The Nashville music scene can appear a bit daunting to enter, especially for new artists and bands. While there are plenty of opportunities to put your music out there, the only problem is connecting with fans. People need an incentive to follow a band’s career as it develops, and — although the music itself is important in achieving that goal — it’s not enough in a town where the advantage lies in the hands of those who are well connected. However, indie artists need not worry; UARadio.net, an online community for indie artists, is aiming to help out in a big way. I caught up with Julian Bankston, founder of the website, and discussed the ideas behind UARadio.

Julian started UARadio after following his own affection of music. “It all comes down to what you know and what you love,” he explained. Utilizing… [Read More]

It is no surprise that technology has launched the distribution of music into an entirely new sphere of creativity. Since the rise of peer-to-peer file sharing software in the 90s (Napster), the invention of iTunes and its associated hardware devices (iPods and iPhones), and the creation of music streaming websites (Pandora, Last.fm), the potential of new media in the music industry is following a path that will ultimately lead to more opportunities to market and sell music. Although a lot of major record labels and Performance Rights Societies are butting heads with these new outlets, it can’t be denied that, whether it’s resisted or embraced, the advent of digital music is spearheading a new business model for the music industry.

We are on the verge of taking yet another step forward; “Cloud-based music services,” as they are commonly called, are starting to surface. Here’s the gist of how they work:… [Read More]

CBS Launch of Radio.com

Radio.com is combining the power of 600+ “real” radio stations along with Last.fm’s scrobbling in an attempt to become the online source of radio. Google shows 3,350,000 searches per month for “radio”, meaning CBS now has one of the most valuable domains on the web. But, Radio.com will have a lot of competition to deal with (Pandora and Grooveshark). What can CBS offer that is different?

The slick user interface, sections for news and sports, along with links to AOL & Yahoo stations are the main selling points of Radio.com. It seems as if they’re trying to give terrestrial radio a live-podcast feel. My first encounters with the service were basically nonstop advertisements for 3 minutes. Fortunately, mute still works.

But once the ads are over, a nice cover-flow appearance of what you’re listening to is displayed above relevant information to the station… [Read More]

On first glance I ignored all of the hubbub going on with Prince. It just seems so silly for an artist not to want to get paid for his music online, especially since more and more physical retailers are closing down their locations and moving to a mobile/online storefront. (See Prince’s ongoing battle with Google, YouTube and eBay here: Mashable.com).

In fact, I’ve heard that Best Buy won’t even stock an album if you as the distributor can’t guarantee at least 10,000 albums sold nationwide. With those kinds of numbers, it’s no wonder that so many indie and major label artists are turning to online distribution as the primary way to get their albums to fans.

However, now that I’ve read Prince’s posturing about the fact that “The Internet’s completely over,” I’m not entirely sure that 1999 should’ve ever been the anthem to usher in a new… [Read More]

Will you use Hulu Plus for $9.99 a month?  New bells and whistles like HD and entire catalogs of shows grab many peoples’ attention.  And you don’t have to be strapped down to your computer either, as all the popular mobile devices (except Android) will have the ability to use Hulu Plus via 3G or Wifi.  It will also be available on the gaming platforms like XBox 360, Playstation 3 and the Wii.

Early complaints about the service:

1. Ads.  Unmutable ads.
2. iPhone 4G users have a bandwidth limit, this will eat it up.
3. Less than a 2 star rating in the iTunes App Store.
4. Customers don’t want to leave Netflix (Most see it as an either-or).

It seems clear that Hulu Plus won’t be as much competition for Netflix as it will for DVD sales.  Why would people buy full season DVDs when they can get it all… [Read More]