1st Piano

STEP Analysis The STEP analysis of the Colorado Creative Music aims at analyzing macro-environmental factors of the music business the company is engaged into. These factors fall into political, economical, social and technological groups (Pearce, Robinson, 2000). Political factors affecting music business in whole and CCM in particular: strong political stability in the United States; regulatory and legal issues concerning music business including copyright laws for copyright protection of both music writing and recording, copyright-related legislation touching upon the issue of virtual internet promotion and distribution, such as The Audio Home Recording Act (1992), No Electronic Theft (NET) Act (1997), "The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act (DPRSRA) 1995, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, "Pending legislation: Music Online Competition Act and the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Protection Act (CBDTPA)" and others. Environm...

By Will V Johnson Who knew Thriller would end up being the best selling album of all time. There was no way to prepare for its success because nobody saw what was coming. Yet, Michael has not been able to duplicate studio magic he and Quincy had; the artistic "roll" he was on; the total awe and submission of the media; the overwhelming force of his presence or the mesmerizing control he had over millions of fans worldwide. Therefore, even though more powerful than any other entertainer, he never repeated the success of Thriller. But he could have. Even without all of the magical ingredients that helped him make musical history, he could have used the momentum created by Thriller to sale another 40 million albums. All he had to do was have knowledge of who he sold those 40 million records to. Get it? If Epic Records were smart, they would have gotten the address and phone number of every person who purchased the Thriller album. Do you understand what that could ...

In online music promotion, word of mouth, or more precisely, viral marketing is an extremely powerful tool. Who wouldn't want to be one of the lucky few people to gain notoriety, just by creating something people consider cool? You can also create fun digital gifts for your music marketing campaign. Whether, the materials you create go viral or not doesn't really matter. What matters is that your fans have something that makes them value you more. The stuff you are about to learn contains things they can make part of their everyday lives. Let's do this. 1) Mp3s - the obvious choice - Many bands are very resistant to giving away songs. However, if you want your music to spread out you need to give your fans your best, all the time! Remember "garbage in - garbage out". If fans like your songs they will put them on their iPods and on their phones. And they will share with their friends. Plus they will come back for more. That's when you make your...

Are you looking to get more music plays on MySpace? Every aspiring artist can tap MySpace to make his or her music more popular, and probably land a record deal. But not all aspiring artists know how to get more music plays on MySpace. Some of these artists do not realize that they can tap some proven ways to get more exposure on MySpace. You should capitalize on the opportunity to get more plays on MySpace, so your music will become more popular, and you might even get to gain a major record label deal. By creating an account on MySpace, artists like you can spread their music to a bigger audience. But this is just half of the battle. Once artists learn how to get more music plays on MySpace, they can reach out to a bigger audience of MySpace users. There are many ways for artists to get more exposure on MySpace. Many of these methods have proven to be effective for artists to get more exposure for their band. One of the best ways to get more music plays on MySpace is g...

Streamline your marketing and promotion with niche streaming web sites. The amazing onlinetv rage is right here and growing. Internet marketing attention is focused on broadband streaming media and nothing could be better for your music than a slice of that attention. This is a marriage made in heaven streaming media and music video. With the free, built into Microsoft, Movie Maker most everyone can take their audio file and with a little creativity make it into a compelling video. Music videos are no longer a barrier for bands to take advantage of the onlinetv revolution. Just pop some cool pictures or some video shorts from your mini-cam, lay in your audio tracks and viola! You have made a simple music video to get that song out. A video with title, credits, lyrics and a message where viewers can buy it will more than suffice as a promotional tool. Don't forget "Where is the next gig?" Who has not heard of youtube or google video? These amazing amalgams o...

Netlabels A netlabel is a virtual music label which handles its distribution 100% virtually, and an entity which also give away their artist's releases free of charge to its web visitors. The philosophy of most netlabels is to give away its music for free to its visitors. This ideology, interestingly enough, aligns itself with the current public's ideological demands that music should be something that is free. The masses today are demanding free music, and so we see many netlabels across the globe embracing this new paradigm shift of how music is to be handled and distributed. Netlabels around the globe represent collectives of like-minded individuals who produce quality music, and are helping to pave the way for new music distribution possibilities. There are probably approximately 500 to 1000 netlabels currently in the globe covering a range of musical genres, although mostly spanning itself in the electronic music realm of genres. A possible reason for most b...

By Carla Acheson With the escalating progression of music technology in the last decade, mainland CD stores are continuing to decline in popularity, as the trendy demand for digital music downloads continues to crush them further into the archives of history. Claiming more than half of the globes music buying audience, Digital Music Distribution is the predominant method of music marketing the world offers us today. More and more musicians are appearing on the scene with highly polished albums, mostly produced entirely under their own steam. They have become resourceful singular empires, holding sole rights and authenticity as unconstrained producers and marketing agents of their own products. These musicians are ready to take the world by storm by hooking themselves up with one of the many distribution companies currently available. But as an independent musician, what are you really signing up to in a distribution deal? Many digital distributors offer musicians the c...

