Remember when every artist looking for a record deal put their music on MySpace and waited for A&R folks to stumble across said site to discover their awesome new songs and make them the next big thing but really all that happened was five friends listened to the songs and then MySpace died and now no songs get heard anywhere? Whew.
Well, Chartburst wants to change that.
![Chartburst Helping Indie Artists](https://api.sageaudio.com/storage/article/uploads/2013-02-chartburst-indie-artists-300x186.jpg)
Chartburst is a new service that sounds pretty promising. Independent artists upload one song at a time (every two weeks), and site users up-vote the songs they like, similar to the way popular posts make it to the front page of Reddit. But here’s the kicker that sets this service apart from other sites that have tried similar tactics: at the end of every two week period, the highest voted songs are forwarded to talent scouts at around 30 record labels – including the major labels.
Working With the Labels
Of course, the labels are making no promises about what they will do with the music they hear other than provide email feedback to the artist. And the founder of the site realizes that the success of the site depends not on this feedback, but on record contracts.
“The site can’t last unless people get signed,” co-founder Francis Gane told Mashable. “That’s what they’re paying their money for, and that’s what the A&R signed up for.”
Artists pay a monthly fee to submit their music to the charts. After a two-month free trial period, subscriptions cost $5 a month, though subscribers to the just launched beta launch can get this discounted to $2.50 per month.
All About the Fans
And though the site does need record contracts, it will be the fans that will ultimately make or break the concept in the long run, as they are responsible for choosing the music that gets to the ears of those at the labels. If there are not enough users on the site voting, some artists will likely be able to exert too much control over the site if they can encourage their existing fans (likely through social media) to sign up and vote.
However, if the site gains enough users to overcome this problem and really creates a democracy that consistently chooses the best indie music to send to labels, Chartburst could become a real industry influencer.
Gane points out that the allure of fans to sign up should not be about getting artists record contracts, but about being able to discover music they would not otherwise hear.
Gane started the company with his father, who is a lifelong music industry veteran that owns a recording studio in Wales, which is likely where the label connections come from. The younger Gane says he hopes to release a mobile app to provide users the ability to vote on the go, though this will depend on the performance of the site.
“We’re a bootstrap father-and-son operation,” Gane said. “Assuming we get an investor on board or we start getting some income from the site, it will all be plowed back into the development of a nice shiny app.”
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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