Friday, March 31, 2006
Update
This past week has been crazy. We found out last Friday that we needed to present at the Reynolds Cup today at 9:15 in Little Rock. I am not able to get there, as I am in the UK so another person is going to present it. It appears as if we have a decent chance of winning some money from the whole thing. But who knows.
I am just excited that it was selected. Update to follow in the coming weeks.
Narrowing down the web design firm has been going along well, but has been put on the second burner due to the presentation. There are only a few providers we are still considering and hopefully will get that ball rolling later next week.
I will be shifting gears back to finishing my CPE to keep/get my license current. There is just an amazing amount of information to process during the studying process.
I have also signed-up at www.guru.com to see if I can pick-up some side jobs while developing this business/concept further.
I am just excited that it was selected. Update to follow in the coming weeks.
Narrowing down the web design firm has been going along well, but has been put on the second burner due to the presentation. There are only a few providers we are still considering and hopefully will get that ball rolling later next week.
I will be shifting gears back to finishing my CPE to keep/get my license current. There is just an amazing amount of information to process during the studying process.
I have also signed-up at www.guru.com to see if I can pick-up some side jobs while developing this business/concept further.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Amazing
I find it amazing that people in the Music Industry make such a large sum of money from something they did not create. A manager gets approximately 20% of an artist’s advance from a record label. That seems quite steep… then the artist has to pay for the recording costs… then the artist has to pay for their tour… then they have to pay back 100% of the money out of record sales that are approximately $1 per album sold. This is asinine!!! An artist will never really make any money unless they sell over 100,000 albums. This doesn’t seem very reasonable given the drop in album sales due to the increase in on-line sales (primarily through iTunes) which only pay the artist a few pennies per song. But hey, what would the Music Industry be without a bunch of leeches trying to get a lot of compensation without doing a lot of work.
The seminar was good today and I hope to catch the finals of the band competition on Wednesday. We are beginning to realize the hardest thing will be signing the first few bands. It would seem that after a few are up and going the rest of the bands will come to us.
The economics of the Industry are changing and the leeches have been quite slow in their acceptance of this fact.
I will discuss this further tomorrow.
The seminar was good today and I hope to catch the finals of the band competition on Wednesday. We are beginning to realize the hardest thing will be signing the first few bands. It would seem that after a few are up and going the rest of the bands will come to us.
The economics of the Industry are changing and the leeches have been quite slow in their acceptance of this fact.
I will discuss this further tomorrow.
Friday, March 24, 2006
What a Day
Wow… what a difference a day makes!!! We are setting up a bank account – amazing what you can get for free by opening up an account: sky miles/points, cash back, et cetera. Check that out before you open your next account.
I will be going to a seminar this weekend in Cambridge at The Junction. It should be interesting at the least, and hopefully provide more music industry insight and leads.
The template has been updated. It is best viewed in 1024 by 768, as it is part static part dynamic. Check out the link to the designer, Aman, who was fabulous. I learned he accepts tips ($$$) and he is quite fast and good. I would recommend him to anyone and have place a permanent link on the right hand column.
Bought a php and mySQL book the other day at Amazon - Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition. It appears to be a good book. I have been developing/utilizing a php based photo gallery. I will post a link if I get around to it. Will probably just post public photos to Flickr.
And the Zags lost!!! Damn, they could have gone far. The UCLA v. Memphis winner will probably win the tournament.
I will be going to a seminar this weekend in Cambridge at The Junction. It should be interesting at the least, and hopefully provide more music industry insight and leads.
The template has been updated. It is best viewed in 1024 by 768, as it is part static part dynamic. Check out the link to the designer, Aman, who was fabulous. I learned he accepts tips ($$$) and he is quite fast and good. I would recommend him to anyone and have place a permanent link on the right hand column.
Bought a php and mySQL book the other day at Amazon - Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition. It appears to be a good book. I have been developing/utilizing a php based photo gallery. I will post a link if I get around to it. Will probably just post public photos to Flickr.
And the Zags lost!!! Damn, they could have gone far. The UCLA v. Memphis winner will probably win the tournament.
Technology Prize and Contractors
Well… now our business plan has been put in the finals of the Technology competition at the Reynolds Cup. It seems to be fairly disorganized as we found out a week ago that we didn’t make the cut for the business plan, however they want 10 new copies of the business plan on Monday??? This is a little vague too. The biggest thing we work on is contracts and the technology is just a way for us to disseminate our product. And it is technology that everyone else is using, well – they should be using.
