Prepare-se para Amazon Streaming Music!

Get Ready For The Amazon Streaming Music Disruption

First of all thanks to my friend  Bobby Owsinski for this article.

With the battle over streaming music leadership raging on between Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, there’s one major company that’s been lying silently in the weeds waiting for the right time to pounce on an industry increasingly ripe for the picking. Don’t look now, but it may be Amazon that may soon be the one causing the disruption in the music business, and not the other popular contenders.

Amazon’s already a major, but low-profile, mover and shaker in the industry, with reportedly somewhere between 75 million and 90 million yearly subscribers (the company doesn’t release such information, so this is just informed speculation) to its Prime service, and although most of that centers around 2 day merchandise shipping and video delivery, the different types of offerings coming from the Prime Music portion of its service have been growing by the month.

This slow roll-out is happening at a controlled pace, but you get the feeling that the company is learning what works best with each move while not intentionally making a lot of waves as it positions itself to enter the online streaming market full-force.

One recent example of this is when Amazon Music was added to T-Mobile’s Music Freedom data-free music streaming program, which is the first instance of Prime Music being available to off-the-platform users. The move didn’t cause a lot of headlines, but gives the company some experience in rolling out a service beyond its own closed ecosystem.

Step By Step

What might be more an indicator of the ultimate bigger picture is the fact that Amazon recently made it’s Prime Video service available as a stand-alone product for $9 a month. Just adding the ability to purchase the service on a monthly basis is a break from the traditional yearly membership required in the past. Another foreshadowing of the future perhaps?

Then Amazon Launched what amounted to a YouTube Rival with its Amazon Video Direct (AVD), which although it launched with only publishing heavyweights and no record labels, provides an interesting outline of how it will pay content partners, as well as how it will take down videos if copyright infringement occurs. AVD gives partners the option to upload their content to Amazon Prime Video (available to tens of millions of premium tier subscribers), make it available as an add-on subscription through its Streaming Partners Program, offer it as a one-time rental or a one-time purchase, or make it available to all Amazon customers, which is ad-supported like YouTube.

According to Variety, the Prime Video option pays video owners a 15 cents per-hour royalty fee in the US and 6 cents per-hour in other territories, but that appears to cap at $75,000 per year. On top of that, Amazon will also pay partners a 50% royalty of the retail price from one-off purchases and rentals. As with YouTube, Amazon will pay the partner 55% from any ad revenue received. Amazon will also distribute $1 million a month to the makers of the 100 most popular programs viewed by Prime members each month. Regardless of the percentages, providing a roadmap for how content contributors get paid sure looks like Amazon is setting up for something bigger down the road. [Read more on Forbes…]

Indústria Da Música Problemas Com "Big Data"

The Music Industry’s Big Data Problem

First of all thanks to my friend 

•  Bobby Owsinski

One of the hopes that digital music brought was for a faster and more accurate way for everyone in the food chain to get paid. That sounds good on paper, but unfortunately hasn’t quite panned out the way anyone in the industry expected. While it’s true that it’s easy to count online sales and downloads in the digital realm as well as streams and views, digital accounting lags far behind the expectations of artist, label or publisher alike. But now, music’s big data problem is beginning to be changed thanks to the efforts of companies like Kobalt Music and DistroKid, a trend that hopefully will be adopted by the rest of the industry at some point.

One of the major problems in the current world of music big data has been that although the streaming services could provide accurate info to labels and publishers, it came in a format that was incompatible with their accounting systems. That meant that all those reams of data (more than ever, thanks to the services ability to granularly collect everything)  was delivered in stacks of hard copy, which then had to be manually input into the label or publisher’s system. And of course, the problem was that the person doing the inputting was often an intern or a low-on-the-totem pole employee who was not equipped to deal with some of the more complex decisions that would come up in the course of inputing, which lead to inaccurate statements for artists and songwriters. And let’s not forget the inevitable human error that goes along with manual data entry that didn’t help matters.

This is a problem that continues to plague the majority of the industry every quarter, and in some cases, every month. In fact, many publishers secretly complain that the cost of the manual labor involved exceeds their revenue in many cases. Still, it’s their fiduciary duty to carry on despite these difficulties.

Now to be fair, accounting software systems are expensive, usually custom designed, and take a very long time to both implement and overcome their inevitable growing pains. While changing to something that’s more digitally compatible is in everyone’s best interest, it’s still a painful process, both financially and morale-wise. It’s not a remodel, it’s almost a full tear-down and rebuild.

