FratBeats.com

One of my favorite websites to listen to music is fratbeats.com. Its direct competitor, FratMusic.com, has a similar strategy, but like Pandora, only allows users to skip a certain amount of songs. What I like about fratbeats.com is that it has different playlists on the side. There is one called "party" another called "homework" and another called "country". It combines well known songs (remixed) with less well known songs. This is a good way for emerging artists to be discovered. With Fratmusic.com, users cannot see which song is next, which can be frustrating. With fratbeats.com, the whole playlist is shown, so the user can skip around. Users also have the option to make their own playlists by using the application playlist.com

Tweeting while performing surgery?

http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11598.aspx

Houston’s Memorial Hermann Medical Center tweeted while performing brain surgery. This is not the first time it has occurred, but has received a lot of media attention. Surgeons are removing a benign tumor from a 21-year-old. The tumor was discovered about a month ago after the patient experienced a seizure. Live tweeting occurred for four hours, and included tweets such as"patient being wheeled into the room..", "Dr. Kim now lifts this portion of the skull exposing the membrane underneath.."

I don't know how I feel about this- What if something goes wrong?

PureVolume

Pure Volume is a website for the discovery and promotion of new music and emerging artists. Each artist has a profile that has basic info, updates, photos, shows and music for streaming. Musicians can make their songs downloadable for free. Fans can also create profiles so they can comment on the artist's page and share songs they enjoy. In the past, the site has been a sponsor of The Vans Warped Tour, Rockstar Energy Drink's Taste of Chaos and the Take Action Tour.

Spotify's influence in the music industry

A feature of Spotify is the ability to see what the top 100 songs are throughout the world. It is labeled “Top Lists”. For example, if a user wanted to know what the 100 most popular songs in Spain were, it would just filter the results. This can be done for several countries including the United States, Spain, the UK, and Sweden. The option to see the top 100 songs worldwide is available as well. Spotify has revolutionized the way that music is shared between friends, by combining digital music with social media platforms, such as Facebook. Users can set up playlists as well and share them, or edit them together. This allows users to interact and engage with one another. Artists also have the capability to share their favorite playlists. For example, I have a playlist from Gossip Girl Season 4, as well as a playlist that the producer Avicii made with his own tracks as well as some from some of his favorite artists. The playlist link can be dragged directly into an email, so the recipient can see the playlist that way. Additionally, Spotify offers a Radio. This is similar to its competitor, Pandora Radio. The user can choose an artist, and the Radio will make a playlist that is similar to that artist. This will help emerging artists spread awareness, and hopefully gain more popularity. A differentiating factor between Spotify and Pandora, however, is that users are able to have unlimited skipped tracks. Pandora limits the amount of skips per hour. An application has been created so users can listen to Spotify on the go.

TweetJamz

 

TweetJamz is a website that is used for emerging artists. On this website, emerging artists can upload their latest tracks and albums. After this is done, they have the ability to share their tracks on Facebook and Twitter, which further connects them to social media. This is great for emerging artists who want to share their music with others. They can simply just upload their music.

iHeartRadio

"The New iHeartRadio brings you a best-in-class customizable digital listening experience that combines the best of both worlds to deliver everything you want in one free, fully-integrated service: More than 850 of the nation's most popular live broadcast and digital-only radio stations from 150 U.S. cities, plus user-created Custom Stations." (iheart.com) iHeartRadio includes stations such as comedy, rock, sports, american top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, and stations created by popular artists such as Christina Aguilera. Users also have the opportunity to create their own station based on favorite songs, artists, or genres. A differentiating factor to this website (and now mobile application) is that it is completely commercial free. Pandora is not.

How Music is Purchased and Advertised Today

Today music is advertised differently. In 2003, when iTunes began selling songs and albums in the MP3 format, users were able to create an iTunes account and preview tracks that way. Users are now also allowed to purchase single tracks, when before, unless a song was offered as a single, the customer would have to purchase the entire album. iTunes gave the customer the power to control what songs were purchased, and saved them money. Songs were first sold for $0.99, and were more recently increased to $1.29 per song. CDs used to sell for around $20 in the store, but with the increased level of competition, CDs can be purchased in the store for less. iTunes has iMixes, where customers can create playlists and share with others. Customers can then rate the playlists and comment. This serves as a form of social media. iTunes also has the top 200 current songs that allow customers to browse and preview and purchase the songs. Customers can filter results by genre as well to find songs that match their music preferences. iTunes also  showcases  new releases of albums and tracks. Additionally, iTunes keeps a record of what purchases were mad and gives the customer recommendations for other music based on past purchases. In addition to iTunes, other websites offer music for a small fee, such as amazon.com. Customers can preview tracks, read customer reviews, and purchase and download tracks and albums. This serves as a direct competitor for iTunes.

 This increased competition with digital music has forced some companies to go out of business.. f.y.e. acquired Strawberries and Coconuts in 2001. However, f.y.e closed one hundred stores in 2009. This shows the shift from tangible CDs to the digital age in music. Concerts are still used as a way for bands and artists to promote themselves. Music festivals are becoming increasingly popular, with Bamboozle and Country Fest being well attended by many. Bamboozle has a mixture of well known, popular artists and bands with emerging artists. In order to play at the Bamboozle, artists and bands must compete in smaller concerts. This increases the quality of the bands and artists playing at the festival. CDs are offered for purchase at concerts, as well as other merchandise like t-shirts and posters. T-Shirts especially are ways that customers are promoting the band or artist, with little cost to manufacture from the band’s perspective.  Although television is sometimes used as an advertising medium, there has been a shift to digital marketing. Television advertising is mostly used to highlight certain soundtracks that were played in television shows. The more popular way to advertise music is through social media.