Gordon Raphael's original sounds are worldwide now on the Gordotronic (artwork by Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes).

Raphael left a huge imprint on rock by producing The Strokes’ 2001 album Is This It in his Lower East Side studio Transporterraum NYC, and their 2003 follow up Room On Fire. (See the 2009 SonicScoop interview with Raphael about Is This It here.) He also produced NYC artist Regina Spektor’s brilliant 2004 album Soviet Kitsch (which was included in NME’s list of the decade’s Greatest 100 Albums in 2009).

Visitors to the site will be greeted and treated with a mélange of ear/eye-popping aesthetics from Raphael, who is now based in Berlin. The site contains choice video and art curated by Raphael, and his first 7 albums of his own music, none of which had ever been released before now.

Lovers of sonic discovery will especially appreciate his “Silhouette Shack” podcast that streams from the site – an eclectic and essential listen.  “When I was a kid, I had a little transistor radio that I’d put under my pillow, and before I slept I’d hear a very atmospheric, psychedelic show called Silhouette,” Raphael told SonicScoop. “I was always transported by this show — the discussions and music were very special to me – dealing with how important young people are to the future, and also how music has the power to affect world change in a positive way.

“So I’ve made ‘Silhouette Shack’ as my own kind of psychedelic radio show, and put it on the front page of the Gordotronic World Headquaters. In aiming for my own music website, I had the chance to dig through my entire surviving music archive — my first decade of work was destroyed in a fire at my church studio in Seattle — and decided that the first radio show would feature a sampling of my favorite self-made songs, and things I produced that featured other artists, such as Miss Machine and Sarah Maguire.

“Analog Poodle and Black Light were two different bands I was in, and even though these albums aren’t out yet — I wanted to give a taste of our future releases. Since I literally spent about 2 1/2 decades composing and recording my own songs, the process of digging in the archives has led to re-discovering many songs, such as ‘Solina Space’ and ‘Queens Echo Two,’ which I had lost track of. As you can imagine, releasing my first seven albums on the same day has been unbelievably exciting and artistically satisfying!”

Raphael is now back in Berlin after a year in the USA, producing approximately 30 bands in San Antonio, Texas and California.

Team-Indie.com could prove to be a streamlined solution to many of your legal/business logjams.

Founded by NYC entertainment/intellectual property lawyers Shamita Carriman and Joshua Max, the mission of Team-Indie.com is to help indie artists succeed as entrepreneurs by empowering artists with easy and affordable solutions for their most essential business and legal needs.

The easy-to-navigate site focuses primarily on artists’ essential needs for protecting their music copyrights, trademark, business, and business deals.

With many indie artists already taking creation, marketing, and distribution of their music into their own hands, Team-Indie.com addresses the needs of Indie artists have inadvertently become entrepreneurs in attempting to sell and exploit their music. Since few can afford an attorney to help them with their business and legal affairs to protect the very music they make, Carriman (who has also blogged for SonicScoop.com) and Max seek to bring many of these music business realities within reach of today’s DIY artists, indie labels, and managers.

The site offers:
– Easy and affordable registration services for music copyrights, trademark, and business formations such as LLC’s and DBA’s;
– A range of sample music business contracts for instant download with clear easy-to-follow language that leaves out unrealistic language or outdated practices found in most widely used music contract samples;
– A dynamic “D-I-Y” (“Do it yourself”) music blog with regularly updated tips, news, and information for D-I-Y musicians; and
– A free music law and business workshop taught live once a month by an attorney to give artists an engaging and fun way to learn how law and business play such a crucial role with their music.

Team-Indie is not a law firm and does not give legal advice, but the combination of Team-Indie’s tools, services, and workshops are designed to provide a holistic and sustainable approach to business and legal self-help for indie artists and labels that has not been seen before.

Team-Indie service prices:

Music copyright registration: $59 USD for 1-15 music tracks
Music trademark registration: $165 USD + the required government filing fee
Music Business registrations: $89 USD + the required state filing fee
Sample Music Contracts: Starting at $24 USD
Music Law & Business Workshops: FREE

Beware of Spotify... while benefitting from its magical powers.

