Apple event: odds of Verizon iPhone 4, new iPod touch, iPhone 5, music, more

The email in the inbox proclaims “New Mac. Free iPod touch. Last chance” as if to underline the one thing we all but know will be unveiled for sure at next week’s Apple press conference. It’s September, it’s an Apple event, so here come the new iPods. But then you already knew that. What people want to know is when, not if, the iPhone is coming to Verizon. And to Sprint. And to T-Mobile. Those married to one of those three carriers want the iPhone, but they want it on their terms. Current iPhone users on AT&T want options, or at least competition, or perhaps the wistful hope that if some other current iPhone users switch to another carrier, AT&T’s network might become just a little less overburdened in the process. And then there are those own Apple stock and know that the launch of a Verizon iPhone could seemingly double the size of the iPhone user base in short order. So, with all due warnings against the advisability of using these predictions for any actual wagers, here goes the guessing game…

New iPod touch: 92% Apple has introduced new iPods in the first half of September every year going back to the middle part of the last decade, so that won’t change here. The more appropriate question, then, isn’t whether we’ll see a new iPod touch, but instead whether the new iPod touch will actually be new. In other words, will those who want an “iPhone that can’t ever access the internet except within range of wifi” finally get their wish in the form of a 128 GB model with a built-in camera and video camcorder, or will they get last year’s model warmed over with just enough of a stylistic change that it can be passed off as a new model? Our stance on the iPod touch is the same as it was when it was first introduced back in 2007: throw a cellular antenna in there with an optional data plan, and the touch finally starts to make sense as a mobile communications device. As it stands, the iPod touch is a nice music player and gaming device with a bunch of network-based apps that can almost never be used outside the house. But either way, except to see a new iPod touch by this time next week.

Verizon iPhone 4: 23% Call us pessimists for thinking it probably won’t happen, or perhaps we’re optimists for thinking there’s a chance at all. You’d be talking about two separate iPhone 4 models, one with an AT&T antenna built in and one with a Verizon antenna, and neither compatible with the other network. Actually, come to think of it, it wouldn’t be all that complicated. The real question is whether Apple is willing and/or able to escape AT&T contractual exclusivity, and if so, whether Apple is willing to push forward with two incompatible 3G-based iPhone 4 models in 2010 rather than simply waiting for both carriers to adopt compatible 4G networks sometime in 2011. Our guess is that Apple can light up a Verizon iPhone any time it wants to, with the product likely having already been designed and built, and AT&T likely requiring little more than a thank-you check in order to end any remaining exclusivity agreement, for the mere sake of protecting what’s left of its own rapidly-choking network.

The real problem with a Verizon iPhone 4 in 2010, however, is that Apple is still having a hell of a hard time getting enough iPhone 4 units out the door of any kind in comparison to current demand. What’s the point of massively increasing the demand for the iPhone 4 by making it available on a second carrier at a time when the company is already selling every iPhone 4 it can manufacture, to the point of backorder? If Apple has a magic trick up its sleeve for significantly ramping up iPhone 4 production, then the company might go ahead and green-light a Verizon iPhone (or a T-Mobile iPhone or a Sprint iPhone) in time for the holiday season after all. But that’s a big if.

New iPod nano: 50% This is a coin flip of a call; either way it wouldn’t surprise us. The current fifth generation iPod nano does just about everything, so the question is whether Apple has managed to cram yet more features into the nano. The obvious missing feature is the lack of a still camera, an odd omission for a device that has a built-in video camera. As thrilled as Steve Jobs seems to have been with the 2009 iPod nano color lineup (he even commented on how they’d finally gotten it right), it’s a tough bet that he’d rev the nano with nothing more than different colors, rather than merely leaving it alone, if no real features are ready to go.

White iPhone 4: 44% Yes, we’re probably giving Apple less credit than it deserves here. And yes, the “44%” reference is overly cheeky. But now that Apple has blown through two self-imposed deadlines for getting the white iPhone 4 out the door, we’re going to play it safe and say that there’s a less than 50-50 chance of it happening. After all, even if Apple announces a new rollout date for the white iPhone 4, how are we to know it won’t merely get postponed again? Then again, Mark Papermaster is gone from the company. But that doesn’t change the fact that Apple is still saddled with an iPhone model which, while top notch and very popular, has proven an incredible challenge to manufacture.

Death of iPod classic: Same odds as the iPod touch going to 128 GB. The geeks who inexplicably prefer the iPod classic’s clunky 2004-style interface over that of the iPod touch won’t like hearing this, but there’s a reason why Apple has capped the classic at 120 GB even though it had previously been available at 160 GB: Apple has set this up so the micro-second the iPod touch goes to 128 GB, the classic is gone. Like it or hate it, there’s no changing that fact. The only question is whether Apple is ready to go to 128 GB of flash memory with the iPod touch.

iTunes music rentals: Speaking of the geeks, there are those who are still willfully misinterpreting Apple’s 2009 acquisition of Lala. The tiny music streaming/rental/cloud/whatever service was on its way out, knew it, and approached Apple about a buyout so that they could remain employed, and Apple only accepted the offer because dying Lala was available for chump change and because the company did possess some engineering talent. And yet the death of Lala (at its own hands, not Apple’s), proof that no one except hardcore geeks wants to deal with music acquisition service they can’t even understand, has convinced said geeks that Apple is about finally get rid of the “pay for a song, and you own it” business model that has made iTunes the number one music retailer, in favor a new-fangled iTunes music rental/streaming/cloud/nonsense system which has proven to be a commercial failure every single time it’s ever been tried by anyone. Yeah. Keep holding your breath. That’s not to say the iTunes Store experience won’t evolve. It always has. But the fact that it’s called the “iTunes Store” and not the “iTunes Rental Depot” tells you all you need to know.

