Music Hack Day London

UPDATED 2 (links fixed, apps added):

Another Music Hack Day (London) was held this past weekend. Below are the hacks:

• Paul G music-on-hold hack (call his conference number and select the music you want to hear
• Cuttle (access music library on iDevice under iOS 4, and run a live remix using realtime beat tracker)
• Big Piano (inspired by the movie Big - big floor piano that you can make music with)
• Future of music 2010 (a Mac OS X app that scans your iTunes library and computes the music you are not supposed to be listening to anymore based on your preferences, and then deletes it from iTunes and your hard drive)
• Gramophone (browse around the world, pick a month from history and find songs that were played live then and there)
• HOTTTABS (crawls the web for you and retrieve the guitar tabs of the hottests songs of the moment according to their level of difficulty)
• BumbleTab patient guitar tutor (a very patient guitar tutor)
• Daily Sample Set (ruby script that pulls the hottest downloadable uncompressed Creative Commons tracks from SoundCloud within last 24 hours)
• Piracy (android app that allows you to drop tracks from your music collection on your current location, allowing others to grab them if they're close enough)
• Playlistr (imports/exports XSPF playlists, imports tracklists from the BBC Programmes website, links to stream on Spotify and buy from 7digital)
• Disco Snake (play the classic game snake, but you have multiple pieces of food available at any time, and eating a piece of food adds a note to a playing sequence with a pitch and velocity corresponding to the position of the food, and crashing in to your tail results in switching to a new set of samples)
• Singalong (quick access to tablature from your favorite bands)
• Speakatron (a program that looks at you through your web cam and plays a sound when you open your mouth)
• The Cut Liberator (a python script to autogenerate cut up hip hop mixes)
• Roomba Recon (The inspiration for this project is a robot solving a maze. Or cleaning a house. The general idea is to construct coherent playlists that traverse from a start to end song on the Soundcloud with minimal prior knowledge.)
• Webloop_Revisited (The webloop, in its first incarnation remotely presented at music hack day STHLM, is an ongoing experiment in using modern browsers to generate sound. On one hand. On the other hand it tries to find ways to allow people to collaboratively create music.)
• Earth Destroyers (For my London Music Hackday hack I built a web app called 'Earth Destroyers'. Give Earth Destroyers a band name and it will show you how eco-friendly the band's touring schedule is. Earth Destroyers calculates the total distance traveled from the first gig to the last along with the average distance between shows. If an artist has an average inter-show distance of greater than a 1,000 km I consider it an 'Earth Destroyer'. The app also shows you a Google map so you can see just how inefficient the tour is.)
• 7digital Never-ending Popquiz ("Arcade style" never-ending popquiz. Reaching next level will bring new type of questions and they get more difficult with each level. Wrong answers cost you lives. You can choose different genres to play and questions are generated randomly from top artists tagged with this genre. Options for answers are generated from similar artists to the correct answer.)
• 7x7 (a square of 7x7 notes, where the notes can be selected by using the mouse. All notes within the selected rectangle are played, creating various chords. When notes are selected they are played according to an Attack-Duration-Decay envelope, where the user has no control of the parameters.)
• MixCloudPad (a sit back way of enjoying MixCloud content on your iPad)
• MashBox (The user selects a track and the system mixes it with another that is chosen at random (within limits), and uploads to http://soundcloud.com/mashbox)
• SongkickGiglister (An Android oriented Songkick gig lister for people who agree to go to gigs before they've heard the band. Fetches the upcoming gigs for a given user, pulling in data about the bands: links to Spotify, tracks from around the web etc.)
• Accessible music (This hack is a web browser where songs are triggered with mouse over movements)
• MuseScore OSC Remote (several musicians scoring together)
• I was there (tour t-shirts from your Songkick gigography)
• Gowalla for SoundCloud (check in with Gowalla to a particular venue and get a free SoundCloud stream/download)
• Cleversounds (next time you visit a place with a cleversounds jukebox (at the moment, just laptops), you will be played artists that you like)
• Music Mag (create a music magazine from Guardian content)
• The Sound of Tweets (simple web app to turn tweets into pieces of music)
• Swearaoke (this is a game where you play Guitar Hero guitar, and this makes the words to a song)
• Auto Score Tubing (YouTube.com is stuffed with great musical performances. Imagine these videos playing along with the musical score! While manually synchronizing a score measure per measure along with the video is possible, automatic synchronizing would be even greater.)
• The Sound of Data About Justin Bieber (exploring how fan data could be presented not as visualizations, but instead as sounds)
• Political Echonalysis (exploring the style of politcal speech by analysing the audio data)
• Not That Song (add songs from your 7digital locker to playlist that tells you how well those tracks fit together, or not)
• Head Tracking Sound Installation (breakout Game with Procedurally Generated Audio - actions in the game affect the audio output)
• BBC Dance & Electronica Archive & Recommendations (tracklist archives for all dance & electronica shows, finds listed tracks on SoundCloud, after entering your Last.FM username, it recommends artists based on the _complete_ tracklist)
• Mortal Songbat (a musical version of Mortal Kombat)
• Radio Map (sweeping the frequency spectrum on an old analogue radio to the digital web-radio world)
• SoundWheel (Sound Wheel is a circular synthesizer that uses synesthesia and variable intonation to make funky sounding basslines)
• Chatter-FM (call a number and leave a message that will be uploaded to soundcloud)
• Nirtous Oxide (webcam midi controller that tracks colours / fruits)

