IODA and Black Lab have released preliminary numbers for the Bum Rush the Charts campaign, and the estimated sales for the band came out to $3,500, or approximately 6,000 99 cent purchases. Of that, Black Lab will donate an estimated $1,750, combined with IODA's donation of $250 and the Student Loan Network's matching contribution of $1,000, for a total of $3,000 in scholarship funds to be disbursed. The drawing for the Bum Rush Scholarship will be held during the month of July and will be randomly drawn from registered users of Scholarship Points. Thanks to everyone who participated in the campaign!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Virtual Hot Wings CD steps around music industry
Matthew Ebel, a Nashville-based piano rock musician and podsafe music rock star, is taking the landmark step of not only allowing fans to share his music on podcasts (downloadable Internet radio shows), but even going so far as to let fans make bootleg copies of his music for sale, culminating in a virtual CD to be released at the Coca-Cola Pavilion on crayonville island in the virtual reality world of Second Life.
On Friday, May 25, 2007, Ebel will release his new CD "Virtual Hot Wings" and will play tracks from his album during a live lunchtime concert at the Coca-Cola Virtual Thirst Pavilion on crayon's Second Life Island (www.crayonvillesecondlife.com). The album will be available at the concert for purchase for L$5,000 Lindens which at the current Linden Lab's Second Life exchange rate is approximately $20 US in real world money. Fans can download, burn, and enjoy the new CD when they want, where they want and how they want with no DRM constraints. For those not currently using Second Life, the downloads are also available from www.virtualhotwings.com.
The fans took their interaction to another level by building virtual vending machines as the in-world distribution vehicle for the album. Fans that purchase the album will be able to download it immediately and burn it to a CD or listen to it on a computer, iPod, or other portable music device.
Ebel is embracing and supporting his dedicated fans that created, produced, distributed, and marketed the album on his behalf. In a new twist on bootleg recordings, fans taped his concerts digitally (with his consent) and subsequently created the cover art, ring tones and other digital media, in addition to choosing and arranging the song selections.
Most important of all, the distribution of Virtual Hot Wings puts no money in the pockets of any traditional music distribution source, from distributors to iTunes to the recording industry. It's entirely a grassroots album that does not contribute a dime to any of the organizations currently attacking independent music artists and listeners.
Get your copy of Virtual Hot Wings today!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Numbers?
According to the fine folks over at IODA, sales data from iTunes can take anywhere from 30 - 90 days to be reported - and more often than not for non-RIAA labels and distributors, it's closer to the 90 than the 30. When Bum Rush the Charts data comes in, it'll be posted here.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
SCOTT SIGLER'S "ANCESTOR" ON AMAZON, APRIL 1
The incredibly talented Scott Sigler's indy smash podcast novel ANCESTOR comes out in print on APRIL 1. Scott's been bum rushing the literary world pretty much since podcasting started and has been planning this blitz for months and if you like the idea of supporting independent media, check out ANCESTOR and help make it #1 on Amazon on April 1 at 12 PM ET, 9 AM PT!
Find out more! - click here
LISTEN TO AN ANCESTOR PROMO!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
THANK YOU!
Just a big THANK YOU from us to you, the new media community, for making Bum Rush the Charts a very memorable and successful social experiment. I know we raised a lot of dough for a good cause and had a lot of fun doing it.
Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff (Pacific Coast Hellway, Shadow Falls: Badlands, N1B)
Mike Yusi (UC Radio, Pacific Coast Hellway)
Chris Penn (Financial Aid Podcast)
Neil Bearse (Podsafe Revolution)
Jersey Todd (Jersey Toddshow)
C.C. Chapman (Accident Hash)
Sunday, March 25, 2007
THE RESULTS ARE IN!
Our one day push led to 72 hours of excitement as the charts slowly aggregated. I believe these were our highest chart positions:
iTunes Rock Charts
US: 11
Canada: 10
Netherlands: 2
Germany: 12
Sweden: 7
Portugal: 31
UK: 71
Australia: 35
Austria: 25
Denmark: 40
Finland: 42
Ireland: 54
Italy: 30
New Zealand: 56
Norway: 23
Switzerland: 42
Overall Top 100 Songs Chart
Netherlands: 15
Norway: 55
Canada: 53
US: 99
Germany:98
Sweden: 98
Please let me know if I missed something.
If you were to look at all of the other bands on the charts at the same time, Black Lab was the ONLY UNSIGNED BAND.
Just getting onto the charts is pretty huge. Note that there are record companies out there that can't do what we did on the 24th.
