Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

ADMIT it. Your musical taste is largely influenced by friends or at least people close to you. And you often want to share it with everyone or at least to those who share your taste. That is essentially the idea behind Blip.fm.

“Music discovery is social,” says Jeff Yasuda, CEO and co-founder of Blip.fm, a tab service originally under the Fuzz.com website. (Actually, Yasuda’s card reads Founder and CEO of Fuzz Artists Inc.,’ which is an independent music label).

Calling himself a former “bean counter” (read Investment Banker) and a VC (venture capitalist), Yasuda and his co-founder Brian Venneman set up Blip.fm out of their love for music — of course, they believe there’s business in the social aspect of music discovery now that you have the Internet as your platform.

“I’ve been in a band since I was 13 years old,” says Yasuda as we talked in his music-filled room that he calls his office. Everywhere you look, there is music. There’s an exclusive photo of Pearl Jam’s frontman Eddie Vedder wearing a wig and a rather funny and amusing photo of Yasuda and his funky band and a lone fan listening.

Yasuda has a vast collection of music posters of various concerts and known musicians, which gives away his own musical taste. Of course, his first guitar was hanging on one wall, reminding him about his roots. He describes Blip.fm and Fuzz as his second baby — the first is a cute child whose photos are also on his desk.

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MANILA, Philippines — “We’re radical then…but we’ve changed. We never claimed this mantel of Emo,” Third Eye Blind’s (3eb) Stephan Jenkins (guitar and vocals) declared, as he explained how the band’s music has changed since their eponymous debut album in 1997.

3eb is definitely not an Emo band. It is an American alternative rock band that emerged in the 1990s with lyrical rock staples like “Semi-Charmed Life,” “Graduate,” and “How’s It’s Going To Be.” Their successful 1997 album Third Eye Blind remains their biggest, selling 6 million copies, according to Jenkins.

However, a decade in the music business has made the band a lot more “integrated,” “louder” and “political,” according to Jenkins who seemed in the mood to give long answers to questions by local journalists during a press conference here.

3eb is scheduled to play a one-night concert in Manila on September 5, as part of the Oktoberfest festivities led by San Miguel Corp.

What kept the band from coming out with a new album?

Jenkins replied, “I came out of a lyrical slump.”

The recent US political climate has somehow inspired Jenkins and the rest of the band to finally finish 3eb’s fourth album, reportedly dubbed Ursa Major. It will be under the Sony label and is expected to come out February 2009.

“We now have a stronger sense of who we are as musicians,” said Jenkins who was with Brad Hargreaves (drums and percussions) and Tony Fredianelli (guitar and vocals).

During the press conference, Jenkins kept coming back to the “US political consciousness” that has recently emerged – hinting probably on the upcoming elections – which he said has influenced the songs in the new album.

The band agreed that writing the new album was “challenging.” In fact, Jenkins who answered most of the questions posed by journalists, explained that 3eb’s new music is “extroverted” now due to more interactivity happening within the band.

Asked about the band’s thoughts on how technology has changed the music industry, Jenkins said YouTube and MySpace have allowed bands to interact directly with their fans and vice versa, effectively removing the once-powerful music executives from the picture.

“Power is now in the hands of the band,” Jenkins stressed, noting that today’s bands “don’t need to dance on top of the table” to make it in this cutthroat industry.

Asked about music piracy and emerging initiatives to let people decide how much are they willing to pay for music online – as exemplified by Radiohead’s strategy to sell Rainbows – Hargreaves retorted, “it’s unstoppable,” referring to music piracy on the Internet.

The Internet has, however, helped 3eb reached out to younger fans who are less familiar with their music. “More youngsters are now embracing our music,” Jenkins said, thanks to social networks like MySpace and Facebook.

JIM Paredes of the Apo Hiking Society talks about the present state of the Filipino music industry and the the music he grew up in.

He says that the music industry then was much more exciting due to the various styles and genres Filipino artists came up with. In addition, Paredes says the web is now being used to carry music, drastically changing the music scene.

Watch INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia’s video interview with Paredes.

By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

SURREAL yet real.

The misty atmosphere in the auditorium welcomed the audience to a seeming dreamland of entertainment. But when the strings, drums, keyboard, and voices began to mingle, it woke the audience to the reality of Pinoy music at its best.

Sugarfree and Up Dharma Down rocked the house as lights danced with the music.

Here’s Sugarfree singing “Hari ng Sablay.”

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By Candice Montenegro, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

THE OTHER day, I had a really bad Last Song Syndrome (LSS) moment. I was just getting out of the car when I heard the ad for this year’s radio ad awards (the chipmunk song about mixed nuts), and I was singing it the entire day. Usually, the cure for LSS is to listen to the song in full, but I never heard the ad again so I went to bed with the awful song still playing in my mind.

LSS, if you still haven’t figured out, is when you hear a song and it gets stuck in your head, usually without you meaning (or wanting) to. I think LSS is every advertisement jingle’s mission; that way they can make you subconsciously want their product or something.

Singers and songwriters probably think the same thing. If a song is LSS-worthy, then it’s more likely that the person will enjoy the song and buy the album. So I guess a song’s LSS-worthiness equates to its success somehow. There are songs that are just catchier than the others, and these songs are usually the ones that make it to the top of the charts. So what makes a song LSS-worthy?

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