Ugly Mugs Wrap Up!

Thanks to everyone that made it out to the Ugly Mugs show on Saturday night!! I had a great time!! Playing with the big door open was awesome! I'm hoping to secure a copy of an audio recording from that show and when I do, I'll definitely share it with y'all!

So as I've said in previous posts, I'm going to take a break from playing live shows for a bit to focus on writing my next record and to gear up for the Me and the Machine Records' incredible 2009 release schedule. Keep an eye out for Stillhouse Hollow's debut album Dakota to drop at the end of June (but fans and friends will be able to get it at live shows starting next week)! Then near the end of September, keep an ear/eye to the ground for The New Whole Usuals' sophomore release. Many more details on these records will be coming down the line soon and definitely pop over to Me and the Machine and join the mailing list.

While you're waiting for new music from me, check out Words and No Music for exactly what the title describes and also follow @shortandabsurd on Twitter for the other side of my writing.

That's it for now so...

Until whenever!

Words and No Music: An Introduction

I'm spending much more time writing these days so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share what I've been working on. Over time, these words may find themselves in my songs but until then, they'll live here as a collection of written works. One day, I hope to compile these into a poetry book of sorts but we'll cross that bridge once it's on fire.

Now that formal introductions of this new endeavor are out of the way, I'm playing my last show for awhile this weekend at Ugly Mugs (6pm, free) in East Nashville. It's a great little room and I hope to see you there!

:: Words and No Music ::

Reinventing the Short and Absurd

It's always fun to try something new. Today I revived a Twitter page I started many moons ago when I was sick and stuck in bed. It's a twitter page and it can be found @shortandabsurd. I'm attempting to compose mini-novels in the span of 140 characters. Some will be funny, some will be sad, but they'll all be short and absurd. Pop over and check them out!

Speaking of twitter, I've spent some time recently thinking through a revised top5albums.com. While it has yet to be fully realized, I think we're on to something. If you visit it now, you will see a page that refreshes every 15 seconds based on a search of the word "album" as mentioned on Twitter. There's a greater explanation at the top5albums blog. If there are any developer among you that would like to help out with this project, please contact me!

Josh Preston's Station on Pandora Radio

Hey this is new! I realized today that I've got a Pandora Radio station. If you've got a free Pandora Radio account and you're inclined to hear bits and bobs of music that Pandora thinks sound like me, click on link below!

:: Josh Preston's Station on Pandora Radio ::

:: Pandora Radio iPhone App ::

Tomorrow Night! MATM Artists and Friends @ Edgehill Cafe Studios

(from meandthemachine.com)



Tomorrow night Adam Burrow, Josh Preston, The New Whole Usuals and Stillhouse Hollow will be coming at you live from Edgehill Studios Cafe as part of the new monthly Me and the Machine Records residency! The show starts at 7pm, it's all ages and it's free!!

If you live in the greater Nashville area, we've made it extremely easy for you to attend. However, if you live further than say, 65 miles away from the venue, we're going to attempt to bring the show to you LIVE via the internet. You can watch the show via Me and the Machine Television. Hell, you can watch Me and the Machine Television now!! Let us know what you think via Twitter or whatever else you crazy kids communicate with these days.

And to keep the LIVE train rolling, Me and the Machine Television will be broadcasting LIVE from South Street Studios on Sunday morning starting around 10am. You can tune in to check out The New Whole Usuals recording woodwind parts for their forthcoming album (due out Fall 2009)!! We'll be chatting with viewers directly so get your questions about the intricacies of the bass clarinet ready now.

Oh, and one last bit about the show: This picture is from the new iPhone app called Bandloop (iTunes Store Link). If you have an iPhone and love live music, this little pocket buddy will change your whole scene. It's still a bit buggy but it will grow and in the process, you will slowly go deaf.

We'll see you or you'll see us this weekend!!

My Reasons for "Going Free"

In a sleepy haze in the wee hours of the morning on Monday (3/9/09), I began pondering the idea of giving my music away for free. So after careful consideration the next day, I changed the status in all of my bandcamp.com players (if you haven't heard about bandcamp.com, check them out. They're the closest thing to the future of music distribution I've seen to date) and took the plunge. At this very moment, many of you are probably thinking I'm crazy. Many of you are probably correct but not for this action alone.

