NASA – Leaderboard Widget

Widgets! Nice!

The Most Epic Remix Contest EVER

Over at Indaba Music we just launched the most epic remix contest EVER. It’s N.A.S.A. featuring Kanye West, David Byrne, Chuck D, RZA, The Cool Kids, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits, DJ AM, KRS-One, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Lykke Li, Santogold, George Clinton, Scarface, M.I.A and others.

Seriously. Is that a crazy group of artists or what?

N.A.S.A., which stands for North America South America, is an international collaboration between music aficionados Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon, along with their friends, family, and musical heroes. These guys fit perfectly with Indaba, which is of course all about connecting musicians around the world and enabling them to collaborate.

Can’t wait to hear what comes out of this one…

The Legend Will Live On – Indablog – Indaba Music

The Legend Will Live On – Indablog – Indaba Music

A sad day indeed…

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Rivers Cuomo “My Brain Is Working Overtime” Contest – Indaba Music

Rivers Cuomo “My Brain Is Working Overtime” Contest – Indaba Music

As the founding member and chief songwriter for the multi-platinum rock band, Weezer, Rivers Cuomo is rumored to have written more than 800 songs over the course of his two-decade career. In addition to his ongoing role as hit-maker with Weezer, Rivers recently released the two part album Alone: The Home Recordings in 2007 and 2008, a solo effort yet again demonstrating Cuomo’s boundless creativity.

Rivers is now offering the Indaba community the accapella and instrumental tracks for the song “My Brain Is Working Overtime” and wants to hear you complete, reimagine, and fully-realize the potential of this home recording.

We also had a chance to demo the new Session Console with Rivers (see video below), and he quickly became excited about the creative possibilities of this new online music creation software.

Crazy Carmen and Camille Klezmer Remix

Ok, this is going to be a quick post since we have a big launch coming up at Indaba on Thursday.We’re running a contest for up-and-coming Canadian duo Carmen and Camille – it’s a remix challenge for a catchy pop tune. As usual, our Indaba members didn’t dissapoint – in particular our very own David Minnick went absolutely nuts!

If you didn’t think dancy pop tunes could be turned into Klezmer (that’s traditional Jewish music for all you gentiles out there), then check this out!

PBS Music Instinct on Indaba Music

Sweet new program launching on Indaba Music today:

The Music Instinct: Science and Song, premiering Wednesday, June 24 at 9:00pm (check local listings), is a ground-breaking program that offers viewers a new understanding of the power of music. Music is found all over the natural world and in everyday life experiences. The documentary follows visionary researchers and accomplished musicians, such as Bobby McFerrin, Yo-Yo Ma, Jarvis Cocker, Evelyn Glennie, and Daniel Barenboim, to the crossroads of science and culture in search of answers to music’s deep and abiding mysteries.

This is a rare opportunity to interact with an exceptionally creative and well-produced program from a respected organization months before its launch. PBS, Thirteen, and the producers of The Music Instinct invite you to interact with this yet-to-be-released program and create your own dynamic musical language from sound effects found in different natural and urban environments around the world.

To help you explore this world of sound, PBS and Thirteen are providing you with 207 sounds from their own library, each recorded in pristine quality. To qualify for the contest, you must use a minimum of four of the sounds provided (although we encourage you to use more). While original recorded melodies or other material can be used in generating a composition for the contest, all compositions will be judged on the originality and expressiveness of the rhythmic and harmonic use of the sound clips provided.

Head over to Indaba and check it out!

Forging Authentic Connections with Fans

Ok, so I confess that until about a year ago I had never heard of Deerhoof. A few of the guys at Indaba first introduced me to them…and I must say they’re definitely one of the most talented, musically innovative bands out there. Some of their stuff is a bit over my head (sometimes I have simple tastes

This however, I totally get: Deerhoof has decided to launch a featured session on Indaba Music, in which they’re inviting Indaba members and fans to re-imagine their new song “Buck and Judy”. It’s not a contest, there’s no prize – it’s just a great band collaborating with other musicians and fans. So cool.

From the session:

Part 1. Deerhoof’s offering a sheet music arrangement of “Buck and Judy”, as well as tabs showing exactly how Deerhoof played the two guitar parts and bass part. This way you can play parts of the song yourselves, replace one of the instruments or add a new one. When you’re ready, add your contribution to the tracks section. 

Part 2. Deerhoof has already uploaded the drums, bass, two guitars, piano, and vocal from their recording of the song. Use any combination of the uploaded stems (from Deerhoof or any other Indaba member) to create your version of the song. Post the finished version to the mixdown section! 

That’s it for my shameless plug; now on to the point. Over at Indaba we think about artist marketing A LOT, and we often run marketing programs for major artists, as we’ve done for Mariah Carey, The Roots, and many others. We work with our clients to make those campaigns musically interesting, organic, and engaging (and huge opportunities for exposure among participants), but they can still be perceived as marketing programs. Which brings me to my question: when a band like Deerhoof approaches a company like Indaba, when the band doesn’t want to run a contest or affiliate with a sponsor, when they just want to use our technology to collaborate with fans, is it marketing?

Ultimately it’s semantics, but the important thing for me is this: bands that take the time to connect with fans in authentic, innovative ways won’t have to do as much that would be considered proactive “marketing.” They get all the marketing mileage they need from the things they already do and the way they relate to their fans.

This certainly isn’t the first time a band has done something like this. It reminds me of the many times Trent Reznor has engaged in organic “marketing”, even if he didn’t consider his actions to be “marketing” at the time (I don’t know what he was thinking). Musicians and die-hard fans can be understandably averse to anything that is overly commercial. Softer, more authentic actions that aren’t marketing per se from bands like Deerhoof and NIN with hard-core indie followings can turn into runaway successes. The trick is to involve as many people as deeply as possible in the band’s music and life. Bands with the most intense fans do this naturally, without being told to by marketers. For indie bands, this means playing a lot of live shows, and using technology to its fullest (blogging, Indaba-ing!!!). For bigger artists the formula is pretty much the same. Even MC Hammer tweets.

Now go join in the fun and collaborate with Deerhoof!

New Contest at Indaba Music with the Derek Trucks Band!

Check out Indaba Music’s newest contest – a collaboration with The Derek Trucks Band!

Derek Trucks is widely considered the best guitarist of his generation, along with being a superbly talented songwriter, bandleader, and producer. Derek was playing paying gigs with The Allman Brothers Band and Buddy Guy at the amazingly young age of eleven and by fifteen had formed his own group, The Derek Trucks Band. The dTb is extending an invitation to musicians around the world to collaborate on the track “Get What You Deserve” from their new album Already Free. Derek and the band have made the four instrument parts available to the Indaba community.

The Irony is AMAZING

Check out this  screenshot of Stephen Colbert’s interview with Larry Lessig  embedded in Lessig’s blog. According to Lessig, the interview is CC-licensed. As such, the irony of the phrase “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Viacom International Inc.” is astounding. It’s particularly inexplicable when you consider the value to Viacom here; the viral, organic promotion of Colbert that’s happened on Indaba Music and other places as a result has been amazing…

Colbert Report Remix on Indaba Music

While interviewing Larry Lessig (founder of Creative Commons), Steven Colbert issued a challenge to his audience in his usual sarcastic fashion…DO NOT REMIX THIS INTERVIEW. Our community over at Indaba Music has taken this challenge to heart and a bevy of different mixes have been springing up. Check them out and join in on the fun here!

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