Los Angeles punk duo No Age may have released the rock effort of the year in Nouns, but you'll have to hear it to decide for yourself. Might as well do it for free, especially if you're anywhere near California.

Bring earplugs, ye of delicate cochlea!

Continue reading "No Age + Fujifilm = Free Concert, Blissful Noise" »

Pepsi owns Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew owns Green Label Sound. Green Label Sound, starting Thursday, offers free exclusive downloads from Cool Kids, Matt & Kim and more to come. But Green Label Sound doesn't own Cool Kids or Matt and Kim. Got that?

If only it were that simple, you say. But it is, according to Cool Kids.

"Mountain Dew is not trying to push their product through music like everyone else, they just wanna support music," explains Cool Kid Chuck Inglish. "And with us trying to set up our new record without a record company, Mountain Dew gives us an unexpected helping hand to get up those steps."

Fair enough. A listen to Cool Kids' free download "Delivery Man" from Mountain Dew's newly inaugurated, singles-only download label Green Label Sound doesn't mention hypercaffeinated product at all, although it raps about plenty of biz. But the cover art, at right, for the rap duo's Green Label exclusive sports the same color scheme as its soft-drink sugar daddy. Plus, the extensive Terms and Conditions statement doesn't exactly inspire confidence, especially the part that says Pepsi isn't liable for any direct harm resulting from viruses caught while downloading its exclusive content or browsing its site.

Continue reading "Tastes Like Selling Out? Mountain Dew Launches Singles-Only Label" »

One would have figured that working with Rick Rubin in a Hollywood Hills mansion would have made Jakob Dylan want to rock loud and hard, but one would be wrong. His recent effort Seeing Things is a mostly acoustic affair.

Good thing those affairs make for creepy videos.

Enter the animated short for Dylan's apocalyptic tone poem "Evil is Alive and Well," which feels like a crude Flash exorcism of the singer's personal and political demons. A gluttonous trucker in a Texas hat munches  fast food to the lyrics It's ragged and fat, and hungry as hell/Evil is alive and well. A bare-chested, tattooed antihero wanders off on a quest for redemption. Dylan's avatar? A possibly corrupt policeman handing out hope as quickly as he takes it away.

It's no "Hunted By a Freak," but it still screens eerie, especially for fans of Lone Star, Twilight Zone or Raising Arizona.

Continue reading "Video: Jakob Dylan's Animated 'Evil'" »

SellaBand, which reinvents the record label model by letting listeners discover and invest in bands, has replicated another aspect of the traditional music industry by allowing filmmakers and advertisers to license SellaBand-created music for their projects through a partnership with YouLicense.com.

"SellaBand gives up and coming artists the opportunity to professionally produce their music," stated YouLicense CEO Maor Ezer, "and YouLicense.com makes it easy for artists to do business."

So far, SellaBand's system has resulted in the creation of 24 albums, some of which could find wider exposure as a result of the deal. SellaBand music director Dagmar Heijmans pointed out that advertisements have become a platform through which fans discover music (just ask any band whose music has been used in an iTunes commercial). "Working with YouLicense.com will enable our artists to promote their music to a wider audience," he said. "As SellaBand enters into its third year of business, we are looking for ways to evolve and get our artists' music heard."

SellaBand "believers" will receive compensation when music from an album they invested in is licensed. Here's how a $2500 licensing fee would break down between the various parties, according to Sellaband's Heijmans:

Continue reading "SellaBand To License Music to Advertisements" »

Although Pink Floyd gigs dried up somewhat following Roger Waters' altercation with a fan during the 1977 Animals tour (updated), the Pink Floyd laser show experience continued to function as an adolescent rite of passage well into the '90s, and possibly beyond.

Those looking to revisit the experience may want to look into booking a berth on the first annual "Great Gig in the Sea," a joint venture between Carnival Cruise Lines and KiqStart Entertainment that will transport Pink Floyd fans from Miami, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas and back, from May 1-4 next year.

