indiePulse

Lala was a big deal

It was sad to read the recent news of Lala shutting down. When I first heard of the service I was skeptical, but as I began to use it, I quickly came around. I found it to be one of the best music discovery/sharing tools ever developed. It seemed like their purpose was really focused and clearly defined and the site was so uncluttered and easy to use. Whenever I heard of a new band I could quickly go to Lala to give a quick listen, buy an web song or mp3 download and even add a quick link to a blog post to share the new music with the world. The idea of having my entire music collection on the cloud, accessible from any location with an internet connection was also very cool. When I heard that Apple had acquired the site I was surprised but I thought it made a lot of sense. Can't wait to see how the folks at Apple integrate the Lala functionality into iTunes.  

That was manly!

Skater Brian Lotti is launching a new board company called Telegraph. Check the Telegraph site for a cool little video introducing the company and team riders Tjaden Brewer and Zach Wagner.

Yep Roc Records Teams Up with Reverb Nation

Yep Roc recently announced that Reverb Nation's FanReach Pro marketing services will be the exclusive platform for the online marketing for all Yep Roc artists. To get things kicked off, Yep Roc is running a Street Team Contest. Click here for for details on the contest and the Reverb Nation announcement.

Technorati Tags: Yep Roc,Reverb Nation,marketing,contest

WOXY Joins Future Sounds

The internet radio station will be moving to Austin – broadcasting from the Austin Theatre.

US/THEM looks to rise above the pack

New LA-based promotion house is a partnership with Sargent House.

Vanderslice tapes

I thought this was an interesting promotion. Don’t think I’ve seen an artist give away master tape before..

Take Action! tour raises over $40,000

Congrats to Sub City and all of the bands on the 2009 for raising a bunch of money in support of DoSomething.org

Biz News: Wichita Recordings comes to the US

From the press release:
QUESTION: What do Bloc Party, Peter Bjorn and John, Simian Mobile Disco, Los Campesinos!, The Cribs, Conor Oberst, Les Savy Fav, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Dodos, My Morning Jacket, The Bronx and Her Space Holiday have in common?
 
ANSWER: Outside of the US they are all (or have been) signed to the UK label Wichita Recordings.
 
The London-based indie label rose from the ashes of the legendary Creation Records in 2000 and hit the ground running with its very first release, 'Fevers and Mirrors' by Bright Eyes.
 
The next 8 years has seen them release a succession of acclaimed records and bring many of the century's most respected talents to the public's attention.
 
Now, for the first time, Wichita is going to take on the USA as it lines up a whole new generation of artists for their debut releases in North America including Those Dancing Days, Sky Larkin, Lovvers and First Aid Kit.
 
Those Dancing Days are an all-girl Swedish five-piece just out of school. Their debut full-length 'In Our Space Hero Suits' has already taken them to 15 countries around the world and was heralded as album of the year in Artrocker magazine.
http://www.myspace.com/thosedancingdays
 
Sky Larkin hail from Leeds and the buzz they generated in 2008 will surely get louder with the forthcoming release of 'The Golden Spike'. Recorded in Seattle with John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney) the band return to the US for a third time in March, having recently completed European tours with Conor Oberst and Los Campesinos!
http://www.myspace.com/skylarkinskylarkin
 
Lovvers are 4 young men from Nottingham. They have already been adopted by  the American underground despite never having crossed its borders. The last year has found them touring with No Age, Jay Reatard, Times New Viking, King Khan and Mika Miko amongst others as word spread of their legendary live shows. The debut release is a thrilling sonic blast called the 'Think! EP'.
http://www.myspace.com/letscommunicate
 
Last but not least, First Aid Kit: Wichita's newest signings are sisters Klara and Johanna from Stockholm. Discovered by The Knife, the girls shot to internet infamy when their YouTube cover of Fleet Foxes came to the latter's attention and was subsequently seen by seemingly everyone. The girls will release their debut 'Drunken Trees' including 7 original songs, the cover and some of the most beautiful and haunting videos you will ever see.
http://www.myspace.com/thisisfirstaidkit
 
Wichita will be hosting its first ever showcase at this year's SXSW with all four bands coming to US shores before summer.
 

