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StreetJelly Meetup 2015 Info

What: StreetJelly Meetup 2015 – Great Smoky Mountains
When: Saturday, Sept 19th, 2015
Where: Wilderness at the Smokies Resort, Sevierville, TN

East Tennessee is just a half-day’s drive from anywhere east of The Mississippi!

Please RSVP by August 15th, so we get an accurate count. click here

Saturday, Sept 19th – starts around 3pm at the Cades Cove Room

All viewers and musicians on StreetJelly.com are invited to meet in person for a day of fun and music. The event is FREE to attend at the Wilderness at the Smokies Resort, Cades Cove banquet room, in Sevierville, TN. Musicians, bring your guitars and instruments to jam with friends from all over the country. We will broadcast the entire event live on StreetJelly.com, too.

Travel and lodging expenses are not provided. In other words, you have to pay your own way to get here. Discount lodging rates available at the Wilderness Resort, call 877.325.9453 ($109/night, includes passes into resort’s two water-parks!). Mention the group rates for StreetJelly event on Sept 19th.

Sevierville, Tennessee – home of StreetJelly – is just outside Knoxville (East TN). It’s easy to get to, right off Interstate i40, exit 407. To reach East TN from the south, take i75; from the northeast, i81; and all points east and west, get on i40 (which runs the length of the entire U.S.).

Make it a Vacation!

We are at the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the resort towns of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. The attractions are endless and fit for every style of vacationer: camping, hiking, cabin rentals, dinner shows, amusement parks, golf, museums, shopping, restaurants, zip-lines, horse-back riding, and so on. There are 10,000s of hotel rooms in the area. And it’s the home of Dolly Parton and Dollywood! 🙂


Add’l Links
www.Gatlinburg.com
www.PigeonForge.com
www.nps.gov – National Park Service
www.Dollywood.com
www.RipleyAquariums.com
www.VisitMySmokies.com
www.SmokyMountains.com

Wilderness At the Smokies  map it
190 Gists Creek Road
Sevierville, TN 37876
Please ask questions about the event below in the comments…

Flash 17.0.0.169 Issues

UPDATE: May 12th, 2015

Adobe releases Flash version 17.0.0.188 with fixes to this problem. Go to Adobe’s website to get the latest version.

UPDATE: April 16th, 2015

We applied a patch on our side to prevent the issues of garbled sound. Essentially, we turned off the automatic sample-rate checking for audio. Apparently, Adobe has recognized this issue and has put in a bug-report for the Flash Player. Currently, our patch is working and users should not have to rollback their Flash versions (latest version 17.0.0.169 should work!). Let us know if you still continue with problems.

April 15th, 2015

We have had numerous reports, and confirmed it with our own computers, that the latest version of Flash released yesterday, version 17.0.0.169, is causing problems for some playing back streaming video. Symptoms include garbled sound; digital distortion; and/or video speeds up and slows down, then stops and restarts. We have witnessed this problem on Windows 7 and 8, Firefox and Chrome.  However, there are reports to us that this has happened on Safari, Opera (Linux), etc.

If you think you are experiencing these problems, and everything worked on your computer a few days ago; first let’s check what version of Flash have.  Click this link: What Version of Flash do I have?

How to fix the problem?  The current “fix” is to uninstall the latest version of Flash and reinstall the prior one, 17.0.0.134. This is not our favorite approach, but as of today (4/15) this is the only option.  We continue to investigate a better solution.

The full instructions are here from Adobe: Install a Previous Version of Flash

We understand its tricky and appreciate your patience.  Here are our simplified instructions.

  1. First, download and execute the Flash Uninstaller.
    1. Windows  Scroll down to “1. Download the uninstaller for Flash Player” and click on the bullet “uninstaller” link and follow instructions.
    2. Mac  Scroll down to “2. Run the uninstaller applicable to your Mac OS version” and click on the link for your appropriate Mac version.  Follow uninstall instructions.
  2. Install previous version of Flash. Last good version was 17.0.0.134
    1. Click here Archived Flash Player versions
    2. Scroll down to the Flash Player Archives section
    3. Choose the link to Flash Player 17.0.0.134 (235.98 MB)
    4. This will download a compressed zip file to your computer.  Use any unzip program on your computer to decompress to a local folder.
    5. There will be a file to install version 17.0.0.134 for both Windows and Mac in the list.
      1. Windows: execute (double-click) on flashplayer17_0r0_134_win.msi  for Firefox/Chrome plugins, or flashplayer17_0r0_134_winax.msi for IE. Follow instructions.
      2. Mac: install the DMG file as you would normally install any application in Mac O/S.  flashplayer17_0r0_134_mac.dmg or flashplayer17_0r0_134_mac_pkg.dmg to extract a PKG package (double-click PKG to install)
  3. For Chrome users, you have one more step. Chrome uses its own embedded version of Flash. You have to turn off that “plugin” and tell Chrome to use the one you just installed.
    1. In Chrome, type “chrome://plugins” into the address bar.  This will bring up the Plugins configuration page on your computer.
    2. Click on “+Details” in the upper right corner to expand plugin details.
    3. Scroll down until you see the “Adobe Flash Player” (Shockwave Flash) in the list. You should see two files. “Disable” the one pointing to location “…\pepflashplayer.dll”
    4. “Enable” the one pointing to location “…\NPSWF32_xxxx.dll”
    5. Close and restart Chrome.

