Tone Deaf?

Electronic musician and med student Jake Mandell has developed fun little tests for tone deafness, pitch perception and rhythm. Each test plays 2 sets of notes and you're supposed to say whether they are the same or different. I don't know how scientific they are, but it only takes a few minutes to complete each one. Unfortunately, I found that a few minutes is too long for my meager attention span. My mind started wandering instead of listening to the tones (at least that's my excuse for such poor scores).

Another Blog

Bob Baker has a blog with tips on promoting music. He's the author of a bunch of music promotion books and has a free e-zine you can subscribe to on his website, along with articles and podcasts on the subject. Here's a sample from his latest blog posting, titled "The Talent Myth":

...But there's still this gnawing problem I have with some of the comments surrounding this well-intentioned but misguided notion that talent carries more weight than popularity.

I get where the idea comes from. We all see amazing musicians who don't have much of a following; then floozies or pretty boys with little or no "talent" who suck up all the limelight.

Fine. Life and the distribution of wealth and fame can seem unfair. If that's hard for you to bare, wear a helmet.

But let's take a closer look at this talent thing. The pontificators talk about it like it's some absolute quality that only certain artists possess. When in reality, being "talented" is a purely subjective opinion.

Consider this quandary: If a guitarist played a smokin' lead solo in the woods and nobody heard him, should he be considered talented? The only way he could in that situation is if he decided for himself that he had "talent."

Indie Band Survival Guide

Here is the best single resource I've found yet for indie musicians - Beatnik Turtle's Indie Band Survival Guide. It's a completely free, no-strings-attached guide to how and why to stay indie, written by an indie band for indie bands.

We're sharing this Survival Guide because its our belief that indie bands need to stick together. There's no reason to repeat our mistakes and there's certainly no reason to waste time and reinvent the wheel. We're happy to share with you what we've learned. We sincerely hope that you get something out of this. If you like it, or want to talk to us, go ahead and send us comments. This Survival Guide is a living document. We will constantly update it as we learn more on our own, or from other bands that wish to share.

Beatnik Turtle is a very active band from Chicago. One of their projects is to post a new original song every day this year at thesongoftheday.com.

Make a Virtual 45

Go here to make a virtual 45 (or 78) with funny words on the label.

Note: Trying to play this record ruined both my record player AND monitor. It did sound, however, vaguely like Glenn Branca.

Miss Manners for the Indie Set

Mean spirited, but informative list of the 39 Annoying Things That Bands Do when you're playing a show (or trying to book a show), compiled by The Creepy Crawl in St. Louis.

8. Bands that spell their names with a strange spelling twist e.g., junkeez, katz etc. After meeting the band, however, we are left with the impression that they didn't intentionally try and spell their name with a twist but rather they probably just don't know how to spell.

Sony Music buys the Internet

The internet is becoming (or has become) the Great Equalizer for artists of all sorts. You no longer need to rely on radio or TV networks in order to build a following and sell music. But what if the corporations that controlled web access could give preferential treatment to whoever paid the most? That's the topic of this article by members of the Future of Music Coalition and a discussion that musicians should get involved in:

What would happen if Sony paid Comcast so that sonymusic.com would run faster than iTunes or, more important, faster than cdbaby.com (where over 135,000 indie artists sell their music)? Would a new form of Internet payola emerge, with large Internet content providers striking business deals with the dominant Internet service providers? How would that affect indie artists? Would it shut down the burgeoning new economy and replace it with one that looks a lot like our closed media market?

For musicians, net neutrality means they should have the unfettered ability to make their work available to potential fans without undue interference from corporate gatekeepers. Similarly, music fans should have the ability to access this music via a range of legitimate business models. Net neutrality also ensures the continued innovation that has spurred the growth of the indie sector, the transition to a legitimate digital economy and, more widely, consumer adaptation of broadband services.

To understand the importance of net neutrality for artists, look at the lack of a similar principle in modern commercial radio. When informally polled as to why they sign away their copyrights to major labels, most artists explain that they need to be on a major label in order to have a shot at commercial radio airplay. And, sadly, these artists have a point.

Jebus Site Outs Everyone Who Ever Played Guitar, Ever

Thanks to the good folks at lovegodsway.org, you may never again have to waste your hard-won, heterosexually-earned dollars on the Rock That Dare Not Speak Its Name.

Among the "Bands to Watch Out For":

Scissor Sisters
Rufus Wainwright
Wilco
Tech N9ne
Ghostface Killah
Cole Porter
The String Cheese Incident
Eagles of Death Metal
Polyphonic Spree
Interpol
Tegan and Sara
Erasure
The Grateful Dead (AIDS)
Le Tigre
Marilyn Manson
The Gossip
The Magnetic Fields
The Doors
Phish
Queen
The Strokes
Sufjan Stevens
Morrissey
The Pet Shop Boys
Metallica
Judas Priest
The Village People
The Secret Handshake
The Rolling Stones
David Bowie
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Man or Astroman
Jay-Z
Depeche Mode
Kansas
Ani DiFranco
Fischerspooner
John Mayer
George Michael (texan)
Velvet Underground
Madonna
Barry Manilow
Indigo Girls
Melissa Etheridge
Eminmen
Nirvana
Boy George*
The Killers
Lou Reed
Lil' Wayne
Motorhead
DMX
Lisa Loeb
Ted Nugent (loincloth)
Dogstar
Thirty Seconds to Mars
Lil' Kim
kd lang
Frank Sinatra
Hinder
Nickleback
Arcade Fire
Bright Eyes
Audioslave
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Panic at the Disco
Elton John

What, so the Eagles of Death Metal made the cut, but not Queens of the Stone Age? But it says it right...in...the...name. Also making the list was rapper "Eminmen," which is either riotous christian wordplay or proof that good typing is the work of the devil.

This site is run by Donnie Davies, and if you're wondering what hatemongers do when they need to take a break from hate-mongering, you can check out his own band, the "Evening Service" which features one of the most homoerotic music videos ever laid straight to VHS.