If you’re a regular reader of evolvor, you may have noticed that blogging here has been VERY light over the past month or so. Why? Well, between us debuting our new project, Label 2.0, and it being summer, finding the time to keep you up to date has been little to none.

All that’s about to change very soon - make sure you sign up to the Label 2.0 newsletter as we have some MAJOR announcements coming your way that will change the face of evolvor and provide YOU with the best music and marketing industry resources online.

Now on to some news - the following is a press release from ReverbNation and Microsoft about their new “Sponsored Songs” partnership - which maybe the coolest thing the digital music biz has seen in quite some time.

Windows Announced as First Advertiser

About a week and a half ago, ReverbNation, the leading marketing platform for musicians, announced the launch of ‘Sponsored Songs,’ a new online music distribution program that will give music fans access to unlimited free song downloads from 1,000 artists. Through this innovative pilot program, a passive advertisement is embedded alongside the album cover art that is seen by music fans when they play the song on their computer, portable device or phone. The advertising in Sponsored Songs travels with the fans wherever they enjoy their music - following them onto the subway, going with them to the gym, and showing up at the party - giving the advertiser frequent and regular brand exposure, and the fan free music. Today, the company announced that Windows is the first advertiser to participate in this program.

Fans get free music they can’t find anywhere else

Sponsored Songs will be available for free June 24 – September 24, 2009 on www.MySpace.com/Windows, and will feature music from independent and mainstream Artists in the rock, alternative, hip hop, latin, and electronica genres. Music fans will be able to browse, sample, and discover music from established and emerging Artists that isn’t available anywhere else on the web for free. That’s music to everyone’s ears.

Brand gets reach and frequency with target audience

“Ad-supported music models have historically been unable to deliver the value required by advertisers because they focus on the point of acquisition alone - one moment with one music fan,” explains Jed Carlson, chief operating officer of ReverbNation. “Sponsored Songs aligns the interests of artists, fans, and major brands, creating a win-win-win situation where free music is a shared goal that benefits all parties.”

Artists earn money, stay in control, and receive free promotion

Sponsored Songs is an opt-in program for select Artists that use ReverbNation.com as their online marketing platform. Artists are paid for each qualified download, and are shown the exact advertisement for their approval prior to the campaign launch.

“We treat Artists like we would want to be treated,” says Lou Plaia, vice president of artist relations at ReverbNation.com. “We give them the information to determine if Sponsored Songs is a good fit for them. If it is, we equip them with turnkey tools to promote the song to their fans.”

Joe Hall, of Hammer No More The Fingers, an independent rock band from Durham, NC, is excited about the possibilities:

“We’re always looking for ways to reach new fans, and the team at ReverbNation is always working hard on new and creative ways to help Artists like us succeed. With Microsoft’s participation in the Sponsored Songs program, Artists earn money for their hard work and fans get free music.”

“Since version 1.0 of Windows, Microsoft has focused on developing technology that helps individuals be as creative as they can be. By participating in Sponsored Songs we are supporting music artists and their fans,” said Marty Collins, group marketing manager of Windows Consumer Marketing at Microsoft Corp. “We’re excited to be a part of an effort that could transform online music distribution.”

For more info about connecting your brand with music, visit:

http://www.ReverbNation.com/main/brands

I love this idea so much, and have been exposed to some new music in the process. Expect this service (and business model) to be one you’ll see more often as the digital music landscape continues to evolve.

Some of my pics:

Cubane - Whores of Tinsletown

Diablo Royale - Remedy

Fear Zero - Are You There

Fishbone -Forever Moore

The Lemonheads - I Just Can’t Take It Anymore

State of Man - The First Time

To download 994 more free songs, check out http://www.myspace.com/windows

Post from: Evolvor Media

Today was one of those days that best resembles Christmas morning.

I woke up to discover that Alice in Chains have released the first single from their upcoming album Black Gives Way to Blue. But, it got even sweeter. It turns out that AIC are giving the song away for free at their official site.

The track, “A Looking in View,” not only has a cool title, but is classic Alice. The band sounds tight and fresh, like they haven’t missed a beat since the decade plus between albums. Not to mention that new vocalist William DuVall fits in perfectly with Jerry, Sean and Mike, so stop crying about him haters.

