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noeliareads · 5 years

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Penpaling Chapter 1

October, 2017.

“Mom! Did I get any letters yet?” You asked, opening the front door.

“No honey. Sorry.” You murmured an ‘ok’. It was a long day so you made yourself a cup of tea before retiring to your room.

You’ve been waiting for letters to arrive for almost a month. At least one would have arrived by then. You were recently intrigued with penpal letters by watching YouTube videos on them. One month ago you logged onto your Tumblr account and made an infinite amount of posts requesting penpals. You even went out to buy stationery, stickers and everything you can imagine to decorate them and make them look pretty. So far you’ve sent but not yet received.

***

“Oi Felix, you coming or not?” Chan settled himself on the chair of his studio as he stared at Felix who was playing on his phone. He eventually sat beside his friend and started at the computer screen.

“Are we really doing this?”

“Sure, why not?”

Tumblr, a magical and equally scary place that is the home of many fangirls. At least that’s the side they saw. After their first tumblr experience, Felix and Chan liked to go on Tumblr and see if there were any fans watching their survival show and hopefully rooting for them to debut. There were a lot. One day, Chan logged onto his account and began to randomly read posts. He encountered a post called “Penpals?”. He was intrigued.

***

“Penpals?”

Hello! My name is Arizona, I am 20 years old and I am looking for a penpal…

Tags: penpal, kpop penpal, kpop

***

Bang Chan was definitely intrigued by this. He never had a penpal before and what better than someone who didn’t know and never will know who he is. So, he did it. He messaged that person and made sure she knew that he was a safe person to write to. He didn’t want her to give her address to random strangers. But wait, is it just a letter? He looked for ideas and decided on sending her a care package with a few Korean things like snacks, face masks and some cute stationary for her to keep. This was probably the only time he was going to send it anyway. Before he sent it, he made sure to put a fake name on his dorm address. From her tumblr page he knew that she had no idea who they were. She was more into RnB and older generations.

***

Arizona dozed off in her music history class, as always. “Why do I need a degree?” She thought. It’s just a piece of paper and a lot of debt. Eventually, her class finished and she did what she does every single Friday, look for her best friend Nick, sit in their local coffee shop, start their homework and plan their next week. They did that, every single Friday.

“Any luck yet” Nick asked as edited his class notes.

“Yeah! I got one from Australia on Monday and one from Tennessee on Wednesday!” Arizona was ecstatic when she saw the letters in her mailbox. She read them twice and she put the letters and everything in a beautiful velvet box her mother used to have. The tea she received from her Aussie penpal? She drank it.

“I really don’t know how you do it”.

“Do what?”

“Have the patience to write letters and decorate them”. She laughed.

“You just have to be into it. Just like you’re into English, unlike me”.

After a good 2 hours they both headed home. Arizona left her bag in the living room and headed over to the kitchen to help her mother make dinner.

“Honey, did you order anything?” Her mother asked.

“Not that I know of. Why?” Her mother, Clara, nodded her head towards the kitchen table where a box sat. It was a decent sized box. Did she order something? She sat down at the table and examined the box. It did come from Asia for sure because of the mailing information but she was sure she didn’t order anything. Maybe she accidentally clicked order on yesstyle the last time she was on the site. She looked at the sender’s name: Bang Jin Ho. Who was that? Then she remembered the conversation she had with someone from South Korea on Tumblr. ‘Oh shit!’ She thought.

“Mom, I’ll be right back!” She grabbed the box and ran to her room. Her heart was beating fast. She didn’t think he would send her something, maybe a letter, but a big box? She jumped on her bed and began to open it. AGH! She couldn’t. She was too excited.

‘Breathe Arizona. Breathe.’ She took a deep breath and finally opened the box. Shocked is a small word for what she felt.

‘’Did I order a Korean subscription box?” She said out loud. A letter in a blue envelope was the first thing she noticed but, she wanted to save the letter for last so she set it aside.

The first thing she saw was a couple of face masks, Korean face masks. Let me say this again. Korean face masks. Do you know how much these cost online + shipping or in the store? Like 5 dollars each! Anyway she was extremely surprised, there was also a box of.. tea? She obviously couldn’t read Korean. There were two packets of dried seaweed. ‘Oh! I have to try that.’ There was also a mug…. Arizona almost fainted. It was a pink mug that said Girls Generation. Her favorite gg’s! There are more things?! ‘How much money did he spend?’ She thought. There were 3 packs of ramen with different flavors and level of spiciness and oh my lord… so much stationary. ‘Did he buy the whole store?’

Her hands dropped onto her lap as she stared towards the wall. He did this for her. Shipping must have been expensive as hell. She suddenly felt bad. What if he was in a tight spot and needed the money? Did she seem very eager to know about his culture? Oh no. What is he was a sugar daddy?! She didn’t want one! She shook the image out of her head to keep focusing on her task. There were two things left; a pair of bamboo chopsticks and a beautiful bookmark with a golden temple which she immediately put in the book she was currently reading.

She was touched, extremely touched. She put everything back with care and grabbed the letter. Her name was written in neat handwriting.

Dear Arizona, I have to be really honest with you. I’ve never really written a letter before, much less a handwritten on. So you’re the lucky first. I hope this package doesn’t have any problems getting to you. I also hope you liked everything in it. As you may know, I am from South Korea! These are some things from here that I really hope you like. The tea that is inside is Yuja-cha tea, you just stir it in hot water. I know you like SNSD so I included the mug. Oh! I wish I could’ve sent you Soju but I don’t think customs would’ve liked that and I know the legal age in America is 21.

As you also know, my name is Jinho. I am 20 years old and I love music and dancing. I grew up in Australia but moved to Korea because of my dad’s job. I am new to the whole penpaling thing so I really don’t know what else to write about. I do want to recommend you some songs. I know you don’t listen to a lot of newer kpop but here are the songs that I personally like:

Likey by Twice

Be Lazy by Day 6

You Are by Got7

Matryoshka by 3racha (they are soundcloud rappers. I recently discovered them and they’re really good)

I think I’ll end this here. I live in a rented house with a couple of my friends and we are going out to dinner as a group and they are being extremely noisy and I should get ready. I uh, should go. Bye! I hope you have a lovely day and days until you hear from me again. That is if I hear from you again. It was nice writing to you! Bye!

Jinho.

Arizona was smiling ear to ear. Again, she really didn’t expect this gesture. She made a mental note to write down a list in order to send him a few things and to pick up a few more shifts at work. Shipping will be expensive as hell but it’s the least she could do.

Hey guys this is chapter 1. It’s not that great so I hope you like it. I don’t know how many chapters it will be but I do know that it’s going to be a quick and short story.

#stray kids imagine #stray kids imagines #imagines #bang chan #stray kids #bang chan imagine #bang chan imagines #i suck at writing but here it is #penpaling #australia #south korea #america #united states #kpop #kpop imagine #requests open #bang chris #chris bang #christopher bang

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ginaakers · 4 years

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NO SHOWS - NO MONEY?: How can you make money through music without live shows?

NOTE: the information below does not constitute legal advice. The following are some general suggestions on how matters could be handled for those in the music, creative and events industries who have been effected by the implications of the Corona Virus.

During times when artists have no shows it is recommended you look at any other ways you can make an income.

Firstly it may be worth considering other work. Trust me I whole heartidly understand creatives and musicians so I am cringing as I write this. BUT remember this would be a temporary measure, it would not be your career or instead of your career but just a short term means of getting by until live shows are more regular and going ahead again.

You can of course also look at other ways of making money from your music career. For savvy artists you will be doing this anyway so now is the time to develop this further, add new possibilities and maximise on existing ones.

For some this is an area previously overlooked so will provide an opportunity to maximise income ongoing into the future.

Suggestions on other ways to make money through music include:

*Joining the Music Artists And Industries - Unite (MAI-U) Group on Facebook for support, work opportunities, ideas to make an income.

https://www.facebook.com/MusicArtistsIndustriesUnite/

ARE YOU OWED MONEY?

