.Evolving Music.

In this day and age – with the unprecedented level of access to information that people have through the internet and other means – consumers are not nearly as gullible as they used to be. Consumers are not only bombarded with advertising from every angle and have to find a way to filter through it, but they have also become jaded to a degree with traditional sales and advertising methods. I know I have.

One thing I’ve found interesting in this new climate is the tricky ways that some of the big players are partnering up to try to reach this new breed of audience. Big name sponsors like Coca-Cola teaming up with shows like American Idol come as no surprise, but then there are some unlikely marriages that make me think “um…weird” at first, but ultimately make a lot of sense.

As the music industry gets repeatedly dismantled and reinvented, all sorts of interesting partnerships are popping up. For example, Guns N’ Roses and Dr. Pepper? Allegedly, Dr. Pepper is going to great lengths to bully encourage GNR to release Axl’s much anticipated “17-year-in-the-making belabored masterpiece, Chinese Democracy, in 2008″ according to the official press release. Free soda for everyone in America…There is even a blog dedicated to this thing. The writers at Tiny Mix Tapes made some interesting observations, including the following:

1. Dr Pepper is shamelessly trying to tap into the music blogosphere with this campaign.

2. Anyone who posted about this offer is a fool and are playing right into Dr Pepper’s hands.

3. We’re fools.

Guess that makes me one too.

Liquor companies have long been reaching their tentacles into the music industry, with tour sponsorships and what not. But what about a specific liquor brand partnering with a specific band? Like Bacardi and Groove Armada? The English electronic music duo, is (according to Wikipedia) “best known to the music listening public for producing music that have featured in numerous media including advertising campaigns, movies and computer games” so they are no stranger to collaboration.

It seems that now the rum peddlers are increasingly establishing themselves in the dance music space. Jeff Macdonald, global brand director for Bacardi, says “This heralds a new era for ‘bands and brands’ and promises to set a precedent as to how both artists and brands can reap the rewards of a mutually beneficial relationship.”

I’m curious to see if this begins to happen on a smaller scale as well, with unsigned independent artists. As the MySpace/YouTube generation of musicians find fame online, will they also find ways to partner with smaller brands?

Over here at Evolving Music, we’ve covered both the Radiohead and the Nine Inch Nails album release concepts as they tie in directly with the questions and evolution of the music industry that concern MixMatchMusic. While I’ve stated in previous posts that I think Trent Reznor’s tactics on his release were a bit more open source-esque than Radiohead’s, I haven’t gone to great lengths to compare and contrast the two, as I like them both. Luckily for the rest of us who need to judge, categorize, compare and contrast anything these two do, Wired magazine has done just that. Place your votes people!

As I’ve been watching the big record labels crumble and the music industry evolve, I’ve become more and more intrigued by the ease with which independent musicians (and big name artists like Radiohead and NIN) are taking matters into their own hands. Record music without the use of a professional studio? Easy. Promote your work on social networking and music discovery sites? No problem. The next question in my mind is: what are the best places to sell your music online? Thus, I’ve compiled a list of sites to do just that. I’m sure it is by no means complete, so feel free to let me know who I’ve missed. In no particular order:

CD Baby – I first heard of CD Baby years ago when my childhood friend and accomplished musician, Mike Stocksdale, let his friends know that his album was available for purchase through them. The “little online record store that sells albums by independent musicians” has been around for a decade and, according to New Music Ideas, has become “one of the biggest digital distributors on the planet.” As you can see on their about page, artists make $6-$12 per album and get paid weekly.

Amie Street – If you weren’t already familiar with Amie Street, you may have seen them mentioned in conjunction with the Eliot Spitzer scandal. Ashley Alexandra Dupré not only posted a few of her songs on her MySpace, but also adroitly thought to post them on Amie Street where “all songs start free and rise in price the more they are purchased.” Predictably, a bunch of people – being the victims of morbid curiosity that we silly humans are – bought the songs, which subsequently rose to the $.98 max. The company gives 70% of song sales back to the artists.

MixPal – Though I only recently discovered (and briefly blogged about) this service, it’s probably one of my favorites. The idea of being able to set your own price, keep most of the proceeds, be paid immediately though PayPal, and even place a MixLink on any other website makes their approach a very attractive one.

