Lola, Media and Marketing Specialist

Weekend Round Up: 2012 Billboard Awards

Last night was the 2012 BIllboard Music Awards held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. I’m sure no one is shocked that Adele was the big winner of the night, taking home 12 awards including the coveted Top Artist award. The night was largely dominated by the Majors and their artists, but there were a couple of “Indie” wins last night including Jason Aldean, Lil Wayne, and Nikki Minaj. LMFAO kicked the party off right with a string of their hottest songs and Chris Brown performed his hit, Turn Up the Music, later on in the show, but the most “interesting” performance had to have been Usher. I didn’t get it, but thankfully, we don’t have to get it for his talent to translate in his performance.

The highlights of the night for me were the tributes to the late Whitney Houston and MCA from the Beastie Boys, as well as the tribute to the very much alive Stevie Wonder, who was awarded the Billboard Icon Award this year. John Legend and Jordin Sparks belted out amazing renditions of “The Greatest Love of All” and “I Will Always Love You” while Ceelo Green and Goodie Mob honored the late MCA with their rendition of “Fight For Your Right To Party.”

Overall, it was a good night for music. Congrats to all the winners! For the full list, click here:

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Weekend RoundUp: Festival Season 2012

Finally, it’s starting to feel Summer! With summer, comes some amazing concerts!  Coachella and SXSW have passed, but there are still so many amazing festivals on the horizon. We’ve broken it down for you guys month-by-month so you can plan your summer accordingly. Happy Camping!

…..wait….do people still camp at these things anymore?

MAY 

The Bamboozzle 2012 – Ashbury Park, NJ - May 18th-20th
Ever want to go to an Ocean Front festival? Now’s your chance. Bamboozle is a three-day festival, with a main stage on the beach and eight other stages covering the best in mainstream pop, rock, metal, comedy and more. The festival evolved out of the Skate and Surf Festival, prominent years ago. This year, Bamboozle is bringing back favorites from that era including a re-creation of the Skate and Surf in the Convention Hall Complex as well as a $10,000.00 B-Boy Challenge.  Artist’s this year include: Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters,  Blink 182, Skrillex, Incubus, Mac Miller, and over 50 other artists.

Also in May:
Hangout Music Festival – Gulf Shores, Alabama – May 18th-20th
Electric Daisy Carnival NY 2012 – East Rutherford, NJ – May 19th-20th
Sasquatch! 2012 – The Gorge, WA – May 25th-28th

JUNE 

Bonaroo Music Festival – Manchester, Tennessee – June 7th-10th
Bonaroo is a hallowed named among festival lovers. If you couldn’t tell back in January, Bonaroo is one of the major festivals that we’ve been keeping our eye out for. The festival is the definition of eclectic. You can find almost any style of musician on any one of the four days of the festival. This years line-up features:   Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foster the People, The Roots, SBTRKT, The Shins, and the Alabama Shakes, I’m ready for it to be June already!

Also in June:
Vans Warped Tour 2012 – Nationwide – June 15th-August 5th
Wanderlust 2012 – Stratton, VT – June 21st – June 24th
Spring Awakening 2012 – Chicago, IL – June 16th-17th

JULY

Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL – July 13th-15th
The three-day event is a chance to catch 40 of the best independent acts of today’s music scene all in one place. You can catch Hip Hop underground giants like A$ap Rocky, Big K.R.I.T. and, Kendrick Lamar. If Indie and Electronic Music’s more your scene, Atlas Sound, Beach House, Dirty Projectors, OuterMinds and Wild Flag will all be in attendance.

Also in July:
All Good Music Festival – Thornville, OH – July 19th-July 20th
The Underground Music Showcase – Denver Colorado – July 18th-22nd
Firefly Music Festival 2012 – Dover, Delaware – July 20th-22nd

AUGUST

Lollapalooza – Chicago, IL – August 3rd-5th

Do I really need to tell you what Lollapalooza is? If your even half the music lover that we are at Altavoz, I’m sure you this epic festival needs no introduction. Grant Park is going to be the craziest this year with artists like Black Sabbath, The Black Keys, Frank Ocean, Florence + the Machine, Childish Gambino, and the list goes on. Watch the video below for the full line up, and get your tickets now……if they’re not already sold out.

Also in August:
Outside Lands 2012 – San Francisco, CA – August 10th-12th
Rock The Bells 2012 – Nationwide – TBA
Electric Zoo 2012 – Randall Island Park, New York City, NY – August 31st-September 2nd

Weekend Round-Up: In The News Around The World

Music is global. It’s probably the greatest gift that music can give us, that is, the ability to connect with people from all different walks of life from every corner of the world.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what’s going on in our immediate vicinity, that we forget to check on our friends in other parts of the world. Since Altavoz is a global distributor, it seems only natural that we take a break once in a while from the American Indie landscape, and give you guys a peak into the Indie scene around the world.

