Podcasts to Boost Your Playlist Game

Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Podcasts to Boost Your Playlist Game

Whether your music listening is via online platforms, vinyl or even cassette, you can use podcasts to boost your playlist game. Get the commentary on the industry, its insiders and how they craft their tracks from a vast library on offer. Or, explore new genres, find the tracks that resonate and then get drawn into their backstory.

There are decades of music history to be found, listened to and deciphered, from the BBC's 'Desert Island Discs' to the huge hit 'Song Exploder' which due to its success, has now become a Netflix series. Below is a list of a few of the best, to get your lug-holes tuned into and feed your music curiosity.

SONG EXPLODER

Listen Here - Song Exploder

Hosted and produced by Hrishikesh Hirway since 2014, his podcast guests are invited to take apart their songs piece by piece and tell the story of how they were created. The journey involves breaking down the sounds and ideas involved in the writing and recording. Recent guests have included Yusuf/Cat Stevens and Grammy award winner PJ Morton.

SWITCHED ON POP

We've all had good and bad 'Ear Worms' sending us loco at some point and there's no denying certain tracks get stuck in your head! If you are interested in why certain songs have these hooks which draw you in or you can't shake, musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding are here to explain. Recent treats include The Weeknd ' Blinding Lights' and Adrian Younge's new project.

DISSECT

Something to really get your teeth into, podcast Dissect is a mix up of episodes and mini-series podcasts that explore individual albums, track by track. Series can run up to 12-13 episodes and the track detail takes in comparisons and history. Recents featured artists have included Kendrick Lamar, Lauren Hill and Frank Ocean. The current series is diving into Beyonce's 'Black is King'.

ROLLING STONE: MUSIC NOW

When is comes to pedigree and heritage, Rolling Stone is up there. If you are a music legend, there are a handful of publications you will bother to get out of bed for. Rolling Stone, is certainly one of them. Taking you inside the biggest stories in the industry and securing interviews with all the top artists of music history, from Rock 'n' Roll to Hip-Hop, not stone left unturned.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED

The various hosts of All Songs Considered, include Bob Boilen and Rob Hilton, giving you their personal recommendations for your listening pleasure. The experience compares to chatting at the pub, and swapping ideas with your best friends. Laid back and charming the focus is on new music and brings interviews with emerging artists and musing over historical figures from the industry.

QUESTLOVE SUPREME

This podcast series is about secrets, passions and personal projects. The themes drive the conversation for the fabulous Questlove and Team Supreme. Using fun and irreverence to entertain and educate their audience, the episodes are a joy of easy listening. They can certainly draw the names, and have put their interview skills to the likes of Michelle Obama, Chris Rock, Chaka Khan and Steve Miller.

LOST NOTES - 1980

A collection of the greatest music stories never told. This season the poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib resides over the podcast and explores a single year: 1980 - the brilliant, awkward and sometimes heartbreaking opening to a monumental decade in popular music. David Bowie got divorced. Lou Reed got married. Ian Curtis died before Joy Division got to touch down for a U.S. Tour. By the end of the year, John Lennon’s death would signal the end of a rock n’ roll era. This gripping series includes the work of Stevie Wonder, Ian Curtis and Grace Jones.

THE THISTLE & SHAMROCK

If your tastes are more on the Folk or Celtic tip, Fiona Richie is your gal. Her podcast show takes you through the history of the genre whilst indulging you in performances and personal playlists. Music from old favourites and new comers are entwined with spoken word artists and interviews with acclaimed authors and award winning composers.

DESERT ISLAND DISCS

The original music podcast, and still arguably the best. Created during World War 2 by Roy Plumley, the show has interviewed heads of state, music and acting legends, world renowned scientists, plus sporting and every-day heroes. The archive is vast and awash with choices, which are easy to source in the 'Collections' area.

The format is simple – a guest is invited to choose eight discs, a book and a luxury to take with them as they’re castaway on a mythical desert island. They’re given the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible or religious book of their choice. During the interview, guests explain their choices and discuss key moments in their lives, people and events that have influenced and inspired them and brought them to where they are today.

