It’s that festive holiday time of year again. The latest update in the online front is iTunes now features 90 second previews of my music that is over 2:30 in length. Christmas Brought Me You is a great example (especially in Grant’s Advent Calendar). Most clips now start at the chorus and play for 90 seconds – a great way to know if you’ll really love or hate a song.
Yesterday (12/09/10) marked the finishing of writing a CD of funk music with my good friend Jesse Stern. It’s been a project of fun and we’re happy to be getting it out into the world.
If you’re on Ping you ought to know I’ve got an official Ping profile: Jody on Ping. I’ve been posting video clips from an interview about Practical Insanity.
In the world of NFL music on Fox Sports – you’re now hearing my musical creations. Additionally Fox Sports is now making Do You Want To Play available to all their affiliates for use to promote games. It should be very soon that you’ll be hearing it used for that purpose.
My writing studio has been seeing a lot of attention as of late. More and more songs are making their way to completion. Pretty soon I’ll have a huge batch of songs finished in pre-production. At that point I’ll be looking for a select group of volunteers to spend time listening to the array of songs. If you’re interested contact me.
Have a great holiday season. Very best to you.
New Release: Do You Want To Play – NFL Mixes
That’s right football fans, now the new sports anthem is available for your favorite NFL team. Be the first on your block to get your own copy available now on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and CD Baby. It will come to other digital sites as well.
The song “Not That Into You” co-written by Robert Navarro and I for the American Youth Rock Library has already been licensed and used over 100 times in 3 months. It’s one of the top performing songs in the library. Very exciting indeed.
I now have an official Artist Profile on iTunes Ping, here’s the link: Jody on Ping.
Last week I was hired to sing a duet for the theme song of a new video game. It was a pleasure to work with John Rodd and Aubrey Ashburn on the project. (More to come on it).
My library Dancin Deer Audio has inked a deal with the Fox Sports Network. We’re excited to have our music in the hands of the sports broadcasting giant. Looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership.
New Release: Do You Want To Play – NHL Mixes
That’s right hockey fans, now the new sports anthem is available for your favorite NHL team. Be the first on your block to get your own copy available now on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and CD Baby. It will be coming soon to other digital sites as well.
Win Win Win!
You could win praise, glory, the adulation of your fellow fans, and a cool hockey prize from your team. There is a music video contest for Do You Want To Play and the NHL teams. That’s right, get a copy of the song from your favorite digital store and create a video showing off your true hockey colors and fandom. Post it on your favorite video site (YouTube, Vimeo, etc) then send the link thru the contact page here on jodywhitesides.com/contact
Get a jump on the competition and skate your way into glory. Deadline for the contest to be announced soon!
Stay tuned for more.
Happiness is getting together for a good cause. It’s even better when you’re doing it with a game you enjoy. It’s even better when it becomes a networking event where you can meet additional people beyond those who you know. Especially when you already know quite a few and it’s in your business. Such is the case of the Recording Industry Poker Tournament. It was a charity event that I partook in.
The outcome?
Well, I won!
Click Here to read the story.
It was a heck of a lot of fun. I’m happy about the outcome and I look forward to attending again next time.
Recent developments include:
Performing at the release of the Bruno/Universal/APM American Youth Rock Library release. Shared the stage with some big names in the industry and had lots of fun doing it.
Sang on a video game coming out later this year in Japan. More details on that in the coming months.
Playing shows as they come up. Recently did a set in Frazier Park, CA.
Played in a music charity poker tournament for Sound Art LA. Shared the felt with some of the big names in mixing, mastering, engineering and production, along with a few musicians. When the dust settled, I stood victorious for a great cause – I’m sure there will be pictures of me with the winnings appearing online soon. Please donate to their organization so kids can still get a music education in Los Angeles.
I will be speaking on a panel at SESAC’s Songwriter’s Bootcamp this Friday August 6th at the Skirball Center. I’ll be giving my thoughts on what it’s like to be a songwriting musician in the video game world.
Stay tuned more good things are afoot.
The new year is getting off to a bang. Robert Navarro and I are putting the finishing touches on a new project right after coming off the heels of winning the Audience Choice ‘Battle Trax’ live promo competition at the 2009 PROMAX UK show. A track we wrote and produced called ‘Ripper Deck’ is the winner.
I’ve been extending feelers for new remixers to start work on another one of my new songs. Now that the library is getting underway, I’ll be putting my efforts into finishing all the songs I’ve currently got in pre-production for the next CD.
NAMM show was a great time. New relationships have begun and I look forward to putting new toys to use on all the projects I’ve got coming on my plate.
Stay tuned and may your year be off to a great start!
It’s been a crazy end to the year. A vast majority of the time spent between this update and the last update was in preparing a library of music…
The cool news is a song I co-wrote with Robert Navarro has helped a video win the Audience award at the ProMax conference. Here’s a little better representation of it: “A track of music by Navarro & Jody Whitesides called ‘Ripper Deck’, produced for Boosey & Hawkes’ Strip Sounds Library, won the Audience Choice ‘Battle Trax’ live promo competition at the 2009 PROMAX UK show.”
Additional bits of news include being hired to sing some movie trailers, finishing a song with Heather Bradley for a TV show and doing some cues for another trailer company.
The performance schedule has been unreasonably light this year, but little elves are telling me that will change for next year in 2010.
I hope you all have a great holiday season and New Year! See ya on the flip side.
Hero Unexpected has been getting radio airplay in Canada. Shortly we’ll be making the push to CMJ to start with going for radio play in America.
In the meantime, I’ve been holed up in the studio. I’ve been writing material for film trailers. Currently awaiting word on a new trailer that I’ve recently finished a song called Apple of My Eye. I also created the theme song to a fun little program called Hollywood Dish. It should begin airing in the next several weeks.
I’ve also been writing with Heather Bradley and Jan Linder-Koda. We’re going to be completing a full CD of childrens songs. So far we have four songs that are all very catchy and very cool for kids and adults alike.
Heather and I will also be writing music for other ventures as well. We’re starting on that this week.
To top things off, I’ve been getting into a writing situation with Troy MacCubbin of TaTu fame. We’ve already got one song nearly finished and will certainly be going for more soon.
Here’s an article written about me in the Glendale News-Press a show I played recently. Unfortunately the link directly to the article seems to be shot.
By Brian McGackin
Published: Last Updated Tuesday, June 23, 2009 10:15 PM PDT
Some people were born to perform. They have that spark, that certain extra something that keeps them motivated and moving forward with their dreams no matter what. They can perform anywhere, in front of any crowd. Even when the circumstances aren’t the best, they get up in front of the microphone and do everything they can to keep the fans happy.
Local singer/songwriter Jody Whitesides was put in a less than optimal situation Thursday night while performing at the Left Coast Wine Bar in Glendale.
Despite being forced to delay his performance more than an hour, Whitesides was still in high spirits as he checked his levels and joked around with the crowd in the bar’s cramped, upstairs room. He was several songs into his first set when the bar finally turned off the house speakers playing a local radio station, but Whitesides kept playing, and the crowd wasn’t disappointed.
Opening with an acoustic version of his song “All the Things,” Whitesides created an evening and atmosphere all his own from the very first note. His sound is a mix of folk, blues, rock and soul, with even a twang of country at times, and he wound deftly through original songs and covers. He even had the chance to sing “Happy Birthday” when the manager of the Left Coast Wine Bar interrupted him mid-song to make the request.
“I’ve never had that happen before,” Whitesides joked after the candles were blown out. Not 20 minutes later, however, he was interrupted again, for the same reason.
Despite the distractions, he went right back into his song “Tabloid Affair,” one of the many originals that could easily be heard on pop, rock or alternative radio stations tomorrow. Most of the songs played were off of his latest album “Practical Insanity.” Even through all of the setbacks — and despite the fact that there was no advertising for the performance on the Left Coast Wine Bar’s street-side chalkboard — Whitesides drew in more and more fans as the set went on.
His John Mayer/Lenny Kravitz vibe had everyone in the room nodding or clapping along, especially when he played his newest single, “Hero Unexpected,” and “Thump, Thump, Thump,” another new song.
After capping off the evening with the rhythmically dynamic “Day of Our Lives,” possibly the best song of the night, Whitesides stuck around to mingle with the crowd.
“I like to write music, and hopefully other people like to listen to it,” he said.
With such a wide range of sounds and a large number of quality original songs, it’s hard not to find something to like about Jody Whitesides. If you’re interested in hearing him for yourself, check out his website at www. jodywhitesides.com or buy one of his albums off iTunes or Amazon.com.
Hero Unexpected (A Heroes Theme) has been released!!
That’s right the song you’ve been hearing about is now available on iTunes & Amazon and coming soon to your favorite digital music store.
Hero Unexpected my first mega-single type of release. The digital EP will contain the original version of the song along with 5 remixes done by some hot remix artists including Robert Vadney, Liquid Vision, Chris Hellstrom, Jesse Stern, and Chris ‘Von Pimpinstein’ Carter.
For my Canadian friends the song will be getting radio play starting this week. Call your station and make your Heroic request.
I will be doing an on air interview on 05/13 (tomorrow) with the ODU. That will be around 7 p.m. PST.
Have you seen my twitter challenge? Check it out, and pass it along.