June Tournament Results
July 1, 2006

TuneFlow (www.tuneflow.com) is pleased to announce the winners of the inaugural (June 2006) TuneFlow Tournament.

Olivia Greer & Co. (for the song: "Damaged Goods")
The Uninvited Guests (for the song: "State of Shock")
Ghetto Children (for the song: "Last One in a Long Line")
Chillz (for the song: "She's So Fine")

Every month, TuneFlow challenges artists to write and record an original new song for the TuneFlow Tournament. TuneFlow members rate the songs and decide the Tournament winners. Winners receive cash, prizes, and recognition.

Artists interested in entering the tournament can get full information at:
http://www.tuneflow.com/tournament

Got the music in you? New music Website wants to make you a star.
April 4, 2006

"Log in. Rock out." That's the tagline of TuneFlow.com, a new music Website that launched in April.

Unlike Apple's iTunes juggernaut iTunes however, TuneFlow is all about independent artists. "We like to think of TuneFlow as offering the best music you've never heard," says Gery Carson, TuneFlow's creator.

"The big record labels severely limit the kind of music that reaches the public because they have very specific demographics they're going after. The fact is, there are thousands of extremely talented artists around the world, in a broad range of music genres, who are not being heard. At TuneFlow, they will be," Carson said.

One of the most interesting aspects of TuneFlow is its "Song Tournament." Every month, artists submit new songs (based on titles chosen by TuneFlow). TuneFlow members review and rate the songs submitted for the tournament during the month. At the end of the month, the songs with the highest average ratings win cash, prizes, recognition, and bragging rights at TuneFlow.

According to Carson, "The tournament is a great way for music lovers to discover exciting new music and artists. It's also very fun because they get to help decide which songs win the tournament each month. For the artists, it's the perfect way to attract new fans, while at the same time getting invaluable feedback (through the reviews) to learn how to make their songwriting and playing even better."

In addition to the monthly tournament, artists are invited to upload and sell any original music they've recorded in the TuneFlow Music Store, all without any contracts or ongoing obligations. Individual tracks can be purchased by members for as little as $.49 each, with up to 60% going to the artist (compared to the music industry standard royalty of just 12-15%).

TuneFlow also provides artists with a Website, airplay of their music on TuneFlow's streaming radio station, and even a way to advertise their live performances -- all at no cost to the artist.

"We believe the future of music is on the Internet, " Carson says, "and we want to be one of the companies driving this revolution."

TuneFlow will open to the general public on June 1, 2006. Between now and then, artists are invited to register and start writing songs for the first tournament in June. Songs should be based on one of the following four titles: State Of Shock, Damaged Goods, Last One In A Long Line, or She's So Fine. The deadline for song entries is May 31st. For complete details on registering as a TuneFlow artist, participating in the tournament, and/or using any of the other artist services and resources, go to: http://www.tuneflow.com/invite.php

Record Industry Pushes Apple to Raise iTunes Prices
April 3, 2006

Record labels make about 70 cents per download, and that's more profit than they make selling CDs, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "If they want to raise the prices, it just means they're getting a little greedy," Jobs said at the Apple Expo in Paris in September.

The Web's First Rock n' Roll Success?
March 17, 2006

The Arctic Monkeys came out of nowhere.

Well, not exactly nowhere, but a year ago, the impossibly young indie rock quartet were playing small clubs in their native Sheffield, UK. Now they have a best-selling album. They are currently playing a few shows in the major North American cities (all of which sold out in minutes), and afterwards, they will set out on a thirty-plus date tour of Japan and Europe before doing the obligatory festival circuit this summer.

Record labels continue to sucker punch music consumers. Newest copy protected CDs: no MP3s, no Macs, some PCs, some CD/DVD players, some car stereos
January 13, 2006

I am a consumer of music. Always have been. But record labels don’t want my money anymore.

I bought music with the first greenbacks that ever touched my little blue velcro wallet. My first album…Quiet Riot - Metal Health (hell yeah). My second…Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual (cause girls just wanna have fun & it’s important for boys to understand that at a very young age!) . My collection includes vinyl, tapes, CDs, DVDs, with most of it stored to MP3s for easy access & portability. Over the years, I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on music: buying the latest releases, amassing a collection of classic albums, attending hundreds of concerts....

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) seems to be putting out its best effort to make sure they stomp on the little guy, promote black hat attacks and in general have the worst public profile possible. I’m thinking that they would have a hard time doing a worse job if they tried. Consider the following evidence....

The Net Is a Boon for Labels
December 27, 2005

Even as the recording industry staggers through another year of declining sales over all, there are new signs that a democratization of music made possible by the Internet is shifting the industry's balance of power.