Think Floyd: USA, seen performing to the right, will take attendees on a tour through the band's back catalog during the cruise. Apparently, this is not your average run of the mill tribute band. "They have performed before Roger Waters at Milwaukee's Summerfest," according to KiqStart, "and have received personal acclaim from David Gilmour himself."

Aside from hearing the band play a different show each night, Floyd fans can partake in band-themed trivia contests, parties and games in addition to the boat's standard amenities (a nine hole mini golf course, a water spray park, a resort-style pool, a casino and the "Serenity" adult only retreat). Dress code is said to be casual and comfortable, although "you just can't wear bathing suits or ripped clothing in the dining room." (What did you think this was, a rock and roll show?)

As for the real Pink Floyd, Roger Waters appeared at Coachella earlier this year, and online chatter points towards a possible reunion tour in 2009, although David Gilmour is said to be a holdout.

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Derek Sivers recently sold CD Baby, a company he founded that has distributed around 4.6 million CDs from independent bands through online music stores in the past ten years, disbursing over $84 million directly to bands with nary a middleman in sight. He sold the business to fellow distributor Disc Makers, as he wrote on his blog earlier this month, so that he could "be free to go learn and invent new things."

Sivers plans to stay involved in the independent music community by helping musicians outsource administrative work to temporary assistants (project name: MuckWork), offering career coaching and producing a crowdsourced documentary that will act as a primer for musicians who are trying to navigate the tricky waters of a music career without the benefit of a label, among other things.

To find out more about these plans, we asked him via email about the next big problem to tackle in music, his new MuckWork service, his upcoming documentary and more.

Wired.com: CD Baby has become a force of nature in the music business in the last ten years, distributing over $70 million to indie artists, mostly from CD sales. You posted recently about how we're in a transitional period, and serious bands still need to sell both CDs and downloads, and I agree -- even that prime digital distribution example, Radiohead's In Rainbows, was eventually distributed on CD. Now that mechanisms are in place for both types of distribution are in place for indie artists, thanks in no small part to CD Baby, what do you see as the next big problem to tackle in music?

Derek Sivers: Promotion! Creating the music is easy (though still underrated). Distributing the music is so easy it's moot. So now the delicate art of calling attention to your music means everything. Marketing is distribution.

That's the advice I've been giving every college class I speak to: learn everything you can about marketing. That's the biggest challenge in music, now.

Continue reading "Derek Sivers: Life After CD Baby" »

An anonymous tipster seems to have contacted several Mac rumor publications with rumors about an unlimited music subscription within iTunes.

According to the e-mail, Apple will charge U.S.-based customers $130 per year (or $100 for MobileMe subscribers) for an "iTunes Unlimited" subscription starting in late October that will include the ability to download about half of the songs in the iTunes store in a 256-Kbps format -- presumably AAC files that are protected by an updated, subscription-capable version of Apple's Fairplay DRM. The rumored subscription would only include half of the songs in the store because offering music under a subscription plan requires a new deal with copyright holders.

Subscription songs would be playable within iTunes as well as on certain supported devices -- most likely the iPhone, iPod touch and other upcoming iPod models. However, older iPods would most likely be incapable of playing the files, because they almost certainly lack necessary technology to verify the validity of a subscription.

Continue reading "Rumored iTunes Music Subscription: $130 Per Year" »

After a decade-long wait, selector Nic Harcourt finally landed ex-Smiths front legend Morrissey as a guest DJ on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic." Early quotes from the already taped but yet-to-be aired sessions are somewhat saucy, but Morrissey probably saved his spiciest comments for the major labels.

"When music happens to you and grabs you and jumps on top of you," an always romantic Morrissey told Harcourt in a taping airing August 29, "you don’t realize that it will stay with you forever. You think you’ll outgrow everything. But with music, with artists, you actually fall in love. You fall in love with that moment...and you fall in love with them. You may push these things aside for 10 or 15 years, but you go back to them."

