Monthly Archive for April, 2009Page 3 of 3

Distribute Yourself All Over The Place

published
on April 9, 2009
by
LG
in future of music, music, music business, and website
. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Are you a musician? Are you creating music that your friends and fans love? You want to distribute your jams but are completely confused in this weird music distribution world? We empathize… It’s hard to know where to go and what to do! You want to make sure that you will successfully and effectively distribute yourself all over the place, right? MixMatchMusic has been around the block a few times and has some good ideas of where you should go. While we were at this year’s Winter Music Conference, we made friends with a multifaceted service called Symphonic Distribution. Symphonic Distribution is a digital content distributor and services provider aimed at providing the best in content delivery, customer service, marketing, education, and more for music industry artists, managers, and record labels across the globe. They have a proven track record and currently provide services to hundreds of clients based in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Australia, Sweeden, Bosnia & Herzegovina, India, Japan, USA, Canada, Portugal, and countless other countries and cultures around the globe. In addition to their services, Symphonic Distribution also has several distinct brands for the intention of expanding the reach of a client.

SymDirect – www.symdirect.com
SymDirect is a upload fee based distribution service allowing artists and labels to keep 100% of their royalties. This service is different then the normal distribution model and in addition, undercuts MANY imitators. Consider this to be… the official post office of digital distribution. You pick the package (or shipping price), we deliver, and you get ALL of your royalties! No other charges or hidden fees!

SymIntranet – www.symintranet.com
SymIntranet is Symphonic Distribution and SymDirect’s portal for it’s signed labels and artists. The extensive portal includes marketing materials from stores, educational tutorials relating to music business, music production, and music marketing, and links to helpful initiatives aimed at helping labels grow! The website will continue to be updated to contain more educational materials, marketing plans, and more!

Check them out and please, don’t hesitate to shoot them an email if you’re interested in distributing your music and creating a name for yourself as an artist. support@symphonicdistribution.com

The Protege – Untitled is Hard Enough

published
on April 7, 2009
by
ACtual
in artist/album reviews, genres, and music
. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .
The Protege

The Protege

Born and raised in Connecticut, The Protege has been a DJ, a producer, a manager and now an MC on the Phenetiks roster (Rawkus Record.) Recently, he has been gaining momentum as an artist and that work comes to fruition on his just released 7 track EP, Untitled is Hard Enough.

Produced by Sketch the Cataclysm, Untitled is Hard Enough is a brief foray into what continues to be the overshadowed and under compensated world of underground hip-hop. Of note here is the variety of ways Protege gets over very different beats by Sketch. Cataclysm’s production ranges from the dark drum step and militant sound of the EP’s opener, “Provisions,” to the reggae dub sound of “Pressure,” with relaxed yet eerie hip-hop in between on “Sunshine.” The inclusion of some jazz and blues sound throughout the tracks keeps the 7 tracks from sounding generic.

Regardless of the beat, The Protege keeps his delivery flexible, letting the tracks come to him rather than forcing one style onto various tracks. His lyrics stay straight ahead, foregoing typical lyrical stalwarts like money, cars and jewelry for more personal topics like the pressure to pay bills. The honesty is refreshing, and combined with the ability to lace together rhymes and wordplays, The Protege makes his debut solo effort one that leaves you wanting to see what he can deliver on a full length outing. In one of the strongest tracks on the EP, “Nothing,” Cataclysm includes an undulating bass line and funky vocal chorus that eventually devolves to massive scratching as The Protege spins tongue twisters about his effort to create work and his subsequent fear of rejection.

While brief, Untitled is Hard Enough is solid and original. It doesn’t rely on prevailing Hip-Pop trends, nor does it try to paint itself as a champion of the underground. Instead, the honesty simply puts artist and beat out there for the listener with no requirements other than hearing where he’s coming from. It should certainly be interesting to see where he goes from here.

Thanks to Dirt E. Dutch for the tip.

Bienvenido a WMC – Here are your condoms.

published
on April 2, 2009
by
LG
in concert reviews, culture, dance, and music
. 3 Comments Tags: , .

MixMatchMusic’s first appearance at the Winter Music Conference and they send me, LG?? Uh oh… trouble!! Honestly, not being much of a techno/electro queen I really hadn’t heard of the conference. Well, I’m definitely the a-hole. Little did I know that this thing is of epic proportions! It’s a monster. Literally takes over Miami completely and has for something like 15 years. From the conference to the nightlife to the Ultra Festival, there’s something for everyone between the ages of 13 and 102. Ok, maybe 102 is a little old and a 102 year old probably doesn’t really get into the whole DJ thing. Still, there’s something for everyone that likes music and likes to party. Basically, every venue has something going on. DJ line ups, pool parties… the works. The conference itself was an incredible networking opportunity as well as a big eye opener. Plus, your badge gets you into several events all over Miami including the Ultra Festival which alone is a pricey ticket. All I gotta say is, thank goodness the panels didn’t start till noon everyday.

