#added a link to each playlist and also one song example for the artists

[wireless-telegraph]

6, 18 for spotify asks :3c

6. Which playlist do you frequent most?

Between these two OC playlists:

Geneve Duthrak aka Phlox, my conjuration wizard.

Seymour, my Aasimar bloodhunter

18. What artist do you anticipate to be your top for spotify wrapped?

Oh geeze. I'm an artist hopper but maybe Crywolf or Roland Faunte?

[sayitaliano]

Sanremo 2025 - the post!

Hello everyone!

Here you’ll find this year’s Sanremo’s stuff and news (I’ll be updating this post through all the week). The Festival will start on Tuesday February 11th at 8:30 pm, and end on Saturday February 15th, when the final will be broadcasted.

/ Official website / you can find loads of videos and interviews here + the latest news. You can already find the presentation videos of the songs made by the artists.

Rai’s website dedicated section (here) | youtube playlist | spotify playlist

TikTok official channel: @/sanremorai; @/sanremoesc Instagram official: @/sanremorai Twitter official: @/SanremoRAI; @/SanremoESC Facebook: festivaldisanremo

Each night from February 8th to February 15th, before the start of Sanremo at around 8:25 PM (GMT+1), will be broadcasted the usual PrimaFestival. The hosts are: Bianca Guaccero, Gabriele Corsi e Mariasole Pollio (tv hosts, actors/actresses -Gabriele is the Eurovision's host as well iykyk) (you can rewatch it on raiplay)

There’s gonna be the usual Dopofestival, with Alessandro Cattelan (tv host, veejay) starting right after the end of each Sanremo’s night (11th-15th Feb.) on Raiuno. Some of the guests are: Selvaggia Lucarelli, Anna Dello Russo and Street Clerks.

CasaSanremo- A website about Sanremo and all the artists who will take part, with more infos and interviews (also Italian places and food specialties will be shown). Follow them also on their Social Media Channels, usually they make live video/interviews/shows on FB for example.

On Sorrisi&Canzoni you will find also other infos about Sanremo and every lyrics’s explanation (ofc ask me if you need a translation)

"Il Podcast di Sorrisi a Sanremo" - the famous media outlet will host daily starting at 7 PM (GMT+1) from February 11th to February 15th on RealTime TV a podcast about Sanremo with Rettore, Coma_cose, Francesca Michielin and Alessandro Amoroso as guests, sharing infos and special bts of the competition. The hosts are Lodovica Comello (radio/tv host, singer, actress...), Tommaso Cassissa (actor, youtuber...) and the director of Sorrisi Aldo Vitali.

The # on this blog is #sanremo 2025, #sanremo, #sanremo2025 you can black any of these (the first one in particular) if you want.

To watch it live:

Raiuno -> just click on the first video on the left, or here, to open the Raiuno streaming immediately (I added the whole Rai channels things in case you had troubles connecting directly and wanted to try from there). The RAI’s geoblock is usually removed for Sanremo’s week, no need to create accounts or whatsoever to enjoy Sanremo online!! Remember you can rewatch the whole event and each performance on Raiplay few minutes after it has happened and for the whole week too (after the end of Sanremo, there will be only 1mins vids of each performance avaiable).

You can also follow the whole competition on Radio2.

FESTIVAL LIS - songs and whole exhibition explained in signs language

FANTASANREMO - this year as well you can play while enjoying your Sanremo! How does it work? Every person “buys” 5 artisti and marks one of them as a captain. As in the last years, artists will have to do or say something while on stage to help you gain points (and also classification will have a say). Subscriptions open on December 27th 2024. It seems there are some new features in the game too.

I’ll try to write down some more infos/links through the week.

——-

HOST & GUESTS & Other stuff

This years’ host will still be Carlo Conti (who choose the songs taking part into this Sanremo), a TV and radio host/deejay. He already hosted for 3 years (2015-2017). He will be accompanied by a different co-host each night (check the schedule below). Together with them, as usual, during each night there will be different guests. Some will be announced only right before the start of the evening so keep an eye on the schedule.

There won't just be the competition inside the Ariston: the Suzuki Stage will be held in Sanremo's piazza Colombo and every night there will be live performances (they may show something during Sanremo as well). Mattia Stanga and Jody Cecchetto (tv/radio hosts) will be the hosts, while the performers will be: Raf (Feb.11th), BigMama (Feb.12th), Ermal Meta (Feb.13th), Benji & Fede (Feb.14th), Tedua (Feb.15th).

How it works:

There will be 29* singers in the ARTISTI (artists) section. There will be again 2 sections: BIG/CAMPIONI (already known artists) and NUOVE PROPOSTE (youngs). 29 artists of the BIG section were chosen by Carlo Conti, while the 4 of the NUOVE PROPOSTE are the finalists of Sanremo Giovani (held in December 2024). The winner of the BIGs competition will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest (May 13-17th 2025, in Switzerland): if he/she/they won’t accept, the choice will be another artist, usually the 2nd classified or the next (the first one accepting).

-> *Originally there were 30 BIG but Emis Killa withdrew since he's being investigated

This year we’re gonna listen to the 29 BIGs' songs on the first night and get a top 5 rank at the end. On the 2nd and 3rd night, we’ll get to listen to 2 of the NUOVE PROPOSTE's songs at the beginning of each night. The one with the most votes (each night) will perform in the final on day 4. On day 2 and 3, we'll also listen again to 15 BIGs' songs and get another top 5 rank. People at home can vote for both sections. On the 4th night, we'll get the winner of the NUOVE PROPOSTE between the 2 finalists. Then, there will be the usual “covers” night: the BIGs can choose any song published until December 2024, national or international, and will be accompanied by another artist. From this year, artists can also decide if to duet with another Sanremo's contestant. We'll get the winner of the covers' night but the rank will be a separate rank from the one of the real competition. People at home can vote for both sections again. On day 5, all the BIGs will perform again. At the beginning of the night we'll get the general top 5 rank of the past days, and at the end of the night we'll get the final standing and winner.

Day 1 - co-hosts: Antonella Clerici (tv host, former Sanremo host), Gerry Scotti (tv host, deejay) Prob. guests: Lorenzo Jovanotti, Noa and Mira Awad (singers) We’ll listen to all the 29 songs (in order of performance: ). Top5 rank:

Day 2 - co-hosts: Bianca Balti (model), Cristiano Malgioglio (singer, host, producer, songwriter), Nino Frassica (tv host, actor) Prob. guests: Damiano David (singer, former Maneskin's singer), "Follemente" movie's cast (actors: Edoardo Leo, Pilar Fogliati, Emanuela Fanelli, Maria Chiara Giannetta, Claudia Pandolfi, Vittoria Puccini, Marco Giallini, Maurizio Lastrico, Rocco Papaleo, Claudio Santamaria); "Champagne" tv serie cast (actors: Alessandro Gervasi, Francesco Del Gaudio); "Belcanto" tv serie cast (actors: Vittoria Puccini, Giacomo Giorgio, Carmine Recano) The first 2 NUOVE PROPOSTE (); Winner of the evening: We’ll listen to 15 BIG () Top 5 rank:

Day 3 - co-hosts: Miriam Leone (actress), Elettra Lamborghini (singer, tv host), Katia Follesa (comedian, tv host) Prob. guests: Duran Duran, "Mare Fuori 5" tv serie's cast (actors), Iva Zanicchi (singer) The other 2 NUOVE PROPOSTE (); Winne rof teh evening: The remaining 14 BIG () Top 5 rank:

Day 4 - co-hosts: Mahmood (singer), Geppi Cucciari (tv host, comedian, actress) Prob. guests: The NUOVE PROPOSTE WINNER is: The 29 BIGs Covers’ list (in order of appearance):

- Annalisa con Giorgia - “Skyfall” (Adele) - Bresh con Cristiano De André - “Crêuza de mä” (Fabrizio De André)  - Brunori Sas con Dimartino e Riccardo Sinigallia - “L'anno che verrà” (Lucio Dalla) - Clara con Il Volo - "The sound of silence" (Simon and Garfunkel) - Coma_Cose con Johnson Righeira - “L'estate sta finendo” (Righeira) - Fedez con Marco Masini - “Bella stronza” (Marco Masini)  - Francesco Gabbani con Tricarico - "Io sono Francesco" (Tricarico) - Gaia con Toquinho - “La voglia, la pazzia” (Ornella Vanoni)  - Giorgia con Annalisa - “Skyfall” (Adele)      - Irama con Arisa - "Say something, i'm giving up on you" (Christina Aguilera) - Joan Thiele con Frah Quintale - “Che cosa c'è” (Gino Paoli) - Lucio Corsi con Topo Gigio - “Nel blu dipinto di blu” (Domenico Modugno) - Marcella Bella con i Twin Violins - “L'emozione non ha voce” (Adriano Celentano) - Massimo Ranieri con i Neri per caso - “Quando” (Pino Daniele) - Modà con Francesco Renga - “Angelo” (Francesco Renga) - Olly con Goran Bregovic e la Wedding & Funeral Band - “Il pescatore” (Fabrizio De André) - Rocco Hunt con Clementino - “Yes, I Know My Way” (Pino Daniele)  - Rose Villain con Chiello - “Fiori rosa, fiori di pesco” (Lucio Battisti) - Sarah Toscano con Ofenbach - “Overdrive” - Serena Brancale con Alessandra Amoroso - “If I Ain’t Got You” (Alicia Keys) - Shablo feat. Guè, Joshua e Tormento con Neffa - Mix di “Amor de mi vida” (Sottotono) e “Aspettando il sole” (Neffa) - Simone Cristicchi con Amara - “La cura” (Franco Battiato) - The Kolors con Sal Da Vinci - “Rossetto e caffè” (Sal Da Vinci) - Willie Peyote con Tiromancino (Federico Zampaglione) e Ditonellapiaga - “Un tempo piccolo” (Franco Califano) - Tony Effe con Noemi - “Tutto il resto è noia” (Franco Califano) - Achille Lauro con Elodie - "A mano a mano"(Riccardo Cocciante) e “Folle città” (Loredana Bertè) - Francesca Michielin con Rkomi - “La nuova stella di Broadway” (Cesare Cremonini) 

Covers' rank:

Day 5 - co-hosts: Alessandro Cattelan (tv host, veejay), Alessia Marcuzzi (tv host, actress, model) Prob. guests: Vanessa Scalera (actress), Antonello Venditti (singer) All the 29 BIGs will perform their songs (in order of appearance: ) and after midnight (prob. more like 1:30-2:30 am or later) we’ll know the competition’s final standings. The winner will go to the #ESC2025.