If you close your eyes and try to forget that this band hasn’t released anything since 1996’s self-titled release and that Layne isn’t with us anymore, you can easily be taken back to the 90’s and jump with joy that AIC have released a new single. Oh yeah, the song clocks in at 7:06, so even for a free track you’re getting your money out of it.

While giving away a track isn’t revolutionary these days, AIC has been doing a pretty decent job at growing anticipation for the new album. For the last several months they’ve released videos of the guys fooling around in the studio, which was a great reminder on why people love the band. For as dark and foreboding their music has been, they’re actually a bunch of clowns. But the release of “A Looking in View” has been the first time that fans have actually heard any of the material.

Great work guys. I’m counting the days until September 29 when Black Gives Way to Blue hits the shelves.

In the meantime, enjoy the new track and go check out Alice in Chains during the following announced tour dates.

A Looking In View - Alice in Chains
07/18 - Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park (with Kid Rock)
08/01 - Dublin, IE @ Marlay Park
08/02 - Stevenage, UK @ Sonisphere
08/04 - London, UK @ Scala
08/06 - Cologne, DE @ Essigfabrik
08/08 - Berlin, DE @ Columbia Club
08/10 - Hamburg, DE @ Grunspan
08/12 - Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
08/22 - Pomona, CA @ Epicenter
09/04 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
09/05 - Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
09/07 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
09/08 - New York, NY @ The Fillmore
09/15 - Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
09/16 - Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
09/19 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
09/20 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
09/21 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
09/26 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Grill
09/28 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore

Post from: Evolvor Media

It is with great pleasure that I bring you the following announcement!

I have teamed up with genyrockstars.com marketing extrodinare Greg Rollet, and we have started a new record label dubbed “Label 2.0″.

I won’t keep you waiting too long to find out exactly what it is, so I’ll let Greg take it away and give you the details. Label 2.0 launches July 1st, but if you act now you can get a free sneak peak!

*Update - we’ve pushed the launch date back a few weeks, and have a MAJOR announcement coming your way about the project; until then, enjoy the ride!

“The internet has changed the game for marketing in all industries. Some people don’t ask what happend, they just find a way to use it to their advantage.

Getting any message (including Music) out requires you to know what works. Label 2.0 shows you what WILL WORK for talented musicians to get their message out. A Myspace page alone isn’t going to distribute your music. Find out the right way with their in depth actionable guides for musicians.”

- Todd Malicoat, stuntudubl.com

Label 2.0 Will Help you Sell More Music, Create a Bigger Buzz and Keep More Money in Your Pockets than Any Major Label Deal…Hands Down!

Music marketing has always been thought of as something you do in your spare time, the time you spend between practices, shows, tours, writing, recording and spending your time being a rock star. Those days are long gone!

With the rise of technology music marketing is now on the same scale as writing, recording and playing out live. At the end of the day if no one listens to your music, YOU are the one to blame.

Music marketing is generally taught like this:

• Myspace Friend Adders
• You Need To Build Relationships
• Get an Email List
• There’s this new thing called Twitter…

This is all Bullshit! Not that they don’t work, but you need to know how to work these online tools to SEE results - BIG results!

With Label 2.0, we take you back to school and teach you - we hold your hand and help you create effective marketing strategies to gain more fans, sell more stuff and make a living doing this stuff that you love.

If you are looking to effectively create a buzz around your music, sell more of your stuff and find creative ways to drive you and your band’s income so you can quit working at Wendy’s or Pacific Sunwear and start working in a studio and living in a van, then Label 2.0 is going to blow your friggin socks off.

WE ARE REINVENTING THE WHEEL!

• Why give money from your sales to people that don’t give a shit about your career and development?
• Who says you can’t build a relationship with every single fan?
• Why can’t you record and broadcast live video and ask for sales?
• Why do you need a venue to rock for fans in Iceland, Australia or Nebraska?
• Why do you have to be afraid to sell your stuff to the people who want it?
• Why do you have to settle for being a local band?
• Who says the only way to make money is from selling songs?

Label 2.0 is the answer the indie music community has been looking for.

You see, there are a ton of music 2.0 entrepreneurs out there (I put out a report of 100 Social Media Sites for Musicians a year ago and from that point till now I could easily make a list of the 300 most influential Social Media Sites For Musicians) but there are no marketers who actually show you how you can leverage these sites to create your own record label!

