One day in late September 1987 journalist Douglas Keay stepped over the threshold of Number 10 Downing Street for a set-piece interview with the Prime Minister for Woman’s Own.

As the two chatted, neither of them realised that one seven word sentence would still be resonating through British politics thirty years later – Margaret Thatcher’s assertion that “There is no such thing as society.”

For many it summed up the essence of the Thatcherite programme – a selfish individualism prepared to trample over anything and anyone in the pursuit of money.

That interpretation, if you look at the original speech, was not the whole story.

What Thatcher was actually trying to say was the somewhat less remarkable thought that “society” is an abstraction, that “society” doesn’t do or think or feel anything, that “society” is simply a handy collective term and that where decisions and desires and commitment really take place is at the individual level.

The Thatcher argument was that focusing on the big picture of society rather than on individuals means you risk not being able to see the trees for the wood.

Which brings us to the music industry and, more specifically, that obsessively picked-over topic, the future of the music industry.

Last week Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfmann Jr revealed in a conference call that he had fallen out of love with free streaming services like Spotify.

No one should have been surprised. It was clear from the outset that the revenues services like Spotify are able to generate from advertising is simply not enough right now to satisfy the cash requirements of record labels and music publishers. Even worse, time spent listening to free music inevitably displaces time which could potentially be spent listening to paid-for music. In other words, why buy music when you can listen to it for free?

Spotify in itself was never going to be “the future of the music industry,” Yet that didn’t stop numerous pundits and many in the industry describing it as such. As recently as January 27, the BBC asked breathlessly “Is streaming the future of music?”

I noted after Midem the other week the strange fact that it is now at least 10 years since the convention first posed the question, How to make money out of digital music?

Now Bronfman has punctured the Spotify balloon, it is worth remembering that it is not the first saviour of the music industry to fail to deliver us to the Promised Land. Remember:

* Napster to Go
* 360 deals
* Comes with Music
* Spiralfrog
* Starbucks Music
* Bacardi’s sponsorship of Groove Armada

All of them attracted the enthusiastic endorsement of music’s commentariat, that unholy alliance of trade associations, consultants, bloggers and “futurists” who dominate the debate about the music business.

Sadly, the only firm conclusion which can be drawn from this list is that the credibility of a new music business saviour is often in inverse proportion to the enthusiasm it generates among these people.

The search for the one killer app’ that will save the music industry has dominated the headline debate for music now for more than a decade.

To put that into context, 10 years is longer than the average career in the music business. A whole generation of music executives, maybe more, have been and gone while we’ve been discussing The Next Big Thing.

Isn’t it perhaps time to consider whether the pundits have been asking the wrong question. Maybe the reason they haven’t discovered the future of the music business is not that there isn’t going to be a future – I think we can be reasonably certain that there will – but that there is no such thing as “the music industry”.

The music industry is not one thing. It’s a thousand. It’s hugely fragmented by sector (live, recording, merchandise etc) by function (agent, A&R, marketing) and by genre.

But yet the commentariat persists in using a language which describes this series of disparate, competing, often cottage businesses as though it was a monolithic Soviet command economy in which those at the top could rescue us all as long as they made the right decision.

They cannot and they will not. To echo Mrs Thatcher, there is no such thing as “the music industry”.

Which means by definition that any new service billed as “the future of the music industry” cannot help but fail.

It follows that putting such an unrealistic expectation on a new service means it is condemned to fall short.

To paraphrase current Tory leader David Cameron’s withering put-down of Tony Blair: You were the future once, Spotify.

But only if you ask the wrong question.

Spotify is a fantastic service for music fans. It may or may not end up making money.

But what we can be certain of is that it is not the future of the music business.

The future of the music business will be as varied and chaotic as music itself. And it is in that variety and chaos that music and the business which surrounds it will find their strength and vigour.

This was originally posted on Entertainment Retailers Association’s website and was written by Steve Redmond who is Special Advisor to the ERA. Follow him on Twitter @redmondlondon,

The government’s Digital Economy Bill, currently being debated in Parliament, would oblige ISPs to detect and notify customers suspected of infringing copyright.

