Photo credit: picpics

Unless you have decided to do a real-time jam with your remotely connected musicians, online music collaboration services work all pretty much in the same way: You record a music track with your own instrument connected to a computer and then you upload the track for others to work and build upon.

If you and your music partners already have a speedy broadband Internet connection, you can also use online music collaboration services to play in real-time without worrying about the typical delays that are characteristic of transmitting audio on the Internet. You just plug your instrument to your PC / Mac, find your musical buddies and you are set to play.

Collaborative music projects can be both public or private, depending on your production needs, and some of the music collaboration services I am showcasing here in this guide, also provide a direct marketplace for you to distribute and sell your songs.

Interestingly, DJs and creative people who are not musicians can use some of these music collaboration services to remix and mash-up old and new stuff.

In this MasterNewMedia guide you can find a comprehensive map of the online music collaboration services available out there, including some of their key characteristics and a comparative table that puts them through their paces. When reviewing each one of the services, these were the key items I checked:

• Supported file format: File types accepted to upload your music tracks.
• Public / Private sessions: Free or restricted access for musical projects.
• Distribution / Sales: Music tracks distribution on third-party websites or social networks.
• Rating: Mutual evaluation of musicians.
• Pricing: Basic starting cost and feature.

Here all the details:

Best Tools And Services To Collaborate On Music Projects Comparative Table

Online Music Collaboration: Best Tools And Services To Collaborate On Music Projects

1. eJAMMING AUDiiO
   
   With eJamming AUDiiO you can create, perform and record musical tracks online and in real-time. The software (for Win and Mac only) allow you to connect to other musicians both by public or private chat and by creating or joining a session. Inside a session you get in touch with up to three other musicians for real time music collaboration, creation and recording. Or you can also play on your own and record your creation. All you have to do is plug your instrument to your computer and then configure the software with the instructions available on the website. You cannot upload your own tracks for the time being. Each musician has a skill level rated by the eJamming community, so you can decide whom you want to play with. Once you have recorded your tracks you can also send your music to a friend or jam-mate. eJamming AUDiio is priced either $9.95/month or $89.95/year.
   http://www.ejamming.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Kompoz
   
   Kompoz is a social workspace for musicians and songwriters. You can record a music track, upload it and then invite others to contribute to your song by adding other instruments or vocals. Public and private projects are available, so you can collaborate with anyone or specifically select the people to work with. Check the ratings of your selected musicians to choose the right co-author for your creation. Then upload a music track (MP3, AIFF, WAV, WMA, OGG), a PDF with tabs or vocal parts and meet your jam-mates to start collaborating together on your own song. To get feedback from the Kompoz community, you can use the forum discussions to share opinions and suggestions with other members. When your project is ready, share it via Twitter, Facebook or your own website by grabbing the embed code. Public projects are free and licensed under a Creative Commons license. Each private project you start costs $8.95 and you can choose either to share your music under a Creative Commons license or traditional copyright.
   http://www.kompoz.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. JamNow
   
   JamNow is a free online collaboration platform that allows you to play, record and collaborate with other musicians. You can host live shows for your fans or just play and record your tracks on your own. To use JamNow you have to download a free software (Win and Mac) on your computer. The software allows you to get in touch with other passionate musicians and supporters via chat or using a microphone. Your music projects can be both kept public or private and all members have a rating score, so it is easy to meet the people you need to perfect your songs. No exposure features to distribute your music on third-party websites. No info either on file formats supported to upload a music track.
   http://www.jamnow.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. MixMatchMusic
   
   MixMatchMusic is a free community where artists and music lovers meet to share their tastes or collaborate on music projects. You can connect with other members to create, complete or remix tracks using MixMatchMusic suite of audio tools. Then upload your own tracks to start or use a "stem", a music sample you find on the site. To find the right musicians look at their ratings from the community. Once you are satisfied with the results of your project, publish your music on the website. Each song costs $1 and for each track sold $0.85 go to those people who collaborated creating the music. To release your song on third-part locations you need either to have permission from the company or the co-authors of the song. No info on file formats supported to upload a music track.
   http://www.mixmatchmusic.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Tune Rooms
   
