About Buddies

You: What exactly is this Buddies thing?

Lev: Umm – that is a bit complex. Be more specific.

You: How would you describe it?

Lev: Buddies is a musical community linking a variety of artists with common geographical and musical concerns. Buddies amalgamates new internet technology with developments in the D.Y.I (do it yourself) world of music distribution and recording.

You: Well - it seems like a record label. Is it?

Lev: Nope, more like a periodical, but no wait… not really … more like a head quarters for a bunch of musicians. So like the internet equivalent to a loft – or jam space, except without the rent, or neighbors complaining about volume.

You: You mean - you can actually jam online?

Lev: Yup, all thanks to the innovative new data transformation system called Sessions. As long as there is more than one member of Buddies online at a time, you can link up with them using the Sessions system and engage in a musical exchange. It works in real time, and runs off whatever sound you are outputting from your computer. Sessions is also formated to work with webcams and a variety of similar hardware. We also have developed a new device called the Buddies Session 3D Hardware that takes the world of a Buddies Session to a virtual realm of musical creation that is truly incomparable. For more information on Sessions, an in-depth guide, and a archive of former Sessions, please click the large icon at the bottom of the page.

You: What is this Newsletter? Let me guess – it costs money, right?

Lev: Well first off – yeah – it costs a bit of money, only five dollars. Which is not that much if you think about it, considering the time put into it by the artists involved. To be honest it is not so much a newsletter as a collection of previous Sessions hosted by the site. But the CD that accompanies it is GREAT. You will truly understand the potential of the Buddies system when you hear it.

You: What gave you the initiative to start it?

Lev: Well growing up in a small town and being a member of a forward thinking musical community left me with the impression that I could jam with anybody whenever I wanted - and whatever style I wanted. However... moving to the big city proved to be a different situation altogether. Though I found many people with similar musical interests as me here ... I still wanted to connect, communicate, and create with older musician friends of mine with whom I had developed a symbiotic phonic language that was hard to replicate. Plus I live in a small apartment now - where I can't play as loud as I could before without pissing off the neighbors.

You: All this sounds so cool – so, how do I join?

Lev: Well that is a bit of a catch. Buddies is a restricted access community, but once you become a member all the services are free. It works on the policy of invite only, as in, I contact you not the other way around. So don’t send me anything I don’t want. This is done in order to avoid spam, and to keep the community on a more personal, safe, and less detached basis then normally aligned with internet communities.

You: Sounds pretty elitist.

Lev: Well anybody can join - I just don't anybody to join who is going to get in the way of my Utopian dreams for Buddies. No jerks!