Music has started to have a huge impact on the world. Thanks to the hard work of scientists and inventors around the world, we are now able to feature music in even some of the most basic household items.

Music is a big part of our daily lives and without it, many of us would have no creative stimulation and no means of relaxing or even focusing. If you are a music lover and you want to get creative with the way that you listen to music, here are some surprising ways that music has been integrated into everyday objects. Today, music businesses compete to bring music to the fore.

Musical Sunglasses

One of the biggest innovations in musical objects has been musical sunglasses. Have you ever been out enjoying the sun and you have forgotten your sunglasses? Or you are simply sick of your earphones falling out every time you have been trying to relax and listen to your favorite beats?

You will be glad to know that there are now sunglasses that play music. The music comes from the arms of the glasses and plays directly into the ear. The best part is that they are not too loud, so you don’t have to worry about the rest of the world hearing the music you are listening to.

Gaming Chairs

If you are someone that regularly games, you may be surprised to know that some gaming chairs play music. Have you ever been playing a game and you simply haven’t felt as immersed as you would like to? Chair designers from around the world have found a solution for this and output the audio from the gaming chairs, it creates a much more immersive experience that will improve the way that you are able to listen to music. It usually comes out at the head of the chair, so you don’t have to worry about it being too loud.

Going on a gig for your date is a great opportunity to share your love of music while enjoying some live music with a potential love interest, if you are nervous about your upcoming date then my first piece of advice would be to try and avoid this feeling. Although that is easier said than done, nerves can easily spiral into something more serious which could affect how well your date goes. While you are at the gig you should try and find out as much as you can about your date to show that you are interested in them as well as the music.

In this guide, I will be looking at ways you can help grow a connection with your date that has the potential to prosper and grow into something more serious. The game of love is not an easy one but if you are able to overcome your nerves and relax a little while you enjoy learning about this new person in your life, your date is likely to respond better to this than any uncomfortable silences or awkwardness. This is why a gig setting is a great choice as there is always something going on that you and your date can talk about if you lose track of the conversation.

First Impressions

When meeting any new person you want to make sure that your first impression is a good one as it is something that will be remembered. With dating, if you want to connect with your potential partner you should be warm and friendly, and maintain eye contact throughout your interactions. This will show that you are paying attention to how someone will react to you and that you actually care about wat your date has to say, although these may seem like common manners you will be surprised that not everyone knows this.

Conversation

One of the main ways that you and your date will form a connection is through the conversations you have while you are spending time together on your date, in a gig setting this may not always be possible due to the music which is why you should make the most of each conversation opportunity. You need to be confident and clear while you are speaking to your date as well as be sure that you give them time to respond and are not controlling the entire conversation.

How To Keep The Conversation Going

If you are someone who is not the most confident when it comes to speaking on dates then here are a few tips to help you keep the conversation flowing allowing a connection to build. During any awkward moments, you could try asking your date a question, this will not only encourage them to open up about themselves, but it will also help to convey that you care about their life and that you want to know more about them. If you are feeling a little extra romantic you could turn it into a little game and play 21 questions to ask crush, this will make your romantic feelings clear and help build the connection between you and your date.

Showing An Interest

If you are serious about building a connection with your date at the gig then I would recommend maintaining eye contact within your conversations and making sure that you are showing an interest in their life. This is one of the best ways that you can make your feelings clear as well as to learn more and more about your date. The person you are dating is going to appreciate you a lot more if you are showing a keen interest in learning about them rather than just makiing the whole evening about yourself.

Continuing The Date

Finally, another way that you can continue to build your connection with your date is to continue the date elsewhere, even if you schedule a second date rather than going on to another venue at least you are securing the opportunity to see the person again. As gigs can also be quite difficult for communication to take place, going somewhere else after the date could be just what you need to continue your conversations and spend extra time with a potential love interest.

