In case you missed it, you can see Jack’s full segment on The Today Show this past Monday here.

He talked about the lovely Kokua Hawaii Foundation and his highly anticipated new record. More coming from Jack soon!

Greetings fellow dreamers! This month we are giving you a jam packed playlist that’s essential for any and all road trips. We’ve got a whopping 118 tracks on this playlist that’s sure to last you on long car rides. Enjoy and feel free to *collaborate* if you have an Rdio account. Click our playlist below and then simply click “collaborate” to add your own personal tracks to the mix!

My picks:
“July” - Youth Lagoon
“Recover” - CHVRCHES
“Hold On” - SBTRKT
“You Make My Dreams Come True” - Hall and Oates

Tad:
“Movin’ Right Along” - The Muppets

Tracy:
“San Francisco” - Foxygen
“When My Time Comes” - Dawes
“Don’t Let me Down” - Solange

Justin:
Sam’s Town - The Killers (In its entirety)
The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me (In its entirety)
From Under the Cork Tree - Fall Out Boy (In its entirety)
Aim and Ignite - FUN (In its entirety)

Mike:
“Casey Jones” - Grateful Dead
“Ramble On” - Led Zeppelin

Haaris:
Enter the 36th Chamber - Wu Tang Clan(In its entirety)
I Love You its Cool - Bear in Heaven (In its entirety)
Sea of Cowards - Dead Weather (In its entirety)

Oniracom developed an interactive album release campaign for Everfound, a new band out of Colorado. The campaign leverages Twitter hashtags as a means to vote for songs. Fans are able to listen to previews of every track from the album and vote for their favorites. The song with the most votes is released at a set time based on the countdown timer on the website.

Get a full video walk-through of the site below, and be sure to visit it here!

Oniracom Portfolio | Everfound (EverfoundMusic.com/Listen) from Oniracom on Vimeo.

Spring has officially arrived. The flowers are blossoming and the nice mix of sunny and gloomy days in Santa Barbara are a refreshing change of pace.

Now all we need is a good springtime playlist to get us through spring cleaning and all of our spring projects. Here you have it, the April staff playlist:

Calia:

1. “Never Wanted Your Love” - She & Him
2. “The Sweetest Thing” - Camera Obscura
3. “Santa Cruz” - Gold Motel

Jacob:

4. “Make The Money” - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
5. “Mexican Cousin” - Phish
6. “Never Know” - Jack Johnson

Tad:

7. “The Desert Babbler” – Iron and Wine
8. “Morning Has Broken” – Cat Stevens
9. “What a Day for a Daydream” – The Lovin’ Spoonful
10. “Prelude in C Major” – J.S. Bach

The Santa Barbara Earth Day festival took place this past weekend at Alameda Park and it was an absolute blast! We were excited to share the Social Media Lounge with our friends over at LoaTree, hangout with the Community Environmental Council crew, enjoy good music, and have an overall good time.

It’s an honor to be a sponsor and marketing partner for the Community Environmental Council of Santa Barbara. Like last year, we designed and developed a live site that displayed all the fun that was going on at Earth Day from Saturday-Sunday. You can check out the live site here.

This year, there were 35,895 festival-goers and over 200 exhibitors. The food was tasty and the local music was fresh. SB Earth Day also presented two “Environmental Hero Awards” to Van Jones and Bill Nye.

Check out some of our Instagram shots below. To see more, search for the hashtag #sbearthday and you’ll see over a thousand Earth Day photos!

ALO will be hitting up the BottleRock Festival in Napa, CA on May 9. Check out the full lineup here

Jacob, Mike, and Haaris hit up SXSW, the great tech and media conference, in Austin, TX last week.

The Oniracom crew had a great time connecting with new and old brands and businesses in Austin, and are now back with fresh ideas and ready to ring in Spring!

Be sure to take a peek at all of the fun Instagram shots below! We are feeling nostalgic for SXSW already, see you in a years time Austin!

It’s March, which can mean a few things. Spring, St. Patrick’s Day, and… March Madness! We’ve compiled a great sports themed playlist that is sure to get you on your feet, clapping, and cheering along. Are you ready?

Jacob:

1. “Whoomp! (There It Is)” - Tag Team

2. “Hit The Road Jack” - Ray Charles

3. “Jump Around” - House Of Pain

Justin (with a little intro):

SODO MOJO! - ” ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ was last year’s unofficial national anthem of sports, particularly in Seattle, where A-Rod had it played almost constantly throughout the season. With A-Rod gone and the Baja Men dispatched to one-hit wonder obscurity, fans have visions of providing the Mariners with the next great theme song.”

4. “Who Let The Dogs Out” - Baha Men

5. “Up Around The Bend” - Creedence Clearwater Revival

6. “Baba O’Riley” - The Who

7. “Space Jam” - Quad City DJs

8.“The Way I Sing It (Ft. Ken Griffey Jr.)” - Kid Sensation

It’s a good time for music everyone. First off, can I get a yes and an amen to the man of my dreams since pre-teenhood, Justin Timberlake and his new album The 20/20 Experience dropping next week?!

I thought so. Something we can all agree on, he’s come a long way since the days of frosted tips… it’s okay JT, we love you even in your darkest hour. But honestly, is there anything better than a pop prince nodding to old pop with flavors of mo-town, jazz, sweeping violins and good old fashioned smooth beats?

In all actuality, music’s been getting creative, both in musicianship and the way it’s being brought to life in music videos. This brings me to my main topic of discussion: The ethereal bizarro magic show that is the new Beach House video for “Wishes” on their new album out Bloom.

Directed by Eric Warheim, (of Tim & Eric fame) this video brings the mundane to life in the half-time show I wish happened in real life.  Featured actor Ray Wise, yes, Robin Scherbatsky Sr., makes his very own debut as singer extraordinaire.

Los Angeles based Singer/Songwriter Marc Beauregard stops and talks about where his music came from and where it’s going.

By now I’m sure the majority of you are all too familiar with the Harlem Shake dance meme that has overtaken Gangnam Style as the latest viral sensation to hit the web.
I’ll admit, I too am guilty of spending a shameful amount of time watching these videos online…

While the Harlem Shake may have been burning through it’s 15 minutes mercilessly, there’s no denying that it marks one of the most popular and pervasive memes of 2013. Within just a span of a few weeks, it already boasts well over 170 million views from 40,000 different YouTube channels.

Between punching inflatable giraffes and underwater tabletop dancing, it’s hard to choose which Harlem Shake videos are the most creative. Thankfully, Mashable has compiled a comprehensive list of must-sees for viewers. Check it out here.

And for those of you hoping this meme couldn’t fade into obscurity any sooner, I’ve got bad news for you. A variation of the Harlem Shake, or rather, “Harlem Fake” has made its way to the Internet—but this time, viewers are greeted with a twist once the bass kicks in.

Here are a few clips of funny Harlem fake-outs:

Matt Costa’s self titled album hit stores last week and we are stoked about his new music video for his single “Good Times,” directed by friend, Emmett Malloy.

