Revolve Magazine

RevolveRevolve

Bios 5

Royally Screwed 7

Round Up 9

Winds of Change are Blowing 11

Thirty Percent Downloaded 15

This Is Remix 17

Music Genome Project 19

Schmillions of Fans 21

iPod Anyone? 23 Balancing Act 25

Letter from Editor 27

table of contents

table of contents

Adam Iscoe is currently a student at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy high school, located in Austin, Texas. He is a good and captivated student that has many diverse interests and extracurricular activities. He is currently study-ing Computer Science, in addition to a wide variety of other strenuous honors classes. Adam is currently an avid member of one Texas’s finest crew teams, located at the Texas Row-ing Center on Lady Bird Lake. He is also a runner and cyclist who is currently training for several triathlons and other races. In addition to his sports, he is a member of Boy-scout Troop 399, and is currently trying to achieve the rank of Eagle. This summer, he and Tristan spent over 2 weeks backpacking through the heart of the New Mexico wilder-ness. On the course of there journey they many miles, made unforgettable choices, and bonded as friends. Adam is the CEO and Founder of a technology company by the name of Generation Gap Computer Ser-vices. The company aims to “bridge the gap” between technology and the citizens of the world. He can be reached at [email protected] for questions and concerns.

Alex Freed is currently enrolled as a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in addition to being one of the edi-tors of Revolve magazine. He enjoys watch-ing movies, listening to music and writing bios about himself in the third person. He currently is taking Spanish 3, Biology, Ge-ometry, Computer Science 1, English, World Geography and Electronic Magazine. He has spent 61 class periods diligently work-ing on this magazine. Alex also participates in playing Lacrosse for the LASA /East Side team, he does this along with Tristan Heinen, another editor of Revolve. Currently, Alex and the other members of Revolve all act as editor, graphic designer, journalist, human resources and whatever other jobs there are in the magazine industry.

This is backpacking, something all 3 of the authors of the mazine enjoy very much. In this picture Adam Iscoe and Tristan Heinen are pictured on a particularly hard day of backpacking.

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Tristan Heinen has been writing magazines for nearly 65 days. He currently is in German II class, where he has been learning about the language of the fatherland. He play defense for lacrosse, a sport enjoyed by two thirds of the Revolve Magazine Team, as well as being a member of Boy Scout Troop 399, where he is a patrol leader. Tristan also enjoys Art, which is one of his favourite courses. Tristan also works at Camp Half Blood, a literary summer camp based on a series of books by award winning author Rick Riordan. Tristan attended Philmont, a rigorous summer program in New Mexico, with fellow Revolve Member Adam Iscoe.

This is a picture of Calvin Stence. He did not con-trbute anything to this maga-zine, but he has a nice looking head.

This is a picture of two elephants, like Calvin it has nothing to do with our maga-zine.

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by Alex Freed

ROYALLY SCREWED

Every day, radio stations play thousands of artists music without directly paying them a single royalty. Which at first seems ridiculous and unfair to the artists, until you consider the consequences. With the introduction of the Perfor-mance Rights Act radio stations would be required to pay artists royalties, with only 45% of the money going to them and the risk of causing thousands of radio stations to have to stop broadcasting and sending thou-sands into unemployment. For the artists to be compensated with the money that they de-serve, The Performance Rights Act should require radio stations that generate more than $1.25 million in annual revenue to pay royalties to artists based on their revenue.If the Performance Rights Bill is passed thEn it has the potential to shut down thousands of low income or independent radio stations and cause thousands of people to be unemployed. Take for instance St Cloud State Uni-versity, who gets around 14,000 dollars a year from Student Government funding. The total cost of their operations is close to $16,000, being a low income station they would have to pay $500 in royalties, 25% of what they need to break even. The introduction of this bill at the current economic crisis would only hurt the already dieing radio industry. New ways to ob-tain and listen to music such as Internet Streaming have already significantly damaged the radio

industry. On-air advertising revenue went down 19% from 2008 to 2009 while online radio revenue increased 14%. This shows that more people are switching to Internet streaming sites and that it is essential for us to maintain the independent and local radio stations. Besides it’s not like the radio stations are playing the music for free.Radio stations already play royalty fees to the ASCAP (The American Society of Compos-ers, Authors and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Musicians Incorporated) or SESAC (Soci-ety of European Stage Authors and Composers). The difference with these new proposed royal-ties is that they go directly to the musicians, background perform-ers and the record companies. The way the money is planned to be distributed with these new royalties is 50% to the record label, 45% to the musician and 5% to the background per-formers. The ones who should benefit from these new royalties are the background performers and musicians, who only get 5% of the money.This should be changed to 55% to the musi-cians 10% to the background performers and 35% to the record label. Independent, low income and local stations should still be required to pay the roy-alty fees to the ASCAP, SESAC and BMI. This would help to continue the economic relation-ship radio stations and musi-cians have shared for decades. The radio stations and musicians have been enjoying a “mutual

benefiting” economic agreement for a long time. The music in-dustry would gain around $18.7 million from the royalties only taken from stations with reve-nues under $1.25 million. Com-pared to the amount that could be made from the stations that make over $1.25 million such as Clear Channel Radio, who make $748.7 million in their radio industry alone, this seems like it could be matched easily without shutting down radio stations all across the country. The amount taken from these big, commer-cial radio stations that have a revenue of over $1.25 million could easily generate the same amount of money for the music industry. They could do this and still allow local and independent stations to broadcast. The rev-enue from these royalties allows the record companies to “invest more heavily in the creative pro-cess of music”.The Performance Rights Act has passed, unchanged. You are sitting in your car trying to listen to radio, all you hear are com-mercial corporate owned radio. The wide variety of music that you are accustomed to is signifi-cantly slimmer. The amount of adds have suddenly increased and the time of music being played has lowered. The worst, most devastating, effect of the Bill being passed, more talk radio. Yes, talk radio.

