The abundance of music, and the preceived ease of producing it, comes to some as bad news – or even harbinger of apocalypse. But load up a craft with quantity, and quality is what stands out.

Francis Prève is a perfect Renaissance producer. With years of experience as a music technology journalist and sound designer, his own, signature flavor of tech-house is uniquely focused on timbre. His label, Academik Records, debuted last year at Austin’s South by Southwest, but it’s just now kicking into high gear. (If you are in Austin for the world’s best known week of music, be sure to check in on the second party, running downtown from afternoon past midnight, for free.) Sure, a city like Berlin is associated with such things, but in the Internet age, Texas works just as well – minus the vitamin D deficiency.

Academik Contest giveaway
Lanai Rooftop Party, Saturday March 17 3p – 2a

Francis has rounded up a gang of emerging and known artists for Academik, and while age range and style are loose – sometimes dubstep, sometimes tech-house – what those signees have in common is attention to detail. They’re a veritable faculty in how to use Ableton Live and Massive so that you don’t sound like everyone else who’s using Ableton Live and Massive just because everybody else happens to be using Ableton Live and Massive.

The output is nicely represented in a podcast, mixed by Francis, that very much embodies his style:

Alternatively, check out the SxSW 2012 Chart Francis put together for Beatport.

Anyway, party – if you’re in Texas, go there, dance, have a good time.

But if you’re not from Texas, or you’re avoiding it because all your exes are there (okay, darnit, I’ll stop quoting song lyrics), through The Power of The Internet, we have a bunch of music to hear and tips and techniques and samples and loops and Ableton Live Instrument Racks and Sets to download – all free.

That’s because Francis has been as sharing music and techniques for how to produce it as he has the usual label activities (remix, release). Now, disclosure: I’ve known Francis for a long time, as a colleague at Keyboard. But it’s partly because I know him that I have a sense of that quality of attention to detail – because we’ve spent countless hours discussing the fine points of synth design and production technique, because he’ll call me up to talk about some particular I happened to mention writing, because he even spent hours with me and James Grahame talking about the exact organization of knobs and switches on the MeeBlip. I figure part of my responsibility in this world is to get to know people like that really well. (It happens to be a lot of fun, too.)

As it happens, you can be in on the same conversations.

Analog+Digital, Hardware+Software

One ongoing discussion has been ways of bringing in a few, select pieces of beloved hardware into a software studio. Even before talking about sound, the motivation is clear: it can make music making a lot more rewarding. And we’re not talking wildly-expensive modular setups, either – even inexpensive offerings like the KORG MonoTribe can get in on the action.

A lot of people working with software aren’t clear on just how to make hardware and software integrate nicely. Francis wrote a really comprehensive article on that subject, using his own rig as the subject, for Keyboard recently.

He writes about the process of using Live’s brilliant – and sometimes underused – External Instrument and External Effect devices:

The first order of business was to create custom devices in Live for sending MIDI to a specific synth—for example, the Phatty—then routing its audio output back into that same device via the MOTU [UltraLite Mk. 3 audio] interface. I then saved the results as presets. Thus, when the laptop is docked, all I have to do is drag the device I’d created for the Phatty into a track, and the Phatty comes online…

The next thing I did was create an External Audio Effect device that sent audio to a device but didn’t receive any audio back … by setting it up to send audio but not receive, I can drop it at the end of an instrument chain within an Instrument Rack and send any soft synth into the Moog, SEM, Dark Energy, or Monotribe. From there, the combined analog-plus-soft-synth audio runs from the analog synth back into a free input on the MOTU, to be recorded in Live.

By doing this, I can use Operator, Razor, Kontakt or any soft synth as the “oscillator bank” for one of my analog synths. The whole of digital tone generation combined with the warmth and fuzz of analog filters and the snap of analog envelopes is far more than the sum of its parts.

Francis also describes “hybrid” devices, combining Ableton instruments like Operator with outboard ingredients like the Moog Little Phatty filter and amp — all while controlling modulation and step sequences and such on the hardware with MIDI and Live clip envelopes. (He even talks about how to tame the MonoTribe, despite its – cough – lack of MIDI.)

The full article is online:
The Integrated Synth-Based Studio [Keyboard Magazine]

Free Sounds

Apart from being a producer, Francis has long been a sound designer, working for the likes of Roland and Ableton His free-sampling, hardware-loving, sound design-addicted spirit has been gradually developing a vast selection of free sample packs on his blog. Some come from software (NI’s Razor), some from new hardware (Moog’s aforementioned Slim Phatty), and some from oddities (my favorite being the Mattel Synsonics drum machine toy).

But whereas the Academik Records music will be dependent on your personal taste and aesthetic, here these are sound packs that are versatile enough to bend to your will and needs, and to produce something very different from what anyone else might produce. And that, ultimately, is the point.

So here, all in one place, are those great downloads from Fran’s blog:

21st Century Sawtooth Pad [Instrument Rack/Live Set, Live 7+]

The String Machine [Instrument Rack and Live Set, Live 7+]

Arkade [8-bit emulating Instrument Racks, Live 7+]

Ableton Preset: Wavescraper [Simpler-based Instrument Rack using Saturator waveshaping, Live 7+]

Sine of the Times [All sine-wave Instrument Rack, Live 7+]

Mattel Synsonics drum machine toy [Drum samples, Live set]

M-Audio Venom Loops [128 bpm, in C | Raw audio, Live 7+]

Native Instruments Razor Loops [128 bpm, in Cm | Raw audio, Live 7+]

Moog Slim Phatty Loops [128 bpm, in C | Raw audio, Live 7+]

Okay, I may be in Germany (see you next week, Messe!), but if you’re in Austin, Texas, the CDM radar is picking up some strong blips of things you probably want to be doing, starting today, Do. 15 Mär. (Erm, uh, sorry, Thursday March 15!) Highlights include a Neon Indian show paired with visuals, music, and the good folks of Switched On, fine music from Robot Koch, TYCHO, and Sepalcure, a Saturday night dance party with Academik on a beautiful rooftop in the heart of town, and workshops – much of this free and not requiring a badge. A few, select picks:

Daytime plan: Dubspot workshops. If you are in Austin, by all means stop reading this and go to a set of afternoon matinee workshops that starts with Maschine and proceeds to Moog Minitaur and Voyager and wraps up with Livid’s CTRL:R for Live. Friday and Saturday are packed with more free workshops ranging from production and sound design to DJing, theory, and licensing. Faculty DJ Shiftee, DJ Kiva, Martín Perna Chris Petti, Daniel Wyatt, and Pat Cupo – some seriously talented guys – are on-hand. These are folks I feel I learn from every time I’m around them, so highly recommended, and the price is right.
http://blog.dubspot.com/dubspot-sxsw-2012-edu-sessions/

Also during the daytime, if you do have a badge, you should check out Exhibit Hall 5 for a bunch of gear showcases – a bit like being at NAMM, but in the middle of a massive music festival instead of in the middle of Anaheim. (No Disneyland, though.)

Thursday night plan: Switched On / Moog / Neon Indian showcase. Moog Music and Austin’s best music gear store, Switched On, are teaming up tonight for one hell of a showcase. Neon Indian is headlining, but that band’s Alan Palomo is bringing along synth-laden music from his Static Tongues imprint. By the way, 2012 is somehow bringing back the acronym EBM, among other “pinch-me-I’m-dreaming-and-went-to-synth-heaven” aspects of this year. The action runs 7pm-2am.
Facebook event

Thursday night backup plan: high-quality bass. The name’s a bit misleading – SxSWhomp is perhaps to appeal to those American kids – but if you can’t get into Switched On, this nicely-curated range of bass music from dubstep to experimental looks like the perfect ticket. Just after midnight is one of my favorite solo artists and producers at the moment, Berlin’s own Robot Koch (also the guy behind the excellent Jacoozi), alongside the likes of Kraddy and Noah D. It’s no cover, first come first serve.
Facebook event

Friday night plan: Tycho, then Sepalcure. Tycho, aka Scott Hansen, is both one of our long-time favorite artists and favorite taste-makers, as helmsman of the ISO50 blog. His new live show is terrific, and hits at 21:15 at Clive Bar. Then, it’s the team of Machinedrum and Praveen, aka Sepalcure, for some warm beats after midnight.