Some notes: uninstalling and reinstalling will require you to close down all your browsers and restart them.

Please contact us for any assistance.  support@streetjelly.com

Commitment to Musicians Payout

A message from Frank Podlaha, CEO

Pile of TokensMany of you have probably noticed the new Payout Percentage we now display on the StreetJelly BuyTokens page. On the right hand side, we show a running average of the amount of cash that we pay back to musicians from the tokens purchased by fans. Let me explain a little deeper how it all works.

We do things a little differently on StreetJelly than most sites. Instead of just tipping in US Dollar amounts, we use tokens (and Rocker Pin awards) to show our love to the musicians. Each tipped token is always paid out at 16¢ (US). However, we sell those tokens for various prices depending on the size of the package a fan purchases. People like a deal when they buy in bulk. No difference with our tokens. The more you buy, the better price you get. The percentage of the money that goes to the musicians then varies depending on which package is purchased. The tokens vary in sale price from 32¢ to 20¢ (or 50% to 80% payout).

Of course, different people buy different packages. If we average out all the packages sold, we consistently get a payout above 70%. It’s been like that from the very beginning. We have just as many fans buy the larger token packages as do the smaller ones.

However, this is not the complete picture because we also give away tons of free tokens with promo-codes, contests, and other events. Think for a minute what happens when you get a promo-code worth 25 Free Tokens. Those extra tokens still become real cash that we payout to musicians. For example: if you buy the smallest package of 25 tokens at $8 with that promo, you actually receive 50 tokens (25 purchased + 25 free).  The payout to the musicians becomes $8, or 50 x .16 = $8.  100% of your purchase goes to the musicians. Cool, huh!?

We are displaying that full Payout Percentage on the BuyTokens page. It’s a running average over the past 30 days, and includes all the extra tokens we give away. On a side note: it does NOT include any fees/royalties we payout to the songwriters associations (BMI, ASCAP, etc). Those artists get their piece of the pie from our revenue, not the musicians. It’s our obligation to take care of that portion.

We are very proud that our true Payout Percentage is running in the mid-80s! It is our goal to always keep that at or above 80% and still stay in business.

Thank you for all the support!

~Frank Podlaha, CEO – a.k.a. Frankie

Payout Percentage - Feb 2015

Payout Percentage – Feb 2015

 

FiddlerMan

Guest blog by FiddlerMan, Pierre Holstien.
Meet our latest SJ friend and join us for the FiddlerMan Jamboree, Feb 21st, 2015, on StreetJelly.com.
The whole fiddle-SJ-gang will put on a fun day of string music in support of their community at FiddlerMan.com.

The FiddlerMan Bio

Pierre Holstein

Pierre Holstein

I’m, Pierre Holstein, otherwise known as FiddlerMan. I grew up and studied in South Florida. Don’t want to bore you with my education 🙂 Played professionally for over 30 years in the US and Europe. Began working as a violinist in South Florida for 5 years including South Florida Symphony Orchestra and Miami City Ballet before moving to Sweden with my wonderful Swedish wife.

In Sweden I was a concert master in Gävle Symfoniorkester and had two great children, Michael 1988 and Emilie 1990. Four years later I became one of the Section Leaders in Malmö Symfoniorkester and stayed for 16 years before giving it all up to move back to sunny Florida with our family. Since professional orchestras in South Florida don’t provide acceptable income, benefits, and security, I felt the desire to do something slightly different.

Fiddlerman.comNot knowing where it would take me I founded FiddlerMan.com with the intention of providing violinists, both new and experienced, a great place to learn, improve, get motivated, and just hangout. In addition to all it’s many resources, interested members participate in community virtual group video projects which they work on, record, submit for me to mix and post on YouTube.

