A really good little post by Digital Audio Insider put me onto an article in the Washington Post about a new website seeking to open up the online digital download classical music market. The Classical Archives was born out of the frustration the founder experienced trying to buy classical music on sites like iTunes that have been built using the language of modern pop music. Modern music in the online age is filtered into genres, performed by artists and titled with a song and album title but this system doesn’t allow for the language of classical music which likes to include information on composers, arrangers, soloists, orchestras, conductors, keys and even historical periods when categorizing music. As the reporter explains…

“When online shoppers type “Beethoven” into iTunes, the top results they get back include a rock medley by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, an uncredited recording of “Für Elise” and individual movements culled from greatest hits collections. It’s not that the music seller is skimping on the composer — customers can find complete works by browsing deeper in the iTunes classical section — it’s just that his oeuvre doesn’t fit neatly on the virtual shelves with that of Miley Cyrus and the Black Eyed Peas.”

The solution for Technology entrepreneur Pierre Schwob was to work with a team of eight musicologists to vet and categorize all of the music contained on the store. The result is a hugely detailed catalog of classical music with a highly effective search engine that helps recommend and select music for you based on your tastes and search criteria. The site’s main selling point seems to be not only it’s vast collection of music but the sheer about of knowledge and love that has gone into curating it. The feeling that seems to emulate from the experience is like going into one of those old fashioned specialist classical music shops with the various quirky old men behind the counter where you know the place is built solely for classical music and merely humming anything else is considered blasphemous.

iTunes will continue to dominate until the likes of Amazon start to catch up but these are the huge big supermarkets of selling music. They are the HMV, Virgin Megastore and Woolworths of the online music world which may well have a copy of the music you want but will have it tucked away in a corner of the shop behind all the latest chart releases. While people are still morning the slow death of the specialist independent record shop where you could go and pick up the latest obscure record release or just sit on the listening station for an hour and discover something new and crazy they are slowly being replaced by new online equivalents. One of my favorite online stores for independent music is Amie Street who not only deliver me some great free music to my inbox every week but also give the artists a great deal on the sales.

Trying to survive against the size and might of an industry leader like iTunes is tough as its fast becoming the first place people go to find and buy music but various websites are carving themselves out a niche by focusing on a genre and doing it better than everybody else. It’ll be interesting to see if every genre has it’s own ‘classical archive’ style site in the future or if they’ll all just get swallowed up by the ever expanding iRevolution.

I’m sure I’m coming quite late to the party blogging about this video but I love the ingenuity behind it. One of the main challenges bands have these days is making their music or work stand out against the noise of everybody else promoting their latest product. One way to cut through it all is just to come up with a killer idea that gets everybody talking and blogging about you. Walking in the footsteps of fellow low budget music video mysteros OK GO Manchester band The Get Out Clause filmed their music video using security camera footage obtained using the freedom of information act. The result is an awesome little video that has had the web talking from the UK all the way to Standford University USA where it’s been used as an outstanding example of viral marketing. Check out more about the band at their website TheGetOutClause.co.uk

We’re loving the new ‘Silence Breaks’ EP from The Red Labels. Recorded with producer Guy Massey at the Dublin Sun Studios it’s a storming energy filled record.

With a modern sound which evokes the remnants of 1970s raw rock n roll, combined with a return to grass roots and with a sense of pure energy and determination, The Red Labels have been described as energetic, raw, and an exciting live act.

Red Labels – Swallow

Visit Website // Visit MySpace // Buy on Myspace

Steve Lawson was one of the panelists at Un-Convention this year on a panel of musicians and artists who had carved out unusual careers for themselves in the ever changing music world. Steve is an extremely respected bass player who as well as doing session work also plays solo bass sets which he himself describes as a concept sounding more like a dare than a gig.

By far one of the most enagaging and genuine people I met at Un-Convention, Steve followed up the panel session with a great blog post about all the ideas he had that he hadn’t had a chance to share. Check it out….

Brainstorming new models for music careers

To see Steve performing with his loop pedals and Lobelia check out the below video. It gets gorgeously strange by the end

There is nothing as effective for getting yourself noticed online than coming up with a good story, when Brad from the band Merchandise was sitting having a pizza and chatting to a friend about how he couldn’t afford to make a music video the idea struck. Why waste lots of money and time? Why not just record it right here, right now using a flip recorder that Andrew Dubber had on him? The result below is not only a cute accompaniment to a great song but the story behind it has captured people’s interest and has even led to local press coverage as well as over 800 hits on youtube within the first 3 days.

Goes to show that sometimes a good idea and a bit of spontaneity goes a lot further than a budget!

Check out the blog post from Andrew Dubber on the Un-Consultancy sessions we ran last weekend in Manchester. All things being well we’ll probably try and do a similar thing in a few months time for anybody else who’s interested so keep in touch.

Unconsultancy wrap-up | New Music Strategies.

Andrew even had his little flip video thing in front of my face the next morning before I knew what was quite going on, here is the unrehearsed unedited result. What’s the famous saying? “Face for Radio”?

Unconsultancy Manchester from Andrew Dubber on Vimeo.