BREAK.

I’m taking a break. I need to earn income and sanity.

Bleepwatch upgrades are underway. All submissions will be accepted, and processed upon return.

Vacation!

I just want to inform you all that I’m leaving for a trip tonight, and I won’t be around to moderate comments\spam or Bleepwatch submissions. I’ll be back in a week or two. You can still submit releases– I’ll just post all of them upon return!

Sergi may be around to make release posts, so keep an eye out under this post. I’m going to make this into a sticky so that everyone knows what’s going on. Bleep back soon.

Cheers,
Patrick

YOU make it NICE.

Hey Bleepwatchers,

We’ve got a new interview up from David Keifer, featuring Chase Lanier and John Romero of Custom Music Records. Go check it out in the interview section, or CLICK HERE to teleport directly to it via the interwebs!

In other news, I’d like to graciously welcome Sergi back to Bleepwatch, as you may have noticed him absent for a bit [very busy!], he’s back to helping with release submissions. So, welcome back, friend!

But wait, there’s more!

I’d like to thank those who have selflessly donated to Bleepwatch in order to support the netlabel scene. So, thanks to [in alphabetical order]:

• David Tagg [Expanding Electronic Diversity]
• Emma Burgess
• Peter Brouwer [Earhead #101111]
• Robert Nunnally [Negative Sound Institute]
• Scott [Archaic Horizon Records]
• Stefanos Kourtis [Memoryformat]
• Verian Thomas [Negative Sound Institute]

Your donations have helped keep Bleepwatch alive and running! If you would like to become a Bleepwatch donor, click the “SUPPORT BLEEPWATCH!” link at the top of this page. I’ll be giving out propz each time a handful of donations come in– so support Bleepwatch, the netlabel scene, and fuck the RIAA while you’re at it!

Let’s see, what else…

Oh! Bleepwatch was chosen as the website of the week in Episode 22 of the excellent Gamewave Podcast, hosted by Joe Allen and Mike Cook. Go check it out.

Last, but not least, I apologize if I haven’t yet returned an email you’ve sent me. Things have been extremely busy, and I will respond when able. Thanks, and keep on bleepin’.

Patrick

Support Bleepwatch!

Dear Bleepwatchers,

Happy New Year! It’s 2007– THE FUTURE! I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying this global warming winter. It’s been some time now since the start of Bleepwatch, and I thank you all for your continued support.

Unfortunately, it’s time again for me to pay the annual web hosting bill. I’m asking for donations– as much as I hate to. In order to keep Bleepwatch ad-free, this is truly needed, as I don’t earn a cent from Bleepwatch [and it can become time consuming aswell]. Any amount would be greatly appreciated!

>> DONATE! <<

Oh! I’d also like to mention that a new interview by David Keifer will be up soon! Keep on bleepin’ in the free world. Thanks!

Update:

I have already received a few donations from some very generous individuals [you know who you are!], but am still coming up a bit short on the annual hosting cost. The post will remain at the top of Bleepwatch until the end of January. Fear not, release submissions will still be accepted and placed beneath it.

I’ve decided to add a bit of incentive. I will be adding mini-banners linking to the donors site on the bleepwatch sidebar [non-obtrusive, but nicely placed], aswell as giving very special recognition on the Bleepwatch netlabel list [if it is a netlabel who has made the donation] at the start of February. This offer is extended till the end of January, and for donations of $15 or greater. I will also be asking qualified donors for their home addresses, as I will be sending each of them a copy of the 8bitpeoples #050 double-CD release!

Donating just for the sake of being nice and supportive is also greatly appreciated! Bleepwatch is a great resource, and I thank you all for your support. Oh, and by the way, a new interview by David Keifer is UP! Check it out in the Interviews section, or CLICK HERE. Cheers!

Patrick

NSI Interview: UP!

Hi friends,

David Keifer [Senior Bleepwatch Correspondant] has done it again! Another fantastic interview is UP! This time David takes on Robert Nunnally, musician and cofounder of netlabel Negative Sound Institute. Be prepared for talk of audio software, netlabel marketing, the future of netlabels, the future of musical composition, and a whole lot more! Get to reading at http://www.bleepwatch.com/?page_id=1110. Be sure to leave any thoughts or remarks on the interview in the comment section. Cheers!

Patrick

Happy Holibleeps.

Hey bleepwatchers,

I want to wish you all a merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or if you’re atheist\agnostic\other– have a great day. As for me, I’ll be in bed most of the time, sick, coughing up lungs. Fear not, I will be checking for Bleepwatch submissions all the while! Cheers!

