What is truly impressive about Wu Wei is not only that it steps well outside the constraints of any single genre but that it so fluidly combines lounge and minimal and psychill into a beautifully cogent and moving collection of songs. Wu Wei is a deeply textured, melodic exposition of contemporary electronic music.

In an era where the CD is falling out of favor Wu Wei gives ample proof that exceptional songs can be composed and then combined yielding something much greater than the whole. Wu Wei is a mellow burn, head high pushing the listener to relax and find the subtleties among the notes. It is a rare find for those of us who envision long winding drives down the coast to nowhere specific. Hear more about Lee Negin Here and at http://leenegin.com/ and http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/LeeNegin

Big thanks to the SonicTribe community for all the suggestions regarding booking. We’ll be adding additional features in the next few weeks to make our members stand out to these venues. Update coming soon!!

You know, the first time such a thing happened at Facebook, and their repeated denials that it in fact had happened, we thought, “OK. They made a mistake.” But this type of thing seems to keep happening. Then there is the idea floating around the internet that anything a musician places on Facebook becomes the property of Facebook. We would LOVE to tell you that this is factually incorrect. However, in February of 2009 Facebook had changed its user agreement to include language granting Facebook a “perpetual worldwide license” to the content (photos, videos, text, music, etc.) uploaded by members of the website. Facebook, facing staunch criticism from its members and the press, reversed itself within several days. Why do it in the first place?

Point being, Facebook is a good idea. But, unless it keeps the trust of the members of its website, SonicTribe musicians included, Facebook will find itself losing its marketing reach very, very quickly. So, the SonicTribe is going to start looking for the next site where your fans will be camping out. We’ll let you know what we find.

Image from JR's film Women Are Heroes. Released in France January 12, 2011.

“A really important point for me is that I don’t use any brand or corporate sponsors. So, I have no responsibility to anyone but myself and the subject.  And that is for me one of the most important things in the world. You know, I think today, as much as important as the reason is the way you do things.” – JR, French street artist and TED Prize 2011 winner.

An Odd Note
Several weeks ago I found out that the Chief Operations Officer of Reverbnation, one of our competitors, posted a comment on a tremendously popular blog saying that SonicTribe had published what amounts to a “conspiracy theory” about the major labels’ influence on sites that purport to be supporting independent musicians. My first thought was why in the world would a COO of a company the size of Reverbnation, a company having no less than two staffed offices, five executives, four chief executives, funded by no less than 3 venture capital firms post ANYTHING about a website as intimate as SonicTribe? (OK. Who is kidding who? We’re not ‘intimate.’ Hell, we’re small in comparison to his corporation.) Just as I began pondering this Big Brother called me. My big brother. He was a bass player. He still drinks beer. He makes dynamite BBQ ribs and has a point of view. Brother Dave said one thing, “Fuck him! Tribe’s not for everybody.”

This brings me to a point. We’re not for everyone. But, we’re growing a bit since the new design went up. So, I wanted to put this post out into the web to help clarify what the SonicTribe is doing and why.

The new design of our the SonicTribe website was actually not my first choice. However, as with everything the SonicTribe does, before we make a change we put it to a vote by our membership. The design I liked most came in dead last. LAST! The one that you see now came in first by a landslide. Now that it is up and running I have to admit that the SonicTribe membership was absolutely right in picking this new design. It will help musicians in a more clear way than the other options would have allowed. I have not one doubt in my mind that any group of independent musicians will always come to the best conclusion about what they need. So, when an internal debate came about concerning the major labels joining the SonicTribe my response was, “Absolutely Not!” But, I’m only one member of the tribe. As we had with the new design we put that issue to a vote for our members. In that poll 100% of the votes said, “Keep the Major Labels Out!” One Hundred Percent. In this case, the other members of the tribe agreed with my position. You’ll now find that our User Agreement states that no music or videos or text or artists owned by any of the major labels is allowed to be posted on or become a member of the SonicTribe. We’re here to assist independent musicians only and our membership, 100% of it, agrees with this position.

So, if the COO of Reverbnation thinks it’s a conspiracy theory to be concerned about the influence major labels may be having on audio distribution websites, potentially increasing the costs to independent musicians that are members of my tribe, I have one word for him, Tunecore. If he doesn’t like that perspective, I don’t care. It is not my job to please an MBA working at my competition who just hired a former major label executive. My job is to help independent musicians cut through the truckloads of b.s. that’s out in the market right now, to put money in their pockets and listeners in seats. To that regard, for the SonicTribe members and all other independent musicians, here is a quick and simple tip on getting more eyes to your band’s website. CLICK HERE.

Keep Playing! Stay Independent!
Chris

For those of you unfamiliar with death metal think of a choreographed car accident; loud, fast, complex and jarring. It is an intense heavy metal subgenre yielding an unforgettable first impression, something ABSOLUTELY NOT for the faint-hearted. To this it gives me great pleasure welcome my friend Vincent and the gents from Paris. Ladies and Gentlemen please let me introduce to you Deep In Hate.
SonicTribe, Myspace, Band’s Website

Audio: At SonicTribe                                          Video: Lobotomizing The Masses

In our post, “A Call To Arms?? We’ll Take It!” we mentioned that a likely scenario for the new industry is that the old industry’s major labels would invest or buy the distribution systems used by independent musicians, gain as much market control as possible and then start squeezing the membership. Ladies and Gentlemen I present, drum roll~~~ Tunecore Raises Its Prices by 150%! (Good article on Tunecore’s perspective, don’t forget to read the comments HERE)

I know you’re probably asking how Tunecore changing its prices has anything to do with the major labels. Tunecore is in partnership with Universal Music Group. Now that Tunecore (Universal) had established relative monopoly on independent musicians loading their music onto iTunes they raised their prices. This, my friends, is precisely the old music industry game made a new. If they can’t control the product, they control the distribution. Once that control over distribution is established costs to musicians will rise dramatically.

Trust me when I say that I fully believe this will continue. So long as we support, i.e. keep paying them, the major labels and the amoral MBAs that run them will take more and more of your money for providing you as little as possible. Don’t let them do it!

We’re not saying to those of you that are not involved in what the SonicTribe is doing that you must join us. But for the love of God, or the Giant Spaghetti Monster, please stop paying these people your hard earned cash. I know what you’re saying, “What alternatives do we have?” Here is two suggestions we believe are going out of their way to help independent musicians:

The SonicTribe – Of course! We’re developed, designed and employ only independent musicians.

CD Baby – Not only do they do the right thing by hiring independent musicians, they do distribution, marketing and a bunch of other stuff we’re in favor of. And, “Yes Virginia,” we know they are our direct competitor. But, that is exactly the point of the SonicTribe, a website run by independent musicians. This is what we do. We help independent musicians any way we can. What you do is keep making great music, selecting partners worthy of your commitment, worthy of your time, worthy of your trust.

Want more people to go to your website? Make certain the search engines can find you!! To do this, simply enter your band’s website address into Google, Bing and Yahoo!, the big three search engines. Links below:

Google: Click Here (https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=sitemaps&passive=1209600&continue=)

Bing’s page for submitting websites is similar to Google’s. Enter your website’s URL. Don’t forget the ‘http’ or ‘https’ at the beginning.

Bing: Click Here (http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx)

Yahoo!’s page for submitting your website is even easier to use than Bing’s. Just enter your band’s URL and hit ‘Submit URL’. What could be easier?

Yahoo!: Click Here (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit/)

I hoped this helped. Let me know know if you’d like us to keep up this suggestions section and Click the Like button below.

Keep Playing!
Stay Independent!
Chris

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