Any digital/ambience/indy music fans? Putting myself out there (sharing with FOFC!)

[Mike Lowe]

I've been writing music on/off since probably middle school (I'm 31 now) and have finally gotten back into things the past few months, this time with more of a digital spin. I honestly cannot READ music to save my life, but it's always been something that's come very natural to me to produce and stuff usually just comes to mind that I end up putting down in one format or another.

Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I figured what the heck...

Mike Adamski Music

I'm not one to plug myself, but I've seen some inspiring stuff come from a lot of FOFC folks so I thought I might share. If you like anything you hear, "like" me or whatever it's called!

As you'll see on the page, I'm in search of someone to potentially put some art/photography together for an EP/demo.

Thanks for reading!

[Tim Tellean]

Mike,

Check out this site. Stereo Subversion

Also Jon Sanders blog Hear! Hear!

[Mike Lowe]

Thank you Tim. The second link seems like it has some folky roots...sort of neat though that they're covering smaller artists in such depth.

The first one I'd love to eventually submit some of my work to. I'm planning on getting some promo/photography done first like I mentioned in the original post.

Are you affiliated with either site? Are you a musician yourself?

[JediKooter]

Not my cup of tea, but, very well done. Good job man.

[Mike Lowe]

Thanks JK.

[JediKooter]

You're welcome. I should listen to it on better speakers though.

[Mike Lowe]

Haha, yes! Makes a huge difference!

[JediKooter]

These work speakers are bit to be desired.

[MacroGuru]

Also check out ....Trax In Space : Home

[Draft Dodger]

I like it. Very nice stuff

[Mike Lowe]

Thanks DD

[Jonathan Sanders]

Tim, thanks for calling out my site "Hear! Hear!" I definitely do have an appreciation for folk music (and anything with even a hint of pop hooks to it) and I love giving a chance to indie musicians who don't have the clout of a major label act. If any of you have suggestions, feel free to email me ... kroessman(at)gmail(dot)com

[Jonathan Sanders]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

I've been writing music on/off since probably middle school (I'm 31 now) and have finally gotten back into things the past few months, this time with more of a digital spin. I honestly cannot READ music to save my life, but it's always been something that's come very natural to me to produce and stuff usually just comes to mind that I end up putting down in one format or another.

Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I figured what the heck...

Mike Adamski Music

I'm not one to plug myself, but I've seen some inspiring stuff come from a lot of FOFC folks so I thought I might share. If you like anything you hear, "like" me or whatever it's called!

As you'll see on the page, I'm in search of someone to potentially put some art/photography together for an EP/demo.

Thanks for reading!

Ran a review of the song "Like We Used To" as a featured song

FEATURED SONG: Mike Adamski – “Like We Used To” « Hear! Hear!

[path12]

Nice sound, Mike. I'm interested in hearing more.

EDIT: I did listen to the rest on your page. Nice stuff, I could easily have that on while working.

[Mike Lowe]

Wow, I'm so grateful Jonathan for your review and the kind words and encouragement you shared. Thank you so much!

Path and others, thanks so much as well for the kind words and support!

[terpkristin]

Mike,

Great stuff. That takes some balls just to put yourself out there. I totally dig your stuff. Not digging the FB interface (mostly because I don't like to sit on FB all day) but if this were available as an MP3/M4A download I could buy or a disc, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Let us know if it does become available as such haha.

Also, I don't know if you know about CD Baby but if you were looking to distribute, they might be able to help. A friend of mine distributes her band's stuff through them. http://www.cdbaby.com/

/tk

[Mike Lowe]

I'm working on putting something together Kristin so I will let folks know when I do. Thanks for "liking" the Facebook page. I'm hoping to get a regular website up and running in the coming weeks.

Your feedback was incredible to hear, and much appreciated! Thank you.

[Mike Lowe]

Two questions:

1) Can anyone point me in the right direction in regards to getting music copyrighted? I'm not even that concerned with anything "super official," I'd be happy with even some generic wording I can slap on a website if it would actually hold someone accountable.

2) I'm REALLLY wanting to find a way to distribute a demo/EP via way of 100% download. I'd like for this download to include cover art, booklet with pics, lyrics, etc...Is this possible? I mean, I could always lump in a .pdf of something but that seems sort of silly. Do people still actually want a real CD and booklet? Probably more desire for the latter...

