A few weeks ago, I released my first ever app for the iPhone. It’s a match-3 style puzzle game called Syntax!, and you can download it from the App Store here:

The main concept of Syntax! is based off the extremely popular game, Bejeweled. If you have never played Bejeweled, no worries, match-3 games are super easy and fun to pick up (all you do is match-3 symbols in a row).

Developing apps for the iPhone is something I’ve had my eye on for the last 3 or 4 years, but because it never felt like the timing was right for me in terms of resources, cost, and concept, I never jumped in.

Well, last August I finally decided that the timing was right, and made the leap. It’s been an awesome adventure so far, as I’ve learned a ton (and continue to learn) about the rapidly growing mobile industry.

Yeah, the mobile app industry certainly is a crowded space. And it’s pretty astonishing how quickly things change in this space (it pretty much really is on a daily basis). But I’ve been lucky enough to hook up with and learn from some of the best. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that making mobile apps is like anything else – you’re not gonna make waves overnite. It’s a slow build over time.

I’m excited and happy to share Syntax! with you today. I couldn’t be more proud of what I conceptualized, and the small team of coders and designers I put together brought into reality.

I think you’re really gonna love Syntax!, as I’ve incorporated more surprises and more action into the game than you typically find in a match-3 style game. The split-screen multiplayer mode is probably the best example of this, as you can directly challenge your friends, and see the moves they are making in real time!

Download Syntax! on the App Store now!

Here’s to the first of many. I’ve got big ideas for more apps and games, and look forward to developing more very soon!

//Jon

I’m excited to tell you that a project I produced, recorded, and mixed mid-2011 has now been released…

The Kink Ador Three Side Single.

This release also serves as the “soft-launch” of a series I want to continue doing, called the Three Side Single. The idea is to partner up with indie bands to record and release three songs of original music, and distribute this as a $0 download to anyone who signs up to an email list. It’s kinda like The Peel Sessions, Daytrotter, or Third Man Records, but with my own little personal style and musical curation.

While in the future I may run a dedicated email list for this project, this initial release is going through the list of the Nashville indie rock band Kink Ador. The $0 download works through their website/email list – trade your email via the form on the Kink Ador website, and download all three songs.

At the moment, I’m seeing the potential for this idea before I carry forward (hence the “soft-launch” vernacular), but depending on how promising things turn out I may do more of these releases in 2012 with more bands.

Grab the Kink Ador Three Side Single here: http://kinkador.com/3ss

Happy New Year

//Jon

As I’ve mentioned recently, I’ve been producing an upcoming release for the Nashville rock band, Kink Ador, which we’ll be putting out through my media company. Since I’ve been working with them, I thought I would mention a benefit show they’re going to be involved in this Sunday, October 16th (just two days from now).

PinkFest 2011
PinkFest is an annual event that benefits Women Rock For The Cure Rock*Pop*Fashion (fashion provided by Betsey Johnson in Nashville at Green Hills Mall) Artists include: The Vicious Guns, Baby Daggers, Kink Ador, Kendra Chantelle, Marlee Scott, Sarah Darling, The Lowry Sisters, Alexa Carter, Cissy Crutcher, Ya Za & Surprise Guests.

As the show is to support Women Rock For The Cure, naturally it only makes sense to have female-fronted bands and artists taking the stage. The full schedule of the line up is as follows:

5:15 The Lowry Sisters
6:00 Alexa Carter
6:30 Cissy Crutcher (Franklin Jazz Festival headliner; AvonVoices.com)
7:00 Marlee Scott (as seen on CMT)
7:30 Sarah Darling (as seen on CMT)
Special Presentation
8:30 Kendra Chantelle, from American Idol 2011
9:00 Kink Ador with Special Guest
9:45 Baby Daggers
10 until… The Vicious Guns and the grand finale!

When: This coming Sunday, October 16th at 5:00pm
Where: The Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville
What else: For full details visit the Facebook Event Page, as well as http://womenrockforthecure.org

Last week I posted that my friends in the band o, don piano were running a kickstarter campaign to raise money for their upcoming LP, Hearts from the Songland.

Well, I’m happy to announce that they did indeed successfully get their project funded, and will be soon entering the studio with producer/engineer Jeremy Ferguson. I wanted to follow last week’s post with an update to let everyone know, and to say thanks to any of my readers who may have contributed.