Whew. Getting hot in here.

Continue reading "Morrissey is Horny For Music" »

Angular, skewed rhythms. Asian sitars and drone, spliced with experimental arpeggios and bizarro time changes. Normal dudes. It's good to have Polvo back.

The Chapel Hill champ has been in and out of the rock game since forming in 1990 and quickly becoming an under-the-radar find that fragmented and reunited too much to form a major heat signature. Which has become a boon of sorts, marking the band as an undiscovered country for those sick of the same old terrain. That camp includes All Tomorrow's Parties founder Barry Hogan, who invited the quartet to play in New York in September, an urging that encouraged Polvo to come together once again.

Continue reading "What is Math Rock? Catch Polvo and Find Out" »

SoundExchange head Jon Simson is the last person on the planet we expected to hear talking about how great Pandora's streaming radio service is. After all, his organization proposed the very same royalty rates enacted by the US Copyright Royalty Board that threaten to drive Pandora out of business.

But in an April 2008 interview with Loyola University professor George Howard on  ArtistHouse Music, Simson sings Pandora's praises.

"Pandora is probably my favorite service of the music discovery services, and it's quite interactive," he said. "You sit there and you tell what artists you like and what you don't like and things like that and then it tries to play you a customized stream. You can skip up to, I think, six songs if you don't like them, and then you can go to the next channel if you're unhappy with what you're getting."

But SoundExchange cannot offer Pandora and other internet radio sites the same percentage-based royalty rates enjoyed by satellite radio stations, he says, because online stations generate only around $3.50 per listener per year from their graphic advertisements. Six percent of that (the current satellite royalty rate) would equal 21 cents, whereas satellite radio pulls in $115 per listener per year, for an annual royalty payment to SoundExchange of roughly $7 per listener.

The only way Pandora can survive, he says, is by adding audio ads in between songs.

Continue reading "SoundExchange Head Likes Pandora But Says It Needs Audio Ads" »

We've been curious about Monkey: Journey To The West, an opera produced by Damon Alburn of Blur and Gorillaz fame, since hearing about it last spring.

Chinese and European performers joined forces for the project, which tells the story of a monkey who is birthed from an exploding stone. "He bows to the four corners of the universe, and then exuberantly runs about, jumping and laughing, and leaps into a waterfall in a bamboo forest" according to the opera's synopsis. "He is obsessed with seeking immortality and magical power, and travels over five continents to find a teacher. Deep in the Mountain of Heart and Mind he finds Subodhi, a Taoist master, from whom he learns how to somersault on a magical cloud that can carry him 180,000 miles, and the art of transforming himself into anything he wants. Subodhi gives him the name Sun Wu Kong: the Monkey with the Realization of Emptiness."

And that's just the first of nine chapters.

Monkey: Journey To The West sold out venues in Manchester, England, Paris, France and at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, although no further dates have been added (sign up here to be notified).

Now, the recorded version is on sale as a download ($16, 320 Kbps MP3 or AAC, comes with digital booklet and wallpaper), CD+MP3 ($19) or deluxe vinyl box set ($130). T-shirts and other mementos are also available.

You can listen to four of the tracks in the widget embedded below. I was impressed, and would welcome the chance to see this thing, but as always, your mileage may vary.

Continue reading "Stream: Damon Alburn's Monkey-Themed Rock Opera" »

Tap Tap Revenge, a music game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that's like a touchscreen version of Guitar Hero, has been installed by over 1.2 million people in under a month and is played about 250,000 times per day, according to the game's developer, Tapulous. Our collective appetite for music games appears to be strong as ever.

The game is available for free in the iTunes App Store (iTunes link), and can be plaed in one or two player mode (players use opposite sides of the screen), in one of four difficulty levels. A simple profile feature lets you add your photo and username for potential interaction with other users, and more tracks can be downloaded, once you've mastered the ones that are available.

