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Music Lovers, SoundCloud Gets Facelift

Big news from one of the internet’s biggest musician hubs, SoundCloud; they’ve got upgrades coming. Currently the upgrades are still in private beta mode, but so enough the Next SoundCloud will reveal a more focused and intuitive layout. With features set to make an even bigger impact on the online sound world.

Here’s a run down of the new features:

See more:

• • A more interactive waveform player with profiles redesigned
  • Simpler, more attractive profiles bring the best things into view: sounds, sets, reposts and profile images.
  • Likes and comments are more visible. See which of your friends are following people you find.

Share more

• • New reposts to share what you hear.
  • Real-time updates from your friends.

Hear more

• • Play your sounds continuously
  • Build sets of music and audio you like
  • Forget playlists : Sets let you build collections of sounds you like in one Waveform. Share your sets with people, and like and repost other people’s sets too.

Find more

• • Easier than ever to navigate
  • New search with faster, better results

Essentially sound cloud is getting slicker and quicker and they’re still set to be the YouTube for Sound. Still, the one thing that Bandcamp has over SoundCloud is the email list signups. SoundCloud is already an obvious first choice for DJs but I’ll be using Bandcamp primarily until SoundCloud does a little more for bands in the email area.

How to Handle Music Festivals If You’re a Musician

I’ve been lucky enough to be part of a tasty festival this year called MoSo. I’ve had some input on the selection of the bands and I’ve got to see the how’s and why’s of which bands are chosen. I’ve also seen more than a few bands approach the festival asking to play. So if you’re thinking about submitting your stuff to any music festivals make sure to think about these things before you do:

1. Where does your music fit?
You might not have all the fest’s info just yet, but if they’ve released some initial headliners, or even a website, this can tell you much about the festival’s flavour. Are you in their world? It’s a waste of everyone’s time if you’re not on the same page as a festival you’re approaching.

2. Do you have anyone connected with the festival?
This might be an obvious one, but make sure you have exhausted your personal contacts before you approach from the outside. If you’re involved with the music industry you’ll probably have an email or facebook contact that could help you get an in. Good words from friends mean much more than good words from strangers.

3. Are you ready to play?
Another one of those obvious, yet not so much. Festival crowds are different, in that audiences are paying to see music rather than just being at a bar where music is going on. They’re more engaged. So if you’re looking to get booked you better make sure you’ve got everything ready for that type of audience. Everything from having merch to putting on a pro set is expected at these sort of events. It’s an opportunity to share your music with a bigger crowd. So if you want to get booked make sure you have everything else up to par.

 

Great Music Actually Makes Money

I’ve been reading a lot of music industry books lately. The history kind that detail the rise and fall of the record industry. The one theme that I keep seeing time and time again is that (big shocker here) GREAT MUSIC MAKES MONEY. Whoodathunkit?

Well today, just as in old times, great music will bring great money..if it’s presented properly. A label that has been thriving producing great music is Beggars Group which owns a Matador, XL, Rough Trade, and 4AD. Each label puts out great music first and foremost, they’ve been making a killing off of it. Proof of their success can be seen as group found Martin Mills has just made it onto a special list.

The annual Sunday Times Rich List will be published this Sunday…..Most interesting are the two new entries in the top 50 richest music industry people. Beggars Group founder Martin Mills finds himself at joint 46th with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason with an estimated fortune of £55 million….

Nearly 40 years after he opened the original Beggars Banquet record shop in Earls Court, kickstarting a career spent discovering and promoting great music, that seems fair enough. His jump up the charts is aided by Adele, whose endlessly popular ’21′ album was released by the Beggars-owned XL Recordings. -via CMU

#FuckedUp at #SXSW?

With all of the money, time, and work of showcasing at a festival, it’s often small bands that pay the biggest price for attending industry showcase festivals.  Fucked Up, the awesome Canadian band had their guitarist Mike Haliechuk muse about industry festivals for The Grid. He’s got a lot of interesting stuff to say:

The model established by SXSW, which has been replicated in dozens of cities all around the world, rests upon the premise that for the bands who perform, the potential for increased exposure to international music industry folks and fans is worth the sacrifices of time and money it takes to play these showcases. With Canadian Music Fest happening right now, it’s a good time to ask whether this home-grown festival is intended to benefit Canadian bands, and if a music industry conference in this city is really equipped to highlight what’s great about Toronto’s music community.

In this (micro) generation where musicians can transition from home recording to touring in a matter of months, if they catch a buzz on the internet, the notion of a music festival where bands are made to jump through the hoops of showcasing their talents for “the industry” is as antiquated as the idea that this is really how the music industry works anymore. As The Weeknd and Purity Ring (both Canadian acts who broke out in 2011) illustrate, bands can court labels and fans before they even play a show—the importance of the showcase has given way to Soundcloud pages and traded MP3s.

