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Record your Performance while Streaming

Special guest blog by Tom Rule from Macon, GA.
Tom Rule

Tom Rule

StreetJelly is, of course, all about live performances. The user agreement even has a requirement to never use a recorded performance when streaming. But it says nothing about performing live AND recording the live performance! […….and even Frankie said it was OK!]

After getting a few StreetJelly performances under my belt, I began wondering if I could do just that – record a performance at the same time it’s being streamed on StreetJelly. I have a website of my own over at http://www.tomrule.info where things are for sale, and I thought a video might make a useful marketing tool [youtube, anyone?].

My parents would probably like a copy as well! They did pay for all those piano lessons……

This is one of those things that might be useful to know that (A) it CAN be done, and (B) HOW it can be done….at least on a Mac. [If you run Windows, see below!]

So the idea is to have ONE webcam streaming live out to StreetJelly AND have the computer taking the SAME audio and video streams and saving it to a movie on the computer – which you can then ship up to youtube, burn to a disk, email to distant relatives, or use the video to scare off small rodents and annoy your neighbors.

QUICK NOTE ON MY SETUP

I’m a keyboardist AND an audio guy, so it really doesn’t work for me to put up a mic when streaming – I get MUCH better audio running the keyboard into the computer. I’ll use a mic to talk to the audience – it and the keyboard audio feed into a little Mackie mixer, which plugs into the audio interface [an old M-audio Firewire Audiophile]. I’m using an iMac that is a couple of years old…..so it is NOT the “latest greatest”.

I’m using a Logitech webcam, although this would also work with the builtin iSight camera.

HERE’S HOW

You’re going to use your web browser and Quicktime Player.

1. Surf over to StreetJelly and setup your broadcast as normal. You can go ahead and start broadcasting, or just keep it on the test screen for now – it doesn’t matter.

2. Fire up Quicktime Player – it’s in the Applications folder.

3. in QT Player, select File–>New Movie Recording.

4. In my case it automatically selected the webcam. If it doesn’t, then click the triangle in the bottom area of the window and select the correct video and audio sources.

There are some other settings there as well … quality levels, where to save the file, etc. If you don’t know what something does do a test and see what happens.

5. Click record.

That’s it!

6. When done, click the record button again to stop recording, and then stop the broadcast. My version of QT Player will actually upload to youtube from within the application – so the performance can be on Youtube pretty quickly after it is completed!

WINDOWS?

From some cursory research it appears that there are a couple of programs that will allow this same thing to occur on Windows. You can either get a program [ManyCam is one] that creates a “virtual camera”….i.e. you select the “virtual camera” in the settings in Flash and whatever program you are using to record [your webcam probably came with some recording software].

In this scenario Camera talks to Cam Software [i.e. ManyCam] which then splits the video/audio out to StreetJelly AND your recording software.

It is also possible that you have an app like Quicktime Player that will work in a similar fashion as on the Mac – where you just fire it up, select the camera, and it works.

There are waaaaaay too many variations of Windows to even begin writing about it – my suggestion is to try something and see if it works. Just another piece of technology magic that allows us to create in our living rooms/studios/barns/wherever!

Thanks Tom!  Do forget, everyone, put your YouTube channel in your StreetJelly artist profile so we can all get a link to your videos.  ~frankie

Online Family

Special guest blog by Amanda Crann from “ImageAndFamily”

Online Family

AmandaIf anyone had told me that I’d develop online friends who could become more like family I would have laughed. But that is truly what I’ve found on StreetJelly. We’ve become a community of people who laugh together, cry together and share our lives with one another. Now if that isn’t family then I don’t know what is.

When we first started out on StreetJelly, we didn’t really think that anyone would listen to or even like the kind of music that we played, but the support we have found is mind blowing. We have quickly developed a steady group of people that offer their encouragement and applause to the shows that we put on. I have seen the growth in my own family that has occurred since we started performing for our wonderful fans. Many of you have watched my son, Robert, sing, play piano and tell jokes as well as interact with those who watch us. But what you may not know is that due to his autism, he is usually a withdrawn child around new people and struggles with communication. However, the encouragement he has found on StreetJelly has helped him to open up and not only enjoy but look forward to meeting new people. I have also noticed a new found confidence in myself that I never imagined I could have.

