By Carolyn Heneghan

Imagine your favorite musician reaching out to you as they perform a live concert on a movie screen. How about playing an inexpensive keyboard made completely with 3D materials?  Believe it or not, that future is a reality.

With the rise of 3D visuals and 3D printing technology, musicians are finding new ways to integrate their music in expanded dimensions to create a new experience for their listeners. Several musicians and music professionals have already accomplished this feat using 3D in a variety of ways, with many more in development.

(Space Blanket)

Simulcasting Live 3D Concerts

While album sales have fallen drastically over the past two decades, live music remains stronger than ever, and 3D technology offers a new way to tap into fans’ love of live performances.

Some artists can sell out a concert in a matter of hours, no matter how big the venue. That means that potentially thousands of fans are either disappointed about missing the opportunity or couldn’t afford it to begin with. Instead of shutting out these fans from the experience, the concert could be simulcast in movie theaters, which can accept the overflow and still give these adoring fans a chance to see the action for themselves.

Where 3D comes in is that it takes this idea one step further. Two things make a live performance unique: seeing the band in person and the atmosphere. While the exact atmosphere may not be recreated, instead of a flat, 2D image onscreen, a 3D image would make an audience feel like they are actually part of the action, right there in the venue.

(Nathan Taylor)

Another great aspect of 3D simulcasts is that when fans are at a concert, only the front few rows really get the full experience of the band onstage. Others higher up in the stands only get to see very small versions of the show from far away. But with 3D simulcasts, those 3D cameras can get a variety of angles much closer up than that of a seat in the back row.  Although fans aren’t at the performance, they still get a unique perspective of the concert from right in the theatre.

Several major artists have already invested in this technology. U2 had the Latin American leg of their 2006 Vertigo tour filmed in 3D and premiered it at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it went on to be shown in 600 American movie theaters to earn $20 million in its first year. While not live, this effort showed exactly how popular this technology could be when integrated with the live music experience.

Other artists have already taken advantage of this technology as well. In 2010, the Black Eyed Peas teamed up with director James Cameron to film a 3D concert documentary. Also in 2010, Justin Bieber filmed his performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 3D for a biopic. In addition, Hot Ticket from Sony Pictures produces live shows and has released a 3D film for country singer Kenny Chesney.

3D Movies and Music Videos

Similar to live 3D concerts in theatres, musicians are also creating 3D performances that take on a more cinematic feel in the form of 3D movies and music videos. This allows their fans to watch and listen to their performances, documentaries, music videos, etc., from the comfort of their own homes on their own 3D-enabled TVs.

This both generates another revenue stream for the artists and gives them a new artistic medium to play around with to better get their music and message across to their fans. A wide range of artists have already produced 3D music videos, from indie artists like Young Rival, who recently created a unique 3D video using depth perception and an autostereogram, to major names like Shakira.

will.i.am’s 3D Merch Table

will.i.am has recently announced an interest in using 3D technology to enhance and even revolutionize the possibilities for band and artist merchandise. The concept involves using a 3D printer to bring a shot from a live performance alive, so to speak, and to sell it immediately after the concert is over.

For example, if Lady Gaga were to strike a certain pose during her concert, 3D printers could be working backstage to create a 3D model of that image for attendees to take home with them—a unique captured moment that they can have to commemorate the show.

Printing 3D Instruments

3D printing has another use for the music industry: the printing of musical instruments. Musical instruments can be expensive, and being able to 3D print them would make them more affordable and accessible for novice and professional musicians alike.

Already this technology has been made available. ODD Guitars has developed a process of using a layer of nylon powder and fusing it in certain locations to fit the components of an actual, usable guitar. Most of the 3D-printed parts are decorative and come in eight eye-catching designs, while the external hardware, such as the bridge, neck, pickups and tuning heads, are store-bought but also customizable. In addition to a guitar, they’ve built a 3D-printed keyboard and drum kit using the same process.

The Future of Music and 3D Technology

This is only the beginning for music and 3D technology. For example, as 3D extends beyond just the movie theatre and becomes more prevalent in the home through 3D enabled TVs, computers and mobile devices, music lovers will have a chance to enjoy live concerts and music videos in a new, exciting way on-the-go, from wherever they are, whenever they want. 3D technology will even become more common at live shows themselves, as it already finds itself enhancing the backgrounds and visualizers at performances around the world.

Also, 3D printing has only just hit its stride. will.i.am’s idea for 3D merchandise and 3D printed instruments are only the beginning for the effect this technology can have on a plethora of industries, including music. Imagine stereos, headphones, amplifiers and mp3 players all created by technologically advanced 3D printers. Just as with the instruments, these musical products could become cheaper and more accessible for more musicians and music lovers alike, which could expand the possibilities for new music created, performed and shared online.

3D technology will continue to evolve alongside music and offer new opportunities as both industries grow and change. Be prepared for what’s next, and enjoy the new and improved music experience that is to come.

The post The Co-Evolution of Music and 3D appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Five questions for the CEO of Syncofy: A new, independent marketplace for music discovery and licensing

By Kira Grunenberg

As the sub-title above suggests, it is not too difficult to figure out what indie music licensing marketplace, Syncofy, wants to help people do: get music heard and in the hands of those who wish to enhance non-musical media, such as commercials or movie trailers. This week, the proactive startup launched an alpha version of its service (currently on private request) and has made applications available for music creators or people seeking music for licensing. The core of this platform is all about cutting out the middleman. A non-exclusive service, Syncofy is both flexible and supportive of music makers. “Creators keep 100% ownership and control over their work,” is emphasized more than once in the introductory information on Syncofy’s website. Regardless of the user’s role, Syncofy is dedicated to having few barriers between partnering parties. Communications deal solely with music makers and licensees, and no one else.

Discovery is the other half of Syncofy’s services, as media producers are often unsure of what they’re looking for. A search engine targets specific music with various qualifiers including genre, tonality, social media appeal, rhythm, and correlation. The music retrieved is discerned using multiple elements as well, including “acoustic analysis, editorial data, (artist, album and track info, period, etc.), user generated data (search data, downloads, likes, etc.), and other social specific data such as geo and demographics,” as described on the site.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Syncofy can and looks forward to doing for music creators and media licensees going forward. I spoke with CEO/Founder Emanuel Heinstein and got his perspective on where Syncofy will fit in the current music industry, the future of syncing placement in general, and even a few details on their aspirations for mobile capability.

Emanuel Heinstein: Everyone at Syncofy literally breathes music and music brought us all together. I’ve been a DJ and producer for all my life and since I first picked up a book in a small NY bookstore in 1999 that explained the principals of MP3 encoding and the boundless opportunities which it unleashes, I was hooked to the idea, that one day, technology will be able to dis-intermediate the artist business, putting creators back in control. The team evolved through miraculous ways. I can’t tell you exactly how, but coincidence brought us all together and the idea behind Syncofy was so appealing , that it was simply a no-brainer and a logical next step for everyone to join the project.

Right from the start, Syncofy makes it clear that streamlining is its operative mentality. Everything, from your SoundCloud marker-style media player, to self-checkout with licensing, to the very meticulous options for finding and curating different songs for what ever specific needs a non-musical content producer might have, is very fast and straightforward. How do you see this DIY-tinged approach coexisting with traditional structures like the world’s big PROs that already do so much for so many of the world’s artists? Do you believe Syncofy’s mediation between artists and companies is the future of licensing and royalties?

As content spreads beyond traditional media and into the digital world, there is a tremendous need for high-performance monitoring services to catch up with new standards. Syncofy is not in the business of secondary market royalty collections though, and we are certainly not trying to replace PRO services. On the contrary, we would like to see these services evolve into a more reliable tool for artists to be able to collect their hard-earned performance royalties.

