Record, Upload and Share Sound Bites on the Go with Chirbit

Ever been at a music conference and needed an easy way to capture a quick thought about a panel, conversation or event you could share with your friends via your iPhone? With Chirbit, you can, and just in time for SXSW next week.

Simply signup with Chirbit, and use your iPhone's built-in Voice Memo app to record, and you'll be sharing micro-podcasts and soundbites within minutes to your friends on Facebook. You could even provide daily updates from Austin via your Twitter account.

There are some size limitations, but the service appears to be free, at least for now. To learn more about Chirbit, visit with them during their official launch at SXSW during TechKaraoke (3/15/10). In the meantime, here's their official screencast:

ArtistDish Releases Podcast #5

The ArtistDish released its 5th podcast today about some of the shifts and trends in print and digital media, gatekeepers, fandom, the gaming industry and more. It's our longest episode to date (1 full hour), and we are joined by music industry veteran, Barney Kilpatrick of Rattlesby Records, and one of our advisors, who provides a great deal of insight and sage advice, so if you’re an artist, you definitely want to listen to this episode.

Special thanks to Montana Skies for providing the intro music with their song, Gringo Flamenco.

Eddie's Attic on NPR

NPR Radio of Atlanta (WABE: 90.1 FM) produced a short story about open mic night at Eddie's Attic. It's a good quick listen for anyone interested in the history of this legendary venue that has helped launch the careers of several national acts for almost 20 years, like Shawn Mullins, Jennifer Nettles and John Mayer. If you're interested in performing and competing at the Open Mic Shootout, you'll need to contact them months in advance due to demand.

ArtistDish Podcast #4

In the latest episode of the ArtistDish, we discussed some of the more common online tools available to artists, with an emphasis on trends around video broadcasting as a form of music marketing, fan communication, and music discovery. It's a discussion designed for those musicians and bands just starting to develop their digital presence. Companies mentioned include: YouTube, Seesmic, Amazon, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, ArtistData and Ustream. You can listen to the entire podcast here.

Special thanks to The Mississippi Kings for providing their song “Some Revolution” in both the intro and outro of the podcast. You too can have your music featured on the ArtistDish; all you have to do is send us an email for consideration.  Also, if you would like to suggest a topic for the ArtistDish, just let us know, and we’ll give you props on the show if we discuss it.

MixMatchMusic Post DEMO

About three months ago, I interviewed MixMatchMusic when they were still in private beta, and I was impressed with the direction of the online music collaboration app they were building. In Today's podcast, I reconnect with the founders, Charles Feinn and Alan Khalflin to hear about their launch at DEMO and their progress since July. During this 10 minute interview, Charles and Alan provide insight about their business model, product offering and community. And I think you will find that MixMatchMusic is one of the more promising music tech startups; its just a matter of time before they receive significant adoption from both musicians/bands and music enthusiasts.

Click here to download the interview with MixMatchMusic

Also, here's the video from their presentation at DEMO - they did a fantastic job:

ArtistDish Releases Podcast #3

We recorded our latest episode of the ArtistDish last week, and it may just be our best show yet with a ton of great discussion surrounding Pandora and Muxtape. You can listen to it here. During the show, several questions were raised either directly or indirectly like:

• Who should determine royalty rates: music tech companies, major label artists, consumers, independent artists, RIAA, etc?
• Are royalty rates too high for online based radio services like Pandora and/or Muxtape that depend on advertising revenue to become profitable?
• Should royalty rates for online companies be comparable to terrestrial radio?
• Can online advertising support the costs associated with streaming audio?
• Since online advertising revenue from CPM and CPC has decreased overall, should this mandate reduced royalty rates so companies like Pandora and Muxtape can pay for their operations and become profitable?
• Are bands and musicians entitled to royalties from their music played online?
• Should companies like Muxtape be exempt from paying royalties as they figure out a viable business model with the labels? If so, how much, how long and how will bands be reimbursed?
• Since ad revenue has decreased, is a percentage of ad revenue model viable for both the artist and the online music provider?
• If companies like Pandora go under, will online radio service providers go underground and launch in foreign countries, or will there always be innovation and entrepreneurs creating new startups?
• Given the vast amount of music content that Pandora already has, as well as the large amount of music they're adding everyday, is Pandora's Music Genome Project successful in helping individuals discover independent music? For example, if there are 10,000 songs that fall under a particular Pandora station a user has created, what are the odds that your band's music will be played and heard while the listener happens to be listening? Would it be easier and more powerful for a social network to make the suggestion instead? Also, if certain songs continue to be favorited by Pandora listeners, does this not have an impact on Pandora's algorithm that automatically decides the songs a user should hear? If so, is it preventing a user from hearing songs he/she might actually enjoy?