Saturday night plan: dance with Academik. Academik Records is back on the rooftop of Lanai in the heart of Austin – an ideal way to cap off your week with some actual dancing, courtesy some high-quality electronic dance music. DJ sets from Francis Prève, Jan van Lier, The Chaotic Good, and SecretPandaSociety ensure music ranging from finely-crafted tech house to breaks. (CDM is a sponsor in absentia, and you can win a MeeBlip on the spot, among other analog and digital hardware and software prizes.) There’s a great lineup of tech sponsors (Dave Smith!), no cover, and having DJed the same party last year, just the kind of atmosphere you’ll need Saturday.
Academik Blog Post
Facebook event
Giveaway (including some prizes you can win if you aren’t in Texas)

Don’t miss the Academik podcast, mixed by our friend Francis Prève, on SoundCloud, natch:

I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff, so send it in and I’ll consider adding it to our top picks. (And obviously, there’s the rest of SxSW – but this is just the kind of electronic-leaning material I expect you might otherwise miss.)

The content we watch on the Internet is, ultimately, just data. We view that data in fairly narrow, conventional ways, but there’s no reason that has to be the limit. In one of the more novel applications of the API for audio-storing service SoundCloud, one 3D printer is happily turning your music tracks and recordings into custom iPhone cases, each uniquely based on the waveform of your sounds.

This week in Austin at South by Southwest, SoundCloud was attracting attention with that notion, as partner manager Caroline Drucker showed off a custom case built from the sound of her walking across a train platform a pair of signature high heels. (It’s the U6 U-Bahnhof Schwartzkopffstraße, if you must know, specifically. The USA Today featured the footwear and the case. “Must’ve been the shoes.”)

It’s primarily for fun, of course, but it does illustrate a point. Just having a smartphone along is enough to capture sound in all kinds of situations – don’t overlook the built-in mic. (Just make sure you’ve got ample focus on whatever you’re trying to record, since these mics are very vulnerable to background and ambient noise, and use an app that lets you record in a lossless format, making it more useful for musical sampling.) Odds are you’ve been in the situation Caroline was and – if you’re paying attention to your environment – got a great sound just walking around.

Here’s that original sound, as recorded with the iPhone SoundCloud app (equivalents are available for other platforms, too, so finally put that mic to use for something other than just calls):

And if you do want to sport your sounds on an iPhone case, check out the cool Shapeways app. (And this might just give you other 3D printing or laser-cutting ideas, so go for it.)

http://www.shapeways.com/creator/thevibe

More on some of the other SoundCloud news soon.

You can visit CDM’s editor on SoundCloud, of course. Lots of people send tracks, so if you share your work, send a note to go with it, please!

Through Thursday, March 31 at midnight, you can grab SoundToys’ Devil-Loc plug-in for free, concluding a giveaway that began at the TapeOp party at South by Southwest. Devil-Loc is a nice-sounding emulation of the Shure M62. Chris Conover, in thanks for a Record beta I sent his way, points to the offer, a code (which I’ll share with readers), and mentions some ways he likes to use it – particularly, he says, on drum room mics:

It is inspired by the Shure M62 Level-Loc, which was designed to be a leveling amplifier for microphones to avoid spikes and fades. Users have discovered the M62 to have incredibly gritty, dirty, and unusual compression characteristics that made drums sound larger than life and quite aggressive.

Chris Conover at theProAudioFiles.com

The only bad news in all of this, aside from the expiration date, is that the plug-ins do need an iLok, if you don’t have one of those handy.

More than an opportunity to pimp SoundToys (whose work I really do enjoy as creative sound plug-ins), I think it’s a good opportunity to point to the site for which Chris is writing, theProAudioFiles.com. It’s full of reviews, tips on mixing, interviews, and resources for sound production. It could be a great place to start to get your mind on sound work.

http://theproaudiofiles.com/

For their part, SoundToys will have a Deluxe version of this plug-in next month. It’s really just as interesting to learn about the history of the Shure hardware on which it’s based, if you’re not already familiar with it:

The Shure M62 Level-Loc was designed by Shure to be a leveling amplifier mostly for mics. The concept was it would keep an even level (locked level) once it hit a certain input so you wouldn’t get “fade outs or blasting”. It was super simple with only a switch for three “distance” settings based on how far from the mic you were. The M62V upped the control a bit by adding an input level knob. However, the reason it became famous was not because it did a good job of leveling, it may have, but largely thanks to SoundToys user Tchad Blake and his desire to push, abuse, and do deliciously evil things to his tracks. He discovered that pushing the Level-Loc gave you gritty, dirty, unusual compression that made drums gigantic and nasty. Both of which are good things. So we’ve taken that concept and dropped it in the simple two control Devil-Loc. Then we’ve taken it further than the original hardware with the Devil-Loc Deluxe.

Read up on the plug and the contests and giveaways going on:
https://www.soundtoys.com/sxswpromo/

Then grab the actual plug – while there’s still time – via this link:

https://www.soundtoys.com/sxswpromo/&rc=340-9736-993

Austin isn’t generally associated with electronic music, but from bands to strictly electronic acts, you see lines blurring all over the place. And amidst the many, many things happening here in Texas in the coming days, we’re fortunate at CDM to help support two events.

Tonight is the Allies Electronic Lounge – 416 W Cesar Chavez, 9-2, no badge and free, with Two Fresh, DJ Vadim, Eskmo, and Mindelixer. I’m especially excited about Eskmo’s music, and wherever you are in the world, you can take a listen, free. (Topspin just launched their media platform for everyone if you want to do the same with your music, and they’re naturally partying it up here in Texas to celebrate.)

http://www.musicallies.com/electronicalounge/

There’s some of the crackly clap sound that the kids love these days, to be sure, but Eskmo has some serious sound design chops, and a vocal style I love, very often reminiscent of Matthew Dear. I’m told Eskmo works with Native Instruments’ Maschine drum sampler instrument live. If you have any questions about how he works, let me know; I’ll be doing some research. Eskmo, aka San Francisco’s Brendan Angelides, has been on Warp and Ninja Tune, but he also has a mean mix of Brainfeeder music:

http://www.eskmo.com/

Friday night, it’s another free event on a rooftop in the heart of downtown Austin. I’m playing at 9pm on the spot to warm things up, so come say hello. Lots of free tech to win. No downloads yet, but again, if you’re not in Texas, let me know if you want any tips or information from these folks — I can sum it up by saying they’re all a bit insane with Ableton Live automation and sound design with Operator and NI’s Massive.
http://academikrecords.blogspot.com/

Analog and digital, gadgetry and module, DIY and ready-to-play, today in Austin we’re blessed with a get-together at the insanely-amazing Switched On music store. Austin’s noisiest manufacturers are dropping in to show some of their wears.

If you’re not in Austin, have a look at the lineup below and see if you have any questions for these makers, and I can bring back those answers to our readers around the world.

The event is free, 4:00 – 7:00 pm. It’s very informal and intimate – just sound geek boys and girls hanging out.

