IF YOU BELIEVE there is merit in digital downloads and you want to underscore your point, please consider buying the track "Mine Again" by indie band "Black Lab" from iTunes on Thursday the 22nd of March 2007. This is an international initiative to demonstrate to the recording industry that one of the most viable channels to market is from people downloading music. If thousands buy the track--you should if you like the sound of U2--more than Geffen and Sony/Epic will notice the power of social media. Those two labels dropped the band. The RIAA knows the story about Black Lab and about digital downloads. But the RIAA does not respect the power of the community behind the digital downloading movement.
Those reading the industry press know the lack of respect given to digital downloading by the recording industry. Traditional media does not believe there is anything worth nurturing in the digital downloading channel. Big media, corporate media, the record labels and various entrenched interests see iTunes as an aberration, nothing more. They have no respect for podcasters who promote unsigned artists. They do not appreciate the power of social media.
Many readers of this blog have long abandoned the mass media framework of both mainstream news and recording industry music releases. They want to pick and choose their own information and their own music selections. If you are one of those people, I hope you will take the step of paying 99 cents for Black Lab on iTunes--buying the track on Thursday 22 March 2007 so an audit of the process pushes Black Lab to the top of the iTunes charts for the day.
The team at Bum Rush The Charts have 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.
If you believe in the value of social media and want to nurture a band influenced by U2, please set aside time on 22 March 2007 to spend 99 cents with iTunes and purchase "Mine Again". If you're a blogger or podcaster, would you spread the word?
Help Bum Rush the Charts and buy "Mine Again" from Black Lab. Well, at least listen to them on MySpace. Cheers!