“Sucker for Love” the first single by The Bayonets is out today! You can purchase the single at http://brianray.com

Happy Valentine’s Day! Since it’s the special day of love, our February Staff Playlist includes all of our favorite love songs that are mushy gushy, romantic, heart-wrenching, and lovely all in equal measure.

If you need a romantic playlist, well here you have it! Sit back and enjoy.

Justin:

1. “My Best Friend” - Weezer

2. “Postcards From Italy” - Beirut

3. “Love And Some Verses - Iron and Wine

Mike:

4. “You Can Close Your Eyes” - James Taylor

5. “All My Life” - K-Ci & JoJo

6. “You’re My Best Friend” - Queen

We just lived through another historical moment here in Santa Barbara, and no I’m not talking about the grand opening of Chik – Fil- A, is that how it’s spelled? No no, the 55th annual Grammy Awards aired Sunday night!  And this time, there wasn’t too much Taylor or Kanye, unless you count the break-up-song in Wonderland Cirque du-so weird spectacular the lovely Ms. Swift performed.

All this aside, all I could think about, was how many categories does it take to establish an award show?  I’m all for recognizing and honoring the artists I blast from my little macbook speakers, but I mean really, three and a half hours?  Seems to be a bit… excessive.  So, I looked into the past in order to compare it to the present.

In the First Annual Grammy awards ceremony, there were 28 categories.  (Don’t worry, I counted.)  Categories such as Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, all the big awards we still await with much anticipation year after year.  However, we still hand out just about all of the same awards from that first ceremony… and then some.

The 55th Annual Grammy awards ceremony possessed not even double but almost triple that amount with 81 total categories.  Some are probably necessary to add i.e. country, rap, reggae, you know, to keep up with the times.  But some of them, well, you be the judge.

We’re excited to be working with Brian Ray and Oliver Leiber’s new band “The Bayonets.” Check out their promo video and look for the singles coming in 2013 http://www.brianray.com

Well, it’s that time of year again. Yep, Coachella tickets go on sale tomorrow morning already. And though I personally will not be joining my fellow music sojourners yonder to Indio, CA this year, it got me to thinking, is the west coast really the best coast?

All biases toward the Cali weather aside, I thought I’d delve into NYC’s always-fabulous Governors Ball for some inspiration in this battle of the coasts.

First of all, let me say this, Coachella always impresses with the depth of amazing artists they are able to host in one desert land, however that is also the problem with Coachella: There are too many darn musical acts!

While Governor’s Ball may not have the dearth of artists in the lineup, they manage to pack a pretty serious punch in just, wait for it, 3 days, rather than two entire weekends.

It seems that what Coachella provides in quantity, Governor’s Ball brings in quality, grabbing some of music’s biggest acts such as Kanye West, The Avett Brothers, Kings of Leon etc.  Also, Governor’s Ball will be hosting my girls of Icona Pop. Talk about a party.

All qualms aside, each festival will be featuring tons of music’s best and brightest, kicking off 2013 with much excitement.

So, If I were to attend either festival, which in reality I am not, here are some of the artists I’d be most excited to see:

We reminisced 2012 for our January Staff Playlist, choosing our favorite tracks from this past year. We are however, excited to hear everything that 2013 is going to bring! There are many highly anticipated albums coming our way. Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Destiny’s Child, David Bowie, Local Natives, Arcade Fire, Jay-Z, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are each releasing a brand new sparkly album for 2013.

Here’s a playlist to get you going until some of these great albums are released!

Calia:

1. “Sunset” - The xx

2. “Dissolve Me” - alt-J

3. “Unto Caesar” - Dirty Projectors

4. “Lost” - Frank Ocean

Matt:

5. “Safe and Sound” - Capital Cities

6. “Global Concepts” - Robert DeLong

Drew:

7. “My Little Brother” - TW Walsh

8. “Working Titles” - Damien Jurado

9. “Attaboy” - Goat Rodeo Sessions

If we had three of our all time favorite, most memorable, and flat out amazing albums with us while stranded on a desert island, we’d probably be alright. This is what would keep each of us going if we were unfortunately stranded. What would you choose?

Jacob: The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” - Each song is actually a single (many were released as singles and later compiled into this proper LP release) so the experience does not tire with each new listen.  This album is fun (Baby, You’re a Rich Man), psychedelic (I Am The Walrus), insightful (The Fool on the Hill), uplifting (Penny Lane), whimsical (Strawberry Fields Forever) and just plain genius (All You Need is Love).  Thank you John, Paul, George & Ringo for making mysterious magic for generations to fall in love with.”

Talking Heads’ “Remain In Light” - The pairing of David Byrne and Brian Eno is one of the all time collaborations since Lennon/McCartney, and despite being the ‘Heads worst selling album of their career it ends up being my favorite.  Released two months after my birth, I am completely connected to the songwriting, incorporation of African polyrhythms, production of samples/loops and horn line arrangements.  This masterpiece, front to back, never sounds tired!

Phish’s “A Live One” - Being my favorite live band, it’s only fitting that I would choose Phish’s certified platinum double disc live produced record.  Each track was recorded on their 1994 tour at a different venue, but is seamlessly stitched together to mimic their classic two set plus encore live format.  One of the best tracks is titled “Montana” and is actually a few minute excerpt of a jam from a show in Bozeman, Montana (hence the title) that flawlessly sets the stage for an epic “You Enjoy Myself.”

Calia: Bon Iver’s self titled sophomore album - This album is a beauty. Everything about it is gorgeous. Lyrics, tunes, melodies, and the e m option. I think if I had this album with me while i was stranded on a desert island I’d still be able to see all of life’s beauties.

Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Something to dance to.

Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs - This album is pure gold. Why wouldn’t I want it with me forever?

2013 has just begun, and we’ve already got word that some great comebacks are on their way!

To start, David Bowie just released a music video for his new single titled, “Where Are We Now?” His new album “The Next Day” will be released on March 12 in the US. His new single has stirred up some mixed reviews. Some absolutely love it, while others question his upcoming album. Neil McCormick of Telegraph described it as a typical Bowie track that is “beautifully strange,” which is definitely displayed in Bowie’s music video especially. If you haven’t seen it, check it out below and tell us what you think.

Oniracom has worked closely with G. Love & Special Sauce since 2001. On this most recent implementation of G. Love’s website, we decided to feature much of G. Love’s media, specifically his video blog and full discography. Users can stream any track from all 16 of his releases while they read along to his lyrics. Our Development Team created custom media players that pull content from the same CMS that runs the news and band weblogs.

Oniracom Portfolio | G. Love (Philadelphonic.com) from Oniracom on Vimeo.

Official EPK for Erland’s debut album “On Our Side.” Enjoy!

If you thought your favorite catchy pop songs couldn’t possibly get any catchier, well, you’re wrong. Robin Skouteris came out with a mashup of 24 artists he titled “PopLove (2012).”