It's inspiring to see what can be developed in a weekend - congrats to all! While I haven't experimented with any of the above hacks, based on the brief summaries they've provided, my favorites are Disco Snake, Earth Destroyers, I was there, Gowalla for SoundCloud and Mortal Songbat. Btw, if you are not familiar with Music Hack Day, watch these two videos:

Billboard’s Music App Summit

Just a reminder, the submission deadline for Billboard’s Music App Awards is Friday, August 6th. Finalists will be notified by September 1st, and will be featured in a Billboard article listing the best apps of the year, and have the opportunity to demo their app onstage at The Music App Summit in San Francisco on October 5th, as well as receive free demo space in the exhibit area. Awards will be given in the following categories:

• Best Artist-based App
• Best Music Streaming App
• Best Music Engagement App
• Best Music Creation App
• Best Branded App
• Best Touring App

To submit an app, go here.

MidemNet Accepting Applications for 2011 Digital Music Innovation Showcase

MidemNet is now accepting applications for their 2011 digital music innovation showcase during MIDEM. If you have a music tech startup, and meet the criteria, make sure to apply, as MIDEM is one of the music industry's premiere events. So apply now, as like the inaugural showcase this year, competition will be significant, and Music Ally will nominate the finalists. For additional information, see their FAQ.

Indie of the Year 2009

Music Emissions is running its third annual Indie Of The Year contest beginning September 1. They'll be awarding over $15,000 in prizes, and there is no fee for bands/musicians to enter and no specific genres. Artists can currently pre-register to qualify for voting on day one whey they can begin to rally their fans, friends and families to vote for them and help push them to the top. Good luck!

Band Metrics Needs Your Help

We're in the running to present at this year's Twiistup, and they're deciding the final spot from the semi-finalists by holding a Twitter contest. All you have to do to vote for us is tweet:  I vote for #BandMetrics to be the 12th @Twiistup Showoff http://bit.ly/nVpt2

You can vote up to three (3) times.

Many thanks for your help!

Band Metrics Named an OnHollywood Top 100 Private Company

I really wish I was announcing the expansion of our private beta in this post - I really do, especially considering how many people have been patiently waiting to use our service. All I can say is I truly appreciate your support and we're doing the best that we can. The good news is that the wait is almost over, and if you've registered for an account, you will get access later this month.

In the meantime, I would like to thank the folks over at AlwaysOn for naming Band Metrics as one of the 2009 OnHollywood Top 100 Private Companies. If you're curious as to what this award is all about, here's the press release from earlier today.

Band Metrics Swag Contest

How would you like to make $100?  All you have to do is come up with a design for a new Band Metrics t-shirt. There are just two guidelines:

• your design has to incorporate at least a portion of one of our logos so our brand is not lost in your design
• your design has to fit onto at least one of these types of tees

That's it! If we like it, we'll send you a check for 100 Greenbacks, and post your design on IMT.

NoiseAddicts Annoying Song Remix Competition

NoiseAddicts is going to award whomever can come up with the best remix of the “most annoying” song with a Propellerhead Reason Version 4. There are prizes for the top finalists too, and more prizes are being added. All you have to do to enter the competition is send them your remix before April 1st, 2009 to: remix (at) noiseaddicts.com. All entries will be posted on NoiseAddicts for judging... Good luck!

We Are Listening Launches The 2009 Singer/Songwriter Awards

We Are Listening, a London-based artist and content development group with divisions in artist management, music publishing, and online services for musicians and music fans announces its 23rd Singer/Songwriter awards contest for independent performing artists, songwriters, and lyricists.

The contest is offering a greater variety of prizes this year, divided into six music industry sectors: Songwriting, Licensing, Marketing, Production, Post-Production, and Retail Distribution - for a total of six winners in 2009. Grand prizes range from a week-long songwriting retreat in Stockholm, Sweden; network-sized television placement in the US; college radio promotion and administration; a production weekend in London, England; mixing and mastering services; and CD replication and digital distribution.  The 26-member panel of judges include executives and creative directors at EMI, Universal, and Sony/BMG; producers credited by Sting, Bjork, Dido, and Eric Clapton; songwriters credited by Faith Hill, Lenny Kravitz, Chaka Khan, and Wyclef Jean; and professors at the Songwriting Department at Berklee College of Music.

Performing artists, songwriters, lyricists, or agents acting on their behalf must submit their original music by May 1st 2009. Registration, entry fee, and additional details are available here: 
http://www.wearelistening.org/singer.php

Band Metrics Named a 2009 Top 40 Innovative Georgia Technology Company

We are excited and honored to announce that Band Metrics has been named as one of the 2009 Top 40 Innovative Technology Companies for Georgia. The award is given annually by The Technology Association of Georgia (one of the largest state technology associations in the nation) to Georgia based technology companies that demonstrate a significant degree of innovation, have a high likelihood of success, and will play a role in promoting Georgia’s innovative efforts nationally and internationally. As such, the competition was stiff, and the selection committee was composed of some of Georgia's most prominent technology leaders including, Sig Mosley, Stephen Fleming, Kathy Harris, Ben Dyer, Knox Massey and many others. Not to mention, we are among some fantastic tech companies. With that said, we are extremely grateful for our selection, and we sincerely thank TAG and the selection committee for their support of Band Metrics!

The Atlanta Braves are Looking for Bands

Have you wanted to play at Turner Field in front of thousands of music fans like a few bands did in last year's competition, but you didn't know how to apply, or you missed the application process? Then go to www.braves.com/bravesbands and submit your information, as The Atlanta Braves are looking for a few bands to energize and entertain fans at Turner Field before some home games in 2009.  All genres are welcome to apply, but they seem to be focused on country, rock, pop, cover, and/or original indie bands. If selected, it's a great opportunity for exposure to a large audience, and who knows, maybe you'll get some airtime when they cut to/from a commercial break - good luck!

Top Rockstar Set to Launch September 1st

There's a new music contest about to launch called Top Rockstar. Beginning September 1, Top Rockstar will award cash prizes of up to $5,000 for the top artist each month in each of their genres. Additionally, every six months, one of the previous monthly winners will be selected as the overall Top Rockstar and will win up to $100,000. That's some serious cash!

