Digital Media: Austin

Well I assume Joel has gotten busy so I am posting what he forwarded me.

eSession.com, founded by CEO Gina Fant-Saez and 5-time GRAMMY award-winning producer Kevin Killen, is an Internet-enabled, software-based system that allows musicians anywhere in the world to seamlessly collaborate with world-class musicians, producers, mixers and engineers regardless of geography, time zone or computer operating system. By creating an Internet portal that puts session talent and artists in the same virtual arena, handles negotiations between the artist and session talent, and combines robust back-end technology with an intuitive graphic interface necessary for online collaboration, eSession.com ultimately views the progress made in the advancement of computer technology, Internet capability, and digital media as a way to expand the musical creative process.

eSession.com’s motto is “One world. One studio.” As such, the company’s vision is to bring together a music community that will enable musical collaboration on a global scale. By creating an online community for artists that are using digital technology to record their musical projects, eSession is creating a common area for these artists to seek each other out, collaborate with one another, and to break down the traditional and logistical barriers that have previously stood in the way of musical collaboration. eSession.com has now made it possible (and rather easy) for a bass player in Montana to collaborate on a funk track with a drummer from Singapore, and guitarist from Finland.

Another of eSession’s goals is to combine technology and world-class talent (called eTalent) to give artists a chance to work with music industry talent in a way they have not had access to before. For the eTalent members, made up of a star-studded roster of over 500 (and growing) of the world’s best session talent members including bassist Tony Levin (John Lennon), drummer Jack Irons (Pearl Jam), and guitarist Earl Slick (David Bowie), it is an opportunity to increase revenues by providing them with a worldwide client base of artists looking to collaborate with musical icons and impeccably solid professionals. eSession artists can also utilize the names of these session players as a marketing tool to boost visibility, fan base recognition, and/or sales.

Here is a brief break down of the eSession process:

- Artist creates a profile

o Creates a username and password

o Defines the parameters of the profile (name, discography, setup, photo, etc.)

o When the artist’s profile is complete, the artist is now considered an eMember

- eMember creates a New Project

o Define the project (the type of project, style of music, etc.)

o A “Song Page” (the main graphic interface for the collaboration) is then created for the project

o This is where WAV files will be stored, uploaded, and downloaded from within their appropriate labeled bins.

- eMember creates a song within the project

o Defines the parameters of the song (tempo, time signature, key, feel, lyrics, charts, etc.)

o Uploads a demo mp3 of the song

o Uploads click track and scratch tracks to the appropriate bins for future upload by collaborating “Song Team”

- eMember selects Song Team based on the needs of the song

o Can select from the world-class eTalent roster, OR search through the eMember database to collaborate with an existing eMember,

o Can also invite anyone to create a profile, become an eMember, and collaborate with them via eSession

§ eTalent roster is made up of world-class Musicians, Engineers, Producers, & Mixers who all have at least 15 major label credits to their name

- Send each eTalent member of the Song Team a “Work Request”

o This allows the eTalent member the opportunity to objectively listen to the songs and decide whether or not to collaborate on them

- Once eTalent agrees to collaborate on the song, the negotiation process begins on the song’s “Negotiation Page”

o This is where the artist and their collaborators negotiate on every aspect of the collaboration from number of takes, to style, to the ever important price

o Once everything is agreed upon in the negotiation stage, collaboration can continue

- Once a price is set for the session, the artist pays 50% up front and collaboration begins

o eTalent downloads the scratch files and click track to his hard drive

o They then import the tracks into their digital audio workstations

o The eTalent is then able to collaborate on the song in the way agreed upon during negotiation

- Once the collaboration is over and the new files are uploaded onto the Project’s song page, a notice is sent to the artist

o The files are locked until the artist pays the remaining balance to his collaborator

o Once payment is made, the files are unlocked and the artist can access the newly created files