Archive for the ‘technology’ Category

h1

Fickle Consumers?

June 15, 2010

With the start of iPhone 4 pre-order sales, and a lot of problems on the AT&T and Apple end, many consumers who were planning on pre-ordering the phone are getting upset. This is causing many to say “Well, I will just get something else then.” One person I saw wrote, “Well AT&T and Apple store are both down, so I guess I’ll just go Windows Mobile.” To me, this is a little crazy. If you want a device, you should want it regardless if you can order it or not within the first few hours of pre-orders. Are they just talking out of anger, or are they truly going to make another purchase because of these problems?

I would not be surprised if Apple sells 1 Million units alone or more in pre-orders on the new phone. For the first time that I can recall, the Apple store went down because it was being hit so hard by consumers who wanted to put them name in the pre-order hat. With many 1st generation iPhone users willing to now upgrade to the new device + the incentives that AT&T is giving to many iPhone 3G owners I expect the new phone will sell very quickly and will become very popular very fast. I think in this case, the “Gizmodo-gate” will help overall sales because people are aware of the phone at a much higher level than normal. It received A LOT of press, and because of that everyone has seen it already. The keynote even played on it a little bit at the announcement, which was the best thing for them to do. Although it wasn’t an intentional leak, I see it doing nothing but helping sales of the device at this point for the average consumer.

Every place that has the iPhone up for pre-order today has had problems. The AT&T internal servers have been going up and down, and because the Apple store accesses those servers to verify what price you will pay for the phone (either subsidized price, or unsubsidized, etc based on current contract, or contract renewal) they haven’t been able to have success either. This has left many people upset, but I suspect many of the vocally angry people are some of the more informed consumers, that feel they MUST have the pre-order in for the device as soon as humanly possible.

So, were you one of the ones that got booted out of either AT&T’s system or Apple when you tried to pre-order? If you got kicked out of pre-ordering, are you still going to buy the device as soon as you can get into the system? I hope that many people were ‘just talking’ and that they truly been’t going to change their mind on the device they were going to buy just because of a huge flood of interest in the device by others. Please let me know your thoughts!!

-Kyle

Posted in apple, iphone, opinion, retail stores, technology | 1 Comment »

h1

TILT Scoring Contest!

May 5, 2010

I have been given the opportunity to enter in a competition to get the chance to write music for an independent film collaboration. I found out about TILT by someone I follow on twitter (@philontilt) and decided that I’m at the point in my ‘composition career’ that I need to do everything I can to get my name out there and build my resume by attaching myself to strong people who I’d like to work with now and in the future. I thought that this would be a great opportunity, and I’ve been plugging away at my contest entry for the last couple weeks. Submissions are due by May 15th. I’m really excited to see what type of feedback I get from the people who follow and interact with me regarding my music.

The way the competition will work:

All composers have been given from April 21st to May 14th to score a video (1 video; 2; 2 minute clips) downloadable from Vimeo.

Once submissions are received, TILT will do another blog posting with the entries and people will have until May 31st to cast their vote for which they like the best.

After all votes are received, the top 3 entries will be considered by the TILT team and someone will be selected an offered the opportunity to score the movie. The winner will be announced on June 3rd!
(paraphrased from TILT website)

Here is my entry!

Voting starts May 17th!

To say that I want this opportunity is an understatement. I know that I would do everything I can to give them what they are looking for to score their film, and I hope that I can at least make it to the top 3 so that I’m truly ‘in-the-running’. I’ve talked with Phil, and interacted with other members of the team, and they seem like a great group of motivated and talented people. To be able to work with them would be a great opportunity and a pleasure, and I’d love to be part of their creative team to help bring their vision to life. If you’d like more information about TILT, you can go the following places:

TILT Website
Twitter: Phil (director), King and Keck (writers), TILT on twitter

While working with Camden, the Director of Abandoned Allies, I realized that I really enjoy the process of creating music for someone else’s vision. It is a very different creative process than what I would normally do when just composing music for me and it is something I really enjoy. I’ve had nothing but a great experience working with Camden, and she has been a great motivator for me to move forward to look into other scoring opportunities. I’m still currently working on Abandoned Allies, and progress is being made as the film comes together and more research and interviews are added. I’m really happy to be part of Camden’s team, and as more happens with Abandoned Allies, I’ll post! I’m meeting with Camden on Thursday to see the movie where it stands now and to talk about musical needs. Thank you Camden for your support and faith in me as we work together, now and hopefully in the future!

If you like my entry, when the contest is open for voting, I ask that you please vote for me and my submission to get me in the top 3. Again, I’d love this opportunity to work with the TILT team, and I can’t do this by myself. I need the support from those who like my music and who want to see me succeed in this area of music composition. I’ll be posting updates here as I find out what is happening with the contest, and you can check out other samples of my work at my home page, kyleowen.com!

