Our friend Jessica took some amazing pictures of Flyleaf playing in Jacksonville, FL. You can visit Jessica’s Flickr page to see these and many other pictures. You can also visit her website Archaic Wings Photography for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with the lead singer of The Classic Crime, Matt McDonald, to talk a little about the band’s new album Vagabonds, their trip to Haiti, their future plans, side projects,  and even a possible acoustic EP.

Let’s talk a little about the songs on Vagabonds your new CD. In several songs, like “A Perfect voice”, “Vagabonds” and “Four Chords” you sing a lot about music, about the pleasure of being in a band and just being able to sing. You also mentioned before that this CD focuses more on music itself and not necessarily on money, or material things. What has changed? Is this something new… a realization you had?

Matt: Well I think that we have always been a band that have wanted to do something more than just for ourselves. I think everybody who is an artist or a creative person is in someway responsible for impacting the world for the better. And we started this band knowing that we wanted to do more than just play music or hoard money to ourselves. We wanted to play for a bigger purpose, to do things outside of ourselves, and to serve people with our music and hopefully bless them and inspire them and give them hope. I think that just recently that thought, that belief that we had in our head sorta moved into our hearts and we started acting on that, and of course the record reflects sort of the attitude that brings. It’s just a lot about struggling, a lot about being poor and getting older, but also having joy in simple things, and that music brings us joy. So that’s what we’re going to do… we’re going to create music.

Do you feel that as a band you have accomplished your purpose, or you’re just starting a new phase?

Matt: I think that we’re finally starting to do what we set out to do when we first started this band 7 years ago. We are growing up a little bit and becoming more mature, we’re realizing the reality of it all, and we’re being thankful for the blessing that it is to make music, tour and play shows for living; regardless of how successful that is… just the opportunity to do that is priceless and is irreplaceable. So the record flows from that vibe. We are ready to feel blessed and to bless others.

Yeah, I can tell it definitely feels like several of the songs sound a lot like a celebration, you are happy, and a little more carefree. You can definitely tell that the record has a purpose and a direction.

Matt: Our last record was darker and epic, and it sorta was struggling with a lot of unrealized dreams and a lot of bad habits, and things that we weren’t excited about in life. Things that we were just coming back down to reality after doing this for a few years on the road. I do believe this record is a lot happier in general because things are coming a full circle out of that struggle into accepting what we have as a gift and just sing it out.

There are two songs that I would like to talk about in specific. The first one is “My Name”. This song seems to have a lot more metaphors and a little more spiritual content like you had on The Silver Cord Can you share a little about this song?

Matt: It’s funny. I wrote that while we were on the studio recording The Silver Cord. So it makes sense that it sounds like The Silver Cord. It’s the oldest song that was written for Vagabonds. But we wanted to put it on this record because we feel like it does represent the music style of The Silver Cord well… and I don’t know… I think we did justice to put it on this record and putting in context with these different songs. Yeah, it’s a lot more metaphorically rich because that was the vibe of The Silver Cord. A lot of metaphors and a lot of metaphysical topics, a lot of spiritual topics of life and death. So we wanted to represent that part of our band on this record, and we will probably represent that on every record because it’s part of our band. But the first 5 songs on vagabonds are very tongue-and-cheek, organic, sort of street talk so to speak, and not as metaphorically rich as “My Name “or any song on The Silver Cord.

Yeah I kinda divided the album in my own head in two halves. The first half with very light lyrics and as you said not like The Silver Cord. And on the second half you have other songs like “My name”, and “Count” that have a heavier content.

Matt: Last record we did it differently, we had a lot of heavy content up front because that was the vibe, and then 3 songs at the end were all pop songs. So now we switched it up a bit just because the record calls for it to be this way.

The second song I would like to talk about is the last song on the record “Broken Mess” which is probably my favorite song of the whole record

Matt: Thank you…
.

“Broken Mess” is tragic in the beginning and yet very hopeful at the end. Can you tell us the story behind this song?

