As everybody knows, The Independent Music Awards showcase the BEST in self-released and independent label talent, with an emphasis on the best. A whole slew of our talented nominees and judges are tearing it up at SXSW this year. Check out the schedule below.

All Bets On Death
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Black Ice Lounge
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Triple Crown Tattoo Parlor

Amy Speace
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Amelia’s
3/19 – Austin TX @ Artz Ribhouse

Anders Osborne
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Momo’s
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Brush Park

Anne McCue
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Joe’s Bar and Grill
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Maria’s Tacos

April Smith and the Great Picture Show
3/19 – Austin, TX @ The Ale House
3/20 – Austin, TX @ The PureVolume House

Black Cock
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Headhunters (ACG Records Showcase)
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Typewriter Museum

Born Ruffians
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Brush Square
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Phoenix (Warp Records Showcase)
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Yard Dog
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s (Windish Showcase)

Dale Watson
3/17 – Austin, TX @ The Broken Spoke

DJ Spooky
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Convention Center (Panel Discussion – Performing Arts)
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Convention Center (Panel Discussion – Why hasn’t the Industry Sued Girl Talk?)
3/18 – Austin, TX @ The Independent
3/20 – Austin, TX @ The Phoenix

The Dollyrots
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Buffalo Billiards

Fictionist
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Cissis
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Moose Lodge

Gemma Ray
3/19 – Austin, TX @ The Hilton Garden Inn (Bedford Showcase)
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Mean Eyed Cat (Mojo SXSW BBQ)
3/20 – Austin, TX @ The Tap Room at Six

Illa J
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Malverde

Katie Costello
3/20 – Austin, TX @ The Soho Lounge

My Cousin, The Emperor
3/17 – Austin, TX @ The Belmont

Nicole Atkins
3/18 – Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Club Deville (Brooklyn Vegan Party)
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Red Eyed Fly (WXPN Party)

Nive Nielsen
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Gibson Room
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Hilton Garden Inn

Or, The Whale
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Live.Create.Lounge
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Dominican Joe’s
3/18 – Austin, TX @ The Spider House (Brooklyn Vegan Showcase)
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Beauty Bar (Bay Area Takeover Party)
3/19 – Austin TX @ Hole in the Wall
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Friend Island (Force Field PR Showcase)
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

Palenke SoulTribe
3/17 – Austin, TX @ Mi Casa Cantina (BMI Showcase)
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Mi Casa Cantina
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Speakeasy Kabaret

Ra Ra Riot
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Club De Ville

She & Him (M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel)
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Cedar Street Courtyard (Merge Records Showcase)
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Lustre Pearl (Dickies Sound Party)
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Auditorium Shores (Ground Control Touring Showcase)

So So Glos
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Find ‘N’ Grind
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Club 1808

Tim Easton
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Jovita’s
3/18 – Austin, TX @ St. David’s Bethell Hall
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Yard Dog Gallery
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Hole in the Wall
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Red Dog Saloon

The Very Best
3/18 – Austin, TX @ Beauty Bar (IHEARTCOMIX/Green Owl Showcase)
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s (Windish Showcase)
3/20 – Austin, TX @ The Scoot Inn (Pitchfork Media Showcase)

Wave Machines
3/19 – Austin, TX @ Chupacabra Cantina
3/20 – Austin, TX @ Latitude 30
3/20 – Austin, TX @ The Driskill

In conjunction with Record Store Day, fun. will be releasing a very special LIVE EP fun. Live At Fingerprints.

The songs on Live At Fingerprints were recorded during their in-store performance last summer. The complete tracklisting is:
1. Intro
2. Walking the Dog
3. All the Pretty Girls
4. Interlude
5. The Gambler
6. At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)
7. Take Your Time (Coming Home)

The ep will be released on CD on April 17th, and will be available EXCLUSIVELY through indie record stores in support of Record Store Day.

Born Ruffians, Pop/Rock Album nominees in The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards, have revealed the details of their new record, Say It. Recorded in just two weeks at Metalworks Studio in Toronto, Say It will see the light of day on June 1st, via Warp Records and Paper Bag Records. The band is currently scheduled for a trio of shows at SXSW, and plans to announce more tour dates shortly.

You can download the first single from Say It, entitled “Sole Brother,” here.

