The Tate Modern Museum in London has just launched a new initiative called Your Tate Track. The initiative is aimed at unsigned bands and musicians aged between 16 – 24. Your Tate Track asks unsigned musicians to choose a work of art from a selection on splay at Tate Modern and then to write a track in response to it. The public will vote on submitted tracks and the 20 most popular will go before a judging panel which will include, among others, Graham Coxon, Roll Deep, Basement Jaxx and Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens.
 
The winning track will be installed in the gallery through headphones next to the work which inspired it and will be streamed on Tate's website. Tracks can be submitted until the 31 August.

Growing up in New Zealand during the 80s meant subsiding on a diet of American & UK pop music. Local acts did get radio airplay but video was a whole different matter. New Zealand did not have access to MTV so we had to make do with a weekly Sunday night show called 'Radio with Pictures'.  It was on late at 11pm (NZ did not have 24 hour TV so all the stations shut down at midnight). It was a typical NZ do-it-yourself experience with few frills and often akward interviews but it got small bands video airplay.

Check out this Radio With Pictures interview featuring Neil Finn & Dave Dobbyn.

"Don't hate the media. Be the media"' - Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)

1. Catherine Ferroyer-Blanchard - Chanson D'Amour (Satanicpornocultshop Remix)
2. Handsome Furs - What We Had
3. Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen
4. Norma - The Storm
5. Ida Maria - Oh God-Gitar
6. The Concretes - If We're Lucky We Don't Get There on Time
7. Misha - Weatherbees
8. Montag - Best Boy Electric
9. Office - Q&A
10. Rasputina - Cage in a Cave
11. The Polyphonic Spree - Section 29 (Light to Follow)
12. Quavers - Fireflies
13. White Rabbits - While we go dancing
14. Young and Restless - Kapow!
15. Tits of Death - Diva Breakdown
16. Go Home Productions - Supreme Evil (ELO vs The Supremes vs Michael Jackson)
17. Kaiser Chiefs - What Time is Love (KLF Cover)

   

What's all this podcasting business about anyway?

1. The Podcasting concept
2. Instructions on how to listen to NYUB in iTunes

Check out the Take Your Medicine Podcast if you want to hear the latest up and coming UK acts.

The man who discovered Oasis and formed the Pop Tones label in 1999 wants out.  He doesn't see the point of owning a label because there's no money to be made since the cost of promoting a band via conventional means is too high. I agree. Big label band promotion often resembles a shotgun being sprayed at a crowd and hoping that something will stick. Viral marketing via social networks is nothing new; just look at the success stories on Myspace. However, complete ownership of large scale promotion & production to by a band themselves hasn't been done yet. I'm not talking about established mega-bands here like U2, but unknown acts, who get a following and then take it to the next level themselves. All bands that get to this stage, end up signing a deal.  

Is it possible in the future? I think so but the social networks needs to become a lot larger and the features on these sites that promote viral sharing need to be a lot more efficient. What do I mean with efficiency? Discoverability. Most social networking sites still make it too difficult for you to find new music that you might like.  

The internet will become the main distribution channel in 10 years time, therefore lowering the cost of distribution to potentially a negligible amount, another prerequisite.

So what's the secret sauce for 'Band 2.0' ?

1. Launch video on Youtube, Xbox Live (theoretical), Apple TV (theoretical), Joost (theoretical)

2. Work with Last.fm or myspace for gig dates, recommendation engines and fan cultivation

3. Sell album on iTunes (no label)

4. A good tune :)

5. A good stunt

6. Hire friends with business skills.

Friday's Line up

Saturday's line-up

Sunday's line-up

My picks:

Bjork, Dave Clarke, Arcade Fire, Gus Gus, AIM, Aliens, The Klaxons, The High Wire, Freq Nasty, The Who, Beirut, The Horrors, Gruff Rhys, Stanton Warriors and several large helpings of Somerset pear cider. :)

I can't wait. :)

Recently I received an email from Johnny Marr's publicist, letting me know that the great man was working on a new project. Apart from joining Modest Mouse, he's been busy designing a Johnny Marr sneaker for PF Flyers (a sub-brand of New Balance). On July 10, a 108 pairs will be released at $80 with all proceeds going to charity. Another 108 pairs will go on sale in the UK at £40 each with proceeds going to charity as well.

The shoes look fucking cool.

Get in there.

