Rockanomics.com, a pro-American, pro-military, conservative online rock music journal and community, launches this fall. The site features music reviews and downloads, videos, interviews, conservative news articles, analysis of national events and pop culture issues, trivia, discussions, blogs and a special 9/11 remembrance. While helping expose lesser known up-and-coming music artists, another focus of the site is to raise awareness of the needs of U.S. military personnel and highlight their successes around the world.

“Though we intend for Rockanomics.com to become one of the Web’s leading online portals for conservative news and rock music, we still find it important to help our readers find a fulfilling career path and share in the American dream…”

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) October 8, 2008 — World Anthem Inc. announces the upcoming launch of Rockanomics.com, a conservative news site and rock music community in one. Pro-American and pro-military, Rockanomics.com aims to take on the bands, magazines, newspapers and other media that constantly slam the country and the president. Rockanomics.com will also offer an “ally” program, motivating businesses and individuals to refer subscribers and earn ongoing revenue. The site is scheduled to launch in late 2008.

Rockanomics.com

“One of the main reasons for Rockanomics.com is to raise awareness of the needs of U.S. military personnel and highlight their tremendous successes around the world,” says Rob Stanley, founder of Rockanomics.com. “To show our support, a portion of subscription fees will go to one of several military charities benefiting wounded or disabled veterans and their families.”

Rock music is the primary genre featured on Rockanomics.com, but exceptional pop, contemporary country and hip-hop is also included to attract a broad and diverse fan base. On the music pages, emphasis is given to exposing lesser known up-and-coming artists, while featuring newsworthy events in the mainstream entertainment press. Individuals who subscribe to the site’s mailing list can download free music and are entered in a drawing for an iTunes gift card or an iPod Nano. Visitors can also subscribe to a pre-launch mailing list to stay informed of the exact launch date and get sneak previews of the site before it goes live.

In addition to music reviews and downloads, the site features technology reviews, videos, interviews, articles, analysis of national events and pop culture, trivia, discussions, blogs and a special 9/11 remembrance. Rockanomics.com writers tackle the big news stories, point fingers, name names and offer fact-based analysis of national concerns and their effects on American life.

“With the dawn of a new media committed to providing non-biased reporting, and with intelligent, informed, engaged listeners, the momentum is shifting back to a patriotic ‘America First’ winning attitude, where clear thinking, honest debate and masterful problem solving rule the day. Rockanomics.com is built in this spirit, and strives to drive these ideals home,” Stanley says.

A unique feature to Rockanomics.com is the site’s career and business departments. Individuals looking to advance will find education and career information, business basics and personal finance tips on this section of the Web site.

“Though we intend for Rockanomics.com to become one of the Web’s leading online portals for conservative news and rock music, we still find it important to help our readers find a fulfilling career path and share in the American dream,” Stanley says.

To view a video greeting and statement from Rob Stanley, founder of Rockanomics.com, the Web’s newest site for rock music and conservative news, visit http://www.rockanomics.com.

Contact:
Rob Stanley
RobStanley @ rockanomics.com
215-598-2807

Technorati Tags: conservative news, music news, Rockanomics, Rockanomics.com

via Wired:

Music industry types have put on their thinking caps and come up with a new way to extract another few pennies out of the value of a copyright: licensing lyrics to clothing manufacturers. EMI Music Publishing is the latest to embrace the trend, having made a deal with the British grocery store Sainsbury’s “Tu Clothing” line that will involve printing lyrics from the publishing house’s 1.3 million-song catalog on designs for men, women and children.

Jonathan Channon, executive vice president for EMI, couldn’t resist a bit of wordplay: “Classic songs are part of the fabric of everybody’s lives, and we’re delighted that people will now be able to wear their favorite songs through this deal.” Get thee to a punnery, Channon.

