MyMusicStream

The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) Deadline Is Approaching On November 1, 2011 ISC's deadline is quickly approaching on November 1, 20011, so enter your songs now for a chance to share over $150,000 in cash and prizes, including a Grand Prize of $25,000 cash and over $25,000 in prizes. Now is your chance to enter what the NY Times calls "the songwriting competition to take note of." Renowned for having the most prestigious judges of any music competition in the world, ISC offers a judging panel comprised of high-profile recording artists and influential music industry professionals. Included are Tom Waits, My Morning Jacket, Kelly Clarkson, Jeff Beck, Ozzy Osbourne, Lucinda Williams, McCoy Tyner, Monte Lipman (President of Universal Republic Records), David Massey (President of Mercury Records), and many more. For entry information and a complete list of judges, please visit:http://www.songwritingcompetition.com

Also here is a full list of ISC's judges:

Recording Artists:

Tom Waits; Tori Amos; Jeff Beck; Ozzy Osbourne; Lucinda Williams; Simon Le Bon and Roger Taylor (Duran Duran); My Morning Jacket; Billy Currington; Kelly Clarkson; Keane; McCoy Tyner; Wynonna; Francesca Battistelli; Tegan and Sara; Massive Attack; Michael W. Smith; Alejandro Sanz; Johnny Clegg; Jeremy Camp; Ray Wylie Hubbard; John Mayall; Craig Morgan; Basement Jaxx; James Cotton; Trombone Shorty;

If you're an up-and-coming or established artist, one of the biggest steps to take is to sell your music online. You have access to huge audiences, and have the potential to reach global markets with ease. So, when it comes to a major and popular digital music retailer like iTunes, many artists find themselves wondering, "How do I sell my music on iTunes?" There are two major ways you can sell your music through iTunes: you can either go through the application process yourself, or work with a music distribution company that Apple has already established as a trusted iTunes Store content provider.

The tedious process of going through iTunes application and review can take months to complete. Did you know that SongCast cuts this process down to just a quick upload and only a few days of waiting time?

If you're thinking to yourself, "How do I sell my music on iTunes without the big application process?" then you would benefit from working with SongCast. Our service is hassle-free because we are experienced in the music distribution industry, and we want to help you succeed. We take care of your music from start to finish; all we need you to do is register an account with us, fill out the information associated with your album, upload your cover artwork and the tracks you want on your album, and then submit. That's it! We take care of converting the files for you so that iTunes can start listing your music within only a few days.

As you can see, the process

In case you haven't noticed we have completed some major changes over the last few weeks, with more to come. MyMusicStream is now much simpler to use with improved focus on your official website.

This brings us to the next stage. What features would you like to see on your official website? As a result we have launched a feedback site powered by uservoice where you can suggest features, discuss and cast your vote to have them developed.

http://mymusicstream.uservoice.com

Some feature ideas we have posted already include:

• Physical Merch Sales
• Youtube Integration
• Name your price downloads
• Facebook Connect Integration
• Multiple Audio Formats (WAV, MP4, AAC, etc)
• Pre-order albums, singles
• Media & RSS Feeds

The more votes feature suggestions get, the faster we will develop them for you. So get voting now!!

After almost 6 years online MyMusicStream is taking a new direction. MyMusicStream will now be focussed purely on the band website building platform that has already become the most popular part of the site.

There will be some major changes occurring in coming months that are all about driving fans to your official website, rather than building a community of users on MyMusicStream itself. We feel very strongly that this is now the most important part of promoting your music online.

What this will mean for MyMusicStream artists is that we are going to be rolling out some really awesome features for your band website very soon. Our goals are to make your artist website the best place to manage the direct relationship with your fans, while also providing a central management tool for your content.

If you haven't done so already please log into your account and select your website url. After the May 30th all artist profiles on MyMusicStream will be redirected to your official artist website. For any artists that do not update their account your website url will be automatically generated from your artist profile url.

In preparation for some big changes coming to MyMusicStream we have implemented a new site navigation menu. The new navigation allows you to more easily browse in between your website manager, music discovery area, marketplace and community.

During this upgrade we have also made some design changes to a few areas of the site such as the production marketplace, something that we will be expanding on over time.

http://www.mymusicstream.com/production/

Your personal member profiles have also had some design improvements. Soon we will be upgrading artist, label and venue profiles. The site in general will become a lot more "social" helping you to gain more fans and drive traffic to your official website.

Any feedback or suggestions always appreciated in the forums at http://www.mymusicstream.com/forums/

After being online for almost 6 years our community forums have just been upgraded. The forums are a great place to get support from us and other members, discuss music production techniques or just chat in general.

http://www.mymusicstream.com/forums

We have created several forum topics about new features that have often been requested. Please visit the forums below to get information about these new features and vote to have them developed.

Multiple Audio Formats (WAV, AIF, FLA, AAC, etc)
http://www.mymusicstream.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1007

Physical Merchandise Saleshttp://www.mymusicstream.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1008

Name your price downloads
http://www.mymusicstream.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1009

Facebook Connect Integration
http://www.mymusicstream.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1010

Youtube Integration
http://www.mymusicstream.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1011

In case you haven't noticed there have been many changes going on at MyMusicStream. One of the biggest changes is the focus on providing a high end official website for artists. Well that service has just had a major upgrade and there are more to come. There are literally just too many new features for me to talk about here, so best check out a few examples. So please visit some example artist websites below

MyMusicStream now offers one of the best website building and content management services on the web for artists. Never before has an artist been able to have such a highly professional official website free of advertising. Sell music from your official website directly to your fans free

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we have almost completed the new site design and layout integration for MyMusicStream. As some of you may have already noticed there have been some rather large changes over the last few weeks and we still have further changes coming soon.

For all members using our artist website service there are some major updates been rolled out over the next few weeks.

After being online now for almost 5 years it is time for a whole new and improved MyMusicStream. The web has changed dramatically since MyMusicStream went online and it is time for us to adapt to these changes.

In general MyMusicStream is going to be much simpler to use while also being more integrated with social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. Various other services such as last.fm and youtube will also be integrated driving music discovery and content on MyMusicStream.

Last month I did promise new radio stations, video channels, etc. However these new features have been delayed until the new site goes live. The new MyMusicStream is going to be like no other music site, so it will be worth the wait.

Some backend changes have been launched which have taken a huge load off the server, resulting in a much faster loading website. There will be some further speed enhancements implemented over coming months to ensure that the site will always load as fast as possible.

MyMusicStream recently launched the production services marketplace. This new area of the site is for artists that have a project and need a producer, audio engineer, designer or other service provider to work on their project.

For example if you are a band and are looking for a producer to record your album, post the requirements for the album recording such as number of songs, instruments, song lengths, etc. Try and describe your project requirements in as much detail as possible so that the service provider can provide an accurate quote.

The production services area is very new and in its early stages of development, however I'm sure if will soon become a very big part of the site.

Check it out now at http://www.mymusicstream.com/production

The mailing list manager has been upgraded and now has HTML email functionality. This means that you can send more professional looking emails to fans. You have the option of including a text only version on your email for fans that are not able to read HTML emails.

Using the mailing list manager you can now also view, add or delete subscribers. I will be working soon on an mailing list import feature allowing you to import you mailing list from a CSV file.

Many of you may be noticing your mailing lists growing quite rapidly. The reason for this is that when a fan downloads your tracks there is now an option that adds them to your mailing list. This is proving to be very successful in building mailing list members and fans.

After a huge update late last year I have been making some smaller improvements on various parts of the site. I have updated the video player and improved the streaming functionality, allowing you to skip forward in the videos. The video will also now automatically adjust the quality based on your internet connection speed.

With over 100 new music fans joining the site every day the community is experiencing rapid growth. It is just so great to see so much support from fans for independent music. As a result of the growth the site is moving on to a new server soon which will make the site loading speeds much faster.

After much work I have finally launched the new online website design editor!! This is a great feature allowing artists to create their own custom designed official band websites with all the advanced features from your MyMusicStream profile.