The popularity of FiddlerMan.com led to the start of FiddlerShop.com in January 2012 which I am running with the help of my son. My knowledge of string instruments makes it easier to choose, test, adjust and suggest great affordable instruments for our customers. We also sell Basses, Cellos, Violas, Guitars, Ukuleles and Mandolins plus accessories. I believe that if we can’t satisfy a customer we haven’t done our job.

I strongly encourage our members to perform on streetjelly for it’s unlimited benefits of performance and motivation.

Thanks for this site.

This, That, and Thanks

Some quick news and site updates to come.  ~frankie

2014 is coming to a close.  Here in the States, we kick off the holiday season with our Thanksgiving.  Then the real holiday insanity begins!

Here at StreetJelly, we are most thankful for another wonderful year of growth.  We are immensely grateful to all the musicians and viewers on the site that make it great.  Thank you, Jellyfish!!!
New Layout

This past month, we released a new design of StreetJelly.  It’s more correct to say this was a “partial” release.  We are not done making changes!  The changes you see were mainly to the homepage, logo, branding, etc.  Some of the old sections on the homepage:  upcoming schedule, new members, friends of SJ, etc. appear to be missing.  Don’t worry, they are coming back.  We are currently working on getting these features back on the site with the new look.  We will slowly trickle in these updates from time to time.

Next, we are also working on upgrading the broadcasting software to full mp4 (H.264 + AAC stereo) compatibility.  This will allow the streaming to be playable on any device, specifically iPhones / iPads, without having to run a special Flash-converter browser like Photon or Puffin’.  Broadcasting at full mp4 is also the precursor for deploying a true mobile app version of StreetJelly.  Expect to see the mobile app by first or second quarter of 2015.

The rest of our (very long) To-Do list includes services to better promote our artists and viewing experience.  On the short list will be affiliate programs and discounts for 3rd party musician services, a SJ store for musician merch, customizable broadcasting pages to set your econcert mood and vibe, and plenty more nifty ideas we have up our sleeves.

Thank you, again, StreetJelly community.  Great things are still to come!

Year Two – We Keep Rolling

Happy 2nd Anniversary, StreetJelly!  August 17th, 2014

Anniversary TwoOn August 17th, 2012, the very first musician performed on StreetJelly.com!  …and to quote a great lyric, “what a long strange trip it has been.”  Yes, year two is now in the books, and we keep on truckin’.  It has been an intense busy year.  The site has grown tremendously and we are most proud that we still keep it a friendly fun destination for pure live music on the web.  Here are some quick stats to date:

  • 70,000 unique visitors came to the site 300k times
  • 1.3 million page hits
  • 696,000 minutes of streaming video, 11,600 hours
  • 14,800 musical performances
  • 1,540 musicians on StreetJelly
  • 306,400 tokens tipped to musicians, that’s over ¼ million tokens – $50k
    THAT’S A LOT OF TIPS ! ! !

Read about Year One click here

Timeline Highlights

Jellypalooza 2013August 18th, 2013 – Jellypalooza Online Music Festival! We kicked off our one-year anniversary with the first ever truly Online Live Streaming Music Festival. 12 hours straight of continuous multiple streaming musicians.  The Second Annual Jellypalooza is scheduled on 8/31/2014, Labor Day weekend.

August 25th, 2013Meadow Ryan Album Release Party.

October 19th, 2013 – Big Deal Extravaganza!  Awardees of the Big Deal rocker pin (a 500 token value) perform special back-to-back shows. Clifton Printy, and Image and Family.

Halloween JamOctober 31, 2013 – Halloween Jam!  StreetJelly musicians perform live shows in scary …and silly costumes.

Mini-Merv

Mini-Merv

November 10, 2013 – The Merv Roast  Amanda secretly plans a surprise roasting of Merv.  Mini-Merv looses his shins!

December 15, 2013 – Jelly Jingle  Oh, this was so much fun.  All day, SJ musicians performed Christmas and Holiday carols.  We are totally doing this every year.Christmas Jelly Jingle

December 31, 2013 – Another tradition continued.  Our second New Year’s celebration by SJ musicians singing Auld Lang Syne in every US timezone.  19 more timezones to go for next year.

January 28, 2014 – StreetJelly wins 1st place in the Tennessee Veteran’s Business Associations business plan competition.

Purple Lana

Purple Saturday

February 14, 2014 – Sing me a Love Song Night  Who needs dinner and chocolates when you get great musicians singing all love songs live on Valentine’s Day.