[Draft Dodger]

I was able to download the songs by following the link on facebook to fm.

and Mike, technically your songs are already copyrighted. If you want to register that copyright though....How to Copyright a Song - wikiHow

[Tim Tellean]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Two questions:

1) Can anyone point me in the right direction in regards to getting music copyrighted? I'm not even that concerned with anything "super official," I'd be happy with even some generic wording I can slap on a website if it would actually hold someone accountable.

2) I'm REALLLY wanting to find a way to distribute a demo/EP via way of 100% download. I'd like for this download to include cover art, booklet with pics, lyrics, etc...Is this possible? I mean, I could always lump in a .pdf of something but that seems sort of silly. Do people still actually want a real CD and booklet? Probably more desire for the latter...

Mike,

On #2 Contact Jon Sanders, he's plugged into scene.

[Mike Lowe]

Thanks everyone again for the help!

Here's another question as I continue to press on:

3) Does PayPal offer any services more geared to selling smaller items? The way it seems now, they charge you a small percentage (great), no monthly/yearly costs (great), but then want 30 cents for every purchase $3,000 or less. Well, since I don't plan on selling my songs for $3,000 just yet, that 30 cents is a big cut into the .99 I was planning on using.

Thoughts?!?

[Butter_of_69]

Nicely done. I enjoyed the 2 songs I listened to. Wish I had a mind for songwriting, but I just stick to enjoying what other people do. Keep it up.

[Mike Lowe]

Thank you butter

[Jonathan Sanders]

Noisetrade allows you to distribute an EP for free, and fans can then "pay what they want" if they feel you deserve money for it. You keep 80% of any "tips" direct to your PayPal account.

Artist sign-up: http://www.noisetrade.com/account/register

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Thanks everyone again for the help!

Here's another question as I continue to press on:

3) Does PayPal offer any services more geared to selling smaller items? The way it seems now, they charge you a small percentage (great), no monthly/yearly costs (great), but then want 30 cents for every purchase $3,000 or less. Well, since I don't plan on selling my songs for $3,000 just yet, that 30 cents is a big cut into the .99 I was planning on using.

Thoughts?!?

Yes. I forget what it's called, but it's through PayPal. I'll have to search for it when I'm done working. I'm a musician myself and run a studio out of my home. Ever hear of Bandcamp? They offer digital distribution. Check out their page. That's where I found the Paypal thing too, so if you read their FAQ you might find it in there.

[Jonathan Sanders]

Completely forgot about Bandcamp ... they're great as well.

[JetsIn06]

MicroPayments

[JetsIn06]

Also check out..

TuneCore : Digital Music Distribution – Sell Your Music Online

[Mike Lowe]

I'm actually STRONGLY leaning towards making my music available for free download and accepting donations if anyone would like.

I'm not in it for the money and even if I were, charging folks 99 cents for a song isn't going to do much at this point haha.

Website is almost done...I'll post what I have in a bit.

[Mike Lowe]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Sanders

Noisetrade allows you to distribute an EP for free, and fans can then "pay what they want" if they feel you deserve money for it. You keep 80% of any "tips" direct to your PayPal account.

Artist sign-up: http://www.noisetrade.com/account/register

Thanks Jonathan. That sounds more expensive than what PayPal is going to be charging, right?

[Mike Lowe]

Thanks so much everyone! I've submitted the request to PayPal to switch to micro-payments.

It will take up to 2 days to activate.

[Mike Lowe]

Ok, website is up. Peruse away and let me know what you think?!?!?

www.mikeadamski.com

[terpkristin]

Done and done. Of course, if you ever decide to release physical media, I'd buy that too.

/tk

[Mike Lowe]

Thank you so much Kristin

Physical media...I thought about it and I'd like to one day but I know I wanted to just get something up there or else who knows when I'd actually get around to doing it.

What sort of media would interest folks? I'd want it to be a 100% digital download as I just don't have the time right now to be packaging/shipping stuff. I'm thinking of doing some more with podcasting or more with the YouTube channel to just get some more info out there. At least for me, I always found it interesting to hear musicians I liked/respected talk about their music and writing, etc.

[terpkristin]

I usually like to get CD's so I can rip them myself (and I can therefore determine what audio quality I want/need). But since you provided high-quality audio in the zip, that's not the biggest issue.

