Music in the Digital Age

Music in the Digital Age

by: Esperdi Bova

We are on the brink of a major change in the way the music industry operates. Digital music will not just change the way people purchase music, but it will also change the way musicians approach creating albums. Digital music gives people the opportunity to instantaneously purchase a song they like – without having to purchase the rest of the album. Artists and executives are both going to have to look at how music is released, and if it is worth producing an entire album if people aren’t going to buy it.

Piracy of course is another major issue that the music industry will have to look into and examine. Currently, it is so simple to download a single song everyone does it and doesn’t feel that what they’re doing is illegal. Laws are being put into place in an attempt to stop downloading illegal music, but technology always appears to be one step ahead of the law. Some companies have found success offering music downloads for a price, but this practice only enforces the concept of downloading one or two songs from an artist, and not buying the entire album.

This trend may force the music industry to change the way they package music to the masses. People’s tastes will become a larger factor and will affect the finished product. Personalized CDs and play lists will have a larger influence. Instead of artists creating new albums, they might focus their attention on one song, or perhaps executives will look into theme compilations – give a number of different bands and artists one theme, and then release that music all together. Whatever the music industry decides on, the next few years are going to revolutionize the way we view – and listen – to popular music. The music industry will never be the same.

About The Author

Esperdi Bova is the owner of Fth Music, expert site for your musical needs. For more information, please visit us at: http://www.fthmusic.com

This article was posted on February 16

by Esperdi Bova

About The Artists Of Brücke

About The Artists Of Brücke

by: Blur Loterina

Ever heard of a political art group? Artists who use art, particularly painting, to influence or to move people to action? I have read of those in our history class beforeit was quite boring then. I used to think of it as an exaggeration of a hero’s life. Until I read one of my favorite music artist’s biography. His father was a leader of Chicano artists, the ขLos Fourข. It’s a sort of a mural movement. But this is beside the point. My objective for writing this article is to bring more light into ขdie brückeข, a group of German expressionist artists, which marked the beginning of modern art in Germany.

Since the early part of twentieth century German Expressionism was very popular and it influenced most of the movements to oppose Impressionists.

Die Brücke, German words meaning ขthe bridgeข, was founded in Dresden by architectural students lead by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in 1905. Erich Heckel, Fritz Bleyl, Karl SchmidtRottluff gathered regularly in Kirchner’s studio. They were later joined by Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein.

The group was called ขbrückeข because the members have common interests and ideology. The bridge also symbolizes link, since one of their objective is to link to the future and to use art to change the society. Through art, they linked German history with their own cultural past. They despised academic traditions and strict constraints of the leading academies, realism and impressionism.

Although, most of the members of the Brücke were not trained artists, they were able to express their feelings and imaginations through harsh and orgiastic colors, particularly the black and white contrasts, distorted shapes and lines, exaggerated forms, and antiillusionistic perspective. The subjects of their artwork include urban cabarets and dancehalls, mostly in the nudes.

Their art works were influenced by the vibrant and emotive works of Vincent van Gough, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch and the Fauves.

They promoted their works by conducting art exhibits and through innovative patron membership program. To ensure artistic autonomy, the members of the Brücke did not accept conventional gallery arrangement—they produced portfolios instead. The portfolio is a compilation of the art works of one of the members, but the cover was made by the other members of the group. They made seven portfolios, most were singleartist productions. These portfolios featured Brücke V, Bathers Throwing Reeds, Three Bathers at the Moritzburg Lakes, and Dancer with Raised Skirts

About The Author

Blur Loterina

You may wonder why I write articles. Besides from the fact that it’s my job, I used to write short stories when I was younger. I think it would be helpful if I said I’m a big fan of Zach de la Rocha and Rage Against the Machine. This would explain my own views about a lot of things. Their songs were about national issues, politics and human rights. They support the American Indian Movement and Che Guevara, the face you see on tshirts. Not that it concerns me. I only like their music and idealism.

I like to read anything that contains words in the old English form, though I can’t understand it. You know, the King James Version of the Bible with words like thou, thy, thine, wilst, etc. The words used are different. The construction of the sentence is different, too, which makes sentences sound artistic. I also like gothic metal, a music genre, because most of the lyrics contain such words. It is not only the words that fascinate me; it’s the hidden meaning it contains. It’s like an abstract painting; you don’t get the real picture until you see through it.

I’m not an artist, I’m not a poet. I just love writing anything I want. I wasn’t born a genius, I just want to know and understand something I don’t. I like to find the difference between similar things. It’s like counting birthmarks on each identical twin.

