Go Ga-Ga over articles, interviews and opinion about the business of music; including record labels, licensing, publishing and marketing.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. and LONDON, England — BETA Records, the online record company, officially launched BETA Records UK (www.betarecords.co.uk) on September 1, opening a London office and a portal for music lovers and artists of every style. This follows the success of BETA Records in the USA, Germany and Mexico.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Artist, producer, and film composer Tom Rothrock, legendary vocalist Roman Carter, and a host of studio session pros have completed a unique collaborative project titled: ROMAN CARTER “NEVER SLOW DOWN.” A full length release is due out November 6th, 2007, on the recently re-launched independent Bong Load Custom Records label.
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple(R) announced on July 31 that more than three billion songs have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes(R) Store (www.itunes.com). iTunes is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store featuring a catalog of over five million songs, 550 television shows and 500 movies.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — After the overwhelming success of Rocbeats.com and Rocbattle.com, Grammy award-winning producer, Rockwilder, is ready to take his online success to the next level; he has launched a third site that is currently in beta phase – RocMP3.com.
PLYMOUTH, Minn. — The new Bravo XRn Network Disc Publisher works just like a networked office copier or laser printer – but burns and prints CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Bravo XRn allows users to burn and print discs from anywhere on the network.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Are you a frustrated musician or vocalist seeking a record deal? Are you an unsigned or indie music artist who is looking for that first big break? Want2BDiscovered.com, LLC is giving unsigned artists more exposure than any other web site and has launched a seven-month urban talent competition – the Urban Showcase Series – to help get musicians discovered and the public involved.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Users of Windows Mobile phones and wireless handhelds now can get four continuous channels of all-live jazz, blues and Latin performances and complete concerts on-demand through a new partnership between InsideJazz.com and the makers of SelectRadio(R) software. Users of the latest version of SelectRadio software can get the new live music selections in both 32kbps and 128kbps CD-quality streams.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — Blue Microphones, a leading innovator in microphone technology and design, announces the addition of veteran sales professional Scott Schumer in the position of Vice President of Global Sales. Schumer is chartered with the task of growing the sales and support infrastructure as well as utilizing key channel relationships to maximize opportunities in professional audio.
ATHENS, Greece — Soundsnap is a new online platform for finding and sharing free samples, sound effects and music loops. Designed as a resource and community for musicians, sound designers, producers, film makers and web/video game developers, Soundsnap provides user driven content for use in virtually any kind of media production. Users can freely download and upload content to be legally shared and used in any media project.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — JSM Music owner and executive producer Joel Simon and his studio will have their own cause to celebrate at this week’s BET Awards. Tuesday night’s awards will include the world premiere of a new TV commercial featuring Mary J Blige – part of a campaign for Chevy Tahoe – for which Simon and JSM Music played a key role.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — You won’t hear “shhhh” at this event: the Los Angeles Public Library teams up with L.A. Music Network to launch a live music series in all styles and for all ages. In an arresting new live music series, “LAMN Gets Loud in the Library” launches on July 11 with free performances […]
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (MuseWire) — A&R Select, a full service artist development and marketing firm for independent artists and bands announces that IDASAS from Redlands, California, has won the 2007 Battle of the Bands competition at BB King’s, located at Universal’s Citywalk.
SEATTLE, Wash. (MuseWire) — Protectomatic Music and Entertainment (PME) proudly announces the release of Jeremiah’s new album, “Love Notes,” on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007. The first single off of Jeremiah’s recording, entitled, “Did I tell you,” is also being released. In conjunction with the new single and album, PME and Jeremiah will be launching a new website with the recording.
NEW YORK, N.Y. (MuseWire) — My Hound Media, Inc. announced today the launch of the beta version of MyHound.com, a website where users sign up for e-mail notifications of new CD releases, concerts, tour dates, and other events related to their favorite artists – from famous rock stars and bestselling authors to indie bands, unknown actors and niche writers.
HOUSTON, Texas — Pitch Control TV launches two new DVDs and announces a new and exciting Internet television show that is designed to entertain and entice Hip Hop music lovers, nationwide. Based in Houston, the focus is primarily on southern artists, but Pitch Control TV also showcases independent and major-label artists, coast-to-coast.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (MuseWire) — mTraks, Inc. announces the official launch of its public beta website, now open. mTraks(TM) is a killer social music community and digital music marketplace. mTraks has raised $550,000 from a consortium of private angel investors and is represented by Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati.
