BandFreaks Independent Music News for Today: July 14th, 2005
Today's Indie Music Headlines
+++ Small Independent Record Labels are Facing a Different Fight Today
+++ Songs That Will Never Win A Grammy
+++ Munch Music Announces New Featured Artist: UK Based Rock Band HJ21
+++The Musician Francesco D'Angelo Becomes Famous with his Percussion Instruments Ringing at Home
+++ Explicit Lyrics Media Group to Launch Multi-Ethnic Urban Music Magazine in December 2005
+++ Rare Bob Dylan Recordings Surface on Latest Entry in Columbia/Legacy's 'Bootleg Series'
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Small Independent Record Labels are Facing a Different Fight Today
The amount of money and influence that the major record labels have cannot be matched by the smaller, independent labels. They simply cannot fight this battle and often songs that are deservingly good enough to be played on the radio may never be heard. Therefore, while the major labels have a very tight grip on radio, the smaller independent labels are beginning to take to the internet.
Rosenburg, TX (PRWEB) -- According to Eugene Brooks, CEO and President of KMJ Records, "Small independent record labels are facing a different fight today to obtain a share of the music industry."
The best possible means in which small labels were able to get their CD’s sold vanished in 2003 when Southwest Wholesale Records and Tapes closed the doors. The ability to have their music placed in a position to be sold along the same shelves as the major record labels is becoming increasingly more difficult. The absence of competition on the shelves has generated an increase in profits for the major labels.
What can smaller more nimble labels do to compete with the major labels?
Promotion and Radio
The major labels have a tight grip on the radio, for example, it is probably the means in which to promote and break in a new artist.
(Maybe the hold is a little tight and illegal: Eliot Spitzer, New York’s attorney general, is investigating whether the majors bribe radio stations to play their music.) The amount of money and influence that the majors have cannot be matched by a smaller record labels.
They cannot fight this battle and often songs that are deservingly good enough to be played will not be played. Play lists are generated in a single office and downloaded to the station managers to every part of the country. The station managers have no choice but to play what the corporate headquarters have instructed them to play for the day. What then can smaller more nimble labels do to compete with the major labels?
The Future – The Internet
Battle lines can be drawn in this vast market. Smaller labels can have attractive websites for their acts at a relatively cheap price.
Hosting of these sites will not be an unmanageable expense either. The
smaller labels can promote with banners and not have to absorb the cost of printing and manually distributing flyers and post cards to a smaller scope of potential buyers. The buyers on the Internet that can be reached are the same as that of the major labels.
What about radio over the Internet? It is still developing and today would be a great time to develop an artist over the Internet. Major labels have no control over the stations on the Internet yet.
Developing a radio station over the Internet is viable option for a small label. The cost associated again with doing so is not prohibitive.
Investigate and do your homework about the Internet and promoting on-line. The market is open for smaller companies as much as it is for the bigger companies.
Eugene Brooks has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and a Juris Doctorate Degree that he earned from Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Mr. Brooks is the President and CEO of the Texas based, independent label “KMJ Records.” KMJ Records can be found on the web at http://www.kmjrecords.us and features chopped and screwed CD’s by Z-Ro and various other Dirty South Houston Rappers.
For more information see www.kmjrecords.us.
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Songs That Will Never Win A Grammy
The primeTime sublime Community Orchestra release another CD (who cares?)
(PRWEB) -- The very unknown, very unpopular and very uncommercial RockPopJazzClassical group "the primeTime sublime Community Orchestra" (pTsCO) wants to be famous. They’ve tried everything: dressed up in weird costumes, smashed their violins on stage, dated famous actresses and even appeared in a sex video. After 2 minor selling albums and performances in empty concert halls around the world, the pTsCO have released their 3rd CD "Songs That Will Never Win A Grammy". The album is sure to be ignored by The New York Times and all the other major publications, radio and media outlets.
Utilizing the latest voice synthesis technology developed by AT&T and the Yamaha Corporation, all of the songs on the new CD are sung by a computer.
"Songs That Will Never Win A Grammy" is an eclectic mix of pop songs and soundbites with contributions by Richard Nixon, Hillary Clinton, both George Bushes, and other celebrities. From the majestic opening of "Curb Your God" which features 7 different digital singers (and one very out-of-tune human singer), to the singing cockroach on "Rainbow Seeds of Mass Destruction", the vocals sound as if by human performers not a machine.
And there are some instrumental tunes for people who hate pop music too.
Most of the record stores on planet earth would not want to have "Songs That Will Never Win A Grammy". But if anybody cares, it is available at Tower Records and CDBaby.com.
Contact:
http://www.primetimesublime.com:
For more information, audio excerpts, cartoons and assorted nonsense of questionable, entertainment value.
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Munch Music Announces New Featured Artist: UK Based Rock Band HJ21
Munch Music, Inc. is pleased to announce that the band HJ21 has been added to the roster of “Featured Artists”. HJ21’s CDs of original rock feature contributions from members of the Ozzy Osbourne and Sinéad O'Connor bands.
