General - Elbows Music Blog Community

Why is this popular? Explain please ...

squashed — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:26:45 -0500

Am I the only one who doesn't understand Nicki Minaj? She doesn't have voice at all. Too slow for dancehall and not enough lilt for soul hip-hop.. her rhyme isn;t even annoyingly relentless (my take of dancehall...)

so, what is it about her songs?

Need New Hosting

zechmann — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:38:00 -0500

So my hosting is COMPLETE shit. Site goes down a couple times a week and it has the worst customer service I've ever dealt with (I should post the conversations, haha). I use JustHost to warn you all.

So I need a hosting plan that is as cheap as possible (pay for it out of my own pocket). I use WordPress and I need to be able to host mp3s. Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks!

Breaking News: Feds Falsely Censor Popular Blog For Over A Year, Deny All Due Process, Hide Details

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:58:55 -0500

This is insane. Via Techdirt:

The Dajaz1 case became particularly interesting to us, after we saw evidence showing that the songs that ICE used in its affidavit as "evidence" of criminal copyright infringement were songs sent by representatives of the copyright holder with the request that the site publicize the works -- in one case, even coming from a VP at a major music label. Even worse, about the only evidence that ICE had that these songs were infringing was the word of the "VP of Anti-Piracy Legal Affairs for the RIAA," Carlos Linares, who was simply not in a position to know if the songs were infringing or authorized. In fact, one of the songs involved an artist not even represented by an RIAA label, and Linares clearly had absolutely no right to speak on behalf of that artist.

Artist-run Music Blogs

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:27:45 -0500

Hi, I'm looking for examples of quality music blogs run by musicians who post their own music as well as the work of others.

Some examples

http://blog.amandapalmer.net/

http://spacemountain.tumblr.com/

http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com

http://jamespants.tumblr.com/

got any favorites? Please share!

Wordpress or Blogger

earbuddy — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:47:04 -0400

Which interface works best for blogging or making a music website?

Jobs and other such mischief

apocketfullofseeds — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:18:15 -0500

I know Jason landed a job with Google having set up the awesome IndieShuffle, has anyone else had any success finding work through their blog? Not necessarily going full time running the site but using it make contacts or achievements that have led to careers?

Marcus

#OccupyWallStreet

squashed — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:01:17 -0400

Update: Sorry folks, looks like another disappointment. Per the WSJ's Tamer El-Ghobashy, "#Radiohead spokesperson: “we can officially say its not happening” re: #occupywallstreet performance."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/radiohead-play-occupywallstreat-event-4-pm

Are apps the new rock & roll?

Spiritinthesky — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:35:18 -0500

Are apps the new rock & roll?

Pink Floyd

http://youtu.be/-xf5Kjnlq4A

‪Jimi Hendrix: The Complete Experience‬

http://youtu.be/fWglIddO6vU

Responding to the Countless E-Mails

boxmusique — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:28:52 -0500

I'm sure you, like me, receive countless e-mails a day stuffed with various crappy remixes, releases or maybe just decent music that doesn't fit with the general style of your site. I was basically just wondering how you deal with all the correspondence. Do you reply to them even if you're not going to post their stuff or do you, like I tend to do, largely ignore them? I'm just concerned that by ignoring most of these e-mails I may be losing quite a lot of possible return visitors to the site. After all, they're unlikely to come back if they don't get a reply.

What's your opinion on this?

Headphone

apocketfullofseeds — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:12:27 -0500

What are decent headphones to buy?

I need a new pair for walking to campus / procrastinating in libraries as well as travelling etc. Not sure if I'm big time enough to go for a pair of massive cans and Im not a big fan of in ear headphones so maybe something in the middle?

Marcus

Approaching PR with bad reviews for their artists

earbuddy — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:17:48 -0400

Just curious about something:

My PR reps always ask for coverage links to posts that my staff writers and I write for their artists. My question is how do you handle the stuff that you don't necessarily like? There's been many times where we've gotten albums that just sucked, and we're not going to pretend to like it in our reviews. Do you still shoot the publicity reps a link to the post even though you pretty much shredded the artist that they're representing?