Having said this, we are approaching a much more serious problem for the independent artist community and therefore a massive risk of suffocating cultural diversity. As the music models are shifting and are transitioning from purchase to access models, future musicians will know little else than streaming royalties which pay little to no money. For instance, your track needs to be played over 4,500,000 times a month on Spotify to make the US minimum wage of $1,160. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Spotify and use it on a daily basis but we simply have to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Music streaming platforms are the new way to consume music. Musicians will have to rethink their whole business approach.

We see music licensing in its various ways as the one revenue stream that has been continuously growing. So far though, the whole licensing business has been a total chaos, not only for artists and labels but also for those looking for music to license, and no one has emerged as a successful player to solve this problem. Either music licensing companies are trying to monopolize the industry, double dipping on the independent artist’s and label’s hard earned cash, or artists and labels are simply not able to cut through the noise in the thick of things.

Even though this industry is all about discovering and finding the next big act, no one has taken advantage of today’s technology that enables the aggregation and curation of music on a large scale, making it accessible to the industry. As a result, most amazing music and artists are falling through the cracks and are lost. I believe there is a great opportunity for us to create something better than that.

This is where Syncofy comes in. We believe in the disintermediation of the artist’s business. New disruptive technology lets us build an independent marketplace for music where creators keep total ownership and control over their music without having to share their profits. Music providers state their terms under which they are willing to accept a license. Licensees on the other hand will have the option to negotiate licensing terms and conditions directly. We challenge you to find anyone else who offers that.

At Syncofy’s core is its cutting edge music search and recommendation and discovery engine. In order to produce the most relevant search results, the engine combines acoustic analysis, editorial data, user generated date and other social specific data such as geo, demographics as well as frequency of use of search phrases which correlate with social trends. That’s about all the secret sauce we are able to share this far.

It is refreshing that Syncofy doesn’t abandon the color of human preference in its music discovery feature. That said, how do you balance the “human factor” involved with Syncofy’s music curation, with the highly adjustable song filtering systems available to those looking for just the right track to use in syncing? 50/50? More or less?

I recently came across a quote by E.E. Dijkstra, “The question of whether Machines Can Think, is about as relevant as the question of whether Submarines Can Swim.” I think all this disembodied data floating around needs to be put in some kind of context to make sense of it, and technology certainly does its job offering you a bird’s eye view over all of it. However, music is speaking to everyone in a different way. Ultimately, it is up to the music professional working with the site, applications, and service to identify the next big act. We simply acknowledged the necessity for music content to be filtered and curated to actually become valuable to a user. Our music department will of course also be part of this process but to what degree will depend on the task to be accomplished.

Syncofy was clearly keeping a close eye on the various talks and activities happening during this year’s midem conference via Twitter. Since a major part of your company’s objective is to, “steer the music industry into a more sustainable [entity] for music creators…” What are your thoughts on some of the principles outlined in Midem’s circulating infographic that asks, “[Music Industry:] Back to Growth?,” as well as their panel that discussed sync placement, brand integration and pitching to media?

I think music reaches more people than ever before. So in that sense, I think we do okay for now. However we must accept that the days of record sales are finally over. We’ve all seen it coming. For some reason though, most of the industry is still in some kind of “Wile E. Coyote state of mind,” who has just gone over the cliff but has not realized it yet. As said earlier, there is this big elephant in the room and only few people seem to acknowledge it. So unless we break down old structures so that something new can emerge, cultural diversity, which is channeled through independent music, is in peril.

I believe with the right tools and services though we can steer the ship around and I think the right answer is the disintermediation of the artists business. There still will be enough room for labels to get on board and help artist reach their fans.

In the coming months, as you gather data from alpha testers and refine things on the development side, is there anything preliminary you can tell prospective members about the imminent addition of a Syncofy mobile application and/or your ideals for its future capabilities? 

I love my mobile and I love my tablet. I love their touch screens and ease of use and we’re trying to incorporate this look and feel as much as we can within Syncofy’s UX. However, the processing power for those devices is just not there yet and as we improve and incorporate new technologies we want to make sure that they are performing flawlessly. Undeniably, tablets and mobile devices are the future (at least for now) but today still more than 80 percent of all users browse the web using desktop computers or laptops. This number is even higher when it comes to users that are working professionally with computers. And even though native apps currently run faster and are more likely to have access to new mobile device capabilities before web apps do, we believe in a “best of breed” hybrid approach using the right tools for the right job, focusing on both scenarios in which web and native components work together. Choosing the right approach will then better enable us to swiftly adapt to whatever the next hot technology is going to be.

Syncofy is active now via desktop computer. You can request an alpha application today as a “Content Provider” or “Licensee.” Read more at Syncofy.com and follow Syncofy on Twitter @syncofy.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1.

The post [Interview] Emanuel Heinstein, CEO/Founder of Syncofy appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By SoundCtrl

With a global musical sprawl, it is often hard for emerging artists to procure production that matches their style. This is especially true in hip-hop and R&B, where beat selection is just as important, if not more, than the flow of the lyricist him or herself. BeatStars looks to bridge that gap with a platform that facilitates sales of beats by established producers to artists in search of production for their records.

Founded by Abe Bashton in 2011, BeatStars has already helped its beta users earn over $500K in its first few years. Now the service has 100,000 active users, including esteemed producers such as !llmind, Focus, Havoc, and EASKI.  Producers looking for a more tailored experience can upgrade to Pro Pages, which are customizable profiles that allow producers to sell directly to artists, and more importantly, retain 100% of licensing fees.

Though the shopping and automated licensing will certainly only grow in the next several years, the question at hand is whether this sort of hands-off production will result in less personal music. The best relationships between artists and producers, even with the segmented rapper/producer workflow, have resulted from two artists working together on one music idea. The pop industry as a whole will definitely begin to take platforms like BeatStars into account to cut production costs, but hopefully not at the cost of sacrificed quality. However, BeatStars seams like a successful, niche service that values producers and showcasing their talents.

Check out the introductory video for BeatStars below, and visit www.beatstars.com to check out producers, beats, and top charts.

The post BeatStars Launches as a Marketplace for Beatmakers and Artists appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By SoundCtrl

During this year’s annual four-day MIDEM festival in Cannes, Music Hack Day featured an innovative engineer named Yuli Levtov, who discovered a way to DJ with Spotify streams. The Spotify-enabled app has been a fantasized technology for the last few years, mainly as a result of diffiicult licensing structures and logistics for app developers.

On the blog for Reactify Music, a music app development company, Levtov spilled about the process, introducing his revelation as ”by far the most involved, impractical and ‘hackiest’ hack” he’s ever done. Calling it DJ Spotify, its structure is two-fold.  DJ Spotify enables simultaneous playback of two Spotify streams, with DJ controls including pitch/tempo adjust, as well as the integration of EchoNest, which gathers key and BPM information from streaming tracks. DJ Spotify is a rather complicated hack, with connections between Ableton, Max for Live, a Wi-Fi iPad connection, Pure Data patches, Python coding and more.  You can check out the hack and the key/BPM app here.

But on the heels of Levtov’s impressive hack, a new app released a few days later consolidated his ideas into a slightly more appealing interface for the massive new wave of portable DJs. Pacemaker is a new iPad app with the first, official licensing from Spotify for integration in a DJing platform. The interface of Pacemaker is quite design-oriented, with simple electric blue and red waveform bars and cue points split down the two touch screen “decks.” Tempo and nudge functions are dedicated to beatmatching two tracks, and beat skip functions allow you to chop the record up in creative ways.

Tracks can be loaded from Spotify or local files, and mixes are recordable and savable within the app. Pacemaker’s sync function works relatively well, but you may have to jog the nudge wheel if it syncs on the off-beat transient.  EQ controls are reconfigured in the app’s signature wheel pattern, but aren’t quite intuitive if you have never DJ’ed before. Unfortunately, there are no volume faders that allow you to EQ and volume adjust simultaneously, but there is a crossfader for blending. Additional effects are available as in-app purchases, allowing the user to customize their iPad DJ “rig” but the lack of standardization here doesn’t show an incredible promise for getting this app into clubs. Since Traktor has integration for its own computer software with CDJ functionality, and a number of other apps offer effects controls independent of the software, Pacemaker certainly has competition in the pro market. But this app focuses on a home user experience, and it’s not a bad way to preview a mix on the fly or curate your own parties, listening sessions, and podcasts.

While many traditional DJs are contemptuous and apathetic toward this new type of technology due to a lack of mixing skills and faulty execution, the real problem with new streaming DJ tools is that the sound quality is sacrificed for efficiency and portability. Spotify’s highest streaming rate is 320 kbps, and as any trained listener knows, the highest quality mp3 still sounds much weaker on a club-quality sound system compared to WAV files and vinyl records. Unfortunately, this means a rise in DJs ignoring poor sound quality in exchange for track availability and cutting costs in preparation for sets. Since electronic music is often showcasing a producer’s ability to create highly specific and idealized sound environments and experiences, a poor mix with poor sound quality is essentially the antithesis of the art at hand.

However, streaming has made its way to the pro decks, especially since the newer Pioneer CDJs can play source files over Wi-Fi. As streaming quality improves and wireless connections can handle more bandwidth, cloud-based DJing will definitely take off on the professional level. But at the end of the day (or early in the morning) if your offline playlists aren’t synced and you’ve got no internet connection at a peak-time basement party, you may be relinquishing your DJ duties at the next party if you make it out of the club alive.

At any rate, the Pacemaker app is highly recommended for those with Spotify premium accounts, and you can grab it on the iTunes app store.

The post The Rise of the Streaming DJ appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Ruben Lone

During this weekend’s MIDEM music festival in Cannes, France, 6400 participants from 74 countries converge to discuss the state of the music industry and its forthcoming trends and technologies. Lyor Cohen, MIDEM speaker and former Warner Music Group CEO, announced his newest entrepreneurial venture that will function as a toolset for A&Rs scouting new artists and bands on Twitter. Called 300, Cohen’s new label and “content company” will be distributed by Atlantic Records, reuniting the CEO with his former Warner peers. Also involved in the venture are Todd Moscowitz and Kevin Liles, successful industry pros who’ve both worked with Cohen at Warner and Def Jam in its heyday.

300 marks an interesting transition in the music industry’s integration with social media. Most reports of how these A&R “tools” will actually function are vague, but Cohen has enlisted the help of both music business veterans as well as data mining and analytic experts, alluding to a machine-driven scouring for new artists on Twitter’s platform. While it doesn’t seem like Cohen’s technologies are intended to replace the role of the traditional A&R (which to be honest, is a sadly neglected and underpaid role at major record labels), 300 has implications of a future where machines are analyzing data and picking series of artists based on metadata, tags, and social media relevance.

Twitter’s ubiquity and purposeful design limitations make it easy to dissect, and the number ratios between followers and tweets are generally good indicators of rising popularity and virality. Hopefully, the 300′s algorithms will differentiate between artists whose social media presence is organic and/or viral and the hype hordes who trade follow-for-follow on Twitter in an attempt to gain more visibility–a case where having more followers is a clear misrepresentation of purported popularity. Human fact-checking will ideally keep mediocrity from slipping through the digital cracks, but well-informed discovery still requires a degree of keen research. Skepticism aside, Lyor Cohen does seem to be focused on putting the artist before the label and the business, and his past in artist development and management speaks to a industry where attention was paid to new music and to the world in which it existed.

With backing from several investors including Google, a music industry veteran like Cohen is hardly taking an entrepreneurial risk, especially with partnerships fully designed to support a new A&R toolset in the digital age. Let’s just hope new artists don’t overload their Twitter presences with fluff and vapid popularity schemes in attempts to get signed. If 300 leverages the dedication of diligent, innovative artists, it could very well be a tool that streamlines an oft-complicated and esoteric element of the scouting process.

The post Lyor Cohen Unveils New A&R Venture with Twitter appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

Today’s newest rollout for the Dublin, Ireland company comes on the tails of their last update adding YouTube Integration, and it feels like a clever and deliberate one-two punch: commenting and tagging functionality. The ‘musical jet-setting app’ is continuing to grow and change with a new feature that has been awaited by its users over several versions. As such, Soundwave is quite liable to explode even more in app store popularity, if it hasn’t already.

The meat and potatoes of this update are laid out succinctly and immediately opens up chatting and tagging. Operationally speaking, few current social media users will have trouble using Soundwave’s new features.

• The # sign is key and like Twitter, is Soundwave’s symbol of choice for aggregating common words and phrases people use to describe the music they are circling on the app’s map, all over the world. This contributes to the app’s music “grouping” appeal.

• Users will be given the option of tagging others in comments. Metadata-based conversation is ubiquitous at this point, but the combinative, current, global display is what distinguishes Soundwave from other similar platforms.

The latter of these two additions is especially intriguing to consider, as tagging expands what Soundwave comes to represent.  It is an app fixed on music at its core, but, the sudden entrance of chatter into the formula does not feel like an immediate or severe risk to the company’s identity, focus or brand. This is likely because the songs and vast and literal exploration factor still rule. Non-musical media isn’t intruding and thus, not distracting or redirecting the purpose behind commenting. What’s left is akin to an open, 24-hour room with a stereo that plays all the music in the world, with a feedback box anyone can write to, or read from. Who wouldn’t be into that?

Not forgetting to look beyond the present, Soundwave recognizes the new comment functionality for long term benefits as well–the user landscape will now be discernable and organizanble in a whole new way. For example, music industry-oriented users may enjoy contributing their two cents about songs on a regular basis (e.g. reviewers, other artists). Conversely, casual users, more intent on just listening, can “consume” the comments of their talkative counterparts and maybe learn more about songs or artists. (This is something that could be of particular evaluative interest, to both users and Soundwave itself, where songs far outside one’s local demographic are concerned.) Lastly, those who relish sharing and spreading new material will only more rapidly expand global exposure to music, by sharing and tagging played tracks.

Head over to the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store to download the newest version of Soundwave and get in on the music-centric conversations happening across the world right now!

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

The post Soundwave Releases New Update with Commenting/Tagging Features appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

A while back, we covered TicketMob‘s triply segmented ticketing and event management platform for live music, electronic music, and comedy events. TicketMob allowed artists, labels, brands, and festivals to manage their interactions with fans independently of large middleman ticketing companies like Ticketmaster and LiveNation. As of today, under the acquisition of cloud-based event management platform Cvent and subsequent merger with mobile Seed Labs, TicketMob will be known as CrowdTorch, a highly specialized and improved event and audience management solution.

Scot Richardson, CrowdTorch General Manager and founder of TicketMob, explained that CrowdTorch is focused on brands’ individual intentions for event management, with “white labelling being front and center.”  ”We want to give clients an entire toolset to engage with fans’ lifestyles,” says Richardson, regarding CrowdTorch’s goal to keep ticketing internal whilst maintaining a level of trust, transparency, and reliability between event organizers and their fans. A huge focus of CrowdTorch’s efforts will go into developing mobile apps for events that consolidate complete fan experience, from sharing functionality on social networks, to adding VIP packages upon entering an event, and quite feasibly reselling unused tickets for customers who are unable to attend.

