2012 - Grammy's and New Music


Hey everyone, welcome to the new year!  It's been a busy one already...here's the scoop:

Grammy's

  • I'm proud to announce that I am now Grammy nominated in the field of A&R Production.  Two albums I worked on (Leeland/The Great Awakening, Royal Tailor/Black & White) are nominated for Grammy awards.  I'm humbled, thankful, and proud.
  • On that note, I will be going to the Grammy's on 2/12/12 so be sure to stay tuned for updates, photos, videos, etc. from all of the events happening that weekend.  I'll show you what I can!

 

New Music

  • I'm currently working on (drumming, producing, mixing) the next Austin Pidgeon album, slated for release sometime this spring.  The first single, "What I Find", is already on iTunes, Amazon, Spoitfy, etc. - so go check it out!!!
  • I will have a new single coming out soon called "Echo".  If you liked my previous singles "With You" and "Everything" then you will love this one too.  Can't wait for you to hear it...recording my vocals tonight!
  • I'll be drumming for a few new acts live this year.  I hope to continue to diversify my musical abilities and play some new styles in addition to my favorites.


Stay tuned, there's lots to come in 2012!

P.S. - as always, thanks for checking out my blog.  Go back and see some of my older posts...maybe you'll find something new that interests you!


MERRY CHRISTMAS... A CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FOR ALL (2011)

  


O holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night, of our dear Savior's birth.

Christmas is here. Let us not forget the true meaning. It is not
about presents...it is not about being off work...it is not about a
tree...it is about the birth of Christ and everything He has done for
us.

I am so thankful for everything and everyone in my life.

I hope the new year brings happiness and the love of the Lord into your life.

Merry CHRISTmas to all, and to all a goodnight.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam,
Jason Root

 

Samsung Beats Apple In Smartphone Sales

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/231901848

Samsung Beats Apple In Smartphone Sales

Samsung shipped 28 million smartphones in its most recent quarter, easily sailing past sales of the Apple iPhone 

Samsung reported its quarterly earnings this week and revealed some amazing growth from the company's smartphone business. Year-over-year,Samsung quadrupled the number of smartphones it has sold from 7 million to a whopping 28 million.

Samsung's smartphone business is expanding at an intense rate. Earlier this month, Samsung announced that it has shipped more than 30 million Galaxy smartphones since the phones started selling in June 2010. Samsung's Galaxy smartphones are a family of devices that run Google's Android platform. Some of the Galaxy handsets include the Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, and others. They are sold by virtually all carriers in most markets around the world.

 Samsung's third-quarter smartphone sales eclipsed Apple's, which sold 17 million iPhones in its most recent quarter. Samsung outpaced Apple by more than 50% with its 28 million phones sold.

The new numbers show that Samsung holds about 23.8% of the worldwide smartphone market. Apple and Nokia--which is still the world's largest producer of cellphones overall--both lost share to Samsung. Apple's share dropped from 17.4% to 14.6%, and Nokia's share plunged from 32.7% to 14.4%.

Apple blamed its slower quarterly iPhone sales on "media speculation" about the iPhone 5 and the three-month delay in bringing the iPhone 4S to market. Clearly, consumers were waiting for a new iPhone. Apple sold a stunning 4 million iPhone 4S devices during its opening weekend of sales, and the phone remains a hot seller.

Nokia's share of the market fell because it hasn't brought any new smartphones to market. While it shipped several Symbian-based devices and the MeeGo-powered N9, the company has been transitioning from Symbian and MeeGo smartphones to Windows Phone smartphones. Nokia announced its first Windows Phone devices, the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, this week at an event in London. Both go on sale in Europe later this year.

Samsung's telecommunications business accounted for 36% of the company's total revenue. Samsung also makes laptops, computers, televisions, processors, memory chips, display panels, and other consumer electronics. Samsung made a net profit of $3.11 billion for the quarter.

 

Grammy's

Yep, I'm going again!  I will bring you along (via the Flip cam) and show you whatever I can...behind the scenes, after parties, red carpet, etc.

The show airs on 2/12/12...be sure to watch!

DVDs will be staying at netflix.com - word of mouth marketing lesson

http://blog.netflix.com/2011/10/dvds-will-be-staying-at-netflixcom.html

In case you didn't hear last week, now they are keeping it the same...

Did Hastings make the wrong decision?  Obviously.......He noticed that the stock to slumped down to HALF of what it used to be.  I don't think the customers complaints alone did the job - I think it was the fact that people left and told others to leave or not to subscribe in the first place.

SO what do we make of this? 

Word of mouth is the strongest form of marketing, and when you do wrong to your cutsomers, expect it to get around...FAST!

 

Hit the LIKE button below!

 

Netflix separates streaming, renames DVD business Qwikster

READ THIS:  http://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/explanation-and-some-reflections.html?lnktrk=EMP&g=D35872A342AEB22B94392156C5910E350AC0315E&lkid=netflixBlog


THEN READ THIS:  http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/story/2011-09-19/netflix-qwikster-dvd-streaming/50462706/1


Here is my main problem:  Why can't you just operate the two ventures separately within the existing company??? Technically you wouldn't even need to tell customers if you did it that way...its just an internal adjustment...happens all the time.

The CEO's explanation: "Our view is with this split of the businesses, we will be better at streaming, and we will be better at DVD by mail."  Huh??? That doesn't explain WHY you are separating the two.

Here's my take on what the CEO (Hastings) said in the blog above:  "Hey I'm the CEO, I/we screwed up, BUT not really...so let's back up and make things easy...we're going to separate DVDs and streaming, and then rename the DVD service to Qwikster" - REALLY?!  THATS AN EASY FIX?!

I understand that the two business operate differently, so don't get me wrong....but that doesn't mean you have to physically separate them and re-brand the ONE thing that you were good at doing...now you are making it harder on yourselves and your customers by hiking prices and separating features. 

I totally agree with another subscriber by the name of Keith Tallon.  He comments (on the netflix blog above):  "What gives? You used to be such a good service. I told all my friends about Netflix and got many of them to subscribe. You were innovative, affordable, your service crushed the competition, problems were rare and handled deftly by pleasant, informative, accommodating customer service reps who got to me within a couple of minutes on most occasions, and never longer than the estimated wait. I admired the way your business was run, and even thought of you as the example of what a company could and should be. Being good at what you do and good to your customers is a great way to endure long-termI wasn't particularly concerned about the price increase, as I thought both services were collectively worth it, but now you're killing the functionality of each. The appeal of Netflix is in the convenience it offers, and the integration of the two services is a major part of that. A link is a world away on the web, especially when the two sites don't even use the same account or access a common pool of information. And why don't they? What's so hard about sharing the underlying tables, or adding a tag to the account that regulates what content they can see and manage on a single, unified website with different payment plans? Nothing. By all appearances, you're chopping your arm off to make a cash grab at something you don't see working out long-term, but you want me to go along for the ride, anyway. I'm a pretty mercenary consumer, and you just wiped your ass with my brand loyalty."

Lastly..."Qwikster"....WHAT A STUPID NAME!

New Studio

Short post today - just updating everyone that I've moved into a new studio and have started to put drums on tracks for Jimmie Allen and Austin Pidgeon.
Trying to get some work done because I'll be going back to Hawaii again at the end of this month!

Remember to check out my facebook page for updated info daily!

Be sure to hit the LIKE button below :)

www.facebook.com/jasonrootmusic