Looking good there Kanye…

Pop star lesson number 1:
Always make sure the people around you look worse than you…

b-live is b-dead….

3 days ago, I received an email with a link to download the 1st of the new Groove Armada tracks from their 12 month/4-track Bacardi ‘record’ deal, from their new, B-LiveShare website. I clicked the link, filled in my details, and awaited the email with a link to download the track. I waited…and waited..and I’m still waiting.  Nothing, nada, nil. I tried logging in to bliveshare this morning, but it didn’t recognise my email address. So I clicked the link on the original email and tried again……it’s Bacardi’s last chance to ‘engage’ me in the campaign, but I’m not holding out much hope, so thanks but no thanks Bacardi, but I’m back off to Spotify for some Nick Cave…..

U2 return

U2 have launched the first single from their new album, following the recent trend of making it available to hear online, and you can hear it in all its glory here.  Scroll down the page to see some very clever packaging for the album, with non-downloadable exclusives for the fanbase, featuring magazines, hardback books and the like, once again making the physical product an attractive purchase.

The kids don’t like you!

Here’s a healthy wake-up call for mobile marketers

Bon Jovi named top touring act of the past 12 months

Music Week report that 2 million people attended 100 sold-out Bon Jovi shows between November 2007 & 2008, with NME reporting they scored 3 times as much revenue as The Spice Girls grossing a massive $210m….shocking really.  We’d much rather those 2 million people had gone to watch this chap…

The bank of Branson…

Richard Branson’s Virgin Megastores helped see the music industry through the good times of the 80s, and he bankrolled the store chain through the 90s and 00s when the business was struggling. Eventually he gave up the ghost and agreed to sell his failing enterprise to management for a token £1. Finally he was free of the albatros….well, no actually, it turns out Virgin are still underwriting Zavvi and Branson’s company could now be hit with a bill for £millions. According to The Times, Woolworths administrators are calling in a £106m debt owed to their failed distribution arm, EUK, which could lead Zavvi into administration. Ouch…

Posted by Dave Chase, head of music partnerships at Mindshare