   Tune Rooms is a free online service to create and remix music tracks with the help of other musicians. You can create your own music sessions (or "tune rooms") by uploading your own tracks in MP3 format or by adding existing tracks already on the website. Then allow others to contribute with their own song sketches to help you complete your songs. Tune rooms allows users to assign a Creative Commons license their works, featuring the license prominently on each composition. No ratings or distribution tools available.
   http://www.tunerooms.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Oomix
   
   Using Oomix musicians can collaborate online on their songs and even monetize their music without spending a dime. Record and upload a single-instrument MP3 track to Oomix and let others play their own groove and complete your track. Some others may want to remix different tracks and create a unique music piece using the Studio tool (Windows only). Each song perfected and created by a group of musicians is sold for a pre-determined price. Each musician or remixer assigns a percentage to her contribution that identifies the amount of work done (e.g. 30% bass guitar, 30% guitar, 20% drums, 20% remix). The money each contributor gets is calculated according to the percentage of work done and total earning made from the sell. You can rate each musician but not freely distribute the songs you create (only sell is allowed). Private projects are not permitted.
   http://oomix.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Jamglue
   
   Jamglue is an online community for creating and sharing original music and audio. You can upload your recorded music (MP3, WAV and WMA formats allowed) or voice track, create mixes, and then share your creations on your blog or MySpace profile. You can either upload a track from your hard-disk, a URL, or use JamGlue library to mix different tracks using a Flash-based interface; no software to install on your computer. Once your mix is completed, you can download the song for free. You can also write mini-review or comments to rate your favorite artists. Private projects are not allowed. Free to use.
   http://www.jamglue.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. WeMix
   
   WeMix is a free online service where musicians can collaborate together and produce original songs. Co-founded by the rapper Ludacris, WeMix usage is simple: you sign up, create your page and upload your original songs, beats, vocals, riffs in MP3 format As a member you can collaborate on songs using WeMix Mashpit, offer feedback, rate your favorite artists and share ideas for new music with others. If you want to distribute your music you can grab the embed code of your published songs and paste it onto your social media pages or website. Top performers also get a shot to turn their songs into real records by collaborating with star musicians and the entire WeMix community. Your show might even be broadcast on TV.
   http://www.wemix.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Indaba Music
   
   The mission of Indaba Music is to foster a community that offers artists to connect and work creatively together on music projects. Create a free blog to share your music (MP3 is the only format accepted for upload) and photos or connect with other musicians to work on a project together using a web-based workspace. Each musician is rated by other members and has a personal profile page to facilitate your choice. If you are not a musician, you can also browse the Indaba Music library of Creative Commons-licensed songs and remix a song, even privately. Basic plan to join Indaba Muisc is free and you have all it needs to create, remix and share your songs. If you need advanced audio tools you can purchase one of the two premium plans starting at $5/month or $50/year.
   http://www.indabamusic.com
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. MyOnlineBand
    
    MyOnlineBand.com is a network of professional and would-be musicians that want to share their music tastes and play collaboratively on music projects. Once you register to the network you can upload your songs (MP3 or WMA only) to share with others and use a live-chat facility to communicate in real-time with the musicians of your team. You also have a public profile page that works as a resume to help other people evaluate your contribution to their tracks. People can also support you economically through a dedicated link, though this is not compulsory to download a song. In fact, all you need to do is download tracks from the MyOnlineBand library, add your own audio contribution and then re-upload the song to the site. You can also upload document files to provide your jam-mates with chords, lyrics and tabs that will help you improve the songs. Both public and private projects are allowed. MyOnlineBand is free to join. No rating allowed.
    http://www.myonlineband.com
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. MyBlogBand
    
