Month: November 2013

10 Gifts For Electronic Musicians Under $100

Looking for a gift for an electronic musician, or maybe a cool new toy for your music laboratory? 2013 has been a great year for affordable new gear for electronic musicians – so we’ve put together a collection of links for relatively inexpensive gift ideas. Here are 10 electronic music gifts under $100 to check…


The Indie Musician’s Guide To Digital Distribution

(UPDATED) By Budi Voogt, founder of Heroic Recordings, artist manager and author of The SoundCloud Bible. This article will help you overcome the difficult subject that is digital music distribution. Want to know how to choose from the great amount of different distributors, figure out which one is best for you and make sure that…


Artistic Efficiency: How to Create More and Get Out of Your Own Way

“RULE 1: Minimize Chances are, if you’re in your 20′s or 30′s, you’re doing too much. You have a Twitter, Facebook, 4Square, Tumblr account, and maybe more. You may not even realize it, but you find yourself wishing you’d start that business, try for that dream job, or make that record… and you don’t because…


Lead Singer Of Lostprophets Pleads Guilty To Some Of The Most Disgusting Crimes Imaginable

If America making its annual descent into consumerism-inspired madness wasn’t enough to depress the hell out of you today, there’s this: Ian Watkins, lead singer of Lostprophets — a Welsh emo band probably best known for the songs “Rooftops” and “Last Train Home” — has pleaded guilty to a host of pedophilia-related crimes, including the…


Indie Beat: An L.A. Holiday With Independent Label Market

In Los Angeles, this holiday season brings plenty of festively lit palm trees, the return of pumpkin spice lattés and a plethora of great indie records on vinyl, too. The Independent Label Market, founded in London in 2011 by Joe Daniel, is returning to L.A. for a third time December 8— this time with a…


How a Craigslist Ad Led to Capital Cities’ Top 10 Smash

A few years ago, Sebu Simonian placed an ad on Craigslist looking for production work. L.A. songwriter Ryan Merchant replied right away. “I remember checking out Sebu’s work and feeling like he was a kindred spirit,” says Merchant. In fact, he was the only person who answered the ad. Says Simonian, “As fate would have…


Miley Cyrus Leads Time’s Person of the Year Voting

Time magazine is holding an online vote for whom readers think should be its 2013 Person of the Year. The winner so far: Miley Cyrus, with more than 29 percent of the vote. The twerk-loving pop star is beating world leaders, sports stars, the Boston Marathon bombers and numerous Hollywood figures as the person voters…


Russell Simmons Calls Kanye West “Genius,” Kanye Responds Russell Simmons Calls Kanye West “Genius,” Kanye Responds

Kanye West has made headlines recently, airing out frustrations about breaking into the fashion industry. Now, co-founder of Def Jam Russell Simmons has written an op-ed on ‘Ye for Global Grind, providing his take on the rapper, whom he feels is misunderstood. “I recently sat down with Ye in New York and got the chance…


Why We Create Music

“Why We Create Music” tells the story of the absolute importance of music with the individuals who create it. Fifteen musicians, ranging from Bill Withers to Aloe Blacc to Lady Antebellum, sit down with the director, Michael Marantz, to discuss their labor of love, songwriting and composing. Each featured artist was asked to contribute a…


Peaches Geldof could face criminal action over Ian Watkins trial tweets

As if the Ian Watkins case wasn’t crazy enough, Peaches Geldof could now face a criminal investigation after naming the two women who let the former Lostprophets singer abuse their children on Twitter.  On Tuesday, Watkins admitted attempted rape of an 11-month year old baby in what one senior officer referred to as the most…