This past Monday Aurous, known as the ‘Popcorn Time for Music’, launched Alpha. This streaming service, like many before it, offers a completely free, on-demand way to listen to music. The biggest attraction to this service is that not only is it ad-free but also allows the user to pull together playlist from multiple platforms whether that is off the internet, Spotify, or from the users own library of music. Creator Andrew Sampsons announces that Aurous has teamed up with ProTip, a tipping services that uses bitcoin’s blockchain technology to pay rights holders so that in this way, users will be able to compensate artists. What seems a bit unclear is whether or not users are forced to pay through listening to a song at a time or are given the option of paying per song.
See Aurous layout / interface above.
Essentially illegal to most label and artists a like, Sampson points out that there is a portal for rights holders to take their music off the service if they would like. The idea behind this is simple but is it legal?
According to reports this morning the RIAA has quickly cracked down on Aurous claiming that this service is not only pulling music from companies that to not negotiate with record labels to have their music played on but also with illegal websites that put up free music illegal such as MP3WithMe and VK. Published today on 20KHZ, the RIAA said quote, “This service is a flagrant example of a business model powered by copyright theft on a massive scale.” Sampson earlier mentioned that his intent was geared for users to take off of ad-supported services such as YouTube or paid streaming services.
Although this service seems like a great idea, there are still a clear amount of problems to figure out. Piracy is already a overwhelming problem enough. In my opinion the way in solving this is to make a portion of the website that detects when content is converted from an illegal source that way the company and the user don’t get in trouble pushing the user to legal means of service.
Disrupción Records is Berklee College of Music’s (Valencia Campus) first student run record label. 17 immensely talented students are a part of this label and initially, it was really hard to coordinate with everyone about all the details that were necessary for the success of this label.
We have 3 teams – the legal, the A&R and the marketing team. It started with legal issues on how to get a label started in Spain and whether the label name is available or not. Since, there were 17 people we decided to divide the label in two sides too coordinate better. Each side got the opportunity to work with 2 artists. It was really interesting to hear great music offered by such talented people in the Berklee Valencia Hub.
On 26th March, 2014, we launched Disrupcion records at Berklee, Valencia with some tunes from our very own, DJ kTunes. Ever since, we’ve been working with the artists, marketing them. It’s been great working with them. The artists on our roster are Tess Ruth Stabb, Avila Santo, Miranda Inzuza and Stephen McHale. You can check out all the artists on our facebook page.
It hasn’t been easy but it has been a wonderful experience and we couldn’t have done it without the help of our music industry aficionados, Ben Costantini and Ferran Coto.
And I’m back with more definitions. This week, the chosen word Community will be starring our blog! We’re constantly being bombarded by ideas and business models that pursue to establish a community or maybe make two different ones interact. Communities communicating and communities being community managed. We definitely live in a crazy world.
Lovely and 100% reliable Wikipedia says the word is derived from the Old Frenchcommunité, derived from the Latincommunitas (com, “with/together” + munus, “gift”), and it can refer to a usually small, social unit of any size that shares common values; or – probably more appropriate – in biology, a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment. It also reminds us that, in human communities, there are certain factors such as intent, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may affect the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. Scary, isn’t it? The two definitions below can also be applied to the present scenario.
So our special disrupted community has been up to a lot lately. Apparently the website is nearly ready to be up, still dealing with the hosting and last minute design changes. Once it’s up, we’ll be able to start uploading content, testing and learning more about SEO and different online marketing aspects. I’m trying to convince Tyler so that we can launch it also in spanish.. but properly done! Although it’s pretty frustrating when you stop to think how in no time, we’ll no longer be in this project 😦
On the other hand it seems that I’m still back in the oldies, for I’ve been spending time translating content into spanish and spending time with my old colleague Photoshop. Although my main task has been dealing with Facebook and social media in general. Even though we probably don’t have yet many spaniards following us, we intend to grow at a local and national level. My location when that time comes, is obviously unpredictable! :S This means that all our communications must be both in spanish and english, and despite living in Valencia we’ve all been absorbed by the Berklee bubble… or community!
It seams like someone strongly wants me to follow the Marketing path, for I’m starting to get confused between different projects. Once again, I forgot how slow things can go when a groups communication system isn’t well structured.. or simply when too many (good intentioned) people are involved in a project with no head, just an uncontrollable tail.
To close this weeks blog, I’ll recommend everyone the TV series Community. You might actually understand some of the moments we’re experiencing right now! 🙂
And so it seams I’m back to the oldies, my not-so-fan-of old Journalism!!! 🙂
So after readapting to our new structure at Disrupción Records, I was somehow back into trying to write interesting stuff, information worth reading but having in mind possible keywords in the content, as well as our beloved links.
I spent 5 years in Madrid -fortunately one of them back in Rome!- studying a double degree in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication. Five years. I do like journalism and on top of it, good journalists. People like Ryszard Kapuscinskihave definitely been an inspiration at many different levels, but the degree -at least at my University- was a bit disappointing.
I’m sure that this fact influenced my decision to try and head for a slightly different path and walk away from my journalist days, but many years later it seams like I’m back to the 5 W’s and the inverted pyramid.
At Disrupción Records, we’ve started to dig into the communication strategy we’re going to follow, and the first steps are writing one short press release about the launch of the label, another one about the launch / showcase event, and a longer one with information about our four artists. As well as this, we’re planning and gathering all the information in order to have electronic press kits ready for every artist, including photos and videos.
So I was in charge of drafting possible press releases, which will be shaped further on as more details – such as our website – are ready. My first move was to grab a piece of paper and a pencil, to start brainstorming… And the first thing that came to my head was obviously the inverted pyramid and the 5 W’s:
Who is it about?
What happened?
Where did it take place?
When did it take place?
Why did it happen?
The only problem I had was actually finding the words in spanish, for I don’t frequently write in spanish anymore… which has
motivated me to start carrying my little notebook around once again! After dealing with the headline (remember: <10 words / <70 characters), the well known lead or opening paragraph, and the body, I did some research on potential communication agencies that might be a good solution to distribute all our content to the media, and reach a broader audience. This was also useful as I was able to update myself on the situation of these platforms nowadays.
The marketing team at Disrupción Records has also been working on finding and starting negotiations with potential venues for the launch event / gala we would like to do at the end of the semester.
The website is still in the oven.. whereas the social media is already growing step by step! And regarding our estimated expenses, these are still being “estimated” in a very responsible way 😉
As always in Berklee College of Music’s Valencia Campus, weeks go by too quickly. This means we’ve got plenty of work to do and not that much time left. But it is always nice to go back in time, it helps you not forget what you’ve already learnt!
As always, I’ll close up with a related song ! ! !
Bob Ruzicka “Golden Oldie”
*Oldies: Radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day.
A lot can happen in a month… Especially in a crucible of diversity, such as Berklee Valencia. So, first of all, forget about everything I mentioned on the first post. Phase 1 was adapting: making something suitable for a new use or purpose, adjusting to new conditions.
Phase 2 is ReAdapting: making something suitable for a new use or purpose, adjusting to new conditions… Again!
Being so many of us, most of the times things established during previous meetings tend to vanish into thin air. Remember: breathe and readapt. The working structure at our label has also been readapted, dividing ourselves into teams or departments that try to move forwards towards our goal: “creating a bridge between the inventiveness of Berklee Valencia’s disrupting talent and music business world”, or so our Mission Statement says. So I’m once again working in the Marketing Team, getting used to the dynamic we’ve established and trying also to keep updated on what the other departments are working on.
I now understand that it’s probably going to be impossible to work on different tasks seeking new experiences, instead of staying in my comfort zone. So my motivation resides on working with students with whom I hadn’t worked before.
During the past weeks, we’ve been brainstorming a lot, and even if most of the ideas will probably not see the light, it is always fun to experiment surrounded by creative people. It’s more or less like a summer camp experience. We’ve been working on the image we seek, and how we want people to perceive Disrupción Records. Among this, we’ve been trying to find a catchy and attractive logo, as well as planning a social media strategy and website budgets. Tyler has been essential as a designer, and he does not only have a really fine taste but is a great professional.
Other projects include planing a couple of events: a Name / Logo launch party and an end of semester gala, sort of showcase for the label artists. We have set up the official Disrupción Records Gmail account, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Soundcloud in order to secure the names.
On the other hand, I’ve tried to go through the steps the Legal Department has taken, as I would like to also learn about different aspects I might not be familiar with.
All this being said, once again the conclusion I reach is that we are animals, and as animals do, we need to adapt and readapt.. just like them!
