Archives for the category ‘News’
February, 17th 2012 19:06
Indie labels storm the Grammys, and social media goes wild!
Last Sunday (12th February) saw the annual Grammy Awards take place, with a huge social media surge surrounding the event. Facebook and Twitter were amassed with 13 million comments generated by users in the US in the 3 hours before and after, as well as during, the telecast. A new social TV record was also achieved by the awards ceremony, beating the hugely popular Super Bowl event last week.
Independent labels triumphed this year by winning 34 trophies in categories including Best New Artist, Best Album and Best Country Song. According to A2IM (American Association of Independent Music), Bon Ivor won awards for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album, and label winners included Concord Music Group, Rounder Records and Big Machine.
2011 was also the second consecutive year that the independent labels and artists dominated industry nominations, accountable for 194 of the 387 possible nominations.
(more…)
Tags: A2IM, Bon Iver, Google, grammy awards, Handelszeitung, IFPI, independent artists, independent labels, Jennifer Hudson, online piracy, RIAA, rnbxclusive.com, SOCA, Social media, Sony, Whitney Houston
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February, 10th 2012 20:24
iLike closed on Facebook, moved to Myspace
This week saw the closure of iLike, once the most popular Facebook music application peaking with 60 million registered members. As reported by Music Week, the online music sharing and download service was snapped up in 2009 by Myspace after its launch, but only three years later their official website redirects you to their Myspace page, bearing the words “We welcome you to Myspace, home of the largest catalog of FREE steaming music on the web!” on its banner.
In the wake of the closure, iLike co-founder Hadi Partovi spoke in an interview with Geek Wire, blaming “radical changes in the Facebook platform” as well as Rupert Murdoch’s failure to take advantage of available tech assets for Facebook under his management. However, the iLike team are still on full form as Partovi has hinted on the new startups they are involved with in Seattle, namely ThinkFuse, Familiar and PaperKarma.
(more…)
Tags: Downtown Music Publishing, Facebook, iLike, M.I.A., Madonna, MySpace, NFL, Nicki Minaj, Paul McCartney, Rdio, Rhapsody, Songs Music Publishing, Spotify, Super Bowl, VEVO
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February, 7th 2012 13:38
Last week, TuneCore announced on their blog that Amazon had removed all of their content from their MP3 stores in the UK and European Union. Ditto Music has offered free distribution to Amazon UK and Europe for affected TuneCore customers, but here at Zimbalam we are doing one better. Restart all your distribution through us for free to all stores and territories until 17th February.
Come over to Zimbalam where you will get:
Free UPC & ISCRC codes
No add-on fees to access Zimbalam’s leading suite of digital promo tools:
Real time sales reporting, a streaming media player, artist websites, contact management & newsletter tools, promotional stats & an iPhone app.
Zimbalam provides all the tools artists need for an effective release campaign, including the ability to give fans free tracks in exchange for their email address and to provide selected users, such as media contacts, access to exclusive content.
Zimbalam also guarantee that every release will be listened to by Believe Digital’s A&R team. They look for the most promising emerging artists to upgrade onto a premium distribution deal with Believe, where they will receive access to expert advice and additional services.
Subscription to Zimbalam is free – sign up here to test the system. Existing Zimbalam customers can also take advantage of this deal.
Simply type in the code welcome in the promotional code box on the payment page to upload your releases for free.
Code valid until 17th February 2012.
Zimbalam is currently unavailable in the US.
Tags: Amazon, Amazon MP3, digital promotional tools, Ditto Music, TuneCore, welcome
Posted in News, Offers | No comment »
February, 3rd 2012 20:04
What happened at MIDEM…
This week saw MIDEM, the annual music industry conference take place in Cannes, France. Among the many announcements made during the four day event, Webdoc.com announced integrations with SoundCloud, Songkick and Topspin, promising to “provide fans and pro users with a range of new opportunities for self expression, sharing and community engagement”, as reported by Music Week. A strategic partnership between Spotify and Coke was also hinted at.
One of the highlights included Hack Day, in which around 30 developers participated in creating new apps to enable fans to discover new music, and to have a deeper involvement with the music by their favourite artists. Hypebot has compiled together a full list of creations from Hack Day, which you can check out here.
(more…)
Tags: Believe Digital, coke, Daria Musk, Early in the Morning, Facebook, Google, Google hangouts, Hack Day, Higher Love, iTunes Match, James Vincent McMorrow, LOVEFiLM, MIDEM, Songkick, soundcloud, Special Edition album, Spotify, Topspin, Webdoc
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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.
(more…)
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.
(more…)
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.
(more…)
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.
(more…)
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 »
October, 27th 2011 13:46
The nice people at YouTube have been changing things up a bit, adding more features to make sharing and uploading videos much simpler and a whole load more fun.
There have been at least five new features added to the site to make it better and easier for people to upload videos, including:
- WeVideo – the cloud-based editor
The WeVideo feature allows the user to edit movies using media files from any device, and to do so in the browser. You can combine clips with music, effects, transitions, animations and titles. You can also share what you’ve just made to your facebook or your twitter, or any other social media site with one little, easy click.
YouTube have redesigned the end-screen that appears when a video finishes playing. They did this so that it would make it even easier to find the next video to watch. (more…)
Tags: Arcade Fire, Beggars Group, G+, Google, independent musician, Indie Label, Merge Records, Merlin, National Music Publishers Association, Topspin Media, Vampire Weekend, WeVideo, YouTube
Posted in Industry Advice, News | No comment »