BlastMyMusic – Another site that is all about fans supporting the artists directly, BlastMyMusic lets you buy singles OR albums on the artist’s profile on the site or through the “Music Blaster” on the artist’s website(s). Yes, the Music Blaster is also a facebook app – one where “fans can earn 5% for each song they sell and at the same time help gain further exposure for their favorite bands” to boot! Though artists only get 65% of the profit using BlastMyMusic, the widgetized aspect is pretty sweet.

Stage.FM – Formerly known as Audiri and based on the old mp3.com model, Stage.FM allows you to search for music using a tag cloud and tends to emphasize free music. In a great concise review of the site, New Music Ideas notes that while still a bit buggy, the site is great because: “Stage.FM lets artists sell tracks through the site and keep 100% of the sale price. Artists can set the price for each track, from $0.20 to $1.60, or let visitors download it for free. Money from sales is transferred to the artist’s PayPal account every month. And the Stage.FM music player widget lets artists sell their tracks from their own domain and social networks too.” I also like the “find bands near you” feature.

There are far too many services out there to make a comprehensive list, but if your favorite is not listed above, feel free to leave a comment and name your preferred service – with a link to your profile of course!

Also, stay tuned for some revolutionary new ways to sell your music online (piecemeal, for example) through MixMatchMusic, coming soon to a computer near you.

Now that March Madness is upon us, let’s all join in on the chaos, shall we? Hey, even Obama is doing it. But what if you like the excitement but aren’t particularly enthused about basketball? There are bound to be some alternatives out there…

For example, Philly’s Rock Station, 94WYSP, is hosting “Rock Madness”. There are 64 bands. You fill out your own bracket and should you pick correctly, you win a 42″ HDTV. Of course, the catch is you have to live in the greater Philadelphia area, as per the official rules.

Or, let’s adress another demographic: the nerds. Though not typically huge sports fans, why not let the geeky types join in…but with their own unique approach. A somewhat more mathematical one, let’s say? Check out Owen’s Photolog, in which he predicts – by way of a “bracket-generating algorithm that uses the seeds to generate weights for a random function” – that Kansas will win.

Finally, for the theater-lovers out there, March also means the beginning of Broadway season. Anybody else surprised to see Terrence Howard starring on Broadway? Makes sense though, I guess. The guy blew me away with his acting and singing in Hustle and Flow. I’m sure he’ll kill it.

So whatever your passion this month – be it basketball, music, or otherwise – join the madness. In whichever way you see fit.

In 2006, St. Elsewhere, an album of collaboration between producer Danger Mouse (The Grey Album, Ghetto Pop Life) and rapper Cee-Lo Green (…is the Soul Machine) dropped and instantaneously brought a variety of new mixmatched sounds to the hip-hop industry. The album covered Funk, Soul, R&B, Hip-Hop, Lounge and Electro in equal parts, never hesitating to throw them together and see what came out. This excellent album was an instant hit and spawned the ridiculously popular “Crazy” which began popping up anywhere you could find music. Following the success of the album, the DJ Sound Advice put his own re-mix spin on the tracks by releasing, for free download, Gnarls Biggie, an album comprised of mash-ups between Gnarls Barkley tracks and Notorious B.I.G. vocal tracks. Yesterday, weeks ahead of the scheduled April release date, St. Elsewhere officially became the freshman offering from Gnarls Barkley as they released their sophomore album, The Odd Couple.

Clocking in at 13 tracks and a brief 39 minutes, The Odd Couple finds Danger and Cee-Lo picking up right where their off-beat and stylistically vibrant and diverse St. Elsewhere left off. “Charity Case” opens the album with the funk baseline and oldies feel made popular by Andre 3000’s “Hey Ya.” The female backing vocals and bell chimes help keep Cee-Lo grounded in the track, and the moving rhythm and hand claps help the head keep nodding. Two days ago, when I watched the season finale of AMC’s show Breaking Bad, I thought the song they ended the episode to was a fantastic one. It was haunting, mixing a Western and Soul feel with slow and emotionally infused lyrics reminiscent of Bill Withers vocals. Now imagine my surprise when I get to track two and that song turns out to be “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul.”

