Looking for an Internship????

I think this would be a great opportunity for any student that would like to get their foot in the music business. Working in publishing would open many different doors for someone interested in having a career in the music industry. If this sounds interesting to you click on the 'read more' and apply.

There is also an opportunity for those who would like a more technical internship, dealing with podcast and webinar production, and this is a paid internship! Click here for more info.

For Some, Free Music Is an Investment That Pays Off

What’s the value of a career’s worth of Internet buzz? Approximately 175,000 albums sold in one week — then look out below from there. On Wednesday the Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller topped the Billboard album chart with his debut album, “Blue Slide Park“ (Rostrum), selling about 144,000 albums. The week before, the Washington rapper Wale made his debut at No. 2 on the chart (behind Justin Bieber’s Christmas album) with “Ambition“ (Maybach Music Group/Warner Brothers), which sold about 164,000 copies. And last month J. Cole’s first album, “Cole World: The Sideline Story” (Roc Nation), made its bow atop the chart with about 217,000 copies sold in its first week. (All figures are from Nielsen SoundScan.)

First, the good news: A new generation of rappers is actively trying to build a new business model in which releasing oodles of free material online builds a fan base that paves the way for revenue streams: touring, merchandise, even something as old-fashioned as a record deal.

Read More...

Vital Vox Festival

This Saturday in Brooklyn The Vital Vox Festival explores the myriad power of the human voice in it's solo and ensemble forms in a multitude of genres! Performing Saturday will be Gelsey Bell, Judith Berkson and Bloomfield's own Dafna Naftali! Dafna, who teaches music theory and sequencing, will perform a work for solo voice and live electronics and processing (Wii controllers). The Vital Vox Festival will be held downtown Brooklyn at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, November 5 at 8pm. For more Information click here

Redundancy at it's Best

I survived many internships over the coarse of the years and have taken away many good habits and learned a good deal, but one of the best habits I garnered was the importance of backing up your work. Part of my duties when interning with the Souldiggaz, a production group, was to back up the hard drives of the recording rooms onto DVD. They kept a meticulous record of what was backed up and where. They had CD books filled to the brim with DVDs that were carefully labeled and verified. In my house I keep a smaller version of my own recordings and session backups.

Over the years I have witness the horror of a hard drive crashing and the person freaking out because they didn't back up their drives regularly. My girlfriend was a victim of not backing up and almost lost a whole year (2 full semesters) of writings for her graduate studies. She was very lucky that I could recover the majority of her hard drive. If I wasn't able to achieve that small miracle she would have had to spend upwards of five hundred dollars to have a service recover the drive or potentially loose all of her work and start over. For myself I have been contacted by old clients that needed backups of old sessions or wanted to revisit old sessions that they didn't back up themselves. It's painful enough to loose your personal work but it's crippling to misplace clients work over a hard drive failure.

I came across a great article that emphasizes the art of the backup that I felt would help make this point and maybe prevent someone from making a simple mistake that could be avoided.

click here for article

Ascensionist - Beautiful Catastrophe

Bloomfield CAT students Chase, Truth, Lova-Gurl, Ave, Brian Battersby, Ill Will, Daniel David, Nomad, Adam Cruz, Eder Vernet and Justin Pauls form Ascensionist. Their debut album is an apocalyptic concept album fusing experimental hip-hop, R&B, and indie rock. Stream it here or download it free.

INTERNSHIPS!!!! for the the Fall Semester

I hope everyone had a great summer just like I did! So I officially welcome you back with a great internship post from MTV! Internships are a great stepping stone to a permanent position. Even though we would all love big fat pay checks( I still don't see those!), working an internship definitely has it's own payoff. Like most things in life it may not seem apparent at the time but if you put in 150 percent, are pleasant, helpful, show initiative, and network that internship may be the flashing light on the map of the road to success. I had a completed 3 internships by the time I graduated and took on another post-graduation when I was laid off, two years after graduation. The internship after graduation afforded me the opportunity to hone my craft, work under an industry heavy weight who now calls me for freelance gigs. The intern usually empties the trash, refills snacks, and take on all the tedious jobs around the workplace. The cash may not equal the workload but the social currency you take with you and the knowledge gained is invaluable!

