YouTube Now Features A Recommendation Engine For Music Videos

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

As many of you probably noticed, YouTube’s music page has been overhauled, and a key feature has been added: a recommendation engine for music videos based both on your settings, preferences and these clips that your friends are sharing.

In practice, this turns YouTube into a tool for discovery that makes me think a lot of the days in which MTV actually played music.

Such a move was long due in the face of competing services such as The Hype Machine and Pandora, and it was somehow announced just a couple of weeks ago with the release of LeanBack (a service for discovering videos based on what your friends are watching). Continue reading →

Kilian Valkhof (Lystener) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Last week I caught up with Kilian Valkhof from Lystener, a startup offering an innovative way to find and share lyrics that I had reviewed the previous week.

We talked about his project, and also about his relationship with music. A special emphasis was placed on the way he perceives lyrics, of course.

This is Part 1 of the interview. Part 2 (where we talk about music) can be read here.

Kilian Valkhof, The Creator Of Lystener

Full Name: Kilian Valkhof
Age: 22
Web App: Lystener
Position: Founder

PART I

THE WEB APP

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

I’ve always had a problem with the way lyrics work. Some music players can display lyrics and that’s great, but there’s always one that doesn’t work as well as it should.

You can also google lyrics. This means you have to type in the artist and song title (because somehow they’re never copyable from music players) and find a working site that doesn’t have a bunch of ads and spam. Then, if you want to actually do something with the lyrics, like, copy them, most sites block that too! If you want to share lyrics on facebook, for example, you end up typing them yourself.

Lystener fixes both these problems. No typing needed to find the lyrics to the song you’re listening to now, because I just ask last.fm what you’re playing, and it updates automatically. When you select the lyrics you like, you can post the part you selected to facebook or twitter with a single button.

What was the original launch date?

I launched it on monday the 28th of june, after a week of private beta.

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

Twofold actually. People love the application but the lyrics database isn’t really big, so if you’re like me and listen to lots of unknown stuff, you’ll have to do without lyrics every now and then. There are ways to easily add them though, and I’m going to expand on those to make adding lyrics yourself even easier. When you have lyrics though, people are delighted because everything works very smoothly, reading lyrics, selecting lyrics, sending lyrics, it all happens in one flow.

As far as countries go, English speaking countries lead by a large margin. Continue reading →

Lystener – A New Way To Share & Discover Lyrics

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Lystener
URL: http://www.lystener.com

OK, I am the first to admit that this site is not the greatest thing ever since Swiss Cheese came along, but I quite like it. That is probably because I am a lyricist and I can’t divorce a song’s music from its words, but even casual users could get something good out of it.

If we look at its roots, what the site lets you do is to input your Last.fm username in order for the lyrics to the song that you are listening at that time to be displayed. When that happens, you will be able not only to read them but also to share them with your friends.

That is not as superfluous as some of you might be thinking. For starters, non-native speakers of English (like me) often have trouble catching a word or two, even after years of listening to English music. That is something obvious – it is not the same listening to Liam Gallagher than listening to John Denver. Sometimes we frankly can’t get the words right. That is one use this site will certainly have. Continue reading →

Tony-b.org – For The DJ In Everybody

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Tony-b Machine
URL: http://www.tony-b.org

Every rock & roller has got a bit of a shady past that hangs like a sword of Damocles over his head. I am no exception. Before listening to The Who, before listening to Oasis, before listening to The Sex Pistols… can you ever dare to guess which artist I intently listened to?

DJ Bobo.

Those of you who are still reading (and who haven’t wiped MusicKO from their bookmarks after such debilitating news) would be less shocked when you learn I was that keen on DJ Bobo only because my older brother (always a role model to me) was a rabid fan of electronic music. And you will feel relieved when I tell you that I never, ever lay a hand on his Ace Of Base and 2 Unlimited CDs.

[My brother from behind my back:] Hey, have you seen my copy of “The Sign”? Wait, here it is, what was it doing in your backpack??

Shit, man!! Keep quiet for a second, will you?!

Ahem.

Before it gets any worse I am telling you about this new app.

Named the Tony-b Machine, it will let you create your very own piece of electronic music. And the way you can get around doing that is dead clever (and entertaining, too). You simply pick the relevant effects (”Kick”, “Snare”, “Hi Hat” and “Cymbal”) and push the pertinent keys as you go along.

The results are actually very impressive, and one of the best bits is that you can proceed to save and upload them for everybody to listen to. Continue reading →

SeeJoeRock – A Social Networking Site For Indie Musicians

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: SeeJoeRock
URL: http://www.seejoerock.com

Forget about “America’s Got Talent”, the Internet is where the chances of being discovered lie for any young performer (Greyson Chance) or for those who did never get the exposure in their day (Steve Moore). There is something incredibly idyllic about it all- it is the knowledge that if you are good, you are making it. The Internet obliterates the loathsome meet-and-greet tradition that places all the emphasis on who you know, and not on what you can do. And new performers know it by now.

