Just How Good Is Facebook's "Listen With" Button For Musicians?

You’re a musician, you’ve read about Facebook’s new “Listen With” button, and you’re wondering exactly how this new feature can help you spread your music. OK, bear with me…

As you know by now, the “Listen With” button lets your friends listen to  the songs you’re playing while you’re online. Well, I want to call your attention to how friends interact with these songs.

Each time a friend clicks on the “Listen With” button, the chat room that’s opened for your friend to talk with you will also display a link back to the artist’s Facebook Page. So, checking out that artist’s profile becomes as easy as 1-2-3. No need to hunt for information all over the Internet.

From a marketing point of view, I don’t have to tell you how cool this is. If you’re the artist at the center of it all, the “Listen With” button can make people who’s never heard of you before head down to your profile, and go through your bio, your songs and your merchandise. They’ll even get to buy tickets for upcoming shows. Everything will be just one click away.

This is the first time since Facebook launched it’s music partnerships that the company does something which lets artists gain fans so easily. Seen in this light, Facebook’s alliance with Spotify was just the beginning of an unparalleled incursion in the music scene. Is 2012 going to be the year in which music goes truly social? With the evidence we have at hand, a case can certainly be made.

Now You Can Listen To Music With Up To 50 Facebook Friends At The Same Time

Facebook began rolling its “Listen With” button last week, and the response has been unanimous. It rocks.

In a nutshell, what this button does is to let you listen to music with as many as 50 different friends at the very same time. When this button is activated, friends can see a music note icon next to your name in chat. This means that you’re listening to a song, and by clicking on the button they can listen to it with you in real time. The button also opens a chat room for you and your friend, and posts a story to your news feed that goes along the lines of “Peter is listening to music with Stephen.”

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this new service is dealing a tremendous blow to Turntable.fm. Up until now, that was the one service you had to use for synchronous listening with friends. Well, now that Facebook is playing in that ballpark Turntable.fm will have to think of something different to survive. Concentrating on its music discovery capabilities by fostering public listening rooms and sessions with celebrity DJs could be a good move.

But not that it could do a lot more now that its users have been entinced by a more widely-adopted service such as Facebook, really. It’s the one card left for it to play.

For The First Time In Ages, Music Sales Reports Don't Look Like This

Nielsen and Billboard have just released their 2011 Music Industry Report, and for the first time in eight years the number of total albums sold has gone up. You can check the figures here. And when you do so, you’ll also see that for the first time ever digital sales have beat phsycal music sales.

Still, just because sales are up from 2010 that doesn’t mean the industry’s “saved” or anything like that. It’s the beginning of a recovery process that will take a good couple of years.

And there should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that services like Spotify, Grooveshark and Rdio are to thank for this increase in sales. If anything, these services are responsible for instilling something that was unthinkable just some years ago: the concept of listening to music legally online.

It’s all gone full circle. Digital music hurt the industry at first, but now it’s making people support their favorite artists with their wallets again.

So, contrary to what lots of people predicted, digital music didn’t kill the industry in the end. It did exactly the opposite, giving it a whole new lease of life when least expected. It’ll be really interesting to see what the music report for 2012 looks like.

Provided the world hasn’t ended by then, that’s it.

My, the state these Mayans have left us all in…

Now Everybody Can Access Paul McCartney's Own Music Collection

Terrific news for Macca fans. The legendary musician has launched a music sharing site that lets his fans immerse themselves in his own personal collection. All of Paul’s music and media has been digitized (that’s five decades worth of data), and folks like you and me can listen to all the rare records he’s collected over the years, and both watch videos and view photos that only people close to Paul had access to until now. Check it out here.

The site details McCartney’s post-Beatles career in exhaustive detail. Minute information on all the concerts McCarney has ever played is provided, and you’ll also get to see all the albums any song of Paul has been included in. And links to buy them all are available, of course.

Need more? OK, what about the live studio feature that lets you remix Paul’s song? You can do that for free, and then (if you feel the results are particularly glorious) have them shared on the site for everybody else to remember that Paul is not dead.