The feeling of family was demonstrated to me on Saturday, April 6, 2013. As many of you know that was the day that Merv asked me to marry him. Together Merv and Frankie rallied the whole community to be there and help to make that day one I will never forget. To see all the work that went into such a spectacular night and to know that so many people cared and wanted to be a part of our big night was overwhelmingly touching.

MervThat night started like any other, but when we began our show the number of viewers skyrocketed. Never before had I ever seen so many people all watching one show. I was blown away by the sheer number that amassed to watch us. Then the big moment happened as Merv asked the question that I have waited my entire life for and it may sound bizarre but I could hear the applause from our family that night. I have never felt as much love overflowing as I did that night. I thank everyone who came out to be a part of that amazing experience, especially our King, Frankie, you rock. You truly helped to make it a magical and unforgettable event.

As I write this I am reminded of the words of a song that my family and I close every show with and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these words apply to each and every one of you in StreetJelly land.

“We’re running out of trees and we’re running out of space but we’ll never run out of good people,” from Great Big Sea’s Good People

StreetJelly Poem by Damian Trujillo

A StreetJelly poem by Damian Trujillo

Handwritten PoemGot StreetJelly?

The day is long on the StreetJelly
Pupils start to dialate as you pick up that tele
Pick up that stratocaster, gibson acoustic delight
did you hear a stray cat strut by tonight

At 8 am you may hear a crooner
Sometimes the music  will come along sooner
24 hours a day what can go wrong
lost connections, oh my in the middle of the song

From the west coast sunshine
To the Canadian lines
From the New York subways
To the mountains of the west and high

From England and Ireland, Netherlands too
Oh  StreetJelly  Oh StreetJelly the things you do
Some sing like the angels, others unique and true
Free, free, free the music for you

Got StreetJelly?

–Damian Trujillo, Sheridan, WY, March 2013

Who is going to set this to music?

The Jelly Dictionary

Special guest blog by Aaron Samuels a.k.a. “Maestro”

The Jelly DictionaryJellytalk, or “Jellese”

For those of you not entirely hip to the StreetJelly lingo, or even if you just need a refresher, below is the rapidly developing StreetJelly lexicon. This will be updated as the new terms come in.

  • Jellyfish – a frequent swimmer of the StreetJelly ocean. If you peruse the broadcasts often enough, you’ll find out quickly who we are.
  • Jellyfly – any one watching the broadcast but not participating in the real-time chat conversation. It’s all good. We got love for our Jellyflies, and sometimes the fish are in fly-mode. We just like to tease them because it’s much more fun to be a fish than a fly.
  • Jellybird – a performer on StreetJelly, our bread and (peanut) butter.
  • Jellyhead – see “Jellybird”.
  • Jellytainer – see “Jellybird”.
  • JellykingFrank Podlaha, naturally. All hail. The world will sing when he is king…and he is king. So we sing.
  • Jellyfire – a descriptive term for when a Jellybird is performing with passion.
  • Jellyswarm – any significant viewership for any given broadcast.
  • Jellyrat – see “drive-by”.
  • Drive-by – the act of briefly jumping on to another performer’s performance just to let their viewers know via chat that you are performing. Not cool. Performance over-lapping is going to happen and that’s totally fine, just let viewers make up their own mind about who they want to watch.
  • Greenwall – When enough individual token donations are delivered to a performer, the chat wall turns a delightful green (with gold accents). It takes a minimum of nine tokens to greenwall a jellybird.screenshot_clifty_20130127_greenwall
  • Whitewall – When enough blank chat entries fill the room, we call that a whitewall. Use this technique sparingly if at all.
  • Spreading the Jelly – getting the word out about the awesomeness that is StreetJelly.
  • Bluewall – a Greenwall of Rocker Pins. You want this to happen to you.
  • Jellymood – I’m in the mood for love…simply because you’re jelly…
  • Purple Rain – A song by the Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. Jellyfish request this song on a regular basis, so you might wanna work it into your repertoire, if you’re a Jellybird.
  • AFJ – Away From Jelly. Not exactly fly status, just temporary absence.

