July 2010

RCRD LBL, an ever expanding library of free mp3’s and artist profiles, has been helping musical artists promote their newest endeavors for free since its inception in 2007. It was started by Downtown Music and Peter Rojas (Gizmodo, Weblogs) and immediately revolutionized the way in which artists communicated with their fans. By this time, the media sharing practices of generation-y were already in full effect and while many major labels were focused on ways to combat their own fans, RCRD LBL was ready to give them exactly what they wanted: music.

By legally providing free mp3s it provided both a hub for fans of new music to come and discover artists and a place for emerging talent to promote their sound. Typically, an artist provides a single track at a time to the fan at no charge or membership, independent of any fine print or hitches. One of the key ways in which RCRD LBL promotes the thousands of artists on its roster is the simple yet effective mailing list they developed to provide new tracks nearly everyday. Usually coming in packs of two artists per email, RCRD LBL showcases new talent and marquee artists to fans who sign up online. Through their savvy choice of employees and tastemakers the company has proven to be not only a helpful tool for artists but a trendsetting engine as well.

To be featured on the daily mailing immediately draws the attention of thousands of prospective fans that would have never heard your songs before, it is a powerful tool which then can take on a momentum all its own through attention given by bloggers and other music publications (not to mention word of mouth!). With collaborating record labels like Fool’s Gold, Warp and Modular on board, RCRD LBL continues to turn heads in the direction of the best up and coming music. It has grown so successful in fact that the site facilitates over 1,000,000 downloads a month. These downloads come from across the globe and the ROI can be quite real. For instance, RCRD LBL was the first site to provide a free mp3 from a then unknown hip hop artist named Kid Cudi. The two tracks, “Day n Nite” and the Crookers remix of said track, became huge sensations with domestic downloads at over 2million. The Crookers remix went on to be a chart topper in 20 countries. This is but one example of the impact RCRD LBL can have and with an ever expanding roster of artists that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly.”- Lao Tzu

Some of the best strategic alliances are between a Critic and a Creative. The Critic drives the Creative to higher heights, the Creative gives the Critic his content for analysis and, really, the healing of a personal, and often collective, wound. In business, a culture’s wounds offer the largest sources for financial reward AND a positive giving-back: the essence of cause-related marketing.

It is said that the Creative invented the airplane, while the Critic invented the parachute. There are seasons for transcendence and seasons for grounding. In both actions, one needs the Critic and the Creative. Both are relentless beings made of the same stuff in important slices of their personalities. There is an old proverb about men sharpening one another like iron on iron.

Humanity has NO time left for people to figure out how profitable HUMANITY-SAVING VENTURES will be for their own Parea (Tribe) AND then shop those around. That is WHY we are seeing so much giving happening. Time is perceived by many as being short BUT for those who have found their tribe and their gift, these are the BEST DAYS to be alive. Everything is becoming visible before our eyes, everything is opening in the transparent eco-system of social networks.

And yet, as all of this revealing is going on, there seems to be a realization by many of what Carl Jung meant by the unconscious taking up far more of human experience than consciousness. Humanity is currently mapping its consciousness through the building of countless social networks and circles. This consciousness is a jumping off point for diving into the depths of the psyche…into the unconscious itself. And it is the complexes, archetypes and currents within an individual, communal and the collective unconscious that animate human thought, speech and action.

Identifying one’s archetypes and listening to the needs of those archetypes is just a first step in facilitating the design and assembly of useful social communities and tools. The next step involves a kind of deep sea exploration of what has not been spoken of and NEEDS speaking of in times such as these: the unconscious motivators/animators that, once brought into the light, no longer rule us and can be used by humans for solving the problems these self-same animators caused.

Look within to find the reason for what is without. And then ENGAGE!

Flowtown.com just posted this great infographic on the Millennial Generation. (Also frequently referred to as Generation Y, the Echo Boomers, the Net Generation, etc.)

If you are doing any sort of marketing or posting on the internet, you need to know this group of people.  These are the innovators, the sharers, the first people that are going to interact with your brand. Especially for younger bands, this is the group that is going to be passing your music around and building your buzz.  Make sure you know where to hit them.

If this graph sparks your interest at all, there are a ton of resources on understanding this Net generation, including the shift that is happening right now as they are entering the workforce and looking for creative, collaborative positions.  I highly recommended checking out Don Tapscott’s Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World for further reading.

In the wake of a not so tragic album leak, Delta Spirit recently released their second studio album, just in time for a 50 day US headlining tour. They ended their tour right here in Beautiful Santa Barbara with their second sell-out show in a row, following a successful night at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles.