Starting towards the end of this week, Tapulous says it will start including ads inside the game, which will continue to be free. I haven't heard of any of the artists featured in the game, which must be nice for them, since inclusion in the game promotes their music to a wider audience.

No guitar is involved, of course, so the game may as well be described as "Dance Dance Revolution" for the iPhone. More interesting is the question of whether labels and bands will start embracing the iPhone App platform on a wider level. Why not sell an application that gets updated with new music releases from a label or some other curating entity? The payment and distribution mechanisms are already in place.

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There's no convention without a party, and there's no party without music. In the next couple of weeks, conventioneers from blue and red states will converge on Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul to nominate Barack Obama and John McCain, offering a great chance for each group to party down with their favorite tunes.

Plenty of artists sing about politics, but which ones are singing at politics? We assembled a list of the bands playing at each convention using an Associated Press article as a starting point, including one song for each artist, to provide a sonic representation of each party's sound. To keep things fair, we selected the first song that showed up on imeem -- or failing that, YouTube -- for each artist (with the exception of the Beach Boys' "Feel Flows," which is just too good not to include).

Interestingly, the RIAA is covering its bases by hosting shows at both conventions, and both parties are throwing Jambalaya-themed fundraisers for New Orleans. That's about all the two conventions have in common, though, musically speaking.

The Democrats' list is longer, hipper and more varied, while the Republicans favor country music, classic rock, religious themes and American Idol. I'm generalizing, of course -- draw your own conclusions and vote below.

Continue reading "Democrats or Republicans: Whose Music Is Better?" »

Say you own a record label, and one of your artists performs, causing fans to film the show and post their videos online. Do you: A) try to get all the videos deleted, B) do nothing or C) edit the best ones together to create a video of the concert from multiple camera angles, giving you another way to promote the artist and sell out shows?

The answer, according the Swedish label Songs I Wish I Had Written, is viewable to the right. The head of the label sifted through all the YouTube videos for each song on Moto Boy's set list, splicing the best versions of each song into a video of the entire show.

If I were a Moto Boy fan, I would have preferred better sound quality. What's wrong with pairing crowdsourced video with soundboard audio? But still, this approach represents a refreshing change from the more customary approach of "sue everyone and delete everything."

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(via online fandom)

File this one under bemused disbelief. According to the Associated Press, the controversial country star behind the pro-war track "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" is not a Republican, but rather a Democrat in hawk's clothing. Even stranger, he's not a McCain fan. He likes the other guy.

Have pigs flown? Doth hell freeze over? Am I high?

None of the above. Toby Keith simply has a movie, called Beer For My Horses, to sell, and he's a savvy salesman. His market has been thoroughly tapped, and change is blowing in the wind. Might as well get in good with the rest of the market early. That's one crafty cowboy.

As for Obama, "I think he's the best Democratic candidate we've had since Bill Clinton," Keith confessed to the AP. "And that's coming from a Democrat."

Keith has been making the rounds in support of Beer For My Horses, appearing once again on The Colbert Report and elsewhere. Which is not to say he's getting a free pass. Huffington Post journo Max Blumenthal heckled Keith for engineering a "pro-lynching publicity tour," arguing that the following lyrics and video for the song "Beer For My Horses" were patently racist:

Continue reading "WTF? Toby Keith, Democrat, Likes Obama" »

The Verve are set to release their fourth album, which is -- either cleverly or annoyingly, depending on your mood -- entitled Forth, on August 25th.

While it lacks a Top 40 hit on the level of "Bittersweet Symphony," Forth represents a sonic continuation of 1997's Urban Hymns, with Nick McCabe's swirling guitars supporting the recognizable voice of Richard Ashcroft, whom none other than cringe-worthy Coldplay crooner Chris Martin called "the greatest singer in the world."

