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Erin Hill: MMT Featured Artist

by David D. on October 23, 2011

Pretty white girl purveys psychedelic pop with a sci-fi edge

We first featured Erin Hill as one of the “Five things that make the Fab Faux fabulous“.  In addition to her work with the Fab Faux, Erin has sung and played with Kanye, moby, Enya, a-ha, Cyndi Lauper, Randy Newman, and a long list of other artists.

Erin bills herself as a “singer, harpist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, screenwriter, actor and science fiction geek.”  She has appeared on and off Broadway, in films, and on television as the pretty white girl from “Chappelle’s Show”.

A woman of diverse interests and many talents, she is bringing them all together with a Kickstarter project to make sci-fi music video album.  The video album will accompany her next CD release: “Girl Inventor”, which is available for pre-order by making a pledge on her project page before November 16, 2011.

You can find her featured artist page here, or by by selecting her name from the Featured Artists dropdown list at the top of each page.  Be sure to hover over the photo and click the targets for more stuff, including “Giant Mushrooms” the first sci-fi video from the new album.

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Esperanza Spalding Premieres MMT Featured Artist Pages

by David D. on October 12, 2011

Chamber Music Society Tour Coming to PA, NJ and DC October 14, 15 & 16

Esperanza Spalding may have just been ranked #24 in the Root 100, but we are proud to present her as the first performer with a featured artist page on My Music Thing.  We have been planning to provide a more permanent connection to the artists featured on MMT, but wanted to do something more than a list of names on a blogroll.

Enter ThingLink (ThingLink Oy for all you Finlanders out there), winner of 2011 Fammy for best url: thinglink.com.  CMO Neil Vineberg (known as Shambhu to world music fans) presented ThingLink at the Future of Music Policy Summit in DC last week.

ThingLink allows you to connect images to anywhere on the internet and provides tools to help embed and share the final product.  For musicians, there are currently rich media tags that support SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, and a few other services.  Hover over the image below to see how this works.

How this works

Here at MMT, we plan to have a page dedicated to each of the artists we feature in our posts.  The page for Esperanza Spalding is here.  Things may change as new capabilities are added, but in our first outing, you can see that links to posts on My Music Thing are top right, a link crediting the photographer is bottom left, and links for purchasing music and merchandise are at the bottom right. Links for Facebook, streaming music, and other pages are seeded throughout the image.

Since we feel that you should purchase your music directly from the artist, we will first provide a link to their online store or bandcamp site when available.  If you prefer to get your music from iTunes or Amazon, using the links on the featured artist pages will help support MMT through our affiliate relationships.  And because we care about audio quality, HD audio tracks will also be included when we can find them.

Esperanza was chosen to premiere the featured artist pages because she is fantastically talented, quite photogenic, coming to DC this Sunday, and the subject of some amazing shots by the gifted photographer Sandrine Lee.  So click around her page, let us know what you think in the comments below, and pick up some tickets to see her live.

Date City Venue

Tour: Chamber Music Society
10/14/11 Philadelphia, PA Merriam Theatre
10/15/11 Union, NJ Kean University – Wilkins Theatre
10/16/11 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
Tour: Joe Lovano Us Five
10/20/11 Baton Rouge, LA Manship Theatre
10/21/11 Kansas City, MO Gem Theatre
10/22/11 Hopkins, MN Hopkins Center for the Arts
10/23/11 Wichita, KS Abode Venue
10/25/11 South Milwaukee, WI South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center
10/26/11 Interlochen, MI Corson Auditorium
10/27/11 Grand Rapids, MI St. Cecilia Music Center
10/28/11 New York City, NY Zankel Hall
10/29/11 Toronto Koerner Hall
10/30/11 Quebec, QC Palais Montcalm

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Best of Future of Music Policy Summit 2011: The Fammys

by David D. on October 5, 2011

 Here they are: the 2nd annual Fammy Awards.  Sadly, My IT Thing only allowed for one day of attendance at this year’s event, so most day 2 winners will have to receive their awards at a separate ceremony.  (Make your nominations in the comments below.)  Let the pageantry begin!

Best Reporting:  Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune – the real deal.

Best URL: thinglink.com (say it three times fast!) – check it out, more on this later.

Best Slideshow: Phil McCarty, TrackTrack.it – you had to be there.

Best Public Shaming: Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick): “Why is that guy sleeping in the front row? WTF!” (Begins pelting offender with guitar picks.)

Best Panelist: Erin McKeown – always keeps things interesting.

Best Sponsor: Gibson – for hosting the party at the fabulous Gibson Guitar Showroom in DC.

Best-loved Presenter: J Sider, CEO and Founder, RootMusic – even though the technology couldn’t keep up with his presentation, the musicians in the crowd lavished their love on the man who helps them navigate the hell that is Facebook Pages.

Best-loved Public Servant: Michael J. Copps, outgoing FCC Commissioner – “a true advocate for the public interest”.

Best stand-up comedy: Rep. Bob Goodlatte – prepared comedy was much better than prepared speech.

Best Tweets (Day 1): Jodie Griffen @jgriffenpk - that was some damn good tweeting.

Best Tweets (Day 2): Martyn Griffen @GriffenPK – it’s a conspiracy!

Best Return Engagement: Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge – smart, sharp, and to the point.

