Various Artists: Holiday Remixed: Reworked Classics And Originals From The Mistletoe Lounge
Moses Avalon: secrets of negotiating a record contract
This man knows how to write! a must have reference book for the industry. (****)
IAN MCEWAN: Black Dogs : A Novel
Great author (****)
Iain Pears: An Instance of the Fingerpost
Reading the 2nd time. (*****)
In the last month I've been working extensively on one of our coming products (quite a cool and never-seen-before digital music release).
It took much longer than I thought to get it done, and in the last weeks it was actually kind of a stone on my neck.
So today I finally got it done, and the relief is fantastic :)
It came out nice and I hope I can shortly blog about it, as it should be in the markets quite soon.
Indeed it is , with all the 13 mixes online ! thanks Michael.
For any oldschool and deep house music lover this site is like a bliss - Michael Joyce has created some of the most spectacular deep/chicago house mixes, which are nothing but genius streams of hypnotic soulful harmonies. I discovered many amazing tracks thanks to Michael's sets.
-> Have a taste yourself, download the "Essence" mix.
The site was taken down for over a year I think, and I just found it's up again by accident, while I was listening to his "greyish" mix on foxytunes, and thought to check the site URL.
Hope to see the tracklistings added sometime as well. I actually wonder if it's all related to the recent chart success of Cascada's "Truly Madly Deeply"...(shite eurodance cover).
Anyway, had to put this gem to close this post:
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Just Can't Give You Up |
| Deep Sensation Vs. Misty Merlin | |
| A classic 80's Chicago House tune | |
(Tags: deep house, truly madly, michael joyce, soulful music, dj mix, downloads)
What if any visual image on a newspaper, print, web, TV ot even a t-shirt could become a clickable banner? Probably a very cool way for mobile content delivery and impulse purchase, but moreover, it could really evolve into a new paradigm for the advertising industry.
On the recent Telecom Israel 2006 we showcased this very cool Visual Mobile Search technology, which was developed by DSPV, and presents great opportunities for mobile music content, but also for mobile marketing.
Here's Tsvi from DSPV showing the technology used with our Sky Interactive Music Portal (video produced by IsraelHighTech.tv):
-> on 3:23 Snoop Dogg hits the screen :)
So it's about a more entertaining user experience (in some situations, like the fashion model selection, clicking an image presents a stronger incentive for the user to take an action), a tool for boosting impulse purchase, and also a great way to save on print ad space. The engine can be also activated through MMS (not just video call) - so the user takes a picture, sends through MMS and retrieves the content.
See also what MocoNews and GomoNews had to say on this exciting service.
We're about to launch this service with our Sky Interactive site, so every artist image on it would be clickable and immediately link the user with downloads. Innovative eh?
(Tags: mobile search, visual search, mobile marketing, advertising, mobile music, sky interactive, innovationcraze digital, dspv)
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The Spirals Vs. Orbital - X Vs. Halycon & On & On |
| Balance 008: Desyn Masiello | |
| Explosion of free spirit through guitars and beats | |
Continue reading "Craze debuts Visual Mobile Search for Music and Video" »
We've just finished to update the site for Snoop Loves Football - and downloads have already started. Hope people will found interest in the original twist we tried to bring through the videos.
There's also a nice feature on UK's top music news site ILikeMusic.com - which is also a premier news source for Google ! Thanks to the lads over there. The site's design also got revamped, and it's really a great place to consume music news and special features.
Oh...and the last update - The Snoop world cup package will also be available on Vodafone Live! - the 3g portal of the cellular giant, across UK, Germany and other places in Europe.
(Tags: snoopfoot, snoop dogg, world cup, mobile video, warren g, street football, urban music, digital music)
Just as a quick follow up to the previous report on our super dope "Snoop Loves Foobtall" pacakge for World Cup 2006, we've launched a brand site -> www.snoopfoot.com.
Currently it shows instructions how to get those neat videos and ringtones through SMS, but very soon everything will stand up - Paylpal Purchase, online downloads and even exclusive skypetones!
If you are into street culture, Urban music and good funky vibes, you should check it out :)
(Tags: world cup 2006, world-cup-2006, warren g, snoop dogg, videotone, video ringtone, mobile video, digital music, craze digital )
Well, it's time for some little self propaganda (following the nice post at Ringtonia blog).
We've just released the first chapter in our superb content package for World Cup 2006, starring the very amazing rappers Warren G and Snoop Dogg.
"Snoop Loves Football" - is a wicked mini-series of Videos, Realtones & VideoTones, all are taken from the song "Get U Down", featured on Warren G's fantastic album "In The Mid-Night Hour".
What's the deal?
The 2 clips are what we call "The essential Urban flava of Football". Or the ultimate expression to what's the Soul of Football is about.
