Magnatune blog

What’s It Worth To You? John Buckman to speak at Bandwidth Conference

“Music. Technology. Cocktails. Who could ask for more?” Bandwidth, the Music Technology Conference will be held in San Francisco on August 18 and 19, 2006.

John Buckman, founder and CEO of Magnatune, will be speaking on the panel “What’s It Worth To You?” on Saturday, August 19. The roundtable will address pricing, revenue and how the pie gets sliced up. Since Magnatune’s flexible pricing model is unique, it should be interesting to see where the discussion goes.

The Bandwidth Conference will cover issues of interest to the music and technology communities, with a particular focus on the evolving musical experience. Topics focus on marketing, fan behavior, trends and future forecasts, and an examination of the ways people discover, purchase, interact with, and are exposed to music.

More about Bandwidth at http://www.bandwidthconference.com

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Podcast Update

Recently, one of our favorite podcasters Dan Shaurette, talked with John Buckman for his show
“Is This Thing On”
Hear the interview at http://danshaurette.com

New Podcasters using Magnatune Music:

Penn State University Berks podcasts for students on the university campus. The podcasts will include news, event listings for the campus, and interviews with visiting performers.
http://www.bk.psu.edu

The Rails Podcast features interviews with people who are doing cool stuff with the Ruby language and the Rails framework
http://podcast.rubyonrails.com

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Teens Making TV use Magnatune Music

Every summer non-profit media organization the East Bay Media Center offers a media camp for young video makers, ranging from 13 to17 years old.

EBMC is a wonderful community-based organization in Berkeley, California that provides media services and training by its Emmy and Peabody Award winning producers EBMC is also the home of northern California's largest independent video and film festival, the annual Berkeley Film & Video Festival.

At the media camp, the next-generation of producers/directors are given free rein to create short films. During the intensive course they learn the basics of production and come up with some really creative projects.

Using Magnatune music this year, campers produced a prototype gaming show called “GameBrain.” The show highlighted new game technologies and included a comparison of leaders in the industry and what lies ahead.

"Magnatune music worked perfectly for the projects” reported EBMC President, Paul Blake “The songs used in the films brought a whole new level of professionalism to the teen's work.”

Magnatune electronica artists Belief Systems http://www.magnatune.com/artists/belief_systems and heavy modern rockers Spinecar http://www.magnatune.com/artists/spinecar were used for several of the projects.

We are delighted that these young media makers are including Magnatune music in their projects. More info about EBMC programs can be found at http://www.eastbaymediacenter.com

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Magntune Artist Justin Bianco featured in Portuguese Poetry Audiobook

While Magnatune licenses its catalog for many different kinds of projects, audiobooks represent a natural pairing of words & music. Portuguese poet Rui Diniz recently contacted us about using the work of Magnatune artist Justin Bianco for his new audiobook project “Corte d'El-Rei.”

Offered in both print & audiobook versions, the work is a collection of poetry and two tales exploring illusion and reality. For the audiobook Luiz Gaspar, a famous professional voice in Portugal heard in many commercials and documentaries read the text.

Justin Bianco's album "Forge" was perfect for the readings” said author Diniz “and I must congratulate you for all your great innovative work in the music business. I have bought some wonderful music from Magnatune at a great price that one finds nowhere else.”

“Corte d'El-Rei” is self-published and will be released shortly through online distribution in Portugal. The hardcover book will include a MP3 CD.

Jusin Bianco's albums can be found at http://www.magnatune.com/artists/bianco

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posted by Teresa Malango, Magnatune 8/18/2006

Magnatune and Pump Audio Announce Music Licensing Partnership

Magnatune and Pump Audio announced a new partnership this week to offer Magnatune artists through the music licensing service.

Pump Audio represents the independent music from around the world, for licensing to advertising, television, film and web clients. Customers have included MTV Networks, NBC Studios, HBO, New Line Cinema and advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

Founded in 2001, Pump Audio http://www.pumpaudio.com established itself as soundtrack provider of digital music for TV and advertising producers. Producers cans use PumpBox, a music search and delivery system, as well as the recently launched MyPump Soundtrack service on the Web.

The partnership expands the reach of Magnatune’s music licensing business. Magnatune artists will also gain exposure and new fans for their music. Both Magnatune and Pump Audio allow artists to license their music into productions without giving up any ownership.

For more information about the partnership, the press release can be found at http://magnatune.com/info/press/releases/pump

posted by Teresa Malango, Magnatune 8/11/06

Guest blogger: Teresa Malango, Magnatune [email protected]

John Buckman to speak at Creative Commons Salon on August 9, 2006

John Buckman, founder and CEO of Magnatune (and owner of this blog) will appear as guest speaker at a Creative Commons Salon next Wednesday, August 9, 2006 at Shine in San Francisco

The Creative Commons Salon is a monthly get-together focused on conversation, networking, and presentations from people or groups who are developing projects that relate to open content and tools. It’s a great place to meet creative, enthusiastic folks who are putting into practice exciting new ways of doing business.

 Magnatune is big supporter of the Creative Commons organization.  We share many of the same goals and really enjoy working with them.  For his presentation, John will discuss how the Magnatune uses Creative Commons licensing as a part of its business model.

The Salon is open to the public and is held from 6-9pm at Shine in San Francisco. More info about the event hosted by Creative Commons can be found at:

<http://upcoming.org/event/91068

http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/6005

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Upper Playground Films premieres “The Run Up” with Magnatune music

Upper Playground http://www.upperplayground.com is an innovative art gallery/fashion design/film house based in San Francisco. Their film division, Upper Playground Films, premiered the second installment of artist documentary “The Run Up” in association with their FIFTY4SF Gallery http://www.fifty24sf.com

"The Run Up" http://www.upperplayground.com/06/film.html is the second DVD in a series that highlights the work and personalities of a 26 fine, graffiti and street artists, designers and photographers who are influencing the contemporary art scene.

The project includes the music from the Bach Cello Suites by Magnatune classical artist Vito Paternoster http://www.magnatune.com/artists/paternoster

Upper Playground call themselves “lifestyle pioneers” and they are really defining a new way of bringing together many artistic disciplines—it’s exciting work. Check out the Upper Playground website at http://www.upperplayground.com

So much to look at and play with! 

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Where is your Favorite Band playing this Weekend?

Podbop http://podbop.org recently re-launched with Magnatune music. We met the Podbop folks at SXSW and were impressed with their idea.

 This very cool service lets users search to find out where and when bands are playing in any location, worldwide. It’s a terrific way to look for what’s going on in your hometown or while traveling.

Podbop matches legitimate MP3s with upcoming shows.  Users can stream city event MP3s or subscribe to them as a podcast feed.  The service is community driven and anyone can list events, add MP3s, or edit existing content for free.

Podbop was started in February 2006 by Taylor McKnight and Daniel Westermann-Clark.

For more info about Podbop and to find out where bands are playing visit http://www.podbop.org

<posted by Teresa Malango, Magnatune 8/4/06