Friday 16 September 2011

What's happening September 2011

Two more polls completed, the first was "How do you like your blog?" and from 43 votes we had:

23 (53%) text is just fine
13 (30%) in glorious video
4  ( 9%) I don't like blogs 
3  ( 6%) audio for my 'pod

So the message is that I shouldn't bother with an audio blog, that roughly 1 in 10 people who find my blog (probably looking for tabs) like to fill in polls but don't like blogs, and I should run say 2 text blogs for every video blog I post. Okay, thanks all!

For "I'll watch a youtube video...", from 58 votes we had:

27 (46%) even if I had to watch an advert first
18 (31%) only if it was totally advert free
13 (22%) even if there were overlaid adverts

Which tells me that only around one in three respondents don't want any adverts at all...which is less than I expected. It seems that adverts are just an accepted part of life, I would say because they are easily ignorable. But, marketers are prepared to spend huge dollars on them, so they must work. On this site I get about a 1% click rate - that is, 1% of all advert views result in someone clicking on the advert. That either means that 1% of people don't know how to use the internet, or 1% of people do know how the internet works and that clicking on an ad sends money to the publisher :)

Speaking of which, I signed the youtube channel up. I had been asked, slightly persistently, by Viso Music (a Canadian broadband TV crowd) to partner with them. After about two months of avoiding making a decision, reasoning with myself about why I should or shouldn't, and boring them to tears with incessant questions I finally said "what the hey" and signed their (scary) agreement.

Good or bad decision? Time will tell.

There were two good reasons that made it an easy decision in the end. Viso have an arrangement with YouTube, they look after the licensing issues of cover artists, and in return YouTube will allow a cover artist to be a Youtube partner. Normally if you, as a cover artist, applied to be a partner you'd get turned down due to copyright infringement. But as a partner, you can then advertise with your videos.

Did you notice the two good reasons? (a) I'm now a partner with Youtube protected under the banner of the ligitimate company Viso Music so Youtube will never shut me down due to copyright infringement. (b) Youtube videos get adverts which sends money my way - although it won't be much, maybe a dollar a day.

The downside is I've basically signed videos over to them, if I want to pull the plug, well, they've got the videos now, I don't.

Of course, early days, we'll see how it works out.

In other news I started working on an interesting video which I'm sure you will appreciate, stepping through an arrangement with screen video captures and a commentary. It is taking longer than I hoped, but I will finish it, sometime! Mostly mastered playing "Stupid Girl", will probably record a video of that in the next few weeks. Really enjoying playing it, it's just got a good feel and a cool sound. Recommended!

8 comments:

  1. Congrats JAW

    (btw, I always click on a advert when browsing here, that's my way of thanking you for the interesting content :-) )

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  2. Thanks t0u! I'm not supposed to say anything about clicking adverts, the rules of being a producer for advertising is to not solicit clicks. If "they" detect a lot of "suspicious" clicks they can shutdown your account. I've never received any warnings, I've never seen any anomalous click spikes in daily activities, so whatever people are doing are considered "normal" advertising clicks, whatever that is! :)

    JAW

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  3. Hey Jaw,
    I am a 'long time viewer, first time commenter' :) (that sounded funnier in my head) I love reading your blog and trying to learn your songs, big fan of Pink Floyd esp. DSotM. I recently came across some Pink Floyd tribute stuff that I thought you might like (secretly hoping it will motivate you to finish your DSotM album and instructional DVD). Found it at http://www.mp3fiesta.com then searched Pink Floyd, there is String Quartets, Orchestras, bluegrass... I was going to donate some money for you to purchase these motivations, but couldn't find how. Saying that when I joined they gave me free credit to buy them anyway.
    Was at first dissapointed with the new site as it didn't have the dismantled microwave and other interesting things, but happily came across the old site again :D Maybe put a link to it? (you probably do, I might just be blind as a bat:)
    Thanks again for the tabs and time and effort you put into the blog, youtube, figgering out tabs...
    Marc

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  4. Hey Marc, you know, "long time x first time y" is always funny :)

    Thanks for piping up, as far as I know I've got a few good mates here that yarn with me often, and lots of strangers that stop by once never to be heard from again - so it's nice to know that there are lurkers such as yourself out there! :)

    Hey I looked at the pf tribute stuff, the quartet and orchestra were pretty good, I smiled at the bluegrass stuff! DSotM is still a long way off, but it's good that I'm getting experience doing other videos and playing songs and just generally creating stuff - by the time I get to a DSotM DVD I might actually be nearly half good at it...