    MyBlogBand is a virtual jam room where you connect to other musicians, play and publish you recordings for free. You simply post your creation on the forum area of the website and let others add more instruments, give feedback, make suggestions, and collaborate on the song. If you like the additions made, you can then share the revised collaboration. You can also choose to work alone and open a private project or publicly release your creations. Audio tracks must be submitted in MP3 format and you can post lyrics, tabs and any other document that might help co-authors create songs. No rating and no ability to distribute your songs on third-party websites.
    http://www.myblogband.com
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Dopetracks
    
    DopeTracks is a free online music collaboration network where you can record your beats and sing together with other vocalists. Just plug your microphone to your computer and use the built-in Flash application to record your vocals. Then upload your track to the service and provide lyrics so that your fans can sing along. Other users can also comment, "dope" (rate) and help you improve your beats participating to your vocal performances. Once you are satisfied with your beats, distribute your performance to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Xanga. No info on the file format needed to upload your vocals and no private projects allowed.
    http://www.dopetracks.com
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. Virtual Recording Studio
    
    Virtual Recording Studio is an online music collaboration venue where musicians meet to work together on new music. All you have to do is upload an original music track in MP3 format and then start a project to let others contribute to your song. Projects can be either public or private. In a private project you selectively control who can hear your music or collaborate on your songs. Ratings and comments are allowed, but you cannot distribute your finished creations on third-party websites. You can also install Virtual Recording Studio on your own web server to create your personal music collaboration community. Free to use.
    http://thenetstudio.com/Scripts/VRSLogin.vrs

Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia, and first published on July 13th, 2009 as "Online Music Collaboration: Best Tools And Services To Collaborate On Music Projects".

Photo credit: Alan Levine

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Google Chrome Operating System - The Google and Microsoft competition is escalating: Google announces new operating system
• Web Squared - Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle’s article Web Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On captures a small glimpse of the future
• Social and Networked Learning - In June, through LearnTrends, we hosted an event on Social and Networked Learning. Topics include: What is social networked learning? ROI, organizational challenges, and moving beyond networks.
• Does Anyone Still Use Second Life? - The answer, according to a recent report (which is a bit of a pain to get, but free), is a strong yes.
• Disruption and Scientific Publishing - Changing scientific publishing is only partially about technological disruption. It’s mainly about common sense. If it comes from the public purse, it belongs to the public.

George Siemens' weekly Media Literacy Digest Media is published here on MasterNewMedia with the objective to help its readers become informed citizens who can actively and successfully communicate with society and the world.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Google Chrome Operating System

The Google and Microsoft competition is escalating: Google announces new operating system.

The operating system is expected to run on netbooks shipping in 2010. Google already has Android for mobile phones, so the move to PC-based system is an obvious direct challenge to Microsoft.

With the exception of Bing, over the last several years, Microsoft has come across as a bumbling, clumsy organization trying to preserve a computing world that no longer exists. Consider Live. Or Mesh. Both initiatives were an attempt to innovate, but Microsoft is too tied to existing revenue models to be creative.

Google, on the other hand, is well ahead in its ability to conceive a new world of computing and interaction.

The announcement of Wave is a great example - a product that attempts to re-write interaction / collaboration based on today’s technologies, not those created decades ago.

Google is exploring new territory. Microsoft is trying to defend what it has.

Of course, Google is also entering new territory with the OS initiative. Microsoft has decades of experience and established relationships with businesses and hardware manufacturers. The Microsoft ecosystem is strong and entrenched. Success is far from assured for Google.

Writing an OS for a netbook is a much simpler task than writing an OS that works on a broad range of PCs in numerous complex organizational settings.

Other commentary:

• Redefining the OS:

  “The new OS will focus entirely on the web: “The software architecture is simple - Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform.” What that means is this. The browser is the platform. The browser is the UI.”





• Google Blog:

  “Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.

  Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.”

Web Squared

I prefer to stay away from pop-culture resources as a source of guidance for where we are heading in terms of technology, and more broadly, society.

I listened to a podcast (TWiT, episode #197) and was inundated with buzzwords (apparently it’s still cool to say “Google Juice”) and random nonsense.

I was surprised by the seriousness of the topic (future of university) and the shallowness of the approach (at one point Don Tapscott offered the nonsensical statement we often hear at conferences: universities haven’t changed in 100 years!).

