News

Happy New Year!

As a quick update, I've recently completed the production of physical CDs for all four of my albums! These CDs are now available here on my website.



As an added bonus, each physical CD comes with a free digital version! I'm very excited about this opportunity to provide my fans with these CDs!

As always, I appreciate all of your support.

Here's to a great 2016!

While I haven't had a chance to see the Furious 7 movie yet, I've heard its hit song, "See You Again by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth, all summer! After watching the music video I knew I wanted to make a piano cover of it.

So here it is, my rendition of "See You Again"! Hope you enjoy it!

As most of you know, over the past few years I've worked really hard to help create a software called Playground Sessions that teaches people how to play the piano! My goal has been to mold it into a top learning tool for those who wish to learn how to play the piano, whether it be by ear, or with the use of sheet music.

While creating this program, I've been blessed to be able to work with Yamaha! They recently wrote a review of the program and I am humbled by the great things they've said about it! If you haven't seen the review yet, make sure to check it out here: http://blog.yamahamusicsoft.com/2014/12/review-of-playground-sessions-piano.html

And stay tuned for many great things from Playground Sessions in 2015!

About month ago I had the honor of participating in an interview for the Bevel Code - Shop Talk Series. The interview has just been released so make sure to check it out and check out the Bevel Code!

http://bevelcode.com/interviews/shop-talk-david-sides

In 2008 I uploaded my first album onto iTunes. I remember the pride and excitement that came with having my music on such a well-known platform. I also remember the feeling that I got once I received my first few sales - it was very surreal! But now, 4 albums later, I realize that I couldn't tell you the name of a single person, with certainty (although I have a few names in mind), who has ever bought any of my music. The reason for this is because iTunes, and other similar platforms, report how many albums and singles were sold, but they don't tell you to whom they were sold. That's a problem...

I have no idea who bought any of my albums, no idea where they live, and no idea how many people picked up several albums or singles... it's all just a world of numbers and anonymity. Now, I'm aware that some people might not care to know who's buying what, and that's fine. But personally, I would much rather see a note saying "John Doe from Lost Springs, Wyoming (population: 4), bought Volume 2 today", than to see a generic note saying "1 copy of Volume 2 was sold today".

As a solution of this, I have built my new website, www.davidsidesproduction.com, around the idea of getting to know who my supporters are. Yes, the site doesn't (yet) offer the convenience of a beefed up mobile app like iTunes... and it probably doesn't look as cool as iTunes... and it forces visitors to buy music from only one artist in opposed to providing the option of buying from any number of thousands of artists... but what it does have working for it is it creates a human element to my supporters. I can see that there's a man named Oscar in South Houston who likes "Without You", or a woman named Angela in West Australia who likes my version of "Forever", or even a man named Marko in Canada who likes Volume 4. These little details are what make this whole thing real.

My music is being picked up by real people, in real places, all around the world, and I (now) have the ability to name each person that buys my music. In fact, not only can I name them, but I can personally mail each and every one of them a "thank you" letter for buying my music - which I'm actually going to start sending today!

At the end of the day, to those who buy my music from iTunes, I say thank you! But to those who buy my music from my website, I say thank you for helping me get to know my supporters.

 

After going a while without posting a video on YouTube (sorry about that) I've been able to carve out some time to post a heavily requested song, "All Of Me" by John Legend! Click here to watch the video if you haven't seen it yet!

This cover was definitely a fun one to put together. Making covers of songs that are already on piano are easy and hard at the same time. The fact that this song is already played on piano means that most of the groundwork is already laid out for you - just play whatever you hear being played by the piano in the original version of the song. The fact that it's already on piano can make it difficult to include the melody of the singer and still capture a lot of the recognizable parts of the song (depending on which register the singer is singing in, compared to the register the piano is being played in the most). Depending on what's going on in the music, it may also limit how creative you can get when making the cover while trying to make the cover sound like the original song. I'd have to say that the hardest part (and most fun to play!) was the pre-hook. In order to capture John's melody, and keep the recognizable melody of the piano in the pre-hook, I decided to play octaves with my left hand in the higher register of the piano. Took me a few times to get that part down, but once I got it, I was happy with how it sounded!

I'll be releasing an mp3 of this cover, soon. Keep an eye out for that! Until then, it's time to look for my next cover!

 

Since 2007, I’ve uploaded many videos on YouTube, most of which have received lots of views and great comments! Since then I’ve also released three albums which have been received very well. I’ve also read messages from fans asking for recordings of songs that I had on YouTube but did not have available for purchase anywhere, and to me, that was a problem. I know a lot of you like to listen to my music while doing homework, studying, cleaning, relaxing, or even walking down the isle. Not being able to provide you guys with recordings of the songs that you love has left me just as disappointed. It’s because of this that I have set out to record as many of my YouTube covers as possible, old and new, and allow you all to have access to them.

 

So over the next few months I’ll be releasing two albums to accomplish this very goal of making most of my songs available, beginning with “The Collection, Volume 4.” I am happy to announce that Volume 4 will be released at midnight tonight! You will be able to download the album or its singles directly from this website, www.davidsidesproduction.com. I hope you all enjoy Volume 4 and look out for the release of my next album, “The Collection, Volume 5,” very soon! Thanks again to Matthew Chavarria for the beautiful Volume 4 album artwork, and as always, thank you all for your support! It means a lot.

I'm happy to announce my new and revamped official website! The site is still in its beginning phase (as there will be a lot more added to it in the near future) but it gives people a central hub to access anything they would need from me. The website features my current music, available as album downloads or single downloads, and links to my piano sheet music which is available for print at www.playgroundsessions.com.

I'm also excited to be finishing my newest album, set for a late June release! Make sure to sign up to my newsletter for information on track listings and other updates. You can also access my contact information on the "Contacts" tab, here on the site.

I look forward to the rest of the year, and as always, thank you for your support!