MTV has bounced back from the disappointment of the last few years and it is now the largest online music destination according to ComScore. The MTV Music Group had over 53 million unique visitors for August, which included sites like MTV.com, VH1.com and CMT.com combined. It’s a 165% year-over-year increase.
Vevo came in second on the list at 49.3 million, MySpace Music third at 26.3 million, AOL Music fourth at 21.9 million, and ToneFuse Media fifth at 19.1 million.
MTV says it is working on additional digital music initiatives set to launch before the end of the year, including an in-development new music site.
One of our users has uploaded this video to his youtube page, demonstrating how easy it is to have your music digitally distributed. Why not give it a watch and have a little think about it?
The magazine industry is in heavy decline and the latest casualty is music magazine Paste. Paste magazine announced yesterday that it will no longer publish a print edition.
“Struggles with mounting debt were made public last year when our readers responded with generosity to save the magazine. But the prolonged downturn of the ad market has forced a hiatus”, according to a post on the site. Moving to web-only has hurt other publications, but the magazine’s staff vows to fight on. “Paste, while considering strategic alternatives, is focusing on its digital assets, including PasteMagazine.com.”
“We thank all of those who have shown such tremendous support to a vision of independent media focused on Signs of Life in Music, Film & Culture, including subscribers, advertisers, writers, photographers, illustrators, publicists, record labels, movie studios, book & game publishers and others in the press.”
Good morning and welcome to your bank holiday weekend. I hope you’re doing something fun. I’m working every day of it so whilst I hope you’re doing something fun, I also hope it gets ruined by British bank holiday weather. If you do find yourself stuck in a flat watching the rain you’ll probably want some music to make your disappointment slightly easier to swallow.
A good place to start this weekend is with Jimmy Eat World’s new single ‘My Best Theory’. I had completely forgotten that this band even existed and to be honest the song isn’t my thing at all, but they have always seemed like such nice guys and been so good with the internet that I had to add this link. Please listen.
Next is an album mash up by The Glitch Mob. If you don’t know much about them, I suggest you visit their website by clicking here. Here they have condensed an album by Everything Everything into one track.
The internet is a wonderful thing. It has liberated the small artist and gifted them complete freedom over the release of their work. The result of this is artists who would have 10 years ago had no chance of building up a fan base outside of their home town can build intimate relationships through their music with people living anywhere in the world. What an age we live in! Music being in ‘the cloud’ excites me more than music being in a live venue. This is why I was delighted yesterday to hear that Alex Ljung had made it onto the Top 30 Power Players Under 30 Billboard list: Where then is the downside to all this modern age tomfoolery? Well, with such freedom artists hypothetically have nothing stopping them from releasing as much music as they want, which *might* cloud their judgment and on occasion disable their quality control filter. As a result a good artist could have their image tainted by releasing a few too many duds that a record label may have advised against.
Hello Inkysmudge! Does any of the above sound familiar?
The band have released 4 albums/E.P’s in 9 months according to their website. They are a band that I think perfectly demonstrate my above point. I don’t dislike Inkysmudge by any stretch of the imagination, at their best they reminded me of early Eels and seem extraordinarily charismatic.
Linked below is a track that I was emailed by a member of the band which he described as “the most representative” example of their work. Fine. It’s a perfectly good song that I’m sure many of you will like. The problem is that if you go to their website you will find far too many songs that sound pretty darn similar.
My initial aim was to review a record of theirs, but sadly I found all four too hard to tell apart and released too close together. Instead I published this rather unkind attack, which Inkysmudge certainly don’t deserve to have aimed entirely at them.
I hope that my thoughts have at least entertained you.
Up to anything exciting this weekend? Maybe a garden party, going out clubbing or just hanging out on your own at home starring at your bum? All of these things I’m sure would be improved with some new music attacking your ear drum.
Here are some of my favourite free SoundCloud play lists that I’ve been made aware of this week.
If you would like something to be included in further blog posts then please get in touch; luke@routenote.com or @monkeyhotel
First, here’s NME’s playlist of the 50 best new bands from 2010. There’s some really good stuff in here, the highlight for me being Darwin Deez (number 44). This is a good, reliable playlist that will happily whir away in the background whilst you get up to whatever sordid activities you choose to over the weekend.
Next, an artist I plugged earlier this week in my music suggestions, Ambeson. If you did the honourable thing and bothered to listen to the album I uploaded earlier in the week and liked it, then why not try his remix playlist? Varied, eclectic and relaxing stuff. Ideal for that post clubbing chill out session (yes, sometimes I like to talk like a moron, what of it?).
And finally some Danish dance music. Here is the upcoming releases set from Danish based indie label Melonsound. Another solid playlist that you should be able to happily play in the background at any social gathering without too many complaints.
