Our latest investment, Next Big Sound is hiring.  Here is he scoop:

Software Engineer – Products

Interested in creating great products and tools for the music industry? We are seeking an experienced Software Engineer to join our engineering team. The position is full-time and is based in our main office in downtown Boulder, CO.

• Create web applications primarily using PHP
• Familiarity with the MVC framework
• Implement web interfaces using HTML, CSS, & Javascript
• Working knowledge of PHP, relational databases and SQL (preferable MySQL)
• Ability to learn and adopt new languages, libraries, and technologies as needed.
  (A working knowledge of Flex/Flash or the willingness to learn is a plus)
• Ability to identify performance bottlenecks and provide code optimization recommendations
• BS or MS in Computer Science or Engineering is preferred

Software Engineer – Systems

Want to solve large scale, highly complex technical problems? We are seeking an experienced Software Engineer to join our engineering team. The position is full-time and is based in our main office in downtown Boulder, CO.

• Design core, backend software components
• Analyze and improve efficiency, scalability, and stability of data collection, storage, and retrieval processes
• A focus on scaling horizontally rather than vertically
• Experience designing and implementing software for multi-tier systems that aggregate, manipulate, and display large data-sets. We use Java, PHP, and MySQL.
• BS or MS in Computer Science or Engineering

If interested, send your resume to jobs@nextbigsound.com.

We announced today our investment in Next Big Sound.  The full official Foundry Group release is here.

Next Big Sound is an online music analytics and insights company located in Boulder, Colorado. They measure the growth and popularity of bands across major web properties and sell actionable insights around those data to band managers and other industry professionals. NBS has developed a scalable architecture that can quickly add new sources of information and aims to be the definitive source of quantifiable fan data surrounding the music ecosystem.

I’m really happy that we had the opportunity to partner with Alex, David, Samir and Walter, founders of the company.  They were part of this year’s TechStars class and were in a space right in the middle of our Glue theme, our belief in the inevitable change in the music industry and even had a little bit of our Protocol theme thrown in for good measure.

Gentlemen, welcome to the family.  I look forward to a productive, supportive and exciting relationship with many good days to come.  

Last night, I had the great pleasure of seeing the Alternate Routes open up for Carbon Leaf.  I’m a huge Alternate Routes fan and authored the following review of their first album under the "music" section of this blog:

I want to sing like this guy and write lyrics that creep up on you like this. Good and Reckless and True is an album that I need to listen to the whole thing at a time. Meanwhile I find myself with some weird self-introspective teary-eyed thing going on that is part sheer joy and part devastation. Simply put this album really hits me.

It was the first time that that I got to see them live and they were great.  In fact, with all due respect to Carbon Leaf, they were the best band on stage last night.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the evening, however, was meeting leader singer and co-founder Tim Warren and talking about the business of music.  It was apparent that while they are doing well, there was plenty of frustration in how to actually monetize the asset that they have – specifically their great songs, stage show and their brand.  We spent a while trading war stories with each other. 

It once again reminded of why we’ve invested in Topspin and how tools like this will revolutionize the business model of music and allow great acts like The Alternate Routes to do what they love to do and make a solid living while doing it. 

My friend Julie Penner turned me onto a great CD recently – Dark Was the Night.

It includes a who’s who list of indie rock including: Andrew Bird, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, David Byrne, Cat Power, The Decemberists, Feist, Jose Gonzalez, Grizzly Bear, Iron & Wine, My Morning Jacket, The National, The New Pornographers, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Gillian Welch, Yeasayer, Yo La Tengo and others.  The Red Hot website also let me pick out three of the tunes from the CD to make a widget.  (I will admit that I’m a bit biased toward Topspin artists, but these are all great tracks).

All the proceeds from the project go to AIDS prevention and awareness. 

My friend Geoffrey Manne pointed out that Sesame Street is the funkiest kids show of all time.

This is simply awesome.  I feel sorry for kids today – they have nothing like this.  Stevie Freakin’ Wonder!  Instead, they get the Wiggles and Hannah Montana.

Thank God I grew up in the 70′s and was privy to such wonderful grooves. 

And now for something completely different.  Perhaps the best flute and beat box combo that I’ve ever seen.  The fact that it’s inside the Google lounge makes it even more cool. 

I used to think that I knew all the good drummer jokes, but lately there have been a few new ones.  (To me, at least).  In an effort to not only attack lawyers and accountants on my blog, I’ll turn the pen toward myself with my top 10 favorite drummer jokes.  Please feel free to comment and leave your favorites.

1. What is the difference between a pizza and a drummer?  A pizza can feed a family of four

2. What do you call someone who likes to hang out with musicians?  A drummer

3. What do you call a drummer that breaks up with his girlfriend?  Homeless

4. What is the difference between a dead snake and a dead drummer in the middle of the road?  There are skid marks leading up to the snake

5. What has three legs and an a-hole on top?  A drum stool

6. What’s the best way to confuse a drummer? Put sheet music in front of him

7. What do you do to get a drummer off your doorstep?  Pay him for the pizza

8. Why do guitarists place drumsticks on their dashboards?  So they can park in the handicap spots

9. What’s the biggest lie told to drummers?  I’ll help you with your gear

10. Why are band breaks only 20 minutes?  So you don’t have to retrain the drummer

Bonus politically incorrect swipe joke: 

What do Ginger Baker and black coffee have in common?  They both suck without Cream

Per my post yesterday, I am officially retired as an adjunct at the University of Colorado. 

That of course didn’t stop my students from sending me off in "style."

I was awarded two very special gifts.  First, I received the "Most Kick Ass Professor" award of 2009, complete with my own Karate action figure.  And second, I received a nice Zildjian ride cymbal (how did they know that I don’t like Paiste?) signed by everyone in the class:

It was one of more thoughtful gestures that I’ve ever received.  In fact, there was a moment when the lump in my throat threatened to completely derail my last lecture. 

Thanks folks, I’ll remember you always and not because I am now looking for a 1985 Chevy Caprice Station Wagon to mount my trophy to the hood.  I look forward to the quick transition from teacher / student to friends / colleagues.

My friend, Mark Solon of Highway 12 Ventures (A VC firm that I like very much) has a great post today on the music scene of the Intermountain West.

Mark is an early-stage investor like us and focuses on the region west of the Rockies all the way to the Cascades and Sierras.  He decided to blog about the region and his first post is on the regional music scene.

(and yes, I’m a little biased because he mentioned Soul Patch, but still a great post)

If you haven’t heard, the Beastie Boys have remastered Paul’s Boutique and launched on the Topspin platform. 

According to the band, Paul’s Boutique now "actually does have enough bass to shatter your one frozen testicle."

While I can’t vouch for that claim specifically, I can say there is more bass. 

I think the creative and website flow are awesome on this release.  The "turn me up" knob on the left of the website is a control that I haven’t seen before and is really, really cool.

Go check out the website and let me know what you think.  And don’t forget to buy the new release.