By Carolyn Heneghan

Total bummer you couldn’t make it to SXSW this year, right? All of the amazing concerts with tons of big-name and up-and-coming artists to discover, just out of your reach this time around. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall and catch all the action from afar?

Now, with “The Heart of Austin” showcase from Sony Entertainment Network, you can, all from the comfort of your own home. And all you need is your PlayStation 3 (where admittedly you were spending that missed concert time anyway, yes?) Using the Live Events Viewer app on your PS3, you’ll be able to enjoy The Heart of Austin showcase’s broadcasts for three days of the expansive SXSW lineup, from March 12^th through 14^th, for free through the app or an online stream.

Through a partnership with ‘stache media, Entercom Communications, Lively, and King’s Hawaiian, Sony has taken over two downtown, next-door-neighbor venues, The Market and Hangar Lounge. From Wednesday through Friday of this week, Sony will bring you a heavy helping of some of the excellent live performances you thought you’d miss out on. Plus, according to Sony, “Music Unlimited & Video Unlimited will also have a setup within Hangar Lounge to experience the service between sets.” Sets begin around 4 to 5 p.m. and end around 12 to 2 a.m. each evening.

Lineup

The lineup includes a total of 54 bands and musicians from across the country. On Wednesday, you can catch The Revivalists, UME, The Grahams, and Oh No Fiasco at The Market and Rev Gusto, The Architects, Nightmare The Cat, and Nothing More at Hangar Lounge. Thursday features Nicole Atkins, KKDO Local, Black Cadillacs, and Lucius at The Market and Crobot, Wild Party, Johnnyswim and Samsaya at Hangar Lounge. And on Friday you can catch Los Lonely Boys, Ingrid Michaelson, The Orwells and Magic Man at The Market and Travis Scott, The Bots, Kreesha Turner and Wonder Broz at Hangar Lounge.

Any of these sound familiar? This is just a sampling of the wide range of talent performing at this one-of-a-kind showcase. You can view the full line-up on Sony’s blog or below. You can also check out a playlist for The Heart of Austin showcase on Sony’s website.

The Potential of Live Concert Showcases

Live concert streams are nothing new, but the fact that a company as large as Sony has jumped on the bandwagon is a great sign for music lovers who are often distraught over missing their favorite bands and artists perform around the world. Being able to stream the shows to your television via PS3, rather than your computer or mobile device, is a bonus as well.

As the market for live streaming concerts grows, a unique opportunity extends far beyond venue walls. Global music sharing will no longer be limited to streaming music and videos, which are typically seen post-event, even when recorded live.

Now, all of the excitement of a live shows will be universally available from the comfort of home. Granted, streaming live shows can never replace actually being present in a venue or at the foot of a festival stage, but it’s the next best thing for live music lovers.

Bands unable to tour and travel will be able to share their performances with fans and potential fans around the world, earning more of a following without ever having to leave their hometown — which is a limitation many bands and musicians throughout the world face. Live performance streaming is yet another unique outlet offered by the Internet that can increase band exposure on a wider scale, with relatively minimal effort for the band itself, aside from the videography setup.

SXSW is an exciting showcase for the music industry, and you can still get a taste of what the festival has to offer thanks to Sony and its partnerships. Tune in this evening with the Live Events Viewer app on your PS3!

The post Stream The Heart of Austin SXSW Showcase This Week on Your PS3 appeared first on SoundCtrl.

In a data report entitled “The EDM Fan Social Media Listening Study,” the online ticketing service Eventbrite profiled the listening, social, and lifestyle habits of fans of electronic dance music (EDM). EDM’s popularity has risen in the last few years, as mainstream iterations of electronic styles such as dubstep, trance, electro-house, and progressive house have permeated the pop music industry, creating a new and frenetic fan base bolstered by social media platforms.

Eventbrite’s findings aren’t wildly surprising, but a few points do prove a distinction between fans of EDM and fans of…well, everything else. First, EDM fans are typically social media addicts, Tweeting 6 times more than average Twitter users, with 72% more frequency than general music fans. Described as “social media exhibitionists,” EDM fans demonstrate a higher instance of indiscretion online, sharing highly personal information about their lives on social media channels.

Second, EDM fans are overall less concerned with actual artists than they are with events in general. Dedicated music fans were shown to be twice as likely to show support for their favorite artists, though EDM fans drive conversations about music and concerts — though typically limited to EDM.

The post [Infographic] Eventbrite Releases New Report on the Anomalous Fan Base of EDM appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By B. Parker

The newly launched Bop.fm isn’t the next new music streaming service — it’s every streaming service in one place.  In an age when every new startup seems to have the final answer in the business of something as abstract as music, Bop is leveraging the larger interests of the fan-pleasing platforms to streamline and personalize the music discovery and listening experience. Bop aggregates the most popular music streaming services — Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, Rdio, Deezer, Beats — under a single roof. With no need for an account, Bop.fm functions like an internet radio, curating playlists based on songs of your choosing. Unlike other internet radio applications that limit your choices or number of skips, users can pick songs or let Bop curate for them, sourcing the highest quality tracks from all of the major streaming services for free.

Bop’s platform also offers an interesting content management solution for artists and managers driving traffic to new music: with a single bop.fm link, users are directed toward all instances of a song, no matter where they exist on the internet, creating a consolidated source for a track. With the ability to aggregate all of the media sources and direct traffic, Bop may very well be the preferred platform for labels looking to keep fans engaged and in one place.

We caught up with Bop CEO Shehzad Daredia to talk about how Bop’s forward-thinking functionality creates a new model for music listening and discovery.

SoundCtrl: Is Bop.fm account based? How do you sign in?

Shehzad Daredia: You don’t need an account at all — we don’t like imposing these walls on you that everyone else does. So if I were to send you a Bop link to a song, you could play it right away. Now, if you wanted to create a playlist and save it, you’d have to create an account. We’ll probably have additional features like favoriting that will require an account, but to use the basic core functionality, we don’t impose registration.

You could sign up with Facebook or email, though we don’t currently have the ability to let you connect your individual accounts for say, Spotify or SoundCloud. That’s because we don’t really need you to do that. You can play through your existing Spotify account without you having to login, same for Rdio and Deezer. We do allow you to connect your Beats account, but you don’t have to connect all of your accounts to play through them. We can automatically detect if you’re a Spotify user, Rdio user, etc.

So if you’re a premium user of a streaming service, it wouldn’t change your access to Bop. 

Right, it doesn’t matter if you’re a premium user or not, Bop can stream through your Spotify account and you won’t have to do anything in advance to make that work.

Does playback come from online or an app? 

Bop right now is web and mobile web, we don’t have a native app yet.

What’s the prioritization of playback services used by Bop? 

The vast majority of users out there don’t subscribe to more than one of these services, so they’ve never heard of Spotify, Rdio, Deezer, or Beats. Most people will be playing on SoundCloud or YouTube, depending on a number of factors, including availability of that song on those services, as well as availability of that service in that country. So if you’re in Germany, maybe the Vevo video wouldn’t available on YouTube, in which case we’d fall back to SoundCloud. Usually we’ll prefer YouTube, since YouTube monetizes for the industry, whereas SoundCloud will not. That’s the case for the majority of users, since most of them haven’t heard of the other services, much less have accounts.

Now for the ones that do, the next most common is that users have an account with one of these services. We automatically detect if they have a Spotify account, if that song is available on their device in their country, and then we would play back through that account. It’s very, very rare that the user has access to more than one of these services, like Spotify and Deezer, or Spotify and Rdio, so we don’t put a lot of thought or effort into which one we prioritize first. It’s somewhat arbitrary to focus on it, as .1% of the population has more than one music subscription account.

YouTube and SoundCloud stream at pretty low quality — is that cause for concern? 

