Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Daisy Chute on Music, Performing and Life during 2020

/ By Shena Mitchell
Daisy Chute on Music, Performing and Life during 2020

Tonight, is the night that we launch the JAM Festival where seventeen acts from around the world will beat the pandemic restrictions and join together to perform in a virtual festival called JAM, and they guarantee complete unknowns will get equal billing with world-famous headliners.

So please register that you are Going or Interested, and we will keep you posted each day of acts and keep you informed about their performances. Please like, share and invite your friends to join in the fun, it's going to be awesome.

https://fb.me/e/1etPauFMV

Don't worry if your busy or miss it, we will be featuring the festival on Jeeni.com from the 11th of April 2021, for you to watch when you are next free.

Ahead of the JAM Festival we had a quick catch up with Daisy Chute who is a favourite of mine as Daisy kept me company with her live streams all the way through lock down, most charming, and talented artist who is so lovely she just makes your heart melt.

Daisy tells us: “I am really enjoying the sunny weather and I am very much looking forward to summer and performing at gigs again in person”!

In the last 12 months Daisy fairly quickly started doing live streams as a replacement for gigs and festivals that she was supposed to be at such as Glastonbury and the Cambridge festival. Daisy was doing online shows which she said was ‘better than nothing’ due to the pandemic. Daisy said: “through the online shows and livestreams etc she was able to connect with many people internationally which she said was ‘really lovely and enabled her to build more of a following and connect with fans on an international scale’ which she wouldn't have been able to-do on a tour.” Daisy said:  “during this pandemic, she tried to use the time as best as she could to connect with her fans through the livestreams”!

Kate asked Daisy: “Have you missed live performances”?

“Absolutely’ the live streams are kind of like live performances, but they don’t feel the same because you don’t have the same connection and it’s much more casual! I miss performing with my band as I have not been able to see them during this time so my livestreams have also been missing that element of energy and adrenaline when performing a set. I am a very social person and I really miss the atmosphere of being at a gig and having drinks with friends and getting back to being in gig – performing and watching.”

Kate asked Daisy: “are you excited to showcase your track”?

‘ABSOLOUTELY yes!’

“I love what Jeeni are doing, and I love how supportive the team are to all the artists and I am very grateful for these opportunities to work with some amazing people. I think the showcases and the festivals are so important and they keep the artists going and keep them motivated and connected”!

Daisy also overfunded on her Rocket fuel campaign which was amazing and if you want to find out more check out her page here: https://rocketfuelhq.com/daisy-chute

Daisy was raising the funds to help make some new music for Daisy’s Singles Club. Daisy reaching her target a week early, which is amazing. But you can still get involved as Daisy has decided to do a “Stretch Goal” to see if she can get some further support to make a series of new videos and Daisy will have new things on offer until 31 March 2021.  You can still get involved by buying something, subscribing monthly or making a one-off contribution.   Here is a video telling you all about it. https://youtu.be/0j-defCFQvA

Best of luck Daisy we know you will be a great success and you have 100% support from Team Jeeni.