Nick

Post- iTune era? Now what?

squashed — Mon, 30 May 2011 00:46:08 -0400

It seems the big labels are in final destruction phase. They are completely locked in iTune and probably couldn't bring themselves to sign with Google and Amazon, let alone imagining what will happen next.

So they will be tied permanently inside iTune. The problem, we are now about to enter post iTune era. Where even iTune is too cumbersome and complicated to buy and listen to music in non apple smartphone/tablet environment.

Google and Amazon obviously try to offer a cloud service where you store your music once in the cloud and you can listen to it any way you want it. With few problems a) it seems about to turn into a simple crude cloud storage service. no sale, slow transfer, no reliable suggestion service. b) wireless/telcos are expensive c) There is still no reliable way to hook up all these devices to stereo system.

If I have to choose, it probably be combination of all the above, except the parts are not in the order apple or google want them to be.

I would say, Microsoft Zune software approach is closer, albeit missing key components, which obviously Microsoft can't ever provide. (Even if they get everything running, no one trusts them, they are damaged good.) iPod touch UI itself isn't that practical for post iTune era.

Anyway, Imagine a smartphone/tablet software player where when you play a file, all sort of information will pop in your screen. Brief note, artist bio, list of previous works, performance schedule, latest news, video, and way to buy tickets.

This will require a) universal id for that file b) a cloud server to feed all those pictures, text, news, map, tickets c) method of payment d) entire system that people can trust (no spying, no spamming, no virus, no overcharge, etc.)

essentially, a music file will act more like part of software instead of current discreet unit of mass produced widget.

MFM Redesign

MusicForMorons — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:18:13 -0400

Hey guys, I've been working on V.2 of MFM as it's coming up to it's 1st Birthday. What do you think? I went for a magazine kind of style. Some of it's not fully functional yet like the archives (can anyone suggest a good archive wordpress plugin) and the social widget on the right. But I'm desperate for any comments, critiques to improve it visually and improve ease of use/functionality.

http://musicformorons.com

Cheers, Chris

Best Spam Comment Ever... (made me do an actual LOL)

Joe@anewbandaday — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:07:20 -0400

This was just caught in my spam filter on ANBAD:

2010/08/07 at 10:42 am

I’m currently being held prisoner by the Russian mafia penis enlargement penis enlargement and being forced to post spam comments on blogs and forum! If you don’t approve this they will kill me. penis enlargement penis enlargement They’re coming back now. vimax vimax Please send help! nitip penis enlargement penis enlargement

I just can't bring myself to delete it.

In fact I might even approve it.

Anyone else have anything this ridiculous flagged up as spam?

Virtual Server Recommendations?

Mike Mineo — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:51:21 -0400

I'm presently paying $50/mo to Mediatemple for Dedicated-Virtual hosting. I generally get around 10-20 minutes of sporadic downtime per day due to kmemsize and other terms the support staff won't elaborate on. they claim the cause is some process (likely a plugin) spouting off several commands at once, but I looked into it and no plugins are the cause. regardless, I want to move elsewhere. I host all of my MP3s on Soundcloud and I don't have a forum, so it's not there are hidden processes.

"Dedicated" servers seem way too pricey, most of them exceeding $100/mo. that's out of my budget.

I know many of you run sites with 3-4000 uniques per day, with colorful designs that are far from minimalism. can someone in this situation point me to quality Dedicated-Virtual hosting that runs $60/month or less? that budget should be more than enough for a site with 3000 uniques per day. server performance and uptime is my main priority. I don't need a fancy admin panel if the server is going to crap out on a regular basis. has anyone had success with Dreamhost's $50/mo plan?

my account with Mediatemple expires at the end of this month, so I'd love to have an idea of where to move in the next few weeks. any suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks for your help.
Mike

Question for Longtime Bloggers -- hosting MP3s

earbuddy — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 10:21:35 -0400

I get emails all the time from music PR saying that so-and-so's blog has premiered a band's new single. How do you go about being one of those blog's to premiere a single so that your blog is cited for having the debut?

Promoting your blog

earbuddy — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:45:09 -0400

How do you go about promoting your blog other than relying on Hypem or Elbo or Google searches?

Just wanted to see what methods other people are utilizing. I hate posting links on other people's blogs because it makes me feel like a spammer :/

90s Music

justgimmeindierock — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:04:08 -0400

Hi folks, i've just finished a list of 100 tracks per year from 1990 to 1999

http://blastsfromtheepast.blogspot.com/

If anyone can suggest any obvious stuff i've missed i'd be interested. I've tried to list the kinda tunes which are less obvious.

Music blogging

apocketfullofseeds — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 08:59:08 -0400

I hear a lot of criticism of music blogging, about how the blogosphere has helped create a music culture which is massively listener-focussed and the artist are under huge pressure to deliver and get very little in return. There's also the issue of piracy but that argument is less clear cut.

My usual response to the blog criticisers is that to be honest I dont see myself as someone who primarily aims to serve the music industry and it's community. The reason I started blogging is because I really enjoy writing about music. It seems a bit bullshitty when blogs claim to be on a mission to help artists then spend 24 hours giving their music away before burying them in a sea of other bands and artists. If you really wanted to help artists out then get a job that takes up the same amount of hours as your blog and give the money to a band.

I would say that 95% of bloggers are in the game to try and have some success at doing something they enjoy i.e. being a recognised music head.

The main issue I have had with the blog is that it has changed the way I listen to music. I haven't listened to an album the whole way through for ages and my itunes is stuffed with random b-sides and promo singles which have drifted in from our inbox.

So that's me pretty much done. This forum is getting quiet and needs a bit more ranting.

Marcus

Best Promoters?

bond — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:47:21 -0400

I could've sworn we had a thread like this before, but couldn't find it..

There's plenty of complaining about terrible promoters on this board, but who are the good ones? Is there anyone whose emails you actually look forward to, or consistently pushes good new bands?

Imagining MP3 Blogging after Tablet

squashed — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:29:45 -0400

The tablet is obviously here to stay, With the avalanche of cheap $300 gadget coming, there will be enough tablet in the market to make people start thinking what to do with it beyond laptop with no keyboard. After playing with nook color, my conclusion, this toy might be useful and not just for few millions Apple fanboys. Industry survey says by the end of the year, there will be about 40-100m tablet. Small number but noticeable blog traffic.

Price is getting affordable. CPU is fast enough for fun web/games/goofing off. Battery last about a day. The softwares & users start to form feedback toward each other.

I hate smartphone btw. I think it's a giant gimmick to make you cough up dough and divulge privacy to big telcos. All for barely useful tiny screen to browse the web. (as you can see I am not a big voice user.) I can't see smarrtphone as internet device. It's more like socially acceptable convict tracking device.

anyway. how is this going to play out with mp3 blogging?

- How many people are going to read blog using tablet?
- What functionality tablet have or will soon have. What is still missing?

- in term of blogging mechanic (blog design, mechanics, type of users, what can fly/or can't)

- what crazy fun thing can be had on tablet that is not possible on desktop PC?

... In my nirvana, there is going to be a mp3 newsreader blog app. part newsreader, part e-store, part social networking. It has tandard socket and web/blog/store/news/blog all work together nicely. no jumping around across web just to find some trivial bits. All within 2-3 taps on screen.

More importantly Blog design actually look nice and people enjoy coming.

WP-Audio Player Problem

MusicForMorons — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:03:42 -0400

Hey everyone, I know this isn't a tech support forum but I assumed that most people know WP-Audio player or have used it so it's a good place to start.. I got accepted into HypeM yesterday so I'm desperate to get it to work again. For the past few days the audio player has disappeared on the front page posts, I have correctly put in the code [audio:link] etc but it still won't show up, it just leaves a blank space! Yet on the second page you can see it working. You can see it HERE. I disabled all plugins to see if any were interfering but to no avail.

