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Mediaguide Serves As Sponsor For Annual Non-Commvention
The fifth annual Non-Commvention was held last week in Philadelphia and Mediaguide served as one of the sponsors, welcoming artists, labels, promoters and radio station professionals from around the country to its home town for the first time.
In the midst of the artist performances and panel discussions, Mediaguide gave a first-hand live look at its impressive real-time nationwide detections and MusicMonitor reporting system. In addition, ASCAP and Paste Magazine joined Mediaguide in throwing the closing party of the conference with artists Maktub, Robbers On High Street, The Sights and Matisyahu.
According to Erik Maier, Vice President of Music Sales & Marketing for Mediaguide, “Non-commercial radio is important because it helps break new artists and provides listeners with musical variety. We're proud to be a supporter of non-commercial radio and to be sponsor of the Non-Commvention again this year.”
Hosts for the annual Non-Commvention include TripleARadio.com, WFPK and WXPN.
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Mediaguide Re-Packages ArtistMonitor To Focus On Partner Packages
Mediaguide has redesigned its ArtistMonitor website, http://www.artistmonitor.com, to present the independent artists, songwriters and managers who visit with a direct connection to the various products and services that can positively impact their careers. ArtistMonitor™ can tell independent artists whenever and wherever their music is played across a network of 2,500 college, non-commercial and commercial radio stations. That information becomes even more valuable when combined with the services of our Partners to help answer important questions and find important information related to their careers.
According to Paul E. Wright, Vice President of Music Business Development for Mediaguide, “It is essential for independent artists, songwriters and those who work with them to have a strong understanding of the online and offline opportunities for their music and works. Our partners present some of the best services around and we wanted to make sure those artists who found us, also knew about these complimentary products.”
With ArtistMonitor, Mediaguide’s goal is to provide independent/DIY performers, songwriters and managers with access to everything necessary to be a successful working artist. Artists can either submit and subscribe to ArtistMonitor and visit our Partners to combine it with other important services such as submission to venues and conferences, industry and peer feedback, market analysis for tours and radio, website development and hosting, radio promotion, contact management, digital retail and distribution and access to A&R professionals and music supervisors searching for new music.
Technological and business model advances have created new and exciting tools for independent artists and those who want to discover and support them. Mediaguide has immediate plans for new service packages and Partners that include ArtistMonitor and welcomes inquiries. |
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Mediaguide Launches Gospel Singles Chart
Mediaguide this week activated a national Gospel singles chart that will appear in its Monitor reporting platform as well as publicly in the Urban Network magazine and website. The chart will be Top 50 publicly and Top 100 within the Monitor system. The Mediaguide Gospel Chart is unique in that in ranks gospel airplay across both full-time gospel stations and Urban stations that play block gospel programming on Sundays and throughout the week. There are nearly 110 stations contributing to this chart.
With a large number of radio stations around the country playing gospel music on Sundays as well as at various times during mornings and evenings throughout the week, Mediaguide felt it was important to provide visibility to all of the artists that receive such airplay. Urban Network shared that belief and wanted to provide as complete a look at the overall gospel radio landscape as possible.
Look for more Gospel announcements coming from Mediaguide soon!
The Top 10 for the first week of the Mediaguide Gospel Chart:
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Artist |
Song |
Label |
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Donnie McClurkin |
I Call You Faithful |
Verity |
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Smokie Norful |
I Understand |
EMI Gospel |
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Bishop T.D. Jakes |
Take My Life (w/Micah Stampley) |
EMI Gospel |
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Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers |
God Blocked It |
Gospocentric |
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James Fortune & Fiya |
You Survived |
Worldwide |
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Yolanda Adams |
Be Blessed |
Atlantic |
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Mary Mary |
Heaven |
Columbia |
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J. Moss |
We Must Praise |
Gospocentric |
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Donald Lawrence |
Healed |
Verity |
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Benita Washington |
Thank You |
Tehilla/Light |
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 10th ANNUAL USA SONGWRITING COMPETITION
Enter your songs in the 10th Annual USA Songwriting Competition and win $50,000 Grand Prize worth of cash, cool music gear from Sony, Steinberg, Ibanez Guitars, Audio-Techica and more! Winning songs will receive airplay on a nationally syndicated radio program in the United States and Canada.
