Jeeni - 'Coming Into Focus'

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Jeeni - 'Coming Into Focus'

Friday 22 January saw the first of a month long project for Jeeni, as they work to connect directly with their members. 'Coming Into Focus' is a collection of Zoom meetings, set up for Friday afternoons at 2pm, giving performers, artists, writers and fans the chance to relay their user experiences and chat directly to the directors of the business.

With music platforms under increasing scrutiny from government committees, as well as their users, now seems the perfect time to meet the feedback face to face. Jeeni's ethos of 'Ethical, Honest, Fair' means they aren't afraid to hear what many are choosing to ignore. The directors' believe their platform can offer a better way for the music industry to operate and have been striving for this for the past 3 years.

From an online 'open' invite, the whole of social media was invited to register for the meeting and for a first outing, the take up was good. There was also a quick questionnaire to complete, to give an outline of usage of the platform. Once into the Zoom arena, guests were personally greeted by CEO Shena Mitchell, who gave a short briefing on the company, the reasons for starting the focus group project and it's plans going forward. The attendees were then given the 'floor' to discuss their experiences.

The group was an international mix of musicians, songwriters and music fans, with their feedback being extremely positive. All were amazed musicians, artists and performers were going to be earning 100% of the income generated by their postings, merchandise and tickets. This was seen as a huge positive against other platform competitors. There were some great ideas coming from the group, which Jeeni is interested in developing further.

One of the attendants, a recent graduate of The Songwriting Academy was keen to understand the process of uploading his work, and generating an income from this. Another participant, recently arrived from the Southern Hemisphere to the UK, wants to use the site and the Jeeni network to connect with fellow musicians and music fans. Shena was also told, fans want easy access to new and diverse music, rather than the constant stream of similar tracks which follow your previous choices on other platforms.

The next 'Coming Into Focus' meeting is scheduled for Friday 29 January at 2pm. To receive your invite, follow the link and register your details, http://focusgroupjeeni.eventbrite.co.uk/. There is even a rumour Roger Watson, an industry legend and Jeeni ambassador, who has sold over 500-million albums in his incredible career, may join the call!

