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Deezer taps BandPage for more interaction between artists and fans
Music streaming services like Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify and Tidal already offer ways for artists to connect with their fans. By partnering with BandPage, Deezer is looking to do the same. After making the trek across the Atlantic to stream tunes in the States earlier this year, Deezer will allow musicians to promote tour dates, photos, merchandise and VIP meet-ups with the help of BandPage. The company has already been working with Rhapsody and Spotify, sending 1.5 million eager fans to artist stores on a monthly basis. Based you your streaming habits, BandPage will serve up push notifications with artist info you might find interesting. When you factor in Deezer's six million subscribers, there's some potential for artist/listener interaction as the company looks to keep its piece of the streaming pie in a crowded marketplace. As mentioned, these types of musician-facing tools have been a part of the other services for some time, so Deezer has some catching up to do if it's looking to woo more talent. [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Shazam shows you the music artists are discovering
The ability to follow your favorite music artists on Shazam isn't new, but that feature is now getting a huge boost. Starting today, the service will let you see how entertainers are using Shazam to discover tunes, too. Because famous people -- they're just like us. With the refreshed iOS and Android apps, you'll start seeing the option to follow hundreds of artists, including Alicia Keys, Coldplay, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull and Shakira, and view the music any of them are identifying through Shazam. Better yet, you can listen to these songs directly from the application. Don't expect artists to make everything they try to recognize public, though, since there is an option to keep guilty pleasures (or blunders) private.
Tidal Discovery will allow independent artists to upload directly
While Tidal didn't have too much to say about independent artists during its relaunch a couple weeks ago, the company is lending a hand now. In an interview with Smashd, Tidal's Chief Information Officer Vania Schlogel discussed the upcoming Discovery feature for the service -- the ability for indie acts to upload music directly. Why is this a big deal? Well, for the likes of Spotify, those musicians have to go through a third-party service like CD Baby or TuneCore to get their music in the apps. Since record labels typically handle licensing deals with subscription services, if you're unsigned, you have to find another middleman. What's more, all artists will have access to Tidal's dashboard, where they can see exactly who's listening to their music and get contact info for each person. That's how Jay Z and Jack White were able to offer those thank-you calls last week.
Camelot Unchained funds sound engineer, looks to speed up world building
Dear Camelot Unchained: What's up with the duck? Is that your mascot? Does your artist love duck doodles? Or is it referring to a secret race in your game? Please let us know. Sincerely, Massively. Some good news for fans of this upcoming RvR title as City State Entertainment announced that it has crossed the $3,025,000 fundraising mark and thereby hit a stretch goal to hire a sound engineer for the game. Next up on the stretch goal docket is a "Hug the World" campaign at $3,225,000. If this target is hit, Camelot Unchained will hire more artists to "accelerate the building out of the game world" and improve the quality of other art assets.
Twitch introduces free-to-use music, place to perform tunes
Twitch introduced a library of music that is safe to use for broadcasting on the platform. The streaming service's new music section includes over 500 royalty-free tracks that broadcasters can feature in both live and archived videos. Notably, the songs "will not be flagged by the audio recognition system implemented in 2014 to protect audio copyright holders and Twitch broadcasters alike," according to Twitch. "Our community has been vocal about the importance of music for their broadcasts and their love of music in general," Twitch's Chief Strategy Officer Colin Carrier said in the announcement. "By working with both established and upcoming record labels, we are now able to offer music for them to use that is cleared for live broadcasts and archiving." The streaming platform's audio recognition tech began muting archived broadcasts in August that seemingly contained "unauthorized third-party audio," which included many false-positive cases where genuine in-game audio was muted as well. The company's CEO Emmett Shear called those cases a mistake, introducing an appeals system for streamers to use. Additionally, Twitch added "Music" to the platform's game directory, giving artists a space for "creating, performing and presenting original songs." Pending Twitch's approval, "certain established labels and artists" may also host "radio-style listening shows and broadcast large scale events, such as music festivals." [Image: Twitch]
Spotify wants to help musicians sell stuff directly to fans
It's no secret that some musicians aren't the biggest fans of Spotify -- or, in general, any music streaming service. Still, there's also no denying that Spotify is often trying to find ways to put more money in artists' pockets. Today, in partnership with BandPage, a startup which allows musicians to create customized fan pages, Spotify revealed it's going to give music makers "powerful new ways" to offer all kinds of stuff to the people who love them the most. For example, thanks to this new BandPage integration, musicians can now sell things like VIP access, secret shows and more to Spotify listeners -- something similar to what Beats Music is trying to do. The announcement comes as, earlier in 2014, Spotify opened up a merchandise store within its service, so this should certainly help act as yet another form of revenue stream for every artist.
Daily iPhone App: Jool turns the world of endless runners upside down
Jool (stylized as JOOL on the App Store) is one of the most inventive games I've seen in a long while. It's an endless running game, which in itself is not inventive. And unfortunately, the game isn't all that intriguing -- you basically just run as a character horizontally along the screen, jumping up and falling down a series of platforms while trying to collect all sorts of crazy objects. But here's the inventive part: When your character finally falls off of the bottom of the screen, you can flip the iPhone upside down, and your character will automatically flip into a different character running the opposite way, giving you a chance to keep your run going. It's a wild little gimmick, and it's crazy to see in action -- just when you think your character is done for, you can instead flip the phone over and keep going. There are a few other gameplay elements, like bombs that will propel you forward, and occasional goals for certain items to collect, but that "flip" is the wildest thing, a really crazy idea that's implemented in a wild way. Unfortunately, the rest of the game isn't nearly as impressive: There's a very weird "loading" feature that makes you just sit there and do nothing while files download when the game first loads up, and the graphics are more goofy and confusing than really supportive of the gameplay. But Jool, in all of its awkward weirdness (the game was made by four artists from Berlin, if that explains their somewhat twisted sensibility) is worth a try just for that strange flipping feature, probably the most inventive way I've seen the iPhone's accelerometer used. It's available for 99 cents from the App Store now.
Cygnett's ICON case contains the story behind the artists and art
Perusing the many, many iPhone cases on display at CES is always a daunting proposition: Not only does every case manufacturer appear at the show with hundreds if not thousands of cases to show off, but even when all of the cases on display are finally out on store shelves, customers tend to fall right into standard patterns when purchasing a new iPhone case. People who buy cases usually don't do a lot of shopping around or feature comparing -- usually they just go to a store near them, look through all of the cases there, and just buy the one that looks like what they want and has an agreeable price. Plus, while manufacturers always bring a rainbow of colored cases (and lots of popular licensed brands) to the CES floor every year, we invariably get told time and time again by manufacturers that only one kind of case routinely tops the charts: Simple, clean, black. For all of the fashion trends and choices out there, black always seems to sell the best. Still, there are always a few cases worth pointing out every year, and this year the honor goes to Cygnett's ICON Art Series of iPhone cases. Cygnett is an Australian company, and the ICON series is a group of iPhone cases that boasts some amazing art from around the world, including Aborigine artist Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, graffiti artists Tats Cru and Scarygirl creator Nathan Jurevicius. In addition to offering iPhone cases with these artists' works on the back of them, the ICON line also provides a writeup inside each case, that informs you about the work and the artist. It's a little thing (and when your iPhone is actually inside the case, you can't read the writeup anyway), but I definitely like that the company is aiming to use this art for something other than to just make your case look good. The money raised from the cases (each is available for US$29.99) goes partly to the artists as well, so wrapping your iPhone in this way is a nice way of respecting some really great work. When it comes down to choosing an iPhone case, the choice is more or less up to you -- obviously there are more heavy duty options if you're looking for protection, or more practical options if you want a wallet-style case or some extra gadgets on it like a battery pack or a stand. But cosmetic cases are all pretty plain, and it's cool to see Cygnett pushing not only the art on the back of the case, but the story behind it as well.
Comixology sends out call for comic creator info
As we've said before, Comixology has essentially conquered the App Store for comics on the iPad. There are a few companies and options out there for buying digital comic books, but Comixology (with its Comics app) has secured a huge collection for sale, and offers up great prices in conjunction with huge comics publishers almost every week. Now it sounds like the company is trying something completely new. It's sent out "a call for creator info," which is a 26 week initiative (starting at the Baltimore Comic-Con) to put together photos and information about 6,000 different comic book creators, from artists and writers to inkers, letterers and editors. They're hoping to collect all of this information via the company's Twitter account, and then presumably it'll all be included in the app eventually, creating a huge database of comic book creators to browse through. Comixology is hoping to do one letter a week, so by midway through next year, they should have a pretty substantial amount of information. They've already put together a great resource for us comic book readers on the iPad and a database like this would also be much appreciated.
Seen@PAX: Disney artists will draw your favorite Disney character (from Epic Mickey 2)
Of all the artist alleys we passed at PAX, we never expected to find a team of in-house Disney cartoonists hand-drawing popular characters for surprised attendees. Take a peek at the gallery below and see how some of Disney's iconic characters (featured in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two) were brought to life.%Gallery-164098%
KCRW launches MALCOLM music service to help indie bands in need
Being a DJ at radio station can be an embarrassment of riches. And really, who's going to listen to you complain about having too much music to listen to? Santa Monica's terrifically wonderful public radio station KCRW is looking to take a little bit of the pain of finding new music for its DJs, with the launch of MALCOLM, a site that lets artists submit their music for consideration -- a nice attempt at continued outreach in a medium so dominated by charts and major label interference. Bands can create profiles with images, bios and social media links, alongside up to three tracks. MALCOLM serves as a bit of a social network for the station's DJs, letting them share tracks and interact with profiles, alerting artists via email when someone has commented on or rated their listing. More information on the service, which borrows its name from KCRW's old internal record filing system, can be found in the press release after the break. Interested bands can submit songs in the source link below.
Wacom announces Cintiq 22HD pen display, we go hands-on (video)
Oh, to sit in a darkened room all day and get paid to do art. No phone calls, no stress, and no technology except for a PC and a brand new $1,999 Wacom Cintiq 22HD tablet display (and maybe also a pair of equally well-engineered Beyerdynamics). Alas, only our Distro magazine crew get to live like that -- the rest of the Engadget team must make do with spec sheets and quick hands-on impressions, which are precisely what you'll find after the break. %Gallery-159971% %Gallery-160012%
This is what artists do with their desktops
Need inspiration for a wallpaper refresh? Then you'll find plenty of treats at the source link below, which displays 51 examples of how artists customize their desktops when they just can't resist a tabula rasa. They were collected by Mac-centric creative type Adam Cruces, who wanted to echo an earlier project from 1997 (called "Desktop Is") that has since decayed into mess of broken links. Some of these new desktops are mesmerizing while others are surely too impractical to be real -- but then, who's to say?
That palette is fully operational: Jeff Dobson opens up about SWTOR's artistic side
Story may get all the press when it comes to Star Wars: The Old Republic, but the truth is that the final product was a team collaboration between many departments -- including the artists. Art Director Jeff Dobson sat down with Republic Trooper to talk about the process of shaping each of the game's many worlds and locales with BioWare's signature flair. It might astound you to realize just how many different type of artists work on MMOs such as SWTOR. Dobson said the team has "concept artists, character artists, environment artists, VFX artists, GUI artists, animators, and technical artists. The world design team is worth a mention here as well, because they participate a lot in the initial visual development of an area." And that doesn't include the separate teams that did the cinematic cutscenes or pre-rendered cinematics! Dobson said that the biggest challenge for the art team was the scale of the project. "The Old Republic has too many assets to even really take stock of how much there is. It is a lot of work to simply track this many assets as they go through the creation pipeline," he said.
Post-apocalyptic L.A.W takes us from sketches to art to screen
Good-looking graphics don't just magically appear overnight in MMOs, delivered by the FedEx equivalent of the leprechaun community. The look and design of a game is a lengthy process full of revisions, abandoned doodles, and brainstorming -- something we end-users tend not to appreciate. Consider today your education, then, as the team behind the post-apocalyptic L.A.W -- Living After War released a whole crate of images with the intent of showing us how the iterative process works. In the gallery below you can check out different versions of the same buildings, vehicles, and mobs at various stages of their making. From sketches to concept art to in-game models, these screens are a great crash course in understanding how involved the development team has to get to make these games a reality. %Gallery-135873% [Source: ProSiebenSat.1 press release]
Unleash your imagination in an organized way with Nevigo's game-narrative tool
Crafting a complex, logical and engaging story is difficult enough on a linear level, but building an entire world of diverging options, storylines, conversations and endings in a video game is an especially trying process. As artists ourselves, we sympathize with the plight of video-game writers and encourage them to find a process that works with their individual creativity, such as articy:draft, the "first" professional narrative-design program from Nevigo. The above video demonstrates how articy:draft's use of "flow fragments" and a visual writing template can help eliminate plot holes, logical flaws and dead ends in convoluted stories. "Game writers can now craft non-linear plots easily," Nevigo CEO Kai Rosenkranz (Heads!) said. "The era of post-its on walls is finally over." Whoa -- we were with you until the sticky note thing, buddy. We happen to like our walls covered in incomprehensible post-it notes; it adds a sense of psychotic drama to the office and makes us look like we're doing important, semi-permanent things in vague, scribbled descriptions, such as, "take the left fork and the right spoon," "CAROLINE" and "Yes, but we need it in Hunter Green." Call us purists, but we'll keep our sticky notes, thanks. Now if only we could find the minutes from that meeting on the importance of organization, we'll be set.
YouTube 'Merch Store' makes your artist channel a one-stop shop for the groupie goodies
Know what beats selling CDs (or USB sticks) and swag out of the trunk of your struggling band's party wagon? Striking a deal with Google to pitch those wares on the interwebs, that's what. Rolling out to official YouTube partners over the next few weeks, the newly created Merch Store will offer fans from all across the globe an opportunity to purchase MP3s, tickets for concerts and gatherings, and, of course, merchandise straight from your dedicated page. Helping ol' Mountain View make these coffer-filling goodies available are a handful of established online retailers like Amazon, iTunes, Songkick and Topspin. So, if you just can't wait for the Rebecca Black arena rock tour to blitz through your small town, keep clicking refresh on that artist channel for the inevitable slew of merchandising, merchandising.
Blizzard wants you to Ask the Artists this BlizzCon
BlizzCon thunders towards us like some great thundering thing. This year, BlzzCon will include a chance for you to ask questions on the forums and have them answered at the convention. BlizzCon: Ask the Artists - Zarhym At this year's BlizzCon we have a stage dedicated to featuring Blizzard artists of all disciplines and styles, from Glenn Rane (Digital Painting, Creative Development) to Samwise Didier (Traditional Drawing, StarCraft II). Whether you're attending the event or watching from home, we're giving you the opportunity to ask a question of the artists in this thread. All you have to do is list the discipline and/or category below which best fits your art-related question and ask away. If selected, your inquiry will be read and answered live from the Artist Stage at BlizzCon! source Head over to the BlizzCon forums for a list of disciplines and categories including 3D modeling, trading card art, Cinematic Matte Painting and my personal favorite, Environment Concepts. I'd love to hear about the design process for WoW zones or the new Diablo III. Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup cohosted by Wowhead, and look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Artists hack Sony Ericsson's Xperia phones to see the unseen universe, use fire as a flash
For most of us, cellphones are for texting, calling and maybe the occasional tweet, but what happens when you hand them over to some of the world's most creative minds? Giving hackers, artists and intellectuals free reign to mess with the various Xperia phones, Sony found out just how capable its handsets really are. Using a few tweaks and hacks, artists were able to create an installation that breathes fire when you snap a photo, a remote-controlled boat with GPS and a bike that uses colored lights to spell out secret words only visible when captured on camera. When Sony asked astrophysicist Joshua Peek to give it a go, he took full sky maps and telescope image data to build an app with an up-close view of electromagnetic patterns in the sky. To round out the project, musician Annabel Lindquist composed a song based on the sounds of Paris she recorded with an Arc. Now, if they could just mod one to avoid dropped calls, we'd be all set. Videos of their ingenuity in action after the break.
ArenaNet's Daniel Dociu wins award for digital art
Guild Wars 2 has had a distinctive art style ever since it was first announced, helping to solidify the game's image in the minds of fans. A big part of that has naturally been the vision of Daniel Dociu, art director for ArenaNet and overseer of the visuals for the project. So it should come as no surprise that Dociu has been awarded the Grand Master Award for Exposé 9, Ballistic Publishing's digital art annual for 2011. Both Dociu and concept artist Kekai Kotaki were featured in the pages, with both praised for their expressive and immersive artwork for the game. It might be a surprise to the readers of the magazine, but it's no surprise to the players who have been enjoying the work of these talented figures for years. Congratulations are in order for the award, one well-deserved considering the visual treat that Guild Wars 2 promises to provide.
