January, 27th 2012 18:50
IMPALA oppose the purchase of EMI by Universal
IMPALA, the Independent Music Companies Association is in strong opposition of the move by Universal Music for their proposed £1.2billion takeover of one of the music giants, EMI’s recorded music division. As reported by City A.M, IMPALA, who has over 4000 members across Europe in its trade body, are concerned that Universal’s bid for EMI would disregard competition interests.
In a statement published on IMPALA’s website on 26th January, Helen Smith (Executive Chair) said “Neither the USA nor Europe wants to see the music sector become a two-horse race, devoid of competition from any other companies.” As reported by CMU, if EMI are to be taken over by Universal, the sheer size of both Universal/EMI and Sony will overpower that of Warner and will effectively leave just two major labels as the big players in the industry.
The statement also brings to light the fact that independent artists contribute to only 6% of the Top 100 for both airplay and downloads across Europe, despite accounting for 80% of all new releases. Universal, EMI and Sony would also account for 76% of the Top 200, according to a new report by EMO and Eurosonic/Nooderslag. IMPALA also stated that in 2011 an astonishing 94% of airplay and 95% of the top 100 downloads in Europe were releases by the major labels, with Universal and Sony the leaders of the competition by a long way.
If the deal goes ahead, it will mean that artists such as The Beatles, Coldplay and Kylie Minogue, as well as the label’s subsidiaries including Parlophone and Virgin, will be under Universal’s control.
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Tags: Anonymous, DJ, EMI, IMPALA, Kim Dotcom, Major Labels, MegaBox, Megamovie, Megaupload, Napster, Pirate Party, Pure Music, Rhapsody, Simon Cowell, Sony, SOPA, Syco, Universal, X Factor
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January, 20th 2012 13:50
What Artists and Creators think about SOPA…
The topic on everyone’s lips this week – the on-going online piracy saga with SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act). Many internet sites, including Wikipedia, Mozilla and WordPress, showed their protest against this by having a blackout on Wednesday which stopped users being able to see the contents on their website.
The anti-SOPA protest counts actors, authors and musicians among its supporters, and even US President Obama has said that he would not support SOPA. According to Hypebot, the following points were made in an open letter addressed to Washington posted on 17th January, from the point of view of a collective of artists and creators which includes Trent Reznor, MGMT and OK Go among the list of names:
- They mention their gratitude for the measures put into place by policymakers, to help protect their works from copyright infringement
- They highlight the importance of social media in reaching and communicating with their fans, and the “benefits of a free and open Internet”
- They voice their worry that artists and creators will be censored and legitimate services and websites blocked under PIPA and SOPA’s new powers, even though they themselves are legitimate users
It seems as though the takedown of sites has already begun, with sites Megaupload and Megavideo being closed down on Thursday. According to Tech Digest, the US government’s reasoning for this was that they considered the webmasters of the sites to be involved in a “Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale.” The Telegraph reported that the operators of Megaupload were accused of ignoring requests to remove pirated material from music and film firms, and charged with criminal copyright infringement. According to the BBC, the site has been accused of costing copyright holders over $500m in lost revenue, in an accusation by federal prosecutors.
In response, internet hacking collective Anonymous launched a DDos (distributed denial-of-service) attack on a list high profile websites, including the websites of the US Department of Justice, the FBI, Universal Music and the Motion Picture Association of America. According to Tech Digest, it is thought that each organisation linked to the targeted sites have supported the anti-piracy bills in the past. Anonymous later tweeted:
They have also since uploaded a map showing the current number of network attacks by geographic region.
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Tags: #WorldWarWeb, Anonymous, anti-piracy, Beastie Boys, Big Chill, Coachella, DJ Bl3nd, Download, Eric Clapton, Facebook, Facebook application, Festivals, Foo Fighters, Glastonbury, justin bieber, Lady GaGa, Listen with friends, live stream, Megaupload, Online music, Paul McCartney, PIPA, Rdio, RFID, Rihanna, SOPA, soundcloud, Spotify, Stevie Wonder, Ticketmaster, twitter
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January, 13th 2012 19:47
2011 was a great year for music and a great year for Zimbalam. We decided to take a look back at our 11 Favourite artists of 2011. Enjoy!
MANNEQUIN
http://www.mannequinofficial.com/
“We don’t care if we’re happy, sad or broke. We just want to be great.”
From London, ManneQuin are a pop duo comprised of brothers Dan and Reuben Priddy who make “songs big enough for the girls & boys to party to!” Formed only 9 months ago, ManneQuin were quickly discovered via Myspace by heavyweight producer JR Rotem, whose credits include JLS, Jason Derulo, 50 Cent and Rihanna, and they were consequently invited to LA to work together.
They released debut EP “Yo Yo Girl” on November 28th last year – a four track collection of delicious pop. Other songs aside from the EP include the self-titled “ManneQuin”, “Tick Tick Boom” and “Electric Gold”.
ManneQuin have built themselves a reputation as songwriters of undeniably catchy pop – they composed the track “Lipstick”, performed by Irish pop twins Jedward on 2011′s Eurovision Song Contest, which became #1 in Ireland, Sweden & Germany. Impressing manager Louis Walsh, Dan was asked to produce album “Victory”, as well as ManneQuin earning a support slot on Jedward’s tour in 2011.
Exciting things coming up for the ManneQuin brothers this year include their anticipated album release, showcasing the results of their collaboration with Rotem. They are also planning a tour of UK & Ireland.
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Tags: 50 Cent, Arcade Fire, Ash, bands of 2011, bands to watch in 2012, BBC Radio, Best International Unsigned Act, best of 2011, Bob Harris, Cambridge Folk Festival, Camden Barfly, Carnival, Cocos Lovers, Coldplay, David J Roch, Drowned in Sound, Ed Sheeran, Elbow, electroacoustic pop, Elephant Lands, Eurovision, Eyes Wide Open, Folk, Frank Arkwright, FutureSound, garage, Ghost Whisperer, Goo Goo Dolls, Graham Coxon, Great Escape Festival, Green Man Festival, Greys Anatomy, Hannah Trigwell, Hold My Heart, Hot Head Show, Jarvis Cocker, Jason Derulo, Jedward, Jeff Buckley, Jeremy Vine, Jessica Simpson, Jim Spencer, JLS, Joe Duddell, Johannes, JR Rotem, Kendall Calling, Leaving Atlantis, Louis Walsh, Lounge on the Farm, ManneQuin, Marina and the Diamonds, Maverick Magazine, Melrose Place, MySpace, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nick Drake, Oasis, olivia broadfield, Paper Aeroplanes, Perez Hilton, pop, punk, Real Fur, Rihanna, Secret Garden Party, Shakenstir, Shonen Knife, singer songwriter, ska, SKIN + BONES, Sofar Sounds, St. Helier Online Music Awards, Strange New World, The Charlatans, The Day We Ran Into The Sea, The Flaming Lips, The Guardian, the hills, The Lemonheads, The Low Suns, The Powerhouse, The Reads, The Smiths, thefourohfive, This Beautiful War, Time Out London, Tom Robinson, XFM X-Posure All Dayer, Yo Yo Girl
Posted in Featured Artists, Zimbalam News | No comment »
January, 3rd 2012 13:39
We are very happy to launch a new partnership with Radar Music Videos, a great service used by record labels, independent artists and music video directors to commission and promote music videos worldwide. They also publish some very useful articles. Radars founder Caroline Bottomley has given us a few choice tips from their guide “29 Ways To Get The Most From Your Music Video”
From the section ‘Preparation, Preparation, Preparation – how to commission a great video’.
* Research the kind of video you want
These sites find and feature the best music videos on the internet:
Vimeo Staff Picks http://www.vimeo.com/staffpicks
Lost At EMinor http://www.lostateminor.com/category/music/
Music Vid Kid http://www.musicvidkid.com
Submarine Channel http://2pause.submarinechannel.com/#/new
Promo News http://www.promonews.tv/
VideoMilitia http://www.videomilitia.com/
RadarTV http://www.radarmusicvideos.com/videos
When you’re briefing potential directors, give them links to music videos you like.
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Tags: Advertising Campaign, Dailymotion, direct a music video, Facebook, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, iTunes, Lost at EMinor, Make a music video, music blogs, Music Vid Kid, Newsletters, Promo News, Qiora, Radar Music Videos, seo, Submarine Channel, twitter, VideoMilitia, Vimeo, YouTube
Posted in Industry Advice, Partners, Zimbalam News | No comment »
December, 15th 2011 18:20
Win a prize bundle of Believe goodies this Christmas!
You could win:
Crookers TShirt
Bwani Junction Signed Poster
Crookers Vinyl
Gabby Young CD
Bwani Junction CD
Peter and Kerry CD
James Vincent McMorrow CD
Crookers CD
Crookers Beer Holder
To win all of this simply tweet @zimbalamuk who your favourite breakthrough act of this year is!
We also have selected Crookers prizes for 5 more people, winners will be picked and announced Thursday the 22nd so get tweeting!
Tags: Bwani Junction, crookers, Gabby Young, James Vincent McMorrow, Peter and Kerry
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December, 15th 2011 17:30
Twitter started to roll out its new look last week, the biggest change of which being Brand Pages. Early screenshots shows examples, they come across as a mix between Google+ and Facebook Pages. So what are the real changes? and when will it be available to use?
Enhancing your profile page
Add a banner to your page -
Customize with your logo, tagline and any other visual branding you please. The banner must be 835 x 90 px
Promote a Tweet-
Have a particular promotion/competition/release you are working on? Simply promote the tweet with this info on so that it stays visible on your page instead of disappearing amid everything else you tweet.
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Tags: American Express, Best Buy, bing, Chevrolet, Coco-Cola, Dell, Disney Pixar, Facebook, General Electric, Google, Heineken, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, JetBlue, Kia, McDonalds, Mission Impossible, Nike, NYSE Euronext, Paramount Pictures, Pepsi, Staples, Subway, Twitter Brand Pages, Verizon Wireless USA
Posted in Social Media | 1 comment »
December, 8th 2011 10:00
Zimbalam provides their artists with straightforward and comprehensive tools that allow them to promote themselves and their music online. Our tools will also help in the marketing process, to aid promotion and publicity and maximize sales.
Zimbalam Artist Page
One of our premier free tools, the Zimbalam Artist Page, allows our musicians to create simple websites, centralise their content, sell their music and even run promotional campaigns. It also lets artists, or labels, keep all your content on one page, that can be fully customized.Artist Pages are easy to create and require no HTML knowledge to customize, embed videos & upload your artwork. Simply choose a unique address for your page (e.g. myband.zimbalam.com) and follow the easy-to-follow steps. Use your page as a hub for all your music/news/videos and more and build lasting relationships with your fans by using the free track tool, you get their email address in exchange Links that lead directly to where your music is being sold online are on your page automatically, which optimizes the potential for you to sell your music. With the Artists Website you also have access to clear statistics, so you can analyze the success of your promotional and marketing campaigns. Read entire entry »
Tags: artist page, artist promotion, Email Grabber, Facebook, Fan Connect, free promotional tools, free track, HTML, MySpace, newsletter tool, pro space, promo, Statistics, unsigned artists, using fan connect, zimbalam artist page, Zimbalam Player
Posted in Optimise Your Tools, Zimbalam Tools | 1 comment »
November, 17th 2011 13:19
Product placement in music videos isn’t a new trend, but it’s certainly an expanding one. MTV used to be the primary place where people could watch videos – but for product placement it was useless as the channel had a ban on obvious plugs. With the invention of the Internet, music lovers had a fast and immediate destination to watch videos – which gave advertisers and labels a chance to benefit by working together.
Back in 2010 American firm PQ Media revealed that revenue from product placement in music videos had doubled in the past ten years, and had increased by $5 million in 2009 alone. The labels now had the outlet and the ability to reach millions of people, and the advertisers were willing to pay big money to be a part of that.
Whether you’re an established artist in the industry or just starting out, product placement can work for you. As an established artist, you can get away with subtly placing well-known brands in your lyrics – take Jamie Foxx for example. In his song ‘Blame It (On The Alcohol)’ he mentions ‘Henne’ – other wise known as Hennessy, and ‘Goose’ as in Grey Goose Vodka. Although this is understated brand placement, it’s placed in the catchy chorus that is repeated, and is the first thing people remember when they think of the song. You’ll find product or brand placements likes these predominantly in urban music, and not all of them are paid for by the advertisers.
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Tags: Beyonce, Blame It On The Alcohol, Britney Spears, coke, Diet Coke, Grey Goose Vodka, Hennessy, I'm Loving It, Jager, Jagermeister, Jamie Foxx, justin timberlake, McDonalds, Monster, MTV, Pepsi, PQ Media, Red Bull, Red Hot Entertainment, Skating, Sunkist, Telephone, The Neptunes, Virgin Mobile, vybz kartel
Posted in Social Media | No comment »
November, 10th 2011 12:42
Google + have added some new features this week that allow a company, band or musician to create a page. While the social network still has some improvements to make, this is definitely a big step in the right direction. So how can Google + work for artists?
Find our page on Google + here
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Tags: band pages, Facebook, Google, Google Analytics, MySpace, Pepsi, search engine, Social Network, The All American Rejects, YouTube, Zimbalam
Posted in Social Media | 1 comment »
November, 10th 2011 11:03
We have fixed the players! Here is the new way to install the Zimbalam player on Facebook:
This post is by Zimbalam UK Manager Hannah Donovan @hannahbarracuda
Tags: Facebook, facebook band site, facebook for musicians, facebook player, player, Zimbalam Player
Posted in Zimbalam News, Zimbalam Tools | 2 comments »