Say It Tracklisting

1) Oh Man
2) Retard Canard
3) Sole Brother
4) What To Say
5) The Ballad of Moose Bruce
6) Higher and Higher
7) Come Back
8 ) Nova Leigh
9) Blood, Sun, & Water
10) At Home Now

Independent Music Award Winners, The Very Best, have put their world beat twist on the already pretty worldly sounding Yeasayer. The band remixed Yeasayer’s latest single, “Ambling Alp,” from the album Odd Blood, out now via Secretly Canadian. Listen to the remix here.

The Very Best took home the IMA in the World Beat Song category at The 9th Annual Independent Music Awards. Vote for them now in the Vox Pop jukebox, along with your other favorite IMA nominees.

April Smith and The Great Picture Show have had a crazy year. They played Lollapalooza, recorded a new record (out Feb. 23rd!), and saw press from cool places like Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine. Now, to top it all off, they’ve recorded a session at the famed Daytrotter Studios, which you can download for free. How many dollars? Zip. Zero. Nada. Get it right here.

April Smith and The Great Picture Show took home top honors at The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Pop/Rock Song category, and was a finalist in the Live Performance category.

Keep an eye out for April’s new record, Songs for a Sinking Ship, and pick it up at online retailers or one of her boisterous live shows.

Dave Rude Band has unveiled its new video for “Fallin’ Down,” which was nominated for Hard Rock/Metal Song at The 9th Annual Independent Music Awards. The video was directed by Nathan Wanzek of Bison Filmmakers.

Don’t forget, you can still vote for Dave Rude Band and all of your other favorite artists at the Vox Pop Jukebox!

Jamie Lidell, former IMA Winner in the Pop/Rock Album category, will release his third record, Compass, on May 18 via Warp Records. In true Lidell fashion, it features some surprises, lincluding guest appearances from notables like Beck and Leslie Feist, as well as members of Wilco and Grizzly Bear.

As with Lidell’s more recent albums, Compass promises to be a mishmash of old school funk and soul, innovative electronics, and Lidell’s signature crooning. Head over to JamieLidell.com to stream the title track.

“I wrote every song in a month,” says Lidell. “It’s been an emotional couple of years, so I tapped into what I wanted to say and started writing. There was a lot to draw on.”

Lidell’s previous record, 2008’s Jim, took home top honors in The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Pop/Rock Album, and was praised by critics for its authenticity and creativity.

Always the road warrior, Lidell is promising a full world tour to coincide with the release of Compass.

Compass Tracklisting:
1) Completely Exposed
2) Your Sweet Boom
3) She Needs Me
4) I Wanna Be Your Telephone
5) Enough’s Enough
6) The Ring
7) You Are Waking
8 ) I Can Love Again
9) It’s A Kiss
10) Compass
11) Gypsy Blood
12) Coma Chameleon
13) Big Drift
14) You See My Light

The Independent Music Awards Page
Launches on iTunes® Today

For Immediate Release

January 26, 2010 – All That Remains, Gemma Ray, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, Spinnerette, Illa J and State Radio are among the diverse mix of self-released and independent label talent named by Music Resource Group (MRG) today as Winners in The 9th annual Independent Music Awards (The IMAs), the influential awards program for independent bands and fans.

The Winners in more than 50 album, song, music video and design categories culled from thousands of submissions from around the globe, were determined by a panel of 80 influential artists and industry pros including Tom Waits, The Black Keys, Ricky Skaggs, Pete Wentz, Mark Hoppus, Aimee Mann, The Apples in Stereo, David Garrett, Suzanne Vega, Bettye LaVette, Judy Collins, Zooey Deschanel and
M. Ward.

Music fans have until June 25 to champion their favorite Nominees at The IMA Vox Pop Jukebox (Click Here) to determine The 9th Independent Music Awards ‘People’s Voice’ Winners.

Details and complete list of Winners, Nominees and Judges available at: www.TheIndependentMusicAwards.com

iTunes® Launches The Independent Music Awards Store

“The IMAs celebrate artists who follow their own muse and the true music fans who support them,” said Martin Folkman, Executive Director of The Independent Music Awards.

The releases of the Album category winners will be featured at The Independent Music Awards page on the iTunes Store. The page launches today, Tuesday, January 26.

Additionally, the releases of the Album category Winners will be featured on the iTunes Indie Spotlight page here.

iTunes store links for all The IMA Winners, Nominees and Judges can be found on The Independent Music Awards site.

“The artists who’ve been honored by The IMAs create some of the best music you may never have heard, and we’re delighted to promote them at the world’s largest music retailer,” said Folkman, “The Indie Spotlight section especially is a boon to fans who seek a more unique and diverse play list.”