Record Store: The European Way
As you all know, April 21 marked the release of Music That Changes The World, to all retailers. It also just so happened to be Record Store Day 2012! Record Store Day isn’t just celebrated here in the US. People all over the world participate in this global event, after all, Indies are everywhere! Our friends over in Switzerland, Luxembourg, and  Belgium all participated this year for the first time. France, who’s only in their second year of joining in on the festivities (they call it Disquaire Day) had over 176 stores participating  and selling over 150 exclusive records and rarities to the masses.

Jack White getting ready to boot Adele from the number one spot on the U.K. Charts 
Jack White‘s first solo effort, Blunderbuss took the #1 spot from his fellow XL Recordings artist, Adele yesterday night on the UK album charts. Also noteworthy is that three of the top 6 albums on the UK Charts are from Indie Artists! Go indie!!

Australian iTunes getting the Probe 
Apple and Microsoft are just two of the companies in Australia being asked by the country’s government  to explain why Australians pay a significantly larger amount for music and movies then in other parts of the world. Private investigations have shown Australian albums as having, on average, a 73% markup on albums that are also available in the United States. Companies in similar ruts with geographical pricing have tried to blame differing operation costs and the fact that Australia is a much smaller economy than the United States, but we’ll soon know the truth after the Australian House of Representatives conducts their investigation.

Billboard 2012 Latin Music Awards 

Last Thursday night, Billboard’s 2012 Latin Music Awards were happening in the BankUnited Center in Downtown Miami, the undisputed home of Latin American Music in the United States. Big winners of the night included Don Omar and Prince Royce, both tied with eight awards, Shakira, and Pitbull. Marc Anthony also received a billboard Hall of Fame honor that night.

R.I.P. Todd Simko

Todd Simko was, the guitarist for Pure, as well as a producer and engineer, is presumed to have drowned on April 29th after going missing. Witnesses say he was dragged under the waves. His body has yet to be found, but his family has confirmed his death. He was 45.

Weekend Round-Up: Coachella

coachella (Photo credit: joshc)

It’s only been three days into Coachella and already, I’m feeling depressed. Even though it would probably be better for us emotionally to focus more on the happenings in our industry that make us feel less sad (like Spotify losing $59 million dollars, or the new digital music rates set by the RIAA, NMPA, and DiMA that are supposed to bring in more revenue for artists) I think I’d much rather reminisce on Coachella and promise myself, once again, that I’ll be there next year. You’ve probably been hearing what we’ve heard, that weekend one at Coachella was pretty epic (Reappearance of TuPac epic enough?). Here’s some of the highlights from weekend 1, and you can keep up with the festival on your own over at Coachella’s YouTube site. The fun’s only just beginning.

Swedish House Mafia
I’ve never been one for DJ performances, but Swedish House Mafia‘s set was so good, the audience was stripping off the layers of clothing that were supposed to keep them warm so they could move to remixed versions of songs from Coldplay, Gotye, Florence and the Machine, and Diddy Dirty Money.  Sounds like a party, and once again, I wish I was there.

West Coast Love
During Snoop Dogg‘s set Sunday night at the festival, 2Pac digitally rose from the dead in hologram form and joined Snoop and fellow west coast rapper Dr.Dre in a performance of “2 of Amerikas Most Wanted” and “Gangsta Party.” This whole performance might seem completely random and weird in hindsight, but I’m pretty sure at the time, people were losing their minds. Of course 2Pac wasn’t the only guest star, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, 50 cent, and of course Dre’s protegé, Eminem, were all in attendance.

Radiohead
What’s not to love about Radiohead? By all accounts the set was amazing, and featured some really cool set tricks. Below are some of my favs of the set Saturday night. I’ll count on your YouTubing skills to find links to the rest.

The Weeknd
The elusive Toronto native is truly an independent artist, and earned himself a nighttime slot at Coachella without having any official releases, but rather leveraging the hype surrounding his extremely popular mix tape releases. If you’re not familiar with The Weeknd, you might as well play catch up now. He’s set to perform again next week at Coachella and will follow his Coachella debut with a U.S. Tour this summer.

Weekend Round-Up: The Internet, your music archive.

