eMusic Strikes Deal With Sony Music, Raises Monthly Price to $12

Music download service eMusic announced on Monday that it had struck a licensing deal with Sony Music. Sony will be including some of its older catalog releases in eMusic’s library of more than 5.5 million tracks later this year.

eMusic is a subscription service that gives users a allotted number of tracks for a monthly fee. As part of the recent Sony deal, the company has raised its price from $10 a month to $12, and lowered the allotment of tracks from 30 per month to 24. Some quick math shows that the price per track jumped from 30 cents to 50 cents. Continue reading...

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Madlib Releases 30-Minute Set For Free mp3 Download

Madlib performed for Radio Nova in Paris last week, and Stone’s Throw has released the live 30-minute set for free download.

The set has starts with swing jazz, and then evolves into electronica, then combines jazz afro-beat, classical, and latin music with Madlib’s own flavor of hip hop, with very creative selections in each genre. Here’s the direct link:

Madlib Set at Radio Nova (right-click, save link as…)

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Ringo Starr And Paul McCartney Present Beatles: Rock Band at E3

Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, took the stage to present The Beatles: Rock Band at this year’s E3 Media & Business Summit. Multiple vocal harmonies are the main feature of the game, which will release on September 9. Read more...

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Video: Primavera Sound Festival Day 3

Here’s the video coverage of the last day at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, May 30. Make sure you also watch the video coverage for day one, and day two.

The video features performances of Neil Young, Oneida, Deerhunter, Sonic Youth, Gang Gang Dance, DJ /rupture, Simian Mobile Disco, A-Trak, Zombie Zombie and DJ Mehdi. Enjoy!

Camerawork and video editing by Tiago Morelli

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Primavera Sound Day Three: Neil Young, Sonic Youth…

The ninth edition of the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona closes its doors today with a record of assistance of over 80,000 spectators, and a total of 171 performances. Check out our video coverage of day three.

Although I didn’t get to see everything, great things were said of emerging artists like Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, The Lions Constellation and Rosvita. However, I was able to watch the performances of The Bad Plus, Neil Young, Oneida, Deerhunter, Sonic Youth, Gang Gang Dance, DJ /rupture, Simian Mobile Disco, A-Trak, Zombie Zombie and DJ Mehdi. Continue reading...

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Video: Primavera Sound Festival Day 2

Watch BeatCrave’s video coverage of the second day at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, May 29. You can also watch the video coverage for day one and day three. I got to speak with Alex Thomas, the drummer who is touring with Squarepusher, about his opinion on music file sharing, and polled festival attendees about their downloading habits.

The last day of the festival will feature the rock icon Neil Young, and I’m also looking forward to Oneida, The Bad Plus, A-Trak, Gang Gang Dance, Lemonade, Sonic Youth and DJ Mehdi. Be alert for more video coverage of my final day in Barcelona.

Camerawork and video editing by Tiago Morelli

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Primavera Sound Day Two: Dan Deacon, Shellac…

The end of day two of the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona comes to me almost as a surprise - somewhat like being awakened from a hypnotic trance. You can watch our video summary of day two. Here’s my written reconstruction of what happened: Read more...

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Video: Primavera Sound Festival Day 1

Above is a quick summary of the coverage of my first day at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. Stay tuned for more awesome videos (day two and day three) during the festival, and afterwards for less abridged footage of the bands and interviews.

For the second day I’m hoping to catch Crystal Antlers, Shellac, A Certain Ratio and Bloc Party, among the many other bands that are performing, and also hope to publish a few more videos. Thanks for watching!

Camerawork and video editing by Tiago Morelli

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Primavera Sound Day One: Andrew Bird, Aphex Twin…

Day one of the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona came to a close, and though the crowd shuffled away worn out and bleary-eyed, there was still the excited hubbub of fans satisfied with the day’s shows. If the performances had continued, then people would still be there dancing holes into the ground. Watch the video of day one.

After checking out Marnie Stern, Lightning Bolt and Yo La Tengo, I hurried to see Andrew Bird, The Bug, and Jay Reatard. To finish the first day of the festival, two stunning acts from Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, complete with visuals and electronic wizardry, led the entertainment into the wee morning hours. Continue reading...

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Primavera Sound Festival: Introduction

The Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain is off to a great start, with multiple bands performing simultaneously on six different stages. The turnout exceeds all expectations, and each act has been heavily populated. I imagined that the festival would be spread out, but the stages are very close to each other, and it’s been possible to jump from show to show quickly.

So far, I’ve seen Marnie Stern at the Ray-Ban Vice stage, Lightning Bolt at the ATP arena and Yo La Tengo at the Estrella Damm stage. At the same time, La Bien Querida, Magik Markers, The Vaselines and The Bats have made their appearances on other stages. If you’re looking to rock out while also fitting in a good dose of dancing to electronica, then Primavera Sound has you covered. Check out the video coverage for day one, day two and day three. Continue reading...

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