Comedy Music Cellar

In the era of digital music distribution, is it easier for an aspiring young artists to sell their music? Have things changed for the better or did the uncontrollable file sharing made it even more difficult to reach wider audience and get paid well at the same time?

The distribution channels have certainly changed and while some old-timers are fighting these changes head-on, the younger bands and musicians are embracing them and making them work in their advantage. Back in the days, if you wanted your LP or CD to sell well, you needed to hire a distributor, who took a significant cut from the sales, but made sure that your music is distributed to a great number of record stores. However, this was a model, which worked well for popular and established bands and musicians since each one of their new releases was in high demand. The possibilities for a new artist to reach large audience were almost non-existent, but all this changed with the increasing popularity of the Internet.

Now, you can use digital music distribution methods to have your music heard and your videos seen by millions of fans worldwide. You can utilize the immense powers of the large video sharing websites such as YouTube to release a new song, or have your whole album sold in some of the numerous online music stores such as iTunes, Amazon MP3, and eMusic. By working with prominent distributors like CD Baby, you could reach for the skies, sell millions of copies, and pay considerably lower fees than if you opt in for the traditional distribution channels. You could also sell your work independently and set up your own mini music store, from where your fans could download the songs after paying a small fee for each download. With the ability to reach millions of fans in hundreds of countries, the Internet is a powerful tool that all musicians should use, and combining the mainstream and the digital music distribution channels is an approach, which could help a struggling independent artist get his or her music heard.

Each year, the Princeton Review, who also ranks schools academically, publishes a list of the top ten party schools in the country. The list is based on a combination of survey questions concerning the use of alcohol and drugs, hours of study each day, and the popularity of the Greek system, according to the Princeton Review. Playboy Magazine also publishes a party schools list annually and there are some other lists that come up sporadically.
There are several schools on this year’s list that are regulars, and show up pretty much every year on the Princeton list, as well as on other lists that are published. These inlcude:
West Virginia
Texas at Austin
Florida
Florida State
Ohio University
Here is 2010’s list of top party schools, according to the Princeton Review [...]

I’m one of those lucky fellas that’s at the age where he gets to live with three teenager daughters.  Yep, that’s right 3 of them, and they all take or have taken piano lessons at one time or another.  We let the oldest stop once she reached high school, since we figured she’d have her hands full with all the school work.  It turned out to be a pretty good decision, as she now has a job and sport commitments that there was no way she could have fit in with piano lessons as well.  Her two younger sisters still take lessons, and for some reason it seems to be more of an exercise to get them to stick with it.  Must be something about an older child just doing what she’s told. [...]

I can still clearly recall the day when I realized that the pace of technological change had really picked up. Having returned from a year of backpacking round the world I was back in the big city and the modern world. As I took my seat on the bus I took out my faithful tape recorder, which I had bought in Brazil and which had served me so well though South America, and nosily opened the cassette door. As I rifled through my bag to find the most suitable cassette I felt someone staring at me. A cool Asian girl sitting across from me was holding something which I was later to discover was called an mp3 player (these had been available before I left but only really took off during my year out) and looking at me as though I had just arrived from my cave with a wooden club and a crudely chiseled flint axe. [...]

While music and movies are two of my most favorite things in the whole world, asking me to choose between the two is incredibly difficult.  I can’t imagine a world without movies, and I can’t imagine a world without music.  [...]

After playing guitar for any amount of time seriously, you begin to look for ways to personalize your music and really make it your own. This can come in a number of different ways, and is singular to the individual. Some of the more gifted musicians are able to transform their music and meld it into something unique and memorable. Placing this sort of stamp on their tunes is terrific. For many of us that are not at the level of mind-blowing creativity, we must look to other means of personalization. One of the better ways to add your own flare to your music is by customizing your instrument. [...]

Who says, that wearing glasses isn’t cool.  Who ever they are, they’ve obviously never been introduced to either Buddy Holly or Elvis Costello.  Personally, I think even Roy Orbison would fit into this category, but I’m not sure my aunt would agree.  It’s true, that for some reason she’s just never had a fond place in her heart for the man, so for her sake I’ll leave him out of this story.  I always grew up thinking that [...]

When it comes to kids toys we have a pretty much never ending number of items to choose from. [...]

I’m not sure why it is that only athletes and weekend warriors are associated with injuries. Well, I suppose office workers fall into that category as well.  But musicians also do a lot of repetitive movements that can lead to carpal tunnel type problems.  If you fall into that category, I would recommend [...]