Delta, BC (PRWEB) -- Munch Music, Inc. (www.MyMunchMusic.com) is pleased to announce that the band HJ21 has been added to the roster of “Featured Artists”. The London based rockers are now featured on the Munch Music website and their three CDs of original material will be available for sale both in-store and online. The CDs will be re-released on the Munch Music label: Munch Music Records. The Munch Music location will open its doors to the public on Saturday July 16th, in Delta, British Columbia.
The Munch Music concept is simple, “You have a Rock & Roll Dream, We Make It A Reality”. Munch Music features a state of the art digital recording studio, available to musicians of all ages and all levels of experience. Our staff of lifelong musicians is ready and waiting to guide you through your musical journey, right from the initial purchase of an instrument, providing lessons with professional instructors, to recording your music on a CD, and then performing it live in front of an audience.
Munch Music is located in Delta, British Columbia, and is the brainchild of the next famous guitarist in a long, notable line of famous Van Zants: Taylor Van Zant. So if you’re ready to live your Rock & Roll dream, we’re here to help you get the start that you deserve. Details about the Munch Music experience can be found at our website: http://www.mymunchmusic.com.
The band HJ21 has been recording and gigging throughout Europe for the past ten years. HJ21 performed legendary gigs in many of Europe’s major cities (Paris, Prague, Copenhagen, and London) and recorded three CDs of original material together. Their second CD, “It’s All About Finesse”, featured twelve original tracks, and was engineered and produced by Bernie Tormé (ex-guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, Ian Gillan Band, Atomic Rooster, and The Electric Gypsies). “Finesse” received rave reviews (most notably from the hard rock bible, “Kerrang”) and earned HJ21 a serious cult following.
Matthew Fielder, singer and frontman for the group expressed his gratitude to Munch Music for bringing their music to a brand new audience: “I would like to thank Munch Music for promoting and spreading the HJ21 rock & roll gospel to the Canadian people, whom I respect and admire for their honesty and integrity, but above all for their great taste in music. Munch Music has provided a great opportunity for our music to be heard by a brand new audience, both geographically and age wise, and we appreciate their belief in us.”
To view HJ21’s information and to listen to samples from their, “It’s All About Finesse” album, click here: http://www.mymunchmusic.com/artists.htm
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The Musician Francesco D'Angelo Becomes Famous with his Percussion Instruments Ringing at Home
For years he devoted himself the study of the percussion instruments, Djembe-Congas. Thanks to Internet listeners have accessed his music from all over the world. Thanks to his journeys in Brazil and Africa he has learned the true rhythms of percussions, Thanks to the site Http://www.lulu.com, he has been able to publish a musical cd.
(PRWEB) -- Now we speak with the Artist. Who are you? What do you do? In other words, tell us about yourself.
I have had many journeys in Brazil, and in Africa, to know the local and musical traditions of these countries, from always I have been thrilled of-Brazilian Afro musics, already from child I owned some musical instruments. I am an autodidact, however I have improved and become famous thanks to journeys I made to Brazil and to Africa. In Brazil I have known several musicians who taught me the local rhythms imported by the African slaves in that country.
In these countries there are many different kinds of musical tools. I always devote myself to the principal tools which are the Djembe and the Conga but I use others, such as Cabasa, Bombo, Surdo etc.
Thanks to my computer and to the Internet my music is much listened, I have been several times first in the Vitaminic and Mp3.com ratings and my music has been downloaded often. No so long ago, I discovered the Lulu.com site and have published my musical Cd through their site.
This is the interesting history of an artist who thanks to the Internet has listened, on several occasions, to new music and continued in the study of percussion, in order to progress. I also wanted to satisfy the numerous fans who followed my career for years.
For sale at the http://www.lulu.com/dobrasil site you can find his Cd Cafè do Brasil.
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Explicit Lyrics Media Group to Launch Multi-Ethnic Urban Music Magazine in December 2005
EXPLICIT LYRICS (copyright 2005) is an online music magazine, currently under development, whose singular focus is established and emerging Latino, Caribbean and African American hip hop and urban music artists. With the continued explosion of latino urban genres such as reggaeton around the u.s., our laser focus is on the hip hop movement as it becomes increasingly multi-ethnic, and evolves in style and form to accomodate both current trends and a growing pool of prolific talent.
(PRWEB) -- EXPLICIT LYRICS (copyright© 2005) is an online music magazine, currently under development, whose singular focus is established and emerging Latino, Caribbean and African American hip hop and urban music artists. With the continued explosion of latino urban genres such as reggaeton around the u.s., our laser focus is on the hip hop movement as it becomes increasingly multi-ethnic, and evolves in style and form to accomodate both current trends and a growing pool of prolific talent.
