Category Archives: Resources For Musicians & Music Lovers

Feeder – Share Your Music On Facebook

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Feeder

Name: Feeder
URL:  http://www.feeder.fm

I have already covered some services that let you share your music on Twitter, and now I feel it is only fair to have a look at the other side and see what can be done on Facebook, the mammoth of a social network that has had such an impact that a movie is going to be made about it. Starring Jesse Eisenberg (the guy from Zombieland) as Mark Zuckerberg and Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (the one who co-founded Napster) it is either going to be highly enlightening or an absolute mishmash, but one thing is for certain: everybody is going to watch it.

So, as a way to highlight some music-sharing capabilities of the network I have chosen to cover some apps and tool. This is the first I will introduce you to. Named Feedr, it will let you take a song and have it automatically posted on your Facebook profile. This will be certainly interesting for those who want to promote their own work. Continue reading →

Spreaker – Social Radio Come True

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Spreaker

Name: Spreaker
URL: http://www.spreaker.com

Not every person with thoughts to share about his favorite artists will sit down and tend to a blog or a personal site. The thing is, there are not really that many other options, and none I can think of is as accessible as blogging.

Well, that is set to change thanks to a startup like Spreaker. We can call it a social web radio service. The site will empower just anybody to create his own radio and broadcast whenever he feels like doing it. There are no fees of any kind to be met, as both royalties and bandwidth expenses are covered by Spreaker.

This means that you can host your own talk show and (for example) invite people from you local music scene that you are in good terms with. You can also create a show devoted to your favorite band and play its songs left, right and center. Hint: if you tune in and catch a radio that plays The Who indiscriminately you know who is behind it. Continue reading →

Tubeoke – Where YouTube Becomes A Karaoke

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LOTubeOke

Name: Tubeoke
URL: http://www.tubeoke.com

This is the kind of site that with some work could become notably more appealing. As it stands right now, it lets you turn YouTube into a (very) basic karaoke. You look up the song (or the artist), and upon picking a video it is played back at you while a second window (situated on the right) displays the lyrics to go with the song.

The idea is simplicity in itself, and the approach so far is nothing to go out of your way for. However, it can turn out to be exponentially good if the lyrics became an integral part of the video and were displayed automatically as the song went on. As it stands right now, you have to scroll them down in mid song, and if you don’t have a lackey at your beck and call to do the dirty job then it’s goodbye inspiration and concentration. Continue reading →

DemoHero – A Community Site Devoted To Demo Recordings

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LODemoHero

Name: DemoHero
URL: http://www.demohero.com

There is nothing more thrilling for a fan than getting his hands on some demo recordings, although the actual substance of a demo changes from artist to artist. On the one hand, we have someone like Pete Townshend that used to assemble meticulous recordings where he insinuated the parts John Entwistle and Keith Moon would play. He was to release several collections when he went solo, and the public finally realized that what Keith Richards once said had more than an inkling of truth – “Peter Townshend made better Who music than The Who”.

On the other hand, demos are included unscrupulously as a bait to lure in collectors in compilation albums by certain artists. That kind of artist is the one described in the song “Box Set” by Barenaked Ladies, as the contents of the fictitious musician’s boxed set are enumerated disc by disc:

Disc Four
Never released before,
and you can tell why;
it’s just some demos
I recorded in my basement.

The fact remains that hardened fans don’t care where or when a demo was recorded. It could have been recorded by the singer while he was taking a shower. If it is a song that speaks to us, we are going to offer and arm and a leg in order to listen to it. Well, not any longer. Listening to these rough sketches has become very easy. This brand new site makes it a doodle. Continue reading →

Lyrics Training – Learn Languages Using Your Favourite Music Videos

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LyricsTraining
Name: Lyrics Training
URL: http://www.lyricstraining.com

Learning a language has got little to do with memorizing mere lists of words. It has to do with using them, and placing every single one in a meaningful setting. There is a common belief among language professionals: use a word three times and it will be yours forever.

And in addition to using words, the context in which they are used is vital for nailing them down in your mind. A word that a teacher gives to you out of the blue along with 10 more is hard to grab. Conversely, if you learn one (and only one) word from a song by your favorite artist, there is a radically different degree of involvement. To begin with, you like the artist and you care about his/her message. And if you learn what it means by looking it up on the dictionary yourself, you will place an even higher value on it, in the same way that we grow attached to something that results from a laborious process. Continue reading →

Songbright – Choose Your Best Songs, Upload Them And Make Some Money If You Chose Right

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Songbright

Name: Songbright
URL: http://www.songbright.com

Songbright is a new service that will let any musician stream his own pieces online, and generate an income for doing so. The premise is to pay artists for the actual times their songs are played, and I think the system will specially cater for those who are beginning. I say so for two main reasons.

First, the pricing is very reasonable – there are four plans to go for, and signup actually starts for as little as $1 a month. That plan (“Basic”) will let you upload one song. There are three other plans available, too, and they will let you upload 3, 5 and 10 tunes and their respective names are “Plus”, “Pro” and “Rockstar”.

That brings me to the second reason why I think this will suit budding musicians best. Now, let’s get honest. How many good songs one really has? I mean, good songs. Not the ones we wrote for that girl we fancied in order to make her go weak at the knees, not the ones we love because they have a true sentimental value attached to them. Good ones. The ones that could let us crack it. Many of us don’t even think about it. Continue reading →

Spotiseek – For Spotify Users Looking For New Artists To Try

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Spotiseek

Name: Spotiseek
URL: http://www.spotiseek.com

I am sure that those of you who live in Europe are more than familiar with the peer-to-peer service known as Spotify. It is a streaming service that lets you listen to artists both new and old in a legal way, as record companies have granted permission for each track to be featured.

This website aims to let Spotify users have a more enjoyable time around. Using it, they can find artists that are meant to match their tastes. Once they have found a couple of similar artists, they can create a mixtape including these new bands and share them with friends.  Continue reading →

Jamendo – Where Music Is Shared For Free

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Jamendo

Name: Jamendo
URL: http://www.jamendo.com

As a musician, you have the right to decide how people will experience your work. You might feel like charging for it, and you might feel like uploading it at no cost. Both options are equally valid to me. Just because you are asking a price it does not mean that you are a despot with dollar signs rolling in your eyes. And just because you are giving it away without charging anything it does not mean that you are giving it away for nothing. The exposure is worth more than anything in the long run. And if you agree with that, I think this site will appeal to you. Continue reading →

Twt.fm – Sharing Music With Everybody On Twitter

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Twtfm

Name: Twt.fm
URL: http://www.twt.fm

Services for posting your music to Twitter are proliferating, and I think that is something that was to be expected. It has recently been reported by sites like Mashable and TechCrunch that Twitter’s stateside growth has somehow stopped, yet its numbers for international growth have begun showing some interesting patterns. I have already covered a service for tweeting out music, and another one won’t hurt given that this might as well be the year when Twitter will make headlines in every country in the world.

Twt.fm is a characteristic Twitter site even its name, which is short and abbreviated keeping in with the “micro” concept that defines the social sharing platform. The way you use it is easy enough, as all you have to do is login using both your Twitter username and your pass. Once you are in, you have to carry a search based on an artist’s name and the song you want to listen. A preview will be generated, and after listening to it you can generate a track page. This is what you will tweet to all your friends. Continue reading →

The Sixty One – Discover New Artists & Share Your Finds With Everybody

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TheSixtyOne

Name: The Sixty One
URL: http://www.thesixtyone.com

A social site, the aim of The Sixty One is simple: to let you discover new music through your friends, and upon recommending new music yourself you can gain experience points and move up towards becoming a more prestigious (and hence influential) member of the site.

And if you are an artist yourself, you can submit your own work and have it rated by the rest of the community. The system is certainly useful in the sense that if you have the right contacts you can become noticed in virtually no time at all. Continue reading →