BaxoBeat – All The Songs Your Facebook And Twitter Friends Share In The Same Place

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: BaxoBeat
URL: http://www.baxobeat.com

More and more each day, social networks are becoming the way in which we catch wind of new stuff. It happens with movies, it happens with TV shows. And it also happens with music, of course. Who hasn’t tweeted a song he’s just discovered, or posted a music video he’s fallen in love with on Facebook? I have done it, you have done it. And so have all our friends. And the result is a mountain of links as big as a small country. Because a fact is a fact: who hasn’t got tons of Facebook and Twitter contacts? If we went by what experts say, we should have no more than about 150 of them. That’s the number normal people can handle, it seems. But no, we’re all born show-offs that have to friend every single thing that moves. And so, we end up having news feeds where the good stuff and the stuff which is insignificant go hand in hand.

And that’s what this new site is here to remedy. BaxoBeat is a service that creates an online library of music links, as posted by you and your social network friends. BaxoBeat lets everybody check his feed everyday, and find nothing but these songs posted by his Facebook buddies and Twitter friends from all over the world. And nothing but that.

As a user of BaxoBeat, you can create a portfolio and share it as publicly or privately as you want. You can let just anybody listen to the same music you listen to, and you can also restrict the access that people have to your music library. Which is important if you claim to listen incessantly to nothing but Lamb Of God and Slayer, when the truth is you also “happen” to listen to a song or two by Maroon 5. Continue reading →

Spotify Uses The New Facebook Timeline To Tell The History Of Music

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Music streaming Spotify shows the world how to put Facebook's new timeline to good use.

So what if Facebook has made its new timeline compulsory? Stop complaining, and make the best out of it. It’s not that hard – all it takes is some imagination. Just look at what these folks at Spotify have done.

They have taken advantage of how Facebook lets you present information year by year, and their page goes back not just to 2006 (the year in which Spotify was actually founded) but to 1001. It doesn’t matter what genre or artist you’re keen on. If it’s had any – any – kind of impact in the history of music, then you’ll find at least a good couple of entries on Spotify’s timeline.

While I don’t know the exact way you feel about the new timeline, the fact remains that complaining won’t make any diference. The new profile is here to stay. Make the best of what is there. Others are already doing it, and if you can’t seem to reinvent the wheel then you can at least at what they’re doing for inspiration.

Manuales Ilustrados del Pequeño Tesla Vol. 2 (Uoh!) – Uruguayan Independent Artist

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Astute readers who’re well-acquainted with “The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” surely remember these immortal lines, spoken by Marvin the Paranoid Android at the climax of the second series:

“Any work that references David Bowie in any way or the other partakes of his genius”.

Everybody knows that. Hugh Jackman certainly did when he signed up for “The Prestige”. He once claimed he became involved with the movie just to be close to Ziggy Stardust. My only question is why did he have to ruin Wolverine afterwards with his towering height (he gives Chewbacca a run for his money, he does) and his wooden face (he gives Orlando Bloom a run for his money, he does). On “The Prestige”, he had Christian Bale and Scarlet Johanson to cover up for his gross deficiencies. But on “Wolverine”, he had to carry all the weight by himself. Bleurgh.

Hugh Jackman. Batman. The Black Widow. Ziggy Stardust. Good.

Hugh Jackman. On his own. Not good. This way to the toilet. And don't step on my toes.

And the boys from Uoh! also knew as much. Their latest album is named “Manuales Ilustrados del Pequeño Tesla Vol2. Hagalo Usted Mismo” [Little Tesla’s Illustrated Handbook, Vol. 2. Do It Yourself], in a nod to the brilliant inventor that Bowie brought back from oblivion in “The Prestige”. Poor fella, if only 10% percent of what you can read online is true then everybody and his wife ripped him off. Either that, or the one who wrote the Wikipedia post about Tesla is one of his direct descendants, and he’s had to lead such a destitute life that he’s tattooed a “V” for vendetta on his forehead.

On to this record, now. Personally, I find reviewing it quite a departure for one simple reason. See, “Manuales Ilustrados del Pequeño Tesla Vol2. Hagalo Usted Mismo” is a 100% instrumental album. So, I can’t bob my hair like a character out from “Amélie” and start dissecting its lyrical connotations. There are none. I have to focus on the aural experience.
Fuck you, Hugh Jackman.

