If you happen to be in Miami, stop in and jam with me, Tommy Hall, and Mr. Nice Guy.  All money collected will go to the cause.  It’s sure to be a good time! 

For more information and to register for a song, visit http://www.mngband.com/.  Hope to meet some Kompozers there!

ASIMO, a robot designed by Honda Motor Co., conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as it performed "Impossible Dream" from "Man of La Mancha" to open a special concert performance with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

ASIMO, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, is designed to help people and will someday assist the elderly and disabled in their homes. But while Honda continues to develop and enhance ASIMO's capabilities, ASIMO is being used today to encourage and inspire young students to consider studies in math and science. The addition of music education to ASIMO's repertoire is a natural extension of these efforts.

Rumor has it Honda is now working on robot groupies.

[via CNN]

First there was Kid Zeppelin, and now we have Yuto Clapton.  Meet 8 year-old Yuto Miyazawa.  The guitars are taller than he is, and yet he belts out a pretty darn good Randi Rhoads and Eric Clapton.  I'm putting my guitar away.

WIRED has a cool post today about the Hobnox AudioTool, a free online electronic music studio which lets you compose with two TB-303 Bass Line generators, Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines, and two banks of effects pedals -- all totally virtual. 

Me? I prefer mano-to-fretboard, but this experiment is interesting.  The AudioTool site states that the 2.0 version will support collaboration, so that groups of friends can work on the same song.   If you'd like to get started with Hobnox AudioTool but haven't programmed beats before, watch this simple tutorial.

Hey, I just noticed that at the bottom of the WIRED post, there is a link to a post about Kompoz! 

The Glen Phillips Contest is into its second and final month, and the entries thus far are spectacular. If you're planning on entering this contest, you have only three weeks remaining before we lock down and move into the final judging round. As you know, we'll be posting the contest entires on a special Kompoz channel on OurStage.com, where you, your friends, and the entire world will judge and select the winner during the month of June.

The grand prize is a Squier Strat by Fender, autographed by Glen Phillips. The guitar just arrived last night (see photo) and is ready to be shipped to Glen for his autograph. Even if you don't play guitar, this beautiful brown sunburst strat is a keeper! I may just have to enter the contest myself for a chance to win this thing (as if).

Remember to register on OurStage.com so that you can participate in the judging! OurStage is offering 12 free MP3 downloads for any Kompoz member that registers using the link www.ourstage.com/go/kompoz.

I know it's been a few days since I posted anything. I've been busy working through the details (and there are a lot!) for the upcoming Kompoz CD. There are still many more details to be completed, but I think we're getting much closer.

The most interesting development/accomplishment is ... The final (hopefully) song list has been drafted. There are currently 19 songs planned, although that's subject to change for a couple of reasons. Foremost, I have not yet contacted all of the contributors on the 19 songs to confirm that they are agreeable to the publishing terms. I don't expect any problems with this because the terms are way cool. We're not your traditional record label! (More on that further down)

The second reason the song list might change is that not all of the songs are mixed and mastered yet. Dogbizkits, MDK, and RB have volunteered to churn through the 19 songs and make sure they are ready for production. If for some reason a project cannot be engineered (due to sound quality of the available tracks, for example), then it may be dropped. I don't expect this to be an issue at all -- the selected projects are pretty awesome. By the way, please don't ask Rab, Marty, or Rick for the song list -- they've been sworn to secrecy!

I will be contacting the contributors to each of the final CD tracks, and asking that everyone sign a publishing agreement. This should be a pretty simple document that grants us permission to publish your work, and it will detail how proceeds from the sale of the CD/tracks will be distributed to you. I have not sent the agreement out yet because it's still being revised. I've been working with a very well respected entertainment lawyer to make sure this is done properly. Part of the reason this is taking a long time is because we're charting new ground here. There are no "template" contracts that apply -- the way music is created on Kompoz is revolutionary.

I had considered partnering with an existing label and publishing company, but the ones I spoke with either did not "get it", or they wanted exclusive nasty old-school stick-it-to-the-artist type of contracts. So we've decided to create a new label and publishing company! This will give us flexibility on how the music you've created will ultimately be published, and, most importantly, will ensure that more of the dollars end up in your pockets. The publishing agreement we put forth will be very simple and fair.

Basically, the spirit of the agreement will be this: you agree to have your work on the CD and you will get some money if it sells. If it does not sell, no harm -- you're not signing any rights away. This is totally a non-exclusive agreement. I'm sure the lawyers drafting the actual agreement will turn the above into 30 pages of legal CYA. The details on how the money will be split and distributed should be the bulk of the document, but that too will be fair and easy to understand. Kompoz, of course, will get a share, but I'm happy to say that the bulk of the profits will go to the artists. That's not something you find in a traditional publishing contract!

I've been driving around in the car with a demo CD. Those that have heard it, love it. I'm really excited about this project and can't wait to see it up on iTunes, Amazon.com/mp3, and CD Baby!

With only 2 days left of voting, Down To The River is currently at the #7 spot in the OurStage.com blues genre! That's not bad at all, especially given that there were 455 entries this month.

With fame comes riches. I received an e-mail this morning stating that Down To The River has had its first sale! Yep, Karl, John, Bjorn, Jay, Tom, and I are 16 cents richer this morning -- $0.99 divided by 6. Guys, if it's OK with you, I'll donate your 16 cents to the Friday night Corona Charitable Trust. It's a good cause established to help those with dry mouth.

In all seriousness, I'd like to remind you that OurStage is offering 12 free downloads for any Kompoz member that registers using the link www.ourstage.com/go/kompoz.

Beginning on June 1st, OurStage will be hosting the voting for the Kompoz Glen Phillips remix contest. You'll need to register before then to vote for your favorite contest mix. Register today and get your free downloads.

As previously announced, we held a design contest for the Kompoz CD we're producing titled "All Over The Map". I want to thank everyone that submitted an idea, a concept, and a design -- the submissions we're great! You can see them all on the 99designs contest page.

The winning design was by an artist that goes by the username QuietNights. Below are near-final versions of the CD cover, the liner notes, the back page, and the disc. There will be a few more tweaks (for example, the drum looks too much like a stool to me) before we go to press, but I wanted to show you how cool this came out!

Front Cover: I may replace the drum with a more modern drum for contrast.

Inside Panel: Liner notes will appear here, including member names and credits.

Back Cover: Track names and copyright information will be added later.

CD Face: Might replace the tree with a drum.