What’s your favorite term? Have another to add? Continue the dictionary below…

Ideas to Increase Your Profits On StreetJelly

Special guest blog by Amanda Crann from “ImageAndFamily”

Online Busking Tip MoneyI think that every artist who joins StreetJelly has one thing in common, the love of music. We all love playing and performing the tunes that move or inspire us and we all want an audience to watch and enjoy our music. Luckily we have all found a wonderfully encouraging community of artists and music lovers here.

My family and I have been fortunate enough to find a measure of success on this site and we wanted to share some of the tips and tricks that have worked for us. There are a lot of do’s to be successful here and just a few don’ts:

Do’s

Be Creative – You don’t have to be the most talented musician/singer around to make money, but you have to let the passion you feel for your music show in everything you do – every time you’re on.

Be Entertaining And Engaging – Talk to your audience, get them involved in conversation and remember that you are performing for their entertainment.

Practice, Practice, Practice – If you want to be good, you’ve got to invest your time in your craft.

Promote Yourself – Use Facebook (your personal page and StreetJelly’s page), Twitter, free printable StreetJelly flyers (available here) and word of mouth to let people know when you’re performing.

Promote Other Artists – If you would like other people to talk about your shows, make sure you talk about theirs.

Have A Good Audio/Video Setup – Fuzzy images and poor sound detracts from the performance and will make attracting and keeping an audience harder. (You can find StreetJelly how to blog posts and videos to improve your sound and video) If you’re not sure how your broadcast is coming across, don’t be afraid to ask your audience.

Be Courteous To Performers – If you don’t like what someone’s playing or saying, just leave the room.  If you think someone is being inappropriate, let StreetJelly know so they can handle it (contact page).

Be Family Friendly – Remember, there are viewers and artists of all ages, so try to keep your language clean.  F-bombs and other such language will definitely lose you viewers.

Be Supportive – Tip the artists that you enjoy watching, and if you are unable to tip support them with applause and positive comments.

Get To Know The Other Artists – There are some awesome people on StreetJelly.  Get to know them, watch their shows and join in the conversations while they’re playing. Artists love to know who’s watching them.  If viewers are enjoying the music, and the more active you are on the site, the more people will want to check out what you are doing.

Read The Blogs – The StreetJelly blog offers great information for new and experienced performers and is a great way to keep up to date on the craziness that is StreetJelly.

Don’ts

Play Just a Few Riffs – Learn whole songs, the audience will get bored of hearing only bits and pieces.

Miss Scheduled Performance – If you schedule a show, try to stick to it.  If for some reason you can’t make the scheduled time, post a message on StreetJelly’s Facebook page to let people know that you aren’t going to be able to go on.

Drive-by (Steal other Performer’s Audience) – Popping into another performer’s show just to say you’re going on is rude and disrespectful. If you want to mention that you’re going on, wait until the performer is wrapping up their show.

Steal Another Performer’s Thunder – Use your discretion when scheduling your shows, you will find that you can attract more viewers by following another act or opening for another performer (just be courteous to the other artists).

Have more Do’s and Don’ts?  Add them below in the comments.  ~frankie

Haggis and Hypocrisy

Special guest blog by Clifton Printy, front man for Don’t Know Jac.

Haggis

The news today was a horrid mix of ghastly and brutish things that set a fearful cynicism in my heart. I could I turn off the news, and sometimes honestly I do, but I try to do something else; something important. Life is not a sitcom where the main character is forgiven any thing they promised because it is too hard and wasn’t necessarily hurting anybody. This is a world where absolutes matter, a world where men of John Wayne morals and Clark Kent Integrity are the solid role model for those behind us. It is time for each of us to be the man or woman who will stand fast for the small conviction.