Thanks again,

Kyle


Posted in composition, experience, movie, Music, Sibelius, technology, youtube | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

MusicyTechGeek – As Seen on TV

March 15, 2010

Well, today the interview that I did for WRAL aired on TV. I’d say that it went well. Also, it is really funny to see myself on TV. I knew I was geeky, I just didn’t realize how much until I saw myself speaking on public television. I haven’t appeared on anything like that before, so it was something that made me happy to see. It was odd, but it was still interesting.

They interviewed me about Gazelle.com, which was a service that I used back in July of last year, and blogged about here. The post has gotten off and on traffic since I wrote it, but either way it was nice to be interviewed for something on the news. Next time I get interviewed I want to get interviewed about my music. I don’t know if it can/will happen, but it is still nice to dream.

Here is the video from the broadcast:


Posted in technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Questions to help define my personal business model for my music.

March 11, 2010

As I write more music on a regular basis the thought of what I want to do with it becomes something I think about more and more. I have been composing technically for about 10 years with some time off to move from place to place and settle. Now it is time for me to start thinking about the projects I’m doing now and what I want to be doing with my music in the future. Right now I’m lucky enough to be composing for a movie, but I don’t know when/if I’ll get other opportunities to work with such great people again. I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity, and I’m not taking it lightly as a commitment I have made.

I have the option of “locking things down” and making all of my music and projects “paid only” but that doesn’t help spread the openess that music promotes. Realistically, I’m lucky if I have 1 or 2 fans of my music. Mainly because I haven’t put it out there for people to have access to it. I’m sure that as I put more and more of my music out there and expose myself to more people, I will eventually have 10 fans, and maybe even 100. I know that I’ll greatly appreciate anyone that says they like my music, and I’m willing to take criticism and feed back from those who don’t. I want to better myself as a composer, and one of the only ways I can do that is to get feedback from those who know about music and those who just enjoy listening to it.

Can a “freemium” (free content with an optional buy-in) business model work for a composer? I’m unsure if it really can. I think that I’d rather give my music away and find out where my fans are, and if they exist, rather than holding onto my music without anyone able to hear it. I think I have more to gain by giving it away, even if it comes down to just getting feedback. Yes, I’d love to make money off my music, but I don’t know if it is realistic to think that I ever will. One can always hope, but it isn’t something that I expect. I have invested a lot of time and money into my music education and experience and I hope that it translates in my final product, but I can’t make people decide that my music is ‘good’ or ‘respectable’. Ideally I’d give my music away, and then just give a way for people to donate to me if they wanted or felt my music was worth the money. That way it would be completely opt-in, and hopefully all parties would be happy.

I do have some larger goals that I still want to accomplish: Getting my music published, and getting a CD made (even if only digitally distributed). I feel they can both happen, it is just a matter of how. With everything digital now, it makes it much easier to distribute music (PDF, MP3s, etc) and I want to utilize it the way that ‘my audience’ wants. So I guess the best way for me to get my name out there will also still allow me the opportunities to accomplish those bigger goals. Realistically though, no matter what, I’d just be happy if people were playing my music and talking to me about it, outside of the small group of people that know about it.

I’m currently in the process of setting up my main domain, that will have samples of my music and information about my music and projects. I hope that this will become a good way for me to start interacting with people and to share my music with them. I plan on having samples, if not full piece downloads (PDF, MP3) for people to have and interact with. I just have to do some soul searching and decide how I want to peruse these goals while still keeping everything else going.

Any ideas or thoughts?? Please comment.

Thank you,

-Kyle


Posted in composition, experience, Flute, opinion, technology | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

h1

I’m writing music for a local documentary!

March 6, 2010

Yesterday was amazing! I am now officially writing music for a local documentary with some amazing people involved. This is my first “scoring” experience so it is going to be a great learning opportunity for me. I told myself that I will never turn down an opportunity that requires me to grow and move forward in my life. I will be creating music with a specific tone and that needs to invoke specific feelings. From a composition level that can be really difficult, but I know I’ll be able to do it. There will be some challenges, such as no budget and only a few months to compose, but I know I can work around it with what I have.

In many cases the music I write, writes itself. I do editing and I move things around. Once I got used to the process of composing it has become very natural to me. To write music for “someone else” is a different process. You cater to different needs and you have to try and be 100% objective and willing to make changes when the other people don’t like or agree with what you did. You have to be willing to change things you pour your heart into to make it work. A lot of give-and-take will be essential to a successful project. Fortunately I’m working with people who love what they do and are just happy to have me as part of the team.