Video Games including licensed tracks from popular musicians have been the norm now for decades. With dozens of sports and racing games including extensive soundtracks from established artists and open-world games such as Saints Row and Grand Theft Auto including multiple radio stations each packed full of popular music, it is incredibly easy to find songs which are included in video games. There are many successful music businesses that do these things.

Even some Role Playing Games like the Fallout series have dozens of songs included from charting artists, even if they were recorded half a century ago. The gaming industry now easily rivals the film industry for the amount of hugely talented artists who have had their songs included in media. What is much, much rarer for games is popular artists creating music specifically for video games.

The vast majority of video game music is instrumental as it is used largely to help build the atmosphere at any point in a game. This, and the already extremely high cost and time to create a game when compared to any other form of media, leads most games to hire much smaller contractors to create their music, often finding specialists who make video game music for a living or occasionally having slightly more established artist create their soundtrack.

More and more in the gaming industry, it is being realized that video games are an incredible place for musicians to express themselves, and more and more artist is starting to look for games to write for and more games are looking for popular artists to create music! Over the years, many famous bands and artists have created songs and entire soundtracks for video games, and here I will show a few examples.

 

David Bowie – Omikron: The Nomad Soul

The first on the list here might surprise a lot of people. Even fans of Bowie and the venerable video game wizard David Cage might not know about this collaboration. Omikron was David Cage’s first independent game back in 1999, which set the stage for his hits in the current millennium.

These two big-profile David’s helped create an incredibly unique and, at the time, ground-breaking videogame which sadly went under the radar to a lot of people with its lackluster marketing and being released late in a console generation on the doomed Dreamcast. Bowie wrote a few excellent songs for this game which he then later released as part of an album, so many fans have likely already heard this game’s soundtrack without even knowing it!

 

Michael Jackson – Sonic 3

Another little known video game music fact is that the King of Pop himself wrote the soundtrack to Sonic 3 on the Sega Genesis. Sonic games had always been known for their stunning soundtracks on limited hardware, and Sega doubled down on this with their biggest ever release by hiring Michael Jackson to create some magical sound-scapes. This move worked wonders, as it is widely regarded as one of the greatest soundtracks of the era and many of the tracks get covered by other bands to this day. None of these songs will ever appear on a Michael Jackson Greatest Hits compilation, but they made their mark on video game history nevertheless.

 

Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) – Quake

Quake is finally making a comeback after decades of slumber, and it seems to be trying to keep with the series (and developer’s) tradition of including extremely aggressive and heavy music as the soundtrack to its visceral titles. After Doom’s success in gameplay and soundtrack, Id Software knew they would have to at least meet their customer’s expectations for a massively hyped-up game. What better way to approach this than to make sure the soundtrack exceeded anything they had done before. And what better way to do that than to hire the now multiple-Oscar-winning Trent Reznor. As one of the kings of gritty music, there could have been no better choice, and some tracks on the original Quake soundtrack are still considered masterpieces for atmosphere and hard-core rocking in video games.

 

Imagine Dragons – League of Legends

A much more modern and popularly known example is the collaboration between Riot Games and Imagine Dragons to promote League’s new season and the new direction they took the game. They only produced one song for the popular MOBA, but it was an excellent and widely shared piece of music which hit gaming and music media alike and even helped start a tradition of Riot hiring artists to create promotional music in and out of the game, such as having artists write music for popular lol skins; DJ Sona being the most purchased of these skins.

 

Aesop Rock – Freedom Finger

This is the most current example on the list. While not the most established artist I have written about here, Aesop Rock has been creating massive waves in the Hip-Hop sphere the last couple of years and this has been perfectly exemplified in his effort on the video game Freedom Finger. This quirky title is hugely more entertaining with the brilliant soundtrack Aesop crafted, with many elements of the game playing along to the beat. Not only did he write brilliant dynamic tracks for every level, he even wrote a full album’s worth of more traditional hip-hop tracks in the games’ style for the boss fights, and released these alongside the game, earning critical and commercial success in the music space with the music being lauded for its quality even detached from the game.

