M Is FOR MASHUP - June 10th, 2008
How To Hunt The Elusive Wild Mashup
(or Where do you find your downloads?)
By DJ Useo
So you've obtained mixing software, some instrumentals (music only), & a batch of A Capellas (vocals only). After extensive tinkering you have some tracks you feel won't subject you to ridicule if people hear them. Now where do you post them so people will hear them & even possibly comment? You can stand in the mall with them loaded in a walkman, & ask passersbys to lend an ear. You could play them at high volumes in your car while waiting at red lights. If you want to risk alienating your friends & family, you can try & entice them to hear your tracks through bribery or physical coercion. The most successful tried & true method is to post them on your own website & then post the links at a clearing-house for links. So,assuming you have your tracks ready, lets examine the various methods of dissemination for mashups, remembering, of course, that you cannot sell your tracks or claim copyright to your work.
Once you have made some posts of your creations at your new website, or blog, you need to know where to post the links so people will see them. There are dj's who only post at their own sites & expect the listeners to find them. Generally, through various search engines, a few curious individuals will locate your site & check out at least 1 track. Quickly,tho', you'll find a growing hunger for some type of substantial audience. To satisfy this new hunger for more listeners you need a clearing-house for mashup links. The largest (& toughest) place to post your link is GET YOUR BOOTLEG ON ( www.gybo5.com/ ). They have many thousands of members & a couple hundred are posting mashup producers. If you post there, be prepared to be judged against some of the top people mashing, like DJ Zebra, Dan Mei, & ToTom. The good news is if you have a great track chances are you might immediately get 30 listeners & possibly a comment or 2. There are so many new excellent tracks that the immediate audience is small for newbies. Perservere tho', because once they realize your tracks are good, they will give you more of a chance. Odds are you could get 500-5000 downloads. Posters at GYBO do tend to be ambitious & expect to get somewhere fame & money-wise, so be prepared for that environment.
If you want to avoid the crush of posting among 1000's I advise the just-as-nice, but smaller forums like SOUND-UNSOUND ( www.sound-unsound.com/forums/ ) & MASHUPTOWN ( http://www.mashuptown.com ).
You will receive fewer views & sometimes comments are scarce, but you will be able to connect with some audience. If you like that type of thing, you might even meet other mashup producers, & let me tell you, for the most part they are a swell bunch of individuals. The d/l #'s are lesser, but quite satisfying. They can be as low as 50 or as high as 500 (averages). I do know of some mixers who don't care about large download numbers & like to post at smaller sites, just to keep their hand in.
Sometimes the style of track you make bears a better chance of exposure without the pop expectations of the large sites. Many mashup afficionados prefer a variation of styles in their listening, & so rap-on-rap, or dance-on-dance tracks don't do as well as pop-on-rock, or rock-on-electro cuts. The best part about SUS or M-Town is you will have a good chance of being noticed.
There're even smaller forums out there that are still nice like The LAPTOP PUNK forum ( cheekyboy.proboards.com/index.cgi? ) and MASHUP-INDUSTRIES ( www.mashup-industries.com/ . There's a few more out there I know, but I don't frequent them.
A new way to get some good download numbers is to submit your post at MASHSTIX ( www.mashstix.com/ ). They take over for you & do the post at their site, then readers get the links to your site & also a chance to vote for your tracks. If you get a good response there you also might make the RADIOSTIX Top Ten mashup countdown podcast that MASHSTIX does once a week. I am the lucky, lucky, lucky host of RADIOSTIX & people seem to really love the show as download numbers grow constantly. If you get high votes & right-clicks to your links at MASHSTIX you could def make the show & be heard by many. After hearing a great track on the show many peeps go on to bookmark & frequent the sites of their new faves.
There're a few more fine ways left to be heard. Submit your track to RAMDOM THOUGHTS, the world's largest & best mashup/remix podcast. If you make the show, you will have 10's of 1000's of listeners. You'll be in splendid company too, as the show only plays the best.
If you've heard of torrents, then you know they are a fine way to gain listeners. NORWEGIAN RECYCLING ( www.myspace.com/norwegianrecycling ) , one of the best & most-heard currently producing does mega-numbers with torrent posts of his tracks. I advise this method & you can recieve comments a'plenty this way, too.
A good number of mixers make videos of their tracks & post them at youtube. There's some audience there for bootleg vids, but people generally like to keep the tracks they like.
One last way to get an audience that I'd like to stress is to send me your tracks directly & I might write about you here on BARTCOP E in this weekly column.
Good luck with finding your audience. If you read this article & don't have tracks to post, you may still enjoy visiting the links contained here. You'll find mashups, remixes, long mixes - even podcasts & original tracks. WARNING! Listening to mashups often results in increased record purchasing. Be prepared! Now, hit those links! :)
Mix Of The Week
German DJ Kenny Douglas gives us an electronic dance mix for adults. WEEKLYDEEPSESSION ( www.mixdepot.net/KennyDouglas ) is his latest show & this 7th version is classics, deep house, house, & rare groove.Enjoy yours here ( www.mixdepot.net/KennyDouglas ).