www.jeeni.com

BACK

12
Jul

The People's Lounge - The Turbans

The Turbans is an international musical collective bringing together exciting music from traditional near-eastern and eastern-European styles and their own compositions. To create a modern and energetic performance with reverence for its ancient roots. Growing from the intertwining paths of many talented musicians travelling the world. This extraordinary project has grown in a few years from very humble beginnings, into a progressive name on the London music scene. You can catch The Turbans at the Global Bandstand Weekender presented by The People’s Lounge. At the Southsea Bandstand Portsmouth. It's members have gathered from countries such as Turkey, Bulgaria, Israel, Italy, Greece and England to perform in concerts and festivals around the UK, Turkey, India and Europe. The Turbans is independent and run by the musicians themselves, bringing music to the public, young and old alike. Meanwhile mixing vibrant spontaneity and authenticity with multi-genre instrumental and vocal excellence. Drawing on the rich cultural heritage of the Levantine and Balkan regions and their roots in Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco and London. To create a high energy blend of original music for the 21st century, inspired by ancient melodies. Artists The Turbans are the type of creative talent that Jeeni supports on our platform. By creating showcases, supporting creative talent and promoting them to an audience on jeeni.com In a politically divided time, it’s hard to imagine a band comprised of members from across Europe and the Levant as not being inherently progressive. However, transmitting a political message was not their initial impulse. It was simply music. As well as friendship, as it turns out. Oshan Mahony, the “seventh best guitar player in the band” says the core group is seven members — met violinist Darius Luke Thompson in Kathmandu. The two half-Iranian, half-British nomads immediately hit it off. They began busking throughout India, picking up musicians along their Journey. The Turbans is rounded out by vocalist and guitarist Miroslav Morski, a former Bulgarian pop star who previously fronted the band. Django Ze, and has been described as a “musical tornado” with a broad range of musical styles; Greek folk music expert, vocalist Pavlos Mavromatakis; cajon player and flamenco guitarist Pablo Dominguez, whose father, Chano, is a well-known flamenco pianist; Israeli guitarist Moshe Zehavi, who parents are from Turkey and Tunisia; and oud player Maxim Shchedrovitzki, a native of Belarus. In addition to beyond the core group, the band is always playing with other musicians. Seven years later The Turbans delivers to global audiences the same high-energy blend of Balkan, klezmer, Gypsy, and sundry other styles they’ve been bringing to venues around the world for years. In India, Hong Kong, the Middle East, and all throughout Europe and North America. JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience. Firstly we give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. Secondly we empower our audience and reward them every step of the way.Thirdly we promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. Lastly and most importantly they keep 100% of everything they make. Check out Flamingods showcase here on Jeeni: The Turbans | Showcase | JEENI. Along with other showcases to add to your playlist. Also, you can find out more about their appearance at The Global BandStand Weekender. Presented by The People's Lounge, at the Southsea Bandstand Portsmouth. Sunday 1st August at 17:00

31
Jul

NEW OPERA ACHIEVES ROCK STAR STATUS

It's the sort of statistic that music promoters dream of. An audience of ten thousand in less than one hour, and for a first-time performance. But this massive audience didn't turn up to watch a new boy band or the latest rap sensation, they came to the opera! A brand new opera called Spring Street is set in Manhattan, and it mixes classical arias, string quartets, jazz, blues and even acid rock. The opera was streamed on Jeeni, the self-styled "ethical alternative" to the big streaming giants, and opera composer Pete Wyer is ecstatic about Jeeni’s methodology and success. “I’m really thrilled. My expectation was we’d get to the magic 10,000 mark in a month, but this is quite incredible - especially when I compare it to operas I’ve had performed on stage! Without Jeeni’s help my piece might be languishing with a few hundred hits.” Wyer is being modest. An award-winning composer for the English National Ballet and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, his biggest audience before the Jeeni event was when 60,000 people enjoyed his celebration Liverpool waterfront concert, and the performance and publicity costs for that were considerable. By contrast, the Jeeni audience for his new event has already topped 66,000 and the costs have been zero. Everything has been achieved by the publicity and marketing systems built in to the Jeeni platform, which makes it unique when compared with the likes of Spotify or Netflix. Pete Wyer continues, "I looked at the Jeeni platform doing really good work for independent artists, and the more I learned the more I liked. It's been a very happy experience." The opera stars the soprano and triple-GRAMMY award-winner Maren Montalbano, who says, "Power is shifting from large organisations to the individual, and platforms like Jeeni are on the rise because they give artists the opportunity to lift themselves up and lift each other up." Her co-star, the bass-baritone and Netflix superhero Heday Inoue adds, "Jeeni is allowing us to have more exposure. I think it's amazing, and I'm really, really happy to be part of it." What is even more amazing is the fact that the cast and musicians have never actually met except on the Jeeni platform. Everything was composed, rehearsed and performed remotely in lockdown. Jeeni founder Shena Mitchell says, “When we first launched Jeeni a few months ago, it took days to hit audience figures of ten thousand for an online concert or festival, and I was delighted with that. But here we are, achieving the same thing in under an hour, and for an unknown opera. Imagine what we can do next. We already have more than two thousand artist showcases and an audience outreach of over two million." Now Jeeni.com needs to scale up to meet the technical demands for handling more artists and bigger audiences, so they have turned to crowdfunding. Shena Mitchell says, "Everybody knows that the big streaming companies rip artists off. We don't do that. Our artists keep 100% of everything they earn with us. Now we are allowing the public to invest as little as £10 to buy a part of us, and own a stake in what could be the ethical future of entertainment.” More information: shena@jeeni.comjeeni.com/investjeeni.com/springstreet *Capital at Risk

10
Jun

Mel's bedtime story

Once upon a time, I created a platform called jeeni.com which is where independent artists perform their music in front of new fans, and get rewarded for their efforts. On a Saturday night we ran a live global music festival featuring 18 acts from both sides of the Atlantic. The oldest performer was over 70, the youngest was under 10. They were brilliant, each in their own way. We broadcast over social media and websites. There were no adverts, there were no fakes, there was no hype. It didn't cost us a penny to run. Everyone had a ball. We are part of a revolutionary process that is killing a corrupt and rotting music industry which has held both audience and performer to ransom since the 1890s. So if you will indulge me, I'd like to tell you how, and why ... I'm an old hoarder, I hoard old music recordings, and when I say old I mean really old. Upstairs, in what was once a studio but has turned into an Irish Setter leisure lounge, there are several hundred wax cylinders from the 1890s. Each cylinder is a unique recording from an age before duplication was possible. If Miss Florrie Forde wanted to sell a hundred copies of Hold Your Hand Out You Naughty Boy to her adoring public, then she had to keep lubricated and trill the bloody thing into a brass horn a hundred times and record it onto wax in real time. But to me the beauty of these cylinders is not that each one is a unique recording, but that each one is mercifully short, rotating at 120 revolutions a minute and lasting a meagre two minutes, because that's all a wax cylinder can hold. And so the two minute pop single was born. At the start of the twentieth century discs replaced cylinders, but not a lot changed. I have another room full of shellac discs that spin at 78 revolutions a minute. When it came to pop singles from artists bringing joy to the world throughout the first half of the twentieth century, they had just under three minutes to do it in. And if they were any good, just under three minutes was plenty. I feel personally to blame for what happened next, because in the hour of my birth in 1948, the microgroove vinyl disc hit the market, spinning at what my Irish chums call dirty tree and a turd revolutions per minute. I have an entire wall of vinyl albums, with their glorious covers and sleeve notes. And yes, they are arranged in alphabetical order by artist and date-order of release. Their storage capacity is approximately twenty-five minutes a side, which is usually twenty-two minutes too long. And on the opposite wall is where all my CDs sulk, each one capable of storing seventy-four minutes of audio, and not one of them played since the turn of this century. Why? Because a hacker called SoloH went and ripped the source code of something called the Fraunhofer MP3 encoder and spread it all over the internet for free. Thanks to SoloH, I can not only digitise my entire collection of recorded music without any restrictions on playing time, I can access the entire library of everything that has ever been recorded, for ever. My phone weighs exactly the same as my 78rpm copy of Little Richard's single Tutti Frutti, which runs for two minutes 28 seconds of total perfection. My phone holds 21,417 tracks in MP3 format, some of them complete symphonies, which are pretty good, some of them prog-rock drum solos, as used by Viet Cong torturers to break the spirit of the enemy. My desktop hard drive and cloud-accounts contain too many tracks to keep track of. I declare that my motivation for amassing this ludicrous collection of music was that one day it would bring me comfort in my old age, when my body and brain become enfeebled and I feel the need to keep hold of past pleasures while dying. As it turns out, I started playing my collection early, during lockdown, and wished I was dead by the end of day three. The singles were great, but the albums were mostly insufferable. Which is when I realised that the music album is stone dead, and the nightmare of a lifetime of audio padding is finally over. Then the real truth hit me. The recorded music industry is dead too. Thanks to COVID19 there has been an explosion of new creativity. Everyone is now a record producer, anyone can run a broadcast music channel, and that's exactly what everyone and anyone seems to be doing, including me. The spongers and leeches and shysters have been exposed as completely unnecessary, as have most of the agents, publicists and managers. They are no longer able to milk performers in our new world of social distancing, because they have lost their power. It's the remote audience that now has the power, and this audience wants instant gratification, not a load of overhyped, overwrought, overlong, flimflam. Jeeni.com is my final project in a very long career. I'm giving my artists three minutes per track to nail it, because that's what my old hoard tells me is right. And I hope you agree that in order to shine, three minutes is all that anyone should ever need.

Jeeni Blog