With analytics that can track the correlations between promotions and ticket sales, event creators can keep tabs on what marketing methods are efficient to their particular fan bases.  One such application of the social media toolset proved to be instantly successful–an artist offered a $1 discount to anyone who bought tickets through their event app, and gained a 380% ROI. Though Richardson says CrowdTorch is “still scratching the surface of the mobile app developments,” a dedicated platform that offers both solutions and analysis for events seems to be ushering in a new, independent method of interacting with fans.

CrowdTorch is certainly competing with major ticketing hubs on the level of direct ticket sales, but the company isn’t interested in a direct challenge against the current industry standard. Rather, by creating a new method of audience and event management, the new model may emerge naturally over time as a more lucrative option for artists and events. “We’re trying to be a replacement for multiple providers of ticketing, branding, and event management…we’re trying to do all of that for you and to integrate all of the relevant touch points,” Richardson explains of CrowdTorch’s 360-degree approach. And by maintaing the former structure that TicketMob called “verticals,” artists and organizers can customize a total fan experience without worrying about scalpers, disorganization, or a lack of information about programming, lineups, and the like.

With TicketMob’s former LaughStub (comedy), TuneStub (live music), and ElectroStub (electronic music/nightlife) still in place, events can be customized based on category, marketplace, and audience demographics. For example, creating an event with the ElectroStub platform can offer options for table service at a nightclub, with a group of friends splitting the costs via an app. In the same vein, promoters for these events are given a unique set of tools that cater to their job functions. Furthermore, having distinct channels allows event organizers to cater to communities of fans that respond to different types of marketing and promotions, a feat that is much more difficult under an umbrella platform with unlimited options.

Finally, Richardson made clear that CrowdTorch is a highly viable option for working with individual, independent artists. The same solutions are offered at this level with pre-sales, VIP packages, and special opportunities for superfans willing pay for an additional, meaningful experience. By integrating ticketing and audience management tools, points of purchase need not be disparately associated, and artists and fans can expect a more personal relationship without the hassle of hopping around various websites and social media networks to redeem special offers and features.

You can keep up with @CrowdTorch on Twitter, and learn more about the company’s outlook and functionality in the video below:

The post TicketMob Rebrands as CrowdTorch with Complete Audience Management Solutions appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

When you’re fiddling with your phone and attempting to take photos or videos of a concert, you can hardly enjoy the show. You want to bring a piece of the memory home with you, but you actually establish a memory by fully experiencing the performance with your eyes rather than through a screen. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have access to audio and videos of the show as soon as you leave, without having to capture the media yourself? Now with the Lively app, you can.

Lively is dedicated to providing high-quality audio and video of live performances to its users while also offering a platform for artists to interact with their fans on another level. The quality of the audio and videos far surpasses anything you could capture with your phone while at the show, so you can relax but still bring home high-quality versions of the memories when you leave.

According to Lively’s latest press release, Lively’s team has quadrupled in size since it first launched in May 2013, and they’ve also moved into a state-of-the-art facility in Seattle. They’ve now worked with more than 110 artists in 47 venues across the country, and they’ve delivered thousands of app downloads. Capitalizing on their early successes and developing the improvements needed to take the app to the next level, Lively’s team has now officially launched its updated version two of the app.

On this new version of Lively, which focuses on improving the overall mobile experience of the app, added features include:

• A sharp new menu providing easy-access to the growing list of available shows and content in music, comedy, fashion, talk, and more.
• Sharing capabilities and access to social channels available on the swipe and scroll menu.
• Additional swipe gestures for easy navigation throughout the app.
• The ability to build playlists and share tracks from lists or the entire library.

These new features improve upon Lively’s core technology, the patent-pending Lively Audio Manager (LAM), which is the mechanism by which live recordings can be made available to fans. Essentially, LAM is a free app for the iPad that enables engineers to record a stereo mix from the soundboard. When the show is finished, the mix down of the recording is sent directly to the app. The audio is available on the app right after the show, and professional video is available the next day. All-in-all, it is a simple, streamlined process that makes getting these live performances out there that much easier for artists and engineers.

How Lively Can Make a Difference in Artist-Fan Interaction

When fans want to take a piece of an artist’s live performance home, they’re already trying to deepen their relationship with that artist and his or her music. However, some of that experience is taken away when a fan has to fiddle with a smartphone to get a recording going. Lively enables fans to take home that piece of the performance without having to record it themselves. Already, Lively has had a direct impact on how the artist and fans interact with each other during the performance itself.

Lively continues to affect this artist-fan interaction when the live performance is complete as well. By making these high-quality audio and video recordings available, those fans get to relive the magic of that performance on-demand. In addition, fans who couldn’t make the show are now able to enjoy the experience of at least listening to or watching the live set from their mobile devices. And finally, music lovers who have never heard the artist’s music can check out the live performance and potentially become new fans.

Armed with these new features and upgrades, Lively is poised to take the music industry by storm by introducing a concept that can revolutionize the way people approach capturing their own recordings of live music performances. Simply put your phone away, and enjoy the music the way it was intended–in the moment.

The post Lively Introduces Instant Access To Recorded Concerts appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

Ask any musician, collegiate, or established professional about picking out a new instrument, and the ensuing conversation is liable to be different every time. There are few things more personal than shopping for an instrument, and at the risk of speaking from a place of slight bias, purchasing a violin is even more of a meticulous and idiosyncratic undertaking. Choice can be affected by any number of factors that can include maker, aesthetics, craftsmanship, price, sound, and physical feel, just to name a few.

Bring the conversation to the realm of modern electric model instruments and a whole separate set of questions and concerns arise–durability, comfort, weight, sound integrity, aesthetics (that hot pink violin modeled with a Flying V-esque frame might not be as versatile as the subtle black or neutral brown). It might seem like some of these factors are repeated but expectations for construction of a quality violin changes with every new element incorporated into its functional use, and digitalization is a significant addition.

While there are plenty of violin makers and brands that handle both acoustic and electric stringed instruments, a fresh startup in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Weinreich Labs, has unveiled news of a new project; one that immediately generates intrigue, given the aforementioned discretion in the violin shopping process.

Weinreich Labs initially stepped into the startup space focused on the goal of “creating the next generation of electric violins”  Their first major accomplishment, as outlined by Southeast Michigan Startup, was “a violin that produces heirloom quality music when amplified or recorded.” Aiming to stay ahead of the curve of small business and generate quicker revenue, Weinreich is now also developing a mobile app meant to serve as a digital violin repository of exemplary quality. Viewers will be able to read about and visually analyze an assortment of violins. The caliber of the visuals is expected to be so high that it will be possible to discern even the most delicate variations, such as the instrument’s varnish.

“The Violin Gallery” app is slated for launch at the end of the month and will be marked at an affordable $0.99 for a lite version and $15 USD annually for its most expansive version. What the exact range of features between price tiers will entail has yet to be divulged, but even just the ability to see and read just a few preview shots after launch will be enough to showcase the gallery’s potential for informing violinists looking to make future purchases. Similarly to acquiring a new car, buying a violin comes down to an in-person experience, decided once the buyer has the opportunity to play the instrument. Still, if one can inspect and determine selected interests prior to visiting a shop, it will be that much easier to get right down to the business of playing, hearing, and paying without excess fuss or the risk of getting overwhelmed.

