bumrushthecharts.com — An interesting experiment is taking place Thursday on iTunes. Can shoppers and followers of podsafe and independent musicians push one selected 99-cent single to the top of the "most popular" list on iTunes for one day? We'll see. The first lucky band is Black Lab, who is giving half the sale proceeds to a music charity.
Mar 21, 2007 View in Crawl 4
parkylondonMar 22, 2007
Black Lab are NOT signed to a label. They used to be and had a huge fight with the labels to get their music back. It is for that reason that Black Lab were chosen. The point in using a large, mainstream, music delivery channel (iTunes) was to maximise the chance of getting notice. iTunes may have DRM embedded in its very soul (and I think it sucks they can't let CC or freeware tracks through without adding it) but iTunes reports to the "charts" so it's important to take advantage of that fact. If we can get enough people to buy or gift the track to someone else then it'll chart and send a message to BigMedia about how podcasting and podcasters can move the market.BRTC is all about podcasting and getting BigMedia to sit up and take notice of the power of podcasting. It's not necessarily about "sticking it to the man" although that would be nice. Black Lab are giving half their income to the charitable cause behind this. I think that's commendable. They didn't have to.I fully support BRTC and will be buying the track as soon as I get home this evening. The people behind this are honest, decent, hardworking people. There is no hidden agenda. There is no scam.At the end of the day if you don't agree with it don't do it. Nobody is forcing you. Paul ParkinsonEditor, Podcast User Magazine
brivixMar 22, 2007
Well I did it for the hell of it, and once it was done downloading, iTunes crashed (iTunes still has issues in vista even with the new update) so I had to authorize it when iTunes loaded back up. After that was done, it said I already authorized it for 5 machines! Oh well...What's up with the album art? hah
undergraceMar 22, 2007
If you RTFA, it states that "We've signed up as an affiliate of the iTunes Music Store, and every commission made on the sale of "Mine Again" will be donated to college scholarships, partly because it's a worthy cause, but also partly because college students are among the most misunderstood and underestimated groups of people by big media. Black Lab has taken it up another notch - 50% of their earnings are going to be donated to the scholarship fund as well." So not only is your WHOLE DOLLAR going into college scholarships, but Black Lab is giving an ADDITIONAL sum of money to the scholarship fund as well! The band is paying out of their own pockets to support this cause, not taking 50% and running. That's what "taken up another notch" means! They are giving a portion of THEIR earnings as well. Any money iTunes gives them for the download - half is going back to the scholarships. I doubt a band out to "scam" its listeners would do something like that... scams equal *making* money, not losing it.
cooljammer00Mar 22, 2007
did it work?
dotspaceMar 23, 2007
The way to really stick it is to listen to indy bands for free, and if you dig 'em - go see their concerts and/or buy some merch from them directly. The song "Mine Again" by Black Lab can be heard at www.myspace.com/blacklabband
ilgazMar 24, 2007
Don't advertise those crooks, they are NOT paying a cent to artists. They are abusing broadcast license which will be future problem for real radios.
schwagcastMar 25, 2007
at fxmcleod regarding Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire::You mentioned that the indy rock bands MM and AF are #1 and #7 at iTunes.You have to be careful about these bands that STARTED out independent and reached some sort of commercial success.AF has had a bunch of albums released by Rough Trade and Modest Mouse has actually been released on a Sony label. Therefore, these bands have received the benefit of the marketing arm of their labels.Although you may consider them to be "indie" bands (and at heart they mostly still are), the albums and songs released by the labels who are members of RIAA are, by definition, not indie.... They have broken into the business and are now a part of the machine. For better or for worse....
harrier666Mar 25, 2007
And the day after clicking on eliot2000's bannerfest, we must fight those little cookie temptresses with their viral marketing by sending all your girl scout cookies to my house! (except those lemon ones, you can keep those).
davidhooperMar 26, 2007
Great work, guys. Will be posting this info to <a class="user" href="http://www.indiemusician.com.">http://www.indiemusician.com.</a> Apologies for being so late. :)
mendiggJun 24, 2007
"We don't need big record labels to tell us what's good music anymore"No, apparently we need a blog to do it.
whitesnow158Oct 24, 2007
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