Get more with LA band, 7 Less

There’s nothing like a sweet, charming pop song to brighten your day or at least make it a little bit brighter. Add a little rock to it, and you get a certain energy with that quiet twinge of funk. This combination will addict you and draw you closer. In this genre, and with this style of rock-infused pop songs, artists can come to a happy medium and range – one that transcends the two genres gently while never fully leaving one or the other in the dark. LA band, 7 Less embodies this combination discussed before. Their mixes of melodies and are creative yet simple and humane. Listen to them here performing their original song, “Don’t Go,” in their music video.

The group is relatively new – they only formed in the year of 2017. However, they’re already on a roll, producing songs and an EP and receiving acclaim from around the music industry. The band has been previewing their new six-track EP entitled “Two Sides of the Story” all around Los Angeles, and it even caught the attention of a Channel Islands music professor. Craig Bickel said that their song “Let’s Fall in Love” is “a lovely song with enormous potential.” Take a listen!

The three members of 7 Less have some interesting music backgrounds. Lead singer Marc Rasec picked up the guitar at age 11 and taught himself to play from music books his father gave him. From there, his music career blossomed, and he used his struggles in high school to add an emotional level to his songwriting and performing. The band’s drummer, John Htun, is the son of a well known Burmese artist named David Htun Htun. He moved out to Los Angeles in 2003 to immerse himself in the American music industry some more, and ended up meeting Rasec in 2016. The two of them teamed up for a few shows together and ultimately decided that it was a match. Since then, their band received an endorsement from Zion Cymbals for a few of their music videos and a contract for the band’s upcoming projects. Obviously, they are off to a great start as a band. Take a look at their official music video for their original song, “New Zealand.”

7 Less is off to a pretty much ideal and fantastic start for an LA band thus far, and they’re on a roll. Be sure to check out their page to see when their next gig is, so you can go and support these guys in concert. If you get the chance to see them live, you’re in for a treat.

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Groove with the Funk: Gussie Miller

Sit down, get ready, and tune in to this artist’s smooth bass lines, and lively horns and let fantastic vocalist Gussie Miller wrap you up in quite a mood. Listen here to his band’s upbeat and funky song, “What More Can I Say.”

 

 

Gussie Miller has been in the entertainment industry from the time he was a child. His background in music comes from his time growing up in a musical family. Early in his life he was taken under the wing of some notable studios and came to understand the workings of commercials, TV and film production. From then on, he branched into the music world. He went on tour as a background singer for some pretty famous artists, such as Cher, Lavern Baker, Janelle Monae and Seal. His voice is on tracks with these artists, as well as others such as Marcus Miller, Gino Vannelli, and break out artists Jessica Celious and Lance Todd, among many others. Watch him here rocking out with famous actress Janelle Monae at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood.

 

 

If you listen to Gussie’s voice, you can just hear the years of experience he carries. His melodies are smooth, and articulate, but never boring. And check out his range – it’s pretty incredible. Many of his songs begin in slower, deeper, lower melodic lines and ascend until you don’t think that Gussie could sing any higher. His vocals drip with talent, hard work, and sheer enjoyment. You can hear him smiling in his voice while he hits high notes none of us could even imagine reaching. Most of his tracks display his sheer, natural gift and extraordinary control of his vocal chords. Listen closely to how much he commands control of pitch and places pieces of vibrato perfectly in each line. Here’s him performing “Give it All” for the NPR Music Tiny Desk Contest.

 

 

In addition to his features on multiple albums with other artists, Gussie has also had some of his music played on various TV shows and movies, such as Cop Rock, South of Sunset, Family Matters, Doogie Howser M.D., I Think I Love My Wife, and Everybody Hates Chris. Gussie, however, in all of his years as an accomplished professional musician, had not released an album until 2016. However, he finally released his self-produced album Forever Plan that year on the Artis Musicai label, which he recorded with “Motown engineer” Ralph Sutton. The album is an amazing collection of songs, all different, but never going too far from Gussie’s distinct sound. Listen to this recording of Gussie singing “Wantin’ You,” from Forever Plan, in a live rehearsal with his band.

 

 

Gussie’s work for Forever Plan paid off. It’s now available on multiple online streaming platforms, and is for sale on many online music-selling companies such as Amazon Music, eMusic, iTunes and GooglePlay. Gussie is currently working on live shows and touring, but is excited for 2018, when he plans to release his next CD. Watch out for him around Los Angeles, check out his page, and try to see him live. Guaranteed, you will not be disappointed, and furthermore, you won’t be able to stop bouncing your head to the smooth, jazzy, funky beats he’ll glue right into your head.

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dubset

Dubset offers legal DJ mixes to Apple, Spotify

The biggest differentiator to once exist between SoundCloud and all other popular music streaming sites was the website’s offering of unofficial, user-uploaded content that the major labels don’t release. But back in March and May of this year, Spotify and Apple Music broke deals with Dubset, a music rights management service. And as of this past Friday, Spotify started finally using this service and streaming original mixes. The first song to be released in this new, mixed originals format is DJ Jazzy Jeff’s recreation of Anderson .Paak’s “Room in Here.”

What does this addition mean to for musicians and the music streaming sites that support them? Dubset’s service is reassuring in its promise to piece apart the artists included in the production of a track. Dubset helps Apple and Spotify to navigate who is going to get the royalties (DJs, labels, and publishers) when something is being listened to. But what does this mean on a larger scale? How could this change the music industry? Or would it at all?

SoundCloud and Spotify and Apple Music offered a variety of services across the three platforms, but there were always some characteristics that were specific to each. SoundCloud offered song remixes, Spotify offered easy personalization, and Apple Music offered the artist-created radio stations and playlists (Beats Radio is regularly recognized as the savior of the music streaming site). Now that SoundCloud’s strength has been effectively removed from the site, its decline will be all the more swift. 700 million people listen to mixed content last year. It’s a huge market of people that SoundCloud is about to lose to the Spotify and Apple Music giants.

The economic effects of this change isn’t all that concerning. Dubset, as a service, guarantees proper payment to the appropriate parties. But what remains of concern is how the market will react. Will Apple Music and Spotify rise up as the almighty holders of streaming music? How will the market react? Will the wealth be spread or left alone to exist in these places-to-find-music places? The market will hopefully respond with something new. The market will provide more options new and upcoming artists to post onto. The market could develop something new. More money will be spread, but music streaming options will be more limited. And with more market share means a larger hold of one company on all of its customers. So the musicians and the listeners can listen to and endorse more artists — and that has always been a good thing.

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