Yep, you guessed it. His mashup features the most catchy and popular songs of 2012 that just can’t make it out of your head. The mashup includes Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake”, Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” Calvin Harris’ “Feel So Close,” Ellie Goulding’s “Lights,” Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know,” and much more. I must say, this is my new guilty pleasure. Rather sure I have already contributed 25+ views to this insanely catchy mashup!

Before we dive into all the holiday tunes and listing the top albums of the year, we decided to compile a nice covers only playlist! We have quite the eclectic staff. You’ll see covers from Bon Iver, System of a Down, Johnny Cash, and Adele. Enjoy our interesting mix below!

This is the official music video for Popular Culture’s single “Dandelion” from their debut album titled “Episode.”

Watch Kermit Lynch perform “Kitty Fur” at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA.

Dwight Yoakam came to Oniracom through Topspin and Warner Music Nashville for an interactive album release splash page. The splash page featured staggered promotions and contests leading up to the release of Dwight Yoakam’s album “3 Pears.”

Oniracom Portfolio | Dwight Yoakam (3Pears.DwightYoakam.com) from Oniracom on Vimeo.

Watch this awesome live performance of ALO’s “Dead Still Dance” at the Farm Aid concert in Hershey, Pennsylvania on September 22, 2012.

This past weekend was full of New Noise Santa Barbara festivities. The New Noise Music Conference and festival kicked off on Wednesday with a couple of shows, and continued on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday was filled with musical performances at various venues sprinkled around downtown Santa Barbara. Artists such as Tyrone Wells, American Dirt, Naked Walrus, and The City performed at Muddy Waters, SOhO, Whiskey Richards, and Velvet Jones.

Friday was fully packed with interesting panels all about new media and the music industry. This year, Jacob Tell and Mike Wald of Oniracom  lead a hands-on workshop about New Media for Traditional Business. Gideon Rubin Local Market Launch and Kyle Ashby of Kaldera Marketing were also panelists at Oniracom’s workshop. During the panel, Oniracom discussed how traditional businesses can use the internet and new media to captivate audiences and develop unique web presences. The audience even received a “digital marketing plan” worksheet to help them organize their own plan for their traditional business.

Sacred Hills EP is a short, sweet snapshot of the long and winding journey of a man named Matt Costa. The E.P. has four tracks; two unpolished (but superior) classics hidden in the middle surrounded on either end by more sing-along, bigger produced songs. In other words the intro/outro tracks are nice, but like a geode, the gems are in the middle.

The single and opener, “Good Times” is a large celebratory sound reminiscent of the The Beatles, with colorful horns and that happy folk-rock feel, but the lyrics are somber, speaking of a return to hard times…a return to truth, to “the man I once was.” Back to reality. Matt is clever here, offering an economically timely piece. Roundabout the second chorus you get this feeling of, “Aha! I see what you’re doing here!”

The second track, “Never Change”, is the stand-alone classic.  It could have come from the past 80 years of music. The soundscape is reminiscent of Donovan or even an old Woody Guthrie ballad. Costa’s tired voice hinges on the feeling of a theme song or the ending credits to an old Western.  It’s almost got a smirk to it though…actually the whole album does. While the album spins, especially during “Never Change,” you feel a satisfactory buzz and when it ends, you wish it hadn’t.

Matt Costa’s digital-only EP titled Sacred Hills is out now! The EP features “Good Times,” “Never Change,” “Sacred Hills,” and “Loving You.”

Sacred Hills gives you a hint to what’s in store for Matt Costa’s fourth album, which is due out in February on Brushfire Records. Click the image below to buy the EP now!

Matt Costa’s new EP titled Sacred Hills comes out tomorrow, November 6th! Here’s a preview of the EP, which features his new single “Good Times.” Matt Costa’s new full length album will be out February 12, 2013 on Brushfire Records.

This is a beautiful cover of Danny Riley’s “Through Their Eyes” which comes on the 5th year anniversary of his passing.  A big thank you to Michael Tiernan for sharing his take on Danny’s poignant song.

Right now, as I write this, sitting next to me are two of my acoustic guitars. My new Martin sits by my desk, its warm, rich mahogany gleaming in the low light. I can almost smell it from here. On the neck a rare and beautiful rosewood from East India is laid where my fingers go, along with solid Black Ebony and Sitka Spruce details. And then there’s my Taylor. The top is a crispy crackling Sitka Spruce, making it loud and bright. Indian Rosewood runs across the back and sides of my instrument, and this fingerboard is a solid piece of ebony, a deep, durable but extremely rare wood.

So let’s get this straight…in my room right now, I have mahogany, rosewood, ebony, and Sitka Spruce. Common sense makes it seem wrong. In most countries, these are illegal to harvest. In fact, ebony can now only be found from one country in bulk, the small Eastern African country of Cameroon. But still, when a well-versed guitar player walks into a guitar shop, he or she will insist on therarest woods on the planet. Why?

Back in the 1930’s C.F. Martin & Co. was producing instruments of mahogany, Brazilian Rosewood, and other high-quality tonal woods from all over the world with free reign.

It’s the end of the month already, which means its time for another unique Oniracom staff playlist. Since it’s October, and Halloween is just a few days away, we decided to provide you all with a spookier playlist than we’re normally used to. As you listen, you’ll notice Zombies as a track title trend and pockets of other eclectic tastes. October’s playlist features 25 tracks!

Mr. Tad Wagner chose:

1. “She’s Not There” - The Zombies - Album: The Original Studio Recordings

“Always enjoyed the suspenseful sound of this song.”

2. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” - Blue Oyster Cult - Album: The Essential Blue Oyster Cult

“So smooth for a creepy song (and of course, more cowbell).”

Haaris chose some wonderful spooky tunes:

3. “Halloween” - King Diamond - Album: The Best of King Diamond

“Every day is Halloween when talking about King Diamond. This is what Halloween is all about, Metal, Makeup & the Macabre. Sure he is from the 80’s, but King Diamond will never DIE.”

4. “Electric Funeral” - Black Sabbath - Album: Reunion

“Another Halloween pick, plus these guys invented METAL.”

When you’re listening to a popular radio station, you are bound to hear many of the same artists continuously—over and over again. It’s like a playlist on repeat. Clearly, these mainstream artists are making quite a bit from these big commercial radio stations, right? Well, they are earning more than your smaller unknown artists who aren’t heard on broadcast radio, but there are other stations who are also giving these big performers another big boost, much bigger than broadcast radio. Internet radio sites like Pandora are currently paying half of all their revenue towards performance fees while stations such as SiriusXM pay only 7.5%.

Pandora being one of the leaders of Internet radio, is forced to pay these high amounts in artist royalties by the RIAA. Pandora is proud to support artists, and wants to continue to do so, however they believe that it should by no means be in this discriminatory fashion. A new act has been introduced by Congress called the Internet Radio Fairness Act, which addresses “this discrimination by extending to internet radio the same standard used to determine virtually all copyright rate-setting processes, including satellite and cable radio, allowing us to compete on a level playing field” (Pandora Radio Blog).