Check out the link below

http://www.mtvnetworkscareers.com/internships/

Big Chance for Tri-State Artists!

Doing my usual web surfing like a schizoid-gemini I came across an opportunity that I felt would be fun at the very least. The opportunity would be excellent if you won since its sponsored/run by SEASAC, Brooklyn Industries, Reverb Nation, and The Muse Box. With the possibility of five winners who could walk away with a showcase performance at CMJ, distribution via The Muse Box & EMI Distribution, 2 months publicity and marketing, and more. Click here for more information from NYC Rising and their sponsors.

I urge all our students to apply and pass on to their friends! Good Luck!

Finding new ways to distribute outside the box...

In this age of DIY and new business paradigms the indie artist must stay as fluid as possible to find a living in this new economy. As an indie artist that is taking the Do It Yourself route sometimes using older models in new ways can help one carve out a niche for themselves. Hypebot.com posted an article that I found intriguing at the least by Clyde Smith.

read more....

Making Music with almost anything

I ran across this on Bob Owsinski's blog THE BIG PICTURE, one of his many that are all informative. He posted a youtube vid using a piezo pickup and mundane household items to create new instruments using Cycling 74's Max application.

The Start-Up of You

This article by Paul Krugman speaks to the real job market for college grads. Great to start thinking about how you will invent your own job, and what skills you'll want to cultivate in college.

***

The rise in the unemployment rate last month to 9.2 percent has Democrats and Republicans reliably falling back on their respective cure-alls. It is evidence for liberals that we need more stimulus and for conservatives that we need more tax cuts to increase demand. I am sure there is truth in both, but I do not believe they are the whole story. I think something else, something new — something that will require our kids not so much to find their next job as to invent their next job — is also influencing today’s job market more than people realize.

Look at the news these days from the most dynamic sector of the U.S. economy — Silicon Valley. Facebook is now valued near $100 billion, Twitter at $8 billion, Groupon at $30 billion, Zynga at $20 billion and LinkedIn at $8 billion. These are the fastest-growing Internet/social networking companies in the world, and here’s what’s scary: You could easily fit all their employees together into the 20,000 seats in Madison Square Garden, and still have room for grandma. They just don’t employ a lot of people, relative to their valuations, and while they’re all hiring today, they are largely looking for talented engineers.

Continue Reading the Full NY Times article Here

Students looking to release first full package CD

I remember my first encounter with the members of Minor Motion: Mark, Shawn, & Albie when they took my Music Business class about a year and a half ago, because they definitely had an amusing way to show their passion of music. Not only were they good students (did I just say that???) but they were impressively knowledgeable about music (of different genres) and recording. This passion was poured into their Capstone Project which is now an official CD. Their music is good and they have a nice presence on stage so I think they won't have any problem raising the money they need to print a physical CD. This is where you come in, be a part of the creative process on the back end and help them achieve their goal and in the process they will give back to you, their new fan! Check out the many reasons to give to the cause...

Head of Music Dept. celebrates his status as Aluminum Alum

Peter Gordon, the head of the music department for the prestigious C.A.T. Program of Bloomfield College, was recently revealed to be a member of of the New York City downtown scene and a participant of the wildly popular Aluminum Nights at the Kitchen. Not familiar with the infamously rocking Aluminum Nights, you must have either been living under a rock or had the disadvantage of being born in the last 25 years or so.

"In June 1981, The Kitchen threw itself a behemoth tenth birthday party-cum-fundraiser at aTimes Square megaclub. Dubbed Aluminum Nights, the marathon event saw a capacity audience of many hundreds —including, all seem to recall, Mick Jagger backstage — enjoy a diversified array of the downtown sounds being nurtured at the crossroads of The Kitchen’s music program. In 2011, as part of its 40^th anniversary season, The Kitchen presents a distilled refraction of the Aluminum Music performed over that memorable weekend.

