"A group of DJs allegedly used stolen credit cards to buy their own songs on iTunes and Amazon, boosting their chart ratings and netting them nearly £200,000 in royalties.

The nine musicians are believed to have provided 19 songs, described by police as of 'indeterminate quality', to a distribution company which uploaded them to the music websites.

They then used 1,500 stolen or cloned US and British credit cards to buy almost £500,000-worth of the songs.

As the tunes soared up the charts, more and more people bought them and the DJs even came to the attention of big record producers - until they were arrested yesterday. [Metro.co.uk]

"Live Nation announced that it is expanding its "No Service Fee" program to every single available ticket in each of its amphitheaters this Wednesday, June 10th, for 24 hours only, exclusively at LiveNation.com.

Last week's debut of "No Service Fee Wednesday" generated a sales spike 500% higher than the average number of tickets sold on a typical Wednesday, as music fans everywhere took advantage of Live Nation's no service fee offer, which helped more concertgoers get to more shows for less money."

by Black Bubblegum

Black Anvil at Lit Lounge (more by Paul Birman)

First Howl, and now Black Anvil have signed to Relapse Records! Congrats guys! Relapse will re-release the badass Time Insults The Mind. No word on future recording plans.

In the very near future (Sunday, June 7), Black Anvil will join Salome, Woe, and Snake Sustaine at Show No Mercy at Public Assembly. The band is also playing July 11th at Rockstar Bar.

Howl recently signed with Relapse as well, and will play the BV-BBG Northside Showcase on June 14th. Tickets are still available, or you can get in with your Northside badge.

Check out a live Black Anvil video (again) below...

Continue reading "Black Anvil sign to Relapse -- Show No Mercy this Sunday"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Liturgy - "Ecstatic Rite" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Howl - "Oma" (MP3)

Howl

A few months after wowing me at SXSW (twice), Relapse Records have announced the signing of Providence's Howl! Congrats dudes and lady!

Howl is one of many greats lined up for the BV-BBG Northside Show at Club Europa on June 14th. Make sure that night is free to receive a severe pummeling from:

* Doomriders
* Zoroaster
* Clouds
* Sourvein
* Javelina
* Cough
* Howl
* Wetnurse
* Liturgy

Liturgy dropped their 2008 LP Immortal Life on Infinite Limbs (get it here), but have completed recording on their next LP, Renihilation, which will see will release on the mighty 20 Buck Spin (!!!) this fall. "Ecastatic Rite" is from that LP, and downloadable above.

The band will be playing a double header on June 14th, having also lined up an acoustic (!) gig earlier in the day along with 47 others as part of Todd P's Unamplified Acoustic BBQ.

And you can catch Liturgy TONIGHT, Friday, June 5th, at Market Hotel. They're on the bill with Titan, Child Abuse, Nymph, and Gay Beast.

Liturgy is also part of an ongoing art exhibition at Dispatch entitled Mirror Me by Brandon Stosuy & Kai Althoff. More details on that exhibition are here.

All Liturgy dates, and a video from a previous time they played Market Hotel, are below...

Continue reading "Howl sign to relapse (MP3), Liturgy playing BV-BBG show (Northside), acoustic BBQ (Todd P) & Market Hotel (tonight)"

"Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.) will announce federal legislation intended to overhaul the concert ticket industry and improve fans' chances of scoring tickets to their favorite acts.

The BOSS ACT (Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing) [which is a clever acronym based on Bruce Springsteen's nickname] will require primary ticket sellers to disclose the number of tickets available for sale to the public and the number held back for fan clubs, presales and artist allocations, Pascrell told The Star-Ledger.

The bill would also prohibit brokers from purchasing tickets during the first 48 hours of the primary sale. It also makes it illegal for any primary ticket seller, promoter, artist or their employees to resell tickets to events they are involved in at more than their face value." [The Star Ledger]

Izod Center during/before a Bruce Springsteen concert (more by Tim Griffin)

"Tickets for Springsteen's three concerts at Giants Stadium this fall sold out in minutes on Monday.", and according to the Associated Press, NY Senator Charles Schumer said that "more fans managed to buy face value tickets this time." Could this be true? Let's do the math. This time the Boss is playing three shows at Giants Stadium. Last time there were two at the Izod Center....

Giants Stadium capacity: 55,000 (via)
Izod Center capacity: 20,000 (via)

TOTAL Bruce tickets this time: 165,000
TOTAL Bruce tickets last time: 40,000

Hmm. You decide. That said, Schumer is not exactly congratulating Ticketmaster. He is still trying to reform them.

