More Beer, More Games, Oh My! The Annual Winter Beer Carnival Returns on February 11

By Eileen Tilson/ @tktalt_tn

Since we still have some time left to make a new years resolution, let me make a little suggestion: DRINK MORE GOOD BEER! Lucky for you the 3rd Annual Winter Beer Carnival is swinging through again on Feb. 11! We even moved the event to Atlantic Station in Atlanta to hold even more of you fun folks!

Patrons will get the chance to sample over 100 beers, including some special winter brews, and VIP tickets get you exclusive access to fancy-pants craft beers, private bathrooms, early entry and more! Oh…and don’t forget the great carnival games and food!

This event has always sold out, so better buy your tickets in advance. Great for the last minute stocking stuffer gifts!

Live Nation Acquires Consumer Data Pioneer Big Champagne

By Eileen Tilson/ @tktalt_tn

Mega-monster Live Nation has acquired consumer data collector Big Champagne for what is being reported as $30 million. So who exactly is Big Champagne and why does this matter so much?

From NY Times Article (http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/live-nation-buys-bigchampagne-analyzer-of-consumer-data/)

“BigChampagne, founded in 2001, made a name for itself early in the Internet revolution for developing methods to measure peer-to-peer file-sharing and other forms of online traffic. Those kinds of activity, while not always legal, gave record labels and other entertainment companies valuable insight into consumer tastes and behaviors.

In the years since, BigChampagne has expanded its work to develop its Ultimate Chart, an alternative to the Billboard pop charts that takes account of an array of consumption on social media.” (via NY TIMES)

In an interview, Michael Rapino, the chief executive of Live Nation, said that BigChampagne would help his company churn through the huge amounts of data it collects from its customers when they buy concert tickets or merchandise, as well as continue to take the temperature of pop culture online.

“We love the basics of what they’ve created, and love the idea of taking an incredible amount of fan data off- and online and merging that into a relevant database of what artists are most popular and relevant to today’s consumer,” Mr. Rapino said.

Eric Garland, a founder of BigChampagne and its chief executive, will become general manager of livenation.com, and the company’s other founder, Joe Fleischer, will be senior vice president of content and product strategy for that Web site.

All 26 of BigChampagne’s employees will work for Live Nation, and the Ultimate Chart will “power social discovery, content relevancy and product personalization across Live Nation’s businesses,” according to a news release.

When it was introduced last year, the Ultimate Chart was partly meant as an advertisement for the kind of far-reaching analysis of media consumption data that the company could do.

“When we started the Ultimate Chart it was largely aspirational,” Mr. Garland said. “We built a big data and analytics competency around integrating all these billions of data. But we have needed a bigger stage to put it all together and see the bigger picture.”

Mr. Garland has also become known as an astute observer of digital media and the music business, a trait that Mr. Rapino noted.

“We’re on the hunt for smart guys that understand this industry and crunch all that data and turn it into action,” he said.”

So what does all this mean? It seems very clear to me that there is a new way of charting music bubbling up, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine a room with the most forward thinking minds in the music industry coming together and rearranging the way music data is being tracked…I am definitely intrigued.

Spotify Launches Pandora-Like Radio

By Eileen Tilson/ @tktalt_tn

Tired of being limited in your skips on Pandora? Just days after announcing their new added Apps, Spotify has revamped their Radio feature taking a rifle aim at their competitors. With unlimited skips, Spotify trumps Pandora, who limits track skips on every type of account. Spotify Radio is available to free users and subscribers and will include: (via Hypebot)

• “Unlimited Stations - Choose a track, artist or genre and Spotify instantly creates a station of similar music. There is no limit to the number of stations users can create.
• Unlimited Skips - This feature has not been available to Pandora free users.
• All-new intelligent recommendation engine - Spotify offered no details regarding the technology powering their new recommendation engine.  Is it The Echo Nest? Proprietary?
• Unlimited access to 15 million tracks.
• Available to all - Spotify Radio will be available to both free users and subscribers. “

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga Pair Up For New Release

“The Lady is a Tramp” will be featured on Tony’s upcoming release, “Tony Bennett: Duets II” out on September 20th via RPM/Columbia Records. Duets II” produced by Phil Ramone follows up “Tony Bennett Duets: An American Classic” CD, the 2006 Grammy winning best selling CD which became Bennett’s best selling recording to date. The album boosts an all-star cast of duet partners including: Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, John Mayer, Carrie Underwood, Norah Jones, Michael Buble, Sheryl Crow, and Aretha Franklin.

150 Indie Labels Devastated By London Riots In Sony PIAS Warehouse Fire

Is A Record Deal Still Important To A Musician’s Future?

By Eileen Tilson

Back in the heyday of the “Big Booming Music Industry,” little musician-wannabees would pray to the guitar gods at night hoping that one day, the big man in the suit would present them one with the Holy Grail, aka, The Record Deal. In the world of music, this was like finding the golden ticket taking you straight into the Chocolate Factory. Alas, as we all are aware, nothing lasts forever and the steady decline of physical product left the labels scrambling for ways to make money. For those of you who still believe in signing here is a little business definition for you:

“The label’s interest in you is contingent upon how your band performs as a financial instrument. An advance is essentially the label loaning you money for a set period of time with the expectation that you’ll be able to repay the loan plus interest, thus making the label a Return On Investment (ROI).”