New AppleTV: Maybe. But even if it does, will anyone care? AppleTV won’t be a relevant product in the minds of the mainstream until it includes the same basic DVR recording functionality that anyone can get from their cable company for seven bucks a month. And Steve Jobs knows that, which is why he once referred to the AppleTV as a “hobby.”

iPhone 5: Why would you even think that would happen?

Musical guest: 95% Apple’s previous press conferences have included live performances by everyone from U2 to Norah Jones to Alicia Keys to KT Tunstall. Bet on it happening again this time. Just don’t ask us to predict the artist this time around.

Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan lets loose on light and darkness in rock music

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has let loose on the state of rock music this evening via his Twitter account, sharing a prolonged stream of thought which touched on everything from music critics to the concept of light and darkness in rock music, and where he thinks it’s headed. Tweeting from a Pumpkins tour stop in Japan, here’s what Corgan had to say in its entirety:

“Critic Robert Hilburn once said of me that I had the talent, but didn’t have the disposition to lead. Wrong. I cannot lead darkness to light … Point being no one can lead darkness to light. Darkness only begets more pain. See current state of Rock and Roll for dire confirmation. … The days of death and destruction being prima matter for the rock and roll machine are over. No one is gonna do it better than the Crue! … The new Age has come, and music will serve as a standard bearer for a new way to connect in Love and Respect. I am happy to lead from Love. … Goodbye to the generations that are more happy to write about you if you are beautiful and dead…or dead of Spirit.”

Billy Corgan recently spoke with Beatweek about Smashing Pumpkins and more in our cover story interview.

Beatweek.com launches reader forums: discuss music, iPhone+iPad, entertainment, pop culture, and more

Beatweek’s reader forums launched earlier today as the place to discuss, music, technology, entertainment, pop culture, and anything else that comes along. Opportunities for discussion include everything from talking up your favorite artists and products, to buying advice, to tech support. Several hundred post have already been made on a variety of topics, so feel free to join the conversation at Beatweek.com/forums.

Jimmy Dean dies, his music and sausage live on

Jimmy Dean, the country music singer who was better known to a younger generation for his eponymous line of sausage products, has passed away at the age of eighty-one. In addition to a sufficiently influential country artist to have been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and a visible spokesman for his Jimmy Dean sausage products, he was also an actor, variety show host, and Air Force veteran, according to CNN.

Adam Lambert announces VH1 premiere of “If I Had You” video

Adam Lambert has announced that the music video for his new single If I Had You will premiere on VH1 tomorrow (Monday) at noon eastern time. The music video’s premiere, seemingly a long time in coming, accompanies Lambert’s third single from his debut album For Your Entertainment; the video for his second single Whataya Want From Me has seen heavy rotation on VH1 since its debut. Meanwhile, Adam is just a few dates into his Glam Nation tour, which will last throughout summer 2010.

Jack White, Conan O’Brien to release album together

Conan O’Brien and Jack White will officially release last night’s joint musical performance in Nashville as an album in the near future, according to their label. In fact, the album, entitled Live At Third Man, is already available for pre-order on the label’s site, with an expected shipping date of mid to late July. The musical collaboration between was a one-off for Conan O’Brien, former Tonight Show host and future TBS show host, and Jack White, a member of bands including The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and most recently The Dead Weather. The performance by White and O’Brien includes an instrumental cover of the Stripes hit “7 Nation Army” and along with the classic “20 Flight Rock” by Eddie Cochran. The two were backed by O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited Band” which has been accompanying him on his current national tour of the same name.

Geek wanking over Apple’s Lala acquisition continues

This morning we laid out the facts surrounding Apple’s acquisition of the failed music rental service known as Lala, and we predicted that none of those facts, which make it abundantly clear that Apple acquired the company simply to add its engineers to their roster, would prevent geeks from continuing to insist that Apple was at any moment going to throw away seven years of success with the iTunes Store and instead replace it with an iTunes Rental Depot. And sure enough, those nonsensical headlines have continued to roll in throughout the day, with geek tech pundits continuing to connect the dots of the Lala shutdown in ways in which anyone looking at the situation rationally would laugh at.

So, to reiterate the actual facts of the matter regarding the Lala acquisition, which you’re apparently only going to get from us:

- Lala realized its business model wasn’t working and approached Apple about the buyout.

- Apple was not in the market to acquire a music rental service at the time.

- Every music rental service in the history of digital music has failed to find substantial success.

- The litany of failed music rental services includes early attempts made before the iTunes Store even existed, subsequent attempts made concurrently with the rise of the iTunes Store, and recent attempts made since the iTunes Store became the dominant force in the music industry. To reiterate, all of those attempts have been failures.

- For reason that are unclear to anyone but them, while the general public has clearly demonstrated no interest in renting music whatsoever, the geekiest segment of the population continues to insist that this is their preferred music consumption model and therefore continues to push the notion that Apple’s music efforts, which in their mind have been failure to this point, could finally succeed if Apple would just start renting music to people.

Much as we hate to waste further time even discussing this nonsense, it appears that if we’re going to be the only publication willing to lay out the facts of the matter, then we just may have to do so multiple times per day until those facts set in for those geeks who just won’t stop wanking to their music rental fantasies.

Apple only bought dying Lala for the engineers

Ever since Apple launched its iTunes Store in 2003, various geek pundits have openly speculated that the company would soon abandon its attempt at selling music in favor of a music rental model. And even seven years later, after Apple has proven digital music sales to be a highly profitable business model, while music rental has proven to be a failed model time and time again, those same pundits have still opined that an iTunes music rental service was somehow just around the corner. So when failing music rental service Lala concluded back in December that it wasn’t going to be profitable and decided to approach Apple about a buyout, Apple agreed to the acquisition so the ever-expanding company could add to its engineering roster.