SEATTLE, Wash. (MuseWire) — Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced it will launch a digital music store later this year offering millions of songs in the DRM-free MP3 format from more than 12,000 record labels. EMI Music’s digital catalog is the latest addition to the store. Every song and album in the Amazon.com digital music store will be available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — On Saturday, May 26th at 7:00 p.m., Steve Urban, native New Yorker and ground-breaking musician, will celebrate the 66th birthday of musical legend, Bob Dylan, at Kenny’s Castaways, a well-known Dylan hangout on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Urban will honor classic Dylan tracks combined with original instrumentation.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Georg van Handel (CEO) and Chris Honetschlaeger (President) with BETA Records, LLC, announced today that they will partner with Digonex Technologies, Inc. to provide dynamically priced music downloads for their listeners. Digonex’s proprietary pricing service, the Digital Online Exchange (DOE), will determine the price of each individual track based on consumer demand and other economic factors within BETA’s upcoming social music community.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Georg van Handel (CEO) and Chris Honetschlaeger (President) with BETA Records, LLC, announced today that they will partner with Javien Digital Payment Solutions, Inc. to provide a complete solution for the sale of music, merchandise, and other content from their artists within BETA’s upcoming social music community.
TOLUCA LAKE, Calif. — The National Association of Record Industry Professionals (NARIP) announced this week a variety of upcoming music industry events, including top producer songwriter Derek Bramble at NARIP’s Producing Hit Songs series in L.A. on May 18th, and Modern A&R with Joe Poindexter in Phoenix on May 19th.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. & EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Yahoo! Music (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Gracenote(R) today announced a new licensing deal allowing Yahoo! Music to offer the largest catalog of legal, licensed song lyrics from Gracenote to Yahoo! Music’s consumers. Beginning today, song lyrics for hundreds of thousands of songs from all five major publishers will be incorporated into Yahoo! Music through Gracenote’s growing database.
TOKYO and OAKDALE, Minn. — Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN) and TDK (NYSE: TDK) announced this week that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Imation will acquire TDK brand world wide recording media business and use of the TDK brand name for recording media products.
SEATTLE, Wash. — iLike, inc, the six-month-old social music discovery service, announced today that it has surpassed one million registered users and is now processing over 200 million monthly track plays based on enabling users to log their listening habits on their iPods and PCs. The company also announced new concert-discovery features with event listings provided by Ticketmaster.
SEATTLE, Wash. — As a co-producer and music supervisor of the buzz-heavy indie flick “A Lawyer Walks into a Bar,” Evan Fitzmaurice had to match top-quality film content with a similarly powerful soundtrack. He began by looking online for original music aggregators, and was impressed by GarageBand’s “excellent interface and search function.”
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — If you are an unsigned music artist, BETA Records invites you to a special event May 1st at the Sunset Strip Key Club as part of MUSEXPO 2007, the annual gathering of the world’s leading music executives, producers, managers, and new media content experts.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — SoJo Artist Management is pleased to announce the recent signing of New York based Live Society. Hot off their New York win of Bodog’s $1 Million Battle of the Band competition, the band is ready to take the world by storm. Representing a modern day twist on the R&B and Classic Pop sound, Live Society’s danceable grooves and rich harmony driven songs are sure to appeal to all ages.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — BETA Records Mexico announces additional international expansion which follows the success enjoyed by U.S. and German sites of the online record company headed by founders Chris Honetschlaeger and Georg van Handel. BETA Records actively finds, produces, and showcases unsigned artists and distributes content to fans via digital channels.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A&R Select, the music industry’s benchmark in independent promotion and marketing, is currently hosting an online Battle of the Bands competition held at BB King’s Bar and Grille, located at Universal CityWalk. Over 80 local and regional bands will perform for an industry panel of well-known record labels, music supervisors, managers, music directors, and publishers.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Electronic artist The G-Man and country keyboard player Doug Colosio announce the formation of Golosio Publishing, a music licensing company which will supply songs for film, TV, games and commercials. “With six dozen new production music tracks and well over a hundred songs, we’re ready to create any type of sound you can imagine,” states Scott G, who is also the recording artist known as The G-Man.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A&R Select, the music industry’s benchmark in independent promotion and marketing, has recently extended a helping hand to many artists affected by the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina. A&R Select’s timely and heartfelt outreach is an important part of their vow to assist musical artists in underprivileged circumstances.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two new CDs – “Spirit of America” and “She Dances” – have been released by Make it Happen Now (MIHN) Records, a new recording company in Memphis, TN. “Spirit of America” features original songs such as “We are Strong,” and “the Pledge,” to new versions of classics such as “America the Beautiful.”