*If you are owed money chase up on this immediately. No matter how old the invoice/money owed to you may be call it in, you need it.

*Check if you’re owed performance royalties from entities such as PRS for Music. If you are not already registered with PRS now is the time to change that so you aren’t missing out in future. That time you would have spent doing a live show this week, well use a fraction of it to go onto the PRS website and register. Even if you aren’t already registered if you are quick you may be able to claim royalties back to the start of this year.

https://www.prsformusic.com/join

DOWNLOADS ETC

*Ensuring your music is available to buy online on as many platforms as possible. Promote the fact your music is available to buy on line and use this time to get creative with your promotion. CD Baby, Spotify, Soundcloud, iTunes, Discogs, RDio.

*Submit Your Music to a Record Club – services like Feedbands.com stream your music to their listeners, they plant 1 tree for every 100 streams, get enough streams and they start paying you. It’s not much but you’ve got nothing to lose.

*Give Away Your Music for Free – this may sound like an ineffective thing to do but for some artists it can really work, sites like NoiseTrade, offer full albums or samplers for free but give listeners/patrons the option to tip. Given the option to choose how much you tip rather than being told what to pay can have some usefully surprising results.

LIVE

*Host live listen/watch party’s such as those on Facebook and provide/promote a link whereby watchers can pay a donation for their favourite requests of your songs, you then prioritise playing/performing these. For interaction and to gain more viewers do Q&A’s from the comments inbetween songs. Here’s an example: https://www.facebook.com/134366399928348/posts/3117307551634203/?d=n

Also check out this document for advice:

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/11wWL_7I4BG76t0V2kw1a4yIeWxUSfGwMQFYdUWAgSnA/mobilebasic

*Host live listen/watch party’s whereby you play the songs of other up and coming artists and provide constructive critique on the songs. Music producers are particularly keen users of these set ups. Hosts tend to get long waiting lists of songs sent to them that they are requested to play. Hosts provide/promote a link whereby those who have sent songs can pay a small donation for their song to be bumped up the queue and prioritised to be played before those that haven’t paid. So if you have paid, your song gets heard first before non payers songs.

*If you have the means you could host live online concerts on a pay per view basis via private link or join a group that organises online music events such as this one: https://facebook.com/events/s/covideo-19-live-stream-fest/848080308998804/?ti=icl

DISTRO & SYNCH

*Look at distribution and synch opportunities. You may want to look at offering your music for Direct Sync Licensing. You’ll need to make connections in the TV and film industries and work out deals to license some of your music to them. But right now you have the time to search for those connections and reach out and do this, don’t be afraid to ask others who have done it for their advice.

*Create Music for Video Games. This also involves reaching out to make connections in the video game producing industry. But there’s no time like the present.

* All Media sync licensing will extend your license to all forms of media, like commercials, TV shows, etc. Look at singing up for All Media Sync Licensing with a Library. CD Baby makes this possible through a partnership with Rumblefish.

*Produce Music for Commercials – easier said than done but maybe not as difficult as you think. Start by looking at smaller and local businesses nearby you who make online commercials and videos to promote their business. Rather than them uses the same old typical video/commercial backing music that everyone else’s uses give them the opportunity to have their own bespoke music for their commercials. Or let them listen through you existing songs and negotiate a license for them to use it.

*Get on Shazam. Ever heard a song somewhere on TV, on an advert, in a shop etc and wondered who it’s by? You’ve probably already heard of it but you can use Shazam to identify that song for you. But it relies on that song being in the Shazam database. Getting in the Shazam database is a must if you you are expecting your music to be used on a TV show or commercial. CD Baby can help you get into the Shazam database.

WEBSITES

*Set up an online shop or a link to a set up where people can buy music and merch online from you. If you have the skills to use Facebook then you’ll most likely have no problem building your own website (if you don’t have one already) that you can sell from or provide link where people can buy your music and merch from.

To build your own website you can use a fee service such as WordPress, Wix or check out something more involved like HostBaby. CD Baby and alike are is a great places as a marketplace, but remember not to rely on them for all of your promotion.

*Join Amazon, ITunes and CD Baby’s Affiliate Programs – If you are already selling your music through these channels you can then make some commission for your efforts. The affiliate links need to be placed from your own website. Join CD Baby’s affiliate program.

*Be an Affiliate for Music Companies/brands. Endorsement deals can be hard to obtain but you may be able to sign up to receive an affiliate commission. These kinds of set ups mean you receive a commission every time someone makes a purchase from the company/brand because of you. Sign up with https://www.gear4music.com/information/affiliates-program

Also try with Musician’s Friend

SELL ‘YOUR’ MUSIC

*Sell Video Recordings of Your Live Performances, this could be done via your website or social media channels.

*Offer Acoustic Versions of Your Music. It may be an option that you can record acoustic versions on your music. You can then offer your fans a different version of your songs and you can promote it just like you do with any new songs you make.

*Offer Your Single as a Ringtone. Your fans may love your songs so much they want them as as their ring tone. You can create your own ringtones and make them available on iTunes.

WRITE

*Write bespoke songs for people - they pay a fee, you write a song for them

*Write for a Music Publication. Contact all music publications and magazines with details of your music background and expertise. Include a sample of an article you have written (it doesn’t have to have been published) to show that you can write. Even if they don’t have any paid opportunities if they have enough readers and allow you to include a link to your website/socials, or mention your music that you’d like to promote you may be able to get a monetary return than way.

*Publish a Book. Write a book on a music related subject. Contact publishers to try to get it published or look at self publishing.

https://selfpublishing.com/self-publishing/

*Create a Blog to Promote Your Music. Blogs are super easy to set up. Try Wordpress, Tumblr, Wix to see which you prefer for setting up your blog. Don’t forget to include the links so readers are directed to where they can buy your music and merch.

*Start a Music Blog and Help Other Musicians. You can start a blog to include articles (rather like this one) to share your experiences and advice as an artist. As you build up the articles on your blog and attract more readers you can eventually package up your advice into guides which you can sell online.

*Monetise your blog. You can use the affiliate suggestions above to help monetise your blog.

*Become an Affiliate for Other Musicians and Artists Books/Guides

MARKET

Create a Premium or VIP Fan Club. With this you can sell premium monthly or annual subscriptions to be in your fan club. You’ll need to make your fan club worthy of the subscription and ensure there is a value to it for subscribers by providing plenty of freebies and behind the scenes access, unique opportunities, chances to hear songs first, see videos first etc.

*Send Out a Sponsored Post or Tweet. If you have a substantial number of followers on social media OR a smaller but highly engaged number of followers you can look at doing sponsored posts or Tweets. To do this you need a service such as Sponsored Tweets to make money on each sponsored tweet you send out. Check out SponsoredTweets.com to find out how much you could make from your tweets. Do a search to find similar services for Instagram etc.

*Create a Digital Guide for Marketing Yourself as a Musician. If you’ve been successful in the music industry in particularly with regards to promoting and marketing yourself and what to do then create a digital guide or ebook to help others who are in need of advice. This is especially useful for those just getting started in music or who are looking for new ideas and inspiration with their marketing and promotion.

PRODUCE

*Produce Music Recordings for Other Musicians

*Write and Produce Jingles. Ever heard a jingle on the radio or somewhere and thought I can do that! If you have a knack for fun catchy lyrics and melodies take a look into writing jingles. Sites like site Fiverr cab market your services or contact radio stations with examples of the services you can offer.

*Record Backing Tracks and Sell Them Online. Creating a business that sells backing tracks could be an option to you if you have professional quality audio equipment and access to a studio. If you can create a large enough catalogue of backing tracks this could turn into a business that’s making money for you even when you’re not making music.

*Offer Sounds for Sampling Licensing. Similar to music licensing but more focused on specific sounds. You will need to build you contacts and relationships with TV, Film and radio production companies but there’s no time like the present to start.