However there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A few years ago Kobalt Music, lead by Swedish entrepreneur Willard Ahdritz, launched the Kobalt Portal, the first online dashboard that Kobalt artists and songwriters could use to discover their earnings in a timely fashion. In fact, the portal has now been turbocharged so it can even report in real-time, an innovation that has attracted over 8,000 artists and songwriters to the service, including such heavyweights as Paul McCartney, Prince, Gwen Stefani, Bob Dylan, Tiesto and Kelly Clarkson, among many others. [Read more on Forbes…]

5 Coisas Que Os Compositores Digitais Precisam Saber Sobre Orquestração

5 Things Digital Composers Need to Know About Orchestration

First of all thanks to Dan Hultman 

for this article.

About the Author: Angelina Panozzo is a Jack of all music, and a master of Netflix and video games. Composer, performer, and journalist, she wanders around lost a lot of the time. You can catch her on her website or on her blog, Musically Notable. She’s also on Twitter and Instagram.

Digital composition is a land of endless possibility, filled with electro-acoustic marvels, more samples than you can ever own, and the ability to create just about anything with the right equipment, a fast processor, and some patience. As the video gaming community continues to grow and expand, more companies will need composers for their games, and that’s great news for us.

Still, even with buttons, knobs, and filters galore, there are some essential things to know about the orchestration and arranging of music, even when it goes from birth to completion in a digital format, never leaving your studio (or half-baked music desk in the bedroom, in my case).

The Pyramid of Sound 

Just because you had 47 flutes and one trombone in your middle school band doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do things, (said one of those 47 flute players). With the way that acoustics and ears work, higher frequencies are much easier to discern. They float over the top of ensembles, and these instruments (flutes, violins, etc) can be extremely pervasive in a piece of music. If you think in terms of food like I do, your bass instruments are your grains, vegetables, and fruits. Your mid range instruments like tenor saxophones, violas and the like are your dairy and your protein, and the oils, sugar, and fat are the highest of the high. You need them all to have a thick, beefy sound.

Some techniques will always sound comical

I think we’ve all learned this the hard way at some point. About 8 years ago, I wrote a percussion piece with a xylophone and 12 other pitched and non-pitched percussive instruments. The piece focused on texture rather than melody, and at one point I decided to use quick running notes on the xylophone.

It sounded like Bugs Bunny was running from Elmer Fudd.  (Or like this clip.)

Strings can do more than just sustain

Composers love strings, because they never need to take a breath. They can also provide stunningly gorgeous soundscapes, full of righteous swells and lonely, solitary, pining melodies. With the advent of decent sound libraries, anyone can have the sound of an orchestra without leaving their half-baked music desk in the bedroom.

It’s important to remember the enormous amount of sounds that a string instrument can produce. No, not all of them have been successfully replicated into sound libraries, but the more common techniques like pizzicato (plucking the strings like a guitar) have, and you should use them, because it will sound awesome.

Budget permitting, you could always snag a string player for an hour’s worth of recording – or if you have friends that play for fun, bribe them with pizza and beer.

Um, maybe wait until after the recording to break out the beer.

If you ever want this music to be played live, keep the humans in mind

Basically, if you want your music to be performed by actual living, breathing humans, you should read up on some orchestration texts to become familiar with the limitations of the instruments you’ll be using. I love my copy of Alfred Blatter’s Instrumentation and Orchestration – I’ve had it for 6 years and not a week goes by that I don’t flip it open to check something or remind myself of something. It’s way more user friendly than the Rimsky-Korsakov (for non-classically trained musicians), and it has pretty much any instrument you’d want to use, including things like brake drums, guitars, and jaw harps.

If you’re using woodwinds (or voices, for that matter), remember that they have to breathe sometimes.

Horns are really picky about ranges and jumps, and piano players only have 5 fingers on each hand (unless they come from Gattaca).

Right now you’re writing some loops for a small mobile game, but if it blows up and goes viral, you might (will definitely) have musicians hammering your inbox asking for the sheet music. Video game music is relatable and people love it – why do you think Lindsey Stirling’s rendition of the Zelda theme has over 26 million views?

Sometimes, less is more

With the pyramid of sound firmly in mind, consider that an ensemble of flutes and violins might not sound as full as you’d like it to. Doubling up melodies in the bass can make them sound muddy, and adding 142 kinds of snare drum might not be effective.

