SECTIONZ ELECTRONIC MUSIC COMMUNITY

We Are Afloat and Have a Plan

eman8ions — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 06:53:11 CST

Hey everybody.

So donations in hand are $600 right now which covers the next 3 months + renewing our email system and it looks like we may have donation commitments beyond that.

This is great and a huge burden off my families finance, but especially because sz gets to live for now.

Here's how we are moving forward right now.

In a couple weeks we are going to launch a project on Kickstarter.com asking for about $15,000 in funding and explaining the community etc. If you have something to say about that please be sure to see and understand how that kickstarter.com site works... first! It would be free money, but the key is that if our project doesn't reach the goal in the time-frame set, we don't get anything. If we do, we do.

The money would go to having a new, updated and feature rich - with the expected sz features - site built and may get us into the new features that will help sz make some money - the idea being that it needs to become self-sustaining. The biggest idea for monetizing is building a *licensing interface*

The licensing interface would allow media types to license your music & audio for games, film, tv, background music etc... within your parameters of course... so there would be controls for you to control that stuff.

Anyhow... just wanted to give an update of where we're at right now so those of you thinking of ideas to help can do so down the road we're headed instead of the myriad ideas & worries that my last post leaves it at ;)

Thanks zed heads!,
Shannon

Sorry Guys, I Can't Keep SectionZ Going Without Major Investment

eman8ions — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:29:56 CST

Dear members, it's with a heavy heart that I have to say I cannot afford to continue maintaining SectionZ.com. I don't usually feel noticeably depressed, but unfortunately today... yeah I do.

Many of you have already seen my zhouts & facebook posts which I'll summarize by pasting here.

* zhouts *

03:15 :: eman8ions :: it sucks as it wouldn't take much to turn it all around... but I don't have it... thats all. sz takes over 10% of my families income right now and it's not fair to my wife & kid... or myself actually :P

03:11 :: eman8ions :: I might have to shut down this site. being the only person spending time n money on this while being extremely busy and broke is just not going to work out much longer... if 30 people donated $5 mo sz would survive till a premium membership site is made

* facebook posts at http://www.facebook.com/SectionZ *

"I might have to shut down sectionz.com. being the only person spending time & money on this (>10% of my families income) is just not working out anymore.. if 30 people donated $5 mo sz would survive till a premium membership site is made. It could be pretty damn easy... but not if it's only me with the passion to provide the resources for sz's survival."

"we had a volunteer dev start 2.5 years ago, excited to launch a new site that would include premium memberships so the community could at least support itself, not even profit... so the $150-$170/month was worth spending... now I've been spending that for 2.5 years (and been through 2 volunteer devs) and there's no new site in sight and the money is dried up. Just saying so you guys understand what's up."

____________

A few have asked where to donate. You can donate from this page http://www.sectionz.com/store.asp - currently it charges $6.45 shipping for some reason... just factor in in until I can fix that please.

Regarding donations - yes they would be helpful for sure but know that I don't want you guys throwing your money into a pit. we need a viable long term solution.

some details about the costs

* SZ site is .ASP code and MS SQL - hosting is expensive because of this. $90/mo just for the windows hosting with Amazon Web Services.

* Storage is with Amazon S3 and not bad at about $30 for the just over 200GB of sz data/files ($0.14/GB)

* Bandwidth/Data Transfer is about $25 these slow months (summer) for around 160GB going out ($0.15/GB)

* Email services cost about $140 year with "authsmtp" and include large quantity allowance so that we can send newsletters and is up for renewal by mid July. Just got the email notice today about it.

* Busier month have seen up to about $30 more worth of Bandwidth costs.

So this means that currently without $150-170/month in operating costs SectionZ will be no longer. Sorry I just don't have the money anymore. We need help... major help!

Suggestions & Solutions

* The best suggestion I have received is to create a project seeking funding on Kickstarter and this would have to be done asap. I would need help making a great presentation video.

* I want to move the site to Drupal, a freely available open source CMS in the interest of a low cost and sustainable site (rather than some custom coded site). Drupal is rich with features & modules/plugins that could provide all the cool features of a great sectionz site and more including premium membership levels, super cool music players, social sharing, sz points system & more.

IN fact I've already built a chunk of the core functionality in Drupal and primarily need help migrating the data and getting Drupal to recognize it (a little more complex than it sounds).

I am literally out of money... and have been for some time. Unfortunately this means that if SZ is to survive there is no time to waste. We are fully dependant on outside support now... and I'm hoping for the best.

SectionZ.com Peer Review Music Community. 1999 - ____?

A Music Industry Game Changing Product?

eman8ions — Thu, 9 Jun 2011 03:42:31 CST

Check this out and lets discuss the implications for artists & labels.

A Music Industry Game Changing Product

Does it render recording labels irrelevant or maybe force them to become solely promotional assistance companies?

Does it lead to the end of album sales if everyone's music library, pirated or not, is available for download from the cloud to everyone else with a subscription? Why would people buy albums anymore?

Should music from the cloud be considered public performance? If not how can songwriters get paid? Would it give PRO's (Performing Rights Organizations) total control and power over artists getting paid for their recordings - taking away that responsibility from the label?

Does it give Apple too much control over the music industry?

Let's discuss!! What do you think as an artist?

[ edit to add some details from a major online distributor to digital stores including iTunes ]

iTunes in the Cloud

"With iCloud, the music you purchase in iTunes appears automatically on all your devices. You can also download your past iTunes purchases. Where you want, when you want."

If you have multiple iOS devices this really takes the hassle out of syncing your music. You simply buy it once on your Mac, PC or iOS device and it automatically appears on your other devices. Apple are now also allowing you to register and sync to 10 devices to your account (up from 5). There is no extra charge to the customer and no extra royalties to the labels for this. You could do this manually before, Apple have just automated the process. Pretty neat we think!

iTunes Match

We are still digesting exactly how this will work and how exactly you will get paid but the below is Apple's detailed description regarding iTunes Match :

If you want all the benefits of iTunes in the Cloud for music you haven't purchased from iTunes, iTunes Match is the perfect solution. It lets you store your entire collection, including music you've ripped from CDs or purchased somewhere other than iTunes. For just $24.99 a year.

Here's how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can't match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. And all the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality - even if your original copy was of lower quality. [ eman8ions note: huh? the quality won't be better ... only the encoding level higher. So your low quality tracks will sound the same but be encoded as 256... right?)

So that's iTunes Match. The benefits we can all agree are pretty great and the annual price makes this service a steal. We have some points that need clarifying from Apple regarding royalty payments, how they prevent matching of illegal content and pricing for different territories so we will follow up on this post with the finer details along with an official launch date as soon as we know.

Pro-Audio Sound + Free? Yep!

eman8ions — Sat, 28 May 2011 00:34:47 CST

It's no secret that musicians, like many types of artists, keep a tight hold on their purse strings - they aren't known for spending money - and for good reason - most don't make a hell of a lot of it and are primarily hobbiests working relatively low paid jobs. This is of course summed up in the timeless stereotype "starving artist". If something of value (related to making music) can be acquired without parting with our hard-earned cash we want to know about it.

It used to be that a musician's "gear lust" required a crapload of cash and took up a big chunk of space whether in a home or studio, but these days with the studio in the home, the gear fitting in the space of 1 computer and "gear lust" fueled by the ease of acquiring pirated software it's a game anybody can play.

Now I don't mean to get all self-righteous on your asses... so I won't, but I recently removed a lot of shit that I didn't own from my computer/studio and in the process of rebuilding (satisfying) my gear list (lust) came across some wonderful high quality, very useful and very FREE gear. Free, as in Beer.

Here are my current top 5 favorites that I'm using in my studio right now (plugs or plug developers).

- TAL (Togo Audio Line) - Phat synths & fx. Windows and Mac gear! Check out the delays on your beats. WOW - http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products

- Variety of Sound - Warm up your sound with all kinds of high quality cool channel strips & tape saturation plugs + many other fx with very nice GUI too (no synths). Check out the Tips & Tricks. All come with PDF manuals. Handy Dandy! - http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/vst-effects/

- Camel Audio - Makers of some of the best gear out there today, including Alchemy, have this shiny new free sample player that has the Alchemy engine under the hood & loads your wavs, aiff or sfz samples and comes with a 1GB sample library (NOICE!) with a wide variety of very rich and useful sounds - http://www.camelaudio.com/AlchemyPlayer.php - and I believe you can get it by going here http://www.camelaudio.com/SFZ-Player-Editor-Definition-Samples.php or by creating an account on the site.

