The popularity of the internet has literally exploded in our faces with its multimedia offerings such as streaming radio that provide us with an interactive medium rather than just the ‘receiving’ mode that the television seems to provide us with. That’s what makes it so much fun, you know!
You can find independent radio stations or online versions of radio stations in different countries and their states as well as podcasts and music videos that not only transmit the top 40 songs of the week but also can bring back memories of the times gone by in the form of retro music.
The beauty of the internet is that one can find music in the form of streaming radio stations, videos, podcasts, torrents and P2P sites that will allow you to download mp3s and in a slew of other audio formats as well.
And all at no cost!
AOL radio, ShoutCast Radio along with a whole bunch of radio stations categorize music into their genres and playlists that are of the duration of twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. And this means that you can listen to music online anytime and anywhere.
The thing is if you haven’t listened to music on the internet, it is something that you should not miss out!
Lady Gaga is known for her outrageous outfits and out-of-this-world music videos that always leave mouths hanging open after a few minutes of viewing it, but apparently, it only takes a sixteen year old Canadian cutie to topple her over from being the most viewed artist on Youtube. The rumors are true, ladies and gentlemen: Justin Bieber has beat Lady Gaga and has the crown for Youtube’s most viewed video of all time. On Monday morning, Justin Bieber’s teeny bopping hit “Baby” featuring Ludacris apparently had been viewed 250.7 million times, whereas Lady Gaga’s pheonomenal hit “Bad Romance” only had 247.6 hits.
Lady Gaga’s video features bizarre costumes and half - naked dancers dancing and cavorting in what appears to be an auction for Lady Gaga. Her hair and makeup are as usual, out of the ordinary, even featuring cartoonish big eyes at one point. The video has a twisted ending, wherein Lady Gaga burns the winner of the auction in bed. It is a disturbing video, which is why it’s been viewed so frequently. But enter Justin Bieber’s pop music video, featuring a bunch of 8th graders in a bowling alley, showing off their stuff and engaging in the battle of the sexes led by Justin and the pretty girl he is pursuing. She plays hard-to-get and constantly pushes him away, but in the end they walk out of the bowling alley holding hands. “Ah, the pleasures of young, foolish love”, is what this video says. Perhaps it also says cheesy always wins over weird.
So when Justin Bieber heard about his Youtube phenomenon, he went online on Twitter to say thanks to his millions of fans for viewing his music video over and over. Bieber, who was discovered on Youtube, was thankful that people have followed his upward music career on the same website.
With Pop stars and Rock stars popping up all over the place it is difficult to gauge who is making money and who isn’t. Going by YouTube’s count, Justin Bieber should be the greatest artist of all time. The music video to his track “Baby” surpassed all to become the most watched music video of all time on YouTube. To date, over 246 million views have been racked up by the video which means that Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” drops to number two. However this does not prove that Bieber is the top earning artist in the world.
That honor goes to the perennial Irish rockers U2. Bono and the boys reportedly made $130 million thanks to the world tour. According to Forbes.com this figure comprises the tickets sales of $10 million at each stop and revenue from merchandising. Rock seems to be the big earner as number two on the list is AC/DC, the Australian heavy metal group. They earned $114 million, also thanks to their world tour. R&B made an appearance in third place, with Beyoncé raking in $87 million. On the rest of the list, “The Boss” proved that he can still command the crowds, which meant that Springsteen placed fourth in the rankings with $70 million. With all her shenanigans, Britney Spears is still loved by most of the world and she rounds off the top five with a nice haul of $64 million.
Shawn Corey Carter, better known as Jay-Z loses out to Spears by a measly $1 million and falls into sixth place. Lady Gaga grabs seventh place with $62 million, which means the Queen of Pop has to take eighth place as Madonna could only bring in $58 million. Kenny Chesney comes in ninth with $50 million and tenth place is a tie between the Black Eyed Peas and Coldplay as each took in $48 million.
Playing in a small smoky bar, making next to nothing, using a small closet to change… it all sounds very romantic and adventurous. But those conditions that you face are not necessarily what they have to be.
Although it can be difficult for emerging artists to get gigs and find places to perform, they should not settle for whatever scraps that are thrown at them. This does not mean that they should let go of opportunities. Instead it means that every performer should know exactly what they are entitled to in terms of worker’s rights.
Once a person declares that they are a working industry professional, they are protected by a set of standards known as OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards govern the way that working conditions need to be in order to ensure the health of the performer. This includes clean toilets, access to drinking water, provision of a changing room and storage room for equipment, etc. It can also regulate playing time and break time. The industry standard is fifteen minutes of break in between every ninety minute set.
Unfortunately, many performers are not aware of these standards and are therefore taken advantage of by the owners of the establishments that they play in. Once they performer knows the standards they can always complain and take it up with the owners if they are not adhered to. This means that the performer will not be in breach of contract if they refuse to play due to unsafe conditions.
Talk about a facelift. With the transformation of radio into its latest offering in the form of streaming radio, this has exponentially increased the number of listeners for any particular radio station that was just aired in one location.
Of course, the internet with its large user base allows one and all to tune into radio free stations that are located all over. Since the radio stations most listened to, play music from the United States, Britain and Canada in general, most people would choose to find these radio stations over the internet.
Obviously, with a wide selection of music readily available, these radio stations play the latest offerings from popular and offbeat artists as well as music that they have recorded from the past as well. Talk shows, the most popular music for the week in the form of the top 40 as well as radio stations that play particular genres are also available to power internet users.