International artists are gathering together to bring peace, music, and common ground at the One World Concert this Tuesday (tomorrow!) October 9 at Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome. World Harmony Production has organized the “One World Concert,” which is “expected to be one of the largest gatherings of international artists ever to travel to the region.” (World Harmony Production).

We at Oniracom have crafted a fully packed playlist with songs that have been personally selected from each staff member. This marks the first ever edition of our “Monthly Staff Playlist.” Be sure to come back at the end of each month for more and more playlists created by our staff here at Oniracom. This month includes loads of tracks from Frank Ocean, as our office just can’t stop listening to his new album Channel Orange. You’ll also see other tracks from new album releases such as Love this Giant from David Byrne and St. Vincent, The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind by Ben Folds Five, and many more. While listening, take a look at which staff member chose what and why!

Imagine Dragons released their first full-length studio album Night Visions out September 4th on Kid Ina Korner / Interscope Records. The release of the highly anticipated album debuted #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, selling over 80,000 copies in the first week.

Oniracom Portfolio | Imagine Dragons (ImagineDragons.com/NightVisions) from Oniracom on Vimeo.

When I discovered that the marvelous David Byrne and Annie Clark (also known as St. Vincent) were collaborating on an album together, I knew something magical was going to be produced. Yesterday, their album titled, Love This Giant was finally released. Although I had been listening to the album intently and continuously over the past few days, (thanks to the full stream made available by NPR) I gave the album yet another few listens yesterday since it marked their official album release date.

The Oniracom Doheny Days crew had a blast this weekend at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA. It is always amazing to see our artwork come to life. Our Art Director Tad Wagner implemented and designed this official logo for the Doheny Days music festival.

The xx’s new album campaign truly showcases the power of social networking! On September 3, (which is a week before their album “Coexist” releases) The xx, in collaboration with Internet Explorer, released a stream of their album. Within this stream, you can listen to Coexist in full as well as track your location and share the album with people around the world. What better way to spread your love for The xx and to “coexist”?

The web page features a world map which shows how the stream of The xx’s new album has been shared. The map has several curves shooting out from one end of the world to the next, which originated from someone either tweeting, emailing, or posting a status on Facebook. This campaign is a great way to encourage fans to share the album stream, bring awareness to the album release, and express what they think about the new album. However, I believe that the campaign could have been more interactive and involved.

“I Am Fenwick” is a husband-wife indie rock duo, created this year and just starting out. They released an EP called “Clarity, Light, and Reason Emerge” and are about to continue their music making with the upcoming debut of their first full length album as a band, “Bulletproof Suit.” Based out of a little home recording studio, Nate Fenwick Smith has created a full instrumental texture. Nate is joined by his wife, Sarah Marie Smith, with beautiful and sweet vocal duos in most of their songs. Their sound is similar to and inspired by bands such as “Copeland,” “Barcelona,” “Deas Vail,” and of course, “Coldplay.”

The Album “Bulletproof Suit” includes their new original song “Not Undiscovered.” This musical conversation between Nate and his wife begins with their alternating voices and an interesting contrast of accompaniment by exchanging the initial thick texture with the sudden lack of instruments, emphasizing his voice. They come together in the chorus singing with simple but effective parallel harmonies. It’s a beautiful song and definitely worth checking out.

“Bulletproof Suit” will be on sale on iTunes and Bandcamp at the end of the month. Also, check out their YouTube Channel, their Twitter @IamFenwickMusic, and their Facebook Page.

Oniracom recently launched the revamped web presence for Jacob Jeffries Band. The band’s new album Tell Me Secrets was released May 18th on Boom Boom 88 Music.

A new dance craze has hit the floors of clubs and parties across the globe. No, it’s not another variation of “The Dougie” or some other dance with an obscure name. This dance sensation known as the “silent disco,” originated in Europe and can best be described as an inaudible dance party—at least to onlookers without a pair of headphones.

The concept of a silent disco is quite simple; rather than using traditional sound systems to produce amplified sound, music is broadcasted to wireless headphones worn by partygoers.
End result? The only audible noise that can be heard include the sound of shuffling feet and the occasional outburst of off-key singing.

Silent Treatment, an LA-based event production company, came over to Oniracom to give us a taste of the silent disco phenomenon. As we slipped our headphones on, our ears were greeted with the same pounding electro synth beats that transformed the previously calm and quiet room into a high-energy atmosphere. It was hard to imagine that while the rest of the Oniracom staff were quietly working, we were rocking out in the next room over. There’s something about the privacy and exclusivity of it all that creates a shared sense of belonging via headphones. It’s kind of like being in on a secret that no one else knows about.

Although this concept is not entirely unheard of, Silent Treatment has made some ground-breaking developments with their technology that will take silent discos to a whole new level. What they have in store will be sure to revolutionize the way audiences experience music.

The up and coming indie electronic band Popular Culture came to Oniracom to kickstart their digital presence through their label, Sparrow Songs Music Company.

Oniracom has completed work on the new website for The Gaslight Anthem just in time for the band’s July 24th album release.

Doheny Days is back and ready for 2012. After a successful and fun 2011 festival, Doheny Days is back for the second straight year following a seven year hiatus.

Oniracom partnered with Omega Events in 2011 to reimagine the Doheny Days brand and bring life back into the Festival. The branding we developed, including a custom logo and styling for the Festival brought large crowds over the two-day festival.

Enjoy ALO at Bonnaroo Music Festival playing their new single “Speed of Dreams” from the latest Brushfire Records release.

Peter Goetz came to Oniracom with a unique vision to create a platform that will showcase all of his projects. Oniracom designed a project-based website to accommodate Peter’s photography, music and film work. The website features a distinct interface and the latest music technology integrations. Take a look at the video tour of the site.

2012 Concert season is in full swing and just in time for the Summer Solstice the Sunstone Winery presents Zee Avi, Rico Delargo w/DJ Sparx, Howlin’ Woods and Rainbow Girls. Powered by the sun on the longest day of the year the show on June 23rd takes place at Sunstone Winery in Santa Ynez. Celebrate the Sun with music, friends, food and wine!

Get your tickets here: SunstoneSummerSoltice.eventbrite.com

Back in 2010 Jake performed at the Kokua Festival in Honolulu, HI. If you were there you may remember Jake performing “Breakdown” with Jack Johnson. On April 17th, the live performance recording of “Breakdown” will be available on the “Jack Johnson and Friends - Best of Kokua Festival” album. The proceeds from the album will go to the Kokua Hawaii Foundation.

For more information about the album go to: Back in 2010 Jake performed at the Kokua Festival in Honolulu, HI. If you were there you may remember Jake performing “Breakdown” with Jack Johnson. On April 17th, the live performance recording of “Breakdown” will be available on the “Jack Johnson and Friends - Best of Kokua Festival” album. The proceeds from the album will go to the Kokua Hawaii Foundation.

For more information about the album go to: http://kokuafestival.com.

On March 14th, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival will premiere the documentary ‘Peace Love Ukulele,’ an in-depth profile of ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, at the Castro theatre.

