R.E.M. has announced that it will stream Accelerate - the band's 14th studio album - in its entirety exclusively on iLike and its syndicates beginning March 24th. The iLike Worldwide Listening Party will continue through March 26th, six days before the album's North American release on April 1st, 2008. The iLike streaming deal was announced in a press release.
"Collaborating with iLike and debuting Accelerate across the Web is in keeping with the spirit and immediacy of the album," says the band's frontman Michael Stipe. "We wanted to do something superfast and super real. Music, art, and pop culture are about right now, and nothing else matters. Accelerate is our turbo-charged response to the times we live in."
"With 11 songs clocking in at just 34 minutes, Accelerate is intense and relevant, with songs inspired by the WTO riots in Seattle, the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and other topical themes," said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike. "We are honored to play a role in helping R.E.M. introduce this album to their fans across the Web. This is our first-ever Worldwide Listening Party and R.E.M. has set a very high bar."
In many ways, Accelerate marks a break from R.E.M.'s recent albums, 1998's Up, 2001's Reveal, and 2004's Around The Sun - all finely crafted works exploring the textures and possibilities of the recording studio. Accelerate ties together the band's entire canon as part of the vision for the new album turning old dreams into a new reality.
iLike's popularity got a huge boost from being a popular application on Facebook. They've clearly been able to leverage that popularity to get a major band like R.E.M. to stream their entire album on their service before it is officially released. R.E.M. will also record a video message introducing and discussing the album that will be available via iLike for distribution across the Web.
SFGate.com reports that appearing in iPod ads has been good for a Canadian band named Feist.
The Canadian band Feist was quick to realize the benefits of its Apple partnership. Headed by singer-songwriter Leslie Feist, it released "The Reminder" on May 1, a well-reviewed collection of alternative and folk songs. The record sold decently - 31,000 its first week and 21,000 the next, according to SoundScan. On Sept. 9, when its song "1234" was paired with Apple's new iPod video Nano, the band was averaging 6,000 record sales weekly for a grand total of 216,000.
During the next four weeks, as the catchy ad beamed into millions of American living rooms, weekly sales for Feist improved to 14,000 the first week, 19,000 the second, 28,000 the third and 20,000 four weeks into the ad campaign.
Led Zeppelin is finally going to be selling its albums online. Warner Music Group confirmed in a statement that Led Zeppelin would be going digital through mobile phones. CNN's Media Biz called Led Zeppelin one of the few remaining holdouts and says there will also be iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody availability in addition to the mobile outlets in Warner Music's statement.
Led Zeppelin, one of the few remaining holdouts in the digital music age, said Monday that it is finally releasing its catalog digitally. The only official announcement from the group's record label, Atlantic Records, which is owned by Warner Music Group (WMG), discussed how songs would be available through the V CAST music service of Verizon Wireless, the mobile phone service owned by Verizon (VZ) and Vodafone (VD).
But a spokesman for Warner Music Group confirmed to me Monday that other reports about Led Zeppelin's music becoming available on other major music stores on Nov. 13 were true. That means people will be able to download "Stairway to Heaven," "Kashmir" and other Zeppelin hits from Apple's (AAPL) iTunes, Napster (NAPS) and RealNetworks' (RNWK) Rhapsody for their MP3 players beginning next month.
This is big news for all the online music stores since Led Zeppelin, according to figures from the Recording Industry Association of America, is the fourth-biggest selling artist in U.S. history. Only The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Garth Brooks have sold more albums.
It's also good news for Warner Music Group since it opens up yet another way for the company to cash in on Zeppelin's back catalog. The big record labels may increasingly find that their livelihood will depend on nostalgia.
Best Week Ever notes that the day Led Zeppelin's music is available on iTunes is the same day their double-Greatest Hits album comes out. Gizmodo writes that the Led Zeppelin digital music will be available at all online music stores. Sounds good but this is 2007 -- it's about time Zeppelin.
Radiohead, the band behind the hit song "Creep" are disturbing music labels with their decision to offer their upcoming album In Rainbows as a digital download with a name your own price option. Time reports that consumers can pay whatever they want for the digital download from zero on up.
In Rainbows will be released as a digital download available only via the band's web site, Radiohead.com. There's no label or distribution partner to cut into the band's profits - but then there may not be any profits. Drop In Rainbows' 15 songs into the online checkout basket and a question mark pops up where the price would normally be. Click it, and the prompt "It's Up To You" appears. Click again and it refreshes with the words "It's Really Up To You" - and really, it is. It's the first major album whose price is determined by what individual consumers want to pay for it. And it's perfectly acceptable to pay nothing at all.
Radiohead's contract with EMI/Capitol expired after its last record, Hail to the Thief, was released in 2003; shortly before the band started writing new songs, singer Thom Yorke told TIME, "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'F___ you' to this decaying business model." On Sunday night, guitarist Jonny Greenwood took to Radiohead's Dead Air Space blog and nonchalantly announced, "Hello everyone. Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days. We've called it In Rainbows. Love from us all."
