UK Music Jobs office radio regulars, We Have Band, have announced the release of their debut album ‘WHB’ on April 5th 2010 through Naive. Before the album they’ll be releasing a new single ‘Divisive’ on March 22nd, which just got its first exclusive play on BBC Radio 1 last week.

Check out the video of their recent single ‘HoneyTrap’ after the jump…

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From Guns n Roses to AC/DC! Yes, we really are keeping up with the times! It’s funny how these, ahem, ‘mature’ bands are leading the way with their music strategies.

Anywho, I thought I’d report on the Young Brothers and co, because they recently took a stand against iTunes. They believed that an album should not be able to be broken down and purchased as individual tracks. Something that Apple is very sure should be able to happen, and something that I am sitting on the fence about. If you are going to make a ‘proper’ album (and I wouldn’t do it any other way), then the songs really should come as a package. There’s the mixture of styles, tempos and the interludes and the way it all moulds together to make an album something a bit more special than a compilation. There’s also the fact that many albums I have bought and immediately assumed ‘I don’t like track 3’, only for it to evolve with me and a couple of years later I realise that my favourites are the unknown and once disliked tracks. If, however, you are a current major label pop starlet and you are going to throw together 2 hits and a bunch of fillers in order to get something out in time for Christmas and your album would normally become the staple of car-boot sales around the country, then I can see the appeal of shortening the pain and just purchasing the two tracks. Although, to be honest, you could shorten the pain for all involved by not recording a bunch of rubbish in the first place (that rant is going to continue in a new blog post, I can tell you…).

So, AC/DC’s ‘Black Ice’ album would not be available on iTunes for the above reason. The result? Over 780,000 sales in it’s first week in the US. That’s also thanks to an exclusivity deal with Wal-Mart and strong promotion on their part. I the UK, they outsold Kaiser Chiefs two to one, and I believe that sales hit around the 120,000 mark. Ultimately, they hit the number one spot in an incredible 29 different countries!

Am I saying that we should all now ditch the digital revolution and just sell physical albums? Of course not. AC/DC is in a unique position and can strike up such a deal because of their strong history. Ultimately, the physical only strategy was to their greatest benefit. And I AM saying that you should explore all options to find the greatest benefit to you. Maybe that is physical releases, maybe that is an exclusive digital deal with Stompy, maybe you should give your music away. You decide, I’m just here to open you eyes

Lee Jarvis.

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I reported the leaks on Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Chinese Democracy’ album recently, and now it’s finally getting a timely full release. Yesterday’s official statement from Best Buy and Geffen Records gave us a street date of November 23rd for CD, vinyl LP (with a free digital download) and digital album versions, and pre-orders have already begun today.

The title single from the album was yesterday sent to radio stations, and they immediately started airing it and eagerly listening to fan’s thoughts. Many US station reps have shared their thoughts over at Billboard.com.

Is it any good? Well, Steve Kandell at Spin.com says, “Once the overture of muffled voices, ominous drums, and plinky Edge-ish guitar gives way to a thick, muscular four-chord riff and that Axl banshee wail, only the most stubbornly jaded will manage to suppress the goosebump reflex”

Want to make your own mind up? You can listen here – add your views in the comment section.

It has been an incredibly long wait for the new GNR material; their first album since 1991’s seminal ‘Use your Illusion I’ & ‘Use your Illusion II’ releases. It’s been such a debacle that soda company Dr Pepper once offered to “provide a free can of the soda to everyone in the U.S. if the album drops this year” (today they kept their promise and made plans for the free deal).

Was it worth the wait? Did the band gain anything by waiting this long? Does anyone still care about the album? Let me know your thoughts…

Lee Jarvis.

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Post War Years

Post War Years announce their UK tour with the hotly tipped White Lies, in between recording their debut album in their self built Russian Club studio.

WHITE LIES UK DATES

21st September – Club Ifor Bach, Cardiff
22nd September – Night & Day, Manchester
24th September – Little Civic, Wolverhampton
25th September – Bodega, Nottingham
26th September – Leadmill, Sheffield
29th September – Komedia, Brighton
1st October – Arts Centre, Norwich
2nd October – Cluny, Newcastle
3rd October – King Tuts, Glasgow
6th October – Carling Academy, Oxford
7th October – ICA, London (SOLD OUT)

You can keep up to date with Post War Years as they record their debut album on their band blog;http://therussianclub.wordpress.com/

You can also listen to some of their fantastic new material on MySpace;http://www.myspace.com/thempostwaryears

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All this new music at our fingertips and all these new ways of buying and selling it. Aren’t we all so lucky. I recently reported how Madonna’s album was available for mobile phone downloads prior to the physical CD release (We’ve also had Bryan Adams selling his album exclusively through Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in the US (not quite as Rock n Roll, but you gotta take what you’re offered, right Bry?)).

Yet, amongst the digital revolution and traditional record shop mass-exodus, us dance music fans still like to buy physical products. It sure is hard for the retailers to keep on making money, times have changed, and a few vinyl junkies aren’t enough to keep a business afloat, but it was a very pleasant surprise to read about the recent RISE in sales of vinyl (RIAA 2007 Year-End Shipment Statistics – PDF). I’m not saying it’s saved, or making a comeback (especially after one year’s rise compared to nine years decline), but i realised that my own buying habits have changed over the years. I still go hunting for the odd 2nd hand bargain, or an old release with a killer B-side that everyone looked over at the time. But, i’m afraid i feel it hard to pay more than 8 quid for a piece of wax. Unless…. it’s an LP.

After a saturation of big brand mixed compitlations and a handful of rather weak superstar DJ full-length ego-massaging CDs, exciting dance music producers are making a bit of a comeback with artist albums. Canada’s Deadmau5 is planning an album release around Halloween, supported with a Puma/Beatport sponsored 50-date tour. The UK’s Mike Monday has his ready to go with US dance giant OM Records, complete with music videos!

There’s something about albums that give you a warm fuzzy feeling (not just the value for money). Maybe the artwork, or the expectation of the full spectrum of music that will (hopefully) be on there, with all the thank you’s and shout outs written inside the cover. Maybe there’s free stickers! Everybody loves free stickers!

If either of the above mentioned will be made available on vinyl, i think they will be sure purchases for myself, and even if not, I hope i’ll be able to continue hunting out some great vinyl LPs for years to come… whilst downloading the odd promo single

Lee.

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If you’ve not left your TV, radio and internet-less cocoon for the last four weeks, then you wouldn’t have realized that Madonna has just released her 11^th studio album, Hard Candy. With all-due respect to the comeback(?) queen of pop (I guess she’s never really been away long enough for a comeback), what really caught my attention was the promotion of the album.

Madonna has always re-invented herself to the new emerging markets, physically and musically. This album is no different, and working with the biggest producers of recent years, Timbaland and The Neptunes, as well as performing alongside Justin Timberlake on the launch single, ‘4 minutes’, ensures that sales are already through the roof thanks to a fresh generation of music buyers and millions of long-term fans.

But the way that this album was also marketed to the new generation of music buyers really struck me. With the release date being 28^th April (in the UK), Warner Bros decided to market the album by releasing seven songs on the seven days prior to this, available to download via mobile phone. Myself growing up with CDs, I quite like the artwork of and album, and I like to read all the inlay notes while I listen to it for the first time (GEEK ALERT!). I’m sure people love vinyl LPs partly for the same reason. However you can’t ignore the streams of ‘yoofs’ around the shopping malls, all playing the latest pop tracks on their mobile phones – the market here is huge! Gone are the days of monotone rings, these are full mp3s, and all the major mobile companies offer various packages and download sites through which they aim to claim back some of the download music monopoly that Apple hold.

I look forward to hearing more about how the move was received by her worldwide audience, and I’m sure I’ll be bringing you more news on this very soon. I think that as much as recent years have been a rocky ride for the digital music industry, the years ahead will be filled with innovative ways to feed the revolution.

Lee.

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Generally, the two don’t overlap too much – dance music wants to stay cool and ‘underground’, and major labels will dilute your work in order to sell it to the masses, right? Well recently a rare deal was struck between Sony BMG and Dutch phenomenon Don Diablo.

Already a big name in the scene (he beat Armin Van Buuren, Fedde le Grand and Tiesto in the People’s Choice DJ awards), Diablo sees the deal as a way to launch himself on an international level, as Sony BMG will be marketing and distributing his forthcoming album. A ‘fusion of electro/hip hop and rock’ album that he himself wrote, produced, engineered, and even sang on! Why would such a multi-talented musician then hand over control to anyone else, let alone a major label? Well, with only a small team working with him at the moment, Diablo knows there is not enough time to push all the avenues that he wants too, such as T-shirts and merchandise, especially as this album has taken two and a half years to get everything just as he wants it. The workforce of a major will free up his time so he can be more creative, and they will make sure all the paperwork is completed on time. Alongside Sonny BMG’s huge international presence, their financial clout may help him break through the ‘just a DJ’ barrier that he feels he’s been held back by. Diablo insists that he will keep full artistic freedom, and has plans to sign new independent acts to his own imprint, as well as future ‘DJ friendly’ EPs and a live show for a US tour.

In a statement from Diablo’s Amsterdam-based performer’s management firm, Muzikology, Sony BMG also notes that in the near future it will be “developing into a music entertainment company that offers a wider range of activities and services to artists in order to create a loyal fan base and strong artist brands”. Maybe this will change the way music contracts are structured with majors? Or at least change the way they are often viewed from artists looking to make it on a global scale without ‘selling out’.

Lee Jarvis.

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