In Label 2.0 you will learn:

• How to increase email sign ups up to 400% at your live shows
• How to cut out the middleman and sell your music on your own site
• How to stop relying on Myspace to keep your stats, traffic and fans
• How to ask for the sale without being pushy
• How to optimize your videos on YouTube to see 10,000+ more views
• How to use SEO to get more eyeballs on your website
• How to giveaway your music to make more money than most major label artists see selling their music
• How to find bloggers who would love to review your music and send your hordes of fans
• How to use Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and other trendy tools to funnel fans into your sales cycle
  And so much more!

Who is going to teach you all this stuff?

Greg Rollett – That’s me. I run a site called Gen-Y Rock Stars and a company called Rollett Marketing. I was an indie musician for 10 years, touring the country and playing on bills with Daughtry, Buckcherry, Bubba Sparxxx, Sevendust, Jesse McCartney, O-Town, Nina Sky and countless others. I have produced music for Layzie Bone of Bone-Thugs-N-Harmoney, Caveman Theory and Triggerslip.

After getting out of the music business I started my marketing consulting company helping companies like Coca-Cola, Miller Lite and Warner Brothers connect with the Gen-Y audience. My passion lies in helping indie bands and small businesses realize their potential by using the web as a tool to drive business and create opportunity.

Eric Hebert – Eric is an Internet Marketing Superstar and author of Evolvor.com, a music industry resource site that helps indie bands learn about tools and put these applications into motion. Eric is a keen marketer with a background helping big businesses, ecommerce sites, musicians and aspiring entrepreneurs make their businesses more successful by using the tools on the web as a friend and not a foe.

Eric Hebert’s skill and knowledge with the online marketing of independent music has helped me realize that there is a lot more to the music business than playing shows and selling CDs.

Through his guidance I am learning the steps I need to take in order to connect with my fan base in a way that will keep them coming back for more while at the same time growing that base to it’s full potential. Eric’s strategies are a perfect fit for my independent band and I recommend him highly!

- Ed Sadler, Fear Zero.com

How can you really make money without a major label?

I am going to tell you the story of Kevin Kelly, former writer at Wired magazine. Kelly stated that to achieve your desires you do not need a million fans (as Major Labels would have you believe). In fact you only need 1,000 TRUE FANS. These TRUE FANS are the ones who will do anything for you and your band. From buying concert tickets to pre-ordering your album to grabbing a shirt or 2, these true fans will spend on average of $100 per year on your STUFF.

Do you know what that equates to?

$100,000. That’s a good amount of change.

What if I told you that this was not only possible but easily attainable?

Label 2.0 is the system that we have used on countless bands to grow their TRUE FAN BASE from 10-20-50-100 fans to 1,000-5,000-10,000-50,000 fans in less than one year’s time.

They are creating the type of music business that allows these bands to

• Play Packed Shows Every Night Across the Globe
• Focus on the Music
• Write Better Songs
• Personally Connect With Every One of their Fans

We are going to SHOW AND PROVE to you why everything you know about marketing your music and trying to “MAKE IT” is DEAD WRONG!

You see, Label 2.0 is like Marketing School For Musicians, complete with modules on every facet of using the Internet as your own personal Record Label. We walk you through the use of these tools and how to milk every last drop out of them to get the most attention, the most fans and the best conversions!

Just take a look at the first Module:

THE FAN FILTER PROJECT

In this module you get advanced training on the fundamentals and advanced tips on creating a MONEY MAKING email list of fans that want to hear from you, want you to pitch them and want to get every detail of your career delivered straight to their inbox. In this module you will learn:

• Why You Need an Email List
• Free Email Service Providers
• FanBridge
• Reverbnation FanMail
• Champion Sound
• Aweber
• Getting Subscribers
• What Do I Say?
• Writing Your Newsletter
• Asking for the Sale
• Rock Star Email Hacks
• Legendary Email Marketers

In the Fan Filter Module you get 12 individual training lessons, 7 videos and a list of action items to get started right away in building this email list.

Here is a teaser from the 2nd Module: Using Video To Kill The Radio Star
____________________________________________________________

When creating video descriptions the first thing in your description needs to be http://www.yourlandingpage.com.