For the past couple of weeks the member of the practicum have been communicating back and forth, in person and via e-mail, through instant messaging and by carrier pigeon – talk about innovative and motivated. The aim of this group discussion was to decide on which artists we were keen on collaborating with for the rest of the semester.
After reviewing 12 interviews – which were all brilliant by the way, and only made the process that much harder – we agreed on four talented individuals.
Avila Santo Tess Tyler Stephen McHale Miranda Inzunza
These four names might be familiar to some, if they are not however, they are definitely about to because the marketing team is prepping some killer plans – but for now, shh.
The A&R teams have met up individually with the artists and also started working on plans and musical directions.
(Un)fortunately plans are synonymous with homework, which means that we need to remain proactive. The artists have to make sure they compile tracks for us to listen to and choose from, but in some cases the repertoire to choose from is quite extensive.
Meanwhile, Beatsmusic acquires TopSpin Media and saves them from what looked like a slow and painful demise. They are hoping to fuse the ultimate experience of music discovery, and data collection and analysis. Listeners can rest assured, their relentlessly uneducated choices on music discovery are made easier than ever before.
On a more musical side note, Animals as Leaders are releasing a new album ‘the Joy of Motion‘ on March 25th and it is shaping up to be monstrous! Here’s the single from this much anticipated release, it is entitled ‘Tooth and Claw’. The composition is phenomenal and the production is nothing short of that either.
The Record Label of Berklee College of Music Campus Valencia is finally becoming a reality. The students involved in this venture are just waiting for the approval from the Dean and the school’s Board of Directors to have the Berklee name on the label. This is, indeed, very exciting for our community.
I am grateful for the opportunity of being at Berklee while this happens. Since I arrived here I have been witness to the amazing talent of the Berklee students. After a tough pre-selection process, the final ten singers and songwriters were interviewed last Friday. It was really hard to get a favorite one and to choose the students that will record the first records for the new brand label. I cannot reveal the names of the projects yet, but I can say that they are so talented that I’m sure many people will enjoy their music in the future.
Here you can here some of the talented and great music of the Berklee Valencia students:
As part of the marketing team we are truly thrilled of working in the creation of the logo and all the social media strategy. By the end of this week we are presenting the different options we chose as and ideas for the logo, colors, typography and everything related to the institutional image of our label. We also will announce that the record label is already set in the most important social networks. We are developing accounts in gmail, youtube, facebook, twitter, instagram, soundcloud among others.
What is next?
The students of the record label practicum were divided in two teams. Each team have A&R, Legal and Marketing groups that will develop the different strategies for each of the music projects. We have some proposals about how to release the music, one of which is to produce an EP for each artist and then a compilation of all of the projects. Wouldn’t it be a cool idea to have the compilation released in vinyl? Let´s see how things flow. What is true, is that this venture will open great opportunities both for those people doing music and for those of us learning about how to get their music out there!
I’m at a restaurant and in the background, I hear a music that I like. I get my phone out and I start my SHAZAM. Shazam, which has 420 million users in 20 countries, is probably one of my favorite apps. With one simple click, I can find out the title of the song and the artist that I’m hearing the background.
This week other than facebook’s relationship with my other favorite app Whatsapp, Shazam has announced yesterday that they will be partnering up with one of the top major labels Warner Music Group. This will include a Shazam branded Warner Music Group record label.
Yes, Shazam is now a new music label. According to appadvice, Shazam will now discover new acts and sign them to a Shazam branded label and both Shazam and WMG will coordinate on marketing efforts. Now the users will discover new acts by exploring what songs were tagged the most, and those acts might get signed to a new Shazam label. Basically, people will act as an A&R team which I think it’s a cool concept. It is a first crowd sourced label, and with 420 million users, WMG has nothing to lose but gain the data from Shazam. WMG will benefit by finding out what songs are hot and trending and also it will be helpful for them to discover the current or even future hits.
Rob Wiesenthal, COO/Corporate, Warner Music Group stated
“By partnering with Shazam, a brand which is synonymous with music discovery for fans all around the world, we have forged a potent proposition: the first crowd-sourced, big data record label.”
Rich Riley, CEO, Shazam noted
“We are also eager to use our deep data and advanced promotional solutions combined with exclusive content from WMG to help artists engage with their fans and sell more music.”