 

Paul McCartney – Destiny

A very high profile collaboration between the insanely huge Bungie and one of the most successful artists of all time resulted in a few brilliant pieces of music for Destiny. Unfortunately, it is another lesser-known collaboration, but brilliant nonetheless, and earned McCartney one of the largest video game music paychecks of all time.

 

CHVRCHES – Death Stranding

A personal favorite soundtrack of mine is that of Death Stranding, which includes dozens of excellent and perfectly atmospheric songs from lesser-known artists used to effectively accent emotional points in the game. Not only did Kojima license some excellent music, but he also had the increasingly popular dream-pop band CHVRCHES write an all-original song just for the game, and the result is absolute soundtrack bliss.

Indie music is any music that’s produced independently to the big record labels like Sony music. When people talk about indie bands though they’re usually referring to the genre of music indie rock. Many big bands now started off as independent bands, they are still classed as indie as they still produce indie rock music.

The Buzzcocks’ first EP Spiral Scratch released in 1977 was seen as the start of indie music. During the 1980’s indie music grew in popularity with bands like The Stone Roses, Sonic Youth, and New Order attracting thousands of fans, it was during this decade it became obvious that indie music was going to become a key player in the music industry. It was during the 1990s that indie reached its full potential with indie bands filling out entire stadiums for their performances. Some of the most well-known indie bands include Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, The Kooks, and Oasis. Some say that indie music is dead but these up-and-coming bands in 2020 show that indie music is still going.

 

Retirement Party

They created their band in Michigan with a different name ‘Sunglasses on a Plane’ During that time they were a duo consisting of frontman Avery Springer and guitarist Nick Cartwright. When they changed their name, they also recruited a new member – the drummer James Ringness and moved their base to Chicago, Illinois. The trio released a full-length album with 10 tracks in 2020 titled Runaway Dog and it is one of the hottest indie albums of this year. Currently, they have 32,507 monthly listeners on Spotify with their most listened to the song have 766,436 listens. Although they don’t have a big following now, we think when more people hear this album that’ll change.

 

Empty Country

The former frontman of the New Jersey indie band ‘Cymbals Eat Guitars’ Joseph D’Agostino has surprised fans by releasing a new self-titled album ‘Empty Country’ this year. Cymbals Eat Guitars broke up after 2 years of performances which left they’re small, but devoted supporters disappointed. Now he’s back on the radar as an up-and-coming performer to look out for this year and we’re sure once you see the face behind this voice, like us you’ll be searching how to plan your wedding with him. This album was inspired by artists like Bruce Springsteen. Although Empty Country only has 8,482 monthly listeners and their most listened to the song has 149,048 listens, we still think that this band is one of the top indie bands of the year.

 

Ratboys

Although Ratboys released their third album this year – ‘Printer’s Devil’ they make the list for one of the hottest up-and-coming indie bands as their third album has a different sound to anything else they’ve produced. They’ve shifted more towards indie rock and this album is nostalgic as it has the sounds of an early 2000’s teen drama soundtrack. The Chicago band has 64,340 monthly listeners but their most listened to the song has a massive 1,427,046 listens, keep an eye on this band because we think they’ll be the next Arctic Monkeys.

 

The Strokes

American indie rock band the strokes have a massive following of 7,471,584 monthly listeners and their most listened to the song has almost 247 million listens. Although most people think that indie bands have to have a small following, The Strokes are signed to Cult Records which is an independent record label, they are one of the biggest indie bands currently. They gained lots of support after Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner included the band name in one of his songs and fans flocked to listen. ‘The New Abnormal’ was released this year and after 7 years with no new music, The Strokes are finally back on the indie scene.