Produced by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), the documentary follows Jake on tour throughout the United States and Japan and examines how he revolutionized the ukulele and became the most innovative player in the world.

For tickets and more information go to: http://festival.caamedia.org/30/guide/program/jake-shimabukoro-project/

We just launched a new microsite for singer/songwriter Martin Sexton to accompany his upcoming EP release Fall Like Rain. Check it out!

We’ve been working with Bishop Lamont to re-vamp his web presence and the result is the NEW BishopLamont.com! Check it out!

We just did a re-design of Scott James’ web presence as he embarks on the next chapter of his growing career.

Check out the new ScottJamesMusic.com!

‎Marc B. is a good friend, talented musician, and great person. He’s recording a new album and we can’t wait to hear the finished product. We encourage you to check out the video below to get to know him better. He’ll be teaming up with Producer Kevin McCormick (Melissa Etheridge, Brett Dennen) to record his long awaited sophomore album.

We also encourage you to support his Kickstarter campaign for the new album and tour HERE.

Last week we launched a new store page for Chris Cornell and his latest release, Songbook, which is a collection of acoustic performances of songs throughout his career recorded live on tour earlier this year.

Working with his great team at The Artists Organization, we created this Topspin store to sell different packages of the album and bonus tracks and we’re really proud of the end result.

Check it out for yourself at ChrisCornell.com/Songbook!

We are helping our longtime friends Brushfire Records with promoting the release of their holiday album This Warm December: A Brushfire Holiday Volume II.

Utilizing Topspin’s platform, we created the This Warm December Store, featuring exclusive bundled packages of the CD or Vinyl version of the album, plus a collectible 12 post card set (the first 200 orders received a card signed by Jack Johnson). The album is currently on pre-order until it’s officially released on November 15.

This Warm December: A Brushfire Holiday Volume II is a 13 track compilation of both original tunes and classic covers by Brushfire’s artists., including Jack Johnson, whose joyous “In The Morning” can be heard in an exclusive Entertainment Weekly premiere here.

Here’s the full track listing:

01. “Party Hard” by Zach Gill
02. “Jingle Bell Rock” by Rogue Wave
03. “Christmas Blues” by G. Love
04. “In The Morning” by Jack Johnson
05. “Christmas Must Be Tonight” by Bahamas
06. “Home For The Season” by Neil Halstead
07. “Frosty The Snowman” by Zee Avi
08. “Let It Ride” by ALO
09. “Make Time” by Money Mark
10. “Winter Swell Blues” by Paula Fuga
11. “Christmas Cookies” by G. Love
12. “I Bet On Flying High” by Matt Costa
13. “Angel (Holiday)” by Jack Johnson

Pre-order the album today!

We’ve worked with Boom LA Management for all things Mason Jennings, and they recently came to us for a site redesign for their other client, Nat & Alex Wolff.

In addition to releasing two rock albums in the last few years, the brothers are the stars of Nickelodeons popular TV show The Naked Brothers Band. They are currently in the studio working on their debut solo album.

These boys should definitely be kept on your radar!

A little while ago we created and ran a one day only promotional “donate-to-download” splash page for Chris Cornell’s website for his song “The Keeper” that he wrote for the film “Machine Gun Preacher,” a film based on the true story of the life of Sam Childers. A portion of the sales went to support Childers’ “Angels for East Africa” charity.

Now, we have just launched the NEW ChrisCornell.com!

Check it on out!

This morning we launched Tom Waits’ BadAsMe.com!

We’ve worked with Waits’ team and SoundCloud to create this exclusive listening party streaming his new album Bad As Me before it comes out on October 24.

Fans on Waits’ mailing list received individualized codes that granted them access into this exclusive listening party. Those who aren’t on the list are able to request a code to get into this album stream.

Check it out and get your code now at BadAsMe.com!

We’ve known for a long time that our boy G. Love has some Special Sauce, but what else does he got?

HOT SAUCE!

That’s right, G. Love has come out with his own line of hot sauce called, you guessed it, G. Love’s Special Sauce. To introduce this product to the public, we just launched a new micro-site for it -  Check it out and order yours today at GLovesHotSauce.com!

We recently launched the new ZeeAvi.com to coincide with the release of Zee Avi’s new record ghostbird, off Brushfire Records.

The site features new aesthetics that embody the overall vibe of ghostbird - give it a look and check out more from Ms. Zee Avi!

The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) took place last night, August 28, 2011 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. This year marked the award show’s 28th year. While the show did not have a host, it was nothing short of surprising and entertaining.

Many artists and celebrities strutted down the red carpet in fabulous garments while Selena Gomez hosted the VMA pre-show. The most memorable appearances were from Nicki Minaj, who wore metal, stuffed animals and pink hair, and Beyonce, who showed off her baby bump and announced that she and husand, Jay-Z are expecting a baby! Cobra Starship and Sabi performed as part of the pre-show.

Last Wednesday night, a crew of us jammed down to LA after work to hit up a house party and special Zee Avi concert at Brushfire Records. The event was one of many surrounding the release of Zee Avi’s upcoming record, ghostbird, which hits stores August 23rd and is on pre-sale now

We hustled through surprisingly no traffic, and got to Brushfire Records just in time. After chatting with our buddies there and hitting up the killer tacos they had grilling in the back (SO GOOD), all the guests gathered into one of the rooms in Brushfire’s backyard recording studio, the Solar Powered Plastic Plant. Once the crowd was in place and ready to go, her tiny Greatness, Ms. Zee Avi, walked in guitar in hand and smile wide. Followed by a film crew from Starbucks who were on site filming the event, she plugged in and welcomed the crowd with her infectious demeanor and subtle hilariousness.

Longtime client and phenomenal artist Mason Jennings is gearing up to release his new record, Minnesota, on September 13. The pre-sale for the album starts August 16th.

For this new release, we re-skinned his entire site to fit the theme and style of Minnesota‘s artwork, and the result is piece we are really proud of.

Check out the NEW MasonJennings.com.

We recently mentioned how 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting came to us to create the home of their Raise Your Voice! campaign, and it’s now in full swing! Here’s the official Press Release:

170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting and ANTI-Records are pleased to announce the release of Raise Your Voice!, a 16-track compilation of music from ANTI- artists being offered as a free download to advocates for public broadcasting. Anyone who signs up to join the campaign can download the compilation—available for a limited time only—by visiting RYVoice.org. Supporters will also have the opportunity to share Raise Your Voice! with their friends and social networks.

We were sought after by Andrea Bocelli’s camp to assist in the promotion of Andrea Bocelli, Live in Central Park - Sept. 15, 2011. This is a FREE concert for the lucky 60,000 fans who were able to snatch up tickets before they sold out quickly.

I always thought I was pretty on top of my music knowledge, and had a good grip on the various kinds of genres, top hits, and artists out there. But, as I have recently discovered, I thought way too highly of my knowledge of music. For some of you this may come as a shock, but until about three weeks ago, I had no idea who Fleet Foxes were, and had never heard their music. I was introduced to them by a friend because he could no longer stand the idea of having to drive to work with me again while listening to “my” music. He burned me a CD of songs he felt were “better” than mine and that was when my narrow and limited knowledge of music became very apparent. 

