Recent Posts in industry
February 2, 2010
El-P gives the official word on DEF JUX ("hiatus")
Def Jux's Camu Tao (RIP)
Dear Inter-web, fans, friends and JUX family,El-P's letter continued below...People keep asking me what's up with JUX. There's been some talk, there have been some rumors. Some half true, some way off. Reports of our demise have been mildly exaggerated. Here's what it really all boils down to:
Continue reading "El-P gives the official word on DEF JUX ("hiatus")"
Posted by brooklynvegan at 11:49 PM | Comments (3)
January 25, 2010
Ticketmaster-Live Nation approved, but with changes...
The U.S. Justice Department approved Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc.'s merger with Live Nation Inc., while imposing conditions on their plan to create a new music- industry power.Crazy.Under terms accepted by both companies, Ticketmaster must license its software to AEG Live, its largest customer. Ticketmaster also must sell its Paciolan unit to a Comcast Corp. joint venture or another suitable buyer. The new company also will be banned for 10 years from retaliating against any concert site that signs a ticket-sales contract with a competitor.
The $889 million merger "will change the landscape of the live entertainment business," said Allen Grubman, a New York- based music industry attorney whose clients include Madonna, Elton John and U2. "Artists are focusing tremendously on live performance because that's an area where there is still a lot of money to be made." [Business Week]
Posted by brooklynvegan at 6:00 PM | Comments (48)
January 13, 2010
Pierced Arrows & Lullabye Arkestra touring (dates), on Vice Records (who is also putting out new Growing) -- MP3s
DOWNLOAD: Pierced Arrows - Paranoia (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Growing - Hormones (MP3)
Pierced Arrows, the garage punk trio from former Dead Moon members Fred and Toody Cole, are putting out their second LP, Descending Shadows, on February 2nd through Vice Records. The album artwork is posted above, as is the first single "Paranoia." The song's video is below.
Pierced Arrows are touring North America this February and March, including some dates with Lullabye Arkestra (whose recent album Threats/Worship is out on Vice). The bands play NYC-area shows on March 5th at Mercury Lounge and March 6th at Maxwell's. Tickets for Maxwell's go on sale Wednesday at noon. Mercury Lounge tickets go on sale AmEx presale Wednesday at noon. General sale starts Friday at noon.
Vice Records also recently signed BK band Growing, for a new record, Pumps, that's coming out April 6th.
Work on PUMPS began March 2009 at Ocropolis Studio in Brooklyn and was painstakingly arranged and mixed over a period of nine months. In between bouts of working at the studio, 2009 found Growing touring Japan and Italy for the first time, concluding the year with a second appearance at All Tomorrow's Parties and joining Fuck Buttons for a national US tour. 2010 tour dates to be announced soon."Hormones" off that record is posted above.
The very cool album art for the new Growing, and all Pierced Arrows tour dates (and video) below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 9:00 AM | Comments (4)
December 24, 2009
an interview w/ NYC talent booker Rich Hall (1000 Knives)
by BBG with photos by Samantha Marble
Rich Hall, aka 1000 Knives, is a NYC-based booker that is responsible for some of the most forward-thinking hardcore shows in NYC since he started working at CBGB in the early 2000s. After CBGB closed, Rich took a break, but has been back booking shows independently again for about a year.
During his career he's booked early shows by Isis, Botch, Daughters, The Red Chord, Blacklisted, and many, many more. Recently he put together the upcoming Disembodied show at Santos as well as the recent (and possibly final?) Burnt By The Sun show at Cake Shop (pictures here and here) which was a co-production with Brooklyn Vegan... a relationship that continues into the future as BV & 1000 Knives are proud to present three more shows together in January alone. Check out the list at the bottom of our interview with Rich...
Continue reading "an interview w/ NYC talent booker Rich Hall (1000 Knives)"
Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:03 AM | Comments (19)
December 22, 2009
Bob Lefsetz reveals he has Leukemia
"I've got it." [Bob Lefsetz]
Posted by brooklynvegan at 10:42 PM | Comments (11)
December 8, 2009
Priestess leave RCA for Tee Pee - album set for 2010 release (MP3), on tour now w/ Naam & Early Man (NYC Saturday)
by BBG
DOWNLOAD: Priestess - "Ladykiller" (MP3)
Priestess at Webster Hall, opening for Pentagram (more by Toby Tenenbaum)
Priestess are prior to, um, Prior to The Fire, their NEW LP for their new home, Tee Pee Records. The band released Hello Master in 2005, and are prepping the new joint for a 2/2/10 release, though the record was completed more than a year ago:
The record was completed in the fall of 2008... and we were extremely proud, everyone involved, of what we've done and checked it in the label and it was the same story again. 'Well look guys, we can see that you love this and it's a great new direction and you guys have matured, but we still don't hear a song that we want that we can use as a single. Can you guys continue to write more songs?'Shockingly peaceful actually!... read more about it at ChartAttack, and download the first track (single?) above.And we were basically like, 'Uhh... No. This is it. We've got a good record here and we don't want to do anything forced.'
You can't force write a single, it's impossible to do that. At least it's impossible for us. We're not Tin Pan Ally songwriters; we're a rock band.
Priestess and RCA Records decided to go their separate ways. But unlike the long and nasty splits between band and label you always here about, the break between Priestess and RCA was actually peaceful.
Priestess will join Early Man and Naam at The Charleston on Saturday, 12/12. It's one of a few remaining dates before the end of the year.
Naam recently posted part one of their ongoing tour diary from the road with Priestess and Early Man. Dig on that here. Remaining Priestess dates and the show flyer are below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 2:39 PM | Comments (15)
December 6, 2009
the label connections of Slayer-->Passion Pit-->the Antlers--> Local Natives --> Freelance Whales --> Tokyo Police Club
Local Natives @ BV loft - CMJ 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)
Frenchkiss Records is celebrating its 10th year in existence. Started by Les Savy Fav's Syd Butler in 1999 as a way for his band to release their second album, the label has grown to include over 25 bands with over 40 releases. Most recently they've found success with The Dodos, The Antlers, and of course, Passion Pit who are definitely now pretty "huge". Though still on Frenchkiss, Passion Pit are also shared with Columbia Records (home of Mew, MGMT, The Ting Tings, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, and... Slayer).
And it continues. Frenchkiss announced this week that they signed not one, but two CMJ 2009 buzz bands - both with fine new albums and impressive live shows to match. The NYC label will release California band Local Natives' Gorilla Manor (already out in Europe) on February 26, 2010. They also just signed NYC's Freelance Whales, though like with Passion Pit, that deal is shared with someone else - Mom+Pop Records to be exact, aka. the label that also just snagged Tokyo Police Club (who share a manager with Passion Pit).
The Antlers headline Bowery Ballroom on December 15th. Get tickets before they sell out. Uninhabitable Mansions and Sharon Van Etten (who is sure to sing with the headliners too) open the show. Their only other scheduled show at the moment is March 3rd at Union Chapel in London.
Local Natives are still on tour with Fool's Gold and Edward Sharpe. They visited NYC in November which wasn't long after CMJ when the band played two BV parties - one at Pianos and the one in a loft. Updated dates below.
Freelance Whales are currently on tour with Fanfarlo. That tour ends in NYC on December 18th at Webster Hall. Tickets are still on sale. Freelance Whales also played a BV CMJ show @ Pianos.
Tim Harrington, when not belting out rock songs and climbing over the crowd on a ladder in his underwear as the frontman of Les Savy Fav, makes a "line of patterned products" called Deadly Squire. This Sunday (TODAY), December 6th, Deadly Squire is having a huge sale at Bird in Williamsburg (Brooklyn). Flyer below.
Slayer is going on tour with Megadeth and Testament in January. A "Raining Blood" video with all the other stuff below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 9:15 AM | Comments (1)
November 25, 2009
Live Nation CEO on (not) being hacked by brokers who do use bots to get tickets though (and how NIN is good)
From: Bob Lefsetz
To: Nathan HubbardIs this true? That buyers of DMB and Phish tickets at livenation.com were redirected to coasttocoast.com?
___________________________________
From: Nathan Hubbard
Sorry, been traveling.
No it's not to my knowledge. Have not had fan complaints about this and we monitor issues in the email and call center hourly. We DID find out that a couple of these broker sites including gotthetix.com were using the Live Nation name in their Google ads and displaying the ads when someone searched "Live Nation." This happened in late June. We filed a trademark complaint with Google soon after. But no redirect from the buy button.
We do of course know that many brokers get their tickets using bots that vault them to the front of the line. It sucks for us (we have to build a costly infrastructure that can essentially handle an attack), and more importantly it sucks for the fan (lack of available inventory). We continue to work on technologies that thwart these efforts, and dynamic pricing to address the underlying economic reasons why the secondary market exists.
Thanks for highlighting the great stuff NIN does via Musictoday (part of Live Nation Ticketing). These really are the two options to address the issue; restrict transferability and ask the fan to jump through a few hoops to prove their identity, or price the tickets at what the market is willing to pay. They aren't mutually exclusive
Posted by brooklynvegan at 4:14 PM | Comments (24)
November 19, 2009
MySpace buys Imeem, Hulu makes a deal w/ EMI, Beatles (now on an Apple USB) song sellers to remain shut down
The Washington Post reports, that "MySpace will acquire most of the assets of iMeem for a purchase price of around $1 million in cash."
Meanwhile, as the NY Times points out, "Hulu, the joint online venture between NBC, Fox and ABC that mostly offers free TV shows and movies, is about to start singing a different tune: music videos. On Wednesday the company plans to announce a somewhat limited deal with EMI, the smallest of the four major music labels, to give a 'channel' on Hulu to the crooner Norah Jones."
EMI is also in the news for another reason today, and that's because of their sucess in getting rid of rogue Beatles music sellers (or something like that)...
Two Web sites that sold songs by The Beatles for 25 cents apiece should remain shut down indefinitely, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.Which brings me to those cool green apple things pictured above. THOSE are "exquisitely crafted, apple-shaped USB drives loaded with the critically acclaimed re-mastered audio for The Beatles' 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs' visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK album art, rare photos and expanded liner notes." I want.U.S. District Judge John F. Walter issued a preliminary injunction against BlueBeat.com and Basebeat.com at the request of music company EMI Group. The injunction prohibits the sites and their owner, Hank Risan, from streaming or selling songs by the Fab Four and other popular artists, including Lily Allen and Coldplay. [AP]
Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:21 PM | Comments (9)
November 17, 2009
Carrie Brownstein talks to indie label owners
Chris Swanson (Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans): I'm not sure that people don't know labels now. I still think the music geeks know labels.Check out the whole thing at Carrie's NPR blog.
Portia Sabin (Kill Rock Stars): I think labels are caught in a cultural bind: No one really wants to know what a label does; it's like the sausage factory. Even long-established bands have a hard time talking about what labels do.
Gerard Cosloy (Matador): I mean, HoZac couldn't have a singles club otherwise.
Mac McCaughan (Merge): I'm one of those people that doesn't pay attention, either, I guess; I don't know what HoZac is!
Carrie Brownstein: I don't know HoZac, either.
Gerard Cosloy: GOOGLE THAT S---.
Mac McCaughan: GTS!
Maggie Vail (Kill Rock Stars): http://www.hozacrecords.com/
Posted by brooklynvegan at 11:22 AM | Comments (3)