Our Friends at Symphonic just released an updated version of their awesome streaming music app! Check out the features below.

Symphonic Distribution is proud to announce the upgrade of its popular app “SymSTREAM”. SymSTREAM 2.0 has further enhanced the ability for labels to effectively market and sell their content through a mobile phone or iPod! iPhone / iPod app development is one of the prime goals for Symphonic Distribution and the company will soon feature a dedicated brand to help Labels and Artists effectively promote and even sell their content on millions of iPods and iPhones worldwide. SymSTREAM 2.0 comes with many new updates as described below! This coincides with Apple’s announcement of a new OS for the iPhone but also a very interesting statistic about just how popular the iPhones are!

***** Get It Right Now on the iTunes App Store *****:

New design:
One of the first updates we did to the app was to redesign certain features. We feel the new design is much more user friendly, simpler, and basically, better looking. Everything from the loading screen, to the main skin, to the buttons have all been redesigned to give the user a better experience when browsing through songs, labels, and genres.

Label Selection
As per request of our labels, we have gone forth and enabled the app to select songs PER label! This is a great addition for the app and now every single label can go forth and promote their music to millions of fans worldwide. Each user of the app can browse by clicking the “Labels” button or go forth and search for a label by clicking the “Labels” button. Once they select the label, only that labels’ music will be able to be played via the player!

Genre Selection
In addition to the label selection, we have gone forth and enabled the ability for users to select the genre they wish to hear and ONLY stream those genres. This was a label and user request and we agreed! You should be able to listen to whatever genre you want and this app lets you do that! Want to hear House? Select House and jam out! Want to chill? Select Chill Out and you shall! Select your mood!

Connection to iTunes Music Store
One of the greatest updates to the app is the ability to be able to purchase the music while listening to it! Each song that is able to be purchased online is connected to the iTunes music store. This is an incredibly helpful feature and one that we hope grows revenue for all labels on Symphonic Distribution. Each and every single label now has iPhone / iPod distribution of their music! On the go and want a track? Click Buy!

Noiseporn.com Addition!
Noiseporn.com is an online Blogozine recently acquired by Symphonic Distribution. The goals of the site are to evolve more into an online magazine, launch a record label, and further showcasing new talent in new and exciting ways. To support the brand, SymSTREAM features some of the songs that are featured and blogged on Noiseporn.com! In the future, more and more music that has been featured on the blog will be featured on SymSTREAM and the best thing is yet to come, an official Noiseporn.com app that will let all folks listen and enjoy Noiseporn.com ON THE GO! To listen to content from Noiseporn.com, a user will simply have to click “Labels” and type Noiseporn.com to stream some of the music featured and blogged! (Every song featured on Noiseporn.com will not be able to be purchased, only streamed).

MTV Games is hoping to goose sales of its flagging “Rock Band” series with a new service Tuesday that lets average users upload and sell videogame versions of their own music.

The service, known as the Rock Band Network Store, may offer a few minutes of fame to rudimentary garage bands by allowing millions of game players to access their music.

But given the technical know-how needed to format a song for the game—which may require users to hire a pricey third-party developer—the service could wind up serving mostly as a promotional platform for established acts with deeper pockets, rather than the typical shower singer.

“Rock Band” and its rival, “Guitar Hero,” are two of the most successful videogame franchises to debut in recent years. But sales of both titles have slowed significantly in the past year, with combined sales in 2009 of $224 million, according to an estimate from Wedbush Morgan Securities—less than 50% their level in 2008.

Until now, most of the music available for play on either game has consisted of a limited number of songs, mostly by major acts like Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beatles.

With the new service, unknown bands are seeing their chance to get in on the act. But popular groups not quite big enough to make the “Rock Band” playlist are also preparing material for the do-it-yourself upload store, including Creed and Evanescence, each of which has sold tens of millions of albums in the past decade.

“We expected this to be an initiative that would appeal to unsigned artists,” says Paul DeGooyer, MTV’s senior vice president for electronic games and music. “What was surprising to us was how many artists with hit records have offered themselves up.”

The Rock Band network has been running in a private, invitation-only testing mode since September. For now, it is to be available only to users of the Xbox 360, made by MicrosoftCorp., which was also MTV Games’ partner in building the Rock Band Network. MTV is part ofViacom Inc. The network eventually is to be made accessible to users of other game systems, like Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3.

Preparing a song is complicated, and involves preparing an array of specialized digital sound files, lyrics, transcriptions and even instructions for virtual camera angles, lighting and choreography for the animated characters that perform the music within the game itself.

