Saturday, March 27, 2010

Suburban Ring-a-Ling: The Local Miami Music Scene and Sirens&Sealions


As I promise, I'm going to focus this post the one and only - Sirens and Sealions.

For starters you can check out their blog/vblog - The Murky Water Chronicles!.

Consisting of Johanna Viscaino, Nick Deluca, Chantal Meza, Gerry Felipe, Matt Gajewski, and Daniel Fernandez - these fellow Miamians and musicians are make quite an impact in the local music scene. They make use of several Miami venues and are currently playing in FIU's radio event Eat.Sleep.Folk.. Networking through sites like Facebook and MySpace has helped them greatly in popularizing their name in Miami. Keeping a blog also helps with connecting with their fans while keeping them update on any news concerning the band.

I currently had the pleasure of interviewing my friend, Siren and Sealion's wonderful lead singer - Johanna Viscaino about the band and their experiences with the Miami music scene.

Who are you!
Who are we? Ummm sea creatures? Umm no we are music lovers. That's what brings us all together, half of us are amateurs the other students of music or the arts. As a the initiator I describe this group as an amazing bunch of talented individuals that I was lucky enough to have as friends and supporters of this musical vision.

How did the band start?
Chanti and I literally were joking in her room saying how we could totally be in a band. This was after looking up the line up one night at STUDIO A when it was still bumping. We weren't pleased with the sounds that were being offered and really by accident created a product together that people really enjoy. Our members have changed through out the past year and a half. I compare us to Broken Social Scene in that sense, there are so many musically inclined supporters of the sound now that we are still able to play shows without steady members.

Where do you guys play?
We started playing at Churchills of course. It was meant to be a one time thing. At Raffa and Rainers "open mic night" CAN YOU ROCK A LIL SOFTER. We immediately got invited to play other shows. That we were not expecting. We were soon playing with the local acts we DID love and admire. Raffa was definitely our first supporter just as she has been for many local artists. She really believes in the scene.

How do you find local venues to play in?
As for venues- a lot of it is word of mouth. I remember within the first few months asking Chanti "should it be this easy for a new band to have this many invites to shows?" and shes like "I don't think so bands usually have to sell their sound and try to book their own gigs. As the one in charge of booking I haven't had to put much effort for our shows. Everything from the hipster infused WHITE ROOM to Churchills to Ps14 to the BORSCHT FILM FELSTIVAL @ the Gusman. It's all people inviting us cause they like what they've heard. We've also infiltrated the Wynwood area with a private show at the new CAFEINA LOUNGE and will be performing Bayfront park in a couple of weeks. So even major projects like working directly with the city has been word of mouth.

How has social networking sites been an impact for your band?
Social networking is all I depend on. It helps me get to know the listeners. I'm on Facebook and MySpace 3 hours out of everyday. Chatting with people, receiving email to play at places, meeting other local artists wed like to work with. Promoting shows in an eco friendly way =)


How’s the environment like for local musicians like here in Miami?

The environment in Miami is harsh man. I mean that is why we are so surprised towards the reaction we get. We have developed a decent following after a year and a half or so. People truly enjoy it and make sure to mark their calendars. The way I see it. Our audience are people like us that were tired of what Miami usually has to offer and are looking for something a bit different. No punk or metal or hip hop or reggaetone (I don't even know how to spell it).

What are your future plans for the band?
Some of us wouldn't mind catching a break and investing a couple of years into this big time. a couple of us have other musical goals. So its tough cause we aren't all in SYNC. We are however recording and I'm working with local design companies to get the album art done and we are working with someone in the business that will hopefully help us spread this sound through the east coast.

Sirens and Sealions are a prime example of how local bands make use of social networking websites. These sites have started a revolution for bands. These bands are able to get their music out in no time. Not only is this music available to fans but also to record labels. It gives them an edge bands in the past couldn't even dream of. It is also a great way to get connected with other artists locally. In the end, word of mouth is very important in this business. However, Facebook and MySpace are a huge part of these band's names being out there.

Lastly, with that being said - don't forget to check them out!

Sirens & Sealions - Tumbleweed from johnolin on Vimeo.

Song of the Week - Week #9

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Lady Gaga and the Internet: the Revival of Music Videos

MTV has finally come out and said it - "We don’t play music videos anymore".This is not news to a lot of us. However, just because the music television pioneer is calling it quits, it doesn't mean music videos are a thing of the past though.

As many of you might be aware of (or not), fashionista and current Queen of Pop, Lady Gaga has recently released her much anticipated video for "Telephone". The video, a week after its released, was viewed over 20 million times according to the London Press. With that being said, fear not fellow music video lovers! The internet is here to quench our visual thirst (cheers for YouTube!).



The London Press has brought us good news. Music videos are thriving online - even though they have become "endangered" on television. Vevo, owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media Company (and who also have a section all to themselves on Youtube) has been reaping the benefits. The site, which is solely devoted to music videos, was "averaging 30 million video plays a day and picked up an extra nine million streams each day" after the Lady Gaga video.

