Zoom-in Online

In February '07 a new website popped up that looked promising, and now in full Beta mode, Kompoz.com looks to be able to deliver on that promise. Kompoz.com is a next-gen community website built from the ground up around the idea of providing a space and the tools for musicians, performers, recording artists and hobbyists to collaborate remotely with one another, using the internet, on recording projects created in any digital recording application. I have worked on musical projects remotely with my songwriting partner and long time friend and band-mate Don Gunn, who lives in Seattle (I'm in Massachusetts) and we work in Apple's Logic software, and we can send project files, and tracks back and forth and work together on a tune, but we already have a rapport, and we know where each other is coming from creatively. What would it be like to join a community like this where I know no one? In fact maybe I'll try to convince Don to join me in putting up some of our stuff and seeing where the community can take it. I made the mistake when I first posted this of saying that you needed to use GarageBand to use this website, and that's totally not the case (the developer sent me an email after my post hit digg.com). I got it stuck in my head that it was GarageBand based because of GarageSpin's quote (see below) and also that there is no place on the home page of the Kompoz.com site that says "Upload and download tracks using any recording application you like!" Being myopic and Apple-centric at times, I made that assumption.

Raf Fiol, the founder and creater of Kompoz.com wrote, "We actually have lots of good stuff on the way, including a contest with a big classic rock band (can't say who just yet). They will be providing tracks for one of their new songs and inviting kompozers to 'make it better'. We're really excited with it. Thanks again for kicking the tires!" You're welcome, Raf, and I look forward to checking out the contest. I'm hoping that you won't go too far too fast with "signed artists" and "big names" - the attraction of the site and this whole project to me, as it stands right now, is the independent feel, the unsigned artists coming together and creating.

My friend Eric asked me a good string of questions this morning about this notion of strangers collaborating remotely on an artistic project. Eric: "As a non-artist, I'm really curious about whether or not there can be group art where the members don't know each other. You and Don create music together and you've known each other for 20+ years. What happens when everyone is separated by 2000 miles? Can the final product ever be a work of art? Or is it limited to being a piece of music without any feeling or soul?" I think it's a good question. I will try and get an answer to that question and write about it here. As an artist, instinctively I feel like "absolutely, there is a great possibility for something truly artistic to come from it - in fact, I think there's something in the artist inherently that allows for the possibility of a creative artistic spark striking anywhere, at any time, with any number of parameters and possibilities... and being open to that possibility is I think what creates the space for collaborative art to bloom. We'll see!

From the site: "Kompoz.com is an online workspace for musicians. Use it to compose new music with other artists around the world. Got an idea for a song? Record a track. Upload it. Then invite others to add drums, bass, vocals or anything else!"

It's kind of liberating to open yourself up to what another musician might create on top of your song... I mean, you can always decide to not keep their tracks in the final mix, it's up to the author of the song and the profile that controls the given project. But what a way to free your mind if your having a block or even just looking for a spark for new ideas about how to arrange the chorus, or maybe some harmony vocals you never would have thought of... or even more straight to the point, someone else's ideas are going to be different than what you would think up because, well... they're someone elses. I really can't wait to try this out.

GarageSpin.com says: "Think Apple's GarageBand audio recording software meets MySpace Band pages, where the social network revolves around song projects."

I just created an account for myself, under toddmhoward, and I am going to use the site over the next month or two, and keep you updated on my experience there. It seems like it has a lot to offer, and if it can actually put people together that might actually hit it off and enjoy working together... that would be a fantastic way to connect with other musicians long term. Let's put it this way... my songwriting partner Don Gunn and I have been sort of "looking" for a guitar player for about 15 years. No, it hasn't been an active search, but we have played with a number of folks, and have never really found that perfect match. The last time we really felt a symbiosis with a third member was back in high school and shortly thereafter with our original guitarist and friend Jim, who we haven't played with in years. We kind of went different ways musically, but after that Don and I searched high and low. So I intend to try to get some other guitarists to play on a track of ours in hopes of maybe connecting with someone. Those hopes may be high, but who knows, we tend to be early adopters, and maybe someone who would be checking out Kompoz.com at this stage and actually collaborating on projects is just the kind of person we're looking for. Anyway... got your guitar chops in shape? Log on to Kompoz.com and check out my uploaded project. Maybe you will have some ideas to add to the mix? -- More soon

More information from the site: Kompoz.com is the newest online resource for musicians seeking to collaborate with other remote (online) musicians on projects. It's a revolutionary platform that makes music collaboration easy, effective, and engaging.
Unlike other collaboration sites which are based entirely on shrink-wrapped discussion forums software, kompoz is custom-designed from the ground-up for music collaboration. As such, kompoz.com provides professional project management features, such as:

- Individual project workspaces for each collaboration
- Each project has its own discussion forums (multiple topics/threads).
- Upload tracks directly to each project (hosted by us) without using FTP.
- Uploaded files are automatically encoded for fast streaming playback. The original format is preserved for downloads.
- Uploaded files are organized into tracks and versioned.
- Support for MP3, WAV, and WMA formats.
- Download a single file, an entire track, or an entire project with one click.
- Search for projects by genre, artist, tags/keywords, license type, and more.
- Choose from multiple licensing options when creating your projects.
- and more!