March 1, 2014 – Purple Saturday  Purple what?  It’s a StreetJelly thing, you gotta know the SJ anthem – Purple Rain.  “Purple Saturday” was our tribute to all things purple.  It was a ton of …uhem …purple fun.

May to July, 2014 – Street Jelly Media, Inc. participates in a media business accelerator program, MediaWorks, hosted by the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center.  This is behind the scenes stuff, but nonetheless an important step in growing StreetJelly to the next level.  It takes a village (not my words) to build a great and successful start-up.

July 2014 – The Great StreetJelly Guitar Giveaway Music Video Contest  :flatley!This was the battle of all jelly battles for a beautiful brand new J. Backlund Retronix R-800 guitar.  There was jelly-blood everywhere by the time the dust settled.  But only one musician was victorious – Alex Mason of Nashville, TN.

Here are all the great music video entries…

What’s Next?

Two big things coming for 2015.

  1. Website Updates: design and features.  Yep, we’re not going to keep it the same forever.  Stay tuned for pretty layout changes, and as always, new features.
  2. Mobile App.  Yes, let’s get our jelly-fix everywhere and anywhere.

More Testimonials

Last week we posted a question on Facebook about what you love about StreetJelly.  Here are some of the responses…

“And what do I love about StreetJelly?  It’s the great people on the site like the ones below.”  ~Frankie

Streetjelly is the best live music site on the web. Why? Because you can listen to all kinds of different artists from all over the globe with just the push of a button. It doesn't matter what type of music you're into, there is truly something for everyone. And for artists it is especially cool, because you can actually get paid just for performing right from your home. That's right, people actually can tip you with tokens that are converted to real money, meaning you can make money for your efforts. Whether you're a music fan that just enjoys listening to live music or an artist looking for an outlet to perform in front of a live audience, Streetjelly is the place to be. So don't waste any more time reading this...go to Streetjelly.com now and have some fun, because the people there are truly awesome as well. See ya soon on the Jelly!!!!!I was introduced to StreetJelly from my Brother Trevor Holmes ,..and since then I find myself going to the site on a daily basis. I have met SO many wonderful people on there and have never laughed so hard in my life. I not only get to hear Great Musicians play daily,.. but can just be myself and have intelligent conversations in chat while quality Music plays wether covers or originals. I feel very comfortable here playing and also listening . I tell all my Friends, Family & fellow Musicians about it so they can enjoy what I have been honored to enjoy. A quality LIVE webcast sight. I try to send out links on social media to bring other people in to see what they are missing. I don,t always use jelly on my Hot Peanut Buttered toast,...but when I do,...I use " StreetJelly " lol Long live StreetJelly ! Streetjelly is the most awesome site for both musicians and fans alike!. It gives musicians the opportunity to hone their trade in a relatively safe environment. It give fans the opportunity to discover new music and to see live shows of artists they like no matter where in the world that artist is based.My family and I are 100% addicted to Streetjelly. It is a great outlet for us to share the music we love with others. It has also be instrumental in helping my son,Robert, to come out of his shell and interact on a social level with amazing people across the globe. We absolutely adore Streetjelly and wish this great site nothing but the best. Streetjelly ROCKS!!!!!!Streetjelly is the best experience I've had. There are so many talented performers. And really once you've tried one your hooked. Its so much more than just listening. Once you listen You really become a part of a group of friendly people, that is more like a family.WHY I LOVE STREETJELLY? EXCELLENT MUSICAL ARTIST COMMUNITY, RECEPTIVE AUDIENCES, PLUS EXCELLENT INTERNET INTERFACE. STREETJELLY PROVIDES HIGH QUALITY AUDIO AND VIDEO, ALONG WITH FAMILY-FRIENDLY CHAT.

Always would love to hear more! And don’t forget to Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

With a Little Help from me Friends

FriendsWe live in interesting times.  Anyone with a few free computer programming tools can create an internet company.  Anyone with a guitar and webcam can broadcast their music to the world and reach millions.  Oops, did I just peg the Bullsh!t Meter?  I did.  While those statements are technically true, they are extremely hard.  Extremely hard!

It’s so hard, we often think it is purely a one-in-a-million chance to make any headway in this world.  Reality TV shows like The Voice and SharkTank give us this sense that we have to “win” our way to the top with luck.  Having great luck does help, and most humble, successful people will tell you that luck did play a major part in their accomplishments.  But I also believe helping-others-to-the-top exposes us to the best opportunities …and is the most satisfying way to get through our busy lives.

