News re Artists and Albums for Download:
GoodNoise Releases Frank Black Songs in
MP3; Readying Full Album Download
True to its promise upon launching last month
that it would promote the MP3 music format,
GoodNoise Corporation has announced the
availability for download and purchase of two
songs from the upcoming Frank Black and The
Catholics album [see 7.1.98 Newly Launched
GoodNoise Promising Internet Sales, Promotion].
The songs -- "All My Ghosts" and "King and
Queen of Siam" -- are retailing for $.99 each in
advance of the release of Black's album, Frank
Black and The Catholics. The album will be
available for download in its entirety from
GoodNoise's site in August for $8.99. GoodNoise
is promoting the album's online availability as one
of the first albums by a major artist to be
available for 'net downloading. The CD will hit
bricks-and-mortar retailers in early September
through a deal with spinART Records.
Black, best-known as the former
singer/guitarist/songwriter of seminal alt-rockers
The Pixies and previously signed to American
Recordings, has been working with The
Catholics for the past four years. He recently
signed an exclusive digital distribution agreement
with GoodNoise. Other recent signings by the
label include jam band Cosmic Free Way,
high-energy rockers Crysis, guitarist/songwriter
Jenifer McKitrick and Reid Paley, former front
man for The Five.
Speaking about his label's coup in snapping up
Black, GoodNoise President Gene Hoffman said,
"Frank Black is a truly innovative musician and
has an extremely large and loyal following on the
Internet. [His] signing is the initial step in our
plan to build a large repertoire of music for
electronic delivery to consumers over the 'net."
MP3 is an audio compression technology that
enables consumers to easily download songs
from the Internet while maintaining high audio
quality. The files can be stored on a hard drive
for playback directly off the computer, or, for
portability, can be burned to a recordable CD or
copied over to solid state recording devices.
Rapidly becoming a leading choice for music
downloading, MP3 has come under fire from the
Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) because of that organization's concerns
about music piracy.
Regardless of the RIAA's trepidation, just last
week Hollywood Records became the first major
label to debut a song in MP3 -- Alien Fashion
Show's "Detroit Swing City," which is still
available at both the MP3.com and Dimension
Music sites [see 7.24.98 Hollywood, Maverick
Warm to Web Promotion].
Business . news . labels . promotion . 7-30-98 |