But that didn’t stop those same pundits from looking at the failure of yet another music rental service and interpreting it as Apple, the only widely successful company in the history of digital music, getting ready to shift away from a music sales model which has been proven to work in favor of a music rental model which has been proven time and again to be a failed idea. And now that Apple has shut down Lala’s music rental service this month, a move that any dispassionate observer would have seen coming since the day of the acquisition, those same geek tech pundits have now declared that the shutdown of Lala is even more evidence that Apple is about to abandon its own successful business model in favor of Lala’s failed one. How can these pundits be so insistent on misinterpreting the blatant facts of the matter?

Seemingly the only conclusion is that these geek tech pundits are still so desirous of the opportunity to rent music that they’re willing to overlook every detail to the contrary in order keep their hope alive that Apple, the only company who’s shown any ability to succeed in digital music, will give them their rental service. Which is why this week’s shutdown of Lala, which almost no one was using, was met with cries of pain by geek pundits who saw it for what it was, and hoots of denial from those geek pundits who were able to convince themselves that it was reasonable that Apple would shut down its newly acquired music rental service in favor of launching it again later.

Why are geeks are so insistent that music rental is the future, even as years of evidence have mounted to demonstrate that no one outside the geekdom has any interest? Perhaps it’s just part of the fundamentally differing mindset between geeks and the mainstream. Geeks want a theoretically infinite choice of external monitors for use with their personal computer; the mainstream is increasingly embracing an all in one computer like the iMac. Geeks consider the App Store to be “closed” despite the presence of hundreds of thousands of apps from tens of thousands of developers; the mainstream considers the App Store to be wide open; what geeks call “open” the mainstream would refer to as anarchy. So while it’s unclear whether geek tech pundits (and all tech pundits are geeks) truly believe that the mainstream would suddenly want to swallow a music rental service after a lifetime of soundly rejecting the concept, or whether the geeks merely want such a service for themselves, it seems increasingly clear that while Apple won’t be launching a music rental service anytime soon to replace the failed music rental service that it just put out of its dying misery, every additional step that Apple takes in burying Lala will result in yet another round of headlines from geek tech pundits about how the move somehow represents Apple moving one step closer to finally getting around to shutting down the overwhelmingly successful iTunes Store and replacing it with an iTunes Rental Depot. But then that’s what bubble geeks tend to do.

Bret Michaels and Poison soaring on music charts

Bret Michaels remains in critical condition as fans and well wishers from around the world continue to wait for the latest official news on his condition, but if there’s a silver lining for Michaels it’s that his recent illness has caused a spark in interest in the music from his band Poison. The greatest hits album “The Best of Poison” is currently at number nine on the iTunes rock charts, likely representing by far the best chart position the band has had since the iTunes Store launched in 2003. Included in the hits collection are classics like Nothin’ But a Good Time, Unskinny Bob, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and Something To Believe In, most of which had their heyday in the eighties and early nineties.

These the days the younger generation is more likely to know Bret Michaels from his Rock Of Love television show than from his Poison days, but it appears that the entirely unfortunate events of the past week have indeed steered the public back in Poison’s direction.

This isn’t the first time that a musician’s ill health has caused a run on digital sales; shortly after Michael Jackson’s death, the iTunes charts quickly became occupied by his various albums. The key (fortunate) difference here is that Bret Michaels is still with us, and we wish him all the best in his recovery.

iPad: Beatweek’s hands-on two week review

Now that I had the iPad for two weeks, I have a better understanding of when and where I like to use it. it’s still a bit heavy to hold but I think getting some sort or stand will remedy this. Here are a few points I’d like to address:

Applications. New iPad-only and universal apps are coming out daily and it’s getting hard to keep up. If there’s an application you need for the iPad, it’s probably available, or will be soon. Again, all iPhone apps that you purchased before will work on the iPad, but they do not make great use of the space. You’ll find yourself deleting most of these apps off of your iPad and waiting for an iPad version of it.

Landscape vs. Portrait. I enjoy holding the iPad in landscape mode a lot. It’s much easier to hold with two hands, especially when you’re playing a game. I also notice that a lot of the apps make better use of the space when it is in landscape mode. Take the official Mail app for example. In portrait mode, you only see the email and would need to tab over to the menu to see the list of emails. In landscape mode, you see both the email and the list of emails in one window. I like to see everything at once, but again, this is just my preference. What’s handy with the iPad is that there’s a switch on the right side (if you’re holding it in portrait mode) that allows you to lock the screen so it’s not switching on you as you move. Sometimes, I wish the iPhone had this switch!
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Kick-Ass soundtrack? Not so much

Those who felt the movie “Kick-Ass” lived up to its title may not feel the same way when they go to purchase the accompanying soundtrack in iTunes. That’s not a complaint about the music on it, mind you, but rather the unusual terms presented when it comes to purchasing the fourteen track album. While the lead single “Make Me Wanna Die” by The Pretty Reckless is available for purchase on its own for ninety-nine cents, the other thirteen songs from various artists can only be acquired by purchasing the entire $11.99 album. Ordinarily, any song in iTunes under seven minutes long can be purchased on its own, even if it’s been released as part of an album, for no more than $1.29.

While those looking to cherry pick various songs from the Kick-Ass soundtrack, which range from The Prodigy to New York Dolls, may be disappointed in the purchasing arrangement, it could be worse; multi-artist movie soundtracks are notorious only having some of their songs available for sale digitally, or not being available digitally at all.

As far as the music itself, iTunes users have rated the soundtrack with an average of four and a half stars.