Judges include leading music industry professionals from Sony/BMG Music, Warner, EMI and Universal. Past winners include Patrice Pike, Gabriel Mann, Sarah Lewis (of rock group - Jag Star), Michele Vice-Maslin, David Francey, James Keelaghan, Barbara Kessler, Steve Tannen, Jonathan Kingham, Jennifer Marks, Darryl Zero, Adrianne, Joel Cage, Steffani Bennett, Lisa McCormick, Valerie DelaCruz, Jan Andersen and more. All entries must be postmarked by May 31, 2005 or earlier. Time is running out! Don't miss this LAST CHANCE to enter this year! Also, there a 10th anniversary BONUS - receive a Rolling Stone magazine subscription (1 full year, 26 issues) just by entering! All entries must be postmarked by May 31, 2005 or earlier. Please obtain the entry form at:
http://www.songwriting.net/entryform.html
Artists can enter the contest through Sonicbids at www.sonicbids.com
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Each issue Mediaguide will present an artist whose self-released song or album has placed in the top 10 of its Artist & Self-Released charts by genre, format or specialty program. To learn more about Mediaguide's airplay information on self-released or artist-imprint songs and releases, A&R/Music Discovery section of Mediaguide.com.
Artist: Zion 1
Album: True & Livin
Genre: Hip-Hop
Release Date: April 19, 2005
Zion I consists of MC Zion and producer Amp Live. With over 14 years invested in their friendship and three albums collectively recorded, the Bay Area Hip-Hop heads have rapped about everything from struggling to keep a love to struggling with race relations in America over Amp’s unconventional production methods.
The duo has three albums to their credit with their debut album Mind Over Matter, their sophomore effort Deep Water Slang, which was nominated for a VIBE Magazine “Independent Album of the Year” award, and now, True & Livin’.
With True & Livin’ gaining the most airplay amongst new artist-imprint and self-released albums within Mediaguide’s electronic monitoring system during the past month, Zion I will have their album reviewed in the next issue of Urban Network magazine, their lead song, Bird’s Eye View, will be featured on the Urban Network radio show THE MIX, and the artist will be highlighted on the Indie Artist section of the Urban Network website.
The top 6 stations that have been supporting True & Livin include:
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Call Letters |
Market |
Format |
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KSJS |
San Jose, CA |
College Variety |
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WRUV |
Burlington, VT - Plattsburgh, NY |
College Variety |
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WMBR |
Boston, MA |
College Variety |
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KSPB |
Monterey - Salinas - Santa Cruz, CA |
Pop (NC) |
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KDVS |
Sacramento, CA |
College Variety |
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WRIU |
Providence - Warwick - Pawtucket, RI |
College Variety |
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The Midwest Music Summit is the premier music festival and conference for the central US. For the first time, the MMS will be held in conjunction with the NAMM Summer Session. This July 21-23 over 300 emerging artists will perform on 30 stages in Indianapolis, IN. Hundreds of interesting, like-minded individuals will participate in thought-provoking panel discussions featuring some of the industry's brightest executives.
For more information visit www.midwestmusicsummit.com. |
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Each issue Mediaguide will bring additional attention to one of the stations in its monitored network. In some weeks, we will be fortunate enough to have one of the monitored stations share their thoughts on an album that has captured their staff and listeners. In other weeks, we will highlight a playlist that has captured our attention for its diversity and combination of local, regional and national artists.
This issue, KSJS from San Jose State University in the San Jose, CA market is our featured station. KSJS is a non-commercial radio station broadcasting 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 90.5 FM and the Internet. For more than 38 years, KSJS has been the radio voice for California's first public university, San Jose State University, and its surrounding community.