Was there movement on the charts that wasn't apparent because they only updated 3x in 24 hours? Possibly. Was there an Apple conspiracy to shut down the charts on Bum Rush day? I really doubt it. Were the iTunes servers probably swamped because of the release of Apple TV and an update to the iTunes software? That would be my guess.
Did traditional media take notice? Washington Post, BBC, San Jose Mercury, Billboard, Spin, CBC, Businessweek and others. Raise your hand if you've ever heard of any of these.
Was it a success? You tell me. The whole experiment was set up to show that podcasting and new media is a social movement that has a pretty far reach across the globe. Bum Rush got a lot of people inside and outside of new media talking, shed more light on podcasting and helped get some exposure for an unsigned band and helped them tell their story about how they were mistreated by a major record label.
And in the end, even though we may not know the final sales report for 30 days, I'd wager that we raised thousands of dollars for the scholarship fund. Some kid who couldn't afford college before will get to go this fall because of the podcasting and blogging commuities. I don't know about you, but that makes me feel pretty good.
Honestly, 100 percent the credit belongs to you, the podcasters, podcast listeners, bloggers and blog readers who took part in Bum Rush the Charts.
Imagine what we could have done if we had made it a whole Bum Rush week instead of a day?
Friday, March 23, 2007
IT'S NOT OVER YET!
Updated:
Apple's charts are finally on the move! As soon as the numbers solidify, we'll post them here. Early returns as of 11:55PM Pacific Time 3/23.
You can still Bum Rush!
Canada Rock - #10 (Yes, we outsold the new Rush single in Canada!)
Canada Overall - #53
US Rock - #11
US Overall - #99
Netherlands Rock - #2
Netherlands Overall - #15
Sweden Rock - #7
Germany Rock - #12
Norway Overall - #55
Portugal Rock - #31
Source: Apple.com
Also, check out this post about Bum Rush on Spin.com (http://www.spin.com/features/everybodystalkingabout/2007/03/070323_bumrush/)
Worldwide chart positions as of mid day 3/22
iTunes Rock Singles Chart
* US: 67
* UK: 71
* Canada: 22
* Australia: 35
* Austria: 35
* Denmark: 40
* Finland: 42
* Germany: 13
* Ireland: 54
* Italy: 30
* Netherlands: 5
* New Zealand: 56
* Norway: 23
* Sweden: 9
* Switzerland: 42
Overall Top 100 Songs Chart
* Canada: 96
* Germany:98
* Netherlands:38
* Norway: 100
* Sweden: 98
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Welcome
Traffic data from Urchin and Feedburner is posted here, along with raw data if anyone's interested. A reminder that as numbers and data come in, we'll post them up. We will not have full purchase data for up to a month, depending on when Apple generates its reports. We should have third party verification of purchasing from IODA within a day or two.
Podcasting gets little respect from traditional media. To them we're little more than a joke, than amateurs. What they don't understand is that podcasting is more than just a delivery mechanism - it's a social movement. People are sick of the watered-down, cookie-cutter content that networks and record companies expect us to enjoy. People are tired of watching friends and loved ones get sued by record labels who only care about profits and nothing else, not even the artists they supposedly represent.
We want and deserve more. On March 22, 2007, we're going to change that with your help.
We can do better. We can match and exceed the reach of big media, corporate media, labels, and the entrenched interests. On March 22nd, we are going to take an indie podsafe music artist to number one on the iTunes singles charts as a demonstration of our reach to Main Street and our purchasing power to Wall Street. The track we've chosen is "Mine Again" by the band Black Lab. A band that was dropped from not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic) and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back. We picked them because making them number one, even for just one day, will remind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - and who they ignore at their peril.
What's more, we're going to take it a step beyond that. We've signed up as an affiliate of the iTunes Music Store, and every commission made on the sale of "Mine Again" will be donated to college scholarships, partly because it's a worthy cause, but also partly because college students are among the most misunderstood and underestimated groups of people by big media. Black Lab has taken it up another notch - 50% of their earnings are going to be donated to the scholarship fund as well.
If you believe in the power of new media, on March 22nd, 2007, take 99 cents and 2 minutes of your time to join the revolution and make iTunes "Mine Again". If you're a content producer (blogger, podcaster, etc.), we're asking you to join up with us and help spread the word to your audience. Nothing would prove the power of new media more than showing corporate media that not only can we exceed their reach and match their purchasing power, but that we can also do it AND make a positive difference in the world. If we can succeed with this small example, then there's no telling what can do next.
How to help
Remind people about Bum Rush the Charts using email and MySpace bulletins & messages. Remind people that the link to buy Mine Again is:
http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/bumrush
and that using this link will net us 5% in affiliate fees from Apple on top of the 50% donation from the band.