It has already spawned a cottage industry of companies offering to format recordings, for fees that can get steep. These contractors, with names like Rhythm Authors LLC and RockGamer Studios, typically charge $500 per minute of music.

Other costs involved in creating a song include the purchase of an Xbox 360 console, “Rock Band” game discs and instruments, as well as a subscription to an online Microsoft game-development “community” that costs about $99 a year.

Rock Band Network lets users set prices anywhere from 99 cents to $2.99 a song. The company retains 70% of the sale price, with the rest going to the user. Given the figures, musicians must be fairly confident they’ll sell real numbers of songs to justify their investment.

Sub Pop, a prominent independent record label, is paying various contractors to prepare 25 songs that it plans to upload to the store—all of them by acts among the label’s most commercially successful.

Those include the Shins, whose 2007 album “Wincing the Night Away” reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album-sales chart; comedy-music duo Flight of the Conchords; and indie-rock stalwarts like Mudhoney, Sleater-Kinney and the Postal Service.

Sub Pop was the original record label of Nirvana, but much of that band’s catalog is already available for “Rock Band.”

The label is treating the undertaking as a serious creative endeavor. It hired a prominent record producer, Phil Ek, to mix the music before delivering it to the contractors who format it for the game.

“At $3 apiece nobody’s looking to ‘Rock Band’ as a discovery tool,” predicts Tony Kiewel, head of artists-and-repertoire at Sub Pop. “That’s not going to happen,” he says.

From: WSJ.com

San Francisco Police Department officers have added a controversial tactic to their aggressive raids on house parties (see “Fun under siege,” 4/22/09): they’re seizing laptop computers from DJs at the events.

While SFPD officials deny the laptop seizures is a new policy, they admit it has been condoned by Police Chief George Gascón, who took over in August and last month told the Guardian’s editorial board he wants to make the SFPD more transparent and accountable to the public (see “New coach, new approach,” 10/14/09).

“The police chief is aware that officers are being proactive in gathering evidence,” Sgt. Lyn Tomioka told the Guardian when asked about a string of laptop seizures by undercover cops over the last 10 months, most of them in cases in which the DJs weren’t even charged with a crime. (read the whole article here)

This is a new world now. In the past officers have confiscated audio equipment as evidence for underground events but now DJ’s need to be extra careful. In the future I have a feeling this could be common practice around the country as a scare tactic to DJ’s. It is important to back-up your laptop before events and I feel that if this does become common practice, and you are playing an underground event, that you need to have a laptop JUST for DJing. Keep anything and everything of personal value off the laptop and be sure that you have a complicated password on it to keep the man from snooping.

What concerns me is that there is always the possibility of a DJ not being aware that an event is fully permitted. DJ’s are hired and I would be hard pressed to believe that they are legally obligated to insure the event has it’s paperwork in line. If you play underground events often and use a laptop it may be a good idea to seek the advice of an attorney on what your legal rights are. If I was put in this situation I would probably demand that I be charged with a crime before allowing the officer to seize my personal property. It would be good to tell the officer that you were hired for the event and are not affiliated with the promoter or venue owner and therefore should not have my personal property taken. It probably won’t work, so be sure to ask the officer for his identification, get his badge number and name and immediately go to the police station to file a complaint. If he refuses call 911 and report that someone claiming to be an officer is refusing to produce identification and you need help. Do anything you can to make the taking of your property difficult but within your legal rights.

A laptop to a DJ is just like a drum set to a drummer. It is the tool of their self expression and as such should be respecting as a freedom of speech. There are some people who are concerned that the RIAA is behind the laptop seizures as part of a larger scale attack on performance rights. I see both sides of the fence on this issue, but I also know that most of our friends who are DJ’s play music given to them BY the artists to play as promotion.

Stay safe out there, have fun playing and keep your head down.

Details

Digital Distribution: 100% royalty distribution of up to 15 songs through our partner Symphonic distribution. Your release will be in digital download stores such as iTunes, Amazon Mp3, E Music and more. No setup fees, no hosting fees, you keep 100% of your royalties.

Encoding and Prep: We will prepare your audio for submission and work with you to complete all the important Metadata involved.

UPC: We will issue you a UPC barcode to include on your packaging and will be used for digital release.

ISRC Codes: If your label does not provide you with ISRC Codes we will create them for you prior to production so they are included on your CD and downloads.

Gracenote: Your disc will be entered into the Gracenote (formally the CDDB) database for enhanced album information when your disc is put into a computer or played on a Gracenote enhanced media player. All of your song titles, artist name, album name, etc will populate so you do not have to worry about iTunes showing your songs as Track 1, Track 2, Track 3.