Of course, there’s always an argument for intent and musicality – maybe you want those flutes and violins to sound shrill because there’s a murderous ghost on the loose. Maybe you doubled the melody in the bass because the character is wandering around in a swamp. Maybe the drums are meant to scare the bejeezus out of you – that’s all fine.

Learning orchestration and arranging is like learning what the “rules” are, specifically so you can break them. If you know what to expect, you’ll never be surprised when you hit playback, and you’ll waste a lot less time reworking stuff to sound the way you want it to.

Onward, fellow composers, and make music for the gamers of the world!

Porque Você Deve Tratar Sua Carreira Musical Como Se Fosse Uma Startup?

Why You Should Treat Your Music Career Like A Startup

Besides both being challenging career options, being a musician and running a startup have quite a fewsimilarities. In the following article, we look at some of the commonalities between the two, and important rules to follow in order to find success in both.

First, thanks to Rory Seidel on Landr

The music biz is still the wild west — Here’s how to be an outlaw.

Howdy stranger.

Music promotion and growing your career as an artist is the most difficult thing you can do on this earth (trust me, I know).

I’d argue that growing a startup is the second hardest. (I know about that too).

For some reason I’ve been fortunate—or crazy—enough to try music and startups. It turns out it’s a lot easier if you learn from both.

They each require constant GROWTH. That six letter word that that can’t be ignored in any career — be it creative or business. Or creative business.

Here’s what I’ve learned, and what you should too:

MAKE A PLAN

This sounds obvious, but let’s face it: musicians aren’t the best at thinking ahead.

We live in the moment. And that’s fine.

But a little foresight goes a long way. Especially when it comes to the lifecycle of recording, releasing, promoting and touring.

Every good startup has a roadmap — or in musicians terms a longterm plan (hello dreams!).

They also have a short term plan (reality!). Just don’t be afraid to be fluid— ’cause when life happens, you need to be able to adapt.

RELEASE FAST

Think of it this way: you spend 3-years working on your first record. But then you realize that your brand of obscure underground music resonates with no one.

Music changes at an insanely rapid pace, the internet decides the speed of consumption and taste.

So how do you stay ahead of the curve? Easy. Release your music while you’re making it.

Publish it to SoundCloud. See what resonates with your community, your audience, your friends.

Take the feedback you get and make more music. Your community is a super supportive laboratory where you should test all kinds of stuff. When it doubt test it!

If something works do it again—but better. If it fails then ditch it quick.

Release constantly and listen to your audience. They will guide you to your best work.

STAY HUNGRY STAY FOCUSED

Remember that roadmap from your original plan? Use it.

Take 5 minutes a day to be inspired by your hopes and dreams. Don’t be afraid to be hungry.  Sacrifice in the name of your art.

Work in the moment and remember why you started creating music in the first place.

Stay in and work on your projects instead of going out. It’ll pay off faster than you think.

FAIL EARLY FAIL OFTEN

This saying gets thrown around constantly in business but it’s essential to quick growth.

People are afraid of failure. But as the startup gods have taught us: Failure is awesome!

It sounds weird but think of it this way: you learn a heap load more from failure than you do from mediocrity.

In mediocrity we pat each other on the back, learn nothing and don’t grow.

In failure we have no choice but to look at what can be done better, pick up the pieces and go back to the drawing board knowing what to avoid.

USE TECHNOLOGY

Startups are not afraid of technology (probably because they are too busy making it).

But musicians often are. Don’t be afraid. There are tons of hyper useful and creative music technologies being developed right now.

Get used to the idea that good technologies exist to make your life better. It’ll open up a whole world of possibilities.

Native Instruments, Ableton, LANDR, SoundCloud and Echo Nest are a few examples of technologies that are pushing the envelope to help you.

And with new music tech popping up daily there’s no sign of it slowing down. Get involved or get left behind.

COLLABORATE

Think Jobs and Wozniak — Lennon and McCartney. Kraftwerk or the way Kanye manages a teame of hundreds.

You need people around you. You need them to bring out the best in you, and you need to bring out the best in them.

The role of the conductor is often under regarded.

BE DIGITAL

There’s a community for everything online. The sooner you find yours, the more successful you’ll be.

Look at the way Radiohead sells records. From booking a tour to setting up a website, you should be pouring most of your promotion time into music promotion. That means digital marketing, communities, sales and PR.

Don’t underestimate IRL. Hit the road and get involved face to face. Just make sure to update your Instagram as you go.

Having an antiquated business plan for your music career won’t cut it any more — you need a lean startup plan with smart strategists (AKA awesome bandmates).