While the economic implications of Spotify to artists are a topic certainly worth of debate, I have to say that the goblin-green platform has given me – and all of us – just such alchemic capabilities. As music professionals, Spotify may or may not be a threat, but as music lovers – which all of us started out as – it’s a blessing undisguised.

In light of my starry-eyed affectation, I recently devised a new game called “Stump the Spotify” and invited a couple of sonically-inclined friends to take part. The objective: sit down in front of a computer, free associate the song each of us want to hear next, then talk it over as the sweet sounds radiate from the speakers.

The rules for song selection? Look into your soul, let a song appear — and forget about what anyone else thinks! Bonus points for naming a song not yet in Spotify’s catalog, followed by a shot of scotch (optional) to dull the disappointing pain.

Not surprisingly, the entrancing NYC singer-songwriter Will Knox accepted the challenge, hot on the heels of his imaginatively-crafted EP release, Lexicon. So did FLUX Studios’ Account Manager Chris Sipes, who arranged for the inspiring Fabulous production/writing room to serve as our host venue for 60 minutes of Stump the Spotify!

Listening to a plethora of songs though Focal monitors in a beautiful mixing/mastering suite, the environment was an incubator for musical insights of all kinds. Here’s what went down (and feel free to pull up these songs yourself and listen along!):

Song 1:  David Weiss selects… “Blackest Eyes” by Porcupine Tree, from the 2002 album In Absentia

David: I really like the power of this song. This is one of those songs that I wish I had written.

Will: I haven’t heard this in a while.

David: The drummer is so good in this song, and it has an interesting song structure. The two choruses happen so fast, they’re so satisfying. Then they’re gone and the chorus don’t come back again.

Will: My roommate in college used to rock out to this all the time. He had long hair, and he used to be really into metal. He would just crank it and rock out to it. It’s such a strange song, because it starts out so hard. It could be Pantera. But when this soft vocal comes in, there’s a bit of a balance to it. It almost sounds like the guitarist came up with a riff, and the singer also had a song. They said, “We don’t know what to do with this, let’s put it together!” But it works.

Chris:I never heard this song before. I love it.

2Pac's "How Do You Want It"

Song 2:  Chris Sipes selects… “How Do You Want It” by 2pac, from the 1996 album All Eyes on Me

Chris: I like this song, because this is why I started listening to Tupac. I was in a hotel room as a child in Orlando, FL, and saw this video.

Will: I love this, I love Tupac. I’m a big fan of ‘90’s rap, don’t ask me why. It’s the opposite of what I write, so I can get some release from something that’s completely off the spectrum. This is what I listen to on the road. Absolutely, it’s stress release – it allows you to relax.

David: The deep funk and gospel groove of this song is crushing. I never heard it before! I really like it.

Will: Good choice, Chris!

Song 3:  Will Knox selects… “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake, from the 1972 album Pink Moon

Will: Nick Drake is from England. He died in the ‘70’s, this was his last record, released in 1972. He only released three records, and this was his last solo album.

Chris: He sounds like Bob Dylan…

Will: He was a different case – a tragic case really. He never saw success when he was alive, and he died of an overdose of sorts, passing away when he was very, very young – way before his time.

He’s a phenomenal writer that’s only been heard on the scale he deserves in the last 10 years or so. A song of his was used for a TV commercial, and people said, “Wow, who is this guy?” He still does have a cult following, like Elliot Smith. He’s wonderful. He’s probably my biggest influence.

David: Hey, I was born in 1972! This is from my year.

Will: The tape machine I bought the other night was made in 1972. A TEAC 1230 reel-to-reel, and the most amazing thing about it is that it still works. It came with a couple of reels of ¼” tape. It sounds beautiful, just so warm – just so not like Pro Tools, if that makes sense. It takes away something harsh, and makes everything sound sweeter.

