Musicadium Blog

Well, Christmas isn’t even here yet, but we are already thinking about what our New Year’s Resolutions will be.

Here is our wish list of what we want to ensure we provide in 2009!

• Do heaps more Musicadium showcase gigs to help promote artists and their digital content - the two shows at Barsoma so far have rocked really hard and have been massively successful.  We want to take these to the next level very soon and be actively implementing ideas like the bluetooth distribution of an artist’s track on the night in more depth.  Look for us to have interstate Australian Musicadium-distributed artists on the lineups in the future as well!  (P.S. if you are interested in playing one of these gigs, comment or e-mail tim@musicadium.com)
• We will be adding more outlets to our distribution list in the near future.  One new outlet will come up very early in the new year, with hopefully, a few new exciting outlets during the year - these will hopefully come with some special deals for bands already distributing with us!
• Keeping you informed about the goings-on of the digital distribution game at large by scouring the net for information and being active in digital music forums.  We will be bringing you another e-book during 2009 to further what “9 Ways to ride the digital wave” started, as well as bringing you information through our blog and email newsletter.
• Keep up with new technologies/online services that will aid artists in their search for the elusive 1000 true fans (who can possibly provide you with that income stream to continue making your art).  We want to endeavour to let you know about one new online tool to try out every month.
• Provide great service to you, the artists.  We already have a great model (in that you get 100% of your earnings from the outlets) in place, but we want to make sure that you get a great experience with us as well.  Feel free to e-mail us when you have something exciting that you want us to blog about or put in our email newsletter, or e-mail us with any questions or just to say Hi!
• Upgrade our online facilities.  We have plans for some exciting new features coming soon, that will streamline the entire adding an album process.  Definitely watch this space!
• Speak and present at more industry conferences and training/education facilities for a few purposes - to find more volunteers to help us out and also to spread th word about Musicadium! We had representation at Big Sound, Sydney Song Summit, AIR Awards, QUT, TAFE and at various Q-Music workshops this year, we hope to get to all of these plus more in 2009!  We would like to speak at more peak industry bodies’ presentations! Get in contact with us if you would like us to speak at your conference, business or institution!
• We would love to do a tour, where we travel to various towns, working in conjunction with local music industry bodies to speak at a gathering of artists to inform them about digital distribution! Queensland first, then the rest of Australia, perhaps!
• We distribute for thousands of indie artists!!  We’d like to help more indie artists get their music out there. Obviously, we have a lot of Australian artists, but we also distribute for many international acts and would like to expand our reach to different countries!
  

Is there anything that you would like to see from Musicadium in 2009 for us to consider?

I came across this on Hype Bot a few days ago. It’s about this website, Bopaboo, who are claiming that, if you do not want a MP3 anymore, you can put it back up (upload it) on the site and re-sell it.  Basically, a pawn shop for used MP3s.

From Hype Bot: Still in private beta, bopaboo provides a simple marketplace to buy and sell mp3’s and potentially other digital content. In a test, I was able to upload a random mp3 and have it on sale for 45 cents (a typical price) in seconds. Using a bopaboo provided $1 credit, I bought another mp3 and downloaded it easily.  Seconds later, since it was still in my online locker (bopabox) as well as on my computer, I had the same track back up for sale.

As brought up by Hype Bot, does the website confirm the origin of the “used” MP3?  The track could be illegally downloaded via P2P channels or torrented. Essentially, this allows people to make 100% profit on something they did not own in the first place, let alone consider or pay the original artist. The website states on its blog that they do have the copyright holder’s interests at heart, but how is this true?

From Bopaboo Blog: Importantly, bopaboo is not ignoring the right of the copyright-holders. We had always envisioned that our model would include an appropriate arrangement with copyright holders. We are encouraged by our meetings with content providers so far and look forward to completing those arrangements. Look for further announcements relating to our experienced management team and advisors, as well as partnerships with key content providers!

Rather than fix the problem of illegal P2P file sharing, does this not take it one step further??

We at Musicadium are very apprehensive about this.  The idea of a “used MP3″ store where a user can essentially strip the artist of all of their copyrights seems highly unethical to us, not to mention illegal, though, somehow, the site seems to be getting off the ground.

In our minds, there is no way in the world that EVERY copyright holder in the world can be considered in this arrangement.  They say they are putting the consumer first and are trying to provide a legal alternative to P2P sharing. If users in large numbers are uploading, ala youtube, there is no way to check every file at the upload stage, unless you had a warehouse of people checking files around the clock as they were added.  A user could obviously flag a copyright infringement, but that may be way too late for a user, whose song has just been distributed, possibly to hundreds, if not thousands of people and not seen a cent for it.

Hype Bot are posting an interview with the Bopaboo people very soon, it will be very interesting to see what their response is.

I also found this great blog, LockerGnome, who brought up this great point.

I also spent some time reading over the terms of service. You, more or less, are promising your uploads are legal. You are assuming responsibility. That should not surprise anyone. Is that enough though? Will that protect bopaboo from any liability if it is not a legal “used” mp3?

What do you think?  Leave a comment below.

If you have a hot video clip for one of your tracks that you think needs to be shared with the Musicadium family, pass it along so we can have a squiz! Send an email here and we’ll post up a link on our blog so that your fellow online travellers can see what makes an interesting clip and possibly get some cool ideas for their own video ventures.

This week we bring you Free Agent Crew’s new video for their track ‘Snakebite’ and we think we’ve hit a winner with this one. This act has been a long time favourite at the Musicadium office since we discovered them earlier in the year. The illustration aspect of this clip is a really effective concept and creates another level of interest to an already pretty funky video. (The boys are also quite easy on the eye, so ladies (and gents) strap yourself in!)