Overall, I don’t think this is such a bad idea… it’s not going to make anyone rich, but following a microtransaction model makes sense, it’s the right direction. However, it does remind me of those awful days when me mum would buy our clothes at the local Dutch Boy. [shudder]

Technorati Tags: emi, sainsburys

The second piece is a little more whimsical and calls for some suspension of reality: Why Sarah Palin is totally rock’n'roll, written by Steven Wells.

Let me share a choice quote or two from the piece:

“It took Jesus Christ 33 years to be born in a blaze of media hype, have an entire nation hanging on his every word, and then be crucified in front of a jeering mob. It took Sarah Palin just two incredible weeks, making her not only more rock’n'roll than Jesus, but more rock’n'roll than rock’n'roll itself.

[snip]

Rock’n'roll is dead, rendered redundant by the woman who allegedly called her son Van so that his name would rhyme with Van Halen. That’s how rock’n'roll she is. And that’s how totally un-rock’n'roll she is. Which is totally rock’n'roll.”

Read it, it’s funny. You probably need a laugh these days.

Technorati Tags: kurt cobain, rock'n'roll, sarah palin, the guardian

MySpace Music has delivered a quick billion streams, according to information shared midday Wednesday. The top-streamed track since the September 25th launch is “Whatever You Like” by T.I., which garnered 10.9 million plays. Other in-demand tracks include “Can’t Believe It” by T Pain (4.2 million); “So What” by Pink (4.2 million); “My Life,” The Game featuring Lil Wayne (3.9 million); and “Miss Independent” by Ne-Yo (3.5 million).

That lists skews heavily towards mainstream, major label content, perhaps an unsurprising result. The list is also urban-heavy, though other top-charting artists include Jason Mraz, Katy Perry, M.I.A., and David Archuleta.

Isn’t “mainstream, major label content” all that’s there? I’ll be interested to see if the numbers change when IODA and other indie content aggregators come online. CDbaby - any chance?

Technorati Tags: cdbaby, content aggregators, david archuleta, IODA, jason mraz, katy perry, lil wayne, m.i.a., myspace, myspace music, ne-yo, p!nk, t pain, t.i.

via Brooklyn’s Daily News:

When Lou Reed takes a walk on the wild side, he’d like the New York street he’s strolling on to bear his name.

The 66-year-old Brooklyn-born rocker revealed to New York magazine that he hopes a future mayor will recognize his contributions to the city by naming a city street after him.

“Lou Reed Way would be nice,” he tells the mag’s Oct. 6 issue.

Yes, it sure would. Curmudgeon Court has a nice ring as well…

Read the rest of the article.

Technorati Tags: brooklyn, lou reed, nyc, Velvet Underground

Technorati Tags: piracy

September 25, 2008

Dear Canadian musician,

I am writing to encourage you to donate your time and talent to help convince Canadians to vote for any party other than the Conservatives in the upcoming federal election. I administer one of several Facebook groups with memberships now numbering in the tens of thousands that are dedicated to “vote ABC” (Anything But Conservative). While online protests are useful, many of our members believe that the most effective way to get Canadians excited about the movement against the Tories would be to hold a large collective music concert. Such an event would not only gain widespread media attention, but would foster a sense of excitement and camaraderie amongst those who oppose the Conservatives’ social, environmental, artistic, cultural, and economic policies.

I understand that this may be a lot to ask, but I (and others who are concerned about the state of the country) lack the resources to organize and put on the concert that could stop the Harper government. We would like to ask you to use your contacts, friends, instruments, and whatever resources are at your disposal to stage a show somewhere in Canada that will attract as large an audience as possible.

Such a concert would require the donation of a great deal of time and resources; nevertheless, I (and other members of various ABC groups) believe that given the recent cuts to arts funding in Canada, such a sacrifice could actually be an investment for the future. The Prime Minister has recently stated publicly that governments should not go out of their way to support Canadian artistic talent, and unless something is done now, before the October 14th election, Mr. Harper’s vision for Canada’s future will become a reality.

