The duplicability of recordings has had an unexpected effect.

The pressure is on to develop content that isn’t easily copyable—so now everything other than the recorded music is becoming the valuable part of what artists sell.

Of course, they’ll still want to sell their music, but now they’ll embed that relatively valueless product within a matrix of hard-to-copy (and therefore valuable) artwork.

People who won’t pay £15 for a CD will pay £150 for the limited edition version with additional artwork, photos, booklet and DVDs. They often already own the music, downloaded—but now they want the art. They’re buying art, and they’re buying it in a new way.

That suggests to me the possibility of a refreshingly democratic art market: a new way for visual artists, designers, animators and film-makers to make a living.

So, as one business folds, several others open up.

As always with Eno – the entire piece is interesting.

Digg founder Kevin Rose sat down, in front of a wall of modular synthesizers, with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN) and poses the most popular questions as submitted and voted upon by users of the popular social bookmarking site.

It’s a great interview, with lots of discussion around Nine Inch Nails’ approach to making money in a world of new media.

Do you think Nine Inch Nails’ approach can apply to musicians that aren’t established?

The top questions from the Digg community:

• Your business model still primarily involves selling music either digitally or physically. Why haven’t you embraced advertising as a business model?
• What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?
• What advice do you have for up and coming bands who chose the internet for distribution over traditional channels?
• What tech gadgets, hardware, software, can you not live without?
• Have the plans to release a Year Zero mini-series on HBO fallen through? Or can we still look forward to a video representation of the album?
• What is your favorite thing you have seen done with your music by a fan of NIN?
• What are some of your favorite video games?
• Will any of the records of your side project Tapeworm, with TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan, ever be released?
• Since you are a tech artist, are you planning an online concert?
• Is there tension between art director Rob Sheridan and basist Justin Meldal-Johnsen over coverage of the Scientology protest?

Last week, I asked for Synthtopia readers to send in some tracks to share, via the SoundCloud Drop Box in the right sidebar of the site.

We’ve had a ton of cool submissions that we’ve featured previously:

• Music from Synthtopia readers
• More music from Synthtopia readers
• Free music from Synthtopia readers

And the tracks keep coming in!

This batch is embedded using the standard Synthtopia player, rather than the SoundCloud one, because the tracks were sent directly to me via the site:

Tracks include:

• wileng3’s Yessir – An old comedy routine from the Library of Congress set to to a beat.
• Jhayes‘ As the ears weaps the eyes hear
• asnazzy – The Cosmos – a Space Ambient track from ‘Space Voyageur’ music album.
• slangteacher’s Concept 11 – a track from Kodomo’s debut album Still Life
• jtolbert2000’s The Confetti Effect – a sexy electronic piece composed for a corporate video project.

Check out the links above to find out more about each musician, and let them know what you think of their tracks!

Image: gabyu

Jochem Paap, aka Speedy J, wants to make an album that represents not just him, but the global techno community.

He’s using SoundCloud to create a new global techno project, and he wants you to contribute. He’s ask you to sen him a cool loop, sample, bassline, sound effect to him via his SoundCloud dropbox. I’ve embedded examples of what he is looking for above.

Speedy J will use the input as the raw material for his next album. The project will be released on his label Electric Deluxe and the collectivisation approach will also trickle down through the album’s profits, which will be split 50/50 with all the artists that appear on the album.

It’s a cool concept for an album, and an interesting use of SoundCloud.

via beatportal

I asked readers to share some tracks via the service. The tracks been coming in ever since, from Synthtopia readers around the world.

One of the options that you can set within SoundCloud is whether or not you want your music to be downloadable. Many of these readers set their tracks to be downloadable. If they did, there will be a download link in the upper right-hand corner of the player.

So, check out some great music from Synthtopia readers from around the world. I’ve included links to each musicians’ SoundCloud page – check out the rest of their music and give them some feedback, too!

From Canada, Craig Pearson, aka Monospark, shared Agoba Can’t Dance. Pearson describes it as a “Quick and whimsical track I created with the synth lead meant to sound as if it was talking.”

OrbicA is an experimental/synthetic composer from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Here’s OrbicA’s OxA:

From Boston, Brian Roche shared Ne Plus Ultra (Serial Strings Mix):

Bugged Bunny began his career by going to underground parties at the age of 15. From there he moved on to promoting for legendary nyc clubs Limelight and Tunnel as well as many one-off parties. Soon after that he began spinning, and has held down residencies at Moomia(nyc) and the Warehouse (Baltimore). He currently has a residency at Dub Stories, one of New York’s premiere showcases for DJ talent. You can find out more about him at his label, StoopidPlayground.

He shared his track Bat Country:

Finally, bingo1 shared this track, Rock IT Man- Bingo, described as a laid-back hip-hop song that defines the celebrity lifestyle:

Got some music of your own to share with Synthtopia readers? Click on the drop box on the right side of this page. If you share your track to everyone, then I’ll embed it in a post like the tracks above.