So make a new plan. One that fits today AND tomorrow. And enjoy some rapid growth.

Sound Design - The Need For Speed

The Need For Speed

Code masters gets on the Grid with DPA

Words Paul Watson

The sound designers at game developer, Codemasters, chose a kit bag of DPA miss to capture the plethora of intricate sounds needed for Grid: Autosport, which brings them back to the racing game sector with a bang.

It's not just about the growl... Recording racing car sounds is a complex process. There are a series of parts involved in creating the fusion of harmonics, squeaks, knocks, and wind noise that you hear when a car shoots past. To capture each of the elements accurately, you need kit that will be able to deal with unpredictable and rigorous conditions in and around the car when driving at high speed, such as heat, knocks, turbulence, and vibration.

To accomplish this on Grid: Autosport, Codemasters used DPA's d:dicate 4011ER, 4018ER, and 4007A condenser mics, along with d:screet 4062 miniatures, placing them in and around the body of the cars to get a true representation of how it sounds, both to the driver, and from various external viewpoints.

Turn It Up

A selection of DPA mics were used to capture each car's sound: the cardioid d:dicate 4011ER was mounted on a cable preamp for the smallest footprint and SPL handling; the 4018 capsule provided a super-cardioid polar pattern when needed; and the d:dicate 4007A Omni was ideal for recording noisy drive-bys and stationary engine sounds, or sounds within the cockpit due to its low noise floor, and very high SPL (155dB peak) before clipping. 

The low sensitivity d:screet SC4062 miniature mics were used for creative placement in and around the body of the car, as not only can they handle higher sound pressure levels, but their tiny omni capsules are particularly good at capturing crystal clear audio at the sound source. 

According to a review of Grid: Autosport on driving.co.uk:

"Codemasters has much more accurately reproduced real engine noises, right down to the pop and crackle of exhaust over-run. Up to 16 microphones were attached to the real cars in order to record the sounds, with specialist equipment being used to avoid the mics near the exhaust melting."

And credit where credit's due... Codemasters were also kind enough to include DPA Microphones and Sound Network in the Grid: Autosport game as decals to apply to your favourite car! Check out the official Grid: Autosport trailer video, and see if you can spot the Sound Network logo around the 01:08 mark!

www.dpamicrophones.comwww.soundnetwork.comwww.codemasters.com

Como Fazer Um Plano e Gerenciar as Finanças De Uma Banda Em Turnê

How To Pre-Plan & Manage Your Band's Tour Finances

First of all thanks to BY:  CHERIE NELSON

for this article.

When indie music duo Pomplamoose went on 28-day tour in fall 2014, they sold just under $100,000 in tickets. With merchandise sales and a sponsorship from Lenovo, they pulled in a total of $135,983. However, after paying for publicity, payroll, production, hotels, food, travel, commissions, merchandise manufacturing, and other costs, total tour expenses added up to $147,802. Pomplamoose ended up putting $11,819 on credit cards to cover the cost of their own tour.

Fortunately, Pomplamoose was expecting a loss on their tour and had a plan to cover their losses from other sources of income. But for most bands, breaking even on tour can be challenging, and it’s easy to go over budget. This can hurt not only your music career, but also your personal finances. To prevent this, following a few guidelines can help you stay on budget and protect your money.

Separate Your Business & Personal Expenses

Jamie Davis-Ponce, who has experience both as a musical professional and as a finance and operations manager, recommends that one of the first things musicians should do to get their accounting in order is to set up separate business bank and credit card accounts for your band. This will help you avoid maxing out your personal credit card while you’re on the road. It will also make your accounting and tax preparation easier, protect you from personal liability for debt and make it harder for identity thieves to get at your finances. Set up a separate accounting spreadsheet to keep track of band-related expenses, and make sure you only use your business card for business purposes.

Plan Your Budget

Plan out every major expense and make sure your pre-determined income will be sufficient to cover it. Basic expenses that you should factor in include equipment, rehearsal rental space, production, promotion, travel expenses, hotels, food, crew member payroll, agent commissions and merchandise. Bandzoogle’s Dave Cool provides a checklist and sample spreadsheet you can use. A business budgeting app such as QuickBooks Online can help make handling your budget easier.

Don’t forget about your personal finances while you’re focused on your tour. Create a separate personal budget and estimate expenses such as mortgages, car payments and bills that need to be paid back home while you’re on the road.

