Amazon Launches Go Indie
With the recent successes of indie favorites the Shins and Arcade Fire, it was no surprise that the giants would start to take notice. Amazon.com today announced that it has teamed up with more than 30 indie labels, such as Sub Pop and Barsuk, to launch Go Indie, a new section in its music store featuring hand-picked selections of nearly 700 independent titles, 150 of which will carry a reduced price of $9.99. This limited-time offering is aimed to help the labels have prominent space on larger retailers, a problem found prevalent when battling against major label releases.
"In this day and age, it's rare that a retailer carries the full range of our releases, so thank God for Amazon.com," said Andy Kotowicz, vice president of sales and marketing at Sub Pop, via press release. "They are the perfect partner to help us showcase the scope and breadth of Sub Pop's current artists and diverse catalogue."
Sub Pop's own the Shins will be one of six bands featured in the Go Indie video content portion of the site, alongside the Black Keys, Air, Sam Bush, Robyn Hitchcock and CeU. The Go Indie store and the featured videos can be found at www.amazon.com/indie-deals. |
Bad weather hampers Ashton Court Festival
The second day of this year's Ashton Court Festival has been cancelled today (July 15) following bad weather.
Organisers pulled the event in Bristol after an overnight downpour of heavy rainfall.
A statement on the festival's official site added: "The festival site is unsafe for the public due to the treacherous ground conditions, which have made it impossible to guarantee emergency services on-site.
"After taking advice from health and safety officials, emergency services and licensing authorities at a meeting this morning, the organisers took the difficult decision to cut short the event."
The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Enter Shikari and Horace Andy were all set to play today after performances from The Fall, Gravenhurst and Mad Professor yesterday (July 14). |
Super Furry Animals 'Hey Venus' gets US release
Super Furry Animals have announced the US release of their eighth studio album 'Hey Venus'.
The album will be released digitally and on vinyl on August 28, while the CD release of the album will hit stores January 22 2008.
The CD release will coincide with Gruff Rhys and co's North American tour, details of which will be announced shortly.
Recorded at Miraval Studios in France and Rockfield Studios in Wales, 'Hey Venus' was produced by David Newfeld (Broken Social Scene) and mixed by the band themselves and Chris Shaw. The band enlisted the services of the High Llamas Sean O'Hagan to arrange strings on the record. |