Hi all, it's been awhile since I've posted any news about
ArtistServer, so here we go...
1. As you can see, the forums have slowed down again over the holiday season. This seems to happen every year, and usually picks back up near the end of January.
2. We now host 7,600 mp3s! While we did not get to the 10,000 I was hoping for, we've definately grown this year and have attracted many new artists with great material.
3. WTF is with the Video section at ArtistServer? Well - unfortunately, the situation isn't looking good. I had signed up with
VideoEgg to be a site that uses their video hosting services. They have this amazing upload tool that will convert video from files, your cam, even your digital video camera. I have it 'working' in the Admin area, I even added genres/categories, a comment and rating system, send to friend option, and a means to add the videos to your favorites... It's all done.
So what's the problem? The problem, is that I've emailed VideoEgg 3 times now to two different email addresses to request an approval for the integration, and they haven't replied. The video section is 'done' - it's ready to go live - it would take me 2 minutes to turn it on for the public... but, if VideoEgg never replies, the video section can't open. I'm not sure what their deal is - maybe they changed their policies, maybe they are having troubles staying in business - who knows. I'm looking for alternate solutions, but so far, nothing out there works like Video Egg (free integration and video hosting). The only services I've found would have a fee, and since ArtistServer doesn't generate enough revenue to cover the audio streaming, I can't afford to add to that and cover the video hosting fees too. I'm going to try and contact them for another week or two, if nothing comes of it, I'll remove the "Video" button from the site's main menu. I'm sorry this hasn't worked out.
4. What about some good news? Yes! I always have some good news for you :) As you know, one of my main goals with ArtistServer is to help all of you gain more exposure. I want your music to be heard - I want people to email their friends and point them to your music - I want your music on peoples MP3 players - and... I want your music to be used in places where commercial music has traditionally been used. What I'm getting at hear, is that there's a LOT of music that is licensed for all kinds of productions, including: company demos, commercials, personal videos, wedding videos, presentations, films/videos, flash websites, and more.
Ever since the Creative Commons Licensing options were released on the world, we've had a set of license options which actually 'define' how a piece of work can be used. If you had not noticed, we use Creative Commons Licensing on the music and the photos here at ArtistServer (but you can pick the vague 'copyright' option still). Each of these different license options defines a different type of 'use scenario' - for example - one of them allows for use if you give credit, but you can't use the work in a commercial manner. Another license requires credit, but does allow commercial uses, etc.
So, now we have this big catalog of music - and there's this big population of people who want to use music in their productions - the goal, is to bring both parties together so they can mutally benefit.
We could expect that population to find us by searching at ArtstiServer, and they can, but I'm about to make things MUCH easier for these people... I'm launching a site designed specifically for people who are looking for Creative Commons/Free music to use in their productions. The site is about 2/3 done and is in 'beta' - you can browse to it here:
http://www.freemusiclicensing.com/This is my first site coded/designed in Flex, so it's been a bit of a learning experience :)
The site is not complete - the popup artist info dialog isn't working yet, and the side panel information needs to be added. BUT - the search, streaming and downloading work. Once the site is done, I'll work a bit on the promotion of the site and see if we can get some press. I'm not sure when the site will be 100% done, as I'm having to learn a new language to code the site, but I hope to have it completed next month.
This opportunity is open to everyone - but I hope that if you appreciate this, that you'll consider upgrading your account - we NEED PAYING MEMBERS! ;)
Certainly, the music here is worth money - and it is your choice to make your music available for free use or not. If you are concerned about your music - sign into the site and check your songs and see what license you've selected. When you edit a song, the license 'wizard' is at the bottom of the screen.
Don't be afraid of giving your music away - each song you release becomes an agent working for you - promoting you and your music. If you don't believe this, we can look at it from another angle - several artists from our own community are/were featured on the "Making of the Matrix" DVD - which sold quite a few copies... and each artist was paid something insanely low, like $100 - in the end, what has more value, the exposure, or the $100? Just think if you were one of those artists - and you had decided you wouldn't take less than $250 - you would have missed out on all that exposure. By all means - each deal stands on it's own, and if you 'can' get paid, perfect! If you can't make much but can get exposure... see the value in the exposure.
In closing, I just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all of you, to say thank you to all those who have been with us all these years, and to say welcome to those who have recently started using the site.
Thank you for being a part of this, and Happy New Years to everyone. :)
- Gideon / ArtistServer Admin
==========================================
For those wanting more info on Creative Commons licensing:
http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses
