Rock Band Entertainment Blog

Dear Label Partners,

I’ve received hundreds of e-mails enthusiastically reacting to my “call to action” at the National Association of Recording Merchandisers convention last month. The music business is facing huge challenges from piracy and theft. Never before in American history has an entire industry been so decimated by illegal behavior. Yet the government has not responded in a meaningful way to help us address this crisis. My call to action is for all of us to become more aggressive in lobbying our government, more outspoken in drawing attention to the problems caused by piracy and more actively engaged. We cannot win this fight alone.

Governments outside the U.S. are legislating, regulating and playing a prominent role in discussions with ISPs (Internet Service Providers). Sales have dramatically improved in these countries. How is it that the U.S. – with the most successful music community in the world – is not keeping up with places like South Korea, France, the UK and New Zealand? As I said in my speech, I hope that the industry can negotiate a voluntary deal with the ISPs. We need our government representatives to encourage this. But whether or not we reach a deal with the ISPs, our government needs to know that we’ve got a piracy problem and we need real solutions. To accomplish this, our government needs to hear from all of us, so they know that their constituents are out here. Join me in calling on our elected officials to fight piracy. Please help by forwarding this email to your colleagues, friends– everyone who loves music. And consider enlisting your entire company to help in this fight. Then by clicking on the link below a message will be sent to your representatives in Washington. Help us launch a viral campaign to cut off access to the online sites that are used to steal our music, our property and our jobs. In only takes a second but it can make a tremendous impact. Click HERE. Please help us by forwarding this link. Sincerely, Jim Urie Learn More at www.musicrightsnow.org

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT THE FIRST TIME ....
Crooked X
Performs "GONE" and
"ROCK 'N ROLL DREAM"

On Jimmy Kimmel Live
Tonight -- Friday, March 6, 2009
12:05 Eastern & Pacific / 11:05 Central

 

 

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Rock Band Entertainment Blog Numero Uno

Hello and a big welcome to our first blog.

We hope those of you who don't personally know Craig and I will take the time to check out our bios. As for the many of you who do you know us from the vast breadth of our combined experience, we hope you'll value and enjoy our first blog, in which we share some of our views on the current state of this world of music, and all that is taking place in today's world of entertainment.

 

You might at first think, "Another company in the music business, an independent...why? What can you do for us?" Ok, we get it. We have been fielding these questions for the past several weeks, and have a great handle on the sentiment out there. Bu we also know that between us there is not much we don't have a grip on. Our past experience and our amazing realm of industry contacts, combined with our varied knowledge of today's marketplace, make us a force to reckon with, and means we're in it for the long haul.

Having our home base out of the tremendous venue rich in rock tradition that is the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, we're constantly in contact with some of the best talent out there. That talent is significantly heritage-based and we know the massive impact that heritage acts continue to have on our generation AND the youth growing up in today's music world. For this reason, we made the decision that the core business we want to concentrate on at RBE is that segment of acts that still sell plenty of tickets and also want to do more than just play their greatest hits over and over again. Granted, playing those hits all the time makes their fans happy, but we really believe we can help take them to another level.

Today, more than ever before, there is a plethora of new avenues (funny how prophetic Craig and former partner Dave Loncao were with that name) of exposure available to recording artists. Radio is no longer the be all - end all. Don't get us wrong, radio is still (and always will be) a driving force in today's climate, but we want to use radio for more than just playing a song. Effectively utilizing radio's air talent, their reach on-air, and on the web, can add great media value to artists and their projects. Setting up creative and impactful promotions and contesting are other ways to accomplish success stories.

When I first heard the legendary Lee Abrams use the words cinematic and radio together I truly discovered how wonderful radio's magic could be. Learning more over the years from Lee, Dave Logan, Dave Richards, Sky Daniels, Bill Pugh, and many more programmers at various formats at the medium taught us to always be on the cutting edge and not to be satisfied at what is just at our fingertips.

Looking at the many platforms available today in addition to radio, like Cinema, Television placements and appearances, webisodes, webcasts, video games, you realize there are numerous ways to reach millions of fans. We believe music fans today are still as passionate about being a part of musical success stories as we ever were; and we are still in a sweet spot to lend our acquired knowledge to help artists find new and/or continued success, all the while growing and expanding their base of devoted fans.

Rock Band Entertainment will strive to turn over every stone we can to add to the vibrancy of an act's brand, and will use our site as a starting point to cross every platform available to us to achieve the goals we set out in providing our clients with every weapon in our arsenal to make their goals a reality.

We will often feature guest blogs from professionals in different facets of the business world who will share their viewpoints on the pertinent issues facing us today. Some will be serious, some humorous, and some even irreverent, but we promise to always make them thought provoking. By all means, feel free to submit blogs to us, call us or e-mail us with your input on any topic. Agree, disagree, love us or hate us, but communicate with us.

It is our intent to build up rockbandent.com to not only be a promotional site for our clients, but also a destination that industry pros and hopefuls will share in, contribute to, and utilize in the course of day-to-day business activities.

Next week we will give you an update on the status of our newly-founded venture, and share with you some of your own responses on how he Lambert/Nast duo is being perceived and received by our peers. Now that's peer to peer that I can relate to.