You can sign up to the Weinreich Labs newsletter right from their homepage, for future information on the app’s development, as well as follow them on Tumblr and Twitter @WeinreichLabs.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

The post Weinreich Labs’ Violin Gallery App is Vying for Quality appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Swedish progressive house and melodic techno duo Minilogue have been well-known producers and DJs in electronic music for over 14 years. Hailing from Malmö, Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson are known for their live sets, which involve blending analog drum machines and synthesizers with DJ mixers and Ableton computer software. The duo give Ableton an exclusive look at their sun-soaked recording and rehearsal space in Sweden, and detail the devices and workflow behind their unique form of performance.

The post Video: Minilogue’s Analog-Meets-Digital Live Setup appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Keith Nelson Jr.

With the advent of new technologies designed to mimic motherly qualities, human-to-human interaction is becoming increasingly foreign to a populace of tech-savvy consumers. Beats by Dre co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, along with musical innovator Trent Reznor, are banking on the future of music consumption as a byproduct of human personalization and computer algorithms–streaming human curation. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of playlists created by interns and Beats Music staff employees, Beats Music also has playlists curated by radio personalities, broadcasters and experts from the music industry such as former Pitchfork Media editor-in-chief Scott Plagenhoef, former digital content director at XXL Carl Chery, and others. These playlists will appear in the ‘Highlights’ section in Beats Music, though there are currently  no official plans for fans to contact the Highlights curators.

A vast majority of the playlists curated by the Beats Music staff, interns, and music experts are represented in their ‘Right Now’ section. The section provides a continuous stream from over 1.5 million customized playlists, based on users’ completion of a short survey which will be based on four variables: place, activity, person, and genre of music. Beats Music’s sustainability will be predicated on the speed of their playlist proliferation, which according to early reports has the Beats Music’ staff of 30 curators creating between 90 and 150 playlists a week in total.

As of now, Beats Music will cost $10 a month (or $100 for a year) and will not have an ad-supported free version similar to that of competitors Spotify and Pandora. While Beats will be the newcomer competing with Spotify’s 18 million active users and Pandora’s 70 million active users, the gap may shorten quickly following their partnership with AT&T. From the day of launch, AT&T customers will be able to bundle their Beats Music subscription with their monthly phone bill as a $10 add-on. The partnership saves customers money with the service provider’s Family plan, giving up to five members unlimited streaming and song downloading for $15 a month.

Three months prior to Beats Music launch, Spotify launched their new Browse feature, a collection of “over a billion” user-created playlists curated for certain moods, events, and the like. Perhaps Beats Music’s AT&T bundle will inspire Spotify to bring its own partnership with T-Mobile from Germany into the United States (T-Mobile began bundling Spotify Premium service to its customers in Germany for an additional 10 Euros ($13.70 USD) in August of 2012). With T-Mobile and AT&T recently launching promotional campaigns explicitly aimed at luring the other’s customers, this move seems to be inevitable.

Beats Music will be available on Windows Mobile, Google Android, Apple’s iOS, Sonos and web browsers.

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By Carolyn Heneghan

Music and social media go hand-in-hand, particularly in terms of sharing music and information between artists, professionals and fans. While Facebook and other social media networks allow some of this communication, wouldn’t it be nice if there was a social network dedicated exclusively to the promotion and proliferation of music? Enter: AAMPP.

AAMPP (simply pronounced “amp”) is the latest social network to hit the music scene. Music is its bloodline, and musical interaction its heartbeat, steadily pumping out all of the information and media you could want on your favorite artists. AAMPP’s mission is to connect all sides of the music production and consumption spectrum to encourage deeper, more personal interactions. It also provides a collective space where musicians, producers, managers, agents and other music professionals can engage with each other and music lovers alike.

While musicians and music professionals already find themselves creating profiles on traditional social media platforms, no other network is going to offer the music industry and its fans what AAMPP can. On AAMPP, your profile is called your Music Identity, and it is a complete showcase of all the information you want to communicate to your fans and the rest of the industry. This includes a biography, photos, videos, music styles and genres, events, thoughts, and of course, the music itself.

Musicians can upload, download, share and Shout (a post or status update) their music, photos and videos across the network. Similar to a timeline or news stream, Pulse on AAMPP is how musicians and professionals post content for others on the network to see. Pulse can be used like any other social network, except with a limited network of music fans and other industry professionals. In other words, users have direct access to those who are most interested in what they have to say and the content they have to share.

AAMPP debuted its website in beta but has now graduated to a striking landing page complete with a new tour page and re-energized slogan, Connecting the World to Music. Still in its early stages, AAMPP developers plan to roll out many new features in the coming months. Currently there are different types of Music Identities, but the main difference is that each type shows where the user fits along the music fan-industry spectrum. In the future, each of those types of identities will have special features tailored to each end user. AAMPP developers are also always working on improving the functionality of different buttons and areas of the site and profiles to foster the best environment and provide an optimum experience for the network’s users.

Some new features include AAMPP Instant, a beta-selling program that allows musicians to sell their original music directly through the AAMPP platform while receiving a higher payout per track or album than other industry competitors. According to the AAMPP press release, artists will also be able to track their transactions in real time, keep record of their transaction history and request payment directly from their AAMPP account.

Similar to other music streaming and downloading sites, AAMPP allows users to create and share playlists outside of AAMPP from the music they listen to on the site’s new and improved music queue. Also, similar to other social networks, AAMPP has given users the ability to see and set certain types of notifications that they would like to receive either through the platform itself or via email, such as for when someone follows them, Shouts on their Pulse, comments, loves or Re-Shouts their Shouts, or plays or likes their songs. Finally, at the request of its users, AAMPP has created an iPhone app to provide an even more personalized experience for fans’ music discovery and artist interaction.

 What’s important and unique about AAMPP is the sense of community that it creates. It’s one that’s even tighter than those formed on the traditional social networks because it is solely focused on music. Everyone is there for related reasons: to listen to or share music, to learn about musicians, find out where their shows are, or to provide this content to that section of the user base. When it comes down to it, communities formed around music are often much more tight-knit and personal than others, so a positive experience with like-minded individuals is to be expected.

If you’ve been looking for a new, unique and easy way to discover new music, AAMPP has it all. With a slew of indie and established artists already on the roster, its launch is sure to attract still more musicians—all who await to be found by their new coterie of fans.

AAMPP is available for free download from the iTunes App Store. You can also follow AAMPP, its progress and its featured music on Twitter, @AAMPPnetwork.

The post Getting AAMPPed Up: Where Music and Social Media Collide appeared first on SoundCtrl.

The post [Interview] Taku Harada, CEO of ColorSync appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

A new batch of impressive brains and circuits has come together to enhance the music in our lives, thanks to the creativity of Yuri Suzuki, Mark McKeague and Naomi Elliot. A sound designer and unorthodox thinker whom we’ve featured in the past, Suzuki is responsible for a number of creations such as the SoundTaxi, a collaboration with McKeague, and the Androp music video project.

The dawn of 2014 brings the world ever-closer to the official launch of another wildly intriguing idea by Suzuki and his colleagues. Pronounced, “OH-toh-toh,” and meaning “younger brother” in Japanese, Ototo first emerged in a press announcement last October.

What is Ototo exactly, and how will it enhance our musical experiences in 2014?

Ototo is an “experimental synthesizer that allows you to turn anything into a musical instrument,” as succinctly explained by Dentaku, a creative design and invention company newly formed by Suzuki and McKeague last year. Ototo was also created with the collaborative help of Near Now, a commissioning and artist development program affiliated with Nottingham, England-based Broadway.

Recalling similar ideas like the BeetBox and Disney’s Botanicus Interacticus, which we covered in 2012, it might seem like Dentaku has only served to follow an existing concept. But in reality, Ototo’s capabilities run on a method different from either of the former. What the three do have in common is their use of small-sized pieces of complex circuitry and integrative physical interaction to create sound. However, Ototo encourages its application to an assortment of conductive surfaces and objects, not just to plant-based matter or singular electrode implantation.

