The image above is based on the numbers in my Gmail over the last 365 days. For every 10 emails that I received, I deleted 7, I saved 3, and replied to 1. Of course some of those incoming emails were confirmations and newsletter-type bullshit. Then there’s the opposite—the few awesome ones that make it all worthwhile. I prefer to meet people in person rather than in emails.

I’d rather focus my free time on writing articles than emails. I’d rather write articles that come out of my own head than ones that get pushed onto me. I’d rather deliver unexpected awesomeness than predictable mediocrity. I’d rather make cars than faster horses. We’re not TechCrunch or Billboard—we’re virtualmusic.TV.

I was especially irked last month after writing about GigsWiz and Tom Silverman. Both those articles were pushed to me through their public relations agency. Less motivated, I still took the time to write and design them. Neither GigsWiz nor Silverman nor their agency retweeted them. I was offended.

Ironic: It’s a coincidence I mention “public relations.” I’d always thought PR was a dirty word. The news is that last month I took a full-time job as a digital strategist for Stern + Associates—a public relations agency—and thus far it’s amazing. All views that I express here are (of course) still my own.

Even more so from now on, my promises to you as a writer are raw awesomeness and total transparency. The email generation is dying because emails are unlike drugs and there’s so much art and knowledge to take in outside of the inbox. P.S. Call me when think-to-text technology is available.

This also confirms my theory that anything can be made into a punk rock song. It would also be good behind a diesel beat! Before the 2010 heat map, my most popular post was 10 Engineering Rules. Each line of the song makes reference to one of the top posts on the blog, with reference to one or two extra to fill in the back-story. Linkable lyrics are below. Tabbed lyrics are right here.

The sky’s the limit—Ryan Van Etten self-photographed in summer 2010 and ready to take on the world in 2011.

For years I joked that my New Year’s resolution was to get into hard drugs, and have good posture. Well, luckily for my health I never followed through with the former. Actually it might be luckier for your sanity too. I have to say though that my posture has stayed pretty straight. Hell, I think I’m still getting taller at 31.

I know it’s already a month in. It felt like a 25-day jet lag that just avoided a crash landing when I saw a moment of clarity. I have a new resolution for this year—be edgier. And I mean that in a ‘challenge the norms’ and ‘push the motha’ f’n envelope’ sort of way. You can dig it or not. (FYI: You don’t need drugs to be edgy.)

be edgier.

“If you want to build a brand, you should own the .COM domain.”
–Chris Vinson/Bandzoogle.com

I consider my URL selection of virtualmusic.tv as a minor fail. Of course when I launched the site in July 2009 I thought it was brilliant, but truly, only hindsight is 20/20. Last summer a conversation with Bandzoogle founder Chris Vinson helped confirmed in my mind that the URL choice of virtualmusic.tv was not ideal for the core reason above—it’s no .COM.

There are of course plenty of .TV urls that work well: e.g. motherboard.tv, jawbone.tv, or justin.tv. Many people like .TV for video sites because it’s the abbreviation for television. Yet the .TV extension is actually the country extension for Tuvalu—a tiny group of islands in the Pacific that even smarter-than-5th-grader adults can’t locate on a map.

Aside from the extension, there are other issues. Due to MMORPGs, people increasingly associate the word “virtual” with virtual worlds, which is not what this site is about. This site is about online music culture and the technology that surrounds it. It’s about pushing the music industry forward.

Doesn’t the name ‘Music Flux’ align better with the content? Music culture and business will always be in a state of flux, right? (Other ideas?)

Like ‘digital music,’ the phrase ‘virtual music’ is somewhat of a generic word pair, making it hard to show up at the top of Google search results. One solid formula for a strong unique URL is:

(keyword) + (2nd word or keyword not typically phrased with 1st word) + .COM

e.g. ticket + fly + .COM

e.g. band + zoogle + .COM

e.g. sound + cloud + .COM

A name change can be a damaging blow if executed poorly or done for the wrong reasons. I’ve tried here to present a solid case for a URL change. I think musicflux.com is more descriptive, unique, memorable, and stronger as a brand identity. Do you? I’d really appreciate your input in the poll below and in the comments…because I don’t want to F it up. (Note: Functionality-wise the change for readers would be pretty seamless, as all existing links and feeds would redirect.)

Thank you! // More end of the year 2010 analysis is on deck.

Update 1/17/2010: We’re not changing it.

I was actually a bit relieved. I had been worried it was the motherboard—a much harder swap out. Needless to say I was going to need to replace the card, and, since I use my computer all the time, I was going to need to replace it pretty fast. I went to Staples and ended up dropping $120 on a new one, a GeForce 9500 GT, which I had to split between two debit cards because neither of my accounts had enough to cover it on their own. Problem solved for now—fingers crossed—but if any generous hearts would like to help me and the site out by contributing to the repair fund, please write or PayPal to virtualmusictv@gmail.com and in return I’ll hook you up with some free advertising and/or a mention on the site. I’ve stoked about a really sweet new article that’s an inside look on a new music startup, so stay tuned for that this weekend—I think you guys are really going to like it—and for the dads out there (not me!), happy Father’s Day!

Indaba Music is one of many web-based remixing applications.

Remixing in the current, virtual realm is enabled by online, collaborative, remixing platforms like Indaba Music and JamGlue. Remixing is widespread through networks that share collaborated audio like ccMixter and SoundCloud. Our Remixed section is meant to tune into remixes created using virtual platforms and collaboration networks. We’re open to covering remixes from all genres—the more diverse the better.

If you are interested in writing for this section, then please email virtualmusictv@gmail.com. Please review our content guidelines before submitting entries. Not a writer? You can help contribute by letting us know the remixes that you’d like to see featured. For your reference, the ongoing list of remixing applications and collaborative production networks listed below is viewable at Delicious » ryanve » remixing collaboration apps.

We’re running an image series, called Photo Journal, where we showcase live music photos, deviations, and digital artwork relating to music, arts, virtuality, and technology. The is an open-ended topic so feel free to be as creative. Since we want to promote both digital artwork and openness, we urge photographers and artists to release their images under these Creative Commons license terms.

Submitting Images

Photographers/artists can submit photos to our Flickr Group and/or write to us at art@virtualmusic.tv. If sending photos, please include the following info:

• Artist Name or Username
• Image Title and Description (Optional)
• Image Link (on Flickr etc.)