South by Southwest, its Torontonian cousin, North by Northeast, and CMF make winners out of a handful of already high-profile buzz bands, as well as lifestyle, clothing, and soft-drink companies that use attendees as a captive audience to blast with free samples and billboards. And they make losers out of the hundreds of showcasing bands, who underwrite the process by paying registration fees and providing music free of charge, only to walk away with nothing.(via The Grid)

Exactly! Also watch the video below!!!

 

Why You Should Come To SXSW Even If Your Band Isn’t Showcasing

South by Southwest is a unique cultural experience. So much music, so many artists and bands, so many ideas being expressed in one place. Because of the festival’s unique place in the world, getting a handle on it can and will take more than one go.

When bands get selected to play showcases in Austin they have a lot to think about. Their show, the audience, who they’d like to meet with, not to mention all the logistics of bringing a band down to Austin (note: I’m assuming you’re from out of town). There’s a lot to think about, and that’s not even taking into account the craziness of the festival itself, which at the best of times can be a little overwhelming.

Therefore I’d suggest that even if your band isn’t playing SXSW, it would be a good idea to come down and scope out the scene. Of course make sure you can afford it and all of that stuff, but if you can make it happen then I would recommend it. The whole band doesn’t need to come down, just one or two of the key members/partiers/connectors.

Coming down and checking out the scene will familiarize yourself with the workings of this global music meetup. You can get a feel for the festival, what times of day are the best to play, what bars are hot, what places to avoid, where to stay, where to eat, who to connect with to make your life easier, etc, etc.

Only good things can come from doing ground work and researching the way SXSW works before your band comes to town. The more knowledge you have, the easier it will be for you when your band is selected to showcase. When that time comes, if you’ve been to SXSW before, you can make sure that your money will be well spent. Because coming down as a band will be wayyyy more expensive than having just one person come down and do some research.

 

Musicians: Make It Easier to be Discovered at #SXSW

Since arriving on Monday I’ve seen a lot of bands. Walking down 6th Street will do that. But it seems that during the set of  every good band I see, I’m asked the same type of question by an interested member of the audience: Who is this? Do you know who this is? What did they say their name was?

Mumbling your name at the microphone is at least a better idea than not saying anything at all, but still, the amount of fans you will be able to keep after a SXSW show will be much greater if you have your name on display ANYWHERE. On the kick drum, on your amp, on banner behind the band. The easier for you to set up, the better it will be, but expecting to have the venue properly poster the line up at the show is a fat chance.

Make your life easier and have your bands name somewhere, anywhere, at your live stage show. It will do wonders, it will get you fans, it will translate to cash! Be creative in your sign and just do it.

 

Musicians: How To Host Secret Concerts For Your Biggest Fans

I recently went to a sweet house concert with great bands, great food, and even better people. The whole experience gave me the sense of community within a musical scene. This is exactly what a band can and should be doing for their fans. Fans love seeing their favourite band in a up close setting, and at these shows you can sell them a ton of merch!

Plus this is exactly the sort of things that small to medium sized bands can do very well because their fanbase is still relatively small. The amount of people who sign up to a house show will be manageable… or not if you lucky.

So this is the basic idea:

1. Tell fans you’re having a “Secret Concert“
2. Only those who sign up to the email list and fill out FULL contact info will be entered to win tickets/the first 30 ppl to sign up get in/the first 5 people who get your band’s name tattooed on their face/ some other rule you decide on.
3. Survey the results. How many people signed up? Where are they from? Who are they (age/sex/etc)?
4. Do the concert. Decide where you’ll hold this. How big is your house? Could you fit 10 ppl in there for an awesome time? What about 20? 40? 50? Figure out what you can do with what you have. The point is NOT to rent anything new for this. This is a free thing you can do now.
5. Sell da merch! – Set up an area of the house with your newest, best, and most exclusive, limited edition merch. Then watch it get scooped up by rabid fans. . . Or watch them get drunk and puke on your gear. Either way it’s a great story and make sure to film it, photograph it, and post it all to your sites.

Obviously every band will have to mix up the ingredients to get the best results. Perhaps do this at a buddies house or maybe in some field. In any case house concerts are legit kids. Try them today.

 

How a Video Can Enhance the Emotional Impact of a Song

 

I’m a new fan of 17  year old mash-up wizard, Madeon.

While viewing his videos on YouTube, I saw the same track with two different videos.

1. One was a fan-made video that had a video game as the visuals (as per below)

2. The other was a live-setting professional looking video (as per below)

Even though the first video is fun to watch, the second video has way more emotional impact in terms of me getting excited about his music.

Why?

a. There’s an excited crowd of people loving his music.   Those people are fans like me. I want to be at that show.  This is dance music, so have people having a good time and dancing just amps up the energy level of the viewer.

b. The quality of the footage.  You can watch this video in 1080p and right now almost anything looks visually tasty in 1080 HD.  It adds so much in terms of enhancing the experience of the music.

Think about that while your’e making your next video. Music is all about emotions and anything to help amplify that impact is a good thing.

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