Song 4:  David Weiss selects… “Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson, from the 1979 album Off the Wall

The FLUX Fabulous room -- a decidedly swell suite to Stump the Spotify!

STUMPED! The song is not in Spotify.

Will: It’s not there? How can you have a party without it?!

Song 5:  David Weiss selects… “Road to Somewhere” by Goldfrapp, from the 2008 album Seventh Three

Chris: I’ve never heard this. It’s very emotional music. I’m usually less on the introspective side of music – I wouldn’t have heard this if you hadn’t pulled it up, but I like it.

Will: I never listened to Goldfrapp, but I got really into this song. You’ve got to be in the right mood for it. And right now, chilling out with nothing else on my mind but listening to music on a great sound system, drinking whiskey, this works absolutely perfectly. I suppose you listen to music for specific occasions, and right now, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.

But it’s definitely one of those things that, if you heard it in the wrong environment, you might not pay as much attention and give enough appreciation to it as you should. But that’s the same as with any music, isn’t it?

Song 6:  Chris Sipes selects… “Come as you Are” by Nirvana, from the 1991 album Nevermind

Will: I think I remember buying this on my 12th birthday…

Chris: I never liked the Foo Fighters, but I like Nirvana. This reminds me of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” off of the (1994) MTV Unplugged album, which is about him burning his ex-girlfriend and burying her. It’s a murderous song. You can hear he’s on the heroin in that song.

Song 7:  Will Knox selects… “Get In Line” by Ron Sexsmith, from the 2011 album Long Player Late Bloomer:

NYC artist contemplates songwriting 24/7.

Will: Do you guys know Ron Sexsmith? He’s one of the great songwriters of our generation.

David: I don’t know anything about Ron Sexsmith.

Will: No one knows anything about Ron Sexsmith! Which is the phenomenal thing about him. He works with some very famous songwriters, like Feist’s song “Brandy Alexander” (on her 2007 album The Reminder).

As a lyricist and melody writer, I just think he’s so solid. All of his songs are very catchy, and so well-crafted. His lyrics are so tasteful, so clever. I think he’s one of those writers that doesn’t get enough credit for what he does.

He’s got quite a cult following. If you say you’re a Ron Sexsmith fan, people will come out of the woodwork and say, “Oh, you like him too?” Hopefully he’ll get the recognition he deserves.

Song 8:  David Weiss selects… “Synchronicity 1” by The Police, from the 1983 album Synchronicity:

David: The Police were a band, that’s what I love about them.

Chris: That’s one of those amped-up songs – you put that in and it changes the room.

Will: You think, how would they produce that song now? Without that keyboard sound, for example – what would you replace? And would the Police be able to get listened to now?

David: Will, what do you think of the Police as songwriters?

Will: Well, I don’t know if you can really fault Sting for much that he’s done in his songwriting career. He’s a very solid songwriter. Even if you don’t like the Police, something’s gotta be said about the hits that they’ve written.

And Sting has had a lot of hits for a lot of reasons. His voice is so distinctive as well – he’s a high tenor, I guess? He wasn’t afraid to be experimental, which was interesting, because a lot of his songs are quite simple at heart. Lyrically and melodically, they’re basic themes.

Song 9:  Chris Sipes selects… “Born to Roll” by Masta Ace Incorporated, from the 1993 album SlaughtaHouse:

FLUX's Chris Sipes has the power to look deep into souls using Spotify.

Chris: I had this one tape-recorded off of a radio station. This is a unique song. Its got some classy beats – “Low Rider”-hypnotic and slamming! With really cool lyrics. Very Snoop-sounding.

Will: Its ‘90′s rap. You can’t go wrong!

Song 10:  Will Knox selects… “The Day We Caught the Train” by Ocean Colour Scene, from the 1996 album Moseley Shoals:

Will: I was excited to see if some of my favorite Britpop ‘90’s bands were here…Oh yeah, they’ve got it!