 

Porridge Radio

Porridge Radio has 4 members, they’re fronted by Dana Margolin, with Georgie Scott as keyboardist, Maddie Ryall on bass guitar, and Sam Yardley as the drummer. They released the album ‘Every Bad’ in 2020 and have already had 744,445 listens on it. Most indie bands are fronted by men so we love this band as they not only have a frontwoman, but also a woman guitarist and keyboardist.

Mental Illness is the demon that peers over our shoulders. It has haunted our species seemingly forever yet has gone undetected for so long. It is only in recent years that we are a civilization have started to understand and accept that mental illness is a real, and terrible form of disease that can be battled and even beaten.

Time was people with mental illness were written off as liars or called crazy and locked away, tortured, and even killed. This barbaric practice has slowly been replaced by a more accepting, understanding, and kind culture that approaches this sensitive topic with grace and reserve. But even with that there is still so much we do not understand about mental illnesses and every day we discover new ways to help support those suffering. And this is what we are going to look at today.

Music has been a large part of culture since the dawn of man. Our earliest ancestors had instruments and you need only look to the animal kingdom to see how vital singing is. Music connects us together, comforts us, inspires us, and motivates us. But it can do so much more. In recent years, medical experts have started using music as a tool to help fight mental illness. But how is that possible, I hear you ask? Let us dive into a look at how music is being used to help battle mental illness.

Musical Therapy

Mental Illnesses play with the mind. They twist and contort the way we think. The way we feel. The way we act. But music has this power too. How often do you hear a song and your mood suddenly changes? A random memory from your past comes rushing back and you are flooded with a strong, overwhelming feeling. How often do you find your self unable to stop your foot tapping along to the beat? Do you notice how songs can implant powerful messages within you, changing the way you view the world?

This is the foundation of musical therapy. While it is still quite an unknown area, lots of clinics have been using the medical practice marketing at practicebloom to raise awareness of it. The idea is that therapists will use certain music to stimulate emotions within you while talking through your issues. The mix of the musical interference along with the traditional therapy tactics works to try to rewire your brain chemistry and generate the chemicals that are currently unbalanced.

The key advantage of this is that you will soon start to associate the music with the process of healing and positivity. This means whenever you listen to it your brain will continue the healing process. Association is a powerful tool in the medical world and is utilized in musical therapy to great effect.

But it isn’t always about being happy. Sometimes you have to acknowledge the feelings and the sadness. Music can assist in this. Lots of group therapy sessions often ask patients to try their hand at creating music, to express their feelings through music. An outlet like this is proven to improve the mental wellbeing of those using it.

Binaural Beats

This method is less typical, and much more experimental, but effective all the same. Binaural beats are tracks that use binaural sound waves at different frequencies to stimulate certain areas of the brain. It is essentially auditory hypnosis that can change the way you feel. Like medication but in sound form. This can be used to try and change your mood but also to speed along the process of healing your brain undertakes during therapy and while on medication.

Binaural Beats can also be used to help fall asleep. Mental Illness often causes insomnia in those suffering. And lack of sleep compounds into exaggerating the illness and has other effects on the mind and body that eventually compile into making a patient even sicker. Binaural beats are a cheap, and effective way to try inducing sleep. While these beats won’t work for everyone but for those they do work for, they are a powerful tool on the road to beating their mental demons and overcoming the challenges that come with mental illness.

Overall, music is a powerful tool. It makes us laugh. It makes us cry. It brings us together in ways not possible in other mediums. And it even has the incredible power to heal us. As we become more informed as a society we will continually find new ways to use music to change the world. It is so important to keep on signing in the dark times and look ahead to brighter days. Because as dark as it seems, they are just over the horizon.

Music copyright has been a constant battle in the industry since modern law came into effect. Musicians face each other over claims of creation. Companies battle over sampling issues and plagiarism. And the biggest battle of all rages constantly across the entire planet. Piracy. All of these issues compound to continually put stress on one of the most lucrative and important industries on the planet. Many up and coming musicians look for a reliable lawfirm specialised in media law before they do much else just to make sure they are protected from the oncoming storm of copyright law. But why is copyright law so important to musicians and the music industry as a whole?

