Kalypso 53

The Only Way Is Up

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:47 GMT

So, with the relaunch of Chart Invasion for 2010, we're having to do smaller challenges in the months between the main competition.

The challenge for February 2010 is to do a cover of song chosen random amongst the number one hits from 1970 until modern day. The song chosen was The Only Way is Up by Yazz and the Plastic Population. It was number one from 6th August 1988 for a good five weeks.

I've already been playing around with some ideas ranging from electronica to more soulful approaches. Hopefully I'll get something sorted by the end of this week for recording.

--Ross

Chart Invasion 2010

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:39 GMT

So, after a slow trial of getting back into writing music over 2009, we came away with something like 15 sales. It's a start but there is more on this year.

The 2010 run of Chart Invasion will be underway in exactly a week with a new format of monthly challenges to keep up the pressure.

We'll be doing a main Chart Invasion Summer challenge in April to release a Summer hit, but the first challenge will be to write a cover song in the month of February. We don't know what the song will be yet as a random one is to be picked this weekend amongst all number one singles from 1970 until now.

I'm still hoping for the 80s throwback disco pop feel, but this may prove tricky if the song to cover is itself an 80s hit. We'll see what happens.

I would like to extend my thanks to the lovely and beautiful Lana for being a top band member and singer for the debut single. Let's hope 2010 brings us more success.

--Ross

Submitting music to iTunes

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:44 GMT

A while back, I attempted an application to be a content provider for iTunes. It seems however that they prefer negotiating directly only with large labels or aggregators who submit your music to iTunes for you.

In the email I received from them, they provided a helpful list of digital music companies that will submit to at least iTunes (some seem to submit to a few distributers at once).

North America
Name	Delivers Globally	iTunes Plus	Ringtones
Avatar*
Catapult*
CD Baby*
IDEA
Ingrooves
IODA
IRIS Distribution
Redeye Distribution
The Orchard*
Tunecore*
Virtual Label
* known to accept independent artists
Europe
Name	Delivers Globally	iTunes Plus	Ringtones
AWAL (UK)
Artspages (NO)
Basepoint Media (DK)
Believe (FR)
Broad Street Digital (UK)
DiGiDi (DK)
IC records (IS & UK)
Kiver (IT)
Kontor New Media (DE, IT, PT)
Kudos (UK)
La Cúpula [House of Music] (ES)
N.E.W.S (BE)
Portal Latino (ES)
Ordis (AT)
State 51 (UK)
The Music Business Organisation AS (DK)
Uploader/IODA (UK)
Zebralution (DE)
Australia & New Zealand
Name	Delivers Globally	iTunes Plus	Ringtones
AmpHead Entertainment (The Orchard AU)
Musicadium
Show Off Recordings
Digital Rights Management NZ/Amplifiger Digital
Japan
Name	Delivers Globally	iTunes Plus	Ringtones
Rightsscale
BounDEE

First Release Review

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:49 GMT

So, it's been quite a while since the build up to the first single release. The primary mission was a success in that I now have the experience of taking a song right from sketches on paper through to available to buy online and chart eligible.

Sales pretty much dropped off when I stopped pushing people into buying the song. One major learning experience was that IndieStore wasn't as impressive as I'd have hoped. I'll do a follow-up post right after this one to talk about other things I've been looking at.

For anyone who's interested, here's some statistics from the debut single campaign:

Total sales through IndieStore are an astonishing 13 at the moment. Two people chose to pay by SMS. This does technically put Kalypso 53 into the lead with a total sales count of 13. However, that number might be higher for reasons that I will explain in the next post.

I ran a campaign on Last.fm to get more people I don't know to hear the song. It costs £13 to get 100 people hearing it and you can target fans of any artists you choose.

I chose Pet Shops Boys for obvious reasons as well as Duran Duran and Erasure. The results seem to be that 67 people out of the 100 actually let the track play to completion, with 32 skipping it before the end. I'm not sure what happened to that 1 person that seemed to achieve neither. I have no comparative figures, but I'm certainly not unhappy that 2/3 people were unwilling (or, admittedly, unable) to skip the track.