It comes down to this: I've composed these songs so people could hear them and hopefully enjoy them. I've been in the music business going on ten years now as both a performer and as an entrepreneur so I've seen almost everything there is to see on both sides of the fence. Free music just seems to be the next logical step in the evolution of the business for singer/songwriters like me that are a self-contained diy operation. I'm intrigued by the ideas that are beginning to swirl around via folks like Chris Anderson and these ideas are only going to be more finely tuned in the coming months; especially in light of the current economic climate. While it's certainly not for everyone, "going free" just makes sense for me right now.

Some of you may feel as though I'm devaluing my catalog. I view my decision as being the contrary. If people can't easily discover and share these songs, then they would have no value to me anyway. I've never gotten rich from the music I create and I never will. That's not why I do this anyway. I do it because I truly love writing and performing and making people think when the chance arises.

To date, I've made my records in my house with very little overhead. I'd much prefer that, if you like what you hear, come to a show and buy a t-shirt and say hello. Hell, if you want a CD, I'll still sell you one because those cost me money to manufacture. I put stuff on CD as a convenience more than anything. If you're completely and utterly freaked out by this and feel the need to pay for my music online, I'll probably attach a PayPal "donate" button in the music section of my website down the road.

In wrapping up this little diatribe, I do want to stress that my decision to make my own music free online has no bearing on Me and the Machine Records or the artists other than myself on this label. The artists on Me and the Machine Records are creating music that they're passionate about and there are expenses involved in the creation and distribution of their art. If for my next record, I go into a studio I need to pay for, I'll re-evaluate my need to charge something for whatever it is I create in that environment. We'll cross that bridge if/when we get there.

If you've ever had the urge to buy one of my songs (or have this urge moving forward), download my music for free from my website and then please consider purchasing music from another Me and the Machine artist. If you have any questions that I haven't addressed here, certainly feel free to follow me on Twitter and I'll be more than happy to continue this conversation. Thanks to everyone that is reading this right now for your continued support and I hope to see you again soon!!

Introducing Me and the Machine Television!!!

(from meandthemachine.com)



Sometimes, completely frustrating experiences lead to brilliant results. Let me back up and give you the story...

On Friday February 20th, we decided to conduct a test to stream live video/audio on the web via Ustream. We did this test because we were preparing to broadcast my show from Asheville, NC on the following night. For the test, we posted a status update on Facebook and essentially said that we were going live in 3 minutes. By the time we turned on the broadcast, 20 people were waiting to view it. That's right: with 3 minutes notice, 20 people tuned in. Needless to say, Bean and I were freakishly excited!! I played a few tunes live from MATM Studios and we had a blast.

The following night in Asheville, we got to the club early, set everything up and the broadcast continually dropped out. I believe people were able to see roughly one minute of that show. We were bummed but we chalked it up to a strange wi-fi connection.

On February 24th, we attempted to broadcast my performance from The Basement here in Nashville. Again we got to the club early, set everything up properly and again the broadcast failed. Instead of showing the performance, Ustream continually broadcasted commercials. We were super bummed because again, a bunch of people showed up to view this performance online and again it crapped out.

We returned to MATM Studios after this second bust and felt pretty defeated. Bean put out a request on Twitter to get suggestions about an alternate streaming service we could use. A friend from my TVT days, Tom Mullen, recommended we check out Mogulus. From the second the page loaded, we were completely blown away...

Over the past few days, we've begun to compile video footage from the vaults and create production spots. After many long days and sleepless nights, today we are launching Me and the Machine Television. I can honestly say I haven't been this excited since we launched the label. Me and the Machine Television will feature videos, interviews, behind-the-scenes documentaries, concert footage AND LIVE BROADCASTS!! We'll also feature videos from friends of the label and MATM's Video of the Week. Over time, Me and the Machine Television will grow and evolve with the label and we'll continually add content. We've spent the past two years recording nearly every live performance from every Me and the Machine artists so we'll have plenty of material!!!

I'll step out of the way now so you can check out Me and the Machine Television for yourselves. Please feel free to chat on the page but also send your comments and critiques to us via email or the social network platform of your choosing. We're incredibly new to the world of television so any help from you will be greatly appreciate. Thanks again for your support and enjoy Me and the Machine Television!!!

Josh Preston
Me and the Machine Records/Television

:: CLICK HERE TO VIEW ME AND THE MACHINE TELEVISION NOW!! ::