Here in the Product department, we’re always busy building cool stuff to make life (and business) easier for our clients. This time, we’re very pleased to announce the launch of a brand new Accounting section. Please, everyone, calm down. Excuse me, sir, can you put your shirt back on? This …
Videos are by far the most engaging form of social content. This isn’t exactly a new discovery, but there’s a lot of missed potential by bands that claim to have a YouTube presence. The common misconception is that your music videos go up on YouTube and you’re done. Although MTV …
Plugging — it’s a word we often hear in relation to promoting something, recommending it, giving it your stamp of approval. iPluggers does just that for your music, and it does it all around the world. With a 100% airplay guarantee (or your money back), iPluggers provides the platform for …
Meet our latest partner: Conduit Mobile. The mobile app creator is getting all kinds of press these days, and it’s not without good reason. Their sexy app offers every function you could dream of with the ease of use you’ve always wanted. What’s more, they’re compatible with all major mobile …
Introducing Hemal Dalal, Client Relations Manager, UK
I was born in London, England. I graduated from university in 2007, studying Music Industry Management & Marketing at the university of Buckinghamshire. I come from a background of working in Radio and Events for the BBC, including working for stations like BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, 1xtra and Asian Network. Since last July, I’ve had the privilege of working at The Orchard within the Client Relations team. I started as an intern, then moved on to be a freelancer and now I’m a permanent member of the team.
Like most people, I love music, films and biscuits. Music wise, I’m currently listening to A$AP Rocky, Danny Brown, School Boy Q, Etta Bond, Raf Riley, Blu Mar Ten, Julio Bashmore, Maya Jane Coles, The Weeknd, Holy Other, Hidden Orchestra, Bodhi, Bonobo, Hudson Mohawke V.I.V.E.K, Baauer, Disclosure, J.M.E, Macklemore, and Ryan Lewis. Some of my favourite films/TV shows, include Casino, Training Day, Pulp Ficition, Madagascar, Blow, Happy Feet, Superbad, Anchorman, Role Models, Trainspotting, Up, Trading Places, The Dave Chappelle Show, Breaking Bad, Entourage, and An Idiot Abroad. I’m currently reading Richard Prior’s Prior Convictions; it’s hilarious and disturbing at the same time… I highly recommend it! I also love watching sports, including Football (I support Q.P.R.).
I look forward to meeting and working with you all.
Reinventing yourself is never an easy task. It takes hard work and dedication. Nevertheless, reinvention is exactly what the members of Black Star Riders are striving for with their new album, All Hell Breaks Loose.
Produced and mixed by the legendary Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith, Rush), the album is set to come out May 28th via Nuclear Blast, and the band, which includes Ricky Warwick, Damon Johnson, Scott Gorham, and Marco Mendoza – all members of the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy – as well as Jimmy DeGrasso (Alice Cooper and Megadeth), is set to embark on a revived musical adventure to back it.
With street date still about two months away, the band felt it would favorable to give anticipating fans a little taste of what’s to come. Enter “Bound For Glory,” the first single from the new record, released last week and premiered on Classic Rock Magazine for all to enjoy. The song is upbeat and guitar-driven with flavors reminiscent of Thin Lizzy, but with fresh elements added in.
The name of the record, All Hell Breaks Loose, comes from from a plane seen in a WWII documentary that had the words pained on the sides. Frontman Ricky Warwick felt that the adage was an accurate description of the current state of our society and therefore, decided make it the name of the record. Check out the awesome artwork above, which features a painting by Gil Elvgren, the most renowned pin-up artist in the history of American Illustration.
If you can’t wait for the new Black Star Riders record to drop, check out this 24-minute compilation of behind-the-scenes footage from their time in the studio in Los Angeles.
We all know Spotify. Some of us have used it since launch in 2008, while others in Australia and Germany are still in their first year of streamin’ it up; or perhaps you know it for its long-standing residency in the Long Tail of Music discussion.
Whatever your knowledge of Spotify, it’s not because you’ve seen an informative or emotional TV commercial. This is because Spotify has dedicated its younger years to developing its product and identifying markets to which expansion is essential.
…until now.
In a strategic turn on March 25th, Spotify for the first time ever launched an ad campaign beginning with this (rather intense) commercial:
This video, which aired on NBC’s The Voice last week, is part of a $10 million campaign and will soon be followed by more commercials, like this emotional spot that reminds us of how a single song can often sum up memorable moments in our lives. There is also this spot that makes us remember our youth, cringe at its awkwardness and smirk at its honesty.
Go ahead, watch them all.
