Author Archives: David Holmes

BeatPick – FairPlay Music Label and Music Licensing

Posted by David Holmes on
BeatPick is a London based netlabel releasing music under Creative Commons licenses. The website lets you listen to full albums of all artists for free and there’s also a streaming playlist of the month. Music can be purchased and downloaded in wav. ogg and mp3 formats. There are currently around 60 artists to choose from and music genres are grouped into 10 categories for easy browsing.
 
Fixed Price Levels and Licensing
An album is sold for €6 or £4 and has at least 45 minutes of music or 9 songs. An EP has 4 songs and is sold for €3.50 or £2.50. 
 
Purchased music can be shared with up to four friends using the free mp3-sender provided. There is no DRM and tracks may be freely used in podcasts or elsewhere for non-commercial purposes under the terms of the CC license.  
 
For commercial ventures, music can be licensed instantly online using the licensing options panel via the link on each artist page. Licensees can quickly get quotes, make payments, download valid agreements and CD quality wav files.
 
Fair to Artists
Earnings are split 50/50 with the artists who maintain the full ownership of their songs, under a non-exclusive agreement which can be terminated anytime with 30 days notice. This means artists retain control over their works and are free to enter into agreements with other parties, including record labels and publishers.
 
Artists commissioned by producers to do music jobs will get 70% of the fee with 30% going to BeatPick who act as the intermediaries. A ‘Contact the Artist’ link on each artist page opens the contact form so that communication can be made via messages to BeatPick. This also facilitates non-commercial projects, an example of this is the collaboration between Tobor Experiment and HRF-LAB for Lovebytes, an arts organisation based in Sheffield UK exploring the creative and cultural potential of digital technology. The sharing/selling of ‘individual song components’ ie audio samples and loops is also encouraged.
 
BeatPick makes it easy for artists, producers and fans to connect. The combination of flexible Creative Commons licenses, fast commercial licensing options, full album streaming, low fixed download prices, project collaborations and commissions, potentially offers a fair deal for everyone.
 
Growth
Since it opened in February, BeatPick has seen steady growth in its catalog of artists which emphasizes quality rather than quantity. In the future BeatPick will offer similar tools for VJs and a section for developers of open source software plugins. The aim is to build a network of artists collaborating for commercial and non commercial projects. The fact that they are embracing non-commercial, open source and experimental projects is interesting because it opens the doors to a range of vibrant community opportunities which could be developed and monetized. This could be video/music mashups, music/samples/plugins packages or any type of creative innovation that fulfills a marketing requirement and fosters an audience.
 
An unique stable of artists and developers selected for their quality and strengths sounds like an interesting proposition. If you’re looking for an alternative music outlet with a FairPlay attitude, BeatPick is worth checking out and a netlabel to watch in the future.
 
Listible Shared Lists of Resources
 

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Podbasket – Easy Podcast Feed Creation

Posted by David Holmes on
Podbasket allows you to create your own podcast feed simply by providing the URLs to offsite audio files. Your new podcast feed consists of a Podcast Name, a Podcast Short Name for the URL and a Podcast Description. To add a file to your podcast feed you just enter the URL, a title and description. The information can be managed and edited later, one feed per account.
 
Here’s one I’ve created:
 
Imaginary iCast
 
This is a simple solution for creating podcast feeds on the fly.
 
Some examples:
  • Use it to download/transfer mp3 files from various web locations to your computer/portable mp3 player.
  • Create a podcast show from media files hosted on other web servers. 
  • Distribute other information types and files.
Podbasket is a free public service built by Forty Media
 

MOT – Free Music Downloads

Posted by David Holmes on
MOT are a five piece band from the UK offering a feast of free mp3 downloads. The band delivers catchy tunes with lyrics that tell witty stories, ripe with social comment about life and love in London town. There’s a distinctly retro feel about the music which always remains focused on the melodic hooks supplied by the shining vocals and lead guitar riffs. The drums, bass, guitar and keyboards carry the rhythm with enthusiasm in a tight, flowing foundation for the melody lines. There’s a mixture of musical influences reminiscent of bands like The Stone Roses, Supergrass, Madness and The Kinks. All tracks can also be streamed via the downloads page at the website.
 