I ran an ad campaign on Facebook to promote the Kalypso 53 Facebook page. The ad got 26,820 impressions and had 6 clicks. This ended up costing me $0.56 so I'm ambivalent as to whether that was a good use of my money.

Overall, there's worse starts and I have a better idea of what I'm doing now. Also, I would like to reiterate Kalypso 53 are winning.

Number 9 on the IndieStore charts!

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:36 GMT

I noticed an interesting fact that only 9 sales in a short period has been enough to get us onto the IndieStore charts at position number 8.

It may not be the official UK charts yet, but I do have a happy feeling.

Debut Single Released Today!

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:53 GMT

After much anticipation, our first attempt at launching a single has been released for download today. Please buy "Thorn" now.

Also, please do spread this link around as it'd be interesting to see how close it gets to charting. Scores will start appearing on Chart Invasion soon.

First video released on YouTube!

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:03 GMT

I've been pretty busy getting things set up for the release. Some of you may have already noticed that the official video for the debut release "Thorn" went up on YouTube on Monday.

We have 275 views as of the time of writing, which I think isn't bad. Just need to hope people like it enough to buy the actual song itself when it comes out.

It feels pretty good to have hit the milestone of releasing something like this despite that the recording quality could be better and the video was put together very quickly with a cheapish camera.

Despite these minor shortcomings, I think it's good simply to have that first attempt out there. I notice some other bands are going with the technique of coming up with a good five to ten songs first and then releasing the best, but I think that misses out on getting full experience of the whole process from music, through production to promotion and sales.

I would also like to extend my thanks to my fellow band member for providing beautiful vocals, which I hope to use again when I purchase a better microphone this month. My appreciation also goes out to my imaginative and talented semi-official music video producer for putting together something in a short time during the very cold weather. I'm very impressed with the work that's been done.

Details are to follow shortly of the official release.

Slight Delay

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:45 GMT

Self-imposed deadlines are funny creatures. The vague dates I was throwing around for a debut single release and video were more for my own benefit to make sure I actually put time into the project.

I'm sure it's very clear that I'm building up to confirm the fact that the official release will not take place Monday 16th February. There's been a few contributing factors including that it just takes longer than I thought to get a final master done -- especially if you're as picky as I am.

However, it was never my intention to shun my deadlines or put my fingers in my ears so as not to hear the whooshing sound they make as they fly past. Rather than slack past the target date, I shall be rearranging for a release on 2nd March.

Hopefully that's now plenty of time to make sure everything is just right and moreover for all you dedicated fans so far to spread the word. I would like to see one of us go from nothing to a single in the charts, but more accurately I'd like to see Kalypso 53 hit that top 100 in March.

First Recording Session

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:16 GMT

Last night was the first night we had both members of the band together to lay down some vocals on top of the music.

There was a lot of fiddling to get the volumes quite right and to make sure the microphones were picking up the voice clearly, without picking up and breath noises and pops.

Listening back over it seems pretty satisfactory, but some mastering work needs to be done to splice out the best bits from the takes and get the volumes balanced.

The hope is that a fully mastered version will be around by midnight on Monday. That version might well make it onto the radio and certainly onto youtube. I hope you're all so very excited.

Talks of an official launch party are in progress. We'll keep you posted.

Twitter

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:09 GMT

As if I wasn't doing enough pointless things, I now have a Twitter profile to which I may or may not send updates.

Watch this space, or not.

Jyte

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:56 GMT

In my travels, I came across a website called Jyte that lets users make "claims" and then people vote if they agree or disagree with that claim.

I decided to make a claim of my own. :-)

Music Video

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:50 GMT

First of all, we've made a few changes to the chartinvasion.com website such as improving the artists' profiles page, so do check that out.

I had been for some time wondering how easily I can put together a video given my packed schedule. Given it's packed tighter than a tight thing, I've managed to outsource it to a very helpful, lovely and beautiful film enthusiast.

I'm looking to release the video on YouTube on Feb 9th, a week before the single is released. At least this will be the case if I can get around the faff I'm having with PPL registrations.