Matt: Yeah, unfortunately it’s about something that happened to my brother. I don’t want to get into details about it, but it’s my response to a pretty dramatic situation that happened to him. I was on the road when I wrote it… I wrote it in 5 minutes into my phone as my mind was racing after learning some new stuff he had gone through. So I typed it all into my phone and I think we were at a show the next day and I sat in the trailer with an acoustic guitar and figured it out. I think when a lot of tragic things happen to me I put it in a song and I put it in a box so that it doesn’t haunt me. That’s like my grief. If I have it in a song then it’s there if I need to go to it. It won’t consume me on the inside it will be on the outside. So that was sort of like a grieving song, but at the same time there’s hope. And there’s reconciliation in my brother’s situation right now, so things are looking positive. So I definitely wanted to highlight that opportunity at the end of the song, for sure.

Yeah, it’s a really good song, I have been listening to it a lot….

Recently you have used your band, especially with the whole Haiti situation, as venue to speak about social injustice and also to support non-profit organizations. How did it start?

Matt: Well first off, both Skip (Paul Erickson) and I had been to different trips to India with Faceless International. An organization started by Christian Stephen from Anberlin and Sarah Freeman. I went on one with Stephen and Skip went on a different one with Sarah and some other folks. And we were just really fired by that. We wanted to get our whole band to do a trip together, and sort of through writing this record and everything we were trying to do to take the focus off of our personal gain. We wanted to change the focus and see if we could be a blessing to other people. We decided to go to Haiti as a band in November and it was an amazing experience. We came home just so ecstatic and really with ideas of how we could help the people that we met. 8 weeks later the earthquake hit and so everything kicked into high gear. We were able to get our pre-order up early with 100% of the profits going to earthquake relief in Haiti. And we were able to raise close to 4,000 dollars so far.

Yeah, I checked it online today…

Matt: If you consider that a Haitian makes a bout 150 to 180 dollars a year, 4,000 dollars can do a lot of good. So we are really excited about bringing relief into long term fixes that we can be involved in through Tom, my friend who lives there.

This whole experience that you’ve had in India and in Haiti, has that influenced your music in any way?

Matt: I think everything influences music. I don’t claim to know where the music comes from or what inspires it as longs as things happen when they happen I’m lucky enough to write them down. I don’t know what our music is going to sound like. I don’t have any preconceived ideas about what we want to do. I just sit down and write a bunch of songs and we decide where to go from there. Yeah, I think it has influenced me personally and music is a large part of my life. So I think it definitely influences my music in some ways.

Do you plan to continue to support non-profit organizations?

Matt: I think that we have been given a platform, and we do have people who look up to us. So we have a responsibility to raise issues. I’ve never been the activist type. I’m not a bleeding heart type of person dying for every cause. I’m not a cause person in general either, but I think this cause with Haiti has sort of fallen into our lap. When we went to Haiti and 8 weeks later the earthquake hit, I think that happens for a reason and I think that we are supposed to do our best to help out, and that’s what we’re going to do.

A little off topic, could you share a little about Skin & Teeth? Is this a new side project?

Ah… it’s not really a side project, it’s Chad Crawford from Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and Erick Serna from The Deer Hunter played on this song. Chad basically sent me the music. I wrote the melody, the lyrics and sang on it and got my wife to sing on it, and sent it back to him. So we’ve had ideas about collaborating more. He got a bunch more songs and we want to sit down at some point when our schedules are freed up a little bit and actually see if we can write a collection of songs together.

Where does the name come from?

Matt: Something I came up with and ran it by Chad because he was thinking about a name. It’s something that’s really visceral skin and teeth, skin and bones. There’s a play on words there. It’s just really stripped down. There’s not a lot going on other than just acoustic and some pads and vocal. So it sorta has that skin and bones vibe and skin and teeth, teeth and bones. Teeth are also bared in emotional situations. I don’t know, there are plenty of metaphors that you could draw from. I thought it was a cool enough name and we just went with it. I don’t know if it will stick, but it works for now.

Before The Silver Cord came out you released an Acoustic EP, Seattle Sessions, which I guess it took a lot of fans by surprise. You guys seemed to have a lot of good response from that EP. Do you guys think about recording another acoustic?