Important: remind people that they can GIFT Mine Again using this link as well, so if they already own it, they can gift it to a friend, colleague, or associate who may not have heard of Black Lab before.
If college and graduate students are part of your audience, remind them that in order to be eligible for the scholarship, they need to set up a free profile at:
http://www.ScholarshipPoints.com
Also, it may sound silly, but it pays to remind people that they need to download and install iTunes, plus open an iTunes Music Store account with a valid credit card and/or PayPal account.
http://www.iTunes.com
Make sure you've got a copy of the StumbleUpon toolbar for IE or Firefox, and that you have an account set up on StumbleUpon.
http://www.StumbleUpon.com
Once you've got StumbleUpon up and running, visit EVERY blog post (click on the titles of the posts on the main page) at Bum Rush the Charts and click the Thumbs Up button. Be sure to do this on the buy now URL as well.
On YouTube, make sure you watch and rate 5 stars the Bum Rush videos on there:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jMx_66WS9hQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=u5_y9EZcLDY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T-zl5hZOScQ
Obviously, buy Mine Again today. In addition to that, we need to give a major social networking blast to BRTC stuff today.
Send out one final round of MySpace bulletins. Ideally, delete any previous bulletins about BRTC and post a new one. If you have the time, delete and repost in the morning, afternoon, and evening, to ensure that the maximum number of friends see the bulletin (especially if you have a lot of friends).
Go to this Digg.com Bum Rush URL:
http://digg.com/videos/music/Bum_Rush_The_Charts_2
and click Digg It. If you don't have a Digg.com account, set one up.
== After Thursday ==
We'll keep you up to date on how BRTC goes - if it goes well enough, there's no telling what we can all do next. Thanks for being a part of it, and please share this with anyone else you know who is excited about BRTC and wants to know how they can help more, beyond just buying the track.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Promos and other stuff
Share this link: http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/bumrush
 You in? Copy this code to your site! | Also in black: |
Play Mine Again on your show!
Mine again is available as a podsafe music selection on IODA Promonet.
Play a Bum Rush promo on your show!
| Family/Work Safe | Explicit |
Share the PDF!
Get college students involved!
In order to be eligible for the Bum Rush scholarships, college students need to set up a free profile at Scholarship Points.
Promos from Cary Chatham
Here are three days of AUDIO countdown promos for BRTC depending on your show schedules. Each is the same except for the mention of how many days till BRTC there is an extra music piece for lead in, if you don't need it fade it out.
March 19 2007
http://download.yousendit.com/036EA57A370A404F
March 20 2007
http://download.yousendit.com/59A6DCF13A8E4456
March 21 2007
http://download.yousendit.com/23C2805F05937551
Depending on show schedules here are three days of iPod ready VIDEO promo starting monday for Bum Rush The Charts. Each is the same except for the mention of how many days till BRTC
BumRushVideo3Days03_19_07.m4v
http://download.yousendit.com/C023D1A03389C1AE
BumRushVideo2Days03_20_07.m4v
http://download.yousendit.com/DE40B7C102DBE9B2
BumRushVideo1Day03_21_07.m4v
http://download.yousendit.com/2BFC375059863D1D
Best,
Cary Chatham
New Haven, CT
Monday, March 19, 2007
Countdown: 3 days
Bum Rush the Charts is 3 days away! Here's something you should know: if you already own "Mine Again", you can gift it in iTunes through our affiliate link to a friend who doesn't own it. Use the affiliate link on March 22nd and give a friend the gift of independent music.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Counting down: 1 week until we Bum Rush the Charts
One week left. Podcasters - have you played the promos? Bloggers - have you posted about it and left comments on music blogs about it? MySpacers - have you sent out bulletins, comments, and messages to your friends? In the end, no matter how many press releases and news stories there are about BRTC, it will come down to YOU and your personal network to make this a success! If you've never tested the reach of your personal network, now is the time!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
50% of your purchases will go to college scholarships
Paul Durham from Black Lab recently made the announcement about Bum Rush the Charts that the band will donate a full 50% of all purchases to the college scholarships fund. This is huge news - and very generous of Black Lab. Like any indie band, they need to put food on the table, too, and to be willing to contribute back to the community a full 50% of purchases is incredible.
If you were concerned that Bum Rush the Charts was merely a marketing ploy to help a band get rich quick, let's put those fears to rest. With Paul Durham's announcement, the math for Bum Rush the Charts is very different.