It has to have the http and you have to send them to an action page (aka not your Myspace). Using http will make the link live (meaning that your new fan doesn’t have to copy and paste, they just click). The 2nd reason to put it first is that YouTube only displays the first few words of the description on the video page, the rest can only be seen by clicking on more information. You want your link to be seen by everyone that comes to that page!

____________________________________________________________

And just think, we have video and step-by-step instructions to get you through every process in Label 2.0.

Free Bonus Download!

Download a MP3 Call with Spencer, Founder of FanBridge. Want to know what works in band email marketing from the guy that made an entire service devoted to it? In this 30 minute call we go over everything from landing pages, to mobile marketing to what makes a good subject to why some bands get it and some don’t.

Why is Label 2.0 Going To Give You Better Results than Anything Else Out There on The Web?

It’s pretty simple. We have used these strategies on everyone from small indie bands to major label artists to companies and small businesses. They work. AND THEY REQUIRE WORK!

This is not a magic pill but a blueprint to get the most out of you and your talents.

It is Up to You! Are you ready to join the Movers and the Shakers?

Look, I’m not going to hype this up and say you’ll build a million dollar business just like many of my clients. I don’t know what you’ll do… in fact you could do even better than them- that’s actually the goal. It’s all possible. All you need is the strategy to pull it off, and you’ll see every step of your process will have predictable, repeatable conversions. You’ll make your fans happier, build a rabid following, and most of all – give them what they want.

Check out what Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park had to say on Labels vs. the DIY Music Community:

…if we were 18 years old right now, unsigned, and had Hybrid Theory sitting on our hard drives, we could be very disruptive to the record business. In past generations, it would be virtually impossible to record, market, and distribute your album without help. Now, you can do these things alone with unprecedented quality and efficiency. Make a great album on your own, promote it in the myriad social networks, and sell it from your websites.

What are you waiting for? Enter your name and email address in the form below and we’ll sent you an early bird sneak peak into Label 2.0!

Post from: Evolvor Media

Last night’s debut of the new Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien turned out to be a HUGE night for Pearl Jam fans - the band debuted a new song from their upcoming album Backspacer called “Got Some”. The single is rumored to be released in July with the album dropping September 22nd.

As an obvious Pearl Jam junkie, it’s easy to understand for me why they were chosen with this honor, even being picked over from other upcoming Tonight Show guests like Green Day and Chickenfoot (the super group featuring Van Halen alum Sammy Hager and Michael Anthony, guitar whiz Joe Satriani and RHCP drummer Chad Smith). Each and every time the band is in front of the camera, a great TV moment occurs.

I’ve already done a post on Pearl Jam and The Late Show with David Letterman (so check that out right here), so let’s rediscover some other of Pearl Jam’s greatest TV moments.

February 4, 1992: Pearl Jam, on the eve of their first European tour, made their first ever television performance on BBC2 TV’s Late Show with “Alive”.

March 16, 1992: Pearl Jam’s famous MTV Unplugged performance is filmed, which didn’t air until May 13. Long sought after by fans the performance is finally released to DVD on March 24, 2009 as part of the special edition of the Ten reissue. The highlights still have to be “Porch” and “Black”.

April 11, 1992: The band makes their first Saturday Night Live performance with electric performances of “Alive” and “Porch”. They even appear in a skit with host Sharon Stone.

September 9, 1992: Pearl Jam does an intense version of “Jeremy” during the MTV Video Music Awards. Supposedly the band wanted to perform The Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer” instead of “Jeremy”, hence why it appears that Ed is mumbling some lyrics from “Sonic Reducer”.

September 2, 1993: After touring with Neil Young during 1993, the band returns to the VMA’s with one of the greatest VMA performances ever…”Rockin’ In The Free World” with the man himself.

April 16, 1994: Shortly following Kurt Cobain’s suicide, Pearl Jam performs on Saturday Night Live for the second time. A darker and more intense performance including not the typical two, but three, songs of the as of yet unreleased “Not For You”, “Rearviewmirror” and “Daughter(Hey Hey, My My)”, which is a tribute to Kurt since he referenced the Neil Young tune in his suicide note.

April 15, 2006: After years of not appearing on much TV, I’m talking about the full band here, the guys return for their third SNL appearance. Pearl Jam performs their current single “World Wide Suicide” and debuts “Severed Hand”.

