Freddy Mercury Gets One Of The Most Remarkable Google Doodles Ever

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Freddy Mercury Would Have Become 65 Years Old This September

The candidate for the most impressive Doodle of the year became available earlier today as the Google homepage paid homage to Freddie Mercury on what would have been his 65th birthday.

Set to the music of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, the Doodle (embedded in its entirety below) references some of Mercury’s most emblematic moments. These include him dressing in drag for the “I Want To Break Free” music video, and there are subtle nods to “A Kind Of Magic” and “Innuendo”, the last Queen album to be published in Mercury’s life.

He died on the 24 of November, 1991, less than 24 hours after issuing a statement in which he confirmed the barraging rumors that he was HIV positive.

Willie Nelson Covers Coldplay’s “The Scientist”

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Willie Nelson Has Just Covered Coldplay's "The Scientist" As Part Of An Awareness Campaign For Chiplote

Ask people in South America to name some emblematic country artists, and one they’re sure to mention is Willie Nelson. His long, unstoppable career and his cross-genre collaborations (sometimes with best-selling Latin artists like Julio Iglesias) have made him one of the better-known country musicians in Spanish-speaking countries. And as far as Uruguay is concerned, the composer of “Red Headed Stranger” must be one of the most popular country performers ever along with Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers and Alabama.

I think the video embedded below does nothing but underline the versatility which has made Nelson so popular worldwide. It’s a cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist”, recorded as part of an awareness campaign for Chiplote.

The video (which depicts a farmer who regrets turning his organic farm into a factory farm) has clearly been created to highlight the importance of sustainable food, and also to emphasize the focus on natural, organic products in Chiplote’s restaurants. It’s interesting to point out how this clip (which has been named “Back to the Start”) is similar in approach to Coldplay’s original video, in which everything is told in reverse order.

Willie’s version of “The Scientist” is being sold in iTunes, with $0.60 of each download going straight to the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation.

Month In Review – August 2011

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

The best post of the whole month was undoubtedly the review of La Medio Siglo’s debut EP, “Altos Con Rulos”. La Medio Siglo is an emerging Uruguayan funk/rock band, and (as evidenced by “Altos Con Rulos”) they seem to have quite a bright path ahead of them.

I also managed to upload the newest videos of two artists that were previously featured on the blog: Laura Chinelli’s “Si Me Pierdo” and The Blueberries’ “London Eye”.

On the startup front, I covered the following five services: MPlayr, Nogeno, JamCloud, Restorm and MuseSpring. And while I only managed to conduct one interview in the whole month, it was a really enlightening one with Jason Grunstra from JamCloud.

And those of you who are always wondering in which ways music will be marketed and presented in the future might like to check the first app album ever, as released by Bjork.

MuseSpring – Educating A New Generation Of Industry Men

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: MuseSpring
URL: http://www.musespring.com

Poor record companies. They get such a lot of stick for having taken so long to adapt to the challenges posed by digital music that they all end up looking like grotesque villains.

Granted, most industry men moved slower than dead people at the onset of the digital era. They failed to do things when they should have done them. They lost money for themselves and for their clients (IE, these artists that we believe in so passionately). But what’s in the past is in the past. There’s no point in keeping on chastising the industry for all its previous errors. It would be much, much better to try and carry on using all the knowledge that was gained as a true point from which to move into the future. And that’s exactly what this young company is here for.

MuseSpring provides people with all the knowledge they could need to succeed in the music industry as we know it right now. The company offers a myriad of different online courses on its site, along with access to business services and corporate support. That should be enough to let any struggling company renew its strength. And those who are planning on launching a company of their very own are even given the chance to secure some funding through MuseSpring.com.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to a simple (and inescapable) fact – the music industry has changed, and the common practices of yesteryear now stands as nothing short of archaic. For companies, it’s time to start moving ahead or be left in the dust. Services like MuseSpring have got what it takes to point the way, and show those who understand the importance of moving with the times take one firm step after the other.

“London Eye”, The First Promotional Video By The Blueberries Is Released

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

The Blueberries onstage. Left to right: Andrés Jaureguy; Virginia Álvarez, Ernesto Pasarisa and Fede Fromhell.

The Blueberries have just issued their first promotional video. That honor was bestowed on the song “London Eye”, the track which opens their eponymous debut. (Profiled on MusicKO here; free download here.)

The video is shot in and about Montevideo’s Parque Rodó, our national airport (shown at the end) and some locations of unspecified source.

And yes, I’m aware that “some locations of unspecified source” is the most bizarre way of saying you haven’t got the foggiest idea where some place is.

I must say I never thought you could play guitar with a smoke in the hand like Ernesto does on the clip… I was amazed enough with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers playing “The Waiting” with their instruments unplugged!

