It's funny, one of the core principles behind Inside the Circle has always been the writers' love of music. Whether it is hip-hop, rock, alternative, punk, country, techno, downtempo, reggae, or any of the many other genres and hybrids of music prevalent today, between us writers and the fellow Zune fans you're bound to cover the spectrum several times over.  For example, I love indie rock. And I think most people take for granted that if an artist picks up their musical instrument and can put together some kind of recording, whether it be a demo tape or low-fi MP3, as long as you can listen to and appreciate it, they're considered an artist, however struggling or meager. They're indie.  They're Real Musicians^TM.


But does the same apply to writers?


I recently decided to take the plunge into the realm of becoming an Indie Author, publishing my wares as eBooks online via Smashwords.com. Although I had already made my first short story sale to a forthcoming anthology, I decided to pursue the eBook, self-published route as the primary avenue for my writing, as opposed to trying to go through what is sometimes referred to as "NY", or the New York publishing scene. Am I grabbing my rifle and bandanna and starting a guerrilla revolution against the traditional publishing houses? Not at all. But I think that, as a writer, I should not be beholden to what a commercial editor may think is worth publishing. I believe that, in this day and age of the Internet and sites such as Smashwords (which makes your eBooks available in multiple formats, such as for the Kindle or Nook), writers are given more tools and power to express themselves, and we should move beyond this notion that we need to be accepted by New York to be of any worth.


For example, I recently released my latest eBook, a novelette called The Fear. From top to bottom, I handled every aspect, and it is a daunting prospect. I obviously wrote it, revised it, sent it out for feedback, revised again, and prepped it for release. I had to make sure the formatting was just right for Smashwords, and also handle the cover art. I even created a YouTube book trailer for The Fear.  Then comes the promotion. Being an indie writer, you basically have to manage every detail if you want your book to have even a small chance of being noticed.


But self-publishing doesn't mean slacking on quality. You still need to be able to write well. You need to be able to edit, and revise, and have others check your work and give good critical feedback. It also doesn't mean that everything you release will be enjoyed or receive great feedback; but you will be able to learn from it and extend yourself as an artist.


Sort of like garage musicians. A band starts up, practices, and eventually plays gigs at bars or clubs. Eventually, maybe they record some songs, and put them up on MySpace. At that point, the public perception is that they are valid musicians, however independent, and they are granted some credence of art. 


The perception is not the same for indie writers, which is a shame. The initial thought is that any author who self-publishes is going through a vanity press, and cheapens them. Indie writers have to fight harder to gain credibility than a musician, from a perception point of view. It's an interesting problem. It's one that needs to change. And I think, given time, it will. With the rise of eBook readers, we will see more and more of a scene develop for budding writers who will no longer go through NY to publish their stories, and will actually probably make a better profit by self-publishing. Already Amazon and Barnes and Noble have programs set up for writers to publish through their respective eBook stores. More and more companies are inviting writers to use this opportunity. 


It's a seismic paradigm shift, and it is wonderful. Viva la revolución. 


Julio Angel Ortiz, when not terrorizing the Inside the Circle community, maintains a blog at http://www.signaldotnoise.com.

As much as I am a huge fan of Seal’s latest work, “Commitment” I still have to go back and listen to his album “System”. This was one of those albums that I had on a consistent rotation in my collection (and I still listen to some of these songs today). For me, this album was well done top to bottom, from the most upbeat of tracks to the heartfelt ballad.

Therefore, my choice for this week is “System” by Seal. Check out this classic in the Seal discography.

Check it out on Bing Music or in the Zune Marketplace.

It's always cool to be able to get into the mind of music makers and see what influences them. Part of Inside the Circle's goal (ok, my goal) in 2011 is to interview more artists (both indie and mainstream) so that you can meet the people behind the tracks that get your head nodding. To that extent, here's the first interview with recording artist, TINA.

By the way, before we get into this, Inside the Circle is offering TINA's track, "So Good" that features guest vocals from Fat Joe. Head on over there to download it and add it to your collection.

TINA - Born in Mumbai, raised in New Jersey - music has always been an integral part of pop sensation TINA’s life. Singing and performing since 5 years old, she had an early start with a very musical family who toured as a professional group on weekends.

Like many breaking artists who are likened to their successors, TINA often gets compared to Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, as well as mega talents Prince and Shakira because of her multi talent ability to sing, dance and play multiple instruments. She plays several instruments with guitar and tabla (an Indian drum) being her main focus.

Who are your main musical influences? 

