Videos are increasingly important to Instagram, which recently hit 400 million monthly active users. Over the past six months, the amount of time users have spent watching Instagram videos has increased by 40%, the company said. Since Instagram revamped its curated “Explore” tab last summer, the company has been serving users more curated videos in collections built around accounts and places, such as musicians, extreme athletes, architecture and beaches. The longer video format could help boost the amount of time users spend in the app and make Instagram become more valuable as a search tool and pulse on live events. Read more from Forbes.com
Here’s a video I created in 2015 to showcase the 10 solo CDs by smoothjazz saxophonist Paul Taylor When Instagram moved to 60 second videos, I edited it carefully to accommodate that length. Review your existing videos – maybe there is something that can be edited or reworked to accommodate the new 60 second video opportunity that Instagram now offers. Note: Paul Taylor now has an eleventh CD, “Countdown” so looks like I will need to do another edit! Please contact me if you need any assistance.
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The Musical Gift of a Full Brain Workout
Every time you listen to a piece of music, you’re actually giving yourself a deep, full-brain workout.
Anyone who has heard a song they love knows that the feeling is unlike any other. Neurological research into music comprehension has glimpsed why that might be. A song starts with your ears and ends with the music resonating in some way through all four of the brain’s major lobes, producing reactions throughout the body, evoking emotions and memory. Looking more closely at the pathways music takes through the brain only reveals why it’s played such a powerful role in human life for so long.
That was an excerpt from a great Here’s What Happens Inside Your Brain When You Listen to Music by Tom Barnes Twitter @hotchiligumbo
So, if we needed PROOF that music is GOOD for us, there it is.
I say, it’s important and loving to share that goodness!
May I suggest we skip the traditional fare for some HEALTHIER gift options such as concert tickets, or gift certificates to a great venue, or a CD…even a single download! I have been known to randomly send a single track via iTunes to a fellow entrepreneur to celebrate the completion of a project or to encourage a new start up. Tenacity by sax recording artist Paul Taylor is an example of one that I consider an entrepreneur/musician/artist’s “theme” song. There are other tracks I send to friends to commemorate a life event or to cheer them on – I call it “a random act of music“. I find it fun to match songs and lyrics to life events. It’s also a super way to introduce your favourite artists to those you love.
Let’s support the music, musicians, and venues we love by giving the gift of music this season and a full brain workout!