Search Results for: indie

It’s been 2-1/2 years since the Island Def Jam Music Group acquired a 50% stake in Roadrunner Records. However, the longtime rock-metal independent label still feels like an indie despite its major label parent, president Jonas Nachsin says. “In terms of the Roadrunner’s indie spirit, I don’t think we’ve lost any of that,” Nachsin says. “When the partnership was done, I think the first thing that was decided was not to do anything, which was a very sage and important game plan because when something is working, the last thing you want to do is start to mess with it.”… Read more »

Just a month after opening its doors, the Apple iTunes store is looking to expand. With content already available from all five major labels, the online music service is reaching out to independent labels in hopes of offering the broadest, deepest catalog of downloadable music. Apple has invited hundreds of indie label representatives to a private presentation on Thursday at the computer giant’s Cupertino, California, campus to discuss hopping onboard and adding their content to the more than 200,000 songs already available through the service. “The plan was to go out of the gate with the five major labels, but… Read more »

Online music service pressplay has reached deals to distribute music from several leading independent record labels, including Sub Pop and DreamWorks. The deal Monday brings a host of well-known artists to pressplay, such as Nirvana and Frank Zappa, and expands the selections from the subscription music service to more than 250,000 songs. Pressplay also reached a deal to distribute music for the independent labels Palm, Ubiquity, Rykodisc/Ryko Label Group, important additions to the service already heavy with a mainstay of popular music, said pressplay CEO Mike Bebel. “We focus very much on what we perceive to be the most relevant… Read more »

After more than five years as host of Nickelodeon’s “Blue’s Clues,” Steve Burns is passing the leash to his successor and passing the mic to himself. Burns, who along with animated canine Blue has solved nearly 100 puzzles since the children’s show premiered in December 1996, is now facing a quandary that has baffled just about anyone who ever wanted to form a career around picking up a guitar: how to get signed. The 28-year-old Brooklyn, New York, resident has recorded 11 tunes, some of which are posted on www.steveswebpage.com, for an LP titled Songs for Dustmites. That was the… Read more »

Songstress Sheryl Crow is on track to be the highest debut performance when the latest pop album charts are released Wednesday, challenging reigning Universal Music labelmate Ashanti for the top spot. But Crow’s latest effort, “C’mon C’mon,” her first studio release since the platinum “Globe Sessions” four years ago, also leads a sizable roster of artists bowing this month that have had a rocky history with the rapidly consolidating major-label system. Crow herself was one of several artists to question her future with Universal Music after the label giant acquired her alma mater, A&M Records. While the star and her… Read more »

Facing a fusillade of legal attacks from an irate entertainment industry, free file-sharing Netco Streamcast Networks – like Napster before it – is seeking legitimacy by reaching out to independent artists with technology to help them distribute their music themselves. Franklin, Tenn.-based Streamcast says its new digital rights management software, dubbed Content Into Application, or CIntoA, will let artists choose the level of access that users will have to songs that they upload into the company’s Morpheus file-sharing network. The tracks can be programmed to offer a limited number of plays before a fee is required, or only a snippet… Read more »

On the Billboard Top Independent Album Chart, KOCH/ In The Paint artist The Outlawz (featuring a single with legendary rapper Tupac) comes in at #3, Lil Troy follows at #6 and La Chat is right behind at #7. Former Brand Nubian leader Grand Puba hits the chart at #13 and RZA As Bobby Digital rounds out the group at #23. KOCH Entertainment/ KOCH Progressive artist, the legendary Carole King is also on the chart at #22. Recently King appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Rosie O’Donnell, Good Morning America, and more. KOCH Entertainment/ In The Paint artists also appear on… Read more »

Privately-held online music company Listen.com said on Monday it secured licensing agreements from several independent record labels for a subscription service it plans to launch this fall. Through the deal, Listen.com joins a growing list of smaller independent subscription service providers, including FullAudio and Streamwaves, that have quietly been clinching licensing deals for content to compete with services like MusicNet and Pressplay, which are being backed by the giant recording companies and also plan to launch this fall. MusicNet’s backers are RealNetworks Inc., AOL Time Warner Inc’s Warner Music, EMI Group Plcand Bertelsmann AG’s BMG. Zomba, a giant independent label,… Read more »

Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is slated to host IndieRock week on the Independent Film Channel, September 24-30. It’s a week of music-oriented film, rock ‘n’ roll, and commentary on the world of music and movies. Fans can win a private movie screening with Flea through a contest at the channel’s website ifctv.com. Those not lucky enough to hang with Flea are eligible for other prizes. Meanwhile, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have targeted October to head into the studio and record the follow-up to Californication. No tour dates are booked yet, although the forthcoming album is… Read more »

NetRadio Corporation, a media company that is the leading online distributor of originally programmed audio entertainment through its Web site www.netradio.com, announced today the launch of a new non-traditional rock channel called “Indie Rock” that is programmed by Doc Kane, the newest member of the NetRadio programming team. The new “Indie Rock” channel will be album driven, instead of focusing on ‘the single,’ and will have a track depth that no other traditional radio station can match. Listeners will find the latest new indie music infused with some of the most important barrier breaking songs of the past – some… Read more »