Chris Jericho interview

He’s the world wrestling champion of the WWE, the lead singer of the hard rock band Fozzy, and he’s even recently found the time to appear in the MacGruber movie and host the upcoming Revolver Golden Gods awards. Days after defending his title at Wrestlemania, Chris Jericho carved out some time to chat with me (a phone call which, as evidence of just much he has going on these days, was briefly interrupted when he got called into the office of WWE boss Vince McMahon). Our conversation spanned how he balances his two careers, how it feels to be on the road with his band again, and what the future holds…

Is it sweeter to win the WWE title in the first place, or is it sweeter when you’re able to defend the title, like you just did the other night?

Anytime you go to Wrestlemania and work for a title it’s always sweet, because obviously that’s the biggest show of the year, and to be able to walk in as the champion and walk out as the champion, they’re both very sweet. I’d have to say probably walking into Wrestlemania as the champion has more prestige and has more fire behind it, especially when it comes to Wrestlemania.

After you won, Edge got you pretty good there on a cheap shot, we all saw what happened. This guy is an old teammate of yours. Is that relationship done for, or is that repairable? Are you looking for a re-match so you can go back in and kill him?

I’m not interested in killing anybody, nor am I interested in repairing any types of relationships. I’m interested in winning the championship and keeping the championship. That’s what I do.

It seems like having these two careers in wrestling and music could be beneficial to both of them through cross promotion, but is there a downside or a risk to having your wrestling career and music career lumped together in the minds of a lot of people?

Yeah, I have to be very careful in keeping them separate, especially being the heel in wrestling, being the bad guy, I have to be very careful because if I don’t be very cognizant of that, people will think they’re supposed to hate my band. If I bring my band into wresting, they’ll just assume they’re supposed to hate the band as well. So I have to be very specific in keeping the band separated and keeping them two separate entities.

You just did your first live concert with Fozzy in four years. How did it feel to be performing up there on stage again?

It felt great. We had the return of Frank Fontsere our drummer, and we had a new guitar player Billy Grey that had played with us for years before and just came back as well, so the band sounded great, and it was awesome. A good way to come back and to hear the band and to hear the new songs live, it was just a long time coming. Very cool experience.

Some bands, if they take four years off from touring, they’re afraid they’re going to lose momentum. Were you pleasantly surprised to see that the show sold out?

I think it’s six of one, half dozen of the other. Yeah, you do lose momentum, but it’s not like we hadn’t been in the public eye. We released another record “All That Remains – Reloaded” in 2007, and the last record did so well for us that people were, actually there was a buzz for Fozzy when we returned. So I was happy that we were sold out, but also that’s just a testament to how much work we did on the last record and how much people were excited and waiting to see us again. So we’ll do as many gigs as we possibly can.

Obviously due to my other day job, I can’t really get on a bus and tour all around the world, or at least for long periods of time. We have a tour of England coming up in May, we have a show at B.B. King’s in New York City, and other ones kind of pending right now. So we play as much as we can, and the good thing is that people are really clamoring to see us. So it was good to take a little break, because absence made the heart grow fonder, which is not always the case, especially in the world of music, you know what I mean? So it’s good to know that people were waiting to hear what we were doing, and plus the fact that Chasing The Grail has gotten such great reviews, and all across the board people are saying it’s our best record by far, so it just makes more of a buzz behind it, makes more people excited to come see us play the new songs live.

When you first started Fozzy, some people assumed it was some kind of vanity project, or didn’t initially take it seriously. Do you feel vindicated now?

Yeah, I do feel vindicated because we’ve been working on it for a long time. People were really waiting to hear what this record could do, and our last one did so good for us, like I said, and that’s why we spent the time that it took to make this record as good as it could possibly be. We took our time to write the songs properly and to record it properly, so to know that it’s going to be our biggest selling record ever, because when we first started it was more of a fun thing. I would never say vanity project, but it was kind of a side project, a hobby, but you know, I’ve been playing in bands a lot longer than I’ve been wresting. I’ve always wanted to play in bands, and to be able to do that, and to be able to continue to do that, especially the level we’re at at this point, is very rewarding to me and it shows what can happen when you use all this hard work to make things happen.

You’re the highest profile member of the band, not just because of wrestling but also because you’re the lead singer, but you and Rich Ward have been in that band together for a decade now. What should the world know about Rich?

Rich Ward is one of the most underrated guitar players in the history of rock and roll. And you can ask Rich Ward’s fanbase, which is Zakk Wylde is a big Rich Ward fan, Jon from Shadows Fall, the dudes from Shinedown are big Rich Ward fans to the point where they even asked Rich to join. Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth has asked Rich to join. Danzig asked Rich to join. And as matter of fact, Dimebag was a big Rich fan, thought Rich had the best tone, and would actually always want to use Rich’s amps when they toured together, thinking that there was some kind of a gimmick until he finally found out it’s just Marshall plugged into the Les Paul and it’s just the way that Rich plays.

He’s got so much experience and so much critical acclaim from all of the big players and he’s a great songwriter and a pioneer. Stuck Mojo was one of the first rap-rock bands. As much of a weird term that is nowadays, in ’95 Mojo was kind of ruling the roost. That’s where Limp Bizkit came from and Papa Roach. He’s just one of those guys that has always been a little bit ahead of his time, and I think now with Fozzy, he’s finally getting a little bit of recognition for what he deserves, just being a great rock and roll guitar player, a great songwriter, and also a great producer as well. I think Rich is one of those guys that is going to be a late bloomer and end up being a lot more famous when he’s in his forties than he ever was when he was in his twenties or thirties.

How important is it to have Frank back in the band?

It’s like with Slayer, when Dave Lombardo left they got a couple great players in, but it still wasn’t Dave Lombardo. Frank fits what we do with Fozzy and with Stuck Mojo. When Rich and Frank had their rift in the mid 2000’s and he left, we had a great drummer Eric Sanders, very technically proficient, but Frank is just a great feel drummer, and also, Frank came prepared for war. He knew that he was coming back into the fold, and he threw down some fire.