*Create Sound Files. If you play a range of different instruments you could create sound files or virtual instruments. Composers and music producers often need help when creating their music. Recording sound files (especially unique sounding ones or using unique or unusual instruments) and creating an online database where they can be purchased from could give you an additional income. Take a look at Impact Soundworks.

*Provide Music for Corporate. Video is now necessity in marketing and promotion, it is particularly key for online and social media platforms. Whether for marketing or for information sharing or educational purposes Corporate video creation is on the increase. In light of this there’s now a requirement for people who can create and edit music for these kinds of videos. You can break into this area by teaming up with a videographer to make a few initial videos for free as examples to start your portfolio.

CROWDFUND

*Crowdfund Your Next Album, Single or Video. If you need funds for your next music creation why not look to crowdfunding to raise that money?

Services like Patreon, allows people to become subscribers to your music often for just a small pledge for your next song or music video. Take a look to see how it works and how much artists are raising.

YOUTUBE

*Create a YouTube Channel and Share a Link to Buy Your Music

*Sign Up for MicroSync Licensing with YouTube. This form of licensing, makes it possible for you to get paid when someone uses your music as background on one of their videos posted to YouTube. CD Baby can make this possible for you.

*Create a YouTube Channel and Display Advertising. Basically earn funds by allowing adverts to be displayed on your YouTube channel.

RE-SELL INSTRUMENTS/EQUIPMENT

Re-sell Your Old Instruments Online. This is the ideal time to sell off instruments and equipment that you have replaced or that no longer work. Try Gumtree and eBay.

TEACH, EDUCATE & SELL SHEET MUSIC

*Teach Live Music Lessons Online. Charge through a PayPal link.

*Record Lessons and Sell Them Online. Scott’s Bass Lessons is basically exactly that. Charge for subscriptions to access your lessons and/or create a website where you can sell your best video lessons.

https://scottsbasslessons.com

*Create an Instructional Digital Guide. These cost very little other than your time to put together. Particularly if you don’t like the idea of teaching live or videoed music lessons creating an eBook on teaching how to play an instrument also provides learners with another type of source to learn from.

*Transcribe Music for Others. If you are particularly skilled in music or playing a range of instruments this could suit you as another chargeable service to offer.

*Create a Music Education or Appreciation App. If you are tech savvy as well as music savvy this is a great opportunity for additional income.

*Sell Sheet Music. If you are highly skilled at playing a rare or unusual musical instrument you could create specific sheet music and sell it from your website. You can also Earn Print Rights for Your Sheet Music, this is similar to how it works for your recordings, when a composition of your recording is reproduced, you can earn money.

NOTE: The above does not constitute any legal advice but are some suggestions for artists to consider.

Reference Articles:

https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/101-ways-to-make-money-as-a-musician/

https://selfpublishing.com/self-publishing/

https://scottsbasslessons.com

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subpalsblog · 4 years

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sempiternalsandpitturtle · 4 years

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How do iTunes podcast rankings work, really?

It seems like every brand has a podcast these days. From sponsored shows like Casper’s “In Your Dreams” and McDonald’s “Serial”-inspired investigation into its star-crossed 2017 Szechuan sauce revival to directly produced content like Brafton’s“Above the Fold,” brands have taken over the podcasting world.

We’re way beyond Mailchimp and Stamps.com ads here, people.

And why not? Podcasting is among the latest trends in digital marketing, providing yet another avenue for companies to engage target audiences, spread their messaging and establish their authority and expertise in whatever corner of the industry they operate in.

Unlike, say, whitepapers, blogs or eBooks, podcasts are a passive form of content, so listeners can stay tuned in and multitask. People who may not have time during the workday to sit down and read a whitepaper from start to finish can listen along to a branded podcast while devoting themselves to mundane tasks like checking email, generating reports or updating spreadsheets.

There are plenty of ways to promote your podcast – LinkedIn, email newsletters, your blog page, to name a few – but eventually you need to deal with the 800-pound gorilla of the podcasting industry: iTunes.

Making the most of iTunes as a distribution platform requires marketers to understand its ranking system so your show is exposed to the largest audience possible. But how do iTunes’ podcast rankings work, exactly?

Where’s the money? iTunes podcast rankings’ biggest challenge

Apple iTunes is one of – if not the – premier podcast platforms, and if you want to reach the most listeners, you’ll need to get your show hosted on the iTunes store. If you think you can get by with just your own landing page and SoundCloud, consider that every iPhone comes pre-loaded with the iTunes app. That’s a big, ready-made install base right there.

Like Google, Apple is pretty secretive about how its platforms rank content, releasing precious little information regarding its proprietary algorithms. You might think that both iTunes’ catch-all Top 200 list as well as the top-ranking charts related to various sub-categories would be driven exclusively by the number of downloads each podcast or episode receives, but it’s not quite that simple.

With Apple staying mum on the specifics of its iTunes podcast ranking method, are content marketers left searching in the dark?

Not quite.

Some intrepid folks have taken it upon themselves to probe the darkest depths of the iTunes platform, experiment with trackable measurements and shed some light on Apple’s process.

Dan Misener, head of audience development at Pacific Content, a firm that specialises in helping businesses develop their own branded podcasts, summed up the problem pretty succinctly, noting that there’s no easy way to tie podcast metrics with their monetary value. In other areas of the iTunes ecosystem – music, TV shows, movies and audiobooks – the vast majority of downloads are paid for, so there’s a simple monetisation link to identify.

Not so with podcasts.

While some do charge on a per-episode basis or for archived content, most are free to download. Obviously, B2B podcasts whose focus is on building engagement won’t charge at all, so we have to dig deeper into Apple’s KPIs to determine how its ranking system is set up.

The weird, wild world of iTunes podcast rankings

First off, it’s important to understand what Apple’s iTunes podcast rankings are trying to achieve. It isn’t solely a popularity contest – although raw downloads, play-button clicks and show subscriptions certainly factor into the equation. Rather, Apple approaches iTunes rankings with a similar mindset and goal as Google with its search rankings. It wants to support the best content that users will find valuable and enjoyable, and make those programmes more visible. Having said that, you still tend to see comedic, popular podcasts like “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “WTF With Marc Maron” and Bill Burr’s “Monday Morning Podcast” littered all over the Top 200 charts.

Figuring out what other listeners like – or at least what’s generated a lot of downloads – is a good start, but there are other engagement metrics to consider:

What percentage of listeners subscribe to the podcast?

What percentage of plays come from “drive-by” listeners(i.e., people who listen to podcasts in a one-off fashion and never subscribe to them)?

Did listeners finish the podcast? If not, when did they tap out?

What is its average star rating on the iTunes store?

What are people saying about it in the text portions of their reviews?

Now, a few of those KPIs are dependent on iTunes users agreeing to share their information with Apple. It’s difficult to say how many people opt into Apple’s data-sharing policy, but seeing as brand sites have their own blind spots with visitors who don’t enable cookies, content marketers should be used to that kind of uncertainty.

Libsyn’s Vice President of Podcaster Relations (yes, you read that right), Rob Walch, has done his fair share of experiments with Apple’s algorithms. In fact, you could maybe even go so far as to say that Walch is the foremost expert on all things iTunes podcast rankings – goofy professional title, notwithstanding.

Walch’s overarching conclusion? It’s all about new subscribers. Here’s how his ranking theory breaks down:

Multiply your number of new subscribers on day 1 by 4.

Multiply your number of new subscribers on day 2 by 3.

Multiply your number of new subscribers on day 3 by 2.

Add those three figures together.

Then, add to that the total number of new subscribers from days 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Once you’ve got that, divide the whole thing by 13.

That may sound like a lot of seemingly arbitrary math, but the important takeaway here is that bringing in a consistent flow of new subscribers will – we think – make or break your podcast’s iTunes ranking. Better get out there and start spreading the word.

