Buzzoven, Set To Release Violent Hits CD on November 4th

Buzzoven, Set To Release Violent Hits CD on November 4th

Buzzoven are releasing their latest collection of Violent Hits on cd and digital format November 4th. This album is a collection of their tracks, that is repackaged and featuring art from Christopher Parry / Sinister Illustration.

Spotify Is Growing, But Isn't It Growing Faster? - From Time.com

Digital music has been slowly creeping up to dominate the overall charts for music sales, but there is a quiet rebellion afoot. This rebellion is being staged directly with fans to bands. The cause is simple and effective and goes something like this. Fans want more interaction music and players of the music they enjoy. Call it a novelty idea, but we call it planting a flag and building your army.

As fan interaction and wanting to get even more involved with the artists they enjoy supporting, several key areas are growing steadily. Two of those things are unique items available to purchase from the bands and or labels and the amount of music being listened to on Youtube.

Check out this video of Rival Sons creating stencil art depicting their new album cover

If you haven't listened to playlists on the premier video channel, well, get started. Hell, why not even start with the Rusty Knuckles Music channel first of all! Besides our own blatant self promotion we urge yall to check out all the music you dig on youtube and pay more attention to the number one radio station world wide for finding new music and the classics you enjoy. FM radio is just too damn boring for true music connoisseurs.

Find the music you love with Spotify

Link to original article on Time.com

"Spotify has frequently been hailed at as the savior of the moribund music industry. Sooner or later, the pundits argue, a streaming music service that gives users unlimited access to virtually every piece of recorded music in the world for a modest price – and that creates a revenue stream for artists — will crowd out the competition. Right?

Maybe so. But even as Spotify steadily builds its paid user base, a number of obstacles seem to be preventing the kind of growth that could restore the music industry to its former healthy glow.

The latest setback for streaming theory comes from Nielsen’s latest Music 360 study, which shows that teenagers get most of their music not from streaming services like Spotify, or from CDs, or even from iTunes — but from YouTube. That’s right: Close to two-thirds of U.S. teens 18 years old or younger use the video site to listen to music. Radio (56%), iTunes (53%), and CDs (50%) are next. The only streaming service that a substantial number of teens use is Pandora (35%). In other words, young people do seem to like the idea of streaming music from the web — they just don’t seem inclined to pay for it.

Nevertheless, Spotify is growing. The service updated its subscriber figures this month for the first time in a year, showing that it now had 15 million active users worldwide, 4 million of whom pay for the service every month. That’s up from 3 million in 2011. And the service is signing up subscribers at an unprecedented rate: According to a report by MusicIndustryBlog, it took seven quarters for Spotify to reach a million paying users while it took Rhapsody, a similar service, 11 years to do the same thing.

Of course, Spotify — unlike Rhapsody — had the advantage of coming of age during the era of widespread broadband use and 4G mobile capabilities. And other streaming services have been just as successful as Spotify yet now don’t even exist. (Ever heard of imeem?)

But perhaps even more discouraging for champions of Spotify is that streaming services seem to be bumping up against a number of immovable objects. For one, YouTube is emerging as a prime destination for music. Listeners can easily search and find virtually any band or artist, all at no cost, without having to download a separate program. And YouTube’s made it much easier for users to re-listen to their favorite artists through saved playlists and customizable tools.

Then there’s the fact that consumers continue to illegally download free music over the web. It’s unclear how much of an effect piracy has on streaming services, but peer-to-peer file-sharing accounts for 15% of the music acquired in the U.S., according to Russ Crupnick, music analyst at NPD Group.

Another issue is our apparently stubborn desire to own the music we enjoy the most. Nielsen’s study shows that while most adults discover new music on the radio, 61% say they still listen to music on CDs. Even the old cassette tape — yes, cassette tape — is outpacing most music services. Nine percent of adults say they still listen to tapes, while only 7% say they consume music through Spotify and 1% use either emusic.com or Rhapsody. Pandora registers much better, with 32% saying they use the service. About 30% of adults say they download music through iTunes.

“I thought streaming would rapidly overtake digital downloads,” says Crupnick. “But I’ve reversed my feeling about that. What the research keeps saying is that people like the idea of ownership.”

Less than 10% of music listeners are digital-only consumers, according to Mark Mulligan of musicindustryblog. Most still listen to music through some combination of digital downloads, CDs, streaming music services, and vinyl records. More than 70% of Spotify listeners also buy digital downloads — mostly from iTunes — according to NPD Group.