You’re hosting the Revolver Golden Gods awards. I’m sure you get offers to participate in a lot of things like this. Why did you say yes to this one?

Obviously I have no problems hosting, I’ve done a lot of shows that way, and I like being in front of a crowd. But mostly it’s just being a huge heavy metal fan, and being proud of the fact that now bands actually have an award for them to kind of hang their hat on. It really makes a big difference to me, and I’m really glad I can be involved in it. I know I can do a great job and help these awards continue to grow so that every year we’ll get to see them.

You’re also nominated for an award, Most Metal Athlete. How competitive are you when it comes to winning awards like that?

To me it’s almost patronizing me, because I’m not a metal athlete, I’m a musician who happens to be an athlete. I think those other guys are just fans of metal, where I’ve been a musician a lot longer than I’ve been an athlete, so I almost hope that people don’t vote for me. It’s like winning American Idol, it’s almost better if you come in second. So maybe I’ll be the runner up and it’ll be better for me. I’d rather be nominated for Best Singer in a Metal Band or something like that.

You’re having you most success ever in both of your careers. Have you ever though that at some point something’s got to give?I left the WWE for a couple years back in 2005 to spend more time with Fozzy, to do some serious touring, and that’s when we really made our mark in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Germany, and those options are always there. I came back to the WWE because I felt I could contribute and be better than I’d ever been, so there’s really no reason for me to quit either one, because they’re both going so good and I’ve been able to juggle both.

Could Fozzy get bigger? Yes. But I want to do it on our terms.

Learn more at FozzyRock.com • iTunes • MySpace • Facebook • Twitter

Meet the band from the iPad TV ad

Can’t quite put your finger on the song that’s featured in Apple’s iPad television commercial that first aired during the Oscars and is now going to bombard you across every TV station for the rest of 2010. Meet Danish rock outfit The Blue Van, whose song “There Goes My Love” provides the soundtrack to the soon to be ubiquitous television commercial. The song comes from the band’s third album, Man Up, which was released last year. On previous U.S. tours, the band has opened for the likes of The Pretenders and Jet, the latter of which was previously featured in an Apple TV ad during the iPod era.

If The Blue Van’s music already sounds familiar, it may be because their music has made previous television appearances on Scrubs, CSI New York, and oddly enough, a Samsung cellphone ad campaign.

The band boats of having more than ten thousand copies of “There Goes My Love” through iTunes as a result of the first handful of times the iPad ad aired prior to this weekend.

A full-length performance of “There Goes My Love” by The Blue Van can be viewed on YouTube.

Filed Under: Industry News
Tagged: iPad commercial, iPad theme song, music, song, television, The Blue Van, There Goes My Love

Add your iPhone’s music to Twitter

March 27, 2010 by Beatweek · View Comments 

For those who wish to fill their Twitter timeline with automated updates about various aspects of their day without even having to type the 140 characters themselves will now have an even easier task of it thanks to Jingle, an app for iPhone and iPod touch which automatically tweets about the song, podcast, or audiobook you’re listening to on your device, along with whatever star rating you’ve assigned to it. Or as the developer Arbutus puts it, “In most cases a person can Tweet whatever they are listening to without typing.”

So much for using Twitter being good for building up finger muscles.

Learn more about Jingle 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch in the iTunes.

Filed Under: Industry News
Tagged: App Store, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iTunes, music, songs, Tweet, Twitter

Official GRAMMY iPhone app

January 23, 2010 by Beatweek · View Comments 

With the 2010 GRAMMY awards less than a week away, the new “Guess the GRAMMYs” app is designed to help iPhone and iPod touch users pass the time until the airing of the annual music industry award show. The free app presents users with trivia about the GRAMMYs along with the opportunity to predict winners from twenty-one current GRAMMY categories and register their guesses in order to be automatically notified of how their predictions fared.

The 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, January 31st, at 8:00 pm on CBS.

Current GRAMMY nominees who’ve been interviewed by iProng Magazine include (click for interviews): Lady GaGa, The Black Eyed Peas, Colbie Caillat, Katy Perry, LMFAO, Steve Vai, The Crystal Method, and Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic.

The official GRAMMY app is available for free in the App Store. The full list of GRAMMY nominees can be found at GRAMMY.com.

Filed Under: Industry News
Tagged: 2010, app, App Store, award, broadcast, Grammy, iPhone, iPod touch, music, nominees, winners

Noush Skaugen interview

January 5, 2010 by Bill Palmer · View Comments 

As much time as Noush Skaugen spends interacting with her million-plus followers on Twitter, and answering fan questions on live chats, one might be tempted to wonder how she ever finds time to make music. But her digital omnipresence belies the fact that she’s currently holed up in the studio working on her next album. Noush took some time out from recording her new songs to give us a preview of what’s coming…

You were born in Sweden, grew up in London, spent time in Los Angeles and Nashville. How have those “citizen of the world” experiences impacted your musical philosophies?

Each place has its own unique music culture and perspective on what a good performance is. I have learnt a great deal in all places, which hopefully has made me more open to experiment and a more rounded performer. I grew up dancing round trees singing songs with my parents & guests merry on aquavite (a very potent Scandinavian alcohol) – so initially I guess I learnt that music is about having a good time!

In London you better be good because once the fellas get a few pints in, they’ll let you know if you’re not LA is all about entertaining and the passion of connecting with your fans. Nashville they don’t care what you look like or what’s on your CD, just play it to them on an acoustic guitar and you had better be good, because even the garbage man is probably a prodigy. It has made me step up my game, to compete with the best. I am striving to create the ultimate experience for my fans, from the music to exclusive deluxe content, with behind the scenes footage & interviews yet to be released.