David: There’s a very “Day in the Life” feel to this song, at least at the start: A two-songs-in-one setup. Hey, it’s got real drums! Real jamming! Real emotion! And I like the fadeout.

Will: They put me in a time and a place that I remember being very happy. They’re one of those bands that comes from such a specific time in your life – Ocean Colour Scene was the soundtrack to everyone’s life in 1996.

Chris: It’s a nostalgic experience.

Will: Don’t you think that a lot of music is just nostalgia? I listen to a lot of songs now that I listened to at that time.

Song 11:  David Weiss selects… “Iris Art” by Echobelly, from the 1993 album Lustra:

STUMPED! The song is not in Spotify.

David: I’m bummed. I think that’s a powerful rock song, but also very beautiful at the same time.

Song 12:  David Weiss selects… “Babelonia” by School of Seven Bells, from the 2010 album Disconnect from Desire:

SonicScoop's David Weiss

Will: I like it, but there’s so much space in this song without lyrics. This is beautiful music — it’s blasting, I’m dancing, this is great – but I’m a little lost without lyrics. It’s a time-and-place thing again: I wouldn’t want to put my head in the headphones and listen to this. I’d want to dance to this.

Chris: I would watch this band perform. I’ll bet it would be very interesting – the value is in the performance.

David: I saw them live at Le Poisson Rouge.

Will: That’s the thing: So much music sounds better live, and when you buy the CD, the music transports you to that experience. If you hear a recording you wouldn’t understand it, but you see them live, and you want to convince your friends how good they are live.

Chris: Like you had to be there. But this is cool – it makes me want to go dancing with the people in the band.

Song 12:  Chris Sipes selects… “MotownPhilly” by Boyz II Men, from the 1991 album Cooleyhighharmony:

Chris: I needed to mix it up! When I got a Sony CD/tape player, this was one of five CDs I got at the same time. It was this, Genesis, Tanya Tucker, the Boomerang soundtrack, and I don’t remember what the other one was…Oh! Def Leppard — Adrenaline.

Will: I had Def Leppard’s (1996 album) Slang.

David: And I bought (1983’s) Pyromania!

Will: Isn’t it funny that between us we spent $30 on Def Leppard, but in this new streaming society with Spotify its free, or its $10 a month for Rdio? So for that, all three of us can listen to all the music we want.

Times have changed. If Silicon Valley explodes tomorrow, the next generation is in trouble. They won’t have access to a whole ton of music.

Chris: Yeah, not to mention the CD covers you hung on your wall.

Will: Can we talk about this album cover? Look at their coats! But I almost don’t have an opinion of this song. It just is what it is! (laughs) It’s so dated, that is just sounds like one of those songs you can have a good time to.

The ghost of Hendrix was a fitting end to Round 1 of STS!

Song 12:  Will Knox selects… “Woke Up This Morning and Found Myself Dead” by Jimi Hendrix (featuring Jim Morrison), from the posthumous 1980 live album of the same name (originally recorded in 1968)

Will: I haven’t stumped Spotify, but I think I can: I have a vinyl collection with this live record by Jimi Hendrix, with Jim Morrison on it. The song is “Woke Up This Morning and Found Myself Dead”. If Spotify has this, I won’t say anything else bad about it. I’ll tip my hat.

The Hendrix original is not there, but Spotify delivers a cover by the band The Bollocks Brothers, from their 1986 album 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse:

Will: What a name for a band! And this sounds just like “You Can’t Touch This”. They must have sampled it. In the original, Jim Morrison is so high, he’s screaming profanities throughout the entire thing. Not just regular curse words – he goes above and beyond.

This actually makes me feel better, that Spotify didn’t have the Hendrix version. Because it’s on vinyl, and its not on Spotify: It means you can collect vinyl, and you’ll have stuff that Spotify won’t.

– David Weiss

The AB Lemur bundle is free to Lemur iOS users.

This was probably not a difficult number to achieve, considering the niche appeal and high price of the JazzMutant Lemur (which was launched in 2004), but testament to the power of the right iOS app, nonetheless.

