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INDIE NEWS BEAT Industry Giants Join Forces Launch Groundbreaking Indie Artist Support Tool
Finding the right industry media contacts has been the most daunting challenge facing indie musicians: lots of time away from the studio and stage doing research, or lots of money to hire someone to do it. Today, the indie world has changed dramatically with the launch of The Virtual Publicist, a Web-based service that enables independent musicians to download a current list of over 400 music magazines, zines, blogs and freelance writers; and ready-to-use labels for mailing press kits along with resources such as: writers, web designers, distributors and music coaches. Madalyn Sklar, founder and CRC (chief rockin' chick) at GoGirlsmusic.com; Rhonda Kelley, founder and publicity guru of Rainmaker Public Relations; and Ben Schulkin, web programmer for 3000K and founding member of Burn In Silence (Prosthetic Records); had a first-hand understanding of the need as music business coach, publicist and musician. "We're all about supporting and empowering everyone to rock out and perform and be wildly successful," said Sklar, whose GoGirlsmusic.com is the oldest and largest online community devoted to women musicians. "But the harsh reality is that you need to get noticed to create buzz. The Virtual Publicist helps you do that‹right down to the mailing labels." Artists go to the website, purchase the list and get a download of the contacts and labels, which are formatted and ready to use. The Virtual Publicist plans frequent updates to ensure that the list is always current, but at $39.95 per download, the service is affordable even for the artist who wants to update their contacts periodically. Source: You Are Invited To Attend The Nashville SongWriters Festival This June 13-17
You are also invited to the Open House On Music Row June 16 & 17 where publishers, song pluggers and radio host will be accepting your unsolicited CD's for consideration. Other music related businesses will also be represented such as recording studios, Independent record labels, etc. so check out the "Open House" link at the web site. There are multiple outdoor stages with scheduled play slots available. There are also unscheduled open sing rings that you can join in or create so that all who come get their chance to be heard. Peavey has donated an acoustic guitar to the Fest for us to do with as we please. All I can figure out to do in good conscience is to give the guitar away in the spirit it was given to one of the festival attendees. We will be holding a free drawing on Sunday at 6 PM. You don't have to be present to win but you do need to be present to register for the drawing, so stop by and throw your name in the hat. Approximate value $500. There is a lot more to the fest, featured hit writer rounds from BMG, Universal and other surprises await. The real featured writer is you. We have guest coming from Australia, Ireland, Canada and all parts of the US. Come welcome your brothers and sisters. Come make our fifth year a big hippie music love fest of original songs. Also come join in our annual sunrise Christian Music Segment Sunday June 17 from 6AM to Noon. This years music service is shaping up to be miraculous. Although the fest is open to all genres of music and all forms of songwriting their is a special emphasis on Christian original songs Sunday AM. The festival is contribution based. Each writer decides what they can do to be a part of the fest and help make it happen. The most important contribution is you being there, supporting each other and celebrating in song. We do not let money get in the way of sharing our music. The fest is what you make it. Source: Music.com--Indie Artists Distribute Music/ Ringtones Music.com launched their Artist-controlled Music Download and Ringtone service at SXSW, moving from music index to integrated, feature rich artist and fan community and music store. Artists using Music.com connect directly with fans and other artists. The artist-controlled music store enable bands to sell there music anywhere online and retain a greater percentage of their download and ringtone sales. MUSIC.COM's free comprehensive artist management tools, community and music store provide a platform where artists and bands have more control over their career, music, and profits by setting their own pricing for their own music and selling their music as downloads, mobile downloads and customizable ringtones directly to their fans, from anywhere whether on Music.com, the band website, or any social network where users can paste widgets. Music.com offers the best payout, over 80% on $0.99 music downloads and the most favorable rates on mobile downloads and customizable ringtones, without charging set up or monthly fees. Music.com exists to encourage a community where artists and fans find one another through music and music through each other. Bands and music enthusiasts build profiles with Music.com's in depth feature set, including photo albums, blogs and messaging. Music.com enables interaction between artists and music fans that share common interests, the discovery of new music, and e-commerce, where downloads and ringtones can be purchased directly from the artist from any of the artists' online sites. Music.com lets the artists select whether to offer free downloads, or set their own prices to sell their music downloads and/ or mobile downloads and ringtones. Source: Astrella CelesteTakes 'Euro Buzz' Global With June 4 Digital Release Of U.K. Hit Single "Dream"
Source: The Love Kills Theory Share Their "Suicide Girls"
Running over 12 weeks starting on Monday June 4, the Digital Tour will feature a different track from the "Happy Suicide, Jim!" album available for download exclusively on one of six major social networking sites for a period of one week. By the end of the tour, fans would have had the opportunity to download the entire album as well as free digital goodies such as album artwork, wallpapers and printable tour poster. Fans who download the "Suicide Girls" track will receive exclusive updates on the upcoming tour, including the specific week and social networking site where each track will be released. "Our goal was to expose our album to the most listeners possible," explained band leader Cevin Soling. "So instead of focusing solely on MySpace, we decided to strike out to as many fan communities as we realistically could while giving them a chance to download our entire 13 track album." "Happy Suicide, Jim! is just lunatic enough to keep your interest up. Soling and Minics interchange chunky chords, ably assisted by the sonic IED blasts of Pilato's and Stewart's rhythm section. Brandau's keyboards add some loopy effects, making the whole project a fine alternative to the bland pop currently dominating the Billboard charts." Larry Sakin, Blog Critics Magazine "Happy Suicide, Jim! is a welcome break and goes against the grain of rock either being produced to be heard on Clear Channel or indie music which is strictly for internet radio. With lyrics that feature a true social conscious and smartly styled music and melodies, Happy Suicide, Jim! is worth picking up." William Alexander, Enigma Source: Amy Speace Takes The Stage At Kerrville Folk Festival