The KSJS broadcast signal covers 7 San Francisco Bay Area counties: Alameda, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. This lets listeners tune in to 90.5FM from San Jose to Gilroy, Fremont to Berkeley and from Palo Alto to Oakland.
The music showcased at KSJS includes 23 hours of Jazz programming and reflects both the current underground music scenes and the growing diversity of San Jose and the surrounding Bay Area.
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Artist |
Release |
Label |
Genre |
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Zion I |
True & Livin' |
Live Up |
Hip-Hop |
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Kate McGarry |
Mercy Streets |
Palmetto |
Jazz |
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The Perceptionists |
Black Dialogue |
Definitive Jux |
Hip-Hop |
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Marcus Miller |
Silver Rain |
Koch |
Jazz |
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John Ellis |
One Foot In The Swamp |
Hyena |
Jazz |
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Kneebody |
Kneebody |
Koch |
Jazz |
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Yellowjackets |
Altered State |
Heads Up |
Jazz |
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Lyrics Born |
Same !@#$ Different Day |
Quannum Projects |
Hip-Hop |
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De La Soul |
The Grind Date |
Sanctuary |
Hip-Hop |
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 Broadjam is all about "Driving the Music." We build web-enabled technologies to globally service musicians and professionals in the music industry. We are committed to providing easy-to-use and affordable web services to help independent musicians promote themselves and get their music heard. Our world-class web site has attracted musicians from all 50 states and over 100 countries around the world.
In addition, Broadjam provides music industry executives with the tools to search, catalog, find, and place music in a variety of channels. They also build mechanisms to conduct song contests and operate online voting systems. If it's promotion you're looking for, Broadjam offers co-sponsorship opportunities to a highly targeted and responsive audience. The biggest names in this industry trust Broadjam with their music, so should you. | |
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Reprinted from Music Thing, written in South East London by Tom Whitwell.
All this week: The Tiny Music Makers
A couple of weeks ago, I was in the office and my friend Conor's Mac restarted. When I heard the startup sound, I suddenly wondered who'd recorded it, how they made the sound, and whether they got a royalty cheque every time a Mac crashed*. And what about those other tiny, instantly recognisable sounds, like the Intel chimes, or that cool THX noise? Since then, I've been forced to abandon my usual journalistic technique (type product name into Google, present results as my own), and actually make phone calls, read newspaper archives and… conduct interviews with real people. I hope you enjoy the results.
*Answers: A guy called Jim, on a Korg Wavestation, no .
Pt 2: The Microsoft Sound.
Ten years ago, Microsoft spent $300m launching Windows 95 (just under $3 per copy sold). A tiny slice of that money went to Brian Eno, who recorded the startup sound on a handful of ageing synths in his studio.
- There are various different versions of 'The Microsoft Sound'. I'm pretty sure that this is the one (it sounds Eno-ish with delayed pianos). Please tell me if I'm wrong.
- Brian Eno is proper arty. He once urinated in Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain'.
- Brian Eno has produced six U2 albums, which have sold 70 million copies worldwide. Windows 95 sold 110 million copies in just two years.
- Brian told XFM that he was paid $35,000 for the sound.
- In 2001, MS-hater post-rock band Trans Am released Let's Take The Fresh Step Together, which is the Microsoft Sound timestretched to 51 seconds.
- Brian loves Yamaha FM synths. In 1995 he was using: Three DX7s, one TG77 and a Prophet VS, according to this Future Music interview.
- He told the whole Windows 95 story in this 1996 interview with Joel Selvin: "The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I'd been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, 'Here's a specific problem -- solve it.'
- "The thing from the agency said, 'We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah- blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional,' this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said 'and it must be 3 1/4 seconds long.'[He doesn't say how he persuaded them to eventually use a piece six seconds long]
- "I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It's like making a tiny little jewel.
