tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53444895990341639362024-03-21T22:29:29.336-07:00Polarr BeatsBearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5344489599034163936.post-91253729080057531382017-05-31T05:30:00.000-07:002017-05-31T05:30:36.373-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m running out of greetings to start off with so this week
it’ll be a simple “Hi, hello.” So, 7<sup>th</sup> blogpost. This week I want to
talk about my own opinions on what this blogpost is themed on. The internet and
music. I don’t think I’ve really touched on my own feelings on the subject
directly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, generally speaking 3.2 billion people have access to the
internet with 1/3 of the entire earth’s population on social media. Yeah, a lot
of people. So, imagine the opportunity this presents to a young budding artist
that wants to be the next big thing. I think this all stems from the Internet’s
nature of <i>accessibility</i>. I say nature
because currently having access to the Internet is considered a human right in
society, especially when it comes to education. But if we talk specifics then
the Internet provides a myriad of platforms that can enable a new artists
career. I’m talking about Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Spotify,
iTunes, YouTube the list could go on.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For the past dozen weeks, I’ve been conducting research on
the effects of the internet on music promotion and the results of said research
have basically reinforced my original opinions. Digital revenue accounts for
50% of Global sales for music in 2016 and its forecast to go even higher in
2017. Now when you think about it, this really isn’t surprising. Streaming
services have popped up out of nowhere and are being used globally in the
millions. YouTube is being used by some of the biggest labels as launch
platforms for songs as well as Twitter for announcements. The entire music
industry is evolving into a digital market.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But the ones who benefit off this movement the most is the
ones who <i>aren’t </i>making money of their
music career… yet. It’s like I mentioned, artists have all these opportunities
to <i>get </i>noticed. In the past the ways
of marketing yourself was through physical means of playing live shows and handing
out mixtapes. While those methods are still present the Internet turns those
past methods on their head by making it possible for artists to generate their
own spotlight as opposed to looking for an already existing one to stand in. It
all became independent. Take Chance The Rapper for example. He’s won three
Grammys without selling a single album. He makes all his revenue from touring,
merchandise and streaming and he hasn’t signed to any labels in a feat to have
total control over his music. His is a success story that large executives are
keeping an eye on and what is inspiring a new generation of artists.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If Chance can do it then why can’t anyone else. Artists are
now able to organically build their audience entirely on their own and then
further create a management team for themselves without ever being bound by any
contracts. For me it’s a whole new barrel of fish where the fish are starting
to jump of the barrel and land in the ocean. As long as the Internet remains
free and accessible then the possibilities of progression are endless. If Vine
can create a community of content creators who all live in the same apartment
complex why can’t music? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Until Next time, stay tuned<o:p></o:p></div>
Bearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5344489599034163936.post-62238916288211260922017-05-13T03:48:00.001-07:002017-05-13T03:48:36.189-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
Aloha ohana, how are we feeling today? We feeling good? I’m
feeling good. This week I want to delve into a world of music production that
is rarely highlighted or appreciated in the eyes of the public. “Remixing” by
definition means to mix again and this is what happens when a song is remixed.
Tracks from the song are rearranged to alter the balance of the song and new
elements are added that add the remixing artists flavour to the original mix.
Some songs are altered so much that the song can become barely recognisable
from the original. Remixing songs is how a lot of artists in the electronic
scene establish a fan base and then become famous in the mainstream.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Remixing in music has been around since the 70’s and 80’s
where hip hop pioneers such as Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa would
take samples from other songs and mix them together live on a turntable. This
practice is prominent in modern hip hop as well with Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar
and J. Cole using samples from Motown tracks and other sources of inspiration
in their tracks. J. Cole even sampled George W. Bush.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I listen to both hip hop and electronic music religiously
which has made me notice a specific difference in the remix culture of both
genres. Hip hop and rap music builds on <b>top
of</b> a track that has been sampled whereas electronic music builds <b>around</b> a track that has been sampled.