The good news is that as competitive as iTunes podcast rankings are, they’re never static – in fact, Misener’s research suggests that Apple actively courts some degree of turnover among its top performers. So, focus on creating good content that people will want to listen to – even if just passively – and you’ve got a shot at hitting the upper echelons of the iTunes podcast ranking charts.

What you can do to improve your ranking …

Take a look at the Top 200 list for any podcast category, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a single fly-by-night show with low production values and hosts who are in over their heads. This is the cream of the crop, so if you want to be an iTunes partycrasher, you have to create a product that stands up with the best out there.

Bring an engaging host onboard

A good host can elevate dry subject matter, save a floundering interview and keep listeners coming back week after week. Ideally, your podcast host will be engaging, funny, intelligent and opinionated. They should be able to get a conversation going with your audience.

Focus on the latest news and trends

In theory, iTunes’ “New & Noteworthy” section focuses on podcasts that discuss groundbreaking industry developments and give a unique perspective on those trends and topics that make it worthwhile for discerning users to tune in. That also means you should regularly update your podcast with fresh episodes to cover the latest news and industry buzz.

Feel free to go off on the odd tangent every now and then. Those little diversions can lead you down some compelling rabbit holes. But never go into a recording session without a few major topics outlined beforehand. This isn’t Second City, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re probably no Steve Carrell. You need some structure and direction to keep your podcast focused and relevant.

Promote your podcast with well-written copy

Very few people listen to a new podcast sight unseen. You need to draw them in by giving them a taste of what they can expect from a given episode or your podcast’s overall theme. A good episode summary should go beyond a strict play-by-play or bone-dry synopsis and entice iTunes users to give your podcast a listen. Don’t stop at iTunes either; you can gain more direct downloads by creating dedicated pages for each episode on your brand’s site.

Encourage more reviews

Most information out there suggests that both star ratings and review comments play a role in iTunes podcast rankings. Reach out to your listeners, even if it’s just a quick shout-out at the top or tail-end of an episode to have them leave a review on iTunes. A lot of iTunes users out there won’t think to leave a review, whether it’s good or bad, without a little prodding.

Promote your podcast everywhere you can

Treat your podcast like any other piece of content and get the word out. Add a download page on your website, promote it on social media and include it in your email newsletters – whatever it takes to increase awareness and drive visitors to your iTunes page.

… and what’s out of your control

For years the holy grail of podcasting was having your show highlighted in iTunes’ “New & Noteworthy” section. Many up-and-coming podcasts enjoyed a major boost in popularity after receiving Apple’s official seal of approval and being prominently featured in such a highly visible place on the iTunes store.

Unfortunately, according to Rob Walch, there’s really no way to game the system short of having an inside connection at Apple who’s either a big fan of your podcast or owes you a really big favour. Walch claims that there are no sophisticated ranking algorithms that determine what podcasts are given that primo spot on the iTunes store: All “New & Noteworthy” selections are curated personally by Apple staff members.

Of course, even if you did have an insider working at Apple, it may not matter. As recently as March 2018, observant podcasters noticed that many of the “New & Noteworthy” selections were coming up a little short in the “New” department. Eagle-eyed podcast editor Steve Stewart spotted multiple podcasts featured that were several months old.

This development would seem to contradict the widely held (and evidently mistaken) belief that only podcasts created within the last 8 weeks are included in the “New & Noteworthy” list.

Set realistic expectations

Every burgeoning podcaster’s dream is to land a coveted spot among iTunes’ Top 200 podcasts. It’s an ambitious goal, bordering on unrealistic, given the competition. “But”, you ask, “if Colin Cowherd can make it, why can’t I?”

Take a look at who you’re up against:

You’ve got heavy hitters like Conan O’Brien, Joe Rogan and Oprah herself in there. Not to mention massively popular podcasts like “Serial”, “This American Life” and “Stuff You Should Know”. Optimism is good. Confidence is even better. But you have to set some realistic expectations, otherwise you’ll always be disappointed by your podcast’s performance, no matter how well it does.

Set your sights a little lower and identify a sub-category that you want to target. iTunes segments podcasts into various categories, including Technology, Health, Education and Business.

You have a much better shot at cracking those highest-ranking charts than iTunes’ overall Top 200 podcasts. Not to mention, the people combing through those defined category pages will be more likely to actually download an episode of your podcast than someone who’s on the hunt for their next true crime fix. As always, you want to create content that’s relevant to your audience, so your first step should be figuring out what they’re interested in and what type of information they find valuable.

You can even use one of the many custom RSS feeds available to track iTunes podcast rankings for specific categories, which will make your job a whole lot easier.

One last bit of advice: Set up a dedicated RSS feed

Speaking of RSS feeds, be sure to create a specific RSS feed URL for your podcast and submit it to Apple. Why? Well, first of all, Apple won’t approve your podcast without one – kind of a deal-breaker there – but it also makes it easy for listeners to subscribe to your podcast and receive the latest episodes every time there’s a new update.

Creating a dedicated RSS feed for your podcast – rather than, say an all-encompassing feed that includes your blog posts, case studies, press releases and whatever other content is live on your site – helps podcast hosting apps like SoundCloud, Podcast Addict and Spotify pick up every new episode and make it available as soon as it goes live. That way, you can easily cover more ground and reach a wider audience beyond iTunes users.

Creating a high-ranking podcast isn’t impossible, but you definitely need to be dedicated to your podcasting craft to have a hope of cracking the Top 200 chart of any category on the iTunes store. And while Apple’s specific ranking method still remains somewhat shrouded in secrecy, hopefully it feels a little less mysterious now to all you burgeoning podcasters out there. With any luck, one day you’ll find yourself placed right up there alongside the Marc Marons and Karen Kilgariffs of the world.

In the meantime, happy podcasting!

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sheminecrafts · 5 years

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Meet SoundCloud rival Audius, free & anti-takedowns

“It was SoundCloud’s opportunity to lose and now it’s ours” says Audius CEO Roneil Rumburg. Plenty of musicians and fans are sick of SoundCloud’s expensive hosting costs, haphazard content takedowns, and lagging user experience as the site’s status withers. Audius wants to be the opposite, and offer a new home for artists where they’ll eventually earn 90% of revenue earned and the startup itself can’t remove songs.

Today Audius launches its music streaming and free hosting service backed by DJs like deadmau5 and Zed’s Dead, plus $5.5 million in A-list venture capital. Music makers can upload their songs at no cost, and users can browse, follow, and get listening recommendations. The catalog is small to start with just a few hundred artists, but Audius has big plans for how to lure artists choosing between other SoundCloud alternatives from Mixcloud to YouTube.

The secret sauce is that Audius isn’t just a web and mobile site, it’s an open source protocol built on the blockchain, not that users need to be versed in cryptocurrency or do anything special to signup. Audius doesn’t actually host the music, but decentralizes it across independently operated nodes, which it believes will protect it from lawsuits and record label pressure. It’s distributing its own crypto tokens to incentivize artists that join early as well as the node operators with the insinuation that these might rise in value if the service grows popular.

Audius is completely free for listening at high quality 320kbps. For now, artists can’t make money, though many still can’t on SoundCloud. But in early 2020, the startup plans to let artists opt into requiring users to occasionally listen to ads or pay a few dollars per month for an Audius subscription. 90% of revenue will go to the artists and 10% to the node operators, and their are also plans to cut in playlist curators. Audius itself hopes the value of its tokens will rise so it can sell from its stockpile to generate revenue.

“Audius’ dedication to empowering artists through supporting direct relationships with fans, censorship resistance, and fair pay is so important in a time when artists are being mistreated regularly” writes dance music superstar Deadmau5 aka Joel Zimmerman who’s on the startup’s advisory board. Other artists like Zeds Dead, Mr. Carmack, and Rezz have pledged to put some exclusive music on Audius, ranging from finished tracks to rough drafts. They were attracted by the promise of bigger and faster payouts, plus a transparent copyright takedowns process.

