Category: Music

iTunes Radio: Have They Hit It Out of The Park?

radio_1xCustomizable, user integrated, radio stations have become the norm on music playing services, from Pandora to Spotify to fm.Radio; so it was just a matter of time before Apple’s iTunes developed and released a radio application of its own. And in classic Apple style, the iTunes Radio (accessible directly through iTunes, after downloading the new software) hits it out of the park.

Similar to its competitors, iTunes Radio, allows the user to create personal radio stations based on a specific artist, song, or genre. But where iTunes Radio differs from other learn-on-the-fly radio stations is the option to listen to 250, DJ created and genre organized stations. Featured stations range from The Beatles Radio, to the Voice, to “Miley Cyrus Bangerz,” Diplo tracks, and of course iTunes Top 100. In this way iTunes Radio reminded me of Sirius Satellite and other satellite car stations, offering unique, specific music.

But in exploring iTunes Radio, I picked several categories to study in comparing it with its competitors; the categories being: price, and music recommendations. In terms of price you can listen to iTunes Radio for free if you’re okay with listening to advertisements. However if you own an iTunes Match account, $25 a year, which allows you to store all your music in the iCloud and access it on any device, you can listen to iTunes Radio ad-free. Such a deal. Pay for music accessibility and the absence of ads is offered through Spotify as well; Spotify offers free use, with ads, uninterrupted music on a laptop or desktop for $4.99 a month, or uninterrupted music anywhere on all devices for $9.99 a month.

Pandora also offers a free service with advertisements, or an upgrade with similar deals to iTunes Radio and Spotify for either $36 a year, or $3.99 a month. Another great feature of iTunes Radio that can’t really be matched by its competitors is the ability to purchase a song you have recently discovered, again through iTunes Radio, and have it available in your music library. And you own this song, its not just saved in a queue!

Now on to what I think is obviously the most important aspect of iTunes Radio: the music. In this field, at least at the moment, I don’t quite see iTunes Radio competing with Pandora, in that Pandora offers more than 500 genre-based stations, and more than a million songs from more than 100,000 artists. (iTunes claims they have the most, but haven’t put a number on the “most”). It may be this extensive music catalog that Pandora has acquired that makes its music recommendations not only more accurate but more fun.

I can’t tell you how many new songs and artists I have discovered listening to Pandora radio, and in the few hours that I experimented with iTunes Radio I didn’t come across one “new” artist that I hadn’t heard of. This may just be a result of Pandora being in business longer and perfecting the art of recommending music, but to me they clearly had the advantage in this area. In addition, Pandora’s option to learn more about the playing artist and song lyrics is just a nice touch, aiding in your ability to “discover” new musicians.

That being said, iTunes Radio claims the more you use it, the better the recommendations. (Would you expect them to say anything different?). But for now it reminds me of iTunes “Genius recommendations on steroids.” But they have room to grow and most likely will.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

Discover Your Next Favorite Artist With Set.fm

set-fm-logo-july-24-with-tag-reversedIn this age of digitalization, everything we once did, read, learned, heard, saw, a mere decade ago, has been coded, miniaturized (handheld accessible) or blown up to the big screen, putting a whole meaning to the Disney “it’s a small world after all,” jam.

In this ‘small’ world we can find receipts or reservations, read books, watch movies, and yes listen to music, without putting one device down. And as new ideas, inventions, applications surface one has to begin to wonder where the next advancement will come from? How revolutionary will it be? Who will think of it?

But the reality of the situation is that when most new inventions are described, they don’t seem that revolutionary, that incredible, rather pretty basic, intuitive notions. Everyone can admit the iPod and iTunes were groundbreaking inventions, being able to store and access your whole music library in one place. Being able to share this music? Seems like a pretty simple idea. So now that there is a seemingly never-ending advancement in the finding, sharing, and producing of music from iTunes to Spotify to Pandora to last.Fm, it seems difficult to imagine the next big step in the music industry.

Well, once again, that revolutionary idea may not be so crazy, so out of left field, instead it’s probably right in front of your face resulting in the proverbial: “why didn’t I think of that?” And it appears that set.fm has come up with an idea to share, almost immediately, live music performances. Now when I first read this, I didn’t quite see the scope of the idea, nor its implications.