Grab their EP at

We here at Musicadium are big fans of Seth Godin’s work and anything in regard to how to market to fans.

I found this article this morning and, as well as the video that comes along with it, it’s amazing.  The video describes fundamentalist thought (not necessarily fundamental religious thought, rather people who accept information presented to them without exploring the facts first) versus what Seth Godin describes as “Curious” thought.  A desire to explore and find new information and the truth.

Check it out:

The Evolution Of Tribal Curiosity

established opinion leaders or chiefs.  Think about music blogs (pitchfork, stereogum & brookynvegan), where new artists are brought forward by a single source, and echoed down through different ranks and layers.  Embraced by certain tribes, but not by all.  Their reach differentiates, but wider spread.

4. State: Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments. Examples:  MySpace, Billboard Charts, Rolling Stone, and Top Radio.  High rates of discrimination of what makes “good music.”  They are influencing and reaching the masses far and wide.

In a world where people now have way more choices and far less time, the obvious thing happens, people start ignoring you.  But, no artist should ignore any fans, because they are more connected than ever.  You have to be constantly empowering curiosity and amplifying faith of your followers, because that is the only way you will rise above the the ranks and gain their acceptance.

Seth Godin - \’Curious\’

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2008/11/the-evolution-o.html

Leave your thoughts in a comment here - how does this challenge/align with the way you interact with your fans?

Looking to finesse your live performance skills? If you live near the Gold Coast, we recommend you rock along to the Coolangatta Sands Hotel’s MySpace page and check out what they’ve got on offer.

The Hotel and rock band The Smashed Crabs host a weekly jam session called Sands Jam where experienced and undiscovered talent battle it out. Prizes include music store gift vouchers and Tooheys and Jagermeister prize packs, and the chance to win a Jack Daniels branded Fender guitar, at the end of the series. Big Day Out tickets are given out at random to audience members. Sands licensee Chris Kelly says, “I believe there currently isn’t anything on the coast that supports this kind of event and undiscovered talent. It also gives bands and soloists who may not be getting regular gigs and want to practice in front of a crowd the opportunity to do so”. Sands Jam launched last Thursday and and will run over 13 weeks. For more information, and to participate contact Scott Martin (07) 5536 3066.

QMusic, Arts Queensland and Trade Queensland are giving two Qld acts the chance to play at UK festival The Great Escape in Brighton (May 14 to 16). It will feature 200 bands across 25 venues. You have to be an original band based in Qld, have a CD out and with management and/or label. Any enquiries email info@qmusic.com.au. Deadline is 5pm on Wed 26 Nov, submit to www.qmusic.com.au/thegreatescape. It’s free for QMusic members, $11 for non-members.

Everyone is by now aware of ‘Movember‘ the month when normally clean-shaven young lads grow a patchy section of bumfluff on their upper lip that resembles a chihuahua with alopecia rather than the porn star or cricket legend that they are trying to champion. However, because it supports a wonderful charity we love the participants, and the range of moustaches it produces - from bum fluff to handlebars, we salute you mo-men! (and women).

This November however, Musicadium favourites Mr Rascal have a different agenda. They are taking part in the fascinating project called ‘National Solo Album Month’ and are locking themselves in an Old Museum to create their next album as a result. They will be blogging the entire experience here and we think it will make for an insightful and pretty damn interesting read!

National Solo Album Month was inspired by NaNoWriMo which is a competition where writers attempt to write an entire novel in a month. It aims to silence one’s inner critic by forcing artists to simply go with their initial reactions rather than second-guessing their ideas. We think that this will make for some fascinating and brilliant songwriting so we encourage you all to check it out!

Mr Rascal - Always up for a challenge!

Photography by Mark Lobo.

Talented songsmiths take notice! The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) has extended its submission deadline until December 1, 2008. ISC will continue to take online, mail-in, and MySpace entries until this date. All entries must be postmarked or uploaded online on or before December 1, 2008. So, if you have not already entered ISC and wish to do so, you still have time to enter.

For more information and an entry form, go to www.songwritingcompetition.com

ISC gives away over $150,000 in cash and prizes to 62 winners in 20 categories. The Overall Grand Prize includes $25,000 (US) in cash - the largest cash Grand Prize of any songwriting competition in the world. ISC is open to all levels of amateur and professional songwriters throughout the world.

The 2008 International Songwriting Competition is judged by the likes of Robert Smith from The Cure, Loretta Lynn, DJ Tiesto, Tom Waits and Chaka Khan.

Are you an Australian Unsigned artist producing original music?

One of the Musicadium family discovered this during the week!  Red Jezebell would like to offer unsigned Australian Artists the opportunity to have their music exposed to a massive national market.

You send Red Jezebell a message of interest, they check out an artist’s music and if the big boss digs it they will use it for their hold music.

If an artist’s music is chosen they will be agreeing to Red Jezebell using it royalty free in exchange for exposure to a massive national market. They aim to have several tracks and also to change them every few months to give as many artists a chance to be heard.

Contact:

info@redjezebell.com
or myspace.com/redjezebell

In the Navy, we will sail the seven seas! In the Navy…

Navy Song Battle

Create a New theme song for the Royal Australian Navy, for the chance to win studio time with a top industry producer and airplay in a Navy Brand Campaign.

“Navy want a theme song, but they also want a team song. A new and exciting modern anthem for radio, for TV, but also for its people. Can your music inspire and uplift? Can you capture the excitement?”

Interested?  Go to http://www.myspace.com/navysongbattle.

This week we’re asking you to rate “Dark Back Garden” by Silver Sircus. This is a limited edition EP featuring one single long-form spoken word & sound-scape piece. The Cover Art features artwork by photographer Sean Young.

Get commenting and let us know what you think!