Forth overflows with anthemic, well-written tunes that will sound great when the band makes its way across the world's larger venues on tour in support of the album -- its first in 11 years, when "Bittersweet Symphony" first ruled the airwaves. The song's success attracted the attention of The Rolling Stones and Andrew Oldham, who had released an orchestral album of Stones covers. (The Rolling Stones had themselves apparently borrowed the song from a '50s group called The Staple Singers, but nonetheless, Oldham successfully sued The Verve for using more of the sample from his orchestral cover of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" than they had paid to license.)

Back to Forth.

Fans of The Verve -- or sweeping, dramatic pop music in general -- will find plenty to like here, although for me, McCabe's guitar is the highlight once again. Here's an advance stream of the single, "Love Is Noise," featuring a catchy sample that hopefully wasn't licensed from another litigious stickler:

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Photo of Mccabe:Cristoph

Ever have a creepy uncle you wanted the world to know about? Are you a fan of UNKLE's creepy, cinematic sonics? Listening Post has a giveaway just for you.

UNKLE's recent effort End Titles...Stories for Film digitally dropped on iTunes and elsewhere in July, but the hard copy comes out in two weeks on September 2. During those weeks, UNKLE fans and other interested parties that post their curious uncle stories to Listening Post are eligible to win one of three prettified, limited-edition material issues that will only be released in the U.S. on UNKLE's official site.

We will pick the best three stories in the mix, and declare the winners on September 2. It will be a good laugh for a good cause. The cause of freedom. I mean, free stuff.

Because the best things in life are indeed free, especially if there is a weird story on board. Tell us yours, and score a supergroup that includes Josh Homme, James Lavelle, Black Mountain and more for your troubles.

Full disclosure: UNKLE's version of the X-Files theme that showed up in the end titles of The X-Files: I Want to Believe is not actually on End Titles. Given how heinous the film turned out, that's probably not a bad thing.

So, to reiterate, post your most hilarious or bizarro uncle yarns below in the comments field, and stake out your chance to win a free, limited-edition copy of End Titles...Stories for Film. Gentlepeople, start your story engines!

Photo: UNKLE

Reggae artist Burning Spear (a.k.a. Winston Rodney) says his musical career started to take off when he ran into a young Bob Marley in a field in Jamaica. Marley told him to head over to the Studio One recording studio, and the rest is history.

"Bob was traveling with a donkey and all these various plants," explained Burning Spear in a statement. "Bob was young, dreadlocks just start to spring. I was asking Bob how I could get started and where could I go to get that start. He asked me if I know Studio One."

However, after experiencing firsthand the brutality of some recording contracts there, Burning Spear and his wife/manager Sonia Rodney learned the importance of hanging onto his copyrights. Now, the couple either owns or has acquired the entire Burning Spear back catalog with the exception of a few songs, for which EMI says it cannot find the contracts, according to a spokeswoman. They plan on getting those back as well.

Continue reading "Burning Spear Beats Down Babylon, Takes Back Copyrights" »

As Listening Post reported on Saturday, Virgin/EMI nailed Jared Leto's band 30 Seconds to Mars with a smart-ass $30 million fine for failing to deliver a follow-up to its 2005 platinum effort A Beautiful Lie on time. Now the actor has posted a full disclosure of the clusterfrak on the group's official forum.

And it isn't pretty, especially for Virgin/EMI.

Continue reading "Jared Leto Hits Back, Slams Virgin/EMI Lawsuit" »

Music has long been associated with advertising, but these days, the concept has been taken even further. Some brands are acting like labels, signing and promoting artists in exchange for the artist lending their identity to advertisements.

Recent examples include Bacardi signing Groove Armada, Nike hiring Kanye West to release a song about their shoes and Red Bull reportedly working on a studio where it will record its own roster of artists. Now Tag Records -- from the makers of the similarly named body spray -- hopes to make a mark in the hip hop community.

To make inroads with the "urban market," Tag partnered with rapper/producer Jermaine Dupri and Def Jam Records to create Tag Records, which has already signed the rapper Q and released a commercial to promote him and their spray side by side. Other artists are expected to follow suit.

Continue reading "VB On The Radio: Body Spray Launches Record Label" »