Registration Complete

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:34 GMT

So, the less exciting, administrative side of my first single release is pretty much complete with my having sent off my details to the PPL Repertoire Database. Given it takes three weeks before I can be sure to be counted in the charts, this means I can officially set my release date to be February 16th.

I've spent a good evening reviewing the music and my lovely, new band member will be recording vocals on the 28th.

Thus, even the musical side is going to rest for a little bit while I wait for that recording. In the mean time, I plan to turn my focus to cover art.

I'm open to all suggestions as to what can go on the cover of my debut release. It should probably be kept in mind that I shouldn't violate copyright, meaning that it's either free graphics, someone who's willing to let me use their photography or someone who's willing to draw something artistic by hand.

All ideas involving narwhals are especially considered.

Last.fm Weekly Charts

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:05 GMT

I've just set up this blog to get a weekly chart of my most played songs as submitted to Last.fm. Perhaps this will show some insight into what will influence my own song-writing.

Music Label

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:40 GMT

Musical creativity is continuing to take a little bit of a back seat to the admin side of things at the moment. However, progress is now being made.

I have set up my own basic record label called Avenger Penguin Music that does little else but exist for now. I am in the process of registering with the PPL with their application process for a record company and am as far as the first step: getting my recording registered in the repertoire database.

I have requested login details for said database tonight and hopefully will have my first single registered with them (even though I've technically not finished recording it) by the end of the week.

As soon as that admin stuff is out of the way, I can make an official announcement of the release date and get back to getting it recorded. New song ideas are on their way too, so I could be expecting to release a few more over the course of the year.

Release date of the first single is looking to be middle of February, but don't hold me to that yet.

Merchandise

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:43 GMT

The official merchandise shop has been launched!

Official Kalypso 53 Merchandise Shop

Facebook Page

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:03 GMT

I have created a Facebook page so any Facebook users can go and officially declare their fandom.

Getting into the UK Charts

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:58 GMT

Being happy with the way I'm making good progress on my first single release, I began to look into just how the devil you go about selling your song and how do you ensure it gets into the chart.

Given its massive market share, I had a quick look at how easy it is to sell through iTunes. Within seconds I had found an application form to register as an independent artist or record label, so that doesn't seem too tricky. It would be pending Apple's approval of the application, but I can't imagine why you'd get declined for a genuine musical effort.

Then I came across one site that claims able to submit to iTunes and a few other online stores for you. Using TuneCore, you can simply upload your songs, create your albums online and then click once to submit to several places at once.

TuneCore does seem a very simple approach, but there are two caveats with it. Firstly, it's not free. The fees don't seem a lot ($20 seems to cover an album), but they are annual, so it does mean you being willing to invest something. I found one blog entry that claims you'd want about 26 sales to get your money back.

The second and more concerning issue is that it's clearly a US-based website. This has real implications for getting into the UK singles chart. So, I tracked down The Official UK Charts Company.

They've produced an interesting document on getting your single online, but it does seem out of date (2005 I think) so still mentions the rule that used to state you need a physical CD copy of your single on sale as well as the download before it's valid. As of January 2007, it has been allowed to have a single available purely online enter the UK charts.

Another thing that shows the age of the document is its reference to needing to be registered with Catco. I navigated to Catco's website and found it's been integrated into PPL. PPL maintain a Repertoire Database of sound recordings.

Registering with the PPL Repertoire Database allows you to collect royalties on all public performances of your songs. The guidelines seems to state that you should register a recording with them three weeks before the official release date. I may well get onto doing this as soon as the song is finished.

Singles sales in the UK at least seem to be tracked by an International Standard Recording Code (ISRC). PPL provides details on allocating such codes to your music. It is my impression that such a code would have to be provided to any retailer if you wish your single to be tracked into the charts.

Sites such as TuneCore and the IndieStore seem able to generate ISRC codes for you, which seems an easy route to go if you don't want to mess with registering such things yourself. One thing to note, however, is that IndieStore only does that for "pro" accounts, which cost £75 annually.

IndieStore specifically says this makes you eligible for the UK singles chart, but TuneCore doesn't seem to make a statement on that.