This idea of discovering new bands and artists started to intrigue me since I had been so stuck in my ways of only listening to my music, that I never really gave myself the chance to go out and explore. But, as I quickly learned, this exploring thing was not as easy as I thought. There are thousands of artists out there with multiple albums and I suddenly became very overwhelmed and defeated. This task was way larger than I anticipated and I was very close to giving up on my new project. Luckily, I was sent an article about an online site that makes the process of discovering new artists and bands a lot easier. GoRankem.com is “crowdsourcing the music discovery process. By aggregating the expertise of the existing fanbase for every artist, the prospective fans can more easily embrace a new artist or dive deeper into a catalog than they ever had before” (GoRankem). The site not only offers rankings on the artist’s best songs, but also provides interactive features between its members.

Marketing over social networks used to be easy. You would create a MySpace page, upload a few songs and a picture or two and let millions of users do the rest by virtually spreading the word. Fast forward to now – boy, has that changed. With a seemingly ever-expanding plethora of social networking sites all trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, marketing yourself over these platforms has moved from hobby to chore to nearly a full time job. The typical artist must manage and keep up-to-date their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, website, and any other social media platforms they’ve chosen to market themselves over. Most artists will confess that constantly updating each and every one of their online marketing platforms takes much longer than they’d prefer. The process is arduous at best, and any artist will acknowledge their true desire to use that time creating music. Yet, in the modern age it’s an integral portion of anyone’s marketing strategy.

Enter Musedash, a new online application that lets musicians manage all their social network profiles from one main dashboard. From this dashboard, you can post content (be it status updates, links, news, or photos and videos) and choose to which networks you’d like the content to appear on. So you could simultaneously post a news article on your Facebook profile, your Facebook page, your Twitter, your MySpace, and any other applicable network – all with just one click. Musedash sets itself apart from competing services like Hootsuite and Ping.fm by catering specifically to musicians. And, recognizing that most musicians are not computer geeks in their spare time, creator Hilke Ros and the rest of the Musedash team have made user-friendliness a top priority. The result is a clean, simple and straightforward application designed to make social networking easier, not more complicated. Potentially, using Musedash to manage multiple social networks simultaneously could save valuable time and frustration, and would eliminate the possibility of mistakes or inconsistent information on different networks.

A fantastic interview of Jack Johnson and his views on improving our environment! He also plays a great love song he wrote for his wife.

Late last month, the unveiling of Google+ prompted the world over reconsider the future of social media and online networking, and many began to wonder if The Goog’s latest product would boast enough innovative features to dethrone Facebook, king of the social networking realm. Speculation has run rampant as the search giant’s latest foray into new media gains momentum, much of which attempts to size up Google+ against Facebook. Many in the tech world are projecting whether or not + will be successful both in stealing existing social network users and attracting new ones. But here at Oniracom, my compadres and I have been interested in how Google+ will integrate into the larger scheme of social media marketing and brand growth strategies. While wishful thinking would allow Google+, Facebook and others to harmoniously coincide with each other in the virtual world, it is becoming ever-more clear (as is obvious with Facebook’s Skype contract retaliation) that there really may only be room for one. It’s impossible to know which network, if any, will prevail, but Google+ is making a strong attempt by promising features and upgrades not available on Facebook or other social networking sites.

Feel free to check out our latest project, Courtney O’Donnell’s new website: CourtneyODonnell.com

Courtney is at the beginning of her career, yet has already written more than 20 songs, taught herself to play the guitar and worked with major names in the music business. She released her first two original CD’s at the age of 11 and 14. Courtney has big things lined up for her, and there is no doubt that she will succeed. We are thrilled to be working with her.

Be sure to check out her website to learn more about Courtney and to see what cool features we included on her site!

CourtneyODonnell.com

Feel free to check out our latest project, Iration’s new website: IrationMusic.com.

Lots of social media integration going on here - music fed in from SoundCloud, tour dates brought in by Bands In Town, Blogs pulled from Tumblr, and a Facebook commenting system. Another fun feature - the background changes from “daytime beach scene” to “evening beach scene” depending on the time of day. Check it out:

We recently launched a site for the Music Preservation Project.  Music Preservation Project is working to preserve endangered music collections by digitizing them, developing curriculum for educators, using the collections and allowing free access for educational purposes.

You can watch an intro video and learn more at musicpreservationproject.org.

In the several months before I moved out of Santa Barbara last October, a band emerged on the scene to reignite my hope for the rebirth of the local musical landscape. Not since Matthew McAvene teased me with a few smoking sets in early 2007 had I felt the spark of any new, home-bred talent. All it took was one performance by Howlin’ Woods on a Friday night at Cold Spring Tavern to convince me that these guys had the goods. They could jam fiercely, led by the sinewy guitar voodoo of Griffin Chetakian. The rhythm section of Matthew Farrington on drums and Brian “Solar B” Chandler on bass (and keys) was rugged and raw, yet with an intuitive grace. A lot of bands can jam. These guys came across as the total package thanks to the presence of a true frontman. Jordan Chetakian – a powerhouse vocalist with some acoustic guitar chops to boot, boasted a dynamic range. He could rain down with the back-alley blues, bust out a little Sly Stone soul and woo the ladies like a tormented indie rock icon. Offstage he was just an unassuming, plaid-shirt wearing dude with glasses which made his spotlight transformation all the more profound.

Reggae artist Duane Stephenson is one of our amazing clients. He’s currently touring all throughout summer and hit recent single “Better Tomorrow” is generating some serious buzz and airplay, along with the song’s music video. Duane and his team have truly been a pleasure to work with. If you haven’t check it out yet, head over to duanestephensonmusic.com to see what we created and learn more about this fantastic artist.

By Tyler Blue (Website | Twitter)

It was the summer of ’87 when the announcement came through the pipeline. My favorite band at the time, Motley Crue, was going to be playing nearby at the Hollywood (FL) Sportatorium. A dream scenario was unfolding for my first concert but long before the music hit my virgin ears, I was already conditioned to understand what a challenge it could be just to get tickets. Fortunately a girl I knew who worked at a record store assured my brother and I she would be able to score us tickets.

The anticipation was overwhelming but the day finally arrived when tickets went on sale. Sure enough our insider came through and we were all set for the big day. Ironically, I haven’t enjoyed a connection like that since. The details of that late November night are forever emblazoned in my mind. Starting my illustrious concert-going career on the Crue’s infamous “Girls, Girls, Girls” tour surely played a big factor in implanting the glory of the live music experience in my DNA. From the sea of spandex and Aqua Net hair outside to this deafening opening band no one had heard of called Guns ‘n Roses to Tommy Lee’s still unmatched 360-degree drum solo, it was the stuff of legends.