A year ago you had a few thousand followers on Twitter. Now you have more than a million followers, more than Dave Matthews or Snoop Dogg, which seems an unlikely feat for an indie artist. Where are all these followers coming from?

It’s mad really… in a great way…The number keeps growing every day… The power of Social Media is massive. I suppose in the age of reality TV stars, I am the opposite – organic, real, my own creation from hard graft. I am transparent with my tweets, love to chat with my followers, letting them in on what’s going on behind the scenes of making a record.

I am not constrained by any label telling me what I can or cannot do or tweet – so it’s very fluid and brutally honest. There’s no smokescreen. It lets me connect on a one to one basis with them virtually, and for them to be on this journey with me, something acts 20 years ago could not have imagined. Born from this idea, I will do live interactive concerts in the new year and I have other really exciting plans for the fans in the new year that I’m working on.

Do you find Twitter more daunting now that each of your tweets is going to be read by up to a million of your fans?

Lol! Initially when it started growing at a big rate, I had that moment of pure fright, and didn’t tweet I think for a couple of days….but then I got over it You can’t change who you are just because more people are listening to you.

Being true and real is very important to me. I am very comfortable with it now. I imagine as if I am speaking to each person directly.

You’ve been making your songs podsafe for use in podcasts for a couple of years now. How has that worked out for you?

Great. I think podcasts are a fantastic way to get your music out there worldwide with a DJ in Missouri being able to reach someone in South Africa! The DJ’s are really passionate about the music they play. Podcasts have been very supportive of me and my music, Podsafe got me on Satellite radio first…. For me anyway to reach people with my music is a good thing. Red tape and rules can hinder artistic growth.

Many of your fans had been hoping for a new release from you in late 2009. I take it there’s a good reason you’ve chosen to wait until the spring to release your new album?

Yes… I had a whole new game plan set in motion autumn this year. I decided I wanted to release a full album, and held back the EP. My objective is to make the best album I can, one that is timeless and will still be played in decades to come. I am motivated to use the music medium to inspire people to dare to dream! I am taking the time to push myself to the limit in every way possible in terms of my lyrics, music and the whole artistic concept of the album. No fillers, no wasted words… a classic record.

Basically the thought and TLC any great album had back in the day, that seems to be missing today… I am lucky enough to have the fantastic opportunity to write with some of the best songwriters out there and am on an amazing journey. Hopefully my fans will understand the wait will be worth it:) I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their patience.

Dr. System and Run Baby Run, the two songs you’ve sent me so far, are both rockers. Is that indicative of where the new record is headed overall? 

Absolutely, this whole record will be rocking, taking no prisoners I am comfortable in my own skin, sexuality and fearless. This record will challenge the role of female artists today.

You’ve had acting parts in shows like CSI and Entourage. Is that something you plan to pursue more of?

Definitely. I trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, which showed me the thrill of delving deep into a character so that they get under your skin. I love all forms of artistic expression and would love to do a movie and TV once the album is done… Acting allows me to be someone else for a while… explore other realities and history… which can only enrich the art that in turn pours out of me. It’s a fusion which can create fireworks.

Your Twitter bio reads “Together we can change the world” – what are your plans for doing just that?

Using my voice to motivate people to chase their dreams and follow their gut… be who they want to be, no matter what those close to them expect of them or the system tells them they can or cannot do. Anything is possible, the only limitations are the ones we place on ourselves. Music and art used to affect change, and I would love to see us artists bring it back to empowering the people.

I will also be standing behind certain causes, one of them I have already started to take part in is the fight against breast cancer, which I lost my mother to. Some of the proceeds from my album ‘Lost and Found’ goes to the cause.

Life is short and we should use the voices we have to push boundaries, the human race and live a riot baby!

Learn more at NoushSkaugen.com

Filed Under: Interviews, Musician interviews
Tagged: Adeline, female rocker, interview, Lost and Found, music, Noush Skaugen, podsafe, Swedish, What I

App review: I Am T-Pain

December 16, 2009 by Beatweek · View Comments 

by: Al Morita

I’m a big fan when it comes to music apps, especially ones that let you be creative. “I am T-Pain” has two modes – one lets you sing like T-Pain on his songs and a freestyle mode that is worth the $2.99 alone. When connected to a speaker, the freestyle mode lets you use the app like an auto-tune machine. You have the option to have the auto-tune setting set to T-Pain or you can customize the tuning to major, minor, and even chromatic scales. This app works great for non-singers and singers alike as it automatically adjusts your voice to the nearest note in real-time.

The “I am T-Pain” app includes 14 songs to sing along with. Five of them are instrumental versions of T-Pain songs including the hits “Bartender” and “Dreamgirl.” Three are Christmas karaoke songs, and the other six are T-Pain beats you can freestyle with. You can also purchase additional T-Pain songs in the app for $0.99 – $1.99. None of the songs are installed by default, so you might spend some time downloading the songs if you have a slow connection. I found the karaoke interface to be very good with easy-to-read lyrics on the screen. If you mess up, you can easily restart the song. By default, all your songs are recorded onto your device so you can listen to them later. You can also upload your audio track to the Smule server and also add an audio player with your songs to MySpace and Facebook. They also updated the app so you can sing along to any song in your iTunes library, which is a cool feature. The only limitation in this mode is that you can’t upload it to the server.

This app has many hours worth of entertainment with the auto-tune feature and a good list of songs to sing along with. I applaud Smule for updating the app with new features and songs. They made an excellent product even better. The possibilities are endless, who knows – you might see someone using the “I am T-Pain” app at your next karaoke party. I know I will.