Quality is a factor we consider. It’s the reason why we’ll play from YouTube over SoundCloud, with others being equal if a song is available in both of those services. But we consider quality when we do our matching. If the only thing available on YouTube is a low quality UGC video, we’ll give preference to the higher quality file uploaded by the creator on SoundCloud. But generally speaking, we give preference to the official music video through Vevo or the creator’s channel on YouTube over UGC uploads.

Are you working only with files and content that have been appropriately licensed? 

We give preference to music that’s been officially licensed.  That said, YouTube is trying to change the model now. So it used to be a place where people would upload a bunch of UGC stuff and YouTube would tell the creators, “Tell us where people are infringing, and we’ll take it down.”  And so license holders had to play “whack-a-mole.” But now, not only are they playing “whack-a-mole,” they’re playing “monetize-a-mole,” if you will. So now YouTube will monetize your content that is uploaded by other users, they’ll claim that content and share the revenue. They’ll also flag it as premium content with premium ads and rates. We can effectively infer, by looking at YouTube videos, which ones are being monetized for that artist, even if the artist or the rights holders were not the ones that uploaded it. So we give preference to the official channels, but we include the ones from other channels if we need to play through them.

So it’s opening Bop to as much music as possible while not infringing on any rights itself. 

We’re basically linking to a song that’s on YouTube. We’re a DMCA-registered agent, so if  we get a complaint that we’re pointing to a song that’s infringing content, then we’ll gladly take it down promptly. To this date, we haven’t received a single complaint. Part of that is because we don’t actually host the content ourselves; so if there was a problem, it would go to YouTube or SoundCloud directly.

Part of it is that even if it was infringing content, rights holders understand what we’re doing. We’re doing something that YouTube and SoundCloud don’t do in a scalable way, which is putting a giant buy button next to that content and pass ads through that content. And we’re pushing people towards the paid streams for that content, whether it be Spotify, Deezer, etc.

Do you have any recommendation engines that you’re running on Bop through the hosted services? 

So we have recommendation in the app, you’ll see it in a few different ways. First, whenever you play a song on Bop through clicking a Facebook link or Twitter, when the song ends, recommended songs will start playing automatically. You’re effectively creating a radio station by playing any song on Bop. Secondly, on any song page, we’ll show you recommended songs, so you can navigate and see what else you might like. Finally, on our homepage, we have new songs and popular songs, and we’ll be expanding upon that to provide something tailored to your listening history.

How are you planning to grow your company and monetize your methodology for aggregating music? 

Today, monetization isn’t the core focus. Today the focus is the growth of the product, focusing on the best user experience possible, and exposing Bop to an ever-growing number of people. That said, we have a short-term business model in place, and a path toward a long-term one. So the short-term model is an affiliate model where we  drive subscriptions and upgrades to the music services and attract album sales to download stores, and getting a cut of the revenue that’s generated. So Rdio will payout about $5-$10 per user, per year for any newly referred subscriber. And then iTunes would give a standard 5-10% commission for a download.

In the long-term we’re a data play. We’ve already done 35 million song plays cumulatively since inception, and we’re doing over 100,000 song plays per day.  So that’s 35 million play points growing at 100,000 data points per day. We’re releasing data not only on what’s popular and trending, but what people like at the individual level. We’ll be able to utilize that data to market to them accordingly, make ads, or sell that data back to the labels to help them understand who their customers are.

Lately, because of the fact that we provide the ability to share simple, universal links, regardless of country device and music service, we’re getting a lot of artists and managers utilizing us for their social media efforts. For example when Maroon 5 drops a new track and wants to promote it to their fan base, what link do they use? Do they use iTunes? That won’t work for Android users, and iTunes isn’t always where a song is first available, plus it’s 2014 and people don’t download at the same rate with streaming picking up.

So by using a single Bop link, a song only available on SoundCloud will play through SoundCloud. If a YouTube link is available tomorrow, it’ll play from that, and start monetizing for the artist. And next when it’s on iTunes, the buy button lights up, and when it’s available on Spotify and Rdio, we’ll start defaulting to those services. All the while, the artist and manager don’t have to touch that link, while Bop picks the best monetizing source for the user to play from. Then we consolidate the analytics for streaming, watching, and buying into one place broken down by things like country, device, browser, and time of day. So we’ve already gotten Jason Mraz, Hot Chelle Ray, Switchfoot, The GRAMMYS, using this with test campaigns, and we’re seeing momentum from this feature.

Be sure to check out the beta version Bop.fm online, and sign up for free for tailored playlists and recommendations.

The post [Interview] Shehzad Daredia, CEO of Bop.fm appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Jason Epstein

Former Nokia and Skype product designer, Duncan Lamb, has launched fledgling San Francisco startup Aether with the goal of integrating hardware and software to deliver a simple music listening experience.  Branded as a ‘thinking player’, Cone is a new audio device that learns your likes and dislikes to a scary degree (though the company promises never to use data to serve anyone else but the customer’s benefit).  It then plays back audio from streaming music services, Internet radio stations and podcasts based on its knowledge of your tastes.

The lack of a screen can be seen either as a big plus (simplification to the nth degree) or a big drawback (as users tend to be comforted by visual controls).  Instead, Cone has voice recognition and a simple click wheel control scheme: Turn and it’ll automatically play what you enjoy; tap the center and it’ll pause; press the center button, then tell Cone what genre, artists or song you want to hear and it’ll obey; turn the dial again and it’ll play something random.

Cone will be available in two color schemes.  The black and copper version looks like a conical Duracell battery, while the classic white and gray looks like it was torn straight from the Apple assembly line.  Its minimalistic front-side center button and dial system design is rounded out with top-mounted + and – volume buttons, and a rear-mounted on/off switch and 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Designed to fit just about anywhere, the 6.3 H x 6.3 W x 6 L, 2.9 lb. Cone will sell for $399.  The first batch will be ready for shipment in early Summer 2014.  To use it you’ll need a device running iOS 7+ or Mac OSX 10.9+ “Mavericks.”  It’s not yet clear which specific music services will be compatible with Cone, but you will have the ability to play music from your iPhone or Mac.

Let’s get spec-tacular for a moment:  Cone features a fully digital I2S 2.1 channel 20w audio amplifier, 3” woofer plus dual tweeter design, a built-in rechargeable Li-on battery and dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n capability with up to 8 hours of continuous playback.

It’s an innovative design and even more inventive idea for hands-off music lovers, but we’ve gotta ask: Does it work with the iPad as well?  How’s the sound quality?  WHERE IS THE REMOTE CONTROL?  It seems like the perfect device to bring to a secluded outdoor spot, oh, except it only operates in a Wifi environment.  Would it be too difficult to include a port for iPod or iPhone insertion, so Cone could be used as a regular speaker in case there are no nearby hot-spots?  And one last question…what if you can’t think of the name of a song and you want to hear it.  Can Cone read your mind too?

Time will tell if users desire chic, high-end, hands-off, Internet- and Wifi-dependent devices like these to sate their appetites for current and immediate mood-serving music.  If not, maybe cassettes will make a comeback.

Reserve your Cone here.

The post Turn, Tap, Touch and Talk Your Way Through Internet Radio appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

Moogfest, the electronic music festival honoring the legacy of music technology pioneer Bob Moog, is just over a month away. This year’s exciting, innovative festival is centered around both day and night programming, featuring panels, workshops, sound installations, and conversations during the first part of the day, and live performances, DJ sets, and impromptu musical experimentations slated for the night.

Moogfest recently announced its full daytime programming, featuring a variety of speculative, insightful, and educational events that will stimulate the mind of any musician or engineer with an eye on the future.  In anticipation of our trip down to Asheville, N.C., we’ve picked a few highlights from the festival’s day schedule, and look forward to reporting back on the prospects of technology, music, and creativity to come.

The Future of Creativity

One of Moogfest’s biggest objectives is bringing together forward-thinking creators to discuss the future of music. Unlike other festivals and meet-ups, Moogfest is less concerned with the often stale topics of music business and consumption (streaming, licensing, bluetooth speakers), and more concerned with actual modes of creation and artistic progression.