Admittedly, I didn’t expect the opening spot to be so heavy — especially coming from the brand whose fonts have included sketch and who has released cute little animated shorts for digital campaigns. I think their print ads capture more of what I see as “the Spotify spirit” and their mantra during this campaign: #formusic.
“For Music” is the answer to the questions that I immediately think of when I see these pictures (see one below). For example, why would anyone voluntarily strip down and expose dance moves like these? It’s all for the music. I get it.
Lest we forget, as this rebrand and “remarket” rolls out, the recent logo redesign that Spotify announced last week is important, too. What is the goal here? Is Spotify trying to reposition itself as a more serious and mature company? Given the emotive ads, corporate logo rebranding and the price tag on this ad campaign, seems like that’s exactly it. More power to you, Spotify.
Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Friday, everyone! To celebrate the end of the week and everything in between, here is some great free music.
Let’s start with the largest spoils: two full album streams of the irresistibly psychedelic Black Angels and the soulful Charles Bradley. They’re both rocking new releases next week, and we just. can’t. wait.
Also giving us a full stream of their album is Dirtyphonics, who released their latest EDM masterpiece last week.
Then, to lighten up your weekend, Cheech & Chong have got a “high”-ly recommended track for you from their animated movie soundtrack. Also sharing new tracks are Young Man and Odonis Odonis, and closing out this Freeloader Friday are Thee Oh Sees with the mythical music video to “Minotaur,” starring… you guessed it… a minotaur.
Happy listening!
The Black Angels: Full album stream via Pitchfork Advance
Indigo Meadow out April 2 on Blue Horizon
Charles Bradley: Full album stream via Rolling Stone
Victim of Love out April 2 on Daptone Records
Cheech & Chong: “Medical Marijuana” via A.V. Club
Cheech and Chong’s Animated Movie! Musical Soundtrack Album out April 9 on Ode Sounds & Visuals
Young Man: “Unfair” premiere via Stereogum
Beyond Was All Around Me out April 9 on Frenchkiss Records
Odonis Odonis: “Intelligence” premiere via Stereogum
Better out April 16 on Buzz Records
Dirtyphonics: Full album stream via Vibe
Irreverence out now on Dim Mak Records
Thee Oh Sees: “Minotaur” music video via Spin
Floating Coffin out April 16 on Castle Face Records
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, better known as British television personalities Ant & Dec, definitely have reason to feel psyched. The dynamic duo performed their 90s hit song “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble” on their TV variety show Saturday Night Takeaway last weekend, and the track skyrocketed to the top of the UK Midweek charts almost overnight. If you’re feeling a bit of déjà vu with this news, don’t worry, it’s not you. The former MCs’ rap track has made the rounds on the charts before… but not since 1994.
That’s right. After a 19 year gap between chart presence, the 90s hit single that reached #9 in its release year, has topped not only the UK Midweek charts, but reached #1 in the Amazon UK singles chart and has seen a 1,100% increase in Spotify streams.
The double act initially released this Rap track under the moniker PJ & Duncan, which they took from their character names on the children’s television show Byker Grove; and or the recent performance, they wholly jumped back into these 90s characters — donning oversized jerseys, baggy pants, and old school sneakers. The duo is no stranger to Pop music success though, as they released three studio albums during their music career, even reaching No. 5 on the UK charts for their album Psyche.
But clearly, people are still in love with the 90s. And it makes sense, Ant & Dec‘s performance of the chart-topping hit featured some of the most crisp 90s dance moves this side of the millenium has ever seen, each rapper topping it off with a bouncy Hip Hop flow and feel-good lyricism that would put The Sugarhill Gang to shame. It’s enough to make you want to break out your old Zubaz pants and bust a move.
Besides their success in music, Ant & Dec are well known for their work on TV, presenting for acclaimed shows ranging from Pop Idol to Britain’s Got Talent as well as I’m A Celebrity and everything in between. Putting their popular influence to good use, the multi-talented men have announced that all the proceeds coming from the single will be donated to Childline, a hotline service for children in need. What’s more, they even got Prince Charles’s endorsement at the Prince’s Trust event in London earlier this week: “They seem to have discovered the secret of eternal youth. I suspect it must be all that rhumbling they do. Anyway, I hope they keep rhumbling on.”
So if you are hankering for the sounds of the 90s, when plaid shirts ruled the land and Will Smith was simply known as a Fresh Prince, then hop over to Amazon to snag a copy of “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble.” You may just find yourself searching for your long lost yo-yo and Skip-It after one listen.
