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Just a bit of interesting yet slightly distressing news today. In a deal that is the first of it’s kind, Emusic has come to an agreement with Sony to include their back catalog that is over 2 years old to be included in emusic’s non DRM a la carte monthly download service.
When I initially heard this news, I was quite pleased.  Large record labels have seemed to be quite skeptical in the past about the financial viability of non-DRM download services.  But you can’t argue with the numbers.  Emusic has over 400,000 subscribers and even at a conservative guestimation are bringing in over 3 million a month.  The main complaint that I’ve had with their service ( I was a member for over 2 years) was that after I was finished getting all the cool independent and obscure stuff I wanted, that there were a lot of mainstream things that you couldn’t get on emusic.  I’m sure this causes a lot of fluctuation in business, and often people will let their account drop for a few months while new tracks are added. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve put the latest song from the album In up for free download!  As with the others, I could really use your help getting the word out about it!  Because of all your help, these tracks have gotten out to way more people that I ever anticipated!  Thanks so so so much!  I’m going to start putting them out every week from now on as I find that two weeks is a little too long in between.  Once all the tracks are out, then I hope you’ll all join me to hear them live! x  

 

So welcome to the beginning of week 3 and the new release of the 2nd song from my new album In called I’ve Never Met Anyone Like You.  Please download it and send it to as many people as you like.  The first track had over 100 downloads in the first 3 days and over 185 total.  Combined with my other fan exclusives on RN there have been over 650 downloads!  That’s amazing!  Hope we can match or exceed that with this track! 

You’ll also notice there’s a share button on this widget.  It allows you to grab this content and put it on your own site, myspace, facebook, or bebo and very much like being a virtual secret agent for the independent music alliance….uhm or something like that.  x

Who’s that on the front page of reverbnation.com??? WOW!  It’s me!!! You can help me to thank reverbnation by downloading my new tune The Sound of a Breaking Heart…for free!  Just have a listen and then click the download button on the widget below. There’s plenty of other great content on my reverbnation page and lots of free downloads so have a look. And if you’re an artist who hasn’t yet signed up, I’m now giving you a virtual spanking! Thwack! Thanks peeps. x

Hi there all!  This’ll be a long one as I’ve got a lot to say.  :D Hopefully you’re itchin’ fer an update so you won’t be snoozing by the end.  If not, treat each part like a chapter…bookmark my RSS feed and come back every day!
House Concerts and the Like

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I know that I’ve been a bad person and haven’t been blogging of late.  Truthfully, I find it hard to be on the web much when I’m on the road.  I just don’t have the constitution for it, and am likely to be more concerned with when/where I might find something I can eat. (I’m endlessly concerned about food when we’re touring)  I have tried to keep you all updated via facebook and twitter…and if you’re following Steve, then none of this matters because you’ll have known our every move for sure as he lives his entire life on the web….well, almost.

 

So having a tour that was almost exclusively house concerts this year was a blast.  There’s nothing like getting to play to groups of under 40 each night, the connection you can achieve with your audience is astounding.  There’s a real conversational banter that opens up between you and your audience and it makes me realise how much I always hated playing club dates…and why I was always happier playing places like the Yellow Door and Ginglik.  Aside from that, getting to stay somewhere cool each night, rather than some overpriced rat trap with someone else’s hair on the sheets was amazing.  Aside from that, people letting me use their kitchens….personal tours of new cities….and just an all round feeling of welcoming into new/old groups of friends was stunning.  
Thanks to everyone! Here’s some great pics from the shows!

There are way more photos to post and lots more here if you’re interested. Read the rest of this entry »