Pros:

• Excellent auto-tune feature in real-time

• Good selection of songs with app

• Share your songs via the upload feature

• Ability to sing to any song in your iTunes library

• Solid karaoke mode

• Good recording quality

Cons:

• Needs vocal recording level option

Learn more about the I Am T-Pain app in the App Store

Filed Under: Reviews, iPod, iPhone and iTunes
Tagged: app, App Store, autotune, Christmas, iPhone, iPod touch, karaoke, music, rapper, review, T-Pain

App review: Tap Tap Revenge 3

November 18, 2009 by Beatweek · View Comments 

New in iProng Magazine: a hands-on review of Tap Tap Revenge 3, the latest version of the popular music game for iPhone and iPod touch, available for 99 cents in the App Store…

review by Christine Chan


As far as iPhone music rhythm games goes, Tapulous knows how to do it right, and has done so since the very first Tap Tap Revenge game. Now on its third iteration, Tapulous has raised the bar for music games on the iPhone.

If you’ve played any of the first two Tap Tap Revenge games, or any of the band specific ones, then you are familiar with the gameplay. Simply tap to the beat of the song – keep a streak going and you’ll end up with a high multiplier, and you’ll be able to activate “Revenge” mode which doubles your multiplier and therefore, your score. This formula has made the game what it is since the first version, and it has worked very well.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 keeps the gorgeous visuals and graphics that Tapulous has had since the original. For the most part, the game has a pre-skin that you’ll see in most songs when playing, but there are some songs that will have their own theme, which add more uniqueness to the game. However, some themes, like Coldplay, actually have so much gorgeous visuals that it may overload the device, causing it to lag at some parts. So if that’s the case, don’t expect perfect scores every time – there will most likely be at least one beat missed with such stunning visuals taking over the screen.

You can play through songs sorted out by Kids, Easy, Medium, Hard, or Extreme difficulties. Quick play will let you play a 90-second segment of a random song, which gives you a sample of the track and a pick-up-put-down experience. There is also 2-player mode, which lets you share the device between two people and play on both ends of the screen. Playing songs will earn your character experience for levels and coins to buy avatar items.

The real fun comes in playing online, where you can play in a room with several other people and battle to come out on top in rankings. While tapping along to the song’s beat, you can earn weapons that can be used to your advantage as they do their part to mess up opponents. If you are in one of the top rankings, more coins and experience will be gained for your character.

You can chat with other people while waiting for games to begin, and add them as friends (amongst other friends that you already knew play the game), and even send messages to them in the game. There is even a separate chat room option if you just want to chat with people. The multiplayer experience is rich in this game.

With the coins you gather after all of your hard work, you can buy items for your avatar in the Tap Tap Store with them. I guess if decking out your pixelated you is important, then you’ll have a field day with this. But the Tap Tap Store does not just contain little pixelated for your little pixelated avatar, there are also song packs to purchase.

Since Tap Tap Revenge 3 came out before Apple decided to let free apps have in-app purchases, TTR 3 is a mere .99 out of your wallet. But you may find your money going toward more TTR 3 in the form of song-bundles and mini-albums. The Tap Tap Store will have a slew of songs from popular bands, and it’s pretty much guaranteed that anyone that gets this game will buy at least one or two song bundles with their favorite band’s songs.

Now, what happens if you have to restore your device and lost all the data in the game? Don’t worry, since it’s going to be linked to a Tapulous account, you’ll keep all your character items and levels, experience, and coins. You can also restore purchased tracks as well, so no need to have to buy them all over again.

Tapulous knows what they’re doing in the iPhone music game industry. Perhaps in an update they can allow users to import songs from the band-specific games like one is able to in Tap Tap Revenge 2.6. But even without that, if Tap Tap Revenge 3 is the only TTR game one person has, it’s still great on its own.

*****

Tap Tap Revenge is available for 99 cents in the App Store.

*****

Filed Under: Reviews, iPod, iPhone and iTunes
Tagged: app, App Store, Christine Chan, iPhone, iPod touch, music, review, songs, Tap Tap Revenge 3, TTR, TTR3

Review: MusicSkins

November 6, 2009 by Beatweek · View Comments 

New in iProng Magazine: a hands-on review of MusicSkins for iPhone and iPod, priced at $15…

review by Caroline Andreolle

Like plastic surgery for your iPod or iPhone.

When the iPod first came out, its most distinctive feature wasn’t so much the shape, or what it did (although that wowed the crowd) – it was the white earbuds. Anyone with white earbuds was “in”. Nowadays, earbuds come in all shape and colors, and so do the iPods. So what sets you apart? And what sets your favorite music player/ game console/ phone/ life in a box apart? Its shape, and what’s at the back of it.

Think about it – the inside of your iPod or iPhone is truly unique: it’s got your contact, your emails (work and personal most likely), your favorite music, your latest games. It’s you, and everything you like. So why should the outside be manufactured coolness? Customize the look and feel of your latest gadget – get a skin. The Music Skins seem to have a pretty cool idea: making the outside showcase what’s in the inside. Pick from a variety of music stars, from Bob Marley to Alice Cooper, with choice of skins in pop, country, reggae and more (Madonna from the 80s included).

Don’t get fooled by the name however: Music Skins offer Obama, Charity, and Model skins as well. Not into realistic skins? Go for the cartoony, edgy look with Roger Rabbit meets Matrix’s woman in the red dress type of cartoons. Don’t worry, if you’re not into sexy, they’ve got the more masculine robot illustrations which got the ooohs and ahhhs of all the guys at the office.

Best of all, the ultimate customization tool is now just one simple uploader away: Music Skins offers you the ability to put your very own work of art on whatever Mac device you use. Get your very own pics on your laptop, your iPod, and more. The uploader is simple to use, allows you to add several images to one skin design, and you’ve got editing tools to crop it to your liking, add text, set color, and even layer photos and illustrations. We didn’t see what 100% custom made images looked like in print, but the illustration skins we got were darn right cool and very close to the online image, which bodes well for custom skins.
Conclusion: If you’re in for a skin to get your iPhone or iPod cool enough to survive the winter, or if you’re looking for a skin you can customize fully with your own work of art, this is a website you’ll want to check out.