How it Works

Before we can look at why Copyright law is so important, we have to understand what it is and how it works. When some create something and they want to sell it, without anyone copying their idea, they can copyright it. This applies to products, fiction, and, importantly to us, music. People love to sprout the argument that artists should be fine with proving their work for free as it should be done for the art. But artists need to eat. They need to be comfortable and be able to produce their art. Money makes our society work. And this is the main body of copyright law.

Once a song has become copyrighted by a musician, it is their property. They can then do with it as they wish. This is how they make money off their songs. Stations will buy the right to play their song on the radio. Streaming services will pay them for the right to stream the music. They will be able to sell albums and singles to the public. The copyright law on a song stops another musician or company from simply taking their song and making money of it themselves or distributing it for free to the public.

Why is this Important

The first, and most important reason Copyright law is vital, is to protect the artist’s source of income. As we said, these artists need money to survive, just like anyone else, and copyright law ensures they get what is rightfully theirs. Secondly, it is a matter of pride. For an artist, their art means the world to them. When they produce something they pour their heart and soul into it. It becomes a part of themselves and they share that with the world. Having that part stolen and misused by someone can be painful for them. Copyright law further helps protect artists.

It also encourages fresh art. In our increasingly digital world, it is all too easy to simply rip off another artist. This creates a stagnant artistic landscape. Copyright law forces people to create new content. This doesn’t mean using other artists’ work as inspiration or in sampling is a bad thing, quite the opposite. As long as it is done with permission.

The Piracy Battle

Piracy is an issue that plagues all forms of entertainment. It is not just contained in the music industry. Piracy is the act of illegally downloading and sharing media without permission. Copies are made of the song or album and then put up on streaming sites or burnt onto physical discs and sold. There are lots of arguments over if piracy is inherently wrong and some use it as a method of testing songs before buying. But we are interested in those who maliciously gain income off other people’s art. This hurtful practice is theft and can devastate hardworking individuals, not just the artists, but those working at record labels and producing stations.

Copyright law is in place to make sure legal firms, governments, and artists have the ability to go after those who try illegally distribute their material. Without copyright law, artists would be at the mercy of thieves and digital pirates intent on robbing them of their source of income.

Copyright law is an often murky area of the music industry. It is sometimes seen as a necessary evil by some, and a force of guiding good by others. But however you look at it, it is an important and integral part of the industry and it is here to stay.

 

No matter what mood you’re in, music always makes everything seem a little bit better. Whether you’re wanting to dance around in your kitchen, or whether you’re wanting to watch the rain run down the window in a melancholy fashion, there’s something out there for you. With such a wide variety of artists around today, it can be difficult deciding on who or what to listen to. However, once you discover a couple of genres that you start to love, you’re all set. But there’s always an opportunity to take a step outside your tastes and try listening to something new. If you’re looking for new artists to listen to then look no further. Here are 5 Music Stars we think you should be watching in 2020.

BTS

Fresh off the success of their latest album Map of the Soul: 7, rumor has it that the boys have decided not to stop for a breather and have reportedly already started working on their next album. BTS only seems to be getting better and better, and with every new release, it’s not hard to see why they’re so loved by so many. With their beautiful vocals and incredible choreography, BTS has been making their mark all across the world. Their popularity continues to grow day by day and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping. With sites like WeVerse designed to fulfill all your BTS merch needs, it’s no wonder the boys’ names are popping up everywhere you look. The boys are due to go on a massive world tour to showcase their new album, much to the delight of ARMY’s all over the world. Since 2013 BTS has been releasing anthem after anthem and we can’t imagine 2020 will be any different.

