music can change the world...buy an iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED™

music is an international language and now Apple has joined Bono and his new venture to raise money for drugs in Africa as one of the products for sale -iPod nano as part of the (PRODUCT) RED™ branding . Apple contributes $10 from the purchase price to the Global Fund, to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.

From the GAP to iPods t Motorola red cell phones - you can buy what you were going to buy anyway- but in "red"
http://www.joinred.com/products.asp

The Who Tour 2006- they still rock

Being a Who fan my entire adult life, if that starts at 16, I was amazed to see the two 60 year old standing members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey perform for hours with the endurance of young men when they first broke into the music scene, but the performance polish of true rock stars.
In my opinion, one of the best rock bands of all time, they did not disappoint me last night as I sat in the audience at GM Place and screamed until I lost my voice, while they still sang and played effortlessly.

With classics like My Generation and Teenage Wasteland bringing down the house , with a room full of all generations , it made the event one of my top musical experiences to finally see them and hear them live.

I have said a few times in this Blog, as the music industry undergoes massive change with MP3's and online availability, there is no replacement for seeing a good band or artist perform live.

The Who sang new material from their new album set to be released October 13

I am sold- I am a buyer - and I will buy the CD to play in my car and in my home. I think I owe it to them ...

Apple sings ...to the tune of Starbucks

I'll have a coffee with my apple, no I will have an apple with my coffee, nope I will have...

The Starbucks Hear Music catalog will now be available in the iTunes music store under an agreement with iTunes owner Apple Computer Inc.
from the news:
Starbucks (SBUX ) and Apple (AAPL) announced the availability of the Starbucks Hear Music catalog on the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com), giving iTunes users the ability to preview, buy and download a wide variety of Starbucks popular Hear Music titles. Hear Music produces a wide range of albums showcasing new and classic artists including the well-known Artist's Choice(TM) series, Opus Collections, Debut Series releases by emerging artists, as well as new works from major artists. Starbucks Hear Music offerings will be available in a special new Starbucks Entertainment area within the iTunes Store and will include a wide variety of popular content as well as playlists created specifically

The rush of finding a new unsigned band -meet "Oswald"

Sometimes on this Blog I talk about stocks or new technology - today it’s just the excitement of finding a new unsigned band from Glasgow Scotland. That is the magic of the online music industry- you get to discover great unsigned talent all over the world.

"Oswald” has a sound similar to U2, but is no copy cat version. They are original and their lyrics and vocals are memorable. They have released free MP3's of their songs
Love, Nothing Left to Win, Home and Tumbling Down. I would recommend them to anyone that likes this genre of music .
check them out at : Artist : Oswald

http://www.mp3musicgrams.com/createGram.aspx

music resources online

I have spent the last few weeks building lists of resources for online music and have to say that I am amazed by the bottomless supply of sites to submit and post news to. At Investorideas.com we follow a lot of sectors - and I have built a lot of industry sector lists- but nothing has come close to what I have found in music. The online music industry is full of small independent sites trying to get a piece of the action - trying to be the online destination of choice- providing multiple services to artists-
From uploading their music, to directories of artists and bands, to profiling, to message boards to submitting and posting press releases.

I am impressed, but have to wonder where this is all going to land and how some of the smaller sites are going to make money

Comments and ideas appreciated-

Canada's first online commercial music service

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, - After establishing MPE security technology as the industry standard for digitally delivering new music releases over the Internet to radio broadcasters ( http://www.promoonlympe.com/ ), Destiny Media Technologies (OTC Bulletin Board: DSNY.OB) and partner Promo Only, today launched Canada's first online commercial music service, Promo Only Digital Download Service ( http://www.podds.ca/ ).
This is the first and only commercial online music service to be approved by the Canadian Audio-Video Licensing Agency (AVLA), which represents virtually every Canadian record label including Universal Music Canada, Warner Music Canada and EMI Music Canada. PODDS will include rare remixes, extended mixes and other hard-to-find content from major and independent labels that is often required for commercial and industry professionals.

more info- Web site: http://www.dsny.com/

Famous Van Zants in music

Its great to have a music blog and be fortunate enough to have a name linked to some of the greats -

http://www.vanzantmusic.com/

http://www.thevanzants.com/

http://skynyrd.com/

Steve Van Zandt http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005523/

http://www.townesvanzandt.com/- Townes Van Zandt

music stocks -follow the money in music

With small cap stocks going thru a complacent if not quiet period this past few months, as commodity stocks lost luster, it was interesting, but not surprising to me to see a few music industry stocks showing some momentum. With all the buzz in the industry with acquisitions and new market entry in the online music industry - the music stocks sector is an interesting watch.
To check out some of the small and large players in the sector –

http://www.musicindustrystocks.com/MIS/Stock_List.asp

a couple of small/micro caps I was looking at today- EDGETECH INTL INC (Other OTC:EGIL.PK) and FREEHAND SYS INTL (Other OTC:FSYI.PK)- both up today at time of posting

disclaimer- http://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp

MySpace to sell Indie band downloads

What's next for MySpace ?- selling digital downloads for an estimated three million unsigned indie bands. Competing with iPod in the digital music industry- MySpace will offer unsigned artists the chance to sell their music and they decide how much to charge for each song after factoring in MySpace's distribution fee

SpiralFrog and Universal Music Group Partner in Advertising-Supported Legal Music Download Service

SpiralFrog and Universal Music Group Partner in Advertising-Supported Legal Music Download Service

www.spiralfrog.com News:

New York, August 29, 2006SpiralFrog, the new music download destination, has signed an agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, to make UMG's extensive catalog available for legal downloading in the US and Canada via SpiralFrog's advertising-supported service.
SpiralFrog will offer users of its no-cost web-based service the ability to legally download music by many of the world's most popular and award-winning artists.
"Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling," said Robin Kent, SpiralFrog's CEO. "SpiralFrog will offer those consumers a better experience and environment than they can get from any pirate site." Kent highlighted some key factors - legal digital files with no viruses or spyware in a controlled client-server architecture, quick downloading, and quality songs and music videos by great artists as among the primary benefits users will gain.

MP3 Music Grams

still working the bugs out - check it out
www.mp3musicgrams.com
MP3 MUSIC GRAMS are the ultimate way to send MP3 files to fans and friends. You can choose from submitting your own MP3 file and photo with a message. Our MP3MusicGrams.com give you and your fans the tools to help you spread your music around the world!OR simply choose from our current list of available MP3 and photos and add a personal message. It's simple and easy to use and is a great way for new artists to get their music out.

YouTube plans to post music videos online

YouTube http://www.youtube.com/says they are in negotiations with major record labels over plans to post music videos online

The site has users that watch more than 100 million videos a day and now is in discussion with record labels to feature music videos

about Youtube:
YouTube is a place for people to engage in new ways with video by sharing, commenting on, and viewing videos. YouTube originally started as a personal video sharing service, and has grown into an entertainment destination with people watching more than 70 million videos on the site daily.

Yahoo! Music Jukebox

Yahoo! Music Engine Upgraded and Renamed Yahoo! Music Jukebox


New Offering Includes Audio and Performance Enhancements and Introduction of Premium Plus Software

