Wired
If you are an avid reader of this blog you already know that the Seattle Band Map is a project that showcases the Pacific Northwest’s vibrant music scene by visually documenting the thousands of bands who have performed and recorded throughout the decades. The Seattle Band Map is a creative collaboration between KEXP’s Rachel Ratner, local musician Keith Whiteman and web developer Golf Sinteppadon. They took the project online after running out of physical space on the paper map and the resulting website, which is still growing thanks to ongoing input by Seattle musicians and fans, has turned into a collaborative piece of informational art. By tapping into the knowledge of the crowd, the project has become a sort of oral history of rock ‘n’ roll for Seattle that is quickly spreading beyond Seattle’s city limits. The Seattle Band Map went live two weeks ago with only a few groups listed; today it includes more than 2,000. The information architecture that shows the relationships among bands is evolving: Ratner and crew want to make the linkages more descriptive, such as a green line for “played a show together,” a red line for “shared a band member,” a yellow line for “collaborated on an album,” etc. Check out the Wired article with the hyper-hyperlink above and maybe even make an addition to the Seattle Band Map.
YOUTUBE LAUNCHES PARTNER PROGRAM FOR INDIE BANDS
Wired
Independent musicians who are accepted by YouTube “Musicians Wanted” section may be able to quit their day jobs soon if their music videos and live musical performances draw enough views through a new feature of Google’s YouTube Partner Program. Artists will also make money when their YouTube videos are embedded on external websites, including music blogs. This could turn into a significant source of revenue for independent bands and labels that make videos people want to see and music they want to hear. Any and all comers are invited to submit their videos to the new section of the Musicians Wanted site. Read more about the program in this article from Wired magazine and then apply to be a part of it!
MOVIEMAKERS USE BRAIN SCAN TO TEST-SCREEN SCENES
Wired
When we sit down in a movie theater and see a film for the first time, we think we know how we react to that film. In reality, we have no clue as to how our brains are actually processing the images we are seeing on screen. Most of what we think we know is what we’ve been conditioned to know. We know to be scared at the scary parts, laugh at the funny parts and feel sad at the sad parts. Our inability to correctly communicate how films make us feel has skewed focus groups and created a standard template in the film industry as to how to make a movie. Now, the fairly new practice of neuromarketing — where MRI technology is used to determine a shopper’s preferences and actual brain reactions to a particular product or idea — is being applied to the film industry, starting with the horror genre. Check out this Wired article to view a video explanation of the technology and read a Q&A with Dr. David Hubbard, a board-certified neurologist who is the leading neurologist on the project.