Please call your friends and colleagues today. Your country needs you… and your music!

Sincerely,

Danny Jackson

P.S. Neither I nor any of the administrators of the other above mentioned Facebook groups are officially connected to the Anything But Conservative campaign run by Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams; however, we fully support Mr. Williams’s endeavor to convince Canadians not to vote for the federal Conservatives.

Technorati Tags: anything but conservative, arts funding, canadian election, funding cuts, stephen harper

Almost 56 years after Al Martino topped the first singles chart with Here in My Heart, the company behind the weekly rundown has unveiled a shakeup designed to maintain its relevance in the broadband age.

The Official Charts Company (OCC) hopes the addition of an official “subscription plays chart” will help future-proof it as the music industry chases new revenue models. The new chart, believed to be the first of its kind, will measure the number of times individual tracks are played on the new type of service record label chiefs hope will rescue them from digital piracy and a slump in CD sales.

The chart will measure how many times songs are played by those who subscribe to “all you can eat” offerings from companies such as Napster, the Vodafone MusicStation service operated by Omnifone, HMV and the Nokia Music Store.

For a monthly fee, they offer subscribers unlimited access to millions of tracks. The subscription model has been slow to take off while record labels have resolved rights and licensing issues, but it is now expected to explode in popularity.

Read more.

Technorati Tags: hmv, music charts, music subscription service, napster, nokia music, Official Charts Company, subscription plays chart, vodafone

MySpace appears to have soft launched their self-service advertising platform this evening. First spotted by Nick O’Neill over at SocialTimes, the platform would appear to be targeted at MySpace’s large musician community, offering them options for targeting users based on a number of demographic and interest-related characteristics.

As opposed to most ad networks where the advertisements link to external web pages, the ads on MySpace’s self-service solution link to profiles on the social network. That would make sense given the focus on musicians, especially with the launch of MySpace Music – the company’s new digital music venture with the record labels – set to happen any day. With artists soon able to monetize their pages by selling music, ringtones, concert tickets, and merchandise, it would make sense to offer them an option to reach more users through ads.

Read more at Mashable.

Technorati Tags: myspace, myspace advertising, online advertising, self-serve advertising, self-service advertising

Today, with the backing of the four major music labels, SanDisk is announcing the launch of a new physical music format dubbed “SlotMusic” that’s essentially an entire album on a MicroSD compact memory card. Wal-Mart and Best Buy are among the retailers that have already signed on to start selling the cards for the upcoming holiday season.

This is the latest effort to boost physical media sales and weaken the stranglehold that iTunes has on digitial music sales. The format consists of a 1GB microSD card loaded with 320kbps MP3s and is clear targetting the millions of cell phones and MP3 players that already contain MicroSD slots. Users insert the card right into the slot and immediately hear the music. The card will be packaged with a USB sleeve so it can be plugged in directly to any USB-enabled computer.

The DRM-free, MP3 formatted SlotMusic cards will be sold with a USB sleeve so it can be plugged in directly to any USB-enabled computer and with legal approval from EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.

Here’s my take.

Pros:
- music is DRM-free
- music is high-quality
- comes with USB sleeve
- small and portable format
- cool novelty in its cute tiny package

Cons
- no instant gratification
- no back catalogue (as of yet)
- album art?
- how many people really have the equipment to play this format
- lost opportunity for further music recommendations (if you like Elliott Smith, you’ll likely like Earlimart, etc)
- big learning curve for many consumers

How do you convince a generation who has grown up with digital music to adopt a physical format? I guess the thinking is that this is the best of both worlds.

I’m all for trying new things, but I can’t help but think the labels are missing the point again and again… While iTunes is out there launching Genius and experimenting with music discovery engines, the labels insist on physical product when that’s just not the future.

TechDigest has a good SlotMusic review, as does TechCrunch.

Technorati Tags: emi, genius, imix, itunes, music discovery, music on microSD, slotmusic, sony bmg, universal, warner