- "In fact, I made 84 pieces. I got completely into this world of tiny, tiny little pieces of music. I was so sensitive to microseconds at the end of this that it really broke a logjam in my own work. Then when I'd finished that and I went back to working with pieces that were like three minutes long, it seemed like oceans of time."
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…from Paul E. Wright, Vice President, Music Business Development, Mediaguide
New Tools Of The New Trade
Technical innovations and industry dynamics have created a strong toolbox for the modern independent/DIY musician. Activities once reserved solely for the labels or other artist representatives have been pushed down to the artist, for them to prove not only their musical talent but their also business acumen. A host of strong companies have emerged to support these activities and the new business realities of the emerging artist. Mediaguide designed the re-packaging of ArtistMonitor to focus on these complimentary services and to address this exact issue.
The new tools are not, however, just mimics of the past but have improved to allow the artist to work more intelligently and, therefore, to have a better chance at earning a living with music. Essential career points within radio promotion, online and offline marketing, tour management, website development, market analysis and both peer and industry networking are now available to artists, where 5-10 years ago much of this was out of reach from both a financial and technological perspective.
If you fail to take advantage of these and other tools, you are doing yourself and your music a disservice. When you speak to a venue, dropping your Sonicbids EPK in their drop-box for example, they are going to want to know how well you can pack the room. Well, if you have received fan and artist feedback through a community like Broadjam, can use the Nimbit DIY Radio Promotion package and ArtistMonitor airplay data to prove that the local stations are playing your music and you have reached out to discover who is in your area through your email list and website stats, you now have a compelling story to tell the booking agent.
As an artist managing both your music and your personal brand it is important to focus on the geographic and digital areas that will best connect you with fans, then hold onto them with targeted multi-media marketing, which a company like Urban Network provides for R&B, Hip-Hop and Soul artists, constant communication, which you can manage through a system like LiveWire Musician and retail support through a company like Play Indies. With a connected fanbase, your marketing and digital distribution efforts enjoy the important viral power that can generate a liveable income.
In ‘Connect Globally, Market Locally’ I spoke about creating a story in your immediate area to help drive your overall sales and promotion efforts. The term ‘locally’ does not need only refer to your geographic community, although that is often the best starting point, but can also refer to your musical genre community. By focusing your marketing, promotion, touring and sales efforts on areas that have proven to be most accepting of artists in your genre, you can increase your chances of making an impact as the ears are more kind.
Understanding where your musical communities reside is, therefore, both an online and offline endeavor. In the digital world, the new tools of the new trade allow you to find your peers with a few well placed clicks. In the offline world, however, it has not always been as clear. Well here new technology has provided for new opportunities.
Using radio airplay as a guide, Mediaguide’s ArtistMonitor™ and MusicMonitor™ products can provide a roadmap. The Genre Summary report available in these products provide an airplay breakdown of 15 major genres down to the market, format and station level. As an independent artist, promoter, A&R professional or Sales & Marketing executive, knowing what markets tend to support different styles of music more aggressively can be one launching pad for building a successful story in those and the immediate surrounding markets, which are often the larger ones.
Below are the top 3 markets for 4 Mediaguide genres that receive airplay on various types of stations. The time period is the past 4 weeks and the markets are based on the percentage of total market airplay the genre received. With the independent/DIY artist in mind, the only radio stations contributing to these particular numbers are the college and non-commercial stations electronically monitored only by Mediaguide.
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Rock |
R&B/Soul |
Hip-Hop |
Metal |
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Fort Wayne, IN |
Memphis, TN |
Modesto, CA |
Middlesex - Somerset - Union, NJ |
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Hartford - New Britain - Middletown, CT |
Fayetteville, NC |
Springfield, MA |
Portland, ME |
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Chattanooga, TN |
Quad Cities, IA - IL |
Seattle, WA |
Wilkes Barre – Scranton, PA |
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