Updated: Best iPhone Video: MMT and Margot MacDonald for “To the Ground“:

Photos of all the showcase artists can be seen here.  Many of our winners are pictured in the slideshow below.  No flash?  No problem.  iPad users can see the photos here.

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Listen Local First hosts DC Local Music Day – October 5th

by David D. on September 27, 2011

Listen Local > Shop Local > Buy Local

RSVP on FacebookDC’s first-ever local music day will be held next week! On October 5, 2011 local businesses across the city will stream a playlist featuring the albums of 8 local artists all day.  The artists range from the acoustic folk of René Moffatt to the electronic Reggae/Soul/Funk of See-I, with lots of good stuff in between.

Listen Local First (LLF) and the artists will support and promote the local businesses while they in turn promote the musicians. If your business wants to participate, get more details from the LLF site.

The Listen Local First launch party will be held at the Dunes Wednesday night, with performances by three of the featured artists.  Click the banner to RSVP via Facebook, or click below to sample the artists.


René Moffatt See-I

Listen Local First DC (LLF) is a local music initiative devoted to building awareness and creating opportunities for LOCAL MUSICIANS and venues in order to raise the profile of DC’s local music scene.  LLF was born out of a collaborative effort with Think Local First DC and seeks to partner with local musicians, local arts organizations, local venues and locally owned businesses to create performance opportunities and new avenues for local music exploration. LLF’s mission is not genre specific.  In order to promote the true cultural depth of DC’s music scene LLF would seek to equally represent all local genres, from folk to funk.

~ Listen Local First, Mission Statement

Listen Local First Launch Party

Date: Wednesday Oct 5th

Location: The Dunes (1402 Meridian Pl NW)

Time: 8pm – 11pm

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Future of Music Policy Summit – 2011

by David D. on August 28, 2011

The Future of Music Coalition will be holding the 2011 Future of Music Policy Summit at Georgetown University in Washington, DC from October 3-4, 2011.  The summit brings together musicians, managers, policymakers, media representatives, academics, technologists, industry professionals and more for spirited dialogue about the future of music along with cocktail parties, screenings, live music, and more.

To get a taste of what goes on at these gatherings, check out our coverage of the 2010 Summit.  There are a limited number of scholarships available for working musicians — you can apply here.

The 2011 Future of Music Policy Summit will examine the issues that matter most to today’s musicians, songwriters and composers — from the hyper-local to the truly global. What do artists require to make an impact in a content-rich, capital-challenged environment? How does policy impact musicians’ ability to thrive, not just today, but tomorrow? Is the industry finally ready to play nice with technology?…Can all stakeholders work constructively towards a music marketplace that rewards both artists and fans?

Future of Music Coalition is a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure a diverse musical culture where artists flourish, are compensated fairly for their work, and where fans can find the music they want.

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Margot MacDonald & the Audio Conundrum

by David D. on July 31, 2011

Sign up at IndieGoGo to support Margot MacDonald’s next release

Margot MacDonald / photo: Franceso SapienzaMargot MacDonald has been performing for over 10 years and released three CDs, but none of her recordings to date truly reflect the breadth and depth of her talents. She aims to fix that with her next release, and wants your help to make it happen through fan funding at the IndieGoGo site.

Margot’s live shows incorporate looped vocals, teacups, bottles, and other percussion and guitars to create hypnotic soundscapes for her vocal explorations. Her voice and songwriting have matured considerably over the past two years, and the time is right for a proper debut.

In return for your largess, Margot is offering various perks starting with a pre-release download of the new album for $10 (Busking). Those who can afford more serious patronage can sign up as a Song Sponsor or Executive Producer. YouTube performances of the album material are available for preview at IndieGoGo, along with complete descriptions of the available packages.

photo: Francesco Sapienza

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Bieber vs. Esperanza: Smackdown on the Orange Line

February 23, 2011

If you’ve been watching the Grammys lately, you know they are now now dominated by dance routines, light shows, acrobatic stunts and other stagecraft.  Occasionally, some music slips in. For many, Esperanza Spalding’s best new artist Grammy last Sunday was a rare win for music, musicians, and musicianship.  But not everyone was pleased, as Justin [...]

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Atomic Tom: The Moment

February 19, 2011
Thumbnail image for Atomic Tom: The Moment

Among the influences listed on Atomic Tom’s Facebook page are The Cure, The Smiths, and New Order (twice).  The UK Pop/Rock sound of the 80′s comes through on many of the cuts from their first full-length record, The Moment. Recorded not in a home studio, but in an apartment studio in Brooklyn, The Moment explores [...]

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15 Must-Have iPad Music Apps for the Professional Musician

January 13, 2011

This guest post is by Chris Taylor (@miccontrolchris) of MicControl, a music blogging community that bridges the gap between musicians and music bloggers. The holiday season is officially over and one gadget that seemed to be on top of the world’s holiday list was the iPad. Rightfully so; after the operating system update in November [...]

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OK Go and the New Rock-Star Paradigm

December 19, 2010

What is success in the new music industry? Damian Kulash, lead singer and guitarist for OK Go, spoke about the music industry at the Future of Music Summit in Washington, DC in October 2010.  Saying that the old model (selling records) was broken, he stressed that the new model “doesn’t have to be just one [...]

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