Social Media and Media Convergence

From The Economist – An excellent overview of the evolution and convergence of media. As we know Social Media is in rapid expansion. The figures presented in the video are staggering! This is more than evolution or transformation, this is a total revolution in many ways and we are all active participants. Meanwhile the International Olympic Committee wants to limit Olympic events photo sharing on the Internet.  The photographer in question – Richard Giles -  wrote an extended blog post about this issue. In this era of accessible technologies supporting people-to-people communication through Social Networks this is going to be virtually impossible to control.

Music & Science: Brains swinging in concert – brain synchronization while playing guitar

Interesting research about musicians playing music together. They do not just “play” together – their brain waves actually get into synchronization. Now how cool is that?!

PACE - a Premiumbeat.com musician

Background

In this study, we simultaneously recorded EEG from the brains of each of eight pairs of guitarists playing a short melody together to explore the extent and the functional significance of synchronized cortical activity in the course of interpersonally coordinated actions.

Brain waves - musicians

Results

By applying synchronization algorithms to intra- and interbrain analyses, we found that phase synchronization both within and between brains increased significantly during the periods of (i) preparatory metronome tempo setting and (ii) coordinated play onset. Phase alignment extracted from within-brain dynamics was related to behavioral play onset asynchrony between guitarists.

Brain waves 2 - musicians

Conclusions

Our findings show that interpersonally coordinated actions are preceded and accompanied by between-brain oscillatory couplings. Presumably, these couplings reflect similarities in the temporal properties of the individuals’ percepts and actions. Whether between-brain oscillatory couplings play a causal role in initiating and maintaining interpersonal action coordination needs to be clarified by further research.

Read complete article at  Biomed Central

How Music Licensing Works – a good article

The following article gives a good broad view of the Music Licensing world. Licensing music is complex… unless you use Royalty Free Music where you only pay a very reasonable fee for excellent premium quality music. Typically you can license Royalty free Music online, pay for usage on the spot and download your music immediately.

Here is the article from How Stuff Works

Let’s say you are reading Rolling Stone magazine, and you find an article about an ad campaign that Phillips has launched. The ads feature the Beatles hit “Getting Better”. In the article you read this:

But according to the licensing expert, the company no doubt “paid a fortune” for the Beatles hit: an estimated $1 million. The source suspects Gomez made no more than $100,000.

This ad campaign is using the Beatles song as the theme music. It is also using the voice of the lead singer of the band named Gomez laid on top of the Beatles original. The speculation is that Philips paid $1 million to use the song, and that Philips paid the band Gomez $100,000. This is the world of music licensing — a world where the rights to use music are bought and sold every day. Click here to keep reading this article…

Joyful Music Good For Your Heart

Heart - Drawing by Guylaine Nadeau

Everyone knows listening to good music brings joy and a good overall feeling but researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown for the first time that the emotions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function.

Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought them a sense of joy, caused tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow. This healthy response matches what the same researchers found in a 2005 study of laughter. On the other hand, when study volunteers listened to music they perceived as stressful, their blood vessels narrowed, producing a potentially unhealthy response that reduces blood flow.

The results of the study, conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center, will be presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, on November 11, 2008, in New Orleans.

Twitter! Why We Want To Build A Twitter Network

Hey! Follow us on Twitter @Premiumbeat!
You don’t know what Twitter is? In a nutshell Twitter is a free micro blogging and social networking service where you send and receive short (140 characters or less) pieces of information in real-time. Opening a free Twitter account takes few minutes.

You can read the excellent Caroline Middlebrook Twitter Guide for detailed information and Jeremiah Owyang How I use Twitter, and you? for brilliant insights about using Twitter.

I am very new to Twitter. I first signed up after Francois, my son and partner at Premiumbeat.com came back from SXSW conference in Austin last year. He said it’s the talk of the day and it will become a very powerful tool both for personal and business purpose. I always listen to him   so I did sign up. But I didn’t get it. It looked like a lot of distracting noise to me. Nevertheless some people (thank you Jean @3bean) started to follow us! I took a second look few weeks ago and I started to follow people too. Then I got it! In one short line Twitterers are sharing their distilled thoughts about topics that are important to me and oftentimes add a link to an expanded version of their views. I love it!

Twitter constantly asks the same question: What are you doing?
This is a great question if you want to use Twitter strictly on a personal friend-to-friend basis. Yes I do understand it can be fun to know that my friend Patrick is eating the best Sushi ever while my friend Jo-Ann is at home watching an old movie with her 2 cats. They’re my close friends and I am interested in what they’re doing. That’s cool.

But for a Business Twitter Social Network, I am asking myself different questions:
What can I share that will be a useful contribution to the members (or followers as it is called in Twitter language) of our Premiumbeat Business Twitter Network? What are useful news? Useful questions? What is getting my attention today that could benefit them? What did I learn recently that could be of interest to this network?

One of the many good things about Twitter is that it is not obtrusive. You get short messages and can immediately see if it is of interest to you at this moment. It’s a little bit like reading Headlines – and not every Tweet (that’s how Twitter posts are appropriately called) will capture your attention. You only explore the ones you find promising. Please note that you can “unfollow” any broadcast from anyone at any time.

I am assuming that most of our followers on Twitter will be our clients and partners: web designers, video producers, advertising agencies, musicians, music publishers… They are all people interested in our Royalty Free Music Library and related topics. Others may simply be interested in Social Media Network development – or just curious.

