Spotify plans to launch in The Netherlands soon

Streaming service Spotify has confirmed it will launch in the Netherlands soon.

Dutch media suggests the service will launch on the 18th of May.

More news to follow!

Below is an email from a filesharing website service.  This shows everyone gets paid except the person that actually made the music or the label that spends money to master, promote and release the music.

Labels pay mechanical royalties to release music, legal download stores do the same to sell the music, and fileshares who give way other people's music in numbers often much higher than the actual label or store don't pay anything back, they just take.

Of course people give some friends a copy of an album or some tracks they like, but the problem is not that, its the  filesharers just giving it away to anyone who just likes to take it because it is now free, thousands and thousands of people taking music, not just a handful of friends from someone who initially bought it.  

Then wonder why there will soon be no more creative music or labels who want to spend money to release it.

Everyone see the problem now ?

Here is the email from a file sharing service who I won't mention as they don't deserve the coverage:

an affiliate program with unique offers for all webmasters who are involved in filesharing business.
We offer webmasters to use our content uploaded on free filehostings and ready for a free download via Direct Download Links and earn.


How it works?
Very simple:  
1) We upload over 200 new releases daily to different free filehostings.
2) You get the links to our content with your referral ID in your member area.
3) Your visitors download the content and you get paid.

How do we make money?
We have better download rates due to massive number of unique downloads daily provided by our webmasters and we also make money on sales of Premium accounts of filehostings.

We have just launched a referral program so you will be able to earn up to 20% of their referrals plus some percentage from 2nd level tier.

What webmasters can expect shortly:
While our webmasters get $10 for every 1000 downloads now we are planning to increase this rate and also to offer half of the money we earn from Premium accounts sales shortly.
Videos will be added in a form of DivX, DVDs and Blu-rays by the end of the April. And games and software is going to be offered also shortly after that.

We proudly welcome the mighty Space DJz with Ben Long at the helm for our new podcast.

A full-bodied techno mix that infuses tracks from James Ruskin, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Decibel Flekx, My Evil Twin, Nick Robson, Robin Renwick and more with their own techno productions we find the often imitated but never bettered DJ tag team on top of their game.

Long-time techno flag-bearers, Jamie Bissmire and Ben Long started their production career back on the Bandulu affiliated Infonet imprint and have since released on a multitude of esteemed labels such as Soma, Ongaku, Novamute, Primal Rhythms, Tortured, Noobish and of course their own imprint, Potential.

For more info inc a Q&A with Ben Long, download or stream the podcast & full tracklist details click here

All tracks used in the mix are as usual distributed by EPM

Getting your digital music mastered professionally is often the final but all too often overlooked step in releasing your music to the stores. All too often we hear music from labels digital releases that sounds flat, muffled, distorted, no bass etc. one of many problems from people not mastering their music professionally.

It costs between 30 - 50 euros to have a track mastered professionally for digital release so why aren't people willing to invest even this small amount on music they are about to release to the world carrying their name, or on their label ?

If the producer, or label don't take their music seriously enough to have it sound as good as it can be, or have enough interest in their music they produce,  how can they expect anyone else to be be interested or care about their music ?

Too many producers or labels are not taking enough pride in what they do, or don't think about what they are doing.  Making music has become affordable so anyone can now do it, but it seems too many people are doing it without knowing what they are doing. Those who don't know anything about sound, if you are interested in making music then educate yourself in the industry you are trying to enter.  If you not bothered then go back to working your 9 - 5 and leave the music alone as you are only flooding the market with poor quality noise that gets in the way of real music made by real producers who care about what they do.

If you are stll unsure how important mastering your music is then check out this video interview from mastering engineer John Dent

John runs his own studio Loud Mastering who master for vinyl, CD and also Digital Download

Listed below are just a handful of mastering companies that we can recommend but there are many more and we are sure there is somewhere in your city or country that can help. If not contact one of these below.

Please note that EPM will not accept any releases for digital distribution that are not mastered by a professional engineer.

Hardgroove Mastering - 25 GB Pounds per track

Blacklisted Mastering - 30 GB Pounds for track, or 25 GB Pounds for 2 - 4

The Exchange - vinyl, CD & digital download mastering contact from website for pricing

Schnittstelle - vinyl, CD & digital download mastering contact from website for pricing

Any other mastering houses offering digital services who wish to be added to our recommended list please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

There's a certain mystery surrounding Zombie Nation. It's a name synonymous with making exciting dance music with a warm analogue sound. Take a listen to his back catalogue…the weird and wonderful sound has been blowing away audiences throughout Europe and Japan in 2009 on the Zombielicious Tour with North America & Australia to finish up the year.

Soulwax, Erol Alkan, Justice and Tiga are amongst his legion of passionate fans.

Now Mr. Zombie has put together a brilliant quick-fire mix of his most recent work and then takes us on a journey to his past glories. A very special mix of 25 original hits for Zombie Nation's Time Machine at the below link:

http://www.zombienation.com/downloads/ZN-Time-Machine-Mix.zip

Zombie Nation’s incredible mix featuring 25 of his original songs (starting from recent album ‘Zombielicious’ to his very early stuff).
It’s available for free from the link but also from his website: http://www.zombienation.com

Tracklisting is below:

01 Filter Jerks
02 Worth It
03 Shottieville
04 Mystery Meat Affair
05 Get It
06 Radio Controlled
07 The Fact
08 Seas of Grease
09 Supercake 53
10 Bass Kaput
11 Forza
12 Mas de Todo
13 Worth It pt. 2
14 T´s Flute
15 Don´t Touch
16 Booster
17 Slomo
18 Taxi Extreme
19 Paeng Paeng
20 Talks
21 Souls at Zero
22 Chowpatty Slices
23 Tape Me
24 The Stand
25 Rythmbox

zombienation.com

Zombie Nation's labels UKW & Dekathalon are available form all good online stores

Exclusivley distributed by EPM

SLAM Stems

With recently released remixes for Paul Ritch, Mihalis Safras and Samuel L
Session, a big Slam single on Len Faki's Figure label, and a much anticipated
Slam mix of Josh Wink's "Everybody to the Sun" about to drop, the duo are on a
roll. Now with the release of their fourth EP on Paragraph, titled ʻVariance/We
Doinʼ This Again?ʼ, out this week Slam have decided to give away the parts and
sounds for the A-sides of their first 4 paragraph releases.