Ototo’s primary component is a printed circuit board (PCB) synthesizer that works in conjunction with crocodile-style clips, which are attached to a conductive material. Even without external clips, the PCB functions as a musical keyboard and users can further customize and manipulate sounds using four sensor input channels built on the board that work with electronic modules. Dentaku explains the simplicity in creating a light theremin by connecting a light sensor to control the pitch.

Ototo’s technical specifications are as follows:

● 12 key capacitive touch keyboard (one octave), which you can connect to conductive objects via crocodile clips

● 4 sensor inputs that allow you to change different aspects of the sound

● No coding required

● Onboard speaker

● 3.5mm audio output

● Powered by 2 x AA batteries or micro USB

● Arduino compatible if you want to hack

Aside from Ototo’s electronic potential, Naomi Elliot’s role in this PCB’s advancement adds a special touch for an extra dimension of aesthetic enjoyment to practical function. A London-based illustrator by trade, Elliot contributes her drafting skills to provide Ototo with a group of various little figures that highlight Ototo’s many elements. Dentaku plan to have these characters featured in a story that will help users understand how to use and interact with Ototo. Such a method might sound juvenile at first, but could be a perfect way to gently bridge the starting gap for those more wary or less knowledgeable of customizable technology. This objective is of particular interest to Suzuki:

“We wanted to create a kit that makes physical computng and interactive projects accessible for everyone. Getting into coding and understanding electronics can be a barrier for creativity, Ototo allows anyone to build amazing electronic sound projects with minimal knowledge.”

 Ototo is still getting tuned up and ready for release, but now that we’re into the new year, it will hopefully not be long before more details of the specific launch date and public availability are announced.

In the meantime, you can check out Ototo’s promotional video below, and sign up for Dentaku’s newsletter on Ototo’s main page to stay informed!

Dentaku – Ototo from Broadway on Vimeo.

You can follow Dentaku on Twitter @dentakuldn.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

The post Turn Everyday Objects Into Musical Instruments With Ototo appeared first on SoundCtrl.

VideoInk, the online video industry news publication, recently launched Musiconomy, a year-end issue dedicated to coverage of music on YouTube and other digital video platforms.  On the heels of this issue, VideoInk collaborated with analytic and insight company Tubular Labs to create the Musiconomy infographic.  The chart details data for streaming music videos, including the most popular genres, platform growth, and expected revenue from video giants YouTube and Vevo.

Check out the chart below (click through for the enlarged version), and head over to VideoInk for more video industry reportage.

The post YouTube’s Musiconomy: An Infographic by VideoInk appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Brian Parker

In September, Digital Music News publisher and founder Paul Resnikoff published a wildly popular article on the state of music industry called “The 13 Most Insidious, Pervasive Lies of the Modern Music Industry…” which has racked up over 34,000 likes over the last few months. The article lists thirteen purported misconceptions about the industry and the implications of trying to establish a career as an independent artist, with fiery statements on labels, publishing, touring, crowdfunding, and of course, the highly debated topic of the season, streaming services. Music industry sage Thom Yorke gave the article his full approval, and comments on the Digital Music News website poured in for about 2 months.

When Resnikoff asked independent musician and writer Ari Herstand to contribute to DMN, he agreed to do so under one condition: that he would “not going to censor [his] opinion – even if it’s completely opposite of  [Paul's].”  Herstand’s “Why Thom Yorke and Digital Music News Are Completely Wrong” debunks several of the “lies” that Resnikoff presented, citing personal experience as evidence for his claims.

Herstand specifically addresses the money he earns touring and selling merchandise, the promotion he’s received through streaming services, and the funding he has earned on Kickstarter. Herstand is a self-proclaimed “middle-class musician” who, like many others, makes a living through “touring, TV placements, sponsorships, session work, co-writing royalties, scoring, music lessons, and freelance gigging,” shedding light on a shifting, but not necessarily crumbling music industry.

You can read the two pieces and decide for yourself whose take is more accurate, though I think there is a good deal of truth in both ends of the spectrum. It’s never been easier to be cynical about the industry, but we should find ways to change, rather than constantly criticize an evolving business.

Thanks to Digital Music News for spurring healthy debate on these topics, as cultural (particularly music) publications often filter their opinions for “consistency.” And be sure to check out Ari Herstand’s blog Ari’s Take for great insight on how to be successful as an independent artist.

The post A (Friendly) Industry Debate on Digital Music News appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

In anticipation of their upcoming music industry festival in Cannes in 2014, Midem Music has launched a video blog series profiling and interviewing heads of innovative record labels, posing the question, “Who needs labels?”

The most recent installment comes from Horst Weidenmuller, CEO of !K7, who weighs in on labels’ investments, rights ownership, and the blurring lines between labels and artists. Watch the brief, informative segment below:

!K7 is a renowned independent record label, licensing company, and distributor, and is home to artists including Carl Craig, John Talabot, Bloc Party, and Maya Jane Coles. !K7′s DJ-Kicks is a highly respected DJ mix and compilation series.

Watch more of the “Who Needs Labels?” series on the Midem blog.

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By Brian Parker

It has certainly been a formative year for the Sweden-based Spotify, if not a busy one for their marketing team.  The streaming service received backlash from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich back in October, veraciously speaking on behalf of burgeoning artists who receive notably low per-play payments.  A variety of reports and infographics have provided breakdowns on the numbers (even one predicting the uproar back in 2010), but Spotify defended its business model as the spearhead for a new industry format, not to mention the company’s $1bn worth of paid-out royalties to-date.

Despite the hype, Spotify is charging forward into 2014 with today’s announcement of free streaming on mobile and tablet devices…with the catch of it being limited to shuffle play. This isn’t quite the premium user experience, but less obsessive music fans can take their music on the go without paying a monthly fee. The free mobile experience will allow users to shuffle playlists, artist catalogues, and pre-made playlists, much like its own version of non-terrestrial radio.

Today also brings the news of Spotify acquiring rights to feature the much-awaited Led Zeppelin catalogue, a powerful cap to the company’s hugely successful 2013. This announcement comes on the tails of Spotify boastfully launching Year In Review, which shows off the popular playlists, songs, and artists of 2013, while highlighting its user base’s growth in the last twelve months.

Though the company purports its own nascency, Spotify’s growth doesn’t seem to correlate with its reasoning behind the controversial compensation and royalty structure. While Spotify is clearly offering exposure to new artists, the back catalogues of major label artists seem to be the real beneficiaries of the $1 billion generated in royalties. Spotify’s efficiency in providing a universal source of free music may come at the risk of devaluing new art, continuing the struggle for creators who wish to implement, and not boycott, potentially supportive digital technologies.

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By Jason Epstein

Recently, music streaming service Spotify released data revealing that each song play nets rights holders somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084.  Yep, a fraction of a fraction of a cent.  Doesn’t seem like much, does it?

However, Spotify generates an average of $41 per user, which is significantly more than the $25 that Spotify says the average U.S. adult pays for music each year.  Last year, the company lost $80M, but just last month, gained $250M in new funding, which brings the company’s value just above $4B.  One million plays on Spotify will generate between $6,000 and $8,400.  Compare that to $3,000 on YouTube, or between $1,300 to $1,500 on Pandora, or $41 on a radio station, and Spotify’s payout doesn’t seem so bad.  The difference is that Google has a billion YouTube users and Apple has 600 million iTunes users, while Spotify has just above 24 million users, about a quarter of whom are actually paying for the service.