ISPs such as BT have suggested the cost of introducing these measures could add up to around £25 ($41) a year for every subscriber, costs which would likely be passed on to the consumer.

However, the BPI commissioned a report from technical consultancy Sweet Consulting, which shows that introducing measures to identify and notify copyright infringers would cost £13.85 million ($22.5 million) in the first year, £9 million ($14.6 million) in the second, and £3.45 million ($5.6 million) in the third. This is a long way from the £25 a year figure – as low as 24 pence (39 pence) per individual ISP subscriber when costs reach £3.45 million.

“Our evidence shows that ISPs are trying to pull off a massive con job on the British public with their back-of-fag-packet figures – the true costs to them of dealing with piracy will be a tiny fraction of their ridiculous guestimates.

“It’s time for Britain’s ISPs to stop spreading scare stories and face up to their responsibility to help tackle illegal filesharing.”

A separate report commissioned by the Creative Coalition Campaign suggested a similar impact, with annual running costs of £8.5 million ($13.8 million).

Charles Dunstone, CEO of the TalkTalk Group, wrote in the Daily Mail on Jan. 18 that other measures in the Bill along with the costs of tackling piracy would total £30 ($48.80) a year.

“Demand modeling shows this could make Internet access unaffordable for 600,000 hard-pressed families. So much for the government’s claimed commitment to ‘digital inclusion,’” he wrote. “For the record, we make no money out of copyright infringement. The extra traffic costs us money as we have to add additional capacity to the network to carry the data.”

The government’s own impact assessment published in December 2009 concedes that there would be some major costs involved in the identification and notification system.

It identifies annual average costs at between £7.5 million ($12.2 million) and £24.5 million (39.9 million) for ISPs, although it adds a further £19 million ($30.9 million) in annual costs for mobile network operators, where identification would be more difficult technically as IP addresses are shared by multiple customers.

However, the joint study by the department for business, innovation and skills and the department for culture, media and sport suggested this would result in ISPs passing on a price increase for broadband customers of 0.2% to 0.6% – or 40 pence (65 cents) to £1.40 ($2.28) a year.

The reduced demand for broadband connection likely to result from the price increase is estimated at between £2 million ($3.3 million) and £9 million ($14.6 million) a year for the entire ISP industry.

Origin: Billboard.biz (20 January 2010)
Author: Andre Paine

“I have a problem when people in the industry say ‘it’s killing the industry, it’s the thing that’s ripping us apart’. I don’t actually believe it is … (Pirates) might not buy an album, but they’re spending their money buying concert tickets, a t-shirt, whatever.

“It’s an analogue business model in a digital era. The business model has to change. You’ve got to license out more music – have more Spotifys, more websites selling more music. You’ve got to make it slightly cheaper to get music in order to compete with the peer-to-peers.

“BitTorrent is very utilitarian, it’s deeply unsexy. The Richard Branson of nowadays would be able to set up a really amazing website for 14- to 24-year-olds that deals with their music … and do something really innovative and make it really easy for people to buy music, and cheap.

“A lot of 14-to 17-year-olds don’t have credit cards, so how are they going to get music digitally? These are very, very, very basic issues – I find it staggering that the industry seems to be really dragging its heels on this – this is stuff that you could do in one week. Move quicker!

“That’s been the whole problem in the last 10 years. Why are we here now? Because the recording industry dragged its feet over digital.”

Origin: PaidContentUK (21 January 2010)
Author: Robert Andrews
Image Source: Midem

Led Zeppelin / Queen – The Magic Years / Queen Rock Montreal
(Sky Arts 1, Sat 23 Jan, from 2:10pm onwards)

Sight & Sound in Concert – Santana (BBC4, Sat 23 & Fri 29 Jan, 7pm & 8:20pm)
Snippets of Carlos Santana’s 1976 concerts

Songbook / Behind The Music / Sex Pistols / The Stones / Video Killed The Radio Star
(Sky Arts 1, Sat 23 Jan, from 8pm onwards)

Mark Knopfler: Live for the Prince’s Trust / Genesis / Eric Clapton
(Bio, Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jan, from 9pm & 2pm onwards)