“Going On” refreshes the upbeat and clap-happy sounds of the first album, bringing about the feeling that a few more “Crazy”-like songs aren’t too far away. Cee-Lo works over organ samples and a beating drum tempo before Danger Mouse turns the last minute into a atmospheric piece of a more sinister nature complete with fuzzed out electronic influence. Track 4 brings out “Run (I’m a Natural Disaster)”, the first single from the album. The single makes it clear that Gnarls is going to try to capitalize on the retro-as-new feeling that made “Crazy” and “Smiley Faces” so popular. The song kicks off with a moving shout and response chorus of sampled children’s voices that breaks up into Cee-Lo’s manically paced lyrics. Once again, Danger’s production skills take over the last minute of the song as he starts mixing more of Cee-Lo’s singing over the party sound he’s created with the clapping and instrumentation.

The raw emotional happiness of “Run” gives way quickly to a much more somber and dark “Would Be Killer.” Here, Cee-Lo moves slowly over a beat laced with background ambient sounds and record slips which help the entire song feel a bit like vinyl being played backwards on an old 45. He fluctuates into higher ranges in certain parts, yet never feels out of place, which continues to be one of the most surprising and reliable portions of his music…even when he takes his vocals to an extreme, it never feels lost or out of place. “Open Book” kicks off with a frenetic and off-syncopated beat complete with bird sounds and strings in the background. The chorus for this song devolves considerably with Cee-Lo’s screaming tone pushed to the background of the music as a more wall of sound approach engulfs the track. Here though, it feels less like the two are having a good time with the music as it does on other tracks, and a bit more forced, as if they’re getting intentionally darker just to see what it feels like. For this reason, it’s a relief when the more playful Barkley re-emerges on “Whatever,” a track that reminds me of the “Liar Liar” remix in the card scene from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The slower beat provides a nice contrast to some of the previous songs, and the use of Cee-Lo as the chorus vocals show that sometimes things can be intentionally ugly and still work musically within a broader tapestry.

“Surprise” finds Cee-Lo lamenting his lack of a soul mate. An acoustic guitar added on this track softens the sound a bit from the all electronic cuts on the album, but it’s a bit disheartening to hear Danger once again fall back onto the hand claps. The hand clap sound is certainly big right now in popular music, but Danger is capable of more, and when he uses it on the majority of tracks on the album, it becomes hard to ignore as a staple of his beats. This constant hand clapping, while used in very different songs for different purposes, still comes off feeling forced at the end, and a bit disappointing that Danger doesn’t mess around with background sounds that could be used to replace the hand clap on certain songs. But the bigger surprise about “Surprise” is when it’s followed by an electronically backed love ballad of sorts in “No Time Soon.” The music for this song sounds like Danger took some influence from Nine Inch Nails as the heavy machinery feel provides the backdrop for a more melodic approach over the top.

“She Knows” finds the duo slowing down a bit with a lo-fi sound that could be the Price is Right theme song on quaaludes. The 70s airy melodies and simple, slower beat take the pace of the album down a notch while providing it with an even more pronounced retro sounds. “Blind Mary” demonstrates the diversity of this tandem. While the majority of the album skips over various genres, the end results are still directly tied to Gnarls Barkley with the style of retro bordering on hip-hop. On “Blind Mary,” the exploration of tampering with genres starts with an almost carnival-like sound before slipping into an easy going, foot tapping Indie Rock exploration. The end result is a lighthearted jaunt where Cee-Lo’s distinct voice and Danger’s cohesive production (featuring, again, unfortunately, more hand clapping) produce a unique sound that could be featured on a variety of radio stations.

“Neighbors” again keeps the tempo slow and features Cee-Lo’s lyrics with a good deal of distortion on the chorus. The easy hip-hop beat, combined with layers of electronic melody and bass funk create an interesting sound, and Danger keeps it together with a variety of vocal samples interlaced. The album comes to a close with “A Little Better,” a song that starts slowly using vinyl pops with a simple bass line and Cee-Lo talking about past moments in his life and his shortcomings. The drop step of the drums on the chorus, combined with a stair-step bass part and Cee-Lo singing in a soulful and at times gospel-like voice create a very easy song to listen to, fading out towards the end with a series of thank yous.