*****

Learn more about MusicSkins at music-skins.com.

*****

Filed Under: Reviews, iPod, iPhone and iTunes
Tagged: decals, iPhone, iPod, music, musicskins, review, skins, stickers

Black Eyed Peas interview

July 10, 2009 by Beatweek · View Comments 

“We are everywhere,” jokes Taboo in reference to the fact that he’s on the phone with me just minutes after his Black Eyed Peas have finished performing on back-to-back television shows on the same morning. But the hip hop quartet does in fact seem to be everywhere these days, having recently pulled off the rare feat of scoring the #1 album and #1 single on both the iTunes and Billboard charts.

When you’ve having one of these crazy days like the one you’ve having, with performances and interviews all over town, do you enjoy those days and feed off of it or does it wear you down?

As soon as we hit the stage and we see all the peabodies coming out and supporting the Peas, it brings us to life whether we got three hours of sleep or whether we’ve had eight hours of sleep, the fact is that we are performers and we love to be amongst the peers and the people who support the Peas. So we’re excited. We’re happy to be back together as a foursome. We all did individual projects, but now to be doing the Black Eyed Peas experience for the next three years or whatever it is, it’s going to be amazing.

You went four years in between album releases this time, as opposed to sometimes only a year apart in the past. How is it different when you come back together and it’s been that long since you’ve worked on an album together?

Within the time period that Fergie did The Duchess, and will.i.am did Yes We Can and Songs About Girls, and I did Street Fighter, and Apl did Subject: I Love You, we’ve always been involved in each project. We were on Fergie’s record on the song called Hands Up, and then we were involved with the Yes We Can campaign because we were doing the Democratic National Convention, so we’ve always been in each other’s lives, and it was a natural progression for us to be back into the studio because it was like we never left.

On the day that The E.N.D. debuted at number one in iTunes, you also had the number one and number two singles in iTunes. We all knew the album would do well, but did you imagine you’d have that kind of chart dominance right out of the gate?

We were just excited to be back in the public eye as a foursome, because we all want to share the Black Eyed Pea experience around the world, but to have such a great appreciation here in the States, which we’ve never really had that kind of reception, we’ve always went overseas and built a foundation on creating an international movement.

And now to have Boom Boom Pow come out straight out of the gate, it dominated everything, and we didn’t expect it to be so humungous. And now we have I Gotta Feeling. So it’s good to be home and have that love and appreciation from our own people here in the States.

We know this isn’t your last album. Is there any symbolism in putting the phrase “The End” in the same of your album?

“The E.N.D.” is the end of an era as far as conventional ways of selling music. Before, here in the States we used to have Sam Goody and Virgin Megastore and Tower Records. We don’t have that no more. So the days of going to get a tangible CD and having that in your hand, now you go to Best Buy and Target to get those type of CDs. And now everything is online. You have iTunes and all these different programs on the internet that will take you into a different way of looking at promoting your record, and how to get your record out there. It’s not just about having a CD no more, it’s also about creating components on the internet or on our site dipdive.com so that we’re not just giving people the CD, we’re actually creating opportunities for people to remix songs and to upload different ideas and content.

It’s also the end of the rumors and misconceptions that the Black Eyed Peas were breaking up, or that we’d broken up, because we’d done solo individual projects. It’s also the end of, possibly, this is the last physical CD for any group, let alone a Black Eyed Peas CD. Because four years from now, we don’t know what it could be.

So you think it’s realistic that your next release in 2013 could be just iTunes and MP3? Do you think all of your fans will be willing to go digital by then?

It’s one thing to just have a CD and need to live with that CD, but what if you were able to take those fifteen songs, and then you got ten songs the next month that you couldn’t have on the CD? And then we just keep on giving you new material and keeping it fresh and reinventing the song. Like with Boom Boom Pow, the Boom Boom Pow Invasion had about five different remixes off the same song.

It’s not too often you see a band like yours that has all four members taking turns on lead vocals. When you’re in the studio, is that a democratic process where you say “you take this part, I’ll take that part”?

It all depends. For example there’s a song called Rockin To The Beat on our new album, and it’s only “Rockin to the beat,” that’s all it says at the beginning, and then there’s only my verse. So I wrote that verse, and Will was “we gotta keep this like this, no more verses, just you rock this song and we’ll just have this hook at the beginning and let the music play.”

And then you have other songs like Out Of My Head where Fergie’s talking about being tipsy and all that stuff, and she brought that to the table, like “I want to play this character.” Or else Will will come up with Now Generation, and he’ll lay down the hook, and Fergie will come in and write something. It’s a collaborative effort. We all get a piece of different songs, and some songs are directed toward already having a formula, and some songs everybody brings their own idea and we compromise.

You guys are going to be touring with U2 for some dates in the fall. Are you looking forward to that?

I’m so excited, man. It’s an opportunity for us to be on tour with one of the greatest bands to ever step on stage in the history of music, U2, and what Bono has done as a humanitarian, he’s an inspiration to us and the group is a great inspiration. We’re signed to the same record label, so we’ve been fans of U2 and friends with U2, so we’re excited.

Any chance of any on-stage collaborations with them?

Right now we don’t really have anything planned, but who knows? Maybe throughout the tour we’ll come up with something.

Learn more at BlackEyedPeas.com

Filed Under: Interviews, Most Popular, Musician interviews
Tagged: apl.de.ap, BEP, Black Eyed Peas, cover story, Fergie, interview, music, Taboo, The E.N.D., will.i.am

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