SonicMonkey

From Trent Reznor:

Nine Inch Nails is pleased to announce the expansion of the Ghosts project into the visual world. The band has teamed up with YouTube to host a “film festival” around Ghosts. The concept is for you to take whatever tracks you feel inspired by and create what you feel should accompany them visually. You will be able to see all of the submissions, and a team (including Trent) will be sorting through them and setting aside ones they feel are exceptional. Eventually (within a couple of months?) we hope to present a virtual “film festival” with Trent and some special guests presenting selections of your work.

“This isn’t a contest and you don’t win elaborate prizes - it’s meant to be an experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship. We’ve discussed some interesting ways this could go, including multiple installments of the online “film festivals,” to broadcast TV specials, to a one-time live performance of the entire Ghosts record with your visuals involved. It really depends on how this progresses and develops.

We are all very much looking forward to what you come up with, and hope you enjoy the experience. Visit http://www.youtube.com/ninofficial for information on how to participate”.

In an article on ARS Technica, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor called Radiohead’s well-publicized internet album-release “insincere.” While he admitted the idea was “shrewd,” he said it amounted to nothing more than tricking fans into paying for low-quality MP3s, while promoting just another traditional record release.

For more details, read the full story on ARS Technica.

Jonathan Coulton roxxors my soxxors. All of his songs are under Creative Commons, which means that people can use them for their own nefarious purposes. Often, this comes in the form of bad music videos on YouTube.

Among the early favorites:

• Code Monkey
• Re: Your Brains
• Still Alive
• W’s Duty

He has a MySpace profile as well.

“IndabaMusic.com is an online collaboration and networking platform for musicians and music professionals. Members can connect with our international community to create online recording sessions - mixing tracks recorded all over the world using our online mixing software.”

Could be interesting. I just signed up for an account and will review it after I get a chance to play around a bit.

Trent Reznor made this announcement on the Nine Inch Nails website yesterday. Could be interesting. Frankly, I still don’t see it helping the small, independent musician to get noticed.

So, I was the featured artist today on TalentDatabase.com. Cool, eh? I guess I need to get some new material done…

I’ve started a new group in the Phoenix Metro area to help Retune, Refresh, and Revitalize the local music scene. Check it out if you’re interested.

Retune Phoenix

The guys over at Project Studio Network have seen fit to mention me yet again! That makes 3 mentions in 6 episodes. Now I feel the pressure to maintain the publicity!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, what’s wrong with you? Get over there, subscribe, and listen away. It’s like Car Talk for audio nuts!

Project Studio Network

Tommy Emmanuel and Jake Shimabukuro have it out…

A guy named Mike Masse performed and recorded his own version of Boston’s “A Man I’ll Never Be” as a tribute to the late, great Brad Delp. Those who are fans of Project Studio Network have likely already heard it, but in case it slipped past you, here’s a link to the song as well as a thread discussing it on GearSlutz.com.

I recommend the following strategy:

1. Download the MP3
2. Turn off the lights
3. Put on a pair of headphones
4. Turn it up
5. Close eyes
6. Enjoy

I’ve talked to Mike, and he’s a real class act. Give the song a listen or two (or 3, or 100, or 1,000) and let him know what you think of it. Grab the MP3 while you can… I don’t know how long he’s going to leave it up there.