Zeppelin Rules! It’s all in the analysis.

Here we go again! According to AV Rev.Com, Led Zeppelin are the best rock band of all time. No kidding it’s on the Internet so it must be true. According to Blabbermouth the site used the same type of analytical tools as sports franchises and looked at things like U.S. Sales (100 points), Songs/Songwriting (100), Technical Ability (100), Live Performance (50), Consistency vs. Longevity (50) and Random (50).

The Top 10 are as follows:

01. LED ZEPPELIN – 525 points

02. THE BEATLES – 514 points

03. PINK FLOYD – 506 points

04. THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE – 503 points

05. VAN HALEN – 496 points

06. QUEEN – 493 points

07. THE EAGLES – 479 points

08. METALLICA – 468 points

09. U2 – 455 points

10. BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS – 454 points

The complete list can be found here. OK now Journey, Foreigner and The Carpenters are on the list but The Ramones are not? Sounds real analytical to me.
Later.

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Iggy and the Stooges together with the remaining MC5!

This year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival set for December 8-10 at Butlins Minehead in Somerset, England will be featuring the remaining members of the MC5 (Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson) on the same bill as fellow pioneer Detroit rawkers Iggy Pop and the Stooges according to MTV. If you are wondering, ya Iggy’s still got it.

Later.

6 Finalists Selected For BATTLE OF THE GOGIRLS, The Ultimate GoGirls Battle Of The Bands

June 28, 2006 Austin, TX On July 22nd, GoGirlsMusic.com will present the hottest female bands in the country as they battle it out for the BATTLE OF THE GOGIRLS title and over $2500 in cash and prizes. The showdown will take place at Trophy’s, an Austin landmark, before a panel of judges and audience. Sponsors include Disc Makers, Daisy Rock Guitars, Sonicbids, The Musician’s Atlas, and others.

Chosen from female-led bands across the nation, GoGirlsMusic.com has narrowed it down to six finalists. They are Emily Herring (Portland, OR), The Platforms (Austin, TX), Shanti (Los Angeles, CA), Pike (Cincinnati, OH), Red Lotus (Brooklyn, NY) and 3 Kisses (Brenham, TX).

The event will be hosted by Madalyn Sklar, founder of GoGirlsMusic.com. Judges are singer/songwriter Susan Gibson who wrote the Dixie Chicks hit “Wide Open Spaces” and last year’s BATTLE OF THE GOGIRLS winning band Something for Jess (now known as Fine Lines). Additional judges to be announced soon.

Since 1996, GoGirlsMusic.com has been promoting, supporting and empowering indie women in music online and at their high profile events around the country. In the last 6 years, GoGirls has produced over 100 benefit showcases for various organizations including the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, MusiCares, American Liver Foundation, The Lynne Cohen Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research and more.

For more information, please visit www.GoGirlsMusic.com or contact Madalyn Sklar at madalyn@gogirlsmusic.com or (281) 541-0981.

The B. Sharp Indie Music Showcase: The Best Music You’ve NEVER Heard

Born out of more than 20 years of music industry experience, the founders of The B. Sharp Showcase have acquired friends and associates in every aspect of the business from production to publishing, and from garage bands to Grammys.

Shortly after being introduced to the MySpace music community, former recording studio manager, B.J. Barratt, stumbled upon two artists whose enormous talent, and lack of exposure, inspired the creation of the B. Sharp Indie Showcase.

Christopher Dallman’s “Nighttime In The City” and Michael Logen’s “Mystery?” says Barratt, were just too good to get lost in the music industry quagmire. I was so moved by these artists, I felt I had to do something to help them be heard.

That something has become the multi-faceted B. Sharp Showcase which will host six superior independent (not signed to a major label) musicians from across the country at the premiere event which is scheduled for July 18th at The Living Room on Ludlow St. in New York City

The goal now is making sure all the right industry people come out to hear what the showcase promises will be “The Best Music You’ve NEVER heard.”

Takeover Records To Support Ten Unsigned Bands With “Sign My Band” Contest

Takeover Records’ third “Sign My Band” contest is already in full effect, but this time around a new twist has been added to the competition: There’s no guarantee one band will be offered a record deal from the label. “I want to use the contest more as platform to showcase ten amazing unsigned bands and help jump-start their careers,” said Takeover Records owner Ben Harper. “I may or may not sign one of them.”

After seeing previous “Sign My Band” contest finalists picked up by labels like Virgin (The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus), Nitro (Hit The Switch), SideCho (Stars of Track and Field) and Outlook (Daphne Loves Derby), it became apparent that the contest had some clout. “Takeover will be recommending all finalists in the contest to other labels were affiliated with,” Harper said. Though it’s uncertain if a record deal will be offered up, one song from each of the ten finalists chosen will be featured on an up-and-coming Takeover Records compilation CD, and the winner of the contest will get to tour the U.S. with bands on the label’s roster in 2007.

