Startup Gives You Direct Access to Famous Musicians & Professionals

Name: Blazetrak

Quick Pitch: Blazetrak provides direct user access to professionals in a variety of fields, and guarantees a direct video response in return.

Genius Idea: Direct-to-artist/professional connection.

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Ever dreamed of getting your jams in the hands of Big Boi himself? Well, obnoxiously throwing your CD at the rapper during his next show probably isn’t the best way to get through to him.

That’s where Blazetrak comes in. The site was conceptualized out of an experience one of the co-founders, Corey Stanford, had back in 2007. Stanford had linked up with a record label named Dirty South Records, and was having issues wading through all the CD submissions the label received. In order to cull the wheat from the chaff, the label started charging musicians $35, for which execs would listen to the music and call the artist for a chat about his or her submission.

Blazetrak is a more advanced version of this concept — a site that allows professionals in a variety of fields (business, fashion & design, music, screen & stage, sports & fitness) to put out a video call for any kind of content they desire. One can even offer up one’s expertise to fledgling professionals.

Blazetrak members can then submit responses to the pro in question, and — for a fee — they will receive a guaranteed response. The pro decides what a response is worth, and, in turn, receives cash for his or her time (Pros have to apply to use Blazetrak — quality is ensured by the site not functioning as a free-for-all). Users buy credits in order to interact with the pros: one credit is $15, three is $37.50, six is $92, etc.

So what sort of people are currently on the site? Well, how do these names strike you: B.o.B, Big Boi andRubin Studdard (of American Idol fame)? And those are only a smattering of pros from the musical category.

“I thought it would be a cool way to meet some producers and songwriters,” says Studdard, who joined the site at the end of December. “When you’re doing an album, random people send you music all the time. This gives you a chance to filter through the songs you want to hear. It’s also good for aspiring producers and songwriters, because they can get feedback.”

One of those aspiring songwriters is AMiR, a Canadian artist, songwriter, and producer who recently linked up with Studdard via Blazetrak. AMiR got the chance to visit Studdard’s studio in Birmingham, Alabama, where the two worked on songs for the former Idol’s upcoming album. Check out the response video AMiR received below.

Of course, there are other sites out there that let you connect with musicians and the like — Indaba springs to mind. For example, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer started a few sessions on IndabaMusic.com and began working with members to produce rough demos that he had written with his wife.

Rivers used Indaba’s session platform to work collaboratively, utilizing the commenting system to engage musicians and achieve exactly what he envisioned. The producers were also paid for their work.

Still, Indaba doesn’t guarantee responses in the same way that Blazetrak does, and it doesn’t cater to as many fields as the other service.

Would you pony up the cash to get the likes of Big Boi and Ruben Studdard to hear your music?

New iPad App Makes Mixing Music Intuitive & Fun

Music mixing — at least for the average Joe — is usually filed under the word “hard.” However, a new iPad app, ShapeMix, aims to navigate the practice into the the realm of “intuitive.”

ShapeMix [iTunes link] — available now for $4.99 — was developed by Colin Owens, a musician and graphic design professor at RISD, as well as Legion Enterprises. ShapeMix is the first company to come out of Legion Enterprise’s incubator program.

Owens thought of the idea after exploring audio mixing interfaces on the computer in the pre-tablet days. “I thought they hadn’t translated well over the computer,” he says. “As a musician and engineer, I thought we could do this in a more interesting and intuitive way.”

At the time, he was working with a touchscreen he had imported from Korea, but when the iPad came out, everything came together. The device replicated the tactile sensation of working with a mixer much more than anything he had experienced on a computer.

The app itself is extremely easy to use. Full disclosure: I have absolutely no experience mixing music, but I was still able to pick up my iPad and navigate through the app rather rapidly.

Within the app, there are more than 100 free tracks that one can use to create a mix. Each song within the app is broken down into such tracks, which are basically instrumental sections (piano, drums, organ, stutter, boom, etc). One can also mix tracks from different songs — so, for example, you could add the drums from “Dirty South” to “Ghetto Blaster.”

Once you’ve chosen all of your tracks, you can toggle between two screens. The first comprises a series of colored circles denoting an instrument, which you can move up to make the instrument in question louder, and down to do the opposite. Moving them left and right changes the panning of the sound (left ear, right ear). One can also hold down on a track to add effects (reverb, delay, flanger, low pass).

One can then toggle over to the “time” screen, where one can decide which tracks come in where over the course of the song, and how they mingle with other tracks. A finished track can then be saved and published to Facebook or to another website. You can also save a track to your account and share it with a friend. (The only places you can access a mix are ShapeMix’s website, Facebook and in-app, however, which is a drag.)

Soon, the app’s catalogue of music will receive a major boost through a partnership with Downtown Music Publishing. Users will be able to buy those songs and tracks, and remix them at will, keeping ownership to the mixes they make. The app will also feature about six to 10 new, free songs per week.

“I originally thought of this as a tool for professionals,” Owens says. “But I kept getting feedback that this would be an awesome apps for kids, or for anyone who’s a novice.”

Mike Sepso, CEO of Legion Enterprises, concurs. “Legion’s core audience is digital natives,” he says. “We’ve created a new app that will engage an audience that doesn’t traditionally buy music.” Sepso thinks there’s an allure to buying music in ShapeMix because users can manipulate it themselves.

We think this app is ideal for the audience that Sepso described, but can’t see it truly catching on among working musicians unless it affords them the opportunity to upload and remix their own, original music. However, Owens and Sepso say that this could be a possibility in the future.

Musicians and mixers both casual and pro: What do you think of ShapeMix? Would you use it to create your next big jam?

Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ Pulled From YouTube

Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” the much-maligned but still catchy pop music video that’s taken the web by storm, has passed into nothingness. The video was removed from YouTube by the original publisher (Black’s record label, Ark Music Factory) as of 4 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

The single is still available for sale on iTunes, but all you’ll find among the 11,500 YouTube search results for “Rebecca Black Friday” are parody videos, remixes and commentary. In fact, the entire account that originally housed “Friday” has been closed.

Love it or hate it — and chances are, you hate it — Rebecca Black’s music video “Friday” had racked up an impressive 64 million YouTube views since its inauspicious debut last month. However, when it comes to sentiment, “Friday” was killing it, and by “it,” we mean “any feelings of charity or kindness you may feel toward Ark and its teenie bopping popsters.”

“Friday” had racked up around 1.189 million dislikes on YouTube; Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” its nearest competitor for the dubious honor of “most hated video,” has only 1.162 million dislikes.

But Bieber’s clip had more than 501 million views. When you do the math, that means Rebecca Black’s video was actively disliked by almost 1.88% of viewers who saw the video. “Baby” is disliked by a mere .23%.

We’ve written about Black’s first foray into Internet fame a few times (okay, more than a few), and not everything we’ve had to say has been nice. After all, the teen singer was given only the briefest radio play, and she reportedly didn’t even make that much money from the video, especially when one considers the amount of exposure and emotional pain that comes along with such an ordeal.

We’ll keep an eye on the video’s URL; the clip may pop up again shortly. In the meantime, we have reached out to Ark for a statement on why the video was pulled in the first place. So far, Ark hasn’t mentioned anything on its website, where a YouTube placeholder for Black’s video remains on the site, even though the video itself has been removed.

Apple Could Ship 4G iPhones By The End Of The Year

Yesterday, Apple opened up registrations for 2011′s WWDC, and within ten hours had already sold out of tickets. The more interesting rumor from yesterday, though, was that Apple would refrain from unveiling the iPhone 5 at this year’s WWDC, instead focusing entirely on software. That would mean that instead of the iPhone 5 shipping in June, as it has historically done, the iPhone 5′s launch would be pushed back until later in the year.

After the initial shock, the rumor sounds extremely likely. The report came from Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop, whose sources are solid. Moreover, the early year launch of the Verizon iPhone and Apple’s continued delay in shipping the white iPhone 4 (while repeatedly promising it’s still coming) all imply that Apple’s not planning the iPhone 5 in June, but will push it until later in the year, to debut before the holiday shopping season.

Over at Slashgear, Chris Davies brings up one interesting point: a late 2011 debut might give Apple more flexibility in making the iPhone 5 4G compatible. Qualcomm’s next LTE chipsets are due out at that point, and will allegedly boast improved power efficiency… the very issue that led Apple to leave LTE support out of the Verizon iPhone earlier this year.

If Apple does delay the iPhone 5 until later in the year, it’s all the more likely we’ll see a sizable update boasting 4G capability. For Verizon users, that means LTE; unfortunately, on AT&T, their HSPA+ “4G” smartphones are actually throttled to be slower than their regular 3G phones. If the iPhone does go 4G later this year, the Verizon iPhone 5 is going to be the clear winner: AT&T’s 4G network is a disgrace, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get substantially better anytime soon.

Apple Distribution Center Evacuated After Bomb Threat

Apple Insider is reporting that a bomb threat has been made against Apple’s Elk Grove, California distribution center, with three builds evacuated as the threat is assessed.

People with knowledge of Monday’s ongoing incident informed AppleInsider that the eastern three buildings A, B and C have been evacuated at the Apple Sacramento Campus. The site is used for receiving, warehousing and logistics, and is comprised of three warehouses totaling 450,000 square feet.

The buildings were evacuated Monday around 12:30 p.m. Eastern, 9:30 a.m. Pacific. As of Monday afternoon around 2:30 Eastern, 11:30 local time, emergency personnel were still on scene.

The evacuated buildings house refurbished products, returns, finance and human resource operations for Apple.

Among Media, TV Is Still on Top

The internet is consuming ever more of our waking moments, not to mention ever more ad spending, but that doesn't mean that traditional media is the loser. At least not when "traditional media" means TV.

According to the latest research from eMarketer, advertisers are spending more than ever on the broadcast networks and cable, around $60.5 billion on commercial time this year, making TV the richest media segment, with 39.1% of all ad spending, up from 38.6% in 2010. The research firm attributes the share growth to the "recovering economy," but also found the industry is expanding at the expense of other media, specifically newspapers and magazines, and to some degree the internet.

The durability and growth of TV has to come as a surprise to many who predicted that TV dollars would shift to the web along with the growing amount of time consumers spend entertaining themselves on Facebook, Hulu and YouTube.

"Even though online advertising has been robust, it hasn't stopped advertisers from keeping the bulk of their budgets right on TV," eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey said, pointing out that even in spite of consumers' healthy appetite for content on laptops and cellphones, it's not having any discernible effect on their TV habits, or on the amount of money marketers are looking to spend to get in front of their faces.

EMarketer estimates that $64.5 billion will be spent on TV advertising next year, almost double the amount marketers will spend on the internet. "TV remains supreme because it's still seen as a mass-reach vehicle that drives awareness," Mr. Ramsay said. But in an age of simultaneous media usage where one media often drives another and back again, it will become harder to justify discrete budgets.

Simultaneous media consumption has become a regular habit among Americans, according to Nielsen Co. Since 2009, around 60% of the TV audience has been regularly clicking through the internet while watching their favorite shows, a fact that is more astounding when considering we're watching more TV than ever, averaging about 35 hours per week in early 2010, vs. 33 hours a week in 2009. But we're not distracting ourselves into oblivion. It turns out that people aren't watching Fox's "Glee" while checking e-mail, but they are more likely commenting on the latest episode on Twitter and Facebook while scrolling through websites such as IMDB to check a particular actor's resume or scan synopses of previous episodes.

"The internet is fueling the TV content," Mr. Ramsay said, noting how the two media have become much more blurred. And as more people adopt the practice of watching internet content on their TV screens, whether via specialized set-top boxes or even a jerry-rigged set up, it will become harder to discern where TV begins and the internet ends, Mr. Ramsay said. "We're already staring to see the semblance of this now," he said, "but TV will remain dominant for some time."

Radiation Detected in U.S.

Traces of radiation from the crippled nuclear plant in Japan are being detected in states from California to Massachusetts, carried across the Pacific on broad rivers of wind. But state officials say there is no public health risk.

Concern spreads over radioactive levels in eastern United States although officials claim there is no reason to panic. Video courtesy of Fox News.

"The levels that we're detecting are extremely, extremely low—we're talking about many orders of magnitude below what we would consider a risk," said Eric Matus, a radiation physicist for the Nevada State Health Division. Radiation has been detected at two monitoring sites in the state.

U.S. states, which aren't recommending protective measures for the public, are reporting tiny amounts of radioactive iodine known as iodine-131 that is seen in the early stages of a nuclear reaction. It has a short half-life of eight days, meaning that in that time, half of it will have decayed to a non-radioactive state, a process that will continue until it is undetectable, Mr. Matus said.

Trace amounts of radiation are also being detected in Canada, South Korea, China and Germany, according to wire reports.

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Prevailing winds routinely waft plumes of dust, coal-smoke, wild-fire soot, industrial grit and other microscopic particles from Asia to North America, several atmospheric scientists said.

Carried up by the rising warm air in the region around the damaged Fukushima plant, particles of radioactive isotopes such as iodine-131 and xenon-133 are being carried at about 50 miles per hour by winds blowing from west to east in a band of the atmosphere called the troposphere, about 6,500 feet to about 30,000 feet or more above the ground.

Generally, "the stuff will be spread in a long stream and, as it spreads, it becomes quite dilute," said research scientist Tony VanCuren at the California Air Resources Board.

Under current conditions, particles from the Fukushima complex would take about a week or so to cross the Pacific. Typically, the particles will stay aloft until washed out of the air by rain or buffeted to lower altitude by turbulence, creating an unpredictable patchwork of fallout.

Radiation Levels in Japan

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The Japanese government monitors radiation levels around the country. Track these measurements over time.

Reactor Monitor

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"Once it is over North America, rain storms can carry it back to the surface and that is what we are seeing happen," said Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Weather Underground Inc.

In South Carolina, five nuclear power plants in the area have found "barely detectable trace amounts of Iodine-131 in their air monitoring," the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said in an advisory Monday.

South Carolina officials attribute the presence of the radiation to the nuclear incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, and nuclear plants in the area concur.

Monitors run by Duke Energy Corp., of Charlotte, N.C., picked up trace amounts of iodine-131 at three of the company's nuclear stations Friday—one in North Carolina, and two in South Carolina—said Tina Worley, a Duke spokeswoman. "We have never had iodine-131 show up before, except during Chernobyl," said Tina Worley, a Duke spokeswoman, referring to the 1986 Ukrainian nuclear disaster.

Minuscule amounts of radioactive iodine also showed up in Washington state, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

In Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, public officials said radiation found in rainwater last week posed no threat to drinking water. Pennsylvania repeatedly tested the drinking water from six regions in the state over the weekend, but detected no iodine-131, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said in a statement Monday.

People might "get alarmed by making what would be an inappropriate connection from rainwater to drinking water," Mr. Corbett said in a statement.