Last night I gave the director/producer and music coordinator samples of my music and they listened to it as we spoke music. So much of last night was spent talking about the overall tone of the movie and the roles that the music needs to play in it. My biggest challenge will be taking music from the natives (in the movie) and using it as inspiration for some of the music I’ll be writing. I want to create music to honor them, not insult, so the way I write it will be done with as much research as I can beforehand to insure that tonally I’m where I need to be. This is a fun challenge in itself.

I’m nothing but excited for this project and I will be trying to document everything I can regarding my experience so that I can learn from
It more. I have software that I need to get comfortable with (outside of Sibelius) and it needs to become a tool and not an obstacle. On top of working on my Computer Certification I also have software I need to learn!!! Time to take my notes and start writing music.

-Kyle

Posted in composition, experience, Sibelius, technology | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

CompTIA A+ Certification Class

February 15, 2010

Well, with all the ups and downs that I have had so far looking into various programs, as of right now I’m starting with my A+ Certification through Wake Tech’s continuing education distance classes. I had looked into other programs and figured since I am not in the best health to be able to insure I can safely make it to and from a campus that a distance education option is the best for me.

The class is split into 3 section: Basic, intermediate, and advanced. You have to take each level and get instructor reccomendation to move forward. I hope and plan to get my first computer cert this year, even if it is only an A+. I will start working on the Microsoft certs after that and hopefully be able to decide what is the best option for me for working on a BS in Computer Science. I really miss school and I’m only willing to go back for a degree that is relevant to what type of career I want. I love music, but I don’t forsee me going back for a music degree anytime soon.

My class starts this Wednesday and it a 6 week class with 2 weeks “grace period” to finish the last assessment. I hope that the online format works with me and I’m able to do the hands on stuff correctly with the hardware I have on hand. If this works well for me, expect to see a review of the program with the pros and cons.

-Kyle

Posted in technology | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Backing up and digitizing my sheet music…(without a scanner!!)

January 2, 2010

I, like many other musicians, have been collecting sheet music for as long as I’ve been playing. Although it is unlikely that a diaster can and will happen, it is something we should all prepare for. In the digital world we are taught that if you only have one copy you are vulnerable to loss. I backup my digital music library in several ways. First, I have it stored on a USB external hard drive for easy transportation to another computer if I need it. Secondly, I have it backed up on my computers internal hard drive, and then I have that hard drive cloned on a back up firewire drive so that I could use it as a bootable backup of my current workstation if something happens. This isn’t a complete backup setup, but I will soon be backing it up offsite so that I don’t have to worry about it if something happens to ALL of my hardware. I’ll write more on that later. I truely feel that I should digitize my sheet music collection so that if something happens and I lose my sheet music library that I can have access to it. Personally, I feel this falls within fair-use because as long as I don’t distrubute it, I should have the right to use the media how I want for personal use. Granted, this is debatable and people disagree, but if I paid for it I should be able to use it in my digital life in the way that best suits me. I have invested thousands of dollars in sheet music, and if I lost it, I would be financially difficult for me to replace, even if I could get most of it back with insurance. I already have a list of everything in my music library, including who it was written by, the price I paid for it, and the place I got it, and that is stored on my MobilMe drive offsite. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in Flute, opinion, Sibelius, technology | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

An introduction….although a little late!

August 22, 2009

After some time with no blog entry, I started to think of something else that I could do to bring more content into the blog. I think that chronicling my journey to try to get into to the tech industry from a completely unrelated field is worth talking about. As many of you may know, my formal education experience was in Music. I was a Music Education and Music Composition student at a private college in Northern California for 3 semesters before I withdrew from the school and decided to start new and make some big changes in my life. My decisions up to this point, have gotten me to North Carolina, in an area that I would love to stay in and hopefully settle down in over time.

So…I believe it is important to start from the beginning: Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in opinion, technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

How can I improve the blog?

July 16, 2009

I’m always trying to bring new content to the blog, but I want to know what my readers (the few that I have) want out of it! Please select what you want more of in my blog, or please put a suggestion. Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing what you (the readers) want to see from me.

Thank you,

Kyle

Posted in Flute, opinion, technology | 1 Comment »

h1

The Problems with “Brick and Mortar” retail outlets…

July 3, 2009

(Disclaimer: This post is a personal opinion based on what I think the problems are with retail stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, and others. I know some of these stores are closed or consolidated, but the information still rains true in my opinion)

As the modern world changes more and more with the integration of the web into our daily lives, it also changes the way that we shop and look for things to buy. There are many options now, whereas before, going to a retail outlet was often the only real choice. As things continue to change, the retail outlet stores role in shopping is becoming very different from what it used to be. Now, many people go to retail outlets and get a hands on with a product, and then will go home and buy it online for cheaper, often times with free shipping depending on the retailer. The reasons I think that “Brick and mortar” retail outlets will fail in time are these: Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.