Lady Gaga

After taking a break from her incredible music career to pursue acting, Lady Gaga is back and better than ever. Fresh off the success of A Star is Born, her new single Stupid Love is a much-welcomed return to form from Gaga. The pop track is sure to get you busting a move whenever you hear it. However, going by the sound and visuals in the Stupid Love music video, many little monsters will be glad to know that mother monster is returning to her true form. Her new album Chromatica is full of out of this world concept photos and the album itself appears to be designed around a super exciting concept. Gaga is back.

Beartooth

A step away from the pop genre, Beartooth is an awesome American rock band that is definitely worth checking out. With 3 amazing albums already out there, there have been whispers that they are working on their 4th. Beartooth offers powerful lyrics with some incredible riffs that are sure to knock your socks off. If you’re the sort of person who loves going to gigs then this is the band for you. Their music is a bit on the heavier side and therefore, their concerts are sure to be a hell of a good (if not a bit sweaty) time.

Mamamoo

The perfect female K-Pop group for anybody new to the genre, Mamamoo combines catchy songs with stunning visuals to create a fun and fresh kind of music. Are you looking for some music to play in your jammies while you play this or that? Well, look no further. A quick search on Spotify and these girls will be able to provide you with the perfect soundtrack for any girls night. Each of the members also has some great solo tracks as well. Most recently, Solar has come out with her new single Spit it Out, much to the delight of MooMoo’s everywhere. Rumour has it the girls are also working on new music so there has never been a better time to start listening to Mamamoo!

Childish Gambino

After dropping an entire album without any prior warning, Gambino drove his fans wild. His music is great to just vibe with and his latest offering was no different. With a couple of songs featuring cameos from his young children, it’s easy to see why so many fans felt so much love for his new music. Gambino’s music is perfect for a long drive or just a perfect sunny day. Try your luck at rapping along with some of his more complex and faster songs.

While many people think becoming a successful youtuber is too challenging due to the difficulty in getting views, sometimes its as simple as ensuring your videos have the right feel (and sometimes it’s as simple as buying views from Marketing Heaven). In regard to the former, the most important thing in ensuring your videos have the right feel is making sure you’ve chosen the right music to accompany them. This is because music can really make or break a YouTube video as it is such a big contributor to the video’s atmosphere (i.e. how it makes the viewer feel). For instance, the wrong music can make a story intended to be humorous feel awkward, or a montage intended to be exciting feel boring. This is why should thoroughly consider what type of content the music is going to accompany.

What is the Music For?

Different soundtracks are needed for different types of videos. Software tutorials, for instance, need music that is subtle and unobtrusive, while something like an adventure video needs something more epic and uplifting. This is the difference between a backing track and a feature track. A backing track is supposed to fill noise in the background to keep your video feel free flowing without obstructing the actual content, while a feature track is one that takes more of a center stage role in the video.

What Makes a Good Background Track?

– Should be unobtrusive and subtle
– Should not distract the viewer from the videos content
– Doesn’t have complicated musical shifts or changes in pace
– Should have a relatively constant volume
– Should have a steady beat
– Should be easy to loop

What makes a Good Feature Track?

– Should be something that can be listened to on its own
– Should have a catchy beat that is easy to cut footage with
– Should have interesting breaks that can be edited to go well with changes in the video
– Should have a similar mood to the video

Capturing the Mood of the Video

The music that accompanies a video such an important affect on its mood, so whichever track you pick should work alongside your videos content and tell the viewer how they should be feeling at different moments. For example, if you’re have a serious conversation about some important life-lessons you learned on a road trip then you probably shouldn’t use hardcore techno to accompany your message, even if that’s your favorite style of music. It would be much better to use something like a soft rock track that places the viewer in a similar frame of mind that you are.

The best way to find the right track is by going by trial and error. This entails downloading tracks, placing them over your video (at the right volume) and seeing how well they work. This will let you set what works and what just feels wrong. You may see that the track goes too slow for the fast-paced nature of the video, or maybe it has too many major chords and sounds too happy for the melancholy nature of the video. Whatever the case, you make sure the music matches the videos mood if you want the video to feel right.