The Victory Grill Cafe
Across from 1111 E. 11th Switched On
Austin, TX

Switched On: a place where your money goes to die, but vintage synthesizers and circuit-bend video machines and other goodies replace it

I’ll kick of the proceedings with the MeeBlip, our fully open-source synth – which, now after several months of use and creative users, I can now say quite a lot about.
http://meeblip.com

Then…

Bleep Labs is a locally owned & operated manufacturer of some of the most creatively unique sound toys, some of which can be interfaced with CV supported hardware. His Thingamagoop 2 light controlled Analog + Digital Synth Friend is a hot item in every store who carries it. Please come check out some of his other gadgets that will blow you away!
http://www.bleeplabs.com/

Livid Instruments has been crafting controllers for electronic music in Austin, Texas since 2004, and offers a line of commercially available control surfaces and DIY products through dealers and distributors worldwide. Livid will be demoing it’s product line with software tools like Ableton Live, Max/MSP, Reason, ArKaos, and Traktor.
http://www.lividinstruments.com/
http://www.lividindustry.com/
http://www.lividdesign.com/

Dann Green of 4ms will demo synthesizer modules, including the Rotating Clock Divider, Shuffling Clock Multiplier, and the soon-to-be-released VCAMatrix. The RCD and SCM are hackable microcontroller-based timing generators for creating complex rhythm patterns, and the VCAMatrix is a 4×4 CV-controllable analogue signal mixer/router.
http://4mspedals.com/

Mickey Delp will be demoing several Delptronics products including the Guitar Meister, which plays real guitar sounds on a PS2 guitar controller; and the Bender Sequencer, a step sequencer designed for DIY synth builders and circuit benders. Mickey will also be showing his custom synthesizer created for Dorkbot’s SXSW event. The synth was sponsored by, and built with parts from Radio Shack.
http://delptronics.com/

bubblesound is proud to be joining this line up a month after we relocated from NYC, and we will be showing off our new oscillator: the VCOb. This is the first time the VCOb will be demo’d in public, so come on down. The VCOb will be joining the rest of the bubblesound line; the SeM20, the uLFO, the cvWS and the LvL+rm. It starts shipping in April.
www.bubblesound-instruments.com

Sometimes things look interesting even before you can fully grasp just what they mean. Such is the case, I think, with what’s happening with SoundCloud’s on-the-go tools. Now, back in the beginning of this service, I predicted it’d become the Flickr of audio, and I wasn’t alone. But it’s becoming something else, something that really involves mobility.

The SoundCloud crew are out at South by Southwest, as good a gathering as any for the intersection of Web nerd culture with music and film. And they have something to show for it, too: they’re unveiling new Android and iOS mobile apps, among other updates – and location, with FourSquare.

Android phone owners certainly no longer need to feel like second-class citizens, with bug fixes, track commenting, and Twitter and Facebook sharing. You can also add widgets to your homescreen, a feature that iOS lacks. (I have to say, for all of iOS’ sophistication, the one thing Android does very well is make apps integrate with one another, and with data and the cloud.)

There are updates not only for Android, but iOS and desktop, too, detailed in a blog post geared for South by Southwest:
Create & Share (Even) More Easily

Both Android and iOS users get Foursquare interaction. That could mean … well, something. The ability to make recording a sound an event, to tie it to a place in the real world, is theoretically compelling. Exactly what you’d do with this data I think has a lot to do with the content itself. Might this be a way to tie, say, a live set to the venue at which it was played, or sound samples of an interactive art gallery installation, or an open mic night that has recordings and not just pictures? Possibly – although there’s nothing saying you really need a fancy tool to do those things, either.

With the Interactive portion out of the way, SoundCloud now gets unleashed on South by Southwest’s Music Festival, which has grown to an extent that it feels like all musical output has collided on one point. It’s a quantum singularity as much as a music festival. So we’ll see if SoundCloud does something interesting at those events – or if it’s just another eager Web name against the backdrop of a lot of booze-drenched music parties. And to me, it’s an open question how to use these tools to get more people in person, in the flesh, at live events, which I think for many musicians is the goal. (That is, you’d use SoundCloud to encourage people to get off their computers and go hear some live music!)