With this mindset, I approached Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle’s article Web Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On rather skeptically. I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s an important article that captures a small glimpse of the future. Yes, there is a bit of silliness in the article (the web as a baby, slowly growing up with each innovation) and the conclusion is completely unsatisfactory (the web is now the world and the world needs our help - an interesting hypothesis, but one that requires an entire article, not a throw away piece at the end of this article).

Nevertheless, it’s a strong article. It captures trends, extrapolates to implications, and offers insight into where we are heading. Lots of great examples...

Social and Networked Learning

In June, through LearnTrends, we hosted an event on Social and Networked Learning.

The recordings are now available (thanks to Scott Skibell of SkillCasting).

Topics include: What is social networked learning? ROI, organizational challenges, and moving beyond networks.

Does Anyone Still Use Second Life?

Does anyone still use Second Life? The answer, according to a recent report (which is a bit of a pain to get, but free), is a strong yes.

Not only is Second Life thriving, its citizens spend more hours each week in world than those in other multi-player online games. The hype around SL has been more subdued in educational conferences this year.

Of course, with all new technology, it first needs to go through an insane hype cycle, be declared dead by a prominent theorist / writer, fade into obscurity (i.e. acknowledged by those who hyped it in the first place), and then quietly emerge as a viable tool.

Disruption and Scientific Publishing

Clayton Christensen is well known for his work on disruption. His discussion of disruption at a systems level - i.e. how a new technology is able to develop on the edges of an industry and eventually reshape an entire field - is simple and intuitive.

But last year, he co-authored wrote an aggravating little book called disrupting class (a lovely text of how great education could be if we could just get rid of the human element). Since then, my general fondness for Christensen has plummeted. I’ve been looking for critiques of his theory since, but haven’t found anything particularly useful. I’ll keep looking.

Micheal Nielsen applies Christensen’s work to a variety of fields: construction, news, and scientific publishing. It’s a thought provoking piece, but I don’t share the author’s vision for journals in the future (i.e. technology innovation organizations).

Scientific (or more broadly, academic) publishing is a surprising industry: it takes work generally paid for by the public (through government research initiatives), relies on peers within the field to review research and articles (done without fee), and then sells it back to the government (through university access to journals). If ever there was a field built on sand, this is it.

Changing scientific publishing is only partially about technological disruption. It’s mainly about common sense. If it comes from the public purse, it belongs to the public.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on July 10th, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the author

To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits:
Google Chrome Operating System - CNET
Web Squared - Dan Farber
Social and Networked Learning - badboo
Does Anyone Still Use Second Life? - Make:
Disruption and Scientific Publishing - piai

Photo credit: Tyler Olson

As a matter of fact, so-called "brandjackers" continue to exploit the confusion over the financial markets that began in the last quarter of 2008 to prey upon vulnerable consumers, and such online scams continue to be quite sophisticated and difficult to detect for the unsuspecting Internet user.

Not only.

"Brandjackers" are also taking advantage of newer avenues like blogs and social media sites to find their victims, while utilizing a broad range of techniques ranging from spam to cybersquatting and phishing. Statistical information confirms indeed a profound increase - 36 percent in one quarter - in the level of phishing attacks as well as in cybersquatting cases, where fraudsters register domains that combine fake financial institutions and brands at the rate of more than one domain per day.

This MarkMonitor report on Brandjacking has been created by tracking millions of emails and billions of web pages, including pages featuring online advertising, eCommerce, auctions and social networking sites analyzed during the September 2008 April 2009 study period.

MarkMonitor, who has kindly granted MasterNewMedia with the permission to republish this unique analysis, is the company who has created the Brandjacking Index, which measures how pervasive brand-based attacks are and how to identify key online threats to strong brands.

Here all the details:

Brandjacking Index - Financial Brand Abuse

by MarkMonitor

In this edition of the Brandjacking Index, we look at brand abuse trends in the financial vertical, focusing on four major financial services brands and four terms associated with the financial crisis - foreclosure, mortgage, refinance and unemployed.

