Island Def Jam Form New Hip-Hop Label, Does Free Streaming Sell Music? and New Music..
Posted April 10, 2008 — in Music News
Island Def Jam Music Group Launch New Hip-Hop Label in Partnership with TAG Body Sprays: Island Def Jam and Procter & Gamble’s TAG brand formed a new hip-hop record label, TAG Records which will be led by hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri who will act as president. The TAG Brand will showcase TAG Record’s artist and Jermaine Dupri across various TAG brand advertising and marketing initiatives throughout 2008.
Does Free Streaming Sell Music? Last.fm’s free, ad-supported music streams have resulted in a 119 percent increase in music purchases through Amazon, the company said today. Last.fm says they have the proof and streaming free music allowing users to have full-track previews drives music sales, both digital and physical.
So far the Last.fm model seems to be working. The labels get paid every time a track is played and longtime members were buying more music too—there was a 66 percent increase in album and track purchases among existing users.
Radio Links to iTunes: US radio broadcaster, Clear Channel, has linked all of its digital FM music stations to Apple Inc.’s iTunes store, giving listeners a way to buy songs they’ve heard. Clear Channel will now share in revenue from iTunes.
New Music: Denver band Flobots is climbing up the alternative charts. They were discovered after Denver radio station, KTCL, began playing their track Handlebars. The beginning of the track instantly sucks you in and they remind us of novelty act Cake meets Eminem.
Payola: Wired published a column titled ‘Is Sonicbids’ Pay-for-Play Music Promotion the New Payola?‘ that discusses whether they share artists’ fees with the websites that use bands’ content.
Recommended Listening: So Long and Little Pill By Stereoside.
1. First Red Bull forms a label and now TAG. What next Snapple Records?
2. I’ve been following that Sonicbids post over at Wired for a minute now. Really interesting.
Comment by Universal Indie Records — April 10, 2008 @ 9:14 am
can’t wait for a condom company to start a label…
“We fit all styles”
Comment by larry anderson — April 10, 2008 @ 11:07 am
“can’t wait for a condom company to start a label…”
LMAO.. that’s pretty funny…
Comment by Universal Indie Records — April 10, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
should be a “no brainer”…after all most A&R and label guys are “dicks”.
Tampax Records…a small “nich” label
Comment by larry anderson — April 10, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
Recommended listening: Tell me this guy isn’t the shit. http://www.myspace.com/victorgannmusic And I don’t care how many myspace plays he has. Check out “Just Another Day”
Comment by Brett — April 10, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
I’m sick of all the Sonicbids haters. That site kicks ass. Give them their 5 dollars a month and you can send your epk to whoever you want to. Avoid all of their pay crap if you don’t think you have a better than even chance. The 60 dollars in fees paid to them was worth it in that it got us on dozens of radio stations and podcasts. Try sending out your mp3’s as attachments to radio programmers and reviewers and see how far you get. Their epk’s are very professional looking.
Comment by Brett — April 10, 2008 @ 4:00 pm
“Tampax Records…a small “nich” label”
LMAO…
Brett,
Question if you can answer it. I was thinking of joining before but I wasn’t sure how well they did with hip hop? Anyone know?
Comment by Universal Indie Records — April 10, 2008 @ 5:04 pm
…..That guy isn’t the shit………
Comment by Nathan — April 10, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
It’s not a question of how well they do, it’s what you do with their lynch pin electronic press kit. Sonicbids got us on http://www.haloradio.com That alone was worth all the fees and dues we ever paid them. What you’ll get for 5.95 a month is an electronic press kit you can send to anyone you want. It has the sonic bids name on it which is a well respected industry leader in indie music promotion.
Comment by Brett — April 10, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Sonicbids has worked VERY well for us. Our song was found by a director through Sonicbids - and it will be appearing in an independent film later this year. Sure it’s only an independent film, but we’ve also booked quite a few other bookings through the site as well. It is MORE than worth the money. Go for it brother!
Beau
Rescue Signals
Comment by Beau Bretz — April 10, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
You would pay $6 a month to be on halo radio, Brett? That settles it, you are totally delusional. You can be on every web radio station in the world, but if you’re the only one listening, it really doesn’t make a difference. It’s just another something to add to the endless string of empty hype. Also, Victor Gann blows. I don’t know why you bother posting that kind of crap on here. “Just another Day” is absolutely dreadful, nevermind the fact that it’s all instrumental guitar wanking. The reason guys like this are so “talented” is because they never wrote a song the masses actually care to hear, so they have 30 years to sit in their bedroom & play scales. Whoopty doo. On top of that, the beginning of the record is a total rip-off of Mr Big’s Lean Into It. And this guy is no Paul Gilbert, not by several country miles. You are so far out of touch, I don’t know if responding to you is even worthwhile.
