mutual mobile , inc. is a consulting firm specializing in mobile solutions with offices in austin , texas and hyderabad , india ( in hitec city ) .

the company specializes in the user experience , visual design , and software development for new products and digital systems , often with component applications ( apps ) built for ios , android , mobile web , and other platforms .

the company was founded in 2009 , is privately held and employs over 300 people worldwide .

the company has built over 200 applications for clients such as audi , google , and cisco .

the company released a human interface guidelines for android in 2011 .

mutual mobile

why work for mutual mobile ? mutual mobile is a world leading agency in mobile and emerging technology innovation . . . .
glassdoor has 98 mutual mobile reviews submitted anonymously by mutual mobile employees . read employee reviews and ratings on glassdoor to decide if mutual mobile is right for you .
why work for mutual mobile ? mutual mobile is a world leading agency in mobile and emerging technology innovation and we are looking for an accomplished systems . . .
for the future . for everyone . for the better . how eero and mutual mobile revolutionized wifi .
ability to drive the mobile clinic . parking the mobile unit at approved , secure locations . each mobile clinic features relaxing reception areas and private . . .
mutual mobile is an innovation consultancy . we bring digital experiences to life through our integrated approach to design and technology .
ability to drive the mobile clinic . parking the mobile unit at approved , secure locations . responsible for driving the mobile unit to and from health fair . . .
start to learn more about mutual mobile and our history , here : urltoken celebrating the places that tell our company ' s story .
the folks at mutual mobile have made a terrific effort to help bring parity to android apps with the release of their android design guidelines .
mutual of omaha life insurance ( $ 200 , 000 . 00 ) . mutual of omaha dental vsp vision insurance mutual of omaha short - term disability ( 60 % of salary up to $ 2 , 000 . 00 . . .
we are currently developing our solutions on mobile and in the cloud ! we have a positive culture designed around the philosophy of mutual respect and the . . .
mutual mobile , an austin , tex , - based mobile applications development company , launched an iphone application ,
army of eyes ,
that makes it easy for iphone users to snap a geo - coded picture of any red balloons they spot .
knowledge of the mybrightwheel mobile app is a plus but not required . . use mybrightwheel mobile app to communicate with parents and report on students day . . . .
their incentive ? to win $ 2 , 500 if they are the first to submit an accurate location . ( ristroph said mutual mobile won ' t keep any of the winnings . )
maintains a clean environment inside and outside of the mobile facility . may assist with set up of mobile facility upon arrival and pack up prior to departure . . . .
three ( 3 ) years of experience designing mobile and / or web applications . shape the functionality , look and feel of our global product across mobile , web and . . .
this looks like good stuff . if you’ve got suggestions , send ’em to mutual mobile , and maybe a grassroots design standard can really take off , helping the android developers and users all over the world .
lead a proactive , collaborative , and strategic account planning process that ensures mutual performance objectives , milestones , optimizations , risk assessment , . . .
we partnered with eero to deliver on the promise of easy , reliable , mobile wifi for all . check out our
at our core , we create and design mobile apps and digital strategies that ignite businesses , while pushing the boundaries of what’s possible .
we believe in collaboration , mutual respect , open communication , and opportunity for growth . supported the fema individual assistance program and / or hud cdbg - dr . . .
produce clean and scalable code for deployment on mobile platforms . digerati systems is seeking a skilled and experienced senior android developer to create . . .
experience with multiple technologies including windows , msoffice , exchange , active directory , vpn , voip , mobile communications , it security , network . . .
mutual respect is the cornerstone for every realmanage relationship . as one of the largest ( # 10 out of 5 , 000 + firms ) and fastest - growing companies in the . . .
mutual respect is the cornerstone for every realmanage relationship . as one of the largest ( # 8 out of 5 , 000 + firms ) and fastest - growing companies in the . . .
financial services - 401 ( k ) rollovers , roth & traditional ira ' s , sep , simple , mutual funds , annuities , college savings plans and other investment opportunities . . . .
they are responsible for their own operating expenses , including their computer , printer , mobile phone , internet access , travel , entertainment and other . . .
from always - on sensors , to mobile phones , and to the cloud . collaboration / communication – your ability to forge reciprocal relationships which are built upon . . .
mickey ristroph , co - founder of the company , who previously competed in darpa competitions , said ,
this kind of challenge makes the most sense on mobile devices .
mutual mobile is an innovation consultancy . we bring digital experiences to life through our integrated approach to design and technology . innovative solutions to complex problems require carefully constructed teams . that ' s why ours mix equal parts strategy , design , and engineering , with r & d as a shared responsibility . beneath this highly collaborative , iterative environment lies a passion for studying people that helps us craft experiences they love .
please do not apply if you don ' t feel 100 % competent with computers , iphones , mobile apps , learning new software , and consider yourself extremely tech savvy . . . .
until today , the contest has lived only online , where players have launched facebook pages , twitter accounts , wikis , web sites , mobile device applications and more to promote their team and recruit members .
there’s no denying that ios apps are , on the whole , polished . this is due in large part to apple’s
, a document that “describes the guidelines and principles that help you design a superlative user interface and user experience for your ios app . ” there’s no ambiguity about what’s a good idea and what’s not : apple tells you straight up what’s a good idea . the polish and sophistication of ios apps is a benefit of the control that
wields , as the single purveyor , over ios . android apps , by comparison , often suffer from a lack of polish and sophistication in large part because there’s no single authority saying “here’s how you do it . ” add in the variety of hardware platforms running android , and android’s programmer - centric development mentality , and it’s little wonder that the state of android today is often compared to the state of linux from ten years ago : by geeks for geeks .
android is crushingly programmer heavy . in my opinion , they have not given enough consideration to asset creation or creative direction . with apple , the moment you start designing an app , you know how they want you to build it . their design plans are so complete that you can immediately access it . i often dream that my house is an iphone app ; it has become comfortable . with android , there is a false sense of freedom to do whatever you want . unfortunately , when you start taking all the various screen sizes and resolutions into account , it doesn’t realistically pan out that way . … as a disclaimer , i am a designer , and while my knowledge of programming has increased a fraction while creating a document , it should be known that android makes it difficult for anyone who is not a programming to decipher their rules . so with that in mind , understand that while my research has been abundant , this document should be considered a designer’s translation of android and therefore subject to error .
while it certainly is not my place to set a standard for google , in this document i intend to at least create a guideline for us to follow .
it almost sounds like it ' s too much fun to have been hatched by the military : find 10 giant , red balloons hidden somewhere in the u . s . and you could win $ 40k ?
but it ' s true . today the defense department ' s defense advanced research projects agency , or darpa ,
launched
10 eight - foot - wide red balloons in a nationwide high tech treasure hunt .
open to anyone in the country , the darpa network challenge is designed to explore social networks and internet communication . finding balloons will require players to build and motivate nationwide networks of people to join the hunt .
the balloons , which will be visible only during daylight hours , are
moored , 8 - foot , red , weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental united states ,
darpa explains on its web site . the agency added that the balloons will visible and accessible from nearby roads .
the first person or team to send in the correct geographic coordinates for all ten balloons will pocket the $ 40 , 000 prize . only those who have registered can submit locations and receive the prize , but they are free to divide the money however they ' d like .
as of friday , at least 2 , 000 people had registered for the contest and darpa said the number continues to grow .
we ' re learning a lot about how social networks form – how people band together to solve problems . but relatively less is known about how those networks mobilize rapidly and what happens when trust relationships are crucial ,
said peter lee , director of darpa ' s transformational convergence technology office .
but now that the balloons are deployed , the real fun starts . teams across the country are fielding and sharing messages , trying to separate accurate information from false leads .
it ' s a race and money is involved . that injects a little twist . people now have an incentive to hold secrets ,
lee said , adding that as players recruit other participants and solicit information they have to gauge whether or not they are legitimate .
timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the launch of arpanet , the advanced research projects agency network , which eventually grew into the internet , lee said the contest was also intended to celebrate a crucial milestone in internet history .
on dec . 5 , 1969 , darpa succeeded in linking the first four nodes of the network that ultimately expanded to sustain millions of computers and modern - day social networks .
since darpa announced the project oct . 29 , lee said a number of inventive approaches have popped up – from using different kinds of economic and charitable incentives to relying on computer security or data - mining technology to harnessing plain , old fun .
jon cannell , a 39 - year - old small business owner in port charlotte , fla . , decided to join the contest early on . as an entrepreneur familiar with web development , he figured he had as good a shot as anyone and launched a web site , facebook page and twitter account to recruit members .
i was excited by a challenge and thought maybe i could leverage some of my skills and learn new skills as they related to social media ,
he said .
after making his imprint online , he published a press release and asked friends and family to send messages about his project far and wide . to entice people to collaborate , he announced that the prize money would be split evenly among the people who submit winning coordinates .
though his facebook page counts just 20 people among its members , he believes the actual network of those aware of his team could be much larger and could still come through with valuable information starting saturday .
i ' m not quite sure what to expect . it ' s basically a math problem – the more people in our network , the more the chance for success ,
he said .
if it wins , project red balloon , a balloon search team organized by graduate students and professors at harvard business school , promises to donate the $ 40k to aids research and awareness .
we wanted to test the ability of 2 , 000 students and faculty on the harvard business school campus in cambridge , massachusetts to dig into their e - mail , their facebook , and their twitter networks to mobilize toward a common goal ,
mba student bradley lautenbach said in an e - mail .
through any means possible , he said their team is trying to engage the entire hbs community of current students and alumni across the country . he estimates that they ' ve already reached 50 , 000 to 100 , 000 people in nearly every state in the continental u . s .
it ' s really a case of ' get out the eyes , '
he said .
we need as many people as possible , in as many places as possible , to be aware of what ' s happening on saturday .
hopefully , if someone sees a balloon they ' ll remember project red balloon and report its location to them . lautenbach said each person who submits a winning coordinate has the option to keep $ 1 , 000 , but they hope each participant will choose to donate the money to charity .
for some tech professionals , the challenge is an opportunity to hone their skills and get their name out .
people will be on the road , or on foot , when they spot the balloons , he said . it ' s easier for potential participants to submit information immediately via smart phone than wait to go home and sit at their laptops .
having successfully developed and launched dozens of iphone applications previously , he said his company was well - positioned to get
army of eyes
into the app store and into the public awareness . the application went live wednesday and so far has been downloaded about 8 , 000 times .
larry moss , a professional artist who creates balloon sculptures , said he knew he had to join the competition the day it was announced .
eighteen years ago he said he launched an online network for balloon artists in the internet ' s earlier days . that network – urltoken – is still thriving .
to celebrate the internet ' s contribution to social networks , he ' s mobilizing his own , asking its more than 2 , 000 members to be on the lookout for the red balloons and spread the word about his project .
if his team wins , he said he will use the prize money to create a 30 - foot - tall balloon cupcake , designed to fly with a pilot .
you can do all the math and whatever tactics to play the game but when it comes down to it , i think people will respond to having fun ,
he said .
he also said that since the network will grow from an already established community , false information and distrust will likely not be significant issues .
it ' s the birthday of the internet – let ' s celebrate ,
he said .
what better way than with balloons and a cupcake .
senate dem on trump court pick : ' never seen a president . . . make himself a puppet '
211 e 7th st , suite 200 ( 1 , 477 . 66 mi ) austin , texas 78701
designing an augmented reality experience demands a strategic understanding of the platforms required to power them , and we make this process enjoyable and efficient .
from advanced training simulations to healthcare , and brand activations , our engineers create superior immersive experiences that help businesses learn and grow .
great design , begets smart function . when it comes to a truly unified user experience , consistency and customization conduct the orchestra side - by - side .
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your trust is our top concern , so companies can ' t alter or remove reviews .
mm is a great place to work . all of the employees are smart , dedicated to their craft and checked their ego at the door . the work environment is casual yet everyone is working hard and encouraging others to do their best . there is a sense of gratitude in the office that is refreshing . of course unlimited snacks is always nice too . mm also encourages it ' s employees to stretch their abilities and pursue whatever it is that one is passionate about , allowing for career growth .
because of a temporary move , the employees will be split up in two different buildings while we wait for our new space to be built out . hopefully it will be worth the wait !
keep up the good work , stay focused on the fundamentals and maintain transparency with the employee population .
good people to work with . good pay and benefits . fun things to do at company events . good chance to use your skills if you get onto the right team .
too many big egos and folks who just want told how good they are . extreme resistance to change or improvements on team . hardly using my skills due to others taking control . recent massive layoffs .
look at the real problems at the company . look at how people are interacting on teams and how directors interact with the team , project manager , and customer to see what needs to be fixed to improve culture and delivery .
so many . . . - leadership ? a complete joke and has been for years . it ' s just a musical chairs of ineptitude and cronyism that has led to the company ' s atrophy . - no direction . this is akin to the leadership issues , but really there is no plan forward and really no identity . so much wasted time and money over the years trying to
figure it out
only to be led by the same bunch of clowns in some different configuration . - business development . there were some experienced sales people in here a year ago , but let them go and now just think that marketing ( with no real plan as to who or how to do it ) will somehow save the day . there is no miracle under armor account walking back through the door to save us , there needs to be an actual assessment of who and what we are and a message to tell that story . right now it ' s just vomit .
i guess you are already doing what you want to do , which is to slowly kill off the company and watch all of the talent leave so everything can be shipped to india for less . bravo !
can ' t keep a client more than 6 months because there is an over promise and underdeliver mentality ( mvp ) that disappoints the buyer almost without exception .
it got the second star because you would have had fun during the good times . but the outlook for the future is so bleak , it would be a mistake to talk up the pros – & nbsp ; they simply do not exist the way they once did .
they are in a temporary office space , indefinitely . outlook is , to be blunt but realistic , very bad . things have been downhill for years , and multiple rounds of layoffs have shattered confidence beyond repair .
speaking over several years , all advice has been either ignored or useless to this point , so apparently management needs to change entirely .
many brilliant people , flexible hours , opportunities to learn new things . some of the managers are awesome . reasonable holiday and pto policy .
over the last 4 years there have been 4 major rounds of layoffs . it’s practically an annual tradition . each time , tenured employees who were passionate , talented , and very smart were let go while executives and managers keep their jobs . office is currently interim and split over two co - work spaces with few amenities compared to previous space . plans of the permanent office move seem to be halted or stalled due to poor financial health , hence layoffs .
get it together , learn how to forecast , retain accounts and stop the surprise annual pizza and layoff parties .
super fun environment with lots of action going on . great place to learn . the people that work here make the company awesome .
too much office politics slows down projects , way too many project managers and too few designers and ux people to do the job .
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urltoken


magnatune is an american independent record label based in berkeley , california , founded in spring 2003 .

it originally only sold music for download through its website , but added a print-cds-on-demand service in late 2004 , and in october 2007 began selling complete albums and individual tracks through amazon.com .

in may 2008 , magnatune launched all-you-can-eat membership plans .

from march 2010 magnatune dropped the cd printing service and moved exclusively to all-you-can-eat membership plans .

magnatune was the first record label to license music online and as of may 2015 had sold over 7,000 licenses in its twelve years of existence .

magnatune

john buckman , magnatune ceo ( “jb” ) : the creative commons license , which applies to all of magnatune’s mp3s , enables a few different things .
check out the amarok post on the magnatune blog for screenshots of that integration .
browse the magnatune music catalogue , and play full - length previews through your squeezebox .
the iphone / android app called
apptui
recently added strong support for magnatune .
figure 1 . the magnatune home page ( urltoken ) answers visitors ' top eight questions .
i ' ve just finished adding https support for magnatune , which you can reach at urltoken .
creative commons today announced that magnatune records founder john buckman has joined the organization’s board of directors .
- planet erstwild - 20100305 - magnatune founder john buckman | kruu - lp 100 . 1 fm
these compilation disks unite the best songs from our artists for each of magnatune ' s musical genres .
magnatune has collected several hard to find or out of print musical pieces that they sell licensing to .
creative commons is pleased to announce that magnatune records founder john buckman has joined our board of directors .
magnatune records is an internet - based record label that uses creative commons licensing to gain wider audiences for its music . magnatune currently represents over 220 recording artists and released its 500th album in october 2006 .
to magnatune . their sound can be best described as a new take on old funk . their album ,
parts of magnatune are very image heavy , such as those that show many album covers or many artists .
all in all , it ' s a bit like apple
remote
app for itunes . it ' s not a general replacement for the magnatune iphone / android app : it fills a different need , of remote controlling your browser ' s session with magnatune . and fyi , it works both on the free and member sections of magnatune ( i . e . , http : / / download . magnatune . com )
amarok ' s most recent release ( 1 . 4 . 4 ) includes a magnatune store browser . it has always been possible to stream full songs and albums from the magnatune web site , but with amarok you can browse the entire magnatune catalog , play songs or entire albums , and even purchase albums directly through your music player .
magnatune relaunched itself today with a new business model . we ' re now in the no - limits membership business .
magnatune makes non - exclusive agreements with its artists and gives them fifty percent of any proceeds from online sales or licensing . all tracks available on magnatune come without drm and buyers can set the price they wish to pay for an album .
why should i care ? — a one - line description of what you do and , if possible , why someone should be interested . for magnatune , it ' s “internet music without the guilt” followed by “magnatune , the open music record label” .
this month we added 21 new albums to the magnatune library . here is a selection of latest additions to our downloads website .
magnatune is an internet music record label . it was born out of personal experiences from my wife releasing her cd on a british record label and some observations i ' d gathered about the music industry . magnatune is different from traditional labels in the following ways :
magnatune provides “internet music without the guilt . ” based in berkeley , california , magnatune is a record label with a 21st century business model , offering consumers a unique mix of free and paid music . one of the first for - profit companies to adopt creative commons’ copyright licenses into its strategy , magnatune has amassed both an impressive buzz and a large artist roster . we recently spoke with magnatune founder and ceo john buckman about the music company’s progress and plans , and how going “some rights reserved” can boost the bottom line .
another is the selection . like a major label , magnatune offers quite a few genres of music . but unlike a major , magnatune sells more classical music than anything else . world music , electronica and new age are also big sellers . evidently magnatune has found an audience with tastes that are not being adequately served by the old - guard labels . so , although its nontraditional business plan may get much of the press , magnatune’s concentration on high quality music in second - tier genres is also a big factor in its success .
plugins for mpris , magnatune , lastfm ( album art and scrobbling ) , lyrics fetching , notifications , ubuntu soundmenu , . . .
