by Mike Errico | Jul 15, 2015 | audio, Books, Press, Video
Book writers, readers, adorers, check it out, consider a contribution: Design Observer has launched a Kickstarter to fund an exhibition and catalog of the winners of this year’s 50 Books I 50 Covers design competition. [I’m honored to have contributed music to the campaign.] “Established in 1923 by the American Institute of Graphic Arts as “Fifty Books,” the 50 Books | 50 Covers competition is now the longest continually running design competition in the United States. Since 2011, Design Observer has hosted it. And in 2015, for the first time, we are publishing a book and mounting an exhibition to commemorate the competition winners of 2014, narrowed down from a field of 500 entries from fourteen countries. Dave Eggers, a previous 50 Books | 50 Covers recipient, will introduce this “book of books.” Photographer George Baier, who has photographed countless authors and book jacket projects himself, has thoughtfully taken pictures of every book and cover winner. Mohawk has generously donated the finest paper. And with Blurb, we will be printing our book, locally, here in the United States. We have judged the competition (SEE THE WINNERS HERE), photographed all the books, designed our catalog, printed test pages, and have begun to design the exhibit in New Orleans. More info:...
by Mike Errico | Jul 8, 2015 | audio, Video
My dad, at a recent piano competition in Boston. He’s good. Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall Longy School of Music ~ Cambridge, Massachusetts Saturday June 13, 2015 Semifinalist Award: Best Programming Medtner’s Sonata Reminiscenza, Op. 38, from Forgotten...
by Mike Errico | Jun 24, 2015 | Stories, Text Journalism, The Solo Show
Recently, I wrote a piece on Cuepoint about how :30 second songs might be just around the corner because streaming services pay artists after :30 seconds. Well. About a week passed. There’s a new site called Eternify that claims it gets artists paid by streaming only the :30 needed in order to count as a “stream.” The future, kids. I don’t get it either. So let’s have some fun. The link I’m not-so-strangely interested in: http://eternify.it/#Mike-Errico Technically, all you do is click on a piece of mine and it will stream :30 clips. I’ve never done something so easy in the entire Internet. Here’s the deal: You work with me, I’ll make stuff for you. If you are leaving work/stepping away from your computer for the evening, or if you don’t listen to music while you work, you can click on it, then simply hit mute and go about your day/evening. If that’s too intrusive, you can click on it before you step away from your computer for the day, and just let it run. You can, it appears, even open multiple tabs and let them run simultaneously. (I tried it. Seems like it works.) Would you rather get another artist paid, too? Not a problem — just open a tab and stream that artist, too. It also gives a running total, so you can keep track of your contribution by taking a screen grab. Like so: YOUR EXCELLENT QUESTIONS PROBABLY ARE: “Mike: What will you do with the money, if it arrives?” I’ll make more of the stuff you (hopefully) already like. Same as if you subscribed to a Kickstarter or Patreon campaign, except...
by Mike Errico | Jun 9, 2015 | Text Journalism
A centuries-old bet with Queen Elizabeth shows that you just need to use the right scale. So what’s the value of music? Let’s take one possibility off the table: it’s not “zero,” because, as we know, there’s demand. I mean, the value of air is not zero, plentiful as it still is — it’s legally protected, and if you still insist that it has no inherent value, well, just have it taken from you. See? Value. Are there similar analogies that can be instructive within the streaming music space? Well, yes. Check out “How Sir Walter Raleigh Calculated the Value of Streaming Music,” my latest piece on...
by Mike Errico | Jun 9, 2015 | Teaching, Text Journalism
Honored to have ASCAP pick up my piece on tech’s effect on songwriting. Question: In the streaming economy, do songs have a financial incentive to change what they look and sound like? For instance, Spotify, the clear leader in the streaming space, pays after 30 seconds, so an honest question is: Why write beyond that? And… Are you, in fact, screwing yourself six times over for writing a three-minute song (:30 x 6 = 3:00 song)? A “song disruptor” would just cut everything back to :32 or so, and see huge positive results in his/her own streaming royalty statements. Labels would love it for the same reason (more money). Thinking ahead: If a critical mass were to adopt song forms of these lengths, would Spotify payouts to creators suddenly rise sixfold? That would probably crush the business model, wouldn’t it? I mean, it can’t make a profit as is, and songs are clocking in at around three minutes. Are streaming services just skating by on all that non-monetized listening time? Spotify also pays higher rates at around five minutes — because of course it does. It makes the company money to not have to pay out for four entire minutes of a song. Taking this into account, what is this thing – songwriting – going to look and sound like in the not-too-distant future? Read more on ASCAP’s web site. Original post on...