Cover Your Bills

While you’re on a road tour, making sure you paid your monthly mortgage or your band won’t be the first thing on your mind. Both you and your band have bills that will need to be paid while you’re on the road, and missing payments can cost you late fees or create other hassles. To avoid late payments, financial service providers such as Bank of America recommend setting up automatic online bill payments. You can schedule payments to be made ahead of time, and you can also sign up for alerts to let you know when a bill has been paid.

Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

Identity thieves like to target people who are away from home, and band members on tour are no exception. To avoid this, take precautionary steps. Remove credit and identification cards you won’t need from your wallet before leaving home, and store them in a safe place. Keep your band’s credit card in a safe place while you’re traveling. Alert your credit card company that you’ll be on the road. Keep updated on the latest identity theft scams and avoid Wi-Fi hotspots such as hotel networks and public computers that identity thieves may be targeting. Only use ATMs that are monitored by cameras or security guards.

Track Your Expenses

While you’re traveling from San Francisco to New York City, it’s easy to forget your band spent $100 on food at the airport in Chicago. Make sure you keep track of receipts and other expense-related data such as gas mileage so you can include them in your expense report and write them off on your taxes. An expense-tracking app such as Expensify can make it easier for you to capture receipts and update your expense reports while you’re on the road. Sign up for the free trial before you head out on your tour, so you’re ready and tracking from day one.

Agora Você Pode Tocar o Menor Violino Do Mundo: Sensores Do Google Detectam Pequenos Movimentos Para Reproduzir Música

Now you can play the world's tiniest violin: Google sensors detect tiny movements to play music

System only recognizes movement that represents playing a violin 

Taught system which movements to accept and which to reject 

Music will stop play if users stops moving their fingers 

Playing the world’s saddest song on the world’s tiniest violin is no longer just a sarcastic dream.

Using a tiny-radar based chip, the team at Design I/O built a device that detects the movements of this unsympathetic gesture and transforms them into a violin solo.

This innovation is based on Google’s Project Soli, which uses invisible radar emanating from a chip to recognize finger movements and broad beam radar to detect movement, velocity and distance.

Scroll down for videos 

Silo works by using the 60Ghz radar spectrum at up to 10,000 frames per seconds.

These movements are then translated into commands that mimic touches on a screen.

The 'World’s Tiniest Violin' is a ‘speed project’ that uses Googles technology, according to Creative Applications.

Design I/O detects if the user’s hand is making a motion that resembles two fingers moving together – as if they’re playing a mini violin.

Users simply place their thumb and forefinger over the device, start rubbing them together and a tune using just the string instrument will play – which some might deem the saddest tune in the world.

And when you stop ‘playing’, so does the Soli.

To build this tiny violin, the team first taught the Wekinator different finger movements that represent the playing of a violin and which ones are not acceptable.

Using the software, the team recorded different movements and assigned an output value of 1.0 on the Wekinator slider.

Then they set the slider to 0.0 to record gestures the system should reject.

‘After a few minutes of recording these gestures, the ‘training’ was initiated and they were then able to send back an animated value ranging from 0.0 to 1.0 representing how much the hand looked like it was trying to play a tiny violin,’ says Creative Applications.

And the final step mapped the number to the volume of the violin ample that was being played back by the openFrameworks app.

Google unveiled Project Soli last year, which was the brain child of Ivan Poupyrev – technical program lead for the search giant.

'Using a tiny, microchip-based radar to track hand movements we can now track the minutest movements and twitches of the human hand to interact with computers and wearable devices,’ he told MailOnline.com.

+3

To build this tiny violin, the team first taught the Wekinator different finger movements that represent the playing of a violin and which ones are not acceptable. Using the software, the team recorded different movements and assigned an output value of 1.0 on the Wekinator slider

The whole world is becoming a gadget that we interact with, with software everywhere, which raises the question how can we react with the entire world?'

The Russian inventor's reply is to track our finger movements creating virtual dials, touchpads, and more.

Google's Project Soli uses invisible radar emanating from a microchip to recognize finger movements. 

In particular, it uses broad beam radar to recognize movement, velocity and distance. 

It works using the 60Ghz radar spectrum at up to 10,000 frames per seconds.   

The team said its biggest challenge was to shrink a shoebox-sized radar - typically used by police in speed traps - into something tiny enough to fit on a microchip.

Inspired by advances in communications being readied for next-generation Wi-Fi called Wi-Gig, Poupyrev's team shrank the components of a radar down to millimeters in just 10 months, while working with German chip maker Infineon.