MOT are:
Ryan O’Donovan: vox
Phil McGuirk: guitar
Sam O’Donovan: Rhythm guitar/keyboards
Lan Gaglione: Bass
Dan Fossard: Drums
 
Free mp3 downloads:
London Rain
Can’t Take Anymore
All Dressed Up
New Revelation
Brand New love Affair
I Must Be Paranoid
You’re A Star
Tell Me
Strangeworld
All Out of Love
Sign of the Times
Waiting For You
What’s Going On
Something Happening
 
More on the band:
 
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Web Tools for Downloading Videos

Posted by David Holmes on
The following web-based tools will let you download videos from most video host sites including Google Video, iFilm and YouTube. Change the downloaded file extension name to .flv 
 
Read the FAQ sections on the sites below if you need a suitable media player, conversion utility or further help.
 
KeepVid.com allows you to download videos from more than 40 popular video hosting services. Once you have found a video you want to download simply select the host service from the displayed list then enter the URL of the web page with the video on it in the textbox.
 
Googlevideodownload.com lets you search on google video, ifilm and youtube or directly enter the URL for your video to download. The site provides thumbs of all search results and ‘zeitgeist’ style features for browsing video content. The optional free registration provides a "My Videos" section for tracking and categorizing your favourite videos. You can download the following formats: AVI, MP4(MPEG-4), and FLV. 
 
YouTube Getter a free tool for Windows XP/Internet Explorer that allows you to download video files with a right mouse click. No need to open the video first, the .flv format videos can be played back on a player like FLV Player.
 

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Big in Japan Web 2.0 Toolbox

Posted by David Holmes on
The Big in Japan Web 2.0 Toolbox is a collection of powerful blogging, podcasting and RSS tools. The service aims to help people who are actively engaged in developing and managing a presence on the web. Several tools have already been launched with more to follow. There are currently ten web-based applications being incorporated into the ‘super mashup’. The ones available at the moment are free to use and an additional pro level will be phased in when ready.
 
Tool List 
  • PodServe: Free podcast creation and hosting with some cool features (see below).
  • FrankenFeed: Combine multiple RSS feeds into one monster feed.
  • ElfURL: Shrink large URLs, tag them and get stats.
  • InstantFeed: Delivers RSS feeds to instant messengers.
  • QwikPing: Blog update notification. Add your blog(s) and instantly ping multiple services.
  • SocialMail: Forward email messages via RSS feeds (launch pending).
  • FeedVault: Save and/or share your OPML files, create group discussion feeds (launch pending).
  • MailFeed: RSS by mail (launch pending). 
  • FoneFeed: RSS by SMS (launch pending).
  • StatsTool: Roll all your stats from various key services into one central location (launch pending).

Each tool provides a focused set of features for managing your feeds. A single signup/login provides convenient access to all applications for executing a range of management tasks. The user interfaces are clean and uncluttered with the same look and feel throughout. 

All this makes it possible to quickly set-up/select multiple feeds, mix them into one with FrankenFeed and have them delivered via InstantFeed to MSN Messenger, Jabber, AIM and ICQ. Further automation within the toolset will make this a very attractive service for serious bloggers, podcasters and businesses.

 

Podcast Creation and Hosting

PodServe is a free podcast application and audio file host with up to 1GB of storage space. Creating podcasts with Podserve is extremely easy, simply enter some details about the podcast feed, upload the mp3 files and you’re done. You can choose to have the feed listed on Itunes, Odeo, Ipodder and Podcast.net. Hosted podcasts may also be listed in the PodServe directory. Your podcast can be tagged with keywords and have a cover art image attached.

 

When creating podcasts you have a choice of three podcast sharing options:

  • Standard Podcast: You will be the only person uploading shows, other users will only be able to subscribe and listen to your shows.
  • Social Podcast: This podcast will act as a community for you and other people who share an interest on the same subject.
  • Public Podcast: Anyone with a PodServe account will be able to apply to contribute to this podcast.

The last two provide a moderation option for filtering content before publishing. The Public Podcast is experimental and I’m curious to see how such a powerful tool develops. Social, public and group podcasting raises interesting potential financial models for media distribution. This is a simple solution for creating specialized content channels and a feature I would expect to see getting much use from music distributors and promoters. Think Creative Commons music channel, netlabel releases, independent associations, etc.

Some of the tools have their own biggu.com address e.g. http://podserve.biggu.com 

By the way "biggu" means big in Japanese. Overall, ‘Big in Japan’ gets a big thumbs up from me, its design is clean and well thought out, it offers a powerful free podcasing solution and manages to incorporate essential RSS tools into a package that ‘feels’ good to use. Making tools that are both useful and aesthetically pleasing is a real challenge and the team behind this project have obviously worked it out. Zen tradition emphasizes direct communication.