It’s really simple, when you can help another person – just do it.  It doesn’t mean you have to fall over everyone you meet (people will think you’re creepy), nor does it mean you have to give-away every product or service you sell for free (people understand you have to make a living, run a business, obey your boss).  But it means a simple gesture of support, an email or phone call to a new contact, or even a purchase of a product or gift can make all the difference in the world to someone.  StreetJelly people are the BEST at this! <3

Yes, I’m starting to sound a bit preachy – but it’s something I try to do as often as possible in my tech world and, of course, on StreetJelly.  Let me tell you about the community I live in and the support StreetJelly gets.  I live in Knoxville, TN, a medium sized city in the foothills of the great Smokey Mountains.  Three main industries prevail in the area: the Oak Ridge National Laboratories (technology/engineering), the University of Tennessee (education/research), and Media/Entertainment.  After the big cities like New York, LA, etc., Knoxville is the 5th or 6th largest city in media and entertainment.  Most of your cable TV programming comes out of companies in Knoxville like HGTV, the Food Network, and so on.  It’s a great place to live and work.

We also have a thriving entrepreneur community supported greatly by these industries (see more about the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center).  As a young start-up business, StreetJelly receives support from a slew of these organizations.  It’s the “rising tide lifts all boats” thing.  This support system works not because of some mandated budget by any one organization, but because the folks involved enjoy (as much as I do) to help others succeed.

LineSharkAudio.com

LineShark Audio

I tell you all this because in the coming weeks, StreetJelly is going to do its part and help promote another music start-up from Knoxville.  The company is LineShark.  It’s a new business where a pair of engineering geeks (I say that affectionately) and part-time musicians have invented a cool universal connector device.  It allows musicians to plug their instrument into an iPad and perform LIVE music back out to an amp with a full studio console of affects.  Yes, Androids work too, but most of the cool music apps are on the iPad.

LineShark is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign, set to end April 24th, 2014.  We are going to host a “Kickstarter Party” on StreetJelly, April 9th, to help promote their venture.  The actual event will be held at the entrepreneur center, downtown Knoxville.  We will stream a live demo of the product on StreetJelly, plus have guest musicians perform with the device.  It will be a hoot.  It’s the least we can do!!!

~frankie, a.k.a. The King of StreetJelly

ps – Be on the look out for more fun StreetJelly partnerships with local music businesses.

Upgrade Your Flash Version

We are upgrading our broadcaster software to use Flash version 11.4 or higher.

Adobe Flash SoftwareBackground:  The StreetJelly broadcaster software uses Flash Media Live Encoder (FMLE) for streaming.  This all happens automatically for musicians on StreetJelly behind the scenes.  Most websites use this technology for streaming, as well.  Many times, people cringe when they hear “Flash” website.  They think of those tacky animations from 10 years ago.  We do not use any part of that, but only the FMLE portion to connect to ones camera and microphone.

The FMLE comes as part of the Flash software installed on most desktops: Windows, Apple Macbook, etc.  It is typically not available for mobile devices: Android phones and tablets no longer support Flash, and iPhone/iPads never supported it.

Currently:  The StreetJelly broadcasting page for musicians uses features in the FMLE that require a minimum of Flash v10.3 or higher.  We have been at this version for some time to accommodate a few stragglers who may have trouble with older audio equipment.  This version produces a stream format, however, that can only be viewed by other Flash devices.  Hence, StreetJelly can only be viewed easily on desktops with Flash.  It’s much more complicated to view performances with other devices without 3rd party software, side-jacking, etc.

The Upgrade:  We are upgrading the musician’s broadcasting page with features found in FMLE v11.4 (or higher) that will use newer and improved streaming formats.  Specifically, we’re moving to an mp4 h.264 codec.  This will allow StreetJelly to transmit in mp4 (h.264 + aac) to mobile devices.  Yes, this is part of a larger project to build mobile apps of StreetJelly!

So what should I do?  Probably nothing.  Most everyone has Flash installed on their computers to automatically update (its default setting).  The current Flash version is v12.0.0 (March 2014).  Click this link to see what version of Flash you have installed.  Only a few folks may have turned off the auto-update to keep them at a specific older version.  This is most likely due to newer Flash versions not being compatible with older microphone equipment and sound drivers.  To that point, those folks need to take a systematic approach to upgrading.  They should install the highest version they can that still works with their equipment.  Below are some links to get started.

Links

To install the latest version of Flash:
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

To install older versions of Flash:
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/  Choose “click here for older versions…” below on that page.

StreetJelly Test Flash 11 page (musician account only):
http://www.StreetJelly.com/test_flash11

Contact us if you have problems:
support@streetjelly.com