blog.jamlegend.com

Almost as soon as JamLegend opened its virtual doors, users were asking for the ability to use their songs in JamLegend.  Ask and you shall receive, dear JamLegends!  We launched My Library, which allows users to upload mp3s into their own private libraries, create BeatJam tracks, and makes the songs available to play in less than a minute. This is one library where you won't get shushed by a librarian and where rocking out is strongly encouraged!

There are three different account types:  Free, Pro, and ProPlus.

You can upgrade to Pro and ProPlus accounts for as low as $1.99 to start. We'll be adding additional features to those accounts as well, so upgrade today to get access to great new features.

Get started now by clicking on My Library. Locate your mp3 files and choose the song you want to upload.  Confirm the song info and when your song is done uploading, you'll be able to play immediately! If you have your own MIDI files for songs, just point your cursor to the song name in your Library, and an up arrow icon will appear.

Users cannot play other private library songs that someone else owns. Nevertheless, if someone uploads the same song you have into their library, then  added to your Library, you can play the song in BeatJam or in Guitar!

As always, don't hesitate to e-mail us at feedback@jamlegend.com or post on the JamLegend GetSatisfaction forum if you have any questions  or comments.

What's more meta than a band, who uses video game controllers as instruments, adding their songs to a video game, then showing the video of someone playing the game while they perform the song live?  No, you didn't take Morpheus's red pill and fall down the Matrix rabbit hole.  It's what happened when I Fight Dragons, the world's first and only NES rock band, added their songs to JamLegend.

I Fight Dragons hails from Chicago, IL and was voted the Best New Chicago Band 2009 by Metromix.com.  Their songs are super catchy and upbeat, featuring bleeps, blips, and bloops made by video game controllers.  No, seriously.  I Fight Dragons uses old Nintendo controllers, Guitar Hero guitar controllers, etc. to create and play their music.  Too cool, right?  Of course, a band whose existence revolves around video games was bound to discover JamLegend.  On a friend's recommendation, I Fight Dragons added their songs to JamLegend and "It's been an amazing experience since then to say the least," says lead singer Brian. 

JamLegend has been a great promotional tool for I Fight Dragons, introducing their music to new fans from all over the world.  One in particular--David from Germany--became a part of I Fight Dragons' live performance, which Brian calls a "wonderfully postmodern piece of art."  David sent a video of himself playing to the song "Heads Up, Hearts Down" to the band.  They asked him to make a video of him playing "The Faster the Treadmill..." so they can show it while they performed the song live in front of an audience.  David obliged, and in a matter of few days, his video was shown half way across the world at a venue in Chicago while I Fight Dragons played the song.

I Fight Dragons was nice enough to send a signed copy of their "Cool is Just a Number" EP to JamLegend HQ.  So we want to say thanks, and wish them well on their musical endeavors!  You can play songs from "Cool is Just a Number" on JamLegend by going to the I Fight Dragons profile.  You can buy their EP on the official I Fight Dragons merch page and on Amazon.  For more info on the band, check out their MySpace and follow them on Twitter.

If you're in the Chicago area, you can check out I Fight Dragons live:

-8/1/09 - Chicago - Warped Tour - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
-8/15/09 - Chicago - Martyrs' - Chip-Rock Extravaganza (w/ Anamanaguchi and Starscream)
-8/20/09 - Lisle, IL - The Lodge (ALL AGES!)
-8/21/09 - Milwaukee, WI
-8/22/09 - Madison, WI - TBA
-9/5/09 - Chicago - Elbo Room - 9:00 PM Brian Bender's B-Day Bash

Are you tired of signing up for sites?

Hate it when you have to remember different password for different sites?

Think it's a pain to tell all your friends about this song you've FC'd?

Well, not anymore. Today JamLegend is announcing Facebook Connect. Typing your username and password to log in is a thing of the past. With Facebook Connect, it's literarily a CLICK OF A BUTTON!

With Facebook Connect, it's easy to be connected. Don't you just hate it when you sign up for a new site and none of your friends are there? From now on, being lonely is not an option. All you friends from Facebook using JamLegend will automatically become your friends on JamLegend!

Not only this, if you signup today. You'll be able to duel you friends from facebook. Now it's easy to duel that aunt of yours, or that weird guy from accounting who added you as a friend for no apparent reason.

But wait, there's even more. Not being able to tell the world about your awesome high score is history. With facebooks news feed you can tell everyone what a great JamLegend you are!

How much would you pay for all this? Hundred dollars? Fifty..?
Would you believe us if we said we're giving all this away for FREE? Probably not, but WE ARE!

You get all these features plus many more without extra charge (shipping and handling included!). Now that's what I call a deal!

Ayo, the last person we're going to be introducing you to is a straight up G from Texas, who has kicked with Skulls in Boston, and then went West Coast with the thugs of JamLegend. Trust me, you don't want to get on the wrong side of Ray, or as the gangsta name generator has dubbed him: Two-Time Toothpick Guy.

ToothpickGuy has been hoppin' the streets of JamLegend giving some Trackers quality product for their all their tracking needs.

You might be wondering why he is called Two-Time, well, it's because Ray never needs a second time. He just needs one time to get the job done, to make the basketball shot, to make a giant toothpick model of the Eiffel Tower, and if there is a second time, well, there won't be anyone around if there is a second time.

Ray's advice for JamLegends: "The game's out there, and it's play or get played. That simple."

Signs pic via Joey DeVilla , straight up.