April 25, 2006: I believe this was the correct date for the band’s performance on Later with Jools Holland, which is an ultra-cool music show in the UK with several stages set up so that different performers can keep on playing. The show begins with Pearl Jam doing some of “Why Go” before the other guests join in during their introductions. The band performs “World Wide Suicide”, “Severed Hand” and “Alive”, as well as, a little interview with Ed and Mike.

May 31, 2006: Pearl Jam does an episode of VH1’s Storytellers with the following setlist: “Better Man”, “Unemployable”, “World Wide Suicide”, “Gone”, “Sleight of Hand”, “Army Reserve”, “Insignificance”, “Alive”, “Here’s To The State of Mississippi” and “Life Wasted”.

Post from: Evolvor Media

There’s nothing like the moment when the lights go out, the audience roars, the shadowy figures appear on stage, and then there’s the opening note. Ah, there’s nothing like that euphoric concert.

Most bands have it, others don’t. Pearl Jam defiantly has it.

So, what makes them such a great band, to the point where people have separate bank accounts for Pearl Jam shows?

To begin with, there’s always a sense of expecting the unexpected. The moment those lights dim, there’s anticipation on what song is going to open the show. While there are a number of regular openers, like “Release” or “Wash”, Pearl Jam can manage to throw in some crazy openers. I remember night two at Camden last year when they opened up with “Severed Hand”, and thought that was an awesome, yet odd, choice which perfectly set up the rest of the show.

For as much as a Pearl Jam opener is a little slower, to set the mood I reckon, there are moments that bedazzle even the biggest of fans. I’ve seen set lists where they’ve opened up with “Alive” or “Crazy Mary”, which is just madness. Although I’m partial to “Can’t Keep” as a opener.

Besides that opening track, there’s always the ever changing set lists. No two Pearl Jam shows are alike. Sure, the band is bound to play “Even Flow” or “Given To Fly”, but who knows what gems they’re going to pull out, like when “Leash” was finally unleashed in 2006.

With eight studio albums, and all the non-album tracks, there’s a lot of songs to be chosen. And, the band usually touches on every one. They also manage to promote their new material in depth, while showing love to all of their work.

This, however, is all due to the fact that band plays for at least two and a half hours, with set lists going around thirty songs and extended jams on classics like “Even Flow”, “Porch” and “Rearviewmirrow”.

A great lesson they learned from The Boss. Pearl Jam fans never feel like they’ve been cheated out of their money. More importantly, they also manage to make the fans feel like a part a band. It can be from fulfilling requests to play tracks like “Breath” or “Who You Are”, to being invited to clap wildly during “Save You”, or to take over vocals during “Better Man”. I’ve rarely been to a Pearl Jam show, where as cheesy as it may sound, I didn’t feel that I was being taken for granted.

There’s also the fact that they are indeed a band of the people. It could be anything from starting “let’s go Rangers” chants at MSG to sporting Red Sox jerseys in Boston to telling fans how much the Spectrum in Philly means to them because of Dr. J playing with the Sixers.

Then there’s Eddie taking the time to learn a different language. When I saw Pearl Jam in Montreal he spoke some French. I’ve seen clips of Eddie speaking some Italian to fans in Italy. There’s even a great clip of him singing Dead Moon’s “It’s OK” in Spanish to the crowd in Mexico City. Taking just a little bit of time to interact with the crowd in their own native tongue is a great way to thank the fans.

Finally, there’s the official bootleg series, which started in 2000. Pearl Jam records every one of their shows, and it’s a great memento for the fans. It is hands down the best memorabilia that a fan can have. With the official bootlegs, fans can re-live that magical moment of a Pearl Jam show over and over.

For these reasons, Pearl Jam has become one of the best live acts around. They are this generations Grateful Dead, and it’s easy to understand why fans money spend thousands of dollars and travel thousands of miles to be a part of the Pearl Jam live experience.

Post from: Evolvor Media

This is a guest post from Paul Fenlon, a gifted web developer, drummer, and friend of evolvor.com. Thanks Paul for this wonderful lil’ tool that will make browsing MySpace way less frustrating in the future!

If you’re anything like me, then you probably find yourself swearing at MySpace and the designers that pollute it. For the most part, MySpace pages are cluttered and media-rich, resulting in slow load times or maybe even a browser crash.

I don’t know about you, but the only reason I’m on MySpace is to keep track of bands and find out about new music. So, when I go to MySpace I really only need to see the music player.

