Blog of Bruce Edward Smith, composer and producer of music for commercial use and personal enjoyment. Stay up to date on Bruce's latest releases and projects.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Grateful For a Fantastic February 2016
I just want to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone who supported my work in February 2016, making it by far my best February ever. Thanks and blessings to all the buyers at Pond5 and also to my new friends supporting my growing portfolio at AudioJungle. I'm ready to help make your projects successful in March and beyond.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Reach!
Inspire your audience to meet their goals and strive for their dreams with this brisk-paced (128 bpm) track in G major.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Monday, February 22, 2016
Just Another Ironic Monday
I was checking out my Twitter feed earlier today, when I ran across a tweet from one of my local television news outlets teasing a story they plan to feature later today on the Zika virus. Apparently, a number of people are concerned about traveling to areas where Zika is most prevalent.
Now, Zika is no laughing matter. Medical researchers have linked the virus to heart-breaking birth defects, and it's very important to understand the risks and take appropriate precautions. The tease, though, featured an image with "Destination: FEAR" in big bold letters. It really underscored for me the extent to which our media now rely on fear to get viewers to watch. To be fair to them, it works, and a calmer, more thoughtful approach would probably not. I suppose then it's our own fault for falling for it over and over.
Then, I turned to my business, which was to tweet this week's featured stock music track at http://thisbrucesmith.com. That track is "Dark Portents," (see earlier post below) which I realized would probably be an awesome soundtrack for fear-mongering reportage. Hey, it's a dirty thankless job but somebody's gotta do it. I promise next week's featured track will be more upbeat.
Now, Zika is no laughing matter. Medical researchers have linked the virus to heart-breaking birth defects, and it's very important to understand the risks and take appropriate precautions. The tease, though, featured an image with "Destination: FEAR" in big bold letters. It really underscored for me the extent to which our media now rely on fear to get viewers to watch. To be fair to them, it works, and a calmer, more thoughtful approach would probably not. I suppose then it's our own fault for falling for it over and over.
Then, I turned to my business, which was to tweet this week's featured stock music track at http://thisbrucesmith.com. That track is "Dark Portents," (see earlier post below) which I realized would probably be an awesome soundtrack for fear-mongering reportage. Hey, it's a dirty thankless job but somebody's gotta do it. I promise next week's featured track will be more upbeat.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Ambient Lifestyle: Royalty Free Stock Music
Use this track to add a cool ambiance in support of contemporary lifestyle or corporate content.
License exclusively at AudioJungle
License exclusively at AudioJungle
Monday, February 15, 2016
Quiet Electronic: Royalty Free Stock Music
Create a serene mood behind videos and presentations using this electronic track with piano.
License exclusively at: http://audiojungle.net/item/quiet-electronic/14619951
License exclusively at: http://audiojungle.net/item/quiet-electronic/14619951
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
New DDLY Dynamic Delay from iZotope
iZotope has just released a new delay plugin. It's an interesting piece of software with a lot potential, especially for folks like me who like to do atmospheric types of things with our music. It's available to download for free from iZotope's website (registration required) until March 10, 2016. After that, you have to pony up $49. I downloaded it, installed it, and slapped together this video demo showcasing just one of DDLY's capabilities. Hope you find it useful. (By the way, the track playing here is one of the candidates for my next album project.)
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Announcement About My SoundCloud Presence
On or about Monday, February 8, 2016, I'll be making some changes to my content on SoundCloud. First, I'll be taking down most of my stock music content there. Second, I'll be uploading tracks from Circadia and creating a playlist for the album. Going forward, my plan is to use SoundCloud mainly to promote Circadia and future non-stock releases, while hosting my stock music previews on YouTube.
Two factors motivated this decision. First, I'm simply not attracting a lot of interest in my stock music on SoundCloud. I've gotten as many listens to certain tracks hosted on YouTube as I have to some of my SoundCloud stock music posts in months. Second, while I see no evidence now that YouTube is likely to impose limits on uploading, this is not the case with SoundCloud. I could get more space on SoundCloud, but only by paying for a premium membership. But why should I do that when I get analytics capabilities on YouTube without paying a premium?
In any event, in my opinion SoundCloud is likely moving in the direction of becoming a promotional outlet for commercial music. So I think it makes sense for me to use SoundCloud to promote my commercial work. I will keep a few stock music tracks and at least one playlist on SoundCloud. Changes in policy by SoundCloud or Alphabet (YouTube) down the line may cause me to re-evaluate my situation, but for now I think this is the way for me to go. So if you land on a page on my blog with a link to a SoundCloud track that no longer works, this is the reason. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience.
Two factors motivated this decision. First, I'm simply not attracting a lot of interest in my stock music on SoundCloud. I've gotten as many listens to certain tracks hosted on YouTube as I have to some of my SoundCloud stock music posts in months. Second, while I see no evidence now that YouTube is likely to impose limits on uploading, this is not the case with SoundCloud. I could get more space on SoundCloud, but only by paying for a premium membership. But why should I do that when I get analytics capabilities on YouTube without paying a premium?
In any event, in my opinion SoundCloud is likely moving in the direction of becoming a promotional outlet for commercial music. So I think it makes sense for me to use SoundCloud to promote my commercial work. I will keep a few stock music tracks and at least one playlist on SoundCloud. Changes in policy by SoundCloud or Alphabet (YouTube) down the line may cause me to re-evaluate my situation, but for now I think this is the way for me to go. So if you land on a page on my blog with a link to a SoundCloud track that no longer works, this is the reason. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience.
Friday, February 5, 2016
Monday, February 1, 2016
It's February, Already
January 2016 is gone already, and it was a good month, my highest revenue January ever doing stock music. I am so grateful to everyone who has supported my work by buying, licensing, listening, or just offering moral support. You are all awesome! I hope I can continue to improve the quality of my work for you. Stay tuned as the year progresses.
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