As you can see, the topic covered in this podcast is complicated, but we believe it's solvable and we hope it facilitates discussion, as it's going to take a multifaceted solution. To voice your sentiments about streaming radio and digital music licensing, take these polls here.

Participate Live in Next ArtistDish

We'll be recording our next ArtistDish podcast this Wednesday at 8:00am PST / 11:00am EST. If you would like to join us live and participate in the discussion, just follow these steps:

1) Call 619-276-6333 and enter 16867138 as your pin. This will allow you to listen in on the conversation (we can only support 100 callers, so you may want to call in a few minutes early).
2) If during the show you have a question or comment you would like us to discuss, post it via twitter prefaced with @artistdish (so we'll see your tweet). We'll then respond if time allows.

That's it! If you have any questions, please send them to info (@) artistdish (.) com.

Btw, if you're wondering why I haven't been blogging for almost 2 weeks, it's because I've been very busy working on my music technology startup. We we're recently selected as a semi-finalist for TechCrunch50, so we've got a ton of work to do between now and then, as we plan on releasing our private beta during the conference. But, I'll try and publish a few posts over the next couple of weeks, but no promises :-)

ArtistDish Releases Podcast #2

ArtistDish released podcast #2 this morning. It's a discussion about Terry McBride's recent comments suggesting a 25 cent price point for digital downloads, and the current state of audio quality available online. You can listen to the entire podcast here, or subscribe and add the ArtistDish to your iTunes account. The discussion topics in this podcast were suggested by Greg Piper, Adam Wexler and Kate Lawson. Special thanks to Amy Devon of Burning Couch for providing their song "Pulse" in both the intro and outro of podcast #2.

If you would like to suggest a topic for discussion, and/or have your music featured on the ArtistDish, just drop us an email for consideration.

ArtistDish Looking for Music and Topics

If you're looking to get some exposure for your music, than contact ArtistDish as they're looking for music for the intro and outro of their shows. A new artist will be highlighted each show with a clip of their music (about 40 seconds total). The next ArtistDish broadcast is in about two weeks so you'll need to contact them by July 25. ArtistDish is also looking for suggestions for future shows. If your topic is selected, you'll receive props during the show.

ArtistDish Releases Podcast Pilot

ArtistDish, a new podcast project I've been invited to be a part of with Pat Woodward and Bruce Houghton of Hypebot released its pilot podcast today. This initial broadcast is a discussion about Lively and Topspin, and the impact these technologies may have for indie artists. You can listen to the entire podcast here, or you can subscribe to the ArtistDish podcast and listen via iTunes.

ArtistDish is a 30 minute broadcast co-hosted by Pat Woodward, Bruce Houghton and myself on the state of the indie music industry, and the trends and tools impacting independent artists, labels and managers. Each show covers two topics approximately 15 minutes each. New broadcasts will be posted about every two weeks, and if you have any suggestions for us, please let us know. For more information, please visit ArtistDish.

Second Life, More than a Promotional Tool for Artists: Interview with Grace Buford (A.K.A. Cylindrian)

For several months I've wanted to interview an artist or band successfully using Second Life. A couple of weeks ago, Timothy Moenk sent me a link about a podcast that Rusty Tanton and Amber Rhea recently created on the Georgia Podcast Network with Grace Buford, an Atlanta based singer/songwriter. During this artist interview, Grace, A.K.A. Cylindrian, talks about her experience as a musician using Second Life to market her music. Her insight on how Second Life is helping her connect with new fans and promote her music is helpful, and so, I edited the original podcast and distilled it down to 10 minutes of her comments about Second Life, which you can  listen to here.

Not only is Second Life providing a global, real-time platform for showcasing her music, but Grace is also building a world-wide virtual following. This virtual audience interaction is also convenient and profitable, as Grace can perform on-line as much or as little as she wants, and when she wants, without travel expenses like food, lodging and gas.

Grace is primarily using Second Life as a way to build her brand, get new gigs and for broadcasting, like her IRL live shows and rehearsals. When Grace mentioned this, it occurred to me that Second Life is a great way to publish content to a potential fan community, as well as engage in one-to-one relationships with your existing fans, deepening your fans' loyalty to you. It's also a great way to get feedback on your new songs before you even release them. Who knows, one of your fans may just give you some feedback that's the difference between your song being average, and becoming a hit.