Hope someone has some ideas. Thanks

Labels vs. Streaming

squashed — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 19:31:23 -0500

They are trying to stomp streaming.

Music Execs Stressed Over Free Streaming

"At the Digital Music Forum East conference, held Thursday in New York, music industry watchers gathered to puzzle anew over the continuing decline in music sales. 'We have lost 20 million buyers in just five years,' said Russ Crupnick, a president at the analyst firm NPD Group who spoke at the conference. Moreover, only about 14 percent of buyers account for 56 percent of revenue for the recording industry. In years past, the blame was put on digital music piracy. At this year's conference, however, the focus was on free streaming Internet services, such as Pandora, MySpace, Spotify and even YouTube."

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/02/26/0221242/Music-Execs-Stressed-Over-Free-Streaming

-----------

Should there be general boycott on these people? (drop them from all streaming service and see how far they can go with TV/radio these days.

Hype Machine Fast Forward

apocketfullofseeds — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:08:59 -0400

http://hypem.com/fast-forward/launch.php?

Really got into it today. Awesome. Absolutely good.

M

London Riots take PIAS distribution.

apocketfullofseeds — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:26:47 -0400

My friend interning at One Little Indian records told me today that they (and all the other labels using PIAS distribution) lost literally thousands of records yesterday.

The whole London riot thing is pretty disgusting. That being said I'm starting to wonder if it is being sensationalised by the media. This morning I was getting worried messages from old friends across the world but having spent the day in Camden Town there was nothing out of the ordinary to report. Obviously i'm not trying to defend any of the horrors that have gone on in the last few days, but I do think that things are starting to be distorted and misrepresented by journalists and politicians.

Anyway the really shitty thing is that the people most hardest hit are the small business owners (including labels) and communities.

List of Music Bloggers on Spotify

brandon — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:42:19 -0400

Add your info here: http://elbw.me/o07Tge

.

apocketfullofseeds — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:10:25 -0400

Blogging with an ASCAP license?

fiftycentlighter — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:32:05 -0400

A brief question for the community...

My previous blog, A Fifty Cent Lighter & A Whiskey Buzz was shut down a couple of months ago by the Blogger powers that be due to several bogus copyright infringement claims. I've kind of enjoyed the break from writing, but now I have the itch to get back in the game.

My question is this... I work at a non-commercial radio station that pays fees to ASCAP, BMI, Sound Exchange, etc... all of the people you have to pay to be able to play/stream music on land/internet radio. If I bring my blog back as a part of the radio station's official website, am I then covered by the various licenses the station holds if I wanted to still post mp3's on the site? Would I be limited to streaming vs. offering downloads? I don't want to do anything to put the station in jeopardy.

General - Elbows Music Blog Community

Why is this popular? Explain please ...

Blogroll

Need New Hosting

Breaking News: Feds Falsely Censor Popular Blog For Over A Year, Deny All Due Process, Hide Details

Artist-run Music Blogs

Wordpress or Blogger

Jobs and other such mischief

#OccupyWallStreet

Are apps the new rock & roll?

Responding to the Countless E-Mails

Headphone

Approaching PR with bad reviews for their artists

Post- iTune era? Now what?

MFM Redesign

Best Spam Comment Ever... (made me do an *actual* LOL)

Virtual Server Recommendations?

Question for Longtime Bloggers -- hosting MP3s

Promoting your blog

90s Music

Music blogging

Best Promoters?

Imagining MP3 Blogging after Tablet

WP-Audio Player Problem

Labels vs. Streaming

Hype Machine Fast Forward

London Riots take PIAS distribution.

List of Music Bloggers on Spotify

.

Blogging with an ASCAP license?

Best Spam Comment Ever... (made me do an actual LOL)