In my opinion, the difference in the arrangement styles stems from the
internet’s hold of modern electronic music.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In one of my past posts I detailed the history and
significance of Soundcloud and how it provided a platform for anybody to post
music. With the introduction of powerful music software, anybody could now make
music without any prior knowledge of music theory. These artists with no prior
music experience would take songs that they like and add their own flair to it.
They would then post it onto online platforms such as Soundcloud and people
would stumble upon the music. As artists got better with production and
sampling the quality of remixes rose. Artists started taking note and labels
started holding competitions for publicity using remixes as a forefront to
reach out to new audiences. Artists such as Kygo started of strictly making
remixes and he was discovered for the quality of the remixes he made. Some of
his most famous works are remixes of Ed Sheeran, Marvin Gaye and Ellie Goulding. My favourite one being his remix of The Weeknd’s “Often”. Kygo was even
commissioned by Coldplay to remix their song Midnight.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Some remixes even generate more noise than the original
song. Off the top of my head I’ve listened to Hippie Sabotages remix of Tove
Lo’s “Habits” than I have the original song. R. Kelly’s classic anthem Ignition
(Remix) is titled that way because? Yes, that’s right, it’s a remix of his own
song Ignition which is actually a groovy song on its own with the classic R.
Kelly bounce.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In my opinion, the only reason remixes aren’t coming out to
the forefront of popular music is because of copyright laws. However, there are
steps forward being made for the recognition of remixes with the establishment of
the Remix awards in 2016. Hopefully soon the art of remixing will become more
known and appreciated publicly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Until next time, stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5344489599034163936.post-59154151155312689892017-05-02T10:37:00.002-07:002017-05-02T10:37:19.115-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
Salutations, to all. This week I kinda just want to have more
of a conversation than anything. I feel like the past 4 blogs I’ve done all
have this tone of an “article” more than anything and my last post, while
enjoyable to write and research, was a little stretch from the main theme of
this blog. So, I want to just try out a shift in structure or tone and see how
it works out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, this week I’m going to run through an interesting point
from an interview I conducted recently with Ffion Williams, a budding recording
artist based in Singapore who I used to go to School with. I wanted to get her opinions
on social media, streaming sites and the internet in general with regards to
the music business especially for someone who is trying to break out onto the
scene and contrast that with what I’ve heard and feel regarding the same topics.<o:p></o:p><br />
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The point I want to bring up from the interview is a mix of opinions
regarding Spotify. I personally use Spotify on a daily basis and pay a monthly
fee for the premium option to remove ads from my playback. I’ve not really thought
about how the artist on the other end of the line is affected by my purchase.
Ffion talked about how Spotify (Singapore) is actually very hands on with
pushing and promoting new artists and has helped her the most so far in her
career. They place new artists onto playlists that are then circled around the
Spotify community. While she’s based in Singapore, Taiwan is the country with
the most first-time listeners. Spotify have also brought her into their
Singapore offices for some press as well as networking with other artists that
are featured on the same playlists.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I love how Spotify is helping new artists in furthering their
horizons considering how some big name, established artists have quite a bone
to pick with them. It’s quite a contrast when you see people like Taylor Swift
pull their music off the streaming platform for monetary reasons however it’s
not like their arguments aren’t invalid. Each artist has their own reasons
however the line is drawn when it comes to the <i>cash-money</i>. Some artists want to convey the point that they think
streaming platforms devalue their music since users have the option to cherry
pick songs from an album as opposed to listening to the whole thing. This
argument is also applied to other platforms such as iTunes that let you
purchase individual songs. Garth Brooks is very vocal about this viewpoint.