Artistry Has Its Awards

For the past 10 years, artists and labels from around the world have found new fans and prominence through The Independent Music Awards. Produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of the popular industry contact database The Musician’s Atlas, The IMAs uses its unrivaled access to performance, promotion and distribution to connect Winners and Nominees to new audiences and revenue opportunities.

The program receives submissions from artists previously on major labels as well as self-released and indie label talent from more than 70 countries on six continents.

Current and past Nominees include: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Cursive, fun., Dan Zanes, Ra Ra Riot, The Cliks, Tom Yoder, Vienna Teng, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jamie Lidell, Lacuna Coil, The Trews, Joan As Police Woman, Koko Taylor, Miguel Migs, Speech, God Forbid, Lionel Loueke, Jeff Healey, Johnny Dowd, Chris Whitley, Ike Turner, The Apples in stereo, Mary Gauthier, Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland), The Mooney Suzuki and Dengue Fever among many others.

Submissions for The 10th Independent Music Awards program are currently being accepted here.

The 9th IMA Winners

ALT. COUNTRY – ALBUM

Artist: Beat Circus
Album: Boy From Black Mountain
Label: Cuneiform

AMERICANA - ALBUM
Artist: Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Album: Dirt Don't Hurt
Label: Transdreamer

BLUES - ALBUM
Artist: Joe & Vicki Price
Album: Rain or Shine

CHILDREN'S - ALBUM
Artist: Charlie Hope
Album: I'm Me! A Collection Of Songs For Children
Label: Little Maple Leaf Productions

COLLEGE LABEL RELEASE - ALBUM
Album: AEMMP Records Chompilation
Label: AEMMP Records, Columbia College Chicago

CONCEPT - ALBUM
Artist: Phil Roy
Album: In The Weird Small Hours
Label: Ear Pictures

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN - ALBUM
Artist: John Mandeville
Album: We Belong To Heaven
Label: I.P.O. Records

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL - ALBUM
Artist: Heritage Orchestra feat. DJ Yoda
Album: G. Prokofiev Concerto for Turntables
Label: Nonclassical Recordings

COUNTRY - ALBUM
Artist: Dale Watson
Album: The Truckin' Sessions, Vol. 2
Label: Hyena Records

DANCE/ELECTRONICA - ALBUM
Artist: Alaska in Winter
Album: Holiday
Label: Milan Records

ECLECTIC - ALBUM

Artist: Gemma Ray
Album: Lights Out Zoltar!
Label: Bronzerat Records

FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER - ALBUM
Artist: Michael Zapruder
Album: Dragon Chinese C0cktail Horoscope
Label: Side Cho

GOSPEL - ALBUM
Artist: Russell Leonce
Album: Culture of Love

HARD ROCK/METAL - ALBUM
Artist: All That Remains
Album: Overcome
Label: Razor & Tie Entertainment

INDIE LABEL PROMO COMPILATION - ALBUM
Album: Cedille On The Move
Label: Cedille Records

JAZZ - ALBUM
Artist: Derrick Gardner & The Jazz Prophets
Album: Echoes Of Ethnicity
Label: Owl Studios

LATIN - ALBUM
Artist: Maestros del Joropo Oriental
Album: ¡Y Que Viva Venezuela!
Label: Smithsonian Folkways

LIVE PERFORMANCE - ALBUM
Artist: Danielia Cotton
Album: Live Child
Label: Cottontown Records

NEW AGE - ALBUM
Artist: Rocky Fretz
Album: The Path Ahead...And Steps Then Taken

POP/ROCK - ALBUM
Artist: Spinnerette
Album: Spinnerette
Label: Anthem

PUNK - ALBUM
Artist: The So So Glos
Album: Tourism / Terrorism
Label: Green Owl

R&B - ALBUM
Artist: Michael Olatuja
Album: Speak
Label: Backdrop/ObliqSound

RAP/HIP-HOP - ALBUM
Artist: Illa J
Album: Yancey Boys
Label: Delicious Vinyl

WORLD BEAT - ALBUM
Artist: Oran Etkin
Album: Kelenia
Label: Motema Music

WORLD TRADITIONAL - ALBUM
Album: Blodeugerdd Song Of The Flowers: An Anthology Of Welsh Music And Song
Label: Smithsonian Folkways

ACOUSTIC - SONG
Artist: Joanna Chapman-Smith
Song: "Melodies"

ALT. COUNTRY - SONG
Artist: My Cousin, The Emperor
Song: "A Long Way From Home"