On a 99 cent purchase of an RIAA artist:
- 19 cents goes to Apple
- 75 cents goes to the label
- 5 cents goes to the artist
On a 99 cent purchase of Mine Again on March 22:
- 14 cents goes to Apple
- 5 cents goes to the scholarship fund directly
- 40 cents goes to the band
- 40 cents goes to the scholarship fund via Black Lab's donation
We're happier than ever and more sure than ever that Black Lab was the right choice for Bum Rush the Charts, and we hope that you'll be more eager than ever to support this movement. Spread the word - Bum Rush the Charts on March 22!
UPDATE:
Here's a message from Paul Durham of Black Lab!
Monday, March 5, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
Create your own promo for BRTC
I've been talking about it on my show, The UC Radio Podshow, but I figured I'd throw it out there for those of you checking out the blog.
If you send a promo that you make to ucradio@gmail.com I'll play it on my show and send you a sticker and a shirt from the show. No questions asked, no rules or regulations. Say what you want and feel and I'll put it into the show.
Thanks for listening and taking part in Bum Rush The Charts
Mike
UC Radio
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Bum Rush the Charts PDF
Take a look at the Bum Rush The Charts PDF! It's a great printout, handout, or attachment you can send people to learn more about what to do, when to do it, and why!
Link to the flyer:
Bum Rushing for 80 Cents
Buying music from the RIAA labels just gives them the funding to sue the people they're supposed to be marketing to, while screwing over the artists who keep them in business.
Example:
Members of Cheap Trick and The Allman Brothers Band, two veteran rock acts that signed deals in a pre-digital universe have sued Sony BMG for unpaid royalties.
The heart of the complaint lies in "packaging costs", which are deducted from royalties paid to artists when music is pressed to CD (or in the case of The Allman Brothers, vinyl). Both Cheap Trick and The ABB claim that they are being dramatically underpaid, being that digital downloads have minimal, if any, packaging costs associated.
"A major label like Sony BMG likely receives 80 cents of every 99 cent download. Out of that 80 cents, 4.5 cents goes to the Allmans based on their existing terms."
Source: http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/04/28/cheap-trick-allman-brothers-sue-sony-bmg-over-digital-distribut/
Wouldn't it be better for the artist to receive that 80 cents than a litigation-happy recording industry association? We think so. Bum Rush The Charts will demonstrate the power of podcasting and the richness of independent, podsafe music. As a bonus, your purchase on March 22, 2007 will take 5 cents out of the 19 that Apple collects and put it towards college scholarships. Great music, social good, and a hearty heave-ho to the record labels - what's not to like?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
"Can you promote my band, too?" Maybe.
The inevitable question has of course been asked: "Can you promote X band, too?"
The short answer is maybe. The long answer goes a bit like this. This whole campaign is a proof of concept, to show that podcasting can, as a social movement, make a social and economic impact on a large scale in an organized fashion. One of the unstated goals of an event like this is to make it a template that others can use for future projects. Nothing here is being done in secret, in true new media fashion. What you see is what you get.
For this campaign, we're focusing just on Black Lab's song, Mine Again.
That said, the Bum Rush site will still get lots of traffic and attention in the days and weeks after the campaign is over. If there is enough interest, we'd be more than happy to change the iTunes link on that page every week to feature a new band. It'd be like New Music Tuesdays, only a podsafe indie version instead.
If you like this idea, if you are at all interested in this idea, here are my proposed requirements:
1. The band obviously has to be in iTunes.
2. The band must be podsafe. To be podsafe, you must either have your material on the Podsafe Music Network, IODA Promonet, or the Creative Commons music site with a CC 2.5 By-SA license.
3. The band has to not suck. I'm open to suggestions about how to judge this; my initial thinking out loud is to pick 10 podsafe music shows (Accident Hash, PMC Top 10, etc.) and pull bands from their playlists. Other suggestions that are more objective and well thought out are welcome.
Please post your thoughts in the comments. Remember, NONE of the above is set in stone, so constructive discussion may well shape what happens on March 23 and after.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Bum Rush en Italia
http://www.rockcastitalia.com/bum-rush-the-charts/
Thanks to Franco from RockCast Italia
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Let us hear your voice!
Post a link to your audio or video promo for Bum Rush the Charts in the comments!
How To Bum Rush
Okay, so you've heard the news about the movement, you know what the deal is. Send an indie artist to the top of the charts, send a lucky kid to college. But HOW do you bum rush? Easy.
Step 1. Write down and share this address:
http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/bumrush
[Bookmarks: BlinkList | del.icio.us | Digg it | Earthlink | ma.gnolia | Yahoo MyWeb | Google | Squidoo | StumbleUpon]
You'll need it on the big day.