And in the old but still cool category (which I can relate to more and more each year :P)

- Devine Machine - Minion - Has four filters that can be animated/modulated by up to twelve LFOs. Need I say more? Instantly makes boring sounds interesting. Literally has balls. (it's no longer available but found here http://www.alexanderblu.com/AlexanderBlu/Download/downloadEffects_2.htm or here (click windows icon near top of page) http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Minion&id=503

- MDA Plugins - (Windows & Mac) A classic pack of 30 highly usable fx. I've used mda subsynth on almost everything I have ever published to phatten the bass. Round Panner (3D panner), Leslie (rotary speaker sim) and Combo (Amp sim) are hot. The dub-delay is super fun too. http://mda.smartelectronix.com/

Honorable mentions (that I also use a lot)

- Tweakbench - (instruments & fx) - http://www.tweakbench.com/
- Synth1 - (synth modelled on the Clavia Nord Lead 2) http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/#down
- Frohmage (filter) & Symptohm (synth) - http://www.ohmforce.com/UseFreeSoftware.do?action=freeware

For high quality free sounds head to our sz+loopmasters sample shop, check out the sample packs and download free samples of any or all of them ;)

Got any favorite free plugins you're using?

Love Automatic - NIGHTMARE RMX Winners!

eman8ions — Sun, 1 May 2011 21:23:24 CST

Hey everybody, I'm super busy and gonna keep this short & sweet. Ok less sweet for some than others, but for whom it's super duper sweet .... as follows:

The winners of the NIGHTMARE remix contest as chosen by the band Love Automatic are:

* Tyler Crichton Remix - http://www.sectionz.com/detail.asp?rType=mp3&SZID=33717

* Orion2010 (Tushar Gandhe) Remix - http://www.sectionz.com/detail.asp?rType=mp3&SZID=33853

* Dave Scorp Remix - http://www.sectionz.com/detail.asp?rType=mp3&SZID=33944

The band is pleased to announce that these winning remixes will be joined on the release by fast rising producer from the Anjunadeep label family which we hope to announce in the coming week.

Winners will be published on the upcoming Nightmare Remixes EP which will be available from Beatport, iTunes and all the regular online shops.

Winners - I need your wavs! Email me: eman8ions@ this domain

ElectronicMusicUnderground Tuesdays @8pm Central Time

ReverendGecko — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:43:40 CST

TylerCrichton is ElectronicMusicUnderground.

EMU is a weekly live broadcast in electronic dance music and live sets from local Djs

- Tune in Tuesdays @8pm Central Time (UTC - 5 hours) �

Your computer will thank you!

Hosted on:

SECTIONZ LIVE STREAMING
HTTP://WWW.SECTIONZ.COM/LIVE.ASP

AND ON

HTTP://WWW.USTREAM.TV/CHANNEL/EMU1

Electronic Sunshine Contest Winners!!

eman8ions — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 03:08:51 CST

Hey SectionZ members, sponsors & guests!!

Winners in the Electronic Sunshine contest are currently being announced on the SectionZ Records facebook page

We're announcing 1 winner a day for 8 days.

I've also decided due to the many excellent entries that we will do up a 2 album compilation and simply call it something like "SectionZ.com Chillout Room Vol 1" 2 disc release. (they should each fit on a 70 min CD... i think)

There are 22 tracks selected for the compilation and just before the 8th & final winner of software + compilation is announced I'll announce the 14 other tracks I'd like on the compilation. Everything about the compilation is subject to artist agreement with sectionz releasing their music. This is about getting exposure and credibility, not money, even from my perspective (credibility for sectionz and our members) and whatever proceeds come will go 100% to maintaining & improving this community. I'll get a simple contract done up for y'all. Any issues, email me.