I heard that Flobots track on a friend’s myspace recently, but I thought it was more of a joke track. I didn’t realize there was any legitimate traction. That’s kind of sad, it’s a really shitty song… half of the lyrics don’t make any sense & the entire time he’s just ripping Eminem’s or Mike Shinoda’s flow. To be fair, Shinoda is always biting other more legitimate rappers’ flows, but the point is that we need another “ironic” white rapper like we need a hole in our collective head.
Cake, though? A novelty act? You’ve obviously not heard Italian Leather Sofa (aka a lesson in guitar interplay). Fashion Nugget was packed with gold, their cover of I Will Survive tops the original in my book. And they’ve always managed several really great tracks on each record since.
Stereoside blows, too. None of these songs with these percussive, cadence-driven vocals that are tied to synching with the overproduction are going to last. Give me something that doesn’t require 16 guitar tracks to feel “at home.”
Here’s MY recommended listening, The Love Willows. It’s honest pop, they’re legitimate songwriters & performers, & Hope is a total babe. Falling Faster is a hit song. http://www.myspace.com/thelovewillows
Comment by Jon Cole — April 11, 2008 @ 3:07 am
I’d like to check out The Love Willows (myspace gets blocked here at work…). Do they have a website?
Comment by Scott — April 11, 2008 @ 5:13 am
Finally! the sonic bids bullshit is being brought to the surface, about time.
Comment by Matt — April 11, 2008 @ 8:59 am
You have your head up your ass Jon. Halo Radio has every song by every major artist in the history of music in their data base. Alot of people listen to it from around the world. I’m familiar with hundreds of internet radio stations and it’s the best one I’ve found. Go request your ten favorite songs on there right now, thwey’re all there. You’re little down on everything act is wearing thin. You have no idea what your talking about.
Comment by Brett — April 11, 2008 @ 11:01 am
I don’t listen to halo radio, nor do I know anyone who does. It doesn’t matter how many tracks by major artists they have in their database. What matters is if people listen.
Comment by Anonymous — April 11, 2008 @ 11:42 am
Brett, Quantcast says <2,000 folks visit haloradio.com. And that doesn’t mean “2,000,” it means “somewhere between 0 & 2,000.” It’s like having your song on a community college radio station. If you’d pay $60 per year for that, you are a poor manager of finances & it’s going to cost you a small fortune to buy even a footnote in music history. Alexa.com just says “not in the top 100,000,” which is to say “far too small to matter.”
And who cares how many songs they have on tap? I only want to hear the good stuff. I have no use for 90% of recorded music. And even that’s being generous.
So spare me the condescension, please. And don’t pose as some great finder of talent… you’re out of touch. End of story.
Comment by Jon Cole — April 11, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
Hey Jon. Who are you? You follow me around with your unwanted criticism as if I care what you have to say. Don’t you have anything better to do? Unless you live under a rock you’d know that internet radio is on the rise and terrestrial radio is going down the toilet. Sure Halo Radio doesn’t have those ground breaking bands like Colour Revolt and the Love Willows. But they do have Mossback, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Madonna, Nirvana and the Beatles. If you say one person listens to that station then you’re a liar. You should try it sometime. I guarantee it has 99 of your 100 favorite somgs on there.
Comment by Brett — April 12, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
I do the same thing to everyone else, Brett. Don’t get the idea that you’re special, you’re just extra delusional & so you demand more attention.
I got no results for David Vandervelde, Blitzen Trapper, the Films, Sugarplum Fairy, Simple Kid & anything from the last 3 Mando Diao records, so your 99/100 argument is a little off. And these aren’t the most obscure tracks I could think of, they’re artists I listen to on a daily basis. But even if they had them, they’d never get played unless I continually requested them. If that’s the case, I’m fine with just queuing them up in iTunes. That way my favorite tunes don’t get mixed up with Brett’s favorite tunes. How often do you request Mossback there, anyhow? lol
These web radio stations that you champion are nothing more than a bunch of wannabe indie-artists with delusions of grander who get off on hearing themselves through the speakers. They’re a bunch of self-promotion whores with too much free time competing to have their songs heard by no one but each other. EIGHT YEARS IN they still haven’t hit 2,000 monthly visitors. What makes you think that they’re going to take off any time soon? I would really like to know.