Others have their minds fixated on the word “purchase”. For artists to make any
significant revenue from streaming services their songs require an absurd number
of listens which can only be consistently obtained by names such as Beyoncé and
Ed Sheeran. If any revenue is made, then artists only receive a small cut of it
since their record label while bite off a bigger chunk than a Bull Shark. Spotify
have repeatedly stated that 70% of their revenue is being actively flowed back
into the music industry so maybe some of this hatred of Spotify is misdirected.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For me, I believe artists should be rewarded fairly for their
own creative expressions but I am also that person who only listens to 2 – 3 songs
per artists. There are only three albums in my life that I have repeatedly
listened to and I’ve only purchased a digital copy of one of them. If I have to
purchase an entire album to put one song into a personal playlist then I’m just
not going to listen to that song (Illegal downloading is bad, kids). If artists
want to pull all their music from streaming platforms so be it. They will
always have fans who will follow the music.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Until next time, stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></div>
Bearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5344489599034163936.post-4084965008161981152017-04-19T06:01:00.001-07:002017-04-19T06:01:11.986-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening my delightful
daffodils! Today we are going to dive into the theme of movie soundtracks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are some songs out there that are so synonymous with
the movies they were licensed for that there is no way an image or a scene does
not pop into your head. (If you have seen the movie of course) Being featured
in a movie is a form of promotion that can be a great marriage between two
mediums that result in a slingshot effect for an artist or bands career. The
songs become timeless and this results in the movies even being included into
modern pop culture for generations. This can be attributed to the introduction
of streaming services the likes of Spotify and ITunes as well as Youtube.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, if we are going to dive into this topic why not start
with probably one of the biggest there is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rocky Franchise created by Sylvester Stallone contains 7
films including the most recent instalment “Creed”. While the classic trumpeting
anthem of the Rocky movies can be recognized globally the 3<sup>rd</sup> instalment
“Rocky III” can be credited with probably the greatest sports entrance songs
there is; “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, in the beginning Stallone wanted to license “Another One
Bites the Dust” by Queen however that fell through and thus Survivor was given the
opportunity. “Eye of the Tiger” won a Grammy for “Best Rock Performance” and
toped the billboard charts for six consecutive weeks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next we have a classic from “The Breakfast Club”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The song “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” recorded by the Scottish
band Simple Minds was originally offered to big names such as Billy Idol.
Funnily enough, along with Idol, Simple Minds had initially rejected the offer
but were then persuaded to by their label. However, legend says that Simple
Minds only took three hours of their time to rearrange and record the song and
then promptly ignored it until it took the American audience by storm when “The
Breakfast Club” became a massive hit. The song stayed at no.1 on the US Top
Rock Tracks chart for three weeks and stayed on the UK’s chart though 1985 and 1987
even though the song only reached no.7.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now it’s borderline impossible to not belt out the timeless
ballad from one of the most successful films of all time “Titanic”.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As is the running theme it seems, Celine Dion initially did
not want to record the song since she was fresh off recording the theme song
for Beauty and the Beast. James Cameron also did not want to have a full vocal
song to be featured in his movie however changed his mind after deciding that a
hit song would benefit his movie in the long run. His decision was the correct
one in the end since “My Heart Will Go On” won the 1997 Academy Award for best original
song. The Grammy for record of the year was awarded to Dion in 1999 marking the
first time in history for the award to be won by a Canadian. “My Heart Will Go
On” has also been named one of the songs of the century, as it deserves to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The previous three songs mentioned are truly timeless
classics however it doesn’t mean that modern songs cannot share the same claim
to fame.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In my honest opinion, one of the catchiest songs ever
written was released in 2013 as part of the “Despicable Me 2” soundtrack. “Happy”
written, recorded and produced by Pharrell Williams has reached the top of a multitude
of charts worldwide. The song was originally written for CeeLo Green however
CeeLo’s label decided against it. Since “Happy” was so well received worldwide I
believe that it is a great example of how a song can over shadow the movie that
it was a soundtrack of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Movies and music have forever been synonymous with each
other with soundtrack albums being released alongside their visual counterpart.
