Two interesting articles regarding the supposed value of Facebook.  Amazing that a business that is yet to turn a profit can be worth so much.  This is the new economy.

Yahoo Tech Article

NY Times Article

Each of these are interesting reads.

-Scott Meath

We have officially launched the newest Prolific Arts music website, Royalty Free Music Library. This site features all of the music available here at Royalty Free Music Revolution as well as our other 2 catalogs: Radical Music Library, and Mojo Music Library.

-Scott Meath

Apparently this is not a joke. Brian Williams, the ultra talented NBC Nightly News anchor is launching a web only feature called briTunes.

Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow and other great business books recently posted a blog with more details.

While I can’t picture myself taking music recommendations from a middle aged guy in an expensive suit, I may just have to check it out for the weirdness factor.
-Scott Meath

Because I have fielded so many inquiries about music submissions recently, I thought it might be a good idea to address this in the blog.

Yes, we do accept submission on CD, however, we will not actively be reviewing any new submissions until sometime around August of 2009. We are currently in full blown licensing and marketing mode. We owe it to our composers to stay focused in a manner that best represents the hard work they have already put in.

Submissions should be sent on CD to:
Prolific Arts, Inc.
Attention: Submissions
23 Royal Oaks
Denton, TX 76210

Some guidelines:
1. Yes, you can send a lot of material if you have it.
2. No, we do not work with songs that have lyrics or vocal tracks.
3. We are not impressed with slick headshots and long lists of credits. The quality of the composition and production are what matters. We are happy to work with ugly composers who have no credits as long as their work is right.
4. If a song has already been placed with another music library or publisher, we are not interested. Everything in the Prolific Arts catalog is exclusive. The one exception here, is that we do allow composers to sell their music on their own CDs, at gigs, etc.
5. If you have not heard from us, we have not reviewed your music yet. As long as your email is included with the submission, we will contact you once your music has been reviewed.

-Scott Meath

I recently ran across a nice website that I wanted to recommend. Student Filmmakers is an in-depth resource for filmmakers. Among other things, the site includes great product reviews, info on festivals and contests, a how-to section, forums, and a section on sound for film and video.

Don’t be fooled by the name. This site will prove useful to both students and professionals alike.
-Scott Meath

Rumor has it that Apple has some fun things in store for the next iPhone.  I say rumor, because Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about upcoming announcements.  Steve Jobs is happiest when he is surprising the world with their next great product (and so are their shareholders).

So in the tradition of throwing around rumors without any proof to back it up, here goes:  Speculation has it that at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in early June, Apple will unveil the next iphone which will include the ability to record, edit, view, and share your own videos.  Shooting will be easy.  Then there’s an iMovie app that will let you quickly save the section you want, right there on your phone. Movies would then be able to be shared with your friends wirelessly, and possibly uploaded to YouTube.

In other words, the iPhone could be an amazing device both for creating online video content, and viewing it…..and it’s always with you.  Genius.

Apple and iPhones aside, I have to wonder if this age of instantly uploadable media will create some amazing producers in years to come.  With so many young people getting their feet wet in production (even if most of it is disposable content), it seems inevitable that some really amazing talent will eventually emerge.  The YouTubers of today will likely be the filmmakers of tomorrow.

-Scott Meath

Last week the Texas legislators passed a measure that would allow for more financial incentives to lure movie and television producers to the state.  The proposal passed the Senate on a 27-1 vote and now will head to the office of Rick Perry, Governer of Texas.

Anyone involved in the film industry in Texas knows that it has been a battle to lure television and film producers to this area.  With neighboring states offering healthy incentives, Texas has been fighting with one hand tied behind it’s back.

This is great news for the state of Texas production community.

-Scott Meath

While not directly relative to our industry, I continue to be fascinated by the state of the music industry. Concert going is up, CD sales are in freefall, and record labels are scrambling to figure out what the future of music looks like. Every week or two, you see new ideas being formulated on how to monetize popular music.

The newest entry into the game is a joint effort between YouTube and Universal Music Group (UMG). They are teaming up to launch a new service called Vevo. The two companies have also re-upped on a licensing arrangement that will allow Universal content to be shown on YouTube.

Launching later this year, Vevo will be an ad-supported site described as a “premium online music video hub”. The site will be powered by YouTube’s video technology and will contain UMG’s entire catalog of music videos as well as artist-generated content.

The licensing deal is a positive step for Google, which lost the rights to show content from Warner Music Group recently. Warner ordered all of it’s videos to be pulled from YouTube in December after a dispute over how ad revenue should be shared.

I personally doubt that this is a big game changer, but I’ll certainly be checking out Vevo when the site is launched.

-Scott Meath

It is my understanding that the Oxford English Dictionary is adding the words podcast, podcasting, podcaster, and podcasted to their official lexicon.  Rest easy podcasters, you have been validated!

It has been said that the rapid progression of technology and media will add more new words to our everyday language in the next few years than have been added in the last 100.  While podcasting took 4 or five years to “officially” get recognized by the OED, I suppose this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Just thought this was interesting.

-Scott Meath

Congratulations to one of our very own!  Jeff Franzel, who wrote all of the music on our Solo Piano: Positive CD, and helped adapt the songs on our Hymns Revisited CD has now added the Pope to his co-writing credits.

Placido Domingo has released a new CD titled Amore Infinito.  All of the songs have lyrics by the late Pope John Paul II.   Jeff co-wrote a song for the album that is a duet by Placido and Josh Groban.  Pope John Pauls lyrics were adapted to Jeff’s melody, and the song is truly beautiful.  If you see an ad on TV with clips of Placido and Josh, that is Jeff’s song playing.  Congratulations Jeff.

I guess this makes the Royalty Free Music Revolution just two degrees of separation from the Vatican.  I suppose we’re still a bit further away from Kevin Bacon.

-Scott Meath