My Name is Walter, and This Music is for You
Cadence Weapon interviewed by Russell Porter on BBTV
Cadence Weapon is a Canadian rapper signed to Epitaph Records. This interview is worth checking out. Cadence Weapon MP3s are available for downloading on his official site.
Tags: Cadence Weapon, interview, rap
Radiohead released their new album, In Rainbows, for digital download on the internet. The catch? They let you pay what you want.
I decided to pay £1.00. You can pay £0.00 if you want. (There’s a £.45 credit card processing fee if you do decide to pay something.)
At this point, they’re not releasing it on a record label, although they will have a “discbox” including artwork, vinyl copies, and bonus tracks available for purchase by December.
There’s coverage all over the place about this album release. The New York Times has an excellent article (Radiohead, Big Enough to Act Like a Baby Band)
The interesting thing is that other artists have begun indicating intentions to follow Radiohead’s lead by bucking the traditional industry and releasing albums themselves or through other means. Nine Inch Nails, fronted by Trent Reznor, has ended their record label relationship and he states, “it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as i see fit and appropriate.”
Two other UK bands, Oasis and Jamiroquai, are also contemplating direct-to-the-public album releases rather than releasing their new material through a traditional record label. Madonna is leaving her record label and making a $100 million deal with major concert promoter Live Nation.
Lefsetz (“Radiohead Tip Jar“) and many others are already decrying the imminent changes the Radiohead release and these other artists are going to have on the industry.
With CD sales plummeting this year and several major acts already pursuing other means of distributing their musical wares, the industry has a lot to be afraid of and consumers have a lot to look forward to. Anything that will get more music to more people for less money is probably a good thing (no, I don’t count P2P, but in a way that’s what started the revolution with Napster at the turn of the millennium). Unless the music sucks. But that’s the real glory of freeing up the music and making it cheaper: the people decide what’s good and popular, but you can decide for yourself without spending thousands of dollars on a record collection.
Update: Read a review of “In Rainbows” by Drew Beringer (AbsolutePunk.net). Also, the Wall Street Journal asks the question “Is Radiohead’s Move Revolutionary?”
Update 2: Some estimates are saying that Radiohead made $6 – $10million off the digital release of “In Rainbows.”
Tags: In Rainbows, Jamiroquai, Madonna, Oasis, Radiohead
Purevolume has a 15 song MP3 music sampler entitled “We Were Here First” free for download. The sampler features Starflyer 59, Gasoline Heart, Fair, Denison Witmer, David Bazan (formerly of Pedro The Lion), and others. You can download the whole thing or just stream the MP3s if you want a taste before you take.
Tags: purevolume
Hawthorne Heights (myspace) has left Victory Records on “anything but amicable” terms. As reported at UpBeetMusic and PastePunk and originally posted on a blog entry on Hawthorne Height’s myspace, they are leaving the label due to irreconcilable differences with the CEO of Victory Records, Tony Brummel. Not only that, they acuse the man of having a giant ego and robbing them of thousands of dollars of album royalties. Now they’re suing.
With this news, it’s hard to know how to respond and help out the bands you love. I’d certainly recommend doing what you can to help out bands on Victory Records including Hawthorne Heights, Spitalfield, Bayside, June, The Junior Varsity, Streetlight Manifesto, and The Forecast. But if you want to show them some love, you should probably go to their shows and buy the merch there, otherwise they may never see one cent that you spent on them.
Tony Brummel has made the news before for famously not selling music from any Victory artists on iTunes despite strong customer demand. I found a few articles in a quick search of Google: a (supposed) email from Tony, a slam, and a well-thought response to his statements. Oh, and before you try to defend his reasoning, realize it had nothing to do with DRM, and everything to do with wanting cash advances, a percentage of iPod sales revenues, more expensive song prices, and other considerations from Apple in exchange for offering Victory’s music library. Yup, this guy has an ego, so you can understand how the bands could have a problem with it. Taking Back Sunday had problems before now.
Back to the topic at hand, read on for the full post from Hawthorne Heights’ blog…
Tags: Hawthorne Heights, iTunes, Victory Records
I’m attempting to make this a comprehensive list of all the free compilation EPs I run across this summer. So far it includes 8 EPs from 10 labels featuring over 100 different artists across several genres including punk, indie, emo, screamo, rock, and pop. The most recent additions/updates are marked with an asterisk (*) at the front of the line.
Fueled by Ramen & Decaydance have their “Summer Audio Sampler” for download at PureVolume. Features artists heard on this podcast including This Providence and Punchline and other artists such as Panic! At the Disco, Paramore, and others.
Fearless Records has teamed up w/ AbsolutePunk.net for exclusive download of their Summer Sampler. Features Gatsby’s American Dream, Plain White T’s, Portugal. The Man, and more.
Fat Wreck Chords has released the Fat Wreck Chords Sampler 2006. The entire sampler is available for download. Features Against Me!, NOFX, and others.
Immortal Records has released a seven-song Summer Sampler in conjunection with AbsolutePunk.net. Go get it.
* Inpop Records has released a 12 song digital EP titled “iPOP 2006.” Inpop is a label made up of Christian artists such as Mat Kearney, Paul Coleman, and Tree63.
* Suburban Home Records has released the “Suburban Home and Friends Summer 2006 Sampler.” It features 18 songs from 17 bands you’ve probably never heard of. From what I’ve listened to so far, it’s got some decent indie rock songs.
* Tooth & Nail Records and Solid State Records have released a digital sampler: One Dark Summer. It’s available for download at PureVolume (you need a free listener account to download). The EP has been updated to include 32 songs.
Tags: AbsolutePunk.net, Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords, Fearless Records, Fueled by Ramen Records, Immortal Records, Inpop Records, purevolume, Suburban Home Records, Tooth & Nail Records
You can listen to the first two discs of The Early November’s (PV) ambitious concept album “The Mother, The Mechanic, The Path” at AOL’s Full CD Listening Party. Read a review of the album at AbsolutePunk.net.
A total of 27 albums are currently available for preview at the listening party. Of those, ones worth checking out include new music from Muse and The Format.
All the albums mentioned in this post go on sale today (Tuesday, July 11).
Tags: Muse, The Early November, The Format
Update: Turns out Victory Records is run by Commander and Thief Tony Brummel. Hawthorne Heights has some strong accusations.
Victory Records has launched VictorME — a new social site designed as an alternative to Myspace. It’s intended to build up a community directly around their artists.
Victory Records is home to a number of impressive bands including Hawthorne Heights, Spitalfield, Bayside, June, The Junior Varsity, Streetlight Manifesto, and The Forecast. If you like any of these artists and want to listen to their music or participate in their new community, this site should be worth checking out.
Tags: Hawthorne Heights, June, Spitalfield, Streetlight Manifesto, The Forecast, Victory Records
