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

There are days to be serious, but today is simply not one of those days. Spoiler alert! Today is April Fools Day, and what a glorious day it is for the Internet. Here are of my favorites in no particular order.

1. Google Nose

It’s become a bit of a tradition for Google to introduce some sort of pseudo-app every April Fools and this year’s edition comes in the form of Google Nose with the slogan “Smelling is believing.”

Had she not smelled her phone, I might have believed them.

2. Netflix Suggestions

Upon perusing the web for some other April Fools fun, it seemed that Netflix had performed the prank of all pranks. Netflix typically gives me ultra-specific categories, but today seems to be extra special on that front. Here is the suggestion from my own personal account:

Sadly I did not get anything about Nicolas Cage freak-outs as seen here.

We’ve finally done it. Each staff member chose their favorite apps that they can’t live without. Take a look at who chose what, and click on each app to see why they rock!

British mobile provider Three (UK) seems to have struck a bit of viral marketing gold in the recent #danceponydance campaign that hit Youtube this month. The premise of the advert? Silly stuff matters.  How do they convey this slogan? With a dancing Shetland Pony of course.

In the age of Tivo and DVR, advertisements have gotten creative, and I can’t say that I mind too much.  That being said, companies face a need to reach audiences at a startling speed that will rise above the many Youtube videos of cute sloths in slow motion, adorable children saying the darndest things and, ahem, other companies trying to rise above viral happy accidents. And let me just say, they are doing a terrific job doing so. 

Exhibit A: Shetland Ponies.

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.

Our friend at Power Philms is a finalist in the Primus Music Video competition. Check out his animated video and *like* Primus on Facebook in order to vote for this awesome video!

Hold on to your hats everybody, Facebook is revolutionizing the newsfeed with the biggest facelift it’s endured since I was 19. (2009 if you must know)  Yep, as of today Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook will redesign the holy grail of social media, the newsfeed.  The redesign that will soon infiltrate your own personal blue screen is adapting with the changing times of Internet sharing.  So what does that exactly entail? I will tell you.  And I will also tell you what I think about it, because let’s face it, I just want to be one of the cool kids.

One of the main changes, as pointed out in this Gizmodo Article is a much greater focus on visual/rich media than ever before.

There’s a lot of buzz going around about Twitter’s new iPhone app Vine.  It’s a social networking app that allows you to take a 6 second video and edit in-phone. Many believe that this is the next big thing in social sharing. There is much speculation as to what will make or break this app in the beginning stages of catching on (Mashable), but rather than being critical like I usually am, I’m going to focus on the positives.

This simple little idea allows anyone to create his or her own cinematic masterpiece… or videos of our very own Calia eating chocolate cream pie…

That’s what I like about this new app. The possibilities are endless. You can re-create your own version of the Harlem Shake sensation re-sweeping the nation as seen on illustrator / video animator Ian Padgham’s Twitter account @origiful [See it here]

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

Donatella Arpaia came to Oniracom to meet her brand goals by crafting a new custom website for her personal brand, branding her social networks, and providing her social content strategy & community management. Oniracom synthesized Donatella’s style and brand identity into a clean, convincing package of web properties.

Oniracom Portfolio | Donatella Arpaia (DonatellaArpaia.com) from Oniracom on Vimeo.

Click the image below to see her full website in action!

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?

Instagram announced that the company currently has 90 million monthly active users, which is 10% up from December’s statistics. Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom told AllThingsD that “Instagram continues to see very strong growth around the world.”

Instagram also dropped a few more statistics on their press page stating that they have 40 million photos per day, 8500 likes per second and 1000 comments per second.

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.

We knew something big was going to happen when Facebook announced three months ago that they have purchased Instagram. A lot of users however, did not expect this drastic policy shift.

Beginning January 16, Facebook “claims the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world’s largest stock photo agency” (CNET). This means that Facebook won’t have to pay you anything to use your images. If for say, you took a splendid image of a restaurant, and that restaurant decides that they’d like to use that image for advertising purposes, they pay Facebook and not you.

CNET also makes another great point, stating that this policy could “trigger state privacy laws” if the photos that Facebook sells contain images of young children without obtaining parental consent.

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.

We just recently finished a project for our client Buyvite which we are extremely proud of! The process included various elements such as, consulting, building storyboards, designing a unique inforgraphic, writing a script, recording voice overs, and animating and editing a video for Buyvite’s website. Our lead strategist Justin worked very hard on implementing and creating unique ideas, which is definitely conveyed in the finished product.

Justin explains the step by step process from consulting to the animation:

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.”

Social media has been without a doubt a very prominent factor in this year’s presidential election. Lab42 recently performed a study surveying 500+ American social media users who were ages 18 and over. They came up with a pretty interesting infographic that broke down who registered Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and others are voting for. The infographic by Lab42 looks at some other interesting statistics such as what percentage of social media users tune in to satirical news shows such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Registered Democrats and Independents were each about 17% above what registered Republicans reported. Take a scroll through the full infographic below to see the rest of Lab42’s unique statistics of American social media users.

