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October 29, 2004

New focus, new inspiration

I've been busy and haven't gotten a new 'cast up. In the meantime, I've been playing with an idea that brings something new to what I want to do here concerning independent music. I'll be featuring the music creation process, starting with my own and also including some others from the indie music scene. What inspires songwriters and how does an idea morph during the process into what you eventually hear? I often write a song in a compressed amount of time. Often one or two nights, and during the actual recording process it evolves further. I find this facinating and hope you will too.

Posted by roymond at 10:22 AM | Comments (2)

October 23, 2004

Record Labels Said to Be Next on Spitzer List for Scrutiny

New York's attorney general is said to be scrutinizing practices for influencing which songs are heard on radio.

URL: Record Labels Said to Be Next on Spitzer List for Scrutiny

Posted by roymond at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2004

I'll be back

Finally moved MovableType, and my audio hosting site, gigstream.com, and got some new templates working. Tomorrow I'll inaugurate it all with a new podcast. Bandwidth seems to be the challenge, and I find it hard to believe that Adam Curry only now exceded 30 GB a month. Go figure. [edit] I see he's abused the bandwidth into his castle. Self-hosting I suppose, so I can't really compare.

Oh, and within hours of my site locking me out on bandwidth abuse, I get an email from D2Soft Technologies Team claiming they'll cut my bandwidth needs to a fraction of its former self. Anyone heard of these guys, and were they the ones pulling one of my songs continuously until my service closed me down? Curious times... [edit] They've been getting noticed - check out the reply from D2Soft under that post.

Posted by roymond at 01:58 AM | Comments (1)

October 15, 2004

Clobbered by Bandwidth!

OK, so my gigstream domain, which holds the ICN show files, was shut down for bandwidth abuse. I suppose I should be flattered, huh? Maybe so, but it got me to find another host and finally get off earthlink, where this site is, as well. I suppose it'll take a couple days to get straightened out, so bear with me...

[later, that morning] OK, cleared that up. DNS propagation went very quickly! Now I wonder if even 40GB is enough.

Posted by roymond at 02:30 AM | Comments (2)

October 12, 2004

Mystery & Misery

OK...this is pretty :)

And they have some great links to fine feasts of aural delights. Check out Tarantula, for instance. What they call "Orchestrated math-rock"

Posted by roymond at 09:04 PM | Comments (1)

Public Radio podcasts

It was only a matter of time...and WGBH is the winner! They've got Morning Stories up as a podcast. If you appreciate intense, moving, personal stories, check these out. Here's the RSS feed, as they don't seem to be advertising it. Yet.

Also, The Theory of Everything is up as well. Cute RSS icon:

And OK, Brian Lehrer doesn't podcast, but you can still stream some great shows from WNYC.

Posted by roymond at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

Hellthy Entertainment

I'm enjoying some great music over at Hellthy

Posted by roymond at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2004

ICN segment: Who makes good music?

The audio file for today's podcast can be found here

Welcome to the second Independent Content Networks podcast. It's clear that I'm not much of a DJ, so don't get your hopes up. What I am trying to do is create some interest in taking independent distribution to a new place, to form a larger, cohesive Network from which great music and video rushes into our homes and iPods in a manner less than chaotic yet more than blind. Stay tuned on that. Meanwhile, listen to some great music!

Artists featured this week:

I didn't know who The Spinto Band was, but I knew this song as being from CarolClevelandSings on Songfight.org. Anyway, this is Brown Boxes which I take originated from January's songfight. This is a better mix. These are kids, ladies and gentlemen, and they may be changing your future.

Sonofsupercar brings the rawk to songfight, as evidenced in Shreds.

ADD's Coward was one of the first somesongs to convince me of the strength of the indie movement in that community.

Brick Pig's Tiny Room, I think, was the first song I heard on Songfight.

Posted by roymond at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)

Redefining Television - creating independent networks

Marc Pesce takes this argument through and lays out his vision: "Every computer - from the desktop PC at work to my lovely Macintosh iBook, to a handheld 3G mobile phone, to the just-announced Sony PSP handheld gaming and video platform - every one of these devices is potentially a DTV receiver. All they need is the proper software to decode the proper data stream."

And a distribution network...

Posted by roymond at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2004

Podcasting Explained

There's a lot of confusion about podcasting and trying to explain all this to a normal, intellegent person remains a challenge. Here's how I break Podcasting down:

1) What's the big deal?
2) How to listen to podcasts
3) How to create podcasts
4) How podcasts fit into emerging distribution channels like the Independent Content Network

1) What's the big deal?

Traditional TV, Radio, Online distribution channels are not portable
Streaming media is lo-fi and unreliable
Download on demand is slow
Independent distribution is frustrated by volume and bandwidth
Reliable ongoing connections and relationships with producers is awkward
High resolution media requires a delivery system that is reliable and unobtrusive

Podcasts via RSS provide subscription-based relationships to deliver full resolution media in the background

2) How to listen to podcasts

Install an iPodder client and set feeds and schedule to download
The iPodder software automatically downloads the media files whenever they are available, interacts with iTunes or MS Media Player, and creates a custom playlist for them
The media is available to listen/watch at your convenience once you've synched your iPod or other portable device. Of course, you can just have them staged on your home media server for use there

3) How to create podcasts

MovableType and other web tools such as blogging softwares have plugins that identify references to media files within pages and tag their URLs as enclosures within the RSS feed that is created for each page/site. By creating a blog entry with a simple HTML < a > tag referencing a media file (mp3 or video), the plugins automatically create this enclosure entry in the RSS feed.

Producers create media files and stage them on a server as they do today. Web pages referencing these media files via standard < a > tags trigger the plugins to automatically include their URLs in the RSS feeds as enclosures. Users subscribe to the feeds and listen/view the media files as described above.

4) How podcasts fit into emerging distribution channels like the Independent Content Network

Currently we all depend on established networks to develop and distribute content. There are robust distribution channels emerging that allow independent distribution of content. Podcasting is a powerful tool to facilitate this sundication process and can play a big role in managing the channels of delivery. This blog and the Independent Content Networks podcasts will explore this new model of media networks.

Posted by roymond at 04:13 PM | Comments (4)

October 08, 2004

First segment posted

The first segment of the Independent Content Networks podcast is Here. This is part of what I'm calling the Independent Content Networks, something I see that can grow into a viable alternative to the commercial Networks of TV, Radio and the record industry.

OK, it's hard work putting together 17 minutes of podcast. We're workin hard. It's almost easier to produce a new song! I'm a bit stiff on mic but I'll force myself to get through this and bring the rawk! I bounced down to 128k mp3, since I really have a hard time sacrificing audio quality at 96k to save 5mb. Hey, it's downloading offline, so don't complain. Now I just have to get off Earthlink and move my domain name.

I have feelers out for Songfighters to introduce their music, their take on producing indie music. Next show will be stock full of personal stories. And less of me. Also, more pontificating about what Independent Content Networks can be. You think the RIAA is scared now? Wait until it's common place for artists to produce and distribute independently with things like RSS / Podcasting. And people subscribing to these feeds so they can carry them around and enjoy hours of unique music and programs. This can break the camel's back! This is even beyond public broadcasting ala NPR and PBS. So, we need to bring producers together and create a formal grid of distribution. Create channels that represent media / genre / authors. There will be too much content to leave it to individual feeds here and there. We need Tivo in the cloud. Some sort of head-end that aggregates according to how people search for stuff. How they desire it. Tivo wildcards gone wild.

Time to sleep!

Posted by roymond at 04:09 AM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2004

ICN segment: Songfight Intro

The audio file for this segment of the Independent Content Network (17 MB) is here

Welcome to the ICN Podcast. I'm Roymond, and I'll be taking a tour of great independent music that's available on the web for free. This podcast is available as an RSS enclosure, so go to iPodder.org for the tools to automatically download this and other (no doubt) better shows to your iPod or mobile audio device over night. This is the start of what I'm calling the Independent Content Networks. It's really pretty cool, and I thought it would be a great way to turn people on to the free music that is legal to download and burn and share.

Today I'll try to guide you through some crazy stuff that goes on at Songfight.org, where on a weekly basis, a new song title is posted and anybody who wants to writes, records and produces a new song to that title - all within a week. They then send it in where the songs are posted to the site's homepage for all to hear. Voting takes place, and the winner gets the word "winner" next to their song in the archive. Meanwhile, a new title has been posted and it starts all over again.

In these Podcasts I'll introduce the best songs of the week and also dig out some gems from the archive. We'll talk with some of the songfighters themselves and hear about the stories behind the songs. Or maybe just about how it all came together the night before the deadline in a distorted, fuzzy blur.

Today we're listening to:
Max the Cat's Por Favor
Juan Carlos de la Cueva Castianeda Olivero's Por Favor
Lonbobby + M0bo1d's Violet Wants It Her Way
Jippers' Step Up
The Cow Exchange's Tri-State Area

Posted by roymond at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)

Tod Maffin's Citizen's Guide to Making Great Radio

A fun guide to preparing material from the man behind I Love Radio

Posted by roymond at 05:34 PM | Comments (0)

Succession into Independent Content Networks

There are now some very cool methods and channels for the production, consumption and distribution of high-quality audio and video content. With PodCasting, an effective and reliable method of syndication joins an already robust distribution toolset that can establish independent channels for text, audio and video. With the inevitable development of intuitive user interfaces, non-geeky end users may one day have these channels pre-loaded on their PCs for instant gratification while never knowing what RSS or XML is.

The Gillmor Gang the other day mentioned how Adam Curry and a host of new Podcasters are bringing real content to real listeners. Then the term "Network" came up, sort of out of context, but it clicked in my mind. We need to start organizing a formal network of independent production and distribution channels that can compete head-on with the established Radio, TV and CD networks. Independent Content Networks. There is enough quality stuff out there to fill all our iPods and Tivos without cable TV or the iTunesStore. Shouldn't we stop whining and just get the hell out?

There are hundreds of internet music labels. But users need to be able to "tune in" to reliable channels for quality content if this is going to displace the current structures we all are protesting. It isn't enough that they are out there. With the right coordination, there can be a truly independent content network that makes it clear that we don't need the RIAA or Clearchannel or others telling us what we like and how much to pay for it.

The artists need to drive their own participation and there needs to be compensation for their work. But this shouldn't start falling into the current model and become a corporate "indie" network. This aspect of the model doesn't exist, yet. So let's build the network now. There's more than enough content and there will always be independent artists who aren't looking for immediate compensation. We'll worry about the rest later. The cream will rise and for those hungry enough and creative enough, a pay model will evolve that lets people make a good living without kneeling before the labels and TV networks. Let the dog wag the tail for a change.

Posted by roymond at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)