AMERICANA - SONG
Artist: Tim Easton
Song: "Burgundy Red"
Label: New West Records

BLUES - SONG
Artist: Used Blues Band
Song: "Palm Reader Blues"

CHILDREN'S - SONG
Artist: Charlie Hope
Song: "I'm Me!"
Label: Little Maple Leaf Productions

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN - SONG
Artist:Christopher Williams
Song: "Anything But Fail"
Label: BiG ReD VaN Music

COUNTRY - SONG
Artist: Codie Prevost
Song: "Spin"
Label: Good Spirit Records

COVER - SONG

Artist: Daisy Chapman
Song: "Umbrella" Orig. by Rihanna
Label: Dandyland

DANCE/ELECTRONICA - SONG
Artist: Codebreaker
Song: "Follow Me"
Label: Disco Demolition Records

FILM/TV/GAMING & MULTIMEDIA - SONG
Artist: The Submarines
Song: "You, Me and the Bourgeoisie" from the Apple iPhone 3GS ad
Label: Nettwerk

FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER - SONG
Artist: Wolf In the Fold
Song: "Death"

GOSPEL - SONG
Artist: Noreen Crayton
Song: "Walking in the Faith"
Label: Angelic Star Records

HARD ROCK/METAL - SONG
Artist: Moving Atlas
Song: "Becoming Blue"

JAZZ - SONG
Artist: Austin McMahon
Song: "Platone"
Label: Fractamodi

LATIN - SONG
Artist: Jimmy Fontanez
Song: "Mi Salsa Vocal"

LOVE - SONG
Artist: Emma-Lee
Song: "Until We Meet Again"
Label: Bumstead Productions

NEW AGE - SONG
Artist: Tom Yoder
Song: "Locked In"

POP/ROCK - SONG
Artist: fun.
Song: "All The Pretty Girls"
Label: Nettwerk

PUNK - SONG
Artist: The So So Glos
Song: "My Block"
Label: Green Owl

R&B - SONG
Artist: Shoshana Bean
Song: "Superhero"
Label: Shotime Records

RAP/HIP-HOP - SONG
Artist: Miles Jones
Song: "Coast to Coast"

SING OUT FOR SOCIAL ACTION - SONG
Artist: State Radio
Song: "Calling All Crows"
Label: Nettwerk

STORY - SONG
Artist: Lisa Carver
Song: "Bullets"
Label: Adroit Records

WORLD BEAT - SONG
Artist: The Very Best
Song: "Warm Heart of Africa" feat. Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig
Label: Green Owl

WORLD TRADITIONAL - SONG
Artist: Roman Miroshnichenko
Song: "Unforgiven"
Label: Raritet

SHORT FORM
Artist: Anj
Video: "Gorbachev"

LONG FORM

Artist: The Jimmies
Video: Trying Funny Stuff DVD

ALBUM PACKAGING
Designer: Tri-Plex Packaging Corp. of New York

Package: Pete Seeger - American Favorite Ballads: Vol. 1-5

ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographer: Michael Aghajanian
Photo: Sholi

ARTIST/BAND PUBLICITY PHOTO
Photographer: Jason Grover

Photo: Blake Berglund

CONCERT/PERFORMANCE PHOTO
Photographer: Killshot Photography * Brooks Institute
Photo: GWAR

BAND/VENUE POSTER
Designer: Matt Kelley - One Lucky Guitar
Poster: Lead Belly

BAND WEBSITE
New Rhodes

INDIE LABEL WEB SITE
Razor & Tie

MUSIC BUSINESS WEBSITE
Music2 Management

SWAG
Blame Sally

DIY success is alive and thriving on the Internet says TuneCore’s Jeff Price in response to Tommy Boy Silverman’s claim reported in digital music news <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/012110tommy> that fewer than 8 DIY artists broke since 2008. Are album sales really the benchmark of success in the new music biz?? Agree or disagree?

(Reposted from TuneCorner. More at http://blog.tunecore.com/2010/01/how-people-use-neilsen-to-hurt-musicians.html)

How people use Neilsen to hurt musicians.

I read an article today at Digital Music News about comments by Tommy Silverman – founder of Tommy Boy and the New Music Seminar.

With all due respect, his information is wrong. But worse, the conclusions he reaches from this faulty information could be damaging to artists.