Second Life could also be a good avenue for artists to connect with one another in different parts of the country, helping each other with gigs in geographic areas where they have not yet played. You could also use Second Life to tap into fans that have never heard of your band by visiting the existing virtual communities in Second Life where people gather to listen, see and chat about other artists in your genre.

Towards the end of  this interview, Grace raises a great question... If Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Second Life, etc. are not increasing an artist's fan base or revenue, is it worth it to spend the time managing these promotional tactics? My response is that good music always finds a way to rise to the top, and if one is spending a ton of time marketing their music with little return, than it might be time to pursue another career, because if people don't like your music than marketing it is not going to help you sell it.

If you're an artist and have Second Life successes you would like to share on this blog, please contact me as I would like to post your experiences.

Georgia Music Hall of Fame Interview

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with Lisa Love, Executive Director of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and editor of Georgia Music Magazine. Her rich understanding of the Georgia music industry is impressive! Not to mention, Lisa has an uncanny ability to recall obscure artists and their relationship to Georgia. Unfortunately, my digital recorder ran out of memory during our conversation, but I was able to capture some of her great insight in this podcast. If you are an indie musician/band based in Georgia, be sure in listen to the middle part of this interview as it pertains to you. These are a couple of the highlights:

• The Georgia music Industry is over $1billion and growing
• This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards
• The museum receives about 50K visitors per year

While our conversation did not focus much on the museum itself, it's spectacular, and a must see! So the next time you're heading down to Savannah or Florida, or just looking for a day trip from Atlanta, take the time to visit - you will not be disappointed!

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I was listening to one of Georgia's music legends and 1998 Music Hall of Fame inductee, The Allman Brothers (of course) as I wrote this post.

"Immigration Man" Covered by MoG: Hit or Miss

MoG Music is about to release a compilation with a couple of new tracks, like their version of Immigration Man, a 1972 hit by Graham Nash and David Crosby. To help promote their release, Harvey Wharfield with MoG sent this cover over and asked me to post it here for your review. Is this song a hit, or did they miss the mark? You be the judge by rating and/or reviewing it below:

Btw, in case you're wondering if they have the digital rights to distribute this song, the answer is yes. Their license with HFA is 1080041265.

If you would like to submit your music to be posted for a "Hit or Miss" review, just drop me a note.

New Barack Obama Music Video: A Tribute by Greg Hester

About two weeks ago, Greg Hester phoned and said he was thinking about creating a music video for Barack Obama using a song he wrote several years ago called, "President," as he was in the process of re-recording it with Eric McConnell in Nashville. I knew right away that Greg had a great idea and the funked-up version, now called "Prezident" with Ivan Neville, Danny Ray and the James Brown Band (the JBs) would do well, and would probably generate some new listeners for Greg as well... so, we moved as quickly as possible to release it, and just a few minutes ago I received the final edited video from Shannon Pengelly, so please take a look and tell us what you think:

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Sample Music from Wombat

The musicians with Wombat, an Atlanta based funk-jam fusion band sent over a 7 minute audio clip of one of their latest originals to give away here called, Sunburst. The track was written primarily by Shawn McCrystal, and was recorded live at Smith's Olde Bar on February 09, 2008. While it's only a clip, as the entire track is almost 20 minutes, I thought some of you might enjoy listening to it. Their sound is definitely not for everyone though, especially if you are not into improvisational music, but there's no denying that Wombat is comprised of some incredibly talented musicians. The Creative Loafing called their sound "tried-n-true rock jamming served with a side of greasy funk," and Jezebel Magazine said Wombat "combines high energy and funky rhythms with long improvisational jams."

If you would like to have the entire song, just send me an email. Also, if you're in a band or a solo musician and would like for me to consider posting a sample of your music here,  just drop me a note.

Rodney Mills Interview: An Audio Podcast on the Art of Mastering

Atlanta based audio engineer and friend, Clay Smith recently interviewed the legendary sound engineer Rodney Mills who has produced, recorded, mixed and mastered over 40 gold and platinum albums for influential artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pearl Jam, Curtis Mayfield, R.E.M., and many other global acts.  The interview is focused on the art of mastering, but it's a must listen for any artist considering DIY mastering versus outsourcing to a professional mastering engineer. Click here to listen to the entire interview.
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I was listening to Hank Crawford & Jimmy McGriff - Peanuts via FoxyTunes when I wrote this post.