I’ll be damned if all the work that we’ve been doing is leading to a dead end. Better yet, all the work we’ve been doing is leading artists to a dead end.

I was talking with by buddy Keith Gretlein last week about how there are some superstar artists that can get away with anything, including murder, and one of those people is Prince. Making false claims for publicity is another story. It was about midnight when I noticed a tweet from Mashable stating: “Prince: The Internet is Over”.

That’s not true of course, so I’ve simply taken quotes/statements from the Mirror UK story, and stated my opinion and advice on what was said. As a 25 year old who has been using computers since the age of 6, I remind you, new artists, that Prince is not an artist of the Internet generation.

“He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There’ll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses.”

Are you kidding me? Distributing your album on a CD by a newspaper has to be biggest oxymoron in media today. Prince or someone on Prince’s management team needs to get schooled on where media is shifting and how it is being used by consumers currently. Including on computers and digital gadgets, such as mobile phones.

My other theory is that whole camp is just so used to the record labels running their business, that they’re just too lazy to figure out everything that is going on in the current music business, that they call the Internet a bluff to create buzz, on the Internet, before the new album drops.

Trust me, there will be downloads somewhere, and it will be for free on a torrent site since it’s not available for purchase on your website, or itunes, or anywhere else. Just to Sunday newspaper readers? WTF???

“Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.”

I love this statement because it assumes his music is in high demand. Typical of an old school record biz mentality. Except this time he’s leaving tons of money on the table for such and ignorant and egotistical move.

Prince has such large audience of fan-boys and girls, he would have no trouble becoming a YouTube partner. By putting his videos up he could monetize ads and content on his channel. Not to mention link to itunes on an ad to sell the download of the same song of his you’re watching. Someone needs to explain to prince how YouTube and itunes is good for business, stat.

“The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.”

Prince is right!!! Why would you give your music to iTunes or anyone else? Better yet, take control and build your website using Tospin or Bandcamp and distribute your music, digital and physical product, directly to your fans on the Internet. I have yet to find a newspaper that serves music fans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, worldwide.

An advance from iTunes? If I or the bands I work with had a the brand equity and musical legacy that Prince has built over the past 30 years, I’d be purposely be keeping the album release exclusivity within my own web properties to capitalize on. After a certain time-frame, you could put your music on itunes of course, to satisfy the large itunes/ipod user-base that exists because of Apple.

“The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.”

Actually Prince, the Internet is more like radio + TV, and it’s created a large shift in societal media consumption. The Internet has approximately 1,802,330,457 users worldwide and we’re all connected. Via portable computers and digital gadgets, so you better have a mobile strategy also.

“They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

Right.

Original Article: Prince – world exclusive interview: Peter Willis goes inside the star’s secret world

Our friend Buddyhead is hosting a not-to-be-missed music showcase at NXNE 2010 in Canada this weekend! Check out the music showcase flyer and information below:

BUDDYHEAD GOES CANADIAN! 2010 NXNE SHOWCASE!

“Yep, we’re coming to Canada to throw a rock show. It’s all because the kind people at NXNE asked me to pick some of my favorite bands to put together for a show during their 2010 festival. How could I say no to seeing some of my favorite bands live in the great white north? I’m still pinching myself.

Vanessa and I land in Toronto on Wednesday and are there til Sunday, if you wanna show up around, give us free drugs, buy us dinner, show us the best jukebox (or hot tub) in town or even just buy us a beer… email us at Travis@buddyhead.com. We like making friends, even if they are Canadian. I can say that, cuz my mom is Canadian (duel citizenship bitches!).

Calling all Canucks! We want your souls! And we wanna show you a good time! We’re gonna have a party! Come rock n’ roll with us! Psychedelics encouraged! Turn on, tune in, drop out! Have fun!”

date: friday june 18
venue: the great hall
address: 1087 Queen st. w Toronto, Canada

PERFORMING LIVE!
The Icarus Line 1am
Mini Mansions 12am
X (John Doe & Exene Cervenka Unplugged) 11pm
AA Bondy (10pm)
Avi Buffalo (9pm)

Travis Keller – DJing the most smashing & crashing Rock N’ Roll all night long!