And the winner is:

Final standing:

_______ will take part at the ESC 2025! Other Awards: - Premio della critica “Mia Martini” : - Premio della sala stampa “Lucio Dalla” : - Premio miglior testo “Sergio Bardotti” : - Premio miglior composizione musicale “Giancarlo Bigazzi” : - Premio alla carriera: Iva Zanicchi - Premio alla carriera: Antonello Venditti - Premio Lunezia per Sanremo 2025: Simone Cristicchi

————————

BIGs (+ lyrics):

Achille Lauro - Incoscienti giovani

Bresh - La tana del granchio

Brunori Sas - L'albero delle noci

Clara - Febbre

Coma_Cose - Cuoricini

Elodie - Dimenticarsi alle 7

Fedez - Battito

Francesca Michielin - Fango in paradiso

Francesco Gabbani - Viva la vita

Gaia - Chiamo io chiami tu

Giorgia - La cura per me

Irama - Lentamente

Joan Thiele - Eco

Lucio Corsi - Volevo essere un duro

Marcella Bella - Pelle diamante

Massimo Ranieri - Tra le mani un cuore

Modà - Non ti dimentico

Noemi - Se ti innamori muori

Olly - Balorda nostalgia

Rkomi - Il ritmo delle cose

Rocco Hunt - Mille volte ancora

Rose Villain - Fuorilegge

Sarah Toscano - Amarcord

Serena Brancale - Anema e core

Shablo con Guè, Joshua e Tormento - La mia parola

Simone Cristicchi - Quando sarai piccola

The Kolors - Tu con chi fai l'amore

Tony Effe - Damme 'na mano

Willie Peyote - Grazie ma non grazie

NUOVE PROPOSTE:

Alex Wyse - Rockstar

Maria Tomba - Goodbye (voglio good vibes)

Settembre - Vertebre

Vale LP e Lil Jolie - Dimmi tu quando sei pronto a fare l'amore

[more infos on the lyrics as on December 2024]

[all the lyrics can be found on this page]

(will edit with more updates, corrections and links as we get closer to the event)

[mediumcutsteak]

So I hopped into a free trial of NSO cause I wanted to check out Nintendo Music. I was already under no illusion this would be worth anyone's time as anything but an extra bonus for paying for a service you likely already pay for to play smash and splatoon, but wow this is truly pathetic. Here is the selection:

This is a PITIFUL list. TWO ZELDAS??? TWO KIRBYS???? IN A **MUSIC** APP?????? That's not getting into the other omissions, but this is a pretty glaring one. The only noteworthy thing about this selection is that I guess we officially call the first NA Fire Emblem with its subtitle now. Neat I guess. Also, these are Nintendo soundtracks, so really short musical stings (think Samus or Link getting Power up) bloat these OSTs, which for me is an L. No 3DS games at all by the way, nor any of the few remaining Wii U exclusives.

So what about its two vaunted features, easy music extension and spoilers? Easy Music Extension is mediocre. You can extend some songs to 15, 30, and 60 min. No longer or shorter. No reason not to have more options but whatever. I say some songs though cause the choices seem arbitrary. Obviously the short music stings can't be extended. I thought it was based on if the music would loop in game, but so far three of the OOT dungeons loop. They're all just stupid 40 second tracks that just.... Can't loop. Neither can Sheik's theme???

Spoiler prevention allows you to nix a whole game from rotation on any playlist. Not useful for what it sets out to do, but if you HAPPEN to want to use a premade mixed game playlist (you won't but we'll get to it) and there are games you just straight up don't like ANYTHING from, itll keep them out. I like Metroid music but I really hate the NES sound font at this point so were I to use this app indefinitely I'd certainly throw those out. Can't be used selectively though, so if you do like ONE song from a game, then you gotta keep it open to them all.

Lets talk about the playlists because these are insane. First off, no community playlists. I get that there's no way they could stop profanity if they added those, but thats a massive L already. Ok so fine, no community playlists, whats poppin in premade town. Well its got some staples: top tracks on the app, franchise wide selections (most franchises on here are 2 games tops though right now), each game has a playlist of just the songs that can be extended. Then there's the weird ones. Each game has playlists that vaguely categorizes some of the music into certain modes of play? Take Nintendogs for example

Ok. These make sense for Splatoon at least cause they separate them by in-game artists and game mode. Then there's the mood playlists, all with cringy names like Powering Up or whatever. And then there's my favorite, the character centric playlists! These are hilarious. They are just songs that are related to the characters. And the selection of characters? Well....

Yeah dude, thats sick. I def want to listen to BOO music or Wiggler music. It appears that as I was writing this they also added ones for the ScarVi professors, legendaries, and the DLC legendaries. Swell. The wiggler playlist is five songs, with six minutes total of music. Really gettin into that Wiggler mindset. Wiggler Wednesday everyone.

Its just sad. If you play games online on Switch and the music you want to listen to is on here, it isnt gonna kill you. You're already paying for it. But right now the selection is TERRIBLE, some of the tracks you would expect to be extendable aren't, and some of these loops are under a minute (every oot dungeon except forest, water, and shadow I can't stress enough). And for what? The composers aren't making money off this, they don't even get CREDITS on the songs (the spot where artist would be on Spotify is the game title). Even if they WERE, the service costs less than Spotify, so they wouldn't be making much anyway.

This is basically for no one. Real nintendo music diehards who would lap this up are missing a LOT of big names, and anyone who ISN'T probably doesn't care enough to download the app in the first place. To say nothing of people like me, who would want music from non-Nintendo games mixed in. Also its weirdly hard to find??? I tried searching Nintendo Music on the Play Store and couldn't find it, I had to access a link on Google. So there's your deep dive if you cared. What a waste of time and energy. Just put it on Spotify and Apple Music and be done.

[gakucollab]

Thank you for the amazing support the collab's gotten so far this year!

There are still three weeks left to sign up and claim a song/cover you want to make a piece for, or finish your piece if you've already chosen one.

Update breakdown + cover artist/image description guide links guide under the cut.

--- Still looking for a song? Not signed up, but want to know what's available? At the time this post was made (July 9th at 4pm est), the following songs have not been claimed yet:

Dancing Samurai, Episode.0, Joker, Stainless Moon, Breathe, BAD∞END∞NIGHT, Dead Line Circus, Straying Rhapsody, Eternal Feel, Nishiki No Mai, Dr. Realist, Justin Jive Justify, IMITATION BLACK, Distorted Destiny, Solar Bonds, Super Turkish March (OWATA), World’s Crying, Bloody Fang, Butterfly, (Bushido) ～It was the way of the SAMURAI～, GENSOU AIRLY songs, and Alice in N.Y.

--- As we had a spot for Gackpo's original box art and it's been claimed, we've also added spots for his Power and Whisper designs. Full-body art is recommended, but we're only requiring waist-up (for these specific pieces).

--- Looking for covers? A few cover artists to check out are nekoshey, Jade S., しえみShiKai, Synthetic Vocalist, N U T, Creuzer, zoki, しょうね, sakurai yato桜伊ヤト, crow, Kaitsuko-P, Thehollowedvocaloid, Chrysanthemum, MAGPIE, アサイチ, and Void Loid.

You can find a playlist of examples of their covers (one each) here.

(If you're featured in this list and want to be removed, just let us know.)

--- Finally, we've created a guide on image descriptions/alt text with an example for those unsure of how to go about them. You can find it here.

[post-punk-revival]

Sites I've gotten way too much fun out as a person whose special interest is music:

Sort Your Music -- pick one of your Spotify playlists and rank the songs by a number of factors like popularity or BPM or happiness. I had a lot of fun with my main playlist seeing what the most obscure or lowest BPM etc. songs I have are.

Whisperify -- fun quiz game where you can pick one of your playlists (I play it with my Wrapped every year) and it'll play five seconds of a song which you then have to guess. Originally it was required to follow the creator on Twitter to use, don't know if it still is, but I just followed and then unfollowed and it let me use it permanently. Also I've since deleted my Twitter account and it doesn't care.

How Bad Is Your Spotify? -- AI that analyzes your listening stats and absolutely roasts you with some really funny and specific descriptions of your music taste. It always says your music is bad so don't be offended.

(↑ This is true)

Skiley -- really really fun Spotify-based... thing? It has a lot of cool stuff you can do with it that I haven't even tried all of yet. It shows you your listening stats like all those Spotify stat websites, but it also: 1. Shows what song you're currently listening to, its genre, album, release year, and you can look at other people's comments and the lyrics. 2. Lets you do a ton of playlist actions, like creating new ones filtered by genre/decade/etc., completely shuffle the order, remove songs you accidentally added twice, add every song in the playlist to your Liked, and other stuff. 3. Has a few music discovery features, like creating what's basically a second Discover Weekly, or finding songs with "similar audio properties" to your favorite songs.

Every Noise at Once/The Sounds of Spotify -- y'all, this website is AMAZING. For music nerds at least, or anyone else who needs their addiction fueled. I've spent hours here and through it added at least 350 songs to my library. The main page has what's basically a word cloud of music genres: every genre currently categorized by the Spotify metadata. This isn't just rock and pop. This is medieval rock and electropowerpop. They all link to individual genre pages with multiple playlists; a general one, an introduction to the genre, currently popular music, lesser known artists, and songs released last year. Each playlist also has a ton of links to playlists for similar and related genres -- for example, the vaporwave playlist also links to dreampunk and future funk. These aren't short 15-track playlists, by the way. The medieval rock one has 257 songs. And most are constantly updating. Just looking at the medieval rock playlist to see the song count I saw there was a song added an hour ago. This is literally my favorite website on the Internet.

As you can see by the scrollbars this is a very small section of the main page of this site.

[officevalle]

The Ultimate Checklist for Submitting Your Album on YouTube in India

YouTube has become one of the most powerful platforms for artists in India to showcase their talent and share their music with the world. Whether you're an independent musician or part of a band, submitting your album on YouTube in India can open doors to a vast audience and even help you generate income through monetization. However, the process requires more than just uploading your tracks. To ensure your album stands out and gets the attention it deserves, you need a foolproof strategy. This article provides a comprehensive checklist to help you successfully submit your album on YouTube in India and maximize its impact.

Why YouTube is a Must-Use Platform for Indian Artists

YouTube offers numerous benefits for musicians in India. With millions of active users across the country, it has become a go-to platform for music discovery. The ability to directly connect with your audience, analyze your performance through YouTube Analytics, and earn revenue through ads makes it an indispensable tool for musicians. Unlike other platforms, YouTube allows artists to retain creative control over their content while reaching a diverse and engaged audience.

The Ultimate Checklist for Submitting Your Album on YouTube in India

1. Ensure High-Quality Audio and Video Files Before you submit your album on YouTube in India, the first and most crucial step is to ensure that your music files are of professional quality. Poor audio or video quality can immediately turn off potential listeners.

Invest in Good Recording Equipment: High-quality microphones, audio interfaces, and software are essential for creating a polished sound.

Master Your Tracks: Professional mastering ensures that all songs have consistent volume and sound quality.

Video Enhancements: If your album includes music videos or visualizers, ensure they are recorded in HD or 4K resolution.

2. Create Engaging Album Artwork Your album artwork is the first thing potential listeners will notice, so it needs to be visually appealing and reflective of your music.

Design with Your Genre in Mind: Your artwork should align with the theme and style of your album.

Use Professional Tools: Platforms like Canva or Adobe Photoshop can help you create stunning designs.

Thumbnail Optimization: Remember that this artwork will also serve as your thumbnail, so make sure it stands out in search results.

3. Organize Your Album into a Playlist Playlists are a great way to keep your album organized and encourage listeners to enjoy your music in the intended order.

Create a Dedicated Playlist for the Album: Name the playlist clearly, including the album name and artist name.

Arrange Songs Strategically: Place your most engaging tracks at the beginning to grab attention.

Add Descriptions: Write a compelling description for the playlist, including details about the album and the inspiration behind it.

4. Optimize Metadata for Discoverability Metadata plays a vital role in how your album appears in search results and recommendations. Properly optimized metadata can significantly increase your album’s visibility.

Titles and Descriptions: Include the album name, track titles, and relevant keywords. For example, “Submit your album on YouTube in India” can be used strategically in descriptions.

Tags: Add relevant tags such as "Indian music," "album release," "indie artists," and more.

Language Considerations: If your album is in a regional language, include those keywords as well.

5. Write an Engaging Description for Each Track Each video or track you upload should have a detailed and engaging description. This is your chance to tell the story behind each song and connect with your audience.

Storytelling: Share the inspiration or message behind the song.

Call-to-Action: Encourage listeners to like, comment, and share your video.

Links: Add links to your social media profiles, website, and streaming platforms.

6. Add Subtitles and Lyrics Adding subtitles or on-screen lyrics is a great way to engage your audience, especially in a multilingual country like India.