Fast forward to 1996 – my junior year at Clemson University – when a band called Phish announced its Halloween show only two hours away at Atlanta’s Omni Arena. Continuing a tradition established three years prior, the Vermont quartet was going to don a musical costume; covering another band’s album in its entirety. (Little did we know at the time it would be one of the coolest, most under-appreciated albums of all time – The Talking Heads’ “Remain in Light.”) The demand was so high, most of my friends and I were all rejected in our attempts to get mail order tickets. There was no way we were missing this so we hit the situation room like Washington strategizing his crossing of the Delaware. We had to outthink the other Phishheads. Where would they go? How far were they willing to drive? A few days later, a three hour banzai to an obscure Ticketmaster outlet in Macon, Georgia yielded the fruit of our desire. A month or so later, we were sitting pretty on the floor of the Omni.

Since their return from retirement in 2009, Phish has trended towards playing smaller venues, making the ticket acquisition process that much more of a science. Last year fans struggled to gain access to Berkeley’s 8500-seat Greek Theater and Telluride’s Town Park. Scalpers fattened their kid’s college funds, charging obscene amounts of money to the desperate masses. This year, on August 9 and 10, Phish is making their Lake Tahoe debut at Harvey’s Outdoor Amphitheater. Even by modern standards, 7000 seats is microscopic. Déjà vu struck as my online ticket request was rejected, sending me back to the situation room. Gas isn’t 99 cents a gallon anymore so a three hour drive was out of the question. “Should I drive an hour to Longview, Washington?” I contemplated. Even that seemed like overkill.

Scanning the map, I settled on an Oregon town with a funky name – Scappoose. It was only a half-hour from the Portland metro area which struck me as too accessible, but how many people in this neck of the woods were trying to get Phish Tahoe tickets? The area is littered with Fred Meyer Ticketmaster outlets but maybe Scappoose was too much of an attention-grabbing name. It rolls off the tongue with satisfying ease. I should have known better but decided to take my chances. It was a pleasant drive cruising along the forgotten side of the Columbia River, past the industrial ghost zone. If we didn’t get tickets, at least I would know where to go if I ever need to wack somebody. Despite the narrow odds, we were feeling rather confident. So confident we only arrived about 10 minutes before tickets went on sale. Big mistake. Upon walking into the electronics section at Fred Meyer, my heart sunk. When I saw seven people in line, I knew right then our ship had sailed.

It was 11:53 when I resorted to the equivalent of a Hail Mary. I pulled out my phone and dialed up Ticketmaster. Getting tickets on the phone for a high demand concert is maybe just a tad easier than completing a Rubik’s Cube in the dark. I almost couldn’t believe it when I wasn’t greeted with a busy signal. Entering the automated system, I knew I had to buy some time until the clock struck noon. Bypassing the computer, I opted to wait a few more precious minutes for a live body. 11:57 rolled around and I was starting to quiver. I knew it was now or never. Returning to automated avenue, I annunciated the date and venue of the show with painstaking clarity. When H.A.L. eventually responded, “We are holding four tickets for you,” I could see the Promised Land just over yonder.

While on the phone, the live action was unfolding a few feet away as the ticket agent scrambled to pluck as many as he could out of the computer cosmos. It was no surprise when he announced they were sold out five minutes later. Only two people were able to hit the jackpot. Groans of anguish resonated all around. My final minutes on the phone felt like eternity as credit card information and other details were confirmed. I wasn’t about to do any celebrating until that confirmation number came across the line. When it finally did, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and did a subtle fist pump; not wanting to rub it in for the less fortunate. One bookish brunette offered a friendly high-five. I could hardly believe my luck. Three-and-a-half months from now I would wield my golden tickets and dance in the garden of delights. Ridiculous service charges and hoop-jumping aside, I won’t be referring to the evil empire as “Ticketbastard”… at least for a little while.

We are proud to announce the launch of an awesome website for the very talented (and only 15 years old!) Scott James! Check it out here.

We implemented Topspin for Scott’s mailing list collection and e-commerce, Soundcloud for Scott’s audio content, YouTube for Scott’s video content and Facebook to feed Scott’s photos.

By Tyler Blue (Website | Twitter)

When the Grateful Dead used to announce a new live release, its impending arrival was met with voracious anticipation. Deadheads dropped everything and ran to the store on the first day it came out or else had it waiting in the mailbox. We all remember when “One from the Vault” hit the racks in April of 1991. It was like Christmas, Channukah and a birthday all rolled into one. Soon the Dick’s Picks series came around. The declaration of a new release was akin to Apple revealing upgrades for the latest iPhone. They only came once or twice a year so it was easy to keep up and buy them all. There were no CD burners yet so everyone had to buy their own copy. What a concept.

Maybe around the time Dick’s Picks crossed into double-digits, the reality set in that I was going to have to start to pick and choose. But it was so hard to resist the sudden and instant access to a perfect copy of a show which had only been heard on crackly cassettes or maybe not at all. For a band which, at the time, was facing the reality of the erosion of its talent, this was the ultimate way to revive the genius of their past heroics to be put on a pedestal in the present and future. The quality was so consistently stellar, with eyes closed, it really felt like you were there.

Several years ago, after Dick’s Picks had already run its course, the Dead introduced the Road Trips series which could be purchased in CD format or via digital download. The floodgates were officially open as these amazing shows were released at a rate so frequent, only the deepest pocketed audiophiles could keep up. Well, and the illegal downloaders too. No one seems to hesitate anymore in “stealing” these recordings as they tend to rationalize: “I’ve given more than enough money to the Dead organization over the years.” Actually, not such an unreasonable line of logic.

By Tyler Blue (Website | Twitter)

We can feel the planetary shift coming on. From weather to war to welfare, we can sense the world imploding and only hope to be part of its reinvention. Evolution is a powerful word and it can apply to so many different forms of life. Humans have evolved in synch with the music created around them. All of the great albums of music history serve as reflections of their generation on one level or another. I’m not implying the Beastie Boys’ Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 deserves consideration in this category…but it might. Their new album puts on a clinic in exploring virgin terrain while carrying a retro torch.
Depending on the listener’s state of mind, “Sauce” could be perceived as an expression of genius containing the secret to life or an overproduced piece of crap. After my maiden spin on headphones, I leaned towards the latter. Two more listens later and I was drinking the Kool Aid. Some of us have gathered a few gray hairs over the last seven years since the Beastie Boys’ last hip hop offering - the criminally underrated To the 5 Boroughs. 2007’s all instrumental The Mix Up was an aberration. Going strong since the mid-80s, the band was injected with a rare dose of mortality when MCA - AKA Adam Yauch - was faced with a bout of throat cancer. On the other side with a clean bill of health, this album is delivered anxiously, with a “strike hard at the brink of the apocalypse” sort of focus. Although, at points it puts on the guise of a half-baked lark which could come unraveled like a ball of yarn.