Saturday, June 2 - 7:00 PM
Tuesday, June 5 - 7:00 pm
Founded by Rod Kennedy, the Kerrville Folk Festival has run annually since 1972, making it the longest continuously running music festival of its kind in North America. Amy Speace is presently being featured in PBS' leading series of "short-form" programming FastFocusTV, airing nationally on more than 100 U.S. public television stations reaching over 62 million households nationwide. She has started 2007 with a bang, winning IMA (Independent Music Awards) Vox Populi winner for Best Country Song, selected as a runner-up in the Open category of the 3rd Annual IAMA (International Acoustic Music Awards) and nominated "Emerging Artist of the Year" for the 2007 Folk Alliance Awards. Source: Polarity/1 Re-enters Broadjam Top 10 In A Big Way
"When my kid was eight he wanted to be the next Miles Davis," noted Polar Levine aka Polarity/1. "He could already play "So What" on his grandpas's trumpet. Nilestones sort of has the feel of Davis' "Milestones." Mainly it was an excuse to stick my kid's name in the title. Because I can." Before his two-year vacation from recording he had placed eight Polarity/1 songs in their Top Ten categories including Best Song All Genres, Alternative, Electronic, Experimental Electronic. Four of those had placed #1 in their respective charts. Nominated Best Electronica CD by Just Plain Folks, Speechless has licensed songs to the Tribeca-based Battery Dance Company as well as several documentaries including the recently released "In Debt We Trust," a feature-length documentary directed by Emmy Award winner Danny Schechter. The music of Polarity/1 is exactly what the name suggests: conjoined opposites - a mash-up of new: cutting edge electronica/hip hop/nu-jazz and old: roots music of America (blues, funk, country, early jazz), Brazil (samba, pagode, etc.) and West African groove science. "Polar succeeds in his mission of forcing you to pay attention and not lull into the sounds you 'expect' to hear," noted StarPolish.com Source: MusicDish Network Adds More Trini Spice To It's Roster
"I originally met Lyndon on a trip to Trinidad in October 2005 to speak a conference by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), which is how I came to manage calypso-based Kobo Town whose album they were recording at the time," recalled MusicDish founder Eric de Fontenay. "Ever since, it has been an obsession to work with both these incredible talents from Trinidad. With Stonez joining Kobo Town on our roster, the obsession has become reality!" In a career spanning two decades, Lyndon Livingstone - known in the DJ world as Stonez - has gone from teenage mix tape master to being the foremost producer of remixes and electronic music in Trinidad. He holds his own as the owner/talent behind the Razorshop production house, even while maintaining his status as the country's top house music DJ, sprinkling his sets with his own unique, often ground-breaking productions. He has produced remixes or completed post production edits for many of Trinidad and Tobago major talents, including: David Rudder, Machel Montano, Mungal Pattessar, the late Andre Tanker, 3 Canal, Sherwin Winchester and Destra Garcia. Internationally, Stonez has worked with Wyclef Jean (Haiti), Kobo Town (Canada), TOK (Jamaican), Mr. Vegas (Jamaica) and Mimi (Japan). Lyndon paid his dues as a resident DJ in Trinidad's top clubs throughout the 90's, but also added sound engineering to his skills set. The transition from DJ to producer came in his early twenties, when he was offered an opportunity to work with Robin Foster of the Engine Room production house. Stonez quickly mastered the art of desk top music production and was soon introducing his DJ peers to the joys of editing. Stonez was then offered to be a production engineer at one of the country's top radio stations (96.1WEFM). When the operation expanded into a studio and record label (Link Up), he got the opportunity to showcase his mixing skills in a regular time slot during the island's annual Carnival festival and post production credits on much of the studio product. Lyndon also branched out into sound design for fashion shows and theatre productions and started his own production house, Razorshop, in 1999. With one of the most state-of-the-art post production kits in the region, Razorshop has contributed significantly to radio and television ad campaigns for Coca Cola, Lucozade, Heineken, etc. Source: "The New" Wins AirPlay Direct's "All Things Digital" Artist Contest
"The New has a very cool and relevant style that wraps around their well crafted songs to create an interesting and unique sound. We are pleased to have The New as our winners and expect big things for them in the coming months." Robert Weingartz, Founder / CMO - AirPlay Direct The New was formed in 2006, after singer-songwriter Arthur Adam ten Cate and drummer Jaimy Quite decided that it was time to find a way past the sweet songs and beyond the subordinate drums, to find a way to make crafted, loud and really expressive melodic pop songs, using minimal means and maximal effort/energy. The New calls this: over-the-top-pop. Listen to and download "broadcast-quality" tracks (radio) from The New at http://www.airplaydirect.com/music/bands/12628/ Source:
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GoGirls Music's Madalyn Sklar, Rainmaker's Rhonda Kelley and Burn In Silence/3000K's Ben Schulkin shatter the cost/time barrier between independent musicians and critically-important media coverage.
You are invited to attend the 
As her Euro-buzz crests with a high profile performance slot at the prestigious 2007 Isle of Wight Festival and a surge of oversees radio airplay, pop-jazz chanteuse 
In preparation for their "Happy Suicide, Jim!" Digital Tour, The Love Kills Theory is making their track 
Wildflower Records artist 
After a two-year layoff 
MusicDish, LLC, a music magazine publisher and artist marketing/development firm, announced the addition of Trinidad's preeminent DJ/Producer 
Throughout the month of April,