“What does that have to do with haggis?” you might be asking yourself. Absolutely nothing, it has to do with a promise. Merv Crann and I had a conversation where I agreed I would try some Scottish haggis live on the internet. Haggis is a terrible sounding concoction made from the innards of lamb or beef, oats, onions, pepper, and spices and then cooked inside of the animal’s stomach that has been soaked in salt water. Did I in fact intend to eat haggis? Is there fame here for me? It would seem reasonable to assume the answer is no. So why then do I go through with the thing? Further; why is my confederate Christopher Page going to eat haggis? The answer is because I asked him to, and being a loyal friend he quickly decided and joined. Chris eats haggis because he told me he would.

John WayneVeterans have laid their lives on the line for this country. People have built on their blood, sweat, and tears the foundation of family and freedom. I eat haggis because I promised and when my four year old son, my six year old daughter, my thirteen year old friend Robert or even my new friend Joel look at me I would like to them to see John Wayne morals.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Eating haggis is but a small price to pay for an altruistic ideal. There are in fact people who will stand for integrity, honesty, loyalty friendship, and truth. Let me some day be remembered, at least in the eyes of some, as a haggis eater.

Lungs? Really? – Christopher Page
Bleep! – Frankie Podlaha
****** – Clifton Printy

There is an absolute psychology that belongs to musicians

Special guest blog by Clifton Printy, front man for Don’t Know Jac.

There is an absolute psychology that belongs to musicians.  A specific need or desire that has caused them to spend years and hours learning to play. Yes, “I am going to be a rock star,” is part of it. That is not the reason for most musicians. The idea after gigging out for twenty years of hitting the big pay off seems like a lottery ticket for most of them. So why would they practice into the night, and play for their friends every chance they get? They do it because they want you to listen.

That’s where Street Jelly comes in; an author wants you to read their book, a painter wants you to get their art, and a musician wants an audience. It does not matter if it is three in the morning or nine o’clock in the evening they want a crowd.

Clifton Parade

Street Jelly helps to fill that niche by allowing musicians and music lovers to enjoy the intimate setting of a private gig, without violating your privacy. It provides the listener a way to interact with the musician you could only get by standing next to a stage and allows the artist to play live. Musicians love to listen and critique other musicians usually by encouragement, and likewise like to better their skills accordingly with the input of unbiased peers.  However, they mostly want to play for you.

You cannot always have a stage unless you have a…

“Peanut butter and Street Jelly jam samich” – Clifton Printy.

“It’s musically delicious.” – Image and Family.

Clifton Jam Band

The Hype

Guest post by Austin Church, writer extraordinaire.

See No Evil... aww hell, you now the rest.

Can you actually make a living doing what you love?
Yes. All you need is a webcam and microphone—and some sounds!—to start making money. We’re glad that Justin Bieber was able to get his start on YouTube, but now that he’s a household name, everybody and his sister’s cat is throwing up videos, hoping for the NEXT one-in-a-million chance to get a record deal.

It’s hard to stand out on YouTube!

Street Jelly offers an alternative to that lottery ticket approach. We want you to get discovered, but we’re not going to B.S. you. If you want to be the next rags-to-riches, you’re going to need some help. We’ve designed Street Jelly with that goal in mind. You can get visibility, build a fan base, and let the quality of your art and performance determine what you make and where your music takes you.

Play to the crowd, get to know your listeners, and maybe even play “Freebird” every once in awhile just to prevent a riot. You’ll be busking your face off in no time and making Mick Jagger jokes to tease a few more tips out of your adoring fans.

Signing up is easy. We’ll walk you through it step-by-step, and for those of you who are still new to live streaming, we’ve got some simple tutorials for picking out inexpensive equipment and getting everything to run smoothly. Virtual stardom awaits, and Beyonce thinks you’re ready for this Jelly.