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Living Life Loud
Change is good. Just ask the millions of unsigned artists worldwide trying to get their music heard. Since the music industry is changing drastically, unsigned musicians are able to make their music available to listeners. Record labels are realizing new techniques need to be created in order to promote music, and find new talent. The result has been a surge of music-based websites. These sites allow artists to create their own websites, upload MP3s and promote music free of cost. One website which has received much attention is iSOUND .com. A musician himself, D.J. Burdick's purpose has been clear from the beginning: create a website that allows unsigned artists to upload MP3s so they can share their music with the world. Burdick, the founder and creator of the music-based website iSOUND .com, began his career in 1999, shortly after graduating from high school. At first, the main focus of iSOUND .com was to give visitors more information about their favorite bands. "I was looking for information about artists I liked, and I couldn't find anything comprehensive on the Internet," says Burdick. "So, I decided to create my own website." He then spent one year developing and implementing iSOUND .com. In 2000, Burdick relocated to Dallas, Texas to attend Southern Methodist University. In Dallas, Burdick realized that it was difficult to find gigs and get his music heard. That is when he had an idea. "I decided to expand iSOUND .com. I wanted to make it a music community where artists could share their music with the world," says Burdick. While attending university, Burdick continued working on his website. In 2004, he graduated from SMU's Cox School of Business. Along with a few college friends, he decided to make iSOUND .com his full-time career. "Working on my own company has allowed me to work on what I'm truly passionate about. I get to focus on what I believe in," says Burdick. "I wanted to make iSOUND .com my full-time job because I had so many ideas. Working for a large, established company may provide more security but that wasn't dynamic enough for me. I needed something that would allow me to control the vision of the business and let me implement my business ideas. It is very rewarding to see over a million people visiting iSOUND per month who are sharing in this vision and desire to bring great unheard music to the masses." The music industry is changing drastically. MP3s are no longer just about illegal pirating and file sharing. In fact, MP3s are becoming imperative to unsigned artists wishing to promote their music on the Internet. There are tons of talented artists out there. Unfortunately, they do not have the money to push into advertising or music promotion. The solution to this problem: level the playing field by promoting on the internet. "The [music] industry is going through a huge transitional phase. Everything is changing and the [record] labels are realizing this. They are now using many of the same avenues to promote their artists as those available to unsigned artists," says Burdick. In fact, a complete industry of music-based websites has developed, allowing musicians to promote their music over the Internet. The way iSOUND .com works is that artists may sign up and upload their music for free. Staff members then listen to the songs and rate the music. Listeners visit the site, discover new music, and earn points for sharing that music with their friends. The most popular artists on iSOUND .com receive thousands of plays per month. Musicians can literally gain thousands of new fans just by uploading their music onto popular music websites and networking via those sites. "There is a growing group of signed bands getting a large share of radio and [music] video play that started entirely by promoting on the Internet and playing small clubs," says Burdick. "The future of music is on the Internet. Get your music uploaded, spend a few hours a week promoting online, and you'll be amazed at the results." Shannon Mott is a freelance writer and employee of iSOUND .com
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Getting Rhythm - Three Tips for Guitar Beginners If you are just starting out learning guitar one of the hardest things can be getting a good rhythm and keeping that rhythm going while you change chords with your left hand. How To Overcome The Lyric Writing Hurdles That Are Keeping You Behind The lyric writing side of songwriting is known to create an enormous number of problems for some folks. No matter how hard they try, they are unable to write a single line that they can be pleased with. Throat Singing In Inuit Culture Originally, Inuit throat singing was a form of entertainment among Inuit women while the men were away on hunting trips. It was an activity that was primarily done by Inuit women although there have been some men doing it as well. In the Inuit language Inuktitut, throat singing is called katajjaq, pirkusirtuk or nipaquhiit depending on the Canadian Arctic region. It was regarded more as a type of vocal or breathing game in the Inuit culture rather than a form of music. So You Want to be President? Learn to Play a Musical Instrument! President Harry S. Truman, the man in the White House when the United States intervened on behalf of the millions of innocent people who were being displaced and massacred by Hitler's Nazi Germany, claimed to have practiced his piano lessons for two hours every morning during his childhood. Likewise, President Warren Harding was said to be able to play every instrument except the trombone and the clarinet. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) played the organ. Of course we all remember President Clinton and his saxophone, but did you know that President Nixon was an accomplished pianist? What is Music? That's a fair question! One Way to Improve Your Music Journalist Relationship Boy, I really detest how some people do websites. Bands are some of the worst. Seems like any band that wants to look "professional" feels they must create a website using pop-ups and flash. Why? Cuz that's what the Majors do? Breathing Space in Music While most students want to know when to play certain notes and chords, it's equally important to know when not to play. For example, I had a student who knew how to improvise and play in the New Age style. What he didn't know how to do was to allow for breathing space. I tried to teach him that you don't have to play note upon note but allow for some pauses. Right-Hand Techniques for New Age Piano Recently, I had a student ask me to offer some techniques for using the right hand. Usually, it's the left hand that causes the most difficulty but I had to think about it because up till then, I really did not have any "techniques" for the right hand. A Quick and Easy Composition Method Here's the method I use every time I want to capture an idea. I draw out 8-bars (or measures) first. Why 8 bars? Because it is an ideal framework to work in. Eight bars of music are enough to generate a complete musical sentence and can usually be repeated once or twice. Next, I improvise and see what comes up. THEN I will write down the chords I am playing and the first 2-bars of melody. Ouch, It Hurts When I Sing! When I first set out to write this article about voice problems in singers, I was looking for two experts from contrasting fields of medicine ? "medical" and "holistic". What I found, instead, in the first practitioner that I interviewed, was a delightful mixture of the two. Would Chopin Have Passed A Music Quiz? Q. My children are very interested in playing music. Is there such a thing as a music quiz for kids? Learning to Play the Piano with Chords Part 2 Do you want to learn how to play chords on the piano? Can you already read sheet music or basic notes on the treble and or bass clef? Arranging for New Age Piano A while back, I wrote an article that compared flower arranging to music arranging. While this may seem a world apart, it really isn't. Is the Record Album Dead? Not by a Long Shot In 1982, Sony and Philips introduced the compact disc, a digital music playback format that used a laser to read the disc. The compact disc was expected to quickly replace the long play record album (LP) that Columbia had introduced in 1949. The product took off quickly, even at a retail price that was nearly double that of a record album, and sales of record albums plummeted. The CD, as compact discs quickly became known, offered what audio magazines called "perfect sound forever" while offering immunity to the effects of the wear and tear that often left records noisy. The record companies reduced the price of manufacture through improved production methods, and the cost of manufacturing a CD soon fell below that of manufacturing a record. Even so, compact discs continued to sell well at the higher price, making the CD quite a profitable product, indeed. Play Too Loud And Well Cut The Power! "Turn it down!" The Irish Harp The harp that once through Tara's halls the soul of music shed, now hangs as mute on Tara's walls, as if that soul were fled. So sleeps the pride of former days, so glory's thrill is o'er, and hearts that once beat high for praise, now feel that pulse no more When Does Practice Make Perfect? Not Much Of The Time Unless All The Pieces Fit First Often people receive a banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar or some other musical instrument as a birthday, Christmas or special occasion gift. There's glee and joy everywhere. The giver of the gift knows how much the receiver of the gift wants to learn this instrument and the receiver of the gift is ACTUALLY holding the coveted instrument in his/her hands instead of lusting for it down at the corner store or through the shop window. NOW WHAT? Greg Koch Fender Guitar History The Greg Koch Fender guitar began to take shape all the way back when Greg Koch was in the third grade. Greg cut out cardboard Fender Stratocaster guitars, then Koch used his sisters sewing machine pedal as a wah-wah. By watching, listening and copying what he heard on records he was able to advance quickly. RIAA Files Second Wave of Lawsuits The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has launched a second wave of lawsuits against users of internet2 (a specialized high speed version of the internet that makes it ideal for file sharing). By adding 20 new schools to the list, RIAA has greatly expanded the number of students involved in the case. Memorizing Music - How Is It Best Achieved? When memorizing music there are several things you can do that will make your job that much easier. Memorizing music is important as most people know you play better when having the music in your head rather than having your head in the music. So where to start when memorizing music effectively?
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