Radiohead Launches Song Remix Contest with iTunes

Radiohead has partnered with Apple's iTunes Store to give fans the ability to create their own remix for their new single "Nude," offering the separate vocal and instrumental parts of the song for download from the online store. Finished songs may then be uploaded to RadioheadRemix.com, where the public will vote on them; users may also place voting widgets on their own websites that will count in the final tally. (Digital Media Wire)

Imeem Grabs Rolling Stones Advance Debut

"Shine A Light", the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s new documentary about The Rolling Stones, is making its US debut today on imeem, a week prior to it's April 1st release on Interscope. imeem users can hear the 16-song deluxe version of the soundtrack includingevery track from the film plus four bonus cuts - "Paint It Black", "Little T&A", "Shine A Light" and "I'm Free." (Hypebot)

R.E.M. Brings London Apple Store Up To Speed

R.E.M. showcased its new album "Accelerate" (Warner Bros.) alongside obscure old songs during an intimate showcase for fans and media at the Apple Store on London's Regent Street. The gig, which will be available as an audio download from the iTunes Music Store at a future date, came just two days after the band played its first-ever show at London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall. After a May-June tour in the U.S. and Canada, R.E.M. returns to the U.K. in July for a headline slot at the T in the Park festival, followed by stadium shows in August. (Billboard)

Musicians seek extra ways to connect with fans, build market

In this day and age, content is king. And the more, the better, musicians are learning as recording sessions and tour stops are increasingly transformed into multimedia factories to feed a seemingly insatiable appetite among fans for star-driven fodder. Today, going into the studio can involve hair and makeup for a possible TV special or DVD release while tour stops must make time for in-depth backstage interviews to accompany a possible limited-edition live package or download. (The Canadian Press)

SanDisk Promotes DRM-Free Music from More Than 50 Emerging Artists

SanDisk Corporation announced the company will promote DRM-free music from more than 50 new and emerging artists on a microSD card. This U.S.-based program is the first of its kind to use microSD cards, and helps launch the new 8GB (gigabyte)1 Sansa Fuze MP3 player. The “Sansa Sessions” microSD card is comprised of a collection of rock, pop, and hip hop songs, music videos, and photos from more than 30 labels. Featured artists include All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal and The Coup. (PR)

Madonna to launch 'Hard Candy' on mobile

Madonna plans to give more than 250m Vodafone customers access to her new album ahead of its official release set for April 28th with Warner Music. Beginning on April 21st, each track will remain live and exclusive to Vodafone customers for 24 hours for download before being replaced by the next one. (The Telegraph)

Surrge Rocks the Music Industry

By creating a fan-driven, word-of-mouth distribution channel, Surrge enables artists to recognize the fans who contribute to their success. Those fans are then compensated through Surrge for their promotional efforts. As a result, new music spreads quickly, conversations and music sharing ensues, fan bases grow, and the hottest stars rise to the top creating a true social community “Top 40” effect based on real sales. (PR)

Retailers clash with Pepsi over free music

Pepsi is at odds with some of its biggest US retail customers over a national marketing campaign offering free digital music downloads from online retailer Amazon. The partnership has antagonised rival bricks-and-mortar retailers. In an apparent response to retailers’ concerns, Amazon’s name has been banished from the front of Pepsi bottles carrying the promotion. (Financial Times)

The Orchard Launches a New Suite of Digital Sales & Marketing Label Tools

The Orchard, a global leader in digital music, video and new media services, announced the launch of an innovative, next-generation business-to-business tool set called the Artist/Label Workstation (ALW). The ALW offers Orchard’s artist and label clients with powerful online administration and reporting tools, digital marketing reporting and analysis, accounting administration and royalty analysis. (PR)

Marillion Pre-Sale Pays Off

Veteran U.K. progressive rock band Marillion claims to have secured the equivalent of a $725,000 advance by appealing direct to its fans online. A spokesperson for the band says 12,011 fans have paid £29.99 ($60) for a deluxe version of the as-yet-unreleased double-disc set, providing an income of £360,000 ($725,000). The album will be self-released; the band controls its own publishing. (Billboard, Sound On Sound)