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VLC is a free, open source media player for Win-dows, Linux and Mac OS X. It supports all major formats, and can play anything you throw at it. VLC has multiple themes to change the dull default user in-terface. VLC also has a sub-par library management system, which dampens its uses for music collectors.

iTunes is a free music player for OS X and Windows. It only supports a few codecs and uses computer resources inefficiently, and has been known to crash. iTunes also is the only music player officially supported by Apple’s popular iPod music player. This also supports the iTunes store, which has tons of great music.

Roundup!by Tristan H.

Windows Media Player is a good player which comes installed on all Windows com-puters. It only supports a couple of formats, but has a great user interface and is compatible with a wide range of MP3 Players. WMP can also play DVDs, which is not a feature of the other players.

RhythmBox is an open source music player that comes installed by default on many Linux operating sys-tems, and comes with support for only a few key open source formats, although more can be added with codec plug ins. Also similarly to Winamp, RhythmBox supports adding music to your library from external devices, as well as music management for MP3 players. It has access to the Magnatune and Jamendo music stores, which have

few major artists.

Winamp is a free, futuristic music player that sup-ports most common formats, and can support many more through plug ins for other codecs. It also supports iP-ods and other MP3 players, including the ability to take music off of the iPods, something that iTunes cannot do. Winamp also supports themes, much akin to VLC.

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the winds of change are blowingby adam iscoe

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the winds of change are blowing

“No more free beer.” Bill Stotesbery, CEO of KLRU solemnly states. Among the many changes going on at Austin City Limits, this is probably the most devastating. After more than three and a half decades of free beer and broadcasting in studio 6A of the UT communications building, Austin City Lim-its is moving its home. There will be many changes at the new venue, but much will still stay the same. “Just as in the past, the show will still be great.” Stotesbery says Since the show’s humble beginnings, the old studio has been a home to the most success-ful music show in television history. Soon it is to be no more. Soon it will become noth-ing more than a place of memories, a land-mark of something great, and a spot to visit on the Rock and Roll hall of fame. The show will continue at a new studio, a studio that has high expectations ahead of it.“Although the old studio was great, the new one will be even better.” Beverly Reeves of the KLRU board of directors noted. Do-nors and employees of KLRU unanimously “love the new space.” She and the remainder of the ACL staff and contributors are ready to move into the studio, although it is still being constructed on Lavaca between 2nd and 3rd street. The work is coming along nicely, with many of the buildings already constructed, includ-ing the W Hotel, and numerous bars also being built by Stratus Properties as part of the venue. The new ACL venue is a part of a large project by Stratus, a company develop-ing a block of real estate downtown. Stratus has hired a team to run the venue when Austin City Limits is not using it for their TV productions.Stotesbery explains that under the terms of the agreement between Austin City Lim-its and Stratus, the theater will be home

to the TV show 20 nights each year, while the other ACL Live shows managed by a team from Stratus and C3 Productions will be held in the venue for 100 nights each year. The ACL Live shows will be live concerts held at the studio, with various touring artists from around the world. Tickets will be sold just like any other concert, and attendance is expected to be high. In addition to ACL Live, 80 nights a year are reserved for private parties. For 100 nights a year the venue will be dark.Architect Arthur Anderson from the firm of Anderson Wise worked countless hours to design this awe inspiring 40 million dollar

studio, with 3 levels of seating, plenty of stand-ing room, a new changeable backdrop, a 10,000 square foot performance space, and numorous changing and production rooms. The studio will be nothing short of jaw dropping. Stotesbery claims that no seat in the venue should be more than 60 feet from the stage. This should allow the audience members a great viewing and lis-tening experience. The studio will still retain its close and intimate feel for decades to come.Austin City Limits started in the mid 1970’s, a time in which Austin was known for “outlaws and cosmic cowboys.” Stotesbery said. The show played off this, delivering vibrant and unique footage and sounds of some of Texas’s and our nations best artists. Views could watch music legends like Willie Nelson, Jerry Walker, and Waylon Jennings play songs in a whole new setting. The great music, coupled with an even more spectacular environment, led to a great show. Willie Nelson played the first show in 1975.

When it first aired on PBS, it was an instant hit. To this day hundreds of great artists, from Dolly Parton to The National --have played on Austin City Limits, each one bringing something new to the show, while leaving behind great memo-ries at the old studio.Stotesbery says the new studio will provide a close and intimate feel for both the audience members at the venue, and those viewing the performances at their home. He states that “it looks good right now, but the new look should be pretty compelling.” The shows will be shot in high definition, with HD Plus surround sound. Currently the show will be shot in 2D, but at

any time ACL has the option to upgrading for a 3D viewing experience. All in all, over 5 million dollars is being spent on production equipment alone. With this high budget, the show should appear even more breathtaking than before to America’s home viewers.Although the show will look great at home, viewers will have to wait until mid 2011 to see the new studio on their TVs. The studio is set to have a soft opening for ACL Live shows in December. The music has been booked for the shows, but not publicly released. The TV show will officially move in in late February. On February 28th, a gala will be held to christen to the TV studio. The gala will introduce a new age to Austin City Limits, marking a turning point in the most successful music show on televi-sion in history. As Willie Nelson once sang in his 1984 hit, “The winds of change are always blowing, And every time I try to stay, The winds of change continue blowing, And they just carry me away.”

“It will still be intimate with, as intimate as it can be with 2700 people, instead of 320 people, or 1000 people when we do tapings.”

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THIRTYPERCENTDOWNLOADEDby Tristan Heinen

THIRTYPERCENTDOWNLOADED

With the unstoppable conundrum of pi-racy, we can easily pay for piracy, indirectly, through our Internet Service Providers (ISP). The Internet was made to share files, and that can be used to the advantage of everyone. Today we have copyrighted music in most of the media we view, in-cluding advertisements, movies, television. To make a film with music in it you need to acquire two things: a Publishing license: from the people who own the copyright to the piece of music, and a Recording license, from the people who recorded the album. If our ISPs could somehow work out a deal to allow this sort of music licensing, and this can be viewed as an old solution to a new problem, as the music industry needs to be able to continue to make money somehow.Very soon, the music industry will have to institute some major changes to prevent failure. These changes have been fore cast-ed by many important indicators, includ-ing falling profits, sales of online media, and the lawsuits created to stop so called piracy. The only way to stop this decline is to rethink the way you acquire your music, and to lobby for the change that you feel is necessary.Ten years ago, when you wanted to buy a song, you walked to the record store, looked for the album the song is on and paid for it with a twenty dollar bill. Today, all that you must do is log on to the pirate

site of your choice, search for the song, and download it. Many of these services are “stealing” music from indignant record companies, and help to show obscure art-ist to a wide range of people. Laws against file sharing should be changed to allow music to be distributed freely because it distributes many different artists around the world to a diverse audience, because it helps under the radar artists, as well as being very easy to legalize. Piracy is also completely unstoppable.Piracy prevents obscurity for many small and independent musical artists, using the unbiased tool of the Internet. Many art-ists today have trouble distributing their music, as it is very hard to get a record label to hire them. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) con-sists of nearly one thousand six hundred different record labels. We can assume that all record companies must release albums every year, as without a product, there would be no income. Last year the RIAA reports 339 albums receiving a gold status, which is only 500,000 albums sold. So even if the Gold Records were evenly distributed among all members of the RIAA (which they aren’t) only one fourth of all companies got a gold record. This means that many labels and artists are not being spread. Piracy is not biased towards any artist.

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THIS ISREMIX

by Adam Iscoe

Picture yourself in a courtroom filled with many very influential people; judges, lawyers, and record industry executives. You are being sued for being an artist, for remix-ing and creating something new. You thought it was legal. It technically is. But the record industry doesn’t think so. They sued you for everything you have. They sued you for ex-pressing yourself-- for creating good, creative, and original music. They sued you because you’re popular, because you make money off of your work, and frankly because you’re good at what you do. Society and the music indus-try would benefit if it were considered “fair use” for remixers to create new material using copyrighted material under the circumstance that the original material is changed in a sig-nificant way. The remixers of the world are strug-

gling. They are making new music, they are being original, and for this they are punished. According to United States fair use and copy-right laws, an artist can use portions of a work under “limited circumstances,” many of which, but not all are set out in the Copyright Act. The United States government recom-mends that you contact the original copyright owner and possibly pay royalties before you use the content. This makes it extremely hard for remixers to do what they do best. The copyright law says that they can use the con-tent if they change it into something unique and original. They can also use it if they can claim and justify it to be their own, which is where the controversy comes in. Sean Hansell of the New York Times states “there needs to be something more — something that truly injects some degree of original contribu-

REMIX

tion from the maker other than just the assembly of unchanged copies of different copyrighted works.” The artists, and listeners of the remixes all agree that the content has been changed. They agree that the content is original. Hit sensation Girl Talk’s songs (a mash up and remix of many songs by various artists) are by no means stolen. His fans love it. He has clearly created something original, something new, and something that everyone loves. Except the record in-dustry. It seems that the whole debate is based entirely off of money, and in turn the record industry’s greed. Sad to say, but the record industry is full of cor-ruption and greed. Even when original artists give permission for their music to be remixed, the record industry and record labels sue the remixers. The record companies do this because the remixers did not get permission for the content from the record company itself. In 2008, the band Radiohead held a contest, pro-moting their listeners to remix songs from their album In Rain-bows. Although the band gave permission for the music to be remixed, the record label EMI did not, so they came after the remixers and Radiohead. The remixers and Radiohead did not get permission, so they had to be ‘punished.’ ‘Taught a lesson.’The remixers can’t get permis-sion from the record industry unless they pay large sums of money in royalty fees. Conse-quently they will always be sued.