With the increasing popularity of citizen journalism, this also gives amateur radio jockeys to try their hand at playing music that they love, while having a large medium (the World Wide Web) to prove their mettle in.
No matter what happens after this, internet radio is here to stay and will expand over the next few years with the record labels and offline radio stations following suit. For now, it seems that the internet is diversifying (and will continue to diversify) with a range of multimedia that will make the lives of its users more and more convenient.
Thud thud thud thud… that regular monotonous beat that you might hear emanating from a night club, someone’s car or even their home is the hallmark of a genre of music known as House. House Music can be described generally as music with a hypnotic nature coupled with strong beats.
Its origins can be traced back to Chicago and the late seventies. The origin of the name has never been nailed down properly and several theories are in circulation as to how it could have come about. One states that well known DJ Frankie Knuckles created a brand new type of music by mixing synthesized Euro Pop music with New wave, Industrial, Punk and other types of music. This new offspring was played at the club where he was DJ called The Warehouse - hence the name house music. There is also the story that the genre got its name from the many warehouse parties in the city. The there is the one that says that DJ’s created this music from their homes, because their synthesizers and drum machines were located there and that’s how the name came about.
Nothing short of a time machine can find out about the truth of the origin. However, what is apparent now is that House Music has spread worldwide. From America (where it was born) to Europe to Asia, House has become one of the most popular genres in the world. It has also evolved into many different sub genres which are too numerous to count. At the rate new artists and genres are arriving on the scene, it is safe to say that House Music is here to stay.
Once you are picked up by a record label, you will eventually be asked to sign a music industry contract. This is a very important point in your career. Not only does it mean that your career is possibly about to take off, it also means that you stand to make a lot of money. However, all of this (especially the money aspect) depends on how well you know and understand your contract.
The contract is a legal document that binds you, the artist, with the recording company. After you both place your signatures, there is no going back. This is why the contract needs to be completely understood by you; because you are required to agree to terms that the recording company has set. If the contract requires you to play 250 concerts a year, that is not something you want to say “yes” to. Nor do you want to be short changed on royalties either. You have to understand that no one is out to do you any favors. The only reason a record company will want to sign you up is because they see a chance to make money using your talent. So you have to be careful on how and how far you want to let yourself be exploited.
The reason why most people get into bad deals is that, the contract is swathed in legal jargon. This is difficult to read and also to comprehend. The bottom line here is - get a lawyer. Business is business, so no matter how good the record company people seem, you need to keep your interests covered. You also might want to negotiate for a longer or shorter contract, depending on how you view you future.
The spread of The Internet all over the world has changed many industries radically. The way they operate, approach business and interact with customers has changed forever. The music industry has not been spared either.
The very nature of the way music is purchased has changed. Up until a few years ago, getting music, legally of course, meant that a person had to go to a music store and buy a single or an album. If the song they wanted wasn’t released as a single, they had to buy the whole album. With travelling costs factored in, this amounted to a sizeable cost. Now, all you have to do is go to iTunes or any other such music retailing service and buy whichever tracks you want. Now there is choice.
The way artists can gain exposure has also changed. No longer are they at the mercy of record labels or radio stations. They can upload their videos or music to YouTube or MySpace and within a few days they can be a sensation (providing that the material is good). After that they no longer have to go searching for deals, but deals come searching for them.
Of course with every good thing there is always a bad. Music piracy has grown exponentially as well. With higher bandwidths and better file sharing systems in place, music piracy has soared. Even security measures such as DRM (Digital Rights Management) have not worked very well so far. However, the industry is constantly working towards finding ways to bring these wrongdoers to justice.
There is a good reason why your first studio should cost you nothing. It is because when you start off, you know almost nothing about the industry or how sound should be produced. Investing in expensive equipment and constructing good studio is not advisable at this stage.
Learning how to produce music is not something that can be learned in a day nor is it something that can be learned purely from a book. The process involves understanding all the technical issues associated with recording and manipulating sound. The best way to go about this is to use your home PC.
Using your home PC and the sound card it has, you can begin your venture into recording and producing music. This way your startup cost is zero. In addition to this, you can download open source audio software to keep your costs that way. Couple this with downloading some good tutorials on how to produce music and you are well on your way to becoming a part of the music industry. Granted, the quality of the material you produce won’t be mind blowing; but the knowledge you gain is the important thing here.
Once your knowledge and experience grows you can start making some purchases. Start slowly, maybe by buying a slightly better sound card, then some good microphones, good speakers, etc. The key is to do things incrementally. This way if you lose interest or are forced to switch careers, your financial loss is minimized.
Getting the right mix of people in your band is essential. First and foremost, they have to have the right skills. Second, they need to get along with everyone. This does not mean to say that you should pick people who are plain boring or have no personality. Rather, it means that they have to be people who will handle pressure, commitments and relationships with maturity. This is essential for the long term success of any band.
If you look around the world and back through time you will see that 99.99 % of all bands break up. Sometimes, this is because a band member feels that he/she can make on their own. But most of the time the reason why established bands break up is that personalities and egos clash and creative differences become irreconcilable differences. This is inevitable; but by finding good band members you can put off the inevitable till (hopefully) you are rich and successful.
If you are in a band that has been together for a while and is looking for a new member, for whatever reason, try to get someone that one of you knows. This will help minimize any friction later on and also comforts everyone that the ‘new guy’ is vouched for. If you are putting together a completely new outfit, it would be wise to start with one person, get to know them and then when you are sure you want that person, take them and go hunt for the next one, and so on.
Although time consuming, this method will help you in the long run and help achieve a level of harmony within the band.