Patrick

Notice.

Hello friends,

You may have noticed the Bleepchat link at the top. It’s a recent addition to Bleepwatch. The nice thing about it is that you can pop on in, leave a message, and it will stay in there, even after you’ve left, for others to see. So it has dual function as both a chatroom, and a shoutbox of sorts. If you’d like to have a talk with me, just leave a message in there, along with the date and time (I’m in NY, so preferably Eastern Time).

You may have also noticed a lack of release reportings. I’m sorry about this, it’s been hectic with the holiday season, along with a gruesome amount of side projects going on. But I’d like to remind you all: You can submit netlabel releases to Bleepwatch. It’s very simple, and I’ve even included a flash tutorial on how to do it (available upon clicking the Submit link above). I sometimes receive submissions that I can not accept, such as releases that you must pay for. I also receive very crude submissions that I usually have to entirely redo (no links to the mp3 files, the cover art is incredibly small or way too large, or the description for the release is just three words long).

I’m going to lay down [re-inforce] a few guidelines when using the Submission form:

1. Include atleast one complete descriptive sentence about the release.
2. Make sure the cover art is a maximum of 350px horizontally [resize very quickly using the defaults at this website: http://www.shrinkpictures.com]. If the cover is smaller than 350px horizontally, that is odd, and is hopefully not too much smaller.
3. If links to the mp3 files are available, PLEASE INCLUDE THEM. This is very important. If no mp3 files are available, it is understandable, just include the link to the compressed archive.

Bleepwatch is a service to provide publicity to netlabels and its musicians, while giving the listeners great new music to listen to for free, without any kind of bothersome advertisements or popups on the site. I don’t make a dime from this. Infact, I pay to host this all. If it sounds like I’m annoyed, it’s because I am. Just please put a tiny bit of effort into your netlabel release submissions. Doing it half-assed is RIDICULOUS. It’s free fucking publicity without ads. The stats are rising every month. THANKS.

Happy Holidays,
Patrick

Brrr.

The temperature is dropping, and so are the beats. Toss away those ear muffs and strapON head phones.

If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Zürich, check out the netlabel festival going on the 17th and 18th of November. More information is available here: netlabelfestival.ch.

If you’re in the vicinity of NYC, check out Blip Fest 2006! Here is a quote from the site:

“THE TANK and 8BITPEOPLES are pleased to present the Blip Festival, a four-day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit videogame consoles and home computers used as creative tools. Familiar devices are pushed in new directions with startling results — Nintendo Entertainment Systems and Game Boys roaring with futuristic floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melody, art-damaged Sega hardware generating fluctuating and abstracted video patterns — and that’s only the beginning. An exploration of the chiptune idiom and its close relatives, the Blip Festival is the biggest and most comprehensive event in the history of the form, and will include daily workshops, art installations, and nightly music performances boasting an international roster larger and more far-reaching than any previous event of its kind. Small sounds at large scales pushed to the limit at high volumes — the Blip Festival is an unprecedented event that is not to be missed.”

More information on Blip Fest is available here: blipfestival.org.

In bleepwatch news, we’ve got a FRESH new [wacky] interview with the guys of Beardology Records, courtesy of David Keifer! Check it out, in vomit-vision, here: bleepwatch.com/?page_id=961.

CHEERS!

Nice.

Some of you may know of this software already. For those of you who do not, I’ll tell you! Its name is Songbird, built from Mozilla, cross-platform, and open source. Here is a descript excerpt from their site:

“Songbird is developed by a band of experienced, dedicated software developers and designers called the Pioneers of the Inevitable. Our previous hatchlings include Winamp and the Yahoo! Music Engine.

We support the Mozilla Foundation’s mission to preserve innovation and choice on the Internet.

Our mission is to incubate Songbird, the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web. To this end, our investors include one of the top Silicon Valley venture capital firms.

We don’t steal music and you shouldn’t either. We support DigitalConsumer.org’s Bill of Rights as the best means to a burgeoning, diverse and lawful digital media market.

We give a thankful super-crazy double dag-nasty dirty-style squawk to the Mozilla Foundation, the VLC team, the SQLite dude and all the innovating free and open source software developers.”

In other words, give it a try. It’s pretty damned nice, and completely free ofcourse! SONGBIRD.

Submission Form ENABLED.

The netlabel release form is back up. I had linked to the wrong file. I was wondering why there were no submissions. I’m an idiot.

I’m SORRY.

Click the “Submit” link on the top navigation bar to BEGIN.