All Music: Once your CD is manufactured, we will send a copy with the required information to the All Music database (www.allmusic.com). This is a great way to give you and your release more coverage on the Internet. Many people use All Music as a source to get information on an artist and their releases. You can also send us a copy of your press kit for All Music to review and use to create your page. (This service requires the use of one of your CD’s to submit to All Music, it will not be returned.)

Soundscan: A very important part of physical CD sales is reporting to Nielsen Soundscan. This service will record and track your sales. Many major labels, marketing groups, and music charting companies use this information on a daily basis. You can contact Nielsen to purchase a report of your disc sales to use as part of your marketing.

Placing a replication order is as easy as contacting a rep at info@eternitemedia.com. Be sure to tell them you would like to add the Extended services package to your order.

In the difficult world of marketing your music in today’s saturated market you have to do more then just stick your thumb out and hope to get picked up. When it comes to offering free downloads or access to streams of your music, the instant gratification factor is large and may spark some interest in the short term, but once you navigate away from that site, or that download gets filed away in the massive music library you can be quickly forgot about. With a physical disc, it has a better chance of reminding the person about you for an extended time. When a disc looks great people are more apt to keep it around. Personally, when I buy a CD or someone gives one to me, I stick it in the player in my car and I may listen to it 5 or 6 times. When I download an album (especially one that was a giveaway) I will listen to it once or twice but not nearly as much as one that goes into my car. It takes a very long time for a technology to go extinct so CD’s are here to stay for a long time; heck, some cars still have a cassette player!

When promoting yourself with a CD you are putting a musical flyer of sorts into the hands of the person you gave it to. By simply handing that person a CD you are able to give them all of your vital information regarding yourself and your music before they even listen to it! If your CD looks good and is well thought out you have a great chance that the person you just handed that disc to will actually take the time to listen to it. People like free stuff, and when you hand someone a promo CD that looks great, they want it- even if it is a genre of music they typically don’t listen to. You can put together an inexpensive, good looking promotional disc with a sampling of your music to give away in front of clubs, at the mall or at your shows that will get people to put your CD into their car on the way home. If they like what they hear they are apt to check out the info on the disc and go download more tracks or buy your actual album.

When it comes to marketing your music to Billboard reporters, tastemakers, Internet and traditional radio stations, it is safe to say they get a lot of CD’s. It is also pretty safe to say that they get even more emails and downloads. If you have the means to get a physical CD to them rather then just another spam email in their inbox, you are showing them that you have the desire to spend a little to present them with your work. Don’t fall prey to people who offer to “email blast” the world your music for a fee. Bought lists and spamming is just going to annoy listeners. A lot of the email address’ that send the blasts may have even been blocked. Presenting someone with a gift of your music is much sweeter when they can touch it and they know you personally sent it to them. Of course it doesn’t hurt to contact them and ask if they will give it a listen. If they won’t, it is a waste of your time to send it anyways. When it comes to someone reviewing your music, being able to look at your information while they listen is always a big advantage. Don’t forget about a cover letter with your bio and credits that will also set you apart from the masses.

Here are a couple of good ideas for CD promos:

Keeping it simple

Sometimes less is more. Nothing beats your standard black thermal print with a white paper sleeve. The cost savings means you can get a little more for your money and that means more ears will listen to it. It would be a good idea to drop a business card inside the sleeve with your contact info on it (if you haven’t read our blog on business cards as flyers check it <here>)

Take it a step up

Opt for a clear poly sleeve and a printed insert and you’ve got yourself a rocking promo CD with a lot of real estate to sell your sound. You are keeping your costs down by using an inexpensive poly sleeve but upping the value of the promo with the insert.

Go all out

If you plan on pulling out all the stops and going for a more complete release look such as a jewel case, digipak, or jacket, make sure that your promo is not going to outshine the albums you are putting out. When you want to go all out, get creative! Have the disc be a short sampling of your music, but the have the packaging list the entire album info and instructions on where to download or buy the rest of the album to complete the package.

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All in all, giving out a physical CD as a promo has some great advantages and is a valuable tool for anyone serious about promoting themselves. Even if your budget is tight, having a small quantity to give out to the people that matter will do you a world of good, but make sure they look professional. If you hand someone a CD with your name and number scribbled on it and another person hands them a full color disc in nice packaging, your disc is heading to the trash. Grab their attention, make it loud and be proud of your creation.

Coming up:
Diving into the retail CD world