By Adam Bradley As a cheap acoustic guitar where does the Alvarez RD8 stand up against its better known rivals such as the Washburn D10S. Is it just an expensive bit of scrap wood or a fantastic bargain? First off let me start by saying the guitar certainly looks like it has been built with a great deal of care. It certainly isn't the flashiest of guitars but it is certainly more attractive than many acoustics that fall into the same price category. Of course looks mean nothing to an acoustic guitar if its sound is poor. Thankfully the looks of the Alvarez aren't wasted as the RD8 sounds fantastic and is certainly a match to many of the more higher priced acoustic guitars available. For the price only the Takamine G320 comes anywhere near and there are probably only an handful at double its price that actually better it. The guitar also has the feel of a much more expensive acoustic guitar with a very impressive playing action and it is certainly built to last f...

By Chris Hammond Let's take a close look at the Yamaha YDP 213. This is a good entry level home digital piano and good value for the money too. And speaking of good value for the money, you can find this digital piano for about $900, so it is not outrageously priced. This 88 key digital piano has an attractive walnut cabinet finish that looks good in any home. You'll particularly appreciate the fact that it comes with a stand that has 3 pedals built into it. So you don't have to worry about a pedal sliding on the floor when playing. Yamaha does a good job of simulating the feel of an acoustic piano. They use different types of keyboard action in their various models. For the Yamaha YDP213 they use the Graded Hammer Standard (GHS) piano action. This type of piano action emulates the feel of an acoustic grand piano by making the lower notes a little heavier than the higher notes. The feel of a digital piano's keyboard action is a subjective thing. But some...

If you love guitar playing and are on a look out for the best and most economical solution to guitar learning, then you can opt for Ben Edwards' Jamorama. Its primary objective is to enable guitar learners, (irrespective of their skills levels - beginner, intermediate or advanced level learners) to learn playing guitar through perfect ear training and reading guitar tablatures. This cutting-edge program uses such simple teaching methodology, that even an 8 year old kid with a true passion for guitars, can easily use, comprehend and apply the principles learnt through this program with utmost ease and comfort. When you purchase "Jamorama: The "Ultimate Guitar Learning Kit", you will be entitled to receive several useful features and bonuses, that will enable you to play the guitar flawlessly. These features include - 1. E-books: You will receive 4 well-written downloadable e-books - one for beginner level learners, another one for intermediate level lea...

By Kyle Kolbe I bought the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio Isolation Earphones last week and have been enjoying them. Key benefits include: clean open sound with good separation of instruments and performers, very detailed yet smooth response in the upper frequencies, controlled, tight bass if not a little muted (though may improve when I figure out how to reliably lodge them in my ear canal, more later), adequate sound isolation from both your environment and the headphone wire itself thanks to over the ear hard, but pliant to fit snuggly over your ear, plastic encased wire stress relief, low listening fatigue and good comfort with the correct sized ear plug (still don't know if I've found mine yet). Another great upgrade to the iPod sound system in my pocket. Read on for a more in depth look at my continuing headphone struggle. I have bad luck with my headphones. I discovered headphone.com a few years back when I knew there must exist better sounding phones than...

Choosing a digital voice recorder that fits your needs can be a little bit challenging. Prices on Digital Voice Recorders can range anywhere from $50 to $500. Some users just need to record memos while others will use a recorder for professional dictation and transcription.  To help you make a better decision we have compared the differences between consumer models and professional models.  Professional Digital Voice Recorders 1) Professional recorders are all able to connect to a PC.  Files are usually downloaded through a USB cable, docking station, or a card reader. 2) Professional Digital Recorders allow you insert audio into an existing file.  Professional recorders enable you to assign an author ID and work type to an audio recording. 3) These models usually use some form of removable media such as an SD card or a memory stick, this allows for greater storage. This provides more convenience for a professional user because users c...

By Vernon Southward Wii Music has received a lot of advertisement from Nintendo. This may be normal for most companies but Nintendo doesn't tend to advertise much at all. If you ask me it's because the type of people who see ads in newspapers, flyers, and on primetime television are the type of people they want to buy this game and the only type that will probably appreciate this game. That group consists of kids under 9, adults with kids under 9, kids under 12 who like music, and adults who have no idea what Guitar Hero is or think it's too complicated. Wii Music is simple and yet overly complicated. It has nothing to do and yet there is everything to do. Doesn't make any sense right? Well neither does the game. There are basically no goals. Your actual interaction with the song itself borders on pointless and pretty much all you do is make the song sound worse than you've ever heard by using completely random and often inappropriate instruments. In...

  Korg has been the leaders in synth and workstation production over the last few years with their Triton range and in 2006 there is no reason to suggest they don't hold this title. Korg at the moment make 4 different models of Tritons: Triton Le Triton Extreme Triton Rack Triton Studio All these models are based around a similar design and are have great sounds and lots of them. I personally own a Triton and the thing that I most love about it is that it has everything I need and it's all quality. There are a lot of synths out there that may have a lot of sounds but the sounds are very ordinary. With the Triton you have quality all round. Anyway let's talk about the features of the Korg Tritons. Korg Triton Le The Triton Le is the entry level synth of the Triton series. It takes all the best features of the Triton range and compiles it into a cost effective product by where you get a top quality synth without paying a lot of money. The Triton L...