With that said, I got motivated a few days ago and decided to put an end to the MySpace media problem. After some toiling, I came up with a pretty good solution: a bookmarklet.

My bookmarklet searches through MySpace source code and grabs only the information needed to play a band’s songs. It then refreshes the page and shows only the Flash music player. Problem solved!

“How do you use the bookmarklet” you ask? Well, you drag the link below to your bookmarks and simply click it anytime you go to a band’s MySpace page. You can load the music player almost immediately after connecting with MySpace.

Please note that I haven’t done any legitimate testing; however, it does seem to work in Opera, Safari 4, and Firefox 3. Also note that add ons like ad blockers or flash blockers will stop the bookmarklet from working.

Here is the JavaScript code (formated for readability)…

var s = document.getElementById('shell');
var t = document.createTreeWalker(s,
				  NodeFilter.SHOW_ELEMENT,
				  null,
				  false);
var n, v, m, f;
while (t.nextNode()) {
	if (t.currentNode.tagName.toLowerCase() == 'param') {
		n = t.currentNode.getAttribute('name');
		v = t.currentNode.getAttribute('value');
		if (n == 'movie')
			m = v;
		else if (n == 'flashvars') {
			f = v;
			break;
		}
	}
}
window.location.href = m + '?' + f;

I hope my Music-Only bookmarklet helps you enjoy MySpace a little more…please let us know if you end up using it!!!

Go ahead and give it a try here (shameless plug!) Julian Day @ MySpace

Post from: Evolvor Media

We all love Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and for fans of acts like Aerosmith, Metallica, Van Halen and The Beatles, it doesn’t get much sweeter.

However, Pearl Jam are shaking up the format a bit.

Instead of fans being presented an already formatted package, the fans will actually be making their own Pearl Jam Rock Band.

While details are a bit foggy at this point, we do know a couple of things. The game will be released in 2010 and fans will be choosing the set-list!

You can make your voice heard by heading over to the band’s official site and picking your favorite Pearl Jam tracks via a Rhapsody widget to be included in the game.

What’s even cooler is that you get to pick live versions of these songs. So let’s say you want to rock out to a track like “Given To Fly”, you click on that track and then you have to pick your favorite version from eleven different takes from shows in 2003, 2006 or 2008.

How sick is that!

Yet another reason why we love this band.

Post from: Evolvor Media

It’s May, which can only mean one thing…a month long dedication to the Pearl Jam!

This year we’ve decided to have a little theme within our Pearl Jam love. That theme would be how Pearl Jam is one of the most fan friendly bands out there.

Since we started a little late this year, I’ll stop my yapping and get the ball rolling by talking about the Ten Club.

The Ten Club has pretty much been around to assist fans for almost the band’s entire career. While there have been changes, like mailing ticket orders to now doing it online, to flaws, like not really being updated on news, the Ten Club is still a great thing for the fans.

For $20 a year fans get the annual Holiday vinyl, concert pre-sale opportunities and access to super secret merchandise (OK, not really super secret, but exclusive is a better term), and copies of Pearl Jam’s magazine Deep.

While the Ten Club isn’t revolutionary, or maybe even the best fan club around, it’s still great interaction between the fans and the band.

What makes the Ten Club so cool is that it’s a little mom and pop operation run out of Seattle. Because it’s run in house, and is here to make the us happy, things run pretty smoothly for us fans. If the Ten Club even makes a mistake, they are damn good at fixing it. And, they tend to ship items in a jiffy.

While some fans may complain about not getting the greatest seats in the house, I applaud the Ten Club for attempting to help us out. I’ve been a member of several other band’s fan clubs, and when it came time for the pre-sale tickets, we were stuck in the worst part of the venue. At least the Ten Club gets us seats where we can actually enjoy the show.

But, the coolest thing about being a member of the Ten Club is the annual Holiday single, which they’ve been doing since 1991. While most of the time the single will arrive months after X-Mas, it’s still a neat little treat.

Post from: Evolvor Media

Digital music is not the future; it is the now, with record sales numbers for paid downloads and the continued rise of file sharing.

Musicians have tools at their disposal to create music at their keyboards and make it available online in seconds for fans to stream, purchase or download for free. The quality of the music in digital downloads is more important than ever where files can lose audio properties even after being added to a media player playlist. Is your music prepared for this digital world?