Use YouTube’s Subtitle Feature: Add accurate subtitles to help non-native speakers understand your lyrics.

Lyric Videos: Consider creating separate lyric videos for some tracks to further enhance engagement.

7. Choose the Right Publishing Time Timing can impact how well your album performs on YouTube. Uploading at the right time can help you reach more people when they’re most active.

Research Peak Hours: Analyze when your target audience is most active. Generally, evenings and weekends work well in India.

Consider Indian Festivals: Releasing an album around major festivals like Diwali or Holi can help boost visibility.

8. Promote Your Album on Social Media Promotion is just as important as submission. Once your album is live on YouTube, use your social media platforms to spread the word.

Teasers and Snippets: Share short clips from your album on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Collaborations: Partner with influencers or other artists to reach a broader audience.

Engage with Fans: Respond to comments and messages to build a loyal fanbase.

9. Leverage YouTube Analytics Once your album is uploaded, keep an eye on YouTube Analytics to track its performance.

Monitor Viewer Demographics: Understand where your audience is coming from.

Analyze Engagement Rates: Check likes, comments, and shares to gauge audience interest.

Adjust Strategies: Use the data to refine your future uploads and promotional efforts.

10. Explore Monetization Options If your channel meets YouTube’s monetization criteria, you can start earning from your album.

Enable Ads: Use Google AdSense to generate revenue from ads shown on your videos.

YouTube Memberships: Offer exclusive content to subscribers who join as members.

Merchandise Shelf: Promote your merch directly through your YouTube channel.

11. Collaborate with Other Artists Collaborations can significantly increase your reach on YouTube.

Feature Guest Artists: Partner with other musicians for cross-promotion.

Cover Popular Songs: Covering trending songs can bring new viewers to your channel.

12. Stay Consistent and Active YouTube rewards consistent creators. Don’t stop after submitting your album; continue uploading content to keep your audience engaged.

Behind-the-Scenes Content: Share the making of your album.

Live Performances: Host live streams to connect with your fans.

Regular Updates: Announce upcoming projects and milestones.

Conclusion

Submitting your album on YouTube in India is more than just uploading tracks; it’s about creating a comprehensive strategy to showcase your talent effectively. By following this ultimate checklist, you can ensure that your album not only reaches a wide audience but also leaves a lasting impression. From optimizing metadata to promoting on social media and engaging with fans, each step plays a vital role in your album’s success.

Don’t let your music go unheard. Take the time to plan, execute, and promote your album thoughtfully. The platform is ready—submit your album on YouTube in India today and let your music speak to the world!

Related Articles:

For further reading, explore these related articles:

How to Submit Your Album on YouTube Globally

How to Submit Your Album on YouTube: Step-by-Step Guide

How to Submit Your Album on YouTube Easily

How to Submit Your Album on YouTube Without a Distributor

For additional resources on music marketing and distribution, visit DMT Records Private Limited.

[beatverse1]

Independent Artists: How to Maximize Your Impact on Gaana

Releasing music is an exhilarating experience for independent artists, but the real challenge lies in making that music stand out in a sea of content. With millions of tracks on streaming platforms, capturing the attention of listeners requires strategy, consistency, and creativity. Platforms like Gaana offer a tremendous opportunity for independent musicians to showcase their talent and reach a vast audience. However, simply uploading your music is not enough—you need to maximize your impact. This article explores proven strategies to help you thrive as an artist and build a loyal following on Gaana.

Optimizing Your Artist Profile

Your artist profile is your first impression on Gaana, and it plays a crucial role in how listeners perceive you. A well-crafted profile is essential for building credibility and attracting an audience. Make sure to upload high-quality profile and banner images that reflect your brand. Write a compelling bio that showcases your journey, influences, and unique musical style. This is your chance to let listeners connect with you on a personal level. Don’t forget to include links to your social media and official website, as this makes it easier for fans to stay updated on your work.

Another critical element of your profile is your discography. Ensure that all your tracks and albums are correctly listed with accurate metadata, such as titles, release dates, and genre tags. This helps Gaana’s algorithm recommend your music to the right audience. Adding lyrics to your songs can also enhance listener engagement, as fans love to sing along and connect with your words.

Leveraging Playlists to Boost Visibility

Playlists are one of the most powerful tools for gaining traction on Gaana. Securing a spot on popular playlists can introduce your music to thousands, if not millions, of potential fans. Start by pitching your tracks to Gaana’s editorial team through your music distributor. Highlight what makes your song unique and why it would resonate with the playlist’s audience.

In addition to editorial playlists, focus on user-generated playlists. Many users create playlists for specific moods, genres, or occasions, and getting your music included can significantly boost your streams. Engage with playlist curators by sharing your music and explaining how it fits their theme. Creating your own playlists is another great way to showcase your work while blending it with tracks from other artists in your genre. This can help attract listeners who enjoy similar styles of music.

Collaboration as a Growth Strategy

Collaboration is a powerful way to expand your reach on Gaana. Partnering with other independent artists allows you to tap into each other’s fan bases and create music that resonates with a broader audience. Consider collaborating on singles, remixes, or live performances. When your collaborators promote the project, their fans are likely to discover and follow you as well.

Beyond musical collaborations, you can also team up with influencers, vloggers, or podcasters who are active on Gaana. For example, you could license your tracks for use in their content or participate in interviews and live sessions. These partnerships can help you build visibility and credibility within the platform’s ecosystem.

Consistency is Key

In the fast-paced world of streaming, consistency is crucial for maintaining listener interest and growing your fan base. Aim to release new music regularly, whether it’s singles, EPs, or albums. By maintaining a steady stream of content, you stay on your audience’s radar and keep them engaged.

Use tools like Gaana’s analytics to identify when your listeners are most active and plan your releases accordingly. Analytics can also provide insights into your audience’s preferences, helping you refine your style and messaging. For example, if a particular song resonates strongly with listeners, consider creating similar tracks or remixes to build on that success.

In addition to releasing new music, stay active on Gaana by engaging with your audience. Share updates, create playlists, and respond to comments. The more you interact with your listeners, the more likely they are to remain loyal fans.

Promote Beyond the Platform

While Gaana provides a fantastic platform for streaming, promoting your music beyond the app is equally important. Use social media to share updates, behind-the-scenes content, and teasers for upcoming releases. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are excellent for building a connection with your audience.

Consider investing in digital ads to promote your music on platforms that integrate well with Gaana. Target specific demographics based on your music’s genre and themes to maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns. Collaborating with bloggers, journalists, and local media outlets can also help you generate buzz and direct more listeners to your Gaana profile.

Building a Loyal Fanbase

Releasing your music on Gaana is just the first step; building a loyal fanbase is the ultimate goal. Focus on creating meaningful connections with your listeners by delivering authentic, high-quality content. Share your creative process, celebrate milestones with your fans, and involve them in your journey as an independent artist.

Gaana’s interactive features, such as playlists and recommendations, make it easy for listeners to discover and follow you. Use these tools to your advantage by consistently releasing music that aligns with your artistic vision and resonates with your audience.

Releasing your music on Gaana as an independent artist is a fantastic opportunity to grow your career and share your passion with the world. By optimizing your profile, leveraging playlists, collaborating strategically, and staying consistent, you can maximize your impact and build a thriving music career. Start today, and let your talent shine on one of the largest music platforms in the world!

Related Articles:

For further reading, explore these related articles:

Release your music on Gaana without a label

Release your music on Gaana with no upfront fees

Release your music on Gaana quickly

Release your music on Gaana with 100% royalties

For additional resources on music marketing and distribution, visit Deliver My Tune.

[ericleo108]

Spotify is a Racket

My name is Eric Leo, I go by Eric Leo 108 and this is my story of being accused of using “fake streams” on my Spotify account. I’m doing this because I won’t be trifled with without consequence. I’m an artist with 150 plus tracks over about 100 releases so far and I release every Friday. You can find more links in the Youtube description for this video.

First of all, fuck you Spotify. I’ve never had this problem with Apple music, tidal, Amazon music, or any other platform for that matter. This all started when Spotify decided to crack down on “fake streams” in April. (Variety article explaining this). But what I will be arguing is that Spotify simply created a racket (ie. system of trickery) to take money and advantage of (especially small) artists to cut costs. Another example of bolstering shareholder profits at the expense of the workers in America. 

Full disclosure. I have never paid for “fake streams” or services that guarantee plays. Through the Ryini group I learned about PPC (pay per click) ads on Facebook and Google. I also use fiverr. Before the “fake stream” crack down I would run PPC ads through facebook to my Spotify. I also paid for a gig on fiver that did PPC. 

Then I got hit with “fake streams” on like 8 of my songs. They got taken down, I had to reupload them, and I got fined ten dollars per tracks. I lost all my momentum for some growing tracks. I decided I would no longer advertise through facebook and I wouldn’t use fiverr gigs in case they were shady. I effectively stopped advertising due to Spotify’s “fake stream” policy.

Now Spotify has gone to far because on December 19th I received an email from CDBaby saying one of my songs got taken down for “fake streams.” All I do is upload anymore, I depend on features to push and expand my audience, I do not advertise, and I definitely do not buy fake streams. They didn’t even tell me what track was being taken down. I have attached a picture of the letter.

So just to be clear I haven’t broken the terms of the contract, their assuming I have, and have taken my music down on that false premise. The letter states that whatever track it is, I’m not allowed to put it back up. I don’t know where the “fake streams” are coming from, if I even have any, or if they are even fake streams. 

I want you to realize this means I have to pay a fine ($10 per track) if someone “sabatages” my songs by promoting them. And I don’t get the royalties. So even if their trying to help, a fan or creator could promote my stuff and it get taken down, and then I have to pay a fine and hope I can put it back up. Do you see how this is a racket?

It goes even further because the burden of proof is not on Spotify to show I had fake streams, because clearly I didn’t. But the burden of proof is on me to show I did not use fake streams after they take down my song. I’m guilty until proven innocent. That’s America for the working class for ya. 

Spotify has their own agorythmic playlists and I’ve heard of artists getting their songs taken down for being on spotify’s own playlst. I’ve seen videos about this from Bloomer Sound, Kyle Beats, Rich G, and Ryini Beats just to name a few. The only real way to grow on spotify is through the algorithm, which means getting on agorythmic playlist like ‘release radar’ which means releasing frequently. This is means your effectively at the mercy of Spotify’s algorithm to push releases. If you have an already established song with an audience base naturally somehow, Spotify offers to promote the select tracks for 30% of the revenue. Which means it costs to use the algorithm on Spotify.  

You may say that this is isolated and really trying to help the artist… until you understand Spotify doesn’t pay out on the first 1,000 streams of each song. This means you can have a catalog of 100 tracks that get’s 800 plays for the year on each, and you would never see a cent. For someone like me this means hundreds of dollars. This means you need 20 streams a week, every week, from each song, to get paid. I have attached a screen shot of all the tracks in the last 7 days that have gotten streams but I won’t get paid for. It’s about 60 tracks

What I want you to realize here is, if your a small artist, you can’t advertise your product. If you do a pay per click campaign you might be hit with “fake streams.” Then not only do you have to pay for the traffick to your product, but you don’t get the little money from your product, and you get fined for trying to sell it. Imagine being an Amazon seller and Amazon fining you for “fake traffic” and only allowing you to use their terrible ads, which is another thing. It’s clear Spotify wants you to use their ads. However they are notorious for not working because they don’t re-target listeners like Google and Facebook ads do.  

So basically Spotify wants you to be the reason to come to their platform, do all the work to attract and keep customers, and then cut off your income supply and fine you for advertising your products; got it! They made rules to nickel and dime small artist so they can’t succeed or are hindering their growth while Spotify profits off their work.