Traditional major music labels needed a better way to engage with the fans, find out what people are liking to hear. Some artists don’t see the need to be signed to a huge major label, they publish their music and market their music by themselves. They just want to be heard. With this partnership, I strongly think WMG made a perfect move, teaming up with one of the most used music discovery app in the world, and stepping forward with the technology industry.
Rock Label of the Week is focused on highlighting some of the biggest – or most obscure- labels that you may – or may not – have ever heard of.
Name Of Label: Fearless Records
Founded: 1994.
Location: Huntington Beach, CA.
Label Type: Independent
Distributors: ADA, RED.
Genre of Focus: Alternative Rock/ Pop Punk/ Post- Hardcore
Current Roster: The Aquabats, Blessthefall, Breathe Carolina, Forever The Sickest Kids, A Skylit Drive, Tonight Alive, The Word Alive.
Inactive Roster: At The Drive-In, Every Avenue, Lostprophets, The Maine, Plain White T’s, Portugal. The Man, Sugarcult, A Static Lullaby, Sparks The Rescue.
Back in 1991, Bob Becker founded/created Fearless Records. Becker, who was the original singer of band the White Kaps, was looking to release his bands music. During this period, he also spent a lot of time selling cd’s at concerts, record stores, etc. He then sought out advice from Dr. Strange Records in CA and found a recording studio, producer, and a pressing plant, officially starting Fearless Records. The name Fearless Records came to Bob when he issued his first album off the label:
“I figured I had to put something on there, so I thought ‘Fearless.’ It fit because I didn’t know what I was doing and I felt like I was being fearless about this whole thing. Then I made this kind of cheesy logo with these little dark eyes on it, and I slapped it on that record.” [Orange County Register Interview]
Around 1997 is when Fearless began the hunt to sign more bands, as Bob Becker moved the label from Torrance, CA to Huntington Beach. He went on to sign bands 30footFall, Big Wig, and (the band who would put history on the map) At The Drive-In. Fearless released ATDI’s next two albums (which were very popular in the scene at the time) before the band decided to go on an indefinite hiatus. The group members would later form bands The Mars Volta and Sparta, and it looked that the band was over, for good. However, At The Drive-In put Fearless in the forefront of rock labels, and soon after the hiatus of ATDI, the label expanded its roster into more genres of rock.
At The Drive-In.
Fearless would go on to have further successes within the next 10 years of its inception. Two bands that found success on the label are Sugarcult and Plain White T’s. Sugarcult’s Palm Trees and Power Lines, a Fearless release, featured their powerhouse single, Memory, which was featured on numerous television shows, video games, and which had steady rotation on MTV and VH1. Plain White T’s, which you may have heard of, released their album All That We Needed on Fearless, which featured the massive hit Hey There, Delilah. The song became a multi-platinum single, and the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Arguably one of the biggest successes Fearless Records has had since its beginnings, however, would be its Pop Goes… compilation albums. The albums feature popular punk bands doing covers of popular songs (aside from Pop Goes Acoustic 1 & 2, which feature bands performing their own original work performed acoustically). The first album, Punk Goes Metal, debuted in 2000, and as of 2013, Fearless has released 13 compilation albums under the Pop Goes… name. The most recent album, Punk Goes Christmas, is due to be released November 5th, 2013. A percentage of the proceeds from Punk Goes Christmas will be donated to MusiCares, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the music community with financial, medical, and HR services.
Fearless Santa Delivering Punk Goes Christmas.
As of 2012, Fearless announced the inception of their sister label, Old Friends Records. Bob Becker would make a statement on behalf of Fearless about their new business venture:
“Old Friends came about from us being fans of other styles of music, in addition to the genres that fall under the Fearless brand, and wanting to release records that were more geared towards the indie rock / alternative world. It will allow us to work with the bands that we discover that don’t necessarily fit with Fearless, and release music geared towards alternative radio, without confusing our established audience. We’re excited that we will be able to diversify and work with even more talented artists via Old Friends.” [BryanStars Interviews]
Old Friends Records Logo.
Currently, The Static Jacks and Hellogoodbye are signed to the label, with 5 album releases between the two bands. Portugal. The Man has also released an album through Old Friends Records.