World-renowned futurists, philosophers and artists tackle the big questions: What will art look like and sound like 20, 50, 100 years from now? How will it be made and how will it be consumed? What will be the tools of creative expression in the future? Three keynote addresses by Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom; Jerome C. Glenn, CEO of the Millennium Project; and bioethicist, transhumanist, and futurist George Dvorsky.

Google and the Future of Audio

With the exciting Glass, Chrome Experiments, Labs, and mobile applications, Google seems to be holding back its big break into the music industry while bubbling underneath, developing proprietary technologies that will eventually (and likely understatedly) dominate the scene.

Come hear firsthand accounts of Google’s foray into the intersection of music and technology from members of the Android, Creative Lab, Data Arts, and Doodle teams. Witness and engage in a dialogue about the challenges, triumphs, adventures, and aspirations of mixing sounds and code. With Ryan Germick, Leon Hong, Joey Hurst, Aaron Koblin, Raph Levien, and Alexander Chen.

Sonification and Cybernetics

At the risk of belittling this event, we’ll keep it simple — the first human cyborg is going to perform.

Can you visualize music as data?  Professor Bruce Walker of Georgia Institute of Technology’s Sonification Lab discusses new technologies that illustrate information with sound.  Can you see colors as sounds?   Contemporary artist Neil Harbisson was born with the inability to see color.  With a prosthetic device called an “eyeborg,” he can now hear the spectrum and create symphonies out of everything he sees, and has become the planet’s first human cyborg.  Harbisson will perform live and talk about the launch of the Cyborg Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to help people become cyborgs and promote cybernetics in the arts.  

Immersive, Improvisatory, Durational Performances

The best rockstars are the ones that can keep up with the times, optimistically taking advantage of new technologies and appropriating the old. This experimentation, all on Moog equipment, will not be one to miss.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner and Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox on Moog pedals. LCD Soundsystem’s Gavin Russom on Moog synths. Dan Deacon on Moogs across all platforms, from hardware to software, pedals to apps. Each performance lasting up to four hours. Anything can happen. Plus an immersive visual installation with films, projections and art by Hisham Bharoocha.

How to Hear

From the most pretentious cynics to the most casual background listeners, everyone could take a lesson on how to hear better. This workshop will guide listeners to actively engage with music, while opening the mind to a more well-rounded listening and comprehension experience.

Immersive, participatory exercises with Lucky Dragons focused on “engaged” or “active” listening. Building on techniques used by environmentalists, artists and composers, takeaways include new strategies for music making, a better understanding of our sonic environment, and an open perspective on the feedback loop between listening, attention, and action.

I Dream of Wires (U.S. Premiere)

Since SoundCtrl is all about modular and analog synthesis, we’re excited to catch the US premiere of this interesting flick.

The ultimate documentary exploring the history of modular synthesizers and modern day communities of analog explorers. U.S. premiere screening with director Robert Fantinatto and producer Jason Amm.

These are just a handful of many events going on at Moogfest, and you can check out the rest of the day and night programming HERE.

The post Moogfest 2014: Daytime Event Highlights appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

Life is full of bombarding sounds, and we tend to brush over the lot of them in the hustle of a busy day. What would it be like if such a common sound were presented in an unexpected way?  Enter: Mew, a sound piece recently developed by a team of students at the Royal College of Art in London, UK.

This piece of hardware was part of SoundObject, a collaborative effort in which Emily Groves, Paula Arntzen, Jacqueline Ford, and Jakub Pollág, students in the Information Experience Design and Visual Communication, and Design Products departments of RCA, worked together to “create a digital and physical object that responds sonically to people and its surroundings.”

Asking, “What is Mew, exactly?” is a perfect segue for an infomercial style motto:

All the character of a cat, without the messy litter box cleanup!

This may be a slightly juvenile and crude description, but even with a cute name and tagline to match, this university endeavor is actually quite complex — it is loaded with technology and is hardly a child’s toy. It may look innocent on the outside but this “kitty” is packing the support of tech familiar to SoundCtrl, such as Max MSP, lots of Arduino circuitry, several pressure sensors and even a Mac mini. (If you are interested in this kind of work, see also this piece highlighting the Skube, another project that utilizes MSP and Arduino.)

The team started out with an objective in the form of a question:

“How can we manipulate people’s expectations of sound through a responsive digital physical object?”

The answer came in the form of an object that presents onlookers and those who actively approach the device with distorted sound clips that emulate a cat, but are distorted enough not to be perceived as an animal likeness of any kind. Responsive actions include: walking toward Mew, petting/stroking the fur covered interface, and pushing down on the surface. Each of these will trigger sounds. The particular cat audio that is emitted when interacting with Mew is affected by variables like amount of pressure and directionality of touch and petting movement.

Mew invites a more intimate level of interaction once someone comes with a certain distance because motion sensors signal it to start purring. Touching the fur, covered in conductive thread, tells the Arduino platforms to playback the distorted meows and any amount of pressure that exceeds the predetermined amount of force programmed into the sensors put on Mew’s foam ”body,” will prompt a stern hiss. All of these sonic reactions are controlled, shaped and changed with the Max MSP software that runs off the built-in Mac mini previously mentioned.

The contradictory nature of a non-cat like object, being built to encourage the kind of behavior one would share with a cat, fits the purposes of this academic project well enough. Still, it does posit other questions and beneficial possibilities, should the project be modeled to more naturally and closely emulate an animal. If enough sonic variety and behavioral nuances were accounted for, and worked with, for example, perhaps something like Mew be of good use as a substitute for therapy animals.

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 Mew: The Purring, Hissing Sound Art Piece appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

Each year, SXSW contributes to music and tech innovation, particularly through its Accelerator Competition. This year, more than 500 startups applied to participate in the competition, and these were then whittled down to 48 finalists. A panel of experts will then choose the 18 best startups to present their product or service to another panel of judges in addition to a live SXSW audience.

While SXSW is known by most as a music festival, this year’s finalists in the competitions are surprisingly non-music related. There are a few that can be applied to various aspects of music technology, and we’ve included those in our list of five SXSW music tech finalists, curated with the help of Hypebot.

Artiphon

If you’re looking for next-gen musical instruments, Artiphon is one of the latest to hit the music tech scene. The latest tech-savvy musical instruments are often made to be played by anyone of any level of skill, and Artiphon combines this ease  with appeal to the professional musician.

Armed with its “Touch Sound” philosophy, Artiphon is a multi-instrument that can be held in a variety of ergonomic positions and can produce a versatile wealth of sounds by being strummed, bowed, picked or plucked. It has a patent-pending fretboard interface with six virtual strings, six virtual frets and full fretless playability. It provides the subtle nuances of traditional stringed instruments while going beyond the capabilities of analog strings. Artiphon has multi-track recording capabilities with apps such as Garageband and Auria and direct control of computer software like Ableton, Traktor and Pro Tools. It is a high-tech answer to the modern string instrument, and it allows the player to create truly unique sounds.

Bionym

In our previous article about heartbeat music capabilities, we touched on various devices and programs that could eventually be used to create or curate music based on the human heartbeat. Bionym’s Nymi is a device with similar capabilities, though it was not specifically created with music in mind. Nymi is a form of wearable authentication technology which can allow you to wirelessly control your computer, smartphone, car and more.

This device interaction could easily include your music library and music preferences, which the device can learn from your very own heartbeat. Imagine being able to simply put on the wristband and access the appropriate playlist for your mood immediately based on your heartbeat at that time. This is yet another device that enables the power of the heartbeat outside of your body.

Kiwi Wearable Technologies

Small, easily clipped to your wardrobe and deemed fashionable, the multi-functional Kiwi Move allows wearers to “seamlessly interact with their environments, elegantly simplifying and optimizing their daily lives.” This one device has a variety of sensors, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer, thermometer and microphone, but its music capabilities come in with gesture control.

