www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcQMp8EJuN0

1. Wear Palettes is one of the first places I go. Specifically, I tend to focus my attention on the Street Color blog. They take street fashion photography and derive color palettes from the photos. I have started a handful of projects with nothing more than one of these palettes.

2. No surprises, here: FFFFOUND! FFFFOUND! is a blog of random imagery that has been, appropriately, found online. It’s great for casual users, but as you go deeper, the site becomes a hassle to navigate. It kind of feels like the internet version of 52-card pick-up. Stressful, but produces unique results.

3. Abduzeedo is a blog out of Brazil that does basically what I am doing right now. They have a series of posts properly titled “Daily Inspiration” that collect pieces of visual inspiration. Lots of great art and design, but it comes with the price of all having a similar feel/aesthetic overall. Also, the load time is pretty rough with the overwhelming amount of images on each single post.

4. Another one that should come as no surprise: NOTCOT. It is a collection of anything and everything interesting. Anybody can submit something, if it gets approved it’ll show up on the blog. NOTCOT is an incredible place to use as a home base while you jet around the internet.

5. Vimeo is to Youtube as Facebook is to Myspace. It’s ultimately the same concept, but it is done with a care for aesthetics. The users on Vimeo are generally more art-driven and the content, on average, has more substance than a lot of other video sites. The community is strong and it is easy to stumble into intriguing video niches.

Why do we care? In this day in age, data is king. As an artist, you can see a side-by-side comparison with similar artists reaching your demographic. As a fan, you can see your favorite small artists gain momentum. As a promoter, you can see what is on the horizon and stay relevant. The beauty of NBS is that it is simply data, so you can use it however you wish.

To sweeten the pot, there are a few extra bits that are especially useful as an artist/label. First and foremost, you can verify your artist account(s) with NBS. Doing this gives you full control over the linked networks and early access to new features. Also, you can subscribe to weekly or daily stats emails for your artist(s) taking NBS to the next level of convenience by landing neatly in your inbox.

http://nextbigsound.com

This post is the first in [what I hope will be] a series of posts using real-world data (mine) to examine the practicality of being a musician in our current cultural and social climate. If nothing else, I hope a few hopeful musicians glance at these numbers and end up with a better understanding of what they are getting into.

Let’s kick it off with the biggest, baddest beast that exists: iTunes.

Getting music into iTunes is ridiculously easy…not at all a bragging point anymore. There are countless options for distribution and almost all of them get your music into every imaginable major retailer. Personally, I use RouteNote. They have a great model for low-selling artists and excellent options as one expands, but that’s a discussion for another day.

As it stands, I make $0.63 per sale (1 track). For this example, we’ll use a 5 song EP (plug: there’s a new one coming from me soon). At $0.99 per track, that is $4.95 for the sale. Once the money filters through iTunes and distribution, we are looking at $3.15 (0.63 x 5) in the pocket. Here are a few relevant benchmarks:

To break the $1000 mark:

• Sell 318 EPs -> 318 x $3.15 = $1,001.70
• Sell 1590 singles -> 1590 x $0.63 = $1,001.70

To break the $10,000 mark:

• Sell 3175 EPs -> 3175 x $3.15 = $10,001.25
• Sell 15,875 singles -> 15,875 x $0.63 = $10,001.25

To break the $20,000 mark:

• Sell 6350 EPs -> 6350 x $3.15 = $20,002.50
• Sell 31,750 singles -> 31,750 x $0.63 = $20,002.50

To break the $30,000 mark:

• Sell 9524 EPs -> 9524 x $3.15 = $30,000.60
• Sell 47,620 singles -> 47,620 x $0.63 = $30,000.60

There you go. Please, remember that iTunes is not ever the only source of revenue for an artist. There are, obviously, many variables that I am [intentionally] not accounting for in this post. We’ll cover those later (merchandise, non-digital music sales, expenses, exponential growth, live shows, etc…).

Yesterday morning I got a call about designing a monogram. It reminded me of the one I did for myself on the way back from China. I was inspired at an art museum I went to. There was a section where the artists’ marks were standardized. They used woodcuts and red ink. I really liked the idea of essentially stamping a signature.

1. Relate to the senses

We all know the best lyrics are those with which the listeners can relate. It is shocking how few lyricists know how to tap into the listeners’ minds. Our memories are littered with sensory details. Think about how the rain smells and appears and tastes and, yes, how it makes you feel (as a songwriter, remember, emotions = senses). Your goal is to take the listeners’ own memories and use them as hints to your point. And you get to their memories by using their senses. But don’t write about rain, because…

2. Forget clichés

Nothing puts a listener to sleep faster than a cliché. There was a time when writing about the rain was original. But that time is no more. There is no reason to steal another writer’s vision when you have your own two eyes. If you have something to say, say it and use your own words. When you stress over every single word, you will likely find that clichés carry too much baggage to adequately convey your message, anyway. But you must…

3. Figure out what you’re trying to say

This should probably be number 1 on this list, honestly. This is, in my opinion, the single most difficult aspect of songwriting. As people, we are dynamic. As songwriters, we need to be one-dimensional. In most lyric writing settings, you have about 3 minutes where you are not allowed to dramatically change your mind. You have to commit to your idea. And that is a lot harder than it sounds. If you don’t know exactly what you are trying to say, you will get nowhere. You’ll use a lot of clichés. Don’t be afraid to…

4. Rewrite

There seems to be a stigma in songwriting that if the writer revisits the lyrics, they are seen as less talented than their colleagues. How did this happen? Every other writing profession demands that the writer produce draft upon draft upon draft until the work is perfected. Yet, songwriters that don’t nail their lyrics down on attempt 1 are given less credibility. Is this because the music world loves the idea of a prodigy? Bad news, kids, there is no such thing. Talent comes from…

5. Practice

Practice. Practice. Practice. It is now a commonly supported idea that it takes roughly 10,000 hours to create a master at anything. At 5 days a week and 4 hours a day, that rounds out to about 10 years. The best thing you can do is simply keep the pen running on the paper. Throw out the bad ideas and move forward. Keep writing. Don’t stop.

Happy writing.

In honor of the greatest bicycle race the world has ever known, I have crafted a short (< 10 minute) mixtape. My intention is to capture the original spirit of the race. The tape is meant to mimic the drama and intrigue that can only be produced by three weeks on a bike in France.

Download here (ctrl+click and save as). 23 MB.

Tracklist:

1. The Marshmallow Kisses – Epilogue – French Lesson
2. Sven Libaek – Open Sea Theme
3. Air France – Collapsing At Your Doorstep
4. The Most Serene Republic – Heavens To Purgatory 1
5. RJD2 – Ghostwriter
6. Röyksopp – Vision One
7. Sven Libaek – Open Sea Theme (reprise)

The highlight of Wangfujing – After the window shopping is done, everybody detours to one of the two snack streets. I can’t describe the atmosphere. You have to experience it yourself. Vendors set up shop and hawk everything from fried scorpions and snakes to strawberries on a stick. It is loud. It is crowded. And the snack style street food is phenomenal.

Now, I’m going to repeat it: a panda eats 14 hours a day. That is almost 60% of a 24-hour day. Over 5000 hours a year, a panda will spend its time nom nom nom-ing. “But what about the other 10 hours,” you inquire. They sleep, primarily. Sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat. Did you see work in that list? Stress? Worry? No. You did not. Because pandas are living the dream.