Following the model of previous albums, the first single - in this case the album’s first song - “Make Some Noise” - is its obvious alpha dog. Continuing where they left off with 1994’s Ill Communication, the Beasties establish a dirty precedent with layers of grit coated over the mix. We are instantly vaulted into a familiar comfort zone as this track kicks open the back door to reveal a party we thought ended a long time ago. It’s irresistible as ever but this time everyone’s wearing styley new clothes. “Sauce’s” rough-around-the-edges aesthetic hits its zenith on “Say It” which would be a parent’s nightmare blasting out of their kid’s room. A potential polarizer like “The Crunge” on Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, one has to wade through the sonic soup to embrace the primal stomp under the surface.

By Tyler Blue


Jerry Garcia struts offstage as the catharsis of a monumental “Morning Dew” still resonates through the air. The expressions on the audience member’s faces are as if they have been in the presence of God. The man who has just delivered the cosmic gospel only wants some cold water as he searches the green room. He exits, comes back in, sits down and takes a few bites of a cupcake before abruptly hustling back onstage to raise the roof with “Johnny B. Goode.” This is only one of many scenes you’ve never seen in any other concert video. In the discussion of that genre’s best, The Band’s The Last Waltz, Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense and Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii tend to get the most mention, and deservingly so. What sets The Grateful Dead Movie apart from those classics and all of its peers, is how comprehensive it is in capturing every possible angle of every aspect related to producing and attending this series of concerts. Among other unique perspectives, we get to hang with fans munching on psychedelics while camped out in line for tickets, talk to a hot dog vendor who prefers the music of Sha Na Na, sympathize with a backstage door attendant dealing with persistent hippies and grasp the concept of “work hard, play hard” while the band’s crew gets debaucherous with a tank of nitrous…

Check out this short video of the Oniracom booth at SXSW.  To keep up with all the action at SXSW be sure to follow us: http://twitter.com/oniracom

Oniracom is enjoying a full week of film, music & interactive at SXSW2011 by attending screenings, live shows and conference panels in Austin this week.  We have made a tremendous amount of quality contact with the true innovators of 2011 both for Oniracom and our newest venture ProducersPortal.com.

Please follow us on Twitter throughout the week:

Oniracom, Company
Jacob Tell, CEO
Justin Davis, Lead Strategist
Tyler Singletary, Dir of Biz Dev

We look forward to sharing more of our thoughts, experiences and media, so stay tuned…

Oniracom has teamed up with our good friends at SoundCloud to bring you the first listen of
G. Loves latest release from Brushfire Records, Fixin’ To Die, exclusively on Conan O’Brien’s website Team Coco.  Head over to TeamCoco.com to hear the full album a week before it hits stores and you can download an exclusive track right on G. Love’s website.

Marie Parie is a new client here at Oniracom! She presents a different genre than we normally work with and we are excited to start working with her. She is a Parisian pop artist that moved to the United States in 2005, providing her with a unique view of American society. Marie is fascinated by the process of dating and is motivated by the power of futuristic music. Her full length album, Alien Victory, is aimed to be released early this year. Watch her first music video, Dating, here! Follow her on MySpace and Facebook to stay tuned for the release of her album!

With the 30th year anniversary of his death, Bob Marley remains the most well known reggae musician. His music is credited for spreading not only Jamaican music, but also the Rastafari movement worldwide. A truly captivating and challenging performer, we remember his music that remains timeless and universal.

Now here’s a brilliant album release campaign. UK songstress Adele, grammy winning “Chasing Pavements” singer, is releasing 21 (XL, Columbia) the much anticipated follow up to her debut album, 19. To generate buzz and increase fan engagement with the record in the weeks leading up the it’s US release, team Adele has set up quite a creative splash page:

Jake Shimabukuro is one of the latest artists we’ve been honored to work with. It is true we are excited to have him as a client because of the unparalleled level of musical ability he embodies, revolutionizing what’s possible with the ukulele. But even more so, we are thrilled to work with him because of the goodness of his character and the positive change he is contributing to this world.

Crowd fundraising—often referred to as crowd funding or crowd sourcing, is a method to raising money for new projects and/or businesses by inquiring micro donations from a large number of supporters and sponsors. Though this is currently becoming more and more popular, for years charities and non-profits have used this approach to gain public responsiveness. Nowadays, with the excessive shift in social media, crowd funding has developed into a sustainable fundraising mechanism for all new music, artists, films, creative ideas and projects, in addition to charities and nonprofit organizations.

There are a few drawbacks to this new web-based phenomena - the lack of quality, confidentiality, and the reliance of crowd sourcing. When you open the doors, anyone and anything can be posted on these sites without digression, which leads to inconsistency and trying to deal with matters out of your control. Another caution is to be careful not to give away competitive information. Intellectual property theft is a concern, so anyone who has an idea through a crowdsourcing platform has to be careful not to hand over a great idea on a public forum and never get credit for it.

Long gone are the days of records, tapes, and compact discs. But what is in store for music storage? Music streaming services are surfacing, making it possible to not only listen to music on computers, but also in cars, on TVs, throughout home sound systems, and on mobile devices. Countless services allow users to access thousands of albums and millions of songs instantly on the device of their choice. Users can create libraries of their favorite songs, listen to pre-made or personally created playlists, share songs with friends, purchase songs and so much more. While these services allow users to sync their created libraries and playlists, many music fanatics are looking for what’s next.

By : Erik Koral - FanManager Founder/CEO - 1.10.11
http://www.fanmanager.net

Hey everyone,

One of my new years resolutions was to do a bit more personal blogging and provide the music and marketing communities with some cool tips in navigating the web and managing your street campaigns.  I have been in the marketing field for over 10 years now and running FanManager for 6 years, so I wanted to post some of my observations and let you know what has worked and what hasn’t.

The entry below will cover everything you need to know about online street teaming in this new digital era.  Although physical street teams are still important and relevant for many hard touring bands, online street teaming is becoming much more prevalent.  Here is why…

1) It has never become so easy to reach tens of thousands of people in just a few minutes. In today’s ADD culture, people want instant bite sized bits of information. People are tuning out billboards and traditional advertising and are much more willing to listen to a recommendation of a new track, video, or concert from a friend.  This is why platforms like Twitter and Facebook are so important today

It’s that time of year—the hype for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2011 has arrived! Rumors of scheduled artists and headliners have tainted the web. Over 10,000 message threads and 400,000 individual posts occupy the official Coachella Message Board alone. Line-up wish lists from fans take up countless independent blog sites as well.  While the actual 2011 artist lineup will not be released until the end of January or beginning of February, the history of the music festival assures festival fanatics that this year’s will be nothing less than sensational.

Music licensing has become stricter and stricter due to the immense amount of untrustworthy and illegal music sharing stations there are across the net. Last.fm has provided their members with tons of free radio stations with limited listening, as well as offering subscriber-only radio stations such as the Loved Tracks Radio, Playlists, My Neighbourhood, and Personal Tag Radio Now that we all are familiar with and love on our handy dandy scrobblers. Unfortunately, beginning November 17th, Last.fm has been forced to omit some of these subscriber-only stations in order to direct their “energy on improving our most popular features, developing new and innovative stations, and offering the best music discovery service to our global audience,” says the members at Last.fm themselves.