Happy New Year Friends!

As we dive into new web projects this year, we wanted to keep you in the loop about the minor and major changes that will need to happen to allow us to move forward.

Browser Support
As the years go by, technology changes and web browsers get better.  With that comes the regular inevitable shift to support newer browsers and leave the old ones behind.  For 2013, here are the browsers that we will be supporting:

• Internet Explorer 8 and 9
• Firefox
• Safari
• Chrome

Mobile Support
Since mobile devices and tablets are now all the rage, we will also be making changes to add more support for the most popular devices, including iOS (iPad, iPhone) and Android devices.

Other Notes
Those are the major changes that we predict at this point.  However, if we encounter other changes that could affect our loyal customers, then we will be sure to update this article.

As we head into November, we start to get ourselves geared up for the upcoming holidays, the end of the year and the start of a new one.  Here at Local Sounds, we feel the end of the year is a good time to provide our users and customers with an annual report that fills you in on what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and what’s coming in the months ahead.

LOCALSOUNDS.COM
It’s been almost two (2) years since Local Sounds and Madtown Lounge (now localsounds.com) entered into a relationship and formed a single resource for local music.  Now that the businesses are successfully merged and the redesign of localsounds.com is complete, we can focus on expanding our offerings and continue to make improvements.

With that said, our first major change to localsounds.com will be the Music Store.  On December 31st, 2012, the Local Sounds Music Store will be retired.  Earlier this year we decided to stop accepting new album submissions to the store in response to the ever growing sales of music downloads and the decreasing sales of physical albums.  With the birth of so many new forms of music delivery over the last several years, we found that our music store model is outdated and not performing the way we would like or need it to.  Artists with albums in the store will be contacted in the coming weeks to decide what should be done with their albums in our inventory.

And just a quick reminder: don’t forget to get your New Year’s Eve gigs entered into localsounds.com ASAP!  We are gearing up for our annual NYE promotions and we want you to get the most out of it!

LOCAL SOUNDS MAGAZINE
Our beloved magazine is NOT going anywhere!  In fact, we are always looking for volunteer writers, photographers, reviewers and other contributors!  If you or someone you know is interested in contributing to Local Sounds Magazine on a regular basis, you can email us and let’s talk!

There are also plans for a redesign of the magazine.  We just aren’t sure of the timeline for this.

LOCAL SOUNDS RADIO
What can we say, it’s a work in progress.  We have been continuously adding new music to the station, as well as lining up folks to help run and support the station’s efforts.  We are also working on some hardware upgrades and should be making the switch to that in the coming months.  More as it develops…

THE BUSINESS OF LOCAL SOUNDS
While our member services are very important to us, the business operations behind Local Sounds are equally as important.  Due to some recent changes in our lives, we have been forced to reduce the amount of time we spend on Local Sounds and focus on things in smaller batches.  Because of this, we have been spending the remaining months of 2012 in a deep, dark dungeon (it’s cold in here!) working on an updated business plan that will help us set our goals and projects for the coming year.  With any luck, we will emerge refreshed and ready to tackle all these new challenges!

Let’s face it: more and more of us are putting away the good ol’ fashioned FM radio and opting for services that give us more options and freedom, such as Pandora, Spotify and other Internet-based services.

You used to discover new (and good) music on a regular basis when your local FM station would whip out the latest track from this new great artist.  Nowadays, you discover new music through other means.  And in fact, you’re probably finding there is way more music to enjoy out there than your favorite FM station used to let you know about.

It’s a given that most radio stations on this planet are controlled by a bigger machine, and that machine only dishes out what makes the most money for them, not what you might actually enjoy.  The big machine only cares about numbers and how many songs it can serve up to increase its bottom line.  I’m not saying all songs caught in this machine are bad.  But the quality of music isn’t really a factor anymore.

While it may not be entirely true, it feels to me that good, thought-filled, well-written, deeper-meaning music is gone from the mainstream.  That kind of music takes time, patience and experiences to write.  These are all things the big machine does not have the patience for.  They need it right now (or yesterday) and it has to be catchy and appealing enough to generate dollar signs in the eyes of everyone involved in that song’s lifecycle.  Even if it means copying pieces of a previously released song, calling it a remix (or downright different song) and releasing it again.  ”If the first song’s formula worked, why can’t we give it a makeover and do it again?”  And don’t even get me started on “The Era of Auto-Tune” and how it’s made the untalented “talented”.

Another path the big machine takes is borrowing or purchasing songs that have already been written by unknown songwriters, but never performed.  Sure the songwriter may have written a heartfelt masterpiece that has meaning, but the big machine doesn’t care what the song is about.  They may snatch it up anyway they see fit, twist it, package it up with a bow, and give it to an artist that needs one last song for their new album or tour and call it a day.  It may be efficient when looking to turn a profit, but it’s far from efficient when looking to stir the imaginations and emotions of people in the way the song was originally intended.

In the mainstream, creativity has lost out to revenue.  But I believe there is a place where revenue is trumped by creativity and genuine songwriting.  And you don’t have to look very far.  There’s a good chance it’s happening right in your own backyard.  That heart and soul of music is still beating deep within the local music scenes on this planet.  And there is no signs of it slowing down or going away anytime soon.

Local Sounds Magazine is looking to expand its current roster of volunteers and contributors.  We are looking to find help in the following areas:

Live Show Review Contributors (Madison, Wisconsin music scene)
Are you an avid local music concert-goer?  Do you give your mobile device’s camera a good workout documenting the band and/or evening with friends?  We are looking for a few good people to write reviews and take photos of the shows you attend.  Reviews usually consist of a few paragraphs summarizing the show and between 2-4 photos of the band’s performance. Here’s a sample show review.

If interested, please submit your inquiry to submissions@localsoundsmagazine.com

CD Review Contributors (Madison, Wisconsin music scene)
Are you a Madison music fan who loves to listen to and reflect on locally produced CDs? We are looking for a few people interested in listening to and reviewing local music CDs. Here’s a sample CD review.

If interested, please submit your inquiry to submissions@localsoundsmagazine.com

To help us help you faster, we have just released the new Local Sounds Help Center! Powered by Zendesk, this help center will allow us to better address your questions, concerns, and even feature suggestions. Anything you want to throw our way, open a ticket on our help center and let’s talk!