In 2013, Spotify says it will have paid a total of $500 million in artist royalties, which is half of the entirety of their payouts since the streaming service was launched in 2008.  This information is part of the new Spotify Artists page, a sub-site where rights holders can track performance using various analytics tools.

Although troubled by artist backlash against low payouts, Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek recently mentioned that the company is trying to usher in a revolution, moving physical music to the digital space and “selling access, not ownership.”  Of artists, Mr. Ek says, “All they see is millions of streams and they see, you know, not millions of dollars in the end, but thousands of dollars, and they think that a million streams is compatible to a million downloads, which it obviously isn’t.”

Spotify says that the more subscribers they have, the bigger the payouts will be, but what’s not clear is if they mean to project an increase in listens with an increased number of subscribers, or if there will be more listens per subscriber as the streaming service becomes more widely accepted.  This seems like a placation, and a dodging of the real issue at hand.  Spotify does, however, plan to launch the ability for users to buy tickets and band merchandise beginning in 2014, which could provide a more effective means of diversifying artist revenue production.

To read up on past coverage of Spotify news, check out articles here and here.

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by Brian Parker

Whether it’s warmth, nostalgia, or simply tactile pleasure that’s spurring your hunt for a new piece of gear, there are plenty of new options on the market for the obsessive lover of raw analog sounds. This year saw an influx of new and reissued analog devices, each with their own distinctive sounds and control interfaces. While the laptop’s ubiquity represents an obvious domination of digital production and engineering, few software synths can accurately replicate the full-waveform sonics of an analog synthesizer. So here are our year-end picks for analog synths, including monophonic and polyphonic keyboards and drum machines from Elektron, Korg, Dave Smith, Arturia, and Moog.

Elektron Analog Keys

The newly released Analog Keys follows in the footsteps of Elektron’s powerful and distinguished Machinedrum, with hypermodern design cues from their current range of gear.  The Analog Keys supports full MIDI controller capability, and sports an assignable joystick, step sequencer, filter control, and CV/Gate outputs.

Korg Volca Beats

Affordable analog drum programming from the one of the world’s most reputable brands, the Korg Volca Beats is one device in a series of new hardware targeted to producers of electronic music, including the Volca Keys and the Volca Bass. While the word “EDM” in the description may turn off some discerning gearheads, the impressive demonstration video for the Volca Beats actually shows off the synth’s ability to create some very deep, locked-in techno grooves.

Dave Smith Prophet 12

Few makers in the current market can match Dave Smith’s accolades in the world of synthesis and engineering, and the new 12-voice update on his famous Prophet series continues the legacy some 25 years from whence it began.  The Prophet 12 is a powerhouse with 12-voices each sporting 4 oscillators and 12 sub oscillators, a “Character” section for wave shaping and sculpting, an array of modulation options and effects, as well as a 4-tap stereo delay and arpeggiator. Analog doesn’t get much better than this.

Korg MS-20 Mini

Back by apparently popular demand, Korg’s scaled-down version of the famous monophonic synthesizer places the company on our list twice. Featuring the original circuitry from 1978 and overseen by the original developers of the MS-20, the Mini is an exact replica but at 86% of the size (plus MIDI and USB connection). With the same VCO,VCA, VCF, and LFO patches, the MS-20 Mini can channel the iconic sounds of Depeche Mode, William Orbit, Aphex Twin, and Goldfrapp, to name a slight few.

Moog Sub Phatty

Moog’s newest synth in the Phatty line continues the brand’s flexible, iconic, and perfected analog devices.The Moog Sub Phatty is a 25-key monophonic synthesizer, packing a punch specifically for gritty, low-end sounds.  A “Multidrive” control can be cranked for subtle and extreme distortion on the dual-oscillator synth. The Sub Phatty is fairly straight forward as far as analog synthesizers go: you get the basic oscillator waveforms, filters and envelope control, as well as modulation for highly customizable sonic textures. And a pitch/mod wheel if you’re feeling risky in the  double digit frequencies.

Arturia MicroBrute

The French experts who continually crank out incredible software replicas of retro synthesizers have released a compact version of their Brute range of hardware keyboards. The MicroBrute packs a ton of features on a tiny piece of gear, including a powerful oscillator, syncing LFO, step sequencer (303-style bass lines anyone?), and a modulation matrix patch bay. As with all new releases MIDI and USB compatibility are a given, as well as the CV/Gate IO.

That’s our season’s edit on the analog market! Feel free to send in your suggestions and tips for new gear! 

The post The Synth-Lovers’ Wish List appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

Picture a world where the deaf and hard of hearing can enjoy music just as much as an uninhibited listener. While scientists have made progress toward that goal by enabling the ability to hear and understand speech in quiet environments, hearing music is not yet perfected. But researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have developed an algorithm for cochlear implants wherein music sounds pleasing, rather than like a jumbled bunch of sounds.

Music in the Cochlear Implant 

According to the University of Washington website:

A cochlear implant is a small, electronic device that lets a person who is profoundly deaf or hard of hearing perceive sound. One piece is placed on the skin behind a person’s ear, while another portion is surgically inserted under the skin. The implant works by directly stimulating the auditory nerve, bypassing damaged portions of the ear. The implant’s signals are sent to the brain, which recognizes the signals as sounds.

The standard implants use a special algorithm to categorize sounds into high, middle and low frequencies. The problem with these standard implants is that the algorithm is too stiff to properly hear music. Regular sounds such as speech are audible, but music’s shifting pitches and the instrumental timbres are too complex to hear. Furthermore, implant users can only hear one voice at a time, as background noise and multiple voices produce a cacophony of sound—another reason why the combinative instrumentation in most music would be difficult to hear.

“If you sing ‘Happy Birthday to You’ to someone who has a cochlear implant, they’ll have no difficulty understanding what you’re saying, but if you play a version that is devoid of lyrics or rhythm, they can’t tell the difference between that and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,’” explains Rubinstein, a professor of otolaryngology and bioengineering at the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center.

He continues, “The other thing they can’t hear is timbre. So we have several instruments play the same five-note sequence and ask them to say what’s the guitar or what’s the piano. Someone who has normal hearing will do this test virtually perfectly, but someone who has a cochlear implant will score very poorly.”

The Researchers’ Laudable, Audible Results

The new algorithm developed by the university changes all of that. Whilst wearing cochlear implants embedded with this music-decoding algorithm, the average implant user scored a 45% on the timbre test, and the test subject who performed the best in the experiment reached nearly 90%. In terms of pitch, the new algorithm could expand most of the test subjects’ recognition of a single octave to three octaves.  This advancement coupled with the ability to interpret rhythm and words through natural speech comprehension are pieces of the puzzle to eventually fully hear and understand music.

“If they are hearing a single guitar, they can hear one note,” said Atlas of current wearers. “If a person is playing fast, they can hear that. If a person is playing slow they can hear that.”

These findings suggest a striking improvement in music perception and success in the realm of music listening for the deaf and hard of hearing. According to many researchers in the field, if music becomes audible to a cochlear implant user, then so will virtually any other sound, meaning a huge step forward not only in music-listening for the deaf but also in their abilities to hear background noise or multiple voices.

The next step of the project is to enable listeners to interpret melody, which is currently difficult even with this latest algorithm. The researchers also specifically catered their algorithm design to update existing cochlear implants, so that users could keep their old implants.

Implications of Music in Cochlear Implants

One obvious implication of this new algorithm is that the deaf and hard of hearing will eventually be able to listen to music as a common form of interest and enjoyment. The enrichment that music brings to people’s lives will finally be accessible to those who could not previously perceive it. As the quality of sound from these algorithms improves, the level of experience and relationship that the deaf can have with music increases along with it—a breakthrough that could ultimately change or  affect their lives tremendously.

