Mixing intelligence with off-the-cuff rock and roll sophistication has always been one of Costello
Independent online music retailer CD Baby has now paid over $10 million
dollars directly to musicians for CDs sold worldwide through their online
store at http://www.cdbaby.com.
CD Baby’s easy consignment system has given every musician access to
worldwide sales and distribution, without having to sign away their music to
a record label.
While record labels are blaming piracy for a lack of sales, music sold
through CD Baby has almost doubled every year for the past six years.
“It’s easier than ever for music fans to find great non-mainstream music,”
says CD Baby founder Derek Sivers. “So what’s reported as a sales decline
for a huge pop star is actually a sales boost for the less-famous but
more-talented musicians of the world. We sell thousands of CDs a day by
artists you’ve never heard, but will love when you do.”
Now, as one of the primary suppliers of music to digital download services
such as Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Napster, Rhapsody, Sony Connect,
MusicMatch, and more, CD Baby is helping artists everywhere get their music
out into even wider distribution.
CD Baby has been a launching pad for later-famous acts such as O.A.R., Jack
Johnson and Gary Jules. Other already-famous artists such as Thomas Dolby, George Clinton, Grant-Lee Phillips, and Beach Boy Al Jardine have chosen to use CD Baby’s unique distribution service to release smaller projects directly to their fans.
CD Baby now represents over 75,000 artists and labels, making them the
largest seller of independent music on the web.
As reported on rollingstone.com –
WILCO, the FLAMING LIPS and SLEATER-KINNEY are already set to ring in the New Year with a stellar joint show at New York’s Madison Square Garden..
After playing at the Eclipse numerous times in the venue
Mos Def will next month return to famed New York jazz nightclub the Blue Note’s Another Side Series, at which he performed last year. The rapper-turned-actor will perform two shows a night Nov. 3-5 backed by an acoustic band featuring Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun and pianist Orrin Evans.
The artist’s musical diversity comes through on his just-released Rawkus/Geffen album “The New Danger,” which debuted this week at No. 5 on The Billboard 200. While there is plenty of hip-hop throughout the set, the Blue Note stand will likely find Mos Def singing and scatting more than rapping.
On the acting front, Mos Def will next be seen in “A Confederacy of Dunces” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” both set to premiere in 2005.
Source billboard.com.
Conor Oberst will release two new albums in January under his Bright Eyes moniker, one a collection of acoustic songs and the other a more rock-oriented affair. “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn” will be issued by Saddle Creek, and preceded by Oct. 26 by the respective singles “Lua” and “Take It Easy.”
The releases will serve as a simultaneous follow-up to 2002’s “Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and has sold 174,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The 10-track “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” is described as a “country-tinged melange” that sports guest appearances by Emmylou Harris on three tracks and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James on one other. “Digital Ash” boasts five tracks with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner.
Additional guest appearances spread across the two sets include the Postal Service’s Jimmy Tamborello, producer Mike Mogis and members of fellow Saddle Creek bands Rilo Kiley, Cursive, Now It’s Overhead and the Faint, among others.
Oberst recently wrapped a run of dates on the Vote for Change tour. A six-date European swing begins Nov. 7 in Stockholm, to be followed next March by a 10-date support slot on R.E.M.’s tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Here is the track list for “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning”:
“At the Bottom of Everything” (featuring Jim James)
“We Are Nowhere and It’s Now” (featuring Emmylou Harris)
“Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)” (featuring Emmylou Harris)
“Lua”
“Train Under Water”
“First Day of My Life”
“Another Travelin’ Song”
“Landlocked Blues” (featuring Emmylou Harris)
“Poison Oak”
“Road to Joy”
Here is the track list for “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn”:
“Time Code”
“Gold Mine Gutted”
“Arc of Time (Time Code)”
“Down in a Rabbit Hole” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“Take It Easy (Love Nothing)”
“Hit the Switch” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“I Believe in Symmetry” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“Devil in the Details” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“Ship in a Bottle”
“Light Pollution”
“Theme From Pinata”
“Easy/Lucky/Free” (featuring Nick Zinner)
Source billboard.com.
For some, there
In the early stages of a month-long fall tour supporting its new release, Gov’t Mule has also just announced a two-night New Year’s Eve bash (December 30-31) at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The first night features special opening guest James “Blood” Ulmer, while the second night is all Gov’t Mule
Air, TV On The Radio, Dizzee Rascal and Nellie McKay are confirmed to perform at the 2004 Shortlist Prize awards ceremony, to be held Nov. 15 at Los Angeles’ Avalon Theatre. The acts are among the 10 finalists for the prize, which also include Franz Ferdinand, the Killers, Ghostface Killah, Loretta Lynn, the Streets and Wilco.
In addition, Razor & Tie will on Nov. 2 release “MTV2 Presents: Shortlist 2004 Nominees,” a compilation featuring all 10 finalists plus cuts from Secret Machines, Ryan Adams, Cafe Tacuba, Muse and Jem, who were nominated in the prize’s Long List.
MTV2 will broadcast a special based on the event on Nov. 20. XM Satellite Radio will carry the awards live.
The Shortlist honors critically acclaimed albums that have not yet been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. shipments of 500,000 copies. Nominees and winners are chosen by a panel of Listmakers which this year includes Norah Jones, John Mayer, Jack Black and Jim Jarmusch.
Source billboard.com.
