2 years ago
Sony introduces Fantasy Festival Competition!
Fantasy Sports turned … Music?
Last week Sony released their own version of cult online competition “Fantasy Football” so if you can’t pick football players but love music, then you will love Sony’s Fantasy Festival Competition!
It’s is a free, points based league game with an the aim being to assemble the ultimate, imaginary music festival line-up to gain as many points as possible through your acts’ popularity in the real world. That real world is actually calculated by activity online in the game. All hosted with Last.fm.
Users can create custom leagues, invite friends and battle it out for festival supremacy. With the person who creates the highest value Festival, presented with a music lover’s dream prize – four “money can’t buy” tickets (including VIP accommodation, flights and spending money) to one of Europe’s hottest music festivals, plus tonnes of weekly prizes.
It’s a massive opportunity for Sony to create a cult following of sorts in a non-sporting scene so it will be very interesting to see the response to the campaign. By the looks of it, it’s off to a flying start with week 2 just commencing now! Click here to check out the Fantasy Festival Competition now.
via digitalbuzz
via lydiasimmons
2 years ago
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Important Questions
In watching the HBO Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Benefit and seeing how freaking incredible the music of the past was, I am left with an important question: Who from our generation can carry on this legacy?
Who from our generation is making music good enough that it is prolific enough to transcend time to be worthy enough for the greatest honor in music?
I was betting on the Beastie Boys, but as per Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s induction rules, they’ve already been nominated and denied (can they be nominated again? I think they’re for sure legendary enough - they altered hip hop and rock).
Bands I would expect to see nominated:
-Red Hot Chili Peppers (nominated for 2010 induction)
-Pearl Jam
-Nirvana
-Jay Z
-John Mayer (in guitar circles, homeboy’s respected. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest).
Will bands that the blogs and music industry insiders can’t get enough of have the type of career that warrants induction? I’m thinking bands like Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, etc that sit atop every Best Record of the Year, Best Album of the Decade list that I’ve been seeing. Will the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame carry the same cache 25 years from now as it does now? The Hall of Fame is constantly changing to accommodate more genres of music, but the blogosphere and independent labels really have altered the face of the industry.
As per the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s eligibility rules, a musician is eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record/single. This means that musicians who released music THIS YEAR will be eligible for induction 25 years from now, and in turn, eligible to play in the hypothetical 50th Anniversary show. Who do you think — from this decade — has a career that is worthy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction?
2 years ago
Free $3 to use on anything in Amazon's MP3 store «
(via legalfreemusic)
awesome deal.
Worth checking out — get a couple new tunes! There’s some low priced full albums!
via alexag
2 years ago
Adam Young, aka Owl City, Finds Pop Success | NY Times «
What I find more interesting than the above story, is checking my favorite pundits over at Gawker, and hitting up the regular list of music blogs.
It’s interesting having worked in digital music, and understanding the net rollout and how “overnight” successes can be made, solely by using the Internet connection in your own parents’ basement, I genuinely enjoy reading stories of this nature. Hell, Vampire Weekend recorded part of their debut album in their parents’ basements.
That being said, there’s a reason why I choose to get my music news from blogs rather than sources like the New York Times. Because this article is atrocious. I remember really liking Postal Service back in the day, and when I checked out Owl City, I thought they were a tired, terrible rip off of them almost instantaneously. This Adam dude’s pull quote as to his comparisons? Blew my mind. I don’t think OWL CITY is here to serve that purpose.
As someone who has worked in the industry, I get the debate of major vs. indie label. I like to see what artists like Devandra Banhart, who have been represented by both, have to say about the treatment. But Gawker, in this situation, is absolutely right. If you look at any of the Best of 2009 record lists that are coming out as this gets written, or if you look at the Pitchfork Best of the Decade list, or check the Brooklyn bands listed in NY Mag the other week, you see a ton of indie, innovative, inventive and downright quality music, many of whom are not signed to major labels. There’s the perks of being represented by one, and certainly in working for one, but I’ve been realizing that my musical test has a huge bend toward bands signed to indie labels. And this really hits it on the head: in a troubled industry, A&R guys at the majors are seeing this indie trend sweeping music, and to keep their jobs and to keep their companies afloat, they need to get something new. And unfortunately “new” seems to be “ripped off.”
Check out Gawker’s story here.
Check out Prefix Mag’s story here.
For the record, I don’t like Owl City.
2 years ago
The other night I went to a private party for the Fred Perry clothing line, and Friendly Fires was playing.
I’ll just come out and say it: this is the most fun, most danceable, and most welcome breath of fresh air music I’ve heard this entire fall. And despite reading NME daily, really loving everything XL Recordings touches, and thinking of myself as more or less down with what’s going on in London for those reasons, I admittedly have not been hearing too much Friendly Fires stateside. That’s a huge problem — these guys are so multitalented, such energetic and wonderful performers, and the music is really damn good — I want to be hearing their jams every time I go out.
Seriously. Everyone was on their feet dancing for their entire (short) set — even the too cool for school hipsters to my left — and the band seemed ridiculously into it. I’ve been to a lot of shows recently where band members looked like they didn’t really care about being in the moment, but Friendly Fires did. They tore it up. I think everyone should give them a listen, and understand why they have become a permanent fixture on my “Getting ready!” “Pregame!” mixes (hey, if I’m only going to hear them at the cool bars, I might as well take my DJ tendencies and make sure I get my Friendly Fires fix).
Check out the official video for “Jump In The Pool” above.
2 years ago
Today Vampire Weekend digitally released their second single off January’s Contra, an up tempo song called Cousins. I’ll admit that the song has really grown on me since I first heard it live this summer, but that it’s never been my favorite of the tracks I’ve already heard. It’s a slightly new direction for the band, and I’m curious to hear the remaining tracks. Listen to Cousins streaming above, and check out live video footage of the early contender of my favorite song from Contra, California English.
In other Vampire Weekend news, the band has announced a couple January tour dates, before heading off for a brief UK tour in February. As a New Yorker with a birthday of January 20, I for one am thrilled by these dates:
01-12 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
01-17 New York, NY - United Palace Theater
01-18 New York, NY - Webster Hall
01-19 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
2 years ago
Hiatus = OVER
When I started this music blog, I had a LIST of bands I wanted to cover off the bat, and things I wanted to talk about. And then, well, life got into the way for the past couple of weeks. I work (err… for the next week) in the music industry in New York, and shockingly, or not, depending on how you view the artists signed to my independent label, haven’t even blogged about any of them, and things just piled up.
I know that’s a shitty excuse for being a lame blogger, but it’s the truth. I’ve been caught up in the job hunt, in going to shows, in traveling on weekends (to see shows?). I may not have had the downtime to write recently, but I have done a lot of reading and even more music listening.
So, expect posts starting tonight, but picking up as the weeks progress. I’m going to two great events this week (a Friendly Fires listening party, as well as the mtvU Woodie Awards and a Dirty Projectors concert), and that will get the creative juices flowing. If not, it’ll spur some “Bands to Watch” type posts.
In short - more reading as the days progress, lots more as the weeks progress. My creative juices are flowing with everything in my life, and a lot of that is centered around this site, so stay tuned.
2 years ago
Fucked Up to Re-Record "Do They Know It's Christmas?" | NME «
Using the money they won from the Polaris Prize, Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up plans to re-record the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and raise money for lesser known charities, like Justice For The Missing.
David Cross, Vampire Weekend, Yo La Tengo, TV On The Radio, GZA, Broken Social Scene have all signed onto the project, and more artists are expected to take part in this charity.
I grew up in the “We Are The World” era where charity singles seemed to have some sort of regular abundance, especially during the holiday season, so I’m not only glad to see one NOW, but all aspects of this excite me. Lesser known charities deserve recognition, and these bands are all incredibly talented, so I’m excited to see it all come together.
Aerosmith to Replace Singer Steven Tyler? | NME «
I saw this article and got confused, thinking, wait, it’s not April Fools Day.
I know, I know, Aerosmith is a great American rock band, but to me, in all honesty, Steven Tyler makes the band. With them sort of… out of the scene for a while (when was their last CD released?), I guess in part because of Steven Tyler’s injury, losing the iconic frontman confuses me.
Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford acknowledges that Tyler leaving the band might not look great, and that a potential successor would have enormous shoes to fill, so hopefully the original Aerosmith stays intact.
2 years ago
Now for some serious music coming out of Duke. Hip hop newcomer Mike Posner had a prime CMJ showcase time, has opened for 50 Cent, has been written up in The New York Times, The New York Post, Time Out New York, travels to college campuses every weekend to perform, and was on Carson Daly. And that’s just this past month. Today, Perez Hilton TWEETED his love for Mike Posner’s sound. Mike Posner is a current Duke senior, who is seriously poised to make a significant dent in the hip hop industry in 2010, and is very much one of my artists to keep an eye on.
The mixtape is incredible, his live energy is totally palpable, I was sorry to have missed his set at CMJ, but I did get to see him perform earlier in the month on Governor’s Island, where he shared a bill with Kid Cudi and 50 Cent. Seriously. As the mixtape says, expect Posner’s full length album to drop in 2010, and trust me, you will be seeing much, much more of this kid before then.
Check out his segment on Last Call with Carson Daly above.
Download Mike Posner’s BRAND NEW mixtape “One Foot Out The Door” HERE! Or for free on iTunes U (although you do have to follow some instructions here to be able to sync an iTunes U download to your legit iTunes library/iPod/iPhone).
