Roll & Rock:

John Elefante: E-Junkie?

2009-11-11T19:38:51-06:00

Is John Elefante an e-junkie?

No...but he has a great new album out!

You can check it out at his new website here!

I don't claim to be a great web designer but Jamie Rowe and I had fun building it!

And...one of the coolest new tools for musicians is E-junkie!

So what is E-junkie?

E-junkie is an e-commerce solution that lets musicians sell their music digitally...direct from their own websites.

Yes...you can have your own little iTunes...right on your website or blog!

And you keep all the money!

It's a great tool and easy to use.

Check out E-junkie here!

Guardian uses it and now so does John Elefante.

I've become quite handy with e-junkie so I am happy to answer any questions about it or assist anyone with implementation.

...Just holla!

Music Sales: Piques & Valleys

2009-10-04T10:39:00-05:00

An interesting post from Seth Godin, who quotes a NY Times article by Charles Blow.

In a nutshell:

"A study last year conducted by members of PRS for Music, a nonprofit royalty collection agency, found that of the 13 million songs for sale online last year, 10 million never got a single buyer and 80 percent of all revenue came from about 52,000 songs. That’s less than one percent of the songs."

Another interesting chart in the NY Times piece showed the peak years and following decline slopes for various types of recorded music mediums:

What fascinates me the most is that digital music is not a fixed hard-goods medium…unlike the LP’s, 8-tracks, Cassettes, and CD’s of days past. (Yes…CD’s are antiquated technology!)

Digital is like the wind…it goes where it will.

I’m no pundit but it remains a fascinating quandary to me to see where modern music sales will go in the next couple years…

“Restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.” -Proverbs 27:16

All I really know is that I sure like my iPhone!

Concert Vault: Too Cool!

2009-09-23T22:23:13-05:00

Thanks to my buddy Doug Van Pelt (HM Magazine)...who sent this link to a great vintage live performance of one of my favorite bands...King's X!

Concert Vault is awesome!

I amazed at how many great live recordings I could listen to...for free!

High School: She's Gone

2009-08-13T13:40:26-05:00

This vid is posted in honor of my upcoming 30th high school reunion.

Let it be noted that I once had hair like Daryl's...

Virtual Mayhem: Pet Rocks

2009-07-31T15:35:46-05:00

We just launched our pet system on Franktown Rocks today. Since our characters are animals...their pets are...you guessed it...Rocks!

The kids have been rushing to the site to buy the Rockheadz!

They are even lining up just to get in the store!

In reality, our servers are buckling under the load of all this increased web traffic.

But it's a good problem to have!

Oscar Mayer: Wiener?

2009-07-18T01:02:07-05:00

Noted without comment...although a song does come to mind.

Video Friend: Plug-In

2009-07-16T15:25:31-05:00

Here is a new music video from director Taylor Gahm. I like his work and he is a good friend...so peep it!

The band is thelastplaceyoulook from Houston. I always thought they were a cool band.

Game Cheats: Franktown Farts

2009-07-08T15:54:05-05:00

I am not a programmer.

The online game world is rife with hacks, cheats and bugs that let one play an online game in a way other than the programmers intended.

Although, sometimes programmers have to flex their sense of humor.

We discovered a unique bug today on Franktown Rocks.

If you sign up for a free account...you have the ability to enter a special code.

Well, it turns out that a certain code activates a free premium membership to the site.

The secret code?...franktownfarts.

All I can say is..."That stinks!"

Hopefully the kids who are sneaking in for free memberships will not think the site stinks!

I wonder if Club Penguin or Poptropica have the same problems?

Programming humor at its best!

Blog Slack: Face Time

2009-06-30T13:34:55-05:00

It's true.

I have neglected this blog.

I have become a Facebook fool!

I love being able to take a pic with my iPhone and fire it up to Facebook right away!

Facebook's iPhone interface is better than Typepad's. (Typepad is this blog service) - Sorry Typepad!

Hit me up on Facebook...I'll be your friend!

I love my iPhone...even though I don't have the newest one!

The camera is not that great but I have been able to take some great pics...which are all over my Facebook profile.

My secret sauce is a small iPhone app called Camera Bag.

It takes rudimentary iPhone photos and puts some extra spizzle on them ala old vintage cameras.

My 3 favorite filters are Helga, Lolo and Magazine.

CameraBag costs $1.99 and is a must-have if you own an iPhone!

Some recent vacation pics of the CameraBag filters in action:

Plain iPhone pic

CameraBag Filter: Helga

Plain iPhone pic

CameraBag Filter: Magazine

Plain iPhone pic

CameraBag Filter: Lolo

Things go better with CameraBag!

La Casa De Guardian: Te Veo En El Cielo

2009-05-16T18:27:31-05:00

Mo betta Spanish!

Newspapers: Print To Fit?

2009-05-12T09:55:09-05:00

I too used to love newspapers...but they are indeed slowly going the way of the buffalo. I deemed this worthy of sharing:

Guide to U.S. Newspapers

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they should run the country.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country
but don't really understand the Washington Post. They do, however like
the smog statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running
the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn't have to
leave L.A. to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's
running the country, and don't really care as long as they can get a
seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running
the country either, as long as they do something really scandalous,
preferably while intoxicated.

9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there
is a country, or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they
oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the
leaders are handicapped minority, feministic atheist dwarfs, who also
happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy as long as they
are democrats.

10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another
country, but need the baseball scores.

Guardian Launch: Tax House

2009-04-16T09:40:24-05:00

We launched House Of Guardian on U.S. Tax Day...April 15th!

Not a bad first day! 49 countries!

FYI - It's free to come to our house. Always Tax-free!

So, cruise by the House and say "Hola!"

www.houseofguardian.com

Military Timing: R.I.P.

2009-03-29T13:17:00-05:00

In the military…things tend to take a little bit longer.

My Dad finally got to join his fellow veterans at Riverside National Cemetery.

R.I.P. Pop!

Guardian: H.O.G. Wild

2009-03-25T18:00:39-05:00

Gettin' ready!

We've been having fun with this!

Yeah...I know...I'm a hypocrite. I'm back in the music business again.

But...the one advantage of being an over-the-hill band is that we are not waiting for a record company to save us.

Anything that happens with this will be the result of old-school D.I.Y.

Elbow grease, baby!

We are also planning to do a version in Spanish: La Casa De Guardian

Odelay!

www.houseofguardian.com

http://twitter.com/houseofguardian

Godsmack: Upside Head

2009-03-19T15:35:14-05:00

Some interesting music news these last few days:

Guy Hands resigned as head of Terra Firma due to the whole EMI Music mess.

I love EMI and I enjoyed my time there immensely.

But they have really screwed the pooch. In fact, the labels are more screwed now than ever before.

I gloat not. Huge opportunities remain in the music business!

But the record business…as it once existed…is breathing it’s dying gasp.

…Kind of like that remnant that you have to keep flushing before it finally goes down.

What boggles the mind is…how in the world Warner Music head Edgar Bronfman Jr. managed to pull down a $3 million dollar bonus amidst Warner’s dreary 2008!

Good thing it wasn't bailout cash or that old lady in the background would be clubbing EBJ with her umbrella!

Warner lost $56 million and their stock plunged 25%?

…And the board gives Dude a bonus?

Fools and their money are indeed soon parted.