Mickey Richardson (Share My Guitar) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Fresh from my summer vacations, I’ve got some great interviews for you. The first one is with Mickey Richardson from ShareMyGuitar.com, a superb social network for guitarists that was reviewed on MusicKO last month. You can read the original post here before delving on Mickey’s great answers. Pay special attention to the in-depth advice he gives when asked about the obvious mistakes to be avoided when launching a music-related startup.

And the second part of this interview (“Music & You”) can be read here.

Mickey Richardson From ShareMyGuitar.com

Full Name: Mickey Richardson
Age: 39
Startup: ShareMyGuitar
Position: Founder/CEO

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

The site was conceived mainly because I had taken up playing guitar. Like a lot of people do when they start playing, I was looking for a way to find good quality online lessons, as well as a way to get answers to my many questions I had about playing guitar like: What kind of strings should I use? What is the correct way to hold a pick? What songs should I focus on learning? What scales should I practice? The list goes on and on. The thought process was that if I could find a community where I could exchange questions, ideas and so forth in a format much like Facebook but just for musicians, it would be the perfect way for me to connect, network and progress on guitar. That’s how SMG came about.

One of the most distinctive features about SMG would be that it is a niche guitarists/musicians network. Our members can connect and become friends with other musicians who are located in nearly every country in the world! Connecting with others is easy because of nice features like the wall feed, live chat and a host of other cool features. To me, one of the coolest things about SMG would be that no matter what culture our member’s come from, their guitar speaks the same language.

What was the original launch date?

Well, I guess I should first explain that the idea for the website was initially for a social network for guitarists, but due to complications with finding the right developers to make it all happen and work out all the logistics, I launched the SMG Blog prior to the SMG social network. The Blog was launched in August 2009. The SMG social network followed the Blog, by the end of December 2009.

What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?

The response has been really great. Our members have provided us with a lot of useful feedback to allow us to constantly improve and grow the site. It’s really funny when we look at the early versions of SMG and then compare them with what is here today. It’s like night and day! It’s so much better, not only in the layout or design but also in the stability of the site. Although we tend to get a lot of positive feedback, which we really appreciate, its also the people who have let us know what works and what doesn’t that has allowed us to make the site that much better. The most common response has been “Cool, Facebook for guitarists!” and we take that as a tremendous compliment.

The USA leads with the most active daily users. Next would be user from the United Kingdom, Australia and followed up with an even mix of users scattered throughout Europe. In any given day, you can find that new members have signed up from South America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia as well. As long as there is an Internet connect, people can log on and join SMG! Continue reading →

RecordTogether – Crowdsource Tracks For Your Recordings

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Record Together
URL: http://www.recordtogether.com

Think of all these albums in which bands couldn’t afford to hire extra instrumentalists. Just how good would they have been if a service like Record Together had existed back in the day? What if The Who had managed to hire cello players for “A Quick One, While He’s Away” (the mini-opera after which their second LP was named)? Would real cellos have sounded better than the jokey “cello, cello, cello” the guys ended up chanting in the finished record? Would that have taken away from the charm of the piece? That could be debated for longer than it took Brian Wilson to release “Smile” as he had originally conceived it, and we’d never come to any kind of agreement. Integrity, ingenuity, imnocence… the people who would veto using outside instrumentalists always end up talking about such things.

Yet, they have to admit that some classic albums could have been nothing short of perfected if artists could have had access to accomplished session players. If The Smiths had hired a full orchestra to play on their epic “The Queen Is Dead”, the end result could have been even better than it was. When the album was originally recorded, the band had to hire the services of “The Hated Salford Ensemble” (IE guitarist Johnny Marr playing everything using a keyboard) to get the accompaniment they wanted for songs like “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side” and “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”. Continue reading →

How Facebook’s “Listen With” Button Can Help You Promote Your Music

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Just How Good Is Facebook's "Listen With" Button For Musicians?

You’re a musician, you’ve read about Facebook’s new “Listen With” button, and you’re wondering exactly how this new feature can help you spread your music. OK, bear with me…

As you know by now, the “Listen With” button lets your friends listen to the songs you’re playing while you’re online. Well, I want to call your attention to how friends interact with these songs.