I haven't looked yet, does the zip contain album art? That's one thing I actually like about iTunes/iPod, that it gives me the album cover and sometimes a PDF of the booklet.

/tk

[Mike Lowe]

The zip itself does not contain album art, but I've linked it to each MP3 file.

However, I just uploaded a new zip that contains the cover art in the album's folder now. Otherwise, I've attached the image to this post.

I do have some other pages of a booklet I've been working on. I was going to get some more pics done first so hang tight and I'll do my best to add some more content to the site

Thanks again everyone!

[JetsIn06]

Very cool stuff! What kind of software/gear are you using?

[Mike Lowe]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

Very cool stuff! What kind of software/gear are you using?

Thank you. For software I am using FL Studio and various plug-ins. Hardware, I'm using a Gateway NV52 laptop with Windows 7, 4GB RAM.

The laptop I'd like to eventually upgrade as it has trouble keeping up once things get more than a few layers deep.

Guitars I have a Les Paul Gibson Studio and a couple of Ibanez acoustics. The microphone I use I absolutely love and I THINK (I'm gone for the weekend) it's a Shure SM55 condenser.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Thank you. For software I am using FL Studio and various plug-ins. Hardware, I'm using a Gateway NV52 laptop with Windows 7, 4GB RAM.

The laptop I'd like to eventually upgrade as it has trouble keeping up once things get more than a few layers deep.

Guitars I have a Les Paul Gibson Studio and a couple of Ibanez acoustics. The microphone I use I absolutely love and I THINK (I'm gone for the weekend) it's a Shure SM55 condenser.

Awesome. Have you ever used/heard of/wanted to try Reason? It's great, but somewhat pricey. I use it for everything I write that has any electronic aspects to it.

The World's Favorite Music Making, Recording and Music Production Software - Propellerhead

[JetsIn06]

dola..

I'm with you on the upgrading...at the moment I'm running Core 2 Quad with 4GB of Ram. Reason runs like butter because there are no plugins really, but once I start routing my Reason stuff into Pro Tools and start using my API plugins from Waves....recording Vocals becomes a huge hassle. It doesn't help that Pro Tools is simply a piece of shit when it runs on Windows, and apparently Windows 7 is worse (I'm on Vista), which sucks because Vista only recognizes 4GB of Ram, so if I do upgrade, I'll just have to hope I'm lucky.

As far as mics go, I have a bunch but for vocals I pretty strictly use an AKG2000b condenser.

[Mike Lowe]

Reason looks interesting. There are some quirks about FL that drive me nuts, but I've spent so much time tinkering and learning the software that I might be too stuck in my ways to switch right now.

I'm happy to be at a place with FL where I can focus 90% on the music and only 10% on the wtf is happening?!

[Mike Lowe]

Hey everyone and happy new year...

I've posted some shorts/loops to my website (new url) and thought some of you may be interested...

Stay tuned for a new tune or two soon!

www.mikeadamskimusic.com

[Mike Lowe]

Here's a direct link:
http://www.mikeadamskimusic.com/shorts-loops

[terpkristin]

Sweet!

/tk

[Mike Lowe]

In case anyone's sitting at their computer Tuesday afternoon, I'm going to be featured on London's Splash Radio...2pm CST, 3pm EST.

www.splashradio.org


More info on mikeadamskimusic.com or my Facebook page.

[Mike Lowe]

Hey everyone...got a bit ahead of schedule as I usually wait until the summer months to dive into writing.

I've uploaded a new track called, "Searched What Wasn't There (I Love You Girl)." It's a good ol' fashioned love song with mostly acoustic and an ambient/chill sort of feel to it.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Here's a direct link:
Mike Adamski - Searched What Wasn't There (I Love You Girl) on Official.fm

Press the white play button to the right of the name of the song...

www.facebook.com/mikeadamskimusic
www.mikeadamskimusic.com

[Mike Lowe]

I'm honored to have London's Splash Radio playing the song today I just finished up last week at 2PM CST, 3PM EST, 6PM BST.

If you're around a computer, take a listen
Splash Radio - Live stream

[Mike Lowe]

I'm honored to have London's Splash Radio playing the song today I just finished up last week at 2PM CST, 3PM EST, 6PM BST.

If you're around a computer, take a listen
Splash Radio - Live stream

[Mike Lowe]

Woops, sorry for the double post.

[JediKooter]

Awesome. Congrats!