A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I’m checking out SoundCloud – a new music sharing site specifically for musicians. It’s a site that lets you upload your tracks and then share them via websites, blogs, email, Digg, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. 

I wanted to learn a bit more about how it works and see if it could be a useful tool for Synthtopia readers. So I embedded a SoundCloud drop box on the right sidebar of the site and asked for readers to send in some tracks. They’ve been pouring in since. 

I promised to share readers’ tracks on Synthtopia, so here are some of the first ones I received:

Stephen Drake’s oha noha:

Drake says “Trying out my klee sequencer – this is the first thing I did with it – very minimal setup – all analog modular stuff – no midi, all control voltages – only minimal reverb added, no other editing.”

The SoundCloud player looks great and is easy to use.

Parker’s Root Beer is a track by Eric Carl. “An experiment in trying out the Reaper DAW and its automation options, which I’m a fan of so far. I drank Parker’s Root Beer during its production,” Carl explains.

You’ll notice a difference in the way these two tracks are displayed. The Stephen Drake track is embedded with SoundCloud’s player. If a track is shared publicly on SoundCloud, then anyone can click on the track’s “share” link and email the track or get a player embed code for MySpace or other sites.

The Eric Carl track was sent to me via SoundCloud, but it isn’t a publicly shared track on the site, so SoundCloud doesn’t provide an embed code. I could preview Carl’s track on SoundCloud, but the track was not publicly shared. Because of that, I downloaded the track from SoundCloud, uploaded it to Synthtopia and embedded it using our usual player. 

Because SoundCloud provides both options, you can use the site to share your work in a fairly elegant way or you can use the site to send tracks to specific users, without sharing the tracks publicly.

Kurt Lorenz is a graphic designer and electronic musician based in Seattle, WA. USA. Here’s his experimental track, I need you to say something profound, which features samples of Lorenz and his son:

Gothick is a British industrial/experimental/rock band founded in 1999 by Sean Woodward. Aleister’s Amazing Bookcase is a track from the Gothick album INVOKATION OV NUIT, the first part of a free trilogy inspired by Aleister Crowley’s Book of the Law.

This instrumental and atmospheric piece is inspired by the portable collection of books that would travel with Crowley, even on his expeditions in the Himalayas.

From Utrecht, Netherlands, Ate Matthijs Hes submitted the track for sale:

Finally, from Athens, Greece, les.paradis.artificiels submitted the wonderfully titled, The Phantom of the Oprah, described as a “psychedelic landscape formed by a cacophony of distorted sounds and voices.” This track was featured as reader’s music “Hot Pick” in Future Music magazine #193 (UK edition)

I’ll have more examples of Synthtopia readers’ music in the next few days. If you’ve given SoundCloud a try, let me know what you think of it in the comments.

Image: Merlijn Hoek

If you haven’t tried out SoundCloud, it’s a site that lets you upload your tracks and then share them via websites, blogs, email, Digg, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. 

Here’s an example of what tracks look like embedded:

It’s a pretty slick player, and the player itself could prove to be very useful for sharing your music.

But the site also gives you a “Drop Box”, so that other people can send you music.

Here’s my drop box:

If you click on my drop box, it takes you to a page on SoundCloud where you can upload a song that goes to me.

I’d like to try this out – so here’s the deal:

1. Click on the drop box above, or the one in the right sidebar, and go to my drop box.
2. Follow the instructions on the drop box page and upload one of your tracks. The track should be an original work of electronic music that you created. It should not be an awesome track by The Chemical Brothers, a recording of banjo music or your sex podcast.
3. I’ll check out your track and I’ll post it on Synthtopia.

You don’t have to sign up for an account at SoundCloud to try this out, but you do have to have a valid email address. 

I’m looking forward to hearing your music and sharing it on Synthtopia!

Note: If you’re a SoundCloud member and have uploaded your track to the site, I should be able to embed it using the SoundCloud player. Otherwise, I’ll embed it using the standard player we use on Synthtopia.

When you tweet them, your tracks are posted straight to Twitter, a microblogging site.

Tracks are tweeted from the share-box above each track:

Click here to see how it looks on Twitter.

This video demos how to create and upload a remix project to Koblo.com.

Music by Mankind is Obsolete.

The CC license support on SoundCloud is pretty straight-forward. You can pick a license when you upload a track, and you can set a default license in your settings.

There are three main modes; All Rights Reserved, Some Rights Reserved, and No Rights Reserved. The default is All Rights Reserved, which means you own all rights to the works you upload.

SoundCloud is a new music site designed to let you move music fast & easy.

The platform takes the daily hassle out of receiving, sending & distributing music for artists, record labels & other music professionals.

Here is how JamJunky works:

1. Upload your song and put in all of the information related to the song
2. Send the song to your friends using a special encoded link
3. Friends post their comments
4. If applicable, you can open the song to the JJ audience for additional comments
5. Take in the feedback and think about changes to your song

You can upload notes about the song, lyrics, select a license/copyright formula and whether the song is locked/unlocked.

Here’s a video demo of JamJunky:

via Center Networks