Why weird is my new wonderful.

Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Why weird is my new wonderful.

By Sammie Venn Jeeni's Official Writer, Columnist and Blogger.

The dictionary definition of weird is “extraordinary, out of this world” I remember the feeling of utter hope and merriment when I read that. I suddenly didn’t feel alone anymore. Once I fully released my inner oddball, the magic started to happen. The people who I thought I loved and loved me just fell away. It was like watching grains of sand slip through my fingers. At the time it felt like a gigantic loss but in hindsight it was the best gift I could have been given. I’m grateful every day for all the losses as what I have gained surpasses anything I could have dreamt of. I came out of the “kooky closet” said a tentative hello to my new surroundings and have never looked back.

Having always felt like I had trodden a different path in life, I used to feel embarrassed about my so called “weirdness”. A damaging label that was attributed over the course of many years. Always being on the periphery at school, shallow friendships and poor choices in men made me feel like there was something wrong with me.

Decades later I began the journey of coming to terms with whatever it was that made me feel a bit different. I read countless books, watched documentaries on Gaia, downloaded as many spiritual audibles as I could afford and after a period of counselling I realised that actually being “different” totally rocked and I certainly wasn’t the only one experiencing all those feelings of self-doubt. Self-doubt had finally set sail to distant shores and my passport to a happier more soulful life had been stamped with creativity with no expiration date.

My wired but wonderful List...So I’m not ashamed of saying that...

3am – the hour of writers, poets, musicians, silence seekers and overthinkers – In this crazy time that is 3am I really do achieve a lot of work. The silence is accompanied with prolific bird song and the sunrise paints a spectacular sunset across the fields. So there is no better landscape for creativity.

Gardening at Night -I water my roses at midnight in an old fashioned Victorian nightie with a gin and tonic in hand. The kiss of the night time breeze provides a magical space to reflect on the past 24 hours and plan the next.

Adventure at work -I have made a home office in my camper van and drive to various different places to work and mediate and be away from the humdrum of daily life. I need to be portable otherwise I feel stagnant and confined. My camper caters for most needs; a whistling kettle for fresh coffee, a writing station and insanely comfortable bed for those cheeky afternoon power naps.

Writing Erotica -I love to write erotic poetry and have an entire bookcase at home dedicated to naughtiness throughout the ages. Ancient manuscripts and recent tomes dedicated to Love, and all of the emotions surrounding it adorn the shelves.

Wild words and Soul Magic - I have about 10 different tarot desks I particularly Love Rebecca Campbell’s “Work your light” the illustrations are as magical as her words. I love to practice either quietly by myself or with my bestie in London. We savour our weekends as they are few and far between these days but we still write together and have created different worlds where we pretend to live like we were once warrior soul sisters. In fact lockdown has been perfect for that.

There are so many other things I do in my arsenal of “weird but wonderful” and I wouldn’t be without any of them now. Lewis Carroll wrote in “Alice in Wonderland” “you’re mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I’ll Tell you a secret. All the best people are”. Definitely my mantra, it even sits as a plaque on my wall in the studio.

Have you got any practices or quirks that you embrace? We would love to hear about them.

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14
Jul

Ivy Eye – On My Mind - Single Review

Electronic duo, Ivy Eye makes a formidable case for the wellbeing of disco with their latest revival effort, ‘On My Mind’ In just a short period of electronic anthem creation, UK electronic act, Ivy Eye have steadily been building more and more traction with their disco revival endeavor. Joining the likes of Jessies Ware, Midnight Generation and Róisín Murphy, in the electronic rejuvenation of disco, Ivy Eye have an even more on-the-nose appreciation of the 70s club music. And ‘On My Mind’ is no exception. Consisting of Matthew Benham and Rory Sheppard, Ivy Eye continue to raise the bar of their dance/disco quality with their newest single. A swirling crescendo opens the track which is met with short, sharp strings, a four-to-the-floor kick-clap beat and a host of synth pads, all joined together as a glittery, shimmering entrance into this electric single. The introductory instrumental takes a rest as the vocals enter for the first verse. A restless synth bass bounces all over the simple, dependable dance beat as various guitar parts stab into the off-beats. Every component of Ivy Eye’s instrumental feels like it’s bursting with energy and personality, almost as though they’re all desperate to be a part of the fun. After a classic dance riser to elevate the impact and excitement, the first chorus erupts but only for a moment. Almost acting as a teaser for the true chorus, which the twosome still has up their sleeve. This half-chorus is a great way of whetting the listener’s appetite before the main course of funk-dance-disco. After another verse, the chorus enters in a similar way, except now, most of the instrumental leaves to let the vocals shine to begin with, a classic disco feature. Once the rest of the instruments join in with the celebration, Ivy Eye takes the brave step in picking up where Daft Punk left off with a little help from the vocoder. An iconic sound, made famous by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Peter Frampton and of course, Daft Punk, the vocoder (or similar device, talkbox) manipulates instruments with the help of the performer’s mouth to give the instrument a voice-like quality. This unique and undeniably funky effect is perfect for a song like ‘On My Mind’ The full chorus pay-off delivers in full as the track celebrates in the journey it’s had in the last three minutes. Hinting at the chorus earlier on the track instead of having two main choruses was a stroke of genius and really eases the listen of this disco banger. This perfectly produced track is a promising and exciting sign from an act like Ivy Eye who are so young in their path as artists. This single acts almost as a love letter to a whole group of styles and eras and Ivy Eye should be applauded for this celebratory triumph of a composition. Ivy Eye will be performing at Victorious festival this August (26th-28th) get your tickets now and check them out! How can Jeeni support artists like Ivy Eye? 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.