SoundCloud isn’t sitting around hoping you’ll figure it out, though; they have some tips:
SoundCloud 101: How to host your events sampler!
SoundCloud 101

Any of you in Austin or elsewhere in the musical world, if you do catch cool stuff happening with SoundCloud or other Internet-enabled audio, we’d love to hear about it.

Next week, as the South by Southwest Music Festival descends on Austin, Texas, I’m pleased CDM gets to be involved in a few terrific independent events. No badges, no cover, free drinks and even free giveaways – if you happen to be in Austin, you can save money and then do what I’ll probably do, spend it all at the awesome Switched On synth boutique.

Here’s the schedule:
Wednesday 3/16: Switched On Meet & Greet, 4-7p
The MeeBlip synth meets local electronic instruments at Austin’s legendary boutique synth and sonic and visual electronic shop, Switched On. We’ll be relaxing, geeking out around synths, and I hear word of some surprises TBD.

Thursday 3/17: Allies Electronic Lounge, 9p-2a
Two Fresh, DJ Vadim (and The Electric), Eskmo, and Mindelixir all play live performances. “Powered by Native Instruments” – expect to see some Maschine virtuosity in honor of the sponsor. CDM is a sponsor, and we’ll be talking to artists about their techniques. More details below.
RSVP: http://www.musicallies.com/electronicalounge/

Friday 3/18: Academik Label Launch Event, 9p-2a
Academik launches a new electronic label on a rooftop lounge in central Austin, with Francis Preve (also a writer for Keyboard), Secret Panda Society, William A, Sentinels, and Shreddward. I’ll play an early set, too, and there are giveaways of the M-Audio Venom, Reason+Record, Korg Legacy Collection, Thingamagoop 2, Ableton t-shirts, and more every hour.
Academik Blog Post

Let me repeat. Everything is free, no cover, no badge. And at some events, you might walk away with free drinks or a synth.

More below on Allies and Academik…

Thursday with Allies: Free Live Electronic Music, Open Bar

Click for full-sized flyer. RSVP.

Okay, Eskmo, this is pretty darned trippy. Am I going to be out in the desert outside Austin by the end of the week, basically seeing this?

Eskmo: “Cloudlight” Official video

Eskmo | Myspace Music Videos

Friday with Academik: Free Rooftop Beat Lounge, Giveaways

Click for full-sized flyer. Blog post.

Like the aspiring artists themselves, there’s an abundance of Web services with big dreams of stardom. Most will fall into obscurity, and wading through them is a big chore. And then, love them or hate them, there are the huge pop hits, raking in cash and making kids swoon.

So, here’s a bet. Topspin, already one of a handful of genuinely-promising services for artists and managers to make the music business work, is about to get bigger. Think the Beatles right after they land in the US.

You’ve probably already used Topspin from the other side: know those ubiquitous boxes that ask for your email and return the favor with a free track? That’s the one. (I’ve included a couple from our friends at Saturn Never Sleeps, and Tricil, who tipped us off on this story, to jog your memory.)

Collecting emails is vital. Over the past few years, Web and music conferences have been packed with sessions describing a future where independent artists don’t languish in obscurity, because they collect a handful of “true” fans. Without being able to stay in touch with those fans, none of those visions is possible.

Topspin is a lot more than that, though. It’s an easily-embedded shopping cart for music and merchandise that works on any site or Facebook page. It does international currencies. It’s that email tracking, but it also manages connections on Facebook and Twitter, and helps you follow up on those emails without violating privacy. (Hint: abusing emails isn’t something anyone wants to do. On the contrary, you want to be as well-behaved with email as possible to keep from getting blacklisted.) It has extensive analytics, so you can figure out who your fans are and where they are.

To me, these services are really essential to music in culture. The actual income for most artists won’t be enormous, though every little bit helps. (For instance, imagine artists earning just enough to pay for their health insurance here in the US. That can transform your life and career.) But income aside, the connection between artists and listeners is necessary to getting music heard, and knowing where to play live gigs. That means having smarter artists impacts the rest of us – it means that someone we’ve discovered and loved might actually come to our town and play, for instance, or is motivated to release an extra EP.

