Brooklyn to Babylon: Shinobi Ninja Attacks Via Social Media Apps
Once upon a time, you would have been hard pressed to find a band that talked enthusiastically about its “intellectual content” or “digital assets.”But now, an artist’s ability to produce multimedia content and propagate it across multiple platforms, is considered an enormous leg up with potential investors or record labels.
In this new world order, NYC rock/rap band Shinobi Ninja has emerged as one of today’s most engaging new indie bands through social media buzz-building and a new video game iPhone app, Brooklyn to Babylon: Shinobi Ninja Attacks!
Developed by a group of professional musicians, producer/engineers and DJs who had met and worked together at Progressive Studios in Hells Kitchen, Shinobi Ninja originated in an informal collaboration, and produced its Brooklyn to Babylon EP almost on a whim.
“Progressive was like the Wild West of the urban music scene in NYC,” describes Shinobi Ninja drummer/DJ, Dave Machinist aka Terminator Dave. “DJ Axis, my brother Maniac Mike and I were in this band called Wax Machine and we’d worked with [Shinobi Ninja lead singer/MC Dave Aaron] DA and Johnny on the Rocks at Progressive. DA, Johnny and Mike were all engineers there.
“In late ’08, Wax Machine was on a break and we had some time on our hands so Axis, Mike and I rocked a few tunes, brought in DA, Johnny and [singer/dancer] Baby Girl, and created these 8 awesome songs that became the Brooklyn to Babylon EP. We did it so fast and never looked back — it was like the light was shining on us and we just kept shining it.”
Over 2009, Shinobi Ninja spread their wings in the social media stratosphere, quickly building an audience off their reggae- and punk-infused party band EP and the ragtag rock circus spectacle of their live shows around NYC. Machinist, who’s also getting his masters in Music Business at NYU, became CEO of Shinobi Ninja LLC and worked with the band’s manager, Stephen Sternschein, Esq. (Brooklyn Law), to find new avenues of exposure. Just prior to Shinobi Ninja leaving on its Spring tour, we chatted with Mr. Machinist about how his band has gone global even before releasing its debut full-length, coming out in late Spring, 2010.
So, Shinobi Ninja grew out of some longtime studio collaborations but also seems kind of spontaneous. What do you think pulled you together at a time that felt right to everyone?
It was happenstance and a love for music and the drive to keep moving that brought us together. Our professional situations were changing, studios we worked out of were closing, and we all just decided to jump in the same boat. It was either that or sink!
Shinobi Ninja drummer/DJ, Dave Machinist, aka Terminator Dave
Was there something musically that you guys were setting out to do? A new direction you wanted to explore?
The direction was the love of music and wanting to make something cool. We had some beats, one of which was the genesis of “Brooklyn To Babylon.” I made a drum pattern with my [Akai] MPC and my brother played bass and guitar and “Brooklyn to Babylon” was born in like 45 minutes.
What was incredible was that the music had a signature, because there was chemistry between all of us as musicians. Every song we wrote was obviously different than the one before it, but you knew it was the same band. Some bands spend years getting there. We were hitting it from the start.
And this was all going on among various other musical projects for everyone?
Yes, well at the end of ’08 as the band was coming together, Progressive Studios closed, along with three other studios where we’d all worked. We started looking around for another place to work as engineers/producers and musicians, but there was nothing in NYC. Everybody was gouging us on price. We ended up finding this incredible spot on 23rd and Lexington, and decided to build our own studio — we gutted and re-tooled the facility with all our gear, and we call it The Sound Machine. It has a control room, a live room, and a second self-contained production studio with vocal booth.
With this new studio, we’re able to continue working with the clients we’d been working with at those other studios, as well as make our own music. We do everything here — salsa, hip-hop, rock, singer/songwriters — and we’ll do entire records, from start to finish. We’re just finishing up work on Black Sheep’s new record.
Cool, so you do work with outside artists as well. OK, now back to Shinobi Ninja — were you all pretty active on the social media tip from the start?
Yes. Social media is the way we get all of our press, all of our buzz. We do shows in NYC, but those shows would not have been so packed had we not had a huge Myspace, a badass Twitter and an interactive Facebook group. Each one of those pages exhibit different numbers and different levels of interactivity. We’re always on Twitter, we’re always on Myspace and Facebook. It’s on our cell phones, it’s in our lives. That’s how our audience connects and recommends new music to listen to, or new content to watch or consume.
Everyone in this band has, individually, been a music professional for a good deal of time. There are six of us, and we live pretty dynamic lives — there’s a lot for our audience to look at and consume.
Including the new app you guys have launched. What was involved on the band’s end in developing this video game? How did that come together?
