Business News, Thoughts on Music Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Music Monday: About Last Night @ Capalanos

July 27, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

We had a small crowd at this show, but we had fun anyway!  The sound guy at Capalanos, Steve, plays a mean harmonica, so I invited him to take the solo on “About Last Night”.

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Covers – Back in Black

July 24, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

When you’re getting people’s attention at a show, sometimes you have to play other people’s stuff.  I recently discovered this version of AC/DC’s “Back in Black” by Irish artist, Foy Vance, and it’s pretty amazing!

But it still isn’t my favorite.  That has to go to one of my all-time favorite artists, Matt Mahaffey, doing a one-man-band version in LA:

Filed Under: Thoughts on Music, Videos Tagged With: , , , , ,

Surprised by Pandora

July 23, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

Recently, Pandora announced new requirements for artists to get added to their radio streaming and recommendation service. One of the new requirements was that artists would need to sell their physical CDs through the Amazon Advantage Program, which costs $29.95. This means artists, like myself, who don’t currently have any physical CDs would not be allowed into the Pandora system. Bruce Hougton’s blog, Hypebot, posted the news and a poll to gauge what his readers thought about this development. 55.7% of the responders had a negative reaction, so Bruce sent a letter to Pandora asking for a response. Pandora’s CEO, Tim Westergren, posted a response to Bruce, but several of us weren’t quite satisfied with his response and left comments asking for further explanation.

I was happily surprised to check the post later and find a personal response from Tim answering my concerns directly.  How many times do you get an answer directly from a well-known company’s CEO?  Kudos to Pandora for having a CEO that cares enough to have a conversation with artists.

Filed Under: Music Business News Tagged With: , , , , ,

New Pics – Common Grounds Show

July 22, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

Anna took some pictures at the Common Ground show in Lexington.  Check out my new hat and tell me what you think!

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Rock Band Network

July 21, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

By now, I’m sure anyone who has played with or owned a gaming console has heard of either Rock Band or Guitar Hero.  If you’ve been to Walmart, its kinda hard to miss all the guitar controllers for those games as you walk past the electronics section.  Rock Band is now planning an expansion that will make indie musicians, like myself, much more accessible.  The Rock Band Network will allow bands to create their own Rock Band tracks from the studio recordings, then upload them for any Rock Band player to download.  Fellow network members can try out the tracks in advance and rate them.  I’m really excited by this.  These games are another way to reach people who don’t go to concerts, they don’t buy the latest CD’s, they just know their video games and TV shows.  Get more info at: http://creators.rockband.com/ and you can check out the video below to get a good idea about what’s coming:

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Music Monday – Alle @ Common Grounds

July 20, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

Check out this video of me doing an unreleased song, Alle, at Common Grounds in Lexington, KY.  What do you think of my hat?

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No More Mom & Pops for EMI

July 14, 2009 By Christopher Joel View Comments

When your business is hurting, the least advisable strategy is to reduce the ways people can get your product.  I would try expanding the places people can find my products and making my product more accessible, but I’m not EMI.  The international conglomerate has decided to focus their sales efforts on big box stores, like Best Buy, and one-stop shops, like Walmart.  They are no longer going to distribute to small mom & pop record stores any more.  I swear I’m not making this up.  The supposed benefit for them is reduced costs, which is a reasonable prediction.  I can also predict they will have reduced revenue too, which I hope, for their accountant’s sake, helps them come out better financially on the other end.  Otherwise, not only will the accountant be looking for another job, but so will everyone else who works for EMI.  Good luck with that.

Filed Under: Music Business News Tagged With: , , , ,
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