Mashup Tip : Donate to your favourite mashup producers. No doubt they will repay you with more tracks!
DJ Useo's Podcast
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: MASTERS & JOHNSON - MASTERS OF FABRICATION
Remember them? Masters & Johnson, the world famous sexologists? They even appeared on "Meet the Press" 30 years ago. Well, it turns out that the case studies they used to prove the possibility of "conversion therapy" (gays could be "cured") were simply made up. All that agony you underwent to change your sexual orientation? The electro-shock therapy? Oops. "Never mind."
Andrew Tobias: MASTERS & JOHNSON - MASTERS OF FABRICATION
Remember them? Masters & Johnson, the world famous sexologists? They even appeared on "Meet the Press" 30 years ago. Well, it turns out that the case studies they used to prove the possibility of "conversion therapy" (gays could be "cured") were simply made up. All that agony you underwent to change your sexual orientation? The electro-shock therapy? Oops. "Never mind."
Mark Morford: New Hampshire Goes to Hell
Surely the news is forthcoming. Surely, this time, the liberal media cannot, will not shirk its responsibility and ignore the shocking facts by pretending nothing's happening and all is fine and good with their scary hippie liberal pervert Obama world.
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF: Rising Above I.Q. (nytimes.com)
Three groups may help debunk the myth of success as a simple product of intrinsic intellect.
Gretchen Rubin: The Importance of Unhappiness for Happiness (slate.com)
Feeling bad is a sign that it's time for action.
Germaine Greer: Why save trees? You can always grow more. Let's save our fabulous cooling towers instead (guardian.co.uk)
All over Britain monuments of the recent industrial past are being demolished.
CARYN GANZ: Rufus WAINWRIGHT (interviewmagazine.com)
After releasing six albums, appearing in a handful of films, and single-handedly resurrecting the songbook of Judy Garland, Rufus Wainwright took the next logical step: He spent three years writing a two-hour opera.
20 QUESTIONS: Nona Hendryx (popmatters.com)
In 1962, Nona Hendryx shared a bill with everyone from Bo Diddley to the Marvelettes. She took some time with PopMatters to talk about Buster Crabbe and her knack for fixing TVs.
Ellen Gray: "Brenda star: Kyra Sedgwick still finds her 'Closer' role fascinating" (Philadelphia Daily News)
Kyra Sedgwick's never lived with one character as long as she's lived with Brenda Leigh Johnson, the endearingly driven cop at the center of TNT's "The Closer."
Aaron Hillis: A Conversation with Francis Ford Coppola (villagevoice.com)
On film (it's over), critics (can be lazy), and marriage (it's tough to be his wife).
Brandon Voss: Rachel Getting Merry (advocate.com)
With two new comedies and a sharpened gaydar, things are looking up for Debbie Downer herself, Rachel Dratch.
the linster: Mary-Louise Parker's nudity is nothing to sneeze at (afterellen.com)
Finally, a reason to celebrate allergies.
DARRELL HARTMAN: The Grey Lady (interviewmagazine.com)
Sasha Grey is not your typical porn star-not that there's anything wrong with that most adult of trades. She's a Godard buff. She says crazy stuff during sex scenes to mess with her co-stars. And she's got the lead role in Steven Soderbergh's new film 'The Girlfriend Experience,' a verité-style portrait of an upscale Manhattan call girl.
The Weekly Poll
The 'Talking Heads' Edition (No, not the band, ya weirdo...)
Which TV network do you view the most for national/international news?
(Feel free to cite individual programs/personalities that you particularly like)
1.) CNN
2.) MS-NBC
3.) FNC
4.) ABC
5.) CBS
6.) PBS
Send your response to
In the old comic strip Li'l Abner, what was Mammy Yokum's maiden name?
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Message to Sally
Re: My Three Sons
Indeed, on the Disney Scale, MTS was truly a perfect world ... but it
kind'a makes one wonder how it would have been written if only Reds Foxx,
or perhaps even some quasi-Malcolm Little, had been cast as the father ~
DanD
Thanks, Dan!
Or how about if the Fred MacMurray role was based on his character in 'Double Indemnity' - or even better, 'The Apartment'?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast til late afternoon.
25 Additions
National Recording Registry
Twenty-five culturally significant recordings - including a 70-year-old radio broadcast of Marian Anderson's recital at the Lincoln Memorial, Dylan Thomas reading of "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and Winston Churchill's post-Second World War speech that coined the term Iron Curtain - will be preserved in a special sound archive.
