http://www.artistir.com/blog/ Latest Blogs http://www.artistir.com/blog/423/googles-finally-taking-a-notice-to-us/ http://www.artistir.com/blog/423/googles-finally-taking-a-notice-to-us/ Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:43:05 +0000 suzannedesir733 http://www.artistir.com/blog/283/burn-your-own-trail-and-walk-your-own-path/
Now it is time to look at what style of music I am most drawn to? Most of the time the answer I get when I ask this question is, "I don't want to limit myself just to one style". Well that's fine, I can think of a few artist that have also felt that way. Madonna , Prince, who else? The point is, publishers, labels, and music supervisors that are buying our music are looking for a specific genre and a composer that delivers.

If you are in-concert and 20 thousand fans buy tickets to hear you perform, it's not all because you are pretty to look at, it's about how you make them feel when they hear your music. They have been listening to your hit song over and over, and now they get to almost meet and at least be in the same room as someone that has transformed their life.
Make no mistake about this it is exactly what we do when we write our music and others respond.

Now that we know this? What if when we were creating our music we focused on the fans, publishers etc. What is it about our music that makes them want to hear it over and over? What needs are you fulfilling in your fans with your music.

Not pursuing music as a career? Consider this, the people deserve to hear the best of you. And you deserve to discover who that is.

Burn your own trail, walk your own path.

Dave]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/283/burn-your-own-trail-and-walk-your-own-path/ Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:52:12 +0000 Kidaudra http://www.artistir.com/blog/281/a-little-bit-of-artistir-happenings/
We're still working on planning out the live show(s). I'm still unsure of a venue. I still think the Middle East in Boston is a good starting place. The upstairs holds 200, while the downstairs holds 600. I'm looking on doing a joint hip hop and rock show on both floors. Depending on the amount of available artists, and how much of a draw they will bring, will probably determine which floor I will push for each genre.

I'm 99.9% certain that I am going to give artists the option to open their own online store through the site. Those with the Seller accounts will get to do it, which is a measly $20 per year (not month). Let me know if this is something that would interest you.

We're busting through the Alexa internet rankings, currently sitting around the 340,000th most popular site in the world and between the 30k-40k most popular in the US. Seeing as a little over a month ago we were around the 2 million mark and unranked in the US, I'd say we are making some pretty fast progress for such a young site.

Anyway, I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading, again!

- Derek

P.S. I love seeing how many different artists are hitting the top of our charts each day. We'll keep giving a shout out each day to the top artist on our Facebook page.]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/281/a-little-bit-of-artistir-happenings/ Tue, 17 Jul 2012 20:30:51 +0000 rayshawn bedell http://www.artistir.com/blog/256/state-of-the-artistir-june-8th-2012/
I've spoken with a few associates over the past couple of days. It looks like we're going to be putting on a show at the Middle East club in Boston. For those of you in the Boston area that are interested in performing, hit me or Chris up. We have a decent lineup already, but it is not yet finalized. We're aiming for an August date. We'll let you know within the next week or two. Eventually, we're looking to spread out the reach of our shows, so those of you in different parts of the country, or even world, might have an Artistir show coming your way featuring you!

We're still working on getting some extra funding to make more improvements and add features to the site, as well as marketing. So far, we've done nothing, as far as marketing grows. The power of word of mouth is amazing. Everyday we are becoming more popular, and it's great to see how many of you are on here on a regular basis. Our goal is to give you the best shot of getting your stuff out there, without any costs. When we start doing shows on a regular basis, we will never make you pay to submit for the chance to play (like some other sites). We're going to take our top available talent. That's it. All you need to do is have your music on our site and you could be featured in one of our live shows. You may even make a little money out of the deal, so we'll see where that goes.

I'm off to camp for the weekend in a couple of hours, but will be sure to have my laptop handy to keep tabs on the progress of our site. Things are coming along great. I think we have a great community atmosphere here and am excited to watch it continue to grow. If there's anything that you'd like to see, throw it in the forums and we'll be sure to consider each suggestion.

Until next time.

-D]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/256/state-of-the-artistir-june-8th-2012/ Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:01:22 +0000 eewrr5l2o http://www.artistir.com/blog/249/shooting-arrows/ However now that I am back I will report .. There are more people out there shooting arrows out in...]]> However now that I am back I will report .. There are more people out there shooting arrows out into the sky hoping for something to land to bring them in contact with the right person that will give them "The Deal" What usually happens is it comes back and lands on there A--.

I am here to say' You are the Deal.

I have been making a living at this for a while, just never really opened up my eyes to not only what I have been doing but what I see countless others do.