The scope and implications of this advent both revolve around the new popular musical sounds of the generation and the festivals and live concerts that they foster. Bass, synthetic, and hi-hat heavy sounds have taken over the music industry in the form of “Trap” and “House Music.” But where is the connection between Trap music and set.fm‘s attempt to bring live shows to your home?

Well what sets House and Trap music apart from other genre’s is the live show artists put on. No longer does a musician stand idle in the middle of the stage eloquently annunciating, or pace back and forth across stage slamming guitars against the floor and kicking over amplifiers. Instead, concerts have turned into light shows- manipulating lights and laser to coordinate with bass heavy music, attempting to form a bridge between the visuals and acoustics.

Imagine basic star gazing, sitting in an open field with a telescope, admiring stars light years away; versus sitting in a massive planetarium, watching the light years fly by your face, feeling the heat emitted from the stars, and the massive empty space in front and behind you. Suc concerts have in turn fostered countless large music festivals all over the world- from England to Spain, Australia to Germany, and Los Angeles to New York. The set.fm will give you access to all these venues from the comfort of your home, minus the grossly expensive weekend pass…. I wish I thought of that.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

 

Music Therapy for Children With Autism?

Most children with Autism have difficulty with performing eye contact; music therapy works to help this in miraculous and numerous ways. The therapist starts by evaluating the child’s current base level, and then strategizes the best methods to help the child. After many sessions, they measure where the child has arrived. “Eye contact” refers to an event where child looks at the therapist while playing. Using Music Therapy, the therapists increased “turn taking” and eye contact measurably more than play therapy. Eye Contact was even proved to be held longer when the child was participating in music therapy activities.

Acoustic_GuitarThe music therapist has to reach the child to be able to interact with them and help them. The British Colombian Music Therapy association says that when the child feels free and unthreatened, they get more out of the session. When children with autism were not being told “don’t do this or don’t do that” and “no” to everything they were doing; it did wonders on their ability to express themselves.

Music therapy gives them a way to express themselves without being yelled at and told “no.” The tempo and rhythm of the instruments is a way for the children to express themselves. The British Colombia MTA states that the tempo and rhythm gets the child to progress from the rocking motion when they were in the womb and as a baby. It gives them a new independent feeling. Music therapy is one of the cutting edge therapies according to Tony Lyons. It also helps develop motor skills for the child to interact with the instruments. What an innovation.

It is important to understand the term “Turn Taking” which refers (according to the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder) to an event involving a sequence of turns to play alternating between the child and therapist. The therapist will measure frequency and the duration of eye contact. Music Therapy is proving to be effective as both parents and music therapists are seeing results; both recorded many testimonials. Both therapists and mothers agree that they see more eye contact improvement in their children with autism after exposing them to music therapy. Music Therapy can help children with autism with relationship skills by helping them communicate through music.

Every instrument can be and is a tool to help children to want to communicate. The music the children with autism hear or produce pulls them farther out of their own world and helps create interactions with things, first as the instruments, and later people. Music Therapy gives children another way to communicate other than verbally. This helps them to want to communicate in general.

Many different toys and musical instruments are used in a therapy session. Instruments and toys look similar especially in color and number. The therapists found out that it made no difference to the child what instrument was used or what the color was. Connecting this to communication, they also point out that play therapy does not take as much working with others as music therapy does.

The parents are eager to see results in order to invest the money into music therapy for their child. Results are seen in a year but parents are impressed by the results that music therapy shows in their child’s behavior. Many therapists believe that Music Therapy may be an effective method for increasing joint attention skills in some children with autism. Most children with Autism have difficulty with performing eye contact; music therapy works to help this in miraculous and numerous ways.Undoubtedly Music Therapy can and had had a major impact on some children’s lives.

Kelli Richards,
CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

 

Playground Sessions: The Untraditional Piano Teacher

 

Playground_Sessions_QuincyJonesPlayground Sessions may be your opportunity to learn to sooth crowds with melodic sounds of the piano like Mozart or Chopin did before us. Co-created by the music legend Quincy Jones, Playground Sessions is an interactive music curriculum that allows users to learn to play the piano in the comfort of their own home, with no physical teachers present.

The program is unique in its take on traditional learning. The curriculum focuses on playing popular radio hits that the user already knows, “to demonstrate music theory as [he or she] goes,” states the program’s website.

So if there is no one sitting beside the user and teaching him or her how to play, then how do they learn? A virtual teacher, David Sides, a self-taught musician and composer and YouTube sensation, with his rendition of One Republic’s “Apologize” racking up over 10 million views. Through tutorial lessons David guides students through the songs step by step. He first shows the user how to play a song and then plays it along side him or her, providing feedback all the while.Playground_Sessions1

There are several play modes in which a user can practice. Practice mode allows users to play on their own with, “real-time visual feedback that’s clear and instantaneous.” Users can also play with a band, “with accompaniments arranged by David.” The Performance Mode is, “where the pieces come together,” states the program’s website. Students can play, compose, and record a song and then share it with friends.

The scoring and badging component of the program offers students a little motivation. The program gives the student badges when he or she achieves different levels of accuracy, rhythm, etc.

The interactivity of the curriculum is enhanced by the user’s ability to social network with other students. Students can, “create a network with other users around the world to practice with, support, chat to, or challenge.”

Rookie, Intermediate, and Advanced levels allow users to progress to more difficult songs at a faster pace. The program charts a user’s progression so he or she can visually see how they’ve done over a period of time.

Will the Playground Sessions change the dynamics of tradition piano lessons and allow students to bypass the car travel, scheduling issues, and excessive price that come along with a live teacher? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Want to hear more about Playground Sessions? Watch this short video with Quincy Jones:


Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

Do Female Music Artists Have a Lock On The Industry?

 PicMonkey Collage

After taking the stage at “Sound For Change” in London on June 1st, Jennifer Lopez declared that “women have taken over the music industry.” The event was presented by Gucci’s “Chime for Change” charity, which seeks to promote health, equality and justice “for every girl, every woman, everywhere.” J-Lo joined fellow female superstars Beyonce, Madonna, Ellie Goulding and Mary J Blige for a series of performances designed to “put girls’ and women’s issues on the world’s stage.”

Lopez, in an interview with Stylist magazine, went on to say that female artists have had a grip on the industry ”going back 20 years,” citing performers such as “Cher and Gloria Estefan,” followed by “Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, and then the next wave which was me and then Britney and Beyonce,” and culminating now with “Rihanna and Lady GaGa.” She admitted that in all this time, there have been “a few guys,” but overall the ladies “have really had it on lock for a bit.”

It’s clear that some of the biggest names in music right now belong to women. In addition to les femmes fatales who performed alongside J-Lo in June, one doesn’t have to think too hard to come up with more names: Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey, Adele, and even Ke$ha are a few that come to mind. The prevalence of female success stories makes it tempting to assume that J-Lo’s optimistic claims are well founded.

It is exciting to think that women are “taking over the music industry.” But it is one thing to command the spotlight; it is quite another to command an entire industry. One is forced to wonder how many female producers, agents, and record-label owners are working behind the scenes to back up J-Lo’s claim.

Indeed, as a recent BBC article reveals, “the story is not being replicated on the other side of the sound desk.” The article goes on to say that while we may recognize George Martin or Pharrell Williams as household names, “only three women have ever been nominated for best producer at the Brits or the Grammys. None of them went home with the prize.” Susan Rogers, one-time studio-engineer for Prince, pointed out that “women who want to enter the field face a boys’ club.”

But the spotlight is not a bad place for women to start. After all, one of the benefits is guaranteed global attention – which is perhaps the most powerful force imaginable. The real question is how our empowered female artists will use that spotlight to shed light on the real issues faced by the girls and women who look up to them. How will our contemporary female music stars use their influence to advance the causes of health, equality, and justice for every girl, every woman, everywhere?