Brits Hits 30 (ITV1, Sat 23 & Thurs 28 Jan, 10pm & 9pm)
Round-up of 15 stand out performances over 30 years of The Brits

Freesports on 4: Freeze (Channel 4, Sun 24 Jan, 7:55am)
Coverage from 2009 Freeze music and snowboarding festival

Quadrophenia (ITV1, Sun 24 Jan, 11:30pm)
Mods versus Rockers – you cannot miss this 1979 British film based on the 1973 rock opera album Quadrophenia by The Who

Arena: Brian Eno (BBC4, Sun 24 Jan, 10:35pm)
Documentary about the infamous producer and keyboard player in Roxy Music

Brian Eno: Hits, Classics and Tracks (BBC4, Sun 24 Jan, 11:35pm)
Review of singles of all genres produced by Brian Eno

The Roxy Music Story (BBC4, Mon 25 Jan, 12:35am)
History of the band who broke onto the music scene in 1972

Festival / Behind The Music / Radiohead Live
(Sky Arts 1, Sun 24 Jan, 11:25am)

Songbook / Behind The Music / John Lennon – Live
(Sky Arts 1, Sun 24 Jan, from 8pm onwards)

Roy Orbison: Greatest Hits / Eric Clapton – Crossroads Chicago 2007 / Barbara Streisand
(Sky Arts 1, Tues 26 Jan, from 12pm onwards)

Pink / Dido / The Bee Gees / Any Gibb / Barry Manilow
(Bio, Wed 27 Jan, from 8pm onwards)

Bob Marley: Live at the Rainbow (Sky Arts 1, Wed 27 & Thurs 28 Jan, 10:30pm & 4:45pm)
This film captures Marley and his classic Wailers line-up performing his hits live at London’s The Rainbow in 1977

4Music: Editors Live at Fabric (Channel 4, Thurs 28 Jan, 12:35am)
Special performance from the band

The Culture Show (BBC2, Thurs 28 Jan, 7pm)
This week’s show includes an interview with Roots Manuva

4Music – Florence & The Machine Video Exclusive / 4Play – Marina & The Diamonds
(Channel 4, Sat 30 Jan, from 12:10am onwards)

Latin Music USA (BBC4, Fri 29 Jan, 8:20am)
New series looking at Latin music’s social effect on America. This episode focuses on Santana’s performance at Woodstock 1969 which turned the mainstream audience onto Latin music

The Big 3 Palladium Orchestra at the Barbican (BBC4, Fri 29 Jan, 10pm)
Latin band perform at the legendary London venue

Pixies: Live at Eurockeennes (Sky Arts 1, Fri 29 Jan, 10pm)
Highlights from the ‘French Glastonbury’ with classic Eurockéennes sets from legendary band The Pixies

RADIO LISTINGS

David Gilmour: Live & Exclusive (BBC Radio 2, Sat 23 Jan, 10pm)
Radio 2 gig by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour in 2006 is aired again

The Record Producers (BBC 6Music, Sat 23 Jan, 10am)
Interview with Todd Rundgren

BBC Introducing (BBC 6Music, Sun 24 Jan, 1am)
Tom Robinson features the best new music from emerging artists

The Music Week (BBC 6Music, Sun 24 Jan, 1pm)
A look back at the week in music

100% Homegrown (BBC 1Xtra, Sun 24 Jan, 7pm)
Ras Kwame features the best new Urban music

Unsigned with Alex Baker (Kerrang! Radio, Sun 24 Jan, 8pm)
Alex Baker showcases the best UK unsigned music

BBC Introducing (BBC 6Music, Mon 25 Jan, 1am)
Tom Robinson features the best new music from emerging artists

A Man Like Curtis (BBC Radio 2, Mon 25 Jan, 11:30pm)
Lenny Kravitz pays tribute to Curtis Mayfield

Ken Clarke’s Jazz Greats (BBC Radio 4, Tues 26 Jan, 1:30pm)
New series focussing on some of the Jazz greats. This week Trumpeter Chet Baker

Steve Lamacq (BBC Radio 2, Wed 27 Jan, 11pm)
Show featuring new music and emerging bands

BBC Introducing – The Nations (BBC Radio 1, Thurs 28 Jan, 12am)
Showcase of unsigned acts from across the UK

The Elvis Trail (BBC Radio 2, Fri 29 Jan, 7pm)
A glimpse into the life of Elvis Presley with memories, anecdotes and stories about the King

6 Music Live (BBC 6Music, Fri 29 Jan, 7pm)
Collaboration between La Roux and Heaven 17

Tom Robinson (BBC 6Music, Fri 29 Jan, 7pm)
Featuring new music by new acts

Author: The Unsigned Guide ]]> http://k-zine.kerchoonz.com/2010/01/the-pick-of-the-best-music-tv-and-radio-for-wc-sat-23-january-2009/feed/ 0 http://k-zine.kerchoonz.com/2010/01/getting-the-gig-wmf-the-musicians-union/ http://k-zine.kerchoonz.com/2010/01/getting-the-gig-wmf-the-musicians-union/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:09:42 +0000 Kerchoonz http://k-zine.kerchoonz.com/?p=397 On February 10 2010, Welsh Music Foundation and Musicians’ Union team up to bring ‘Getting The Gig’ to Aberystwyth – A free seminar aimed at musicians, music managers and start-up promoters.  This specialist panel made up of representatives from key areas of the industry, will offer a full-circle DIY guide to pinpoint key factors for artists to consider when approaching venues, promoters and festivals for opportunities to play live.

Taking place at the National Library of Wales, 2pm – 3.30pm, the session will examine where and when to play live, how to identify and reach an audience, and importantly, how to retain a fan-base to grow future shows.  With artist, management, music promoter and venue representatives on the panel, the event promises an all-round approach.

The panel includes The Automatic and Viva Machine’s manager Martin Bowen, plus established musicians including Christopher Rees who has toured extensively and has set up an independent label, who will be sharing stories and best practice tips.  Panel line-up and full details are on the Welsh Music Foundation Website at www.welshmusicfoundation.com

Those wishing to reserve places just need to email hello@welshmusicfoundation.com.  The event is free to attend.

Drop In Sessions will also take place after the seminar for one-to-one advice.  Those wanting to reserve a slot can email hello@welshmusicfoundation.com.

Welsh Music Foundation (WMF)
WMF exists to provide support, advice, information and contacts to the Welsh music industry. It is core funded by the Welsh Assembly Government as part of its Creative Industries Strategy. For more information on our aims and achievements please visit our website: www.welshmusicfoundation.com

Musicians’ Union (MU)
The Musicians’ Union was established in 1893 and represents over 30,000 musicians working in all genres of music.  As well as negotiating on behalf of its members with all the major employers in the industry, the MU offers a range of services tailored for the self-employed by providing assistance for professional and student musicians of all ages.  More info: www.musiciansunion.org.uk

Christopher Rees
Critically acclaimed singer / songwriter Christopher Rees.
Red Eye Music is Chris’ independent Record Label and Music Production Company.
www.christopherrees.co.uk
www.redeyemusic.co.uk

Martin Bowen
Martin Bowen runs management company Probation Management whose roster includes The Automatic and Viva Machine. Previously he ran the FF Vinyl label which broke bands including Mohobishopi and Martini Henry Rifles.

Origin: Welsh Music Foundation (21 January 2010)
Author: Welsh Music Foundation

AIM’s annual synchronisation licensing master class is to return to London on 18th February 2010, with a host of top industry figures from the worlds of TV, film, advertising and games lined up to speak.

The event will open with a presentation from Ruth Clarke and Franke Lampen of IMU, a company recently established to market independent artists and content to brands for use in marketing campaigns. Sharing their expertise in bringing independents and brands together, the presentation will cover:

- The main areas of opportunity for working with brands
- How to identify brands to work with
- How to approach brands effectively
- Working out the deal
- The common pitfalls /mistakes to avoid

A panel discussion on synchronisation licensing will follow the presentation, exploring how to get independent music on TV, adverts, film and video games. Debate will cover the following areas:

- The process involved in placing a track
- What makes a track ‘sync-able’?
- What can labels do to improve their chance of achieving sync licences for their artists?
- What types of deal can be done?
- How is the sync licensing business changing?

Panelists confirmed include:
• Gary Downing, Exclamation Music (former Director of Synchronisation at Chrysalis)
• Susan Stone, Tonic (Music Supervision Agency)
• Christian Stevenson (Music Consultant for Xbox 360 game Dirt 2)
• Jacquie Perryman, Connected Limited (Head of Film/TV, and former SVP Creative at Twentieth Century Fox TV in the US)
• Moderator: Simon Goffe (of synch agency Yes! Music and independent label Brownswood Recordings)

The panel will then take part in a listening session, with 10 tracks played and discussed from those submitted by audience members. Panelists will consider the sync suitability of the tracks and offer general advice to the labels on syncing the tracks. The evening will end with networking drinks, giving attendees the chance to meet the speakers.

The event will be held from 6-10pm on 18th February 2010 at Deloitte LLP theatre 2 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3BZ.
Tickets for this event are now available. The event is open to non-members, who can register to attend at www.musicindie.com via the Events section. Places are highly restricted.

Tickets are £15 for AIM members, £40 for non-members. Refreshments are included in the ticket price.

About AIM
AIM is a not-for-profit trade body established in 1999 to represent the UK independent music industry.  Now in its 10th year, AIM acts for over 90% of the independent market, with over 800 members from small start-ups to the largest and most respected independents in the world. AIM promotes this exciting and diverse sector globally, leveraging the sector’s power as a fifth major to enable its members to grow, grasp new opportunities and break into new markets.

AIM oversees an independent sector whose artists have claimed four Mercury Music Prizes in a row (2003 – 2006) and earned two thirds of all nominations between 2005 and 2008. Artists signed to UK Independents also scooped a quarter of all available prizes at the 2008 Brit Awards, with an independent-signed act grabbing “Best British Group” for the fourth year running. This confirms the sector’s undoubted lead in A&R. The independent sector regularly accounts for 30% of all UK artist album awards (silver, gold, platinum/multi-platinum). In 2009, independent albums made up half of the fifty “best albums of the year” according to the UK music press, and independents claimed seven of the top ten releases.

Artists signed to AIM member labels include: Adele, Amadou & Miriam, Animal Collective, Arctic Monkeys, Basement Jaxx, Big Pink, Bjork, Bloc Party, Bon Iver, Coldcut, Fleet Foxes, Franz Ferdinand, Friendly Fires, Future of the Left, Grizzly Bear, Jack Penate, Jarvis Cocker, Jay Sean, Jose Gonzalez, Justice, Katie Melua, Lost Prophets, M.I.A., Maximo Park, Mr. Scruff, Nitin Sawnhey,
Radiohead, Reverend And The Makers, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Roots Manuva, Royksopp, Seasick Steve, Sufjan Stevens, Super Furry Animals, The Cribs, The Futureheads, The Horrors, The Prodigy, The Raconteurs, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Vampire Weekend, Wild Beasts, The XX and thousands of others.

www.musicindie.com

Origin: AIM (22 January 2010)
Author: AIM

•    Global digital music trade revenues reach US$4.2 billion, up 12%     in 2009
•    400 services licensed worldwide by music companies with ISPs, mobile and other partners
•    New figures show local music collapsing in major markets as piracy bites into releases, sales and investment in France, Spain and Brazil
•    IFPI Digital Music Report highlights urgent need for legislation to curb digital piracy on ISP networks
London, 21 January 2010 – More than a quarter of all recorded music industry revenues worldwide are now coming from digital channels, as music companies license music in partnership with ISPs and mobile operators, subscription services, streaming sites and hundreds of download stores.

However, despite the continuing growth of the digital music business – with trade revenues up 12% to an estimated US$4.2 billion in 2009 – illegal file-sharing and other forms of online piracy are eroding investment and sales of local music in major markets.

In particular, three countries known for the historic vibrancy and influence of their music and musicians – Spain, France, Brazil – are suffering acutely, with local artist album sales or the number of releases plummeting.

Governments are gradually moving towards legislation requiring ISPs to curb digital piracy. But progress needs to be much quicker.  In 2009, France, South Korea and Taiwan adopted new laws to address the crisis. Other governments, including the UK and New Zealand, have proposed new laws for adoption in 2010.

These are key highlights of the IFPI Digital Music Report, published today. The Report provides an overview of the music industry’s changing business models, outlines the impact of digital piracy internationally, and reviews the efforts of governments to address it.

New models are increasing consumer choice

The Report outlines how music companies are diversifying their revenue streams, offering new ways for consumers to buy and access music. These include: subscription services; music services bundled with devices and broadband subscriptions; streaming services with applications for mobile devices; advertising-supported services that offer premium services; and online music video services.

In the last year, music companies have partnered with advertising-supported services such as Spotify, Deezer, MySpace Music and We7; ISPs such as TDC in Denmark, Terra in Brazil and Sky in the UK; mobile operators such as Vodafone; handset makers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson; and online video channels such as Hulu and VEVO.

Sales of music downloads, the dominant revenue stream in digital music, are seeing steady growth. Single track download sales increased by an estimated 10%, while digital albums rose an estimated 20% in 2009.  Recent innovations in this sector include the introduction of variable pricing, which has increased the conversion of track purchases to album sales, as well as the launch of the iTunes LP and the rollout of DRM-free downloads internationally.

New figures show piracy is harming investment in local talent

Despite this progress, piracy is the major barrier to growth of the legitimate digital music sector and is causing severe damage to local music industries around the world.  Providing new evidence of this, three of the world’s biggest music markets, all heavily dependent on local repertoire – Spain, France and Brazil – have seen a sharp slump in the fortunes of their local music industries:

•    In Spain, which has one of the  highest rates of illegal file-sharing in Europe, sales by local artists in the top 50 have fallen by an estimated 65% between 2004 and 2009;
•    France, where a quarter of the internet population downloads illegally, has seen local artist album releases fall by 60% between 2003 and 2009;
•    In Brazil, full priced major label local album releases from the five largest music companies in 2008 were down 80% from their 2005 level.
The report shows that, while the music industry has increased its digital revenues by 940% since 2004, piracy has been the major factor behind the overall global market decline of around 30% in the same period.  Overall, global music sales in the first half of 2009 were down by 12% (physical and digital sales) and full year figures are likely to see a similar trend.

Third party studies overwhelmingly conclude that the net impact of illegal file-sharing is to depress sales of music. Two surveys confirmed this in 2009 – by Jupiter Research, covering five European countries, and Harris Interactive, covering the UK.  According to Jupiter, around one in five internet users in Europe (21%) shares unauthorised music.

“Climate change” for creative industries

The Report also shows how digital piracy is causing “climate change” across the creative industries.  In 2009 the issue rose to the top of the agenda for film and TV producers as well as book publishers. TV programme piracy is estimated to be growing faster than in music, according to research firm Big Champagne.  Meanwhile, the film industry estimates illegal film streams and downloads account for 40% of its piracy problem by volume (MPAA).

The Report calls for the urgent adoption of laws to curb P2P and other forms of online piracy – including the “graduated response” by which ISPs would cooperate with right holders in deterring illegal file-sharing on their networks.

Introducing the Report, IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy, said: “Music fans today can acquire tracks and albums in ways not conceivable a few years ago – from download stores, streaming sites, subscription services, free-to-user sites, bundled with their broadband or a mobile phone handset.

“It would be great to report that these innovations have been rewarded by market growth, more investment in artists, more jobs.  Sadly that is not the case.  Digital piracy remains a huge barrier to market growth and is causing a steady erosion of investment in local music.  The collapse in sales and investment in France, Spain and Brazil, countries with traditionally vibrant music cultures, testify to this and are a warning to the rest of the world.

“In 2009 the mood has crucially changed.  It is now accepted that this is about the future of a broad base of creative industries that have huge economic importance and employ vast numbers of people.  Governments, led by France, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK and New Zealand led the way in 2009 by adopting or proposing legislation to tackle piracy.  It is vital these efforts are seen through to their conclusion and followed by other governments in 2010.”