Very quickly I am thinking of 8 good reasons to get on Twitter. It all comes down to basic communication -  sharing, listening, responding:

1. You will be the first one to get fresh news. Because Twitter is a Real Time Broadcast medium people following us on Twitter will be the very first ones to get the news. For example, as soon as I add a new set of music tracks, I publish the news on Twitter. We send our newsletter only once a month but we do our Twitter Broadcast immediately – as soon as we have interesting news. Twitter people are always the first to know.

2. You get immediate communication access. Even if I am a very busy person (who’s not?) I can respond very rapidly and possibly bring resolution to a problem within seconds. Yesterday a web designer was sitting with her client, she needed to know right now how much it would cost for a special music license involving TV rights and DVD duplication. I gave her the answer within 30 seconds.  My Twitter page is always open on my computer, so if I’m at work I’m on Twitter.

3. It’s perfect to give and receive quick feedback. Twitter is a great place to ask questions and create instant surveys. Followers feedback can make a huge difference and suggestions are always welcome. Anyone following our Tweets can respond immediately and provide feedback. Whether on Twitter or otherwise we do listen and modify our services accordingly. Your input makes us better. Just as I was reviewing this text, I received a feedback question from Ann @seosmarty. I responded immediately and got to learn about a new website tool at http://fivesecondtest.com. It took a total of 15 seconds. Twitter interactions are fast.

4. Being a Twitterer is a great way to learn about any current topic, or to gather up to date information that is interesting for you. You do this by choosing who you want to follow on Twitter. For example @jowyang is in a business meeting in California right now as I am writing this text. In his last Tweet he mentions that according to “Google people” in the room we have only 5 seconds to capture the attention of website visitors. If we fail they go somewhere else. Since we are in the process of re-designing our website, this is welcome input and it is helpful to look at our new design with that 5 second time frame in mind.

5. It’s easy, fast and simple. Whether you Twitter from your computer or from your cell phone, it is amazingly simple. You set up your account, choose your settings and get going. There is nothing to design and there are no complicated codes to learn.  On my Mac I use Twitterrific to read and write on Twitter. It opens up in one click and I can see all the recent Tweets from people or businesses I follow. I also have a window to write Tweets. It’s very fast and to-the-point. You don’t need to use Twitterrific but it really is terrific. For Windows Snitter is excellent http://getsnitter.com. There are many other Twitter applications for all platforms at http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Apps

6. It’s a simple way to acknowledge and praise others publicly. Acknowledging someone for their contribution is always welcome, but doing it publicly gives it even more power. It also is an opportunity to let other members of the network know about something good and interesting that someone else has done. In this way Twitter becomes a hub and a filter for ongoing conversations between the members of a network.

7. It’s a simple way to address personal issues privately. Conversely Twitter offers an immediate way to handle personal questions privately. I can send  a private message in real time to anyone who has a specific question. I can resolve an issue or handle a problem privately without having to involve others having nothing to do with the issue.

8. Business becomes more personal. It’s easy to monitor what is being said on Twitter about our brand. Chris @cderenberger writes that he is “checking out some new music on www.premiumbeat.com for the new product launch videos coming soon….”. He’s purchased music from us in the past and he liked our service enough to mention it in the Twitter public space. That’s a nice vote of confidence. Thanks Chris! Now I follow Chris and sent him a personal note.

If you use Twitter for business and have insights or feedback please let me know in the comments section below – or on Twitter! I’ll be happy to update this post as we go.

Thanks!

Gilles Arbour

P.S.: See new updated post about Twitter

Music Copyright Myths

The law does not recognize if you are unaware of copyright laws. So, don’t put yourself in an illegal situation when it is so easy and affordable to use Royalty Free Music from music production libraries such as www.premiumbeat.com. And don’t base your online actions on hearsay.

This article attempts to bust some common myths that abound in the virtual world, and put you on the right side of the law. You can read the whole article here: Music Copyrights Myths

The Sound of Music… in Advertisements

Music has become an essential component of any successful advertising campaign. But how can you legally get access to great original music without paying a fortune?

Use high quality Royalty Free Music from our Music Library at Premiumbeat.com. All our music is Copyright Clear, affordable and immediately accessible.

See this short article about Music in advertisements

Music and E-Learning

Integrating music into a e-learning program can enhance greatly the ability to retain information – and it helps to learn with pleasure. Here are few ideas to make your learning course work best:

See this short article about Music and the e-learning experience

Royalty Free Music is easy to purchase and will make a huge difference in your presentation.

Music copyright law on the Internet

Some people seem to consider that music Copyright laws do not apply to the Internet! The Internet might be a medium that’s accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. But the online content, whether it is text, images or music, unless specified otherwise, is not in the public domain. You cannot just take and use whatever you feel like.

With Royalty Fee Music libraries such as Premiumbeat.com, it has become very easy and simple to stay on the legal side. You can get great original music to license for a small fee and you can download the music file immediately from anywhere in the world.

Stay clear of unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music, and keep the copyright police from knocking at your door!

Read more about Music Copyright Law and the Internet

Broadband and Music

Broadband Internet connection has completely revolutionized how we choose, purchase and listen to music.

A Royalty Free Music library like Premiumbeat.com would not even exist without broadband. Just few years ago it would have been unthinkable that one could quickly browse thousands of music files, listen to samples, purchase the convenient music online and get it on a destop anywhere in the world within minutes, ready to integrate the music file with a video presentation or a slide show or for a website, etc.

Read more about the Boadband / Music revolution in this short article