Going back to the current scene, we have all seen how labels have had a steady decrease in revenue these past few years; however this might be about to change. Warner Music Group announced today that their reported narrowing losses were only $46 million for the fiscal third quarter, compared to a $55 million loss a year ago. Why the change you ask? CEO Edgar Bronfman confirmed that  50% of revenue came from “areas of the business that did not exist in 2004″. 60% of currently signed WMG artists are signed to 360 or expanded rights deals.

Just in case you ever wanted to see a real record contract, the folks from Breaking Benjamin (the band just broke up) have so kindly released all the paperwork. The entire court filing is available thanks to Tunelab. The actual record contract starts on page 25 here. It takes a minute to download, but totally worth it.

-via Hypebot 

Red Hot Chili Peppers Reveal QR Code For Upcoming Album Release

By Eileen Tilson

In times these like these, where music technology is all over the place, it becomes crucial to stay ahead of the times. Avenues like Turntable.fm and interactive YouTube videos are only the tip of the iceburg of resources these days. For their long-awaited album release, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have jumped on the Tech Train as well. For this record, I’m With You, they have created their very own QR (abbreviated from Quick Response) code on their website that will  update with special offers leading up to the August 30 release date of the new RHCP release . Snap the QR code below with your smart phone app to stream the new single off the album “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie.”

OK Go Release New Interactive Music Video

OK Go teamed up with director Trish Sie (sister of lead singer Damian Kulash), the modern dance troupe Pilobolus and a team from Google to create the latest HTML5 Chrome Experiment and musical experience.The project showcases the latest in modern browser technology, using 12 separate windows to create a kaleidoscopic dance that is partially choreographed by the viewer. At the beginning of the experience, users are invited to type a message in English, Japanese, or any language using the Roman or Katakana alphabets, and the message is incorporated into the dance. The New York Times Magazine will run a photo feature on the making of “All Is Not Lost“ this Sunday, July 31.

To celebrate the video’s premiere, OK Go and Pilobolus will screen the clip and perform a live version of “All Is Not Lost” tonight at the Joyce Theatre in New York City. The pre-order for the video, which will be released on August 9, launches today at http://www.okgo.net . A 3D version of “All Is Not Lost” is also available beginning today, exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS™ system, Nintendo’s newest hand-held system which lets users experience 3D games, take 3D pictures and watch 3D videos without the need for special glasses.

Is Social Media Really Making You Fans?

By Eileen Tilson

There was a fascinating article in Hypebot today, that really nailed the reason why social media can actually be hurting your ability to get fans. Over the past week, Google+ has been all the rage, being called the “Facebook-killer” and even a “Twitter replacement,” but is it really? And now the music marketing blogs and articles are flowing, and again everyone is scrambling  to discover a new cool way to turn the spotlight on themselves. However, with all the noise, I can’t help but to wonder, are you hurting yourself and you band’s chance of actually getting real fan love? Every single day, my email gets flooded with press releases from folks who could not even pick me out of a police lineup asking for coverage, and yet about 50% of the time, they are not even playing in Atlanta. Doesn’t this seem a little squirrelly?

Social media is an amazing tool to use for engaging with fans, but if everyday you are plugging your shows, asking a fan to do something for you, etc., don’t you think that seems a bit excessive? Here’s some of the article:

Using Google+ as a marketing tool is EXACTLY THE SAME as using Facebook or Twitter; while they might be small differences with the interface or how to specifically do something, the actual value in using them only comes from exactly how you use it. Do you post interesting an engaging content? Do you thank fans and respond to them? Do you make being a fan or follower a rewarding experience? Awesome, you’re doing the right things.

The problem is, most musicians are not doing this. Nope, they sign up for each and every new thing thinking that JUST BECAUSE it’s the new thing, thinking it’s going to help them. So they post songs, spam friends with events, do the whole “wave my hands in the air look at me,” and then sit on the porch and pout because they don’t have any new “fans”.

Read the rest article here

Jane’s Addiction To Debut New Single “Irresistible Force” On KROQ FM, August 2

By Eileen Tilson

Alternative rock pioneers Jane’s Addiction will debut their official brand new single “Irresistible Force” Tuesday, August 2 on the world-famous KROQ morning radio show “The Kevin & Bean Show,” which will be available through all digital outlets August 3. The song – a swirling, moody and epic composition – is taken from the band’s much-anticipated new album THE GREAT ESCAPE ARTIST (Capitol Records). Marking the first new studio album in eight years by Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins, it is due out Tuesday, September 29.  The album also features “End To The Lies,” a pre-single teaser track which the band made available to their fans as a free download this past April.

For more information, check out this video of the band, which also features the first sneak preview of the new single “Irresistible Force.” Click on the 3D option to change how you view it – depending on whether you have a pair of 3D-glasses to hand, of course.

www.janesaddiction.com