Merge.fm: where fans and artists share in the songwriting process

Update (see below):
Merge.fm is a new collaboration app that helps artists open-up the creative process and share the songwriting experience with their fans (see video demo below).

The site has a great clean layout with intuitive features, and they are looking for bands and musicians artists to join as they just launched a couple of weeks ago, and it's free for artists, and the first 3 fans artists to email support@merge.fm with the coupon code "indiemusictech" will get one free year's subscription to Merge.fm (a $60 value).

Allowing fans to participate in the evolution of your music, and even provide feedback to the songs you're working on is a great way to develop and strengthen loyalty with your fans.

MuseScore: free music composition and notation software

Looking for a free, cross platform WYSIWYG music notation program? Check out MuseScore. Features include:

• WYSIWYG, notes are entered on a "virtual note sheet"
• Unlimited number of staves
• Up to four voices per staff
• Easy and fast note entry with mouse, keyboard or MID
• Integrated sequencer and FluidSynth software synthesizer
• Import and export of MusicXML and Standard MIDI Files
• Available for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Translated in over 20 languages

Below is a short video showing how MuseScore works. Go here for step-by-step instructions on creating new compositions with MuseScore.

Artist Creates Latest Release Entirely from iPhone

iMatik, a new release today from DJ and music producer, Freematik was engineered entirely from Tom Freeman's iPhone with apps like Beatmaker, iDrum, Flare and Jasuto. While Tom did sample a few sounds from around his office and some loops he's made in the past, the vast majority of the album was made using sounds built into the iPhone.

With an ever growing list of mobile music tools, like MultiTrack, we're going to see a flood of these kinds of releases from artists this year, some are already coming in from live performances, turning the iPhone into a professional recording device and instrument.

MultiTrack 1.1 Now Available

If you record live, or need to easily record song ideas from anywhere you are, then you've got to look at MultiTrack for the iPhone and iPod touch (2nd Generation) from Harmonicdog, because you can record 16 stereo tracks of studio quality audio for just $14.99 - an impressive mobile recording app that takes inexpensive portability to a new level, and it has an intuitive UI to boot:



No doubt this app has some power as you can see from some of its features below, just wish it was available when I was lugging around a Tascam DA-30:

• Stereo Recording - up to 16 stereo or mono tracks
• Fader, pan, mute and solo for each track
• Metronome - never miss that beat again
• Time Signatures - various musical time signatures
• Ruler - shows where you are in the song
• Snap - snaps the timebar to ruler lines
• Punch in/out - automatically starts and stops recording
• Auto Input - allows monitoring the track underneath until punch points
• Select left, right, or both channels of a stereo input for recording
• Speaker/receiver output selection switch (for iPhone)
• Input and Output faders
• 24 bit internal pathways
• Multi-touch pinch/zoom support
• VU meters for each track
• Extremely low latency recording
• Selectable input monitoring
• Recording perfectly synced to other tracks
• Crossfading uses cubic interpolation
• Animated popup controls

Get a Free Copy of Future Hit.DNA

Would you like a free copy of Future Hit.DNA, a new book by Jay Frank that outlines 15 points that must change in a song if artists, songwriters and producers of tomorrow want a chart topping hit?

Then simply be one of the first three individuals to both tweet this post (please include the title of book), as well as save it to delicious - a minimal amount of effort for a ton of value, as this book dissects the elements to a hit song based on the technology that delivers it. Additionally, Jay's methodology provides a blueprint to the subtle changes that need to be made which have little impact for music fans, but big differences in a song’s placement in the charts. For more information about the book, check out this post on Music Think Tank last month.

Kami Knake will announce the three winners via her Twitter account, so you'll need to provide her with your address if you win (free shipping in the States).

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!

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.

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

MusicThoughts Redux

Derek Sivers has relaunched MusicThoughts.com, a website where you can post, share or read short thoughts, quotes, insights, adages or other types of expressions relative to musicians, the art of music, the creation of music and the music industry. While Derek said, "I’m not trying to make this a big site of all thoughts about music - just a simple quiet place with a few of the most inspiring ones," it's already beginning to take a life of its own like this example I pulled from the random thought generator. It's a fun site to explore and I like that it's available in 10 languages - nice touch. My only suggestion at this point is to connect MusicThoughts to a twitter account as well like twitter.com/musicthoughts and/or add RSS.

As always, good stuff Derek!

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:

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.

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.