2/9/10 UPDATE: Dr. Dog was about to hit 20,000 fans on Facebook (solely credited to the hard work and promotion from their original fans), and then they decided they were going to give the exclusive release of the song to Stereogum.

Yes, they will reach their end goal of getting 20,000 fans, but they didn’t reward their Facebook fans whatsoever.  Bad practice in my opinion.

The indie-rock/soul band Dr. Dog has made a deal with their fans: Get us to 20,000 fans on Facebook, and we’ll let you hear the first track off the new album.

When they originally posted this, they were around 7,000 fans on Facebook, so they were asking of a pretty big feat.  Each fan needed to convince two of their friends to become a fan of Dr. Dog.

Two weeks after posting their proposition, they had doubled their Facebook fans, and are quickly continuing to grow. 

Their fans went above and beyond in order to spread the word:

One thing you need to know: this won’t work for every band. 

Dr. Dog is one of those bands that is known for having a small, but incredibly devoted fan base (another example: Delta Spirit).  It’s much better to have 10 super fans over 100 regular fans.  Their fans probably like other indie-underground bands, and they are probably the friend in the group that is always listening to a new band.  Now they have a payoff for spreading the word: they get to hear the new single first.  The fans are the most important thing you have.  Give them incentive, and let them do the work for you.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months, Jimi Hendrix is set to release a brand-new unreleased studio album titled “Valleys of Neptune”.  The album will hit stores on March 9th, 2010 and feature 12 previously unreleased studio recordings.  Of these 12 songs, there will be new arrangements of classic songs “Red House, “Fire” and “Stone Free”.  The highlight of the album though, is said to be the track “Valleys Of Neptune”, one of the most sought after of Hendrix’s commercially unavailable recordings. 

Lucky for us “Valleys Of Neptune” is now streaming on Spinner.  Check it out and let us know your thoughts!

For all you peeps who don’t have the attention to read full articles; here’s the low-down on the new digital music file MusicDNA:

• Norwegian developer Dagfinn Bach, who worked on the first MP3 player in 1993, and Karlheinz Brandenburg, the inventor of the MP3, revealed the “Music DNA” files at Cannes’ Midem music conference.


• The “MusicDNA” file will be able to update with new information whenever the file is activated. “We can deliver a file that is extremely searchable and can carry up to 32GB of extra information in the file itself, and it will be dynamically updatable so that every time the user is connected, his file will be updated ,” Bach said.  Update examples would include - blog posts, tweets, music, lyrics, videos, artwork, tour dates, etc.


• The information given with the legally downloaded “MusicDNA” files will update automatically, but pirated files will remain static.


• There will be a beta launch in spring. If all goes well with the beta launch, the full roll out of the “MusicDNA” files is expected summer 2010.


• Independent labels including UK-based Beggars Group – home of Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead – as well as Tommy Boy Entertainment and Delta records in the US are on board, though no major labels yet.


• Each “MusicDNA” track will likely cost more than $1.29 - what iTunes is charging for their newer tracks.

“Out of a rusted old VW Beetle we are making a Ferrari,” said Bach Technology’s Stefan Kohlmeyer. “We are taking an existing idea, giving the end user a lot more and making that file much more valuable — like transforming a tiny house into a huge villa.”  Good stuff.

The dominance of the web has changed the way people work, live and stay informed. For now, I’m going to leave aside a discussion about what the internet has done to the average person’s experience of life and the way people relate to others (though they are certainly worthy subjects for reflection and consideration).

What I want to share with you today are the tools we at Oniracom use to help us stay on top of the rapid shifts and changes which we encounter daily.  As a company that works primarily on websites and social media, every new application, every new site, every new contribution to the field of design, development and social networking has the potential to rearrange the way we go about business.  This means that it is a necessity to stay flexible, because you will encounter challenges and you will be expected understand the new developments and rise to the occasion (or risk being met by a client asking, “well they did that over their; are you not as capable?”).

So with all these changes and rapid sharing of information, what is the trick to staying on top without driving yourself crazy?

The solution is finding good tools that bring you the most relevant information and allow you to communicate easily and work efficiently.

Click Read More to See The Tools We Use on a Daily Basis and leave a comment about the tools that you use!

So many artists, record labels, and management companies are struggling to adapt with the industry online.  The ones who have not adapted have collapsed in on themselves, but those adapting are trying to stay afloat in what we can call the new music economy (coined by Greg Rollett of genyrockstars.com).

One of the biggest “issues” that music companies are having in the new music economy is piracy and unauthorized copying.  As Andrew Dubber of New Music Strategies bluntly puts it:

The single most effective way to stop people from copying your music is to stop making music. If that’s not an option (and why would it be?) then accepting that this is the world in which we live is a good start towards successfully negotiating the new media environment.

This is the only way selling music works:
Fans will Hear—> Like—> Buy your music

I could explain this in my own words, but instead I’ll paste in this reference from a blog post by Andrew Dubber to explain it.  This explains exactly why you need to quit worrying about piracy to survive in the new music economy:

Music is pretty much unique when it comes to media consumption. You don’t buy a movie ticket because you liked the film so much, and while you might buy a book because you enjoyed reading it so much at the library, typically you’ll purchase first, then consume…

But music is different - and radio proves that. By far the most reliable way to promote music is to have people hear it. Repeatedly, if possible - and for free. After a while, if you’re lucky, people get to know and love the music. Sooner or later, they’re going to want to own it…

But either way - whether it’s a pop tune, a heavily political punk album, or an experimental, avant-garde suite - the key is very simple: people have to hear music, then they will grow to like it, and then finally, if you’re lucky, they will engage in an economic relationship in order to consume (not just buy and listen to) that music…

That’s the order it has to happen in. It can’t happen in any other order. There’s no point in hoping that people will buy the music, then hear it, then like it. They just won’t.

To read the rest of the article, click ‘Read More…’

During the summer of 2009, Lenny Kravitz embarked on a huge European Tour in support of his “Let Love Rule 20(09)” re-release.  We leveraged some serious social media tactics through the use of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Kyte, iLike and more.  One of the most notable social media campaigns that we created used a very powerful Facebook tool: photo-tagging.

We took advantage of this Facebook feature and grew Lenny’s presence exponentially on Facebook.  The case study below details our strategy and the step-by-step process we used to create this unique campaign.  This case study among many others can also be found on our website - www.oniracom.com

It took a little bit of time and energy, but we’re psyched to announce that the new Marc B Music website officially launched today!

On this new and improved site you will find video, music, Marc’s latest tweets, pics, and tons more cool stuff!

I recently got to catch up with the new addition to Marc B Music, bassist Yoni Berk, and ask him a couple of questions in order to introduce him.  We met Yoni while he was playing with another band that Marc had played with a couple times in Santa Barbara, and we are thrilled to say that we were able to acquire Yoni after his former band took a permanent hiatus.

His addition to Marc’s music thus far has been great, as his first time playing with Marc and Maxx (percussion) was in the studio for Marc’s upcoming track Mr. American, which was recorded for Solutions for Dreamers : Season 3 (coming Spring 2010!).  We pretty much knew from the collaboration at the studio that Marc, Maxx, and Yoni were born to play together, and Yoni bass playing at the live shows has really added a new element to Marc’s live sound, which we are all stoked on.

We have some video coming soon of the new band playing together, but for now..

Oniric Records: Who the eff are you?
Yoni Berk: I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area to two Rabbis, and I moved to Santa Barbara to play music, philosophize on life, and teach.

What do you always have with you in your pocket? 
David Alper’s dredlock.

How long have you and Marc been playing together?
We started playing together in November, but it feels like forever.

Most Life-Changing Music Moment? 
Listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco for the first time. I lied down in my bathtub fully clothed, no water, and put on headphones. Try this remedy. What Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett were able to accomplish with this work will forever stay with me. I also recommend doing this with any Gomez or Animal Collective album.

What are you listening to these days? 
Well the list goes on and on. I’ve been trying to collect a lot of Israeli, African, and South American 1960’s pop/surf rock. Its been a blast so far being inspired by these genres.

Bands I’m stoked on right now: 

We are moving to a much larger and cooler location in downtown Santa Barbara!  Our move in date is February 1, 2010.  We are blessed to have secured a lease on property owned by an amazing artist who works with wood and metal.  We will be surrounded by sculptures, mobiles and funky visuals to help with our creative atmosphere.

All we have to do now is complete construction and move within the next month!  Enjoy a few shots of progress below.

In the past year I’ve been getting more involved in shooting live music, and one of the people that I’ve been able to meet through it is Anna Webber, a highly accomplished live music and studio photographer for the music industry.  She began studying 35mm B&W photography, printing and processing, at age 18 under British photographer of rock music Jill Furmanovsky in Florence, Italy 2005. Furmanovsky was responsible for images of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon tour, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, The Pretenders, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Blondie, The Clash, and many more.

The following summer, she met and aligned herself with Baron Wolman (wikipedia him), the first lead photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine.  She spent summer of 2006 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as his intern and assistant.  During this stint, she flew with him to gallery openings, helping to document Mr. Wolman’s activities through both photographs and the written word. In his studio, she helped catalog and touch-up Mr. Wolman’s priceless collection of rock shots from the late 60s through the present.

I was able to catch up with Anna this past week and get some insight on her views on the industries of photography and music, and how they intersect.  Have a read:

SFDblog: Who do you shoot for and where are your images primarily used?
Anna: I am a freelance photographer and music writer for LA Weekly, and gettyimages. The LA Weekly material is exclusive to run through LA Weekly, but will also appear on my blog at www.annawebber.com/blog. GettyImages is a clearing house that syndicates images out, which can then be purchased by publications worldwide for use online, in-print, or for television. My photos have also been featured in Angeleno Magazine, Rolling Stone, Forth Magazine NY, THEM magazine, LA’s Campus Circle publication, and others. Primarily, I shoot independently, shooting album cover art and commercial collateral.

What’s your favorite photo you’ve taken this year?
Yeesh…  I will go with King Washington‘s main shot - the four piece band on a broken white bench, processed in HDR (High Dynamic Range Imaging), really super saturated and vibrant…