Okay, let me start off with a little disclaimer. I know Panos already commented on our beloved King of Pop, and as a huge fan (yes, I bought tickets and was willing to cross an ocean to see him last July and now have tickets to the midnight premiere of This Is It) I know I’m a little biased. I also know that not all musicians have any desire to reach commercial fame. Regardless of all the above facts, I think there are some good tips we can all learn from the late Michael Jackson. I’ll try not be too biased about how much I love him… oh who am I kidding? Why bother?

(1) Evolve
There are always the exceptions (see: Rolling Stones), but if you want a long career in music, you’ll need to continually challenge yourself to think differently than you have in the past. MJ re-invented himself through time and it was a huge reason why he was able to appeal to such a wide spectrum of people. He started with the Motown soul and R&B, danced his way through Disco with “Off the Wall,” added some rock here or there (‘Beat It’, ‘Dirty Diana’), then started trying some Gospel (Man in the Mirror, Will You Be There?). If that wasn’t enough, he beat-boxed his way through Dangerous and HIStory, the Blood on the Dance Floor featured some pretty awesome mixes for you DJs out there, and to top it off, he crooned some serious slow jams on “Invincible”(Example: ‘Butterflies’ – released over 8 years ago and still sounds like something Justin Timberlake would release tomorrow.)  With all the changes and genre bending, the most accurate way to classify Michael Jackson’s music was just “Pop” — because Popular was just about the only consistent thing. (more…)

Well…almost.

When I played Rock Band the first time on my friend’s Xbox 360, I was completely addicted, but sort of jealous. I remember saying to my buddy while rockin’ out on the drums: “I wish you could play my band’s songs in this game!”

Think of all the people to whom you could potentially expose your music through a video game like Rock Band: millions of kids, adults, and fellow musicians who embrace the fake Stratocaster controller as a chance to rock out. Currently, a few bands are able to do that through the game’s “Bonus Tracks” – these are playable songs by less known, typically local acts that were lucky to make their way into the game. (Disclaimer: most of these bands have some sort of connection with the game itself, such as a singer who happened to be a game developer.)

In a couple of months, this is going to be possible for the rest of us. Harmonix (the original creators of Rock Band, also Boston-based) is going to be rolling out a public beta of their new Rock Band Network in mid-November. This is a new online community that will allow bands, producers, or avid fans of the game to construct new Rock Band tracks based on their own master recordings, and then upload them for sharing within the game. (more…)