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06
Jun

Meet The Curators Behind Spotify Playlists - the A and R Dictatorship

Landing on an official curated Spotify playlist is for many artists a holy grail. To provide some insight, we hear from a Spotify editor about how they find the songs which eventually make the cut. Spotify seems to be the opposite of Jeeni, where the process is democratic and those artists that start trending are based on real votes, and whilst technology has moved on they are still in the dark ages where their music is still decided and dictated by A&R agents. And unlike Jeeni.com, with Spotify if they don't like the look of you, then you're not coming in! Guest post from Spotify for Artists by Khalilia Douze A Spotify editor explains how they discover songs to include in their curated lists. Being added to a Spotify playlist remains the dream for most emerging artists, as it exposes their work to some of the most-clicked on playlists in the world. But for many musicians and their teams, the behind-the-scenes process still feels shrouded in mystery. While there’s no formula for scoring a coveted slot on Pollen or RapCaviar, there is rhyme and reason to how the massive team of editors curate tracks. We spoke with one Spotify staffer, who helps oversee R&B playlists such as the genre flagship Are & Be, The Newness, Soul Coffee, Soul Lounge the Black Lives Matter playlist and more, to learn about their process and tips on how musicians can stand out when pitching unreleased music through Spotify for Artists. Spotify for Artists: What strategies do you use to curate playlists? The strategy is based on the playlist itself. Each has its own hypothesis, theme, or audience that we’re thinking about. If it’s one of the genre-specific playlists, like Are & Be, that’s the home for the current, biggest songs in that space. The Newness is new releases or developing artists. Chilled R&B, Soul Coffee, those playlists have a mix of current and some legacy and catalog artists. It really all depends on what the goal of the specific playlist is. What are you listening for when you’re curating? I’m listening for lyrics. I’m listening for melody. A lot depends on the playlist itself, and sometimes that’s the filter that I have. When I’m listening, [I’m like] Oh, this song would do good in this playlist or, This song could fit here for this moment. A lot of it is based on the audience. You have the specific genres, but then there’s a lot of cases where those lines are blurred. The instrumentation and the beat can determine an audience, so [we think about] where we believe the audience is for that particular song. Does song length play a role in how you’re curating? It depends on the playlist. Soul Coffee is more of a relaxing [vibe]. In our minds, that’s one of those where you would just get up in the morning and that’s what you throw on while you’re getting ready, eating breakfast, or reading a book on Sunday. I know that the people will just have it on, so that playlist has a longer time spent listening as opposed to the flagship, Are & Be, and The Newness. For The Newness, when people are listening to that or one where it’s developing artists and new releases, that’s more about discovery. People may not spend a lot of time listening to that playlist—it’s about skimming and seeing what’s out. Can you walk me through how you use the submission tool to discover music? Labels pitch to us every week. We’re able to get their submissions through there, but they also communicate with our Artist Label Partnership team. We’ll talk to them [about] what their plan is for their priorities. There’s a ton of music—it’s countless. That’s pretty much the majority of Mondays and Tuesdays, listening to the pitches that come in for that week. It goes to our whole team. We listen to everything. The rest of the week is updating the playlists and finding the space for them, reviewing what songs are already in the playlist, looking at the performance, and things like that. When it comes to tags in the submission form, what advice do you have? People should be as specific as possible and fill out every single thing to make sure it goes to the right people. Different editors might have different filters to differentiate. I’m listening for if it’s a cool song first and foremost, but past my opinion of it, do I know if there’s a home for it? It’s about being able to find it and [seeing] where it can fit. I’ve seen entries where it would literally just be the artist name and their title—that’s how it gets lost in the abyss. We’re not omnipotent, so we don’t know what we don’t know. Are there any rules about how many times an artist can be playlisted? No. Every curator is different and has [their] own philosophy on what songs are in a playlist. There’s no concrete rule. Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

12
Mar

The Best Biopics & Musical Films for 2021

There's a huge array to look forward to from the film world and after the delays of 2020, the backlog is now ready to be released. Below, is a short list of the best biopics and musical films for 2021, a mix of mainstream and online, in order of their release date. Johnny Flynn as David Bowie in 'Stardust" Stardust OUT: Jan 15Not to be confused with the Neil Gaiman fantasy, this Stardust is a biopic focused on David Bowie in the year or so before (and leading up to) Ziggy Stardust. Johnny Flynn will play a 24-year-old Bowie, with Gabriel Range directing from Christopher Bell's screenplay. Marc Maron plays Bowie's beleaguered American publicist Ron Oberman. Bar scene from 'One Night in Miami' One Night In Miami... OUT: Jan 15A fictional account of a night in 1964, as four icons of sports, music, and activism gather to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history: Cassius Clay's defeat of heavy weight champion Sonny Liston. Eli Goree is the soon-to-be Muhammed Ali, with Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, Leslie Odom Jr as Sam Cooke, and Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown. Soul co-director/co-writer Kemp Powers adapted the film from his own stage play, and it'll stream on Amazon Prime. Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes in 'To Olivia' To Olivia OUT: Feb 19Biopic focused on the tempestuous marriage of Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl. An adaptation of Stephen Michael Shearer's biography of Neal, titled An Unquiet Life, it stars Keeley Hawes and Hugh Bonneville as the central couple, with support from Conleth Hill and, in his final screen performance, the late Geoffrey Palmer. John Hay is the director. Max Harwood plays teenager, Jamie New Everybody’s Talking About Jamie OUT: Feb 26Jonathan Butterell helms an adaptation of his hit Brit musical. The based-on-a-true-story stage show centres on a teenager in Northern England (Sheffield in the story, Newcastle in real life) who is determined to attend his year 11 prom in drag, to the disapproval of the school. Andra Day as Billie Holiday The United States v Billie Holiday OUT: March 12Biopic following legendary soul singer Billie Holiday (Andra Day) during a difficult period of her career. Holiday was targeted during the 1940s by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she'd previously had a tumultuous affair. Partially based on Johann Hari's book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days Of The War On Drugs. The Beatles plying live, on top of Apple Corps in London The Beatles: Get Back sneak peek OUT: August 27Sticking with documentary following the success of They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson turns his attention to the final days of The Beatles. Get Back features never-before-seen footage of the band shot in 1969, with added material from their final live performance on top of the London Apple Corps offices. Ringo says it's a much truer portrait of the end of the Beatles than 1970's original Let It Be film. Jennifer Hudson stars as Aretha Franklin in 'Respect' Respect OUT: October 8Another musical biopic, in this case following Aretha Franklin's life from her early days singing in her father's church choir to her latterday status as civil rights activist and iconic soul superstar: the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Franklin personally chose Jennifer Hudson to play her. The Jets and The Sharks in 'West Side Story' West Side Story OUT: December 10Steven Spielberg's first musical adapts Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein's classic stage show, itself an updated and relocated retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The feuding families become warring gangs the Jets and the Sharks. Can Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria's (Rachel Zegler) love cross that great divide? For detailed listing of all upcoming releases go to: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-movies-2021/ For music, news, blogs, videos and playlists go to: http://www.jeeni.com