Every year the Librarian of Congress selects sound recordings to include in the National Recording Registry. This year's batch, being announced Wednesday, also includes signature performances from several artists such as Etta James' "At Last!," The Who's "My Generation" and Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner doing their 2000-year-old man routine.
With the new recordings, the archives will include 275 fragments of sound.
For the list: National Recording Registry
5-Word Speeches
Webby Awards
Who needs Twitter's 140 characters? Five words were enough for the winners at the 13th annual Webby Awards ceremony, where Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, took the prize for breakout of the year.
Sticking to the Webbys' tradition of acceptance speeches limited to just five words, he said: "Creativity is a renewable resource."
Also at Monday's ceremony, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane was honored for his Web series "Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy." Said MacFarlane: "What is this for again?"
Arianna Huffington, whose Huffington Post won for best political blog, said: "I didn't kill newspapers, OK?"
Webby Awards
Goodwill Store Paintings Fetch Over $150,000 At Auction
Toronto
Two paintings dropped off anonymously to a downtown Toronto Goodwill store last fall fetched over $150,000 in total at auction on Tuesday.
Waddington's sold the works, painted by late Peruvian artist Federico del Campo in Venice in the 19th century, to an anonymous phone bidder from overseas.
One painting fetched $80,700 while the other netted $78,400, including the buyer's premium.
That's over their pre-sale estimates of $30,000 to $50,000 each.
Toronto
Second Life On TBS?
"My Name Is Earl"
Weeks after NBC pulled the plug on "My Name Is Earl" starring Jason Lee, TBS is in preliminary talks to order 13 new episodes of the single-camera comedy from 20th Century Fox TV, sources said.
"Earl" became one of the highest-profile cancellations of for the networks' recent "upfront" programing presentations to advertisers. Speculation was sparked that the series, which has won five Emmys, would find another home.
TBS had already planned to start running repeats of the 4-year-old "Earl" in the fall as part of a deal with Twentieth inked in 2007.
Still, sources stressed that a deal for new episodes of "Earl" is still far from a lock. The two sides have to determine whether an expensive network single-camera series can be produced under a basic cable network's economic model.
"My Name Is Earl"
'Poor Richard' Almanac Auctioned
When members of the local historical society in Berwick, Pa., found a dusty, long-ignored copy of Benjamin Franklin's 18th-century "Poor Richard" almanac on their shelves a few months ago, they decided to find out whether it could be real.
On Tuesday, the answer came at Sotheby's auction house, where an anonymous bidder paid $556,500 for the 1733 edition, the second highest price ever for a book printed in America.
That was big news in Berwick, an old manufacturing city of 10,000 residents about 150 kilometres northwest of Philadelphia, where Franklin, using the pseudonym Richard Saunders, printed thousands of copies of his almanac between 1733 and 1760, dispensing advice and aphorisms along with "lunations, eclipses, judgment of the weather" and other data relevant to the 40-degree latitude "from Newfoundland to South Carolina."
Five bidders participated in the sale, one in the room and four by phone. Sotheby's said they included private and institutional collectors.
Benjamin Franklin
Hawaii Archives Holds Mystery Document
Abraham Lincoln
How did an innocuous Civil War-era memo bearing Abraham Lincoln's signature end up in the state archives of Hawaii, which was still a kingdom at the time? State researchers are trying to find out.
The memo dated Sept. 22, 1862, orders the secretary of state at the time to affix the U.S. seal to a separate piece of paper, a proclamation dated the same day.
That proclamation was the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln's official warning to rebellious Southern states to return to the Union within three months or face military emancipation of their slaves.
Hawaii's archives also contain one letter each from Lincoln to King Kamehameha IV and to his brother, King Kamehameha V, and a note from Lincoln appointing a new U.S. consul, Alfred Caldwell, to the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Abraham Lincoln
Record Set
Smurfs
The world record for the largest number of people dressed as Smurfs has been smashed.
The city of Swansea was turned blue as a group of 2,510 people, the majority of whom were students from the local university, crammed into the Oceana nightclub to almost double the previous record.
The event was organised by UK fancy dress costume seller Jokers' Masquerade and was not verified until 1am as every "Smurf" had to be checked to make sure no natural skin was showing.
The record was previously held by the town of Castleblayney in County Monaghan, Ireland, which recorded 1,253 Smurfs gathered in the high street last year.
Smurfs
Bandwidth Grab Almost Complete
Analog TV
The last major TV stations that are still broadcasting in analog will turn those signals off Friday and go all digital. And this time, they really mean it.
Come Friday, older, non-digital TV sets will lose all major channels unless they have an antenna and a converter box that allows them to accept digital signals, or if they are hooked up to cable or satellite.
The Federal Communications Commission has given stations freedom to decide what time of day they will be shutting down analog. Many have opted to do it in the evening, meaning the full impact will not be felt until Saturday.