Some highlights include statements like:

“Silverman counted 105,575 new album releases that year, and found that just 225 of those were new artists surpassing the 10,000 unit threshold for the first time. Of that, just 14 were do-it-yourself artists, unaffiliated with a major, indie, or other entity.”

and

“What does this say about the Chris Anderson ‘Long Tail’ promise?” Silverman blogged in Musician Coaching. “Clearly the ease of making and distributing music does not benefit ‘breaking’ music. Breaking music requires mass exposure which requires luck or money or both. I can say with great authority that less new music is breaking now in America than any other time in history. Technology has not helped more great music rise to the top, it has inhibited it. I know this is a bold statement but it is true.”

I wrote a response to the editor of the blog where the article appeared, I do not know if he will post it, but I feel so strongly about making certain word gets out, I am re-posting my response to Tommy’s statements here

————

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing you in response to Tommy’s information and posting – the good news, he is dead wrong. The truth is more artists and bands are breaking now in America, and around the world, than at any other time in history. Technology has absolutly helped more great artists and bands rise to the top.

The Nielsen data cited is not only incomplete, but also provides a false analysis.

Let me provide you some hard stats to back this up:

According to Nielsen and Tommy there were:
“…106,000 new (music) releases in 2008″

In 2008, TuneCore released approximately 90,000 newly recorded releases

This means, according to Neilsen and Tommy, almost every single new music release in 2008 was distributed via TuneCore.

I know this simply not to be true – the base assumption that Tommy is making is as dead wrong as his other statistics.

Another example, Tommy states:

” just 225 of those (the new releases) were new artists surpassing the 10,000 unit threshold for the first time. ”

This is an empirically false statement for a few reasons.

First, in order for Neilsen to accuratly track sales, the UPCs for those albums must be pre-registered in their database. If the UPC is not registered in its database, Neilsen can not match the sales data to an album (or song). For example, if a digital store tells Neilsen it sold 100 copies of UPC # 123456789, and Neilsen has no idea what UPC # 123456789 is, it can not report the sales.

Next, the majority of the 90,000 releases via TuneCore in 2009 were not registered with Soundscan therefore making it impossible for them to track or report on the sales.

But these two points are actually kind of moot. Music is no longer bought by the album, it is bought by the song across an artist’s catalog. Tracking album sales as the sole indicator to determine if something is “breaking” is analogous to tracking only vinyl album sales to determine if something is “breaking”

Some examples:

When they were unsigned, the following TuneCore artists sold the following quantities of songs across their releases:

Kelly sold over 2,000,000 million tracks
William Fitzsimmons sold over 150,000 tracks
Soulja Boy sold over 200,000 tracks
Boyce Avenue sold over 1,200,000 tracks
Ron Pope sold over 250,000 tracks
Colt Ford sold over 300,000 tracks
Secondhand Serenade sold over 250,000 tracks
Tapes N Tapes sold over 200,000 tracks
Nevershoutnever sold over 1,000,000 tracks
Drake sold over 300,000 tracks
MGMT sold over 225,000 tracks
The Medic Droid sold over 150,00 tracks
Nickasaur sold over 150,000 tracks
Harry and the Potters sold over 200,000 tracks

This is just a very quick partial list that goes on and on and on

Under Tommy’s model, none of these artist sales count as they are not “album” sales.

With all due respect, Tommy might discount selling over 1,000,000 songs by an “unsigned” artist as not “breaking”, but I do.

On a macro level, in 2009 alone, the internet allowed the “long tail” unsigned artists that used TuneCore to generate over $32,000,000 in music sales by selling over 42,000,000 songs – this is more than one song a second selling by a TuneCore Artist on iTunes. This “long tail” catalog that TuneCore’s Aritsts represent is now one of the most valuable music catalogs in the world. And this all happened due to the net, social networking and access to the media outlets (like YouTube).

“Breaking” is not just about selling albums or even just the music – it is about generating revenue off of fame. This is done via merch, gig, publishing, music sales, ad revenue and more. Nevershoutnever sold over 35,000 t-shirts in a number of months via a regional sales program with Hot Topic. Surely Tommy does not mean to discount these sales and revenue simply because the artist is selling merch? How about if the band sold no music but consistently sold out 1,000 venue clubs and made $15,000 a night? Why does Tommy discredit bands for their success if they are not selling “albums”?

Another distributing and incorrect point suggested by Tommy is that music sales are down due to the fact that there is more music available to buy, share and discover.

As a matter of fact, its quite the opposite

In the late 90’s – also known as the “golden age” of market share and revenue for the music industry – more music was being released and bought than ever before (as an example, Warner was releasing one new release a day). Despite this increase of releases, sales (not just revenue) went up, not down.