Kurt Vile @ Silent Barn (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Matador reported on Friday that, they are, "REALLY pleased to announce -- perhaps more than ever before in label history -- an addition to the label roster we currently consider to be one of the more important figures in American music circa 2009. Philadelphia guitarist/vocalist Kurt Vile first came to our attention (and possibly yours as well) with the release of the 2008 CD 'Constant Hitmaker' on the Gulcher imprint (a label whose paw prints extend to dusty genius recordings by the Gizmos and MX80-Sound and contemporary stuff from Home Blitz and Magik Markers). What the homemade 'Hitmaker' (recently reissued on vinyl by Woodsist) lacked in fidelity it more than made for in scope --- to dub the album "psych pop" barely scratches the surface of a work that's as impossibly catchy as it is wildly experimental... Subsequent exposure to Kurt's live shows in a variety of settings, both on his own and with crack ensemble The Violators, made it abundantly clear that we'd either have to sign this guy or find someone else who sounded exactly like him. Since the latter task proved impossible, here we are. Having signed a worldwide, multi-album pact with Matador, Kurt Vile's first full-length for the label, 'Childish Prodigy' will be released on LP/CD and digital formats in Autumn 2009."

Kurt Vile's next show is June 13th at the Shank in Brooklyn. The show is part of the Northside Festival. It's also his only upcoming show. A live video below...

Continue reading "Kurt Vile is now on Matador, playing The Shank"

SelectATicket - today (Monday) 10:02 a.m.

" Nobody expected that getting tickets for Bruce Springsteen concerts this fall would be easy. There have been ticket scams in the past, and this time he was offering the chance to witness the "wrecking crew" bring a finale to the old Giants Stadium in New Jersey before the place is demolished early next year. The tickets were supposed to go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday. Instead, tickets appeared on the Internet a week ahead -- ghost seats costing up to $1,300 apiece.

Last week, New Jersey's attorney general, Anne Milgram, filed charges against three companies for selling the phantom tickets (including some for sections that do not exist). "It's plain fraud," she said.

Across the river in New York, where fans routinely face huge markups in the resale market, ticket scalping is basically legal. The state once capped these markups, but lawmakers got rid of that restriction two years ago, and on Monday, Albany is expected to renew the ticketing free-for-all for another year. One reason is that, somehow, a study of this looser market was never finished in Albany. Also, a lot of money has been spread around by lobbyists who want the law to stay just as it is...." [NY Times]

Today, Live Nation announced that it's dropping service fees on more than five million lawn tickets and hundreds of concerts, helping add value and save money for fans throughout North America. The 24 hour event makes June 3rd the biggest one day sale in concert business history.

"No Service Fee Wednesdays," kick off June 3 at 12:01 a.m., offering fans some of the lowest prices of the summer with no ticket service fees on any LiveNation.com-ticketed amphitheater show, and only at www.LiveNation.com.

Throughout the rest of the summer, Live Nation becomes Free-Nation, as it offers a variety of "No Service Fee Wednesdays" specials at www.LiveNation.com, making Wednesday the biggest day of the week for savings on concert tickets for hundreds of shows and millions of fans.

"Summer concerts are a great escape in these tough times," said Michael Rapino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation. "Starting this Wednesday, Live Nation and the world's top artists are making it less expensive for fans to see their favorite bands by waiving service fees on over five million tickets at www.LiveNation.com. We wanted to do something that had never been done before and "No Service Fee Wednesdays" provide incredible value to millions of music fans to attend the hottest concerts this summer."

Tickets for "No Service Fee Wednesdays" go on sale at 12:01 a.m. local time on June 3, 2009 at www.LiveNation.com. This promotion is not valid in combination with other special pricing offers and is subject to availability.

The Antlers @ Cake Shop (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Frenchkiss Records will be re-releasing a remastered version of Hospice, the debut new album by NYC band The Antlers, on August 18th (and digitally on June 16th). That means they are now label-mates with Sean Bones WHO they are playing with (listed as "special guest") at The Delancey on May 20th (flyer below). One day later you can catch The Antlers with White Rabbits and Cymbals Eat Guitars at Bowery Ballroom (you can also catch Cymbals Eat Guitars at the opening Rooftop Films party tonight). And you can catch the Antlers at Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 29th with Au Revoir Simone who they are then going out on tour with before meeting up with Cotton Jones for even more touring. All dates below...

Continue reading "The Antlers sign to Frenchkiss - 2009 Tour Dates (Bowery Ballroom, MHOW, the Delancey & Au Revoir Simone)"