Again, it’s a racket. To review, this is how Spotify runs a racket to make money off of artist:

Cuts of your income streams without proof

Fines you for advertising

You can’t keep the royalties

Can’t make money until 1000 streams

It cost 30% percent to use the algorithm

You have to advertise on their platform with wasteful adds

With that said, again, fuck you Spotify. What kind of criminal racket are you running? Stop taking advantage of artists. Everytime I get hit with fake streams I’m making another video and sending my story to find a lawyer to sue you. If you’re an artist and this has effected you, I wanna hear your story. Keep receipts. My hope is a class-action lawsuit. 

It’s worth mentioning I’ve never heard Spotify pursuing “fake streams” against a very large artists, it seems only mid to small artists get harassed. At best, Spotify basically doesn’t know if you’re using fake streams, they’re guessing and small artists are taking the fall for it. At worse, Spotify has created a racket to squeeze money out of small, mid, and unsuccessful artists. 

Thank you for listening.

[musicvalla]

Spotify for Creators: From Videos to Playlists

The music industry has undergone a seismic transformation with the rise of streaming platforms like Spotify. For creators, this shift has opened doors to unprecedented opportunities. From building audiences with curated playlists to integrating innovative video strategies, Spotify and related platforms empower creators to showcase their talents to a global audience. This article dives into how creators can use tools like Spotify for brands, understand streaming metrics like Justin Bieber Spotify streams, and enhance their content using features like lyrics and playlists.

1. Unlocking Spotify’s Potential for Branding

Creators today are not just musicians; they are brands. Spotify understands this and offers tailored solutions for artists and businesses alike. By leveraging Spotify for brands, creators can reach their target audience with laser precision.

Spotify for brands allows creators to:

Run personalized ad campaigns targeting specific demographics.

Use data analytics to monitor audience preferences.

Collaborate with other artists or brands to boost visibility.

For instance, if you are an indie musician, you can design a campaign that promotes your latest album to listeners who enjoy similar artists. The integration of tools like podcasts and advertisements ensures your content is front and center.

2. Lessons from Streaming Metrics: The Justin Bieber Example

Streaming metrics are a treasure trove of insights for creators looking to grow. Take, for example, the success of Justin Bieber Spotify streams. Analyzing such high-profile cases reveals strategies that can be adapted by emerging artists.

Key takeaways include:

Consistency is Key: Bieber’s regular release of singles and albums keeps his name relevant.

Engagement with Fans: Interactive content and exclusive drops strengthen the artist-fan relationship.

Playlist Features: Securing spots on major playlists significantly amplifies reach.

By understanding these metrics, creators can emulate similar strategies to expand their footprint on Spotify.

3. Exploring Alternatives: Apps Like Spotify

While Spotify is a leader, creators should also explore apps like Spotify to diversify their presence. Platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal each offer unique advantages for artists.

Benefits of diversifying:

Reach a Wider Audience: Some listeners prefer niche platforms, so being present on multiple apps increases discoverability.

Experiment with Monetization: Different platforms have varying payout models, allowing creators to optimize revenue.

Enhanced Features: Tidal’s high-fidelity audio or Apple Music’s curated editorial playlists can appeal to different listener segments.

For creators, diversifying across these apps ensures no opportunity is left untapped. It’s also a safeguard against relying solely on one platform for success.

4. Enhancing Video Content: Adding Lyrics for Impact

In the era of TikTok and Instagram Reels, video content is a powerful tool for creators. Knowing how to add lyrics in video can make all the difference. Lyric videos are not only engaging but also help fans connect with the music on a deeper level.

Steps to Create Lyric Videos:

Choose the Right Tools: Use software like Adobe Premiere Pro or mobile apps like InShot.

Sync Lyrics with Music: Timing is crucial; lyrics must align seamlessly with the song.

Add Visual Effects: Subtle animations or transitions can enhance the viewing experience.

Branding Matters: Include your logo or social media handles for easy recognition.

Many creators have gone viral simply through compelling lyric videos. It’s a low-cost yet high-impact way to attract attention.

5. Creating Playlists That Resonate

Playlists are the lifeblood of music streaming platforms. By curating a personal or branded playlist, creators can reach new audiences and strengthen connections with existing fans. Tools like a Spotify playlist link make sharing music easier than ever.

Why Playlists Matter:

Discoverability: Being featured on a popular playlist can skyrocket streams.

Engagement: Fans appreciate when artists create playlists that reflect their musical journey or inspirations.

Monetization: More streams lead to higher revenue, and playlists often drive streams.

Tips for Effective Playlists:

Curate songs that tell a story or fit a mood.

Include your own tracks to boost visibility.

Promote your playlist on social media or during live sessions.

Sharing your playlist link on platforms like Instagram Stories or YouTube descriptions ensures it reaches a wider audience.

Conclusion For creators, Spotify and related tools offer an incredible range of opportunities to grow, engage, and monetize their talents. From running campaigns with Spotify for brands to studying successful cases like Justin Bieber Spotify streams, there’s much to learn and adapt. Expanding your reach with apps like Spotify, creating impactful videos by mastering how to add lyrics in video, and sharing curated playlists with a Spotify playlist link are just some of the strategies that can elevate your career.

[delivermytuneo6]

Maximizing Engagement with Your Music Playlist

Creating the perfect music playlist can make all the difference in how your audience connects with your music. It's not just about the songs you choose, but how you share them and the experience you create for your listeners. As an artist, curating a playlist that reflects your personal style and resonates with your fans is a powerful way to keep them engaged and coming back for more. In this article, we will explore how to leverage different tools, such as how to make a podcast on Spotify, social media platforms, and Spotify features like shuffle, to maximize engagement with your music playlist and create a deeper connection with your audience.

Start With a Podcast on Spotify

If you haven’t considered adding a podcast to your music promotion strategy, now’s the time to do so. How to make a podcast on Spotify is a key topic for artists who want to establish a stronger, more intimate connection with their audience. A podcast provides an opportunity to share insights into your music-making process, the inspiration behind your tracks, or your personal experiences in the music industry. It gives fans a glimpse behind the scenes and allows them to engage with you on a deeper level.

You can also use your podcast to talk about music trends, or even create themed playlists and share them with your listeners. By integrating your music playlists into your podcast, you can build excitement around your tracks, introducing new music to your audience in an engaging format. Podcasts are a great way to create an ongoing conversation with your fans, fostering loyalty and long-term engagement.

Research the Most Popular Bands for Inspiration

Another effective way to build your playlist and engage your audience is to look at the most popular band in the world. Whether it’s the Beatles, BTS, or another globally recognized band, their success isn’t just due to their music—it’s their ability to connect with fans on a personal level. Researching what makes these bands successful in creating playlists and sharing them with their audience can provide valuable insights into your own music promotion strategy.

What do these bands do differently? How do they maintain their relevance and keep their fans engaged? By studying their social media tactics, podcast formats, and playlist strategies, you can implement some of the same techniques. For example, creating playlists that are not only entertaining but also tell a story or provide a particular mood can resonate with listeners and keep them coming back for more. Your playlist can serve as a soundtrack to your fans' daily lives, making it a key part of their music experience.

Use Snapchat to Promote Your Playlist

Social media is one of the best ways to engage your audience, and Snapchat is no exception. One of the easiest ways to share your music and playlists is by how to add a link to Snapchat story. This feature allows you to share a direct link to your Spotify playlist, podcast episodes, or even new tracks. Snapchat is an ideal platform for music artists because of its instant nature and high engagement rates. By adding links to your stories, you can direct followers straight to your music, increasing traffic to your playlist and boosting plays.

Consider creating unique, behind-the-scenes content to share on Snapchat, such as the making of a playlist or the stories behind your song choices. You can even give fans exclusive access to a new playlist before it’s available anywhere else. The more personal and exclusive you make your content, the more engaged your audience will be.

The Power of Spotify Shuffle

Spotify’s shuffle feature is an often overlooked tool that can add a layer of excitement and unpredictability to your music playlist. Spotify shuffle allows your fans to experience your playlist in a random order, making each listening session feel unique. For example, if you're sharing a playlist during a live stream or social media session, you can use the shuffle feature to surprise your audience with unexpected song transitions. This creates an element of fun and spontaneity that keeps listeners engaged.

You can even make it a part of your brand to create surprise elements within your playlist. For instance, a themed playlist that shifts moods throughout, or a "random" playlist with mixed genres, can make for a more dynamic listening experience. This surprise factor is a great way to boost your playlist's appeal, encouraging fans to share it and return to it frequently.

Incorporating Top Music Lyrics into Your Playlist

Another way to engage your audience is by incorporating top music lyrics into your playlist promotion. Music lyrics are a major part of what makes a song memorable, and fans often bond over shared lyric experiences. Posting about your favorite lyrics or creating themed playlists centered around a specific lyric can spark conversation and encourage your followers to engage with your content.

For example, you could post a line from a song that inspired your playlist or a lyric that perfectly captures the vibe of the mix. By doing so, you're not only promoting your playlist but also encouraging your audience to interact by sharing their own favorite lyrics or discussing their personal connections to certain songs. Fans love when they can connect emotionally to the music, and lyrics are often the gateway to those deep connections.

In conclusion, maximizing engagement with your music playlist is about more than just the songs you choose. By utilizing platforms like Spotify podcasts, sharing your content through social media, incorporating Spotify’s shuffle feature, and drawing inspiration from the most popular band in the world, you can create a playlist experience that resonates deeply with your audience. Additionally, integrating top music lyrics into your promotion strategy helps you connect with your fans on an emotional level, turning them into loyal listeners who will keep coming back for more.

By following these strategies, you not only increase the engagement with your playlist but also build a stronger, more connected fanbase that is excited to see what you will create next.

[torchwoodfanfests]

Step-by-step guide on how to participate in the Bingo Fest: a manual for the uninitiated

As there may be people who have never participated in a fandom event like this before, we thought we’d provide you all with a step-by-step guide you can refer to throughout the fest in case you have difficulty figuring any of it out.  

This post will walk you through how to sign up and participate in our current fest, but if you have any further doubts don’t hesitate to ask us :)

Step 1: sign up

The first thing you need to do to participate is to go to this google form to sign up. Signups will be open from June 25th to July 31st. All that we require is a way to contact you (like an email or your tumblr url) so we can send you your bingo card. Once you’ve done that, you’ll receive your card shortly and can start creating!

Step 2: the bingo card

Here is an example of what the bingo card will look like:

As you can see, the cards will be 5x5 with a total of 25 prompts. After you read all the prompts, consider which one(s) you’d like to use as inspiration. Some people start with whichever prompt inspires them, some try to find which line of prompts they like the best (remember you get bingo by completing a straight line of 5 prompts, horizontally, vertically or diagonally). Some even attempt to complete the entire bingo card!

Once you decide which prompt(s) you’ll use, get started on your writing and/or art! You can combine different prompts for one piece or make one fanwork for each. For example, you can use the prompts ‘family’ and ‘prequel’ in one work. Remember that for this fest we set a minimum word count of 500 words per prompt for written fanworks, so if you choose to combine prompts into one fic, the minimum word count adds up (if you choose to combine ‘prequel’ and ‘family’, that’s 2 prompts, so that fic should have at least 1000 words; if you choose to combine ‘prequel’, ‘family’ and ‘torchwood one’ into one fic, the word count should be at least 1500 words, and so on). There is no maximum word count.

Artists can combine as many prompts into one piece as they want, but the total number of individual art pieces we require for bingo is three fanworks (can be a mix of different types of art). Participants can also combine writing and art as their submissions to get bingo.

