Micky Cohen
Micky Cohen is a young Uruguayan artist that’s produced by Miguel Campal, and this is the video for her newest single, “White Flag”. The song is included on Micky’s latest EP, and you can listen to her full discography on her MySpace profile.
You’d might also be interested in checking her Facebook fanpage.
Micky Cohen's Newest EP, "White Flag"
Want to learn more about the music that brings the best out of entrepreneurs? Well, below you’ll find what inspires Brian O’Toole (founder of Vibin.fm) the most.
This is the second half of an interview we conducted earlier this week, right after I reviewed Vibin.fm on MusicKO. The first dealt with the startup itself, and you can read it here.
PART II
MUSIC & YOU
When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?
I’ve been intrigued with music since I was little. I remember my first CD I purchased was ‘Korn – Freak on a Leash.’ I took it to the counter and my mom saw the ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker and about lost her mind. Somehow, a bit of convincing did the job and I was the first in my 3rd grade class to have the CD.
Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?
I was not in a band. So, no, there is no clip on YouTube of me performing, but I do have lots of talented friends.
Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?
I like all types of music genres. I really like Kanye West as an Artist. When I say the word ‘Artist,’ Kanye really does just that. He creates an experience in every song, every music video and every CD. No one does that better than Kanye. Continue reading
I’ve got a couple of cool interviews to share with you over the days to come. The first is this one with Brian O’Toole from Vibin.fm, the site that is aiming to become “the Pandora for electronica”. You’ll see from this interview how passionate Brian is, and how much he believes in what he’s doing. That’s reason enough for most people I know to check the service he’s created. I encourage you to give it a try – remember, you don’t even need to register for an account to begin listening to mixes and playing them to your friends as if you were David Guetta.
Well, if you’re aiming high why not aim for the top, I ask you?
Full Name: Brian O’Toole
Age: 23
Startup: Vibin.fm
Position: Founder & Creative Director
PART I
THE STARTUP
Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?
Vibin.fm was originally thought of inside a nightclub. I was out with a few friends and was completely overwhelmed to see just how much everyone loved electronic music. I’ve seen many different eras of music (90s rock, punk rock, 2000s rap, etc), but have never seen a generation of people so in awe with the club’s music – especially the DJ. I thought, why not create this experience for people to enjoy before the club, after the club… whenever! With that, Vibin was born.
To me, the most distinctive feature is the ability to press one button and stream unlimited, hand-crafted radio of your choice. Whether it is a favorite genre, favorite artist, DJ mix, or raving city, Vibin.fm allows you to party your night away in just one click. You can also filter each station by Tracks, DJ Mixes, or DJ sets. My favorite filter is DJ sets (40+ minute individual mixes), which bring the club experience to your computer. My other favorite feature is the ‘Discover’ mode. This feature helps you find new artist to enjoy, simply by entering an artist. Once you found one that you like, press ‘Listen’ and you’re all set to vibe!
What was the original launch date?
Friday, February 24th, 2012
What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?
The response has been awesome so far! We had over 2,000 page views in the first 4 days and have been featured in over 20 blog articles. Surprisingly, Spain has been the largest traffic source – especially in the city of Madrid. I’ve always wanted to visit Madrid, so I may have to plan a vacation in the near future. Continue reading
Mal Yo
They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, but sometimes you just have to strike while the iron’s hot… That’s what these nice folks from Mal Yo (remember them?) have done. All through the summer, we were subjected to Michel Telo’s “Ai Se Eu Te Pego”, a song that our charming Brazilian neighbors more or less force-fed the whole continent. Just for the record, I must say the song isn’t half bad. It’s just that listening to it even when you’re scuba diving is enough to make you sick. And so, it’s payback time…
Thanks to our three sonorous crusaders, “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” has now become “Ay Que Me Quemo” [This Is Bleeding Hot], and you can watch the full clip below.
Does the melody ring a bell? Well, it should. There’s an English language version of “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” that’s called “If I Catch You”. Chances are you have already listened to it. But just in case…
Billy Corgan Is Using This Year's SXSW Conference To Announce The Smashing Pumpkins' Most Ambitious Work To Date
The concept of music albums is changing for good. Offering fans a multimedia experience makes the job of pirates a lot harder, and that’s obviously appealing from a commercial point of view. Yet, there’s no denying that artists are naturally inclined to try new technologies out, and see in which ways new software and hardware can give fans a more vivid representation of these emotions and ideas that lie at the heart of the most transcendental artistic works. The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest album might as well do.
Named “Oceania”, it’s already been defined as a “full online experience” by Billy Corgan, the band’s charismatic leader. He’s not giving away a lot of details at this time, but he will break the silence soon enough – he’s going to make a big announcement at this year’s South By Southwest conference. From what he’s already said, it can be gathered that the album will take social interactions and fan engagement to the limit, and that it’s tracks might not be sold separately on iTunes. Corgan’s publicist has hinted at that when she said that “The key is that when we release the record, we’re not going to release a single viral video. You’re going to take the record and have a full online experience with it.”
Corgan is no stranger to experimentation. In 2009, he embarked on a project called “Teagarden by Kaledoiscope”, a 44-track album that was going to be made freely available on the Internet for everybody to download.