Matt: Yeah, I mean there aren’t enough hours in the day, but if they just payed me just to sit in the studio all day it would be great cause I have plenty of songs that I would love to record and put out there. It’s just a matter of time and a matter of the opportunity presenting itself. And I hope it presents itself. A lot of the music I listen to is acoustic base, it’s sort of folk music, so I do like creating that. It’s sort of a hobby of mine. I’ve got songs that I write all the time that fit in that genre but that wouldn’t necessarily fit on Vagabonds. We like to represent all different genres, we like to dabble, we like to have fun with music. We don’t like to pigeon hole ourselves or put boundaries on ourselves. I think that our fans or the people who listen to us tend to expect that. We aren’t going to put out the same record twice. I know a lot of people have been asking about another acoustic record so I have definitely been thinking about it.

Usually when you hear about an EP coming out you think there’s going to be just 3 songs and they are probably going to be on the full album later on, but when your EP came out there were 7 original songs that no one had heard before, and I think that’s why people enjoyed it.

Matt:Yeah I got 7 more ready if the opportunity presents itself, and I think these 7 songs are actually a lot better than the last I recorded. It’s just a matter of time.

Just to finish it up… with the Vagabonds CD coming out… is there one main message that you hope your fans will get out of the new record?

Matt: I guess overall just to be thankful for your blessings. Count your blessings, enjoy your blessings and enjoy music. It’s a pretty lighthearted record for the most part. There’s some heavier topics towards the end of course. But yeah we’ve just wanted to have fun with this one for a little bit.

Thanks Matt and The Classic Crime!

As you probably know, The Classic Crime will be releasing their new album Vagabonds on April 6th, 2010. The band is donating all the proceedings of Vagabonds’ pre-orders to Haiti relief efforts. We are very excited about the bands’ efforts to help their friends in Haiti. So we decided to give away 5 copies of Vagabonds here on To Start A Fire. It’s a very simple contest, that can get you a free CD, and it will help spread the word about The Classic Crime’s Facebook Cause, and also about their new album, Vagabonds.

Thank you everyone for participating! I will pre-order the CDs. You should get a confirmation soon. If you haven’t sent me your address yet. Write me contact AT tostartafire DOT com.

Monday 22, winner: @artoffalling

Tuesday 23, winner: @Berger24

Wednesday 24, winner: @cazakara

Thursday 25, winner: @hasama36

Friday 26, winner: @xbonzaix

We will be giving one copy each day starting on Monday February 15th till Friday the 19th.

To enter the give away you must:

1. Go to your twitter account and *tweet this message: “Join @theclassiccrime Vagabonds Give Away @tostartafire http://tinyurl.com/yfywy52.”

2. Follow @tostartafire on twitter.

3. Join The Classic Crime cause on Facebook:

4. Post a comment here with your twitter username and and tell us your favorite Classic Crime song.

*The more often you tweet the message above, the more chances you have to win.

That’s it!

Waiting for hours, standing in long lines, surrounded by the weirdest people – squeezing to make their way to the front, trying to get a good view of the stage. The odor isn’t pleasant, but that doesn’t matter after all. Sometimes people are not even sure who is playing, but it sounds good, and the crowd is jumping. Sleeping in tents, not showering or brushing your teeth for 3 days, and sharing the same toilet with thousands of other people just enhances the experience. Sometimes it is not even about the music, it’s about friends, family, and community… and yet, somehow people keep showing up to music festivals year after year.

2010 promises a lot of good music, and hundreds of festivals to attend. Here’s a list of the best festivals going on around the country.

Noise Pop / Feb. 23 – Mar. 1

Where: San Francisco, CA
Who is playing: Magnetic Fields, Mezzanine, Atlas Sound, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Zee Avi… many more.
More Info: http://www.noisepop.com

About Noise Pop:

The Noise Pop Festival returns Tuesday, February 23rd through Monday, March 1st, 2010 showcasing the best local music alongside national and international indie rock favorites. For our the 18th anniversary, Noise Pop 2010 will honor what’s made it the best-loved celebration of indie music and culture since its humble birth in 1993. Since then the festival has grown into a widely respected brand. Noise Pop prides itself on bringing exposure to emerging artists, many of whom have gone on to widespread acclaim, including the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Bright Eyes, The Donnas, Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco), Silversun Pickups, Wolfmother, the Dodos and many, many more. The festival has also featured underground music legends such as Bob Mould, X, Frank Black (of the Pixies), Sleater Kinney, and Television. Noise Pop also includes the ever popular Noise Pop Film Festival, Pop ‘N Shop, gallery art shows and much more.

South By Southwest / Mar. 17-21

Where: Austin, Texas
Who is playing: Not available yet. Previous line up included Yeah Yeah Yeahs, King Of Leons, Coheed & Cambria and many others.
More Info: http://sxsw.com

About The South by Southwest:

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is the premier destination for discovery.

Big Ears Festival / Mar. 26-28

Where: Knowxville, TN
Who is playing: Sam Amidon, Andrew W.K, Bang On A Can All-Stars, The Books and many more.
More info: http://www.bigearsfestival.com

About Big Ears:

The mission of BIG EARS is to offer an exciting and dynamic platform of musical and artistic discovery by artists possessed of singular and unique visions that stand apart from the mainstream.

The Bamboozle West / Mar. 27-28

Where: Anaheim, CA
Who is playing: AFI, Something Corporate, Story of The Year, Circa Survive and many more.
More Info: http://www.thebamboozle.com

Coachella / Apr. 16-18

Where: Indio, CA
Who is playing: The XX, Paparazzi, MuteMath, Gorillaz, Deerhunter and many more.
More info: http://www.coachella.com

About Coachella

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival organized by Goldenvoice held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire’s Coachella Valley. The event features many genres of music including alternative rock, hip hop, and Electronic music as well as large sculptural art.

Agape Fest / Apr. 30 – May 1

Where: Greenville, IL
Who is playing: Me In Motion, Run Kid Run, Addison Road, Wavorly and many more.
More info: http://www.agapefest.com

About Agape Fest:

Contemporary Christian music festival hosted by the students of Greenville College in Greenville, IL.

The Bamboozle East / May 1-2

Where: East Rutherford, NJ
Who is playing: Paramore, Weezer, Drake, Kesha, OK Go, Relient K and many more.
More info: http://www.thebamboozle.com

Bonnaroo / Jun. 10 – 13

Where: Manchester, Tennessee
Who is playing: Line up will be announced by the bands themselves.
More info: http://www.bonnaroo.com

About Bonnaroo:

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is a four-day, multi-stage camping festival held on a beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee every June. Bonnaroo brings together some of the best performers in rock and roll, along with dozens of artists in complementary styles such as jazz, Americana, hip-hop, electronica, and just about any contemporary music you can think of. In addition to dozens of epic performances, the festival’s 100-acre entertainment village buzzes around the clock with attractions and activities including a classic arcade, on-site cinema, silent disco, comedy club, theater performers, a beer festival, and a music technology village. For its peaceful vibe, near-flawless logistics, and unrivaled entertainment options, Rolling Stone magazine named this revolutionary entertainment experience one of the 50 moments that changed the history of rock and roll.

Itchthus / Jun. 16-19

Where: Wilmore, KY
Who is playing: TFK, Skillet, Relient K, Anberlin, The Wedding and many more.
More info: http://www.ichthusfestival.org

About Itchthus:

Even though Ichthus has been around for 40 years there are still people out there who may not know who we are and what we’re all about. While we have used music to draw the crowd, we are all about pointing people to encounters with Jesus Christ. Music is the method, Jesus is the message!

Alive / Jun. 23-26

Where: Mineral City, OH
Who is playing: House of Heroes, Relient K, Family Force 5, Skillet and many more.
More info: http://www.alive.org

About Alive:

The Alive Festival has continued its initial mission to bring individuals together from various churches, denominations and backgrounds to enjoy four days of music, worship, teaching, camping, swimming, and recreational fun!

Cornerstone / Jun. 28 – Jul. 3

Where: Bushnell, IL
Who is playing: Haste The Day, Switchfoot, David Crowder Band, MeWithoutYou and many more.
More info: http://www.cornerstonefestival.com

About Cornerstone:

Cornerstone Festival is a music and arts festival held every year near Bushnell, Illinois

Creation Festival East / Jun. 30 – Jul. 3

Where: Mt. Union, PA
Who is playing: TobyMac, Skillet, Switchfoot, Red, Remedy Drive, TFK and many more.
More info: http://www.creationfest.com

About Creation Festival:

Creation Festivals are two annual events that have become the Nation’s Largest Christian Music Festivals. The Creation Experience includes four jam-packed days of music, teaching, baptism, camping and fellowship – a summer’s worth of fun for one low price.

Pitchfork / Jul. 16 – 18

Where: Chicago, IL
Who is playing: Modest Mouse, Pavement, Here We Go Magic, Sleigh Bells and many more.
More info: http://www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com

About Pitchfork:

The Pitchfork Music Festival is a three-day event showcasing over 40 of independent music’s best bands and artists on three stages. With so many blockbuster festivals gouging their attendees out of absolutely obscene sums of money, only to confine them in uncomfortable, tight spaces and skimp on basic necessities, our goal is to do the right thing: That is, to create a reasonably priced summer music festival that provides an overwhelmingly positive, comfortable and fun festival experience for both attendees and musicians.

Creation Festival West / Jul. 21-24

Where: Enumclaw, WA
Who is playing: TobyMac, Skillet, Switchfoot, Red, Remedy Drive, TFK
More info: http://www.creationfest.com

Lollapalooza / Aug. 6-8

Where: Chicago, IL
Who is playing: Not announced yet. Big name bands and indie bands.
More info: http://www.lollapaloozaq.com

About Lollapalooza:

What started as a touring music festival in 1991 by Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, Lollapalooza has become a definitively unique music experience. Lollapalooza takes place every summer in historic Grant Park, Chicago, between the iconic Chicago skyline and the shores of Lake Michigan.

Purple Door / Aug. 13 – 14

Where: Lewisberry, PA
Who is playing: Family Force 5, Thousand Foot Krutch, August Burns Red, Project 86, Lecrae, The Classic Crime and many more.
More info: http://www.purpledoor.com

Austin City Limits / Oct. 8-10

Where: Austin, TX
Who is playing: Not announced yet.
More info: http://www.aclfestival.com

CMJ Music Marathon / Oct. 19-23

Where: New York, NY
Who is playing:
More info: http://cmj.com/marathon

About CMJ Music Marathon:

In addition to hundreds of showcase performances, cutting-edge films and informative panels, CMJ 2010 will feature exclusive parties, meet and greets, seminars, mentoring sessions, community initiatives, networking events, Q&As, special events, and exclusive areas like the Exhibitors’ Loft and Artist Lounge.

Say hello to good music!

On January 26th Lucy Schwartz is going to release her new EP entitled Help Me! Help Me! The 20 yr. old songstress exudes a maturity musicians double her age yearn for – not to mention a resume they would be interested to claim as well. Schwartz has written original songs for the opening and closing credits to the 2009 Warner Brothers film The Women and the upcoming Sony Pictures Classics’ release Mother and Child, starring Naomi Watts. In addition, her music been synced with pivotal moments in Grey’s Anatomy, ER, Private Practice, Cashmere Mafia, Privileged and more.

The Give Away Winner is = Seraphael

We are giving away an autographed copy of Lucy Schwartz new EP.

The give away is over. Thank you all of you for participating. The winner has been contacted by e-mail!

1. Just post a comment below to be eligible.
2. The winner will be announced next Tuesday.

Head over to Lucy’s MySpace to listen to her songs. Be sure to listen to “Gravity”.

I rather get my CDs at music stores. I like walking-in without an album picked in mind; go through all CDs looking for new, rare, or just some random band that I never heard before. I enjoy the experience of discovering music, and figuring out how I never heard of some bands that have been out for so long; wondering why some bands broke up, and why some bands never came out with a sophomore release. Unfortunately it’s becoming harder and harder for music stores to compete with the low prices offered by the digital market. Each year the Mp3 market takes another bite at CD sales. It’s a surprise CDs are still around…

Background

Itunes has been leading Mp3 sales for a long time. Last year only, they managed to sell 25% of all Mp3 sales in the United States. iTunes continues to grow as Apple continues to heavily invest on advertisements for iPods, Iphone and MacBooks. There are rumors that in the near future, iTunes could even become a TV channel. And that’s to no surprise since they continue to add more and more videos, songs, and applications to their store. However, being a leader in the music market also means that they are the first to make mistakes, and some of this mistakes has held several users from experimenting iTunes.

One of the main mistakes iTunes made was to protect their songs with the controversial Digital Rights Management (DRM) which limits users from copying their music over to a limit amount of electronics (mp3 players, CDs, DVDs…). Their objective was to slow down music piracy and retain users from sharing their music with friends and family. The insertion of DRM into tracks was for a while a total chaos, as both listeners and music artists weren’t pleased with Apple’s decision. It got to a point where artists were posting links and teaching users on how to remove DRM protection from their songs. Itunes lost some market as users turned to other places to buy their music, but they still held the larger part of music sales.

While iTunes was battling mp3 piracy, which now floods the internet from hub to hub, Amazon.com, a giant on online sales, was slowly building their Mp3 Store. It started slow and the interface was messy for new users, but at the same time familiar for those who had been shopping on amazon long before digital goods were available. The greatest feature of Amazon Mp3 when it was launched in 2007 was the fact that none of their Mp3 files were DRM protected. Users were free to buy and do whatever they pleased with their songs. Not only Amazon’s songs were DRM free, several of their tracks were much cheaper than iTunes’ protected files, and iTunes Plus files. (A service that was later introduced by Apple, in which Mp3 users pay a higher value for DRM free songs.)

Amazon Mp3 only sold 8% of online music sales in 2009, a number that does not compare with the 25% sold by Apple. However, it is important to notice that Amazon has only been selling Mp3 files since 2007, which means that Amazon finally realized the there’s some serious money involved with the sales of digital goods.

As I lean towards the digital market, there are several things that I consider before I shop. Here’s the run down on both services that you should consider before making your next purchase.

Prices

Of course that I need to have a great user experience when I shop, but despite of my experience I am still looking to get the best deal.

Amazon prices are often lower than iTunes. Individual tracks are often the same price on both stores, ranging from 89 to 99 cents for most popular music. However, Amazon also offers great deals for people that decide to purchase the entire album. A lot of times you save over $4 if you purchase the entire album on Amazon. They also offer the Amazon Daily Deal that sells entire albums for ridiculous prices ranging from $1.99 to $3.99.

Take for instance that the Vampire Weekend’s new album is on sale on amazon Daily Deal for $3.99, while the same album costs $9.99 on iTunes.

Amount of Music

Both (and yet seperatly) Amazon and iTunes hold over 10 million songs on their catalog. They both add new songs, and albums every day. However, iTunes offers a greater amount of music related content than Amazon. Besides songs, iTunes also offers over 40,000 music videos and 1,000,000 podcasts. Chances are that if you don’t find the music you are looking on Amazon, you will find it on iTunes.

Free Music

Both services offer a limited amount of free tracks. iTunes (for logged in users only) offers a few free tracks every week. Amazon offers free tracks at random. For example, Amazon had several free Christmas compilations over the holidays.

Music Recommendations

Both Amazon and iTunes offer music recommendations, whether it’s through user’s reviews or the by the kind of music you have purchased before. iTunes has a big head start on this area because iTunes is also a popular mp3 player. a player which keeps track of everything you play. It knows what you play more often, and what you never play. That makes easier for the iTunes Store to identify you likes and dislikes. Itunes also let’s you use their “Genius” service to let you know about other similar artists and/or songs as you listen to your music. A great feature that Amazon doesn’t offer, because they don’t have an mp3 player. Amazon’s recommendations are based on your previous shopping experience, user reviews and music that other users have acquired.

Mp3 Quality and Format

iTunes has used the AAC format, successor to the MP3 format. It’s supposedly better than MP3, but that’s a whole other article. iTunes DRM songs are encoded at 128 kbit/s which is the so called “CD quality”. iTunes DRM free songs are encoded at 256 kbit/s. Amazon sells MP3 files, instead of AAC files, and all their songs are encoded at 256 kbit/s.

What does 128 kbit/s and 256 kbit/s means? For the average user it doesn’t mean much. The numbers reflect on the quality of the encoding, which occasional users won’t notice. Serious listeners will want to have higher quality encoding. The only big difference at this point is that AAC format is not compatible with all Mp3 players.

Usability

Usability is a big word in web development, and every one is concerned about it. It has to do with the user experience. In this case how easy it’s to find the music you want. Itunes offers a simple design, with straight forward links, only giving you so much music at once. It has a browser interface with several sub categories giving you the option to narrow down to a sub genre of a genre. It works great when you know what you are looking for, but it’s not as useful when you are just trying to see what’s out there. Amazon’s interface is exactly the opposite; it bombards the user with thousands of options. There are literally hundreds of links to click on each page. It can be overwhelming for new users, but at the same time very useful for users that have shopped on Amazon before. The ability to see and listen to other CDs while reading details of a certain album on the same page, makes the task of finding new music faster.

Customer Service

I cannot speak about iTunes customer service because I haven’t really had any issues using their system. Which I guess it’s a good thing. I did however had a few issues with Amazon Mp3 system, mostly browser related issues, and user related issues (which means I screwed up). Amazon has a great… wait.. an Awesome customer service. They solved my problems in no time, and willingly offered the downloads I missed again.

Conclusion

I have always been reluctant to buy songs on iTunes because I am always switching computers, or formatting them. I also like to know that I can put my music wherever I want to, as many times as I want to… after all, I bought it. The price and the DRM free songs are also another reason why I turned to Amazon Mp3 services. I appreciated the step taken by Amazon to free music from their rights, even though we still pay for them.

I clearly lean towards Amazon services, but iTunes definitely got their heads in the game way before Amazon. They have a lot to offer for serious and casual listeners alike, and they continually improve their services. Whether you buy it at Amazon, iTunes or directly from the artists… do buy it! Especially from indie artists that pour their lives into making exciting and compelling music that makes you move.

I put together a quick list of things you can do to help Haiti. There are tons of people making themselves available to help, and several organizations that have already been working in Haiti ready to receive your donation. The only reason not to help is to think that this could never happen to you.

If you are in the USA:

1. Text “HAITI” to “90999″ to donate $10 to the Red Cross
2. Text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti

Yéle Haiti is a grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment. Yéle’s community service programs include food distribution and mobilizing emergency relief. Grammy-Award winning musician, humanitarian and Goodwill Ambassador to Haiti Wyclef Jean founded Yéle Haiti in 2005.

3. Donate to Partners in Health

If you are in Canada:

According to the TorontoSun “the federal government will match donations from Canadians to build an emergency fund up to $100 million to help humanitarian efforts in Haiti”. Learn more.

If you are in the UK:

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a coalition of 13 relief agencies, is taking donations on a special phone line, 0370 60 60 900, and through its website.

Go Local:

In DC: This Saturday, CrisisCamp will bring together volunteers to collaborate on technology projects which aim to assist in Haiti’s relief efforts by providing data, information, maps and technical assistance to NGOs, relief agencies and the public.

In Philadelphia: http://www.hpphilly.org/

In Phoenix and San Diego: Car Wash

Find charities you can trust:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/

Other well-known charities that are helping Haiti:

Compassion International

UNICEF – The United Nations Fund focusing on children, has worked on the ground in Haiti since 1949, so has the expertise to make a difference.

Doctors Without Borders

Northwest Haiti Christian Mission – They have been in helping Haiti for over 30 years.

Donate Through Google

Be Creative

- There are musicians and artists giving away their work in exchange for donations.
- There are people organizing Car Wash
- Several stores will donate money for every purchase you make.
- There are also people on twitter matching donations.
- Connect to your local church
- Connect with your community/city

Just be creative and start helping!

Current pictures from Haiti:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html

Cover art is one of the main reasons why I still rather have a physical copy of an album over those mp3 files. A good Cover art completes the listening experience and expands the thoughts and ideas proposed during the creation of the album. Two thousand nine was a great year for music and some excellent albums covers. Here are 10 album covers that stood out in 2009.

Album: It’s A Blitz!
Artist: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

By far the best cover of 2009. I bet there were a lot of broken eggs before they were able to capture this amazing shot.

Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Artist: Animal Collective

This seems pretty plain at first, but if you fix your eyes on it you will notice an optical illusion.