For fanvideos and video edits you need a minimum of 30 seconds per square to fill the prompt. Prompts can be combined, and there is no maximum length. For playlists and tracklists, you need at least 3 tracks per prompt, plus a few lines of text to tell the story you’re putting together. This explanation can be written however you want, it can read like a summary of the story, like not!fic, like a short drabble, or you can just say why you picked the songs (e.g. “I picked this song because this lyric fits how this character was feeling when X happened”, or “this song illustrates this character’s opinion about Y”). As usual, prompts can be combined, and there is no maximum length.

Let’s use the sample bingo card to give you some examples of what completing a line might look like.

Note: for the prompt squares that have more than one option separated by slashes (like “plants/vegetables”) you need to use only one of them, the slash stands for “or” in this case.

Example 1: vertical line bingo (writing)

Fic #1: bed sharing, 650 words

Fic #2: rarepair + meet the family, 1000 words

Fic #3: torchwood one, 1400 words

Fic #4: the hub goes on lockdown, 520 words

In this case, each fic reaches the minimum word count of 500 words per prompt, as you can see. This could also look like one fic of at least 2500 words which hits all the prompts. More on posting after a few more examples.

Example 2: diagonal line bingo (art)

Art piece #1: bed sharing, moodboard

Art piece #2: crossover+undercover, digital painting

Art piece #3: family, edit

Art piece #4: plants/vegetables, digital painting

This example has one piece that combines two prompts, and three pieces for single prompts. With a total of four pieces, this counts as bingo (minimum for art submissions is a total of three if all your fanworks are art).

Example 3: horizontal line (writing+art)

Fic #1: torchwood one+prequel, 1200 words

Fic #2: family, 2000 words

Art #1: dancing, traditional drawing

Art #2: andy davidson, 30-second video

This example combines different types of fanworks and clears all the requirements (at least 500 word count per prompt and more than three pieces total).

Sidenote: if you’re having trouble thinking of what to do with a prompt, a good way to come up with ideas is to crowdsource the brainstorming process! Post about it on your blog asking for suggestions, ask a friend, discuss it in groupchats with other fans, or send us an ask for some suggestions.

Remember, you don’t have to go with the most obvious interpretation of a prompt, trope subversion and creative interpretations are welcome here! You got ‘mpreg’ but don’t want to get into an mpreg story? Write about Jack mentioning how there’s a humanoid alien race where men are the ones who get pregnant! Or have him make a comment about a male friend of his from the 51st century who carried a child. Or have any male character have a dream about being pregnant, whether that’s possible for them or not (and this is Torchwood, so nothing is quite impossible). Take the prompt and twist it into something you like!

Step 3: posting your works!

Once you start completing some fanworks, you can post them at any point for the duration of the fest (June 25th to August 25th). While you do not have to post them as you make them and could wait until the last day, we do not recommend that as we foresee there will be more people finishing some works at the last minute and so it’ll be easier for your fanworks to get attention if you post them early.

The posting process is simple: you need to post your work on your own tumblr first. This post needs to have: 1) the fanwork or a link to the fanwork, and 2) any relevant content warnings (check our list of mandatory content warnings here). Please note that anything that requires a content warning (including sexually explicit content) should be under a cut.

For fic, we recommend that you share some information in order to give potential readers an idea of what it’s about (title, summary, rating, prompt, and you can add an author’s note or more details if you want), and if you post to ao3, you should add it to our ao3 collection! You can do this when you first post it (or go back to edit later) under ‘Associations> Post to Collections / Challenges’, where you simply have to type torchwoodbingo2021 and select our collection. Art and fanvids can also be posted to ao3 and added to the collection!

Step 4: submitting your work for us to reblog

After you post your fanwork to your tumblr, you need to copy the link of the post and submit it to this google form so we can reblog it. We will not reblog posts that don’t have the appropriate content warnings so please be sure to warn as needed.

Step 5: creating your masterpost (optional)

Once you’re done with the fest, whether you’ve managed to get bingo or not (or, if you’re very ambitious, if you’ve cleared the entire card), we would recommend that you make a masterpost with all the works you’ve made for this fest. This is not required, but it’s very satisfying and it’s a good way to look back on what you’ve accomplished and to promote your fanworks again :)

Like the examples above, the typical masterpost would have your bingo card (with the prompts you’ve used marked in some way) and a list of your fanworks with links to each of them and which prompt they fill.

You can submit this masterpost to the same google form as above and we will reblog it as well :)

And that’s it!

If you have any further questions, you can send them here and we will try to answer them as soon as possible.

We hope this post helps clear some doubts about how the fest works and that we get as many people involved as possible ^_^

[sayitaliano]

Sanremo 2024 - the post!

Hello everyone! Here you’ll find this year’s Sanremo’s stuff and news (I’ll be uploading this post through all the week). The Festival will start on Tuesday February 6th at 8:30 pm (it’ll probably have a 5 minutes “anteprima = preview” every night), and end on Saturday February 10th, when the final will be broadcasted.

/ Official website / you can find loads of videos and interviews here + the latest news. You can already find the presentation videos of the songs made by the artists.

Rai’s website dedicated section (here) | youtube playlist | spotify playlist

TikTok official channel: @/sanremorai; @/sanremoesc Instagram official: @/sanremorai Twitter official: @/SanremoRAI; @/SanremoESC Facebook: festivaldisanremo

Also this year we’ll have the PrimaFestival, the small show broadcasted on Rai1 at around 8:30 p.m. (February 4th - February 10th). The hosts are Paola & Chiara (singers), Mattia Stanga and Daniele Cabras (tiktokers).

There's gonna be some kind of Dopofestival, with Fiorello and Alessia Marcuzzi (tv/radio host) called “Viva Rai2!… Viva Sanremo” (jingle/sigla) right after the end of each Sanremo's night (6th-9th Feb.). Gli Autogol (comedians soccer-related) will complete some missions for Amadeus on Raiplay.

CasaSanremo- A website about Sanremo and all the artists who will take part, with more infos and interviews (also Italian places and food specialties will be shown). Follow them also on their Social Media Channels, usually they make live video/interviews/shows on FB for example.

On Sorrisi&Canzoni you will find also other infos about Sanremo and every lyrics’s explanation (ofc ask me if you need a translation)

The # on this blog is #sanremo 2024, #sanremo, #sanremo2024 you can black any of these (the first one in particular) if you want.

To watch it live:

Raiuno -> just click on the first video on the left, or here, to open the Raiuno streaming immediately (I added the whole Rai channels things in case you had troubles connecting directly and wanted to try from there). The RAI’s geoblock is usually removed for Sanremo’s week, no need to create accounts or whatsoever to enjoy Sanremo online!! Remember you can rewatch the whole event and each performance on Raiplay few minutes after it has happened (and the whole week will be avaiable as well for basically the whole following year).

FESTIVAL LIS - songs and whole exhibition explained in signs language

FANTASANREMO - this year as well you can play while enjoying your Sanremo! How does it work? Every person “buys” 5 artisti and marks one of them as a captain. As in the last years, artists will have to do or say something while on stage to help you gain points (and also classification will have a say).

I’ll try to write down some more infos/links through the week.

——-

Hosts & Guests + Other Stuff

This years’ host will still be Amadeus (who choose the songs taking part into this Sanremo), a TV and radio host. He will be accompanied by a different co-host each night: Marco Mengoni (singer; first night); Giorgia (singer; second night); Teresa Mannino (actress, comedian; third night); Lorella Cuccarini (actress, tv host, dancer, dance teacher in AMICI tv show; fourth night); Fiorello (tv and radio host, comedian, singer; last night).

Some of the one-night guests during the week will be: John Travolta (actor, dancer); Giovanni Allevi (musician); Marco Mengoni (singer); Sabrina Ferilli (actress); Giorgia (singer) will celebrate her song "E poi"'s 30th anniversary; Russel Crowe (actor, singer); Eros Ramazzotti (singer) will celebrate his song "Una terra promessa"'s 40th anniversary; Roberto Bolle (dancer); the cast of "Mameli" (new serie about the guy who wrote our National anthem); Leo Gassman (actor, singer); the cast of "Il Mare fuori" (Raiplay serie); The Nuova Orchestra Santa Balera to celebrate "Romagna Mia"'s 70th anniversary; Gigliola Cinquetti (singer) will celebrate her song "Non ho l'età"'s 60th anniversary.

How it works

There will be 30 singers in the ARTISTI (artists) section. It will be the only section, as last year. 27 artists were chosen by Amadeus, while the other 3 are the winners of Sanremo Giovani (held in December 2023). The winner of the competition will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest: if he/she/they won’t accept, the choice will be another artist, usually the 2nd classified or the next (the first one accepting). This year we're gonna listen to all the 30 songs on the first night. The 2nd and 3rd night, we'll get to listen to 15 songs each night. The artisti that are not performing during the 2nd night will introduce the performing ones and vice versa on the 3rd night. The artisti introducing the performing artisti will be decided by a public draw during the Sanremo's press conferences on the 2nd and 3rd day. On the 4th night, there will be the usual “covers” night: the artisti this year can choose any song, national or international, from any year (until December 2023) and by anyone (even themselves).

Day 1 - co-hosts: Marco Mengoni Prob. guests: Marco Mengoni; Zlatan Ibrahimovic; Federica Brignone; omaggio a Toto Cutugno; Banda dei Carabinieri + on the Costa Cruise: Tedua and in the square: Lazza We’ll listen to all the 30 songs (in order of performance: Clara, Sangiovanni, Fiorella Mannoia, La Sad, Irama, Ghali, Negramaro, annalisa, Mahmood, Diodato, Loredana Bertè, Geolier, Alessandra Amoroso, The Kolors, Angelina Mango, Il Volo, BigMama, Ricchie Poveri, Emma, RengaNek, Mr. Rain, Bnkr44, Gazzelle, Dargen D'Amico, Rose Villain, Santi Francesi, Fred De Palma, Maninni, Alfa, Il Tre). We'll have a first top5 rank (the whole list will be presented only Saturday):

Day 2 - co-hosts: Giorgia Prob. guests: the non-performing 15 artists; Giovanni Allevi; Giorgia; John Travolta; Nuova Orchestra Santa Balera; Leo Gassman; Cast "Mare fuori"; Ruggero del Vecchio + on the Costra Cruise: Bob Sinclair and in the square: Rosa Chemical We'll listen to 15 artisti (artist presenting -> artist singing in order of appearance: ghali -> fred de palma; la sad -> renganek; mr.rain -> alfa; diodato -> dargen d'amico; rose villain -> il volo; bnkr44 -> gazzelle; santi francesi -> emma; alessandra amoroso -> mahmood; il tre -> bigmama; angelina mango -> the kolors; fiorella mannoia -> geolier; sangiovanni -> loredana bertè; mannini -> annalisa; ricchi e poveri -> irama; negramaro -> clara) We’ll have an updated rank:

Day 3 - co-hosts: Teresa Mannino Prob. guests: the non-performing 15 artists; Russel Crowe and his band; Eros Ramazzotti; Sabrina Ferilli; coro Arena di Verona; Gianni Morandi; Stefano Massini e Paolo Jannacci + on the Costa Cruise: Bresh and in the square: Paola & Chiara The 15 artisti that didn't perform yesterday will perform their entry to the contest (artist presenting -> artist singing in order of appearance: loredana bertè -> il tre; alfa -> maninni; fred de palma -> bnkr44; clara -> santi francesi; il volo -> mr rain; gazzelle -> rose villain; dargen d'amico -> alessandra amoroso; bigmama -> ricchi e poveri; irama -> angelina mango; the kolors -> diodato; mahmood -> ghali; emma -> negramaro; annalisa -> fiorella mannoia; renganek -> sangiovanni; geolier -> la sad) Classification after tonight:

Day 4 - co-hosts: Lorella Cuccarini Prob. guests: Cast "Mameli"; principe Alberto di Monaco; Pecco Bagnaia; Elena Sofia Ricci e Margherita Buy; i Jalisse; il maestro Beppe Vessicchio + on the Costa Cruise: Gigi D'Agostino and in the square: Arisa The 30 artists will present a song’s cover, each of them will perform together with a guest or more, unless they're already a band/group and will decide otherwise.