22
Apr

INVITATION TO INVEST IN JEENI.COM

The online platform where creatives keep 100% of what they earn, and audiences are rewarded every step of the way. The Jeeni Additional Investment Period is now open to raise a further £100,000 via Instant Investment using the Seed Legals platform, with full EIS benefits. We have allocated this funding to extend our services in response to new market opportunities and conditions created by the pandemic. There has been an unprecedented demand from Jeeni members to provide bespoke user channels and direct marketing for online performances, goods and services. In addition, we are supporting our independent artists by matching them with music investors to finance studio time, video production, marketing and distribution of their original work, all as part of our Jeeni Pro service and social media systems. Due to the increased traffic, this is generating, we are migrating to the world-class AWS cloud platform. This £100,000 investment target is for 2.1% equity at the current pre-market valuation of £4.5million with a share price of £1.13p. Major strategic partnerships have been consolidated by our US Managing Director, Kelli Richards. Former A&R Executive at EMI Music, she was mentored by Steve Jobs at Apple, where she launched and managed their music and entertainment division, resulting in the birth of global music online now known as Apple Music. Kelli is VP of Business Development with our US partnersAmplifyX.com, where investors back music they believe in, and she is a consultant to our streaming service partnersMultiViewMedia.co.uk, where viewers take control of their own entertainment experience. Both companies have joined Jeeni to produce J.A.M. (Jeeni, AmplifyX, MultiView), our series of online festivals where Grammy Award-Winners share the stage with our own brand-new talent. Our most recent festival was live-streamed on April 10th, and brought in over 10,000 new fans for our artists. Catch up with the event at jeeni.com/jam-festival. We have three further announcements to make in this Investor Update. Firstly, in partnership with the Wings Tour Bus, artists voted most popular on Jeeni will appear on the Paul McCartney Stage when the most famous bus in the world goes on tour to mark the 50th anniversary of the original route. It has just been announced that the tour will follow a major publicity launch at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham UK this November. Secondly, we are pleased to announce that we have bypassed the global shortage of PC and laptop components, and the first range of Jeeni own-brand computers is on sale at jeeni.com/shop. And thirdly, we are proud to make this advance announcement that Jeeni has been selected for the world première of a major new opera set in contemporary New York. The subject matter is unique and the production is world-class. We will stream the event in partnership with MultiViewMedia and this marks a major milestone for our brand recognition. Investors will be given the opportunity to secure Virtual Green Room tickets and VIP access to the composer, the performers and the major celebrities behind the event, when the programme is officially announced next month. We are opening Jeeni to investors worldwide for the first time, and are happy to declare our track record and current status to anyone who cares to visit jeeni.com/invest-in-jeeni. Your investment can be processed in as little as 30 minutes in the following simple steps. 1. You tell us how much you want to invest. 2. We add your details to the Seed Legals system, which calculates the shares to be issued. 3. We email you the Investment Proposal, Instant Investment Agreement and bank details. 4. You sign and witness the Agreement and your investment is transferred. 5. We agree to a Board Resolution and Shareholders Resolution and send form SH01 to Companies House for the issue of your shares. 6. That’s it. If you are still interested in investing in Jeeni please let us know so that we can send you the appropriate investment documents.

21
Dec

Welcome to Our Annual Round-Up of The Jeeni Project for 2021.

The pandemic has had a devastating effect on independent musicians and performers who are the core subscribers to the Jeeni platform. 83% of our professionals have been unable to find regular work, 33% of our artists have not earned a penny since restrictions were lifted earlier this year, and 20% say they will give up the struggle for recognition permanently. In support of our existing membership, we agreed to suspend paid subscriptions during the lockdown and may do so again in light of the current situation. Our Generation-4 platform was released on schedule, and our Generation-5 platform is scheduled for release on Amazon Web Services in the second quarter of 2022. This year, our pre-market valuation increased by 12.5% to £4.5million. Our awards and grant funding increased to £245,540 since launch and our investment funding increased to £513,734 since launch. The number of members in our musicians and artists community increased to 9,979, of which 5,424 are often active and 4,555 are continually active. The number of artist showcases on Jeeni increased to 2,492 with a global audience outreach to 3,430,790 fans. Team Jeeni increased to 15 core members. We launched our popular channel of Inside Story celebrity interviews, alongside Artist-of-the-Day and weekly News Roundups. Our most recent Jeeni Festival was enjoyed by 27,489 viewers, of which 7,739 were live-stream, plus another 19,750 on catch-up. Our world première of the jazz opera Spring Street topped 67,000 viewers, and for the first time, we achieved 10,000 visits to the Jeeni platform in one hour. Four of our strategic partners have become prominent for mutually beneficial marketing and support: BIMM - Europe’s largest music institute, Gradfuel - with over 10,000 graduates on their books, SeedLegals - the UK’s Number One growth hub, and Chillblast - the UK’s most awarded PC manufacturer. Stay safe and well, The Jeeni team.

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