The device can read your motions to draw musical notes in the air and can identify the songs playing around you. It can change the way you interact with music by analyzing your entire environment and all of the music that is around you. From there, the Move’s potential will be determined when the device hits the market.

OP3Nvoice

Using API, SDKs, and plugins, OP3Nvoice users can “extract more knowledge from video and voice recordings.” It allows users to search recorded data, which can mean accomplishing anything from searching phone calls to find and verify data to helping users seek out specific moments in lectures, notes, and interviews.

In terms of music, this application could enable users to make music requests to their devices using their voices rather than their hands. This can be most helpfully applied to mobile devices and devices in a car, but it can also be integral to wearable music technology, allowing users to locate a particular lyric in a song or request their next song hands-free.

sonarDesign

In short, sonarDesign allows you to create micro-apps (mApps) on smartphones, tablets, and desktops that can suit a variety of purposes. You can either use one of the startup’s preconfigured templates or build your own from scratch. Once you create the mApp, sonarDesign will provide services for hosting, e-commerce, customer service, and analytics.

On its website, sonarDesign is advertised as a product for presentations, photo scrapbooks and instructional materials, but it has musical applications as well. Musicians and music industry professionals could create these mApps for purposes of promotion and distribution storefronts, such as for selling CDs, downloads, or other merchandise. Bands could also create mApps to find new and unique ways to connect with their fans on the mobile devices they are accustomed to using.

These are just a few of the many finalists from the 2014 SXSW Accelerator competition, but we are excited to see these music-enabled technologies rise to the top of the competition when the next round of 18 finalists is announced on March 8^th.

The post 5 Finalists From SXSW’s Accelerator Competition With Musical Potential appeared first on SoundCtrl.

San Francisco-based company Square has announced Square Cash, a new feature that allows instant money requests deposits via a dedicated app and/or email. Much like competing apps including Venmo and PayPal, and banks’ proprietary apps such as Chase QuickPay, Square Cash is promoting their brand through free money transfers without a commitment to a service.

Customers can request money directly from the Square Cash app or by simply composing an e-mail:

1) To: [one or more email addresses]

2) Cc: [email protected]

3) Subject: $ [amount]

Send!

The highlight of Square Cash’s functionality is that by using email, multiple payers can be contacted at once, especially helpful for organizing group activities and outings without the hassle of speaking to each member. Square Cash also enables customers to check in on the status of a requested payment at anytime, to keep track of outgoing and incoming payments for groups or individuals.  Funds are directly deposited into the recipient’s bank account, rather than held in a stored balance account — Venmo uses this balance system, unless paying “trusted” accounts.

Square Cash is available for Android and iOS and also works from any e-mail client. Square Cash is currently only available in the U.S. Visit www.square.com/cash for more information.

The post Square Cash Introduces Instant Money Requests and Transfers appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Talentcall.com is a new website aiming to introduce its proprietary model of discovery to the music industry. With a two-tiered functionality, Talentcall first offers musicians recording and performing opportunities based on competitions hosted on the site. Secondly, Talentcall intends to connect new fans with the artists that use the platform, with incentives like concert tickets, merchandise, and cash prizes for the most engaged fans.

Talentcall’s  philosophy is based on the premise that new artists “simply won’t last” without fan engagement. Regardless of labels’ involvement, marketing campaigns, and a stream of cash, new artists, according to Talentcall, have a nominal chance of succeeding in the music industry without a fan base. The site’s operative is to bridge the gap between fans and artists around the world,with Talentcall acting as a hub of communication and interaction for the two ends of the artist and consumer spectrum. With a competitive submission process in four categories of Music, EDM/DJs, Dance, and Comedy, artists, DJs, dancers, and musicians can submit their work via Talentcall, where fans ultimately decide the winner of any of a number of monthly contests. Currently, the contests in each category are relatively similar, offering cash prizes of up to $1,000 and one-on-one mentorship with a professional (to be determined) from the contestant’s chosen discipline.

Voting for the April contests began this week, and you can check out the details and submissions at the contest page. 

The post Talentcall Puts Music Discovery In Fans’ Hands appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Engineer, researcher, and musician Bruno Zamborlin wants to break the boundaries between musical expression and the physical world. In a Kickstarter-funded project, Zamborlin’s intends to achieve this by transducing the vibrations of everyday objects into musical sounds, using his new invention called Mogees. Using a similar sensor to a contact microphone, Mogees are placed on the surface of any solid object with a sticky, reusable backing. When the object is tapped, Mogees sends the information from the object’s vibrations to a phone app via the headphone jack, which converts the signal to a proprietary musical response, unique to Mogees. The signal is then output through a speaker or headphones.

Mogees has a number of options for creating sounds from otherwise mundane objects:

1. Sounds presets: Select different sound presets and associate them to the objects you play.
2. Free Mode : The free mode lets you improvise completely. Find new ways to produce different notes and timbres by exploring how to play physical objects using different gestures using bare hands or anything you can find around you. Through the app, you can also select the musical notes and timbres that you want the system to associate to your gestures.
3. Song Mode : You can also use Mogees to play and re-interpret your favorite tunes. Just use the app to load a MIDI file of the song you want to play and you are ready to go.
4. Capture : The Capture function allows you to capture the natural sound properties of your gestures and convert it to a sound preset. In this way, you can apply the sound properties from one object to another. You might like to play a tree with the acoustic properties of a glass, or a bicycle with the properties of an ice cube. The limits are only your imagination !
5. Backing track : Play along with a backing track. Use our pre-loaded loops or record/import your own audio files.

Mogees is also available in an upgraded pro version which enables customized sound synthesis, remote mode for controlling Ableton or other DAW devices, and DMX control which via Wi-Fi can control lighting systems and VJ software.

1. Acoustic properties : Achieve total control on the sounds you create by accessing the advanced Mogees synthesis parameters. Customise the sounds you capture or create brand new ones.
2. Remote Mode : Synchronise your Mogees performances to your computer remotely. Use Ableton Live or other computer software to send OSC messages to the app and control all the parameters in real time.
3. DMX control : Control lights remotely using Mogees! The Mogees app can generate ARTNET messages on the fly to control any DMX-compatible light system via WiFi.

Mogees is completely portable, and with simple modes as well as connectivity to more complex production situations, it’s an affordable way to diversify any musical endeavor. Mogees also has performance art applications for dance, theater, and improvisational music, and can be triggered by nearly any object in any environment. Also useful for classrooms, Mogees shows promise for early education applications.

The project has 15 days left on Kickstarter, and it’s one that seems worth getting behind if you’re always inspired on the go. Mogees will be available for iOS and Android once it is released.

The post Mogees Harness the Musical Power of Mundane Objects appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Ahead of this week’s International Motor Show in Geneva, Apple has debuted its new CarPlay system, a new hands-free automobile integration for the new generation of iPhones. Using Siri technology, CarPlay voice commands are easily launched via the dedicated steering wheel button or via the car’s native interface, making using your phone on the road smarter, safer, and as Apple claims, “more fun.”  CarPlay allows drivers to access music, messages, phone calls, and the less-than-popular Apple maps in only so much as a finger lift. Surely, the new system will cut down on driving distractions and traffic accidents, so long as Siri doesn’t prove to be a frustrating (or incompetent) backseat driver.

CarPlay will support other apps by Apple and third parties as well, including Spotify, I Heart Radio, Beats Music, and more. As CarPlay uses the iPhone Lightning cable for connectivity, the system won’t require any Bluetooth links, making setup a non-issue. With future plans for integration in most major car manufacturers, Apple jumps several steps ahead of Google and Microsoft in owning the automobile market, at least for the next few years.

Read more about the CarPlay developments at Apple’s website and read the full press release here.