Which is why, I want to take a quick moment to bring up Guardian of the
Galaxies soundtrack, or even Marvel soundtracks in general, because they have
resulted in the introduction of older classic songs to a new generation of kids
who would never have known they existed. While some the bands featured in Marvel
movies such as ACDC in Iron Man don’t need the promotion per say, it is still
beneficial to the longevity of their sound.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having a song promoted through a movie release has worked in
the past for artists in bands a like and is still consistently being used in
modern days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some other great examples of Movie soundtracks are:<br />
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“I Believe I Can Fly” recorded by R. Kelly for the movie “Space Jam”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">“Falling Slowly” by </span><span style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal;">Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová for the
movie “Once” and was awarded an Oscar for best original song.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">“You’ve
Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman for “Toy story”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Lose
Yourself” written and performed by Eminem for “8 Mile” for which he won a Best Song
Oscar for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Ghostbusters”
by Ray Parker Jr for, yeah you guess it, “Ghostbusters”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Stay
tuned.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
Bearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5344489599034163936.post-56621859437860074142017-03-22T05:13:00.001-07:002017-03-22T05:13:54.968-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
Listen up, girls and boys! Class is in session. This week we
talk about Soundcloud. My past 2 posts have talked about some concepts and
results of online music promotion however I decided it would be a good idea to
outline one of the .com companies that shaped how musicians put their sound out
in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, let’s do a rewind back to Stockholm, 2007. Two
engineering students, Eric Wahlforss and Alexander Ljung, had found a void in
the online space that needed filled. Both had a background in music with Ljung
writing scores for films and Wahlforss releasing an electronic album and
through their experiences in music they had discovered that there was no
simple, straightforward way for a piece of audio to travel between two points
and then to any number of recipients. At the time, this type of media sharing
was already established for other mediums with Flickr being for pictures and
Vimeo being for video but not for music.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzALAvIbL-wwhcuidUXBUo-CCWuxkf38sjRdXP34o8j4yTb0z1Ct-9Y55qTs_jTgq-qevgQJ5cROUhIBjPGpOmR0ewFpMdbiqSaeFMYB0Ale4Zd7S3NSF0I1riW91RTdPEE8u_Tdxofs/s1600/Soundcloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzALAvIbL-wwhcuidUXBUo-CCWuxkf38sjRdXP34o8j4yTb0z1Ct-9Y55qTs_jTgq-qevgQJ5cROUhIBjPGpOmR0ewFpMdbiqSaeFMYB0Ale4Zd7S3NSF0I1riW91RTdPEE8u_Tdxofs/s200/Soundcloud.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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In 2008, Ljung and Wahlforss set up Soundcloud.com in Berlin
to fill this gap. Soundcloud allows users to upload any piece of audio they
want onto their own personal profile. Users can then create “tags” on their
songs in order to make it easier for people to find their music through the
search bar using key words such as Remix, Bass, Live etc. Soundcloud also
provides statistics for users to see how many times their songs were listened
to in total and within the week. A stream acts as your front page as you open
Soundcloud which highlights any new songs that have been released or reposted
by the artists you are following. This includes your own posts as well.
Soundcloud’s free accounts allow up to 120 minutes of audio space however if
you upgrade to one of its subscription services you are then allowed unlimited
upload time as well as access to other statistics that the site provides.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now some of you may be thinking “But what about Myspace?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLxZo6zgNLHEzKHhahqvAS2561w6k5bAFdlTHGCqALU59dI7KkaROBLvJwj1vrafiFZrUeXtVvHjAb2YTAi6cG7ASTbj4a9AgmOdxRiia7Man_fRbgHO1aNev3iyv8HenTEc1_hChXwzc/s1600/Myspace.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="56" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLxZo6zgNLHEzKHhahqvAS2561w6k5bAFdlTHGCqALU59dI7KkaROBLvJwj1vrafiFZrUeXtVvHjAb2YTAi6cG7ASTbj4a9AgmOdxRiia7Man_fRbgHO1aNev3iyv8HenTEc1_hChXwzc/s200/Myspace.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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Hush, my little lamb. You aren’t wrong with bringing up
Myspace since it was dominating the scene in 2007 and had the ability to upload
audio files however the main difference between Myspace and Soundcloud was that
Myspace was designed for the artist and not for the audio. Myspace was social
media and Soundcloud is audio sharing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Since setting up in Berlin in 2008, Soundcloud had
successfully targeted the niche market of audio creators that they wanted to
set up the platform for and due to hitting this niche, Soundcloud had bounced
out into other markets that were looking for an online audio platform. Starting
out with an aim to hit thousands of semi-pro audio producers, Soundcloud to
date has 175 million users that range from podcast creators, kids in bedrooms