With the ability to hear music comes the ability to create music. While there have been musicians who were hard of hearing, this algorithm and its future improvements will open the doors for millions of people to be able to listen to and create their own music. Can you imagine the works of Beethoven if he had his full sense of hearing? The implications of allowing such a huge new group of people into the music industry will be astounding, and the creativity of those artists may introduce an unprecedented wave of new music.

There also comes the possibility of musicians making music with specific optimization for cochlear implants. This music would be tailored to each level of music comprehension as these calculations are perfected, so that the deaf can too develop the  musical skills of someone with full hearing abilities. What this music might sound like can be left to the imagination, but it would not be surprising for musicians to appreciate and become involved with this scientific breakthrough.

The research, findings, and implementations of Les Atlas, Ph.D., Jay Rubinstein, MD, Ph.D and Kaibao Nie, Ph.D at the University of Washington represent huge advancements in cochlear implants thus far, and the potential capabilities therein will be exciting as they are realized in the future.

The post Laudable, Audible Results: Cochlear Implants Decode Music for the Deaf appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Music Gateway, a global matching service for music industry professionals, has recently announced a massive crowdfunding campaign after 3 months of success and growth. The Surry, UK-based startup links musicians, artists, engineers, producers, publishers, and labels, and now has reached over 10,000 users, received over 2,800 pitches, and posted over 750 music projects and opportunities.

With a solid investor base supporting their initial launch, Music Gateway is now engaging their second round of investment via CrowdCube, an online crowd funding platform. Offering a 15% equity share to investors, the company’s founder and CEO Jon Skinner and creative director Phil Carr are excited and confident about the prospect of rapid growth over the next year, expecting a 10-fold return on investment.

With 45 days left on the campaign, you can become an investor in Music Gateway by visiting CrowdCube, where you can see the pitch video. You can also become a member of Music Gateway to find fellow collaborators in music, film, TV, and other fields, and join the community of industry pros who currently use the site.

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By Simon Brown, Publishing Manager at Lemoncake.com

When you hear a catchy tune or song on an advertisement, you rarely forget that product. Whether or not the product is something that interests you specifically, a track that plays into your emotions will make for a memorable ad. Carefully selected music attracts the audience and contributes to the entertainment factor, as well as ensuring an ad lives on in ones memory beyond its 30-second length. Tying music together with the narrative of an ad will help to create something truly special. If it is successful, viewers will be left humming the jingle, with the brand’s information and slogan well and truly drummed into their memories.

British retailer John Lewis’s marketing team is renowned for getting their advertisements exactly right, and their music choices for Christmas advertisements never fail to impress. In 2010, Ellie Goulding’s version of ‘Your Song’ complemented a heartwarming piece about sneaking presents past loved ones, attempting to giftwrap awkwardly shaped items, and hanging stockings out for pets. More recently, Gabrielle Aplin’s cover of ‘The Power of Love’ beautifully accompanied a snowman’s search for the perfect present, and also topped the Singles Chart. 2013 sees the return of Lily Allen covering Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ in an emotionally charged ad titled ‘The Bear & The Hare’.

Whether it’s a gorilla smashing a drum kit to Phil Collins or a Pavarotti parody, memorable tunes are ideal in accompanying the visuals in ads. From iconic rock songs, to 70s anthems, or simply a price comparison site with a ridiculously irritating jingle, advertising music proves hugely influential time and time again.

So how do you choose the right music for your advert?

Deciding on an appropriate track for your advert can be challenging and time consuming, not forgetting the added expense and process of  using copyrighted tracks or new commissions. Check out a few of our simple steps to help you get ahead in finding the right track and making your advert a success.

1. Consider your audience: Who is the product aimed at? Ensuring the music appeals to the viewers will contribute to the advert’s success.

2. Choose a genre: By considering a variety of genres and subgenres, you are sure to find a style that best suits your advertisement.

3. Match the tempo: Coordinate a fast beat to a quick paced video, and make sure a more relaxed advert is complemented by a slower tempo.

4. Convey the mood: Whether its happiness or melancholy, choose music that evokes the same emotion as your advert.

5. Represent your product: Ensure the music is an audio portrayal of the video, so choose something intense for a serious product, and match chilled-out music to something lighthearted.

6. Coordinate with the video: Whether your advert is simple or elaborate, make sure the music maintains the structure and theme.

7. Finalize the advert: By taking the simple but key decisions above you should be closer to knowing the style and feel of music you wish to use – so go ahead, put it together and enjoy!

If choosing the right track is still proving to be challenging and costly, a music production library might be the right choice. Lemoncake.com is a new production music library and publisher featuring innovative search options to help find the perfect track for your advert. Unlike other production music libraries, the music is free at the point of use, removing frustrating financial restrictions.

What’s your favourite advertising music of all time? Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Simon Brown is the Publishing Manager at Lemoncake.com, a revolutionary music production library and publisher. Visit www.lemoncake.com to learn more about it. 

The post Guest Post: Choosing Music For Your Ads appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Natalie Mantovani

Artists spend a lot of time producing their music, often devoting years to just one album. Yet when these albums are released, the fans only see the final picture – amazing songs that they love listening to over and over. One benefit of today’s quickly evolving technology is that it’s easier than ever to listen to your favorite music online, with music streaming sites taking over the way we listen to music. Seems like a win-win for both artists and fans, right?

Maybe not. Although an underlying issue for years, artist payout is becoming a bigger problem for many disgruntled musicians. At its highest, Spotify offers just $0.005 for each play, meaning that over the course listening to one thousand songs, an artist has the potential to earn between just $1 and $5. Months and years of hard work to earn less than $5 when people are listening to your songs countless times in a row just doesn’t cut it. With a breakdown of several different popular music streaming sites, this infographic shows Arena as having the highest payout, at $210 earned for every 1,000 songs listened to. Now that seems a little more like it. Though as a fan you might not think there’s much you can do to help out your favorite musicians, perhaps the method you choose to stream your music could make all the difference.

Natalie Mantovani is an aspiring journalist in New Jersey. She is passionate about music and the ups and downs of the industry. 

The post Do Musicians Really Benefit From Digital Streaming Services? appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

After a year of beta testing, Reverb.com, a new platform for buying and selling musical instruments and gear, received a successful $2.3 million round of funding from musicians and seasoned startup investors. Reverb.com, which launched officially in June, was started in late 2012  by David Kalt, the owner of the successful vintage guitar dealer Chicago Music Exchange. Kalt’s frustration with eBay and Craigslist inspired him to create a marketplace for musicians that would challenge the existing methods of selling gear. Now Reverb is up and running, offering expert knowledge, user experience, free listings, low transaction fees, and accurate pricing tools, including the Reverb Price Guide, which functions like the site’s Blue Book.

Reverb.com has already drawn the interest of over 4000 dealers (including one of our favorites, Main Drag Music in Brooklyn) who represent the growing, $7 billion market for new and used musical instruments. Reverb’s interface is simple and bright, with filters including instrument type, brands, price range, year of manufacture, and staff picks. You can also sort your search results by city, making it easy to source and test instruments that may be too fragile for long-distance shipping. Listings are readable and informative with offers and shipping options in plain sight with links to the dealer’s stock.

Reverb.com certainly looks like it could challenge eBay and Craigslist for this speciality market, and rather than competing with local vintage dealers, the site partners with small shops and craftsmen to keep small communities of musicians connected.  Stay in touch with the Reverb staff on their blog or sign-up for their email list for news about deals and giveaways.

The post Reverb.com: A New Marketplace for Buying and Selling Gear appeared first on SoundCtrl.