On Friday, April 15, Industrial music pioneer Z’EV demonstrates his hypnotic, ritualized solo percussion music on a shared bill with cherished No-Wavers,Bush Tetras. Saturday, April 16, features the pairing of former Kitchen Music Director (and Aluminum Nights co-curator) George Lewis’s electroacoustic anthem Homage to Charles Parker (1979) featuring Amina Claudine Myers(piano/organ), Reggie Nicholson (percussion), Matana Roberts (alto saxophone), and Richard Teitelbaum (synthesizers) with the epic disco-minimalism of PeterGordon’s Love of Life Orchestra, featuring contributions from Kitchen alums Ned Sublette (guitar) and Peter Zummo (trombone).Curated by Nick Hallett."

Still unsure of what is actually happening this weekend in New York City that is such a big deal? Well obviously the humble Mr. Gordon's cover was blown when the Wall Street Journal did something it likes to call investigative reporting and put a spotlight on this historic musical event. I wouldn't take my word for it, instead you should dig further and see what the world's leading financial publication has to say about this! Click here for the WSJ article on this raucous party and look below for more information and see history live with your own two, 'cause seeing is believing right? Or is it hearing????

On Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16, The Kitchen presents Aluminum Music, two nights of music to celebrate the organization’s 40th Anniversary season, one of several special events to be held in 2011. This weekend is inspired by Aluminum Nights, a marathon of music, video and dance hosted by The Kitchen in June 1981 to commemorate its tenth anniversary.

Box Office Information: 212.255.5793 ext. 11 Tue-Sat, 2-6pm

The Kitchen 512 West 19th Street New York, NY 10011 www.thekitchen.org

By the way are you aware of who the real Peter Gordon is and was?

Peter Gordon formed the Love of Life Orchestra (LOLO) in 1977 to perform his heady mix of minimalist compositional practice and popular forms, bringing together musicians and artists from diverse genres and backgrounds. A recent retrospective on the DFA record label recalls the disco- oriented material from this period. Working with LOLO—which has ranged in size from a trio to over a dozen of New York's top musicians—Gordon has performed hundreds of concerts internationally. A string of commissions in the mid-1980s, including the score for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s Secret Pastures (BAM) and the video opera with Kit Fitzgerald, Return of the Native (BAM) solidified Gordon’s reputation for bringing “the street into the opera house” (New York Times), in addition to earning him Obie and Bessie awards.

What do Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Eminem, and Kanye West have in common???

They are all under the Universal Music Group umbrella! Continuing on with our series of posts concerning internships I suggest that you check out Universal Music Group and apply for a summer internship or a fall internship. For more information click here

The Debut of Minor Motion in NYC

Why wait until Capstone in May to see and hear the amazing group Minor Motion for a major performance in New York City. What else do you have to do on a Friday other than party and bullsh#t like the great late Biggie Smalls???? So head over to Manhattan and bask in the bright lights in the big city and enjoy your fellow CAT Majors at Parkside Lounge!

It is a 21 and older occasion but only $5 at the door which is wallet friendly in this economic climate!

A note from the band:

Minor Motion - New York City show on 4/8/11 (Friday), an interesting timing at 12:30 a.m., BUT, the city never sleeps and neither do we.
Finally after recording all parts to the album it is absolutely time for exposure into the city lights.
Nothing planned? Curious about our masterful sounds? Come out, end of story.
$5 at the door.
Car pooling will be available in a limited amount.
Of course, drinks will be plentiful and are much affordable -http://www.parksidelounge.net/ - is the bars website for more information.
Feel free to contact any of the lads for more information, we're sure you know how to get to us.
Cheers to those who come, and to those who don't, you'll get yours, (in an album).
This message has been brought to you by Minor Motion.

WHEN: Friday 12:30am

WHERE: Parkside Lounge 317 East Houston Street, New York, New York

Minor Motion

MTV Internships

As we bring the spring semester to a close(yes it's almost over that quickly!) I suggest that all students, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and graduating seniors should apply to internships in their chosen discipline. As a student(here at Bloomfield College!) I had 3 internships that exposed me to different aspects of the business. I was lucky enough to intern for a production team, SoulDiggaz, in their studio and gained valuable real world experience.