with too much free time, chart topping artists and white house representatives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s safe to say that Soundcloud has successfully earned
both its corporate and user value over the years. It is considered “the YouTube
of music” and was valued at up to $1Billion. However, times are tough for the
Berlin based business. In 2015 Soundcloud’s losses grew larger than its
revenues with a $22m dollar intake and a $52m haemorrhage. In 2014, Twitter was
working its way towards a $1billion acquisition of Soundcloud however backed
out due to a myriad of reasons including the head ache inducing copyright issue
that Soundcloud was still discussing with massive music labels such as Sony,
Universal and Warner.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In 2016, Spotify also were in talks of buying Soundcloud
however decided to pull out as well. Currently, there are rumours floating about
that Google is looking towards purchasing Soundcloud for $500m.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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No matter what happens, Soundcloud is currently still losing
money and is at risk of running out of funds by December 2017 if nothing is
changed. What this means for artists and listeners is that they are losing the
biggest and most personal audio sharing platform that the net has to offer. All
those obscure remixes, hundreds of Soundcloud exclusive podcasts, and personally
created playlists will return to that void which Ljung and Wahlforss had
filled.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Soundcloud provided a platform when there wasn’t one and soon
enough that platform might just disappear just like everyone’s best friend Tom.
However, it will forever be known as the “YouTube of Music”.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqY_sFxreNO86cfnMhWUbYnNw78qgd7sficB_4l1DUI8E9BzD4oftonk398M1KmCBMM1wKAzWkSyKFtEPMD6XzaGpqjjkx2iYD_Cik_cTojsWvW3KQh4VYkSLHwP7_pca7DxN2Y0GFjro/s1600/myspace+tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqY_sFxreNO86cfnMhWUbYnNw78qgd7sficB_4l1DUI8E9BzD4oftonk398M1KmCBMM1wKAzWkSyKFtEPMD6XzaGpqjjkx2iYD_Cik_cTojsWvW3KQh4VYkSLHwP7_pca7DxN2Y0GFjro/s200/myspace+tom.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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Until next time, stay tuned.</div>
<o:p></o:p>Bearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5344489599034163936.post-42059585465231385872017-03-10T01:40:00.000-08:002017-03-10T01:40:13.615-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Alright Boys
and Girls put on your lucky underwear, strap on your seatbelts, turn the volume
up to 11 and smile for the camera because on this week’s episode of “Oh yeah
that song” we are going to have a discussion on “Viral Videos”. Of course, to
keep in tune with my blog’s overall theme we will detail the effects of
virality to the promotion of artists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">To start off
with let’s just gloss over what virality is within online mediums. Taken from
oxforddictionaries.com, virality is “<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a;">The tendency of an image, video, or piece of information to be
circulated rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another; the quality or
fact of being viral.” So, for something to go viral it requires a large number
of online users to share or repost a piece of media within a very short amount
of time. The most common type of viral videos can be a singular video being
passed around like a new born baby or it can be a theme that multiple users use
to film themselves hopping onto the virtual bandwagon. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Due to the mob culture of the internet, songs and artists can
become internet sensations overnight skyrocketing them into fame. Social media
has provided the rocket for the rocket fuel that artists produce and have
resulted in some individuals forming a successful career from it. In other
cases, they have only become one hit wonders and have crash landed in the graveyard
of memes that is internet pop culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Now that that has been addressed let’s start this
rollercoaster and see some examples of virality in action. (Warning: some of
these examples may trigger you and bring back some repressed memories. User
discretion is advised)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOd_XDxoFA_xgX9SHLHiN1c7O0Q9YvZBZVp2pW59SIaPE-wCRsqqR1E9TCX_QLAmw?key=OUJLbUl3clJ5UmoxTnFLdWJCZnNiVTVVMVI4dFV3&source=ctrlq.org"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Y7CJfTCzRDDVTp5bsDuVnYIqXTrZCGT3ePrviYPRUUrJwmg_9hGHpNDQt0t_HhcK5srY-3PAB2wyz1LKZp_E0H5cLZGiulzyBJydpAfnnifak1c5LwCq3ERoF3aBlwpH9ex1OQ" /></a>
</div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">First off, let’s look at a duo who have sculpted a career out
of a song going viral. These two lads, Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall, comprise
electronic dance sensation The Chainsmokers. Before they became household names
and regulars at some of the most attended music festivals, The Chainsmokers
rose to fame through the virality of their song #Selfie. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kdemFfbS5H0?ecver=2" style="height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; width: 100%;" width="640"></iframe></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">#Selfie was a song that The Chainsmokers had produced as a
joke targeted at the vanity of society. The song blew up and within 4 weeks it
had 12.1 million views on YouTube. In addition to the song itself, the “Let Me
Take a Selfie” fad surged on Vine with 23,000 videos tagged #letmetakeaselfie.
