I was very sad to receive this in my email on January 1. I fully understand why TheStage.tv needed to close; I only wish that I had been able to be more active at the site.
One of the reasons that they decided to call it quits was the lack of participating audience members at the site. Many great musicians performed at TheStage, but they could never seem to draw audiences of any size to see them. Though each artist had the opportunity to cross-post their performances at Facebook, Twitter, and the like, it never seemed to result in people taking a look. I will miss the site.
I took a look at YouNow as they recommended. I don’t know that this site will be a place of interest to me or not. It will take some time for me to judge the community there to determine if it is worthwhile.
Here’s the email:
Unfortunately, we have made the decision to close TheStage.tv. Thanks so much for your participation and support on the web’s first open mic.
We would like this opportunity to bring to your attention to a new site: YouNow Music.
YouNow.com is a new collaborative broadcasting site that we really like and believe will be a good alternative for our community.
YouNow features many contests, and in fact will be having a Singer/Songwriter contest in January, with prizes over $5,000.
(Last Contest Try outs are January 10th 5-7 PM EST!)
So, please browse on over to http://www.younow.com/music and become familiar with the system so you are ready to participate in the contest, or check out some of the other channels that YouNow offers (e.g. comedy, talk, etc.).
I caught a performance of my friend, Chris Harlow, from the web site TheStage.tv. This site is a place for musicians around the globe to get online and perform in an open mic environment. If people like your performance they will “cheer” for you — and they can even tip you with Paypal. Performers can also earn extra time. As the audience watches, they can grant the performer more time in :10 second increments.
I decided to give it a try this morning. Here’s my first time on the stage:
You can also find my videos from these performances at my YouTube page: richpalmerUSA
For a very limited time I’m going to make the download of my kids album “Sing a Song for Safety” (high quality 320k mp3) available for FREE!
All you have to do is visit my Bandcamp page at richpalmer.bandcamp.com. I do ask that you submit your email address to validate the download. I will not sell, tear, spindle, mutilate, slice, dice, mix, mash or make hundreds of julienne fries out of your email address for any other reason than to add you to my notification list. And don’t expect a bunch of spam from me unless I’m singing Monty Python songs. (Spam, spam, spam, spam wonderful spam, wonderful spam.) I don’t like spam email and am pretty sure you don’t like it, either.
And… if you choose to donate anything toward the album, that is great, too. Anything donated will go toward my new album project of pop/rock style songs.
So to recap: Sing a Song for Safety FREE
Donations accepted
Please add your email address for validation.
For a limited time, the Sing a Song for Safety CD can be purchased at CD Baby for only $5.
How, you ask, is it possible to get the actual CD (not the mp3s) for only $5? It’s very simple:
Choose 3 or more different CDs from the CD Baby Sale Bin and get each CD for just $5. Each CD will be listed at full price until you place at least 3 different eligible CDs into your shopping cart. You can get 3 to 1 million CDs for $5 each, so sample as much new music as you want!
What a great opportunity for you to hear new music from more artists AND get a copy of Sing a Song for Safety, too! Go there now! (Don’t forget to click the $5 banner in the upper right to choose more albums.)
NOTE: Download purchases are not eligible for the $5 sale.
If you have a few moments, would you put a few words in for me? You can find the song player on the right side of my site if you haven’t heard the tunes.
I have decided to take a hiatus from all online performances for awhile. Why? I have YET to finish producing the collection of songs that I’ve been writing for many years. I have more songs just begging to be written, as well. I’m likely not going to get these done if I keep playing the same old songs all the time.
It seems that outside activities beyond work, family, home and church are going to have to take a back seat (does that leave any time?). There is no possible way that I can get this project done if I don’t fully focus on it whenever and however possible.
Once the songs are fully recorded, produced, and available I will start doing Second Life and video performances on the internetz. Until then, I’m going to be finishing this album.
I will again be performing at the THON Benefit in Second Life. This time I will be starting at 2:30pm SLT/5:30 PM EST on Friday, 19 February 2010.
This year’s event will again be held at the PSU World Campus in SL. I’m pleased to be back at this event for my fourth year.
The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, affectionately referred to as THON, is a yearlong effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. Since 1977, THON has raised more than $61 million for The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Children’s Hospital. Find out more about the THON benefit weekend at thon.org.
A few years ago I was approached by Cameron Barrett of “That’s Crispy” about a video that she and her husband were producing. They were working with theLos Angeles Fire Department to produce a video for kids called “Kids Love Fire Engines!” Cameron asked if they could use a few of my children’s safety songs for the show. I gladly agreed to let them do so.
They finished the video some time later and copies have been available for some time at FirefightingVideos.org. I stopped by the site recently and discovered that it may be offline. I found that a few other sites are offering it, though. It can be found at CreateSpace.com (which is where I found the included video preview that I added to this post), and at Amazon.com.
It’s a fun production, check it out if you have the opportunity.
My many thanks to the Pinkwater Podcast for playing the song “Smoke Detector, Life Protector” on a recent episode.
This is a great little story-telling podcast that also plays selected songs each episode. You can find out more at pinkwater.com. Notes for the individual episode can be found here. It is worth visiting the page to read the show notes. If you wish, you can just download the episode.
Be sure to drop the producer an email or comment (at the site) if you like the show. I’ve enjoyed listening so much I subscribed to the show.
Remember, you can get this song and all the rest from my album Sing a Song for Safety from iTunes, Amazon.com, and CDBaby.
This past week I rerecorded the vocals on my demo of “Don’t Tell Me Any Lies.” If you would like to hear it you can go to TheSixtyOne.com/richpalmer.
Also, Daniel Johnson, Jr. played the song as a sneak preview on the recent New Media Cincy conference call. You will hear it at the very beginning of the call recording.
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