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By Ruben Lone

On Tuesday, Georgia Congressman Doug Collins introduced new legislation that could potentially correct the disparity in songwriters’ and composers’ performance and mechanical royalties. Aptly titled the Songwriters Equity Act, the bill would be an amendment to Sections 114 and 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act. Section 114 currently forbids evidential data to be used in courts when establishing royalty rates for songwriter and composers, thus omitting satellite radio plays, restaurant plays, television, and streams from royalty rate consideration. Section 115, written in 1909, states that a compulsory license can be granted for use of a recording for a statutory rate. The original 1909 rate was 2 cents per piano roll (when music publishing involved only reproducing sheet music), and has climbed to a mere 9.1 cents per song play in the last 105 years.

The SEA would:

1. Allow rate courts to consider other royalty rates as evidence when establishing digital performance rates (such evidence is currently forbidden from the courts) and,

2. Adopt a fair rate standard for mechanical licenses. This means replacing the rate of 9.1 cents with a rate that matches free market conditions. Some of have suggested this may be a rate of up to 52 cents.

Many songwriters and composers are unaware of just how antiquated the current royalty rate system actually is. In fact, the rates of mechanical royalties were developed even before recorded music existed, and have been augmented laughably and offensively over the last century. The new bill has garnered support from ASCAP, BMI, and NMPA, SESAC, and The Recording Academy, particularly as it will stimulate writers to continue creating new material when the appeal of being a songwriter is thwarted by the nominal return on creativity, dedication, and skill.

We’re looking forward to Congressman Collins’s efforts and hopefully eventual successes. For the full rundown on the bill, you can visit the Congressman’s website. 

The post Songwriters Equity Act Aims For Fair Compensation for Songwriters appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

The Economics of Music Licensing: GIDEEN Creates a Revolutionary New Market

Music licensing can be a complex and finicky process, wrought with potential pitfalls for new and established musicians alike. Soon to be launched, GIDEEN takes an entirely new approach to the licensing process and gives consumers and music licensees the power to buy into the future income of these songs, taking personal pride in ensuring the success of artists and their songs. We spoke with GIDEEN founder Heiko Schmidt about the GIDEEN project and how it is destined to change the music industry.

SoundCtrl: Where did the initial idea for GIDEEN come from?

Heiko Schmidt: The basic idea was born in 2007. I’ve been running music companies for 25 years and one of the really difficult things is you get great music and people are asking you to pitch it to opportunities. Sometimes you succeed, but most of the time you don’t because your network is not large enough. We want to find a home for every song, such as a film, TV commercial or whatever. I tried hard, and most of the time I failed. So we were thinking about how we could restructure that old model. One guy came up with the idea, saying there is no solution in the current world, so you have to crowdsource. Basically, you have to set incentives right. We have to let you participate in the future income. That was in a company meeting, and it was a tech guy, actually, who came up with the idea, and ever since, we’ve started working on that business model.

There’s a lot of legal problems with that, like copyright law, and each country’s different, and you have to make a solution for the whole world which fits all the copyright laws in all countries. And there’s so many copyright connection societies that have their own rules that you have to work around, so that took us awhile to figure all that out and make it right.

We asked music supervisors and other people we know what they thought of the system. They said they might have a conflict of interest because they’re working for a big company as a music supervisor or employee, etc. So we came up with the idea that we can name a beneficiary, which could be yourself, friends or family or your employer.

So say a filmmaker or film studio is looking for the right music. What you can do as a music supervisor is you can select the right music for the film and then buy your employer in as a beneficiary into the music income stream for the future, so they have a refinancing of the music license request. Or if your contract allows, you can write yourself into it and make a fortune for yourself. Or this can be a new type of gift that doesn’t exist. You can give music away to someone, and the music will make money for him in the future—it’s a kind of mixture between gift and investment.

What is your intended goal with GIDEEN?

GIDEEN is a completely new vehicle, and most people don’t realize that. It’s a music company which crowdsources marketing and expectations. I started writing a blog about this, but the microeconomics is that you have a shift in consumer behavior of the world from consuming music to making music because more and more people in the world love to make music rather than consume music, and there’s a lot of market data proving that. If 1 out of 8 people are making music, that would be 900 million. Many of them are making music because it’s fun, not because of the money, and they are doing it on the side or as a hobby.

Now, the music market is messed up by business models. This is because most people don’t have a macroeconomic view of it. It’s quite simple: if 900 million people are making music, and everyone can record his album in his bedroom, then you have about 650 million songs at the moment that have no marketplace to go, and that’s a conservative estimate. Because there is so much supply in the market, prices are going down.

Millions of these songs are uploaded to YouTube every day, but 99 percent of the music used is unauthorized because there is no way right now for a non-music professional to license music in a cheap and quick way. Historically, there are so many parties involved trying to get a piece of the cake, and they fight each other, and it’s completely destructive and doesn’t solve the problem. But the millions of daily videos where you could license the music and make an incredible amount of money for everyone involved cannot be used because the complex structure of licensing is such that no one could get it right. GIDEEN is doing exactly that.

We bring in these songs on our platform, and we match them with the people who are making films or TV commercials by incentivizing crowdsource marketing so that he can buy himself into the future income of this music, the alignment of financial interest. If you are invested into something, you want to make it work for you. It buys you the right to promote the song and earn from the promotion of the song a part of the future income. And because that is such a strong incentive, we can open up the licensing market. You find the right music, you buy yourself into the future music income for $29, then you have it for your film, licensed in under two minutes. And there’s nothing else like that out there.

We have musicians making $100 million per year, and then we have people who are making zero dollars with their songs. We give them a marketplace. They may not make $100 million per year, but maybe $20 per song? This is not much and doesn’t sound sexy, I know, but if you have 100 songs and can make $20 per year on them, then we’re talking $2,000. So we are opening a secondary market for music that cannot find a home in the primary market.

How much you can make depends on multiple factors. When you upload the song, it makes very little money, but we also generate a video out of it. It’s your song plus your artwork automatically uploaded to the GIDEEN YouTube channel and the Facebook channel. You get two links sent via email so that you can start promoting it. You also have real-time charts ranking songs by popularity based on social networks and our formula. Being high in the charts, your product is more attractive for buyers. Charts are the best guides for them, and there are different charts of all kinds.

I can’t say how much you’ll make from buying into a song because of legal restrictions, and I can’t predict if the right promoter will pick your song. But you have nothing to lose. Even if you get a bad promoter, $5 is better than zero, and that’s without financial risk, all you have to do is promote your link through YouTube and Facebook, which you would do anyway. It all depends on how the song is promoted.

GIDEEN is not for everyone. GIDEEN is especially focused on two target groups: the musicians who are doing it on the side with lack of marketing money and network to promote their music and the top professionals, songwriters and producers, with successful careers, because these guys completely understand the value proposition. There’s always several songs they have that they’ve never done anything with, so they appreciate what we are doing and understand it. If you have songs in your portfolio that are making money, don’t upload that to GIDEEN. I don’t want to take existing value. I want to create value.

How do you think GIDEEN will impact the music industry?

It will change the industry completely. The DNA for GIDEEN is wired for success because you align financial interest, and no one is doing that right now. Everybody in the marketplace is trying to make money from one or the other. Record labels are trying to make money on the backs of artists and publishers on the backs of songwriters and so on. And everyone’s trying to get money out of the consumer. This is the old system. What we do is change it. We align the interests between consumer, marketer and musician, and we align the financial interests between all three of them and get them invested together. So basically, they make money together, or they don’t make money at all. That is a complete shift from everything you know in the music market because that will finally be so successful because everyone wants to be involved and make money from it.

Anything else to add?

I would love to start a discussion, getting the creativity of everyone in the world. Let’s say you could buy into the future music income, which you can with GIDEEN, so what is your creative idea to make money with it? I want people to be able to discuss these opportunities. So I started a blog called Making Music and Making Money, and I want to have that as an open discussion.

Keep an eye out for the March launch of GIDEEN and its revolutionary take on music licensing.