For additional Information about the articles you may visit their website at http://www.brochuresprintingonline.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 09

by Blur Loterina

7 Steps to Selling Artwork

7 Steps to Selling Artwork

by: Steven Popkin

Selling arwork is easy when you follow a road map. In this article you learn the step by step guide to marketing art for profits. Now onto the plan!

1. Decide that you want to sell your artwork!

Now, I know this sounds ridiculous on the surface but look at it a little deeper. Many artists love just creating art, they have no desire to sell what they make. Selling their work becomes unfortunately a necessary evil. Suffice to say…Supplies, tools, food and housing costs money. If you want to be a full time artist you either have to have money saved up, work another full time job or learn how to sell some of your work. Many artists look at this last alternative as something they dread doing. I hear all the time…กI want to be an artist not a salesperson!ก I couldn’t agree more! But…and here is the big but…you have to learn easy methods to help you sell your art where the art basically sells itself.

2. Decide what you want to sell.

Many artists don’t have a clue what to sell. This causes them a lot of stress. They will say that their work is too time consuming and they will never recoup the cost or time involved in making the piece. If this is the case, you will need to do some research to find out what is selling and if your work has a market for it. You should not create dozens if not hundreds of pieces to find out that there is no market or interest in that particular artwork. A little research ahead of time goes along way. If you have artwork that falls into the category of being one of a kind, expensive and time intensive to produce you will also have to decide the marketability of the piece. There are easy ways to do this research ahead of time you just have to be educated in the proper steps on how to do it. Failing to do it could bankrupt you before you get started.

3. Decide where you are going to sell it.

Once again, a little research goes a long way! For example, where do you think you would do better selling Southwest (United States that is) style artwork… in Phoenix, Arizona or New York City? Now some of you reading this may say well there could be some buyers for this type of artwork in New York City. And your right… there could be some. But isn’t it easier to catch a fish where the fish are biting? In other words find the buyers for your style of artwork where they live, work or shop. You need to learn how to investigate art shows, galleries, websites and the like where your buyers visit. Not doing this crucial step will not only cause you heartache but lead to wasted opportunities. As you can see, this step builds upon the previous two. Now onto number 4!

4. Decide how much you are going to sell your work for.

Artists either do one of two things…under price their work or overprice it. Most never get it right from the get go. Trial and error seems to be the name of the game. Well, until you figure out the right prices for your work, much money or lost sales probably have slipped thru your fingers. There are several strategies to speed up this process to determine what price point will work best for your style of work. In my course I teach specific points in setting your prices from the start. I have heard that this information has created peace of mind for many people for it gives them a logical road map to follow. It also allows you latitude to know when to raise your prices and situations where you will be more profitable reducing your prices. Believe me, some of my best profitable pieces come from items that I could sell all day long for under $20. Now before you say, กI have no interest in selling for that price point…ก What if I told you that these are pieces that I would normally give away and they take me less than 2 minutes of my time to make? Found money which exposes people to my more expensive pieces which I sell for thousands of dollars.

5. Set up an efficient shop and process to produce your work.

This sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? But how many of you reading this could honestly say that your workspace is productive, efficient and could handle multiple projects at once? Artists tend to get rapped up in their work and lose track of time, space, equipment, materials and everything in between. I know Iกve been there. I would go into my studio about 7:30 at night just to complete a simple part of a project I was working on. I put on some กmood musicก, turn off the phones and get into the zone. The next thing I know it is 3 in the morning and I just can’t stop. I love it! But the shop can become a disaster when I get going. Cutting glass for my stained glass windows, scrap glass lying around, airbrushes and the like…things pile up quick! Setting up your shop for production helps keep you working productively. Once I tightened this area up I was spending more time creating art and less time cleaning up and organizing all the supplies and materials that I just finished using. You are probably saying to yourself, กSteve, this sounds like common senseก, and it is, but we all fall into this trap. If you are going to start selling your artwork you are going to need to learn to ‘tightenก up the shop. This will be the only way to be productive and profitable.

6. Organize your schedule.

This includes specific things such as: 1. Buying supplies and materials 2. Talking to prospective customers and current customers 3. Working on your art 4. Planning your marketing activities 5. Daily & monthly business activities such as taxes, bills, paying utilities, registering for artshows and the like 6. Having fun outside the studio! This step directly follows step 5 above. If you กfly by the seat of your pantsก plan to be stressed and overwhelmed. Take time to write out all the tasks that you need to accomplish in a typical day, week or month and create a ‘to doก list. I have done this successfully for many years and have found it to be the most productive use of my time. Give it a try and watch how you multiply your accomplishments!

7. Create art & Sell it!

This involves putting it all together. Just do it in a systemized fashion. The above will help you get started. Learning how to sell your artwork is really easy once you have the conceptual understanding and tools of how to do it. My advance course can easily help you do it. For the price that I am offering to you I truly don’t understand why you have not gotten at this point.

Remember, FEAR, is simple กfalse evidence appearing realก. The reason artists don’t like selling their work is because of fear, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of the กI told you soก from family members. This fear is false! You can prove all your critics wrong and most importantly become HAPPY! Why not live the life you want, the life you dream about, the life you deserve. Happiness should not be a hopeful goal down the road but a major component of the journey. Isn’t that what lifeกs about? Go for it!

About The Author

Steve Popkin, a veteran glass artist, makes it easy for artists to become successful. Learn the secrets most artists and craftsmen will never know about selling artwork in his complimentary ecourse just visit http://www.thethrivingartist.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 08

by Steven Popkin

Artistic Touches Applied on Jeep Spots

Artistic Touches Applied on Jeep Spots

by: Carla Ballatan

It is a good notion to consider artists whose muses come with a sixcylinder engine. Putting such artistic plots in promoting the Jeep Liberty is an effective way to capture the target African American and Hispanic consumers.

This type of marketing is a way to captivate the target consumer, not only on the technicalities of the product, but also on the more humane level. This takes into consideration that African Americans and Hispanics have strong traditions in artistry.

The first film spot show how self expression is set in an art class. A teacher encourages her students to do selfportraits that will enable the teacher to see their inner self. Voila! A neophyte artists depicted portraits showing herself at the wheel of a Jeep Liberty. Seeing this, the teacher nodded admiringly and says: ขnow that’s what I’m talking about!ข

Another spot depicts a young Hispanic artist driving through a city and works on a mural covering the side of the building. His artwork is clearly seen as a theme on liberation – an image of his new Jeep Liberty.

These artistic productions were made by Hank Benson of Avalon Films, conceived by Detroit agency – GlobalHue. The conceptualization was done by the staff of GlobalHue, who are fine artists themselves. Thus, the spots were made more realistic and compelling by that fact.

Since they wanted to capture a specific market for the Jeep Liberty, it is important for the spots to be felt with honesty and authenticity. Thus, Benson spent a lot of time interviewing painters and street artists. This helped him in the casting and art direction. Such that, the actual shoot for the spots really flowed, as in real life drama.

Even the locations were chosen by keeping in mind the essence of the stories depicted in the spots. New York City was finally chosen for its having a strong connection with the fine arts, became another character in the stories. One of the best considerations for choosing New York was because there’s art at every corner of the city – on the walls, sidewalks, store and restaurants.

The rhythms for the spots were also attuned to the reality it wants to capture. The art class spot had the feel of hip hop or tap, while the Hispanic spot was more like a tango or salsa. These make the spots an art piece with elements of dance, painting and theater.

There is an explicit complexity in both the spots’ art direction making it a very subtle marketing ploy that would not only encourage consumers but also give them a chance to pick up something new and fresh.

The Avalon Films’ offices are located at 33300 Thomas St., Farmington, Michigan 48336, and at 1501 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90401. If you need further information, call (248) 4739295 or (310) 3948300.30

About The Author

Lala B. is a 26 yearold Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a nongovernment organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Book reading has always been her greatest passion mysteries, horrors, psychothrillers, historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she was but a shy kid.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For additional information about the article log on to http://www.shortrunondemandprinting.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 11

by Carla Ballatan

When the Best Gets Even Better: The Release of May

When the Best Gets Even Better: The Release of Maya 6.5

by: Jelaine Macaraeg

No one would have thought that it is possible – I mean, how could the best possibly get better? But I guess for those who have a vision, it is possible. And vision is exactly what the people in Alias Systems Corp. have.

February 2005 marks the release of Maya 6.5. Yes, Alias’ awardwinning Maya software, which prides itself for being at the forefront of technological innovation has gone a step further. Maya 6.5 is hailed by Alias to be a ขperformancedriven release packed with new features and feature enhancements motivated by next generation production requirements for massive dataset handling.ข

Maya artists will definitely love the significant improvements made with regard to interactivity in such areas as modeling, UV manipulation, deformations and 3D painting. It also provides highperformance ComputerAided Design or CAD data import through the new STEP translator, allowing artists to quickly import large data sets from major CAD packages for the creation of highquality images and animations directly from CAD data. Maya 6.5 also has such new features like scene segmentation tools for reference locking, reference editing, proxies and enhancement to nested references, which gives artists more control to focus on specific sections of massive data sets, managing scene load times, parallel and collaborative workflows, scene sharing and overall scene performance, as well as the mental ray for Maya network rendering – a functionality that supports interactive, batch and commandline rendering and prelighting.

Maya 6.5 comes in two versions – Maya Complete 6.5 and Maya Unlimited 6.5. Some of the features of the Complete edition are the userfriendly tools, which include marking menus and 3D manipulators speed and workflow, a full suite of advanced Polygon, NURBS and Subdivision Surface modeling tools, a comprehensive range of keyframe, nonlinear and advanced character animation editing tools for the creation, animation, adaptation and repurposing of animation data and editing realistic digital characters. Meanwhile, the Unlimited edition has everything Maya Complete has plus Maya Fluid Effects for the simulation and rendering of a vast variety of atmospheric, pyrotechnic, viscous liquid and open ocean effects, Maya Cloth, which claims to be the world’s most accurate software solution for simulating a wide variety of digital clothing and other fabric objects, Maya Fur for incredibly realistic styling and rendering of short hair and fur through the help of the Maya Artisan brush interface for painting fur attributes, Maya Live to match original liveaction footage with the 3D elements rendered in Maya and Maya Hair, which includes various tools for the creation, styling and rendering of fully dynamic long hair in NURBS or polygon objects. With Maya hair, artists can also create any NURBS curve dynamic for advanced character rigging and effects.

So whatever your projects are – whether it’s for blockbuster films, 3D gaming, print, broadcast, product design or any other professional arts application, Maya 6.5 promises the most powerful and superior tools and enhancements in the industry today to empower you to be as creative as you can be and to bring your very own visions to life.

About The Author

Jelaine Macaraeg

I like to read anything that contains words in the old English form, though I can’t understand it. You know, the King James Version of the Bible with words like thou, thy, thine, wilst, etc. The words used are different. The construction of the sentence is different, too, which makes sentences sound artistic. I also like gothic metal, a music genre, because most of the lyrics contain such words. It is not only the words that fascinate me; it’s the hidden meaning it contains. It’s like an abstract painting; you don’t get the real picture until you see through it.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by Jelaine Macaraeg

On Copying and Stealing Designs

On Copying and Stealing Designs

by: Lala C. Ballatan

The notion on the great artist, Pablo Picasso’s quote, กBad artists copy. Good artists stealก is lost on many. And revolving around the graphic designer circles is the quote ขGood artists copy, great artists stealข known as Picasso’s quote, still. Anyway, it might just be safe to assume that Picasso have not quoted this words exactly but he did have an ขexpert’s assessment and statementข regarding copying and stealing art styles and techniques.

The artistic world was widely influenced by Picasso, being the first living artist to be featured in the Louvre. Many have their own opinion and interpretation as to what he really meant on the quote. With the onset of digital technology and digital art, it is understandable that the modern Web graphic design also has an interpretation for it.

In an article by Cameron Moll, the Creative Director for IDI at http://www.sitepoint.com/article/copygreatdesignerssteal he had endeavored to uncover a possible explanation in three levels of design. These three levels involves some aspect of copying or stealing, shows increasing design maturity, adapts Picasso’s quote to modern graphic design. The interpretation by Moll was segmented in such a way that do not imply that they are the only levels of design. it is but a guide to assist the improvement of designers’ design and lead to their maturity with regards to copying and stealing designs.

The first level explains a wellimparted principle of starting out by copying other wellcreated designs. Web designing could relate this principle from the advice of Web copywriting guru, Gerry McGovern for writers: having a model for the kind of article that they need to do, dissect and analyze them and copy.

Copying, not creating have surprising positive effect, too, that of maintaining conventionality. There’s a familiar and intuitive effect for the users when most sites have essentially the same layout and information architecture by most sites. A Web designing career involve time constraints and budget limitations so much so that copying is almost mandatory.

The second level explains that the best resources where designers can steal are from themselves. They can tap into loads of their past designs that were never used or completed, or from their designs that have already been successful in order to reinvent a new design. This kind of stealing is quite helpful in molding their own distinctive design style to use as a selling point for clients.

The third level involves stealing from discreet sources. Albert Einstein is noted for quoting, ขThe secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.ข For designers the easiest way to do this is to use sources already hidden. Even great artists can’t be accused of stealing if their rare jewels of inspiration are from lost, bypassed, forgotten ideas which they have successfully incorporated with their own distinctive style. To graphic designers, they have to really research and rummage for the necessary unused and forgotten ideas applicable for their design.

One must be careful in copying from wellknown sources, though. It is best to copy the inspiration and not the exact output. To fully summarize, all graphid designers out there, there’s no problem in copying, even Picasso, in one of his quotes told about the necessity of copying. However, it is best to be careful in what you copy and how you copy it. 30

About The Author

Lala C. Ballatan is a 26 yearold Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a nongovernment organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Book reading has always been her greatest passion mysteries, horrors, psychothrillers, historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she was but a shy kid.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 23

by Lala C. Ballatan