6 of the best music related sites and blogs

Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

6 of the best music related sites and blogs

We have been scanning the internet and asking members what they think are the very best music-related sites and blogs. Basically, what's hot and what's not!

Our choices may well differ from yours, so let's have the debate. Many things have changed in recent years and will change at an even greater pace now. With online streaming services we can enjoy our music for free or a low cost. So let's get started with the ones we love.

We love Vampr. Vampr is an app that helps you discover, connect and collaborate with fellow musicians, the music industry and music lovers alike. Vampr stats show 33,798,736 swipes and 5,017,135 connections made in 198 countries worldwide. Pretty impressive stuff, so check them out here. https://vampr.me/

We also love Pitchfork. Pitchfork has some awesome features such as best new music, and we really like the music reviews. The writers seem to be in the know and very much "thought leaders" in the music industry. They are continually updating the website with the latest information related to the music industry. Unfortunately one of Pitchfork's main features is that they have their own music festival, this year to be held in Berlin which would have hosted over 40 bands across three different stages, but now cancelled. Check out Pitchfork here: https://pitchfork.com/

We also love Hypebot. Hypebot is one of the most well-known online music sites in the industry, and there is good reason for that! This site is updated very regularly so you know you are getting all the latest information possible.

They also cover other areas such as “Music Tech”, “DIY” and “Charts”. You can also sign up to the Hypebot newsletter to get the daily lowdown on everything happening straight to your inbox!

Hypebot covers a wide variety of topics in the music industry, so no matter what you are looking for, you’ll probably be able to find it here. They also have a charts section where you can filter by “emerging artists” or “established artists” as well as the country and city. And of course you can play artist tracks. Check out Hypebot here: https://www.hypebot.com/

Our next site is Your EDM, dedicated to Electronic Dance Music. Everything you need to stay up to date with the latest in this music genre can be found here. This includes all the latest news as well as featured articles and sub-sections/ genres of EDM, like house and bass.

On this site you even have the ability to download free songs, from a variety of different artists trying to make a name for themselves in the industry.

All the different sub-genres are listed on the site as well, so even if your taste is really narrow in EDM, you can still find some great information. New info is updated almost daily. Make sure you follow them on social media as well, so it is even easier to get updated on the latest information. Check out Your EDM here: https://www.youredm.com/

Next on our it's-gotta-be-hot list is All Music. All Music doesn’t really have as much news on the music industry as the others listed here, but their focus is mainly on providing information in new music and helping visitors discover their next obsession.

They also provide recommendations if you create an account, and once you have rated albums, you will get recommendations on what to listen to next.

They cover music from all common genres including pop, rap, electronic, classical, blues, country and more. They provide an in-depth review of all the latest albums and give options on how to stream the tunes, if you want to.

There are three different ratings available to view, “All Music Rating”, “User Ratings” and “Your Rating” so you can have a more detailed view on what people think about a particular album. Check out All Music here: https://www.allmusic.com/

Last but not least we love Jeeni. Jeeni is a new platform that we are developing for Independent Musicians and Performers and is in beta testing phase.

JEENI is a multi-channel streaming service for original and unsigned talent. Jeeni provides a showcase for musicians and performers to put their talent in the spotlight, giving superfans the power to make them stars. The Jeeni promise is to treat their creative talent ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect.

Most importantly Jeeni is committed to – No hype. No adverts. No rip-offs. No Fakes, and making sure that the artists get 100% of their direct sales. Jeeni is presently looking for beta-testers to help us improve the site. A beta-tester simply registers for a FREE account, then designs their own showcase by uploading their music and videos and give us feedback on their user experience. Please contact Shena@jeeni.com or call 07703567196 if you are interested and want to find out more.

Check out Jeeni today: https://jeeni.com/

That's all Folks!

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26
Aug

Bradley Jago - A Brilliant Artist Exploring Queer Identity

When you first listen to Bradley Jago, right away, you are overpowered by the sheer force of his voice. It takes centre in what feels to be an intimate stage, one that exists outside of space and time, where you and only you become privy to not only the beauty of Jago’s soulful voice, but also the profoundness of his lyrics. Rain is a song that is full of feeling, full of something rare in music - accountability. Jago tells me that the song is about change, letting the rain wash over you and forgetting the mistakes that you’ve made. He asks if we can hear the rain pour, and we can. Behind the beat, there is the unmistakable pitter patter of gentle rain sounds. But this question conceals another. When talking to Jago about the intention of the song, he told me: “I was… looking back at everyone I dated and I was like “Oh damn, there’s some people that I’ve actually fucked over a little bit.” … And Rain is an apology to those people, to say I’ve changed now, and even though I have caused you pain, I hope we can move forward after. [It] is a metaphor for the pain I have caused them.” The song itself has smooth jazzy influences. Jago’s clear voice overlaps itself in a layered harmony with a gentle underscored bass, Jago seemingly having a quiet moment of reflection to himself, as he sings to “let it rain”. The song’s intimacies are intentional. According to Jago “It’s kind of like a quiet moment to yourself. You’re at the gig with me in this intimate venue.” Then, the drums kick in. There is a desperation to the song emphasised by the changed tempo - the emotion becomes fevered as he sings “let it rain” - the words repeating, creating a heightened emotional effect - it feels as if he is begging, bargaining, hoping. There is no longer just a sweetness and a softness and a sadness. There is a frenzy, a fury to be understood. And that’s what love, remorse, and pain is like. There’s also important depth to be acknowledged within Jago’s music. Jago himself is a queer artist, who writes from the queer perspective. Why is this important to be acknowledged? Because in a song that is this intimate and honest, you need to understand why it is also brave. Queer identity comes with an enormous amount of negatives - it’s a terrifying thing to out oneself, and make yourself inherently vulnerable to the disdain of others, and also yourself. Jago is changing the game by bringing this honesty to his music, in a world where queer people still find themselves being judged, discriminated against, the context of one love song can change from being a sweet romantic piece to a dramatic profession of bravery. Jago is interested in analysing both sides of the spectrum of queer experience. “I think I’d want to write about the negatives [of queer identity]. Being queer is celebrated a lot (as it bloody well should be). But also there are negatives that people aren’t talking about.” It’s important to note that queer art, music and writing should not be made distinct by its queerness. Of course it adds depth and context to the art itself, but it is important to acknowledge the art as full of feeling, and therefore, universality. As Jago himself points out: “If I can relate to a straight song, a straight person can relate to my queer song.” So what’s in store for Jago for the future? He is doing festivals Victorious, and The People’s Lounge - “Because the music is so honest, I don’t want to do too much to the music. I want it to be really raw and still sound great - but very authentic and sound like it’s coming from my soul.” He also tells me: “I’m writing a track at the moment called ‘New Gay Sadness’ (there’s a little snippet available on Jago’s instagram) - it’s about the gay yuppies in London who are living their life but cannot find love. There’s a lot of pressure… ‘okay, we’re getting to a place of equality, still a long way to go… it’s like ‘oh you should be happy now’ but you have all these other life pressures of why aren’t you in a relationship. Why haven’t you achieved this yet?’” You can catch Bradley at the Victorious festival on the People's Lounge stage at 5:10pm on the 27th of August. Listen to his amazing track RAIN here Here

10
Dec

Portsmouth Based Tech Start-Up encourages local business to benefit from Kickstart, as December 17 deadline looms.

Local companies are up against the clock if they want to benefit from Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s generosity. The deadline to register for the Government Kickstart scheme, which pays for hand-picked new recruits to boost businesses, is Friday 17th December, so time is of the essence. Local entrepreneur Dr Shena Mitchell is founder of Jeeni, the ethical music streaming service with an audience outreach of over 3 million music lovers, and she is full of praise for Kickstart. “I have been hugely impressed by the quality of the applications, all our new recruits have been brilliant and they are a great asset to my team. So far we have recruited Marketing Executives, Sales Executives, Technical Developers, a Partnership Coordinator, as well as a Human Resource Manager to handle all these new recruits for us. In fact, we’ve been so impressed with the quality of our new applicants, that we’ve applied for another six recruits.” Her company has been working with their specialist partners Gradfuel, who are consultants for the Department of Work and Pensions, which is where the Kickstart grant funding comes from. “It’s a great opportunity for companies like ours to bring keen young graduates on board for a minimum of six months, and scale up our business. We not only do the right thing by helping new talent, but the cream of the crop could stay with us for years to come. Best of all, there’s no financial risk, with over £8,000 worth of grant money to support each young person taken on board.” The Kickstarter benefits are remarkably generous, and with only days left to register, Shena is offering to help local businesses take advantage. Benefits include £1,500 upfront grant funding from the UK Government, for each young person they enrol, in addition to their salary. 100% of their salary covered for up to 6 months and up to 100 hours a month. “Our partners Gradfuel are the experts in the market, and have raised £18.7m in Kickstart grant funding so far. We’ve had a 99.5% success rate in our applications, against the market average of 22%, supporting over 1,400 companies to process their Kickstart applications.” Full information and a direct link to registering for Kickstart applications is available on https://jeeni.com/kickstart/ shena@jenni.com 07703567196

12
Mar

Barack Obama - His Tracks of 2020

Recently released via Instagram, Barack Obama - Tracks of 2020, the annual eclectic collection of music that accompanied his, and his family's day to day. In 2015, President Barack Obama was declared the only President you could reliably trust to DJ a party. An elder of the Hip-Hop Generation and still younger than Chuck D, he helped endorse American made music for the 21st Century. That year, he gave us a kind of 'Desert Island Discs' of the tracks which had got him to, and through two presidential terms. The list was in most part, exactly what you would expect from an educated man in his 50's. However, there were some interesting additions, including Bob Dylan's - 'Maggie's Farm', credited as the track to get him into the right mindset for the political season and the country track by Brad Paisley - 'Welcome to the Future', with Obama declaring himself accepting of the indelible impact country music has had on the USA. Since then, Obama has created an annual listing of his favourite tracks. For his tracks of 2020, he has 'fessed up to having help from his daughter Sasha, and together they have created another interesting collection of old and new. A few of Obama's tracks of 2020, have already been put in the 'Best of' spotlight by many music bloggers. Tracks like Dua Lipa’s - 'Levitating' [ft. DaBaby], Waxahatchee’s - 'Can’t Do Much' and Phoebe Bridgers’ - 'Kyoto'. Added into the mix is a little bit of country, with the next generation of Nashville stars, Ruston Kelly’s - 'Brave' and Chris Stapleton’s - 'Starting Over', plus some old school legends, including the President's go-to, Bob Dylan with 'Goodbye Jimmy Reed'. With over 34m followers on Instagram, it makes this list quite an appealing one to find your name on. Listen to Barack Obama's soundtrack for 2020, below. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX5gYucl3g9Ad?utm_source=embed_v2&go=1&play=1&nd=1

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