Group items tagged

How nice of Alicia Keys to lend Alicia's Keys to the rest of humanity. Grammy winning award winner Alicia keys has teamed up with KONTAKT to release new software that recreates Alicia Keys' personal grand piano with outstanding authenticity and playability. Now musicians can use Alicia's acclaimed signature piano sound in their own music production, live performance and recreational playing. Using vintage microphones, high-end outboard studio gear and two years worth of meticulously recorded key sampling, Alicia's custom Yamah "C3 Neo" can now be passed down through the community instead of selfishly being hoarded away in some fancy million dollar studio.

These two thoughts are key. Ever thought of display your live show schedule with Google Calendar. Help fans find your gig venues with Google Maps.

Wow. Someone just hit it the nail on the head with this one. George Howard, thinks business development is the key to success in the music biz right now, and i agree with em.

All that studio equipment that you're plunking all of your hard earned cash into deserves to be protected. Nothing shows just how much you don't use all of your fancy equipment like a congregation of dust. CompuCover is a company that makes custom-fit covers for your gear. They've been in business since 1979 so you don't have to worry about them vanishing in thin air when you need a replacement and they're cheaper than the dirt gathered between your Tritons Keys. One custom CompuCover sleeve will set you back a cool $16.95 in comparison to the $50-70 price tag of the competition.

The Greatful Dead knew a thing or two about business. "A group of stoners who somehow got more things right than the suits running the record industry, radio and even some high powered new media businesses." Some great business lessons that could be learned from this group are sprinkled through an article on indisdemusicmedia comparing their biz model to that of the Radio Industry's. Some of these points should be laser sketched into your brain (if you simply can't remember). According to the Atlantic Magazine article your fans are key to your ultimate success. But not all your fans. As with every musician you have different levels of fans, cater to only your most loyalist fans because their the ones that are going to purchase your music. Get a team together consisting of the band the road crew and and other organization members and periodically rotate the final decision makers. Your not the only one with good ideas on how to run things. Give it away until they buy it. Some things in life are uncontrollable (death, natural disasters and file sharing fall into this category) Don't try to fight against it. Rather embrace it and exploit it for your own benefit. The greatful dead exemplified this by not having an hernia upon the realization that their fans were taping their shows. Instead they used it to increase demand and drive the sales of other revenue streams. The same way that humanity doesn't fight against death but instead uses it to make the quality of life better the same way a musician should approach the death of the CD. Just because the CD has to die, doesn't mean that your career has to go to.

There's an App for everything these days and soon there's going to be hardware for every app, are you intrigued yet. Ion has just released this beatiful 25-key MIDI keyboard, that is confirmed to be open to application developers. Would you be interested in hooking your iPhone up to a midi keyboard or will nothing replace the satisfaction of plugging your keyboard into a mac and using your favorite software studio.

I'm sure you've been hit with a barrage of goal setting blogs and news clippings since the ball dropped for 2010. I know i have, but nothing really struck a chord like the HAPPY HEALTHY WEALTHY game. READ MORE to find out how you can play.

First came (the iphone controller i reported on b4) and now Akai has released the 25 key 3 engine virtual analogue iPK25 keyboard controller, sythstation for the iphone and ipod touch. The iPK25 is complete with a mixer, 8 voice polyphany for drum and synth and here's the kicker, can be used as a stand alone midi controller for the software of your choice. .

Measurement is the key to success. In the industry this measurement is called (intimidating music please) - THE SOUNDSCAN. Fortunately i've never had to judge my artistic worth based off the soundscan, but for those of us lucky and unlucky enough to under go this tracking system it can be a psychological torment, sucking the creativity and positivity right out of a project. Happily we have a new form of measurement that shifts from pessimism to optimism. READ MORE to find out what they are.

Demands have changed in the last decade, too. Volume levels have increased in concerts, although the key to good sound is not volume, according to Wyland. What is important is the dynamic range, or being able to hear the softer and detailed sounds just as clearly as the louder riffs. - A good piece for our is music getting too loud segment.

In a panel discussion at the CMJ Music Marathon the Path of a Hit Song seemed to be highlight of the event. Those panelists who have had Hit Song success say that radio is key. Mass hits come from mass exposure. READ MORE.