The Chainsmokers very convincingly proved that they were not one hit wonders
and currently their song “Closer” featuring the siren songstress Halsey was
No.1 on the UK charts for 4 weeks and is currently still in the TOP 40’s thirty-one
weeks after its release.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Next, let’s
look at the faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar end of the spectrum and study the
vocal prowess, lyrical genius, onscreen presence and viral enigma that is
Rebecca Black. This is where that trigger warning becomes relevant.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNzH9MRm8Og-U7kWx6DeTrGoJRgsFkLuZzT19OFse73Lp6xHLbTEAYca10-GrEqww?key=TFVLeGkxUTVtUENTYzdScEU4WVk2Y3k4czZONjBR&source=ctrlq.org"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DMSICyktP0F_rgexBbjTnKl2SoywJKVgJxnrL1FiR0tGQ4vt0SzVJjRHSeOdapQuFJ6k-CdULAh3-1UtdlILxa3KxU8ygiepT33cVtt6exRJ_qgy8OvKy5AN7nCKyEUwc_eAZA" /></a>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In case you
didn’t know, Rebecca Black is an amateur YouTuber who back in March 2011 had a
dream of being a famous singer. Now she’s famous for her singing with her chart
toping debut single “Friday” currently having a staggering 2.5 million dislikes.
During the time that “Friday” was invading everyone’s feeds it had more
dislikes than Justin Bieber’s “Baby”.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kfVsfOSbJY0?ecver=2" style="height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; width: 100%;" width="640"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The video was
shared and posted all over the internet on sites such as Tosh.0, Huffington
Post, Buzzfeed and was a top trend on Twitter after being initially found by
The Daily What. Black even was invited to do live renditions of “Friday” on ABC
Good Morning America and NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Now, I’m not
saying that “Friday” is on my End of Week Party Playlist but the song generated
so much discussion online which she or ARK had no control over. She was very
easily the most detested “singer” during the spring of 2011 where some of the
comments that were targeted towards her were well past the cyber bullying
threshold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Black, however,
was only a one trick pony even after releasing a follow up single titled
“Saturday”. Black however did appear on the music video for Katy Perry’s “Last
Friday Night” and currently is still releasing music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As seen from
these two contrasting examples, virality is the result of the astonishing rate
that information can pass through the internet and due to this, careers can be
made. Some more beneficial than others but the point still stands. Some other examples
of songs that reached fame through trending fads are:<br />
<br />
“What does the fox say – Ylvis”<br />
“Harlem Shake – Baauer”<br />
“Gangnam Style – PSY”<br />
“We Might Be Dead Tomorrow – Soko”<br />
“Never Goona Give You Up – Rick Astley”<br />
“Ultimate – Denzel Curry”<br />
<br />
Now if you must take a life lesson away from this just remember kids, be
careful when posting videos of yourself rapping a few bars over Thomas the tank
engine cause you might just be remembered by 300 million online users as the
Thomas the Tank Engine Kid and that will be your life legacy.<br />
<br />
Stay Tuned.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<o:p></o:p>Bearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5344489599034163936.post-68002789796840557312017-02-17T03:00:00.001-08:002017-02-17T03:00:11.364-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
Howdy, <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Welcome to my blog! My name is Josh and I am a student at North East Scotland College. The
purpose of this blog is to publish posts about how I feel the internet and
online platforms in general have altered music promotion for both recognised
and fresh artists. In other words, my mixtape is fire but why is nobody
listening to it and how do I get people to listen to it. Shameless Soundcloud plug incoming. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/users/194193057&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, hands up how many of you use YouTube to play music in
the background while doing your studies, laundry, workout, cleaning, whatever?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One, two, three, yeah, okay pretty much all of you.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But Josh I prefer to use Spotify instead” you may be
thinking.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perfect, hold that thought. Now, how many of you have
stumbled upon a song on YouTube, or even just an artist, but couldn’t find a
trace of them or the song on Spotify? I know I have. That soul crushing feeling
that your personal playlist will forever be incomplete and that no other song
can fill that silent void happens on a weekly basis for me.<br />
<br />
Don’t fret however my little cub. Almost every obscure cover, remix, bootleg,
flip, you name it, will be posted on Soundcloud more often than not by the
original producer. The way music promotion works online is not dissimilar to
how it is physically, it’s just all interconnected on a much broader scale to
the point where online promotion is done more by the people promoted to than
the promoter itself. On top of this, the entire virtual aspect allows for
producers and artists a like to collaborate almost immediately either in person
or on the other side of the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s take a look at Chance the Rapper’s track “No Problem”
on his Grammy winning mixtape “Coloring Book”. Chance enlisted the creative
minds of Brasstracks, a duo comprising of Ivan Jackson and Conor Rayne that
work around genres from electronic, funk, rap, R&B or anything that comes
to mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/266129708&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>
</div>
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Based in Brooklyn, New York Brasstracks are particularly
known for their incorporation of brass instruments to provide melodies that
pierce through groovy bass and drum lines. Seriously, give them a listen if you
haven’t. Even if they aren’t your thing I’ll give you a sticker for trying.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Brasstracks’ first song off of their Good Love EP<o:p></o:p></div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/233469901&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>
</div>
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<br />
The duo stated that the collaboration with Chance came about
due to the high demand from fans commenting on every single song on their
Soundcloud account asking for the Chicago based MC’s vocals. Ivan then tweeted
the fans demands and tagged Chance not really expecting anything to come from
it. Chance retweeted it and in January 2016 the duo met up with him in L.A. to
record what eventually became the track “No Problem”.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If you’d like to read further on Brasstracks themselves as
well as the collaboration with Chance check out this article by XXL.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/05/brasstracks-interview-making-chance-the-rapper-no-problem/">http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/05/brasstracks-interview-making-chance-the-rapper-no-problem/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
While Chance won 3 Grammy’s in total, Brasstracks shares one
of those Grammy’s for “No Problem”. It’s amazing to think that if that one
single tweet had not been sent and had there not been a constant flow of
comments from their fans on their Soundcloud posts, Brasstracks would be one
track short of a Grammy and international acclaim. I mean, Zane Low played the
track four times in a row on Beats 1 when it dropped. This is but one example
of how the internet has resulted in a wonderful collaboration between artists
who want to work together to make the music they love and the music that their
fans love to listen to.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
THIS SONG WAS BIRTHED FROM MUSIC FANS WHO FIND NEW SHIT ON SOUNDCLOUD THATS SO DOPE THANK YOU FOR PUTTING THIS IN MOTION</div>
— brasstracks (@brasstracks) <a href="https://twitter.com/brasstracks/status/830936395027853312">13 February 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>
<br />
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In further posts to
come, I will be focusing on more specific aspects of online platforms that have
allowed music promotion to evolve while hopefully providing you, the reader, a
light insight into the music production world as well as introducing you to
some artists and genres you may never have heard of.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Stay tuned.</div>
Bearsdontcarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515609316491593096noreply@blogger.com2