Liine is following up the launch by offering a new series of premium content for all Lemur iOS users, starting with the free-to-download AB Lemur Bundle.

This free AB Lemur Bundle package, ideal for musicians, composers, sound designers working on iPhones and iPads, presents three Lemur templates by GUI designer Antonio Blanca, a creator of multiple Lemur templates for many Native Instruments Reaktor factory ensembles. They come bundled with adapted “Lemurized” versions of the original Reaktor ensembles allowing for full Lemur control via OSC.

Sound designers Richard Devine, Antonio Blanca and Miguel Isaza have contributed sound examples to further enhance the Lemur multi-touch experience.

Template Details:

Lemurized L3
Lemurized L3 is the ultimate interface for programming and performing beat slicing on loops. Users can re-order the slices and sequence effect parameters, and sequence different patterns and samples.

Lemurized Skrewell
Skrewell is an abstract, noise-based drone machine. Use the accompanying Lemur template to shape it and give it a life of its own. The clear layout and cool-grey colour scheme makes it easy and fun to shape soundscapes.

Lemurized Spacedrone
Another deep Reaktor soundtool, the range of sounds this ensemble can produce are profound and the Lemur controller template lets users harness this power. The Breakpoint objects are put to use as modulators. Users are advised to turn the physics on, hit record and explore the range of morphing sounds.

See the AB Lemur bundle in action here:

Looper Jake Perrine shares his hard-won wisdom with you in this new book.

Hal Leonard has this to say about the 182-page tome, dedicated to one of the most popular electronic music creation platforms on the market:

“Ableton Live is a groundbreaking program whose unique nonlinear, incredibly flexible features set it apart from all the other digital audio applications. It is equally at home with making beats, remixing, live recording, DJing, live looping, sound design, electronic music, hip-hop, and much more.

Unlike other books about Live that simply explain its features like a second manual, this hands-on-centric book contains a series of exercises that will walk readers through all the features they need to make an actual track from start to finish. Also included are audio content for use in the Ableton Live exercises contained in the text and screen-cast videos of the exercises, so readers can actually see how many of the features described by the author work.

A substantial appendix section offers discussions of important non-Ableton-specific topics, including digital audio basics, components of a producer’s studio, considerations when buying a DAW computer, and more.

In addition to over 20 years of making electronic music, certified Ableton trainer Jake Perrine has over a decade of experience teaching audio production, so not only does he know what he’s talking about, he knows how to make sure the reader know what he’s talking about! Whether it’s DJing, making mashups and remixes, playing with a band, or building epic dance anthems from scratch, this book has all the step-by-step details achieve it with Ableton Live.

Jake Perrine began making bloops and bleeps with computers on an Apple II+ when he was 12. He has been an audio engineer for RealNetworks and a mastering engineer at RFI/CD, and has taught professional audio production for over a decade at the Art Institute of Seattle. He has written and directed a rock opera entitled Vamp, releases his own solo electronic music under the name of Spire, and is one half of the electropop duo Bloom.”

This interview with Jake Perrine sheds more light on “Producing Music with Ableton Live”:

Keep it clean with the new GSXL4070 parametric EQ from G-Sonique.

A VST plugin that is PC-only for now and available for 28 Euro ($36.85 at today’s exchange rates), the GSXL4070 offers modern, solid state analog electronics sound without any unwanted/oversaturated coloring of signal (such as with vacuum tube or vintage EQs). The result is a very intensive, rich and significant sound, according to G-Sonique. df

Ideal for mixing and mastering purpose, GSXL4070 is a fully parametric stereo equalizer with four bands (LF, LMF, HMF, HF) and HP (BASS CUT), Q control, and +-12db attenuation/boosting of every band.

For best possible clarity of sound and minimum artifacts, 2X internal oversampling algorithms were used.

Notable features:

- British mix-console EQ “solid state electronics” style of sound without unwanted over-colored or over saturated sound. With 2X internal oversampling for double precision dsp algorithms calculations and minimum of unwanted artifacts.

- 4 fully parametric EQ bands:

LF – Low frequency, (20-500Hz)
LMF – Low mid frequency, (200 Hz – 3 kHz)
HMF – high mid frequency, (700 Hz – 12 kHz)
HF – high frequency ( 1.5 kHz – 20 kHz)

HP (High pass – Bass cut) filter 15 – 400 Hz bass cut with on/off switch with Q-control (bandwidth), attenuation/boost ( + / -  12db per band),

- Output Volume knob

- Bypass switch

- Preset manager

ManhatPro has expanded far beyond the five boroughs with ManhatPro West in San Francisco.

Dubbed ManhatPro West, it will be based in San Francisco, with operations overseen by GRAMMY-winner Steve Horowitz (Super Size Me, Nickelodeon Digital).

The opening of ManhatPro West evolves the reach of ManhatPro to a national/international organization, with a focus on frequent collaboration in person and online.

This development helps Northern California-based composers, sound designers, and other music professionals to enjoy a direct link with ManhatPro’s dynamic NYC chapter, joining members in locations ranging from Brazil to Michigan, who are staying connected with Webinars, videoconferencing and other online tools.

ManhatPro West stands as the first regional chapter outside of NYC. Its members will be able to participate in national ManhatPro happenings, as well as the many local events created by Horowitz, a prolific TV/film/online composer whose credits include Super Size Me, “Casino Cinema”, “I Bet You Will”, and Nickelodeon Digital.

ManhatPro was founded in 2005 by NYC-based composer Joe Carroll (Jim Henson Company, Nickelodeon, Disney, WGBH). Inspired early on by his creatively enriching experiences in the buzzing NYC studio culture, Carroll started ManhatPro to renew the collaborative benefits of that workflow in today’s personal studio-centric – and often isolating — production environment.

Comprised of both senior level professionals and emerging talent, ManhatPro members meet and communicate regularly to share connections, knowledge, and studio time/space. Preferred access to publishing, licensing, music library, marketing/PR, legal and financial resources represent additional privileges of ManhatPro’s cost-effective membership.

Steve Horowitz explained, “The Bay Area music community is very active and very diverse. My hope with MPA West is to harness some of that energy, and create a link between the East Coast and West Coast media markets. Games, film, TV, the Cloud, and other emerging sectors are blurring together to create a new media distribution landscape — we feel strongly that a vibrant coast-to-coast connection helps all audio and media professionals to stay ahead of the curve.”

The first ManhatPro West event will take place during the Game Developers Conference, March 7th, 5 PM at the Thirsty Bear in San Francisco (RSVP here).The next General Membership meeting for ManhatPro NYC members will take place February 29th at Soundtrack Studios, New York (RSVP here).

ManhatPro membership is cost-effective, with eligibility for both full- and part-time composers, producers, sound designers, audio engineers, programmers and other music industry professionals. Membership can be applied for at www.manhatpro.com, or by emailing membership@manhatpro.com.

NYC's Man Made Music has blown up the classic sound of the Super Bowl for 2012.

The evolved theme will debut on Super Bowl XLVI, airing Sunday, February 5th on NBC. MMM’s Joel Beckerman evolved John Williams‘ original iconic composition, “Wide Receiver,” producing a rock-and electronic-driven rendition of the theme, featuring new sonic and thematic elements.

To create the piece, Beckerman brought a rock band and 45-piece orchestra, tapping a number of players from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for the production.

In addition, Beckerman and the MMM team created 30 new cuts of original compositions to be used throughout the Super Bowl program.

Calling the project “simply the ultimate opportunity for musical storytelling in sports and one of the greatest live events ever conceived,” Beckerman’s goal was to take the Super Bowl’s ubiquitious theme and give it a modern spin that would show the epic scope of the battle between two great teams.

Beckerman was recently recipient of the ASCAP “Most Performed Themes Award” for the sixth year in a row.