Covers’ list (in order of appearance):

Sangiovanni con Aitana - Medley di "Farfalle" e "Mariposas" (Sangiovanni)

Annalisa con La Rappresentante di Lista e il coro Artemia - "Sweet dreams (Are made of this)" (Eurythmics)

Rose Villain con Gianna Nannini - Medley

Gazzelle con Fulminacci - "Notte prima degli esami" (Antonello Venditti)

The Kolors con Umberto Tozzi - Medley dei successi di Umberto Tozzi

Alfa con Roberto Vecchioni - "Sogna ragazzo sogna" (Roberto Vecchioni)

Bnkr44 con Pino D'Angiò - "Ma quale idea" (Pino D'Angiò)

Irama con Riccardo Cocciante - "Quando finisce un amore" (Riccardo Cocciante)

Fiorella Mannoia con Francesco Gabbani - "Che sia benedetta" (Fiorella Mannoia -Saremo 2017) e "Occidentali's karma" (Francesco Gabbani -Sanremo 2017)

Santi Francesi con Skin - "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen)

Ricchi e Poveri con Paola & Chiara - Medley di "Sarà perché ti amo" e "Mamma Maria" (Ricchi e Poveri)

Ghali con Ratchopper - Medley dal titolo "Italiano vero"

Clara con Ivana Spagna e il Coro di voci bianche del Teatro Regio di Torino - "Il cerchio della vita" (Ivana Spagna -Lion King's ST)

Loredana Bertè con Venerus - "Ragazzo mio" (Luigi Tenco con l'arrangiamento di Ivano Fossati)

Geolier con Guè, Luchè e Gigi D'Alessio - Medley dal titolo "Strade"

Angelina Mango con il quartetto d'archi dell'orchestra di Roma - "La rondine" (Mango)

Alessandra Amoroso con i BoomDaBash - Medley

Dargen D'Amico con BabelNova Orchestra - Omaggio a Ennio Morricone: “Modigliani” (sulle note di The Crisis)

Mahmood con i Tenores di Bitti - "Come è profondo il mare" (Lucio Dalla)

Mr.Rain con i Gemelli Diversi - "Mary" (Gemelli Diversi)

Negramaro con Malika Ayane - "La canzone del sole" (Lucio Battisti)

Emma con Bresh - Medley di Tiziano Ferro

Il Volo con Stef Burns - "Who wants to live forever" (Queen)

Diodato con Jack Savoretti - "Amore che vieni, amore che vai" (Fabrizio De André)

La Sad con Donatella Rettore - "Lamette" (Donatella Rettore)

Il Tre con Fabrizio Moro - Medley di Fabrizio Moro

BigMama con Gaia, La Niña e Sissi - "Lady Marmalade" (Labelle)

Maninni con Ermal Meta - "Non mi avete fatto niente" (Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro -Saremo 2018)

Fred De Palma con gli Eiffel 65 - Medley degli Eiffel 65

Renga Nek - Medley dei loro successi

Top 5 covers (all the other entries are considered as 6th):

We’ll also have a new general rank.

Day 5 - co-hosts: Fiorello Prob. guests: Roberto Bolle (dancer); Gigliola Cinquetti; Luca Argentero, Claudio Gioè (actors-Màkari 3) + on the Costa Cruise: Tedua and in the square: Tananai All the 30 artisti will perform again their songs (in order of appearance: renganek, bigmama, gazzelle, dargen d'amico, il volo, loredana bertè, negramaro, mahmood, santi francesi, diodato, fiorella mannoia, alessandra amoroso, alfa, irama, ghali, annalisa, angelina mango, geolier, emma, il tre, ricchi e poveri, the kolors, maninni, la sad, mr.rain, fred de palma, sangiovanni, clara, bnkr44, rose villain) and after midnight (prob. more like 1:30-2:30 am.) we’ll know the competition’s first 5 classified and all the special awards winners. The first 5 classified will perform again and get new votes to decide the final standings. The winner will go to the #ESC2024.

And the winner is: Angelina Mango!

Final standing:

Angelina Mango - "La noia"

Geolier - "I p' me tu p' te"

Annalisa - "Sinceramente"

Ghali - "Casa mia"

Irama - "Tu no"

Mahmood - "Tuta gold"

Loredana Bertè - "Pazza"

Il Volo - "Capolavoro"

Alessandra Amoroso - "Fino a qui"

Alfa - "Vai!"

Gazzelle - "Tutto qui"

Il Tre - "Fragili"

Diodato - "Ti muovi"

Emma - "Apnea"

Fiorella Mannoia - "Mariposa"

The Kolors - "Un ragazzo una ragazza"

Mr.Rain - "Due altalene"

Santi Francesi - "L'amore in bocca"

Negramaro - "Ricominciamo tutto"

Dargen D'Amico - "Onda alta"

Ricchi e Poveri - "Ma non tutta la vita"

BigMama - "La rabbia non ti basta"

Rose Villain - "Click boom!"

Clara - "Diamanti grezzi"

Renga Nek - "Pazzo di te"

Maninni - "Spettacolare"

La Sad - "Autodistruttivo"

Bnkr44 - "Governo punk"

Sangiovanni - "Finiscimi"

Fred De Palma - "Il cielo non ci vuole"

ANGELINA MANGO will take part at the ESC 2024! Other Awards: - Premio della critica “Mia Martini” : Loredana Bertè "Pazza" - Premio della sala stampa “Lucio Dalla” : Angelina Mango "La noia" - Premio miglior testo “Sergio Bardotti” : Fiorella Mannoia "Mariposa" - Premio miglior composizione musicale “Giancarlo Bigazzi” : Angelina Mango "La noia"

————————

Artists (+ lyrics):

Alessandra Amoroso - "Fino a qui"

Alfa - "Vai!"

Angelina Mango - "La noia"

Annalisa - "Sinceramente"

BigMama - "La rabbia non ti basta"

Bnkr44 - "Governo Punk"

Clara - "Diamanti grezzi"

Dargen D'Amico - "Onda alta"

Diodato - "Ti muovi"

Emma - "Apnea"

Fiorella Mannoia - "Mariposa"

Fred De Palma - "Il cielo non ci vuole"

Gazzelle - "Tutto qui"

Geolier - "I p' me, tu p' te"

Ghali - "Casa mia"

Il Tre - "Fragili"

Il Volo - "Capolavoro"

Irama - "Tu no"

La Sad - "Autodistruttivo"

Loredana Berté - "Pazza"

Mahmood - "Tuta gold"

Maninni - "Spettacolare"

Mr.Rain - "Due altalene"

Negramaro - "Ricominciamo tutto"

Renga e Nek - "Pazzo di te"

Ricchi e Poveri - "Ma non tutta la vita"

Rose Villain - "Click boom!"

Sangiovanni - "Finiscimi"

Santi Francesi - "L'amore in bocca"

The Kolors - "Un ragazzo una ragazza"

[all the lyrics can be found on this page]

(will edit with more updates, corrections and links as we get closer to the event)

[earthstellar]

TFP Megatronus x Orion Pax Experimental Concept Playlist: The Timescale of Cybertronian Lives + Music from 1890 - 2021

I know there are tons of playlists for these characters out there, but I’m trying to do something a little less conventional with this one; Please hear me out! 

Two Playlists in One: Love Throughout The Ages 

The first half of this playlist is almost all new music mixed in with some hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. to give variety, plus tracks from different genres so that hopefully everyone has a song they can enjoy in there somewhere.

For the second half of the playlist, I wanted to emphasise the idea of how long the war on Cybertron has been going on for, and just how old this conflict and the people involved actually are. 

Cybertronian Timescale: Long Lives and The Perception of Time 

We think of the Orion Pax / Megatronus stage of their relationship as being relatively brief, which it was in comparison to how long the war has been going on for as of TFP, but these are people who live for centuries. The scope of that is staggering. 

Optimus Prime and Megatron have known each other personally (either positively or negatively) for longer than modern human civilisation has existed. 

So to me, the best way to touch on that idea of time, musically, is to have the first half of the playlist be modern music, remixes, etc. and then the second half is well known and lesser known hits throughout early radio/TV (with many tracks on this playlist pre-dating those forms of media as well). 

What’s on the Playlist, Then?

My grandmother was born in 1914, and her music collection spans nearly 100 years. It’s all good stuff.

I have included some of her favourites, which she always called her “sweetheart jingles”, on this soundtrack. I think many of them work surprisingly well for the Megatronus/Orion Pax relationship.

Many of these songs will probably be unknown by the vast majority of people who might want to listen to this playlist, which is also appealing to me. (I hope if this is your first time hearing some of these, that you enjoy a few of them!)

My parents were born in 1944, and I remember all of the classics they would play; Some of those tracks will be more recognisable as this was the era when radio and TV became far more common and accessible, but I picked the tracks that I think best apply to the pairing and the relationship between the two characters at that point in their lives. 

The link to the playlist is below after some notes on Cybertronian language evolution! 

Quick Thought: Cybertronian Language Over Time and Era Specific Speech Patterns 

While thinking about my grandmother’s music collection as I assembled this playlist, I thought about some of the words and phrases she used commonly that are now totally non-existent in modern conversational English. 

She had what would probably sound to most people like “1930s radio voice” or a more Trans-Atlantic Accent way of speaking; She grew up in the Northeast USA and so she had a very distinctive way of stressing the vowels in words. It’s not just the words themselves, or how they were pronounced, but the tone and pace of speech was also very different. 

This got me thinking about Cybertronians, age, and speech:

Bots as old as Ratchet may have grown up with a totally different spoken language version of Cybertronian, and we already know that there are regional dialects, multiple written forms (glyphs), and era-specific types of Cybertronian language. 

But the way they speak, as I mentioned above with the stressing of vowels and the tone and pace of speech, might still be different due to the different eras, even after language packs/programs are downloaded and updated periodically as needed. We already know Cybertronians have regional accents, so it stands that generational accents would also possibly exist as well. 

Such a difference in speech patterns could possibly be used as a primary indicator of relative age on Cybertron, as physically they don’t age in the sense human beings do. 

Back to the Playlist: Link + Track List + Notes on Audio Prior to 1930

The playlist is here on YouTube. 

Scroll down to get to the second half (oldies section) if that’s what you’re here for! 

Please note that the songs are not arranged in any particular order aside from the first half being newer music and the second half being far older music.

Also note, where original recordings are available on YouTube for some of the older songs, I have used those original recording versions. 

However, keep in mind that there may be a couple seconds of “fuzz” at the top (start) of those older tracks, because they have been recorded from records or wax cylinders, which are formats of music that typically had a “pause” on the track to allow for needle and speed calibration when playing them manually. Modern records don’t do this in quite the same way and nobody uses wax cylinders anymore, but older records typically did. If this bothers you, skip ahead about two seconds or so, and it will resolve. 

Tempo may seem slightly “fast” on two of the tracks due to difficulties with the medium and modern recording tech/methods, and one track has some persistent “fuzz” throughout due to the original recording being rare and therefore it is a “best copy available” type archival recording, but otherwise I’ve managed to find the clearest audio possible for the vast majority of the older songs! 

(Fun music note, the “click track” in modern digital music was partially inspired by the clicking of the needle hitting the “countdown grooves” on old cylinders and records, which creates an audible mild clicking sound as the needle finds the groove and provides time for usually a half rotation or full rotation of the record before the track actually begins to allow for adjustment before the music starts! If the clicking is too fast, dial down the rotation speed, for example. 

