Name: Record Together
URL: http://www.recordtogether.com

Think of all these albums in which bands couldn’t afford to hire extra instrumentalists. Just how good would they have been if a service like Record Together had existed back in the day? What if The Who had managed to hire cello players for “A Quick One, While He’s Away” (the mini-opera after which their second LP was named)? Would real cellos have sounded better than the jokey “cello, cello, cello” the guys ended up chanting in the finished record? Would that have taken away from the charm of the piece? That could be debated for longer than it took Brian Wilson to release “Smile” as he had originally conceived it, and we’d never come to any kind of agreement. Integrity, ingenuity, imnocence… the people who would veto using outside instrumentalists always end up talking about such things.

Yet, they have to admit that some classic albums could have been nothing short of perfected if artists could have had access to accomplished session players. If The Smiths had hired a full orchestra to play on their epic “The Queen Is Dead”, the end result could have been even better than it was. When the album was originally recorded, the band had to hire the services of “The Hated Salford Ensemble” (IE guitarist Johnny Marr playing everything using a keyboard) to get the accompaniment they wanted for songs like “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side” and “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”.

So, there’s context and contexts in which outside musicians can be used in musical projects. If you’re a recording artist, sometimes you just have to resort to them. And if you’re going to do that, then you’d better do it right. You’d better go for a service like this one.

Record Together is a platform that lets you crowdsource the recording of individual tracks for these songs you’re working on. Need a sitar? A harpsichord? A lute, maybe? No problem. On this site you can get bonafide players to record the parts you need, and submit them to you digitally. All you must do is to explain exactly what you need, and set a bounty (in $$$). Session musicians will there and then upload their contributions, and the one who comes closer to the mark is the one that will get the money. He’ll get the money, and you’ll buy the rights to the recording. And years down the line, fans will be discussing whether hiring someone to play that part was the “right” choice or not.

But not that such a thing did The Who or The Smiths any harm in the long run, really.

Name: ShareMyGuitar
URL: http://www.sharemyguitar.com

Check this site out if your New Year resolutions included one that went “Learn to play the guitar like John Petrucci”. ShareMyGuitar is a social network that will let you see to that. The only people who use it are guitar enthusiasts. By signing up for an account, you’ll be able to share pictures and videos of your favorite guitars and players. You’ll get to read interviews and news. And you’ll also be able to create polls and post questions for more knowledgeable folks to come to the rescue.

Alternative guitar tunings, chord charts, rare tablatures… you can request (and get) all that through this site.

And when it comes to polls, you can ask whatever you want. You can ask who’s the best rhythm guitar player under the sun (pointless – everybody knows it’s Pete Townshend), what’s the most famous guitar in history (pointless – everybody knows it’s Lucille), who’s the hottest chick who’s ever played a guitar (pointless – everybody knows it’s Orianthi)… all these things you’ve always wanted to ask but kept to yourself can be elucidated here.

And a blog is also included, for you to learn even more about all that’s happening in Guitar Town. It’s got reviews of the latest guitars and gear, and tons of videos of people who play real badass solos.

Accounts can be created here, and they’re free. Just pick a picture that makes you look like fire could pour out of your hand, and get ready to connect with fellow six-string lovers.

Cancionero Azul [Blue Songbook] is a website that gives you free and 100% legal music downloads from all over Ibero-America. And that includes Uruguay. Artists that I hope to review in 2012 such as Ismael Collazo and Martin Barea Matos have all made their albums publicly available on CancioneroAzul.org. You can download Ismael’s “Rincones” [Corners] and Martín’s “Odisea En El Parking Planetario” [Odyssey In The Planetary Parking] at absolutely no cost on this well-designed site.

For its part, those of you who want to have your own music featured on CancioneroAzul.org should read this page.

As one of the few sites with this scope and depth, Cancionero Azul comes highly recommended. It’s not every day that you get to sample music from Spanish-speaking countries this accurately and legally.

Name: StoryAmp
URL: http://www.storyamp.com

This new site brings together musicians and PR agencies in a grand way. If you’re an artist, you can turn to StoryAmp.com to create dispatches by uploading your music, bio, photos, videos and concert links. These dispatches can then be shared using any of StoryAmp’s press lists, and brought into the hands of journalists. That doesn’t mean they’ll write about you and your wondrous ensemble, but at least you’ll make your presence known to them. It’s a start.

And any way you look at it, using a site like this one is infinitely cheaper than trying to hire the services of a PR agency. StoryAmp can actually be used for free, and if you need to flex some additional muscle then you can sign up for a premium account. This will give you unlimited audio streaming, unlimited password-protected downloads and the chance to upload an unlimited number of photos and videos to be used in your dispatches.

StoryAmp, then, is an affordable service which automates all that can wear you down when trying to get a music pitch together, and puts you in a position where your art can be discovered much easier. It goes well beyond services such as PR Newswire (which is not really optimized for music coverage) and the Virtual Publicist (which all it does is to gather and sell the email addresses of music journalists). It’s decidedly worth a look.