And that’s where the news portion of this story enters: Topspin, previous accessible to the few, is coming to the many. In March, just in time for the epic South by Southwest Music Festival, Topspin is rolling out their platform to absolutely everyone, with pricing starting at a lean US$9.99 a month.

With anyone able to climb onboard, and evidently wildly-affordable service prices, Topspin could become the service everyone uses. The company is also promising new platform features and a redesigned app. 4,000-plus artists use Topspin now since it opened in 2008 as a private beta, including the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Arcade Fire. I’m guessing that number could rise from four thousand to “just about everybody.”

That’s all Topspin is saying as of yesterday, but more details are coming; we’ll be watching. I hope you’ll watch here on CDM, of course, but naturally you can use a Topspin widget to get in on the announcement, like so:

There’s also a US$5000 grant program for exploring direct-to-fan business plans, with celebrity judges from Columbia Records, William Morris, the Pixies, Billboard, Berklee, and the like. Details on both:

New Features + Open Access for All Artists+ $5000 D2F Grant

Speaking of how to make this all work, there’s an excellent presentation from LA’s New Music Seminar that explains how you’d put this together as an artist. It’s relevant really whether or not you want to use Topspin. (The contest above also is open to non-Topspin users.)

Getting Practical: A Step-By-Step Guide to Building an Online Marketing Plan That Works (Ian’s Presentation From New Music Seminar Los Angeles, February 2011)

So, in the spirit of this, here are two sets of artists I really like who demonstrate just how useful Topspin can be in practice. First up, Atlanta-based musician (and long-time CDM community member) Johnny Blaze, aka Tricil, who tipped me off to this story this week via Twitter.

Tricil’s a perfect example of the kind of artists who can thrive in the Web age, a solo “melodic IDM”-centric musician and keyboardist, Live programmer, releasing a music video via iPad, and so on. Tricil tells us that this tool, particularly the mailing list signup, has been invaluable.

On the band-cum-label side, there are our friends at Philadelphia-based Saturn Never Sleeps, including King Britt and Rucyl. They likewise rely on mailing lists to promote unusual, often experimental music from lesser-known artists, along with their far-out musical parties.

There you go — see how easy that was? You got to immediately hear some music, and see if it’s for you without sacrificing cash or worrying about filling out a payment form. They got an email address to keep in touch with you, but can repay you in the form of more free music or, depending on where you live, actually playing for you live and meeting you in person.

And whatever other analyses there may be, if any of this helps keep live music alive, it’s a good thing.

Tried Topspin? Let us know what you think – including criticisms of what you don’t like about the platform, along with what you do.

Handmade Music is our party for people who make things that make music. If you create your own musical tools – whether acoustic instruments and soundmakers, hacks, circuit bends, custom Pd and Max patches, electronics, or code – we want to hear from you.

We’re looking for contributors in NYC, Texas, and around the world:

• Live acts and projects in New York
• Street team volunteers in NYC and to help organize and promote events in other parts of the planet
• Live acts and projects for a special South by Southwest Interactive showcase in Austin, Texas with our friends at Etsy.com

1. If you can get to Austin, TX or NYC, tell us about your project or act! And feel free to pass this along to friends, students, and the like. The calls for artists will be ongoing.

NYC + Austin/SxSW call for works 2011 – direct Google Docs form link

2. Be part of Handmade Music anywhere on Earth: Also, while we’ve hinted at this before, 2011 is the year in which I’d like to really help support people trying to organize similar Handmade Music events in other parts of the world, building on regular events in Austin and Toronto and events held in cities like Amsterdam, LA, and Porto, Portugal.

If you’d like to help make Handmade Music grow in your part of the world, you can sign up for that and we’ll send more information (and yes, we welcome volunteers here in the NYC area, too!):

Handmade Music 2011 Global Organizing

Want to know more? Read an explanation of what Handmade Music’s about.