WINNERS: PLEASE email me at eman8ions@sectionz.com with your full name & address (must be real info!!) as it will save me the trouble of contacting you each individually through sz.
I will need your unmastered wav file with at least 3db of headroom. If you're not sure what that means, speak up here and you'll be assisted.

Stay tuned to the SectionZ Records facebook page for a winner announced each day & further info on the double release.

Cheers :)
Shannon

Should SZ Have a Premium Membership Level?

eman8ions — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:52:35 CST

Hey there sectionz members. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how we can help sectionz to break even. I'm not looking to make money, just to not be running in the red. Maybe you can help with some ideas? Here are some notes I have at the top of my head.

There could be the option of a premium membership level. The money would help support the community, covering bandwidth costs and such, allowing me to spend my money promoting & growing sz and our artists instead of the $200/mo I spend just to maintain it right now (very good scalable bandwidth & hosting with amazon)

Premium Memberships could include:

- unlimited downloading without reviewing
- unlimited uploads (if uploads are limited - there has to be some kind of cap right?)
- allows non-logged in visitors to download your music instead of only stream it.
- 15% off mastering & vocal tuning services (we already have the resources to provide these services)
- have the option to upload .wav files (new sz backend would convert to .mp3, flac etc)
- immediate licensing option (users can license your track & download the .wav or mp3 right from your track page)

Those are just a few ideas.

We need to get realistic about costs and how sectionz can be monetized gracefully - that is without insulting or greatly hampering the 'standard level members' - I don't want to take away any current functions of the site, except maybe limiting uploads so people can't use sz as unlimited free hosting & streaming without giving back either by meeting participation thresholds or helping out financially.

Hit me with your best ideas!! Or even just rambling on the topic, brainstorming.

Thanks,
Shannon

Should SZ Mandate a Review Ratio?

eman8ions — Tue, 7 Dec 2010 18:17:49 CST

Hey fella's! Just gonna bring a question from Recoil from the zhouts over here for some discussion.

"Recoil :: just a thought. could we get a mandatory review option after every 5 downloads for each member. i think it would encourage more reviews. after all, that's why we're here innit!"

What do you think and why?

eman8ions notes:
Some of you might remember that sectionz used to mandate activities beneficial to the community such as reviewing or uploading new music, by limiting downloads to 10 unless you reviewed or uploaded (at the time there was no streaming option). That's how it was when I joined in 2002 and the reviewing was at it's strongest from around that time to around 2004 or 5 when that system which site founder Josh called "enforze" was dropped. Reviewing dropped dramatically very quickly.

Electronic Sunshine Contest Talk

eman8ions — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:24:51 CST

Hey SectionZ members, guests & contest sponsors!

This post is for discussion, questions and articulation of guidelines for the Electronic Sunshine compilation competition running on sz from Nov.17,2010 to Jan.17,2011

I'll be posting some links to tracks as examples of what we have in mind for *generally* how we want the album to sound. Keep in mind that we want a *variety* of styles and not just one downtempo or chill-out style so do not be disappointed if your entries don't sound like some of these examples.

Cheers,
szadmins

SectionZ wants Tweeters! Got what it takes?

eman8ions — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 14:55:19 CST

SectionZ is looking to involve loyal and active members with administrative tasks wherever possible and at the moment I'm interested to know who would like to volunteer to help keep the SZ buzz alive via our twitter account szmusic

The proper candidates for this important position will be representing the interests of the community and expected to tweet regularly about the goings on in and around our community. This could include tweeting about TOTW, news, contests, new uploads, new members, great tracks no matter if new or old on the site, tweeting about particular reviews... there is pretty much unlimited possibilities for what can be posted.

Chosen candidates would receive the login for our twitter account, so there is some trust involved. The only thing I can imagine might threaten removal from this volunteer position, other than offensive language and such, is if our tweeter(s) promoted their own personal agenda via the sz account.

So I'm not really interested in who WANTS to do this, moreso in who believes that they have the time, energy & the dedication to the long term success of the SectionZ community to do this.

We will be selecting up to 4 tweeters so the responsibility will be shared.

Please indicate your interest below and if you have experience with Twitter or not (not required).

Thanks!
Shannon
SectionZ Administrator

Mistigris (djprobe) track on New Ferry Corsten Release!

eman8ions — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 18:02:28 CST

I don't know about you guys but I just love to hear about sectionz.com members accomplishments and this one is no exception!

Our long time member djprobe has been releasing on hardcore labels for a while now but has moved into progressive house territory as "Mistigris" and snapped right up by Ferry Corsten's label. Not bad... check out his placement in the upcoming compilation mix �Once Upon A Night, Vol.2� mixed by Ferry Corsten! Oh, only immediately following BT remixed by Chicane!!!! Congrats Mikey :D

CD1

01. Dimension - Once A Day (Original Mix)
02. Yuri Kane feat. Melissa Loretta - Daylight (Original Mix)
03. Amurai - Angel Cry (Original Mix)
04. Low End Theory - Changing Souls (Extended Mix)
05. Ferry Corsten pres. Pulse - Festival (Original Mix)
06. San feat. Polished - Lose It All (Ibiza Sunrise Mix)
07. BT feat Rob Dickinson- Always (Chicane Mix)
08. Mistigris - Sunshine (Original Mix)
09. Peter Santos - Mystic (Original Mix)
10. Audien - Mind Over Matter (Original Mix)
11. Danjo & Andrew Shartner - It Is Written (Andrew Shartner Mix)
12. M.O.O.N. Pro - To The Moon (Original Mix)
13. Niko Pavlidis - Long Roads (Original Mix)

CD2

01. Amurai feat. Rough Duchess - Infinity (Original Mix)
02. Thomas Datt pres. D.A.T.T. - Eden�s Light (Original Mix)
03. DJ Ange - Halicarnassus (Progressive Mix)
04. Mike Saint-Jules - Luna (Original Mix)
05. Rafa�l Frost - We Were (Original Mix)
06. Pulser pres. Luminal - Sunstorm (Original Mix)
07. Daniel Wanrooy - Endless Moments (Original Mix)
08. Tempo Giusto & Ima�gin - The Whip (Original Mix)
09. Klauss Goulart - Maximum (Original Mix)
10. Urry Fefelove & Abramasi - Stay On The Way (Original Mix)
11. ReOrder - Angels (Original Mix)
12. Breakfast - The Horizon (Juventa Remix)
13. Cataracta - Prime Meridian (Original Mix)

�Once Upon A Night, Vol.2� will be released on October 1st, 2010.

for more info on the release click here

JFM's Illusion Gets Props in Computer Music Magazine!

eman8ions — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 08:39:26 CST

Congratulations are due for sectionz's own beloved JFM (Jay FM) for getting his sweet smooth house tracks published AGAIN in an international music mag.

First it was Future Music basking in the light of AIRBORN, now it's Computer Music gushing over the warm progressive house track Illusion.

Here's the track Illusion on sectionz

As of this writing, Illusion is in the studio again getting a fresh sweet female vocal treatment in preparation for a special EP release :D

Here's the article :)

Camryn Remix Contests - Questions and Discussion

eman8ions — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 14:36:25 CST

This post is for questions and discussion about the Camryn remix contests running until Sept 15, 2010. ** EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 15 **

Files & rules available on the contest page: http://www.sectionz.com/contests/47-48_camryn-remix-contests.asp

Have fun!

Old Dogs - ASCAP's Laughable attack on Creative Commons

eman8ions — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:57:11 CST

Dear SZ members & guests,

I'm sharing an email received from the folks at CreativeCommons.org about a laughable attack by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) against CC and more.

As you probably know, the vast majority of music on SectionZ.com is CC licensed by the member artist and it is a valid form of copyright which has been upheld in courts and is used by commercial artists when releasing free tracks or albums as part of their marketing campaigns.

****************
Dear Creative Commons supporter,

Last week, ASCAP sent a fundraising letter to its members calling on them to fight "opponents" such as Creative Commons, falsely claiming that we work to undermine copyright.*
Creative Commons licenses are copyright licenses � plain and simple. Period. CC licenses are legal tools that creators can use to offer certain usage rights to the public, while reserving other rights. Without copyright, these tools don't work. Artists and record labels that want to make their music available to the public for certain uses, like noncommercial sharing or remixing, should consider using CC licenses. Artists and labels that want to reserve all of their copyright rights should absolutely not use CC licenses.

Many musicians, including acts like Nine Inch Nails, Beastie Boys, Youssou N'Dour, Tone, David Byrne, Radiohead, Yunyu, Kristin Hersh, and Snoop Dogg, have used Creative Commons licenses to share with the public. These musicians aren't looking to stop making money from their music. In fact, many of the artists who use CC licenses are also members of collecting societies, including ASCAP. That's how we first heard about this smear campaign � many musicians that support Creative Commons received the email and forwarded it to us. Some of them even included a donation to Creative Commons.

If you are similarly angered by ASCAP's deceptive tactics, I'm hoping that you can help us by donating to Creative Commons � and sending a message � at this critical time. We don't have lobbyists on the payroll, but with your support we can continue working hard on behalf of creators and consumers alike.

Sincerely,

Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons

* For background on ASCAP's anti-Creative Commons fundraising campaign, see Boing Boing, Techdirt, ZeroPaid, and Wired.

Artist Advertisement Pilot Program

drummondj — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:30:58 CST

Hi Everyone,

To help promote artists on SectionZ we are going to replace the ad-sense in the sidebar with artist advertisements.

To get things started we would like 10 artists to submit a 250x250 image or flash advert as part of a free pilot program.

The ad must be 250x250 pixels, must not contain any explicit or objectionable material and must not contain graphical elements that flicker or flash more than 1 time per second. The ad must link to your SectionZ user page or one of your SectionZ track pages.

So, to get involved please email me, drummondj@sectionz.com, with your 250x250 creative and the URL of the SectionZ page you want to link to.

Regards,

John.

Wak-A-Tap Contest Winners Announced!

eman8ions — Sat, 22 May 2010 12:30:39 CST

Hello SectionZ members, partners and guests. This is the moment many have been waiting for - so I'll get right to it and paste the contest results as they showed up in my mailbox yesterday from Tap Me Games.

Wak-a-Tap Song Winners

Thank you for all the great submissions! It is really great to have an opportunity to include SectionZ into our passion for great video games. Tap Me was overwhelmed at the amount of submissions and the quality. We spent a lot of time deciding which songs we would love to include in Wak-a-Tap.

The following songs were chosen to be included:

draconum - Clouds

Slowintrepid - Hornz

djcapalay - Electro hop

alenal - Pida - Birthday

draconum - Flux

ionic - Lennon's Seriously Dancing (Sample Free)

jfm - I L L u s i o N - House

jfm - R E N E G A D E

brainworks - My Hands Are Highways

Orion2010 - Equinox(Tapped Out Mix!!)

Dean Philips - You make me Crazy w/o vocals

ionic - Full Assault

Meta Program - Idontwritehouse

Orion2010 - Whack-a-tap(Orion's Unfinished Business)

Recoil - Attack Of The Killer Wak-A-Tappers

ronnieflex - Seriously?

The two winners of $50 itunes gift cards are:

Slowintrepid - Hornz

djcapalay - Electro hop

The winner of the iPad is:

draconum - Clouds

All the artists included in this list must sign a common license allowing Tap Me, Inc to use their song in our upcoming video game Wak-a-Tap.

The prizes will be shipped June 28, 2010.

****************

Top 3 winners - email eman8ions@sectionz.com and copy contest@tapme.info with your **full name and shipping address** so that your prizes can be shipped.

All winners - email eman8ions@sectionz.com and copy contest@tapme.info with your email address to be contacted about the license agreement.

Your personal information will only be used to fulfill the delivery of these prizes, that is all.

Thank you all for entering!

Wak-a-Tap Contest! Win an iPad & and an Audience!

eman8ions — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:03:58 CST

**UPDATE April 26: checked with Tap Me & "Vocals are definitely a no"

Greetings SZ members, partners & guests :D

I'm delighted to announce that SZ has teamed up with Tap Me Inc, to bring our members a very cool contest - here are the rules & guidelines as provided by Tap Me Inc.

Tap Me, Inc. CEO Joshua Hernandez (founder of SectionZ.com) is looking for 12-16 of the hottest house/dance tracks to be used in the upcoming iPhone/iPad game �Wak-a-Tap�. �Wak-a-Tap� is a rhythm-based game that is set to release in late June of 2010.

All of the final chosen tracks will be used in the game, and the producer who submits the best track (decided by Tap Me, Inc) will win an Apple iPad. Two runner-ups will win a $50 iTunes gift card. This is a great opportunity for you to win cool prizes and expose your music to over 100,000 people.

Any questions please contact contest@tapme.info

Rules and Regulations

* All files submitted must be in mp3 format, with EXACT BPM�s
* Songs must be no longer than 5 minutes, no shorter than 3 minutes
* A maximum of 3 songs may be submitted per artist
* Winners are expected to provide a .wav file of the track
* Submit any questions you may have to contest@tapme.info
* DEADLINE: SUNDAY MAY 16, 2010
* Winners will be announced May 21, 2010
* Artists whose music is used in �Wak-a-Tap� grant Tap Me Inc. a non-exclusive license to use their track(s) for the sole purpose of in-game use in �Wak-a-Tap�. Any further use by Tap Me Inc. would require a new understanding.

How to Enter

Simply upload your track to your sectionz profile selecting the Wak-a-Tap Contest on the upload form.
If you are entering a track already uploaded you may edit the details for that track to select the contest.
*Make sure you have a functional email address in your sz profile or you will miss out if contacted after the winners selections are made.

Beta site is ready to test

drummondj — Mon, 5 Apr 2010 23:10:22 CST

Hi Everyone,

The new beta site is ready to test.

Visit beta.sectionz.com now, to give it a go. Click on the feeback tag on the left of the page to ask a question, share an idea, report a problem or give praise!

Important Note: Any changes you make to your account on beta.sectionz.com will not affect your account on www.sectionz.com. When the beta is over, any changes you made will be lost.

Enjoy!

John.

Business Strategies for Musicians

eman8ions — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:12:09 CST

Hi SectionZ members & guests! This is an authorized reposting of an article by David Kusek the Vice President at Berklee College of Music responsible for managing the online music school, Berkleemusic.com.

I am posting it because I believe that the sectionz.com network is and will become the 'team' he is encouraging musicians to develop. Behind the scene's that is exactly what we are working to make sectionz.com - the ultimate resource for helping musician's to achieve to whatever height in the industry that they can and/or want to.

Here's the article originally posted at http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/2010/03/planning-in-the-digital-age/
***********************

Do you want to create a successful career in music? How you think about your future is critically important. Always be as positive as you possibly can be. Think about what success means to you and how you can get there. Define your goals and be realistic in what you are trying to achieve. Get others to join in your vision and support your efforts.

Be honest and dependable in your pursuits. The music business is a very small world, and it is likely that you will form a network of people that will help you at various times along your path. Treat them with respect and take responsibility for your actions, and you will find a lot of support when you need it. Often times things you setup at one point in your career, will come around again and be available to cross your path. Be sure you that the encounter will be something you expect and not an unpleasant surprise.

Make a 360 degree deal with yourself and find ways to generate revenue from your writing, performing, brand, name, activities, and interests that suit you and what you stand for. You do not want to sell your soul to another entity that will control your career options and minimize the revenue opportunities that you will have down the road.

Build a team around yourself. It is impossible for one person to do everything that needs to get done. In the case of an artist or writer, you need to write, create, record, and produce art. You need someone else to promote your work and manage the business side of things. You are forming a musician business around yourself, and eventually you will need help. The team you need will depend on what stage of your career you are at.

Eventually, as you begin to take off, you will need some combination of a manager, booking agent, producer, publisher, lawyer, publicist, agent, marketing person, online specialists, technologist, and others to help you. What does your mix look like? Imagine an organizational chart in your head, with you as the CEO. Who do you need on your team?

When trying to recruit people to your team, sell your vision and art, and get them to join in with you. It is a good reality check to try recruiting people to your dream to see if it resonates with them. Learn to understand, listen to, and ultimately motivate others by communicating clearly. Build a team around you.

This is an excerpt from the online lessons available at MPN. Learn more at Music Power Network