Here’s the Big in Japan blog. Further information can be found at Weblogs Work.

 

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Entrance Panel

PD-Radio Open Webcast for the Pure Data Community

Posted by David Holmes on
PDradio provides streaming music shared by members of the Pure Data community. There’s lots of experimental electronic music to hear. The DJ voice is created using voice synthesis software.
"PD Webradio is a self-regulating virtual radio station for the PD-community.
You can listen to the music-stream, vote for songs you would like to hear and upload your own PD-related music.The automatic radio moderator will talk to you and give you more information about the songs.
 
PD (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical processing."
listen to the radio stream; you may need to manually open the URL in some media players:
128 kbps: http://pdradio.iem.at:8000/pdradio_128k.mp3
96 kbps: http://pdradio.iem.at:8000/pdradio_96k.mp3
 
Via Remixlinks – a ning-based social bookmarking application for sharing remix & mash-up links.
 
 
Internet Radio Stations
 
If the art of noise and electronic music programming leaves you feeling a little nervous, try some sonic healing via Relax Radio or the Sleepbot Environmental Broadcast.
 
More
 

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Evils That Never Came – Free Album Download

Posted by David Holmes on
Evils That Never Came a free album that can be downloaded and burnt to CDs and handed out and even broadcast. The whole album can also be streamed via the website.
 
Track listing:
 
01 Can’t Afford A Soul
02 Two Feet
03 Kiss Aloud
04 When It Stops
05 Lillian Rouche
06 See Somebody
07 Real Big Love
08 Something New
 
High quality mp3 256k
 
 
A Day in the Life of a Boulder – an unrelated short video using "See Somebody"
 
 

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Led Zeppelin Live Videos and Music Video Resources

Posted by David Holmes on
Services like Google Video and YouTube provide access to thousands of music videos showing musicians both past and present. There’s never been a better time for discovering rare music videos and live footage of great artists. Often such influential events and concerts have been captured by amateur film-makers. Although the quality of a recording may be poor, it’s not the most important factor for the viewer. Far more important is the opportunity to glimpse a moment in history that allows new insights and a deeper appreciation of the artist. I like to think the widespread availability of this material will at least rekindle an interest in past musicians, writers and performers.
 
When it comes to live performances, Led Zeppelin were masters of the stage, producing a level of excitement and spontaneity rarely matched by other bands. Early footage is particularly interesting because it conveys a compelling sense of something new and exciting happening. Watching these early performances, it’s easy to see why Led Zeppelin became one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. To date, the group has sold more than 300 million albums worldwide. The following resources will help you to explore the music of Led Zeppelin through the magic of live performance. As an introduction I’ve chosen one particular song, a flexible and pivotal piece of music that provides a level of communication for everyone to converge upon.
 
Dazed and Confused
 
The first three videos mentioned below all feature the same song, "Dazed and Confused". Jake Holmes originally recorded the idea on his album The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes, released in June 1967. The Yarbirds re-worked the song having seen him perform it while supporting them at a gig in Greenwich Village on August 25, 1967.
 
Beginning with the Yarbirds we can see how Jimmy Page’s connection with the song eventually became a centerpiece for Led Zeppelin. In each of the videos he uses a violin bow to play the guitar as his trademark performance. Successive live versions of the song became more elaborate as the band developed.
 
1) Yardbirds Featuring Jimmy Page Live in Baton Rouge, French-TV 1967.
Jimmy Page plays the guitar with a violin bow during "Dazed and Confused". The setlist includes Train Kept A Rollin’, Dazed And Confused, and Goodnight Sweet Josephine. 
 
 
 
2) Led Zeppelin Supershow – Staines, England Tuesday March 25, 1969 (7 min 34 sec.)
A live performance of "Dazed and Confused" with Jimmy Page using a violin bow on a Telecaster before launching into a blinding solo.
 
 
3) French Variety Show – Venue Antenne Culturelle Du Kremlin-Bicetre Thursday June 19, 1969. (11 min 45 sec)
 
Emerging from backstage the band immediately launch into "Communication Breakdown" in front of a passive and seated French audience. Jimmy Page plays ripping lead guitar parts and uses a wah-wah pedal in the later stages. The second song, a cut down version of "Dazed and Confused", begins with the sound of Jimmy Page using a violin bow on his Les Paul in a groaning question and answer exchange with vocalist Robert Plant imitating the guitar sounds. The band further develop this theme with drums and bass supplying a driving rhythm for the excellent guitar solos and wailing vocal performance. The final section of the video shows what appears to be a sound-check of "Communication Breakdown" with the main focus of the camera on the genius of John Bonham.
 