SoundOps provides a solution for musicians looking to unveil their music and compete with major label artists at an indie budget through online audio mastering. When asked about their unique mastering services, SoundOps co-founder Will Duke said,

“You don’t need more cowbell - you need more control. Once you’re happy with your mix, send it to the team here at SoundOps. With our multiMASTERING, you actually get 3 different studio versions of each song that have been enhanced in different mastering environments so you can pick the one that fits your style. This is not an upgrade - it’s just the way we do it!”

The process is purely digital and secure, as artists upload their mixed .wav files into the Studio Gateway and are instantly connected to the SoundOps experience. In the Studio Gateway, you’ll get real-time updates while you and the other members of your band can chat independently with the mastering engineers to give pointers and receive feedback during the entire post production process. When you get your tracks back, you get to pick the version you use to release to the public and the other 2 are yours to keep if you ever change your mind.

“I have worked with SoundOps on several projects. Their attention to detail and production techniques have helped make my recordings something I am proud of.” -Corey Crowder - Recording Artist, Tooth & Nail Records/EMI

Through strategic partnerships, SoundOps can also help deliver your newly mastered music to leading innovative outlets to get your songs heard by more fans faster and put some cash in your pocket to pay for gas to get from city to city to show the world your talent!

Grooveshark, a revolutionary music delivery service currently streaming millions of songs every week with their AutoPlay system, has given SoundOps clients direct access to Grooveshark Artists where their music can be played alongside the big boys (and girls). This direct-to-the-consumer approach of personalized radio is a great chance for indie artists to be heard on the same stage as the big boys (and girls).

Josh Bonnain from Grooveshark artists had this to say about the partnership,

“We set out to create Grooveshark Artists with the goal of providing the services artists require in order to have successful careers. Our partnership with SoundOps ensures that artists continue to have the tools they need at their disposal as well as the ability to produce the richest sounding music possible.”

SoundOps has also taken a step to get your music on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and other leading digital distributors through an extensive partnership with WaTunes. WaTunes offers a free and seamless approach for bands to make money from digital distribution, and SoundOps customers will receive custom attention through their network.

“Creating new opportunities for musicians to expand their music careers has always been the cornerstone of WaTunes. With the power of SoundOps’ multiMASTERING technology, we’re now able to offer our customers a unique mastering service that will propel them to sell their music to their fans in higher quality. We’re very excited to be able to work with SoundOps and offer this unique service to our customers.” said Kevin Rivers, Founder and CEO of WaTunes.com.

About SoundOps

SoundOps isn’t just a new mastering studio; it’s a new kind of studio. Co-founders and friends, Will Duke and John Taylor bring a combination of major label connections and underground music wisdom to online mastering.

John, who also started Xadex Studios in 2002 and JTT Studios in 2005, oversees every SoundOps session as head engineer. Will entered the studio world from music marketing.

“Mastering is more than enhancing audio; it gives bands a better chance…makes their music (their hard work) more marketable.”

Both Will and John have said their experiences as recording artists are their greatest qualification to serve their fellow musicians.

“…we knew what we wanted…and it wasn’t available. What would happen if a studio was run by guys who knew what it was like to be a musician on the other side of the sound board? We wanted a better studio, and we believed better music could come out of it – so we designed SoundOps around that idea.”

Post from: Evolvor Media

It was because of their pay-per-click ad service called AdWords and it makes them a f%$#load of money.

The service is based around businesses that target specific keywords and purchase links that run along the right hand side of search results, and they only pay when someone clicks on an ad.

This is good for businesses, because they don’t have to waste time on trying to sell to people who are not even slightly interested in their product.

Well, the same kind of approach can be taken with the radio with a service known as Jango. You purchase “plays” on their online radio service, and target specifically which kinds of artists or bands you feel you fit with. Obviously the more plays you get, the more of a shot you have of becoming a “regular” on their radio channels.

I haven’t had much of a chance to use the service, but Brian has, and he’s posted a rather insightful look into the service over at Music Think Tank, so check it out.

Anyone use Jango? Shoot us some comments on any pros/cons you might have experienced.

PS The second song I played was a sponsored one, so know that you’ll get a chance to be heard almost immediately (depending of course on how many users are targeting that band).

Post from: Evolvor Media