Online music video portal Vevo has launched its app for iPhone and iPod touch this morning (App Store link). The application is completely free and lets users find and watch music video, create playlists and more.
The app will access to Vevo’s entire catalogue, which currently stands at 20,000 videos from more than 7,000 artists. Additionally, the Vevo iPhone app will include social media sharing options, so you can tell your friends about which video you are liking via Twitter, Facebook or email. The app also ties into iPhone’s GPS feature, by letting users see what videos are being watched around their current location.
Currently the application is only available in the US, but Im sure we will be seeing it here soon in the UK.
Before the end of July its rumoured that HMV will be launching their own digital download store. HMV has been a main player in the world of CD sales, now they have noticed the rise of digital and want part of that market.
HMV have been running hmvdigital.com for serveral months now, but on in a beta sense. Prices are currently £0.99 per single and around £7.99 for an album. These prices seems very similar to iTunes, so why would anyone think of purchasing on HMV instead of iTunes?
HMV will only be launching their download store in the UK, but Im sure over time they will hit all the other major music markets.
30th December 1915 – this is thought to be the date when a Public Address system was first used. It is humbling to know that a leap of only one hundred years takes us to a world of acoustic music by default. In this bygone world loudness is only available to large ensembles; a man alone can no longer fill a stadium with his songs or his kazoo.
Back in 2010, in southern England, there is a movement spreading named Pure Acoustica. This is not a record label or a genre as such; it is instead a collective of artists shepherded by the term’s founder, and fellow acoustic musician, Nick Tann. Nick is devoted to encouraging and promoting independent musicians – in particular acoustic musicians – and has a well-subscribed podcast that musicians/bands from around the globe are welcome to submit music for. Pure Acoustica is the alignment of Nick’s championing of independent artists with an ethos: the performance of music without microphones or amplifiers. While the pursuit of purity is nothing new, the intimacy that can be found in filling a room with an unaided voice is something worth pursuing. An audience must quieten to hear it; a performer must project their voice to an open space, not murmur softly into a hyped microphone like a latenight DJ.
But this article is not about a live performance, it is about singer-songwriter Tom Caulfield’s mini-album Bare Bones, recorded under the umbrella of Pure Acoustica. So how does Pure Acoustica translate to recording? An explanation can be found from Tom’s Bandcamp page.
[Bare Bones was] recorded the Pure Acoustica way; just a pair of nice microphones, all one take, no overdubs or drop-ins. No fancy effects, not even reverb. Just as if Tom was playing in your front room.
There is a problem when working to a strict ethos – it can sometimes sound better on paper than it does in practice. Audiences love to ‘see’ live performances, to match the artist’s physical effort with every nuance of the sound. But the abstract world of recorded sound is a cold blind place and it is for that reason that the quest for warmth and character on record has been so far-reaching.
Listening to Good You Got Away, with its hints of Bon Iver and its vivid storytelling, I am not wholly convinced by Tom’s vocal. I am sensitive to him holding back on some lines, while others flow much freer and without being able to watch him perform, the only story I can follow is what the vocal gives; the subtext of a man giving a single take is soon lost and forgotten. I’m inclined to wonder what it could have sounded like without the pressure of nailing it ‘all-in-one’ and with the facility to add a little reverb on his voice. This may have made an already sweet song even more magical.
Doomed To Be Beautiful is evocative of Tom Waits but lacking the incredible warmth of his recordings or grit of his voice. I do not think Mr Caulfield should aim to copy Mr Waits, but instead find a character to hang this delicate song upon. Personally, I would have loved to have heard some cello singing against Tom’s parched take. Catholic Girls confirms that Tom has a feel and talent for lyrics. ‘Everyone knows what Catholic Girls are like’ is a wonderful turn of phrase for a chorus and is a highlight of the album. Miss Valentines Last Stand continues with the rush of rhyming Jesus with Margaritas – very impressive – and the album closes with a gently funky guitar instrumental. I can’t help but wish it had some harmonica, or whistling or anything accompanying it, lovely though it is.
While Bare Bones is a fine document of Tom’s songs, this album trades magic for its ethos and this effectively stops it from flourishing. Pure Acoustica’s mandate makes excellent sense for live performances and I can thoroughly recommend going to see Tom and other Pure Acoustica artists live, in their natural habitat. For future recordings, I would suggest they either go to the great lengths of hiring chapels and candles to attempt the ultimate in one-take-wonders, or allow themselves a little more creative flexibility.
Buy a ‘Bare Bones’ CD (or download for free) here.
MTV has bounced back from the disappointment of the last few years and it is now the largest online music destination according to ComScore. The MTV Music Group had over 53 million unique visitors for August, which included sites like MTV.com, VH1.com and CMT.com combined. It’s a 165% year-over-year increase.
