Music Buzz: Indie Artist Discovery: Mark Dubin

Here’s an up-and-coming new Indie artist that’s been brought freshly to our attention by talent scout and media personality Jay Michaels now in (currently) sunny FLORIDA! Thanks Jay!

Artist: Mark Dubin

Self-Introspection: ROCK N ROLL AND THEN BOOZE AND THEN WOMEN AND THEN PUNK AND THEN DRUGS AND THEN GUITARS AND THEN VOCALS AND THEN SONGS AND THEN SHOWS AND THEN SMELLY VANS AND THEN SMALL HOTEL ROOMS AND THEN BIGGER CROWDS AND THEN LONLINESS AND THEN TOO MUCH BOOZE AND THEN TOO MANY DRUGS AND THEN TOO MANY DIFFERENT WOMEN AND THEN TOTAL BLACKOUT AND THEN NO GUITARS AND THEN NO VOCALS AND THEN NO SONGS AND THEN NO MORE BOOZE AND THEN NO MORE DRUGS AND THEN NOT SO MANY DIFFERENT WOMEN AND THEN NO PUNK BUT THEN BETTER GUITARS AND THEN BETTER VOCALS AND THEN BETTER SONGS AND THEN NOT SO SMELLY VANS AND THEN NOT SUCH SMALL ROOMS AND THEN SOLO ARTIST STUFF AND THEN RECORDING STUDIO STUFF AND THEN THE WEST COAST AND THEN THE EAST COAST AND THEN MIAMI AND THEN BACK AGAIN AND THEN BACK AGAIN TO MIAMI AND THEN, WELL, I RECKON THERE WILL BE MORE “THENS”...

Influences: THE REPLACEMENTS – STEVE EARLE – JOHNNY CASH – WILCO – SON VOLT – HANK WILLIAMS SR. – UNCLE TUPELO – THE JAYHAWKS – JASON AND THE SCORCHERS – BUCK OWENS – ROLLING STONES – GRAM PARSONS – ELVIS COSTELLO – DAVID BOWIE – VELVET UNDERGROUND – BOB DYLAN – NEIL YOUNG – BUFFALO TOM – DINOSAUR JR. – STUFF WITH LOTS OF FEEDBACK – HUSKER DU – DESCENDENTS – MINOR THREAT – BLACK FLAG – DEAD KENNEDYS -

Sounds Like: STRUGGLING BACK DOWN THE TRAIL OF TEARS, BROKEN AND BRUISED… LIKE A LIVEWIRE THAT‘S BEEN LAYIN’ IN A PUDDLE OF HIS LOVERS SPIT FOR FAR TOO LONG… STRAINED AND FORCED… A TONGUE PARTING THE LIPS THAT HIDE IT FROM THE TASTE OF THE BIT OF SUNSHINE LEFT OVER FROM THE DAYS POURING RAIN… DREAMS OF DISGUISES AND PLATFORMS… BEAUTIFUL LIES AND SENSUAL DECEIPTS… DEATH AND SALVATION… FINDING AN ODD SENSE OF DISCOMFORT AROUND YOUR LINE OF VISION

Website: MySpace.com/markdubin

Email: MARKLDUBIN@HOTMAIL.COM

SNIPPED URL FOR THIS ARTICLE: http://snipurl.com/iepi

(C) 2005 Music Buzz – Vegas Buzz – Vegas Buzz News Network

Yahoo Seizes Podcast Initiative

By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 11, 2005; Page D01

Yahoo Inc. introduced a test site yesterday devoted exclusively to downloadable audio programs known as podcasts, a move that some say puts the search engine on the forefront of a cutting edge technology and puts it ahead—at least in this arena—of its biggest competitor, Google.

The site, at http://www.podcasts.yahoo.com/ , offers not only a search feature for podcast fans but also a lineup of podcasts that are new, noteworthy or just popular.

Yahoo’s site connects Internet users to everything from shows broadcast over National Public Radio to discussions by movie critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper about the latest films.

But those sort of podcasts are more the exception of what’s available. By far, most of the programming is produced by amateur Web users armed with a microphone, an Internet connection and a desire to share some opinions or expertise—the audio equivalent of Web logs or “blogs.”

Analysts said that Yahoo’s move could give the Web portal a critical chance to catch up with rivals such as Google as the Internet moves beyond text and into multimedia programs containing audio and video content.

For users of podcast technology, the appeal is obvious—rather than having to tune in at a particular time to hear a radio show, they can log on and listen to podcasts anytime. With an iPod or some other MP3 player, consumers can also download an audio file and listen on-the-go.

For now, only a small number of people are searching for podcasts, but there’s widespread belief that the popularity will only continue to grow.

According to a study by research firm Ipsos Insight, about 28 percent of Web users know what a podcast is but only about 2 percent of that group has actually listened to one.

That doesn’t offer much hope for companies such as Yahoo to make any money immediately from a podcast search feature, but it puts them in a good position for the future, said Phil Leigh, president of market research firm Inside Digital Media Inc.

Podcasts serve as another tool to not only drive Web traffic to the Yahoo site but also keep Web surfers from venturing off to other sites.

Apple Computer Inc., which sells music through an online store, recently added a podcast search page to its iTunes software so owners of the iPod music player can directly download such recordings to their players. Like Yahoo, Apple also does not charge for podcast downloads.

The entry by Yahoo was “clearly something they’ve got to do,” Leigh said, noting that content providers and distributors such as Yahoo don’t want to ignore a technology that might be the next big thing in the same way that the music industry ignored Napster and other peer-to-peer software that changed its way of doing business.

“There’s not a shadow of a doubt that the future of the Internet is about multimedia,” he said. “It’s about audio now and next it’ll be about video.”

Leigh said that Yahoo “lost its way” as Google surpassed it as the most-used search tool on the Web and that Yahoo’s move could give the Web portal a chance to catch up.

Joe Hayashi, Yahoo’s podcast project director, said he realizes that and admits that podcasts don’t have much of an audience yet but argues that that will soon change.

“We feel like we can bring a big audience to podcasting,” he said.

Once an audience is in place, advertising will soon follow, he predicted.

Users of Yahoo’s podcast service don’t have to download any software to listen to podcasts, unless they choose to subscribe to a particular show and automatically receive new episodes. Hayashi said that Yahoo’s directory makes “tens of thousands” of podcasts available to its users, and is only expected to grow.

(Vegas Buzz News Network)