The artists and remixers don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars that they could shell out to pay in royalties. Even if a re-mixer could get his hands on the unimaginably large amount of money needed to pay royalties, it is doubtful the record compa-nies would even allow the artists to use the material for remixing purposes. Royalties aren’t paid, so the record companies sue. But the lawsuits will never go to court-- the record compa-nies would never allow it. This is because the remixers might have a chance of winning. If the record companies lost a legal case to the remixers, it would set a new legal precedent, creat-ing havoc and trouble for the record companies. The record companies don’t want trouble. To avoid it, they force the remix-ers to settle for high amounts of money and their dignity, in turn cheating the remixers and legal system.Although this greedy position held by the record industry is something new, the art of re-mixing is not. People have been remixing music all over the world for ages, even before the digi-tal era. Even before I was alive, before today’s artists were alive, before the first phonograph was invented, people have been remixing. Remixing is an age-old art, dating back further than almost anyone can remember. Artists have covered music for centuries, taking a spin on some-one else’s work. They take the content, change it in a signifi-

cant way, and give tribute to the original artist. This is what the remixers are doing, only instead of getting gratification, they are punished. Artists like Elvis and Led Zeppelin have taken many songs and lyrics from traditional blue, jazz, and mo town bands. Even the great Walt Disney has been credited for taking many of his brilliant ideas from other people. He allegedly copied the Mickey Mouse character from Performo Toy Company, and the idea and illustration for the Lion King was supposedly taken from Kimba The White Lion. It is evident that remixing is a part of American culture and tradition. People change a work, and make it into something new. If the record industry got their way, great artists would cease creating great music. These artists would find themselves in court and mediation rooms daily being charged with multiple violations of copyright laws; laws they didn’t even break. We can’t let this happen. We can’t let the record companies take advantage of the artists because they have more money, and more power. Our nation was built on the idea that someone has the right to ex-press themselves, and the record industry takes this right away. The remixers are expressing themselves in their music, and the record companies are trying to stop this expression. The re-cord companies are trying to take away this unalienable right from the remixers.