Listen to the stirring, original John Williams’ theme “Wide Receiver” here:

It was hard to make ReCycle any better, but Propellerheads found a way.

This update to the essential tool for creating REX files includes:

– A completely overhauled graphical user interface,
– New key commands, workflow enhancements and a new Online Help system, which make Recycle even faster and easier to use.
– Version 2.2 is a 64-bit compatible application with full support for Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion operating systems.

Propellerhead has this to say about ReCycle 2.2, which is available now at a suggested retail price of USD $249:

“An industry standard, ReCycle is the fastest way to make sampled material your own. ReCycle lets you do with sampled loops what you can do with beats programmed from individual drum sounds—like alter the tempo, or replace sounds and process them individually. Producers use Recycle for making loops tempo-independent, for quick editing of sampled parts, chopping up riffs, remixing and doing mash ups.

Load any loop or musical phrase into ReCycle. The program will look at the file, analyze it, and slice it up into its rhythmic components. The file can then be rearranged, pitched or have its tempo freely adjusted. Artists have full control over the individual slices and can alter the timing or even quantize the groove, keep the feel of the loop and replace the sounds with their own. Or load the file into a software sampler and trigger the individual parts from a MIDI keyboard to turn the sampled material into a completely new performance.

A favorite among sound designers and producers, ReCycle’s REX file format is supported by all major music software titles including applications such as Apple Logic, Avid Pro Tools, Steinberg Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, Ableton Live, MOTU Digital Performer and Propellerhead Reason, as well as software instruments such as Native Instruments Kontakt and Spectrasonics Stylus RMX.”

Playmysong's US plans originate in NYC.

App developer Playmysong has opened an office in New York City and launched its service here, simultaneous to closing a $350,000 angel round of financing this month. The angel round was led by Lifeline Ventures, a Helsinki, Finalnd-based accelerator focused on disruptive start-ups from the Web and game sectors.

The Helsinki-based Playmysong’s mobile app is available in the iTunes Store App Store, and enables users to take control of the music in their surroundings.

Using Playmysong’s app on iOS or from the Web, users can remotely play their favorite songs and DJ the music around them – provided the locations they are visiting have integrated Playmysong into their music playout signal path — while simultaneously posting a Foursquare-style check-in update on Facebook and Twitter.

The company’s business model is based on selling premium services for participating venues and brands. On the venue side, proprietors connect their iOS device running a Playmysong Pro app to their stereo sound system, via a standard 3.5 mm audio cable. Retailers, restaurants, bars, café owners etc… can learn more about the free basic service here.

Every time a song is played in a Playmysong venue, it generates the equivalent of a free social ad for that location. The result is a social function for music that is played out in bars, hotels, restaurants and other public venues. In theory, it provides a more engaging experience than the traditional jukebox for a venue’s patrons, encouraging longer stays.

The first NYC venue for Playmysong is Idle Hands Bar, on 25 Avenue B, which has taken advantage of the app to introduce Playmysong Mondays. For example, one Monday night 21 different users of the app played 101 total songs – an equivalent of approximatey five hours of crowd-sourced music entertainment.

Users posted info about the song they played in Idle Hands Bar to their Facebook walls for 54 times. According to Playmysong, an average Facebook user has 200 friends, meaning that Idle Hands Bar got over 10,000 free social micro-ads in Facebook during one night.

The latest version of the app, Playmysong 1.1 includes the following features:

•    New home screen – When opening the app, you can instantly open the Remote mode to play songs in nearby Stereos or the Stereo mode to launch your own social jukebox.

•    iTunes Playlists – You can now use your existing iTunes playlists in your Playmysong Stereo. Managing what music you have in your Stereo has never been easier.

•    Multi-Tasking – You can now use Playmysong Stereo and Remote on the background while you browse the web, read emails, do sports, etc.

•    User Images and Shout Outs – Facebook-connected users now have their Facebook profile pictures as their Playmysong profile pictures. You can also add shout outs while playing songs.