 
4) Led Zeppelin and Keith Moon – Los Angeles Forum, Jun 23, 1977.(9 min 43 sec)
Amateur video showing the guys enjoying themselves with clips of Jimmy using a violin bow, Keith on drums, Robert on drums, John on drums with Keith on tympani, Robert finishes by saying  "LA, it’s been very funny, goodnight!" Keith Moon has been attributed with the idea that lead to the name Led Zeppelin.
 
For more info about this legendary performance and a breakdown of the clips in RealVideo format see http://www.led-zeppelin.com/spotlight/keithmoon77.html
Songs include;  Rock and Roll, Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Trampled Underfoot, Moby Dic.
 
 
5) Stairway to Heaven – (11 min 9sec)
Robert Plant begins with the statement " I think this is a song of hope" and then we hear the magical sound of that guitar chord progression. Although it is one of the most requested songs on radio the original track has never been released as a single. Wikipedia: Stairway to Heaven
 
 
A selection of video clips including Celebration Day (Live – 1979), Rain Song (Live – 1979),White Summer (Live – 1979), Hot Dog (Live – 1979), Black Dog  (Live – 1995). All available via Google Video.
 
 
RealVideo Format
 
A collection of 24 videos dating from 1970-1980 including live concert footage, interviews, studio sessions and promos. The site also provides a videography of officially-released and rare clips.
 
Currently features a mixed selection of clips a couple of which show footage of Led Zeppelin live; Pittsburgh 7.24.73 and L.A. Home movie film 6.26.77.
 
 
YouTube
 
The most active site on the planet for music videos is YouTube (how long will it last?). Here are some direct search links:
 
 
 
Discovering More Music Videos On YouTube
 
Music Thing – lists of interesting video spots that can be found via the following links.
 
pHinnWeb Filter – two nice collections of hand-picked music videos.
 
 
Led Zeppelin Resources 
 
Experts: Led Zeppelin provides answers to the questions.
 
 

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Ancient Music: The World’s Oldest Songs & Musical Instruments

Posted by David Holmes on
Since the earliest known times music has been an important aspect of life in all cultures. This is a collection of resources for learning about the ancient roots of music including the first instruments, their sounds and modern reproductions of ancient compositions. You can also use these links to explore the development of music on a cultural, psychological and emotional level.
 
The ability to hear these early musical creations is a valuable learning experience. In that light I have selected sites that provide alternative ways of listening to the sounds including streaming, mp3, ogg, MIDI and other audio options. 
 
It’s interesting to note the way music survives across the ages, passed on through musicians and new technologies. Todays technology makes possible the digitization of musical sounds, compositions and performances. By way of example I have included some relatively recent but notable composers and performers that show how music continues to be preserved and used by successive generations.
 
The earliest musical instruments are deeply connected with nature, made from parts of animals and materials in the environment. Methods of preserving the music made with these instruments and the human voice can now be traced back thousands of years, in particular to a terracotta tablet dated to about 1400 BC, which includes a musical staff and words to a hymn.
 
To date the oldest known musical instruments all happen to be flutes. The oldest is believed to be an ancient mousterian flute segment discovered in the "Divje babe I" cave site (Slovenia). If correct, it was made by Neanderthals from a cave-bear bone around 45.000-50.000 years ago. Another flute, made from a swan’s wing bone discovered in the Geissenklosterle Cave in Germany, is estimated at 36,000 years old. You can learn more about these discoveries below. The study of musical instruments is known as Organology.
 
 
The Oldest Known Songs
 
This piece on Hurrian Music provides information about the cuneiform tablet found at Ugarit, dating to the 13th century B.C., which contains the earliest known musical score in history. The page shows pictures of the tablet and plays a modern day rendering of a Hurrian hymn. There is also a translation of the words to the preserved song. You can listen to a MIDI file of the oldest known song in the world via this page: Evidence of Harmony in Ancient Music by Robert Fink.
 
This short National Geographic article mentions lyrics found in the 4,300-year-old tomb of Inti: Egyptian Tomb Yields "World’s Oldest Love Song"
 
 
Ancient Instruments
 
Dolmetsch Online – Music before the 16th Century – this is a thorough guide to the history of ancient instruments including time-lines and archaeological discoveries. The site also provides excellent information on a wide range of sound and music topics including a Brief History of the Physics of Musical Instruments.
 