“Four million paid subscribers [for Spotify] is a fantastic achievement, but it’s a drop in the ocean in the music industry,” says Mulligan. “I’m not sure we’ll ever get to the position where most people will want to pay $9.99 a month for streaming music. The bottom line is that the vast majority of people value ownership.”

In the digital space, iTunes boasts 80 million customers, and Spotify is nowhere close to seriously chipping away at those sales. While CD sales fell 6% last year, digital downloads and vinyl sales were up big. Album sales across all platforms rose for the first time since 2004 (but you can largely thank Adele for that).

Why do consumers want to own their music? Most consumers have a long history of purchasing musical recordings — but not TV shows or movies — a habit that seems hard to break. Another convincing theory is that the music we listen to is seen as a reflection of identities, more so than the TV shows or movies that we watch. Many streaming services attempt to address this impulse by allowing users to create their own individual playlists — but so far it appears that isn’t enough.

On the other hand, Nielsen’s latest numbers do provide a glimmer of hope for champions of streaming services like Spotify. The youngest generation’s reliance on YouTube shows that it doesn’t place as much emphasis on actually owning the music that they listen to. That means that a playlist, saved somewhere in the cloud, may eventually be a satisfying alternative to ownership for them. If so, streaming services may yet prove to be the music industry’s salvation."

Death Of The Cassette

Personally I miss mix tapes. Creating a mix cd just doesn't seem to have the vibe or maybe it was just the era that we were a part of and the explosion of music at the time in punk, hardcore and metal, that helped to sculpt our music styles of choice. Although the poseur hipsters are trying to make tapes have a comeback, their time unfortunately has come to pass and let them carry on in a past life such as this killer piece by Ali Gulec.

Purchase it now over at Society 6

The death of Mixtapes by Ali Gulec

Record Store Day This Weekend, Saturday April 21st

Music is all encompassing. Try to walk down the street and not hear some type of melody, whether it be birds in the trees, cars passing by or maybe a tune that is just stuck in your head. Hell, if you want to really feel the beat, hold your hand over your heart and listen to that rhythm. That might help to explain pop music a bit better with steady 4/4 timing allowing any user to easily jump in any time to get the time signature.

Now with all this music theory expanding your brain, why not get out to your local record store this weekend, buy some vinyl online or come see us at the Record & CD Show here in Raleigh on Sunday. Do yourself a favor and find one new band to listen to this weekend. We are on the same mission and will report back in on Monday with our findings.

Dive into Record Store Day on Saturday April 21st

Record & CD shows in North Carolina this weekend

April 21, 2012 is record store day

Third Man Records from Record Store Day on Vimeo.



Joey Ramone - Rock 'N Roll Is The Answer from Record Store Day on Vimeo.

30 Years Of Music Industry Change, In 30 Seconds Or Less...

Remember when buying an album, the artwork was absolutely critical and had to be exactly right, as that was a fan's first impression? Umm yeah, we still think way, but damn how things have changed and will continue to evolve. Have a look at these infographics created by the folks over at Digital Music News. You can watch the gif animation play or click on the small graphics at the bottom to hone in on particular years.

Link to Digital Music News

If you liked our ten year recap, you'll love this. Each pie shows the revenue contribution from various formats, 1980-2010, based on RIAA revenue figures.  If you want to see it again, just wait a few seconds for the animation to start over.                    

      

This is US-based data, and each pie represents 100% of total recording revenue.     

And, here are the individual year source images, starting with 1980 on the top left and 2010 on the bottom right. Just pick a year and go, and download whatever you need.

Beautiful Women, Dirty Rock N' Roll, Motorized Mayhem...

Beautiful Women, Dirty Rock N' Roll, Motorized Mayhem and much more is what we have in store for our new catalog coming out later this spring. As things have grown within the Rusty Knuckles camp so has our foot print world wide. We are shipping massive amounts of merch and music all over the US, Europe, Asia and Australia and can't thank everyone enough. We couldn't think of a better way to spread the good times than to create a full new catalog for everyone to oogle over for later this spring and to expand our distributor list. Not only will there be gorgeous women, but all the bands on the label will be a massive part of this catalog along with feature interviews. The catalog will be free to download by pdf and available on ipads. More details on everything soon.

Here is just a sample of some of the imagery that will be lurking onto your screens in May...