My family was my biggest influence, as they were the reason I started performing professionally at five years old!  While most kids were off with their friends on the weekends, I was off on a musical adventure with my family every weekend. The four of us would sing in seven different South Asian languages and play instruments-and my dad would MC with his hysterical comedy and mimicry.  We would perform everything from ghazals to Bhangra to Garba to Sindhi Ladaas to Bollywood soundtrack songs and much, much more. Although, during the week with my friends at school, I would listen to everything from soft rock, pop, heavy metal, and urban music.  (So my musical influences besides my family are way too many to name!) Basically, if you stood in the center of my house, you would hear absolute musical chaos since all four of us would always be singing four totally different songs all day! So I would have to say, being trained organically by hearing the voices of my family was my strongest influence.

Do you support any specific charities and/or how do you give back as an artist?

One of my main career goals is to gain a massive fan base in order to start my own biannual cancer charity.  I am involved with several charities currently, and always have an upcoming charitable event. I just performed at a toy drive, and I have an upcoming show to help fight cancer with the girls of “Jerseylicious”, (which is The Style Network’s Hit show that I was recently featured on!) The more my successs grows, the more I can give back-and that’s really what it’s all about for me.[Soft Break][Soft Break]

What advice would you give aspiring singers?

I would advise balance. Get out there and work your tail off and do it all! I got an honors degree in Biology and a record deal at the same time by just implementing a great amount of focus, discipline, and drive, and I feel that balance is a beautiful thing to have in order to accomplish it all. I would also advise living the way my mom lived every single day of her life, which is to “see the good-and ONLY the good in everything and everyone” since there are a ton of heartbreaks in this industry no matter who you are or how talented you are. What’s the point of dwelling on the negative anyway? Life’s too short for that-and negativity is completely futile anyway! 

Musically, who are you listening to nowadays?

Oh my god, if I could just merely listen to music for fun, that would be amazing! My life for the past year creatively has been all about vocal rehearsal, playing instruments, writing, and analyzing songs-and then the business side is appearances, media, performances, business-related strategy calls with everyone on my team, social networking, etc. Ironically, I’m in the “music” business, but I really miss listening to music! 

What do you do in your spare time (away from the tours/recording)?

I am more driven this year then I’ve ever been. It’s exciting but it also means working 24/7, just non-stop, and cutting my sleep in half.  So “spare time” is not a concept that I encounter very often, but I will say an occasional “jack on the rocks” and watching sports makes me happy!

If you could collaborate with one artist (past/present) who would it be? Why?

Right now I would say  Ludacris, (but that might be because I just opened for him in Atlanta-and his incredibly fun performance is still lingering in my head!) Actually, there are way to many artists to name! I grew up playing rock music on my guitar, and dancing to urban music, and then playing tabla and singing all genres and languages of Indian music so I have a myriad of ideas for collabs. 

Social media has been a great tool for artists to connect with fans? How have you been able to take advantage of sites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace?

It’s so great to able to keep in touch with the people that support you! There are so many incredible people out there that genuinely just want to show you love, and it’s so great that I can show them love right back. I try to write back to as many people as I can on my Twitter,  Facebook, and Youtube, and I am incredibly grateful for all the support. It’s simply amazing.

What was it like working with Fat Joe in the studio?

It was incredbile! Fat Joe is just a loveable, super-friendly, laid-back, sweet guy, and I personally thought he did absolutely killer job on “So Good”! We had a lot of fun together shooting the video for it too! 

What are your musical goals for 2011?

I have so many goals, and suddenly I have so many different avenues to get there-which I am incredibly grateful for! I would say in general, I just want to continue to gather that massive fan base so I can continue to give back to the world in bigger and bigger ways. (I know that’s a very “Miss America” answer, but it’s the truth!)

Cricket gave us an extensive walkthrough of the carrier's new over-the-air music download service, Cricket Muve. The subscription service is available now on the new Samsung Suede. 

Cricket has stepped into the music download ring, and the carrier has come out of its corner swinging. Though the service might generate comparisons to existing music plans, it borrows from almost every other smartphone music idea and isn't exactly like any of them.

Seriously, it's become fascinating to me the different music subscription services and devices that are heading out of the gate in 2011. One of these service that I've had an ear on for a while is Muve Music. This service, from Cricket Wireless is designed to be a streaming-only music add-on service. The monthly plan for this thing is very cool ($55 for text, voice and data unlimited).

The folks at Phone Scoop managed to get a hands-on demonstration with Muve Music as it works on the Samsung Suede, currently the only phone that will have the service. You can check out their written review or watch the video walk through below:

One of my favorite events to attend in the past few years has been Insomniac’s “Electric Daisy Carnival”. I will always thank Jessica Zahn, at Zune, for being an awesome tour guide during my first event and helping me make it to the 4am hour when it ended. They’ve now tapered that back and it now ends at 2am.