NEANDERTHAL FLUTE: Oldest Musical Instrument’s 4 Notes Matches 4 of Do, Re, Mi Scale – musicology analysis by Robert Fink.
 
SWAN SONGS OF YORE Ancient birds, Stone Age music by Mark Brazil. An article for The Japan Times about the connection between bird-song and the development of early music focusing on the ancient swan-bone flute. Flute Playing Sound Sample.
 
The Oldest Playable Musical Instruments – six complete bone flutes between 7,000 and 9,000 years old were discovered during excavations at the early Neolithic site of Jiahu, located in Henan province, China. The flutes are made from the ulnae, or wing bones, of the red-crowned crane and have five, six, seven or eight holes. The site has two wav samples of a flute being played. 
 
Roman Musical Instruments – a pictorial guide to the musical devices used by the Romans.
 
Links to History of Musical Instruments – an extensive list of music resources.
 
 
Music of the Ancient Greeks 
 
This page for Ancient Greek Music contains all published fragments of Ancient Greek music which consist of more than a few scattered notes. Available for listening in Real audio and MIDI formats.
 
Ancient Greek Music on Papyrus: Two New Fragments – hear the music represented on these ancient papyri (Quicktime audio).
 
 
Further Exploration
 
Music of the Past in the Present
 
The Master Musicians of Joujouka – the Sufi trance masters made famous by their association with the Beat Generation.  William Burroughs described it as the world’s oldest music, and the musicians as a "4000-year-old rock and roll band". Rolling Stones founder and guitarist Brian Jones produced their first album in 1968; you can listen to a few 30 sec samples of the band including one titled Brian Jones Joujouka Very Stoned  via the site.
 
 
Brain and Mind
 
What Makes Music So Significant? From brain development to culture, music pervades the human psyche. This is a PBS discussion about the cultural and psychological aspects of music and the mind. You can watch video footage of the discussion.
 
 
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Audio Files
 
The Mozart Effect – Why does the music of Mozart create as much excitement in the laboratory as it does in the concert hall? This BBC audio programme investigates the myths and reality of Mozart’s mind and his music. Mozart’s life and the therapeutic value of his music are analysed during a series of discussions with several experts from various fields (28 min). The site also provides related links to Mozart resources.
 
Denmark Radio has Nine Mozart symphonies available for free download as high quality mp3. Symphony numbers 34 and 36 are in mp3 surround-format; download surround software (encoder & decoder)
 
Mozart Cylinder Recordings provides digitized copies of performances in mp3 and unedited 24-bit wav files.
 
Mozart – Mutopia Project is a listing of Mozart’s works where you can download the scores and listen to MIDI files of the compositions. The Mutopia Project is a growing database for sharing all types of music available in the public domain. It focuses on providing free printable sheet music with audio and picture previews.
 
Mozart’s Piano Sonatas has a collection of MIDI files.
 
Piano Society – Mozart Biography has a small selection of free mp3 downloads, Fantasias, Sonatas, Miscellaneous.
 
 
Connections  Between Animal Sounds, Language and Music
 
Sounds of the World’s Animals – Explore how animal sounds are represented in various languages. Combines onomatopoeia with audio samples of almost forty different animals.
 
Birdsong links – A comprehensive listing of resources specializing in sounds, recordings and sonograms of birds.
 
Lithuanian wind instruments (Aerophones) – ethnoculture resource explaining the use of wind instruments in connection with birds.
 
 
Wikipedia Knowledge
 
Wikipedia: Bird song – mentions the imitation of birds by classical composers.
Wikipedia: Digeridoo – listen to digeridoo sounds
Wikipedia: Sound/list – a list of full length copyleft/public domain songs in ogg format (classical).
Wikipedia: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – also provides a selection of orchestral, choral and piano media files, free to download in ogg format.
 
 
 Neanderthal Flute       Ugarit Tablet   

RapidFeeds MySite Content Re-Syndication

Posted by David Holmes on
RapidFeeds MySite (Beta) is a free service that automates the process of sharing content feeds on websites. A button placed on your site allows webmasters to distribute your content on their own sites using MySite features.

The re-syndicated RSS and ATOM feeds can then be customized in various display formats and inserted into websites using a choice of languages including PHP, ASP, JavaScript and also IFrames.

Once the re-syndication code is in place, any formatting changes made using the MySite control-panel are immediately shown at the distribution site; no need to re-insert the code.

The system provides a useful way for musicians and podcasters to spread content. A small, flashing icon next to a podcast (mp3) title allows downloading or streaming of the file in the browser.

 
 Get DISS
 

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