Soundcloud and Moontoast Merger Provides Opportunity for Further Integration within Facebook

Just minutes ago, Billboard reported a collaboration between Social Commerce website, Moontoast and audio uploading center, SoundCloud with the Moontoast Impulse Facebook App. Simply put, this means that through Moontoast Impulse, Artists will now be able to post SoundCloud tracks and sell them to users all within Facebook. By consolidating the consumer's experience with direct-to-fan sales on Facebook, perhaps artists who sign up will be able to sell their music more easily.

SoundCloud, which is already prolific on the internet, allowing music to be posted in connection with countless apps is an incredibly well known site, allowing anyone to post and share audio files. Moontoast CEO, Blair Heavey, calls SoundCloud "Youtube for Audio" in its reach and distribution capabilities and is confident that the merger will "cut out the middle man" with in-Facebook sales.

Pretty exciting for musician hopefuls.

To find out more, visit:

http://www.fanimpulse.com/

http://www.soundcloud.com/

A Resurgence in Live Music Interest? Finally.

This morning, Billboard reported that the 2-week old iPhone app for Songkick, which lets fans know about upcoming concerts for their favorite artists, reached 100,000 activations. In the digital age, Songkick is a valuable tool, allowing users to not only get a jump on buying tickets for their favorite artists, but see what shows their friends are attending or would like to go to. In an era that is all about fast notifications and speedy communication, the app is a natural extension of the site.

By personalizing your "concert calendar" and filtering out concerts for bands that are of the most interest, it is easier than ever to find shows to go to. Information can be further filtered into other people who are going, venues, and festivals. As CEO of Songkick, Ian Hogarth (#soundboy) states plainly that, "if you give fans better information, more personalized information, about upcoming concerts, they will go to more concerts."

It sounds like a pretty simple concept, but with the sheer number of venues even in a particular region, and the various ways each concert is ticketed through the venues, buying tickets can become more trouble than fans are willing to put themselves through. In a world that's about speed and convenience, I believe that Songkick's contribution to the music landscape is a positive one indeed. As I continue to receive personalized emails from the "Soldiers of Songkick" about upcoming shows for the artists that I track, I am more likely to buy a ticket to see the artist live because of the ease with which information can be attained.

Debut Album from Chadwick Stokes

Chadwick Stokes, one of the founders of Dispatch and the frontman for the band State Radio is due to release his debut solo album later this month on June 28th. The album entitled Simmerkane II was produced by John Dragonetti of The Submarines and features guests Blake Hazard (also of The Submarines), Carly Simon, The White Buffalo, and Matt Embree of the RX Bandits who are currently on their farewell summer tour (with one of my favorite bands, Maps and Atlases opening for them on a majority of the tour.) There will be autographed CDs available and the album will also be available in a Delux Fan Package to include the 2 CD set, a silk screen poster, t-shirt, a Chadwick Stokes Limited Edition Train Whistle and an optional vinyl.

This past week, I had the opportunity to film an Unboxing Video for Chadwick Stokes' new album to help promote all of the elements that come with the delux 2-CD release. For those who do not know what an unboxing video is, please see the link above but basically, in a little over a minute, we were able to showcase album artwork, special guests, and the fact that this album was made from 100% recycled material.

I got a chance to edit the video, which should go up on Youtube soon along with a preview of the album with Stokes' single "Back To The Races" now available on iTunes.

Check Chadwick Stokes out on:

Facebook

Twitter

Myspace

Official Site

Amazon

iTunes

Last.fm

What's So Bad it's Good?

So everyone remembers Rebecca Black, who launched what many considered the WORST pop song ever back on March 14th. Heck, I even added my two cents about it at karasheadphones. Millions of hits later, consumers were left wondering whether the painfully catchy song, "Friday" and the music video accompanying it actually proved that Ark Music Factory, and possibly young Rebecca Black were marketing geniuses. As of today, Billboard reports that Black's 'Friday' has been taken down from Youtube and "it is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black." Indeed Ark Music Factory and Black's Lawyers are currently in a dispute over who owns the rights to the wildly popular (though debatably horrible) song.

To add to the publicity surrounding Black, she made a special cameo appearance in Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" (@kathybethterry), released on Youtube this past Tuesday. The 80's themed 8 minute plus video is already at over 16million hits and is only adding fuel to the fame of another relatively talent-less teen sensation.

Why do we care? Well, it seems like for better or for worse, exploitation of the negative can sometimes work to an artist's benefit. Katy Perry, a debatably reputable artist, and the producers behind her most recent work are marketing geniuses in promoting synergy of the negative and the campy within pop culture. In addition to Black's cameo, Glee's Darren Criss and Kevin McHale, Hanson, 80's stars Corey Feldman and Deborah Gibson, and even Kenny G with a crazy Saxophone solo are featured.

By putting Perry at the center and drawing on Gleeks, Generation Y'ers and their nostalgia for the '80s, and even Smooth Jazz fans it is almost impossible for the video not to hit. Of course, when money is no object it's easy to get big name celebrities involved in a project like this. But if the same principle of synergy is applied to other, lesser budget projects of arguably higher musical integrity perhaps greater marketing success can be achieved.