Soulfound “Live at Zen Recording” Out Today!
Listen to PRWeb podcast with Mohawk Bomb Records CEO Ivan Pena
Buy Soulfound’s “Live at Zen Recording” online at:
Also on Napster, Rhapsody and Lala.
Top 5 Bass Players Ever
I’ve always wanted to write a post like this. I have been a student of the Bass Guitar for around 15 years and have always fought the “apparent unimportance” of bass players in contemporary music. Through this post I hope to once and for all assert the position of bassists everywhere in the highest echelons of cool.
Bull Lee and New Skool Kings: Valentine’s Massacre @ The Scene, Glendale, CA
Soulfound’s New Live EP Drops February 17
Soulfound’s newest release, “Live at Zen Recording,” drops February 17 on all major online music retailers Worldwide. CDs will be handed out as promo by each of the participating bands and the Mohawk Bomb Records Street Team.
This five-song EP is the latest release from Florida’s Soulfound on Mohawk Bomb Records. The EP was recorded live at Zen Recording Studios in Pinellas Park, Florida in November 2008. The five tracks are from Soulfound’s last studio album, 2008′s “Is a Rock Band”. The tracklist is as follows:
1. You Only Get One
2. Occupation
3. King of the Sandbox
4. My Kind of Thing
5. Looking for Me
This is a raw snapshot of Soulfound doing what they do best. No trickery, tracks or gimmicks here, just pure, unrefined rock music.
Soulfound has been touring the Florida circuit since 1999. Originally formed in Gainesville, Florida, this Clearwater four-piece prides themselves in their sing-along songs and strong live performances.
To listen to “Live at Zen Recording” click here.
Trent Reznor’s Magic Million Dollar Music Business Formula
Finding a new and profitable business model has eluded major record labels since the decline of recorded music sales began as MP3s took hold. In his presentation at MidemNet — one of the most elite music business event in the World — Techdirt’s Mike Masnick profiled Trent Reznor’s recent successes selling his music without the help of a major record label and condensed it into a simple formula. Masnick ventures to say that Reznor made over $1.6 million from his latest release alone. That notion definitely got my attention.
Although Masnick quickly mentions that this model can work for both big and small bands, there is a big advantage that former major label bands have over indies and unsigned bands: long-time fans and starting capital. Trent and NIN have been famous for almost 20 years (Pretty Hate Machine came out in 1989) and have built a huge and solide worldwide following. The model explains Trent’s process and highlight that the key to his success was a $300 limited edition signed box set of the new album. For an independent band, it’s tough enough to sell a $10 CD at a gig that is sold to you by the band itself. I bet you people would pay $1,000 to buy a CD from Trent at a show.
Despite the “established artist” lean of the potential of this new model, Trent does connect more than not and he has found a way to keep his business rolling. I am sure fans of all bands would rather transact this way. It also worked for Radiohead. Kudos to Trent for making it work and even bigger kudos to his fans for responding.
The formula is:
Connect With Fans (CwF) + Reason To Buy (RtB)
= The Business Model ($$$$)
What’s Your Music Personality?
According to a new music personality test from Signal Patterns, they can codify your taste in music, give you music options to listen to and even connect you to people with similar music tastes by taking a five-dynamic music taste test from their Website. Signal Patterns is a team of scientists that are “developing a technology that gives people new ways to explore their personality, their preferences, and their relationships with the people around them.” They are the folks behind some cool Facebook personality tests (if you dig that sort of fare).
My Signal Pattern
My music personality is: Aggressive, Loud, and Percussive. Here’s what my FUSES model says:
FUSES stands for Forceful, Urban, Sophisticated, Earthy and Smooth. Your music traits cross music genres. For example. if one of your traits is “forceful”, you might like AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and Puff Daddy’s “Victory.” Our research team has carefully chosen a small number of musical prototypes or “probes” that research has shown can help to better understand a given individual’s musical tastes. The prototypes are the result of more than 10 years of research using tens of thousands of respondents, both on the internet and in laboratory settings.
My Take: Clips were cheesy, but the technology has promise
They played 40 different 15 second clips which I had to rate each one on a scale. The scale was from “I really dislike” to “I really love”. Many of the clips were cheesy, Muzak sounding tracks, which could account for why I scored so “aggro-ly”. This test is supposed to look beyond tastes and get results from deeper in the brain. I don’t totally agree with it, but the test was a fun way to spend 4 minutes and if enough people take it, could lead to some interesting data that bands and labels can use to launch new music. Check it out for yourself.
Take the Test:http://www.signalpatterns.com/music_survey
Please comment on what your results are.
Enjoy. Share.
Ivan
Soulfound at Dante’s in Orlando, 2003
- Here’s a blast from the past for long time Soulfound fans. Here’s a live action shot of Soulfound in 2003 rocking at Dante’s Restaurant in Orlando, Florida. Line up (L to R): Chris “Pick” Picklo, Ivan Peña, Dan “Disqo” Cano and Chris “Dick” Borales.
Soulfound’s new 5-song, live EP, Live at Zen Recording, comes out February 17 on Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, Napster and through the Mohawk Bomb Records Website.