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--Aug. 2, 2006--Yahoo! Music, the leading music destination online, today announced the latest upgrades to the Yahoo! Music Engine and its renaming to Yahoo! Music Jukebox. The new Yahoo! Music Jukebox gives consumers an optimal music listening experience by utilizing popular features from both Yahoo! Music Engine and Musicmatch Jukebox. The seamless integration of these music applications represents the beginning of migrating Musicmatch Jukebox users to the media player of choice for all Yahoo! Music users.
"This new version of the Yahoo! Music Jukebox enables our users to take advantage of the combined strengths of the Yahoo! Music Engine and the Musicmatch Jukebox in one fully-integrated experience," said Dave Goldberg, vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Music. "The merged product reflects the hard work of our engineering and product teams in building a best-of-breed media player for digital music fans."
The new Yahoo! Music Jukebox offers a new audio equalizer, and improved playlist and usability enhancements. In addition, Yahoo! will be offering Yahoo! Music Jukebox Plus for $19.99 for premium features such as faster ripping and burning, custom CD printing and audio enhancements for imported MP3 files. The free Yahoo! Music Jukebox gives consumers the ability to rip, mix, and burn CDs, as well as to import and manage music, and transfer music to portable devices.
Highlights of the upgraded Yahoo! Music Jukebox include: -- New Audio Equalizer: A new 5-band equalizer allows users to
adjust the sound of their favorite music in a convenient
fashion.
-- Usability Enhancements: An overall new look of Yahoo! Music
Jukebox has made key functions more accessible through
consistent right click and tick menus. Users can quickly play
a selection of an artist's top tracks with just one click. The
improved application makes moving the Yahoo! Music catalog -
to a users' music collection - to Messenger Music and back
again for a seamless experience.
-- Shared Playlist Improvements: Playlists created using the
Yahoo! Music Jukebox will be automatically stored for users to
access from any PC. In addition, searching for playlists
becomes more efficient to help users find other music fans
with similar tastes and preferences.
-- Introduction of Yahoo Music Jukebox Plus - For a premium fee
of $19.99 consumers can enhance their music experience with:
-- Audio Boost - Optimize the sound quality of your imported
music files to enjoy them at the highest fidelity.
-- Enhanced CD Ripping & Burning Ability: Maximum ripping and
burning speeds for audiophiles.
-- SmartSplit: When users want to burn a large number of
tracks, SmartSplit automatically organizes multiple tracks
for users across as many CDs as necessary.
-- CD Label Creation: Users can create fun and exciting CD
labels for their newly burned discs using a very simple
program.
More information on the Yahoo! Music Jukebox is available at: http://music.yahoo.com/jukebox/
The Yahoo! Music Jukebox gives consumers access to the Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscription service which allows users the opportunity to play music from a catalog of more than 2 million songs, transfer tracks to portable devices, as well as enjoy the unique ability to share and discover music with other subscribers through Yahoo! Messenger. Yahoo! Music Unlimited is available for an annual fee of $59.88 (equates to $4.99 per month) or a monthly subscription price of $6.99. Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go is available for an annual fee of $119.88 (equates to $9.99 per month) or a monthly subscription price of $11.99.
About Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music (http://music.yahoo.com) offers the most comprehensive music-related content, features and information available online. Yahoo! Music provides a wide selection of streaming audio, the Web's largest collection of music videos, Internet radio, exclusive artist features and music news covering all genres of music to Yahoo! visitors
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
Contact:Yahoo! Media Group
Charlene Fitzgibbon, 310-907-3119
cenglish@yahoo-inc.com
or
Bender/Helper Impact
Melisa Rodriguez or Stephan Pechdimaldji, 310-473-4147
melisa_rodriguez@bhimpact.com
stephan_pechdimaldji@bhimpact.com
Source: Yahoo! Inc.

$100 million dollars

No its not Dr Evil ...
Kazaa has agreed to pay $100 mln in music industry settlement

Content Industries and Sharman Networks Settle All Global Litigation
SYDNEY – Sharman Networks Ltd. announced today that an historic turning point has been reached for both technology and content industries...
SYDNEY – Sharman Networks Ltd. announced today that an historic turning point has been reached for both technology and content industries with the global settlement of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc, et al., v. Grokster, Ltd and the Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd & Ors v. Sharman License Holdings Ltd & Ors copyright cases.
The global settlement of all legal disputes between Sharman, which owns and distributes the Kazaa peer-to-peer (P2P) software application, and the major entertainment content providers and trade groups, clears the way to enable distribution of the broadest range of licensed content over Kazaa.
full release : http://www.sharmannetworks.com/content/view/full/321/

Microsoft's Zune

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

Microsoft is entering the music and entertainment arena with competition to the Apple iPod with Zune. Zune will be available at the end of 2006 Microsoft tells the industry-
Zune , both a hardware and software product line , in combiantion with MSN Music give Microsoft a growing presense in the ever changing music industry.

