Gator, I really liked today's PR. They are marketing themselves like Apple Computer does, "think different" and the recording company "for the rest of us". There is lots of talent that will flock to JBRD. Any you're right, the latest Rockapella pre-release is already receiving high fives. It should do very very well for JBRD.
JBRD is on their way.
(PR NEWSWIRE) J-Bird Records Busts Out as the Internet's First Virtual Record
J-Bird Records Busts Out as the Internet's First Virtual Record Label
With an artist roster of over 300 and an open-door policy to musicians, the
original 'Farm Club' quiets fears of extinction at brick-and-mortar retail
and is cure for the common record label
WILTON, Conn., March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Log on to
jbirdrecords.com and if you're a singer-songwriter or in a band
looking for that mythological beast called a record deal, you'll think you've
died and gone to heaven. But really, you're life as an artist is just
beginning because J-Bird Records (OTC Bulletin Board: JBRD) is offering you an
opportunity you won't find anywhere else -- not on land, sea or cyberspace.
The Internet's first virtual record label is offering you the chance to make
an album and giving you a place to sell it. No high-priced entertainment
attorneys pitching your demos. No hoping against hope, trying to beat the
odds that are obscenely stacked against you that someone, the right someone,
will pluck your tape from the constant influx, listen, love it and make you a
star. Feel the possibilities course through your fingers as you review the
contract and complete the form.
A vision of former EMI and Polygram creative force Jay Barbieri, the
J-Bird Records founder and CEO took on the monumental task of clipping the
wings of the music industry in 1996. "I saw too many submissions of really
great talent come to the labels I was at that were being overlooked. I
realized these major labels could only endorse several bands a year based on
the mediums of TV, radio and traditional retail that were available to them.
The premise behind J-Bird was to have a cyberworld where no artist would be
turned away and there would be no problem with shelf space. We could utilize
sound samples and visual aids on the Internet without paying a heavy cost, as
others had to do with radio and TV. The Internet became the medium in which
to open the floodgates and allow all these artists and bands to level the
playing field."
But J-Bird isn't just for would-be artists. With a roster of more than
300 and site hits in the millions each month, you can hear samples from the
label's latest releases like Left For Live by the John Entwistle Band,
Rockapella 2 by Rockapella and Lee Rocker Live by the former Stray Cats
bassist. Billy Squier, the Guess Who, Lovechild the ex-Rusted Root vocalist
Jenn Wertz are all J-Bird artists. Buy music at discount prices, check out
tour dates and investigate resources like photographers, recording studios,
instrument manufacturers and video production companies at this comprehensive
website.
Barbieri readily admits there are other on-line record companies but
accurately points out significant differences that set J-Bird apart. "The
press coined the term 'Farm Club' for us three years ago but there's now an
on-line label called farmclub.com claiming to be the first. The companies who
have all of a sudden started trying to figure out how to run on-line record
labels have become the new fad in distributing music but in reality we've been
doing this since 1996 and have had a lot of success with the program.
He states, "We were the pioneers in it so I take offense to other industry
people with their millions and millions of dollars who tout the banner of
being the first ones or the 'Original Farm Label' or any of those kinds of
phrases."
In other words, accept no imitation. J-Bird has busted out, not only as
the originators but also as the innovators. While other on-line record labels
have carried the status quo into cyberspace, signing artists as they always
have, it's essential to note that J-Bird is an equal opportunity rock star
maker. Chalk one up for the underdog. If someone is a bona fide musician,
then compliance with the company's reasonable, quality control guidelines
isn't an issue.
Connecticut-based J-Bird, with its open-door policy towards musicians,
flies in the face of bureaucracy as a revolutionary shot in the arm to the
stagnant music business and is a cure for the common record label. It has
aligned itself with traditional retail record chains -- the very entities that
have feared that on-line music buying would put the brick-and-mortars out of
business. Thanks to J-Bird vice president/sales Robert Morrison and his
extensive background as director of purchasing at Alliance Entertainment
Group, empathetic and mutually beneficial relationships with record retailers
are as solid as the structures in which they're housed.
Says Morrison, "That experience [as a buyer] really conditioned me for
what I'm doing now and understanding what buyers need and how they look at
product and what they look for when being solicited for new titles. You
really have to partner with them. That's one of the successes here on the
traditional side of J-Bird. We've been able to partner with retail rather
than compete against them.
"I don't ever see traditional brick-and-mortar retail going away. Humans
are very social creatures," he observes. "They like the in-store experience
and you don't have that on the Internet. There will be a peaceful coexistence
and that's the direction that we're going in, so that we're complementing and
not competing."
As if the website isn't deluxe enough already, Barbieri says they're in
the process of enhancing it even further, due, in part, to their promotional
partnership with award-winning multimedia developers MediaX. He promises, "It
will be a lot more functional, more user friendly and more direct for
consumers' needs. It will be much easier to navigate so we're not hammering
people with so much information at once."
Information barrage or not, for musicians in need of a home for their
music, and fans in need of music for their home, J-Bird is the ultimate
paradise.
SOURCE J-Bird Records
-0- 03/09/2000
/CONTACT: Steve Levesque, Guy McCain, Patrick Lugo of LUCK MEDIA &
MARKETING, INC., 310-860-9170, for J-Bird Records/
/Web site: luckmedia.com
/Web site: jbirdrecords.com
(JBRD)
|