The biggest mistake some students make is to wait until they take the internship class and have to find a position in the beginning of the semester. Most companies that internship programs start taking applications the semester prior. With that in mind I have posted the deadlines for ESPN on two post earlier and today we follow that trend with the link to MTV. Click here and read the instructions carefully and good luck.

FARA ENCLAVE lands at Westminster Hall via Space Elevator

Fara Enclave, a collective of Producers and Musicians, is celebrating the release of their new concept albumSpace Elevator with a FREE performance Thursday 3/31 at 8pm in the Westminister Gallery.

Bring your O2 and your imagination and join the Enclave as they take you on a fantastical Journey through space and time that Captain Kirk would envy!

This collective have elevated past student-hood and have risen into the artist-sphere! Come experience the journey as they open their Galaxy to you!

Bloomfield College

Westminister Art Gallery

Freemont St and Franklin St

Bloomfield, NJ

Internships!!!! Get a jump on the Fall Semester

Do you love sports? Are you a music tech major? Do you want an internship?

Then check this blog weekly for opportunities in music and music tech related fields.

The key to job hunting and finding an internship is being prepared and staying aware of listings as they come up. Check out this link for ESPN internships for the fall.

Free Plug-ins

Just before the break Prof Dave Bokil brought to my attention that the vaunted Massy Plug-ins are available for demo without intermittent white noise or any of the other annoying devices companies use when they make plug-ins available for demo, so I went to the site and checked them out and was impressed by what was available. So a great big thank you to Dave for this which triggered a search over the break for more free plug-ins that are available. I found more than I thought and proceeded to download them and some are already available on the workstation in room 210 and in the TDM. I know its hard for students to afford quality plug-ins so I thought this would be great and I will install most of them on our computers in the lab so that it makes it easier to mix at home and bring projects in and continue to mix.

First up we have IKMultimedia's Sampletank 2(this won't be on the computers in the lab but available in room 210)

The BlueCat Freeware Plug-in Pack (100% free) - this will be available on all machines

The Massey Plug-ins demos(they never expire, beep, or mute!) these will be on all machines

The Izotope Vinyl (a nice lo-fi simulator) this will also be available on all machines

These are just a few but there are plenty more for individuals to check out, I can't have all of them on our machines but feel free to expand your plug-in library! Have fun!

Check this blog that has a healthy list of freeware and demo plug-ins:

PTnewbie.com

Sound Design Opportunity

I would like to thank Prof. Zalben for keeping us abreast of all opportunities for our CAT Majors, and so I am posting yet another great opportunity for students who are interested in Sound Design. This is for credit only:

Short documentary needs sound mixing, 12 min long, playing at a
festival next month. Some very light sound design is also needed over
one scene, mostly ambience.

The director's email: "Liz Lo" : elizabethx.lo@gmail.com

The film is called "The Hunt"

LEARN TO WRITE HITS - CAT INDUSTRY DAY MARCH 26

Hi Music CAT People,

I strongly encourage everyone to come to the CAT INDUSTRY DAY, next Saturday (March 26.)

We will have a very special guest, Alex Forbes, a chart-topping and platinum-selling songwriter. Alex will be giving a presentation on writing hit songs and getting them published.

I strongly recommend showing up for this. Alex will be presenting at 11 am.

Below is Alex's bio and a link to her website:

http://www.alexforbesmusic.com/

With numerous Billboard-charting singles, over 75 releases, and millions of album sales under her belt, Alex Forbes's songs range from Rock to Dance to straight-ahead Pop. Her specialty is writing instantly catchy melodies and lyrics that capture the essence of life in strikingly vivid ways.

Recent successes include “Melt Away,” featured in the Denzel Washington film “Déjà Vu,” and New Zealand superstar Hayley Westenra's recording of“You Are Water” on her Billboard-charting Classical/Pop album, “Odyssey.”

Many of Alex's newest songs are "on hold" or recorded and awaiting release dates. The artists include the Dutch singer/songwriter VenVelzen, Australian club music act The 808's, and American artists Jessica Clemmons, and Bloom. One of the Bloom songs, "This Is The Life," was recently featured on "The Hills."