 

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

The Continued Convergence of Music & Tech: Laptop Orchestras

Remember lugging that giant trumpet case to and from school just so you could be a part of the school band? Half the time you forgot to bring it and the times you remembered, your arm was sore by the time you entered the school’s doors. Or maybe you just regret never having had the musical instrument experience at all. Well here is your opportunity to combine some of the skill sets you already possess to be part of an orchestra. But instead of the use of a traditional instrument, a laptop is all that is needed to become a part of a unique ensemble.

Schools are actually forming bands where student-manned laptop computers are the primary instruments. The most visible schools to be adapting to this modern orchestra are Stanford and Princeton. Students can take a seminar where the expectation is to make music with their laptop. Students are instructed to design their own software instrument, a “meta instrument,” using code.

To learn more about the technical process involved, watch the video below from the Stanford Laptop Orchestra:

My question is this: If laptop orchestras are the future of music classes, what effect will it have on traditional instrument learning and playing? Studies show that playing an instrument positively improves cognitive functions, enhances hand-eye coordination, sharpens concentration, and relieves stress.  Of course, there are huge opportunities there for underserved populations who may not have the financial resources to outfit all of their schools with instruments – but could, perhaps, afford or acquire one or two laptops to be shared…

In the end, however, it comes down to this: Can making synthesized sounds from computers really compensate for traditional instruments?  That is the question we have to ask.

Outside of bringing music and instruments into places that might not otherwise be able to participate, maybe the real question is: Should it?

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

Can Google Give Spotify the Smackdown?

App Icons Downloading into Smart PhoneGoogle has set its sights on releasing a music service to take on popular options such as Spotify, Pandora and Rhapsody. Their recently announced streaming music service — Google Play All Access — is poised to make quite a splash in the market.

What is It?

Google Play All Access has launched. In a hypebot.com interview with Paul Joyce, product manager of Google Play Music, said the approach is to play to Google’s strengths — the cloud infrastructure: cloud computing, streaming and storage. It draws upon the massive music library that Google has assembled and adds to individual users’ collections. The combined collections are uploaded to Google Play, which gives Google even more audio data to use for their service.

A few other standout features include “Listen Now,” which works similar to Pandora in picking out new songs that are inline with the listener’s music interests. It also deletes songs that you don’t want to and it’s both web-based and mobile-based, according to CNN. 

Google’s ISP Takeover

This is hardly the first time Google has broken into an existing market in a big way. Google Fiber, the high-speed Internet and television service, has created a stir in the Internet service provider industry. In many areas of the country, ISPs had previously had virtual monopolies on services and weren’t exactly rushing to incorporate new technology.

A basic Internet package runs about $35 per month, notes cleartvbundle.com. But it doesn’t quite compare to where Google Fiber is going. ISPs and cable companies in the three cities that Google Fiber is rolling out in, Kansas City, Provo and Austin are scrambling to stay competitive considering Google offers a free Internet option as well at a price close to many ISPs standard plans.

Google Play All Access Versus Spotify

So the real question is, how well does Google Play All Access stand up against Spotify, which is one of the leaders in the streaming music market? Google made sure to have an application available for Android users, but it did not create one specifically for the iOS market. However, according to Wired, a third party developer is making it available through iOS with the gMusic app.

Spotify wins out in the pricing, since you don’t actually have to pay anything to use the basic service on computers. Google is $9.99 per month, which matches Spotify for mobile access. Spotify’s radio option falls short compared to Google’s, due to the fact that you can alter the Google Listen Now list to exclude songs you don’t want.

Google also looks better than Spotify with a clean UI. Features such as Drive based storage of 20,000 songs and MP3 incorporation into lists helps to consolidate music collections. Spotify wins out with its desktop client, as Google only has a browser based option.

It certainly can’t hurt to try both. Each offer a one month free trial.

Written by Sean Norris for Kelli Richards, CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

Sean Norris

A tweeting fiend and music lover, Sean goes to concerts and tweets up-to-date reports on the hour, every hour.

Twitter Music

Twitter MusicAs all of us know, there are countless online music apps and platforms circulating the web, from Spotify, to Pandora, to Soundcloud, to Last.fm – all offering “unique” variations on the music listening experience. Let’s have a quick overview and then I’ll make a few valuable points.