You can see a countdown to the release of In Rainbowshere. In Rainbows will be out on October 10th. You can get it at www.inrainbows.com. Raidoheads website is located at here.
Radiohead's decision has sent shockwaves around the music world. Some even thought it was a hoax (via Boing Boing).
A BBC story (via Digital media wire) says most people are paying for the download even though it isn't a requirement.
Mr Chalmers also said that to date, most fans were pre-ordering the "discbox" and that very few fans were trying to download the album for next to nothing.
He said: "Although the idea is that you can decide what you want to pay, most people are deciding on a normal retail price with very few trying to buy it for a penny."
In Rainbows will be available to download from 10 October with the "discbox" version following on 3 December.
Salon's The Machinist estimates (via Green LA Girl) Radiohead needs to make about $1.50 per sale to beat a label deal.
How smelly of a stink bomb is Radiohead's move, record industry-wise? The band is a powerhouse; though they're the most adventurous rock group working today, Radiohead manages to keep a supremely loyal fanbase, and their albums consistently sell well. Any label would have swooned for it -- though, as ever, only on terms unfair to the artists.
For every $1 song sold on iTunes, according to reports, Apple keeps about 30 cents, giving about 70 to the record label. But activists say artists typically get just 8 to 14 cents per song from the deal -- or about $0.80 to $1.40 per album sold digitally.
So that's the main test here; in order for the band to come out ahead, Radiohead needs to clear only more than a buck-50 per sale. Easy.
Woman Loses Music Download Case. Ordered to Pay $220,000
CBS News reports that 30-year-old Jammie Thomas has been found guilty of sharing copyrighted music online by a federal jury. Jammie Thomas has to pay $220,000 in damages. Thomas says she didn't have a Kazaa account but the record companies said she used Kazaa to share the music files.
Jurors ordered Jammie Thomas, 30, to pay the six record companies that sued her $9,250 for each of 24 songs they focused on in the case. They had alleged she shared 1,702 songs online in violation of their copyrights.
Thomas and her attorney, Brian Toder, declined comment as they left the courthouse. Jurors also left without commenting.
"This does send a message, I hope, that downloading and distributing our recordings is not OK," said Richard Gabriel, the lead attorney for the music companies.
In the first such lawsuit to go to trial, six record companies accused Thomas of downloading the songs without permission and offering them online through a Kazaa file-sharing account. Thomas denied wrongdoing and testified that she didn't have a Kazaa account.
CNET calls it a key victory for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry. However, the article also says the case may not be over.
This is likely not the end of the case, according to Fred von Lohmann, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for Internet users. Late Thursday evening, von Lohmann said that he had heard from several copyright attorneys who had expressed interest in representing Thomas should she want to appeal the decision.
"There are a lot of copyright lawyers who would be interested in helping her if she wants to continue this," von Lohmann said. "I'd imagine that she doesn't want to pay $200,000. We'll see what she wants to do."
The $220,000 comes from the record companies suing her $9,250 for each of the 24 songs she is alleged to have shared illegally online. USA Todaynotes that damages could have been set as low as $750 per song. That would have made a huge difference - $18,000 in damages instead of $220,000.
John Lennon's solo catalog is now available on iTunes. Apple, the company behind iTunes, made the announcement in a statement on its website.
"John would have loved the fact that his music will now be available in a format suited to a new generation of listeners," said Yoko Ono.
"John Lennon is one of the greatest artists of our time," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're thrilled to have his solo catalog available on the iTunes Store for the first time."
As part of EMI Music's digital catalog, the John Lennon solo works will be available in iTunes Plus, offering DRM-free music tracks with high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings-for just $1.29 per song.
The iTunes Store features the world's largest catalog with over five million songs, 550 television shows and over 500 movies. The iTunes Store has sold over three billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over two million movies, making it the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store.
SlipperyBrick says Lennon is the second Beatles artist to allow iTunes to sell their solo albums. Paul McCartney was the first. CMJ says Ringo Starr is involved with iTunes as well.
Apple has announced (hat tip The Daily Mac) that more than three billion songs have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store at www.itunes.com. The iTunes website contains the following according to Apple.
5 million songs
550 television programs
500 films
"We'd like to thank all of our customers who have contributed to this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. With the praise the music portion of the iPhone has received Apple should be able to sell plenty more songs over the coming years.
Led Zeppelin is finally going to be selling its albums online. Warner Music Group confirmed in a 
Radiohead, the band behind the hit song "Creep" are disturbing music labels with their decision to offer their upcoming album In Rainbows as a digital download with a name your own price option. Time 
CBS News 
John Lennon's solo catalog is now available on 
Apple has announced (hat tip 