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Basic Rock Song Structures Buildup/Breakdown Chromatic Harmonic Structure Epic Buildup/Breakdown Groove Based Composition Interesting Song Structure Melodic Songwriting Minimalist Arrangements Orchestral Arranging Repetitive Song Structure Subtle Buildup/Breakdown Danceable Grooves Four-Four Time Signature Hard Swingin’ Rhythm Heavy Syncopation Intricate Rhythms Meter Complexity Mild Rhythmic Syncopation Triple Meter Style Triple Note Feel Twelve-Eight Time Signature Unsyncopated Ensemble Rhythms Use of Groove Varying Tempo and Time Signatures Rhythmic Intro Acoustic Sonority Acousti-synthetic Sonority Chordal Patterning Dominant Use of Riffs Electro-Synthetic Sonority Extensive Vamping Highly Synthetic Sonority Intricate Melodic Phrasing Knack for Catchy Hooks Melodic Songwriting Modal Harmony Overall Meditative Sound Repetitive Chorus Repetitive Melodic Phrasing Repetitive Verse Synth-acoustic Sonority Synth-electric Sonority Tonal Harmony Acid Jazz Roots Afro-Latin Roots Basic Rap Roots Blues Roots Caribbean Roots Classic Jazz Roots Club Rap Roots Cool Jazz Roots Country Roots East Coast Rap Roots Electronica Roots Folk Roots Funk Roots Hard Bop Roots Hard Rock Roots House Roots Industrial Roots Meso-American Roots Midwest Rap Roots New Orleans Jazz Roots Punk Roots Rock & Roll Roots Ska Roots Southern Rap Roots Swing Era Roots Techno Roots Trance Roots Trip Hop Roots West Coast Rap Roots Major Key Tonality Minor Key Tonality Mixed Minor & Major Key Tonality Modal Tonality Tonal harmony Bluegrass Instrumentation Acoustic Rock Instrumentation Amazing Instrumental Prowess Demanding Instrumental Part Writing Electric Instrumentation Electric Rock Instrumentation Emphasis on Instrumental Performance Emphasis on Varied Instrumentation Heavy Instrumental Improvisation Instrumental Arrangement Mellow Rock Instrumentation Mellow Sounds Mixed Acoustic and Electric Instrumentation Rap Metal Instrumentation Unique Instrumentation Beats Made For Dancing Brisk Swing Feel Driving Shuffle Feel Driving Swing Feel Jazz Waltz Feel Laid Back Shuffle Feel Laid Back Swing Feel Mid-Tempo Shuffle Feel Mid-Tempo Swing Feel Prevalent Use of Groove Reggae Feel Triple Note Feel Trippy Soundscapes Upbeat Two-Step Feel Use of Groove Varying Rhythmic Feels Acid Rock Qualities Bebop Qualities Blues Rock Qualities Classic Soul Qualities Cool Jazz Qualities Easy Listening Qualities Folk Rock Qualities Grunge Recording Qualities Hard Bop Qualities Mystical Qualities Pop Metal Qualities Pop Rock Qualities Sampledelia Compositional Qualities Avant-Garde Leanings Classical Stylings Country Rock Leanings Modern R&B Stylings Off Beat Style Radio Friendly Stylings Speed Metal Stylings Thru Composed Melodic Style Triple Meter Style Chopped & Screwed Production Clear Focus on Recording Studio Production Dry Recording Sound Extensive Studio Production Nu-Disco Production Studio Production Thickly Layered Production Vinyl Ambience Wet Recording Sound African Influences Afro-Cuban Influences Blues Influences Boogie Woogie Influences Bop Influences Brazilian Jazz Influences Brazilian Influences Celtic Influences Classical Influences Classical Music Influences Club Rap Influences Cool Jazz Influ-ences Country Influences Disco Influences Downtempo Influences Dub Influences East Coast Rap Influences Electronica Influences Flamenco Influences Folk Influences Funk Influences Gangsta Rap Influence Gospel Influences Hard rock Influences Hardcore Rap Influence Hip hop Influences Industrial Influences IDM Influences Indian Influences Jazz Influences Latin Influences Mexican Influences Middle Eastern Influences New Age Influences New Orleans Influences New Orleans Jazz Influences New Wave Influences Old School Influences Psychedelic Influences Punk Influences R&B Influences Rap Influences Reggae Influences Rock Influences Rock & Roll Influences Ska Influences Southern Rap Influences Swing Influences Trance Influences Western Classical Influences World Influences Background String Section Bowed Strings Melodic String Accompaniment Melodic String Section Pizzicato Bass/Other Strings Arco Pizzicato Cello and Bass/Other Strings Arco Pizzicato Strings Solo Strings String Ensemble String Section String Section Beds Subtle Use of Strings Use of a String Ensemble Use of Strings Background Horn Riffs Brass Horn Ensemble Brass Instrument Solos Busy Horn Section Horn Ensemble Interesting Horn Arrangements Melodic Horn Lines Prominent Horns Subtle Use of a Horn Section Use of Horn Accents Bumpin’ Kick Sound Latin Percussion Percussion Percussion Layers Prominent Percussion Drum N Bass Rhythms Electric Bass Playing Electric Bass Riff Prominent Role for the Bass Guitar Symbiotic Kick and Bass Synth Bass Riff Acoustic Bass Playing Acoustic Bass Riff Acoustic Bass Solo Bowed Bass Playing Busy Bass Line Dominant Bass Riff Prominent Bass Riffs Slow Mowving Bass Line Stand-up Bass Arco Stand-up Bass Pizz. Acoustic Drum Samples Aggressive Drumming Busy Beats Drum N Bass Rhythms Four-on-the-floor Beats Headnodic Beats Heavy Backbeat Heavy Drums Light Drumming Light Drum Fills Light Percussion Fills Prominent Drums Prominent Synth Drums Sparse Kick Drum Steel Drum (Pans) Straight Drum Beats Synth Drums Thrasher Drums Tight Kick Sound Tremendous Bass Wet Snare Busy Acoustic Hihat Busy Electronic Hat Busy Electronic Hi-hat Busy Synth Hat Dry Snare Lots of Cymbals Wet Snare Guitar Effects Twangy Guitars Wah-Wah Guitar Acoustic Guitar Accompaniment Acoustic Guitar Layering Acoustic Guitar Riffs Acoustic Guitar Solo Acoustic Rhythm Guitars Good Dose of Acoustic Guitar Pickin’ Great Acous-tic Guitar Solo Virtuosic Acoustic Guitar Solo Well-Articulated Acoustic Guitar Solo Dirty Electric Guitar Riffs Dirty Electric Guitar Solo Electric Guitar Accompaniment Electric Guitar Effects Electric Guitar Riffs Electric Guitar Solo Electric Guitar Wall-O-Sound Electric Guitars Electric Rhythm Guitars Great Electric Guitar Solo Gritty Electric Guitars Heavy Electric Rhythm Guitars Layered Electric Guitar Riffs Lively Electric Guitar Solo Slide/Pedal Steel Guitars Virtuosic Electric Guitar Solo Well-Articulated Electric Guitar Solo Accordion Playing Prominent Accordion Part Harpsichord Prominent Harpsichord Part Dirty Organ Riffs Dirty Organ Solos Hammond Organ Organ Solo Prominent Organ Use of Clean-Sounding Organs Use