  1. Spotify works with Facebook to allow friends to share music in real time, as they listen.
  2. Pandora lets users pick a genre, or artist, or song and create a playlist accordingly.
  3. Soundcloud targets the artists themselves, allowing recording and sharing, which in turn, appeals to listeners looking for the next great musician or fans seeking sneak peeks of new songs.
  4. Last.fm basically provides an encyclopedia-like amount of information about artists with biographies to similar musicians and popular tracks.

So it comes as no surprise, and it was only a matter of time before Twitter released its own online music player, cleverly named, “Twitter #Music.”

So what does #Music have to offer, and is it even worth using when compared to all the other listener options?

Lets check out the app.

Twitter organizes its music selection into four categories: Popular, which they describe as “new music trending on Twitter;” Emerging, “hidden talent found in the Tweets;” Suggested, “artists you might like;” and #NowPlaying, “tweeted by people you follow.” 

The Popular music section is basically Twitter’s version of the iTunes top 100, or the Billboard top 100, except it illustrates the top 40 songs played on Twitter.  Is less actually more? The ‘Emerging’ category promises to expose new, up and coming, talented musical groups –probably Indie-Rock bands; ‘Suggested’ is exactly what it sounds like –Twitter analyzes your tweets and follows and provides you with music accordingly (not bad for music discovery purposes); and ‘#Nowplaying’ is pretty self-explanatory.

While the idea of Twitter joining the music sharing industry is a pretty obvious decision, and the categories they break the music down into seems legitimate, and are integrated into Twitter pretty logically, it still is difficult to imagine #music making any real impact in the music sharing space, despite its already massive audience.  The sad news is that Twitter has failed to offer any “new” advantages to using its application.

Popular music can be found anywhere. There are far more credible sources for “emerging” talent on sites like Pitchfork.com, or even through Spotify – and “Suggested” tracks has already been mastered by Pandora. However, possibly the biggest flaw in #music is the fact that I could really care less about what people I’m following are listening to. Facebook and Spotify work so well together because they only share information among friends, or at least acquaintances. Twitter is different in that it is a totally different type of social networking. Yes I follow my friends, but I also follow people for news, for sports analysis, for tech advances, or because they may just tweet hilarious, absurd and interesting thoughts.

But that does not mean that I am interested in what Anderson Cooper, Snookie, LeBron James, or what @crapmydadsays is listening to?  Not really.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

 

Celebrating 50 Years of Being Julian. A Lennon Legacy and a White Feather of Hope

Today is my wonderful friend Julian Lennon’s 50th birthday. Happy Birthday Jules!

Julian Blog Photography Today is a great day to talk about legacy and connection. I first spotted Julian Lennon when I was a young girl. The Beatles were on TV – they were everywhere by then – this time, however, way on the left, on the side of the stage, sat a young boy, obviously just about my age.  To me, he looked lost, almost forlorn.  I didn’t know he was John’s son, but my connection to him was immediate and strong. While other friends would go crazy watching for Paul or John, I would closely scan all Beatles concerts and appearances, looking for that young man – who of course, turned out to be Julian.

While John Lennon made a huge effort to be there for his second son, Sean, it was a lesson learned by painfully not being present for Julian’s life after John’s divorce from Cynthia, Julian’s mother. Julian Blog with John Young

Several years after John’s passing, Julian’s debut album came out – and like many people did at the time, I actually thought it WAS John. The resemblance between the two was astounding.  Of course, it was not a lost John Lennon track – it was Julian singing Valotte – a massively talented artist in his own right. (Like so many children of rock stars, separating his own art from the shadow of his dad’s legacy would not be easy.)

Many years later again, I was lucky enough to meet Julian – to share some strategic ideas and talk about possibly collaborating down the road, should the opportunity arise.  We shared a deeply moving conversation that day about his life and his work – and we discussed the amazing (and diverse) body of work that Julian had created to that point – as a musician and as a photographer.  (You can see Julian talk about his photography in an interview with CBS Morning Show.)

At our meeting, after a warm greeting and a hug that spoke more of old friendship than new colleagues, I shared with Jules a two-page document filled with ideas and possible points of collaboration down the road, and I suggested that he start a foundation.  Not long after, Julian launched his charity, The White Feather Foundation.

Julian Blog White FeatherWhite Feather refers to Julian’s experience and belief that his dad reached out to him after he was killed – that if Julian ever saw a white feather, he should know John was present for him.  Time passes so quickly.  White Feather was started several years ago now.  Its work is huge.  It embraces environmental and humanitarian issues in conjunction with partners from all around the world, raising funds for a more sustainable world for every living being. White Feather has done everything from supporting artists to marching to end bullying to building an orphanage in Sri Lanka.  One project at a time, White Feather builds better lives and stronger communities.  In 2008, Julian was honored by the Better World Environmental Award by Prince Albert of Monaco.Julian Blog Single-1

And his legacy work doesn’t stop with White Feather – or his music – or his breathtaking photography. Julian has also invested his time, over the last several years, buying and gathering memorabilia of his father’s life and the Beatles’ long journey.  In 2011 he published a beautiful coffee table book entitled “Beatles Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection” featuring many of these valuable artifacts.

Julian Blog AlbumToday Jules releases the single “Someday” from his newest CD “Everything Changes”; the CD is a breathtaking collection of some of the most beautiful tunes he has ever written – and he took his time with it.  It took several years before Jules was ready to release this latest compilation & it was well worth the wait.

Looking at his 50th year, you cannot miss that Julian has carved “legacy” everywhere in his life.  He has built careers as both a musician and a photographer – and now as a curator of his father’s memory.  One memory and memento at a time, Julian gathers the pieces, near and far, and builds on the memory and the journey, one feather – and one step at a time.  I can’t wait to see what Jules does next, but whatever it is it will have meaning and impact, and I’ll be there to support his efforts.

To Support the White Feather Foundation, please visit:  https://WhiteFeatherFoundation.com

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

The Virtual Power of Eric Whitacre’s Choir: Involving the Masses in Music

WhitacreNot since the supergroup “USA for Africa” sang, “We Are the World,” in 1985 has a song collaboration inspired such a global response. But this time, instead of celebrities contributing their part, from inside a studio in California, the contributors are average people, working in front of their computers, in the comfort of their own homes.

Just as Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson did before him, Eric Whitacre – minus the logistics – has created a musical sensation.

Jumping in the way back machine for a moment, Eric Whitacre’s interest in music began when a friend convinced him to join his college choir, primarily because of the pretty girls. It was the “Kyrie” from Mozart’s Requiem, however, that sparked his passion. In a recent TED Talk, Whitacre spoke of this experience saying it changed his life. He then felt as though he was part of something bigger than himself.

Whitacre went on to write pieces, which were published, got  Masters degree at the Juilliard School, and became a renowned composer and conductor. But it would not be Mozart or even an inspiring professor that would be Whitacre’s muse for his most recent project, it was a fan video submitted on YouTube.

The fan sang the soprano line of “Sleep,” a song Whitacre had composed, and it gave him an idea. If he could get 50 people to sing a part of one of his songs and post the video to YouTube, he could string the videos together to create a virtual choir. He decided to upload a conductor track of his song, “Lux Aurumque,” and waited for would-be artists to take an interest.

The project, when completed, received 1 million hits in its first month. You can view the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs

With such a big response, Whitacre decided to do a second collaboration, this time using his song, “Sleep,” which inspired the project from the beginning. At the end of the submission process, 2051 videos from 58 countries were uploaded to YouTube. By working virtually, with technology at the fingertips of millions of people from all corners of the Earth, what used to take years to achieve, is now possible in months, weeks, and sometimes hours.

(View the, “Sleep” collaboration video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WhWDCw3Mng)

Similar to Eric Whitacre, I understand the power of global connectivity, networking …community. It is at the core of my All Access Radio show each week (which is approaching its one millionth download this month). In one form or another, it has always been in collaboration that human beings create our best works.  Even those who work in isolation will depend upon networks and colleagues to launch their projects once they’re completed.

So this blog comes with a question: What is YOUR legacy project?  Where are your communities?  Are you building a choir of support around you?  

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

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