Two Thirds Of All Albums Purchased In The US Are Still CDs

The future of all music is moving towards being purely digital. CD sales and vinyl will continue to be sold, but in vastly smaller quantities. The true die hard fans that support bands and enjoy having memorable packaging along with the music are the life blood. The future of recorded music is good and bad overall, just depends with whom you speak. This shift towards fully digital will be happening over many years to come, not directly impacted in 2012. Nor is it prophecy in the Mayan calendar, but time will tell.

Our main concern first and foremost, is that folks are still listening to great music and seeking relevant up and coming acts. Music is the elixir of the soul and whether you hear it on a crisp vinyl record or play it over itunes, you in one way or another are channeling emotions the music beckons upon you. A great album is equivalent to a classic novel. It has a long shelf life and can be played over and over telling stories that will bring back memories for a lifetime. Songs, notes and lyrics become epic characters and storylines taking the listener on vast journeys.

CD or vinyl packaging also plays directly into this notion and creates the skin to house the meat and bones that make up the full embodiment of an album. The cover artwork will follow the album for its entirety and leaves an indelible mark. If the photograph of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road had just been taken of the sign "Abbey Road" would it still resonate? Or what if Joe Strummer hadn't decided to smash his guitar in middle of the set on stage in New York in 1979, would "London Calling" be as powerful?

Keep on listening to digital music as a format, but don't let cds and vinyl become forever lost. If they are to go by the wayside then we lose part of the soul of an album, as the art and music paired together are its DNA.

The Beatle's - Abbey Road

The Clash's - London Calling

Link to original post over on Digital Music News

"The flat, clunky, physical CD isn't going anywhere, at least not in 2012. According to year-2011 breakdowns just shared by Nielsen Soundscan, more than two-thirds of all albums purchased in the US were physical CDs.  Out of a total of 330.6 million albums sold during the year - across all configurations - a healthy 223.5 million were discs, or 67.6 percent.

That follows an even more extreme breakdown from the UK.  Just a few days ago, label group BPI revealed that 76.1 percent of all albums purchased last year were CDs.

Back in the US, album unit sales edged slightly upward on the year, specifically by 1.3 percent.  CDs themselves slumped 5.7 percent, while digital albums gained a healthy 19.5 percent to reach a record 103.1 million units.  Vinyl gained 36.3 percent to nearly 4 million units, and cassette sales were negligible."

CD sales are still king overall, but digital in the future

Jay Berndt Featured On New Releases Now

As hard as it is to get press in our currently flooded market of new bands and artists on the rise, Jay Berndt is a one man army and true musician's, musician. After being featured on the Itunes New and Noteworthy charts for over three weeks, his cover track of Waylon Jennings "Lonesome On'Ry and Mean" is now being picked up as a single world wide. We couldn't be more proud to be working with Jay Berndt for a few years now and look forward to all his new projects.

Link to New Releases Now for more info

Jay Berndt featured on New Releases Now for "Lonesome On'ry and Mean" Digital Single

Samurais, Blood Shed and Animated Movies From Rusty Knuckles

We have a HUGE new project in the works and 2012 is already stepping up to be our biggest year within Rusty Knuckles to date. Not only are we working on our first animated video but it is also for an amazing metal band that will be signing to our music label. Many details will be coming up and in a few days we will be showing a teaser video, but for now here are two images to get the ball rolling...

White pastel pencil on black paper for Samurai mask

White pastel pencil on black paper for Samurai mask - detail

Hellbound Glory CD Release Party

Jenn Bowers was able to get some great photos at Hellbound Glory's CD release party last Saturday night in Reno, Nevada. The club was packed elbow to elbow and the new album Damaged Goods continues to stay high up on the Itunes charts thanks to everyone. 

We will be shipping out all the Damaged Goods vinyl and cds once they arrive. This album has taken far longer to get manufactured than we could have ever imagined and we thank everyone for their patience. The wait will be rewarded handsomely as this album is stunningly great and on vinyl the artwork and music come together in the perfect convergence.Thanks also to Coors Light for coming in as a sponsor for the show.

Rico on Lap Steel - Photo by Jenn Bowers

Leroy belting out the tunes - Photo by Jenn Bowers

Support Real Country Music - Photo by Jenn Bowers

Hellbound Glory playing to a packed club - Photo by Jenn Bowers

They can't keep enough PBR in stock - Photo by Jenn Bowers

Hellbound Glory - Support Real Country Music - Photo by Jenn Bowers

Frank Medina on stand up bass - Photo by Jenn Bowers

Hellbound Glory CD Release Party Poster