The biggest challenge for Audius will be playing catchup recruiting artists and listeners over a decade after SoundCloud launched and when Spotify already has 108 million paying subscribers from is 232 million users. For now there’s not much special about the user experience, where you can listen to a feed of what you follow or library of saved songs, or check out trending artists and playlists At least sign up is easier than most blockchain apps, requiring merely an email address or Twitter sign-in, though crypto kids can use MetaMask. The lack of native mobile apps won’t help, though.

All the artists-first philosophy won’t matter if it never gains traction. But if Audius does grow, it has a savvy approach to preventing unnecessary content takedowns. Rumburg claims an estimated 80% of takedowns on apps like SoundCloud and YouTube are not actually infringing copyright, leading to great content disappearing. “Audius doesn’t have the ability to deplatform you or censor you” says Audius co-founder Forrest Browning.

Audius co-founders (from left): Forrest Browning, Roneil Rumburg

First, since it doesn’t host the songs itself, it will just pass copyright holder complaints on to the uploaders themselves. Owners can be reassigned the revenue being earned by a song rather than have it taken down. And instead of pulling down a whole DJ set, the rights holder of a 5 minute song in an hour-long mix would get 1/12 of the proceeds. Browning tells me “A lot of artists are completely fine with their content being remixed or mashed up.”

If disputes aren’t resolved, rights holders can approach the operators of nodes hosting the music and file a local equivalent of ta DMCA takedown request, though the music might still live on other nodes beyond the law. In that case, rights holders file a complaint to the Audius arbitration committee made up of users. That group can vote on whether a track legally should be removed or its revenue reattributed, and both plaintiffs and committee members must put up a small financial stake they’ll lose if their claim is frivolous or they make erroneous decisions.

vimeo

We’ll see if this hands-off approach to censorship actually flies with the law. If so, it could give artists confidence in joining Audius that they lack elsewhere. Many are frustrated after constantly having to rebuild their audience on different platforms from MySpace to iTunes to Spotify to SoundCloud, especially if their tracks are disappearing. One benefit of being open sourced and decentralized is that “Let’s say our company closes up shop in 5 years? Audius and the content will live on forever, as long as folks continue to operate the nodes” Rumburg explains.

To make sure it stays in business as it stretches its venture funding from General Catalyst and Lightspeed, Audius has plans for additional tools that could make it and artists money. From being able to crowdfund future albums to selling merchandise or VIP experiences, Audius could become a gateway to spending on independent music. It could have to compete with itself, though, since Audius’ on-demand streaming site is just one client built on its Open Source protocol. The founders say they hope other people will build Pandora-style radio clients, music discovery apps, and more listening options through its APIs.

Rumburg and Browning met the summer after high school at a camp of Stanford admits. Throughout college, the recent graduates got deeper into dance music subgenres by devouring everything on SoundCloud. But watching their favorite artists get music kicked off that app while their DJ friends struggled to break through the algorithms, Rumburg says they wondered “how can we remove the platform from this equation?”

Music businesses aiming to free art from “the man” so often end up becoming him. But by decentralizing control and funneling money directly to creators, Audius may code its way into music culture.

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technicalsolutions88 · 5 years

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“It was SoundCloud’s opportunity to lose and now it’s ours” says Audius CEO Roneil Rumberg. Plenty of musicians and fans are sick of SoundCloud’s expensive hosting costs, haphazard content takedowns, and lagging user experience as the site’s status withers. Audius wants to be the opposite, and offer a new home for artists where they’ll eventually earn 90% of revenue earned and the startup itself can’t remove songs.

Today Audius launches its music streaming and free hosting service backed by DJs like Deadmau5 and Zed’s Dead, plus $5.5 million in A-list venture capital. Music makers can upload their songs at no cost, and users can browse, follow, and get listening recommendations. The catalog is small to start with just a few hundred artists, but Audius has big plans for how to lure artists choosing between other SoundCloud alternatives from Mixcloud to YouTube.

All the artists-first philosophy won’t matter if it never gains traction. But if Audius does grow, it has a savvy approach to preventing unnecessary content takedowns. Rumberg claims an estimated 80% of takedowns on apps like SoundCloud and YouTube are not actually infringing copyright, leading to great content disappearing. “Audius doesn’t have the ability to deplatform you or censor you” says Audius co-founder Forrest Browning.

Audius co-founders (from left): Forrest Browning, Roneil Rumberg

Rumberg and Browning met the summer after high school at a camp of Stanford admits. Throughout college, the recent graduates got deeper into dance music subgenres by devouring everything on SoundCloud. But watching their favorite artists get music kicked off that app while their DJ friends struggled to break through the algorithms, Rumberg says they wondered “how can we remove the platform from this equation?”

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theinvinciblenoob · 5 years

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Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2018 Holiday Gift Guide! Need more gift ideas? Check out our Gift Guide Hub.

“How do I start a podcast?”

As the producer of the TechCrunch podcast Equity, I get this question all the time. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to get your voice out there, even on a shoestring budget.

As interest skyrockets, the barrier to entry is getting lower, with more microphones, gadgets and services hitting the market all the time. But unless you have an audio engineering degree, it can all be a bit overwhelming.

I’ve spent a lot of time researching, testing and breaking podcasting gear so you don’t have to. We all have that friend who always talks about starting their very own podcast. Want to help them (or you) get the ball rolling this holiday season? Here’s where I’d start.

Microphones

Never let the gear get in the way of getting your voice heard. First you’ll need a microphone. For better or worse, there are microphones in everything these days — and some of them are actually pretty decent. If all you have is your phone, your phone is all you need. Get that voice memo application out and hit record.

While the built-in microphone will do in a pinch, a few bucks can go a long way to improve the sound quality that you can capture with your phone. Pop on this Rode VideoMic Me ($50 on Amazon) and the audio captured by your phone will be greatly improved (pro tip: you’ll need a dongle if your phone, like many these days, doesn’t have a headphone jack.)

If you want those sexy ASMR sounds, though, you will have to invest in a bigger microphone.

In the mid-level range, the microphone I most often recommend is the Blue Yeti Pro ($250 on Amazon). It’s simple and sounds great, and is the closest thing to a plug-and-play solution that I have found. It supports both USB and XLR, which makes it way more flexible (and makes it play friendly with audio interfaces, which I’ll talk about next). Blue Mics also sells a cheaper alternative with the non-pro Yeti ($130 on Amazon), the downside being that there’s no XLR support there.

If you are looking for something on the higher end, here at TC we run our podcasts off of four Neumann KMS 105 Handheld Condenser Microphones ($699 on Amazon). They sound amazing — but if you’re just getting started, it’s almost certainly not a big enough improvement from the Yeti to justify the price.

Audio interfaces

Macs are unable to run two of the same USB mics at the same time. When you need more than one mic at one time, you’ll need an interface that lets you funnel and control multiple mics into one computer. This is one of the places where that aforementioned XLR support on the Yeti Pro comes in handy.

We use the Tascam US-4×4 4-Channel USB Audio Interface ($200 on Amazon). It’s simple and does its job well, handling up to four mics at once. Tascam also sells a two-mic version ($150 on Amazon) if you don’t need as many mics simultaneously — but at only $50 cheaper, you might want to spend the cash now for the sake of future flexibility.

Handheld devices

You can’t always be in the studio, but podcasting on-the-go can be a pain in the ass. Imagine having to lug around a bunch of mics and interfaces and tangled-up wires just to shoot an episode from the road.

One solution to this problem is to use a smaller recording device. Again, here, your phone works. But when I need higher fidelity when recording remotely, I tap one of the portable recorders put out by Zoom.

My go-to is the Zoom H4N ($220 on Amazon). This thing is an audio beast with the ability to capture stereo audio with the built-in microphones on the top in addition to being able to connect two external mics. I see a ton of reporters running around with this recorder.

Smaller and less robust than the H4N, but still able to capture that crisp juicy audio, is the Zoom H1N ($120 on Amazon). It doesn’t have the ability to connect external mics and can’t act as an audio interface like the more capable H4N — but for getting audio on the fly, this small package is what you are looking for.