Alex's first hit, the now-classic dance song “Too Turned On,” performed byAlisha, still receives abundant airplay many years later. This initial success led to a series of hit singles including Taylor Dayne's massive hit “Don't Rush Me” (#2 Pop, #3 AC, #6 Dance, multi-platinum album, ASCAP Pop Award), Rockell's classic freestyle version of “In A Dream,” (#6 Dance, #72 Pop) and Joey Lawrence's Top 20 Pop hit “Nothin' My Love Can't Fix,” the latter of which Alex also co-produced.

High points also included collaborating with Cyndi Lauper on a song for her film, “Off and Running,” and co-producing Martha Wash, whose powerhouse voice was featured in the Weather Girls and C+C Music Factory, and who recorded Alex's “Leave a Light On.”

Alex's songs have been placed in many feature films, while others have appeared in TV shows and an Off-Broadway show. Overseas, Alex's songs have been hit singles for Fan Club (New Zealand), Indra (France), Patti Day(U.K.), Papa Dee (Sweden) and Marie Frank (Denmark, Gold Album).

Over the years Alex has worked with some of the music world's most renowned writers and producers, including Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Morrissey), longtime collaborator Jeff Franzel (Shawn Colvin, Josh Groban), Steve Addabbo (Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega), and DJ Gomi(Mariah Carey, Madonna).

Alex received a Creative Writing degree from Stanford University, and was mentored in the art and craft of pop songwriting by the legendary Doc Pomus ("This Magic Moment," "Save The Last Dance For Me").

RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY

How To Apply For The Red Bull Music Academy from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

Click the link and check out the site and download the application. This year it's held in Tokyo. The application deadline is April 4, 2011.

This is a very open and liberal program that accepts: musicians, producers, djs, beatmakers, etc

Please Apply, because you never know!

Why not try something out of the digital box????????

I came across this article in my daily perusal of my favorite blogs (thanks Dave!) and our friend Peter Kirn posted this on his blog CREATEDIGITALMUSIC.COM.

check it out and try it out....tape saturation on a budget( I think I still have my tape adaptor in my ride)

Find out why Music Theory is sooo important to your career

Salute: Behind the Beats with AraabMuzik

By Jonathan "JJ" Jones, Associate Membership Representative, Rhythm & Soul

"AraabMuzik kills the MPC"

That’s the heading of a video I came across during my daily visit to some of my favorite music websites. Now being a hip-hop fan, I recognize the importance of the drum machine as it relates to the creation of hip-hop music. The MPC, in particular, has been the drum machine of choice for producers of various music genres and continues to be a mainstay in their studio setup. read more...

Sound Designer Needed

Looking for a Sound Designer/Post Production sound person to do
looping, ADR and sound effects sound for a 15 minute short film.

If interested please contact:

Dwight Craver
dwightcraver@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor J. Zalben

LABEL INTERNSHIP

I just saw Dart Parker over at Shady records post this on his twitter account. Apparently they have some openings for interns….

SPRING INTERNS NEEDED FOR POST PRODUCTION FACILITY

Post Production Facility with a Gallery attached is looking for Spring Interns to join this fast paced, creative, and fun office.
Ideal interns should be college students or post graduates with creative mixed media experiences as well as administrative experiences.
Candidates should also be Mac and PC savvy, familiar with Microsoft Office, and have general computer skills.
Those with strong work ethics that have a high level of attention to detail and ability to follow through on projects are encouraged to apply.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Post Production Internship

Thanks to the help of Professor Jonathan Zalben for the information of this internship.

Elijah Torn of Massive Music is looking for an intern.

Massive Music is located in Union Square(the 14th st area) in Manhattan.

Email him your resume and a cover letter containing what you are interested in doing and

what you think your strengths/weaknesses are.

send to: elijah@massivemusic.com

Tips for Indie Musicians and Bands

Successful businesses run based on sound, proven business practices. So should your music career. Here are some of the basic tenets that every wise business owner knows and adheres to.

read more