For any fan of St. Elsewhere, I can’t imagine a better follow up attempt by Gnarls Barkley. While it lacks a song that feels to me as unavoidably popular as “Crazy” was, it has some definite hits on it, and you can never tell what kind of radio and club airplay any of these songs will get if they get a remix makeover from some other DJ. Above all though, the album does a fantastic job at never becoming stagnant. Aside from the hand claps, Danger never relies too heavily on any one genre or production style, and Cee-Lo never lets his rap background influence him to a degree that would detract from the rest of his work. Furthermore, with not a single track clocking in over the 4 minute mark, the songs leave you wanting a bit more as opposed to having you looking for the skip track button. For the latest in the MixMatch style and the artful collaboration of artists and genres, look no further than The Odd Couple.

In a news item that probably shouldn’t surprise us all that much given the recent history of the recording industry and their increasingly desperate attempts to control something that is spiraling quickly out of control, it turns out that the settlements the RIAA has collected from lawsuits with Napster and other file sharing communities have never made it to the artists. Over $400 million dollars, supposedly collected because the artists were losing revenue off of pirated material, has been horded or squandered by the powers that be. While we talk frequently about the diminishing rights of the artists, the new models of distribution and the idea that the record industry is changing rapidly, let us not forget that huge amounts of control still reside with the dinosaurs of the music industry who will do anything to make a buck, even if it’s robbing the exact same artists they claim their legal actions help. Thanks to the consumerist for the update…

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!!!

As I prepare to go make drunk people drunker at the bar today, I leave you with an Irish drinking song from my favorite improv show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?

~Cheers~

I keep watching this video by Jordan Clark over and over. Maybe it’s that the simple melancholy feel of the song (”Irene” by Caribou) fits the rather sad and wistful mood I’m in right now. Or maybe I’m fascinated by the Cirque du Soleil-esque agility with which these guys are demonstrating their rather unusual human movement. Either way, this video is a beautiful example of how to mix and match two unlikely elements together with a surprising outcome. As the Listening Post notes, “with the right editing techniques, it’s possible to breakdance to anything, even low-tempo indie music”.

Speaking of human movement, here’s another one I found interesting. While the kid is not breakdancing per se, it’s pretty amazing what the human body is capable of.

Then again, if you get an early start like this little guy, you can train your body to do all sorts of crazy things. Here’s another badass b-boy video – this time set to more traditional breakdancing music. This guy is off the hook. Watch for the clip at 2:53 when he does push-ups with his feet off the ground…Nuts.

When Radiohead released In Rainbows using the pay what you will download format, it was announced that Trent Reznor of NIN would be releasing something similar for his next album. And so he has, releasing the 36 track Ghosts I-IV album. While Radiohead went simple and released the tracks in a basic “name your price” style, with a physical CD following, Reznor has upped the ante with a multi-tiered release of his album last week. To date, he has realized $1.6 million in orders and over 780,000 transactions.  The method of release, the depth of the material and the options for the listener of Ghosts make the release of In Rainbows look like a half-hearted marketing ploy, even if Radiohead’s initial intention was otherwise.

Ghosts I-IV is not just available as an MP3 download, nor is it, as Radiohead’s was, available for free. What Reznor has done is to release various formats of the album for different prices. At the low range, you can get the first 9/36 tracks for free download. After that, it will only cost you a mere 5 dollars to get all 36 tracks in one of 3 of your choice downloads (Apple Lossless, MP3 or Flac Lossless). All these tracks are DRM free and come with a 40 page PDF booklet as well as various digital goodies like wallpaper. If 5 bucks is too cheap for you, you can bump to 10 and not only be given access to the 36 tracks immediately, but you will also receive a 2 disc hard copy sometime in early April.

For the heavy NIN fan, you can order the $75 deluxe edition, which includes “Ghosts I-IV in a hardcover fabric slipcase containing: 2 audio CDs, 1 data DVD with all 36 tracks in multi-track format, and a Blu-ray disc with Ghosts I-IV in high-definition 96/24 stereo and accompanying slideshow.” Finally, for the audiophile/obsessive in all of us,$300 bucks will get you a limited edition (2500) package, which has already sold out.

While Radiohead routinely operates far outside the typical paradigm for musicians and music distribution, Nine Inch Nails has always followed a more typical release path and popular appeal. Because of this, the marketing, structuring and release of Ghosts trumps that of the In Rainbows release, as Reznor performs the release with a greater eye to packaging and multiple options for the consumer. While you can get 9 free tracks, the majority of fans will have no problem shelling out 5 bucks for 36 of them. This offers Reznor the opportunity to record more profit from the sales, as well as provide more accurate statistics when it comes to breaking down who bought what, and how much consumers were willing to pay for his work.  Reznor, following this release, has called Radiohead’s release of “In Rainbows” as more “gimmick” than consumer gift, and “insincere” due to the fact that there was no album art, the sound quality was downgraded and the main mode of sales has now transferred to a typical label release album.

What’s more is that Reznor has opened up the experience of the album to everyone. Billed as a series of soundscapes to be imagined with various land and cityscapes, Ghosts is a completely instrumental album of various tempos and moods. It covers just about every style NIN fans will recognize from all of his albums, with airy and spacious piano laced tracks to songs that drive from the electronic noise, drums and synths. I’m not going to actively review the 36 tracks here other than to say that they range from instrumental NIN tracks that could be found on any previous album to songs that are reminiscent of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works series.

And here’s where the mix and match element of this concept album really gets exciting…Reznor has invited listeners to create their own videos and post them to YouTube to be evaluated and have the winners presented a few months from now. He’s left song titles off to allow an even blanker canvas for people wanting to make movies to them, and the posting and selection will culminate in a virtual “film festival” of the winners. Now not only has he allowed the consumer to dictate the distribution of his work, but he has created a forum for direct creative interaction.

The fact that the method here has been so well received by consumers, as well as profitable for NIN, leads one to believe that his is but the first in what will become a great series of multi-tiered, optional music purchases that allow far greater interaction with the band and music than ever before. While Radiohead may have opened the door for this kind of idea, Reznor’s dedication to taking the experience a step further for the end listener is a model that will be interesting to follow in the months and years to come.

If ever there was a web browser for the Web 2.0 crowd that loves the idea of mixing and matching everything, Flock is it. I’ve been an avid Firefox user for about a year and a half now after finding it following numerous problems using Safari. Flock took my Firefox and pumped it with steroids. It also took all the new and socially connected web ideas and put them in one place. For starters, it imported all my saved bookmarks and passwords from Firefox, making the transition easy and painless. But all browsers are pretty good at this, right? What does Flock do for you?

Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter are getting larger by the day. More and more people are intent on finding out what other people are up to. On Flock, you sign into your various social websites and it automatically keeps a sidebar of your friends’ updates. No more need to head to the site for the news feeds.

People love sharing pictures and video on the internet. Sign into YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Piczo or Picasa, add friends, and open the streaming media sidebar that allows you to easily email or share links, pictures and videos without leaving the page you’re on.

Obviously, when you bring in the videos, pictures and friends, there’s usually going to be some blogging involved. Flock remembers all of your blogging accounts on Blogger, Blogsome, LiveJournal, Typepad, Wordpress and Xanga, and lets you post to any of them from a simple pop up window on the side. It’s rough pulling together all the photos, links and articles for a blog post some times, which means that the WebClipboard sidebar where you can drag and drop things before adding them to blog posts makes things easy.

Don’t worry, Flock will handle your del.icio.us, Magnolia and Gmail and Yahoo Mail, allowing you to email webstyle or through your default mail application on your computer. Then, it compiles all of this into a “My World” tab that has all of your feeds, friends, blogs, and media streams at a glance. Don’t worry about finding things…in addition to the Google search bar, you can type in and search automatically to Ask, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Facebook and Amazon.

Below, you can see a picture of the window I’m working in right now. It’s got my facebook/youtube feed to the right, a media feed above (with Flickr search engine), tabs and bookmarks. Above the people sidebar, you can see where you click into the news feeds, media streams, blog posts and web clipboard. The ease of use is incredible…before, I would have had to upload this picture to the blog site and link it in. I took this screenshot on the computer, uploaded it in Flock and dropped it into the web clipboard. From there, I just dropped it into this blog box and here it is.