Remote recording software

In addition to hardware, any fledgling podcaster will need some software to get the job done. A common situation that many podcasters come across is how to record an interview or conversation with multiple people when all of those people are in different locations.

Zencastr is essentially a conference call service that has a bunch of extra features specifically designed for podcasters. It records your audio and the audio of your guest locally. That greatly improves the audio quality of your guest, making sure their side of the conversation doesn’t sound like a Skype call. They have a free option (two guests, 8 hours of recording per month) to get you started, but $20 a month bumps you up to unlimited guests and unlimited recordings.

Another neat feature Zencastr offers is automatic post-production; just select the tracks from your recording session and in a few minutes Zencastr spits out a track that has perfectly leveled sound. Zencastr also allows you to input your intro music, sound effects or anything else you’ve got pre-recorded to cut down on the things you need to add in post-production. Zencastr is the only service out there that I have found that incorporates all these essentials — it’s not perfect, but it’s the best thing I’ve seen out there.

If you didn’t want to spend the money on a subscription service, you can always patchwork it together with Skype, the ECAMM recorder plug-in, Soundflower and Linein. To explain how to rig all of these together would require a separate post that I hope to never write, but Googling those keywords should get you started.

Editing software

Unless you’re a one-take wonder, you’re going to need to get yourself some editing software. You might get away with posting raw audio at first, but eventually you’ll want to edit out those umms and uhhs and trim out any random background noise.

These editing programs can get complicated and expensive, and it’s easy to find yourself in the editing deep end. My suggestion? Start with the free stuff.

The first podcasts I ever edited were done on GarageBand. It was free and simple enough for me to learn quickly, with the catch that it’s Mac/iOS only. Another option for simple/free is Audacity. Unlike GarageBand, it’s available on Windows/Linux — and it does a lot more than you might expect from the price tag.

Once you reach the point where you find yourself needing to spend money, you have all sorts of options to pick from. Ask five editors what to use and each will give you a different answer. Most will just recommend the program that they learned on. The big three are Audition by Adobe, Pro Tools by Avid and Logic Pro X by Apple. The first two have free trials, so start there and figure out what you like best.

Hosting

Where is your podcast going to live?

Before it can make it onto iTunes, your podcast needs to be hosted somewhere. There are many ways to do this from building your pod a website on services like Squarespace or Wix. Another option is to use to use the music / audio sharing service SoundCloud.

My favorite option for hosting is a service called Simplecast. Simplecast makes uploading and distributing your podcast… well, simple. For about 10 bucks a month Simplecast will host as many episodes as you can make, provides you with an RSS feed to submit to iTunes and provides you with nifty perks like embeddable players for social media.

But by far one of the best features of Simplecast is their analytics. They provide you with how many downloads each episode gets, where those downloads are coming from and what service your audience is listening on (whether it be Pocketcast, Apple’s podcasting app or the embedded player you just tweeted out).

I hope that helps you on your podcasting journey. Now get out there and start making content!

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metistengmusic-blog · 6 years

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Annotated bibliography: The impact YouTube on YouTube copyright infringement

Though the readings below, it is clear that YouTube now holds the biggest number of users in audio streaming services, while the artists earned the least from those services. This would not just be responsibility of YouTube, some artists, particularly independent artists, are more than happy to share their work for free, since they feel it could be a win-win situation. Thus, it is foreseen that audio streaming services might imitate the pattern of video streaming services to make majority of artists and labels shaking their hands. Meanwhile, the internet users have to be educated, or the copyright infringement will not have end. Karp, H. 2016. “Artists give YouTube earful about royalties --- royalty rates, holes in copyright protections pit music industry against website.” Wall Street Journal. https://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1799976562?accountid=13380 YouTube now is the main platform that people listen to music. In the mean time, the music industry is fighting with YouTube for the falling royalty rate it pays per stream as it grows, and also the copyright infringement. Regarding a right holder, YouTube’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., pays only one sixth rate of SoundCloud and Spotify in the free tiers, and Paid subscription services of these streaming services even pay more. However, according International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s latest report, YouTube has over 1 billion subscribers which is much more than Spotify and Apple Music with the combining subscribers number at 68 million.

To solve the problem of copyright infringement, YouTube has provided a system to many music right holders called Content ID, which has been said that it could automatically block their music on the site if the audio files have across too many similarities. However, record labels complained that the system has high demand in manual search to collect royalties. Neither can Content ID automatically identify many recordings once users have mixed them.

Christou, C. 2016. “Don't rip off YouTube.” Information Today 33:1-27. https://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1861789270?accountid=13380

Copyright infringement of YouTube has brought from numbers of artists, which does not mean to abandon the site but pays more attention on Copyright Education. The internet is an indispensable medium for people today. “87% of American adults use the internet, up from 14% in 1995” according to the survey by Pew Research Center’s Internet, Science& Tech division. Internet could easily impact individuals, for they use internet for networking, collecting information, communicating, socialising and entertaining. YouTube is one of the main streams that is daily used by users. Regarding StageofLife.com, "63.5% of teenagers watch YouTube daily- with 34% watching multiple times per day.” However, there are nearly 30% participants responded for copyright awareness as “not very aware at all.”

Free and easy listening; YouTube and copyright. 2016. The Economist. 419 (8995): 59-n/a. https://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1799310976?accountid=13380

Many artists including Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and U2 has signed a letter to highlight the free-taken videos on YouTube and to call for improving copyright law. This action of the music industry aims to “persuade YouTube to pay more for playing their songs” rather than destroying the business.

In 2015, it is estimated that 900 million people listen music via ad-supported user-upload services regarding YouTube. However, the music industry only received $634 million from those streaming services. Compared with subscription-based services such as Spotify that has fewer users, musicians earned relatively more with 2.3 billion. Since it is expected YouTube will collect more than 9 billion in advertising revenue, not only record labels but also independent artists do have high chance not leaving YouTube. It is not surprising that three big record label: Universal Music Group, Warner Music and Sony Music Entertainment are negotiating new deal with YouTube and hope to take more benefits from this potential media platform.

Jacobson, Erin M. 2016. “Music Industry Cases To Watch In 2017.” Accessed March 27, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2016/12/29/music-industry-cases-to-watch-in-2017/#c30ca566a565

The music attorney Erin Jacobson outlined some well-known 2017 music legal cases. It included, firstly, Global MusicRight v. The Radio Music Licensing Commission (and The Radio Music Licensing Commission v Global Music Rights), and TSiriusXM is sued by The Turtles for non-paying royalties to play their sound recordings. Also, Marvin Gaye and Pharrell Williams went to court for high similarity between Blurred Lines and Got To Give It up.

Sweney, Mark. 2017. “Music industry goes to war with YouTube.” Accessed March 29, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/15/music-industry-youtube-video-streaming-royalties

YouTube seems to be a successful site. For audience, they have enjoyed music and video on YouTube, and for Google, they have gained significant money by it. Unfortunately, artists do not earn much from this business, since Although YouTube has claimed that they are bringing music industry and audience closer that means there is more opportunities for labels and publishers to earn money , YoTube is paying less than other services like Apple Music and Spotify with roughly $1 per user for a whole year, according to the global recording industry body, IFPI. Chief executive of Cisac, the international confederation of societies of authors and composers, Gadi Oron stated “The biggest problem facing music creators is that the most significant source of online music, video streaming services, pay them insignificant royalties.” “This is a huge global flaw in the music landscape: it is unfair and it is alarming.”

