Party Vibe

Offshore Newsflash 2006-02
AARDVARK RECORDS
NEWSFLASH APRIL 2006
Aardvark Music Ltd | Cornwall-UK
reply: promotion@aardvarkrecords.co.uk | remove
please direct all licensing / distribution / sub-publishing enquiries to: Andrew Reeve – musicman@aardvarkrecords.co.uk

Aardvark Records & The Trusted Media Group sign mobile telephone music and video deal

Published: 18th April 2006

The independent Cornwall-based record label, Aardvark Records, today announced that it has signed an agreement with the digital music aggregator, Trusted Media. The deal sees the Trusted Media Group licensing the label’s entire dance music catalogue and videos worldwide. The music catalogue and videos will be licensed to international mobile telephone manufacturers and providers. The bulk of sales will be ringtone related along with music embedding services. Additional revenues will come via royalties paid for the use of music and videos for mobile streaming.

Aardvark Chairman, Andrew Reeve, said “We’re very happy with the deal. The label has been seeking a mobile content aggregator for a while now. Our connection with Trusted Media came about via exhaustive research done by our marketing director. Simply put, it’s a deal that’s come at the perfect time for us . Trusted Media’s partner network means we are able to put our content in front of literally millions of consumers. Trusted Media works with the biggest and best aggregators, operators and consumer services around the world. “

Trance artist Jeff Alford signs licensing deal
Published: 18th April 2006

Jeff Alford, one of the rising stars on the international trance scene, has appointed Aardvark as his licensing agents. The French DJ/Remixer/Producer’s album made quite an impact with Aardvark’s dance A&R. The agreement will see Aardvark representing Alford for licensing and distribution deals worldwide.

“I haven’t been this blown away by a new project since I first heard Zetan Spore,” said Head of Dance A&R, Alex di Savoia. “Alford has the touch”, “di Savoia continued. “he has this ability of creating driving trance music with some of the most euphoric hooks and melody lines I’ve heard in a long, long time. They are truly stunning tracks. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Within minutes of having his tracks available on Trackitdown, they were selling. That was with zero promotion. Jeff’s tracks are perfect for those who like a story and a journey with their trance music. The occasional touches of Psy will be very popular with Digiweed, Van Buren, Tiësto and Oakenfold fans. It’s pure ear and head candy.”

for more information, visit Jeff’s page on http://www.aardvarkrecords.co.uk/jeff_alford.htm

Give your iPod a proper workout
Published: 18th April 2006

Aardvark Records quietly launched its new podcasting feature on 10th April 2006. So great was the demand that additional bandwidth was required less than 24 hours later. The label also looks set to increase its bandwidth requirements again due to a steady and rapid increase of people catching its RSS feed. It goes to show what veteran label executives already know – when people hear something they like they tell their friends and then their friends want it.and so the chain begins. It’s a time-old organic process which, when left to its own devices, gathers new fans for an act.

As far as it’s aware, Aardvark is one the first record labels to create and release RSS podcast feeds. And what was meant to be a quiet and tentative toe in the water could prove to be a triumph for the small independent. There has been a marked increase in its digital download sales. Digital distribution operators which offer ‘real time’ accounting – such as Trackitdown and Play it Tonight – have shown an upturn in sales.

The podcasts are comprised of mixsets and videos from artists EricM, Chris Hale, Zetan Spore, Rachel White and QED. Following on from the popularity of the current podcasts, Aardvark plans to make exclusive podcasting features from new releases; including podcast-only versions of tracks tied in to sales with iTunes. In other words, the podcast-only version of tracks will be for sale exclusively with iTunes. Other features will include podcast call outs from Aardvark artists.

Marketing and Promotions Director, Alex di Savoia, said, “Myself and my team spent a day putting videos and mixshows together to test out whether or not podcasting would be as viable a proposition as I suspected it would be. Podomatic was the obvious choice for us to test the proposition. It has a solid platform with great security features. It’s also a very popular service with a broad reach. We were all pleased with the results and spent a day doing the usual plugging and promotion to get people to link into and grab the RSS feeds. The initial response was staggering. We had 70 podsters podcasting our videos and mixshows within the first half hour.and we had only worked our way through an eighth of our plugging and promotions targets.”

