Who would not want to watch Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Alice Cooper and Weird Al Yankovic play The Beatles classic, Come Together? If for no other reason than to see how Weird Al plays it?

Turns out he plays it straight…and he roccks it.

But think of all the audiences this video can attract: 1) Aerosmith & Steven Tyler fans, 2) Alice Cooper fans, 3) Weird Al Yankovic, 4) The Beatles fans, 5) people who like parodies, and 6) fans of the Mala Restaurant, where the video was shot.

While all of the above are big, recognizable names that have large audiences but smaller bands can take advantage of the same dynamic, particularly since local music scenes often see a lot of inter-band collaboration.

If you’ve got an opportunity to create content that appeals to multiple audiences, take advantage of that by optimizing your content using the appropriate keywords and encourage all involved to share that content with their own individual networks. Found at YouTube from johno808maui.

Internet radio use is on the rise, reaching 42% of US broadband households, and this has translated to higher effectiveness for advertisers, says TargetSpot [PDF] in a May 2012 study.

58% of listeners surveyed recalled having seen or heard an internet radio ad in the past 30 days, up 11.5% from 52% in the company’s 2011 study. Of those, 44% responded in some way to an ad, up 10% from 40% a year earlier. The most common response, at 20% of all internet radio listeners, was to visit the company’s website (up from 17% in 2011). 17% searched online for more information about the product or service (up from 15%), and 14% clicked on the ad displayed in the internet radio media player or website (up from 13%). 12% also became a fan of the product or service or clicked like on a social networking website, up from 10% in 2011. Read the rest at Marketing Charts.

Rebekah Del Rio sings the Star Spangled Banner in Southland Tales, about the only thing that could be salvaged by the mediocre film. Found at YouTube from Holmesin.

via marketingcharts.com

Radio doesn’t just provide its listeners with emotional drivers, it also serves as a primary place for them to find out about new music and artists, finds Jacobs Media in an April 2012 report. The survey, which polled more than 57,000 US and Canadian radio listeners, found that an impressive 50.8% cited FM radio as their primary source for finding out about new music and artists, making it a far more popular choice for sourcing new music than friends or other people (9.8%), kids (4.9%), Facebook (4.8%), or iTunes. Read the reset at Marketing Charts.

via marketingcharts.com

Many AM/FM radio listeners tune in as a result of emotional drivers, finds Jacobs Media in a survey of more than 57,000 US and Canadian listeners, released in April 2012. 37.5% of respondents said that wanting to get in a better mood was a main reason for listening, while a further 41.3% indicated this to be an important reason. Similarly, almost one-third said that a main reason for listening is that radio keeps them company, while more than one-quarter indicated a primary reason to be a desire to escape the pressures of everyday life. Overall, the most common primary reasons given by respondents for listening to AM/FM radio were to hear their favorite songs (53.3%), because they like particular DJs, shows, or hosts (40.4%), and because they like to work with the radio on (38.8%). Read the rest at Marketing Charts.

People are spending more and more of their time with their mobile phones and a significant amount of that time is devoted to music. Given that people bring their phones with them to concerts and use them there to take photos and video, it’s important to understand just how they are using their devices.

via emarketer.com

I’ve been wanting to see Counting Crows for many a year but have never managed to go to a concert. Until this weekend, that is, when I’ll see them at the State Theater in Minneapolis. So, to celebrate the fact that I’m finally going to see them, here is their latest album, a collection of cover songs, called Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation).

The media spend associated with US internet radio and on-demand streaming services amounted to $293.7 million in 2011, according to AccuStream Research. This compares with $171.7 million spent on subscriptions to those services. AccuStream forecast that the total market would grow by 78% in 2012. Read the rest at eMarketer.

via emarketer.com

In a sign of how important online streaming and subscription music services have become to the recording industry, trade publication Billboard recently updated its weekly Hot 100 song chart to include data from Spotify, Slacker, Rhapsody, Cricket/Muve, Rdio and MOG. The revamped methodology went live in March 2012, after several months of testing that showed a rising curve for audio streams, from 320.5 million in the first week of 2012 to 494 million during the week of March 4, 2012. By comparison, digital track sales during that period decreased from 46.4 million to 27.1 million, according to Nielsen. Read the rest at eMarketer.

via emarketer.com

The popular music discovery service Spotify has just opened up their API to allow website owners and bloggers to embed songs, albums and playlists for their visitors to listen. Here it is in action: I’ve embedded the album The Suburbs Deluxe by Arcade Fire below: