Here at RouteNote we are now starting to add iTunes Artist Ping pages.
As you may have heard, Apple just launched a new service called Ping. A social network for music where iTunes music fans can follow their favorite artists and friends to discover music they’re talking about, listening to and downloading.
Ping has “People” accounts and “Artist” accounts. Artist accounts allow musicians to upload and create their own pages featuring their pictures, videos, tour-dates, music recommendations and a lot more.
RouteNote is very proud to announce that one of our artists, Lee Crossley, has just reached the number #2 slot in the Amazon Rock charts. This is an amazing effort from Lee, who has been working very hard gigging for the last 18 months. Im really glad it has finally paid off!
We thought that all RouteNote artists might be interested in a new free service from Amazon, called Artist Central.
Artist Central allows artists to add their own content to Amazon.com Artist Stores. This helps music fans on amazon.com discover artists and their work more easily, and leads to greater sales.
Users can upload photos, a bio, videos, and audio for promotional streaming, as well as utilize new features like a Twitter widget and customizable banners to create a robust, customized Artist Store on Amazon.com, ultimately helping customers discover artists and their work more easily. Check out the artist store for Band of Horses (www.amazon.com/bandofhorses) to see these features in action.
Artist Central is completely free to anyone selling their music on Amazon.com. Getting started is easy and only takes a few minutes. Just go to Artist Central (http://artistcentral.amazon.com) and sign in with your Amazon account to claim your artist. (If there is currently no artist store for your artist, you can click “Create a new Artist Store”.) Claims are usually approved within 1-2 days.
Once you have been approved, you can then add your photos, video, banners and more. Please review the Artist Page Banner Creation Tips and Guidelines when creating a banner for your artist store. The Guidelines can be downloaded from the banner upload tool on the Artist Central site.
Flyer is a new free concert discovery application that allows users to search their iTunes library and provide an up-to-date listing of shows for those artists based on the geographical area you define (see video demo below).
Presently in beta, the initial version of Flyer is a desktop-based app that utilizes the Bandsintown API, and works with both Macs and PCs using iTunes.
When you thought you could hear any more Lady Gaga, here is the new remix album! Since The Fame Monster has only eight tracks and she is starting to run out material, she has now put together an official remix album which features some of her classic tracks.
According to EW.com (via CoS), Lady Gaga will be releasing an official remix album simply title, Lady Gaga – The Remix, on August 3.
The international remix album currently has the following tracks:
01. Just Dance – Richard Vission Remix
02. Pokerface – LLG vs GLG Radio Mix Remix
03. Love Game – Chew Fu Remix ft. Marilyn Manson
04. Eh Eh – Frankmuzik Remix
05. Paparazzi – Stuart Price Remix
06. Boys Boys Boys – Manhatten Clique Remix
07. The Fame – Glam As You Remix
08. Bad Romance – Starsmith Remix
09. Telephone – Passion Pit Remix
10. Alejandro – Sound Of Arrows Remix
11. Dance In The Dark – Monarchy Remix
12. Just Dance – Deewaan Remix
13. Love Game – Robot To Mars Remix
14. Eh Eh – Pet Shop Boys Remix
15. Pokerface – Live From The Cherrytree House Remix
16. Bad Romance – Grum Remix
17. Telephone – Alphabeat Remix
Here at RouteNote we are always trying to improve our service and offer unsigned bands a service that cant find anywhere else. RouteNote is easily the most affordable digital music distributor available for unsigned bands.
Our Free option features:
Absolutely Zero Cost
Artists keep 90% of the net revenues
Artists keep 100% ownership
Worldwide distribution – iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Spotify and more.
Free UPC and ISRC codes
Anyone in the world can use RouteNote
RouteNote’s free option is currently used by more than 3,200 artists worldwide. RouteNote is the leading UK digital music distributor, so why not take a look for yourself.
A couple of days ago we wrote a quick article informing our artists that we will no longer be supporting Last.fm through our platform. Artists can now sign up directly to the Last.fm service and receive royalties, thus RouteNote was not required in this process.
I would like to thank all the press who picked up on this story:
Hypebot – RoutNote is pulling it’s clients tracks from music site Last.fm because it says royalty payments have been too low.
Digital Music News – CBS has experienced difficulty ramping premiums and creating a meaningful revenue picture.
Billboard Biz – RouteNote artists are free to join Last.fm on their own.
Last.fm has a great service and we really encourage our artists to join the service directly, then they can use the service for promotional purposes and earn more revenues.
Yesterday at the San Francisco MusicTech Summit a new company called Headliner.fm launched. Headliner.fm is a service that allows artists to cross promote music they like on their social networks and streams.
Who earned most in the US music industry last year? Here’s a rundown of the top ten, from Billboard (read the rest of their list here)
10 Metallica
$25,564,234
The release of “Guitar Hero – Metallica” backed up solid tour and back catalogue income for these vintage rock legends (their biggest selling track in 2009 was released in 1991!).
9 Kenny Chesney
$26,581,141
Country’s biggest star sold a lot of physical product and live tickets as well as 500,000 ringtones to achieve this total. Absolutely zero exposure this side of the pond though… 8 Coldplay
$27,326,562
$24 million in touring revenue, but only $1 million in album sales… still, not bad for a band so bland they have to rip off Joe Satriani.
7 Jonas Brothers
$33,596,576
Riding the Mouse train all the way to the bank. 6 Pink
$36,347,658
Pink is another artist who did well touring last year, with revenues of $35 million from live shows bolstered by lots of TV airtime and healthy album sales. 5 Britney Spears
$38,885,267
More touring, more album sales, more breakdowns, more wierd haircuts. I think it’s probably worth it for almost forty million dollars a year. She can retire before she’s 30 and just think about taking care of the kids… 4 AC/DC
$43,650,466
Over a million album sales last year, coupled with guess what? The 4th biggest grossing tour last year put these Aussie lads very firmly back in the black. 3 Madonna
$47,237,774
Leather skinned Yogi Madonna pulled the biggest tour of her career under her Live Nation deal.
2 Bruce Springsteen
$57,619,037
Making more money than ever before in his career, with highlights including a headline slot at Glastonbury and a performance at the Superbowl, Mr. S. shows us what the long tail really means. 1 U2
$108,601,283
A clever new 360 degree stadium stage setup means that the biggest earning band of last year could pack even more bodies into their stadium tour.
5 years ago the man who was arguably the most important person in music at that time and maybe ever, passed away.
Known widely as John Peel, John Ravenscroft was a journalist and the longest running member of the original Radio 1 team, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004. He was known for his broad taste in music and his honest and warm broadcasting style.
John’s life is being remembered with events in London on Saturday 10th, including Bloomsbury bowling lanes in Holborn. The event costs a perfectly reasonable £5 and kicks off at 4pm until late into the night. The musical line-up is very Peel-esque with no less than 20 bands for your open-minded musical pleasure. With acts including Tender Trap, Monster Island and Beatnik Filmstars. On top of that 14 different DJs will be filling the many different floors if all you wanna do is have a good old dance to the golden Peel-confirmed oldies. The Georgean Theatre will entertain you similarly for the same price with bands including Shrug, Das Wanderlust, Persil and Temujin, with DJ sets from Nicky Peacock and Rob Wall, with more to be decided. Other events, all on October 10th, include Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth, and a broadcast from BBC Radio 1 1300-1500.