Album: Veckatimest
Artist: Grizzly Bear

Veckatimest has been named one of the top indie albums of 2009. The cover is just as unique as their music. It leaves room for your imagination.

Album: The Outsiders
Artist: needtobreathe

*It sadly reminds me of the red eyed dog from Target. Great cover art nonetheless.

Album: Birds & Cages
Artist: Deas Vail

This album is only available online (unfortunately). Love the typography and the fat bird.

Album: The Silent Night Ep
Artist: Seabird

Great art work for a 2 song EP released this past Christmas. Excellent Ep by the way.

Album: Wilco
Artist: Wilco

A camel never looked so good. Another artistic photo cover that doesn't rely on much photoshop.

Album: Raditude
Artist: Weezer

Yep, that's a dog jumping!

Album: Embryonic
Artist: The Flaming Lips

This one will mess with your mind, as you try to understand exactly what it's going on here.

Album: Only Revolutions
Artist: Biffy Clyro

Last but not least is this awesome cover by Scottish band Biffy Clyro.

What do you think? Are there other album covers you’ve enjoyed in 2009?

There are way too many bands out there and just not enough time to listen to all of them, and that’s exactly how some talented lesser-known bands go unheard. I agree that I am part of the problem as I seem to have more CDs than I can find time to listen to. So every so often I dig back through my CDs (most of them on iTunes now) and listen to some “older” music. Just yesterday I was listening to Dizmas debut album (as I recall it came out in 2005). I’ve only seen Dizmas live once, at a small stage, followed by Pillar. They only sang a few songs, but it was enough to make me want to invest in their music. Zach Zegan’s screaming throughout the first initial track, “Revolution”, reminded me of a lead vocalist from a much older metal band, Bride. Dale Thompson, singer/screamer has been leading the metal band Bride since mid 80’s and it seems like he’s not anywhere near of quitting. Bride has gone through several members changes/replacements over the years but that didn’t seem to affect Dale – the band has over 15 records out (not counting live CDs) and they have toured all over South America dozens of times.

And I know that some of us think Metal should have never left the 80’s but you really don’t need to like metal to appreciate Dale’s vocals. Thus, whether you’re a fan of Bride or a fan of some good screaming you should definately pick up a copy of Dizmas debut album “On a Search in America”. The album is pretty good in its entirety, but Zach and Josh’s vocals are best on the first 4 tracks (”Revolution”, “Controversy”, ‘Riots and Violence”, “Let This One Stay”).

If you’re into indie rock, chances are that you’ve heard about Mae. They have been around since their debut album, “Destination Beautiful” released back in 2003 on Tooth & Nail. Songs such as “This Time Is The Last Time”, and “Summertime” marked the beginning of their careers. In 2005 Mae recorded and released “The Everglow“, which featured the single “Breakdown”. In 2006, After fulfilling their contract with Tooth & Nail, the band signed and produced their first major label album (Singularity) with Capitol Records. Not too long after releasing their 3rd studio album in 2007, Rob Sweitzer (keyboards), Mark Padgett (bass) left Mae. To make things worse the band left Capitol Records in 2008 due to the labels’ financial crises. Without a record label, a manager, and two band members, Mae started to wonder if it was worth continuing. However what seemed to be the end of Mae was just the beginning of a new journey.

In an honest attempt to redefine the band’s views on success, while searching for a reason to continue making music, Mae partnered with Habitat for Humanity to transform their music into success stories. Thus, as of January 2009 the band has set the goal to record one song each month, to a total of 12 songs, and donate every dollar raised through these digital downloads to Habitat for Humanity. So far the band has raised over $40,000 in 5 months.

So, what is Mae doing? Mae is turning the way the music business works upside-down. They are investing not only into their feature as a band, but in the feature of their community – transforming their music into action.

How does it work?

- Each song is priced at a donation of at least $1
- You choose the song you want to download
- You make your donation through Paypal
- You download the songs you’ve selected
- You spread the word to your friends
- Get their widget and put on your blog/website

What exactly do you get?

- The (m)orning, (a)fternoon, and (e)vening EPs -> (a total of 12 songs by the end of 2009)
- Each song comes with a digital booklet
- And a digital letter from the band
- You get to help someone besides yourself

Go to WhatIsMae.com and be part of the project.