Their new album, “History From Below” is a beautiful mix of lyrics and powerful melodies, inspired by life and the true American spirit. Lead Vocalist and songwriter Matt Vasquez was born in Texas, and raised in the mid-west before moving out to California, the inspiration for the track “Golden State.” History From Below boasts the emotionality and musical maturity that you would expect from a Veteran band. Although Delta Spirit have been together for five years, their Sophomore release is packed with complex compositions and well driven arc. The music speaks for itself as the band takes you on a journey through your own history via the ears of four young and talented musicians.

Read more.

After that little sneak peak into 6 of the year’s best albums, I compiled a nice list of the 25 Best albums, this time in an actual order.

Click below or “Read More” to see the official list.

The legendary reggae band the Wailers, historically known for being Bob Marley’s band, have recently partnered with us on a project to benefit humanity. The Wailers’ Aston “Family Man” Barrett, and lead singer Koolant have teamed up with reggae star Duane Stephenson to produce their new track, “A Step For Mankind” to benefit the united Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP). The official music video for the track has been released and is now up for viewing on the Wailers YouTube channel.

Wow, isn’t it about time that Google Images caught up with Web 2.0 trending?  I can finally use their incredibly snappy and robust database to browse at the speed a daily web user requires.

If you have not played with the new layout, I suggest you try it out.  In particular notice:

• “Infinite Scrolling” - No more pagination!
• “Litebox Previews” - See tiny images a little larger before committing with a click
• “New Left Sidebar” - Quickly toggle between search/media types

The image above is the results of a search on “Solutions for Dreamers.”

“For the fans live music on the web offers not only access to their favorite bands and the opportunity to catch shows they can’t make in person, but also a fully rounded social experience, as broadcasters now fully integrate streams with social media… It gives people a taste of what’s happening. Plus, live music on the web offers new revenue streams to the music industry.

Facebook event pages have been under construction for quite a while,  forcing our events to go everywhere that they are not supposed to be which has become rather frustrating for many people in the social media department. But, it appears that the Facebook gods have worked out the kinks and have successfuly launced a new version of Facebook events.

It seems that our major gripe with Google Chrome has been its lack of support for 1Password support but our prayers have been answered! Although it’s far from sexy, a rough extension gives you the ability to unlock 1Password!

Here’s how to install the 1Password Chrome extension:

1. Make sure you have the latest 1Password 3 installed. To keep up with the latest Beta version, enable Betas in the 1Password > Preferences > Updates window.
2. Pick your Chrome: you can either install the latest Chrome Beta (it now supports extensions), install the developer build of Chrome, or install the latest Chromium.
3. Enter this URL into Chrome’s address bar: http://aws.cachefly.net/aws/chrome/O…rome-0.7.1.crx
4. On the error page choose Window > Extensions, click the Developer mode link, and then click “Update extensions now” button to make sure you have the latest version.
5. Download the Extension here by accepting it at the bottom of your screen and clicking the “Install” button.

Voila! 1Password will now be compatible with your Chrome browser!

Polishing and more features will come in future updates for 1Password support. Auto-submit is not yet implemented unfortunately ⎯ a tiny fault that may potentially pester you. Chrome’s customizable browser, address bar direct search, and GleeBox extension seem to nearly make up for it though! For those of you who don’t know, GleeBox is a keyboard-centric approach to navigating the web; to offers alternatives (some efficient, some unnecessary) to actions like clicking, scrolling, selecting text fields, etc. for keyboard and command key lovers! Check it out here!

“At the MobileBeat 2010 conference in San Francisco, Eric Tseng said that Facebook “really sees mobile as the future,” and that we can expect to see Facebook’s “Like” buttons in mobile applications soon.

Tseng used geolocation as an example to illustrate the power of the mobile Open Graph. If you were to walk near a coffee shop and get a location-aware notification that there’s a happy hour going on there, you’ll probably be even more inclined to visit it if the notification comes bundled with recommendations from your Facebook friends.”

Now that the World Cup is over, ¡Viva España! as is half the year, I’d like to take sometime to reflect on the best music of year, so far at least. 2010 has certainly been a great year for tunes, and densely packed with great releases coming nearly every week.  Click the image or “Read More” below for more.

Make sure to check back soon for a complete list of the top 25 best albums this new decade has brought us so far. Also stay tuned to see what we’re most looking forward to in the rest of 2010.

