By Ryan Van Etten on 07/14/2010
VideoSong is medium defined by Jack Conte with two rules: 1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice). 2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds). Jack is one half of the indie music duo Pomplamoose, who chose video as their social medium of choice largely due to the magnetic attraction emitted by YouTube.
Posted in Interviews, Music, Music Flux | Tagged anti videosong, band, CDBaby, direct-to-fan, DIY, DIY Musician Podcast, engagement, indie, inspiration, interview, Jack Conte, Kevin Breuner, mp3 sales, music industry, MusicBiz, podcast, Pomplamoose, production, rock/pop, shortform content, social music, video, videosong, viral video, YouTube
By Ryan Van Etten on 07/02/2010
Last month I wrote about five tactics for finding music blogs. Let’s revisit this addiction with three more massive resources and a hit of punk rock. 1. MOG Music Network is a network of music blogs integrated with the social music community MOG. An estimated 800+ external music blogs are now part of MMN—including ours—so MOG it up.
Posted in Music, Music Flux, News, Reviews | Tagged album review, Alkaline Trio, blog aggregators, captaincrawl, Chicago, Matt Allison, Matt Skiba, MOG, MOG Music Network, music blog search, music review, punk, resources, rock/pop, search, This Addiction, video
By Ryan Van Etten on 06/25/2010
I’ll be representing VirtualMusic.tv at this year’s New Music Seminar in New York—a music business geared TED-like event. It’ll be my first time at NMS—I’m stoked to hear ideas and meet people. There’s a lineup of keynote speakers during the day and performances at night. I’ll recap with an editorial. If you’re going—I’d love to meet ya’. Tip: promo code nmsny10 might still work for 2-for-1.
Posted in Events, Music, Music Flux | Tagged conference, flashback, Madonna, MusicBiz, New Music Seminar, NYC, promo code, video
By Ryan Van Etten on 06/04/2010
Tune up, in sixth gear, for 10 bucks. Modeled after the popular pedal, the TC Electronic PolyTune has now cruised into the App Store. Two days ago they released the app with a promotional free price tag for the first two days. They’ve now curbed the promotion but considering the killer feedback we’ve seen so far, it will likely race into the top paid music apps.
Posted in Apps, iPhone Apps, Music, News, Reviews | Tagged app review, gear, iPhone, music apps, polyphonic, PolyTune, TC Electronic, technology, tuner, video
By Ryan Van Etten on 05/26/2010
“You’ve just got to be open and free, because that’s the way people want to get content on the web”, says Dallas Penn. “Don’t be afraid of someone stealing your work so much, just have more work to give, and, if people are stealing it, you know what you’re onto something. You’re moving in the right direction.” continued Penn. Frank Talk summarized it in poetic terms, “If they’re stealing from you, [then] you’re on the right track.”
Posted in Discussion, Infoculture, Media/Journalism, Music, Music Flux | Tagged bandcamp, blogging, blogosphere, blogspot, circular promotion, community, content, copyright law, counterculture, culture, curating music, hip hop, internet, music bloggers, MusicBiz, net neutrality, new media, Oddisee, open, openness, personal brands, video
By Ryan Van Etten on 04/21/2010
Game designer/researcher Jane McGonigal asserts that collaborative videogames are the key to solving our real-world problems. In the video here, she outlines why she considers World of Warcraft to be an “ideal collaborative problem-solving environment.” She discusses four key factors in gaming culture that give gamers an edge at problem-solving—urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning.
Posted in Activism, Education, Gaming, Infoculture | Tagged collaboration, counterculture, creativity, culture, game design, gaming culture, innovation, Jane McGonigal, mindset, MMO, MMORPG, motivation, problem-solving, psychology, social gaming, social intelligence, TED, trust, urgent evoke, video, videogame, virtual worlds, WoW