Or from a pure logic perspective, if iTunes had 2,000,000 less songs, would an artist that is not selling now as no one likes their music magically start selling. Or to flip it around, I would suggest more music on the virtual shelf causes more music to sell as it allows the music buyer to discover music via the digital stores own recommendation association engines.

Tommy’s goes on to state:

“Breaking music requires mass exposure which requires luck or money or both.”

This statement is also dead wrong – and he knows it based on is own experiences at Tommy Boy.

Historically, in the music industry, 98% of what the record labels distributed, spent hundreds of millions of dollars on to market and promote and get played on commercial radio and MTV did not “break”. If “breaking” simply “required mass exposure”, there would have been a 98% success rate, not failure rate. But music is not a math equation, and therein lies the problem with Tommy’s statement. Yes, to break you need exposure, but that by no means guarantees success. The music has to cause reaction. For example, if “Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was not a song that people liked, it would not have mattered how much money was spent on getting you to hear it.

And that’s the excitement and beauty of the internet. The masses now have direct access to the media and “music discovery” social networking outlets. – i.e. YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Jango and more. These new social networking and media vehicles allow mass communication in an instanteous fashion at a click of button. Suddenly one person’s opinion does matter and can can impact a bottom line. Even the digital stores themselves provide a vehicle to market and promote yourself off off (i.e. iTunes iMixes or recommendations of other music to buy). Through these vehicles the internet has delivered the ability for anyone to “break”, and they actually are. The masses now have access to the media outlets to get heard. The problem is the old school view that “breaking” is simply defined by selling albums. This could not be farther from the truth.

Tommy also goes onto say:

“I can say with great authority that less new music is breaking now in America than any other time in history. Technology has not helped more great music rise to the top, it has inhibited it. I know this is a bold statement but it is true.”

It might be a bold statement by Tommy to help get headlines, but it’s also false (and kind of silly). The truth is more artists and bands are breaking now in America, and around the world, than at any other time in history. Technology has absolutly helped more great artists and bands rise to the top.

The distressing part for me about this is based on Tommy’s statements, if an artists’ release is not counted by Neilsen than it is not actually released. If music does not sell as an album then it has not sold. In effect, he is de-legitimizing artists.

With all due respect, I believe an artist’s release should “count” even if not recognized by Neilsen as this de-recognition closes off possible opportunities based on the perception that a release is not “real”

I also find it distressing that the media, and other outlets, turn to Neilsen as the definitive source to determine what is occurring in this industry thereby decreasing the opportunities for musicians and artists that are not part of this old school system.

The reality is the majority of music is now being created, released and sold outside of the traditional system. Ad agencies, music supervisors, video game manufacturers, radio programmers etc turn to Neilsen for information to discover music in an attempt to use/license it. They need to understand that the Neilsen information is an incomplete and an inaccurate portrayal of reality. This inaccurate perception is holding back opportunity and validation for others. Tommy needs to stop propagating this false perception as it hurts artists.

It’s important that an accurate picture of what is occurring be presented to fans and businesses to provide additional choice and opportunity for musicians. They work hard enough as it is, the last thing we need to do is propagate a false reality to hurt them. Tommy’s heart is in the right place, we are here to help musicians, but let’s start with a more accurate description as opposed to a “bold” but false statement that helps promote an agenda.

The Flatlanders (9th IMA Alt. Country Album nominee) will be performing at Help Austin Help Haiti, a benefit concert in Austin, Texas on Sunday, January 24.

Proceeds from the event will be donated to The Clinton-Bush Fund and OXFAM.

Festivities begin at 2 p.m. at Austin Music Hall (208 Nueces St.) and continue until midnight.

Banding together for the cause are:

Asleep at the Wheel
Guy Forsyth
Patricia Vonne
Band of Heathens
The Gourds
Paula Nelson
Bob Schneider
Jack Ingram
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Bruce Robison
Joe Ely Band
Reckless Kelly
Charlie Sexton
Kelly Willis
Robert Earl Keen
The Flatlanders
Kinky Friedman
Shawn Colvin

More acts to be announced.

And as if all the great music weren’t enough: There will also be a silent auction with items donated by Mike Judge, Robert Rodriguez’s studios, Marfa bullet train and Marfa Film Festival passes, SXSW, Marcia Ball, the International Music Festival, Lake Austin Spa, and many other local venues/restaurants.