Friday, July 3, 2009 3:00PM - By Morelli
In a digital age where album sales no longer accurately represent a band’s success, it has become increasingly important for bands and labels to be able to measure popularity on the Internet, on sites like Myspace, Last.fm, YouTube, SoundCloud and Facebook. Music data site Band Metrics is looking to offer such a service, and opened up the private beta today for several thousand artists to test its system, reports Hypebot.
Band Metrics not only gauges song plays, profile views and comments across various platforms, but also tracks airplay on over 3,500 radio stations, and scores your music 8 different ways. For example, your band has a “fandom” rating and “brand strength”. The company is also launching a standard format for sending and receiving data from the site, so it’s easy for users to share band data between each other. Check out some of the more interesting forthcoming features in development:
Continue Reading
Friday, July 3, 2009 2:00PM - By Seraphina
Are you shocked? Do you remember the Walkman? For those of you born in the 90’s, do you even know what a Walkman is?
According to leading gadget magazine, T3 Magazine, the Walkman beat out CDs and the iPod despite its awkward clunky size. Why? T3’s Kat Hanniford’s answer was: “It changed the way we access music, changed how often we could access music, and changed a generation.” That’s true. Before the Walkman, music fanatics either had to stay in one place for a stereo system or lug a huge boom box on top of their shoulders.
The MP3 digital music format came second in the list, the iPod music player, which apparently would be impossible without the pioneering work of Sony’s Walkman, came in third. Check the full list out below!
Continue Reading
Friday, July 3, 2009 1:00PM - By Seraphina
Antony & the Johnsons couldn’t be more different from the pop star, Beyoncé, but they do have one thing in common. They will now be the two artists who will have released the song, ‘Crazy in Love,” only with a dramatic change in performance and reinterpretation.
Mercury prize-winning UK act, Antony & the Johnsons, are known for their folk chamber and almost cabaret style infused with pop melodies. So if you think it’s odd of them to tackle a Beyoncé song, you’ll learn soon enough that re-invention is what the group does best.The tempo is slowed down and the accompaniment is replaced with the gorgeous sound of a full orchestra, but what is most grasping about their performance with Netherlands’ Metropole Orchestra is the way the lyrics, “Got me hoping you’ll save me right now” are sung.
Astonishingly amazing! Check it out below and let us know what you think!
Continue Reading
Friday, July 3, 2009 12:37PM - By Jeffrey Hyatt
The July 4th holiday weekend is here, so we won’t delay in checking out this week’s roundup of new music coming our way.
With R.E.M. we’ve already mentioned Reckoning Songs From The Olympia, a live digital EP due on iTunes and all digital service providers on July 7th, 2009. But the EP is merely an appetizer to their upcoming Live at the Olympia double album.
The double live album chronicles the band’s five-night run at the Olympia in the summer of 2007.
Continue Reading
Friday, July 3, 2009 10:10AM - By Brian Spiegel
While the July 4th weekend is big for hot dogs, pool parties, parades, men on stilts an dAmerican flag cakes, it is not a big weekend for concerts. Since most tickets go on sale on Saturday morning, Ticketmaster/ Live Nation probably assumes everyone will be too busy waving flags at parades to spend money on service fees in front of there computer. Also, since most of the big summer tours have already been announced we are in the on-sale lull between Summer andFall tours.
Expect some bigger announcements in a few weeks, but for now here are a few choice nuggets that are on sale this weekend….
Continue Reading
Friday, July 3, 2009 9:18AM - By Aguirre
It’s been nearly 14 years since Alice In Chains released their last self-titled album, but both the band’s singer-guitarist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, say that their upcoming album Black Gives Way to Blue “doesn’t stray too far from [their] influential catalog.”
According to Billboard, Kinney says the 11-track album continues in the Alice in Chains tradition and will measure up to some of their previous record hits like Dirt and Jar of Flies. The new album is set to be released on September 29. A lead single hasn’t been announced yet, but their new track A Looking in View can be heard at aliceinchains.com.
Continue Reading
Friday, July 3, 2009 9:03AM - By Lindsey Darden
The promise of fireworks seems to have cleared most venues this weekend; these acts, however, haven’t been deterred. What better way to celebrate independence than by putting on a first-rate show? Check out this weekend’s picks below:
- The Swellers | Friday, July 3 | 7:30 pm | $10 | The Knitting Factory, Hollywood, CA – Map | Yeah, we dig frontman Nick Diener’s powerful vocals, much similar to Chad Kroeger of Nickelback and John Warne of Relient K. The Michigan-based punk band – soon to release Welcome Back Riders, much to the anticipation of their fans – will be playing the front stage with Living with Lions, Max & the Marginalized, and Murder Majesty. Click here for tickets.
- Adam Freeland and Guests | Friday, July 3 | 10:00 pm | $1 – $25 | Webster Hall, New York, NY – Map | The venue’s weekly “Girls and Boys” club and Dj night will feature a set by remix master Adam Freeland and New Order’s Peter Hook. Click here to find out how you can get in for one dollar before midnight; otherwise, it’s $15 online, $25 at the door. For more information call (212) 353-1600.
Continue Reading
Friday, July 3, 2009 8:53AM - By Jeffrey Hyatt
It’s a chance to see what might have been now that CNN has released a video of Michael Jackson rehearsing for his London This Is It! shows at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on June 23rd, just two days before the pop star’s death.
The footage shows Jackson and his backup dancers performing choreography to the song “They Don’t Care About Us.”
Watch the Michael Jackson concert rehearsal footage below.
Continue Reading
Thursday, July 2, 2009 4:14PM - By Jeffrey Hyatt
The 88 have eschewed fancy recording equipment for an iPhone. That’s right, the indie rock trio don’t need your wall of sound, not when they have the ability to pump live drums, guitars, bass, piano and backing vocals into their iPhone to record an entirely new song.
That song, “Love is the Thing,” is now available at iTunes.
Actually, The 88 incorporated FourTrack, a new $9.99 application for the iPhone, which lets you record music directly into the device.
Watch a video of The 88 recording “Love Is The Thing” on an iPhone below.
Continue Reading