we are unable to find itunes on your computer . to download and subscribe to classical podcast from urltoken by magnatune , get itunes now .
anything you can ' t do with the magnatune - specific components , you do with the screen of your smartphone , which works like a remote trackpad .
listen to internet radio from spotify , grooveshark , somafm , magnatune , jamendo , urltoken , digitally imported , urltoken , soundcloud , icecast and subsonic servers .
i ' m someone who still believes in owning my music and fair compensation of musicians so i deeply appreciate magnatune . however i am looking to convert my large classical lp collection to cd / mp3 and magnatune has only a smallish selection of what i ' m looking for : maybe 10 - 15 albums total .
jb : yes , i absolutely think the magnatune “try before you buy” model would work for films and books . i’ve registered “magnatome . com” as a possible expansion of magnatune into books . most visitors see magnatune in a very simple light : they can listen to our music , the selection is really good , and the product ( when you buy ) is of high quality . where - ever there’s a glut of “content” , much of it not - so - good , a magnatune - like business that picks the best stuff , and let’s potential buyers see the value of their choice , i think there’s a viable business .
magnatune was born out of personal experiences from my wife releasing her cd on a british record label and some observations i ' d gathered about the music industry .
buckman’s appointment is a reflection of creative commons’ growing interest in commercial applications of cc’s licenses and principles . buckman’s business — magnatune records — is an internet - based record label that uses creative commons licensing to gain wider audiences for its music . magnatune currently represents over 220 recording artists and released its 500th album in october 2006 .
magnatune is a record label with the motto we are not evil . based in berkeley , california , it is the perfect antithesis of the trigger happy lawyer toting riaa label . it is a strange one , as far as record labels go , but in a very good way . some of many interesting facts about magnatune :
the only downside to buying via the amarok magnatune store is that it doesn ' t provide any way to order physical media . magnatune allows users to buy music on cd plus the digital download , but you can purchase only the digital download via the amarok store . the developers say that some of this is up to magnatune to implement in its rest protocol , but they ' ve received a few requests for the ability to buy physical media and they will be looking into supporting that .
magnatune has been a leader in implementing the cc + protocol . lisa debenedictis is a popular music on magnatune . debenedictis released an a capella version of
girl and supergirl
on ccmixter . the a capella vocals were remixed into 76 songs , and magnatune picked the best remixes at the time for
mixter one
, an compilation album where magnatune signed distribution agreements with all the chosen remixers . both the remixers and the original musician ( debenedictis get paid for sales of the compilation . one of the remixes from
mixter one
was then picked up as a commercial license by a bicycle company for a promotional cd , which they in turn sell .
and people like patronizing businesses who are good citizens , who are helping a cause they believe in . magnatune’s incorporation of creative commons helps our visitors feel good about us .
magnatune was born out of some observations i ' d gathered about the music industry , along with personal experiences from my wife releasing her cd on an indie record label .
magnatune is one of the perfect examples of what the digital entertainment industry must do . i ' m glad of your success : simplicity , quality , interesting price . . .
if you think magnatune is a worthy goal , please support it . there are powerful forces who want it to fail , so i need your help if this is going to work .
i believe that the home page of any successful company , project or organization needs to address eight issues immediately . as shown in figure 1 , magnatune ' s home pages answers all eight :
at this point i would like to do a shout out . mr . jade leary is a magnatune artist and a podcast maker user . his album the lost art of human kindness is the 9th highest valued magnatune album of all time . so if you are into alt . rock you should definitely listen to mr . leary ' s music here and check out his podcast here .
last year the linux media player amarok created a demo livecd using cc licensed music from the wired cd . in the meantime amarok developers have added many features and have now added access to magnatune within the player . ( we’ve mentioned magnatune here many times , but for new readers , it is an innovative record label that uses cc licensing , see our interview with the founder . )
jb : when we all have ipod - like devices and no one buys cds , magnatune will need to be a record label known for its absolutely amazing catalog of a half - dozen genres . if magnatune becomes known for its great music , like warp records and blue note , that’s the best i can hope for . because , in the end , it’s all about the music .
the most recent stable version of amarok doesn ' t provide information about the connection to the magnatune store , so one might wonder whether the connection is secure . i emailed the amarok developers about this , and they say that amarok does connect to magnatune over an encrypted connection . they indicated that future releases will provide more explicit information about the connection so users can see that the connection is encrypted .
things aren’t quite that cut and dried : cd baby does provide a recommendation engine and offer some promotional possibilities ; conversely , magnatune artists do have their own websites , from which they link to magnatune . but buckman’s distinction between a “boutique” store / label like his and a supermarket like cd baby is important . any artist can sell through cd baby : currently it offers cds from a staggering 112 , 000 indie musicians and bands . magnatune’s 200 or so artists , by contrast , have been selected carefully by buckman and his small staff . it so happens , for example , that magnatune has an excellent roster of early ( e . g . baroque , or pre - classical ) music , of which i am a fairly big consumer . having bought several albums and sampled numerous others there , i know that most anything magnatune offers in that genre will be something i would want to have . so , for me , magnatune has become a destination in itself . and when i buy music there , i know that 50 % of my purchase price will be going directly to the artist . hence i am getting not only music i like but the satisfaction of knowing i am truly supporting the musicians .
magnatune now automatically detects retina display devices ( i . e . , ipad , hd android , and 4k monitors ) and swaps in album art and artist photos at twice the resolution in those cases .
magnatune is my project . the goal is to find a way to run a record label in the internet reality : file trading , internet radio , musicians ' rights , the whole nine - yards .
classical we ' ve added a wide selection of albums to magnatune ' s classical section recently , particularly from lute , clarinet and cello musicians including james akers , romualdo barone and alison crum and roy marks .
apptui turns your smartphone into a remote trackpad to your web browser ( that ' s a generic feature for every web site ) and then it also adds site - specific navigation and control buttons for magnatune .
amarok ' s playlist interface takes a little bit of exploration to find all of the features hidden in its nooks and crannies . the left side has several
browsers
that display amarok ' s music collection , playlists , files , media players , and the magnatune store . integration with magnatune is relatively new , so if you ' re using an older version of amarok , you may not have that option .
i had removed the link from the home page for one day , and it ' s back now . however , it ' s no longer on every artist page at magnatune , as that seemed like overkill .
we’ve added a whole host of talented musicians and djs to magnatune during april and may . the wide variety of genres and top quality musicianship demonstrates that we only add high - end music to our downloads website .
i recently added
retina image
support widely to magnatune , so that if you have a
retina monitor
( ipad , high res android , or 4k resolution monitor ) the magnatune web site automatically detects this and sends you album art and artist photos at twice the horizontal and vertical resolution . the downside to this is that the
retina
images are much larger , which is why i wanted to implement webp support .
magnatune might not be evil , but building a company takes money . buckman has invested $ 1 million into the site , and it is just now “barely turning a profit , as of august 2005… [ but ] the ‘barely’ is on purpose : the focus is on growing magnatune , not pulling cash out , because this is all about getting musicians enough money so they can keep at it , and avoid working at burger king ! ”
where am i ? — a graphic logo on the top left or top right does the trick . it ' s even better if you have a catchy line . for magnatune , it ' s “we are not evil” .
amarok is a powerful media manager that integrates well with web services like last . fm , magnatune and more . amarok comes with many features , like support for community - developed scripts , dynamic playlists , context views and more .
several unusual features can be found in magnatune ' s music - download purchasing process . buyers determine how much they want to pay , we don ' t use a shopping cart , we support paypal and anonymous visa purchases are allowed .
second , noncommercial projects ( like student films ) can use our music for free in their projects . this helps our music get wider distribution , and future filmmakers learn that magnatune is a great place to find music for their films .
magnatune is helping to prove the contrary . on the heels of its quietly revolutionary announcement that customers may share their uncompressed - audio music purchases with up to three friends , the online record label and store has seen a 40 % increase in sales . i spoke by email with magnatune founder john buckman about his new offer to “fill your ipod for $ 200” and , generally , about what he’s doing right and what the music industry on the whole is doing wrong .
i read this article by courtney love six months after starting magnatune , and was stunned by how much i have in common with her vision and understanding of the music business . and , she ' s much more eloquent than i am .
john buckman i s the founder of berkeley , california - based recording label magnatune , a pioneer in digital downloading , application of creative commons copyrights , and artist - friendly business practices , sometimes referred to as
fair trade music .
the last bullet - point is the raison d ' être for this post . it may be old news to some of you , but all of the 5487 tracks by 206 different artists under magnatune are creative commons licensed . this is a good deal for both the podcaster and the artist . magnatune is an underdog in the music industry , but it is a company that totally gets the changes coming with the digital era and this podcast loving attitude is just one example of many .
i ' ve been using ( and testing ) it these past few weeks , as their magnatune support went into beta , and i ' m pleased to say i ' m finding it quite useful . it ' s free , and downloadable here .
if you ' re one for the deeper darker side of ambient , have a taste for melody driven indie folk or perhaps veer towards traditional instruments such as the lute or cello then be sure to check out our latest additions to the magnatune music library .
fees from music licensing ( to independent filmmakers , for example ) can be a significant part of the income an artist can make , but usually it’s a much more difficult side of the business for artists to deal with – unless they’re also lawyers . but magnatune makes it unusually easy , both financially and technically , for producers to license its artists’ music . in fact , the artists who market and appeal to both consumers ( via direct downloads ) and producers ( via licensing ) do the best at magnatune .
there is an it conversations interview that i recommend with the magnatune founder john buckman here . he explains in depth how magnatune is different from traditional labels and gives us his insight on how the music industry is changing in this digital era . it was interesting for me because i am also a producer of digital content and his perspective on things is refreshing . i sincerely hope that ventures like his succeed in taking a huge chunk of the business away from the crap pushing greedy cartel of the big 5 record companies .
who are we ? bookmooch is conceived , designed , written and administered by john buckman ( pictured above ) . john also runs the online record label magnatune . the graphic identity of the site is by claudy niesen , and the illustration is by andrice arp .
john buckman is founder and owner of magnatune . com , a online record label he launched may of 2003 with the motto “we are not evil . ” since that time , he has signed over 220 artists and sells their music directly from the magnatune site through online downloads and print - on - demand cds , as well as an innovative licensing tool that allows filmmakers and other creative professionals to license music for use in commercial projects directly from the magnatune site . known for his progressive take on label operations , buckman emphasizes an anti - drm stance and a musician - friendly approach that includes forming non - exclusive agreements with recording artists , sharing profits equally with them , and allowing them to retain full rights to their own music . buckman is also a well - known figure in the open - source community and successfully applies both open source and creative commons - based principles to ensure the entire magnatune catalog is heard by the widest possible audience . john divides his time between london and berkeley , ca and is married to classical and electronic musician jan hanford buckman .
i am so glad to see magnatune going this way . and that you have not restricted us to paypal . i am a longtime fan / supporter / member , but dropped out of download membership when you did that . now jumping back on board with a smile .
magnatune , a record label founded in 2003 , is a pioneer of open music , the most successful attempt to embed creative commons ( cc ) licenses in a sustainable commercial venture , and an early adopter of variable pricing . initially conceived as part online radio station , part retailer and part licensing - suite , the business model continues to evolve in response to consumer and technology trends . magnatune uses unconventional means to create the fan base , and then monetizes it via the traditional - - though updated — methods of selling downloads and commercial licensing rights .
i ' ve been a big fan of magnatune since it debuted a few years ago . i ' m happy to pay for music , but i like to be able to listen to it first to see if it ' s something i like , and don ' t want to deal with any digital restrictions management ( drm ) crippled cds . magnatune has an interesting selection , and a no - hassle way of doing business that ' s good for customers and good for artists , since half of the sale price goes directly to the artist .
i want to steer — despite all these hints on what to do next , visitors often want to decide for themselves where to go . on magnatune , 15 % of people coming to the home page click on the artists tab . make the major site navigation options clear .
however , as one journalist observed that magnatune is “completely reinventing all aspects of the music business , becoming a fully vertically - integrated company” ( ie , doing a & r , recording , distribution , licensing , pr ) i think i have my hands full with “just” music .
magnatune runs on open - source software . five 2 . 4ghz 1u rackmount boxes run linux . disk storage is provided by hardware raid on four rackmount drive arrays , each with seven drives for a total of 28 drives . each array is configured for raid5 with one hot spare .
the minimum membership period is 3 months , but other than that , nothing prevents you from doing that . would you prefer that magnatune use drm to prevent the 3 % of members who do this ? ( and it is about 3 % , as i do track it ) . i prefer that magnatune not be evil , and not punish the 97 % who
play fair
in order to stop the 3 % who don ' t . and besides , even with that 3 % we still made $ 45 in revenue , which isn ' t shabby .
i ' m personally really excited with the change , because 4 years ago i noticed that our download sales were declining , and it wasn ' t until 2 years ago that i finally figured out what people wanted . magnatune has been going since 2003 , and the future looks rosy .
magnatune’s latest marketing idea is its new “fill your ipod” offer . noting that ipods have a lot more storage space than the average person has enough music ( and / or time ) to fill up , buckman came up with the idea of bundling its 400 or so albums into one $ 200 lump - sum purchase . yes , that’s not much money going to each artist included in the bundle , but it’s better - than - free promotion , especially considering that people who take magnatune up on the offer would not have otherwise been acquiring most of those albums at all .
apache 2 running php and openssl serves all the html pages . when magnatune was slashdotted , i found that apache could not keep up with the load for images . all http image requests now are off - loaded to aolserver , which had the lowest latency to serve images at high loads .
john buckman : hey , no - one ' s counting , if you want to share it with 5 people , fine , great , you introduced more people to magnatune . the point is not to put the files up on your web site as a torrent for the world to take .
for its musicians , magnatune offers more than a storefront . it employs “a full time pr agency that does nothing but send our cds out to magazines and websites for reviews . we’re constantly getting major pr . ” this week’s issue of time magazine , for example , lists magnatune among the top 20 music websites ; a full page story in the economist appeared recently ; “and those stories usually feature our artists . not to mention podcasters playing our music , our network of partner web sites ( webjay , irate , last . fm ) and others . ” buckman has a refreshingly radical view of paid advertising : “advertising is stupid , it’s only for companies that no one is naturally interested in . over 600 , 000 web sites point to urltoken today , because they think it’s a very good thing and want to spread the word . magnatune is religion . fight evil ! what could be simpler ? ”
john buckman is the founder of magnatune , an internet - based record company . he is the webmaster of piazzolla ( urltoken ) , a tango music site , runs the internet lute society ( urltoken ) and co - runs urltoken , the main web site for the classical composer j . s . bach .
the fix is included in the dev builds , so if you ' re afraid of unstable release , you can test it . but , i will probably include it into the final 1 . 0 release . once you will used a fixed release , you will need to refresh your magnatune ' s catalog .
“i’m thrilled that creative commons has asked me to contribute at this level , ” says buckman . “through magnatune i’ve been trying to show how the commons can help businesses succeed in a commercial sense . i have a lot to say about how cc principles can be applied successfully to the for - profit world . ”
magnatune customers set their own prices , paying what they feel an album is worth ( plus a fixed additional fee if they want a physical cd , including full artwork , mailed to them ) . on average , the artists receive $ 4 - $ 5 per album sale , far more than artists on major labels get . and while that may be somewhat less than the typical take from a cd sale at the revered online indie record store cd baby , and less ( percentage - wise ) than the latter pays out for download sales via its digital distribution service , buckman explains that cd baby is a very different beast : “cd baby doesn’t promote your cd , it’s a shopping cart [ and fulfillment house ] for you to send orders to , from your [ the artists’s ] web site . cargo cult , for example , one of magnatune’s best - selling artists , sees fewer than 10 sales a quarter from cd baby yet sells hundreds of copies in that same time frame on magnatune . that’s no failing of cd baby , they simply have a different mission : cd baby sells your cd to people who already want to buy it . magnatune finds people and gets them to want to buy your cd . totally different things , equally valid . ”
is gnome’s default music player . inspired by apple’s itunes , it is simple to use and meets most needs with playlist support , ipod integration , podcast playback , streaming , et cetera . in addition , users are able to browse the drm - free music stores magnatune and jamendo . for more information , see the
also new to our classical collection this month is the latest album from daniel estem . daniel is our second ' most downloaded ' artist on magnatune . we are confident that daniel ' s new release , bach harpsichord suites on guitar , won ' t disappoint and will prove to be just as popular as his previous works .
buckman had this to say : “i’m thrilled that creative commons has asked me to contribute at this level . through magnatune i’ve been trying to show how the commons can help businesses succeed in a commercial sense . i have a lot to say about how cc principles can be applied successfully to the for - profit world . ”
magnatune is the non - evil record label who gives away 128 kbps mp3s of all their artist ' s songs for free . you can then choose ( or not ) to purchase drm - free higher quality versions at a price you set and they allow you to share their purchased songs with 3 friends . the label splits revenues 50 / 50 with their ( carefully picked ) signed artists , while these artists keep all of the rights to their music with a non - exclusive contract . today , we are very happy to feature an interview with john buckman , the founder and owner of magnatune , to help us understand better their revolutionary business model .
you can listen to all our music as streaming 128k mp3s ( entire albums , not samples ) as well as on shoutcast mp3 stations . two clicks on magnatune queues a never - ending selection of our music in the genre of your choice . our assumption is you eventually will hear something you like and want to buy it .
the purpose of making music available in source code is to encourage derivative works , such as remixes , cover songs and sampling . source code also helps users understand the make - up and composition of a work . magnatune encourages all its musicians to make their tracks available in ‘source code’ , a concept imported from software production that means the software program in its original language8 . in the context of open music , the source code could be the scores , lyrics , midi files , samples or track - by - track audio files that comprise a recording . again , the cc license used by magnatune explicitly permits users to make derivative works for non - commercial purposes .
what do you want me to do ? — for first - time visitors , it should be clear what the next step is . for magnatune , i want people to listen to the music immediately , so it says “explore a music genre : classical , electronica , metal & punk , new age , rock , world , others” .
this release features tabbed playlists , playlist search , projectm visualisations , magnatune integration , replaygain volume normalisation and music transcoding . we ' ve fixed loads of bugs too - searching large libraries is now much faster , playback is much more reliable on windows , character encoding problems are fixed , and remote playlists should load correctly all the time .
in this podcast : 1 . sj pettersson , 2 . harper ' s hamper , 3 . giorgio costantini , 4 . asteria , 5 . daniel estrem , 6 . janine johnson , 7 . viva la pepa , 8 . magnatune compilation , 9 . sebastian forster , 10 . takashi matsuishi spark , 11 . phebe craig and katherine we
in this podcast : 1 . daniel estrem , 2 . the hurdy - gurdy band , 3 . steven devine , 4 . daniel estrem , 5 . magnatune compilation , 6 . colin booth , 7 . vito paternoster , 8 . daniel estrem , 9 . ensemble mirable , 10 . hanneke van proosdij , 11 . daughters of elvin , 12 . t
magnatune customers considering buying an album can listen to the whole thing online – not just samples – in high quality first . once they buy it , they can download both mp3s ( compressed ) and cd - quality audio files . although the latter are much bigger and take a lot longer to download , buckman reports that “70 % of buyers get the perfect quality files , and another 40 % download the mp3s . you can download multiple formats , or come back in a month and get the files again . the trend is clearly toward perfect quality , as well as well - tagged mp3s for your ipod . ” since most online music stores do not offer full - quality files , this is one way magnatune stands out .
what ' s new ? — give people an incentive to come back to your site by making it easy to see what ' s changed . there ' s a lot of new stuff at magnatune ( new press coverage , for example ) , but most people care only about our new artists and albums , so that ' s what ' s on the home page .
the vast majority react with # 2 , probably 60 % , with 20 % each belonging to camps # 1 and # 3 . for most of them , the business side of music is voodoo , and they trust me to be doing something good for them ( after all , with a 50 / 50 sales split , magnatune only makes money if the musician makes money ) .
let ' s say you are playing music at magnatune . com , in your apartment , and step away to make dinner . with your smartphone , you can easily use the stop / start / prev / next buttons to control the music playing . if you don ' t like a track , skip it . or use the stop / start button if you want some quiet .
well , if you download the livecd , you don ' t have to install it . it just runs off the cd , and when you reboot , nothing on your system has changed . otherwise , if you go out to the rhythmbox site , they have a section of screenshots ( urltoken ) although there ' s not much to see because the magnatune \ jamendo stuff is just integrated into the menus . when you click on jamendo on the left , you see a library that looks exactly like your library , except it ' s full of all the jamendo artists , and ditto for magnatune . a screenshot of this would be indistinguishable from any other shot of a music library . so just imagine mediamonkey doing the same thing - you click either jamendo or magnatune on the left , it populates a library with all of their artists , and clicking on one starts a music stream , much like streamcast . ( jamendo ' s music , being free and cc - licensed , can also be downloaded at will , which is a slightly higher - level functionality that would probably be a little harder to implement , although rhythmbox does that as well . )
john buckman : i love it , there ' s no better way to create an audience for magnatune than to have the majors destroy any good feelings in their audience and to be so thoroughly disgusted with the majors that people will do anything not to give them any money . it ' s gotten so bad the major labels can ' t even buy a senator , they ' re that despised .
all web pages in magnatune run php . purchases are logged to a mysql database . a perl script creates the track listings and m3u playlists . tcl scripts handle all other tasks , such as making zip , ogg vorbis and flac files and making per - album password configuration files for apache . apache http passwords are used to protect all purchasable downloads . we use rsync to distribute files among the servers .
i decided not to use a shopping cart at magnatune because of the widely discussed problem of shopping - cart abandonment . when people are excited about an album and click the buy button , that ' s the time to capture the sale . with a shopping cart in place , a user often goes looking for more things to add and that initial buying compulsion is gone if they don ' t find something .
the most distinctive of magnatune’s many unusual features is the policy of ‘open music’ , which is defined as having a catalogue that is “shareable , available in ‘source code’ form , allows derivative works and is free of cost for non - commercial use . ” magnatune advocates for
shareable music
- - a distinct forking from the standard , ‘all rights reserved’ approach , because users are permitted to — rather than prohibited from — distribute further copies of the track . these permissions are signaled to users by the cc ‘attribution non - commercial share - alike’ license . in this case , permission to share also allows users to listen to the entire catalogue for free via the website’s 128kbps streams , as well as to download the 128kbps mp3 files themselves by clicking the “license” and then “non - commercial ( creative commons ) ” button .
jb : we’re having a lot of success licensing our music to indie films , with between 20 and 30 indie film licenses every month . these are real films with budgets from $ 20 , 000 to $ 100 , 000 , but making films is expensive , and they need to keep costs down . the creative commons license lets filmmakers put magnatune music into their film while it’s being made . then , once the film is accepted for distribution and becomes in effect “commercial” as people then start paying to see it , the filmmaker buys a commercial use license — at a price they could determine online at the very beginning . this “free start - up , permission - not - withheld , fair - price” business that creative commons + magnatune enables is unique today , and i believe is the reason we’ve been so popular with indie filmmakers .
third , commercial projects that are in pre - production can put our music into their project mockups as a “temporary track” to show their client their ideas . when the client accepts , the agency purchases a commercial use license to the music . in this way , magnatune’s music gets used for flash - based web sites , promotional videos , and films - not - yet - in - distribution at cost to the agency .
rock we ' re thrilled to see the return of nathan mathes to magnatune . nathan ' s new album , recs is crammed full of impeccably crafted indie folk songs about life ' s struggles and how to never give up . easy weather by the bell hours is another brilliant album that we ' ve added to our rock collection . easy weather is a sentimental take on modern rock and roll . both albums are certainly worth downloading .
john buckman : a few have , but mostly we pay so much more than indie labels do ( which is typically zero ) a musician getting $ 4000 a year from us is very unlikely to do any better with an exclusive deal , except off an advance from a major indie or major label . and frankly , magnatune is radical enough that people who want to sign up with it want nothing to do with the traditional evil music business .
well , jamendo is at urltoken and magnatune is at urltoken . however , the best example is the rhythmbox player ( urltoken ) which is the default media player on the gnome desktop interface for linux . the
easiest
way to see it in action would be to go download a linux live cd ( like from ubuntu at urltoken ) and run it long enough to see how its media player works . don ' t get me wrong , incidentally . . . i think mediamonkey is a superior player to rhythmbox in every way except this one . and in that sense it ' s superior to all the players on windows since , as far as i can tell , none of them integrate magnatune and jamendo like that . so implementing that same functionality would simultaneously give some more love to independent artists who aren ' t signed to major labels and bring a new selling point to mediamonkey that no other windows player has .