“The idea was inspired by real 2 real disco re-edits”, says Slamʼs Orde Meikle,
“when people used to make different versions of tracks for club-play.”  

“In this day and age of instantly available music, we think it would be cool to give
people the choice to remix and re edit our tracks, so they have there own
individual versions”, says McMillan. “Its also a way for new producers to get an
incite into how we make our music and hopefully inspire them to create
something new and exiting.”
http://www.myspace.com/slamofficial
http://www.myspace.com/paragraphrecordings

Selected praise for Paragraph 004:

Luciano - "Full support! Like the techno vibe of Variance."
Richie Hawtin - "Downloaded Variance."
Adam Beyer - "Excellent!! Full support!"
Paul Ritch - "Really good package, like both!!"
Anja Schneider - "'We Doin' This Again' is for me. Let's do it!!!!"
Damian Lazarus - "Great one guys, Variance will tear up DC10 next week no
doubt!"
Len Faki - "Paragraph continues his quality output once more with another 2
snaking dancefloor tracks! keep up the good work!"
Carl Cox - "Slam's been on a big roll this year - excellent productions that just hit
the spot everytime."

Check out SLAM's Monopod Podcast series recorded LIVE every month, from
Glasgow's SubClub: www.somarecords.com/podcasts

Paragraph releases available from any good online store.

Feargal Sharkey’s organisation ‘UK Music’ used a whole page of ad space to print this rant in the Guardian (English newspaper) this week.

An old blog, but quite an interesting read and brings up some of the points many of you hopefully share, and all of us at EPM have been discussing for a long time

april 28, 2009

jim fork
It's difficult to express exactly what I felt when I found out, last
wednesday, that the album had made it's way onto the internet. 22nd
april - approximately eight and a half weeks before release and only
three since the fucking thing was mastered and whilst members of the
band don't have shiny little embossed copies there is a promotional cd
of the record on sale at ebay for twenty five quid.

I drank a bottle of Jamesons and began to lecture the cat on copyright
control. To her credit, she simply fell asleep as Law and Order went
about its business in the background.

Myself, Kelson and a couple of the guys at Beggars spent 72 hours or
so pissing around, sending angry emails to proud bloggers (and oh, the
fucking pride of the feckless thief) and, amongst others, a Russian
website that was already charging people for the songs. Motherfuckers.
I guess that since the bottom has fallen out of the arms trade, any
collection of notes, however obscure, is a legitimate income source.

So, anyway, the fucking thing has leaked despite our desperate
delaying tactics and you may have listened to it / be dowloading it
this second / have taken the position that you'd rather wait for the
actual release - regardless, it feels that getting annoyed about
downloading in this valueless modern age is like taking issue with
water for being wet or night for gradually turning into day because
ultimately the entitlement that most people feel for free music
completely overshadows any moral or legal issues and conflicts that
may arise in the hearts and minds of better people, people who
understand that actions, on both an individual and group level, have
consequences far beyond that moment of instant gratification.

There's so much to say with so little effect on this issue, so many
well-intentioned but wasted words devoted to it ... but anyway,
thankyou for downloading in barely a minute something that we poured a
year of our lives into, attempting (successfully, I believe) with a
great and furious pride to better our previous low-selling (and leaked
three months early) album, a record which flew under the radar for
many reasons but mostly because most of the goodwill poured on it
happened and had dwindled several months before it was available to
buy.

Yes, buy. Such a dirty fucking word. Currency exchanged for goods and
services. Food, Clothing, Butt-plugs and fucking H2O. How far, I
wonder does this entitlement for free music go? My guitars, should
they be free? Petrol to get us to shows? Perhaps I should come to an
arrangement with my landlord, through the musician-rent-waiver
programme.

Perhaps he should pay me, for his ninth-division indie-cred through association.

You will have to excuse me, people of the internet. It turns out that
I just wanted a big party with balloons and streamers to celebrate
everything we put into this thing, released into the physical world
with a fanfare and fuss befitting its status. I'm not angry (in fact I
don't blame you, unless you leaked it, in which case I WILL KILL YOU),
just a little worried that the record we made will get lost amongst
the debris and leave us playing shows like we just weathered at the
laughably bad Camden Crawl this last weekend - fifteen people and a
world of disillusion.*

Anyway - please be careful, or we'll get the world we all deserve.
Hobby bands who can tour once every few years if they're lucky, and
the superstars, freed from such inconvenient baggage as integrity and
conscience, running the corporate sponsored marathon of £80-a-ticket
arena tours and television adverts til their loveless hearts explode
in an orgy of oppressive branding and self-regard. Some of us, in all
honestly, just want to make the music we love and play it around the
world without living in poverty.

We'll be announcing some deal involving pre-orders of the cd/lp with
an immediate download in the next few days.

Do consult your surroundings before proceeding.

falco

*Next time somebody tells me that i can't drink my rider in the
building I'm playing in I'm going to fuck them with their own shoes.

Taken from:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=62653487&blogId=485944356