Artists and directors (and me too!) are thrilled with this new finding. Rio Caraeff, president of Vevo has come forward to say: "The video for 25 or 30 years has been really pretty much the same, it hasn’t really evolved, then it moved on to the Internet and now its ripe for reinvention”. As the London Press points out, with music videos on the internet, they are no longer limited by the limitations (including time limits) that they would have to encounter when being played on TV.

Is the internet the new new media of music videos? I believe so. Not only do musicians and directors have a new playground to explore, I think this is great news to record labels too. Successful artists, mean successful labels. This is a new way to gain fans and build each musicians image. With the internet, more people can be reached - literally overnight. On the other end, fans are able to give feedback and experience these artists on a whole new plane.

Song of the Week - Week#8

Monday, March 15, 2010

Deschanel and some Ward



Click here to check out She&Him's new album, 'Volume Two' on NPR before it's release!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

American Idol Strips its Contestants of Social Media Identities

American Idol is something else - today's American Idol not being the something else it used to be though. Remember when it seemed like America in its entirety would watch the show attentively to root for favorites like Jordin Sparks? That doesn't seem to be the case these days. With the programs being on its ninth season, contestants are not getting the same kind of attention and the network is hungry for numbers.

During the beginning of this month, a new rule was put forth by the show. Contestants have actually been prohibited from having personal MySpace, Twitter, or Facebook pages. According to Wall Street Journal, contestant followers in these social networking websites received the following message during the first week of March: “Thanks so much for following me/joining my Fan Page! All my updates from now on will be on our Official American Idol 9 Contestant Page, please become a fan there to read all my updates throughout the season!”.

A fellow blog, Hyperbot, reports that this move might have been an attempt to pump up the numbers for the show in general (the sponsors do need to be pleased) and also to even out the attention to the contestants. Only a small number of the guinea pigs - I mean, finalists - have been getting the desired attention from the public. The producers are also prohibiting the contestants to "grow their own brand ad establish more direct [contact] with their fans" - whatever that means.

Going back on last weeks post, this seems like a big plot to control control control. It's doing exactly the opposite of what record labels want. Then again, record labels and American Idol have different plans and uses for their musicians.

Has anybody asked the contestants how they feel about this? Is anybody saying a peep? It wouldn't surprise me that no one would. These contestants must be petrified to even make a move judging by the way the network is controlling these humble contestants.

This is not only oppressing to these Americans trying to rise up the music ladder, but a blasphemy when it comes to the spirit of social networking.

Song of the Week - Week#7

Within the upcoming weeks I plan to have a special post on some friends and local artists, Sires&Sealions - so, I decided this week we should keep it local!

Check out Rachel Goodrich's (a fellow Miamian) video for Lightbulb

Saturday, March 6, 2010

On that iTunes note..


Take a look at iTunes's top 25 downloads of all time -

Click Here Please

Mainstream isn't called mainstream for no reason I guess.

iTunes's 1,000,000,000th download

Apple thanks us a billion.

Don't you wish you were the 13 year old responsible for the 1 billionth download?

I certainly wouldn't mind a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, their Time Capsule (think storing your music online for FREE!) AND a MacBook Pro.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Song of the Week - Week #6

Tweets and Statuses: Record Labels Encourage Musicians to Embrace Social Networks

It's not a kept secret that the music industry has been hurting. With the boom of illegal downloading, labels are scrambling to make that extra money by making most out of the available resources. Even with legal downloads; there have been 1 million less online purchasers of music per NPD (leading global provider of consumer and retail market research).

As CNET's Greg Sandoval reports:"The music industry is in a major state of crisis and some up and coming acts are reluctant to dirty their hands with social networking". With the explosion of social networks, there has come this expectation for artists to get closer to their fans and vise versa. According to Sandoval, record labels are turning down artists because of their reluctance to do this. Most of them being pre-madonnas who think their only job is to make music. What does this push to use social networking sites really mean for artists and their music?

TechDirt's post Getting Part the 'But Artists Should Just Be Artists' Myth touches this question. There is a difference when it comes to being a musician today compared to before. With the massive impact of the internet on record sales, if you want to make music as a profession, you have to go the extra mile. Your whole career is in your hands, but also in the hands of your record label. As TechDirt mentioned, "Artists should just be artists" was a tool for labels to have more control over their bands. That is not the case today. Record labels recognize the importance of getting their artists to connect to their fans as a means of keeping their fans happy. Happy fans mean more sales.

Supporting this is Daniel Glass, founder of the label Glassnote, when he said "There may be some indie hipper-than-thou artists who want to let the music speak for itself. . . They are probably not for us. We believe an artist has a responsibility to communicate with their audience...We embrace the world of technology and the vast improvements in communication".

His labeling of "indie hipper-than-thou artists" may not have been very nice, but I have to agree. An artist should take pride in their music and want to see it flourish. This does not mean they have to sell their soul or completely expose their life in the internet.