Picture this: two computer geeks (term used affectionately, of course) talking to each other through their microphones and computer speakers. That was the beginning of VoIP and a humble beginning it was. Only users that ran the same software and were online at the same time could reach one another. Now picture everyone from the largest corporations to the smallest business, including home-based businesses using real telephone equipment and software with autodialers, appointment reminders and message centers. That is the VoIP technology of today. Individuals and companies alike can make real phone calls to anyone anywhere in the world and they don’t have to be sitting at a computer to do it!

Technology such as the autodialers and appointment reminders are available from the big phone companies for a big price tag and in the past only the large corporations could afford them. The beauty of the VoIP software solutions available today from companies such as Voicent is that they are incredibly affordable. When paired with inexpensive VoIP phone service from a company like Skype, the value is unbeatable.

Using high-tech phone features like autodialers, appointment reminders, and voice to text, saves a business time and money and has an unparalleled ability to increase the customer’s perception of the professionalism of your company. They say that image is everything and a first impression goes a long way in creating a positive image of the business that the customer will hold in their mind for a long time, if not forever. The customer’s first impression should be that they are dealing with a professional company and then they are more likely to be open to learning more about what your business is offering and in taking that business relationship further.

Obviously, VoIP has made tremendous progress from the days of computer geeks using only computer speakers and microphones to make computer to computer only calls and currently stands as a feasible alternative to expensive big phone and cable business phone calling solutions. Just imagine that by automating your business with solutions such as autodialing and autoreminders you can focus more of your time and energy on income producing activity which means making more money which is something everyone can use more of these days. Using an inexpensive VoIP phone service such as Skype can help stretch resources even further which can’t be overestimated in today’s economy.

If you’ve know a bit about the audio conferencing industry you will almost certainly have come across the term ‘reservationless audio conferencing’ but what does it mean? According to the Oxford Dictionary there is no such word as reservationless but it seems to have worked its way into the jargon of teleconferencing.

Reservationless, as the name suggests, simply means that you do not have to reserve your place at the audio conference in advance of the call. The host simply invites the participants to join the conference call by dialling into the audio conference bridge access number at the time of their choosing and the system will automatically set up the call. This might not seem like a big deal to some, but being reservationless offers you huge benefits over the pre-booked conference calls as we will find out shortly.

Pre-booked or reserved audio conferences
Back in the early days of the internet, some ten years ago, the only way to host audio conferences was to call up your conference call provider in advance and pre-book a conference call. You would need to specify the date and time you wanted to book the conference call for and also the number of participants and duration of the call.

The problem with this system, apart from it being a massive inconvenience having to pre-book of course, was that if more people than you were expecting wanted to attend they couldn’t and if your call over-ran then you risked being cut off. Moreover, you often had to pay for the number of participants you booked the call for even if they didn’t actually turn up on the day.

If you are thinking this all sounds like it was a bit of a pain, you are right, it was. Surprisingly, some audio conferencing providers still use this model today! Even though there is absolutely no need to host your call in this manner.

Why the move to reservationless conferencing?
It is only in the last few years that that technology has advanced to the stage where hosting reservationless audio conferences has become possible. Prior to the emergence of high capacity reservationless conference bridges, capacity on the systems was very limited and it was therefore necessary to manage its allocation very carefully. If too many people tried to dial in at the same time, customers were likely to get the busy tone or, worse still, be connected to overlapping conferences.

The billing systems attached to conference call bridges were also quite rudimentary meaning that unless there was a manual record of who was dialling in when and from where, it was impossible to bill the customer.

With today’s modern technology, pre-booked audio conferences are fast becoming a thing of the past with the vast majority now being reservationless. The one exception to this is a special kind of pre-booked conference call known as a managed event call. This is where human operators are used and therefore advance notice is still required. However, with the added use of an operator comes added cost.

Looking into the situation in the current music industry, a record producer (or music producer) can have a lot of roles. Among these roles may be task like, mentoring and guiding the artist or musicians, controlling the studio recording sessions, organizing and scheduling production budget and other music resources, and obviously one of the most important jobs of the producer was the supervising of the recording, and the mixing and mastering processes.

In the last 20 years the term producer has essentially taken on a new meaning in the music industry. More and more producers are taking a more entrepreneurial role or approach to the music business. This role has been enhanced part because of the recent evolution of digital music, specifically in the hip hop genre. In contemporary digital hip hop music, it is possible for the producer to be the only person involved in the creation of a musical record, album or recording. Today the producer can be responsible for writing, performing, recording and even arranging all the material for a song or album.

With the change and ever decreasing price of professional music software in the industry like FL Studio, Digidesign Protools, Cakewalk Sonar, and Steinberg Cubase, producers can recorded, compose, and arrange entire tracks and songs on a single bedroom computer and get very professional results. All the parts of music production that used to take almost an entire team of people to do, can now all be done by one person, the producer.

The hip hop music industry, for the most part, can be seen as a major beneficiary to the current trend of music technology price drops. People of all economic statuses are now able to have access to some of the best music production tools at very affordable prices. Having powerful semi-professional music software and equipment was almost unheard of about 15 to 20 years ago. Now people of all age group and demographics are able to make music from the comfort of their own homes or studios. Most basic music producers are even able to set up small studios in their basements or bedrooms and get very close to a professional quality recording or sound.

We really don’t know where technology is going to take us in the future of music, but all the current economic signs say the technology will continue to get cheaper by the day. Making it more and more affordable for any body wanting to get into the music production business to set up a studio from home and make professional sounding albums and recording.