Congrats to the band, glad the fundraising was a success, and look forward to hearing the results of yours and Jeremy’s magic in the studio. Have fun. Perhaps I’ll get the chance to drop by and hang on a session or two, and share in a little of that fun with you :)

While the band has reached their goal, and this project is officially funded, there are still 11 days left to make a contribution [Update 8/22/11: Oops! when I published this post, I meant to say 11 hours. In any case, this campaign is gonna be over by the end of the day today, so if you wanna pledge, do so by clicking the link at the end of this post]. If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it’s a site put together specifically for creators to raise money for their projects. But the people who contribute don’t walk away empty handed. The creators offer items in return for the money people choose to pledge. There are nine different tiers involved with the o, don piano campaign, so at the very least you’re essentially “pre-ordering” the finished record. Which is more than worth it. As I mentioned before, this is brilliant music that creates meaning in a rare way.

Click here to make your pledge, and reserve your “pre-order”

Cheers…

//Jon

Since I’m in the states I won’t be posting anything today. I’m going to be out by the pool with friends enjoying their company. If I end up listening to any music today, it will be purely as a fan. If you’re a fellow American celebrating Independence Day with me today, or if you’re celebrating another holiday where you are, then you should do the same.

Happy 4th :)

–Jon
Twitter: @stsn

Photo credit: DonkeyHotey. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

It’s been so incredibly long since I last posted anything on Producer Notes. This is the first time I’ve posted anything in 2011, which is such a shame (it’s been almost a full year since my last post-that’s a shame!). Since I started Producer Notes in mid-2007, there have been quite a few stints of extended absences. As I excitedly set out to take part in the many different projects over the last three and a half years (Producer Notes being one of them), I envisioned that these creative schemes would organically loop together to complete my overall vision. But in reality they each ended up needing to be delicately tended to-hence the lack of regularly published content. But through that process I certainly have learned – and continue to learn – a lot, which moving forward is going to be very valuable.

As I was reflecting over the last three or so years of work, and lamenting my lack of consistency in posting, a question popped up in my mind…

Do you know what I do?

If you’ve been reading Producer Notes a while – and if you have, then I have unending gratitude for you – then you’re aware that I’m a record producer and music business entrepreneur. But obviously most people out there don’t read this blog. Over the last two to three years I’ve made an intentional effort to get involved in projects as more than only a record producer, projects in which I functioned as producer, engineer, marketer, and manager. One of my key intentions for making this shift was to build a stronger personal brand and awareness of my work.

But I want to stop short on the “Jon Stinson biography” and get to my real take-away point…

I believe there should always be a certain amount of work you should do for $0. I encourage recording artists to do this all the time. And let me be clear: I didn’t say “free,” I said “$0.” There is a difference.

You should always be very specific about the purpose of this type of work, and what the specific desired outcome is. Set goals and draw up a plan, before you begin, of how you will achieve this desired outcome. Think bigger than the album credit. You’re going to get an album credit for your work whether you charge $0 or or $100,000. Radical Notion (independent media) is an example of one such project that I dreamed up for this purpose.

So just as I took some time to reflect on my work and my projects, I encourage you to periodically set aside time to do the same. Every time you ship an idea ask yourself the question, “Do they know what I do?” What are your weak points? What one key thing can you do differently from this point forward to move significantly closer to your desired outcome? And if you’re working for no pay in exchange for just an album credit, hoping that “clients” will spread your name around-STOP. Think bigger, otherwise you’re selling yourself short.

Cheers to 2011. We’re already at the halfway point, and I hope it’s gone well for your so far. I’m working on pulling it together, weeding out the dead ends, and bringing Producer Notes (slowly) back to life.

I recently received a $15 iTunes gift card, and decided I wanted to do something a bit altruistic with it. Being a part of the team that surrounds indie artists, I know first hand how much work is involved on so many levels to get an artist off the ground. I know how hard it is to get the whole operation to a point where everyone involved can make a living from it.

So I decided that I wanted to use my $15 to support artists and teams just like those I’ve had experience working with-people who are just like me. Because I know what it’s like on the day-to-day level. I know first hand the sacrifices people make for a career in music. And I know exactly how tough the music business is.