You can have a free demo of the design editor by following these steps:

1. Log into your account at http://www.mymusicstream.com/membersarea
2. Select your artist profile from the "My Profiles" drop down menu
3. Select the "Official Website" option from the left menu.
4. Click the "Online Design Editor" button
5. Change colors, upload custom fonts, upload background images, and more

The design editor allows you to see a preview of your design changes live. Once you have made changes to your site don't forget to press the "Save Changes" button. This will then publish your changes to your live website.

Currently there is just a default template that you can start with. However over coming weeks I will be uploading some template themes and various layout options for you to select from. Having said that with the new design editor you can even make a boring "default" design template look however you want, without even knowing anything about html, css, etc.

Now that the update is completed on MyMusicStream work has commenced on some cool new features including new DJ programmed radio stations, venue and festival profiles.

2009 MyMusicStream was a good year for our community, and for independent music online. This year is looking like being even better. Our community is growing faster than ever with over 22,000 songs and over 900 music videos.

Coming soon to MyMusicStream are DJ programmed radio stations. This is a very exciting new feature that will open up a whole new listening experience for fans. Similar to the new playlists feature you will also be able to add radio stations to a station playlist.

Another big part of the site that will be improved over coming months is the live music area. Fans will be able to find local gigs, or find out where their favorite bands are playing. Venue and festival profiles are also in development and will enable you to see event calendars, read gig reviews, view event photos and more.

I hope that during 2010 you continue to enjoy MyMusicStream and the new music from growing database of talented independent artists from all over the world.

Now that the update is completed on MyMusicStream work has commenced on updates to the official website builder. Apart from some functionality improvements the main focus of this update is to improve your ability to edit the design templates and also better manage your website.

A major new feature is the ability to download the template files so you can edit them offline and upload via FTP. Unlike other site builders this will allow complete control over how your website will look. Possibilities are endless and you could even hire a professional designer to work on the site for you to create a highly professional custom design.

Apart from being able to edit your template files offline there will also be some much better looking design templates being added over coming months. There will also be some premium templates that you will be able to purchase, some with some really cool flash elements.

To help with website admin there will be some new features added which will allow you to manage your emails accounts, view web stats, add ftp accounts, upload fonts and more. If you have any suggestions or feature requests please let me know.

Official website builder at http://www.mymusicstream.com/hosting

Give the gift of independent music this Christmas. You can purchase a gift certificate online and attach a suggested playlist for your fiends, family and loved ones.

It's not too late to give the gift of independent music to your family, friends and loved ones.

http://www.mymusicstream.com/shop/gift-certificates.php

You may have noticed by now that MyMusicStream has changed. I have nearly completed the major update with just a couple of areas left to update.

Apart from the new design layout being rolled out new features include:

• Playlists
• Add Play Queue
• Improved Play Buttons
• Improved Fan, Artist & Label Profiles
• Improved commenting and reply functionality
• Ability to remove comments from personal profile
• Rebuilt members area now called "My Stream"
• Suggested Friends
• Suggested Artists
• Improved Friend Requests
• Private Profile Setting
• Improve Profile URL's
• Ability to add multiple Artist and Label Profiles
• Gift Certificates
• and much more....

Special thanks to all the members who reported any issues with the new site as it helped resolve any bugs quickly. If you find any problems with the site please let me know.

Merry christmas and a happy new year.

Berkleemusic.com, the online continuing education division of Berklee College of Music, offers over 130 accredited online courses and certificates in Music Business, Music Production, Guitar, Bass, Voice, Music Theory, Harmony & Ear Training, Songwriting, and more.

Through our partnership with Berkleemusic you now can watch instructional videos, sign up for free lessons and browse online courses all from our website.

http://www.mymusicstream.com/edu

As previously mentioned in the last newsletter I have been working on a major upgrade to MyMusicstream. The good news is that most of the work is now completed and in the final stages of testing. The exciting news is that on 29th November I will be rolling out the new website.

Please note that during the rollout period the site will be fully operational however new member registrations and the members area will be temporarily offline. I am expecting the new site to be completely live by the 30th November.

The new website has a rebuilt members area and many improvements in general which help fans discover music. I have listened to much of the feedback from members and even borrowed some ideas from other websites to make MyMusicStream a much more social experience for members.

This major update to MyMusicStream also allows for the release of many major features over coming months. 2010 will be an exciting year for the MyMusicStream community.