NOTE: William, Maiko, and Ray have been working for some time already, but either out of laziness or because everyone has done something for the community first, we're just now getting to introduce everyone. Also, DO NOT USE THESE GANG SINGS IN COMPTON- says Ray.

Hello, everyone!  My name is Maiko and I'm the JamLegend Community Manager.  I'll be working as a bridge between the JamLegend player community and the team who brings you JamLegend.  I'm also the official cupcake supplier for JamLegend staff meetings.  Basically, I'm here to listen to your ideas to improve the game, help you solve problems with the site, and make sure everyone is having a great time playing the game. 

Before I came to JamLegend, I used to work at a record label so I'm a huge music nerd.  I'm a sucker for all kinds of music from metal to indie rock to classic punk.  I'm excited to hear new music from up and coming bands on the game and, of course, meeting all you JamLegends.  You can find me on the JamLegend site (username mmmaiko), on our GetSatisfaction forum, as well as the JamLegend Twitter and Facebook pages.  Don't hesitate to approach me if you have questions or suggestions!

(That picture is my JamLegend avatar.  I collect marshmallow Peeps-related stuff.)

Hailing from the cold dark recesses of Sweden, a young man trekked from the other side of the world to assist JamLegend. Welcome one of our 2009 summer interns joining us in our noble cause to unleash music games to the world. Descended from Beowulf himself, William answered our call for a champion and his exploits with Meebo and Twitter are already being sung in the grandest of halls.

There has even been a poetic verse or two (known in the new world as a "rap") that's started to be written about him :

W to the M to the A - L -J ,
His name is William Michael Axel Lindström James.
He codes like a demon,
he ain't into griefin' ,
and he loves keepin' JamLegend breathin'.

So give it up, and say
W to the M to the A - L- J,
he just discovered that he loves American PB and J.

Say hi and salute the bravery of Viljam for his amazing integrations on JamLegend here.

If you were playing a Showdown in the last half hour or so, you were probably disconnected as we migrated our showdown server to a new machine. Sorry for the inconvenience. Any interruptions are past now, so game on!

You can now chat with other JamLegend members, share links to your favorite songs, and chat with your friends in Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, Facebook or MySpace... all without interrupting your latest jam.

You can also:

• Share links easily by clicking the Share Page button on the bottom left.
• Receive notifications when people comment on your profile, challenge you to a duel, and make you a friend.
• See all of your friends in a list and can go to their profiles.

As always, Chat was enabled as a direct response to users wanting to chat out of Showdowns on JamLegend. Many thanks to our fantastic users on the GetSatisfaction JamLegend Chat Topic.

You must be signed in to have access to JamLegend Chat. If you don't have access to JamLegend Chat, go ahead and sign up for an account.

If you experience any trouble, you can easily block or report someone by clicking the information on the top right. If that doesn't work, please send us an e-mail at feedback@jamlegend.com and we'll see what we can do.

Huge thanks to our friends at Meebo for enabling us on their nifty platform.

JamLegend is proud to introduce a new way to play songs on JamLegend- the new BeatJam! Playing is simple, just tap the keys to the beat of the song. Here are some distinguishing features of BeatJam:

• BeatJam follows the beat, rhythm, and melody of a song. You might find yourself tapping to the drums, then tapping to the vocals, or playing along to an orchestra. Think of yourself as a one-person band, tapping out the beat.
• BeatJam is automagically created when an artist uploads a song. It's not perfect, some songs turn out better than others but, all in all, it's a pretty fun experience.
• BeatJam will not replace Guitar (Tap or Strum). A human-tracked Guitar version will still be created, but for users who don't want to wait or don't care as much about playing a specific instrument, BeatJam is playable immediately. Songs that have been tracked for guitar will be made available once they are published by our amazing Tracker Community.

Why did we create BeatJam?

1. BeatJam makes songs available immediately- Users and artists were unhappy when a song was unavailable for a significant period of time. BeatJam encourages artists to upload more of their music because it will be available immediately on the site.
2. BeatJam helps trackers choose songs- Our tracker community also wanted a good way to determine what songs they should track.  BeatJam allows JamLegend users to try out a song and gives our Trackers a easy way to see the popular songs to track next. Since it's a time-consuming process, trackers want to release songs that they think will be fun for them and fun for the rest of the community.
3. BeatJam makes more songs available- We think users would prefer 400 songs in Beatjam and 180 songs in Guitar, rather than just 180 songs in Guitar. Since these songs will be tracked eventually, it gives users new songs without having to wait on a Tracker.

NOTE: If you're looking for the old BeatJam, choose 'Guitar' and then 'Tap Only' if available.

BeatJam shows that there are a LOT of songs waiting to be tracked, so we need trackers to help us track all of these songs! If you want to join our elite tracker community, go here: http://www.jamlegend.com/tracker_info

In the meantime, paraphrasing the late King of Pop Michael Jackson: "Just Beat(Jam) it!"

Congratulations and a big thanks to all the Trackers, Producers and Artists that have helped us get to 200 songs!

It took us about eight months to get our first 100 songs, yet the second 100 took only two and a half months.

Look at it this way. If each song was a calorie all our songs could become:

1.25 Hot Dogs

or

Almost a whole doughnut

or

A little bit of peanut butter

or perhaps

Two onions

Or one of many other things http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

Maybe one day our songs will add up to Elvis' favorite sandwich, the 42,000 calorie Fool's Gold Loaf http://www.thrillist.com/nation/2008/10/05/fools-gold-loaf