Tsigkou, Maria-Elena. 2017. The Impact of YouTube on the Music Industry. http://referaat.cs.utwente.nl/conference/26/paper/7617/the-impact-of-youtube-on-the-music-industry.pdf

It is an investigation paper trying to address the controversial issues of copyright infringement between music industry and YouTube by interviewing artists and YouTube users. The represented data of YouTube users and artists focused on specific geographical area, Greece. The interviewed artists, however, are also spread internationally to Netherland and USA but it was limited in metal sub-genre. There are three focused questions: 1. What is the role of YouTube in the current state of the music industry? 2. How is this video streaming service affecting the music industry, its business models and artists themselves? 3. Should sharing music via YouTube be considered piracy and what is the opinion of users and artists?

The result was positive to have YouTube as a main stream service. The interviewed artists believe it is a win-win situation to have YouTube, and for the about 40% of YouTube users of the participants are disagree or strong disagree to make the copyright legislation stricter. Moreover, almost 50% of them do not feel they are creating copyright violence as they sharing copyright protected materials. Thus, the researcher, Maria-Elena Tsigkou, concluded that YouTube would eventually be chosen in terms of its accessibility. However, the cooperate strategies of audio streaming services might follow video streaming’s regarding the streaming services would become the labels and own the copyright.

Ciampa, Rob, Theresa Moore, John Carucci, Stan Muller, Adam Wescott. “10 things to know about copright and YouTube.” Accessed March 30, 2018. http://www.dummies.com/business/marketing/social-media-marketing/10-things-to-know-about-copyright-and-youtube/

This article briefly mentioned common mistakes people made by sharing videos on YouTube, which results in unwilling legal consequences of copyright infringement. It is worthy noting that as the video is categorised as criticism or parody or commentary is fair use on YouTube. Moreover, the rumour is clarified that it is not true to relief from legal liability if the user less than 40 seconds of anything.

#copyright infringement #youtube #music industry #internet era #spotify #audio streaming service

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allineednow · 6 years

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<p>Our music tech predictions for 2018: SoundCloud's survival, the Bitcoin boom and more modular madness</p>

What technological trends can listeners and artists anticipate in 2018? Scott Wilson stares into his crystal ball to discover how tech may change the way we have and make music in 2017, wondering what changes are coming into Spotify, whether SoundCloud will live and whether Eurorack equipment will continue to inspire musicians.

From the insidious rise of "fake news" to the rising prevalence of AI in our everyday lives, 2017 was actually a fairly terrifying year concerning technology's impact on society. In the music business, streaming continued to dominate the headlines, as SoundCloud fought to stay afloat and artists pushed back against the allegedly meagre royalties doled out to smaller artists and labels by firms like Spotify.

Technology's effect on music in 2017 wasn't all bad. For music-makers at least, the year brought a slew of innovative new programs and gadgets for production, while blockchain technology began to be taken seriously as a way of making sure musicians and everybody involved in the music production and distribution process get paid correctly and fairly.

So what technological developments and trends might 2018 hold for artists and listeners? We have made some predictions about what the next 12 months might bring into the music industry -- the good things and the bad.

SoundCloud will survive 2018, but its influence and usability will wane

2017 was a disastrous season for SoundCloud. The streaming company was forced to lay off 40 percent of its workforce and shut down offices in London and San Francisco to stay afloat after haemorrhaging millions of dollars in cash over the past few years. Hopes for a sale to a larger company such as Google or Spotify appear to have been dashed as well, leaving the business's long-term potential quite uncertain. And no, Chance the Rapper isn't going to be the one to save it.

Where does this leave the service, which is still a vital tool for established and emerging musicians? Well, it appears improbable that it will fold this season: the company secured $169.5 million in private investment in 2017, which ought to keep it afloat in the short term. However, with so much upheaval in the business, it is likely this money will be going towards keeping the lights on -- not developing the platform or innovating in any meaningful manner.

It is not clear what the successor to SoundCloud will be, or even if any platform that allows the same kind of simple music hosting will take its place. With artists earning less money than ever, especially from streaming services, anticipate artists and labels to make their own spaces not reliant on corporations, as LuckyMe did last year. In the short term though, services such as Bandcamp and YouTube will likely cement themselves as alternative destinations to SoundCloud for unsigned artists to upload and monetize their music.

Big changes at Spotify and beyond will affect its users

Spotify's year has got off to an uneven start. Yes, news emerged this week that the streaming giant will eventually list itself on the New York Stock Exchange at a public offering sometime before the end of March, but it also got hit by a $1.6 billion copyright suit by Wixen Music Publishing Inc, a company that collects royalties for songwriters including Tom Petty, Neil Young and the Doors.

Though going public will generate plenty of cash for the company, it will also imply its business practices come under more scrutiny from its investors and regulators. Spotify is growing, but so are its losses, and the platform should have a strategy to stop it losing money. Among the easiest ways it can do that would be to lose its free tier to convert its free listeners to paid subscribers -- or, at the very least, dramatically restrict what content could be listened on it. It actually offered some labels the opportunity to keep new albums off the free grade for two weeks last year, so it is reasonable to assume more restrictions are coming.

There's also the problem of the potential passing of net neutrality in the usa. Even though it is not yet a done deal with a legal battle being mounted, it is looking likely that services that use a good deal of bandwidth will be subject to higher usage fees from companies such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. Giants like Google, Apple and Amazon have deep enough pockets to absorb this cost, but Spotify? Unless it's prepared to take on more debt or can strike a favorable deal, the customer may end up paying more for a monthly subscription.

Cryptocurrency hype will hit the music industry, and likely not in a good manner

If, like us, you were regretting not jumping on Bitcoin early enough to make any money out of it, you might be looking for the next cryptocurrency to invest in. For shady operators, that also means plenty of uninformed people to fleece out of their cash: current reports suggest cryptocurrency ponzi schemes and scams are rife, and that's not including those that will sink without a trace. Remember Coinye, the Kanye West-themed cryptocurrency?

There are signs that startups are trying to use cryptocurrency to 'disrupt' the music industry in questionable ways. Take Viberate by way of example, a "crowdsourced live music ecosystem and a blockchain-based marketplace" that uses its own cryptocurrency to let promoters book artists, artists sell product and fans purchase tickets. The issue is, you can only use the Viberate tokens to get services from the Viberate ecosystem rather than, y’know food, shelter or some of the things you need to live in an already struggling industry.

Artists such as Björk are using cryptocurrency in more conventional ways, allowing you to buy albums using Bitcoin. There is also Audiocoin, a token that can be used to purchase music directly from artists. In both cases though, this payment is only worth whatever the current real-world value of the currency is at the time. Bitcoin bubbles have burst before, and if you've sold all your music for highly volatile cryptocurrency you might well end up with nothing.

The blockchain technology that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are built on definitely has scope to help musicians get paid. But if you're looking for new ways to generate income from your music it is important not to confuse blockchains with cryptocurrencies. Is Ghostface Killah's CREAM token going to be useful for anything once we're bartering for the last bottle of irradiated water in the days following the impending nuclear apocalypse? Probably not.

The synth clone wars are just getting started

Among 2017's biggest (and strangest) stories was budget equipment company Behringer's continuing mission to clone pretty much every classic synth of the past 50 years. It began with a $299 Eurorack edition of Moog's beloved Model D before wider plans were revealed to earn affordable replicas of the ARP2600 and OSC OSCar. In December it 'unintentionally' leaked a whole range that covered obscure devices such as the EDP Wasp -- although Behringer later backtracked to claim these may never see the light of day.

Irrespective of the shady ethics of making cut-price clones of synths that are, in some cases, still on the shelves, Behringer is well within the law to recreate the insides of instruments that are long out of copyright. And while a great deal of people (including the widow of analog chip designer Doug Curtis) have been vocal in their criticism of Behringer's plans, there's many more who appear eager to get their hands on these instruments. However, its promised Behringer D, which went up for pre-order last June, is yet to be released. Its analog DeepMind 12 synth was in development for at least three years, so when the D will arrive is anyone's guess.

A working version of this Behringer D does exist though, and recent images from Behringer HQ suggests that it is hard at work on more equipment based on vintage instruments, so we'd expect more announcements before 2018 is out. It is not just Behringer though: last year we had Deckard's Dream, a clone of the Yamaha CS80 synth used by Vangelis on the Blade Runner soundtrack and an unofficial TR-808 module for Eurorack. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, so expect a lot more of this from many boutique businesses in 2018.