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — It didn’t take long for music marketing website, SoManyMp3s, to become one of the most popular promotional tools for independent artists seeking to elevate activity on their MySpace page, say the project’s founders. The service has one goal: to help independent artists reach “MySpace Celebrity Status” by gaining friends, and with the help of plays and visits.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Music lovers are used to ringtones on mobile phones but music from independent artists can be difficult to find. Free software on the BETA Records web site (www.betarecords.com) is changing all that.
HAMBURG, Germany — The Oscar winning film The Queen featured Nuendo throughout its post production processes, with all editing, rerecording and premixing done on Steinberg’s Nuendo Media Production System software. The audio for The Queen, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, was transferred through several studios all using Nuendo as their primary audio post platform.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — One online record company, BETA Records, is inviting music fans to accept a paying job with their company. According to BETA founders Chris Honetschlaeger and Georg van Handel, you can become an A&R (artist & repertoire) representative and turn your love of music into cash.
CHAMPLAIN, N.Y. — Kaysound Imports has entered into a new agreement with Chinese manufacturer CME for product distribution in the US market. The agreement comes after a successful showing of new CME products at the Winter NAMM show in late January and goes into effect on March 1, 2007.
COLUMN: The marketing ideas behind many of the commercials may have lacked brilliance, but the music in the spots was frequently outstanding. Scott G gets into the sweeping orchestral scores, the pounding rock rhythms and the ‘moderne’ sound of lounge.
COLUMN: There were approximately 9,000 minutes of advertising during the 2007 Super Bowl and a great many of them had very well-crafted music. Sure, some were awful, but most sounded very good. Scott G tries to ignore the marketing message and concentrate on the sonics.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — BETA Records and founders Chris Honetschlaeger and Georg van Handel are making it possible for independent musicians to take advantage of the communication and promotional advantages of ringtones.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A&R Select, the leading independent A&R firm in Hollywood, has announced it will be a participant in America’s leading independent film festival. A&R Select will sponsor an event highlighting “Music for Films” at the Sundance Film Festival.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Building on the extraordinary, sold-out success of the 2006 ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO, ASCAP will stage an even larger, more comprehensive event for music creators at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles on April 19-21, 2007. The ASCAP EXPO is the first and only national conference dedicated to songwriting and composing, bringing together top music creators across all genres with those just starting out.
SWANZEY, N.H. — UrbanBoomer, the online entertainment and social networking site targeting the 35-60 demographic, announced the launch of its digital music download store UBTunes. The site, www.ubtunes.com is aesthetically appealing, more reminiscent of a neighborhood record store with browse features for a host of sub-genres such as 60’s Soul, Lounge and Exotica, Jazz, 70’s Rock, etc. and has colorful, informative and easy to read graphics. Price wise, UBTunes offers lower prices than most top level content download sites with an 88 cent song price and many frontline albums at discounted prices.
PETERSBURG, Va. — Alexander Publishing, the world’s leading publisher of orchestration instruction, has teamed with Naxos Recordings, the world’s leading classical recording label, for How Ravel Orchestrated: Mother Goose Suite. This breakthrough in orchestration instruction includes a newly engraved score featuring the condensed Piano part at page bottom along with the Naxos Recording of Mother Goose Suite by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Jean.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — L.A. based, A&R Select offers artist development and marketing services for online musicians. Historically, A&R refers to “Artist and Repertoire,” a job title given to the label representatives that discover and groom new talent for success. A&R Select’s staff gives the tools and resources for songwriters and performers to develop and market themselves to labels, publishers, film, television and video game companies through their MySpace music sites.
MONTABELLO, Calif. — TASCAM is pleased to appoint Paul Jenkins to the position of National Sales Manager. Jenkins, with over 25 years of experience in the pro audio and music instrument industry, will lead the TASCAM sales effort throughout the U.S.
RoyaltyShare, a premier provider of digital royalty solutions to the entertainment industry, today announced it has been selected as a finalist for the POPKOMM Innovation in Music and Entertainment Award (IMEA) 2006 in the category of Digital Music & Marketing Innovations, B2B Solutions. In its third year, the annual IMEA Awards recognize the best new business ideas and brightest entrepreneurs in the worldwide music, media and entertainment technology sectors.
PARIS — Vivendi and Universal Music Group (UMG), 100%
owned by Vivendi, announced today that they have signed with Bertelsmann a
definitive agreement for the purchase of BMG Music Publishing Group for a
total consideration (in enterprise value) of EUR 1.63 billion.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — RED Microphones announced today that they will begin to widen distribution of their products, making them available to brick and mortar retailers as well as other online music and pro audio dealers. This change in distribution strategy is a result of the acquisition of VintageMicrophone.com by California-based equity firm SEMA Capital Group, Inc.