This itself was inspired by classical metronomes as well as the actual physical method of playing the music in this way, but it’s cool to see how this persists throughout musical history even now when we don’t need the click for digital production for quite the same reasons/applications. It’s all about timing, no matter the medium or era!)

Due to the method of how some player piano rolls were credited, often by roll company and not by individuals, the actual artist name is often not available for those tracks. Where possible and where known, I have included credits to the artists/musicians. I have done my best to research and find the artists in these recordings. 

I have also included orchestrions and other “automated” music in addition to a player piano track as I think it’s interesting; These are often very old compositions being played on these machines, and as such are designed to reflect the earliest days of their relationship. 

Songs range from the years 1890 to 2021, and I will add more as I manage to find YouTube videos with some of the older songs I’m still looking for. 

By the way, if you need a love song for like an actual partner or crush that you have, I’m just going to say it now and point out that a lot of these classics are great to use in real life for cute purposes. My partner of ten years agrees, and my grandparents were married for over 60 years and sang many of these daily, so obviously something here works well. You’re welcome. ;) 

Below the cut is a track list of the second half of the playlist, as it’s 7 AM and I’d like to emphasise the “classics” section here as it’s the central theme of the concept.

I will add to this list as more tracks are added:

You’re the Top - Cole Porter

What is this Thing Called Love - Leslie Hutchinson 

I Get a Kick Outta You - Cole Porter 

Puttin on the Ritz - Phil Spitalny Orchestra

What a Day - Carl Fenton

Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra

Earth Angel - The Penguins

Ring a Ding Ding - Frank Sinatra 

In my Merry Oldsmobile - Billy Murray

Singin in the Rain - Gene Kelly

Dream a Little Dream of Me - Doris Day

Unforgettable - Nat King Cole 

Can’t Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley 

Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard

Bei Mir Bist du Schoen - The Andews Sisters

Shine on Harvest Moon - Ruth Etting 

1920s Dance Sequence from Don’t Knock the Rock

In the Mood -Glen Miller Orchestra

Dream Lover - Bobby Darin 

When the Ragtime Army Goes Away to War (Artist Unknown) 

After You’ve Gone - J. Lawrence Cook 

My Sin (Artist Unknown) 

Flick Flack by Albert Vossen (Unsure; Song + Artist Unknown; Orchestrion) 

Lotosblumen Walzer by E. Ohlsen (Hupfeld Violina) 

Waltz no.2 - Dmitri Shostakovich 

Jupiter - Gustav Holst 

Love Potion no. 9 - The Clovers (Please note, this song mentions the word “g*psy” once in the beginning of the track. Skip this song if you would prefer not to hear it; I have done my best to only include songs that are friendly to the modern listener, but where needed I will make annotations such as this one to ensure nobody has to hear anything potentially offensive, as is unfortunately often the case with older music/lyrics.)

Come a Little Bit Closer - Jay and the Americans 

Sh-Boom - The Crew Cuts

Oh Boy - Buddy Holly

[dossi-io]

Yugyeom - Point of View (Debut EP) ┃Review

With his debut project Yugyeom takes his first steps under AOMG’s wing but does little to separate himself from the current landscape of K-R&B artists.

The content of this article is also available in video format, embedded at the bottom of this article.

Background

For those of you who are into K-pop, the name Yugyeom will probably be quite familiar. Most got to know him as the main dancer in the incredibly successful group GOT7. In January of this year, the group’s seven year contract with JYP Entertainment ended. No contracts were renewed, which naturally led to the group parting ways with the company. During February, AOMG announced that Jugyeom had signed with the label on social media. This announcement was accompanied by a dance video performance of Yugyeom dancing his ass off to Travis and Thugger’s banger; FRANCHISE.

Now, four months later, he’s not only making his debut as a full on solo artist, but also an AOMG one. Before checking the project out, I was not very familiar with either Yugyeom or GOT7’s music, so I went into this with zero expectations.

Point of View

Point of View is a 7-track EP with a runtime of 24 minutes. The subject matter here revolves around love, but there’s no real substance to the lyrics. The primary focus was obviously the sound and vibe of each track. You can tell that there was some effort put into organizing a tracklist with a varied selection of sounds. You’ll hear a decent mix of tracks ranging from moody and trapsoul inspired music, to ballads and even some party bops.

The project quite clearly shows that Yugyeom is not the strongest vocalist. Both his bright tone and vocal inflections feel rather generic, closely resembling the likes of DEAN or Red House. It can be quite nasally at times, which might bother some, but I didn’t mind it. His performance on the entire project is rather simple, but is decent enough to get the job done.

Tracks

The EP kicks things off with the track “I Want U Around”, featuring DeVita. If you’re a regular listener of modern R&B, you’re bound to have heard similar sounding tracks to this one. It’s your simple, run of the mill, moody trapsoul inspired track. For frequent R&B listeners like me, I find it important to distinguish yourself from the vast sea of talented R&B artists nowadays. While both of them had some decent performances on the track, with DeVita’ vocals obviously stealing the show, there is still a bit of their very own characteristics missing.

I think DeVita was on the right path when she started messing around with harmonies, during the latter part of her verse. She also had a few cool vocal runs going on. My main gripe was that, just as it was beginning to get interesting, her verse got cut off. The track was a solid one, but I’m not too crazy about it. I can however appreciate the importance of this track, in terms of impact on DeVita’s career. This is quite the amazing boost for someone this early on in their career. If you’re interested in learning all about DeVita, I did an in-depth video covering her story. Linked here.

“Running Through The Rain”, is the second track and turned out to be my favorite one. This is one of those tracks that despite Yugyeom not having killer vocals, his vocals are still decent enough to make quite the catchy track. This track had me boppin my head along all throughout it. Despite the extremely dull and bare bone hook, I was still finding enjoyment due to other aspects of the track keeping me engaged. When it comes to the production, GRAY really did his thing here. I think he showcases why he’s been able to remain relevant in the industry for close to a decade now. There’s an expertise to how he keeps the instrumental interesting. It comes down to his beat structure, which combats the simplicity to become noticeably monotonous. The sound selection with it’s blend of trendy synth sounds, guitars and percussion, mixes neatly together with Yugyeom’s vocals. The talkbox vocals really took the track to another level.

“All Your Fault”, is the title track and seems to be a fan favorite. It starts off with some clean strummed guitar hits. Throughout the track, the guitar licks and improvised playing add so much to the complete package. These guitar elements are obviously quite restrained in this pop-format and aim to be more subtle. Yugyeom begins to use a bit more harmonies in the background. Even while simple, they add some much needed qualities to his vocals. Building upon this there’s some well matched set of drums and percussion. The trap hi-hats are mixed very well, making sure not to take focus away from the other elements of the track, which can be a weakness when using busy trap hi-hats. GRAY’s feature on the track added a nice contrast to YUGYEOM. With all of this combined, we have yet another example of a well arranged track.

“All About You”, switches things up with some different energy. The booming 808s and the dancehall inspired drum pattern really begs the listener to get up and move. Having this lively blend of genres and a solid verse from Loco is a great way to vary the energy level of the tracklist. I found the live performance of this song on ELLE STAGE to be quite impressive, due to how closely he sounded to the recorded version.

“Love The Way”, is another fun energetic track bringing the party vibes, produced by Cha Cha Malone. This one just has that sound that will find its way to plenty of summer party playlists. Featuring both punchnello and Jay Park, I’m sure plenty of AOMG fans will mess with this. It’s a cool party record but besides that there’s not much else going on.

“Fallin In Love”, is for sure the weakest track here. I don’t think this type of production from Cha Cha suits Yugyeom that well. It highlights his shortcomings as a vocalist a bit too much, in my opinion.

Why does this not work? Well, on this track Cha Cha provides a very straightforward and super simplistic beat. With such a beat it allows a listener’s utmost focus to be put on the vocals. This works great with an artist who, either has strong vocals, an interesting approach to a track or an interesting tone. You can hear this formula working beautifully on tracks like “Lust” by Hoody, for example. The uninteresting beat and vocals just lead to something a bit too basic and plain, for my tastes. On a positive note though, props for once again adding a track with a different sound to the rest of the tracklist.

The project ends with the track; ���When U Fall”. This one didn’t really connect with me, for pretty similar reasons as the previous track. The monotonous nature of the instrumental results in quite a dull and uninspired song. Even the four bars that make up the bridge feel rushed and half-hearted. I can’t feel the passion here, which for me is essential for a convincing love ballad. Instead it just feels too artificial.

Closing thoughts

With this project Yugyeom does little to separate himself from the current landscape of K-R&B artists. I think ‘Point of View’ is a decent EP, and for the most part an enjoyable listen. Knowing his background as a GOT7 member it becomes quite clear that having to carry a track all by himself is a bit awkward. Thankfully the features help out a lot with this issue, besides “Running Through The Rain” the weakest tracks are the ones where he’s by himself.

The writing of the hooks on the project feels very novice, leaving a lot to be desired. Pretty much all of them are basic and repetitive to the point that any listener should have no issue singing along during their initial listen. In combination with these dull hooks, the vocal performances, while passable, can get stale quickly. The tracks that work tend to do so, due to decent beat structure, features or switch-ups to keep things engaging.

Working on his vocals, approach to hooks, and more interesting things going on vocally, like harmonies could go a long way for Yugyeom. Working on these aspects I believe will help him avoid sounding as monotonous as in this EP. According to Jay Park, he’s already working hard on his vocals, which sounds promising.

There’s one important thing to consider regarding this EP. It marks the start of a new chapter in Yugyeom’s career, so most importantly it’s a stepping stone. If he works on his vocals, paired with his amazing talents as a dancer he’ll become a force to be reckoned with.

Listen to the project here https://aomgofficial.lnk.to/PointOfViewU

Thanks for reading or watching this review.

Credits: 

Gif from ‘I Want U Around’ MV: @moxiepoints​

[readersguidetotheuniverse]

Folie a Trois: a group read of... More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn

The supporting characters

Ariadna: From Zack to Meg, Phil to Marcus... I really liked that the supporting characters had background and depth... for a YA romance novel, that it is. Ok, they are not the deepest, most exceptional characters –they are a little bit stereotyped, and everything is sooo rose-coloured tinted–, but I appreciate how the relationships between them are depicted and how every one of them has their own unique quirks and background story. Nevertheless, I must add... I think Hahn’s attempt to make all the characters these goody-two-shoes has made some characters sort of a decaf version of what they should realistically be, see Charlie Greenly, Phil Josephs, Cullen... At times they were so soft they became even boring to me. I understand Hahn’s religious views, but honestly, no one is that good.

Alicia: I liked the supporting characters quite a lot, actually, all of them. In many young adult novels you find rather flat secondary characters that only exist to complement the main characters, but not in this one. All of them were complex, with their own defined personalities and their own stories. There were a few moments when I got a bit irritated by someone's actions, Cullen uploading Luke's song behind his back, for example. But real people are flawed and make mistakes so it's only fair that fictional characters do, too. 

Marina: First off, I have to say I loved all the secondary characters. I have to agree with Ariadna though, they are not overly deep but they get you right on the feels. I especially enjoyed seeing the different relationships between them –Zach and Cullen <3–. To be honest I found it a bit frustrating that they all kept telling Vada how amazing she is and how well she’s doing but it takes Luke, a person whom she’s officially met recently, to stand up to her dead-beat father. Talking about fathers, Phil is an amazing father figure and I’m really glad he at least encouraged Vada to follow her dreams. On a side note, can I just say that the first time I read about Cullen and Zach I pictured a more lanky version of Emmett Cullen dating Zeke (from high School Musical)? And that’s why I found it hilariously amusing when they started talking about Teen Wolf. Whatever happened to those DVDs?!