The concept is simple: we all love football for its true basic soul. For the essential spirit that touches everyone, no matter where they are in the world, or which team they support. It’s the street game, the “hood” matches, which create that initial spark of excitement we all share.
And we think there are no better than rap honchos Warren G and Snoop Dogg to deliver that feeling with their absolutely smashing lines and beats.
It’s the world’s popular game meets the world’s biggest rappers.
Where to get it?
The package is currently available for licensing (check our www.crazedigital.com for more details), but you can of course get it right away:
Send SMS with “GO SNOOPFOOTBALL” to
UK -> 82772
Germany -> 82008
Ireland -> 57788
International -> +44-7786-203222
Definitely worth checking out!
Some more Manifesto notes
The Craze Digital lads love football, and wanted to create a unique and original , that connects great music with the foundations of the football experience. We're really sought to bring people the feelings and emotions that surround the game. The vibes of excitement that surge while you play, watch, listen or talk about football.
Sure - flags, animations and players wallpapers are the obvious wanted items. But at Craze we are music people - so our aim is to find innovative ways to tie amazing music with the digital world, keeping the music at the centre all the time!
Hey! but it's American Football in the clips, not Soccer!
Honestly, it doesn't matter! here's why:
1. If Snoop sang on Soccer, it would have seem artificial and maybe even a fake. Obviously, the original theme was about American Football. But that's the whole point - it gets the real cool twist when the clip is taken in the context of Soccer / European Football / World Cup. We're in the mashups generation, and young people quickly understand this kind of tweaks and find it has something very unique and rad!
2. The main theme is the street culture and sports. Whether Soccer, American Fooball or anything else, the "feel" we want to put here is the "Soul of the Game" - which Warren G & Snoop brilliantly express.
And guess what - 2 more chapters in our WC 2006 series will be released soon, as the games begin.
What's next??
Coming up are exclusive remixes for 2 massive tunes, both of which relate to the core cultural elements of this amazing event - The Mundial!
I'll post here once they are out, and meanwhile would be happy to hear anyone's views on the "Snoop Loves Football" clips!
oh, a website with previews will be aired very soon :) Working hard on this...
(Tags: world cup 2006, world-cup-2006, warren g, snoop dogg, videotone, video ringtone, mobile video, digital music, craze digital)
So the new collaboration deal between Skype and EMI Music Publishing raises again the speculations about the reachable horizons for the "SkypeTunes" store. The new Personalise Skype area would probably be exposed soon.
Phil at Skype Journal has written a great post on the possible avenues for Skype to progress with a compelling music downloads offering to its users, harnessing its unique social and VoIP abilities to introduce an attractive new user experience.
Contemplating also that Skype just can't let this colossal potential to slip aside, I shared my thoughts with Jessie from the Mercury News (thanks again Jessie).
However, it's clear that for now, Skype's moto is ringtones, and I'll follow up shortly how I see the ringtones and ringbacks arena for Skype (I tend to think that ringbacks are more relevant).
SJ also issued a short post later citing Skype's insider that at the moment they are focusing on ringtones, and aren't looking to challenge iTunes. So it's a matter of time, then?
My guess is that yes (and honestly I know nothing about their plans), and the interesting question would be:
Phil's ideas are right on for that, and I hope I could share some more concepts here soon.
(Tags: skype, music downloads, ringtones, digital music, iTunes, EMI)
I'm a bit late with these news, but they are still worth mentioning once again.
Top notch electronic mp3 site BeatPort has made its 1 millionth download, as I read couple of days ago on a special email sent by co-founder Brad Roulier.
That's a superb achievement for this impressive site - my congrats to Jonas, Brad, Tom (www.milehighhouse.com honcho) and all the other guys. You've been literally re-shaping the dance music scene.
My tracks are also sold there, you can check out the page for "Invisible" (with samples).
I also hope to see there a recent release coming up from a good friend, titled "Wavelab - Exceptional". Look out for this tune - it's a massive track.
An even nicer update I saw this week was the great (unofficial) RSS BeatPort feeds from Altovideo. The feeds cover all genres and styles and updated hourly. Big Salute to Mike at Altovideo for this awesome feature.
(via Beat Portfolio)
Finally, it's here.
BeatPort, one of the coolest sites for dance music downloads, has just finished their upgrade and Wow - this is really awesome.
I like BeatPort - they created a friendly and professional interface for digital music shopping, not forgetting that the user is mainly a listener and music lover, prior to being a consumer. The overall attitude of the site is "Take your time, hear some cool music, enjoy the exploration of new tunes, and if you feel you like something you can buy it here".
The partnership they have with music software moguls Native Instruments also contributes - business-wise and graphics-wise.
Our new upcoming track "The Askew - Invisible" is already there. Feel free to check the cool search function and stream it up...