of Dirty-Sounding Organs Virtuosic Organ Solo Acoustic Piano Accompaniment Acoustic Rhythm Piano Altered Piano Timbres Block Piano Chords Classic Rhodes Sound Electric Piano Accompaniment Electric Piano Riffs Electric Piano Solo Electric Pianos Extensive Use of Electric Keys Great Piano Solo Lead Piano Mellow Piano Timbre Outside Piano Solo Percussive Piano Accompa-niment Piano Playing Piano Solo Prominent Rhythm Piano Part Solo Piano Performance Sparse Piano Solo Subtle Electric Piano Riffs Subtle Use of Acoustic Piano Subtle Use of Electric Keys Subtle Use of Fender Rhodes Subtle Use of Piano Riffs Subtle Use of Pianos Use of Electric Pianos Virtuosic Piano Solo Well-Articulated Piano Solo Affected Synths Arpeggiated Synths Background Synths Dominant Synth Sound Heavily Affected Synths Inventive Synth Arrangements Lead Synthesizer Light Synth Fx Prevalent Use of Arpeggiated Synths Prominent Use of Synth Subtle Use of Arpeggiated Synths Subtle Use of Staccato Synths Synth Heavy Arrangements Synth Playing Synth Riffs Synth Rock Arranging Synth Swoops Synth Tweaking Synthesizer Solo Synthetic Sonority Staccato Synths Techno Synths Thin Ambient Synth Textures Thin Synth Textures Thin Techno Synth Textures Use of Ambient Synths Use of Techno Synths Variety of Synth Sounds Busy Synth Hat Prominent Synth Drums Synth Bass Riff Synth Drums Backbeat Hand Claps Hand Percussion Layer Rhythmic Clapping Cornet Solo Flugelhorn Great Trom-bone Solo Sparse Trombone Solo Trombone Head Trombone Playing Trombone Solo Virtuosic Trombone Solo Well-Articulated Trombone Solo Great Trumpet Solo Melodic Trumpet Solo Sparse Trumpet Solo Trumpet Head Trumpet Solo Virtuosic Trumpet Solo Well-Articulated Trumpet Solo Mallet Percussion Use of Marimbas Vibes Playing Vibes Solo Virtuosic Vibraphone Solo Harp Playing Prominent Banjo Part Prominent Mandolin Part Use of Sitar Violin Solo Virtuosic Violin Solo Harmonica Playing Harmonica Solo Prominent Harmonica Part Subtle Use of the Harmonica Flute Performance Flute Solo Prominent Flute Part Use of Flutes Clarinet Playing Clarinet Solo Prominent Saxophone Part Sax Playing Soprano Sax SoloGreat Alto Sax Solo Outside Alto Sax Solo Sparse Alto Sax Solo Virtuosic Alto Sax Solo Well-Articulated Alto Sax Solo Great Tenor Sax Solo Lively Tenor Sax Solo Melodic Tenor Sax Solo Sparse Tenor Sax Solo Tenor Sax Head Tenor Sax Solo Use of Tenor Sax Virtuosic Tenor Sax Solo Well-Articulated Tenor Sax Solo Baritone Sax Solo Experimental Sounds Spoken Word Subtle Use of Lo-fi Samples Subtle Use of Noise Effects Subtle Use of Turntables Subtle Use of White Noise Turntablism Use of Background Scratching Abstract Lyrics Ambiguous Lyrics Angry Lyrics Angry-Romantic Lyrics Blazin’ Rappin’ Boastin’ Lyrics Cash-Obsessed Lyrics Clean Lyrics Cocky Lyrics Defiant Lyrics Empowering Lyrics Erotic Lyrics Explicit Lyrics French Lyrics Great Lyrics Heartbreak Lyrics Heartbreaking Lyrics Humorous Lyrics Joyful Lyrics Lyric-Centric Aesthetic Lyric-Centric Composition Lyric-Centric Performance Lyrical Melodies Lyrics about Alcohol and Drugs Lyrics about Partying Lyrics about the Rap Industry Lyrics by a Famous Rap Artist Lyrics by a Rap Icon Lyrics by a Respected Rap Artist Lyrics that Tell a Story Lyrics that Use Twisted Humor Lyrics with Heavy Erotic Content Narrative Lyrics Offensive Lyrics Political Lyrics Political Satire Lyric Portuguese Lyrics Positive, Upbeat Lyrics Production and Lyrics by Famous Rap Artists Production and Lyrics by Rap Icons Production and Lyrics by Respected Rap Artists Religious Lyrics Romantic Lyrics Sad Lyrics Sexist Lyrics Socially Conscious Lyrics Storytelling Lyrics Street Talkin’ Lyrics Surreal Lyrics Tight Lyrics Upbeat Lyrics Violent Lyrics Affected Backup Vocals Aggressive Female Vocalist Aggressive Male Vocalist Altered Female Vocal Altered Male Vocal Altered Vocal Sound Amazing Vocal Prowess Breathy Female Lead Vocalist Breathy Female Vocal Breathy Male Lead Vocalist Breathy Male Vocal Breathy Vocals Call-and-Answer Vocal Harmony (Antiphony) Clear Pronunciation Demanding Vocal Performances Deep Voice Distinctive Female Lead Vocalist Distinctive Male Lead Vocal Distinctive Vocal Characteristics Dominant Vocal Hooks Dynamic Female Vocalist Dynamic Male Vocalist Emotional Female Lead Vocal Performance Emotional Female Vocal Emotional Male Lead Vocal Performance Emotional Vocals Exaggerated Enunciation Excel-lent Vocal Technique Extensive Use of Vocal Samples Female Vocal Gravelly Female Vocalist Gravelly Male Vocalist Gritty Male Vocal Gritty Vocal Style Group Vocals Heavy Use of Vocal Harmonies Interweaving Vocal Harmony Jazz Vocals Laid Back Female Vocal Laid Back Male Vocal Male Vocal Multiple Vocalists Mumbling Vocals Paired Vocal Harmony Prominent Backup Vocals Smooth Female Lead Vocal Smooth Female Vocal Smooth Male Lead Vocalist Smooth Vocals Strong Vocal Technique Subtle Use of Paired Vocal Harmony Subtle Use of Vocal Counterpoint Subtle Use of Vocal Harmony Thin Female Vocal Performance Thin Male Vocal Performance Unintelligible Vocal Delivery Unusual Vocal Sounds Use of Call-and-Response Vocals Use of Vocal Counterpoint Virtuosic Vocals Vocal-Centric Aesthetic Vocal Counterpoint Vocal Duets Vocal Harmonies Vocal Samples Vocal Scatting Aggressive Male Vocalist Altered Male Vocal Breathy Male Lead Vocalist Breathy Male Vocal Distinctive Male Lead Vocal Dynamic Male Vocalist Emotional Male Lead Vocal Performance Gravelly Male Vocalist Gritty Male Vocal Laid Back Male Vocal Male Vocal Smooth Male Lead Vocalist Thin Male Vocal Performance 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Have you ever wondered how Pandora figures out what music to play? It uses the algorithm of the Muisc Genome Project, a project trying to “capture the essence of music”. In the Music Genome Project there are 400+ elements that are factored into what music is played. There are three “genomres”, Pop/Rock; Hip-Hop/Electronica; Jazz; World Music; and Classical, which represent the genres. Each genome has a specified amount of genes or traits. Pop/Rock has 150 genes, jazz has approximetly 400, the other genes have around 300-500. While just finding these elements of music seems like a lot of work consider the fact that each song of the almost three quarters of a million songs there are had to be analyzed individualy by a mu-sician and often had to be analyzed more then once.