As the economy has worsened over the past months, we found that con artists have exploited consumers’ financial fears and uncertainties, and have rushed in to hijack well-known brands for their own profit.

There has been a profound increase - 36 percent in one quarter - in the level of phishing attacks as well as in cybersquatting.

We identified more than 7,300 questionable domains that were registered using the four financial brand names. Fraudsters registered domains that combined the financial brands that we studied with its four focus terms at the rate of more than one domain per day between September 2008 and the end of our study period in April 2009.

Scams continue to be complex and sophisticated to lure in unsuspecting victims; in fact, cybersquatted domains registered since September 2008 were 50 percent more likely to use the focus terms than domains registered earlier.

MarkMonitor created the Brandjacking Index to measure how pervasive brand-based attacks are and to identify the potential threats to the world’s strongest brands.

As in our previous reports, this edition of the Brandjacking Index tracked millions of emails and billions of web pages, including pages featuring online advertising, eCommerce, auctions and social networking.

Summary Financial Brand Findings

As our economy has worsened, brand abusers have sharpened their focus and created schemes to lure consumers into their trap for mortgage refinancing and phony get-rich-quick investments. Sadly, the only ones who are getting richer are the fraudsters. They are using a variety of simple yet creative techniques to misrepresent themselves.

Here are two examples of websites: the first shows you a phony mortgage refinancing site that exploits paid search listings to bring in traffic and a second site for a spam scam based on another bank brand.

Banking brand abuse site promoted with paid search

Suspicious landing page promoted by spam and taking advantage of a major bank brand

Then there is this page that has so much brand abuse going on, it could be one of those find-the-hidden-picture Sunday supplement puzzles.

The fraudster who created this page exploits trusted TV and newspaper media brands and has the page designed to look like an online newspaper, all with the goal of obtaining personal identity information. To add insult to injury, the page uses encryption technology to give it a greater air of legitimacy!

While many of the suspicious domains that we discovered tried to extract personal information, very few went so far as this site in offering encryption; 52 percent of the domains that we identified did not encrypt any data.

Site exploiting multiple brands, including media and financial brands, takes advantage of “bailouts”

Finally, there are new efforts that make use of social media to lure victims.

Here is "Jessica’s Money Blog" which on the surface looks like thousands of other legitimate blogs that participate in conversations about managing finances or running a small business. But "Jessica" is selling a "home business kit" that promises steep rewards in exchange for a small amount of effort and some personal information, including a credit card number.

Questionable site using social media

These are just a few of the sites that we have discovered that may be exploiting the financial crisis.

A summary of results is shown below for each of the four banking brands studied:

Number of abuses observed by brand and type of abuse

Of the almost 7,400 suspicious domains identified, 16 percent were registered since September 2008 and 17 percent of the total used the focus terms - foreclosure, mortgage, refinance and unemployed - in the site content.

When we examined the more-recently registered domains, the team found evidence of opportunistic abuse.

• Domains registered since September 2008 were 50 percent more likely to use the focus group terms.
• Fraudsters registered domains that combined the financial brands that we studied with our focus terms at the rate of more than one domain per day between September 2008, and the end of our study period in April 2009.

In general, many of the suspicious domains are newly created, as you can see from our analysis of the domain registration dates in the table below:

In terms of geography, 49 percent of the abuse domains were hosted in the United States, while six percent were hosted in the United Kingdom, four percent in Germany, and Australia and Canada tied at three percent each.

Phishing attacks against the financial brands that we studied saw a big jump, with 10,000 attacks in Q1 2009, which was a 36 percent increase compared to Q1 2008.

Phishing attacks on four banking brands by quarter

General Phishing Trends

Interestingly, when we observe phishing trends overall, we found that phish attacks against the payment services category grew more quickly than the financial services category in Q1 2009, with a 40 percent growth from the previous quarter and 285 percent annual growth.

Payment services trend upward while financial services spiked in Q3 2008

Phishers continue to target different industries, shifting their focus from quarter to quarter as the chart below demonstrates. They sharpen their focus using standard direct marketing methods - identifying the most profitable segments and then continuously harvesting new targets within those segments.