Name: SpotMeUp
URL: http://www.spotmeup.com

The war between Spotify and Google Music rages on, and (by the looks of it) the European startup is the one that holds the upper hand. It’s not that Spotify has become a household name, but the last year’s been pretty spiffy for the music streaming service, what with a brilliant American launch and a partnership with Facebook. And web tools like SpotMeUp do nothing but keep the momentum going.

This new website has come along to answer the question of “How do I get my music on Spotify?” in the most direct way of all. SpotMeUp is an easy-to-use service that lets you upload your music to Spotify in the blink of an eye. Singles, EPs and full albums can all be uploaded equally fast. Upon creating a (free) account, you’ll be able to upload the files from your computer, one by one.

And if you use Dropbox, then you’re given the chance to have all the files you keep there imported into SpotMeUp. Dropbox is compatible with iPhone, Android and Blackberry. So, you’ll be able to import your songs the minute you’ve become connected with the kind of music biz executive that looks like he could make you sell more copies than Bruno Mars. Whether that happens or not is a very different story, of course. But being able to put your music online this fast is certainly worthy of admiration.

Name: PumpYouUp
URL: http://www.pumpyouup.com

Visit PumpYouUp.com when you’re in the mood for some music to rock your body to. This new site’s devoted to free electronica, trance, dubstep and techno. In all cases, we’re talking about quality selections, handpicked by the site’s creators. The idea is to include songs that aren’t too long for their own good, and which aren’t that weird either.

So, songs can be searched used a dead-simple interface. This lets you have songs found without having to sign up for an account or anything like that. It’s all done on the fly.

And you’ll get to download the songs that you find straight on PumpYouUp.com, too. You won’t have to follow a weird link to one of these download sites that prompt you to wait for fifteen minutes and then type two words in Klingon just to get your file.

So, this website gives you free and easy access to quality music. No more songs that sound as if they have been recorded in the kitchen’s floor, no more broken links, no more illegal copies that are incomplete… If you’re fond of electronic music (or if you think you could become fond of it), a site like this one should keep you going for quite some time.

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

Name: Myxer
URL: http://www.myxer.fm

If Marconi were around today, he would be decidedly proud to see what’s becoming of his beloved creation. Spending some time with Myxer alone would make him stand ten feet tall. Myxer is a site that takes online radio as we’ve always known it, and puts a marked social element on it.

Myxer is a desktop and mobile service that lets you listen to music with all of your friends online. You listen to songs with all of them, and you get to discuss what’s being played by using a live chat.

Moreover, a tool named “Song Stories” is provided. This lets you do something which is quite novel in itself: creating a video where you can explain what any song means to you, and have that video shared with all of your contacts.

As a service, Myxer is totally free. You can use both the web application and any of the mobile apps without having to start pinching your pennies. Both iPhones and Droids are supported to the same extent.

This is Myxer’s promotional video, as featured on YouTube:

Name: Veenue
URL: http://www.veenue.com

Do you remember the video I posted earlier this year that brought together 100 different musicians playing Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog”? If you watched it back in the day, then I’m sure you do. That video was certainly impressive. The effort made by the folks who put it together was nothing short of titanic. I’m sure that many of you felt like being involved in something like that. And who could have guessed that you would be able to do it this soon?

Veenue is a music collaboration platform. It lets you connect with artists from every corner of the world, and create songs together. You do that by shooting and uploading videos of you performing. These are then used to create a “full” clip.

And just to add a little spice to how the site works, on Veenue you can become part of competitions which are sponsored by world-renowned brands. The first contest will start on the 3rd of October, and it will close on the 31st of March. Sponsored by Volkswagen, its winners are going to be invited to a studio in Berlin to record the song they have made together. And they’ll also get to produce a music video for the song.

Obviously, it’s still to soon to know how far this platform can go. We can’t know just yet if it will become the kind of social service people such as David Fincher end up making movies about. But the site is surely original, and you can use it without having to read a manual that would take half the Amazonia to make. And that’s just about the rightest way to kick things off, really.

Name: PlaylistHQ
URL: http://www.playlisthq.com

PlaylistHQ is a simple but slick web tool that lets you create playlists for any concert that’s coming up soon, and that you plan to attend. You can create them, and then you can have them shared with all the music nuts that you’ve befriended on Facebook. What better way to convince them that missing any upcoming concert would be a mistake they’ll live to regret forever and ever? What better way to ensure you won’t have to attend a concert on your own, and be unable to go to the bathroom because someone will take your place?

PlaylistHQ uses the Spotify API to get all its data, and once they’ve been created playlists can be searched both by location and by Songkick username.

When having concerts displayed by location, the site lets you view a calendar with all the concerts that will be held right where you live. Or where you would love to live. If you have got an incurable fixation with London, you can see all the shows to be played there as the month runs its course. And then go cry in the corner for having been born on the bayou.

If there’s something to be said about the site, is that it’s decidedly minimalist.
But not that such a thing is a bad thing, of course. Just look at Andy Summers. See how far he got? The guy’s the embodiment of success! Revered by guitarist young and old! A paragon of musical expressivity! (Checks the “Synchronicity” album)... shit, he was the one who wrote and sang “Mother”. Dammit. Next time, I’ll be more careful with the examples I choose…