The Music Genome Projectby Alex Freed

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Panodra began as in 2005 as a way for people to access and use the Music Genome. Pandora was not an instant success, the idea for Pandora was orginally thought up in 1999 and took another 6 years to develop into a personalized radio station. Pandora founder Tim Westergen began as a jazz musician, film composer and a political science major. His idea about for a music discovery engine was based off of situations from his life as a mu-sician and a film composer. After the idea was developed it took about 5 years for sufficient funding to be raised until the Music Genome was ready to be launched. The final change came when CEO Joe Kennedy was hired and they realized that the project was perfectly suited for an internet radio site. Since then Pandora has become one of the biggest internet sites and has sprung hundreds of similar websites.

SCHMILLIONS OF FANSby Tristan Heinen

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Today, many people listen to music, but how many can say they are in a band? Schmillion can! Schmillion is a fresh teen band with a radical new blend of pop and punk. This band has recently acquired much acclaim, winning the Chronicle under eighteen music award this March, as well as playing at longtime Austin venue Antone’s. Schmillion is also participat-ing in Youth Jam, a nation wide competition entailing four regions and forty-eight bands. Founded in 2009, Schmillion has been tearing up the Austin live music scene for a year now playing at many local stages and events. Al-though some students think that being in a band

would negatively affect homework and grades, Schmillion bass player Cecil Blackwood-Cross says that “Being in the band doesn’t usually take time away from school or school work.”Currently the band is competing in School-Jam, a competition held yearly for a spot playing in the NAMM trade show in Ana-heim California in January 2011. NAMM is also known as NAMM, the International Music Products Association, and it holds what is known as the world’s loudest trade show. Blackwood-Cross says, “People in dif-ferent states are hearing our music, and giv-ing us positive feedback, it’s a great feeling.“ School Jam consists of a submission by the band, which is reviewed by NAMM officials. If the band proceeds to the next stage, then they participate in online voting through the end of November. Schmillion is participat-ing amongst some hard competition, includ-ing electronic trio “Power Pirate”, finalists in the 2010 SchoolJam. Voting ended Novem-

ber 30th, and Schmillion won/did not winOverall, being in a band can be an extremely exhilerating experience. “Even if you’re not a fantastic musician, people will want to lis-ten to you if you’re on stage having a great time,“ says Cecil. Schmillion has members hailing from McCallum, the Griffin School and the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. Being in the band has been a bonding expe-rience for these four industrious girls. “If there’s anything I’ve gotten out of being in a band it’s close friends.” Cecil says. All of the members of this female quartet knew each other before the band was formed, the

spark was found at Girls Rock Camp Aus-tin, a summer day camp for female teens who want to express themselves musically.Playing music isn’t all roses and butterflies though: “The hardest part of being in the band for me would be writing new songs... sometimes you write two great parts to a song, and then it seems as if there is absolutely no way to put them together. It can be an incredibly frustrat-ing experience” said Cecil, who believes that you should be proud of the music you write. All in all, the band has given a humongous ef-fort towards getting this far and Cecil is excited for the future of the band. Schmillion has an EP coming out in December, and the number of gigs is increasing almost weekly. Cecil and her band members have an ever filling plate of music ahead of them, and of course Sch-million recently won the SchoolJam compe-tition Cecil advises up and coming musicians to just “be self-confident in your music”