So why am I telling you this? Because I want you to help me decide who to support. We’ve all got friends who we want to see make it. That we support by going out to every show they put on, buy every recording they put out, and tell everyone we know to come to their shows and buy their music too. The type of artist I’m describing might even be you, yourself!

Here’s the stipulations for this little contribution:

• I’m only going to purchase one song per artist, so I’m buying 15 songs by 15 different artists.
• The artists have to be indie artists. Either they are signed to a very indie label, have a small team of entrepreneurs helping them in some way, or they are funding their career on their own (or have an entrepreneur helping them with the funding part). The point here is that they are local indie artists that you know, bootstrapping their way. Not Coldplay, making $3 million a nite.
• The people you suggest have to want it. They have to have made real sacrifices, poured their heart and soul into their craft, and shed blood, sweat, and tears along the way. I want to know I’m supporting people who are dedicated. That there is real emotion involved. Not someone who is just a half-way hobbyist, not fully committed, not willing to do what it takes to succeed, squanders their opportunities and/or resources, or otherwise has a since of entitlement, selfishness, or general bad attitude about them.

$1 is a small contribution. But I know from experience that every contribution makes a difference. So let’s do our part to support these artists. Put your suggestions in the comments below, and sometime around May 1st I’ll use my iTunes card to purchase songs by the first 15 artists (as long as they meet the stipulations above) suggested. And if you want to suggest yourself, go right ahead :)

*Update: If you don’t want to make your suggestions in public, send an email to: stinson[AT]producernotes[DOT]com

So yesterday I published my first blog post of 2010, and I’m happy to be posting once again. I believe when I made the announcement that I would need to be taking time away, back in October, I mentioned that I would be getting rid of the regular posting schedule of publishing new posts every Wednesday. Instead, I’m going to simply post whenever I can. And my intention is for posting to happen often.

I think that by doing away with a regular posting schedule, and writing posts relatively on the spot (rather than taking days to prepare a post), I’ll ironically have more freedom to post more often. From best I can tell after running this blog for two and a half years, all the work and thought I was putting into preparing weekly posts was too much of a challenge to balance into my daily work.

In addition to this new posting routine, I’ve diversified the range of topics I’ll be creating a dialogue within (see category descriptions below). I think exploring these new topics will help me learn and become better at my craft (which is one of the main reasons I run this blog), as well as make it easier to come up with content to post, and giving the blog an even more human feel-as I hope my personality tastefully shows through a little more.

New categories:

• Contemplations-Me learning out loud; working to understand new (to me) perspectives and epiphanies, relevant to record making
• Inspiration-Things I’m generally inspired by (different from the Music Business Inspiration category)
• Recollections-Career and autobiographical stories

I hope these changes do indeed serve as an improvement to Producer Notes. I hope it makes you enjoy the blog even more. I hope it brings more value to the blog. I hope it brings more discussion to the blog. And I hope it leads to more learning experiences for both you and me.

I Hope this new year has been good to you so far, and I look forward to the conversation we have on Producer Notes in 2010.

Thanks again for being loyal readers.

Cheers!

Since it’s Thanksgiving Day today here in the United States, I wanted to express thanks to all my faithful subscribers. Once again, I do appreciate everyone remaining subscribed even though my posting has been pretty much non-existent. Keep hangin in there, because things will pick back up again soon!

Also in recognition of Thanksgiving, I want to express thanks to all my twitter followers, Myspace friends and facebook friends. I’m also thankful for the fans of Wes Sp8, the fans of Mother/Father and the fans of Radical Notion. And of course I’m thankful for my friends and family offline as well…

One last thing: for those who are into getting deals on Black Friday, you might be interested to know that at Radical Notion Digital we do Black Friday deals every day. If you would you rather shop somewhere you’re more familiar with, then our Wes Sp8 CD Baby page and our Wes Sp8 iTunes page have some pretty good deals too. Mother/Father music is not available to purchase yet, but will be soon.

Hope today feels like a holiday no matter where you live…

Turkey photo by xybermatthew and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

You can now buy Wes Sp8′s Please EP on CD Baby and iTunes. Check it out at the links below.

On CD Baby:

On iTunes: