Between updating their subscription plans and experimenting with more visual profiles (still in early beta), SoundCloud has been on fire lately. ComScore even recently reported that their traffic increased by 26% in one month, making SoundCloud the 8th fastest growing site in the U.S. Though it’s certainly evolved since its launch in Berlin in …
You might know The Orchard as a global music and film distribution company but do you know much about the people behind the name? We have over 175 employees worldwide all hailing from different backgrounds, boasting different lines of expertise, and coming from all walks of life. We thought it’d be fun …
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 …
Between Amanda Palmer and Veronica Mars, crowdfunding has proven its worth beyond the shadow of a doubt. In one year alone, global crowdfunding initiatives grew 81% to generate a reported $2.7 BILLION. Of that, music-related projects represented a very respectable $202.5 million, i.e. 7.5% of all raised funds and 4th most …
For the “Rock Brigade,” “It Don’t Matter.” Def Leppard continues to go “On Through The Night,” saying “Hello America” and hello to the rest of the world.
If Def Leppard is not on the road, it is only to refuel for their next string of gigs. The legendary band played a series of shows in the U.K. through December of 2011 with Motley Crue and Steel Panther. A few months later, in the Summer of 2012, they were on the road with Lita Ford and Poison throughout the U.S. for over 40 dates. Most recently, Def Leppard played a residency at The Joint in Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to celebrate their hit album Hysteria. Fans had the opportunity to relive mega-hits such as “Love Bites,” “Animal” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” The “Viva! Hysteria” concert series ran from March 22nd to April 13th and was a huge success.
To commemorate the series, Def Leppard has released an exclusive live album/movie pack by the same name. The film was shot during one of the concert performances, and was screened in select theaters around the world. The whole thing is quite an experience, and to back it up, the record killed it on the charts, making it the band’s 16th charting album:
Enjoy the show, my friends, and Viva! Hysteria.
Who could have imagined that from the minds that brought us everyone’s favorite high school musical dramedy Glee was something far more twisted, terrifying and truly controversial? In 2011, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk introduced horror fans to an entirely new and progressive idea not really seen before on television as they dreamed up American Horror Story, now one of FX’s fan favorites.
In its first two seasons, the visually spellbinding anthology series covered everything from hauntings, alien abductions and brutally graphic murder depictions to touching on the more real and relatable issues of true American horror including teen violence and school shootings, suicide and self mutilation, adultery, drug addiction, homosexual discrimination, experimental torture, rape and mental illness among many others. Fast forward to this year where we head to New Orleans to explore an aspect of American folklore and reality — witches — as leading ladies take front and center and we are introduced to our Coven. With an all-star cast peppered with familiar faces in completely different roles including Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson joining the likes of new additions Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett, the fight between the power of witches and the ritual behind voodoo is captivating and not to be missed!
Now, we here at The Orchard have noticed a trend: with great television, there is now often a great recap series to accompany it. The Walking Dead has Talking Dead, Breaking Bad had Talking Bad, and now the newest season of FX’s American Horror Story: Coven, has Covering Coven. “The Recap” has come a long way since its meager beginnings of fans just blogging about their favorite shows purely because they wanted to. Now you have TV stations dedicating at least half an hour of precious airtime to a recap show and writers being paid to give us their opinion. And it’s not just the network television stations picking this up — YouTube is filled with fan-produced recap shows that generate quite the following.
Shock Till You Drop, a top horror web publisher, also took notice of this trend and has enlisted five women to do a weekly recap of Coven, including yours truly — along with Perri Nemiroff, Sasha Capelli, and Alexis Saarela. We must say, we were a bit skeptical when first asked to do this. Why would people care about our thoughts and theories on the show? Well, the numbers don’t lie. With the first episode in our series generating just over 1K views, it shows us that fans really do want to see if their theories match with ours, or if we can blow their minds with different insight into the show. Covering Coven also takes on a new approach to the recap show: a 5 person Google Hangout. So instead of having one person sitting in front of their webcam droning on and on about the show, our show is a conversation focused web series that runs 12-15 minutes max and hits all the juicy points in the show, as well as the subtleties that you may have missed when just watching it yourself.
There are 8 episodes left in this season, so it’s definitely not too late to start watching! Tune in to FX tonight and every Wednesday at 10pm EST to see what your favorite witches are up to, then look out for the latest episode of Covering Coven each Thursday afternoon on the Shock Till You Drop YouTube Channel.