    Yep, old site is still there. I don't link to it from here - do you think I should? There are three "me"s - there is JAW Munji, here, he likes to talk a lot about and occasionally play guitar - there is plain 'ole JAW, over there, he likes to talk a lot about and occasionally do DIY stuff; and then there is this other bloke, nobody sees or hears from him much, his name is Jason and he's not too bad an engineer, writes a lot of plant automation programs and graphical interfaces, but sadly spends most of his time at work writing functional specifications, standards and related documents. Has a wife and three young kids, a dog, two chooks, manages to pay his mortgage monthly with just enough left over for life. Anyway, raving now.

    Glad to hear you are getting something useful out of my stuff, thanks for taking the time to let me know! (You'll be waiting a while for DSotM though, sorry.)

    JAW

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  5. Hey JAW,
    If only I had a dollar for every time I've been called a lurker... (again, probably funnier in my head)
    Truthfully, I haven't had a chance to read your latest blogs, still catching up on previous stuff. Has been a little while since I've been to this site :/
    Mainly mentioned that tribute stuff to give you some ideas or inspiration, I know it can be hard to keep motivated over a long term project, and as I haven't caught up on your latest blog I wasn't to sure where your head was at.
    DSotM was the first albulm that I REALLY listened to, and I was just blown away. I never knew music could transport me like this, and I listened to the albulm over and over and over and... (you get the idea) again.
    BTW, you know there is actually no Dark Side of the Moon, just because we can't see the other side, doesn't mean the sun doesn't shine there. Should maybe be Far Side of the Moon? Doesn't quite have the same ring to it though...
    Def. link to your old site, I can't see any negatives to it, only positives.
    I know the feeling, there are many "me"s, the photographer business man, the farmer, the martial artist, the (wanna-be) guitarist, the father (I have 1 beautiful four-legged daughter (no, not human)), etc. (the raving must be contagious)
    I have come to the conclusion, that by the time I learn the PF tabs you have already posted, you would've completed a fingerstyle version of every PF ablbum ever produced (yes, even Ummagumma), so no hurry with your project.
    :)
    Marc

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  6. Haha! I'm not alone :) Get'm Marc .

    JK JAW. Been a while since I've been here. busy with school work etc.. still have not learned anything since that last bit of floyd :)

    For some reason I have left the fingerstyle in the background for now, focusing on our band songs. But it's still there, rolling in my head daily. Been playing a lot of Beatles lately. Hey Jude, Help from my friends, Imagine (lennon i know). Having fun with them and I cant help but try to figure out their melodies in fingerstyle while bandmates bicker with each other lol. It's fun but I have to put more time in it.

    I hope you have been well JAW,
    Ryan G

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  7. Hey JAW,

    I have a question, I have been playing 'Romance' by Anon (he seems to do alot of songs, must be the quite type though, can't find any info on him), and I tend to constantly change tempo throughout the peice, sometimes slow and held back, then it tends to spew out fast. I do this intentionally as it expresses my opinion of the song and the mood I am in. To my ear it sounds good (I also change emphases, volume etc). So my question is, in general, do listeners like this expression, or do they like consistancey? Most songs I (try) to play with a consistent beat (goodbye blue sky, etc).

    I know James is busy, but can JAW come out to play? I would love to see your version of 'Mad World'

    Marc

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  8. Being able to play on tempo is good. Putting expression in is good. You _know_ the balance. Yeah, you actually do, you don't need to ask me, it's in you. But, I also need to be reassured from time to time, ha ha :)

    Generally, play on tempo. I don't, but I should - my tempo variance is partly expression, but mostly poor tempo training. Do more metronome work. I hate metronome work, I should do more metronome work. I'd say it is better to let your expression come through in emphasis, volume, dynamic, hand position, all of that. I reckon tempo when used as expression should be deliberate, obvious and used infrequently.

    I mix up my songs, but only within my comfort zone. Playing notes one beat ahead and one beat behind just because you can is almost like training for song stuff up recovery. If you can "think" enough while you are playing to change even just subtle things, it means you've pushed your playing deeper into your brain, freeing you up for playing expression _and_ variation. And being able to recover when things go pear shaped :)

    I think people like consistency most, with a little bit of variation. But long before that they like style. I expect most people who hear me play I get that one and only chance, if I catch their attention it might be the only time I ever get. So play everything in the style you like, and mean it. You'll probably never get the chance again.

    Mmm, I'm a bit out there today, sorry!

    Mad World - yeah, I think about that one occasionally when I'm thinking about what to play when I'm in drop D. I've all but forgotten it...great arrangement by Ulli...I should commit it to memory and make it part of my normal rotation - I'm 90% job done with that one!

    JAW

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