Check out more music from Buddyhead at the Buddyhead blog:

http://www.buddyhead.com

After over two years of blood, sweat and tears, the independent alternative-electronic duo Inspired Flight released their debut album this week, titled “We All Want To Fly”. You can now stream and download the album from their Topspin powered website we built, www.inspiredflightmusic.com

The album features Eligh & Scarub from Living Legends, Inspectah Deck from Wu-Tang Clan, and Rugged Monk from Black Knights.

We created some awesome packages for Inspired Flight fans of all levels to choose from, including:

Music Packages:

Digital Download, CD + Download, 2xLP Vinyl + Download

Enhanced Music Packages:

Custom Voicemail Greeting + Signed CD & Vinyl + Shirt + Download

Personalized Song + Signed CD & Vinyl + Shirt + Download

Private Show + Signed CD & Vinyl + Shirt + Download

All of these packages include an immediate download of the album in MP3, MP3 + Apple Lossless, MP3 + FLAC and are available with additional limited edition T-Shirts and Sweatshirts from Inspired Flight.

Thank you to Matt Spangler, Robot Friend, for providing the album artwork for We All Want To Fly:

We really like how Arcade Fire decided to release their new single:

What do you think?

Inspired Flight, the alternative-electronic duo from San Diego, CA will release their debut album titled “We All Want To Fly” on May 1st via Topspin. The album will feature Eligh and Scarub from Living Legends, Inspectah Deck from The Wu-Tang Clan, and Rugged Monk from Black Knights.

The first two singles from “We All Want To Fly” are:

1. Pull, Push, Let Go featuring Eligh of Living Legends
2. I Won’t Let You Down

You can find more information via the links below
Inspired Flight Official Website

Inspired Flight Press Page

After a long absence and hard work, Dios has returned with their third full-length album “We Are Dios” available today via Buddyhead Records. This band has become one of my personal favorite’s because of how much they remind me of Pink Floyd.

For Musickind worked with Buddyhead and Phillip Farmer (the man behind http://www.joshfreese.com) to manage the deployment of Topspin for some music packages, outlined below, that will surely deliver more than just a digital music experience.

“We Are Dios” is available in the following packages:

Digital Download

Deluxe CD and Download

Deluxe CD and Bonus Material Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been busy here at FMK with several music marketing projects, and we apologize for the delay in posting.

So here we are, excited as hell for what 2010 has in store for independent musicians. Back in September we wrote a post called Musician Websites: Goals, Brand, Commitment where we featured the work-in-progress for Inspired Flight. Well, we launched their website and remix promotion back in November and the creative results are in.

Thanks to the partnership with Topspin Media and MixMatchMusic, the stems for the song “It Always Takes” were delivered and a total of 33 remixes uploaded! Check them out yourself.

So now that all of the Inspired Flight remixes have been submitted, the band will go through them and choose the top 5 finalists, and then a winner who will receive an Eyeball 2.0 HD Webcam, courtesy of Blue Microphones. The winner will also be included with the debut album from Inspired Flight coming in May.

Be sure to download the Inspired Flight EP for free, and stay tuned for a couple of new singles from the new album. Cheers and good luck to all of the participants!

Inspired Flight has launched a brand new website. Please visit their website at www.inspiredflightmusic.com to download their “Through Sight and Sound EP” for free and also participate in their remix contest of the song “It Always Takes”.

From my perspective, Digital Music Forum and New Noise Santa Barbara can be summarized by the following: Read the rest of this entry »

So tomorrow marks the beginning of several days of music conferences and live performances. I will be at Digital Music Forum West at the Roosevelt in Los Angeles on October 7th and 8th and at New Noise Santa Barbara at the Canary Hotel on October 9th and 10th.

Please feel free to contact me at harold@formusickind or through twitter @formusickind. I look forward to seeing you there!