In the early 90s, "alternative" rock exploded and suddenly every wannabe musician believed they could crank out a hit tune. Kids grabbed guitars and headed for garages and basements to produce rough demo tapes and, hopefully, bask in the glow of fame. More or less, that was the beginning of the do-it-yourself era of music production that has exploded in the age of the Internet. And one example of the great leaps that have been made in home-recording equipment since the heyday of Nirvana is the H2 Handy Recorder from Zoom. According to Zoom, the purpose of the H2 Handy Recorder is to "provide brilliant stereo recording in an easy-to-use, ultra-portable device". Essentially, the small digital tool acts a mini recording studio, providing far greater sound clarity than a tape recorder ever could. The H2 has two sets of mics - one pair on the front and one pair on the back - and musicians can use all the mics at once to produce a four-channel recording wit...

By Chris Hammond The Privia PX100 digital piano is a discontinued Casio model. It has been upgraded in the newer models of PX110 and PX120. However, if you can find a used one for a good price (and in good condition) this can be a great way to get a digital piano on the cheap. Let's look at what is generally considered the two most important features of any digital piano: keyboard action and sound. The Casio Privia PX100 digital piano uses scaled hammer action on its 88-key keyboard. This recreates the acoustic grand piano feel with the lower notes being slightly heavier than the higher notes. So the PX100 would be good for a beginner or hobbyist pianist that wants a cheap digital piano that emulates the feel of an acoustic. The later Privia models improved upon the keyboard action. So the PX110 and PX120 models will feel even more like an acoustic piano. But remember, our goal with the PX100 is to get a cheap alternative that is still a good quality digital piano. ...

By Adam Bradley The Washburn D10S Acoustic Guitar is one of the best selling guitars in the world. Not everything that is popular is great however so does this one live up to its popularity and achieve the status of been one of the best acoustic guitars around. It has a mahogany neck with a fully bound rosewood fretboard and a nice natural finish ( a black version is also available). The tuners are grover styled and are pretty good, if not amazing. The sound is a beautiful deep, full tone which is perfect for those that don't want to be messing about with amps and electric and just want to sit down and strum. It can also be fairly loud if the strings are strummed a tad bit harder. A lower action would have made the guitar even better to play. I reviewed the D10S shortly after testing the EG530SSC and although the Washburn has a great sound it doesn't quite match that of the Takamine guitar although in fairness the Takamine is more expensive. The build of the Was...

By John Kain The Korg CA 30 tuner is one of the most common, most popular, and best tuners on the market. It has many features for such a small, portable tuner and can be used with virtually any instrument. I've used it on the electric guitar and bass guitar and it works fine. You can use it by plugging a cord directly into the device or just put it close to your instrument and tune that way. Either way works fine as long as the room you're in is quite enough to tune. This tuner is fairly precise. It tunes very closely and is very easy to read, so you can easily tell if you've tunned correctly or not. One great thing is that it's so portable. You can easily carry it in your pocket, your instruments case, or anywhere you'd like. This is truly a very portable device that you can sue anywhere and everywhere you'd like. You can easily get up to or more than 100 hours of battery life from this tuner and it's battery because the Korg CA 30 tuner has ...

Look at any good car stereo system and you'll probably see a Pioneer car stereo unit plugged into the console. Alongside with quality speakers and a strong lineup of accessories like LCD panels and navigational devices, Pioneer products/Pioneer car stereos have earned a huge following the world over.    The Pioneer Company is a Tokyo-based corporation, and is one of the world leaders in digital entertainment products. The Pioneer Company was first founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a small radio and speaker repair shop business but today, they are recognized as a leader in technology advancements in the consumer electronics industry.   The company is truly deserving of their name. They are respected for many innovations such as interactive cable TV, the Laser Disc player, developing the first Compact Disc player for the car and the first detachable face car stereo, DVD and DVD recording, plasma display, and organic electroluminescent display. Their strength in op...

Even if you're not a car audio connoisseur, it's easy to be impressed with a car stereo speaker while looking around in an expo or convention. They're the first thing you'll probably notice, they come in different colors, shapes and sizes. Those big throbbing concaves blaring incredibly low bass lines or cool little tweeters whistling out seething treble sounds.      Car stereo speakers are interesting and very tempting to buy, especially the big loud ones. But big is not always the best. Each speaker has its own unique quality, intended use and price range. Some may also be better than others at certain things so it pays to investigate your type of car stereo amplifier or head unit before you finally decide on a car stereo speaker for your system. Here are some features to consider:   Car stereo speakers are not all the same size and wattage, and this can cause a problem once you try to hook it up in your car. Know the specs of your system. Sort t...