Seeqpod

The latest web music tool I've found is pretty clever. Seeqpod automatically searches websites and allows you to create playlists by searching playable tracks and building playlists. Then you can embed the player in your own site with one simple click. And of course it's free. I'll be playing with this for a while in future posts, so enjoy. It's a great way to discover some new music. Once again, the Internet trumps FM radio. Click on the link at the bottom of the panel to set up an account and build your own playlists. Submitted for your review:

This track by the The National is from the Virginia EP, a disc included with a DVD documentary of the band. I really liked The Boxer, and saw them at Lollapalooza this summer, but everything is starting to sound a bit similar.


Shambala is one of my favorite 70's tunes. How can you not love Three Dog Night?


As I've mentioned before, I used to be an an obsessive XTC fan. Greenman is a great track from one their last studio albums, Apple Venus Vol. 1. An amazing pop band, but without touring, their exposure to a wider audience was doomed.

I threw in a Dinosaur Jr. tune because I love that J Mascis guitar sound.

Finally, the Secret Machines. I was big on these guys a few years ago, but sadly this is the only track on their latest release that I found tolerable.



SeeqPod - Playable Search

Internet Radio on life support

Do you enjoy the links to quality internet music sites on this site, and countless others that strive to bring musical diversity and innovative ways to share and discover music? It may be ending this weekend....From SaveNetRadio:

Time and options are running out for Internet Radio. Late Wednesday, the court DENIED the emergency stay sought on behalf of webcasters, millions of listeners and the artists and music they support.

UNLESS CONGRESS ACTS BY JULY 15th, the new ruinous royalty rates will be going into effect on Sunday, threatening the future of all Internet Radio.

We are appealing to the millions of Internet Radio listeners out there, the webcasters they support and the artists and labels we treasure to rise up and make your voices heard again before this vibrant medium is silenced. Even if you have already called, we need you to call again.

The situation is grave, but that makes the message all the simpler and more serious.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES RIGHT AWAY and urge them to support the Internet Equality Act. Go to http://www.capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/alert_9738601.html to find the phone numbers of your Senators and Representative.

If they've already co-sponsored, thank them and tell them to fight to bring the bill to the floor for an immediate vote. If the line is busy, please call back. Call until you know your voice has been heard.

Your voices are what have gotten us this far - Congress has listened. Now, they are our only hope.

We are outmatched by lobbying power and money but we are NOT outmatched by facts and passion and the power of our voices.

Again, please go to http://www.capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/alert_9738601.html to find the necessary phone numbers and make the call today.

New Music Monday - The Porch Rockers

Something a little different today. In the waning days of free internet music I've found another site that promotes new and undiscovered bands. Sonific is a site that allows users to easily create streaming audio widgets from their large catalog of relatively obscure bands. From their site:

Sonific was founded in July 2005, with the mission of making large catalogs of great music available for many types of audio-visual use on the Internet, both for private / non-commercial or promotional purposes, as well as for professional (B2B) users, and licensed products and services.

Sonific's SongSpots™ service is our first B2C release, reflecting our philosophy that offering better tools for music discovery and providing new, free platforms of exposure is what will really sell music, going forward, and that the viral nature of the Internet is perfectly suited to help get the word out for new and established artists and their music.

Well said.

In scouring the site for something enjoyable to share, I found the Porch Rockers, from Boston, cooking up a mix of acoustic blues, country and roots music that immediately clicked with me. Going deeper into the music on their site, I hear everything from Muddy Waters to John Prine.

Once upon a time, radio was a free avenue to great new music. Not the Top 40 AM stations that repeated the same playlist incessantly, but the edgy FM stations that played the music I wanted to hear, even if I didn’t realize it at that moment. Today, most FM stations are wastelands of programmed repetition. In order to find new artists and true alternatives, one must seek out the occasional hourly program on Sunday nights, or seek out low-wattage college radio. This is precisely why I’ve embraced streaming audio through alternative FM stations nationwide, and the various playlist web-sites like Finetune and Pandora that I’ve previously discussed. Virtually all of the music I’ve purchased last year by new artists (or at least new to me) I’ve discovered in this manner. Now, the Copyright Royalty Board is proposing drastic modifications to the royalty system for streaming audio that threatens to extinguish the entire premise of free on-line radio. This pisses me off. I’m willing to endure a few ads on the music sites I frequent, but according to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, the income from these ads will barely scratch the surface.

Basically, the old royalty system provides for a percentage of a station’s revenue, in the area of 12 percent. The revised system accounts for a per song, per listener fee, which would translate to at least a ten-fold increase in royalties for most stations. For Pandora, which operates by allowing users to create their own ‘channels’, the system mandates a $500 minimum per channel, resulting in a $3.5 billion fee, based on it’s 6 million users. Obviously this would render Pandora not economically viable.

Although many in the industry believe that a compromise will be reached, it seems likely that big changes are near. For more information, I urge you to check Bill Goldsmith's blog at Radio Paradise.

Pandora's Box

By now you've probably noticed the list of songs and three on-line radio stations in my sidebar, courtesy of Pandora. When I learned of this site, my first thought was "Why didn't I think of this?" Based on the Music Genome Project, Pandora allows you to create your own on-line 'stations' by planting seeds (songs of your choice). Pandora then builds your station by finding songs with similar genes; musical structures, tonalities, etc. Brilliant. You can make your playlists as concise or as open as you want, add more seeds, and tell Pandora not to play certain songs. It's a great way to find new music, something FM radio rarely does anymore. Needless to say, I'm having some fun with this. Oh, and it's free, if you can tolerate a little advertising on your screen.

The original seeds of Wild Mercury Radio were The Late Greats by Wilco and Off The Record by My Morning Jacket. The playlist had evolved and turned me on to some great stuff from the 90's that eluded me, and some great new music, like Portastatic's I Wanna Know Girls, which I've purchased.

Dinosaur Stomp is designed to be the epitome of heavy 70's arena rock. Pandora keeps trying to turn it into the Rory Gallagher station, but I'm slowly carving into shape.

Blues Before Sunrise is all about the blues, based on Albert King and the North Mississippi Allstars.

Check out my stations, then have some fun making your own. Radio as it should be.