Here's how it works: You simply create an artist profile and upload your music, videos, bio etc. The Top Rockstar community will then vote for the winner in each genre, each month, as well as the overall winner every 6 months.

Sounds interesting, especially given the amount of cash they're planning on awarding to artists, so I've got a few questions:

1. What are the genres? How were they determined?
2. What are the rules, as they're not published yet? Are there any limitations? Do you have to be based in the United States? Are there any fees required to participate?
3. Can an artist win more than once during a one year period?
4. Is the Top Rockstar contest open to all artists? If not, what are the restrictions?
5. What are some of the tactics Top Rockstar will deploy to prevent voting fraud?
6. How does Top Rockstar make money?

I've also got an email out to the founders and hope to schedule a call with them next week. As soon as I know more information, I'll publish a follow-up post. In the meantime, you may want to signup for their email list to make sure you're included in their initial competition.

8th Annual Independent Music Awards Reminder

Don't forget to submit your music to the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards. IMA winners will receive yearlong print, broadcast, online promotion and distribution, as well as performance opportunities through arrangements established with IMA sponsors including: eMusic, PureVolume, CMJ Music Marathon, broadcasters ManiaTV, The StreamTV, HM Magazine, Venus Zine, Planetary Group radio promotions, Hip Video music video promoter, MediaGuide; Burnside Distribution, and the Coalition of Independent Music Stores.

Music categories include: Alt. Country, Americana, Blues, Punk, Children’s Music, Contemporary Christian, Country, Cover Song, Dance/Electronica, Folk/Singer-Songwriter, Gospel, Holy Hip Hop, Hard Rock/Metal, Jazz, Latin, Live Performance, New Age, Pop/Rock, R&B, Rap/Hip-Hop, Social Action, Song Used in Film, TV, Gaming and/or Multimedia, World Fusion and World Traditional.

Submit your music via this application or online via SonicBids. Entries must be postmarked by midnight Friday August 1, 2008, and you may submit as many entries as you like. For more information, go here. Please visit IMA for rules and eligibility.

7digital and Feeder Create Competition for Unsigned Artists

London based 7digital, a next generation music distribution provider that enables artists and their managers to build digital download stores using the same technology that powers bands like Coldplay, is holding a music competition with Feeder. The competition is aimed at finding the best independent musicians and bands, and helping them reach a large audience by opening up for Feeder at one of their eight pre-tour shows next month. These "rehearsal" shows will be held at venues around the UK to introduce Feeder fans to their much anticipated release, Silent Cry.

Here's how it works: Sign your band up for free at indiestore.com. If you're band is already a member of 7digital, just opt in for the competition. Then go out and get your fans to vote for you on 7digital. The top 16 bands with the highest votes will be selected as the semi-finalists. On May 12th, Feeder will then personally select the final 8 musicians and/or bands to open up for them (one artist for each night). The competition is open to all unsigned artists, but closes May 2, so act now! Who knows, they may like you enough to take you on their global tour later this year, as Grant Nicholas of Feeder commented that they are “really looking forward to reviewing the entries and choosing potentially the next big act to support their gigs.”

I'm glad to see companies like 7digital partnering with major artists to support the indie music community and I hope to see more activity like this, so hats off to the folks at 7digital!

Btw, I didn't see any geographic limitations, so even if you're based in the US you should consider entering this competition, as it could immediately help you reach the masses if you're lucky enough to be selected.

International Songwriting Competition

If you are interested in submitting your music to the 2007 International Songwriting Competition, don't forget that all entries must be postmarked on or before October 15. The grand prize winner will receive $25,000 cash (USD) and $20,000 (USD) in prizes. Submissions are judged on the following five criteria: Creativity, Originality, Lyrics, Melody and Composition. Production value is not considered. For a complete list of the rules, go here.

Peace.