February 5th, 2010
We’re starting a weekly series today called What’s the Music Buzz to give you a quick heads up about…the latest buzzzz in the industry. True true I’m a gossip at heart, but thought if we saved you time by highlighting the most interesting stuff that happened this week, you would make us smarter by letting us know what’s legit or not and what other cool things you’re hearing!
My takeaway this week is that the corporate world is still tough and profit focused decisions are not doing much to help indies…
News Corp earnings show MySpace is not yet fixed although traffic has stabilized and its mission has been clarified…We have confidence of a turnaround, go News Corp go!
EMI’s parent company needs to raise $160 million to hold onto it…Eeek. Pretty clear to us that DIY tools are necessary for an artist these days. This is why we joined the Hello Music partnership!
Despite these troubles…new media companies are still doing cool things.
Facebook: ‘We Have No Plans to Launch a Music Service’…. We’ll see about that….
Slacker Radio: Pandora’s Palm WebOS rival Slacker Radio released a version (.0.9.4) of its streaming radio app to the App Catalog in the U.S. and Canada.
Spotify: U.S. Launch Within 60 Days; Music Discovery Upgraded
MailChimp, for those of you that use them for email marketing, has released a service that allows emails to be distributed across time zones at the same appointed minute and also has launched a new geotargeting application where a user can customize an email based on locales.
Other industry tidbits:
Report: Music could save ISPs ‘hundreds of millions’ in churn costs
SXSW Announces More Bands & Panelists
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February 4th, 2010
Some people are audio tools and some people have audio tools. This intro is somewhat pointless, but in a sense it helps me get to my point. And no, it’s not that I am a tool… silly goose.
Hobnox.com Audiotool, you heard of it? Well if you haven’t, you definitely should. I created a short video, so you can see what I’m talking about.
… and hey, let’s just say you don’t feel like getting so serious. Then why not make your way over to Sheep Beats?
Tags: Audiotool, Audiotools, Free, hobnox.com, music tools, Sheep Beats, Silly Goose, web based, Web Based Sequencer
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February 4th, 2010
Solos from John Wriggle on bone, Fred Fielder on trumpet, Charles Lee on tenor sax, Randy Johnston on geetar.
Next Ex Caminos gig you ask? See them at the Shrine with the Funky Fritters for the Jumbo Gumbo Mardis Gras Party on Saturday Feb. 13th at 8 pm.
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February 3rd, 2010
Here’s Crosby debuting “Deja Vu” in Greenpoint.
And “Over My Head” from perennial GigMaven favorite, Sean Allen Fenn. Look out for his twice/month Wednesday DJ party happening tonight!
Tags: Add new tag, Arts, Arts and Entertainment, Déjà vu, Disc jockey, DJ, Music, Netherlands, Techno
Posted in GigMaven Events | No Comments »
February 3rd, 2010
Recessionmusik-Digging up some of the best live music NYC has to offer for less than $20.00 but more than $0.50. This is the 1st part of the 2nd entry in a series of 8.
This past Saturday, GigMaven was very happy to share Greenpoint’s Coco 66 with friends and four great acts. Against the cold and the broken G train, Crosby, Sean Allen Fenn, Vinyl Life and the Ex Caminos tore the house apart. Thank you to everyone that came out and let’s do it again soon. Here’s a video featuring NYC’s Vinyl Life.
More footage from Sean Allen Fenn Crosby and Ex Caminos to come.
Tags: Coco 66, Greenpoint, hip-hop
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January 29th, 2010
I’ve been told that I’m going to do an 8 part series on some tech stuff in regards to music. Now, I’m totally cool with it, I really am. Here’s number 1. We’ll call this the 1st of an 8 part series, but in reality you should continue to keep coming back to our blog because you’ll keep getting cool stuff to read about and watch.
I was sent a Samsung Omnia II to test an app called Caxixi.
In a very simple description, the Caxixi app is a drum pad on a cell phone. I’m just trying to keep it pretty basic here. But! It’s actually a pretty slick little app.
You can assign percussion instruments to the pads and play the instruments by moving the phone. The phone has an accelerometer that the app takes advantage of.
Here’s my thoughts on this app:
It’s totally legit. You can use this in a concert, with friends, or just to have for fun. It’s up to you how advanced you want to get with it. I suggest if you plan to perform with the app, create some exercises and practice them.
At first the app seems entirely useless because it’s frustrating to get used to the sensitivity of the accelerometer. Fortuntely for you, I took the time to figure out some ways to get past the frustration, so watch the video.
The battery life is impressive. If you did want to use this in concert, you have a lot of juice to go through. I made a video going through the app, so you can see it yourself.
Write a comment and let me know what you think.
You can check out my unboxing video of the Samsung Omnia II here.
Tags: Accelerometer, baby toy, Caxixi, cell phone, Cellphones, Mobile phone, Music, Percussion instrument, Samsung Omnia II
Posted in Mobile Apps, Products, Samsung | 2 Comments »
January 26th, 2010
Recessionmusik-Digging up some of the best live music NYC has to offer for less than $20.00 but more than $0.50. This is the 1st entry in a series of 8.
Missed the $10 cover by going early + $15 drinks + $5 tip = $20.00 for three hours of premium live music.
I went to check out these guys at Ashford and Simpson’s Sugar Bar after meeting leader Brett Forman outside of a Sharon Jones concert. He was giving away free CDs in promotion of a gig a few weeks later. Turns out, the band is both top notch and easy to catch around Manhattan and Brooklyn.
“Suds/Dujii”
Jazz/soul veteran Randy Johnston was guest guitarist with New York City’s The Ex Caminos on Saturday. I get the feeling he plays with the group for the joy of it. That’s Randy ripping it up at the start of the video. He’s in the middle of “Suds,” an Ex Caminos blues favorite.
The Ex Caminos have been a staple of the New York soul/funk scene for quite some time. You can trace their roots back to 1993 when a handful of WKCR DJs started practicing Sundays when they could get some rehearsal space at the Columbia University station.
Since their founding, way back when, The Ex Caminos have opened for Galactic, Sex Mob, Busta Rhymes, and Ani DiFranco. Within just a year the group was playing regularly at famed eclectic venue, Tramps NYC, the former New York after hours home to Prince, George Clinton and A Tribe Called Quest.
Only band leader/guitarist Brett Forman and trombone player/musical director Jon Wriggle are left from the early days. The current lineup is Rich Chapple on bass guitar, Fred Fiedler on trumpet, Charles Lee on woodwinds, Seth Goldberg on drums, Dennis McCumber on guitar and Pete Santilli on keys. Frequent subs include Bob Gingery on bass, Eric Kalb on drums, Satoru Ohashi on trumpet and George Rush on bass and tuba.
On the Sugar Bar video, you’ll see the standard lineup with a few changes. Morgan Price (awesome tone, of Ikebe Shakedown fame) subs tenor sax for Charles Lee, and Fred Fiedler is absent on trumpet.
The Ex Caminos are one of the newest groups to sign up for GigMaven, and we look forward to hearing them this Saturday at Coco 66.
Tags: Ani DiFranco, Bass guitar, Busta Rhymes, Columbia University, Guitar, Musical ensemble, New York, New York City
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January 25th, 2010
Breaking news, the Department of Justice is set to approve the LiveNation/TicketMaster merger! The merger, originally announced in February 2009, finally got through, but it is still unclear what terms and conditions will have to come with it.
Look for TicketMaster to have to divest some of its assets (probably TicketsNow) and Live Nation may have to sell some of their venues, probably to AEG Live.
How does everyone feel about this merger?
Posted in Music Industry - General | 1 Comment »
January 22nd, 2010
Today we announced a partnership with Hello Music in order to help more musicians find opportunities.
Hello Music is a new music company that combines new school tech with old school A&R to identify talented musicians and connect them with career opportunities. They also just announced today that they received $4 million funding from KVG Partners. We’re very excited to be part of this initiative and congrats to Hello Music and all their partners!
Initial Hello Music partners include AudioMicro, Getty Images/Pump Audio, GigMaven, LyricFind, MediaNet, Next Big Sound, Slacker, Topspin, TuneCore and Yahoo! Music.
For more info, here’s some press that picked it up as well:
LA Times
Daily Swarm
Paidcontent
Hypebot
Tags: GigMaven, Hello Music, Music Industry
Posted in Music Industry - General | No Comments »
Scott Perry, who produces the great 