21
Jan

Artist Focus: Maple Sky

Although this refreshing four-piece has its foundations firmly planted in modern jazz, Maple Sky harvests their inspirations from a rich and varied crop. Classic rock, 50s lounge jazz, RnB and gospel are all contributed from various members to result in the exciting final product that is Maple Sky. Maple Sky's origin began with keys player, Joel Bamigboye (far-left in pic above) in 2018 as he was compiling “a small archive of musical material, with the aim of forming a band” to translate his initial creative vision. Olivia McKeon (mid-left) entered the scene and brought a lyrical and vocal element to Joel’s work. From there, with the addition of two others, the Maple Sky prototype formed by the name of ‘NOVA’. Quickly becoming a theme of our Artist Focus blogs; the pandemic forced a change in the group and created a make-or-break scenario for the founding members. Luckily, after releasing their self-titled EP as a duo, the two adapted and survived the obstacle and re-emerged as ‘Maple Sky’ with a key change in personnel. Ed Jordan (mid-right) was introduced as both the drummer and in-house producer, and Christian Rivers-Martin (far-right) was welcomed to contribute his classically trained bass skills as the groove backbone of the group. Since then, the group has been hard at work, whether that’s creating new, sweet jazz tunes or performing their stellar collection of tracks live. Maple Sky specialise in a broad and flexible portrayal of jazz with influences from Esperanza Spalding, Yebba, and D’angelo. Their eponymous debut EP certainly showcases that range of their influences and inspirations, particularly that of jazz legend, Lester Young and current wunderkind, Arlo Parks. The group are currently excited for the upcoming single, ‘Vision’, set to be released on the 5th of February, which will join the romantic and heart-aching ‘Free Her’ as the teaser tracks for their future second EP, which will be released later this year. The group also plan to upload a roster of exciting live videos which were shot just before Christmas. Maple Sky promises more big things for those with their ears on the ground for more from the stellar jazz act, “We'd advise making sure you have us followed on all our social media to stay up-to-date with what we've got going on because there is a lot coming up!” Follow Maple Sky on socials: Twitter: https://twitter.com/mapleskyband Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MapleSkyBand/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapleskyband/ We've loved supporting and following Maple Sky and we're happy to say that the group have enjoyed being a part of Jeeni, too, "Jeeni have been amazing to work with and we have loved collaborating with them." If Jeeni's mission interests you as an artist or a viewer, sign up for free, today! Check out Maple Sky’s showcase on Jeeni here: https://jeeni.com/showcase/maple-sky/ How can Jeeni support artists like Maple Sky? 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.

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