I think that is the reason why there are lots of social sites for indie musicians available. Well, this is a new one – and it is quite comprehensive if you ask me. Bands can create their own profile pages, upload their songs, stream their videos and create a calendar that highlights upcoming gigs. They interact both with fellow musicians and with members of the public while doing it all. And they also do get a chance to interact with industry professionals. That is a possibility that is not offered in that many networks for indie musicians as far as I can tell. Continue reading →

Eyeball.fm – Another Way To Share & Discover Music Online

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Eyeball.fm
URL: http://www.eyeball.fm

The amount of services to discover (and recommend) music online has no end. If someone asked why, we could but reply “Elementary, my dear Watson” with a smirk. “There is no end to these services because today absolutely everybody can upload his songs to the WWW and make them available to just everybody. These services are vital – or do you fancy sitting for a whole week chained to your PC listening to newcomer after newcomer?”

I have already reviewed a couple of these services, and you (being the diligent reader of MusicKO that you are) already know how they work. I will simply enumerate some of the most notable (and in some cases unique) features of Eyeball.fm for you.

For starters, it is more than merely a service for recommending music – it is a true backup service since you can upload your whole iTunes library to your account and access your music from there. And when you do that you are automatically gaining access to information such as bios and song lyrics.

Integration with services like Facebook is also accounted for, so that you can get down to recommending songs with your already existing circle of friends.

Best of all – in contrast to services like Pandora and Rhapsody, Eyeball.fm is available globally. This means that someone like me (who resides in South America) can use it to the full from the word go. Continue reading →

Kyle Jenkins (Songr) – Interview

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Kyle Jenkins from Songr (the social service for the discovery of music that I just reviewed) was kind enough to sit through my interview the same day my original post was published. Thanks a lot, Kyle! You will find his answers below.

Full Name: Kyle Jenkins
Age: N/A
Startup: Songr
Position: Owner

THE STARTUP

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

Oddly enough, the best ideas come when you least expect it. I was simply singing to myself in the shower (yes..yes..) when I realized I had sung the same song over and over for the past week! This led me to my hunt for better songs, which, to my dismay, brought me no results.

After hours of Googling, the only good source seemed to be YouTube, which, as we all know, isn’t dedicated to music. This got me thinking. I mean, I couldn’t be the only one with repetitive shower songs right?

Since I had some free time, I started on the design and, after 5 tries, finally got one that seemed decent. Working from that, I utilized my limited PHP skills and coded the site.

Eventually, I hit a wall when I was coding the rating system. I received help from a good friend on this part – which he coded our perfectly.

After 3 days of work, I finally got the site together. Over the next couple of days I started implementing features slowly, but efficiently. We are now working on a community system which allows for user registration and interaction.

I mean, the whole point of Songr is that it’s community powered, right?

What was the original launch date?

It was originally planned to be in late April, but additional allotted time allowed us (well, me) to complete it sooner.

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

It’s been pretty successful actually. We’ve received around 300 unique visitors daily since launch, but it doesn’t seem as if the majority of them are voting. Hopefully, the planned community features will encourage this. Continue reading →

Songr – Finding New Music To Try In A Social Context

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: Songr
URL: http://www.songr.com

Songr is a social site for the discovery of new music. The way it operates is by having people submit these songs that they are listening to in real-time. A ranking with these tunes is there and then created. The songs can be voted up and down (like any social service that aggregates content such as Delicious or Digg), and the ones that are met more effusively end up topping the list for each respective genre.

The featured genres, by the way, are quite representative of the tastes of the general public. You have “Rock” and “Pop” along with “Metal” and “Rap”, and a couple more like “Country”, “Jazz” and “World” are thrown in for good measure. These will be enough for the site to get going, but as a fan of Anime and Japanese music I wish there were at least a J-Pop genre available. I hope that is implemented in due time. Continue reading →

Adam Cameron (iMusicTweet) – Interview (Part 2)

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

This is the second and final part of the interview I conducted with Adam Cameron. Don’t forget to check out part 1 right here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

Having 2 older brothers, I began listening to music at 4-5 years old in the late 90’s. I was interested in Hip Hop but in 2000 I began expanding and listening to every Genre and then I had a new found understanding and definition of music. My first music purchase was a 50 Cent album, maybe his 1st release on Interscope.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a file on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

No. I did own a DJ team about a year ago which crumbled and everyone chose different paths in life or continued on their own. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be, this is my path and I will continue to run, not walk, until I am a success.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I listen to lyrics, I don’t just listen to a song to dance with the vibe. I try to break down and understand the lyrics and some are positive and some are very negative. My favorite artists currently are J. Cole, B.o.B, Jay Z, Kanye West, Kid Cudi. I also listen to all genres, I look for the new up and coming songs/artists of any genre. I am really listening to up-and-coming hip hop artist, G. Cam lately. I just love music.

If you had to name the song that moves you the most, what would it be? Can you pinpoint the reason why?

I Made It. It’s a song about where he came from (the bottom) all they way to where he is at now (top of the world). It inspires me, I currently live in Harlem and It makes me want to work to make it to where he is at or even better. I am the only one from everyone I grew up with who is doing what Im doing. I can relate to every word in his song. Continue reading →