The post [Interview] GIDEEN Founder Heiko Schmidt appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Tomorrow night at his own tea house, Madame Zuzu’s, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan will be presenting an interpretation of Siddhartha, the novel by Hermann Hesse. Played on modular synthesizers and improvised on the fly, the performance will last up to 8 hours, due to the nature of the reading.

A few weeks ago, Corgan announced on Facebook that new Smashing Pumpkins material was in the works to follow up the 2012 album, Oceania. Corgan was also recently involved in a rare endeavor as a producer working on Sierra Swan’s new album, Good Soldier.

Chicagoans should certainly stop by Zuzu’s to check out Billy Corgan’s modular performance, but arrive early as admission is free and space is limited.

Here’s a video of the installation of Corgan’s ICHABOD synthesizer:

The post Billy Corgan’s 8-Hour Synth Interpretation of “Siddhartha” appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Jason Epstein

This year’s South by Southwest festival is set to be unleashed on Austin in just a few weeks, featuring thousands of performances, screenings and awards in music, film, and interactive arts.  Numerous panels will be held for industry giants and the SXSW community to discuss significant industry topics.  We’ve put together a list of some of the most compelling speaker sessions to look out for at SXSW 2014:

The 7 Hottest Topics in Web Music Tech in 2014

Music tech companies are always trying to figure out new ways to connect musicians and fans, offering new avenues of engagement and opportunities that never would have been possible before.  This talk covers the hottest topics in web, social and mobile music technology.

Presented by: Members of BandPage, Live Nation and more.
Location: Hilton Austin Downtown, Salon A
Date: Tuesday, March 11 3:30PM – 4:30PM

Can Digital Game Publishing Show Us The Way?

Indie video games are continually gaining influence, ground and market share among gamers and industry executives alike.  Indie advocates from Valve and Humble Bundle will speak on DIY ethics, developer support, marketing strategy and digital game distribution.

Presented by: Members of Valve Software, Humble Bundle, etc.
Location: Austin Convention Center, Room 15
Date: Tuesday, March 11 12:30PM – 1:30PM

Has Metal Lost Its Edge?

The history of metal is one rife with controversy – Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a dove, Dee Snider defending metal in the Senate against anti-metal politicians, Iron Maiden being renounced as satanic, etc.  But now metal bands of all genres sell out venues, are played on the radio, hell – they even win Grammys.  Where’s the controversy?  This panel explores the current state of metal and asks, “What’s coming next?”

Presented by: Journalists from Pitchfork Media and more.
Location: Austin Convention Center, Room 15
Date: Thursday, March 13 3:30PM – 4:30PM

Modern Seinfeld & Our Social Society: More Than Just Yada Yada Yada

This comedic presentation will use some of Seinfeld’s best storylines to explore modern technology and ask if it has improved our lives or just given us more ‘nothing’ to talk about.

Presented by: The co-founder of Modern Seinfeld and more.
Location: Austin Convention Center, Next Stage EH 3/4
Date: Tuesday, March 11 4:45PM – 5:45PM

Print or Digital?  It’s the Package that Counts

This panel asks if consumers really want the print experience – full magazines, newspapers, albums and other forms of news, records and media – or if they just want bits and pieces of content, a.k.a., the digital experience.

Presented by: The editors-in-chief of Texas Monthly and wired.com.
Location: Austin Convention Center, Ballroom F
Date: Tuesday, March 11 11:00AM – 12:00PM

SXSW 2014 will be held March 7-16 at The Austin Convention Center and The Hilton Austin Downtown in Austin, TX.

You can check out the full schedule here - http://schedule.sxsw.com/.

The post 5 Speaker Sessions to Check Out at SXSW 2014 appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Briana Cheng

Last night on February 25th, more than a handful of incredible musicians and music-lovers alike gathered at the basement venue of Le Poisson Rouge for the Artists’ Pay For Radio Play Concert. The event was sponsored by Content Creator’s Coalition (CCC) in New York City, an organization that addresses and protects artists from unjust practices and unethical business in the digital age. Below are CCC’s statement of principles via the CCC-NYC.org.

1) We believe in an Artist’s Control Of Their Work; the right of any creator of cultural content to choose when, how, and whether their work is distributed for commercial gain, monetized with advertising, or otherwise exploited.

2) We believe in the Ability to Opt-Out of services; the right of artists, writers, and other creators of cultural content to refuse, individually and collectively, to participate in business models that threaten our livelihoods.

3) We believe in Fair Pay; the right of content creators to a fair share of the wealth our work generates.

4) We believe in Collective Representation; the right of all creators of cultural content to aggregate our power to protect our livelihoods and our art forms.

Artists’ Pay For Play was an evening for active members of the CCC to focus their attention on artists and their unfair compensation from airplay.  To get more people interested, they hosted a rally, concert, and happy hour.  There was a short performance of a classic hit song that followed each speaker’s presentation. Chris Ruen, the author of “Freeloading: How Our Insatiable Hunger for Free Content Starve Creativity” started the night’s festivities as Wendy Oxenhorn, Marc Ribot, Tift Merritt, Joan McCrea, Marilyn Carino, Mike Mills, David Byrne and others made appearances throughout the evening.  A petition was passed around the audience—the night felt very much like a fundraising event. Artists’ Pay For Radio Play was an intimate and special night for passionate music and industry fans, regardless of each attendee’s reason for coming; the event was also free entry if you RSVPed ahead of time. A personal highlight was when Jennifer Charles from Elysian Fields performed “Wild Thing”— she seems to have aged well.

The post Artists’ Pay for Radio Play Concert at Le Poisson Rouge appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Michael Valinsky

Every year, MoMA PS1 presents Warm Up – an outdoor music series that takes place on Saturdays throughout the summer. It’s an ideal summer location for outdoor music, where DJs, musicians, sound artists, and visual artists from all over the globe come together for a casual, weekend celebration.

The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 jointly present the Annual Young Architects Program. This allows emerging architects the possibility of creating a work particularly made for MoMA PS1’s facility in Long Island City. The winner of this design competition is immediately chosen to contribute a temporary urban landscape that will find a home in the outdoor space where the music series is held. This year, The Living won the prize and will create their piece, Hy-Fi.

David Benjamin, head of the Living proposed a heaped circular tower made entirely from natural materials – the idea is to create bio-bricks from corn stalks and mushrooms, and use them to build a tower. In a collaborative effort with Evocative, a material science company developing a new class of home-compostable bioplastics, The Living will use the bio-bricks as the base for their towers. Made of a 100% recyclable, mass-branching fungus called mycelium, the compositional materials are grown from and combined with plant waste to construct the massive hyper-modern structure.

At the top, reflexive bricks will be put in place and produced through a custom-made daylighting mirror film invented by 3M. As a result, the light is thrown towards the bottom of the tower, allowing for an unprecedented visual effect. The installation as a whole will look like a beaming orb from afar. Moreover, its shape and design will allow for a natural ventilation system, fed by the gaps in the brickwork. This creates a gravity-defying micro-climate where the bottom is light and porous and the top thick and dense. The ground level will therefore receive cool air while the heat will travel up top. This will come as a great relief for the overheated audience members in the middle of the New York summer.

But the greatest thing about this piece is that, as curator Pedro Gadanho said:  “This year’s YAP winning project bears no small feat. It is the first sizeable structure to claim near-zero carbon emissions in its construction process and, beyond recycling, it presents itself as being 100 percent compostable.” In that sense, the piece grows out of nothing but earth and will return to nothing but earth once the series is over, a first in Warm Up’s 15-year timeline.

So make sure not to miss this year’s Warm Up—it looks like this installation will set the groundwork for innovative, environmentally-friendly works of art. Maybe David Benjamin has even planted a seed in the minds of all urban planners in New York City: a cityscape made of compostable materials.