When you’re making new music industry assets that haven’t been done before, you’re looking to do it in a way that really maximizes on every dollar you spend. We had this idea for a game, which grew out of talking about how hard it is for a band to just get to the gig. There’s all this crap you have to get through — it’s like Spinal Tap! You have to expect things to go wrong, you have to fight to get to your show, to reach your goal.
Shinobi Ninja Attacks!
I was out at SXSW ’09, DJing and running around with our manager, Stephen Sternschein, trying to find opportunities for Shinobi Ninja. We met with some developers about our idea to make a video game that would contain our music, our videos and use GPS functionality to allow fans to unlock more content when they come to a show. We quickly learned that this would be very expensive to do.
When we came back from SXSW, we continued looking for people who would want to do this with us, and found Interabang Entertainment and Cerulean Games. These guys were as hungry as we were and looking to break into a new field and they worked with us for a budget we could manage. Together, we made a first of its kind — it’s the first video game album.
Awesome! So, how does it work?
In this video game, the players chose to be one of the band-member characters, and you fight to get from point A to point B, like an old-school ‘beat-em-up’ game. Our band has a crazy affinity for old-school Nintendo games. We have a Nintendo SNES and like 30 cartridge games at our studio, which we’ll play on breaks. We decided it’d be cool to make something like that but starring us. And our band is rich enough with intellectual property that we could make it work.
Would you say that your social media activities and developments like this app are influencing how you’re producing and releasing new music?
That’s a great question, especially because the advent of social networking, streaming, cloud computing and downloading has completely murdered the album cycle. Why put out a record all-at-once and sell it for $X, when you could release one song a month, for 12 months?
But in our case, we’d put out this incredible EP, Brooklyn to Babylon, for free and we were on a mission to get exposure. Now, the full-length record that we’re about to put out, Rock Hood, is one that we’ll promote for three months, go on tour, put out another video, and really build up to that release date.
But, all along, we’ve been interacting with our social networks and pushing free downloads off our EP, one-by one, and getting them to watch, one-by-one, all of our music videos. It really is a ground war, and we’re doing it the old-school way — the full-length record, the video, the tour, the build-up — and the new school way —developing a new asset like the video game, which has your music and has a live component to it that rewards people for coming to the shows. We’re also using Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Tumblr to propogate our lives! And the more media/content we produce, the more people look. Content is king.
So, how’s the reaction been, to the game?
It’s been unbelievable. We have close to 6,000 downloads in 50 countries! We went from a little NYC band to being worldwide in like a month. It’s incredible. There are people in China and Thailand playing our game. But the other half of our reach has been in the U.S. and we’ve gotten requests from A&R at a bunch of major labels and a few managers. People are looking at us. Past just the social networks that we’ve built up, the video game has vaulted us into a completely different playing field.
What’s your feeling on getting this attention? Are you looking to get a label deal? You’ve built this brand across multiple platforms, so what now?
Well, it’s tough because the labels look at artists for their earning potential. If they think they can make money off of you, they’re going to give you a call. We’re especially attractive because most labels are giving out 360 deals and in the 360, they make a piece of money on pretty much all of your intellectual property. And we have a lot of intellectual property!
Is it smart now to go get a label deal? Who knows. If they have enough money to put on the table for us six to make a living and have a real shot at this, then let’s do it. If not, then we’re just competing, with all the other great bands out there, for the same space and a small piece of the American pie.
And when does Rock Hood come out?
Right now, we’re looking at May 15. It’s all there, mixed and mastered. It’s a banging, classic record. We did everything ourselves, other than mastering. It was all recorded and mixed at the Sound Machine — Mike, Johnny on the Rocks and DA mixed it and we recorded it ourselves, as many times as we wanted to because we have our own studio. In that respect, we were able to approach the production like any major label-funded project.
As for the game, are you guys are making money off of it at this point?
We’re making the money back slowly. It’s really going to take off once we hit the road. It’s designed for the band to get more exposure when you go on the road.
Perfect, since you’re now headed off on tour, and hitting SXSW!
Totally, we’ll be at SXSW real hard. We’re on tour from March 6 – 13 and then heading down to Austin for March 14 – 20. We’ve got several gigs and are even having our own event — the Music Tech Mashup, where we’ll showcase our video game and perform. [Check out the band’s full tour schedule!]
Download Shinobi Ninja’s Brooklyn to Bablyon EP via http://www.myspace.com/shinobininjamusic, and follow the band on Twitter @shinobininja!
Shinobi Ninja says: “Check out our new iPhone/iPod video game app “Shinobi Ninja Attacks!” It’s the first video game album! (like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Drumsticks and Guitars) Unlock our music and videos as you play. Before you come, make sure to download the “Live” version of the game so that you can unlock the entire app when you’re at the show!!!”
Download “Shinobi Ninja Attacks!” Here:
http://www.tinyurl.com/SNAttacks
http://www.tinyurl.com/SNALive