Music and gaming

If you already know about my rating system then skip on down to the next header, otherwise here's the lowdown.

The rating system
The rating system I use for this blog is somewhat unique. It's not a reflection of how much I like the music itself as much as it is of how far I am along the process of conversion from consumer to fan. So, over time you may well see some of these ratings go up if I mention an artist again. And indeed go down, as musical changes of direction or failure to keep my interest are just some of the reasons that may affect a rating.


Congratulations, you've made a temporary blip of interest on my radar. Now how are you going to keep it?


I've seen enough of you to recognise and remember you, but I'm undecided so I'm not really following you (yet). I may make a spur of the moment decision to check in on what you're up to once in a while, but even that's no guarantee. May also apply to artists I am aware of, but whose music I've decided I don't have enough interest in to want to pursue further based on what I've heard.


I'm liking what I hear in general, but I still wouldn't describe myself as a fan. I will be wandering past your site occasionally, and there is something like a 50% chance I'll be buying your next offering once I find out about it, providing I have the money available.


Now I am a fan, so the chances are I'll be past your site once every month or two at least. There's a 90%+ chance your next offering is already sold, and occasionally I might even be going for something more than the basic package (if you have one)


Reserved for very few, this is about as close to internet stalker as you can get. I am actively watching because I do not want to miss your next release date, tour in my area etc. etc. You may not always be aware of the fact I'm looking over your shoulder to see what you're up to, but trust me, I'm there on a weekly if not more like a daily basis. Depending on how you tend to release your information, I may well be signed to your mailing list as well.

What I've been looking at
Do you like classical music? Instrumental piano? And do you want some free music? If so, then now is your chance to get hold of one song a week all the way up to Christmas from probably one of the most relaxing artists I've had chance to discover on my travels. Fabrizio Paterlini has started an experiment on his Soundcloud page and you can download the results of it for free every week. The link I've given you is to the first week's offering, where he also explains exactly what is behind the idea and what you're likely to be hearing.

Looks like the training of the Last FM music player I've been doing may be mostly on hold for a bit. As I've already said, I'm finding the process rather "hands-on" and I'm currently using the time I've been spending training it to try and dust off my old first person shooter gaming reflexes. And having spent most of the past 5 or so years playing World of Warcraft instead, I can honestly say I'm well out of practice if my first few hours are anything to go by. But if you're wondering why I'm talking about gaming in a music blog, then I should explain it has all come about as a result of Matthew Ebel's latest way to connect with fans. Seems that a number of them are, like me, computer gamers. And so he's started up a special group for those who have one of his VIP or higher subscriptions to be able to meet online and play computer games with or against each other. What exactly will be played is as yet unclear as he's only just announced it, but it's something I'm excited about as the preferred gaming genre seems to be how I started back in University rather a long time ago and what I used to get together with my husband and a group of friends to play in the local village hall before the Internet became just as good an option. It'll be good to get back into the swing of things and who knows, maybe even make a few friends in the process.

Remember GD Allan who was on Sellaband, originally as a solo project and then later as his collaboration Broken Sun? Seems the Aussie has taken his young family and moved to America now. He's start blogging about the move, music and what else he's up to now over here. If you haven't heard any of his music before, you'll also find a lot of tracks to listen to in the same place and he's also started up a Twitter account, so if you are one of the ones who deserted Sellaband long back but are still following my blog, I'm sure he'd appreciate a follow if you were one of the ones who liked his music.

Epyllion are one of the Sellaband artists who have still been dropping by the forum, although the site has been getting quieter and quieter recently in terms of the old believer base logging in. They've just released another track for free called "Lame". You'll find the details on Youtube and I'd describe the offering as catchy college rock. No idea about the "live" front, but on the "recorded/musical" side they do seem to be getting both better and more interesting if the releases since they released their Sellaband album are anything to go by.

Pre-orders for Nemesea's new album "The Quiet Revolution" are now open. You can get it here.

I haven't just been digging around after artists recently, I've also been having a look at a few sites which offer tools for artists.

Vibedeck
This site allows any artist with a Paypal account to sell music directly to fans and get the money straight into their account without using a middleman. You can sell from the Vibedeck site itself or link it to your Facebook, Soundcloud or even a Youtube profile. A "tweet in exchange for a track" option is also possible, so the possibilities for an Indie artist are varied. At the moment Vibedeck takes no money from the purchase, so it's unclear how they will be able to sustain themselves if they take off in any big way. Paypal fees may be payable but it depends on how much you're charging and what options you have set up in your paypal account. Typically you'll see 90 cents in your Paypal account if you sell a track for a dollar, but a more comprehensive guide can be found in Vibedeck's blog. I can't find any obvious drawbacks at the moment and I know at least one artist who has used the site successfully as well, so this is looking like an awesome deal at present. I'd say use it and enjoy it while it lasts.

Fantrail
With so many smartphones coming on the market, the app market is going crazy. One such app currently in Beta which aims to give a way for artists and fans to connect more closely is Fantrail. The basic idea behind it is that any fan who has a smartphone with your app installed will basically be able to check their mobile to see your latest updates without having to visit all of your social media profiles to get the information. They can also buy music via their phone and see any gigs in their area amongst other things. As an artist you are able to see how often each fan does a "positive" action, like buying a track using the app, tweeting about you to their friends etc. and you can then even send them a voicemail message or decide on other ways of thanking the fans who are most active in this way. It's also possible to target mails etc. according to fan location if you wish. That way, a fan halfway across the world isn't going to get spammed about the gig in your hometown next week.

So whilst on the surface this looks like a great and modern way to connect, there are a number of things I really don't like the look of once I dive a little deeper into the site and its T&C. The first and most obvious one is the fact you're pretty much forced to have a facebook login/account to stop it from popping up prompts to log into Facebook, making it an immediate turn-off for someone like me who doesn't use Facebook and has no intention of doing so. In addition it also comes across as a potential spamfest once you do, as users seem to be "encouraged" to have whatever they do automatically tweeted or posted to their facebook profile etc. For one, I really wouldn't want to be spewing out stuff to everyone with a whole load of "I liked this" or "I bought this" or... well you get the drift.

Call me old-fashioned, but another thing I really don't want to see is a whole load of ads being thrown at me when I access an application. The T&C of the site specifically state that ads may be included, so until I actually see how this works in practice and what sort of ads come up I'm reserving judgement on that score. Wouldn't have thought the average artist would be too impressed either if their fans are being showered in advertising from "their" application, particularly if it were to be promoting/tempting people away to another random artist instead.

I also have large privacy concerns in general about the site. For instance the fact that everything is "opt-out" rather than "opt-in", meaning ALL of your information will be public by default rather than you choosing what information you want to share and who you want to share it with (there are, however, settings you can change). I'm also not too impressed with the Rights section in the Artists Terms of Service. Whilst this states you're authorising them to make your content available to the rest of the world but you still own the rights to your content, it also states you're granting them a license to adapt or modify any content you submit (and also includes any other party they sub-license to) without them making payment to you. Confusing and looks like it could lead to some trouble in the right set of circumstances.

So on this one at least I'll keep an open mind, but I'm not feeling as impressed as I feel I ought to be by such a forward-looking service.