"Don't hate the media. Be the media"' - Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)

1. Justice - Genesis
2. Von Sudenfed - Can't Get Enough
3. 1990s - Cult Status
4. Dinosaur Jr - Crumble
5. Battles - Race Out
6. Elliott Smith - High Times
7. The Aliens - Setting Sun
8. The Clientele - Bookshop Casanova
9. Esiotrot - Emily Scott
10. Cajun Dance Party - The Next Untouchable
11. Love of Diagrams - Pace or the Patience
12. The Pigeon Detectives - Take Her Back
13. Muggabears - Now I've got a Sword
14. Charlotte Gainsbourg - The Songs That We Sing
15. Pop Levi - Sugar Assault Me
16. Junior Boys - FM (Marsen Jules Remix)
17. Dan Deacon - The Crystal Cat
18. Lambchop - This Corrosion (Sisters of Mercy)

   

What's all this podcasting business about anyway?

1. The Podcasting concept
2. Instructions on how to listen to NYUB in iTunes

Check out the Take Your Medicine Podcast if you want to hear the latest up and coming UK acts.

There's been a bit of a Facebook explosion in the UK and sadly I've become hooked. If you're on Facebook and you like NYUB, add me in!

It's pretty tough to get tickets to popular artists in London and I sense that people are becoming very frustrated by touting - the practice of buying standard price tickets and then selling them for a profit. Touting is endemic in London. If you go to a popular indie gag, you often see the same rabble peddling tickets. Channel 4 needs to do an exposure episode on these guys. It would make fascinating viewing but i digress. Essentially there are two ways to tout:

1. Buy tickets when they go on sale and sell on eBay.

2. Buy tickets from people who no longer want them and sell them for a profit outside the venue.

I don't have a problem with 2. but I do have a problem with 1. Within 30 minutes of a gig selling out, you will find at least 20+ tickets on eBay charging a %100 premium. So what to do? On May 14, the UK government announced that they have set up a committee to investigate touting and whether it should be made illegal. Even it was made illegal, it would be hard to enforce.

There is another option. Scarlet Mist is an ethical ticket exchange which has been set up in the UK to address the touting problem. Sellers and buyers are linked up so that unwanted tickets can be sold at face value. You search for the tickets you want, if there is a seller, then you will be placed in contact with them. If not, a notification will be sent when a ticket becomes available. Obviously there's a big degree of trust involved; Scarlet Mist are unable to verify whether a ticket is genuine or not so the principle is very similar to eBay. Still, it seems to have a dedicated community and I hope it continues to prosper.

Scarlet Mist - http://www.scarletmist.com

Scarlet Mist Blog - http://www.myspace.com/scarletmist 

SEE YOU IN THE MUD!!!!

UK based association of independent music (AIM) this week announced the availability of a podcast licence! It appears that if you get the licence, you are able to play full length music from artists on the AIM roster which include Bjork, Pixies and Basement Jaxx. A very exciting development indeed but I'm surprised it took so long. Judged from the emails I receive on a regular basis, NYUB does it's bit for the album sales of artists that I've played. I'm going to look into this licence but I'm going to keep searching for those legally available gems that constitute NYUB.

 

"Don't hate the media. Be the media"' - Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)

1. Youth Group - Forever Young
2. The High Wire - Saint Bees
3. Good Shoes - Never Meant to Hurt You
4. The Earlies - No Love in Your Heart
5. Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
6. Wolf & Cub - Seeds of Doubt
7. Land of Talk - Speak to me Bones
8. The Besnard Lakes - On Bedford and Grand
9. Billie the Vision and the Dancers - A Beautiful Night in Oslo
10. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
11. The Electric Soft Parade - Life in the Backseat
12. Blonde Redhead - Silently
13. Apparat - Holdon
14. Interpol - Untitled (Datassette Remix)
15. Twisted Charm - Happy Alone
16. Motocade - Bomb Squad
17. Notorious B.I.G - Party and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix)
18. Datashat - Stop the Message
19. Patti Smith - Gimmie Shelter (Rolling Stones Cover)

   

 

What's all this podcasting business about anyway?

1. The Podcasting concept
2. Instructions on how to listen to NYUB in iTunes

Check out the Take Your Medicine Podcast if you want to hear the latest up and coming UK acts.

I love Eurovision. It's a feast of unbridled musical kitsch which never ceases to amaze. This year, the Ukraine should have won but didn't. Verka Serduchka with 'Danzing' is sheer genius. Still, it bodes well for the protest vote. Lordi won it last year with a kitsch death metal entry, and now the Ukraine comes second with a glam gay polka number. It was looking very grim for the UK initially but we managed to crawl up 2 spaces from dead last (congratulations to Ireland for getting that!)

Coming to a stadium near you.....