Thursday 20 November 2008

New Music

Something that makes me incredibly happy is finding great new music, and sharing it with people. Especially smaller or unsigned bands and double especially bands with friends in them. It's a dream of mine to set up a record company like Saddle Creek. I've been thinking for quite a while about a way in which I could share music on a large scale.

One option is to do a podcast showcasing unsigned bands. I don't think I've heard a podcast with music on before, I'm not sure why. I have only listened to a few, so maybe they do exist. I wonder if the fact you download them means that people could just steal all the music from it. That would be bad. Then there are sites like podbean - you don't download from there, just listen from the site. Anyone know a podcast with music on, or if not why they don't exist?

A slight problem would be that I don't like my voice. I hate hearing myself speak. But I think making videos has put me at ease enough to put up with it. It would also be a much smaller audience than option 2: a video series.

I could use the established audience of my youtube channel and introduce them to a new band in one video each month or so. It's quite a good audience for the bands as my subscribers are likely to be into the kind of music I am. This way would be harder, I'd be doing one band per video and so I would probably have to have them in it rather than just playing a song and telling people about them as I would in the podcast. Indieduction does a similar thing, but since that's aimed at youtube musicians and I would be looking at people I know from the real world mostly, I don't think there would be any clashes there.

I'm torn between the two options and still wondering if there is something I haven't thought of yet.

Forgetting things I haven't thought of yet, (that's an odd clause, think about it. Definitely using that in a song, it's brilliant!) I think the podcast is the easier option and allows me to showcase more bands. The videos would mean having to go meet and interview the bands which, although it would be fun, would also cost money and time and would require organisation. I'm not one for organising.

But the videos would get at least 10,000 views. If I started a podcast I doubt many people would listen, and I would want it to be worth something for the bands taking part.

I just started listing pros and cons of each and then I had a thought... I could do both! The podcast could be the main thing but I could do videos whenever the opportunity arises to be hanging out with a suitable band and it could be promotion for the podcast. I quite like that idea.

Well I've been rambling for a while so I'll spare you anymore. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, ideas on what I could do and also whether you would be interested as a listener/viewer. It would be a bonus if there was a way to make money out of this too!

I have a lot on so whatever I decide it will probably be something for the new year unfortunately. Well I guess it depends how easy or hard whatever I decide on turns out to be.

Anyway, I'm excited.

xxx

15 comments:

ariel said...

definitely do both,
do a podcast on a regular basis, and do fun videos of maybe bands that you've talked about previously/have a chance to meet up with to reach a wider audience.
best of both worlds AND hanging out with bands is fun!

levibeamish said...

I think both sounds good. I definitely think the videos are a good idea and i mean they dont have to be too in depth they could just be like 2 minute videos summarizing what the band is about and showcasing some of their music. This would also make it easy for you to make more videos and if they turn out well which i dont doubt they will maybe somebody will notice and give you millions of dollars.

Anonymous said...

This is definitely an interesting idea. Podcasts are a great idea, but don't always do you justice because the audiences tend to be quite small. If you were able to advertise and have engaging conversations with bands on it, I think more people would gradually listen. I haven't heard of a podcast with music on it, but I have heard of a radio, which seems to be popular with people. :D

I wouldn't worry about the sound of your voice, either.

Doing videos simultaneously, or at least in addition to podcasts, would be smart considering how many subscribers you have, if you're really passionate about getting less known bands heard.

Unknown said...

Sorry love, but it exists already, and it's worth subscribing to, it's been around for years and it's very good -

http://blindingflashes.blogs.com/indie_feed/

By all means do it, but I'd suggest you do one video on it instead of lots. A ten minute magazine programme with you talking a bit about a band, then playing thirty seconds of their music would go down well. You could do a series of videos on it, but I think people would get bored after two - after all, taste is a very subjective thing and there will always be people out there who know more about music than you do.

Eddplant said...

There are quite a few podcasts for unsigned bands - one of the birmingham ones is presented by Lil' Chris, the annoying oik. But if you've never heard of one in Derby it's pretty given there isn't one, since you'd have been in it by now xD
go for it!

Anonymous said...

i say both

Anonymous said...

Hello, Dave! Congrats on your cover of Arctic Monkeys! It was excellent, better than Alex's version on San Francisco. I think both videos and podcast would be great. There are some shows on podcast, but they are not many. I know some of them: AudioProphecy and Unsigned Bands. AudioProphecy is done on BlogTalkRadio, it's great because you can subscribe with iTunes. And as regards your voice, I think it sounds great, British accent always sounds Shakesperian no matter what!
Kind regards,
Bruno

doug said...

(crap, i forgot to download that album yesterday. i told you to remind me! ^_^)

I like the sound of doing a podcast; I would listen, probs :P

Maybe you could just use ur channel to advertise for the first few podcasts, that way people that are interested would go and download it, and those that aren't don't have to bother.

Oh and if you charge for the podcast, i wont buy it :]
Feel free to load the page with adsense ads tho, my clever firefox plugin removes any kind of ads from everywhere +)

doug said...

Oh and you have a nice voice ^_^

i think most people don't like listening to themselves. I used to hate it, but you just sorta get used to it.. ish..

Anonymous said...

I think you should do both, it would be really cool, and I would love to see/hear it, it's always fun to be exposed to new music ^__^

Anonymous said...

Nothing wrong with your voice, Mr. Dave. Everybody seems to hate their own voice, but yours is fine.

cheekychen said...

I dunno if this has been said yet as i can't be arsed reading all the past comments, but why not make a video podcast? That way it's 2 birds with one stone. Either way, i like the idea.

cheekychen said...

I dunno if this has been suggested, but you could kill 2 birds with one stone by making it a video podcast.. no extra work other than uploading it to itunes..

Either way i like the idea a lot.

cheekychen said...

oops, double comment.. damn technology

Brittany said...

I can honestly say that I cannot wait until there's an official "Blue Skies Records" promoting music on the market!