Even if a set is correctly hooked up to a converter box and a good antenna, many stations that are already being received digitally will disappear when they move to new channels.
Analog TV
Making Friends, Impressing People
Gordon Ramsay
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has "unreservedly apologised" after being branded "a new form of low life" by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
It follows Ramsay's comments about Aussie TV star Tracy Grimshaw who had interviewed the Hell's Kitchen star on Friday night.
The row erupted when he showed a 3,000-strong food-fair audience in Melbourne the following night a photo of a nude woman on all fours, with multiple breasts and a pig's face, and said the image was of the television journalist.
A spokeswoman for Ramsay said the chef realised "with hindsight" his comments were inappropriate, saying: "Gordon was giving a live cooking demonstration at the Australian BBC Good Food Show last weekend in front of a large and boisterous audience.
Gordon Ramsay
Rehab
Henry Lee Summer
Late-1980s pop artist Henry Lee Summer has a court's permission to enter drug rehabilitation in Nashville, Tenn., while he awaits a trial in Indianapolis on methamphetamine possession and other charges.
Defense attorney Angela Davis says Judge Jose Salinas on Tuesday granted Summer's request to check into a treatment center for at least 28 days.
Summer was arrested May 6 after police say he threw drugs from his car during a traffic stop. Officers say they needed pepper spray to subdue him.
The 53-year-old singer scored two Top 20 hits in the late 1980s with "I Wish I Had a Girl (Who Walked Like That)" and his cover of "Hey Baby."
Henry Lee Summer
Book Of Sketches Stolen
Pablo Picasso
A red notebook of 33 pencil drawings by Pablo Picasso has been stolen from a specially locked glass case in the Paris museum that bears the painter's name, authorities said Tuesday.
The book is believed to be worth 8 million euros ($11 million), a police official said.
The theft took place between Monday and Tuesday morning at the Picasso Museum, removed from a glass case that "can only be opened with a specific instrument," the Culture Ministry said.
There was no surveillance system in the room where the notebook was displayed, the police official said.
Pablo Picasso
Going Old School
'Guerrilla Drive-Ins'
Think the only way to see a big-screen movie is while slurping a 64-oz. soft drink, eating a $5 candy bar and shushing the wannabe film critic behind you?
That's not the case anymore, thanks to people like John Young, creator of the West Chester Guerilla Drive-In and part of a loosely knit network of celluloid renegades resurrecting the drive-in for a new age.
For the past four years or so, the 38-year-old Web developer has been showing films - real, honest-to-goodness 16mm film - from a 1970s school projector mounted on the sidecar of his 1977 BMW motorcycle.
Guerrilla drive-ins or "MobMovs" - shorthand for mobile movies - are popping up around the country in a variety of configurations.
'Guerrilla Drive-Ins'
Turns 75
Donald Duck
He is the most curmudgeonly character in a star-studded Disney menagerie that includes Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto.
Donald Duck -- the irrascible but unflappable waterfowl -- is preparing to be feted in grand fashion, as he turns 75 years old Tuesday.
From the beginning, fabled cartoonist Walt Disney envisioned Donald Duck as a foil to Mickey Mouse, his good-as-gold, animated star created a half-dozen years earlier.
While goody-two-shoes Mickey was most appealing to children, Disney sought to create in Donald Duck a more piquant character with adult appeal -- and succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
Donald Duck
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for June 1-7. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (X) "NBA Finals Game 2: Orlando vs. L.A. Lakers," ABC, 14.06 million viewers.
2. (X) "NBA Finals Game 1: Orlando vs. L.A. Lakers," ABC, 13.04 million viewers.
3. (38) "Law and Order: SVU," NBC, 11.56 million viewers.
4. (5) "NCIS," CBS, 11.26 million viewers.
5. (24) "The Mentalist" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.) CBS, 10.88 million viewers.
6. (9) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 10.1 million viewers.
7. (X) "Inside the Obama White House" (Tuesday), NBC, 9.17 million viewers.
8. (X) "Inside the Obama White House" (Wednesday), NBC, 9.04 million viewers.
9. (11) "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.89 million viewers.
10. (64) "Law and Order," NBC, 8.87 million viewers.
11. (44) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday), FOX, 8.85 million viewers.
12. (11) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 8.64 million viewers.
13. (8) "The Mentalist" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), CBS, 8.55 million viewers.
14. (13) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 8.52 million viewers.
15. (44) "Wipeout," ABC, 8.44 million viewers.
16. (27) "Rules of Engagement," CBS, 8.31 million viewers.
17. (44) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), FOX, 8.18 million viewers.
18. (5) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 7.86 million viewers.
19. (16) "CSI: NY," CBS, 7.75 million viewers.
20. (62) "48 Hours Mystery" (Tuesday), CBS, 7.73 million viewers.
Ratings
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