EXPLICIT LYRICS is a bootstrap magazine produced by Explicit Lyrics Media Group. The founders basically have no money, are paying all start-up costs out-of-pocket, and are building it with their bare hands. This magazine is being created out of an intense love for and belief in hip hop and reggaeton, and out of an overwhelming desire to share this passion with anyone on this planet willing to listen. The site will launch its inaugural online issue in December 2005.
EXPLICIT LYRICS target demographic is men and women across ethnic lines. The online magazine will generate income through advertising opportunities and by promoting artists and products that are relevant and beneficial to its readers in the Americas and beyond.
Readers will be able to simply click on http://www.explicitlyricsonline.com (copyright 2005) and register for FREE to learn the latest in rap, reggaeton, latin american and caribbean music news and fashion trends as well as the latest music technology news, cd/club/dj/concert reviews and passionate editorials. Readers will also be able to purchase music and more.
EXPLICIT LYRICS plans to publish simultaneous online versions in English and Spanish starting in July 2006.
Wanted: writers, established & emerging rap & urban music artists, music critics, music technology enthusiasts, editors, photographers, web developers, djs and cartoonists.
Areas of expertise: rap, reggaeton, caribbean and latin american urban beats, music technology, street photography, fashion, drawing.
Requirements: extreme and unwavering passion for urban music. if you fall asleep with your mp3 player in your ears listening to rap and reggaeton, we want to hear from you. if you think about mix cds and the hip hop underground from sun up to sun down, we want to hear from you. if your opinions about caribbean and latin urban beats are so strong that you want to talk about it all the time and get on everybody's nerves, we definitely want to hear from you. obviously, you should have the requisite experience in your chosen area of expertise, but your passion for urban music supersedes everything else.
Compensation: this is a bootstrap magazine and a labor of love. at this point, the founders have no funding for this project, therefore, no monetary compensation is being offered at this time. however, contributors will receive full credit, acknowledgement and exposure to thousands of readers on a daily basis. our ultimate goal is to compensate contributors as funds become available. we will work with college students who wish to intern for college credit on a case by case basis.
English and Spanish speaking urban music enthusiasts who would like to be a part of this unique and ground breaking opportunity are encouraged to submit work samples and /or a mission statement.
Advertisers and interested contributors should contact Explicit Lyrics editor-in-chief, Lois "tribalsun" Guchu at http://www.explicitlyricsonline.com.
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Rare Bob Dylan Recordings Surface on Latest Entry in Columbia/Legacy's 'Bootleg Series'
NEW YORK, /PRNewswire/ -- Columbia recording artist Bob Dylan's "No Direction Home: The Soundtrack - The Bootleg Series Vol. 7" will arrive in stores August 30th on Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. This latest edition in the critically acclaimed "Bootleg Series" is the companion soundtrack to the two-part feature-length film, "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," a Martin Scorsese picture. The film will make its U.S. premiere on the Public Broadcasting System's "American Masters Series" over the course of Monday and Tuesday nights, September 26-27th, respectively.
The two-CD chronologically sequenced package contains 28 Bob Dylan tracks -- 26 of them previously unreleased -- comprised of rare private recordings, live concert, television and festival recordings, and 12 alternate takes of songs from his Columbia LP recording sessions in New York and Nashville during this period. The songs range in time from 1959 (a high school recording of "When I Got Troubles," most likely the first original song he ever recorded), to 1966 (alternate takes of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" and "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" from the "Blonde on Blonde" album recording sessions, as well as "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Like A Rolling Stone" from the legendary 1966 UK tour).
Many of the songs or tracks are introduced in the film for the first time in history, or are representative of times and places covered in the film, while others are alternate takes of classic tracks that were unearthed during the making of the film. For example, the version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" performed in 1961, at the intimate Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City, was never known to have existed on any tape until now.
On the other hand, the "No Direction Home" film version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is taken from the Newport Folk Festival, July 1964; while the CD version presents -- for the first time -- the first complete take of the song with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, recorded at Columbia Studios the month before. The track is then followed on the CD by "Chimes of Freedom" from Newport '64.
Archivists and researchers reviewed more than 400 hours of recordings by Bob Dylan in the preparation of "No Direction Home." The two CDs will be packaged with a 60-page color book housed in a slipcase. The book will include separate liner notes written by Andrew Loog Oldham, and Al Kooper who sheds light on the "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde" recording sessions in New York and Nashville (for which he played organ and served as musical director). An authoritative track-by-track delineation is also included.
The first feature-length film biography ever produced on the artist, "No Direction Home" is narrated in its entirety by Dylan. In addition to hours of black-and-white and color archival footage and photography, it features exclusive interviews with Joan Baez, photographer John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers, Allen Ginsberg, Tony Glover, Al Kooper, Bruce Langhorne, Paul Nelson, Suze Rotolo, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Izzy Young of the Folklore Center, and many others. More information is posted at bobdylan.com.
Source: Columbia/Legacy
Web site: http://www.legacyrecordings.com/
http://www.bobdylan.com/
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