Overall, it seems simple enough these days to get a single out there on various retailers and get yourself into the running for the UK singles chart. As usual, the choice seems to be between running around filling in forms yourself or just paying someone to do it all for you. At least the sites that do it for you seem very much targeted to and friendly for independent artists.

Lyrical Inspiration

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:38 GMT

Musical notes have arranged themselves in some orderly manner upon my pages so I am turning the focus to finishing off lyrics. I won't reveal too much yet as they're very much in the early stages, but I will share with you my inspiration.

2009 Approaches Rapidly

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:19 GMT

The official start of the competition looks to be only four days away, yet we might not see anyone with a completed song just yet. The passing of Yule has made things pretty busy, but not so busy that at least some time could be put into my soon-to-be-number-one hit.

I've given myself the target of early February to make something resembling a final recording so as to motivate the writing side of things over the next month. It's looking unlikely someone will launch something straight after the New Year, but I think with some strong drive I could aim to be the first to release something.

It's been a while since I wrote up anything. so here is a quick summary of what's been happening.

Initially, I was doing "research" in actually listening to things that have been popular over the last year. I've also been listening to a lot of 80s hits. In an ideal world, I'd combine the two. Somehow.

My music "studio" has undergone some massive improvements. I've played with more software and, thanks to some Christmas gifts, I will soon have a computer feeding off a proper PA system, an electric piano, a keyboard and have the ability to take in other instruments and microphones whenever I can source those.

I think I may well have the most superior studio setup out of all entrants to the competition.

I also helped my dad put together a folk/blues/jazz CD full of tunes he's wanted to record onto a CD for some time now. It's a little hobby project of his, but it's given me a chance to try out my "studio" properly.

The sequenced first draft of my first song that I entered into the PC using the mouse to click on notes is slowly giving way to a version actually played in with a keyboard by hand. Hopefully this will sounds more professional.

This brings me up to today where I have a few snippets of riffs and basses that I need to arrange into a full song. The idea is sort of there. I'm somewhat lacking in lyrics or even a theme for the words. I might try and seek inspiration as I celebrate the beginning of 2009 and hope to get back to dedicating most of my free time to finishing at least one song within a month.

Starting Out

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:11 GMT

So, my first attempts at writing a full piece of music for over eight years now created something that was a bizarre mixture of Pet Shop Boys, Bach, Cutting Crew and general disco.

Lyrics are on their way. I decided to stick to the standard approach of love/romance, but what I've initially wrote seems to be pretty dirty. Well, it worked for Prince...

Equipment Check

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:57 GMT

I decided a good starting point would be to assess what I have. Perhaps I can then play to strengths and work out early on where I'll have to outsource talents/equipment.

My instrument collection is limited to a bodhran on which I am somewhat proficient, a tin whistle on which I am not in the slightest bit proficient, but learning, and a harmonica which I cannot play at all. I'm also recently in the possession of a very cheap keyboard that cost £15 from the Oxfam shop.

For the composition side, however, I focused on trying out what I have in terms of technical hardware and software. I've recently kitted out a PC with Ubuntu Studio to be used as a dedicated machine for musical ventures.

I've successfully got Hydrogen drum machine, Rosegarden, Audacity and JACK all working together so I can create rhythms and combine with music and effects all in one place.

Just need to write some actual music now.

Kalypso 53 Starts Here

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:12 GMT

The Chart Invasion competition has been officially announced amongst the loose group of friends involved.

My current musical experience so far is little more than a music GCSE completed over 8 years ago plus hanging around folk festivals. My personal taste lies in Urban/Dance, folk, jazz, blues, roots, world, reggae, latin, etc. but I'm aware the thrust of the challenge is to release something that sells.

A quick look at the UK Top 100 singles vs. the Top 100 albums confirms the obvious that whilst all different styles of music can get a place in the album chart, people buying singles are buying one-off pop, rock or dance hits.

It is tempting to take the dance route and make a professional-sounding track on my own PC, but I have been toying with the idea of a catchy pop tune. Watch this space for progress.