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INDIE NEWS BEAT

Week of July 18, 2003

* Mourning The Queen Of Salsa

* Hero, Keeping The Rock Opera Alive!

* Winner Of Boycott-RIAA.com’s Madonna WTF Song Contest

* Critical Acclaim Reassess Bob Dylan As A Gospel Songwriter

* Indie-Music.com Introduces New Products

* Download New Prince CD Before It’s Available In Stores

* Kiss Launches Pirate Radio Soundclash

* Canadian Music Coalition Launches New PSA To Keep Music Coming

Mourning The Queen Of Salsa

Recording Academy And Latin Recording Academy Joint Statement Regarding Celia Cruz

“One of Latin music’s most respected and most revered vocalists, Celia Cruz was an icon of salsa, tropical and Latin jazz music. A two-time GRAMMY and three-time Latin GRAMMY winner, the legendary Queen of Salsa brought the world to its dancing feet with her visceral vocals, infectious energy, and vibrant smile. She once said in an interview, ‘I have fulfilled my father’s wish to be a teacher as, through my music, I teach generations of people about my culture and the happiness that is found in just living life.’ Thank you, Celia, for teaching all of us that life should be lived with much ‘Azucar!’ The Recording Academy and the Latin Recording Academy have lost a very dear friend today, but her colorful spirit, uplifting music and inspiring passion will live on forever.”

Hero, Keeping The Rock Opera Alive!

Hero is a rock opera, a dramatic musical that poses the pretense - “What if He were born in Bethlehem - Pennsylvania.” Launched by music industry veteran Eddie DeGarmo (DeGarmo & Key, ForeFront Records founder, EMI), the presentation confronts the audience with what can be described as Jesus Christ Superstar for the MTV generation.

The musical will include a 24 song CD produced by Grammy winning Pete Stewart, supported by an extensive marketing campaign and taken on the road through an all-star touring ensemble with a dramatic multi-media experience that combines the music with stunning visuals integrating video and graphics with a dramatic set and high quality lighting.

One of the fastest growing art forms, the graphic novel presents Hero for the more xtreme generation, combining a compelling story with striking artwork presented in full color in a modern day comic book format. The story boards were illustrated by Ross Lawhead and inked by illustrators from DC Comics. The story was written by Steve and Ross Lawhead, adapted from the DeGarmo and Farrell collaboration.

The graphic novel will include 6 episodes, with the first 4 episodes written in cliffhanger form and the 5th & 6th providing the conclusion. The 4 episodes will be distributed leading up to the release of the graphic novel and CD, which combines the 4 and includes the final 2 episodes. Episode 1 will be distributed promotionally, driving readers to the Hero site (www.herouniverse.com) for remaining episodes.

Winner Of Boycott-RIAA.com’s Madonna WTF Song Contest

Boycott-RIAA, the web site dedicated to keeping the record industry honest, has announced independent musician Giorgio Nova as the winner of its Madonna WTF contest.

WTF is that? - you ask.

A lot of music downloaders thought they’d scored when they were able to scoop tracks from Madonna’s ‘American Life’ album from the internet with remarkable ease. Madonna had tried stop file swappers from trading ‘American Life’ tracks by planting ‘dummy’ WTF files on Kazaa, the most popular p2p application.

Naturally, the fake tracks inspired other musicians to use Madonna’s WTF quote in their own songs and a lot of them thought Bill Evans’ Boycott-RIAA would be the perfect venue.

Critical Acclaim Reassess Bob Dylan As A Gospel Songwriter

Nearly a quarter-century ago, Bob Dylan released two albums whose songs testified to a strong belief in the message of the Gospels.

Now, all these years later, GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY: THE GOSPEL SONGS OF BOB DYLAN (Columbia/Integrity), featuring an all-star cast of modern and contemporary gospel singers is being hailed for strongly making the case that Dylan is a great gospel songwriter.

“This is a showcase of Dylan as one of our great gospel songwriters — albeit 25 years after the factŠif you buy one gospel record in 2003, let this be it,” 4-1/2 stars -All Music Guide

Indie-Music.com Introduces New Products

Indie-Music.com, the musician resource website where serious musicians surf, has introduced two new products to make the lives of musicians easier: Music Paper Printer and The Copyright Kit. Both products are priced with musician budgets in mind.

The simple-to-use Music Paper Printer quickly prints staff / manuscript paper, percussion paper, and tablature paper directly from a PC, and eliminates costly, inconvenient, trips to the music store to pick up paper.

The Copyright Kit puts music copyright forms right at your computer desktop, plus has help for filing your copyright registration easily and painlessly.

Both products are available for immediate purchase and download from Indie-Music.com’s online store.

Download New Prince CD Before It’s Available In Stores

Internet users can now download Prince’s new CD before it’s available in stores. For a limited time, n.e.w.s. is downloadable in its entirety for $7 through MSN.com. The album features four 14-minute instrumental tracks, titled “North,” “East,” “West” and “South.” n.e.w.s will be released to stores at the end of this month.

Members of Prince’s NPG Music Club website can also purchase the CD before it’s available in stores. The NPGMC features celebrity chats, exclusive songs and full-length selections from the forthcoming DVD, Prince Live at the Alladin Las Vegas.

Kiss Launches Pirate Radio Soundclash

Kiss 100 is on the hunt for pirate radio DJs to become the next generation of A-list specialist radio DJs. Four finalists will be given their own one-off two hour show on Kiss 100 in the first week of September, showcasing their skills between 11pm - 1am. It will culminate in an on-air ’soundclash’ on Friday 5th September, with each of the four DJs getting half-an-hour to play back-to-back against each other. The winner of a live listener vote will get their own show on Kiss 100, with an initial 3 month contract taking them straight from pirate radio to the biggest station for young Londoners.

Canadian Music Coalition Launches New PSA To Keep Music Coming

Canada’s music industry has expanded its public awareness campaign promoting the idea that when someone buys music, they help artists create more music and allow new artists a chance to be heard.

A new public service announcement (PSA), entitled “Drowning”, presented for the first time at the MuchMusic Video Awards, is now in circulation at television broadcasters across Canada.

Featuring music by Canadian recording artist Andy Stochansky, this PSA is the most emotionally-charged of three PSA spots produced by the Canadian Value of Music Coalition.

The campaign is designed to raise social consciousness and inform Canadians - with a specific focus on the early teen demographic - about the realities of the current digital marketplace and the impact that “free but illegal” music file-sharing has on artists and creators of music.

Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © Tag It 2003 - Republished with Permission

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