For nearly 2 years now, Manchester band WU LYF (World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation) has been experimenting with music and the presentation of their image. The group's official website *autoplay on front page* is an assaulting mix of manifesto, art project, and promotion. What started as the intention to have a faceless band quickly gave way to the huge appeal of interesting music, and the band started taking a new approach and taking off the masks. A weird blend of atmospheric indie rock, blues-informed vocals, vaguely political messages, and British soul music, all strangely influenced by American hip hop, makes WU LYF easy pickings for best of the (music) web.
posted by broadway bill on Jul 10, 2011 - 26 comments

The Imperial Stars promote their new single "Traffic Jam 101" with a traffic jam on 101.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Oct 12, 2010 - 40 comments

"Look! At all the data! That you and I are a part of!" Devo would like you to participate in a quick market study. Previously.
posted by Rory Marinich on Apr 8, 2010 - 26 comments

The Web Is Not A TV Channel is the latest in a series of admonitions for musical and marketing industry types from music blogger, record company founder and bass player Dave Allen. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Jan 11, 2010 - 9 comments

Embrace the web! It’s the same mantra that we hear day in, day out, from various sources; always those who have a vested interest in convincing us that artists are not doing so. These people seem to be the pundits, or people who want music to be free, and artists to make money in other ways - either by touring or by ‘monetising their experiential awareness’. Are these people the only people in the world who don’t receive a thousand spams a day from bands on Myspace, from people on Facebook suggesting that they become a fan, from dullards on twitter?

posted by divabat on Dec 20, 2009 - 32 comments

"Just when we thought we had done it all, along comes an awesome video game, where millions of people around the world can interact with us, and our music. How cool is that?" says Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon. (via)
posted by Joe Beese on Dec 2, 2009 - 51 comments

"Not much chance for survival, if the Neon Bible is right." Presented by Arcade Fire which is a band that hails out of Montreal. Okay. So I'm easily entertained, but you will believe a turkey can roast marshmallows. Requires flash.
posted by ZachsMind on Oct 15, 2007 - 45 comments

"I just turned on my little iMovie, and here I am!" This week, Hollywood Records announced a record deal with female vocalist and underground sensation Marié Digby. Over the past few months, she has over 2.3 million cumulative Youtube hits, and has become a veritable rags to riches story - a testament, if you will, to how the Internet is changing the world of entertainment. What the label failed to mention was that Digby had already been signed to Hollywood Records for almost two years, well before she became a hit. A case of manufactured networking, or simply a "major" misunderstanding?
posted by phaedon on Sep 6, 2007 - 60 comments

While Courtney pulled an Albini, Jeff handed out the bread. Are the peasants acting like emperors, or do they still want something shiny, aluminum, plastic, and digital? Debacle or cage, something's got to give (pdf). Alternatively, you can just roll your own.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Feb 4, 2007 - 32 comments

Clell Tickle: Indie Marketing Guru (YouTube)
posted by runkelfinker on Aug 13, 2006 - 22 comments

Reinventing Ricky. It's been twenty years now since Rick Nelson died in a plane crash en route to a 1985 New Year's Eve gig in Dallas, but his record label now wants to make him presentable to a new generation "using the same techniques Procter & Gamble uses to sell pet food."
posted by First Post on Jan 1, 2006 - 33 comments

Who Ordered Room Service? What do Bryan Adams and puke have in common? This video, which is quite possibly the strangest piece of viral marketing that I've ever seen.
posted by amandaudoff on Feb 25, 2005 - 36 comments

You know how some songs are really catchy and you wonder if the hooks could be engineered to make people like the song? A company called Polyphonic HMI has created software they call "Hit Song Science" which is supposed to contain algorithms that determine if a song is likely to be a hit. The company is touting their first attempt at using HSS in the marketplace as a success. [via furdlog]
posted by mathowie on Mar 10, 2004 - 44 comments

CDNow cedes operations to Amazon.com. While looking up some 'non-traditional' Christmas music, I noticed this site's layout looked oddly familiar. Is there reason for concern about the fact that Amazon is taking over shop for it's rival or is this an example of using what's the 'best' in a competitive market?
posted by phyrewerx on Dec 7, 2002 - 26 comments

The solemn, the dignified, the high-profile marketing. On September 11th, the national anthem will be sung on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. By the recent winner of Fox's American Idol. Days before the release of her new album. Two weeks before the winner's next, though obviously equally significant, "American Idol in Las Vegas" show. You will also note that this was reported before last night's finale. Meaning, this important symbolic event was arranged without even knowing who the winner was. In other words, Kelly Clarkson is not signing the National Anthem on September 11. "The Winner of Fox's American Idol" is.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Sep 5, 2002 - 36 comments

Has It Come To This? There's a certain symmetry in the commercialization of the commercialization of music and yet I can't quite get over this.
posted by willnot on Jun 10, 2001 - 48 comments

Teenpeople.com premiering a new Sisqo single (press release too) seems like another example of media conglomerate cross-marketing. You can hear an entire song from a new album 2 months before release on a single website, before even radio or MTV gets it, but why is one corporation using another for an exclusive distribution channel? Are things like this and Madonna selling tickets exclusively through AOL going to remain experimental in nature or is it the face of things to come?
posted by mathowie on May 16, 2001 - 10 comments