AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JamKazam, the developer of a new live music platform and social network for musicians, today announced the public beta release of its service that enables musicians to play music together in real time from different locations over the Internet as if they are sitting in the same room. JamKazam also announced its first annual Virtual Jam Fest, which will let music fans across the world tune in to hear six critically acclaimed bands as they each play together live in real time from four different locations using the new JamKazam service. The Virtual Jam Fest is March 12th from 11:30am to 7:30pm U.S. Central Time, and music fans may visit the Virtual Jam Fest web page to tune in to any of the performances.
“I’ve been hoping and waiting for something like this for a long time. It’s amazing!” said Julie Bonk, an oft-recorded pianist and mentor to students like Grammy winner Norah Jones.
To see and hear the JamKazam service in action, watch this JamKazam overview video.
Key Features
Musicians can enjoy four major features of the new JamKazam service:
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Real-Time Sessions
Musicians can create either public or private sessions, or can find and join other musicians’ public sessions, and can play music together in real time in these sessions from different locations over the Internet as if they are sitting in the same room. -
Session Recording
Musicians can record performances during sessions. Recordings capture both the composite mix of all performers, as well as each of the individual instrumental and vocal performances at the track level. Musicians can easily share the recording mixes with friends, family and fans via Facebook, Twitter, and email, and they can also use the track-level recordings to practice and experiment when others are unavailable. In addition, the JamKazam service automatically creates a “mastered” version of recordings using the high-quality tracks captured by the musicians’ audio interfaces prior to encoding and streaming, so mastered recordings are comparable in quality to what can be produced in home studios. -
Session Broadcasts
In addition to recording sessions, musicians can live broadcast their sessions so that family, friends and fans can tune in and listen to these live performances from any location using a computer, tablet or smartphone. Like recordings, live session broadcasts can easily be shared via Facebook, Twitter, or email. -
Social Networking
Finally, musicians can use JamKazam to find other musicians in their area, check out their skills, styles, and listen to their performances, and connect to play together online and/or offline.
“The sound quality is exceptional. It reminds me of recording in a studio,” said Justin Pierce, a professional saxophone player who has performed with artists including Wayne Newton and The Temptations.
“Far from being futuristically cold and isolating, playing is way easier than in a studio,” said Chris Bennett, a professional drummer who has toured with many bands and has been published in Classic Drummer and Not So Modern Drummer.
Virtual Jam Fest
To demonstrate the performance and audio quality of its new service, JamKazam is hosting its first annual Virtual Jam Fest, sponsored by CenturyLink Technology Solutions. Music fans across the world can tune in to the Virtual Jam Fest on March 12th from 11:30am to 7:30pm U.S. Central Time to hear six critically acclaimed bands performing at SXSW as each band plays together in real time from four different locations using the JamKazam service.
Featured bands include Jonny Two Bags, Residual Kid, Mingo Fishtrap, Gina Chavez, Amy Cook, and J. Greene & The Steady. For more information on the bands and time slots, and to tune in to any of the performances, please visit the Virtual Jam Fest web page. The audio simulcast of each performance will broadcast what the musicians are hearing in their headphones as they play.
Product Details
To use JamKazam, a musician needs at a minimum a Windows or Mac computer with a dual-core processor and a built-in microphone to capture instrumental/vocal audio. For better audio quality, JamKazam recommends attaching an audio interface to the computer, and plugging microphones and/or instruments into the audio interface. If a musician doesn’t already own and use an audio interface for recording, JamKazam has tested and published a list of inexpensive, quality audio interfaces.
Use of the JamKazam service to play with other musicians is free. During the public beta, all recording and broadcasting services are also free. When the public beta ends, JamKazam plans to keep a modest amount of recording and broadcasting capacity free to users, while also offering annual subscriptions starting at US$29.99 to support more intensive use of the recording and broadcasting features.
“We are excited to bring this cutting edge technology to musicians across the world today,” said David Wilson, President & CEO of JamKazam. “We hope this new service will help people everywhere to play, create, and enjoy more music than ever before, and we have a great roadmap of other innovations coming that we believe will further delight and inspire the global community of musicians.”
For more information on the company and its products, visit the JamKazam website at www.jamkazam.com.
For members of the media interested in videos, audio recordings, screenshots, user testimonials, and other resources, please visit the JamKazam Media Center.
About JamKazam
JamKazam develops an innovative live music platform and social network for musicians. The company’s Internet service enables musicians to play music together in real time from different locations over the Internet as if they are sitting in the same room. The service is currently available to musicians and music fans as a free public beta. JamKazam is a private company headquartered in Austin, Texas.