A joint venture between the legendary Vice Magazine & Intel, The Creators Project is a new collaboration created to feature dynamic producers, artists, designers and musicians. They provide visual biographies of Creators such as Mark Ronson, Phoenix, James Powderly,  and Spike Jonze, giving an inside look in to their creative process and mindset. The videos are all extremely professional, well produced and aethestically stellar.  The high quality videos come as no surprise when noticing that much of the talent highlighted on the site focuses on working with new technologies to bring through new creations. It is quite an ambitious project to embark upon, not only creating short biographies but organizing events and performances to unite them together. The goal, as they put it, goes like this: The Creative Project “aims at being nothing less than the first spark of creativity that gives life to the hopes and aspirations of the Twenty-First Century.” Quite an imposing task to be sure, but they certainly have the firepower to get it done.

Founded by Suroosh Alvi Shane Smith, and Gavin McInnes, Vice has consistently been a leader in supporting progressive and new content and is very influential in all walks of contemporary culture. Intel, of course, has massive resources to give the project the backing it needs. The commitment and quality of artists on board already is a huge testament to the vision that this venture has! Scrolling through the list of Creators I was stoked to see so many familiar faces. The focus they have on truly influential artists makes the prospect of collaboration that more head spinning. The number of video biographies is growing nearly every day and events planned for London, Sao Paulo & Beijing are evidence of the growing global scape of the network. The Creators Project certainly has great momentum, content and leadership on their side.

They also have a great blog that has infused content from the participating artists you can check out here

The Creators Project: Mark Ronson

From Paramore’s rendition of “Use Somebody” to Framing Hanley’s version of “Lollipop,” cover songs seem to be all the rage right now. Which is exactly why we love BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, because honestly, what is better than watching your favorite artist cover a song that we already know all the words to?

So, what is Live lounge on BBC - Radio 1, you ask? Well, Radio 1 is a station on BBC and Live Lounge is a separate segment on Radio 1. The radio show features interviews and performances with musicians spanning all genres. After the interview is conducted the interviewee will usually perform a cover song in addition to one of their original songs. Interestingly enough, the cover usually tends to be outside of the musicians typical genre, the result… pure awesome-ness.

Around June 19th of 2009, Beck announced that he was starting an experiment called Record Club.

For those who are unaware, the purpose of this project is to cover an entire album by another artist in one day.  Taken from the Record Club page - “The album chosen to be reinterpreted is used as a framework.  Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time.  The songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering.  There is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording.”

Beck employs a diverse group of musicians to help him out with each project.  Notable musicians in the past have included MGMT, Wilco, Wolfmother, Sonic Youth, and many more.  The albums that have been covered have been very eclectic indeed - The Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico, Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Leonard Cohen, Skip Spence’s Oar, INXS’s Kick and most recently Yanni’s Yanni Live at the Acropolis. 

Today, I’ll compare the most recent cover from Yanni Live at the Acropolis - Yanni’s “Santorini” vs. the Record Club “Santorini” version.  I’m actually not going to do any comparing myself but simply posting the two videos side by side for anyone to do their own comparisons. 

I think it’s always interesting to hear other artists’ interpretations/renditions of songs that mostly everyone knows.  In this case it’s exceptionally interesting.  Be sure to read the little synopsis of the making of the song.  Enjoy! 

Original Version by Yanni:

Version by Record Club:

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

So…. what motivates YOU?

I recently downloaded the iMovie App for the iPhone 4 and decided to give it a test drive.

I spent 15 minutes shooting and editing a short video to see how it compared to my limited skills on the full version.

It was fairly easy to drag videos from my library into iMovie and select a them and add captions and music.  I than went back to try and add some more clips and some photos but when i inserted them between other clips it kept the original length of my video and squished the other clips around the new one to make room for it.  It would not let me stretch my video longer to make room for the new clips and it seems that it might be best to have the order of your video figured out ahead of time, kinda lame.
Also I now know that it might be best to hold the phone in landscape move since the transitions and themes will be set for landscape.
It was cool to be able to add my own song and also mute the sound of my video clips in order to keep the song playing, or if you don’t, it would automatically lower the volume on the song to hear your video.

Check out the short video I made and watch it in HD.

Thanks to Facebook who recently released their “Best Practices” guide for musicians.  Facebook attempts to teach musicians how best to connect music fans on their social network.

On page 3 of the PDF, they reference some tips on how to connect, and under point 2 “Create Content Worth Sharing” they show an example of Oniracom’s Lenny Kravitz photo-tagging campaign!

Oniracom is honored to be part of this official Best Practices Facebook guide.