Archive for the ‘music’ Category
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
I spent way too much time this afternoon trying out LyricRat. Do you have some lyrics but don’t know the song? Sure, you can try googling the lyrics and you’re likely to find the related song, but will it also name the album the lyrics are from, produce the album art, post the song for playback and provide an opportunity to purchase it through Amazon — all in one handy place? LyricRat does just that… and they do it in less than 140 characters. (Sounds a bit like a t-shirt slogan, but it’s true).
While testing out LyricRat, I tried to stump it with random lyrics from my eclectic music collection. I did stump it a few times, but not everything is perfect! It’s fun and worth a try if you ever need to do a lyrics search.
Tags: lyricrat, lyrics, music
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Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
Just hear !t is a music search engine that scours the web for any song you want. (Yeah, I know that sounds familiar… just another music site providing on-demand access to music…)
So what’s the difference? Just Hear !t is different in that it provides a visual presentation of music. Search for a particular song or artist, and it will provide a ton of links to the music via video sites. You can pick and choose from the findings to create your own playlist.
Right now, it’s in private beta, so members have access to more features such as saving playlists, renaming songs, etc. The creators of Just Hear !t seem to be genuinely concerned about copyright and have a nice message about their licensing agreements with performing-rights organizations.
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Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
The Free Music Archive definitely lives up to its motto: It’s not just free music; it’s good music.
From their About page:
The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. The Free Music Archive is being directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. Radio has always offered the public free access to new music. The Free Music Archive is a continuation of that purpose, designed for the age of the internet.
Every mp3 you discover on The Free Music Archive is pre-cleared for certain types of uses that would otherwise be prohibited by outdated copyright law. Are you a podcaster looking for pod-safe audio? A radio or video producer searching for instrumental bed music that won’t put your audience to sleep? A remix artist looking for pre-cleared samples? Or are you simply looking for some new sounds to add to your next playlist? The Free Music Archive is a resource for all that and more, and unlike other websites, all of the audio has been hand-picked by established audio curators.
Could this be on par with already well-established ccMixter.org? I say yes! FMA offers searching by genre, curator, license, artist, recently added, etc. The site also offers a social community with the opportunity to create your own profile, playlists and blog, comment on music, and network with other users.
Read more about FMA here:
From ReadWriteWeb: Free Music Archive Launches Beta, Offers 5000 Free Tracks
From the CreativeCommons blog: The Free Music Archive Launches
Tags: creative commons, FMA, free music archive, music
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Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Yesterday I briefly blogged about Fimusy! a research portal/database of musicians and bands. Later that day I received a comment from someone at Fimusy (I think it was someone from Fimusy!… the comment linked to their website but no name or other identifying information was attached).
And then, this morning, I received a tweet from @DDclarke, who I assume is associated with Fimusy!, though his profile doesn’t have a bio nor an identifying picture (just the o_O).
If it is someone from Fimusy!, I think it’s pretty neat that they contacted me via my blog and Twitter, asking for suggestions on how to improve their product. I am impressed that they are contacting folks/customers/users/potential users about their website. It shows they are going out of their way to improve their site and make sure they provide a good product.
In the blog post comment, they asked for suggestions to improve the site. (One suggestion I have is to add an ‘about page‘ to tell more about their product, goals, how they get the information, etc. I can read about it from others, but I’d rather hear more from you guys!)
In the twitter message the next day, @DDClarke told me they had just added the ability to play tracks straight from their site. I checked out the site – did a lil’ search for Arcade Fire – and discovered they really did add the ability to play tracks! I’m listening to Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) right now!
Good customer service, folks at Fimusy! (I hope that’s really you behind o_O!)
Tags: customer service, database, fimusy, music
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Monday, April 13th, 2009
Music is dear to my heart, and when I find cool lil’ tools I like to share them with other aficionados. Thanks to a tweet by @webmaster_ref, I made my way to Fimusy! a database of bands and musicians. To check it out, I typed in my favorite, Dar Williams, and a few other bands that came to mind (the Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins). Fimusy listed albums by the bands, had handy links to Amazon.com if you’d like to buy it, news links, twitter comments, and photos and videos of the artists.
KillerStartUps.com has a short and sweet review about it, noting the highs and lows of the site. On a personal level, I say Fimusy has potential – the uploaded videos and pictures were quite original but the site as a whole didn’t overly wow me… I imagine that, over time, Fimusy could grow into something better.
Tags: albums, bands, fimusy, music
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