R.E.M.'S New Album Will Premiere Worldwide Exclusively via iLike

Warner Bros. Records’ R.E.M. and leading social music discovery service iLike announced that Accelerate, the best-selling rock band’s 14th studio album, will stream in its entirety exclusively on iLike and its syndicates beginning March 24th. A first for the company, the iLike Worldwide Listening Party will continue through March 26th, six days before the album’s North American release on April 1st, 2008. (PR, Times Online)

1,000 True Fans

The long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist's works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales. Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail? One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. (The Technium)

Facebook Bolsters Music Offering

Facebook today unveiled a new music section designed to let artist create profiles that showcase their music, videos, photos and other details. Participating artists can post songs for fans to stream, provide a full discography of previous works and sell tickets or merchandise. (Billboard)

Downlovers Parent Plugs Into Flash Memory Biz

Kiver, the Milan-based digital content provider, has launched a new division, Flashport, which will specialize in preloading content for digital flash memory cards. In a statement Kiver's CEO Gianluca Perrelli says: "This new division will enable us to integrate content with technologically advanced digital support systems and this will help increase our supply for both mainstream businesses and record labels." (Billboard)

Island Def Jam, Flycell Partner For Mobile Service

This first-ever label-centric mobile subscription service, in a deal with mobile and online media company Flycell, will offer subscribers exclusive online and mobile content, including ringtones, graphics and games, along with label news, artist mobile blogs and sweepstakes for backstage concert passes and other prizes. IDJ Mobile will be available for $9.99 a month to mobile customers of Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Virgin Mobile, Boost, Alltel, Cellular One, Metro PCS and Suncom. (Billboard)

SXSW Campaign Coverage: Emerging Trends

With both the expansion of independent music and the expansion of the SXSW brand, many members of the industry has become more critical of SXSW, citing that it has outdone itself in size and marketing clutter; at the same time, SXSW has become more critical of the industry, citing that it is fighting for control and that unsanctioned parties are damaging the SXSW brand. (Paste Magazine)

Los Tigres partners with MSN to promote album

In an unusual branding move between a digital retailer and a regional Mexican act, Los Tigres del Norte is launching its new album, "Raices," in partnership with Zune and MSN Latino. The campaign before the Fonovisa album's March 4 release has the norteno icon advertising its exclusive track for Zune, "Lloraras," in radio spots in New York and Los Angeles. The band has been heavily featured across Zune Marketplace this month and will get similar treatment on MSN Latino as its artist of the month for March. (Reuters)

The Bravery is the first act on iTunes to release new track each week for 4 weeks

In an unprecedented move, Island Records group the Bravery becomes the first act in iTunes history to release one new track each week for four weeks from their upcoming album relaunch, ‘The Sun and the Moon Complete’ - starting Feb. 19th with a reworked version of “Believe.” The single is currently on the Top 10 Modern Rock single, whose video was added to MTV, MTV2, VH1, and FUSE this week, following its premiere at Yahoo. (Monsters & Critics)

Wharton Study Finds ILike Users Acquire 250% More Music In Month After Registration

Long-term iLike users added nearly 250% more music per month to their libraries in the first month of using iLike. One of the top drivers of affiliate sales to the iTunes Store, iLike helps over 20 million registered users discover new music they like, and makes it easy for them to buy that music via retail links. A study indicates that the significant increase in people's music consumption may be attributed to the iLike Sidebar (www.iLike.com/download) for iTunes and Windows Media Player. (PR)

iTunes Launches London Sessions

Apple iTunes is further making its mark on the live music scene in London with the launch of 11 nights of free collaborative concerts starting next week. The unique acoustic performances include sets by KT Tunstall with fellow singer songwriter Billy Bragg (Feb. 24); former Moloko vocalist and now solo singer Roisin Murphy dueting with pop veteran Tony Christie (March 1); and alternative acts Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds teaming with Spiritualized (March 2). (Billboard)