Category: Friday Five

Friday Five: free and legal tunes from Art Brut

Art BrutEven though my days of blogging obsessively about punk and indie music are behind me, I still visit some of my favorite music blogs from time to time to find out what’s new in my favorite genres. The network of music bloggers is becoming an influential partner with musicians and record labels that understand the power of viral marketing.

One of the music blogs I frequent is Earvolution, which recently announced that UK postpunk/art wave band Art Brut had released five unmastered tracks from their upcoming CD. Earvolution has also shared these tracks with the blogosphere, and I in turn share this link for any music fan out there. So, here’s your Friday Five: five free mp3s, legally available. How can you pass this up?

OK, just to make this post remotely about marketing, if not higher ed:

Earvolution proclaims Art Brut’s label, Downtown Records, to be in the running for “best. label. ever.” One thing’s for certain: Downtown knows how to build buzz — and business — online. Even though I’ve downloaded all five of these tracks for free, I’ll be buying the CD (probably via eMusic) when it comes out in June. Who says giving stuff away on the Internet is bad for business? I’m sold on the idea.

Friday Five: Random Play

Five contextless links:

  • Some retailers in the UK are getting more traffic from social networking sites like MySpace than from search engines (Google being the 800-pound exception, of course). Hat tip: BeyondPR, who observes that marketers should “re-evaluate your online spend to include social networks.”
  • Just another crumby marketing ploy? Put your name on a piece of toast. Via Brand Infection.
  • If MySpace were a country it would be the 11th largest and other scary thoughts on globalization. YouTube presentation, via FlackLife.
  • Internet-based alumni relations is the latest entry in Michael Stoner‘s ongoing discussion with Andy Shaindlin, executive director of the Caltech Alumni Association (and blogger at Alumni Futures). The discussion gives new meaning to the idea of “high-tech, high-touch.” Says Shaindlin: “We estimate that on average we reach alumni with electronic ‘touches’ at least 15 times as frequently as we do face-to-face. And electronic contacts outnumber those via print by about 4:1.”
  • While YouTubing for references to our campus‘s annual St. Pat’s festivities, I discovered a fun 3-minute clip of the 1949 St. Pat’s Parade through downtown Rolla, Mo. The parade was shot with an 8-millimeter camera but is in color. The guy who posted it is a UMR graduate (history, 1970) and the film was taken by his father in law. This clip offers a glimpse into an unusual 99-year tradition of our campus. The weeklong celebration culminates with the parade downtown tomorrow.