Regardless, I am not going to the competition. I do not have the time or the money to travel 5,000 miles (one-way) for a 45 minute presentation. Perhaps a friend will present, but I am not worried one way or the other.
We have narrowed down 30 contractor bids to four, which will be reviewed this weekend. We will hopefully be in phone contact with the contractors this weekend. It has been quite a learning process and the bids have varied from not qualified at all to firms who could definitely do it.
We are looking for the contractor to be a long-term contractor and partner in what we are doing. It should take about 60 days or so to develop, design and code the site. Part of that length is my intentional stretching out of the project for our timing purposes.
Zags are in the NCAA tourney tonight (this morning in the UK). Go Zags!!!
Regardless, I am not going to the competition. I do not have the time or the money to travel 5,000 miles (one-way) for a 45 minute presentation. Perhaps a friend will present, but I am not worried one way or the other.
We have narrowed down 30 contractor bids to four, which will be reviewed this weekend. We will hopefully be in phone contact with the contractors this weekend. It has been quite a learning process and the bids have varied from not qualified at all to firms who could definitely do it.
We are looking for the contractor to be a long-term contractor and partner in what we are doing. It should take about 60 days or so to develop, design and code the site. Part of that length is my intentional stretching out of the project for our timing purposes.
Zags are in the NCAA tourney tonight (this morning in the UK). Go Zags!!!
Monday, March 20, 2006
Template Change
We will be changing the template of this blog in the coming week. Things may shift from one side to the other, but nothing major. True to our beliefs, we are attempting to improve the form without compromising the functionality (readability in this case) of the site.
We hope you like the new changes.
We hope you like the new changes.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Two more things to focus on
Working on two things currently:
Hunting down exceptional artists is always going to be time consuming and challenging… I am working on a way to better track all the notes, et cetera. I know – I should already have a method, but what can you say. I am trying to do all of this at once and ‘it has been a lot of this and a little of that.’ I will be attending a good festival in Colorado – the South Park Music Festival.
Coordinating our expectations and needs with the desires of our web developer will be a challenge as we are going the international route. We are trying to bring together a diverse group of individuals under our family of workers/contractors. It may be easier in the short-term to go with the guy down the street or someone located in the state next door, but we believe the firm will be better off utilizing the skills of our international acquaintances. IT may blow up, but we think in the long term having a developer/designer located overseas, India for example, is ideal as we can identify any issues or needs during our day. Our developer can then find and implement a solution while we sleep. Any issue should be resolved over night. That does not take into account that our potential collaborators have staff available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
- Hunting down exceptional artists on the internet (slowly and surely)
- Creating a thorough document that contains what all we need/require of our web developer
Hunting down exceptional artists is always going to be time consuming and challenging… I am working on a way to better track all the notes, et cetera. I know – I should already have a method, but what can you say. I am trying to do all of this at once and ‘it has been a lot of this and a little of that.’ I will be attending a good festival in Colorado – the South Park Music Festival.
Coordinating our expectations and needs with the desires of our web developer will be a challenge as we are going the international route. We are trying to bring together a diverse group of individuals under our family of workers/contractors. It may be easier in the short-term to go with the guy down the street or someone located in the state next door, but we believe the firm will be better off utilizing the skills of our international acquaintances. IT may blow up, but we think in the long term having a developer/designer located overseas, India for example, is ideal as we can identify any issues or needs during our day. Our developer can then find and implement a solution while we sleep. Any issue should be resolved over night. That does not take into account that our potential collaborators have staff available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
The MIDEM Wave
I think I may post up some of my writings from a trip to MIDEM in Cannes, France. MIDEM is one week in late January when a lot of people get together to schmooze and praise each other and pay for it while spending the profit from an artist’s Intellectual Property – their creations… their songs.
There are meetings and discussion forums. The meetings are set-up in advance and the participants try like hell to make a good impression and make as many deals as possible. They also have discussion forums, which are led by a great collection of panelists. The problem is that when the panel is done the audience tends to flood the stage as if the U2 just finished playing a sold out stadium at Slane Castle. Give me a break; all these people do is exploit the artists by not setting up a fair compensation structure.
Here’s my take of it all…
As all the dreamers rush forward, a sea of red shifts as chair seats flip shut like an oyster protecting its pearl. Comparable to light bulbs going off on the red carpet – smiles, colorful cards, and cellophane encrusted discs are flashed about in hopes of catching 'a break' wave on the North Shore.
The seas begin to calm as cards and pleasantries are exchanged. Like the crashing waves at the North Shore, blank stares appear to replace the smiles as the dream is questioned and pondering if correct words were spoken and chosen.
The sea is calm with only a few self-confident dreamers buoying in shades of brown, blue, and green sharply contrasting with the rose, red sea as they wait for the card storm to finish. The question is when will it end?! The perceived gatekeepers of the dreamer’s delusions continue to silence the swarm and casually slip out in succession attempting to not be the last one left, as that would bring up painful memories of their days on the sandlot being picked, or not, for the team.
There are meetings and discussion forums. The meetings are set-up in advance and the participants try like hell to make a good impression and make as many deals as possible. They also have discussion forums, which are led by a great collection of panelists. The problem is that when the panel is done the audience tends to flood the stage as if the U2 just finished playing a sold out stadium at Slane Castle. Give me a break; all these people do is exploit the artists by not setting up a fair compensation structure.
Here’s my take of it all…
As all the dreamers rush forward, a sea of red shifts as chair seats flip shut like an oyster protecting its pearl. Comparable to light bulbs going off on the red carpet – smiles, colorful cards, and cellophane encrusted discs are flashed about in hopes of catching 'a break' wave on the North Shore.
The seas begin to calm as cards and pleasantries are exchanged. Like the crashing waves at the North Shore, blank stares appear to replace the smiles as the dream is questioned and pondering if correct words were spoken and chosen.
The sea is calm with only a few self-confident dreamers buoying in shades of brown, blue, and green sharply contrasting with the rose, red sea as they wait for the card storm to finish. The question is when will it end?! The perceived gatekeepers of the dreamer’s delusions continue to silence the swarm and casually slip out in succession attempting to not be the last one left, as that would bring up painful memories of their days on the sandlot being picked, or not, for the team.
MIDEM Thoughts
So the last few days have been hectic, to say the least. I think I may post up some of my writings from a trip to MIDEM in Cannes, France. MIDEM is one week in late January when a lot of people get together to schmooze and praise each other and pay for it while spending the profit from an artist’s Intellectual Property – their creations… their songs. Basically… if you know someone who went to MIDEM, I would almost be certain they did not pay for the trip out of their own pocket and they pissed away a portion of an artist’s hard work.
See they have meetings and discussion forums. The meetings are set-up in advance and the participants try like hell to make a good impression and make as many deals as possible. They also have discussion forums, which are led by a great collection of panelists. The problem is that when the panel is done the audience tends to flood the stage as if the U2 just finished playing a sold out stadium at Slane Castle. Give me a break; all these people do is exploit the artists by not setting up a fair compensation structure.
You hear me complain a lot about the artist-label compensation structure, but I think it is justified. The labels have exclusive deals with
The artist is typically left with two options – 1) cave in and hope you can make it with a major or 2) have a go on your own and see if you can catch enough breaks to become mildly successful.
Well this is long enough without any of my writings… I’ll add them in a separate post.
See they have meetings and discussion forums. The meetings are set-up in advance and the participants try like hell to make a good impression and make as many deals as possible. They also have discussion forums, which are led by a great collection of panelists. The problem is that when the panel is done the audience tends to flood the stage as if the U2 just finished playing a sold out stadium at Slane Castle. Give me a break; all these people do is exploit the artists by not setting up a fair compensation structure.
You hear me complain a lot about the artist-label compensation structure, but I think it is justified. The labels have exclusive deals with
- major radio stations,
- download services, and
- music stores.
- air time,
- visual space on the web-portal, and
- shelf space at the local record store.
The artist is typically left with two options – 1) cave in and hope you can make it with a major or 2) have a go on your own and see if you can catch enough breaks to become mildly successful.
Well this is long enough without any of my writings… I’ll add them in a separate post.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Competition Update
Well... we got left out in the cold!!!
This really doesn't come as too much of a surprise as most people who listen to music do not realize the artists are not fairly compensated. This plan has been created to rectify this issue. If all you know is that Apple makes iPods (an inferior product), then why would you need a new compensation method for artists? Well the answer is that artists desire to make a living off of their craft and typically aren't afforded the opportunity to do so.
Progress is being made on the site. Hopefully we can have some roughed out features in the coming weeks.