Beyoncé is just one of the many artist’s utilizing social media to promote their brands and engage their fans. Beyoncé’s new tumblr features personal and candid shots of the singer as well as great archival photos and videos from her past. It’s a very new thing for artists to participate in generating viral content for their fans. For a long time, we’ve relied on other fans sharing videos and pictures they’ve taken of their favorite musicians. However, the relationship between the artist and the fan is changing slowly. We used to put our favorite artists on a pedestal, now we expect them to engage with us in the ongoing social conversation that is Facebook, Twitter, and the web in general. The Internet keeps track of all these little exchanges for us, so we can look back on them and remember why we love the artists we love.

Rare footage of Nine Inch Nails performing at Dance Party, USA in the 1980s
Courtesy of Pitchfork, we’ve got some great footage of Nine Inch Nails performing their debut single “Down In It” on the the all-American dance show. I’m sure fans of the band and/or Trent Reznor will love this footage.

Trent Reznor even tweeted about the video: Many years ago, a young and naive Nine Inch Nails were asked what TV shows they’d be interested in appearing on. As a joke (and likely drunk), they thought of the most absurd choice they could come up with at the time. They were then informed their bluff had been called and were actually booked on said show… They hopped in their Honda Civic touring vehicle (hatchback) and travelled many miles to (I think) NJ for the big show. They had a laugh making fun of the people, their fashion choices and hairstyles. Life was good. Years later, the Internet is here… There’s a moral in there somewhere. Come to think of it, Skrillex may indeed owe me some publishing on that hairdo…

G.O.O.D. Music Fridays are back?
From August to December 2010, Kanye West launched G.O.O.D. Music Fridays where he would release new, fully mastered singles completely free for our listening enjoyment. Now, it seems like G.O.O.D. Fridays are back. This Friday, Mercy, the first single off the Good Music compilation album will be released. The single will feature Kanye West, 2chainz, Big Sean, and Pusha T.   Last week, Ye released Theraflu, to much fanfare in the blogosphere. Take a listen to Theraflu below, and take a look at this throwback of Jay-Z listening to Kanye West’s Big Brother for the first time.

Amy Winehouse, Pre-Drugs
An amazing performance from the late musical goddess, allegedly before all the drugs. Regardless of her state of mind, these videos are a testament to her talent. R.I.P. Amy.

Weekend Roundup: The Academy of Country Music Awards

Yesterday was the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards, just in case you were living under a rock and missed it. Las Vegas’s MGM Grand was teeming with the hottest artist’s in country music. I wasn’t at all surprised by the winners (Taylor Swift never fails to win something), but I was pleasantly surprised by the great performances. I find that country music award shows are one of the few big music events left that you can guarantee the singers actually know how to sing.The ACM’s had great hosts in Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire, who kept the show fun and light all night long. Reba can do no wrong in my eyes, except for those few instances in the past where her hair got the best of her. We’re just going to overlook that. Here’s a complete list of all the winners and some of the great performances of the night.

Complete List of ACM winners 2012

Taylor Swift – Entertainer of the Year
Blake Shelton – Top Male Vocalist
Miranda Lambert – Top Female Vocalist
Lady Antebellum – Top Vocal Group
Thompson Square – Top Vocal Duo
Scotty McCreery – Top New Artist
Miranda Lambert’s “Four the Record” – Album of the Year
Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson’s “Don’t You Wanna Stay” – Single record of the year & Vocal Event of
Eli Young Band’s “Crazy Girl” – Song of the Year
Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” – Video of the Year
Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson’s “Don’t You Wanna Stay” – Vocal event of the year

and now, the performances…

Carrie Underwood performing “Good Girl.”

The Band Perry – Postcard from Paris

Weekend RoundUp: The Art of the YouTube Singer

One of the greatest resources YouTube provides, is a platform for the everyday person. Its intuitive interface has made it a pinnacle of both big business and indie music strategies since its inception in early 2005. That being said, there is a lot of “junk” on YouTube that music lovers have to sift through in order to get to the good stuff. Lucky for you, there are people like me who love to dig for buried hidden gems. Take a look at some of my favorite YouTube singers and see if you can learn a thing or two. Social Music Marketing is definitely going to be the building block of many artist’s strategies from now on, so it’s time to get familiar. Sometimes, all it takes, really, is just some talent and a video camera.

Gabe Bondoc
@GabeBondoc

Simply put, he is the love of my YouTube life. Imagine melted butter on top of a tall stack of the best pancakes you’ve ever had with a sprinkle of cinnamon and warm maple syrup…..that’s his voice to me. He could literally sing anything, and I would like it. Now why is he not making millions? I couldn’t tell you. He covers songs and makes them completely his own, which is what keeps me going back to his YouTube page on a regular basis.  While doing a number of amazing cover songs, he also sneaks in a couple of originals, collabos with other YouTube artists, and of course drops in updates on his upcoming shows and music releases. This guy is a smart and talented man trying to make it on his own. Check out his videos, and join the Gabe Bondoc movement!