First of all, I arrived at the Miami Beach Resort and Spa after a long day of travel to be greeted by tons of Red Bull, DJs, complimentary Alize, digital music & DJ influenced displays and friendly conference workers dancing and registering everyone into the event. As soon as I walked in I knew this was going to be a long yet very fun week. I received my WMC complimentary bag that was full of fliers promoting events, DJ and music magazines, a copy of The List and condoms. Gives you a great idea of how things go down during WMC week which I so brilliantly named after seeing the condoms, “F+ck Fest ’09”. The resort is on the beach and has a very large pool area so I went to check it out. There was a stage set up, several chicks in bikinis and hooker heels, a DJ on stage getting everyone pumped up, a bar, deck and beach. Beautiful. I got a drink and instantly started schmoozing.

The 2nd day was the Digital Distribution panel where yours truly was representing the one and only, MixMatchMusic. I was SUPER nervous. All the heavy hitters were sitting on the panel as well. Juno, IODA, Beatport, Groove Media, Jamvana, Symphonic, Broken Records, Mubito and us! The panel was a huge success and packed to the brim, standing room only. All the panels were interesting, informative and well worth the time.

There were 2 hot spots this past week. One was Remix Hotel hosted by Beatport. The Remix Hotel events were held at The National. It’s literally in the heart of all of the most popular hotels and party spots in town. The pool was inundated with people partying in their swim suits and DJs spinning from overlooking balconies. Just beyond the pool was a large stage hosting DJs all weekend amongst palm trees and bars. Just beyond there was immediate beach access. It was a week long mega party.

What I believe to be the second biggest spot was the Fontainebleau. Even though it is a bit off the beaten path… the place was SWAMPED every day with partygoers. Some nights the door was as high as $80 a head! All day Thursday they had a crazy pool party hosted by Bacardi. It was open bar and DJ Jazzy Jeff was on the 1’s and 2’s. Unreal. Pic below.

Then… there was Ultra Fest. Oy! Add teenagers with glow sticks here. The line up was insane and the actual festival itself… ran beautifully. Considering how many people were there, I never felt like I had to fight for a bathroom, food, space or my life (which all contributed to an unfortunately horrific experience that I had at Outsidelands Festival last summer). The only thing is that it was too loud! I’m not a grumpy old person who doesn’t like music and is making a blanket statemement here. Honestly, the loudest event I’ve ever been to. My friends texted me before I arrived and pleaded me to buy ear plugs. In the cab on the way to the festival we could feel the bass from a mile away. LOUD!

As stated before, I’m not a techno/electro queen. Glow sticks just aren’t my thing anymore and there was a lot of that going on. Honestly, there were moments I had to slap myself and remember that it wasn’t 1999. I was genuinely looking forward to the Ting Tings, Black Eyed Peas, Perry Ferrel and Bloc Party sets (who didn’t show!!!). Surprisingly enough, I did learn about a drum and bass group that I can definitely get down with. Pendulum was incredible. I had heard of them before but never really understood the magnitude of their awesomeness. They’re metal meets drum and bass. Way cool. A metal band with a DJ. Talk about MixMatching!! Their concert was amazing, full of energy and it was nice seeing instruments on stage!! It’s hard to go stage to stage, watch a new DJ and really get into it. I’m so happy to have seen Pendulum… I now have a new band to follow. Also, props to David Guetta. His set was pretty impressive as well.

Overall, to put it into 2 words… I’m exhausted! It’s a full week of keeping up on where the best parties are, moving your tush event to event, meeting and schmoozing with industry peep, being on your best behavior when necessary and using as much as the day and night as possible. Dearest WMC… there is only so much going to bed at 6am with techno in my head and waking up at 11am to a techno party at your hotel that one person can handle. I think I’m going to take a nap now… for a week! Can’t wait till next year. 🙂

Dancing with the Stars + Mark Ballas = Soft Porn

published
on April 1, 2009
by
Sandra
in dance and video
. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .

While Evolving Music is primarily focused on music, we do make the occasional foray into dance, because of its obvious direct relationship with music. For anyone who enjoys dancing or at least watching good dancers dance, there is some basic level of appeal to the show Dancing with the Stars. Some people watch it for the celebrities, some for the dancing, some for the judges, and some for the, uuuuuuh, mishaps?

dancing-with-the-stars
Mark Ballas rises to the occasion.

Lindy Hop is a solid dance. And watching the professional dancer and the gymnast (Shawn Johnson) perform their aerial-laden routine is rousing to be sure. But Dancing to the Stars owes Mark Ballas a big thank you for the boost in viewers they’ll surely get as a result of his 2 seconds of fame. TMZ dubbed it Pole Dancing with the Stars… Watch the whole routine below.