This really doesn't come as too much of a surprise as most people who listen to music do not realize the artists are not fairly compensated. This plan has been created to rectify this issue. If all you know is that Apple makes iPods (an inferior product), then why would you need a new compensation method for artists? Well the answer is that artists desire to make a living off of their craft and typically aren't afforded the opportunity to do so.
Progress is being made on the site. Hopefully we can have some roughed out features in the coming weeks.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Et Cetera
There have been so many good things happening... and then there are the other things -
We will be working through some of these issues over the next days/weeks/months.
We will also be developing our site with our contractor. It won't be the flashiest thing you have ever seen, but it will be convenient and definately follow function over form. The main point of the site is to get our vision out there so people can kick the tires and let us know what they think.
- having to actually develop this contract that does not yet exist anywhere in the music community
- figuring out the best way to contact and disucss the points of the deal with the artists
We will be working through some of these issues over the next days/weeks/months.
We will also be developing our site with our contractor. It won't be the flashiest thing you have ever seen, but it will be convenient and definately follow function over form. The main point of the site is to get our vision out there so people can kick the tires and let us know what they think.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Incorporated!!!
Well... I have incorporated the dream... We used Bizfilings.com. They were great to work with and the web-site had more than enough information and resources to file properly. Please click on the link in this text to see what all they offer, it is pretty amazing what all you can do from your desk!
Next step will be setting up office locations in Europe and North America and getting the website developed.
more later...
Next step will be setting up office locations in Europe and North America and getting the website developed.
more later...
Friday, March 10, 2006
incorporation
this is such a chore... should i do some of it myself or pay for a service to do some of the monkey work for me?
that is quite a delima...
i'll let you know what i decide and who i do it with
that is quite a delima...
i'll let you know what i decide and who i do it with
Thursday, March 09, 2006
More about us
I have a friend and partner working on this... any feedback would be appreciated...
SoundGreen is an entirely new music experience through the synthesis of low-cost digital downloaded music, a closer artist/fan relationship, and a mutually beneficial artist promotion strategy. SoundGreen is a subscription based Internet multi-media company with the goal of fulfilling an artistÂs desire to make a living creating music and the listenerÂs desire to enjoy good music.
we cannot give away all of the goods yet...
but let's put it this way..better than what you'll get now...
i guarantee
SoundGreen is an entirely new music experience through the synthesis of low-cost digital downloaded music, a closer artist/fan relationship, and a mutually beneficial artist promotion strategy. SoundGreen is a subscription based Internet multi-media company with the goal of fulfilling an artistÂs desire to make a living creating music and the listenerÂs desire to enjoy good music.
SoundGreen contracts with the artist are noticeably different than traditional contracts. SoundGreen recognizes art as a profession and will offer terms that allow the artist to realize the true earning potential of their chosen profession. SoundGreen offers short term contracts with the option to renew and highly competitive rates for tour support that increase as more fans subscribe. The artist also benefits financially from tour profits, merchandise sales, and endorsements.
SoundGreen wants the artist to succeed, so resources are provided to assist with producing high quality results. SoundGreen artists will receive technology resources that include...we cannot give away all of the goods yet...
but let's put it this way..better than what you'll get now...
i guarantee
Monday, March 06, 2006
Toll-Free Calls for SoundGreen - How can we afford that?
Kall8 is the provider we will be using for toll-free phone and fax for our clients and customers. It is a really good set-up as they provide call forwarding, voice mail, fax and email forwards (with caller ID) for all vmail and faxes. So now I will probably be getting your information through my email. Yet another way we're keeping our office costs down - it's only $2 per month!!!
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Reynolds Cup Update
We have finished compressing the 200+ page strategy paper to get it to a 30 page business plan. Dang! That is a lot of work and sleepless nights. It is finished and looks great.
We are hoping to get through to the final round and receive feedback from the judges.
More updates as they come
We are hoping to get through to the final round and receive feedback from the judges.
More updates as they come
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Who We Are
SoundGreen is a music company that offers two distinct products that have not been offered together: artist development accompanied by support tailored to each artist on the company roster and customer interaction driven by media content choice.
It will also be a public forum for exchanging and sharing ideas – a community that fosters a virtual “
SoundGreen will always be open, around the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Regardless of geographic location, culture or economic status, all are welcome. Love of music is the only passport needed to enter. Subscribers and artists will dictate the creative possibilities… And those possibilities are endless.
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