If you want to believe in some Dutch web radio station, or in some talentless guitar wanking hack, or whatever, that’s fine. But if you post these ridiculous things in public, people are going to respond (or at least I am) & you’re going to end up looking silly.
Comment by Jon Cole — April 12, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
They already have hit with the people who have heard them. I’m very happy with their growing itunes sales. If you don’t like halo radio how bout some of these. Tracks have been heard on Insomniaradioseattle, Fatcatradio, The Upper Room With Joe Kelley, Seattle and Beyond, D’art Radio, Cygnus radio, Songplanet, Indie artist radio, The Weekly Throwdown, Madpod, The Gear Jammer, KSER FM, Krushradio, The Switched, Radio Free Colorado, Twirlradio, The Audio Pandemic Show, The Little Show, Next M radio, Halo Radio, Vein Radio, Preying Lizard, The Capital Rock Show, Top 10 Music Countdown, Reaching For Lucidity, Supernatural podcast, Listen With Dave, The Buckeye Drive Time, Podcast Cafe, Radio Freakout, Global Domination, Whole Wheat Radio, Limelight Radio, The Fine Art of Noise Pollution, Indie 104.7 FM , Accidenthash, Audiogumshoe, Darkcompass, Podsafe Music Show, High Orbit podcast, Great American Music Hour, Dave Rabbit podcast, No Limits radio, Jogtunes, Tune In Seattle, Monochrome Museum uk, Tee M’s Unsigned Music Show, Perkigioth radio show, Sleepy Eyes Knits podcast, Suffering From Sanity podcast, Kidscastco.uk podcast, Car Cast podcast, Madd Radio, Eartaste podcast, Amplified podcast, Musictogousa.com, Coal Cracker radio, Sonic Gumbo, Seattle Sounds radio, Livin Rocks Radio, Unknown Radio, CRMK FM 89.8 Milton Keynes, Play Radio UK, Second Floor Lounge podcast, Awesome Radio.net, Bandhouse Live radio, Gator broadcasting and Naked Brain Radio, Pheonix Radio, KLZX FM, Firestorm Radio, K94 rocks, and WYNY FM…….Now Jon, how could all these radio programmers be soooo wrong and you be spot on with your opinion?
Comment by Brett — April 12, 2008 @ 6:40 pm
This isn’t about Mossback, Brett. It’s about how you think everyone should be impressed by a list of proper nouns. For instance, kidscastco.uk (it’s actually kidscast DOT co.uk) is a british podcast for children. I’m sure Mossback was sandwiched in between knock-knock jokes & the latest episode of “science fiction 4 kids.” On top of that the site looks like it was designed by a blind man in 1995. I’m willing to bet that in their entire existence about 3 or 4 incredibly desperate non-kid specific bands have sent them a promo copy of their record. I’d bet they’re just happy that someone knows they exist.
Musictogousa.com is… have you looked at musictogousa.com lately, Brett? It’s far worse than the kidscast site.
Nevermind the fact that these things are streaming between what sounds like 64 or 96kbps for musictogousa & just 128kbps for halo radio… it’s just painful to listen to, nevermind the shitty programming. Cymbals were never meant to sizzle like that, I can assure you.
And I just chose those two because the url was in the name & I could go straight to the site. But if this is anything to go by, well, frankly, yes… all of these “radio programmers” could be dead wrong. And I normally am spot on.
So there you go.
And you never answered how often you request Mossback on Halo Radio.
Comment by Jon Cole — April 12, 2008 @ 7:56 pm
Jon, you forgot to check internet radio station of the year 2 years running indie 104.7 FM iradiola. They boast 4 million listeners. Google it. As for how many times I request Mossback on Halo Radio, I do it every chance I get. You see, the more people that hear your music the more fans you get and the more you sell. Their music is very radio friendly and it holds it’s own with the best music in the world. How many cd’s do you know of that have 10 radio friendly songs on it?
Comment by Brett — April 13, 2008 @ 10:07 am
lol Have you seen their playlist, Brett? There’s 200 listings just for artists that start with M. So you’re in there with about 5,000 other songs? What an elite group of curiously unsuccessful artists. You must be incredibly happy to have made the cut. A true honor, no doubt. The definition of prestige, even.
I did Google it & what came up is a list of delusional indie artists who think they’re the next big thing, so excited to have been added to the biggest indie radio station that the world has ever known, begging their fans (or, as I like to call then, “family & co-workers”) to e-request their songs.
If your plan is to get Mossback on all of the least restricted playlists on webradio & then just request them yourself until they become famous, well… good luck with that, buddy. I’m rooting for you. Kind of.
Comment by Jon Cole — April 13, 2008 @ 1:28 pm