If you still aren’t convinced that this show is for you, check out our first episode (massive spoiler alert!) and you just might change your mind:
- Megg Hochbaum and Allison Ullrich
Introducing Cookie Pryce, Senior Client Relations Manager, UK
So you wanna know a little bit about me?
Formerly a member of the UK’s leading Female Rap outfit ‘The Cookie Crew,’ I enjoyed a ten-year career as a signed recording artist, touring with an array of U.S. greats including Public Enemy, De La Soul, Stetsasonic, EPMD, GUY and Bobby Brown. I have also recorded with the likes of Gangstarr, BlackSheep, Davy DMX, Danny D, Roy Ayres and the late Edwin Starr.
Since hanging up the microphone I have embraced many roles within our industry from Marketing, Publicity and Promotion to Project Management and mentoring young people.
I’ve worked for and been a consultant for several Major and Independent Record Labels, Entertainment & Publicity Companies including: Universal Music-UK, Atlantic Records-UK, Koch Entertainment-New York, SMC Recordings-San Francisco, Strange Music Inc.-Kansas City, Propas International Rights Management-Canada, RSK Entertainment-UK, Timezone International-New York, MOBO Organization-UK, AEG/The O2 Arena-UK, Connie Fillipello Publicity, Emms Publicity, From The Rib Music, Imani Entertainment Group and Cash Money Records.
I have spearheaded Marketing & PR campaigns in the UK for some of the biggest names in the music industry including: Missy Elliott, P Diddy, Lupe Fiasco, Lil Kim, T.I., Twista, Brandy, Mary J Blige, KRS-One, Raekwon, RZA, Grand Puba, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Rakim, Danity Kane, Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, Akala, George Michael, Mariah Carey, Veronica V, Eve, Trevante, Kenny Dope & Rasheed Chappell and Tamar Braxton.
I’m also a board member at Diaspora UK, a non-profit music foundation supporting and lobbying for equality and diversity within the music and creative industries.
My experience led me to running my own bespoke consultancy service to the creative industry (UK and US). I’m not only a massive music fan, but also a former recording artist who was able to migrate my skills, passion, knowledge and expertise over to the other side of the business, becoming a one-woman band that conducted a whole orchestra and I’m about to go on tour with THE ORCHARD.
I love food & music, food & life, food & family, food & friends, food & cats, food & shopping and most of all, I love being ME.
November 2013 presents another opportunity……….I’m joining a progressive company!!!! I’m extremely excited about my new role and looking forward to working with you all!
On that note….. sit back and enjoy the in-flight entertainment, popcorn and drinks will be served shortly ;)
You may or may not have seen a certain red band trailer recently featuring Lil Jon’s “Let’s Go,” from our very own TVT Records, but you need to. It’s hilarious.
Neighbors, the working title for the new flick from Nick Stoller (Get Him To The Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Muppets Most Wanted (side bar: how stoked are you for that one)), stars Seth Rogen as a new father matching wits with an obnoxious frat, presided over by Zac Efron.
You can check out the trailer below, and look for the film in the spring of 2014.
For this month’s Label Spotlight, we chat with Miriam Linna and Billy Miller of Norton Records, purveyors of primitive, retro Rock and Roll, Rockabilly, Garage, Proto-Punk and early R&B for the past 27 years. Norton Records grew out of a love for records, first out of Billy selling Miriam a record by The Lollipope Shoppe back in 1977, and then out of their co-published fanzine, Kicks, devoted to obscure Rock, Soul, and Rockabilly (still the best fanzine ever in my eyes!). In 1986, they published an article on Hasil Adkins that received a response so intense that they decided to form Norton Records in order to reissue his music.
Fiercely independent, Norton has stayed true to their artists and fans even since, especially in the wake of the loss of their storage warehouse during Hurricane Sandy — more on that shortly. This month sees the release of a new two volume compilation series, 20 Pounders, to serve both as a label sampler and to coincide with a series of Sandy anniversary shows.
Ok, Miriam and Billy, let’s get started…
Can you give us a brief overview of the label and its history?
