Category: Discovery

  • Rudy Van Gelder: The Optometrist Who Pioneered an Ethos in Record-Making

    Rudy Van Gelder: The Optometrist Who Pioneered an Ethos in Record-Making

    By Brad Allen Williams Rudy Van Gelder died 25 August, 2016 at the age of 91, having made some of history’s most enduring sound recordings. If you’ve explored the variegated tapestry of 20th century recordings lumped together under the criminally reductionist banner of “jazz,” you probably know the name. If you’ve dug through crates and slid…

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  • Poetry in Motion: Lyrical Layers in Frank Ocean’s Endless

    Poetry in Motion: Lyrical Layers in Frank Ocean’s Endless

    I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but dreams do come true: Frank Ocean has reappeared with not one, but two albums as a follow up to his critically acclaimed 2012 debut, channel ORANGE. The spoils of this past weekend have been in the works since then and were actually expected to arrive in July of last year.…

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  • Music Publishing News: Apple Seeks to Break the Mold with Higher Streaming Royalties

    Music Publishing News: Apple Seeks to Break the Mold with Higher Streaming Royalties

    By Songtrust We’ve asked our friends over at Songtrust to compile a monthly round up of everything that happened in the wide world of music publishing. They are the experts in the subject — Songtrust works tirelessly to simplify royalty collection for artists, so it’s only best if you get it straight from the source! Without further ado,…

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  • 10 Vocalists Using Loop Pedals to Make Extraordinary Collages of Melody

    10 Vocalists Using Loop Pedals to Make Extraordinary Collages of Melody

    Artists are using loop pedals to improvise with themselves and bring out a new, diverse spectrum of vocal textures and tones.

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  • The COMPASS: Nashville, TN

    The COMPASS: Nashville, TN

     By Lauren Shera I deliberately relocated myself to Nashville to place myself in the vibrant musical culture of this city. I wanted to get away from the country music and honky tonk scene on Broadway, and closer to the alternative singer/songwriters of East Nashville. Here are a few of my most beloved spots in Music City. The Basement…

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  • Opportunities: CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference Organizer on Building an Independent Music Career

    Opportunities: CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference Organizer on Building an Independent Music Career

    CDBaby’s Second Annual DIY Musician Conference is coming up this September 30th-October 2nd in Chicago. Being a DIY musician myself, I was intrigued by an event that aspires to bring together independent musicians, songwriters, producers, labels, managers, and talent buyers to come for a weekend of talks, tutorials, gigs, photo sessions, jam sessions, and networking opportunities. It seems super exciting and inspiring, so I sat down with CDBaby’s Kevin…

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  • Being Your Own Cheerleader: An Interview with Ian & Sofia Hultquist

    Being Your Own Cheerleader: An Interview with Ian & Sofia Hultquist

    Ian and Sofia Hultquist are LA-based contemporary composers whose work has been featured in the Vogue documentary, The First Monday in May.

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  • Pop Music Theory Analysis: Katy Perry’s Olympic Theme “Rise” Falls Just Short of Gold

    Pop Music Theory Analysis: Katy Perry’s Olympic Theme “Rise” Falls Just Short of Gold

    On Friday, Katy Perry and NBC launched an anthem you’ll likely be hearing throughout the rest of the summer. Her new tune, “Rise,” is designed to accompany NBC’s coverage of the Rio Olympics, but is apparently a project the pop singer has been working on for some time. In her own words, “Rise” is “a…

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  • In Photos: A Monthly Chip Music Open Stage to Showcase Your Work

    In Photos: A Monthly Chip Music Open Stage to Showcase Your Work

    Pulsewave is the longest running event exploring chip music (a.k.a. chiptune or 8-bit music) in the country. These days, they throw monthly events at New York City’s gaming-culture-centric art space, Babycastles. But aside from providing audiences with cutting edge chip music and live visual performances, all making use of vintage video game systems as the basis…

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  • Bands, Venues, and Labels Using Pokémon GO for Music Marketing

    Bands, Venues, and Labels Using Pokémon GO for Music Marketing

    If you’ve walked outside in any major city in the country this week, you’re likely well aware of the wildfire that is Pokémon GO. For the uninitiated, Nintendo recently released its first location-based augmented reality game, based on the ’90s franchise that imagined fictional animated creatures, or Pokémon, inhabiting the human world. Pokémon GO uses your phone’s…

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Ryan Lott: Designing Sample-Based Instruments