One method of trying to save on your mobile phone or landline bills is to use an alternative method to communicate with people. The internet is a great way of contacting people quickly, provided you have installed the right programs and you use broadband internet, and the other party you are trying to contact have exactly the same setup as you on their computer. VoIP phones (Voce over Internet Protocol) have been around for many years, providing a very cheap alternative to using normal telephones.

Using VoIP phones can be free if you are calling from PC to PC; as long as both parties have added you on their profile account. It is as simple as downloading it onto your PC, setting up an account and adding people onto your profile - much like using MSN messenger. Internet bandwidths have improved massively, making the connection between the calls quicker and the sound quality much clearer - this is why it is now comparable to normal telephoning methods.

In the past when more people had narrow band (dial-up internet connection) internet connectivity there were more problems in sound quality, with the connection timing out and making it near impossible to call people via the internet. Sending messages across using messenger programs were much slower and often not received by the other party. With broadband connection, you are instantly connected to the internet as soon as you turn your PC or laptop on.

VoIP phones help making calls across the globe much cheaper too. Normal telephony services charge a great deal of money to make a call outside of the local area. This becomes even more expensive when using a mobile phone, making it difficult for people to make regular calls to family or friends abroad, without having to worry about breaking the bank! VoIP phones are much more reliable, affordable and normally have good sound quality.

The VoIP software service providers are available to download from the internet, with the biggest programs being Skype, Google Talk and Babble. These are relatively new on many desktop computers; however, they are far from being a new piece of technology and have been in development since 1973 since the very early stages of the internet. Transmitting conversations over the internet have been available for end-users since the early 1980s.

In 1993, a shrink wrapped software by VoiceTec was released with features such as voice mail and caller ID, however, this did not take off as well as only VoiceTec users were able to contact other VoiceTec users. It would not be until 1997 that a softswitch was developed, opening more gateways between telephones, making it possible to call up other landline phones from the PC.

Calling up across the globe using VoIP phones is an extremely cheap way of sending information across, without having to rack up the price of your bill at the end of the month. It is important that the user has a broadband connection; otherwise, their internet telephony will not provide good sound quality.

It has become ever so popular for independent recording artists and producers to buy and sell beats online. With this trend comes a lot of traffic from inexperienced artists trying to buy beats online. An inexperienced buyer will easily over pay for a beat online. This article was written from personal experience in hopes of giving some insight, not as a hard set of rules to follow, but a guide. Listed below are things beat buyers should know and understand when buying beats online.

Understand The INTRINSIC Value Of Hip Hop Beats And Rap Beats

You can’t touch, bend, break, fold, or smell rap beats. For that matter, you can’t even see them, yet in the music industry, we see them being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh … but you can hear and fell vibrations from beats, can’t you. This kind of makes music like the wind, so I guess it’s fair to say the music industry is selling “air”… not really, but hopefully you get my point. It’s not the price of the beat but the producer or person you are buying it from.

The actual value of a beat or music is based on an underlying perception of its true value, perception being the keyword. Don’t rip yourself off by buying a beat online for $500 if the producer has no credibility or his or her image and stature in the music industry doesn’t give value to your demo or album sales. Look at what Brittany Spears did on her latest album, take note of the album credits and all the popular “Producer Powers” employed, essentially playing a major part in her attempt to revive her career.

Some Internet Beat Pricing Standards And Averages

The average rate on the Internet for a “Non-Exclusive” beat license is $0 - $75. With this type of license you are essentially leasing or renting the beat for a given amount of time or copies. The average for an “Exclusive” beat license is from around $75 - $250. This type of license gives you full ownership of the beat, as if you created it yourself. More popularly noted as “work for hire”. Note: Some exclusive licenses may restrict resale.

Try To Contact The Producer Before You Buy

To get the most for your money, and protect yourself from “beat-jackers” (people who steal other peoples beats and resell them) try to contact the producer first to see if he or she is responsive, email or PM seems to be the best method. Don’t just buy beats from “Joe Blow” without making some kind of contact first. Trust me, real beat makers who are truly vested in their craft make themselves available and they’ll be happy to hear from you (it builds their ego) and will more than likely work a deal out with you if you buy more than one beat from them. If a seller takes more than two days to respond, keep it moving. There are literally thousands of other producers who will stop at the drop of a hat to make a $20 sale in hopes of repeat business and a little recognition. Try starting off with producers that you see are already selling beats to others on the net or have their beats rated high or “Hot”. Obviously they are doing something right and they are more than likely satisfying other beat buyers needs.

Get It In Writing

When you buy beats online, make sure there is some type of printable licensing agreement associated with the beat you buy. A licensing agreement/contract will explain the rights you have with the beats and the terms under which you may use the beat.

Cheap Exclusive Beat

Cheap exclusive beats are the best deals to get but there are very few producers out there who are willing to sell you an exclusive beat from $20 to $40. Check out thebeattrader for some of those type deals. There are not a lot of producers on that site and understandably so, but the site became very popular for selling low priced exclusive beats a few years ago.

Cheap Non-Exclusive Beats

The next best thing is a low priced non-exclusive. Remember, the catch with non-exclusive beats is that the beat may have been sold several other times before you buy it, so if you are looking for fresh music, make a list of the producers you like on a site and watch their profiles. Good experienced online producers know to cycle out old beats and update their profiles with new beats at least every 2-3 days.

I’d say a fair price to pay for a non-exclusive beat is about $20. There is an abundant amount of producers selling beats online right now who would fight for your business. Online producers are almost a dime a dozen so it’s really easy nowadays to get unique music for your mix-tape, demo, or album at and very affordable price.

Happy Beat Buying!