Demo submissions for the “Sign My Band” contest are being accepted all summer at the Takeover Records tent on any stop of the Vans Warped Tour, and the ten finalists will be selected by Takeover staffers. The finalists can expect to be promoted on PureVolume.com and receive prizes from Ambiguous Clothing, The Wedge Studios and Wonka Candy, as well as have one of their songs on the compilation to be released by Takeover. Oh, and a full recommendation by Takeover Records is also part of the deal.

For more details and further updates on the “Sign My Band” contest, visit www.takeoverrock.com.

Billy Bragg And The My Space.Com TOAs

A STATEMENT FROM THE BARD HIMSELF. PLEASE LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT MYSPACE IS SAFE AGAIN! BELOW THE STATEMENT IS A COPY OF THE NEW CLAUSE:

I am very pleased to see that MySpace have changed their terms of agreement from a declaration of their rights into a declaration of our rights as artists, making it clear that, as creators, we retain ownership of our material. Having been adopted by the biggest social networking site on the block, I hope their recognition of the right of the artist to be sole exploiter of their own material now becomes an industry standard because there is much more at stake here than just the terms and conditions of a website.

In the past, songwriters and performers needed a record company to manufacture, market and distribute their work, and in exchange for that, the company expected to own the rights to exploit the recordings for as long as the material was capable of earning royalties – life of copyright in legalese which currently means 50 years.

I’ve always had a problem with that arrangement, arguing that the recordings I’ve made should provide my pension not that of some record company executive. In order to achieve this, I have held on to my rights, signing licensing deals in which ownership of the records reverts to me after a stipulated period, usually ten years. I figure that if a company cant make their money back after that time, they dont deserve to put out my records anyway.

Every few years, the reversion clause kicks in, my back catalogue returns to my ownership and I begin the licensing process all over again. Not only does this strengthen my hand in contract negotiations, it also allows me to take account of new technologies in a rapidly changing industry.

Now that the popularity of downloading has made physical manufacturing and distribution no longer necessary, the next generation of artists will not need to surrender all of their rights in order to get their music into the marketplace. It is therefore crucial that they understand, from the moment that they first post music on the internet, the importance of retaining their long term right to exploit the material that they create. This is doubly important on a networking site where many of the songs posted will be by unsigned artists. Ownership of the rights to such material is somewhat ambiguous. Thats why I hope that the groundbreaking decision of MySpace to come down on the side of the artists rights will be followed throughout the industry.

I also welcome the new wording of the terms and conditions in which MySpace clarify exactly why they require specific rights and how they intend to use them. Again, I hope more sites follow the lead of MySpace in ensuring the use of clear and transparent language in contracts. The last thing any of us wants to see is a situation in which everyone posting a song on the site has to have a lawyer sitting next to them.

Im glad my music is available to the community again and Im glad that MySpace chose to act on my concerns. In order that we might avoid any such confusion in future, can I suggest that MySpace notify its members of any changes in the terms and conditions whenever they take place.

Billy Bragg

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The Who live webcast this weekend

If you can’t be in London this July 2nd to catch The Who (or what remains of the Who) live in concert, the Hard Rock Cafe chain are making the show available live as it happens via webstream at http://thewholive.tv for 99 cents. The money will go to the Double-O Charity, a a private dispersal charity focused on ’survival’ of drug and alcohol damage, domestic violence, sexual abuse, music education, emergency relief for International disasters, and young people’s prison reform.

Later.

Archived episodes of the Wayback Machine are now available

One of the best rock and roll radio shows around, The Wayback Machine has finally made available archived episodes of their shows. According to a post on the Bomp! List from Kopper, this is the scoop:

It’s been a long time coming, but you can now FINALLY listen to
archived episodes of The Wayback Machine anytime you damn well please.
No need to rearrange your Monday night schedules to listen live
anymore (although you’re still welcome to do that, as if…). So, to
hear how crappy and unprofessional I sound on FM radio in St. Louis,
just hit the link below, then click the "STREAM" button next to the
date of the show you wanna hear…

http://www.kdhx.org/programs/waybackmachine.htm

So far there are only two shows there, but that’s better than none!

Stay sick,

kopper

The Wayback Machine

KDHX-FM 88.1
St. Louis Community Radio

http://waybackmachine.garagepunk.com

Is Radiohead done with record labels?

According to Aversion, Thom Yorke of Radiohead has indicated to the Los Angeles Times that the band may forgo releasing their record with a label next time around and might just release it independently. Now that would be an interesting development and would have quite an impact in the biz due to the popularity and influence that Radiohead has in the “marketplace.” This will be an interesting development to watch.

Later.

June 30, 2006 is the last day to cast your vote for your favourite unsigned bands on the Zippo Hot Tour

Just a reminder that today, June 30, 2006 is your last chance to vote for your favourite unsigned band on the Zippo Hot Tour. Over 1000 bands from across the U.S. have signed up for this year’s edition with the final winners being announced in September. Check out their site and vote today.

Later.

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