Miriam: Norton Records was born in 1986. We’re a Brooklyn label and took the name of our hero Ed Norton, the sewer worker character from the Honeymooners TV show, which was based in Brooklyn. We had begun publishing a Rock n’Roll fan magazine called KICKS in 1979 — it was focused on great unknown records, where we tried to get the stories of the artists and labels, and wrote about these record and artists. We involved our like-minded friends as contributors, never accepting ad revenue from anyone except fellow contributors and fans. We have always felt that fandom and integrity were cornerstones of what we do. We’re an independent label and publisher. We do not have investors, advisors, or financial wizards to answer to. With Hurricane Sandy, we received nothing from any insurance company, and we did not take any public assistance from FEMA or any other federal, state, or city organization. Our survival and comeback as a label and publisher has been fueled by the energy of our artists and authors, our faithful followers — all true believers in the music that continues to thrive in the hi-octane world of Norton Records.
Tell us about an album that you put out that taught you the most about running the label.
Billy: Our first album OUT TO HUNCH by Hasil Adkins was our debut as a label, in January 1986. We made 500 copies and expected to go to the grave with 400. But we loved it and soon found that everyone else did, too. It’s still in print and a week doesn’t go by that we don’t get asked questions about it. So we were in the deep end of the pool right off the bat, learning about distribution, record pressing, promotion, dealing with the press, taking Hasil on the road — having a successful release right out of the gate taught us pretty much all the basics.
Miriam: Billy’s right. Aside from the learning experience, OUT TO HUNCH was a declaration of what Norton is about and continues to express that fact that we issue music that we are gone-crazy about, and that we want people’s cranium’s to crack over!
Hurricane Sandy affected you greatly. Can you describe the outpouring of support you experienced and the significance of the 20 Pounders compilations (out on November 12th)?
Miriam: Total destruction of our place of business, our life’s work, virtually all of our stock, personal collections… gone with the wind. We were astonished at the worldwide efforts to make the label float, from the umpteen locals — friends and new-found friends, people with expertise on specific issues, all coming forward — it was the trip of all trips. It felt like a dream going through it. Getting to bed exhausted in the wee hours, and getting up to go back to Red Hook’s watery grave, day after day — every morning I’d have a split second of thinking, “wow, I had the craziest dream,” and then I’d realize it wasn’t a dream. And it was off to the salt mines. There was a lot of grief, confusion, railing at the fates on a spiritual level. I honestly have no clue how we would have survived in spirit, let alone as a label and publisher, without the motivated thousands of supporters who selflessly buoyed our survival and, really, rebirth one year later. The spirit comes forth in these debut volumes of POUNDERS which are random samplers of Norton Records. If anything, they show the intensity, the excitement, and the attitude that we want the world to recognize as “Nortonian.”
You also have a series of shows this month to mark the Sandy anniversary. Who are you most excited to see?
Billy: All of them! It will be the first time we will see La La Brooks perform as a Norton artist. We’re looking forward to getting together with all the Norton fans and supporters. Should be a blast!
Miriam: Every musician on the bill is tops. Personally, seeing and hearing two of the groups that impressed my teenage brain forever — The Flamin Groovies and The Sonics — on one stage on the same night — will forever galvanize us in knowing that this music is what it’s all about. Nothing mysterious about it — Rock n’ Roll is here to stay!
What piece of advice would you give to other label owners?
Billy: 1. Don’t ever think your day will end at closing time. 2. Get everything in writing. 3. Be one step ahead on anything you do.
Miriam: Go with your heart. Release only music that you could defend to your dying day. Be responsible. Do it right. Don’t give up. Hang in there, baby. (Maybe I have an alternate career in recreating motivational posters!)
Where do you see the industry headed?
Miriam: Our stubborn love of vinyl makes us stand by our years-ago declaration that we will make vinyl records until all the vinyl forests are chopped down and grow no more. And we will do exactly that. But we also understand that the music is what is in those round little records with the grooves on them. We grew up as radio fans, and know that music and its arrival in any given location is electric — we know we need to make our music, by definition, “Norton music” available by any means possible — we are grateful to The Orchard for making that happen. Our initial doubts about whether physical format will be killed by digital music have been quelled in knowing that our “real records” coexist with their digital alter-egos, and actually support each other.
What are your must listens for 2013?
Miriam: Personally? 20 POUNDERS VOL. 1 and VOL. 2. As advice to others, be they dyed-in-the-wool Nortonians or new initiates to The Loud Sound, POUNDERS VOL. 1 and 2. This is the tip of the Norton music iceberg — climb on over. It’s COOL up here!