Oniracom will play host to StartupSB and an event entitled Startup Creativity. The event, organized and moderated by StartupSB, a 600+ member meetup group of startup entrepreneurs, will focus on inspiring creativity by highlighting creative local startup endeavors, the local Santa Barbara startup community and the upcoming Startup Weekend Santa Barbara.  Startup Weekend Santa Barbara will be held November 2, 3 and 4 at Citrix Online.

Startup Creativity will take place on October 25th at 6pm at our office (720 East Haley Street Santa Barbara, CA). Food will be supplied by one of our awesome clients Rusty’s Pizza, as well as libations from Telegraph Brewery. All of Santa Barbara’s favorites!

On October 25, you’ll hear from Jacob Tell and Mike Wald about their current creative projects that will be sure to excite the development community. You’ll also hear from CreatorUp, a Startup Weekend Santa Barbara #1 team, who will discuss their online web series school.

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).

Our very own Justin Davis has been featured as Chill’s Curator of the Week! Chill is a social networking website that makes it easier for you to discover and share videos. You can post videos, follow other users, and more!

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).

A few weeks ago, we launched our client CapoSonic’s awesome webpage, and now we have officially launched CapoSonic’s Kickstarter! Kickstarter is a funding platform for various types of projects. A funding goal is created with a deadline. If the project succeeds its goal, all “backers” who offered to contribute money are charged, if the project does not reach its goal, no one is charged. It’s up to YOU to give CapoSonic its kick start!

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!

At this year’s Social Good Summit, Doctor Deepak Chopra discussed the inevitable power of social media, and why and how this technological accomplishment will be the next phase of humanity. Mashable featured a video of Dr. Chopra’s speech and discussion at their Social Good Summit. In his speech, he explains that social media has made humanity more connected than ever. He states, “At the most fundamental level, we are not just connected, we are inseparable.”

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.

The time has come for some employee spotlights! This edition, we’d like to feature our cheery Account Manager, Haaris Ahmed! We asked Haaris to answer a bunch of quirky questions about himself and here’s what he came up with:

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!

What are you looking forward to most about Super Bowl XLVI? The game? The parties? The halftime show? As the most watched TV broadcast of the year, the Super Bowl brings much hype. Although the football game is the most obvious reason why people tune into the broadcast, many people tune in for other reasons, specifically the commercials.

Companies spend months strategizing, preparing, creating, and producing innovative and engaging commercials that will grab the viewer’s attention in hopes of promoting their product. In years past, the commercials were kept secret up until the moment they aired and were shown once during the live taping of the game, but last year some marketing officers went against the traditional approach and implemented a new plan of attack. As our society has become more and more engrossed into the world of social media, companies have discovered that combining their commercials with a social media overlay increases not only the awareness of their product, but also “gets the ball rolling” before the commercial airs live on TV.

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 saw this article on Mashable and thought that it really encapsulated what a lot of our team and solutions bring to the table on behalf of our clients. Oniracom has been brainstorming and executing social media campaigns within the music and entertainment sector for years. We really enjoy when people take the time to learn a little more about what we do, and how we choose to integrate platforms and new disciplines on behalf of clients. We have an iPhone App coming soon that will help to communicate this; But until it’s released check out this sweet infographic by Voltier Creative (via Mashable).

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!

This Summer has been jammed packed with fun and exciting new projects. One of our favorites has been getting to work with Doheny Days Music Festival 2011, which is finally happening THIS weekend in Dana Point, CA.

Earlier this year, Omega Events, the group behind Doheny Days, came to us to create a web presence for the revival of this festival that has a long standing history in the Southern California music scene after a 7 year hiatus. We enjoyed working closely with the team at Omega Events to define their overall branding including logo, colors, aesthetic and general vibe as illustrated on DohenyDays.com.

In addition to creating their website, Omega Events hired us to implement a strategic Marketing and Advertising Campaign during the summer, including online advertising, give-away contests and other creative marketing initiatives. We’re stoked on the success of this campaign and are loving the public’s response and excitement for Doheny Days. This first year back paves the road for a successful festival for years to come.

Want to know what to expect during Doheny Days? Here’s a little insight into the amazing two-day festival, which is sure to end the summer on the right note!

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.

We launched a new action for media page for Mikey Wax‘s new release Constant Motion.

To get a free download you can either Like on Facebook, tweet a predefined tweet, or join the mailing list.  Check it out for yourself and download at mikeywax.com/constantmotion!

Every big brand started as an idea. A single person had to put pen to paper and begin figuring out what it was they wanted to accomplish with their brand. Creating strategy crucial to making any brand successful and in some cases it can be easily overlooked…

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.

Google+, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and LinkedIn are competing for the social network spotlight— making it hard for users to decide which sites are best for them. Pointing out the strengths and weakness of each platform, this infographic can help users decided which is the most appropriate site for them to use!

Thanks Mashable.com for highlighting this!

Infographic design by Emily Caufield.

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.

Epitaph Records reached out to us to create a cool splash page for their band Falling In Reverse:

We developed a custom media player (built on SoundCould‘s API) that allows users to listen to 3 songs and then prompts them to enter an email address or sign on with Facebook to unlock the full album.

We invite you to check out   FallingInReverse.com!

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: