Weekly Blog 7 - Ottawa Jazzfest

This week marks the end of the Ottawa Jazzfest. It has been on since June 18th and is wrapping up this Canada day, July 1st. There were many impressive acts such as Huey Lewis and the News, Tower of Power, and Steve Miller Band.

I had the privilege of going to see the Steve Miller Band play on June 25th, and it was quite an impressive show. After two and a half semesters in the MIA program, the experience is a lot different now that I understand a lot of how these shows are put together. I watched how lots of the stagehands worked in behind the band making sure that everything went smoothly, and it was interesting to see this in action as opposed to just learning about it.

The show itself was great, the music was just the right volume, and the band was in the groove. Steve Miller had lots of long solos, and so did his keyboardist. The show went on for about 2 hours, and by the end they had played most of their hit songs. All in all the whole experience was great and I would definitely consider going to Jazzfest in the upcoming years.

Weekly Blog 6 - Interview

I recently watched an interview of famous singer Ozzy Osbourne talking about his career and his book "I Am Ozzy." It was an interesting interview, and having read the book, it was also a cool chance to hear Ozzy talk about it first hand.

Ozzy Osbourne is a musician who sang for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath beginning in the early 70s. He later went on to have a successful solo career, and he even had his own reality TV show. He began in the music industry when he was just a young man. He was fortunate enough that his father bought him a PA system, especially because he came from a poor family. This PA system made Ozzy one of the few people in his town who actually had one, and one day his future band mates from Black Sabbath saw an ad he put up in a music store, which would eventually lead to the band meeting and forming the iconic metal band we all know today.

The interview and the book taught me that no matter how bleak things may look for you, you should never give up on your dreams because for all you know your luck may take a turn for the better. One more thing that I drew from this interview that may seem kind of like a no brainer, is to stay away from the allure that drugs have in the rock star lifestyle. Ozzy Osbourne is lucky to be alive today, and listening to him speak is evidence enough of the harm that drugs do to your body. He was an excellent musician, but I'm sure even the Prince Of Darkness has many regrets with some of his life choices.

As for following a similar career path as Ozzy Osbourne, if it were a realistic goal, I would definitely follow it. Unfortunately though, rock music is nowhere near as popular as pop music today, and competition is more fierce than ever. That's not to say that I wouldn't pursue this career if I was given the opportunity, but until that happens, I can only dream of being a rock star.

Weekly Blog 5 - Music in Video Games

This week is an exciting one for video game enthusiasts, as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), is taking place in Los Angeles. The game industry is one of the fastest growing industries today, and with the ever increasing grandiose of some of the games produced today, music is becoming more and more important.

10 Years ago the game industry was nothing like it is today. Games were about to accommodate the high definition technology that was becoming available to consumers, and they were also evolving into something more innovative than the industry had ever seen. Games were starting to turn into narratives, and the stories of these games more captivating than ever. Today, we can see the result of this in some games, as they have become almost like movies. And of course like movies, these games need suitable arrangements to bring the stories to life.

Music in games has grown so much that today it is acknowledged and awarded for the best arrangements. With E3, we're seeing the next lineup of games coming out later this year and in 2016. These games will inevitably have great soundtracks, and will only push the music in this industry to new levels and raise the standards for future productions.

Weekly Blog 4 - Music on YouTube

Last month, YouTube celebrated it's 10th year of business, and it is getting more and more business every day. With over a billion users, it is arguably one of the most popular, if not the number one most used website in the world. It has evolved in such a way that it's content reflects exactly what the viewers want, and this includes music.

Throughout it's history, YouTube has brought up many concerns within the domain of copyrighted material, and as the innovative company that it is, came up with content ID as their solution. The content ID system uses a database of copyrighted material to compare each and every new video as it is uploaded in order to determine if it is original or not. As a copyright holder, you are given multiple options on how to handle your material if somebody uses it without your permission. You can remove it from the video, choose to monetize it by running ads on the video, or you can do nothing and monitor the view statistics until you choose to take action.

These options aren't the ideal solution as they can't stop people from using the copyrighted material in the first place, and it has been known to make false claims for some content, but in this digital age this solution is pretty good. As long as you follow the rules that are set by copyright and use content accordingly, you will most likely not be affected negatively by content ID. The important thing to draw from this is that until a new system is created to enforce copyright, this is the best solution there is.

Weekly Blog 3 - Networking Opportunities

In the future, I plan on obtaining as many networking opportunities as I can in order to further progress my career in the Music Industry. First off, I plan on joining some organizations like AFM (American Federation of Musicians), a musicians union, to help me when it comes to legal and other union related issues. This is a pretty vital step that I need to take in my career, especially if I make lots of music of my own.

I also plan to attend some networking events in order to make connections with industry professionals and to make connections with people who have already had success in the industry. One such event I plan on attending is Canadian Music Week. This gathering just happened and our program was fortunate enough to be able to attend it, and I think that this is an opportunity that I would take advantage of again and hopefully network some more.

The last type of networking opportunities I plan to take advantage of are Facebook groups that are helpful to people in the music industry. One such group is Ottawa Bars And Events. https://www.facebook.com/groups/282553361832723/ This group is used for hearing about events around Ottawa, and could be really useful for making connections when you hear about an event with some significant people who will be attending.

Overall, these networking events will prove to help me make my way up the industry ladder and eventually get to where I want to be.