For further information, contact Adrian Strain or Alex Jacob, IFPI
+44 (0)20 7878 7935
Press-office@ifpi.org

To order hard copies of the report please contact Laura Childs, laura.childs@ifpi.org

To download a copy of the report go to http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2010.pdf

Origin: IFPI (21 January 2010)
Author: IFPI

The Jesus Burgers are a collective of musicians who whilst waring an array of slightly disturbing masks bring an extra element to their rock.  A hornist and trumpeter add another dimension to their sound while the singer, Gavin Rourke, sounds not too dissimilar to Fred Durst, to a funky and catchy sound.

This weeks interviews on the famous sofa start with the wonderful world of Tim Scott.  Tim is an eccentric and lively guitar player who has some incredible stories to tell including his work with acclaimed DJ Judge Jules.  He then brings the acoustic lounge to life with ‘Angel Dust’ and Ibiza influenced track that wowed the crowd.

Violet Youth talk about what lies in their future and how they will be a part of one of Manchester biggest events of the year, Pride 2009.

The highlight is definitely everyones excitement about Alan Fletcher.  Known lovingly to Neighbours fans as Dr Karl Kennedy, we meet Alans dog Lola and he presents rather enthusiastically some of his most prized showbiz possessions.  Alan is also a talented musician and talks about his up and coming UK tour.

In true Our House style, the show ends on the ever entertaining game that involves the participants of this episode.  As a fitting tribute to this episodes Australian guest, host Chris has a stomach churning eating surprise in store!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Claire Curran is the Producer and Presenter of Our House.  Born and raised in Manchester, England, Claire has a wide range of taste in music and loves to meet new and up coming talent by enjoying the Manchester unsigned scene.

You can see Claire present exciting music, features and interviews on www.ourhouse-manchester.co.uk and join her Facebook Fanpage on http://www.facebook.com/pages/OUR-HOUSE-Official-Fanbase/16781891166?ref=ts

This means that bands and artists will be able to sell their cd’s and merchandise and users will be able to buy and sell as well. So, if you have a business or even if you want to sell used things that you have around the house, you will be able to use Kching.

Just list your items for sale, tweet them out to twitter or share them around the web using our share functions on the item display page, and start selling your stuff!

Another new thing that we have launched  this week is our integration with Facebook. From this week forward, you will be able to link your Facebook page to Kerchoonz so that you can report your activities on kerchoonz to facebook. So, if you write a blog, update your status, or post new music or videos, your facebook friends will also see the link on facebook. There is also an invite feature so that you can invite your facebook friends to come hang out with you on Kerchoonz and they will be able to use their facebook login ID to join Kerchoonz.

Additionally, we have done a twitter integration  that allows you to update your twitter status both to and from twitter and your status updates will show up in both your Kerchoonz feed and your twitter feed and you will be able to tweet any media that you would like to share on twitter directly from Kerchoonz with a click of the ‘T’ button.  This allows you to blast your posts, blogs, music, and even K’ching merchandise that you are selling or just wishing for directly to twitter and other sites:)   By the way, you can follow Kerchoonz on twitter: @kerchoonz

One last thing we’ve done recently is K-box. Kerchoonz has  unveiled a portable audio speaker that turns surfaces into sound. It connects with any iphone, ipod, laptop, mp3 player, phone, tv, dvd player or gaming unit (as long as it has a headphone or speaker jack) and basically, it’s small and portable and you can use it just about anywhere! You just plug the K-box into your device and set the K-box on any flat surface and the K-box overtakes the surface and turns it into a loudspeaker with bass (that’s right, no more tinny sounding mini-speakers, this one does 40-20khz bass and has an average spl of 95Db! So, how cool is that? You can get more info about the K-box at http://www.kerchoonz.com/kboxAnyway, so that’s the new news from Kerchoonz. If you’re not already a member, sign-up today! It’s going to be very very cool and we’re growing like a weed already!!! Love and music, Kerchoonz!