Each time a friend clicks on the “Listen With” button, the chat room that’s opened for your friend to talk with you will also display a link back to the artist’s Facebook Page. So, checking out that artist’s profile becomes as easy as 1-2-3. No need to hunt for information all over the Internet.

From a marketing point of view, I don’t have to tell you how cool this is. If you’re the artist at the center of it all, the “Listen With” button can make people who’s never heard of you before head down to your profile, and go through your bio, your songs and your merchandise. They’ll even get to buy tickets for upcoming shows. Everything will be just one click away.

This is the first time since Facebook launched it’s music partnerships that the company does something which lets artists gain fans so easily. Seen in this light, Facebook’s alliance with Spotify was just the beginning of an unparalleled incursion in the music scene. Is 2012 going to be the year in which music goes truly social? With the evidence we have at hand, a case can certainly be made.

Music Sales Are Up For The First Time Since 2004

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

For The First Time In Ages, Music Sales Reports Don't Look Like This

Nielsen and Billboard have just released their 2011 Music Industry Report, and for the first time in eight years the number of total albums sold has gone up. You can check the figures here. And when you do so, you’ll also see that for the first time ever digital sales have beat phsycal music sales.

Still, just because sales are up from 2010 that doesn’t mean the industry’s “saved” or anything like that. It’s the beginning of a recovery process that will take a good couple of years.

And there should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that services like Spotify, Grooveshark and Rdio are to thank for this increase in sales. If anything, these services are responsible for instilling something that was unthinkable just some years ago: the concept of listening to music legally online.

It’s all gone full circle. Digital music hurt the industry at first, but now it’s making people support their favorite artists with their wallets again.

So, contrary to what lots of people predicted, digital music didn’t kill the industry in the end. It did exactly the opposite, giving it a whole new lease of life when least expected. It’ll be really interesting to see what the music report for 2012 looks like.

Provided the world hasn’t ended by then, that’s it.

My, the state these Mayans have left us all in…

Just What’s Kanye West Up To Now?

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Kanye West surely knows how to make headlines.

Sunday night saw him tweeting one his longest rants ever. Over the course of 86 tweets, he announced the creation of a company that will be named after his late mother, Donda. While Kanye didn’t exactly explain what the new venture will be about, he did offered the following gem in one of his final tweets of the night:

There’s nothing like aiming high, huh?

It’s easy to scoff at some of the notions Kanye tweeted (another update said that Donda will have 22 different divisions, and will create products and experiences that anybody could afford). At the same time, one can’t help being curious what one of the most successful hip-hop artists of the last couple of years can actually do with all his acumen.

I’m lending Kanye my ear until he announces exactly what on Earth Donda is all about.

And you? Will you let ‘im finish? Or has he stayed his welcome already?

“Come Together” Covered By Alice Cooper, Steven Tyler And Weird Al (Video)

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Footage from what must have been one of the coolest New Year Eve parties in the history of reverberation has begun surfacing on YouTube. It took place at Mala Restaurant in Wailea (Maui), and it featured the combined talents of Alice Cooper, Steven Tyler and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

This is one clip from the show, with the trio covering The Beatles’ perennial “Come Together”. The quality isn’t optimal, but only a sissy would complain. Be thankful you get the chance to see performers of this caliber on a stage together, in any way or the other.

Year In Review 2012: Uruguayan Artists & Videos

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Below you’ll find all the independent and unsigned artists that were profiled on MusicKO in 2012.

The following videos were also featured on the blog:

“Llevame” by Laura Chinelli

“Normal” by La Medio Siglo

“This Is Not A Test” by The Bear Season

“El Piso Se Va A Manchar” by Vincent Vega

“POU” by Closet

“Please Don’t Be Like Me” by Casablancas

“Decidir” by Andrea Deleón Santos

“Gigantes” by Orgánica

I also interviewed Pablo Faragó, and covered the release of his first solo album here.

Well, this is the last post of 2012. I want to wish you all a happy New Year, and thank you for your support. Keeping this blog alive takes me a huge amount of time, but it’s always something I do with a lot of conviction, a lot of determination and (most of all) a lot of illusion.

Always will.

Emilio