Don't ask me what I think. Watch what I do. If you just watch what people do, it will tell you what they are really saying when words come out of their mouth.

So what's going on here at Artistir. This is turning into a slick site for artist. Derik knows I know this is no easy task.

I am going to be finishing my long awaited c.d... Awaited by me and promoting that plus other music. Love listening to new music. Got some?

Dave]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/249/shooting-arrows/ Mon, 04 Jun 2012 04:31:29 +0000 oranabzjh http://www.artistir.com/blog/241/audiorokit-week-1/ Joined Audiorokit yesterday (advertiser on this site) ...initial impressions are quite good. Lots of opportunities there, some record labels, radio st...
Only been 24 hours ... so will have a better impression of the site next week.

Love, peace and Unity
Rob - Musicby6]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/241/audiorokit-week-1/ Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:35:36 +0000 paoniq21 http://www.artistir.com/blog/220/dereks-state-of-the-artistir-may-18th-2012-edition/
First off, a couple of weeks ago, we paired up with audiorokit...]]>
First off, a couple of weeks ago, we paired up with audiorokit.co.uk for a little cross advertising. I'm not sure who's checked them out yet, but I'd like to hear it, if you had. Remember to use code "star23" for your first month free with them. They'll pitch your music to different agencies, labels, and such.

Secondly, I was approached by our first venture capitalist firm yesterday. I'm still gettting some more information from them. Basically, they have a network of celebrities that would promote artistir.com (including P Diddy, Justin Timberlake, Bono, William Shatner, Ashton Kutcher, and (drum roll please) MC Hammer! What they ask for in return is a small stake in our company. Like I said, I'm still ironing out the details, but can imagine, if that goes through, we would have a pretty cool advertisement spot. Plus they're a VC firm, meaning they would have more resources that we could use, helping us to fund the site more and add more features, particularly the ones that Chris and I have been looking to implement.

Last month, our page view numbers were pretty great. We're looking good this month also, although we're pretty much on par with last month. However, we are still getting more quality artists and new members everyday, which is what counts.

Anyways, that is pretty much all I have for you in Artistir news. We're still deciding who will be featured for next month. I'm thinking probably an artist from each genre. There are a couple new impressive acts on here that I would definitely like to feature. Chris and I will go over it and we'll keep you posted.

I have to go finish getting ready for camping this week. The fam and I have recently acquired a 29 foot camper (pic attached) that sleeps 8. We bought a seasonal spot up in the sticks of New Hampshire. Today the little lady and I did some shopping to get everything we needed. Once the kids are out of school, we'll be heading up there.

Until next time.

-D

]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/220/dereks-state-of-the-artistir-may-18th-2012-edition/ Fri, 18 May 2012 17:26:05 +0000 heusheeblge http://www.artistir.com/blog/212/pro-tools-se-help-wanted/ Looking for anyone using pro tool se with suggestions for cleaning up my mixdowns thanks Looking for anyone using pro tool se with suggestions for cleaning up my mixdowns thanks http://www.artistir.com/blog/212/pro-tools-se-help-wanted/ Sat, 12 May 2012 12:21:09 +0000 Bmacx87 http://www.artistir.com/blog/211/dereks-sort-of-weekly-blog-the-may-11-2012-edition/ Hi everyone. Been pretty busy working on promotions and such. The days are winding down before we get that press release out. We have our first aff...
I think Artistir would be a great place for comedians too. Right now, we have comedy as a genre, and have our first comedian with some material. I'm looking into creating a separate comedy section, sort of like how you can choose between being an artist or producer. As of right now,we have it as a genre, like any other site, but I would definitely like to evolve it from that.

I don't have a lot of news today, other than the fact that April shattered all of our previous months numbers, combined. We're seeing some pretty awesome growth, and that is just by word of mouth so far. Once we get that PR out, I think that's going to bring us a huge boost and it will only go up from there. All and all, we aren't doing bad for a site that's only been live for five months. We're attracting more artists and members by the day. We're still small time, compared to the big guns out there, but that's how things work on the intertubes. We aren't going to have millions of members overnight. However, those of you who are on here now, I thank you again for your continued support and I'll find some sort of way to make it up to you if things go well for us.

Congrats to Musicby6 for being the sole artist of the month for May. He brought in some new artists and a slew of members. If we can keep going at the rate we're going now, we are looking REALLY good.

In other news, I'll be going camping this weekend. I just bought a seasonal site up in Webster, NH. Chris will be around this weekend. I'll probably be on a lot too, as my campground has wifi. That's if I'm not too shitfaced to type.