And those of you who with the money to spend can buy a premium membership, and create playlists with your own songs. You can actually have them streamed on Macca’s own radio.

It’s great to see the work of some of the most inventive and talented musicians ever finally getting its right place online. This new site and last year’s long-overdue announcement that The Beatles music was finally becoming available on iTunes are the kind to have not only Beatlemaniacs but also lovers of true music singing hosannas.

The only question I have, now, is which way to go from here. Which other artists deserve a similar treatment? My money’s obviously on The Who, but I’d love to know what you think. Don’t go away without leaving a comment below!

Kanye West surely knows how to make headlines.

Sunday night saw him tweeting one his longest rants ever. Over the course of 86 tweets, he announced the creation of a company that will be named after his late mother, Donda. While Kanye didn’t exactly explain what the new venture will be about, he did offered the following gem in one of his final tweets of the night:

There’s nothing like aiming high, huh?

It’s easy to scoff at some of the notions Kanye tweeted (another update said that Donda will have 22 different divisions, and will create products and experiences that anybody could afford). At the same time, one can’t help being curious what one of the most successful hip-hop artists of the last couple of years can actually do with all his acumen.

I’m lending Kanye my ear until he announces exactly what on Earth Donda is all about.

And you? Will you let ‘im finish? Or has he stayed his welcome already?

And here I was, thinking that making music with a Gameboy could only be taken this far:

It turns out someone did try and improve the Gameboy’s audio capabilities quite recently.  Just look at this Kickstarter project. It added a resonant low pass analog filter into the classic Nintendo Gameboy that became all the rage in the 90s for extra audio supremacy.

Well, for a couple of new effects at least.

It was all done by placing the filter inside the battery’s compartment, with external controls being used for cutoff, resonance, bypass and envelope follower. The filter could operate both in mono and in stereo mode.

See it all for yourself:

A pity the team failed to get the funding they needed. I’d be pleased to know about any future project of theirs.

Add Your Voice To Hans Zimmer's Score For "The Dark Knight Rises" Via UJAM!

With “Batman: The Dark Knight” having become one of the most popular movies of the last decade (it currently ranks ninth on IMDb’s list of the Top 500 movies in history), Warner was sure to milk the final part of the trilogy for all it’s worth. And that’s exactly what has happened, with teasers and trailers cropping up everywhere, a full year before the movie (titled “The Dark Knight Rises”) is set to hit theaters.

And Warner’s latest promotional ploy is one you’d most likely be interested in. The movie’s composer is no other than Hans Zimmer (yes, the man behind the score for “The Phantom Of The Opera” and countless others), and he’s inviting people to contribute to the film’s score.

It’s all done via UJAM, with you recording and submitting a chant to be used in a massive chorus at some point in “The Dark Knight Rises”.

And just to make it clear who this initiative is aimed at, let me quote the man himself:

“There is no such thing as out-of-tune, no timing we can’t fix later. If you mumble, growl, scream or whisper, it’s all good. Make it yours. If you only get halfway through, no problem! Do it alone, bring your friends, but do it with energy and commitment.

Let your voice be heard and be a part of our adventure!”

Don’t complain you weren’t invited later…

iPhone and iPod Touch Users Can Now Run GarageBand On Their iDevices

After having been introduced on the iPad earlier this year, Apple’s GarageBand has become available on the screens of iPhone and iPod Touch users everywhere. It costs $4.99 (iTunes link), and much like its iPad counterpart it lets you plug in your electric guitar and mic to record yourself playing. Plus, the app comes with touch instruments like keyboards, drums and basses. And tons of sound effects are also included, along with a sampler and more than 250 professional loops you can use as backing for any song of yours.

These are the full features of GarageBand, as listed by Apple itself.

• Create custom chords for Smart Instruments
• Support for 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures
• Reset song key without transposing original recordings
• Transpose songs in semitones or full octaves
• Additional quantization options for recordings including, straight, triplet and swing
• New audio export quality settings for AAC and AIFF (Uncompressed)
• Arpeggiator available in Smart Keyboard
• Adjustable velocity settings for Touch Instruments
• Numerous enhancements, including automatic fade out and improved audio import options

"Person Of Interest" Is Rebecca Black's Newest Single

One of the most-discussed (and also most-reviled) figures of last year is back for more. Internet artist Rebecca Black has just released her third single. It’s called “Person Of Interest”, and it revolves around the relationship of a girl (played by Rebecca) with a Justin Bieber look-alike.

As you can see, it’s a much better effort than her debut, the widely-despised “Friday”. Yet, that hasn’t stopped haters for voting it down on YouTube. As of the time of writing this, it has received no less than 75,000 dislikes (almost twice the number of likes it has got).

And the comments the video has received are primarily negative, with people picking on her lyrics, her singing, her looks… That can’t be helped, of course. It’s hard to think of Rebecca shaking her legacy anytime soon.

And you? What do you think of Rebecca’s newest song? Is it a step forward, or is it basically more of the same? Just to refresh your memory, this is “Friday”:

Sonic Youth Playing The Second Night Of The Primavera 0 Festival

Yesterday, Sonic Youth played Uruguay for the first time in their three-decade career. The legendary New Yorkers headlined the second night of Primavera 0, a new music festival that’s brought many international acts to the country for the very first time. Just last week Beady Eye made a great Uruguayan debut, setting the opening night of the festival ablaze along with Uruguayan rockers Astroboy.

And yesterday, it was Sonic Youth’s turn to play to a Uruguayan audience for the first time. The crowd was decidedly different this time around, with much older folks in attendance. The show itself started too early (7 PM on a weekday) so I wasn’t surprised that the venue was half-empty when it all began. The Teatro de Verano became slowly crowded as the two openers played their sets.

Banda De Turistas

Argentinean band “Banda de Turistas” played tightly and with determination, while Uruguayan alt rockers “La Hermana Menor” ran through a set that had the audience captivated for most of its duration. They lost it towards the end, with most people where I was criticizing the slow songs they used to close their performance. And it didn’t help that some idiot in the audience kept shouting insults at them whenever the music stopped.

La Hermana Menor

Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley and Mark Ibold  came onstage at 10:00 PM. Sonic Youth played a set that included highlights from all over its career, but (as it was only suitable) the emphasis was put on the band’s older compositions. They included songs from the closest they came to a commercial peak such as “Teen Age Riot” (from the Daydream Nation album, their major label debut from 1988) and newest cuts like “Sacred Trickster” and “What We Know”. Both kind of compositions were received rapturously, and the band did all their trademark tricks. Although they used no water bottles, screwdrivers found their way in and out of their guitars, and strident passages were used to interconnect different songs.

After a set that lasted a little more than one hour, they came back onstage twice. The first encore was “Death Valley 69″, after which some people started to leave, thinking the concert was definitely over. Personally, I was sure that couldn’t be the case. We were all clapping and chanting wildly, and it was Sonic Youth’s first time in Uruguay. So, I wasn’t surprised when the band hit the stage yet again. They played the Evol-age song “Tom Violence”, after which they took their final bows.

When I was making my way out of the venue, I ran into lots of friends and some well-known Uruguayan artists that had all attended the show. Leaving aside a (sort of) disappointment that the band had omitted certain songs (hey, give them a break – we’re talking about a career spanning three decades here), we all agreed on the same. It’s not often that we get to see artists of this caliber playing our country. Although Sonic Youth has never been in my list of favorite bands, the chance to catch them live just a few blocks away from home was nothing short of magical.

I’ve read recent reports that Sonic Youth might as well disband once they end the current tour (Kim and Thurston’s separation has kindled all sort of rumors). I hope that’s not the case. But if that’s true, and Sonic Youth’s first visit to the country turns to be indeed their last, then here’s to them. They gave us a truly genuine and enthusiastic performance, and they gave all the people who can never afford to go to Argentina a sample of what a first-class concert is. And maybe (just maybe) they’re paving the way for other artists of their stature to come over and play our country.

The Festival Primavera 0 ended today, with Faith No More headlining. Santullo was the opener. A new Primavera 0 Festival for 2013 is already being discussed and talked about everywhere.