Early indicators from Microsoft's keynote at CES look to be underwhelmed. I, myself, thought that the presentation was safe and basically was there to set the table for what announcements lie in the rest of 2011. Of course when you're talking about something as prestigious and hyped-up as the CES, people can only expect you to come out and announce that you've fully re-created life as the Jetsons. Apparently, techies accept nothing less than that. Anything else is still living in Bedrock.

What most seemed to expect from the keynote was plenty of Zune-related news. As anyone knows Zune remains under the radar for a majority of any given year, only to pop up their head every now and then to announce something like Smart DJ or inclusion into the XBOX 360 system. People were hoping that this would be the keynote that showcased some sort of new Zune device or at least some new enhancements to the current Zune ecosystem.

Which led me to wonder if CES is really the place for such announcements? I see CES as a place to highlight your overall vision and what you plan to reach for in 2011. Microsoft did that by focusing on their 3 screens vision and how Windows (in various forms) will help connect everyone's entertainment. Events like E3 is where XBOX 360 can show off everything it plans to do, but what's a music-related event where Zune can announce what's up their sleeves?

Many have suggested that Zune/Microsoft hold its own event, much like Apple does, but if that's going to succeed then you have to announce a new device, some major upgrades to the software, social, etc and you have to really make that worthwhile for people to tune in or even fly to your event. Spending all of this time to announce that you're simply bringing Smart DJ to Windows Phone 7 will illicit groans and loud chuckles out of Cupertino.

When Microsoft was promoting all of this SoC stuff, it did make me wonder, out loud actually, what this could mean for any potential future Zune device. The current Zune HD is running on a Tegra chip that was touted as having a system/computer on a chip. With the kind of stuff that the new technology is able to do, how would that bode for a new Zune HD2?

Of course this all hinders on if even there is a new Zune HD 2 to speak of. While everyone, and I mean EVERYONE clamors for a Windows Phone 7 device that has no phone to speak of, most of the focus (even if you look at Zune's website) is about Zune as a software platform, more in the vein of Netflix or Kindle. However, as most people rightfully noted, if you're going to go that route, then you should make your app available on as many platforms as possible. That's the key to the success of Netflix and Kindle. They make their stuff not only available practically everywhere, but they have it so that it seamlessly keeps your account connected no matter where you are. If Zune wants to see itself as a platform, get on other platforms.

So many came away disappointed from the keynote and scratching their heads as to when Zune (if at any time) will let out of the bag what they're working on. No one in their right minds think that the Zune team is just sitting at desks all day pressing Smart DJ buttons on every artist in the Marketplace (anyone willing to try that, though?) so conventional wisdom says that they have to be working on ways to refine, re-define and re-energize Zune.

The big question now is, when will the rest of the world be let in on what's brewing in the Zune laboratory?

It surely wasn't at the CES keynote.

Pardon if this has been around for a while, but I've found a site, called "OurStage" that allows the community at-large to help discover new emerging music talent. According to the site, community members vote (fairly) on who they think are truly deserving of being recognized. I'm always glad to see sites that allow undiscovered talent find a way into the masses, so welcome to "OurStage".

Here's how they describe themselves on their website:

We’re not just another music-centric social networking site. The OurStage community is made up of undiscovered artists hungry for exposure, music lovers with insatiable appetites and industry professionals committed to bringing incredible talent to the masses. Together, we’ve created something larger than the sum of its parts – a collaborative environment where truly great artists get discovered.

According to the FAQ, OurStage is "run and funded by music enthusiasts and investors who are really passionate about one thing: bringing true democracy to entertainment." So for groups who have been toiling away just to earn gas money, this may be another way to get yourself noticed.

If you want to check out OurStage for yourself (be it as a performer, manager or fan) head to their site.

So I've decided to try something new this year at Inside the Circle and that's give a suggestion for an album (past or present) that I think it worth listening to. To make things easier, I'll link you to the Bing page for the album (where applicable) so that you can give each track in the album a listen (where applicable).

Can I do 52 recommendations in 2011? Let's find out.

My first suggestion for 2011, is an album that's helping me re-discover my admiration for jazz. In 2010, I kind of allowed Electronic to take over my listening habits and I said that in 2011, I would re-affirm my love for jazz music.

This has to be my favorite Wynton Marsalis release. It's called "Citi Movement" and was written for the "Griot New York" modern ballet. What's great about this recording is that it quite effectively (and musically) represents a day in the city. Just take a listen at the first track "Hustle Bustle", close your eyes and imagine a busy Monday morning in New York. Everything about that first track covers that scene in your head, beautifully.

The album spans 2 discs and was performed by the Wynton Marsalis Septet. Give it a listen over at Bing Music!

Links:

• Bing Music
• Review: All Music Guide