The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest project brings to mind Bjork’s “Biophilia”, which has gone down in history as the first “app album” ever. We’ll see how Corgan’s brainchild compares to that when he speaks at SXSW. His session is scheduled for the 12th of March.
Name: Vibin.fm
URL: http://www.vibin.fm
A visit to this website is mandatory for those who love electronica. Vibin.fm is brimming with nothing but quality mixes that you can listen to without even having to register for an account first. The site’s usable on the fly, and all of the music that you can listen to on Vibin.fm is available at zero cost.
And in addition to letting you play the latest mixes for free, the site makes for having music streamed to all of your rave-oriented friends. What better way to start curating a party list together? The minute you’ve found a mix that you think’s got potential for rocking the house till your neighbors either call the cops or ask you to join in the fun, then you can simply stream it to your most discerning friends. They’ll tell you right away whether that mix is a keeper or a dud.
The site comes with lots of categories such as trance, deep house, trip hop, dubstep, lovestep, dirty dub and psy-trance, and finding a song suiting your exact mood (or the mood of the party you’re about to host) is a piece of cake.
And what’s even cooler is that the site can recommend you new mixes based on these songs that you’ve been listening to. In that sense, it’s quite similar to Pandora.
I feel I must mention that accounts are also available, but you’ll only need one if you’re interested in saving your favorite mixes and playing them back again. But if all you want is to have some music quickly played in the background while you’re doing something else (such as working out), then Vibin.fm is a winner.
The final part of the interview with Motoi Konno from Mashroom.fm is posted below. If you’ve read yesterday’s installment and enjoyed it, now you have a chance to know about the music Motoi-san has always been inspired by. Just what you need to start the week in a motivated way, wouldn’t you say?
PART II
MUSIC & YOU
When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?
I think it was when I was 6years old. My mother taught me how to play the piano.
The first album that I purchased was probably a SPITZ’s single. (Japanese pop band)
Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?
Yes, I’ve been playing blues for the last 10 years and I am blues guitarist and singer in Japan. And this is my channel.
Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?
Blues, Soul, R&B, MOTOWN, STAX
I really admire many blues artists. Especially, Robert Cray, Lurrie Bell, and there are plenty of others. Continue reading
Motoi Konno, one of the founders of Mashrooom.fm (a web service for creating your own mashups using different YouTube videos) was kind-enough to answer all the questions I put his way about his startup, and also about the role music has in his life.
This is the first time that I interview someone from Japan, and it’s really refreshing to have the insight from people living in what’s unarguably one of the most technically-developed countries in the world.
You can read the original post on Mashroom.fm here. And if you wonder when you can read the other half of this interview (“Music & You”), then that’s just been posted.
Full Name: Motoi Konno
Age: 28
Startup: Mashroom.fm
Position: Music Manager/Marketer
PART I
THE STARTUP
Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?
1 years ago, I and co founder Makoto Watanabe watched the video of Playing For Change. There were a lot of professional musicians and street musicians playing together there, no matter how different were their lives and their languages. It really moved our hearts. And we simply thought “We want to make this happen on the web!” That was the start.
What was the original launch date?
It was 27 January 2012
What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?
So far, it hasn’t been so bad but we hope to have more active users per month.
Right now, our site is visited from 59 countries. Spain and USA are the most active ones.
What features can we expect to see implemented in future revisions?
We want to support musicians and artists all over the world. So, in the future we want Mashroom.fm to become a platform where they can sell and exchange their work. We want to change the fact of gifted musicians and artists not being able to earn enough money to support themselves. Continue reading
Adele At A Recent Performance
Artists who make it big at the Grammy Awards always see a hefty boost in sales, and Adele was to be no exception. After winning no less than 6 awards in one night (including “Album Of The Year” for “21” and “Song Of The Year” for “Rolling In The Deep”), “21” managed to reach double platinum status. What’s even more interesting, Adele has become the first artist to sell 2 million copies of one album on iTunes in the US.
Adele is also the second artist to win the “Big Four” Grammy Awards in the same ceremony. She joins Christopher Cross, who achieved that feat in 1981.
This artistic and commercial success comes after many expressed concerns about Adele’s future when she became sidelined by vocal chord hemorrhaging, and had to undergo microsurgery.
As of the time of writing this, the figures made public by Columbia Records show that “21” has sold 7 million copies in the U.S., and 18 million copies worldwide.
Name: Mashroom.fm
URL: http://mashroom.fm
Mashing up online videos is the order of the day here. Mashroom.fm is a service that lets you take different clips as found on YouTube, and then have them mixed in order to create something unique. You can choose up to six different YouTube videos, and use them to create a single track. And you can also record yourself, and add sounds to what you’re mashing up.
The end result will obviously depend on how much time and effort you’ve put into the edition of what you’ve created, but even if you’re in a bit of a hurry you’ll still be able to come up with something to make your Facebook friends laugh a little. And in any case, there’s no 1000-page treatise defining what memes are made up of. You never know what might end up happening to a video you’ve created on a whim, just as a way to humor a good friend…
Mashroom.fm is a free service, and you can start using it just by authenticating who you are via Facebook. Once your mixes are ready, then they can be spread in all the usual ways – email, Twitter, Facebook, Megaupload…
Wait a mo…
Forget that last name.
(Sobs and sighs)