For more information on PS1’s and its programming, check: http://momaps1.org/warmup/ or follow on Twitter @MoMAPS1. 

The post The Living Brings a Zero-Carbon Mushroom Tower to MoMA PS1 This Summer appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

It seems ironic that fans love to [re]discover songs they’ve heard many times before, but classical music, with its terrible misnomer of a genre, tends to intimidate some people away from approaching the style.  For discovery purposes, the common trope tends to be, “it all sounds the same.” With an entire genre presented boasting a massive amount of repertoire, crossing centuries,  and referencing names that are often difficult to pronounce, where does a newcomer to the style start? Should they decide to give orchestral and instrumental material a try?

Coincidentally, there is a relatively new app that addresses both the above irony and “problem” at hand: the ClassiCal Music Calendar App by Diana Ziegler of the Germany based, Andante Media.

Back in 2012, SoundCtrl featured two apps with a calendar-related focus–Stagedom and Sound Calendar—but ClassiCal’s differentiation comes from its provisions for non-invasive educating and passive, approachable discovery of classical music. Originally launched in December of last year for iPhone, this app, which has since expanded to iPad and iPhone 5 optimization, just updated last week to provide a better experience for iOS 7 and better VoiceOver functionality.

Since the composers of the featured music on ClassiCal are long deceased (sorry, Beethoven will not be performing live at Madison Square Garden next month), this calendar is not about marking down a future show, as is the case for many other music-calendar hybrids. Instead, ClassiCal acts more like an informative classical consultant, showing the current date and a scrollable list of musicians and composers who were either born or died on that day in years past–much like an “on this day in history” guide. An info button placed in each birth/death listing takes users to the individual’s respective Wikipedia entry, making it much easier to get the quick rundown on who the person was, and for what they are best known. This simple organization of information helps users avoid feeling overwhelmed by esoteric text.

Aside from the list of births and deaths, a piece of music, with title, composer and performing musician/orchestra is listed under the calendar date and tapping the entry will bring users to a built in music player designed similarly to that of the native iOS where the “piece of the day” will begin playing. The piece is free and available for repeated playback after it has been added to a user’s library. Like apps or other purchases from the iTunes Store, the tracks can be deleted but then retrieved later if desired. The composer and performing artist metadata sorts automatically and neatly in the proper category between orchestra, pieces, composers and conductors. Downloaded tracks can be filtered within the app by these same groupings.

This is a straightforward app that takes the difficulty and intimidation out of starting and accruing both a classical collection and the accompanying knowledge to match. The pieces offered are out of Andante Media’s archives; an extensive collection, as the company is “one of the largest independent rights-owners within the German-speaking [sector]” as stated on their website.

Users should be aware that the “piece of the day” is offered for the first seven days after downloading the app, after which users need to subscribe. (The calendar list of births and deaths is still accessible without subscription.) There are plans for three, six and twelve month plans at $16.99, $25.99 and $42.99, respectively. Subscription is auto-renewing until cancelled 24 hours before the trial or current pay period is finished.

Perusing the app, the only other element that could use improvement or adjustment, is the Wikipedia linking. Yesterday for example, the first birth listing was for Italian composer, Arrigo Boito. Tapping through to his Wikipedia entry brought me to the right page but for the German Wikipedia, whereas other listings linked through to the English entries. While English is not the universal language, inclusion of a selector for routing to various language-specific wikis might be something worth adding in future versions.

As a last aside, it is worth mentioning that if you are planning to download this app, be sure to type in an extra distinguishing factor, like Diana Zeigler’s name, so as to avoid wading through in search. If anything, that is perhaps the only significant weakness to be mentioned. The capital “C” in the name and the compound word pun might be verbally clever when said aloud but it doesn’t do much in the way of separation when someone attempts to pull the app up in search—either in the iTunes Store or a search engine. Something as simple as a hyphen would do the trick in narrowing results.

If you are looking to explore some classical repertoire but want to take it slow, give the ClassiCal Music Calendar app a run for their 7-day trial and scope the music tidbits each morning. If it is something that inspires more exploration, subscribing for continuing daily songs is accessible right from the “Settings” menu.

You can find the ClassiCal Music Calendar in the iTunes App Store.

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 Get Your Daily Dose of Classical with ClassiCal Music Calendar appeared first on SoundCtrl.

We are pleased to announce the 5th annual FlashFWD Awards, honoring individuals and businesses in new music technology. Visit back at SoundCtrl for updates, and join the event on May 14th at Irving Plaza in New York City.

The post Save The Date: The 5th Annual FlashFWD Awards appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Ruben Lone

A few months back, we expressed our excitement about the upcoming movie by Red Bull Music Academy, anticipating the Ralf Schmerberg-directed documentary What Difference Does It Make?,  featuring an impressive cast of musicians, producers, and thinkers. As with any project curated by Red Bull and/or RBMA, the fusing of styles and philosophies into a single entity remains the focus of the film—icons from Rakim to Lee ”Scratch” Perry to Brian Eno to Thomas Moulton all provide personal insight into artistic endeavors and struggles. Despite their individual theories, the idea that rings true amongst them all is that music is their lifeblood, the core of their being, their deepest, most passionate, most dangerous obsession.

What Difference Does It Make? also serves as promotional showcase of the most recent Red Bull Music Academy sessions and events last spring in New York. Inspiring for any artist interesting in applying to the Academy, the film highlights the diversity of the attendees, some being profoundly talented instrumentalists, others engineers, lyricists, rappers, singers, and producers. Behind-the-scenes looks at the studio environment, workflow, and general enjoyment of all of the applicants is indeed intriguing. As for the narrative side of the movie, jump cuts, gritty city scenes, and close-up interviews are raw and musically-composed details in their own rights. The darker contexts of survival as an artist, touching on points such as addiction, stymied creativity, and financial distress, are portrayed quite naturally. The directly intimate conversations humanize the often inflated depiction of frenzied, impractical creators.

RBMA composes a narrative of the various elements of the artist lifestyle—composition, production, performance.  Through a lens that could so easily become disjointed, the poetic editing paints a visual picture of the current landscape of the world of music from an artist’s perspective in a time when we’re often bombarded with talks about business, technology, and industry. In short, this is a highly recommended watch, even if just to see the bit of Egyptian Lover sweatily performing on a tiny venue stage.

Check out the film below:

The post What Difference Does It Make?: A Feature Length Film By RBMA appeared first on SoundCtrl.

With Social Media Week coming to a close, Spotify is capping the week by hosting The Future of Social Music, Presented by Spotify at the Highline Stages tomorrow, February 21. Below is the rundown of the morning’s events, featuring a expert list of industry pros from some of the most influential labels, technology companies, and new sources in the game. 

Address: Highline Stages – 440 W 15th St

9:00am: Intro, Jesse Kirshbaum, Nue

9:05am: KEYNOTE, Erin Clift - Vice President, Global Marketing & Partnerships, Spotify (20+ Min)
- Piotr Orlov of Raspberry Jones ( Interviewer)

9:30am: The Lorde Story (20 minutes)
-Jason Flom, President, Lava Records (Lorde’s label), and Piotr Orlov of Raspberry Jones (Interviewer)

9:45am: SESSION 1 – Music Discovery  (40 min)
- Jason Flom, President, Lava Records
- Richard Frankel, Creative Director, Spotify
- Julia Willinger – VP of A&R at Mom and Pop
- Liv Buli – Data Journalist, Next Big Sound
- J.Period – Mixtape DJ and Hip Hop Producer
- Piotr Orlov of Raspberry Jones (Moderator)

10:30am: SESSION 2 – A New Streaming Landscape for Musicians (40 min)
- Michele Santucci, Label Relations at Spotify.
- Matthew Perpetua, Editor of Buzzfeed Music
- Rahman Dukes – Head of News//Programming and Social Media for Revolt.TV
- Elliott Wilson – CEO of Rap Radar
- Jesse Kirshbaum, CEO of NUE (Moderator)

11:15am: SESSION 3 – Brand Experiences  (30 min)
- Michelle Klein, VP, Smirnoff Global Marketing, Communications & Digital at Diageo
- Elizabeth Mitchell, VP of Branding, Roc Nation (TBD)
- Cedric Devitt, Chief Creative Officer, Mr Youth @MRY
- Amy Vale, Head of Global Business Marketing and Branded Experiences at Spotify (Moderator)

11:45am: EVENT ENDS

The post The Future of Social Music, Presented by Spotify appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

Independent artists now have an opportunity to direct their music to the ears of 70 million potential listeners worldwide, thanks to Pandora‘s new open submission process. Furthermore, the company has transformed the possibilities for seemingly endless new music discoveries for its users.

Internet radio has been boosted significantly by a process designed to cater to indie musicians and labels who are looking for new ways to get their music out into the world. Harnessing its global popularity, Pandora presents an exciting opportunity for both sides of the randomized radio player, musicians and listeners alike.

Pandora’s music catalog already abounds with music from independent artists and labels—in fact, they comprise nearly two-thirds of Pandora’s entire catalog and approximately 44 percent of the player’s total spins. Artists of all stripes and all levels of musical abilities, whether or not they have a physical album officially released or not, can submit their music for all of Pandora’s users to hear.

According to Pandora’s press release, Pandora founder Tim Westergren said, “Discovery is at the core of Pandora’s mission. Our goal is to give every talented artist a chance to reach their audience, whatever the genre and without regard to popularity. Anything we can do to encourage submissions from talented new and emerging artists is a top priority.”

What Is the Open Submission Process?

Pandora’s new system can be accessed at submit.pandora.com, and only requires three steps. Musicians provide contact information and links to the songs to be considered. From there, Pandora’s music curators listen to each and every song, EP, and album and determine if it will be included and categorized. Artists can check in on the status of their submissions online as well.

In Pandora’s press release, Westergren said, “The recording industry needs indie labels and self-releasing artists to thrive. Our new submissions process is intended to attract these artists, no matter the genre, no matter the stage of their career, making it easier than ever for them to participate in this exciting and rapidly growing form of radio.”

By opening the doors to a coterie of new artists and labels, Pandora is enabling its Internet radio to become the ultimate hub for music discovery—and now music promotion as well. One of a growing number of music streaming services, Pandora is further separating itself from the competition by expanding its catalog to include more of the underground and up-and-coming artists and labels the music world has to offer.

What Does This Process Do for Artists?

Most importantly, this open submission process levels the playing field for the appearance and accessibility of independent artists’ music on the biggest music streaming platform in the world. Their music will now appear alongside more mainstream artists in playlists geared toward a user’s tastes, which can just as easily include music from these lesser known artists as the big names.

By putting music in front of more listeners, the potential for garnering new fans is limitless as artists’ music is heard, liked and even shared by those who enjoy and want to engage with the music and the creators. With such a huge Internet-based platform for global promotion, these artists are able to take their music where they never previously thought possible—much further than they might have ever hoped with traditional terrestrial radio.

Pandora’s new openness is a huge opportunity for independent artists and labels. It will be exciting to see the revamped Pandora music catalog and playlists as more of this music starts to trickle and eventually deluge into the Internet radio lineup.

The post With Open Submissions, Pandora Paves New Path for Indie Artists appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Moogfest, the annual festival celebrating the innovative spirit of synth pioneer Dr. Robert Moog, has joined forces with web-based workstation Audiotool for an exciting and unique contest. Contestants are invited to produce a track using Audiotool’s cloud-based platform, and submit it for a chance to perform at Moogfest in April and an opportunity to be featured on a limited edition compilation with 7 runners up. This year’s festival lineup includes esteemed electronic legends including Kraftwerk, Flying Lotus, M.I.A, Pet Shop Boys, and Moderat as well as fresh faces such as Factory Floor, Lapalux, and TOKiMONSTA.

Visit the contest entry site here and check out our review of Audiotool and Sketch, their excellent sequencing experiment for Google Chrome.

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By Ruben Lone

The music discovery experience often involves hopping around the multitude of outlets for new music—social media sites, music streaming engines, blogs, and websites. For an artist, the challenge is threading their brand and identity between these bases, and providing ample links between them to give fans easy access to pertinent information and music.  The newly launched ToneDen.io hopes to clean up this process by consolidating artists music, social media, and PR into a single browser page.  While helpful for current and potential fans, the site will also make it easier for bloggers, A&Rs, agents, and other industry professionals to glean artist information quickly and efficiently.

ToneDen offers a few simple customization options for skins, backgrounds, site layout, and general accessibility, which standardizes the functionality for each artist who uses the ToneDen platform. Since the site links to Soundcloud, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, it also aggregates analytics from each site and displays them in a simplified, proprietary format.  ToneDen also offers an upgraded version for $5 that includes a generated one-sheet for press releases and blog pitches, advanced analytics and stats, as well as custom domain routing to make Toneden the artist landing page.

A highly usable platform, ToneDen aims to keep personal artist management compiled under one roof, and from the looks of it, will be an attractive option to emerging musicians who want to organize their online presence. Check out ToneDen’s introductory video below and sign up for free with your SoundCloud account at ToneDen.io.

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by Kira Grunenberg

The variety of sounds and effects generated by microchips and circuitry to power the boards, buttons, and switches of synthesizers are only limited by the boundaries of human imagination. This qualifier is nothing to shake a stick at, since human creativity has led to the digital reproduction of nearly any sound, and even non-mechanical objects have been integrated into audio synthesis (see the “Off-Beet” video we featured a while back, that sees the root vegetable turned into a drum kit).

Creatives and developers often join forces to put complex tech inside non-mechanical objects to make them intricately musical, either in tone, execution, or both. It is another thing entirely to take a basic, non-technical object, put technology inside of it, and end up with something with vastly more potential, even if the technology on hand is only capable of producing a single tone.

Composer and electrical engineer, Dr. Andrew McPherson, along with a diverse group of musicians, researchers, and technology savvy scholars at the Queen Mary University of London are conducting research and observation using a small wooden cube they have equipped with a single pitch, activated by touch. The tech to make this happen is nothing revolutionary in and of itself, as is outlined in a video discussing the project’s implementation:

“On [a face of the box is] a two dimensional sensor area [and] the sensor is based on capacitive sensing that’s used in smartphones…in addition to that, a pressure sensor underneath and inside the box is a small computer, [that can] map what somebody does to the sounds that are produced.”

First impressions, given that this project is funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) might leave some baffled, as “a box that makes one tone when you touch it” does not exactly come across as intense, Ph.D. level work on either the music or technology front. However, the less obvious but more remarkable facet to this wooden cube is not in what the circuits’ functionality or lack thereof, but in how users react and interact, given a limited palate of sound and outwardly perceptible instruction. Dr. McPherson and his team are intrigued by the potential for varying musician analyses, behaviors, techniques, and artistic ingenuity, brilliantly turning the usual focus of standout design completely upside down. Dr. McPherson explains,

“The goal of the project is to understand how it is musicians react to a very constrained musical situation…we have this box, and it’s not designed to connect to any existing instrumental tradition, but every performer is going to come up with their own creative ideas on how they are going to express themselves on this instrument. What we’re really interested in, is the relationship between constraints and creativity.”

Given that technology like the “Ototo” have clearly shown the barrier of things “designated as musical instruments” to be long broken and now non-original, the thought of so many opposing concepts (simple/complex, human/artificial, limited/infinite) in the evolution of instrument design alludes to what really makes a one-note wooden cube anything but child’s play. McPherson and the rest of the research team are in this quest for the long haul, striving to create many instruments that could eventually conform to any musician’s performance nuances or be physically altered to widen musical range and change interaction on the fly.

You can learn more about this wooden cube study from the informational video below, provided by the EPSRC:

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.

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