Anyways, that's all I got for you for now. Still working everyday to find more ways to keep improving this community, and also what features we will be adding down the road, and in what order. Any suggestions you guys got for us, stick them in the forum. Our developer, myself, and Chris will be keeping an eye on all of that and take everything into consideration.

-D]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/211/dereks-sort-of-weekly-blog-the-may-11-2012-edition/ Sat, 12 May 2012 00:50:23 +0000 Hero Mohammad http://www.artistir.com/blog/189/state-of-the-artistir-april-26th-edition/
April is almost at it's end. The site was launched in December. We've absolutely DEMOLISHED all of our stats from December through March COMBINED for the month of April. We're going to top 1.5 million hits and page views for the month, and could possibly hit 2 million. For a site that is only 4 months old, I'd say we're off to a pretty strong start. I don't think Reverbnation, or even Facebook, had this many hits this early in their respective tenures. Not that we're ever going to top Facebook, but eventually I think Reverbnation, Soundcloud, etc. are eventually going to have a new contender on the block that they're going to be measured up against. Not even close to it yet, but like I said, we're 4 months old. If we continue to grow at the rate that we're going now, we're looking to be THE music community to beat a year or two from now (hopefully sooner, but I'm a dreamer sometimes).

The other day I was approached by a big name company that wants to partner up. Basically, they are a paid service that has record label connections and does a lot of groundwork for promising artists. I've been in contact with them (they approached me, remember) and we'll see were that leads. Basically, they want to be able to offer our artists the opportunities that their members have. We have yet to work out the details, as we've just begun talks, but I think it's a promising sign for bigger things to come for our artists. The fact that they've approached us this soon in our existence speaks volumes of the potential of this community, and has got me really excited.

Another big thing coming up is that we are FINALLY going to put out a press release to promote Artistir. This will be the first promoting that we have ever done, other than word of mouth. I think we'll see a huge influx in members and artists once that hits, as we'll be in every major music publication and site there is. It's nice to have friends in the right places, I suppose.

ANOTHER promising feature that I am working out is collaborating with a radio/television host here in the New England area. I can't give away too many details on that right now, as it is still in the works, but basically our top artists could get some major exposure through this connection. I will leave it at that for now, as it's still in the planning stages.

Now this summer, I am working on organizing an Artistir launch party. I am in contact with several venues in the Boston area trying to find the right place to hold this event. Unfortunately, a lot of you aren't from Boston. When this event happens, we will most likely hand pick a few of our top dedicated artists to perform at the event. If they aren't from Boston, we'll see to covering travel expenses and then some. There are a few acts on here already that I would love to come down and perform. Once I get the venue for that set, I will give more details. I am aiming for sometime in July or August.

All of the bands, producers, DJs, and hopefully eventually comedians that join up with us, Chris and I are going to really go out of our way to get you as much publicity as we can. We have many media contacts, which was one of the reasons that pushed me to start Artistir, so we think we can do good for a lot of you. As our base grows, we will continue to look at the cream of the crop and do what we can to get you publicity in some way, shape, or form. By the way, we will never ask for a penny from you to do so. We are just grateful that you come here and hope that you bring your fans over as well. Our intent isn't to take money out of your pocket. The only reason we are currently charging $20/YEAR for these seller accounts (unless you got grandfathered in with a free one) is so we can continue to pay for our server costs. Speaking of which, for those of you with intermediate web knowledge, this site is currently based on a Virtual Private Server. It's a much better option than shared hosting (like GoDaddy, etc), but we're looking to purchase dedicated servers. When we get to that point, the site should be blazing fast instead of just decent, like it is right now.

That is my State of the Artistir address for this week. If you've actually read through it, thank you. I know I have a tendency to ramble. I guess I just see the potential that we have here and I'm excited about it. Also, remember to hit Chris or myself up with any comments, suggestions, etc. We're pretty busy, but we will take anything into account. If we're not available, check out the forums and post your suggestions and comments in there, as we read through them all. Plus, that way our developer also sees them, in case it's a technical thing. Right now, I am still really focusing on making the charts weekly and better weighed out. Right now, the main factor is the amount of followers an artist has. For songs, its the amount of plays. Same with albums. Ratings also have an effect, but that won't be a bigger factor until we have more people rating artists, songs and albums.

Ok, I'm done now. Until next time.]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/189/state-of-the-artistir-april-26th-edition/ Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:12:24 +0000 LD50 http://www.artistir.com/blog/174/state-of-the-union-the-artistir-edition/
We are finally going to be releasing our press release very soon. That should give us a big boost and really draw some eyes to the site. We are expanding faster than I originally expected, which is great. There are many of you who are very dedicated to it, and I thank you for that!

