Elton John Collobarates With Alice in Chains on New Album; Track Listing & Artwork Released

Posted by Eric Hebert on Aug 12, 2009 in General | Comments

Among the many highlights on Black Gives Way To Blue, the highly anticipated new album from ALICE IN CHAINS, is a special guest performance by Elton John. The two rock legends collaborated on the album’s stunning title track, “Black Gives Way To Blue,” a heart-stirring tribute to Alice In Chains’ late lead singer Layne Staley. The album arrives in stores September 29.

“We were thinking about adding piano to the track and a friend suggested we call Elton,” recalls guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. “I remember laughing and saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll get right on that.’ But I decided it was worth trying and wrote Elton an email explaining what that song means to us — that it’s a real, raw openhearted song for Layne.

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Free PDF: Artist Development & Promotion in the Digital Age

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr. on Aug 7, 2009 in Marketing | Comments

Photo taken by rock star photographer Brook Pifer at the 2009 Florida Music Festival I attended in May. Click the photo to check out Brook’s excellent portfolio on her website.

The digital age of the music business is in full effect. The remnants of music business 1.0 are rapidly being replaced by a new structure that empowers the artists, not the labels.

Music 2.0 is here.

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Hardworking Pop-Rock Outfit State of Man Offers Album For Free

Posted by Eric Hebert on Aug 5, 2009 in Distribution | Comments

I’ve had my eye on these guys for over a year now; pop-rock band State of Man, hailing from Atlanta. They’ve got pop radio written all over them, which whether you like it will always be a sound people can relate to. And there’s one song of theirs that are truly like a lot.

They recently released an album, but what I thought was cool is that today they are GIVING IT AWAY using ReverbNation. This is a very well produced album coming from an act that has probably spent a boatload to get where they are today.

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How the Record Label Business Model Died and Why it’s Changing Music Today

Posted by Eric Hebert on Aug 4, 2009 in Marketing | Comments

For years the music business has been in the dumps. Since the beginning of the decade, consumers have stopped purchasing CD’s in favor of much more convenient methods like downloading single tracks from iTunes and stealing their album of choice from the Pirate Bay.

Most of the “old” hats in the music industry have tried to put a stop to these practices, and have failed miserably in doing so. The simple fact of the matter is that technology has affected many industries, and if you’re not going to change with the times, then you will simply be put out of business.

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