although non - commercial use of the magnatune catalogue and its source code are free , users are restrained by the terms of the license from using the work for commercial purposes . users are not permitted to exploit the catalogue to make a profit . if any track in the catalogue is used with a commercial purpose , for example in a compilation or as a sample in a new track that will be for sale , then the user is required to negotiate commercial terms .
well , i certainly understand the reasons for the change . unfortunately , for some of us who live in countries where a payment of 15 usd a month is more difficult to earn back at work , i would have loved to still be able of downloading one album at a time now and then . not all the new music on magnatune is music that i would really like to own . so i will continue to listen to the new classical albums with advertisments , i guess .
i ' m not sure why it is listed as $ 10 per month for 2 years - why not $ 2 per month for ten years , or $ 1 per month for 20 years or . . . ? perhaps it is because people have short time horizons . hopefully magnatune will be around for a long long time . i guess the risk is that if most people take out the lifetime option then the revenue stream will drop unless there is a constant supply of new members . it is not in the interest of lifetime members for magnatune to not be profitable and go out of business ! i hope if that were to ever happen that we would be given plenty of notice so we could go crazy downloading . . . as it is now i have been downloading a lot of albums in mp3 format to preview on my mp3 player with the intention of later downloading my favourites in flac or wav format for burning to cd to get the full quality recording .
given all these factors , i thought , “why not build a record label that has a clue ? ” create a label that helps artists get exposure , make at least as much money as they would make at traditional labels and get fans and concerts . magnatune is my project . the goal is to find a way to run a record label in the internet reality : file trading , internet radio , musicians ' rights , the whole nine yards . these aren ' t things that can be ignored .
and npr . during these press events , we ' ve experienced huge bursts of web traffic . i run five servers at two different locations , each with 100mb feeds , and send load - balanced pages with dynamic php urls to each of them . i ' ve found this to be sufficient for the current demands . however , as magnatune has been growing by 30 % in traffic and revenue each month , i ' m seriously looking at peer - to - peer as a load balancing and scalability solution .
once a user clicks on the magnatune home page to select a genre , such as electronica ( see figure 2 ) , a web page is displayed that shows four main choices : 1 ) listen to every album in electronica , one album after another , 2 ) listen to a mix of our electronica artists , 3 ) listen to the entire album of any of our electronica artists and 4 ) click on an artist to learn more . the first three choices offer users immediate gratification by allowing them to hear music immediately .
what steps will reproduce the problem ? 1 . open magnatune overview 2 . select album or tracks with apostrophes , e . g . a ) albums by
harper ' s harper
b )
a berliner ' s hope
by
dr kuch
3 . watch clementine trying , but failing to play , displaying a greyed out song . what is the expected output ? what do you see instead ? music / a greyed out song . what version of the product are you using ? on what operating system ? 1 . 0rc1
the one feature i ' d most like to see in mediamonkey is one that is currently unavailable in any windows media player : library integration of magnatune and jamendo . both have open libraries that allow 3rd party apps to access their streams , but very few players make use of this . probably the most notable is the linux player rhythmbox , which has a nearly ideal implementation of them . integrating them means that users would always have a vast library of music at their fingertips , even if they didn ' t have a large local library . thanks !
a basic element of magnatune’s business plan is that although it sells directly to the customer , it also deals directly with the artists , who are signed to non - exclusive distribution agreements and receive 50 % of the proceeds from sales of their music . the lack of an intrusive middleman is what makes this equal partnership economically and conceptually practical . with traditional record labels , creativity in marketing is discouraged , when it’s needed now more than ever ; “every business idea [ the artists ] have needs to be approved by the record companies [ which ] control the music , ” buckman says .
i recently signed up for a 3 month download subscription at the minimum $ 10 / mo with the notion that i would use the non - download url to also buy any albums i really liked . i hesitated to commit to paying more for the subscription when i mainly use pandora and urltoken ( both for pay ) and i already have a large music collection . ( so far , i think i only listened to one magnatune download all the way through . ) i guess what would be best for me would be a subscription with download limits , larger streaming limits , and the option of upgrading to unlimited .
magnatune , how about expanding your offerings ? $ 15 is a lot for me considering that i purchase from many other sites a - la carte . for instance , dance department ( radio 538 ) went to a paid podcast which i signed up for . it is 5 . 38 euros per year . how about you think of offering a reduced price paid podcast only ? i would definitely sign up since i love your offerings but don ' t want to get locked into a cable - type bill every month . p . s i was one of the few that downloaded single albums that you offered in the past .
record label who gives away 128 kbps mp3s of all their artist ' s songs for free . you can then choose ( or not ) to purchase drm - free higher quality versions at a price you set and they allow you to share their purchased songs with 3 friends . the label splits revenues 50 / 50 with their ( carefully picked ) signed artists , while these artists keep all of the rights to their music with a non - exclusive contract . today , we are very happy to feature an interview with john buckman , the founder and owner of magnatune , to help us understand better their revolutionary business model .
the creative clearinghouse is a place where people wanting to license cc music for commercial use could come . the price is set automatically by the same online pricing engine used at magnatune , and the signed contracts are generated automatically with payment . we’ll also act as the publisher and collect performance royalties on behalf of the artist . what this means is that when a musician puts a cc license on their work , they could add “for commercial use , see urltoken so that a film - maker could easily determine ( in advance ) that this music is easy to license , they can see what the price will be , and they know that permission - to - use will not be denied .
on the magnatune buy page , we require only a customer ' s credit - card number and expiration date—that ' s all we need to complete the transaction . we do ask for a name and e - mail address , stating : “if you want to be anonymous , you can omit your e - mail and name , but we won ' t be able to e - mail you a copy of your order . ” asking for a minimal amount of data at purchase time makes it quick for people to fill out the purchase form . additionally , not requiring an e - mail address means the buyer doesn ' t need to worry about e - commerce spam resulting from the purchase .
as i ' m writing this article , magnatune has about 60 musicians and 130 albums and is growing by about 15 musicians and 30 albums per month . my top musicians should see about $ 6 , 000 us of royalties in a year . on average , musicians should see about $ 1 , 500 us each year . if the 30 % growth holds up , i ' ll be able to pay my musicians even more . more than anything , that ' s what excites me : that i ' m able to have a material impact on these musicians . they are excited by the success , people are hearing their music , and the artists have the financial wherewithal to continue recording great albums .