Tori Kelly
@ToriKelly 

This cute little pocket of sunshine has a powerhouse voice. She’s been on a slew of talent shows from the most recent revival of star search to America’s most talented kids. Don’t let her tiny stature fool you, this girl sings like she’s been through something. Like Gabe, she features originals on her YouTube channel, and gives a peek into her music production skills, which is really cool. Check her out at her YouTube Channel: ToriKelly 

Scott Dangerfield & Crash Country Music
@CrashCounty

I first heard about Scott Dangerfield, when he was the most amazing audition of Season 10 of American Idol and then mysteriously disappeared soon after. I was sure he would make the top 10 and was actually upset when I didn’t see him at all during Hollywood Week. Thank goodness for Google, because I wouldn’t have known why he chose to drop out (he’s a teacher and didn’t want to leave his kids, awww) and how amazing his band, Crash Country, was. The band – hailing from Milwaukee,WI –  consists of:

Scott Dangerfield – Vocals
Jake Brenwall – Guitar
Aaron Cox – Guitar
Patrick Gonyo – Drums
Christopher Bartel – Bass,

Sid Sriram
@SidSriram

Another voice that makes me melt, Sid Sriam got his start in music with Indian Classical Music, an artform onto itself. He’s come a long way, adopting contemporary urban/pop music sensibilities and never looking back. I always love artists who don’t necessarily look like their voice, which is definitely the case here. It’s an added pleasure/surprise on top of his already amazing voice. Check out his YouTube Channel: SidSriramMusic.

Get Hip, Berklee did (He’ll be graduating from the famed Music Institute this Spring)

Jayyesslee
@Jayessleemusic 

These Korean Australian twins, are taking the world by storm, and are doing it with with a Canon EOS 7, YouTube, and a Gmail account. They started out in 2008, with their shared YouTube account, and now have over 300,000 subscribers worldwide. They’ve toured all over the world, including the US, Australia, and Asia and they’re fanbase is growing. A great testiment to what a great voice and an engaging marketing strategy can do for the struggling artist. Take notes guys, take notes.

Weekend Round Up – Until next year SXSW

One of our favorite festivals came to an end yesterday. South x Southwest always unearths great talent, ideas, and generally cool stuff that we don’t ever think to look for on our own. For instance, Nike turned a whole building into a giant-sized version of their new energy tracking FuelBand wristbands. Seriously, that could only happen at SXSW. If you were down in Austin last week, hopefully you got to see some of the events I was anticipating this year. If not, all I can say is, sorry and thank goodness for YouTube. Most of the highlights, such as the Bruce Springsteen’s Keynote and Jay-Z‘s live-streamed show, can all be found there. The beauty of SXSW is that it’s a platform where representatives from the industry are able to directly connect with fans. Nowadays, with all the technological noise that’s separating fans from the music, it’s always exciting to be on the ground, face-to-face with these companies who make access to the music we love possible. For musicians and music lovers of the independent mindset, this is what we’ve been trying to do all along! Now, big businesses are catching up to our way of thinking.

This trend can be seen among all the new (and existing) music apps that are sprouting up, especially this week at South x Southwest 2012, hoping to be THE music/entertainment app of 2012. Here are some of the contenders:

AudioAir - App that lets you watch muted televisions in public places, potentially allowing you to be in a venue with multiple TVs and tune in to different stations, or simply tune them out and talk to the people around you.

Wahwah.fm – Let’s you utilize stored music on an iPhone device and turn it into an internet radio station that you can broadcast worldwide.

Sonarflow - Takes your music, and helps you rediscover those songs you forgot you even had by displaying the graphically as bubbles.  You can explore your music by genre, artist, and the list goes on. It’s great for people with a crazy music library who always finds themselves listening to the same 30 songs.

TuneUp - For a fee, TuneUp will go through your iTunes and Windows Media library and clean up the metadata tags, remove duplicate songs, fill in missing album art, and retrieve information on concerts, artist bios, and music videos.

This is just a taste. To see a full list of all the apps present at SXSW (and their were a lot), visit the festival’s website.

Good bye SXSW 2012, we can’t wait to see you next year!

Weekend Round-Up – SXSW

While we throw ourselves dutifully into another week at the office, the young, hip, and unemployed are making their way down to Austin for South x Southwest 2012. This year, the festival runs from March 8th – 18th and features some of the best new and familiar talents in film, music, and interactive entertainment. We’ve already missed a few exciting things, like the amazing crowd-funded music video Girl Walk // All Day ,  but below you’ll find my personal list for the rest of this week at SXSW 2012, which includes all the events I would have lined up for if I too could afford to go gallivanting on down to the Lone Star State for a couple days. We can’t all be there unfortunately, but at least we have Google and can live vicariously through Facebook Pics.