“be self-confident in your music”

iPod anyone?by Adam Iscoe

iPod Shuffle is an elegant device made of a single piece of aluminum, crafted to look, and sound great. Its small, so it can not hold much music, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in shear beauty and simplicity. It can hold up to 1000 songs, and has over 15 hours of battery life. For only 50 bucks, that’s a steal of a deal.

iPod Touch is much more than a simple music player. Although it can hold plenty of mu-sics, it is the additional features that really make the iPod Touch worth buying. The touch screen and long battery are nice, but video chatting, a movie player, a game center, and apps are real-ly what makes this iPod great. For a starting price of 229 dollars, this iPod is for anyone who wants to have some fun with there portable electronics.

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iPod anyone? iPod has changed the way we listen to and interact with music over the years. The iPod made listening to music on the go cool, sleek, and hip. It has defined a new generation people, and music listeners.

iPod Nano is the size of a shuffle, only with more storage and a vibrant and clear multi touch screen. It uses the same technology as the iPhone and iPod touch, guaranteeing an easy to use experience. It is almost 50 percent smaller and lighter and smaller than its predecessor, all for the same price. For 150 dollars a user gets 8 gigabytes of storage, and FM radio, and 24 hours of battery life, plus all the normal perks of an iPod nano. This is for the user who wants a great iPod on the go, just with a screen and some more features.

iPod Classic can hold over 40,000 songs, 200 hours of video, or 25,000 photos. It is the de-vice for a true music enthusiast. For the user who wants to have their entire music library in their pocket. The device looks, and feels great, has a long battery, and 160 gigabytes of storage. It is pricey at 249 dollars, but its worth every penny. If you’re into storage, and your music, this is the iPod for you.

Off Balanceby Alex Freed

Off Balanceby Alex Freed

Working a job that requires spending an aver-age of 50+ hours per week on teaching duties, non-compensated school-related activities such as grading papers, club advising, fund raisers, phone calls at home, and evening activity su-pervision is no easy feat. Add in the element of being a part time musician and you’re looking at a long week.How does a teacher who works over 50 hours a week also find the time to maintain an ac-tive music career? Put quite simply “I don’t”, says Micheal Scaccia, a bass player and English teacher at the Liberal Arts and Science Acad-emy. Carrying a stack of grammar quizzes in one hand and a bass in the other, Scaccia boards the bus that is taking him to the show, looking towards a long sleepless night filled with grad-ing and music. It is an interesting story to see how two relatively different jobs coincide with each-other.There are specific conditions for being a teach-er-musician, for Scaccia “The thing that allows me to do it [be a teacher-musician] is being a bass player”. Due to the low number of bass-ists compared to guitarists of singers, more bands offer to play small shows to play with them. Another important element that plays a role in being a teacher-musician is the aspect of success. Not to say that Scaccia isn’t suc-cessful but if he was an insanely rich and suc-cessful musician he would not have the time to manage both jobs. Rarely does a musician gain instant success and fame from the start. The other contributing factor to the teacher-musi-

cian phenomenon is a vibrant music scene. Although Scaccia does not consider this the most important fac-tor, it is easier here then in most towns in the US. The large number of bands to play in and shows to play certainly helps being able to do both jobs at once. The most important factor when

deciding whether or not he wants to play the show is the nature of the music of the people. “I have stand-ing offers from Texas country musicians but I don’t take them because I enjoy this more.” explains Scac-cia. To him school is the number one priority. School always comes first, unless its a very a special show School will take priority over his music life. Despite the fact that he is not currently in a band and is cur-rently auditioning, this stunt has been pulled off before. “Usually I don’t sleep, eat horribly and bring both sets of work with me.” The old band he was in, used to have a roadie who would drive the van, allow-ing Scaccia to grade work on the van. “If The Rolling Stones call I’m out” adds Scaccia. For him music will always fall second to school. For music to become his main profession two scenarios would need to happen, “Either a major band would have to ask me to play for them or I would have to be absoultely sure that this band I was in would provide a steady career.”As far as Scaccia is concerned, “I enjoy what I do, music is a bonus.”

“If the Rolling Stones call I’m out”

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letter from the editor Since our rough beginnings in 2010, we here at Revolve Magazine have set off on a mission to educate our readers. Our goal is to inform the reader about current issues regarding the recording industry in addition to exciting new advances in the world of music. We include a wide variety of interesting features and editorials as well as many intriguing graphics and design concepts. It has always been our first and foremost priority to get information about music out to the reader. We have dedicated our up most attention to this magazine and have spent a great deal of time focusing on making this magazine, informative and also visually attractive. Despite the rocky road that has been the beginning of the creation of Revolve we have maneged to create the first edition of this magazine. We have had our share of challenges and problems to overcome but these dif-ficulties are what helped Revolve become what it is today. This magazine includes stories on various topics such as piracy, radio royalties, remixing, live music in Austin, and much more! We hope that you the reader will be able to enjoy our magazine and the content that we included in it.

Sincerely, Revolve Staff

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