Lyric jeans- Music and denim industries converge

While doing some research today, I ran across a small company with big ambitons in the music/clothing industry
Lyric Jeans, Inc. (Other OTCPK:LYJN)
according to their recent press release :
"Lyric Jeans is a music driven premium clothing line involving lyrical content on jeans, denim wear and accessories. Each pair of jeans reflects the personality, style and flare of the artist and song through its design. With the vision of fusing the world of music with fashion, Lyric Jeans employs a cutting-edge design strategy allowing consumers to express themselves stylishly through song lyrics. Lyric Jeans recently announced licensing deals with Warner/Chappell Music and Universal Music Publishing Group. The company's manufacturing partner is American Garment Sewing, one of the leading U.S. companies in premium denim production."

more info - http://www.lyricjeans.com/

The Recording Industry Association of America VS. XM Satellite

The Recording Industry Association of America
http://www.riaa.com/ is suing XM Satellite Radio for “massive wholesale infringement" because of Inno, a $400 iPod-like product that lets XM listeners to record up to 50 hours of music and automatically parses recordings by song and artist.The "Inno," which is manufactured by Japan's Pioneer Corporation, is sold by XM under the slogan, "Hear it, click it, save it."The lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM Satellite customers using "Inno"

XM Satellite intends to fight the lawsuit vigorously and said the labels are using the court systems as way to influence business negotiations.

Apple - profit increases 41% on iPod sales

Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) announced earnings of $410 million, 47 cents , up from $290 million,34 centsfrom the previous year, with sales of its iPod portable music players continuing to increase .
Profit increased 41% with sales of its iPod portable music players contributing . For the fiscal second quarter ending April 1 over 8.5 million iPod portable digital music players were shipped.

The Doobie Brothers -Great 70's rock

Tonight I went and heard the Doobie Brothers http://www.doobiebros.com/ live in concert and it brought back memories from when I was 16- 17 (yes I am that old). Great music stays embedded in your memory, in your cells and comes to life when triggered. I guess it’s like an MP3 file download always ready to play.

A room full of old rockers like myself all became young again as the music rebooted cell after cell. We all forgot how old we were for two hours and that we have teenage kids at home . One fan yelled enthusiastically- "You are the greatest rock band of all time”. They were definitely one of the best of my time.

I never got to see them live when I was 17, but in some strange way I came full circle tonight. As much as technology improves and impresses us, nothing can take the place of a live musician on stage playing to your heart, your soul, embedding themselves into your personal history.

Oh , oh, oh -
Listen to the music....

Free MP3's of New Young Musical Artists Creating New Original Sounds from Pop/Folk to Alternative Rock

Free MP3's of New Young Musical Artists Creating New Original Sounds from Pop/Folk to Alternative Rock
Munch Music Delta, B.C. http://www.rockandrolldream.com a digital recording studio and music centre has added new recording artists and MP3 downloads for avid music fans searching for new, raw musical talent. The young artists featured all write their own music and create original sounds and lyrics. Munch Music is excited about a new artist that walked in and recently completed a demo, Chelsea Patricia Ganeff, musically comparable to the next "Jann Arden" or "Jewel". The online site Chelsea Patricia Ganeff's single "Walk Away" click here: http://www.rockandrolldream.com/downloads_CPG.htm "Chemical Dream" consists of John Simpson on guitar, Alex Won on guitar, Doug Bourks on bass and Connor McIlvenna on percussion. The Dream's music is a very hooky mixture of riff based classic rock with melodic guitar melodies. Sample "Rock Song" single from Chemical Dream click here: http://www.mymunchmusic.com/downloads_ChemicalDream.htm Taylor Van Zant's alternative rock band is called "Van Paul and the Forever Red". The band consists of Max Konyi on piano and guitar, Patrick Snape on guitar and bass, Nate Konyi on drums, and Taylor Van Zant on bass, vocals, and rhythm guitar. "Van Paul and the Forever Red" has been together for one year and play in a variety of styles, including: classic and modern rock. Sample "And Air" single from Van Paul and the Forever Reds: http://www.mymunchmusic.com/downloads_VPFReds.htm Munch Music: Founded by 16 Year old artist Taylor Van Zant