And I thought I was a terrific air drummer! I have to befriend Fede Fromhell on Facebook, we’re becoming soul mates for sure…

Learn To Play Guitar With James Taylor

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

James Taylor Now Offers Free Guitar Lessons On His Official Site

What about learning guitar from a truly renowned performer in the history of American folk music? And what about doing it without having to pay a dime?

That’s exactly what James Taylor’s latest online initiative is all about. The five-time Grammy Award winner has just begun imparting free guitar classes on his own website, www.jamestaylor.com. So far, he has uploaded two different tutorials, and an introductory message. You can watch them here. The idea seems to be offering updates on a weekly basis.

And just to do some brushing up, this is a video of Taylor performing his career-defining song ”Carolina In My Mind” at the BBC.

Jason Grunstra (JamCloud) – Interview (Part 2)

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

This is the second and final part of the interview I had the pleasure of conducting with Jason Grunstra from JamCloud. We talk about his musical likes, and lots and lots of underground artists. If you haven’t already done so, read the first part of the interview here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

I believe that we are all born with a natural interest in music. It’s part of our DNA; just listen to the rhythm of your own heart beat! I’m sure our early ancestors were making music as soon as they were able to bang two sticks together!

The first music I purchased was in 1991 and was Naughty By Nature’s self titled album.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I once dabbled in recording engineered and recorded a demo tape with a close friend of mine from high school. YouTube didn’t exist back then though. I wish I had registered the domain name though!

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I tend to follow the hip-hop genre most closely, but I’ve also discovered a lot of really great content in other genres by using JamCloud. Recently I tend to gravitate to more underground artists, like Homeboy Sandman or Classified . I think a new artist by the name of Shy B has a lot of potential. My favorite artist of all time would have to be E-40 because if his unique style and overall creativity and hustle.

As far as dislikes… I try to keep an open mind, and one of the popular rooms on JamCloud is “The Music Lounge” which is an anything goes room. Generally I can tolerate most of the music played in that room. But the other day someone played some trance music and I just couldn’t handle it. I have no desire to be in a trance – I prefer to be cognizant. Continue reading →

Jason Grunstra (JamCloud) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Today I bring you a really complete interview with Jason Grunstra from JamCloud, the revolutionary service for enjoying music and videos collectively that I profiled last week on MusicKO. I sincerely thank Jason for having taken the time to answer everything so thoroughly. You can read the first part of the interview below; the second part is here.

Full Name: Jason Grunstra
Age: 33
Startup: JamCloud
Position: Co-Founder & CEO

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived?

JamCloud was created as a way to harness the massive amount of media that already exists out in the cloud and collect and organize those items that you love from various content providers into one unified player.

What are its most distinctive features in your opinion? Does JamCloud lend itself to more than listening to music? Who else could benefit from it?

Overall I would say that the most distinctive thing when you first use JamCloud is really the overall app itself in that it is really intuitive, easy to use and just looks great. If I had to choose a specific feature I would probably say the discovery tools that we’ve come up with give people multiple ways to discover some really great music and videos that they may have never otherwise heard of before. Tapping into the collective knowledge of friends and peers really helps bring some hidden talent to the surface.

Music is certainly the first thing that comes to mind when using the app. But when you think about it, JamCloud is actually the perfect app to use for any type of content that is fun to watch with others. Comedy routines is a great example – everyone loves to laugh with friends. Or sports highlights is another example where users can chat in real-time as they watch the same sports clips that are synced up across multiple peoples computers. JamCloud really creates an environment where you can socialize with others about any interest really. Or how about animated short films? We even have a group that shares woodworking videos with each other and get inspiration from others for their own projects. The possibilities are limitless.

So far, in which countries has JamCloud been better-received?

We started with the US audience since that’s where we are based, but we’ve had a really good reception in Canada, Germany and the UK. Many times people outside of the US will see a new music platform spring up one day to only to get shut down a few months later due to the record labels clamping down and I think those people are just plain tired of it. With JamCloud since we aren’t the ones providing the actual content we are able to reach an international audience without any problems. We’re just finishing up work on translations for the application into Spanish, German, French and Japanese. Continue reading →

Restorm – Letting Bands License And Sell Their Music

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Restorm
URL: http://www.restorm.com

Restorm is here to answer the prayers of all these bands that have had it with paying exorbitant fees to license their music online. This new platform has been created to put an end to that, and to allow musicians to license (and sell) their music to anybody, paying the lowest possible commission (only 10%).

Registration to this service is free, and bands can have their music and data imported from any other service they might already be using, so a profile is created in a flash. Oh, and the process can be sped up even more since one can sign in using his already existing Facebook profile. Continue reading →