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Hi Friends,

We at Rock Band Entertainment are honored to be associated with a project that will raise awareness to one of the most
horrific injustices the world is facing today...that issue is human slavery. More than 25 million children and young women
are victim to this reprehensible crime. Today, we are offering an amazing opportunity to help by lending your station's
support of Call + Response, a musical documentary that will soon be opening on the big screen in your city. Call +
Response needs your help.

This first of its kind musical documentary showcases musical performances from some of today's most critically acclaimed
artists, artists who are dedicated and doing something about it. Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu,
Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, Five For Fighting, Rocco Deluca, and Switchfoot, along with members of Nickel Creek and the
Heartbreakers, add a riveting music bed that will captivate viewers of the film. The story that Cornel West, Madeleine
Albright, Daryl Hanah, Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd and Nicholas Kristof tell will motivate the many this film will reach.

We are offering your radio station the chance to give your listeners a first hand look at this amazing film. By accepting the
charitable promotion we are offering, you will be performing a great service to humanity.

We can provide your station with the following;
*20 pairs of tickets to a select screening in your city *20 commemorative movie posters
*20 music samplers *signage at the theater
*station vehicle on site *talent to welcome and host the screening
*booth for station to provide hand outs to patrons

In return, all we ask is that you give Call + Response 30 on-air mentions and a web banner on your site, all promoting the
awareness of this call to action in the week leading up to the movie event.

Call + Response will receive a limited theatrical run in October, and many feel this musical documentary has Oscar qualities
and potential. But, of greater importance, all proceeds from this film go directly to the effort of ending human slavery.

Please look at the attached one sheet and please visit http://www.callandresponse.com, to see an impactful trailer of Call +
Response.

Either Craig Lambert or Tommy Nast will call you directly to confirm your participation in this promotion, and will arrange
all the details for your station and your listeners, including the specific date and show time that will afford your station this
fantastic promotional opportunity. Please do your part to help eliminate human slavery by playing a major role in the
promotion of Call+ Response.

 

SYNOPSIS

The Film

CALL+RESPONSE is a first of its kind feature documentary film that reveals the world's 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. CALL+RESPONSE goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2007, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.

Luminaries on the issue such as Cornel West, Madeleine Albright, Daryl Hannah, Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd, Nicholas Kristof, and many other prominent political and cultural figures offer first hand account of this 21^st century trade. Performances from Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed artists including Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, Five For Fighting, Switchfoot, members of Nickel Creek and Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Rocco Deluca move this chilling information into inspiration for stopping it.

Music is part of the movement against human slavery. Dr. Cornel West connects the music of the American slave fields to the popular music we listen to today, and offers this connection as a rallying cry for the modern abolitionist movement currently brewing.

 

The New Model

There is a sea of change happening in human rights activism. The world's issues cannot be solved alone by governments and non-profits, but require community-based participation. As a feature film, CALL+RESPONSE has the unique position of being not only a ground-breaking genre-bending film, but due to the fact that this project was funded completely through donations, it operates as a powerful movement with 100% of profits going to fund global field projects on the front lines of this issue.

 

CALL+RESPONSE is creating interactive field projects for each aspect of human slavery: sex slavery, labor slavery, child soldiers and child slavery. All profits from the use of the film, dvd, soundtrack, itunes downloads will be directed, by the viewers, to these projects with clear start and finish points (ie a landrover for a child soldier rehab camp, sewing machines for a after-care training facility).  Our goal is to fund and celebrate completed projects together in community. We are closing the loop by allowing viewers to become participants in the solution.

 

 

 

The Director

CALL+RESPONSE is proof that anyone can help create a movement. A musician his entire life, Director/Producer Justin Dillon came across the issue of Human Trafficking while touring in Russia. Justin met scores of girls whose ambition to come to west was being preyed upon by traffickers. The young girl assigned to interpret for him would share about the many "opportunities" that

were being offered to her to come to west.

 

Justin looked into the phoney opportunities being offered to these girls and became incensed at how easy it was to trick them. After sharing with them the dangers of these proposals, he vowed to do something about this issue once he returned home.

When he returned to the United States, Justin Dillon had no connections or leverage within the entertainment industry to enlist participation, so he began cold calling managers and agents. He sent an email through Daryl Hannah's website (an activist on this issue) and she responded back immediately.  Without any funding or experience in film, Justin began to gather support.  Recording artists began to accept his persistent petition that popular music owes a debt to the issue of slavery. Justin's belief that most of popular music today is rooted in the music of the slave fields in America began to take root in other artists, and the roster began to build and build.

 

The Movement

In addition to the stars and luminaries in the film, the CALL+RESPONSE movement has attracted a vast team: Tribeca, Myspace, MTV, The UN, US State Department, Warner Brothers, Sony Records, Salvation Army, YouthAids, International Justice Mission, Wordpress, Working Assets and Paste Magazine.

The film is Calling and millions of people across the world are Responding at www.CallandResponse.com. The modern abolitionist movement will be a bottom-up movement where all talents, interests, and skills will be utilized. CallandResponse.com is a ground-breaking robust online interactive platform, which combines the passion of justice and scope of a Presidential Campaign with the swagger of Rock & Roll.

 

 

CALL+RESPONSE's chilling undercover footage, stunning performances and life-changing interviews exposes audiences to the world's 27 million most terrifying secrets and culminates in a single question: "What Will Your Response Be?"

 

Find your response at: www.CallandResponse.com

 

WWW.CALLANDRESPONSE.COM

FAIR TRADE PICTURES 0 510.465.2290 F 510.465.2294

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