So what is the secret to success, according to Bob Becker (the dude obviously knows what he is doing)? It involves hard work, and choosing the most deserving artists:
“I never take any of this for granted. I never think that I have everything figured out and that I can just kick back and relax. It’s tough living like that because you’re always on edge, but I think that’s what keeps me trying extra hard. We’re not a big label that has a huge investor behind it. We’re scrappy here and we’ve always approached things that way. I want to help the people that deserve to be successful. I look for good guys. I look for bands that can actually write songs, play live — and then there’s their work ethic. With the Internet now, you can see which bands are working hard and getting their music out there.” [Orange County Register Interview]
As a scene kid of the millennium, I always found that my heart began at Equal Vision Records, which is why my first blog begins there too. Created in 1992 by Ray Cappo (Vocalist for bands Youth Of Today, Shelter, Better Than A Thousand), Equal Vision’s original purpose was to distribute music for Cappo’s band, Shelter. Shelter was unique in that they identified as a Hare Krishna hardcore band, and because of this, Cappo distributed other Krishna music through Equal Vision [About Equal Vision]. Cappo’s Krishna background also shaped the name and logo of his new record label, as described in an interview by current label owner Steve Reddy;
“Equal Vision was initially created because Shelter wanted to put out their own records. The name came from a verse spoken by Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita. The logo is a picture of Krishna that a Hare Krishna artist had lying around, unused in her portfolio. Ray Cappo, the singer of Shelter and founder of Equal Vision, liked it and asked her if we could use it and she agreed. We used the logo for all of our Krishna-core bands, but when I signed Shift—our first non-Krishna band on the label—we switched to just the “e v r” letters as a logo. We wanted to make a differentiation so kids knew Equal Vision wasn’t just an all-Krishna-core roster. We did it that way for a couple of years, but after the Krishna-core stuff faded away, we decided to go back to [our original] logo for all releases. The Krishna logo still means a lot to me today, and I’ve always preferred how it looked over just the letters.” [Behind The Logo’s Interview]
Equal Vision Logo.
In 1991, Reddy purchased Equal Vision from Ray Cappo, and from that moment on the label opened itself up to become a broader, hardcore label. It also meant relocation – while Equal Vision started up in New York City, it was moved to Albany, NY once Reddy took over. By the end of the 1990’s, the roster for Equal Vision (then known as EVR) had doubled. Within the Equal Vision building, bands were having their music produced and marketed right in house, while the merchandise portion of the website dedicates itself to sales on clothing, accessories, and album sales.
MerchNow Warehouse.
On top of Equal Vision Records, Reddy and his wife Kate also created MerchNow, a merchandising company with a focus on band apparel to be sold on the online store, as well as on tour (from individual tours with bands on their roster to festivals like the Vans Warped Tour). The company holds the values of the Hare Krishna attitude, providing full health care benefits and a lunch program that hosts locally grown food to their employees. Not only does MerchNow sell band apparel for the roster of Equal Vision, you can find band apparel from bands not included in the “Equal Vision Family”. [Merch Now Interview]
Equal Vision Records has connected itself to numerous business ventures within the past few years. A sub-label, Mantralogy, created by Kate Reddy, was designed to support and promote yogic musicians in the way Equal Vision supports their hardcore roster (some artists on Mantralogy’s roster include The Mayapuris, Prema Hara, and Gauri Vani &As Kindred Spirits). Other ventures include two imprint labels off of Equal Vision: Max Bemis of Say Anything created Rory Records and Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter created Cave & Canary Goods.
We Came As Romans on EVR Instagram.
Through it all, more than anything, Equal Vision has dedicated itself to living moment to moment. The focus is on the music, and making sure this music reaches the public. The label is very active online (from Instagram posts to numerous Tweets daily) and the focus is less on making money as it is connecting the artists to the fans. While it seems unimaginable, that’s the Krishna way, and from Ray Cappo’s beginnings to the label today, they haven’t lost sight of their core values. Looking at their extensive roster, it shows that these values have found a spot in the hearts of the bands as well. Equal Vision has a business model that has worked, and will continue to flourish if they stick to their guns.
SAMPLE THE CURRENT ROSTER
Check out more music on the Equal Vision Records Youtube Channel!
So our special disrupted community has been up to a lot lately. Apparently the website is nearly ready to be up, still dealing with the hosting and last minute design changes. Once it’s up, we’ll be able to start uploading content, testing and learning more about SEO and different online marketing aspects. I’m trying to convince Tyler so that we can launch it also in spanish.. but properly done! Although it’s pretty frustrating when you stop to think how in no time, we’ll no longer be in this project 😦
Global Music Tribune 