Monday 

No More (Music) Business As Usual.
Musician Billy Corgan (the Smashing Pumpkins) spoke with futurist Brian Solis about how social media and other technology continues to revolutionize how musicians and other artists distribute their work.

Jay-Z at ACL Live.
American Express brought the hip-hop superstar to town for a performance on Monday. Free tickets were given away to qualifying folks with film, gold or interactive badges. It was also sponsored by YouTube and streamed live online at youtube.com/americanexpress and on a digital billboard at Sixth and Red River streets.

How To be Strategically Unlikable Online
Being social isn’t the same thing as being likeable. In some cases, they are actually opposite. In this session, panelists talked about the one principle that every successful person already knows, yet the one that has eluded so many brands … why likeability is actually the golden trump card, and why brands are historically so bad at it.

Tuesday

Next Stage Social Media Music Marketing
The lines between the digital world and the music world have blurred. Every minute a band signs up for Twitter, posts something on Facebook or updates their website reaching millions of adoring fans around the world (aka possible consumers). It’s no secret that music is a great way to reach and connect with new consumers, but today’s landscape offers more than just connections.

Online Personality Disorder
Resumes and Profiles - An editor, researcher, and program manager walk into a bar. They are looking to help talented people who have personality and technical chops. As they down a Shiner, they look for a coherent story that tells who you are, what you’ve done, and where you can go.

I May Like You but I’m Not In Like With You
In this session, panelists looked closely at examples of a deeper, more balanced value exchange between consumers and brands. We will discuss strategies to uncover what your brand has to offer, and what your most valuable customers can give in return.

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Weekend RoundUp – Branding Your Band

This is not what we mean by "branding"

Branding - The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. 

Branding can be a magical thing, especially for musicians who don’t just want to be big, but want to build a loyal following. Most artists think it’s about making good music, but most of time fans are looking for more. They want to feel like they really know their favorite bands inside and out. If your band doesn’t have a clear personality, it may be hard for your fans to really connect, or even just differentiate you from the thousands of other bands/artists out there. That’s where branding comes in. At its core, it’s what makes your band a standout from the pack.

Recently, Facebook released a statement that as of March 31st, bands and business pages will revert to the Timeline format. I think this is a great move for branding in general, as it brings a personal, individual feel back to the Facebook page. However, many people don’t agree because now Facebook can’t be the cheap alternative to a full-blown website that it has become. There will be no more pages within the Facebook page linking to store fronts and other band information. It’s basically a wake up call to bands that are just going through the motions, and not creating effective marketing strategies for Facebook.

Thank goodness Altavoz is here! We’ve been telling people all along, digital isn’t the only way to go. Since it’s always changing, it’s important that your branding/marketing strategy is based on emotions  between you and your fans rather than online widgets and distracting technology. Here’s a list of the top 4 ways to best Brand your Band! ( I would have done a top 5 list, but 5 seems so cliché). Hopefully you’re doing some of this already, but if not, take the free advice and get moving.

1.Blogging/Twitter
I feel like this always comes up, and is the digital presence a band should be required to have if they want to communicate and connect with fans on a personal level. @KanyeWest is the perfect example. From his artistic strategy of following less than 10 people at one time on Twitter, to his late night rants about saving the world with some justice league-inspired team of artists, fans get a real sense of what Kanye is like when he’s home in his Prada PJs tweaking the designs of his Fall 2012 Womenswear collection. And his fans love it.

Crepe Chiffon? Oh Kanye, only you could tweet that

Blogging also can be a great facilitator of repeat interaction with fans. If your fans know when you post something, and that you regularly contribute to your blog, soon enough you’ll have fans come back of their own accord to check for new content. For instance, giveaways are a great way to engage fans and have them checking back to see if there’s any updates on contest rules or if they’ve selected a winner.

2. Videos that people actually want to watch
The beauty of all the technology in the world right now, is that it’s really so easy that anyone can do it. Instead of waiting to get the funds to make some weird, trippy music video that doesn’t match your lyrics at all, load up the video app on your phone and record an impromptu jam session with your band. Or even just a behind the scenes clip of what it’s like on the tour bus. All those things are simple enough to do, and are more likely going to be sent and shared on the Internet which is exactly what you want. Doing this regularly keeps fans coming back to your YouTube channel and checking for updates. My personal favorite is Crash County Music.  Every time I’m on YouTube, I always pay an extended visit to their channel.

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