New Passion Pit: "Carried Away"

This is the second single from their Gossamer album.

New Amanda Palmer: "The Bed Song"

More proof of wise spending with her Kickstarter funds.  And did you know that AFP is going to deliver a TED talk on February 27?  That should be interesting...

The Music Douchebag Blocker

Sheer genius.  (Via The Chive)

Streaming Music on Smart Phones Continues to Increase

As more of us get smart phones and as more of us get used to the idea of accessing music instead of possessing it, increased use of streaming through our phones continues to go up.  From Audio4cast:

Smartphone users like to use the devices to listen to music, and that’s a trend that is on the upswing, according to new information from NPD Group. 56% of smartphone users listen to music on their devices, with 39% of them doing that daily. Of those, they mostly listen to Internet radio (65%), but also stream on demand services like Spotify or Rhapsody (30%) and listen to their own music (it’s not clear whether it’s on the device or streamed from a cloud service) as well.

Music listening on mobile devices extends to tablets as well, with 40% of tablet users listening to music on those devices.

Streaming is here to stay.  Best (a) get on board; (b) get used to it; and (c) figure out how to compete/program against it.  Right, radio industry?

Continue reading.

Interesting App for Producers and Recording Engineers

Matching the right microphone to the job can be a bitch.  If, for example, you have a particular kick drum sound in your head, what's the best mic to use?  

The Oceanway Microphone Locker promises to solve these issues.  Co-produced by guitarist Steve Vai, it's designed to match mics with instruments.  

Vai had help from Allen Sides, owner of one of the world's biggest collection of contemporary and vintage mics.  Give it a look.