13
Dec

Artist Focus: Baby Panna

The Portsmouth Rapper’s raw, tongue skipping, quick style of rapping is very unique. His raps are a breath of fresh air due to the spoken word, poetry style. Depth and meaning in lyrics are Baby Panna’s forte, you can’t help but digest, despite the pace at which he spits. He keeps up a consistent, fast pace in most of his music, yet it’s still remarkably easy to follow and understand which is rare. He has an alikeness to names such as Hopsin, Immortal Technique, Akala, Capital Steez and Wretch 32 in his lyricism, while his voice has similarity to President T or a British Famous Dex.  Baby Panna addresses a lot of current issues we encounter today, such as the ‘Instagram’ popularity/filter façade, love, his demons, materialism and those against him. These hot topics make for some very interesting listening, he is clearly very clued up on for example spirituality, politics, class systems and relationships, which he heavily delves into in each of his tracks.  His track ‘T1GR355’ particularly grabbed my attention, the lo-fi style of cut up samples communicates a brilliantly romantic energy while he professes his adoration for a ‘Golden Tigress’ he cannot commit to. The chopped-up guitar and low frequency, oscillating bass adds a lot of emotion and finesse to the track, reminding me of certain romantic Slowthai songs such as ‘Feel Away’. The track ends with an emotional call from who I assume is the aforementioned ‘Golden Tigress’.  ‘Grinding’ is a soulful, happy, lighthearted hip hop track, as Baby Panna speaks well of his will to work, progress, and that of his friends. The strings make a great backing for a song of such a topic, you can tell he really enjoyed writing this as it’s got a real bounce to it. That and the positive energy of the song make it truly catchy. The hook is also very catchy, reminding me of ‘New Freezer’ by Rich the Kid and Kendrick Lamar.  There’s also a certain Eminem quality to his speed and rhyming patterns, particularly in ‘Murder She Wrote’. The upbeat, fast moving, start-stop nature of the tune is really interesting. While the detuned sounding, almost creepy beat is very unique and hard hitting. Baby Panna does incredibly well to keep up with the beat, that is around 87bpm but in double time.   Baby Panna has made his own sound which is brilliant, the alternative rap enthusiast would love his music and the topics he covers. The production in itself is also very different and fresh, we love artists like Baby Panna.  Check out Baby Panna on Jeeni here: https://jeeni.com/?s=baby+panna How can Jeeni support artists like Baby Panna? JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience.   • We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make.• We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way.• We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect.• Access to artist liaison and a supportive marketing team.

06
Jun

My grandfather was killed by a rubbish truck.

Jeeni has returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. Jeeni founding director Mel Croucher says, “I admit we’re ahead of our original schedule, but there’s still so much more to do. We need to scale our online platform globally now and build our mass artist showcases. Then we can hit all our targets, and give our new artists the recognition they deserve.” If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Mel has been writing the best-loved column in top-selling tech magazines for over 30 years. Now he’s agreed to share his work with all our members. He’s a video games pioneer and musician, and to to find out more about Mel check out his Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Croucher. Here’s one of Mel’s latest! One bright Autumn morning, my grandfather was killed by a rubbish truck. He got run over crossing the road on his regular walk to work. He was 84. And I am comforted to know that he loved his work as much as he loved his walk. As for me, I have yet to reach that ripe old age but I am still working most hours, most days. It's not so much that I love my work, more that I don't know what else to do. When I was younger, so much younger than today, I was promised a sci-fi world where all labour would be performed by robots, leaving us humans to enjoy a more meaningful existence. Before my grandfather was born, Karl Marx wrote that in a mechanised society workers would be freed from the monotony of work to “hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, criticise after dinner.” My grandfather certainly never saw such a sci-fi world or Marxist society, and I'm still waiting for it. But the way things are going I may not have to wait much longer for robots to take over the tedium of work. Judging by their behaviour, I suspect that most telemarketers, receptionists, estate agents and bar tenders were replaced by robots ages ago. And for drivers, machine operators and manual workers, it can only be only a matter of time. The first robot aircraft pilot took to the skies then navigated flawlessly and landed safely way back in 1947. Robots have been successfully conducting complex heart surgery since 2004. Artificial intelligence has already reached the cognitive power of a nine year-old human, in which case it is qualified to run for President of the USA in November. But do we really need political leaders to tell us how best to fill our waking hours? If we can develop all these technological wonders then we should be smart enough to work it out for ourselves. Our waking hours are dominated by work, whether we are in work or not. Strikers are depicted as troublemakers. Artists are depicted as idle. The poor are depicted as scroungers. The state cajoles the unemployed, the sick and the disabled to get off their arses and work. We are educated with the goal of work in mind, then having worked all our lives we are grudgingly handed back a mingy pension which we paid for in the first place. The idealised worker works in order to pay the childminder, the Deliveroo driver, the dog walker, the baker, the brewer, the app maker, because the idealised worker has no time left for such things. The idealised worker is too busy working to do any of these things for herself. For huge numbers of us the significance of the old certainties of community, religion, politics, and even family, have all fallen away to be replaced by work. For huge numbers of us work is how we give our lives meaning, while at the same time work has become more precarious, more impersonal, more stressful, and the app-driven gig economy is a perfect example of this. Yet everybody knows that automation is already capable of doing most manual jobs of work, and now artificial intelligence is predicted as achieving the capability of taking over most desk-bound jobs too. Since the pandemic, the entire framework of work is falling apart. But as a species we are not hardwired to work for a living. We never have been. We were lied to by those who said we must work, either to deserve a mythological afterlife, or protect an artificial realm, or for supposed honour, or someone else's glory, or for tokens of currency that can only be spent at the store owned by the company that issues those tokens in the first place. But of course all of those motivations are a con. And an obvious con at that. So here's the thing. Now we have cheap reliable technology, let's get all the robots to do as much of the muscle work as they can, and let's get all the artificial intelligences to do as much of the brain work as they can. Then let's redistribute the remaining working hours evenly to we the people, and in return pay ourselves some of that fabricated stuff called money so we can buy good food and decent shelter. By my reckoning six hours a day, three days a week will do nicely to pick up the slack left by the robots. Work needn't be useless. Work includes child-rearing, caring for the elderly and protecting the vulnerable. It also includes growing food, dreaming up new businesses and fixing the tap. And work includes creating music and dance and poetry and streaming it on Jeeni.com. It is self-evident that all valid work is worth the same valid reward. This is not a Marxist idea, or even a socialist proposal. It's the Tories who bang on about work being such a good thing and everyone pulling their weight, and I completely agree with them. Margaret Thatcher, that champion of work culture, said, “The heresies of one period become the orthodoxies of the next.” Yes indeedy, so bring on the robots and the electronic brains. If work is such a good thing then let everyone have a go for a few hours a week for a universal payment. And don't worry about how the payment is distributed, the accounts have all been reckoned by computers for years. Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