The ‘Bad Apple’ club aka Charlie Greenly

Ariadna: We all grasp to certain extent how business —corporate, big-money businesses— work, and it is understandable Charlie’s nasty partners took advantage of a teen’s rage burst, but, oh, man, how it bothered me when they tried to ruin poor Phil’s fund-raiser... What bothered me the most, though, is how Charlie Greenly was that blind, how he couldn’t see, beyond his own interests, how important the Loud Lizard was for Luke, his friends and for Ann Arbor, or to what extent the whole ‘Break for You’ issue bothered his own son. I honestly think his heroic act at the end doesn’t quite redeem him of the harm he has done. Besides, Charlie was supposed to be a Punk-rock star... What’s really left of that personality? Has her wife and kids completely transformed him into a dull wimp? Not quite believable, this character is. 

Alicia: Charlie made me so mad at him that sometimes I wanted to throw the book across the room. I understand parents always think they know best, it's in their parent DNA. But it was really frustrating and irritating how he kept trying to get Luke to do whatever he wanted, without considering what his son actually wanted. He kept trying to convince Luke to do something he had stated time and time he didn't want to do and was not going to do. He used him for his own interests and treated him kinda badly just cause he didn't fit with his own expectations for him. Realistic as it could be for most people, it's still shitty. It's almost cathartic how he redeems himself at the end by quitting Bad Apple to support his son but that doesn't change his shitty behavior towards Luke during most of the novel. 

Marina: I mean Charlie didn’t seem the brightest of the Greenly family, to be honest. I think he should probably listen to his sons more (and his wife). I find it hard to believe he didn’t know what he was getting into. He was a famous punk-rocker at a time where you had to be clever and sharp-witted, like, is he smart enough to stay away from hard drugs and keep his career afloat (and later become an accomplished music producer) but not know how to choose business partners? Apparently. And talking about his previous life as a punk-star… Can he stop trying to live his life through Luke? It finally dawned on him in the end, yes, but throughout the book Luke (and later Cullen) explicitly told him he didn’t want to be famous, it doesn’t excuse his behaviour!

Soundtrack

Ariadna: While some of the tracks on this book’s OST are not my cup of tea (see Demi and Taylor), I must confess: I’ve been listening to TøP the whole week. Hahn got me at Car Radio *shrugs*. Working in the book industry, I’ve always felt books, when possible, should offer something extra. I really love that this book, even more considering it is addressed to teens and YA, offers this little something to connect it to the readers’ real world, to make the story even more realistic. I think it is a loss that the book itself doesn’t include a QR code or a link to a playlist itself, but it is an easy search away in Spotify, thanks to some nice reader that has already put it up!

Alicia: I just had this one little issue with the music/artists mentioned in the novel: Vada hates Stevie Nicks and consequently I hate Vada. There won't be any hate towards Stevie Nicks in my presence. She is an excellent artist and I will not hear otherwise. Other than that I actually loved how important music in general is in the novel and how many real actual songs are shared along the story. I expected to find mostly alternative/indie bands so there was no surprise there. And music can tell a lot about someone so it was interesting to see the music Luke and Vada listen to, to understand them better. Also it was really nice to get so many songs in so many different styles to actually discover new songs myself. I'm really happy about how music really does play an important part in the book. 

Marina: I’ve mentioned I like it when authors add their little soundtracks to the books but this one goes far beyond that. You get to listen to the songs throughout the characters’ actions and feelings and the music is not only an add-on but it becomes part of the plot. Which, granted, it’s a book about a girl who writes reviews about bands and a boy that writes songs, how can music not be part of the book? But it goes beyond the “here’s a song that inspired this chapter/book/scene” to a basic subplot. Coincidentally, we all looked up different songs on Spotify because we hadn’t heard them before and we found a playlist made by a reader, we hope you enjoy it too!

Vada and Luke’s relationship

Ariadna: It is interesting to read a YA romance novel in which the main action doesn’t revolve 100% around the romance. It is way healthier than most: both Vada and Luke have clear goals and motivations that are not biased by their relationship, they motivate and encourage each other, there is no narcissistic chauvinist - submissive flower dynamics going on —thank the gods–, and they are supercute and honest with themselves. However —I always have one of these–, it is still a naive teen relationship, mostly in terms of the plotting and the writing. Surprisingly —see the irony— they both have had crushes on each other for years, but they haven’t acted upon it until now. They NEVER fail, get mad, do any bad deeds... ANYTHING. Are they even teenagers? Honestly, I hate when the characters in a book are these holier-than-thou perfection vessels. Added to the not-really-that-big-of-a-deal problems (what happened with the instagram issue? What about Vada’s funds for college? They don’t even really get *really* mad because of the Bad Apple thingy...), they feel kind of bland and not too realistic for my tastes. 

Alicia: At the beginning I thought it was a bit rushed, how quickly they trusted each other considering they had barely interacted before. Even if they had a crush on the other that doesn't mean they actually knew that person, not really. As they spent more time together and got to know each other, their relationship evolved pretty organically and naturally, to a point when it just made sense. It was really cute to see how they got closer through awkward encounters and how their passion for music helped them connect and relate to the other. Having read many young adult romances, it gets old very fast. The stories get kinda predictable and hard to believe. This one also had some predictable moments, almost all of them do, but overall it was a really nice love story, one I could actually believe. 

Marina: To be honest, I expected this book to be less about the music and more about the relationship between Luke and Vada. I think what Erin Hahn accomplished in this book is to show a much more mature relationship than I expected. I thought this would be your typical YA-Romance with a lot of drama and kissing, but instead I got a slow-burn story (so slow, it felt like moving through molasses) with depth, insecurities and, yes, drama. I think both these characters are more mature than expected on a YA romance novel and it was surprisingly refreshing. You still get some teenage-y sub-plots, i.e. the prom or even the 15-minutes of fame; but it doesn’t take away from the blossoming relationship between Luke and Vada.

The Grass is Greenly and Behind the Music 

Ariadna: I must be growing too old for this s**t, but I don’t get the whole podcast/blog thing. I get it, social networking does this kind of thing: turning a nobody into an internet sensation in a matter of days, but... I agree with Alicia, it is too much of a coincidence (one of the deus-ex-machina I so much hate) that both the main characters are internet-known... in a blog, nonetheless! Maybe Hahn could have used precisely this internet presence to make Vada and Luke meet each other, instead of the too-worn-out high-school cliché. And Marina has made me think... maybe some interludes as Cullen’s podcasts, letting us know some behind-the-scenes gossip (The Lindsay issue, Luke and Vada’s first kiss becoming viral, and so on...), would have spiced up the novel a bit more.

Alicia: Okay here's the part I just didn't believe and kind of threw me off a bit. What are the chances of a music blog and a podcast, both run by teenagers of the same age in the same city in the same bar, becoming really popular and actually viral. Who even reads blogs anymore anyway? (Says while writing in a blog). It was just quite hard to believe so many people read Behind the Music that even ROLLING STONE became interested. Yeah sure this extremely known successful music magazine wants a fresh out of high school blogger to work for them. And then the podcast. What could two teens have to say to have a podcast so popular that when Cullen uploads Luke's song it literally gets millions of reproductions and attracts attention everywhere. And both of them being run by two people working in the same place, going to the same high school… the world is not actually that small. Sorry it's just kind of extremely unrealistic and didn't particularly like that part. 

Marina: Seeing the “behind-the-scenes” of the day to day of a podcast was very interesting. I guess it would have been better if Cullen told the story as he is the one that does most of the work. Also, how did they get that famous? Is it just because of their dad? I don’t really get it. On the other side, I find it incredibly unbelievable that a teenage girl has that much input on a music blog that isn’t even hers and gets to go to concerts and stuff like that. I get that Phil is a cool guy but how come the blog is so famous and he doesn’t really care about it or mentions it much during the book besides sending Vada places? I just don’t understand that.

Overall

Ariadna: Honestly, I’m not one for YA romance novels, I think I’ve outgrown them by far, and they usually bore me. That said, this book has surprised me for good. It is a light read, doesn’t follow the genre clichés, it doesn’t make everything revolve around the main characters’ love interest, the supporting characters have personalities of their own and it has a wide-ranged well-put playlist, which I think is great for teens and young adults to read. I particularly didn’t like the religious issues coming up from time to time, but, overall, this is the best written book of the three we’ve already read for Folie a Trois, and that’s a lot to say! 

Alicia: Overall it was a really cute book. Initially it took me a while to get into it cause the plot wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, that was a tad disappointing. But then once you begin knowing the characters and they begin to know each other as well it's quite captivating and easy and quick to read. I really enjoyed the love story, I loved how diverse the characters are and how they interacted. I really like how the plot develops, too. If you're looking for a soft, cute, easy enjoyable read I definitely recommend this one. 

Marina: As most YA books that I read, it was entertaining but it didn't change my life. I really did like Vada and Luke's relationship, as I said I find it more mature for this genre; the music was a big highlight and the drama wasn't overwhelmingly dumb (as is the case in some other books). Overall a good book for summer and a light read for any other season ;)

[epi-vet]

In my Introduction, I mentioned my Good Omens playlist project. My goal in this post it to explain my inspiration, methods, and next steps. For anyone only interested in the music, the URL will take you to a Spotify list of the top 100 songs on Good Omens- themes playlists. I have several other related public playlists if you want to click on my Spotify account (epivet).

Inspiration: Like many others, I directed my love of Good Omens into a playlist soon after watching it. While building that playlist, I searched Spotify for other Good Omens playlists for inspiration. After discovering the sheer volume of playlists, I wanted to quantify one way the Ineffable fandom expresses itself. Hence, my #quantified fandom tag. I started with ~350 playlists in September. Thanks to the ever-growing number of Good Omens-themed playlists and some improved search strings, I downloaded ~1400 playlists in December.

Methods: I identified Good Omens-themes playlists in Spotify by searching a set of terms and examining all results under playlists. Search terms included: Good Omens, Ineffable, Aziraphale, sauntered, and “nice and accurate”. I performed a quick review of each playlist before marking it for inclusion. Some users had more than one Good Omens playlist. Playlists were downloaded using Exportify (https://github.com/watsonbox/exportify) and then stitched into a single CSV. Playlist name is not an attribute automatically included, so userid was used to link back to playlist names and later to playlist classifications (Ineffable Husbands-themed, Crowley-themed, etc.).

I removed a few extremely outlists lists (>750 songs) for manageability, resulting in 78,144 rows of data (where each row represents a song on a specific playlist). Automated and manual formatting corrections addressed song title inconsistences, ensuring, for example, that “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy” and “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy – 2011 Remaster” were treated as the same song for the purposes of this analysis. I moved this dataset to a Jupyter notebook for analysis. I calculated Song Title frequency for all data and for specific artists using value_counts(). Similar analyses were performed for subsets of the full dataset (e.g. only playlists with the title “Ineffable Husbands”.) The top 50 songs on Ineffable Husbands playlists is also available on my Spotify.

Each song has a timestamp of when it was added to the user’s playlist. My next data dive will be to look at the spread of popular songs over time. I expect many Queen songs will start high with limited room for increased popularity. I am particularly interested in finding songs that were uncommon for months and then surged in popularity. Since I downloaded the playlists in December, roughly half a year after the debut of Good Omens, I do not have playlists that were created after my September pull and then deleted before my December pull. The playlists I have in both datasets may be an interesting subset for exploration. I am curious if playlists in the fandom start to move toward a common canon slowly over time. I know anecdotally that many Ineffable fans, myself included, discovered Hozier solely through the ubiquity of From Eden on playlists.

Next steps: I am also working on code that will let me tell people how common the songs on their own playlists are. Feel free to send questions or requests! I don’t have a ton of free time, but I definitely am using this project as an excuse to expand my Python and occasionally even Excel skills.