“I’ve always been a maverick when it comes to promotions and marketing,” di Savoia continued. “New platforms and new delivery models always get me going. I remember an interview I gave when iPods first hit the streets. I said at the time that these tiny devices were going to change the way people listened to music forever. iPods are everywhere. And I reached the decision that more of our music needs to be pumping out of them. I can appreciate any label having to take a deep breath before plunging into these waters. However, I also remember being a huge advocate for digital downloading at a time when record labels just didn’t want to know about them. I was a band manager at the time and, while drumming up recording and publishing deals, got my artists’ albums selling online. Those online CD sales and digital downloads proved to be very nice little earners. Five or six years later, after the monetary value of digital downloading was assessed – and downloading security improved – it was all about digital downloads. Podcasting isn’t any different. Anything that can get our artists’ music out there and selling, on a global basis, is exactly what I want. Considering the overheads are ridiculously minimal, it’s a win-win scenario as far as I’m concerned. The last 24 hours have proven that to me.”

While the Aardvark Record team acknowledges it has a duty and obligation to protect its artists’ copyright, it is fortunate that it has strong relationships with the artists on its roster. And the relationship the label has with its artists has gained the trust needed to enter into such a venture.

“It’s about being a bit pragmatic,” said di Savoia. “People are going to share music. There just isn’t any getting around that. Once upon a time, audio cassettes were the scourge of the industry. Then came the home PC and the internet, the recordable CD, the mini disc and wireless devices. And now it’s the iPod. Music has been recorded and shared ever since I was a kid. And the music industry is still here and there is money being made. It may not be as easy as it used to be but then again I’ve never believed that has to do with the how much music is being shared. Don’t get me wrong, we keep a close eye on peer-to-peer sharing platforms and regularly have our tracks removed from them. That kind of vigilance is just part and parcel of our operating procedures now. However, peer-to-peer sharing is a completely different proposition from podcasting. Our podcasts are branded, meta-tagged with enough information to make a decision to purchase tracks easy. And it must be working because sales activity since yesterday would lend itself to the assumption that tracks and ringtones are being bought having heard the podcasts. We haven’t launched any new advertising campaigns so that limits the possible sources for such a rapid upswing.”

di Savoia finished by saying, “What I really like about formats like podcasting is the complete democracy of it. Its not me telling people what’s cool or what’s good, it’s not me telling people they have to listen to anything. All I do is let them know this music is out there and basically say ‘hey, here it is for you to listen to. Make up your own mind’. The rest is down to them. The listener makes his or her own judgment. If they like it, you’ve got sales.”

At present, the Aardvark podcasts are limited to its dance roster. However, the label will be rolling out podcasts for its pop and rock artists over the coming months.

The RSS feed is available on http://www.aardvarkrecords.co.uk/podcasting.htm

Aardvark signs CD kiosk deal
Published: 18th April 2006

Aardvark Records has signed a deal with the CD on Demand distribution service provider, Diablo Music. The deal will see Diablo Music distributing CDs from Aardvark’s entire catalogue online via Amazon and Woolworths.

Aardvark Chairman, Andrew Reeve, said “Diablo offers a very attractive alternative to paid downloads for those buying music. There are those customers who prefer to have CDs with all the artwork, designs and sleeve notes. For labels working on traditional music retail distribution deals, the solution Diablo offers is perfect. Diablo originally offered CD on Demand on an exclusive basis to Universal Music. Labels such as Aardvark are fortunate indeed that this company is now extending the service to other record labels.”

Licensing contact & general info:

Aardvark Music Ltd
75 Alderwood Parc
Penryn
Cornwall
TR10 8RL
UNITED KINGDOM

phone: +44 (0) 1326 376 707
fax: +44 (0) 1326 376 707
alex@aardvarkrecords.co.uk