12
Mar

Visa-Free EU Travel Petition for Performers and Bands

Finally, a deal has been agreed with the EU and on 1 January 2021, the UK is going it alone. However, one vital element of the economy seems to have been left out of the agreed terms - Musicians. A petition for visa-free travel or 'Musicians Passport' for this huge part of the the population is gaining enthusiastic momentum via social media and at the point of writing, is well about 155,000 signatures, growing by approximately 1,000 every 1/4 of an hour. Several industries have been granted visa-free access to the 27 EU states in the final agreement. Despite the government being lobbied by a number of industry heavyweights and artists, their concerns the new rules could jeopardise the £5.8billion music industry, when live gigs and shows are back on the social spectrum, have not seen visa-free travel for musicians addressed. Touring Europe, bands and artists may need secure visas for each country they plan to perform in, making it far more costly and harder to afford for many artists and crew members. The Visa-Free petition’s creator Tim Brennan added: “As a freelancer, I and many like me, travel through the EU countless times a year on different tours and events, this will become impossible due to cost and time if we do not have visa free travel.” The petition reads: “We would like the UK Govt to negotiate a free cultural work permit that gives us visa-free travel throughout the 27 EU states for music touring professionals, bands, musicians, artists, TV and sports celebrities that tour the EU to perform shows and events & Carnet exception [allowing the temporary import or export of goods without having to pay duty or VAT] for touring equipment,” You can sign the petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/563294 At the time of the lobbying, a government spokesperson told NME: “We are working closely with the arts and culture sector to prepare for the end of the transition period and recognise the importance of touring for UK musicians. We are seeking a reciprocal agreement with the EU to allow UK citizens to undertake some business activities in the bloc without a work permit, on a short-term basis.” Last week (December 25), UK Music's chief exec. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin welcomed the government's EU deal, but said it still left “many questions” unanswered for the music industry. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin - Chief Executive of Music UK Njoku-Goodwin is one of the Government’s most senior advisers with unrivalled political connections across Downing Street, Whitehall and Westminster. He was a special adviser to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and also worked as a special adviser at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Once the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it may be considered for debate in Parliament. Industry eyes will be looking straight at Njoku-Goodwin to be the man to have the debate converted in to action. We will posts any updates as we get them.