Music-making will become easier for beginners than ever

Nostalgia for antique equipment and analog hardware has retained Roland, Korg and a lot of other legacy companies well afloat over the past few years, but just as much money -- if not more -- has been spent on the devices that promise to make music-making easier for novices. Experts might turn their noses up at things like Ampify's Launchpad program or Roland's GO:KEYS for being oversimplified, but they probably make more money than a TB-303 replica since they have much wider appeal.

This has not been lost on the bigger players in the music tech sphere, that are investing serious money into ways that will get people making music, whatever their skill level. Ableton, by way of example, is an investor in Melodics, an program that promises to teach you finger drumming in just five minutes of practice a day. The business recently moved into teaching keyboard skills, which might be a game-changer for anyone that still mashes their MIDI keyboard when making tunes.

There is also Maschine manufacturer Native Instruments, which last year received a $50 million investment from a private equity company to "democratize music production," and help "achieve its vision of breaking down the barriers to music production for all music fans." Whether this money is going towards expanding into new markets, designing more innovative interfaces or even reducing the friction between hardware and software is uncertain, but it is apparent that the Berlin company has grand ambitions to place its products in the hands of as many people as possible, regardless of what their skill level.

Apple too seems to be expanding the appeal of its popular GarageBand program. In November 2017, it added a new sound library into the program with packs for future bass and reggaeton styles, confirming that it plans to release more "occasionally". It even includes its own iTunes-inspired 'storefront' in which you can browse them. A good deal of musicians hate the idea of sample packs, but you only need to look at the prevalence of Ampify's Launchpad and Blocs programs to see that there's a market for them. In 2018, there will almost surely be more of these simple entry points to music-making than ever.

Non-traditional MIDI controllers go mainstream

Keyboards continue to be the most common way to perform a synthesizer, but within the past few years they've been joined by a range of unusual interface devices that don't look much like instruments at all. The most notable example is ROLI's Blocks system, a music-making platform based around a squishy interfaces that allows you to both play notes and affect parameters such as pitch or timbre using gestures such as slide and glide.

Underlying many of these devices is a technology called MPE, or multi-dimensional polyphonic expression. It's a recent MIDI specification that allows users of devices such as ROLI's Blocks or Roger Linn's Linnstrument to perform compatible synthesizers with a whole lot more nuance than a conventional MIDI keyboard. The technology has not been widely adopted yet but support is growing: GarageBand, Bitwig Studio 2, Sonar and Max are some of the platforms supporting it.

Ableton and Native Instruments haven't yet pledged support for it (with the exception of NI's Reaktor Blocks software) but it definitely appears to be more than a passing fad. This past year, Pharrell Williams invested in ROLI, an endorsement that speaks volumes about how widely he believes the business's unusual but accessible musical devices can attract people who might not have much experience with music-making. ROLI Blocks are also being marketed from the Apple Store today, a company bet that this kind of device has a bright future.

Eurorack equipment will continue to boom

When Aphex Twin played at London's Field Day festival last summer, he brought his modular synth along for the ride. He's not the first artist to use a Eurorack system on point, but he's among the greatest, and the interest in the breakdown of what his rig included was huge, demonstrating that curiosity concerning the format is not limited to hardcore synth nerds.

On YouTube as well, Eurorack went from market content to mainstream concern. Among the platform's most popular music technology vloggers, Andrew Huang, revealed his love for the format at a popular video that's racked up more than half a million views so far. It also continues to be popular with live performers due to its versatility, even if it is not always the most practical thing to carry on a plane. It is so popular, we devoted a whole day to the format here at FACT.

While some people have theorized that Eurorack might be a passing fad, it is not looking that way at the beginning of 2018. If there are any trends we'd place money on, it is Eurorack modules inspired by classic equipment such as Behringer's Model D clone and artist collaborations in the vein of Mumdance and ALM Busy Circuits' MUM M8 and Tiptop Audio's Throbbing Gristle module, the TG ONE.

Scott Wilson is FACT's Make Music editor. Find him on Twitter.

Read next: After a tumultuous 2017, can SoundCloud survive the streaming wars?

The post Our music technology predictions for 2018: SoundCloud's survival, the Bitcoin boom and more modular madness appeared initially on FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music. .

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imperialmagazine-blog · 7 years

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Prepare for Carmack

Written by: Eddy Martinez

With some many artists crowding up the scene others are staying at home producing more, designing their next move for you to awh; it’s hard to see who really is doing something special compared to the others truthfully. What’s Riddim anyways? Sounds better to me than others who waste most of their time partying and networking to be completely honest. Not that Riddim has anything tied to it, just seemed like two things grossing in the industry and the social media pages. It can become difficult to keep up with all the new releases and the constant desire for the newest thing from artists, but I ended up going back my subscriptions and realizing the missing piece in my life was a fond memory of Mr. Carmack. Someone who has surprising when whipping up a pot full of new tracks and collaborations. It’s been almost eight months since Mr. Carmack deleted most of his music from his Soundcloud and re-uploaded 54 tracks back up- none of which are his old albums. Best part though is now it’s all for free, everyone is able download on Soundcloud and on his Bandcamp; where he left all his old work on for fans to always download from here to eternity. One of them is a new track called Hello which begs the question, is he changing his style once again? Let’s back track a little to help clear the air of confusion because this excitement just makes me get nostalgic.

Mr. Carmack was to me a personal favorite during the beginning of high school. When he first entered the scene with a very progressive ambient sound that no one had mixed before, It seemed to exploit the rules of dance music and stretched it to another level. The combination of hip-hop, drum samples, and electronica back in 2007 was hard hitting and barely beginning to plant roots. Over the years his style has had several additions though, when he changed his name into Mr. Carmack there was a precedent factor that would evidently make him one of the most legendary producers to go watch perform. Not only was he number one on Bandcamp’s charts several times but he has done it as both his previous name DJ AC and as Mr. Carmack. How many people can say they made it to the top of music charts with two different names- other than Skrillex and his duo groups.

It didn’t really stick until 2011 when he made Frozen EP which was a bit more electronic. Later on he worked with hip hop with a dubstep edge, then more glitch hop, and eventually creating what it is now. The last couple of times he’s been playing glitch hop, though we have been hearing a new tone from his sets that also can fly by as a DJ AM mix. Late 2015 he began to bring it down a notch, there was a massive decline in his sets. When those new tracks got uploaded it was only a sign of his newest project finally coming into play.

'Hello' may be one piece of the puzzle, it’s a huge twist not at all glitch hop or trap but a more calming side for Carmack. Now over the past two months there has been more traffic of his projects like the newest tracks which seem to be two charity inspired tracks that’ll have proceeds go to #NODAPL or otherwise known as the hashtag for protests against the Dakota Accesses Pipeline. One that really catches your ears for sure are the two collaborations he did with Harris Cole and Adam Vida which if perfectly meshed together gives you a clear indication as to Mr. Carmack’s sort of style for future shows to come. It’s this sorta of slow hip-hop and calming beats that really makes him special and will make him stand out for generations to come. It’s only a matter of time before we hear big news from Carmack and like any other fan, we are currently on stand by waiting for anything new. For the mean time we will have these new songs on replay.

Make sure to continuously check with us on Soundcloud, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook or Mr. Carmack on the newest releases. Like we said, it’s only a matter of time before his spotlight comes back.

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If anyone of you are wondering how good he is at performing live or are simply just a fan of him go check him out in Houston, Texas on April 4th. That’s basically the next show that he’s shared with us on here (https://mrcarmack.com/shows).

#Carmack #Mr Carmack #nodapl #adam vida #harris cole #glitch hop #hip hop #pop #rap #riddim #fakes #edm news #edm #your edm #dance #outsider #imperial #imperialmag #music

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