Changes in targets for phishing by industry segments

A total of 502 organizations were phished in Q1 2009, which is a 14 percent increase compared to the last quarter of 2008, and a 24 percent annual increase - a large jump from previous observations.

We also saw 93 organizations being new targets in the quarter; the vast majority of them were financial services-related businesses. This could signal that phishers will be redoubling their efforts against this segment going forward.

Number of organizations phished by quarter

We also observed how phishers are adjusting their techniques targeting the retail segment.

• On the left is an older example of a phished retail site, using the oft-used ploy of masquerading as a trusted site, with familiar logos and credentials.
• On the right is a more recent example of a phish against the same brand. In this case, a phony user survey purportedly offered by a trusted retailer promises a $90 credit for its completion, once your credit card number has been given.

Evolving marketing techniques for phishers

And as legitimate sites beef up their defenses, the phishers are following right behind by using similar techniques to make their efforts seem more plausible.

The first example below is a site that uses the ‘captcha’ method of typing a series of numbers to thwart subscription bots, and the second example is a Brazilian site that puts up a warning like a real credit card site.

While both of these sites are aimed at the payment services vertical category, neither is legitimate.

Payment services fraudulent sites

And while the US continues to widen its lead in the hosting of phishing sites, with a ten percent increase from last quarter, Canadian hosted sites have moved up to be the second most popular host country.

Social Media Phish Targets

We continue to see that cybercriminals are targeting new communication platforms like micro-blogging, virtual worlds and social networks.

Phishers are creating phishing sites to collect passwords, conduct identity theft schemes and carry out online advertising scams.

Phish attacks targeting social networks have grown 241 percent from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009 and have grown 1,500-fold since we first started tracking the category in 2007.

Growth of phish attacks against social networks

Phishers have also expanded their reach to web infrastructure sites such as domain registrars and hosting services. Economic reasons for exploiting these sites include redirecting traffic, holding a domain portfolio ransom or hosting further phish scams or pirated content.

Registrars

Hosting

Phishing attacks targeting web infrastructure

Conclusions

Brand abuse is increasing, but more important than the sheer volume is the increased sophistication and the opportunistic nature of brandjackers, who are quick to take advantage of current events and popular concerns.

Brandjackers continue to exploit the confusion over the financial markets that began in the last quarter of 2008 to prey upon vulnerable consumers.

Wielding a wide variety of techniques from more established abuses like spam, cybersquatting and phishing, brandjackers are also taking advantage of newer avenues like blogs and social media sites to find their victims.

Originally written by MarkMonitor for MarkMonitor and first published on March 1st, 2009 as "MarkMonitor Brandjacking Index: Spring 2009".

About the author

MarkMonitor is a company specialized in enterprise brand protection that offers solutions and services that safeguard brands, reputation and revenue from online risks.

The Brandjacking Index is produced by MarkMonitor and explores numerical trends and statistics about online brand abuse. It contains anecdotal information about the business and technical methods used by brandjackers, along with analysis and discussion of the business and social implications of brand abuse.

The cornerstone of the Brandjacking Index is the volume of public data analyzed by MarkMonitor using the company’s proprietary algorithms.

MarkMonitor searches approximately 134 million public domain records, billions of web pages and spam emails and up to 16 million unique suspect phishing emails on a daily basis in order to identify brand abuse. These records come from various public domain data sources, along with Internet feeds from leading international Internet Service Providers (ISPs), email providers and other alliance partners. None of this data contains proprietary customer information.

Photo credits:
Brandjacking Index - Financial Brand Abuse - Robert Mizerek
Summary Financial Brand Findings - pertusinas
General Phishing Trends - Vladimir Popovic
Social Media Phish Targets - mipan edited by Daniele Bazzano

© 2009 MarkMonitor Inc. All rights reserved. MarkMonitor® is a registered trademark of MarkMonitor Inc. All other trademarks included herein are the property of their respective owners.