Biz News: Paper Garden Records partners with Team Love

Paper Garden has been building an impressive roster over the past several years. This partnership with Conor Oberst's label should provide its artists with additional resources and exposure. 

From the press release: "We're excited to bring Paper Garden Records on board and lend a helping hand to a fellow blossoming label.  PGR has a sincere love and passion for music and artists that we find inspiring." – Rebecca Laurie, Team Love

Paper Garden Records is proud to announce its newfound partnership with fellow indie record label, Team Love. This partnership with the label founded by Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and manager Nathaniel Krenkel not only allows PGR to broaden its reach into retail stores nationwide, but also opens up the floodgates to a slew of new cross-promotional, marketing, and tour opportunities.

Starting out the year with a strong national release of Peasant’s debut album, “On The Ground” (out 1/27/09), Paper Garden Records has a full schedule for ’09, releasing a brand new 7-inch vinyl for Peasant’s single, “The End”, followed quickly by the full release of Darla Farmer’s “Rewiring The Electric Forest” LP (out 2/17/09), Emanuel and the Fear’s self-titled EP (out digitally 2/17/09), and Darla Farmer’s “Remixing The Electric Forest” remix album. And that’s just the first harvest!

To keep updated on the latest from Paper Garden Records and its artists, make your way over to www.papergardenrecords.com!

Biz News: RIP Reptilian records

I know we are all way used to news like this by now but I always find it very sad when a record store closes.

From the news release: 1989-2009 - Reptilian Records is dead, LONG LIVE REPTILIAN! The rumors are true, REPTILIAN RECORDS is CLOSING to the public.

THE BIG PICTURE- In the last few years, we music lovers have lost literally hundreds of independent record stores all across the country. Stores closed, labels died, and music distributors crumbled or merged. Shifts in format (CDs are the new cassettes), major shifts in popular music and marketing dividing the underground scene into little pockets of narrow conformity, economic factors (gas, food or a CD...hmmm...), the dreaded piracy of file sharing, and the legitimate digital downloads and on-line shopping have all contributed to the death of the local independent music stores. It's a shame, but that's the way it is. We at Reptilian aren't crying or dying, we shall adapt and evolve.

WHAT THIS MEANT TO REPTILIAN- Bottom line, the store has been hurting for the last few years. Business was already declining before the collapse of the roof of our original store. Moving hurt us, we were closed for months as we begged, borrowed, and stole to buy and renovate a Baltimore crack house for our new HQ. We've been here two years, and no one noticed. The storefront started to lose money steadily, with our eternal tax problems, rising costs of everything, public apathy, and paying employees to stand around when they could be doing something productive broke our bank. We make 75% of our income from mail order and internet sales. It costs too much to be a real store.

WHAT NOW?- Reptilian will continue as a record label, a book publisher (Scapegoat Publishing), and an ever-growing on-line interweb store. Our websites will be getting a major overhaul, with many new items and special features. Stay tuned and bookmark those sites for the coming uncanny and spectacular changes! Our headquarters will remain here at 2545 N. Howard St (next to The Ottobar). Our phone number will remain 410-EAR-NUKE (327-6853). We have secret plans for a new business to open downstairs, and our offices and stock will remain upstairs. (ooooh, what will be downstairs? tattoo parlor? strip club? guitar/amp shop? car wash? INS office?) In a few months, we may start opening up on weekends to let the few remaining music buyers peruse our vinyl vault... We'll see about that. We will soon make most of our label catalog available as mp3s for
your little iPods. We will still release vinyl, and have several projects planned for the second half of 2009. We will still publish
books, and again- big projects lined up. We just need to trim the fat and then we can concentrate like never before on amazing projects- exposing you to truly unique music, writing, and art for the discerning and adventurous!

I want to seriously thank all of the people who have shopped at Reptilian over the years, it has been the stuff of legends!
Keep an eye on our web sites and bulletins, many new things coming from Team Reptilian in the future!

Thank you and goodnight-
Chris X

http://www.reptilianrecords.com
http://www.scapegoatpublishing.com