Step 2. Set up reminders for yourself - Google Calendar, Outlook, MySpace, doesn't matter. Mark the date carefully. March 22, 2007. On that day, and that day alone, buy the track Mine Again for a mere 99 cents. (you can, of course, buy the album, but the minimum participation requirement is that 99 cent purchase).
Step 3. Add a badge to your home page, MySpace page, web site, whatever. Need the code? Just copy and paste this text:
<a href="http://www.bumrushthecharts.com/"><img src="http://www.financialaidpodcast.com/brtcbadge.gif" border="0" /></a>
Step 4. Tell people about what's going on. There will be plenty of promos and things later on, but start spreading the word now - MySpace bulletins, emails, promos, whatever you can think of to spread the word.
Who's In and What They're Saying
"March 22nd you all have an assignment. An assignment to buy a specific track from iTunes both for a good cause AND to show the power and community of new media. Full details soon. You can be damn sure you’ll be hearing more about it from me on every channel I’ve got! I’m not going to allow people to write this one off and to forget about it. The inspiration is way to important to do that!" - C.C. Chapman, Accident Hash
"Alright man, i'm on board! i've posted it a few places already and i'll be bringing it up on the show. sounds like a great idea and pretty simple execution. let's show them that the customers run things around here..." - Drew Domkus, The Dawn and Drew Show
"This is going to be cool - on one day everybody we can round up in social media will buy one specific track on a day in March in iTunes. The affiliate money made will go to a college scholarship..." - John Wall, The M Show
"March 22, 2007 is a day that will stand in podcasting history." - Todd Wachtel, Jersey Toddshow
"On March 22, 2007, a bunch of podcasters are aiming to game the charts in the iTunes Music Store for at least a day by asking everyone involved in podcasting to buy just one song, a specific song, Mine Again by Black Lab, that day. The effort, called Bum Rush the Charts, is designed to demonstrate to old media that podcasting has reach and more importantly, purchasing power." - Christopher Penn, Financial Aid Podcast
"There's a word for what the record companies have been doing: racketeering. Now it's time for us to show them that podcasting is a true mechanism of change." - Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, Pacific Coast Hellway
"I’m going to participate, because I think the idea’s pretty fun, and it does point a finger in the eye of some of the numbers the world uses to guide its decisions." - Chris Brogan, Network2.tv
"Okay music fans, everyone knows that you are the real power behind the "new" music industry and now is your chance to prove it. On March 22nd, we are going to BUM RUSH THE CHARTS!! That's right, the worldwide podcast community is going to flex our collective muscle and push Black Lab's "Mine Again" to the top of the iTunes music chart!" - Chris Doelle, PMC Top 10
"New London Fire supports indies in every way shape or form. Even the
sweet indie coffee shop next door. They have great espresso! This
rules." - New London Fire
"On March 22, we’re asking everyone to spare 99 cents to make a statement. We’re going to make an independent and podsafe artist #1 on iTunes." - Eric Skiff, TPN Alternative Music Show
"I like the idea except for the revenue being given to Apple for DRM-laden media files. They can have my 99 cents to make this statement. I’m in. On March 22, I’ll be making music mine again." - Kevin from the Schwagcast
"This is a great idea and I'm in and trying to get things going in Japan. I'm contacting some other podcasters here who may not have heard. I'll announce it on my next show and play Mark Yoshimoto Nemkoff's "THE ITUNES TAKEOVER ANNOUNCEMENT". - Tokyo Dan, What's Happening In Tokyo podcast
"I'm buying on the 22nd of March, and try to get my listeners to do the same.
Looking out for the promo's." - Rob from the StamPodcast
"Great idea. Let's do it!" - DigiVegas Indie Podcast
"I just would like you to know Jaycast is in full support of the movement and I will of course be putting links on our Podshow and .Mac websites and spreading the word on the show." - Jaycast Jay
"Great idea and a great band to get started with :-) I'll be buying..." - Three From Leith Podcast
"Giving the finger to old media, buying a kick ass track from a pod friendly group, and giving someone the opportunity to get some money for college, what’s not to like? I’m in and will encourage all of you to help out too." - Coal Cracker Radio
"That ROCKS!! If we can do anything to help, just let us know!! FIGHT THE MAJORS!!! KEEP INDIE ALIVE!! BUY INDIE MUSIC!!" - Western Civ Rock
"Thanks fer checkin' us out! hope your project goes well and you show the record companies what they are doing wrong." - Real Gone
Did you post the badge and a blog post that didn't get mentioned here? Link to it in the comments!
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