Distrokid

Distrokid, to me seems like the best online music distribution option out there. Of course there’s many ‘better’ options for different people but they would have to take in to consideration their personal goals. One of my favorite things about Distrokid is that you can upload an unlimited amount of songs for only $19.99/yr. They have super quick uploads to iTunes (2-4/hrs). They’re commission-less. They’ll also email you along the entire process so you know when your product is live on other websites. However they only upload to: iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, Beats, Deezeer, Rdio, YouTube Music Key, and Shazam. They pay you monthly too unlike a lot of their competitors. If you create a lot of music and are uploading constantly this would definitely be the way to go, if you ask me.

Oh, and Derek Sivers (founder of CD Baby) and Jeff Price (founder of Tunecore) highly recommend Distrokid. (Both are no longer working at those companies).

Branching Literacy

Branching literacy is all about being “characterized by good multidimensional spatial orientation – the ability to remain oriented and avoid getting lost in hyperspace while navigating through complex knowledge domains, despite the intricate navigation paths they may take.” (Eshet-Alkalai 2005) To me, this basically means knowing how interconnected everything is or can be on the internet and being able to manipulate them to your needs.

The concept of ‘Branching Literacy’ does have some negative side affects as well. Most of the information we find on the internet today is just little shreds taken from an infinite amount of different resources. This leaves people reliant on this non-linear form of finding information and it steers away from the old styles of finding information such as reading a book or an entire subject to understand something.

CwF+RtB=$$$

The CwF+RtB business model means “Connecting with fans and Reason to buy.” It seems like a simple enough concept but it’s seemingly the most effective business model out there today. You don’t even have to be specifically talking about music, it pretty much applies to any business. Trent Reznor is really known for using this business model successfully. Techdirt came up with this model and they have a detailed description here: (http://goo.gl/awGcEA). I would highly recommend atleast trying out the CwF+RtB model because what do you have to lose? I bet you’ll see results.

WWW

I think in a field like this, the WWW can be an advantage and disadvantage at the same time, depending on how you look at it. It can be advantageous to get your name out there with minimal effort (of course, don’t rely on it) but it can get you a lot of business. It can be disadvantageous because it can over-saturate the market with people doing the same thing you’re doing and making it easier for them to take your potential business all-the-while make it extremely easy for anyone to steal music. I just read a great article from a couple years ago, posing the question: “Has the internet ruined the music business for musicians?” (http://goo.gl/b1bZHO) I don’t think it’s ruined it, but it definitely has changed the game. I think in the modern era bands will probably need to rely more on merch and ticket sales and less on music sales. Music sales aren’t so viable anymore.

Whole Lotta Problems

Here’s a track I made a couple quarters ago. It’s a mashup between Led Zeppelin and Jay-Z. I really don’t know where the inspiration came from to make this but I still had a good time putting it together. I know it’s not very good but it’s decent for my first time I think.

It took some time to find good quality versions of the vocals and music. At first I tried stripping the vocals off of their respective tracks but I found out that doing it that way makes it sound really flat and tinny and you don’t get rid of a some of the music because of the studio reverb.

The internet

We’ve all seen this picture in class before but I still think it’s crazy that websites that were blowing up 5 to 10 years ago are basically obsolete at this point. It makes me wonder if huge websites like Facebook or even Google could become obsolete. Even though they’re heavily used right now, someone could come along any day and make something better.

Pensado’s Place

Dave Pensado, one of my favorite engineers talking about how to mix fat kick drums.

About me

My name is Logan, I’m from West Valley City, Utah and I’m a Music Production and Engineering student at Broadview Entertainment Arts University. I was in the Navy for 5 years as an Aviation Structural Mechanic and now i’m currently on a Military scholarship. I came to this school to learn the skills of the trade and become a sound engineer for anything from music to film.

Here’s a link to my recording studio website: http://shakenbake17.wix.com/hiveaudio