And a la Traveling Wilburys, this is the second part of an album that didn’t exist. Whatever you do, don’t go looking for Vol. 1. Look for happiness, look for love, look for a mountain of serenity. Look for whatever you want, but don’t look for the first installment of this record. It’s nowhere to be found. (There is, however, another EP by Uoh! that was released in 2011.) Continue reading →

Sworly – Listen To The Latest Hits For Free

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Sworly
URL: http://www.sworly.com

That you can listen to mostly any song you want online is common knowledge. And so is the number of fakes and dupes you’re forced to endure on sites like YouTube before you find what you’re looking for. Oh, and that’s not counting the number of live and rare versions of songs that are found there, and which are labeled as the real thing. And as if that wasn’t enough to drive you to the point where you turn into the smoke monster from “Lost” and go on a rampage, you also have to deal with songs which have been pitched, in order to keep YouTube from taking them down. Which would be great fun if what you wanted was to listen to Chip and Dale singing in unison. Which you’re not.

This new site is here to change that, once and for all. Sworly gives you nothing but real songs that you can listen to on your browser, and at no cost. Sworly scours the Internet for you, and it brings together all these songs you’d might be interested in. The site is really easy to navigate, with the coolest songs being highlighted on the homepage, and a search box for looking music up straightaway. In all cases, the songs you’re playing can be easily shared with all of your pals on Facebook. Continue reading →

Mashroom.fm – Create Music Clips Using YouTube Videos

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Mashroom.fm
URL: http://mashroom.fm

Mashing up online videos is the order of the day here. Mashroom.fm is a service that lets you take different clips as found on YouTube, and then have them mixed in order to create something unique. You can choose up to six different YouTube videos, and use them to create a single track. And you can also record yourself, and add sounds to what you’re mashing up.

The end result will obviously depend on how much time and effort you’ve put into the edition of what you’ve created, but even if you’re in a bit of a hurry you’ll still be able to come up with something to make your Facebook friends laugh a little. And in any case, there’s no 1000-page treatise defining what memes are made up of. You never know what might end up happening to a video you’ve created on a whim, just as a way to humor a good friend…

Mashroom.fm is a free service, and you can start using it just by authenticating who you are via Facebook. Once your mixes are ready, then they can be spread in all the usual ways – email, Twitter, Facebook, Megaupload…

Wait a mo…

Forget that last name.

(Sobs and sighs)

Music Streaming Services: An Overview

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Today I want to share with you a terrific infograph that I’ve found, and which covers all the music streaming services in existence. Well, all minus Google Music. For some reason, whoever compiled this decided to omit it. But other than that, everything’s been included – Spotify, Pandora, Last.fm, Turntable.fm… there’s even a corner explaining how Facebook might become a force to be reckoned with sooner than most people think.

And just in case you ever wonder how much musicians are paid whenever you stream a song of theirs, then just jump to the end of the infograph.

New Releases Now! – All The Latest Music Releases

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: New Releases Now!
URL: http://www.newreleasesnow.com

The Internet makes it dead easy to discover new music, right as it’s become available. And the way things stand right now, you don’t even need to subscribe to lots of different sites to stay on the loop. There’s services that can do all the hard work for you. New Releases Now! (NRN) is one of these.
Presented by Almighty Music Marketing (a company that’s been devoted to the promotion of music ever since 1995), NRN is constantly updated with the latest music releases, and every imaginable genre is covered. Rock, pop, metal, punk, country, synth pop, cajun/zydeco, neo soul… All in all, over sixty different genres are included. And you can find more than music through this site, as NRN also keeps track of comedy albums.

The site features the most recent releases on its homepage, and you can find both the newest albums and songs using a simple search tool. And you’re also given the option to browse entries by genre and by release date. If it’s a new release, you’ll find it. In all cases, titles come with iTunes and Amazon “Buy” buttons, and a “Find A Retailer” widget that lets you locate the nearest points of sale. Continue reading →

RecordTogether – Crowdsource Tracks For Your Recordings

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

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”. Continue reading →

How Facebook’s “Listen With” Button Can Help You Promote Your Music

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

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.

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