Internet traffic is generally measured by it's Alexa rating. Basically, there are over 644 BILLION websites in the world. Alexa rates each site, according to traffic. Last month, we were somewhere in the 4-6 million range. Last week we were at 2.9 million, and now we're down to 2.6 million. That just goes to show how fast the site is progressing. It still has a ways to go, but at the rate that it's going, within a few months, I figure there will be many eyes on this site checking out our members. Also, giving us more artists and fans to interact with.

All this traffic really has just been through word of mouth. We haven't bought any advertising, although Bing gave me $50 in free advertising to use (LOL). Once we start releasing some press, I'm expecting a pretty large influx. We're doing our best to make sure that our server is ready, if that were to happen. We're on course for about 1.5 million hits this month, which beats all other months combined. Thank you all again for being a part of what we hope to become a great music community that will really help artists to network and get exposure for all of you guys. I think the platform is geared towards helping musicians make new relationships with other musicians, and find new fans.

Thank you all.

-Derek

P.S. If we get down into the 1 millions by the end of this month for Alexa rating, I will personally release a video of myself trying to cover Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive and stick it on here, so I can embarrass the hell out of myself.]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/174/state-of-the-union-the-artistir-edition/ Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:55:47 +0000 SarahB http://www.artistir.com/blog/151/new-psytrance-tune-on-way/ ]]> ]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/151/new-psytrance-tune-on-way/ Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:03:54 +0000 beijeyeus http://www.artistir.com/blog/145/videos/
I use Freemake Video to produce some music synced g...]]>
I use Freemake Video to produce some music synced graphics... lush! But takes ages to render!

Then do it all again with different visuals.... Ages more to render!

Load them into Adobe Premiere and merge them together.... More time spent rendering!

So is it a pointless exercise? Does anyone care? Do I care?

Answers on a postcard....!]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/145/videos/ Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:40:10 +0000 Bored Cassettes http://www.artistir.com/blog/144/a-few-other-things/
Any questions or concerns, shoot me a message. Thanks.]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/144/a-few-other-things/ Sat, 07 Apr 2012 23:36:14 +0000 djhalluq http://www.artistir.com/blog/143/artistir-so-far/
Well I'm happy to say that we are making great strides into making this into the music community that we want it to be. There are stil...]]>
Well I'm happy to say that we are making great strides into making this into the music community that we want it to be. There are still improvements to be made and work to be done, but I think we are starting to develop a pretty strong core as to what, in my opinion, a music site should be like. There are a lot of other alternatives out there. Few are successful, and many fail. My question I guess is, what makes a successful music site?

To tell you the truth, the idea of building a music community was not my idea. Someone else wanted me to head the project for them. It would have been a bad partnership, to say the least, and we went our separate ways. This person approached me one day and said, "I want to build a music site. Reverbnation has it all wrong." Immediately, ideas started coming to mind. I envisioned a site that would differ from the other big ones. Something geared toward the artist. Something with a clean look. I met a great developer who really helped turn it into a reality. I knew I needed a partner in all this. Someone else who could bring ideas that I knew I could work well with. Chris and I worked together for years, he's intelligent, a friend, and someone I know I can count on. That is how we began this site.

Artistir is still in it's very beginning stages. We had just upgraded the whole site last week. I am proud to say that every day we are rapidly getting more views. I have a friend who is going to put out a press release for us. We would have done it earlier, but I just didn't think the site was quite ready at the time. I think it is now. We still only have a tiny little fraction of the artists and members that I would like to bring aboard, but I think it's a strong group and at the rate that we are growing right now, by this years end, it could really be something.

We're never going to give up on this site. There may be flaws, but we'll work hard to improve those. There are so many features that we want to bring that we just haven't been able to...yet. Believe me, I have such high hopes for this community. We won't sell out like MySpace. We won't charge you for ridiculous features that aren't going to make any difference, like RN. This is our baby. I want to thank all of our members for helping us to continue to grow. I've met a lot of you (online) personally, and I think that it's great to see people with such passion for their material. That's what this site is all about. Not a popularity contest. We'll never ask for your money to feature you. We want to help all aspiring artists out there.

I think I might start blogging, maybe on a weekly basis. Mostly it will be geared towards music, this site, etc. Sometimes I might find something else of interest (like has anyone seen the preview for that Ted movie yet? Hilarious!)

In closing, thanks to all of you guys/gals who are visiting us on a daily basis. Sharing with us your material. I am grateful for all of you and wish you all the best of luck.



Your Pal,

Derek]]> http://www.artistir.com/blog/143/artistir-so-far/ Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:46:27 +0000 nettatalulla