Spundel » Merch

B-RILLIANT!

ryanr — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:17:31 +0000

okay, so maybe I am out of the loop or just not cool enough to know about this yet, but now that I do I must share it!

What am I talking about? Rock-Afire is what I am talking about. My co-worker just showed me these videos from the Rock-Afire Explosion and I am truly blown away by them. Animatronic Showbiz Pizza animals performing contemporary songs, perfectly synced and filmed. Amazing stuff. Usher, MGMT, Arcade Fire and more are recreated with the Showbiz Rock- Afire band. Fans get to bid on what songs Chris Thrash and Aaron Fechter makes with the Rock-Afire band at this website. There are some interesting songs being bid on so go check it out and if you have some spare cash to get that favorite Donna Summer song sung by Animatronic animals here's your chance.

Now I find out there's a movie coming out about the band and some guys obsession I guess. Gotta look for that, but until then I am just going to enjoy the Rock-Afire videos.

Here's a little Usher for ya, enjoy

Here's the description of the movie from the Rock-Afire Movie website. I have got to see this, please come to Chicago soon!

“The Rock-afire Explosion” is the story of a small-town car salesman, a struggling inventor, and an animatronic rock band, that quickly becomes an eccentric portrait of childhood memories, broken dreams, and the resilience of the human spirit.

With the closing of Showbiz Pizza Place in the early nineties, and the subsequent removal of the Rock-afire Explosion, a small but determined group of fans persisted with the hopes of reviving their fallen obsession. It wasn’t until 2007, with the resurgence of the Rock-afire Explosion on YouTube with songs like “Miss New Booty,” “Hey There Delilah,” and “Love in This Club,” that the animatronic band found its way back into the public consciousness. Chris Thrash, a car salesman from Phenix City, Alabama who recently purchased a Rock-afire Explosion, has led the charge with his inventive programming and clever song choice. Aaron Fechter, creator of the Rock-afire Explosion and sole employee of Creative Engineering Inc., has worked closely with his fans with the hopes of revitalizing what was once a 300 employee, 20 million dollar per-year industry.

Through the stories of Chris Thrash and other Rock-afire fans, the viewer gets a look into the minds of individuals living beyond the confines of adulthood. “I really never stopped being a kid,” Chris remarks as he lubricates the eyes of his 300 pound, animatronic gorilla. “I just kept pushing and pushing until my dream came true.” Chris did indeed push and push until he was fortunate enough to purchase an entire Rock-afire Explosion band from creator Aaron Fechter. Aaron, dubbed by himself as the “head and tail” of Creative Engineering Inc., has spent the last 25 years trying to match the success of The Rock-afire Explosion. With shows in over 200 restaurants across the Southern United States, Aaron saw unparalleled success at only 27 years old. “It was like being in rock n’ roll,” says Aaron. “We were on top of the world.” But like any good rock n’ roll story, the rise and fall of this animatronic empire sustained personal and financial losses. With the dilapidated and 25 years-static Creative Engineering warehouse as a backdrop, Aaron tells the story of his rise to success and the subsequent fall that would cost him his closest friends, and ultimately his dream of bringing the Rock-afire Explosion into the homes of families across the country.

Today, a little over 300 miles away, Aaron’s dream is at least partially realized in the home of Chris Thrash. “These are my children,” Thrash remarks. “If they’re hurt, I want to take care of them, if they’re not doing right, I want to make them right.” And perhaps in a way Aaron never imagined, Chris’ love for the Rock-afire Explosion extends beyond mere entertainment and serves as an outlet for the difficulties in his life. “The show,” Chris comments, “helps with the stress in my life, with my wife, who deals with health problems, and with my father who is sick and who I wish would live to see the band perform one more time.” The Rock-afire Explosion, Chris reveals, is much more than a band of robots. It is a living, breathing entity that inspires the lives of a handful of individuals across the country. “One of the nice things,” Aaron remarks, “is that Chris is on my RV route, so, whenever I’m headed across country, I’ll be stopping in to visit the show.” No matter how one measures success, the connection between this once thriving creation and this simple man is as fulfilling and touching as any commercial achievement.

Who’s excited about Dead Weather?

ryanr — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:19:37 +0000

Don't know about you people, but I can't wait to hear the Dead Weather album and see them live. Jack White is brilliant, especially when working with other exceptional players and Dead Weather has a few. I LOVE Alison Mosshart and the Kills and I hope that she gets to do a lot with Jack because they would sound great together. Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs and Dean Fertita of Queens Of The Stone Age are also in the group with White and Mosshart.
Here's a video from YouTube for y'all to enjoy.

My Nightmare

ryanr — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:21:05 +0000

Okay, who said the Grateful Dead could get back together and tour? I had hoped that Jerry Garcia's death was the end of the road for these annoying mofo's, but just like every other legendary band that lost a key member they can't keep well enough alone. Maybe it's part of the Obama Stimulus, or maybe part of the Mexican drug trade stimulus. Now all you suburban, over-privileged pseudo potheads have a reason to rebel against the man, brilliant!

I don't know and I don't care, I just need to hide until it's all over.

LOOK, EVEN THE EVIL COULTER IS A DEADHEAD! ARRRRRGH. Okay maybe not, but it's the type of Deadhead hypocrisy I hate.

Borders giving up on CDs and DVDs

videokuda — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:35:09 +0000

On March 23, an anonymous employee of Borders Books wrote the Consumerist, stating that the chain will divest itself of 75% of CD and DVD inventory over the next couple months. While his (or her) claim is unconfirmed, the Borders stores I’ve passed by have large banners announcing 30%-off sales on their entire CD and DVD stock. To me it looks like they’re anxious to sell off as much of this material as they possibly can, as fast as they can. IMO this puts this “unsubstantiated” claim well beyond the realm of mere speculation.

Audiolife offers alternative to sell your music

ryanr — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:27:35 +0000

For a very long time I have felt that musicians could ditch the traditional labels and distribution system and do most of the work themselves. I always wanted to make a site where musicians could sell their music worldwide and have the full control over the distribution. There have been great ways for artists to do this but all of them took too much of the profit for it to be worthwhile for the average artist. Places like CD Baby would charge a fee plus take money from units sold so it was very difficult for artists to make money. Then with the onset of digital downloads distribtion centers would help artists get on places like ITunes but would charge a ton of money upfront and take about 30% of the units sold. Again, it was a tough way for artists to make money.

Well now comes Audiolife a new site that seems to allow musicians a great way to sell their music. I haven't had a good look at the details but here are some of my quick observations.

Types of product sold:
Merch: looks like shirts and tote bags. No buttons or stickers. I worry about quality when I see this, I wonder how they "screen" these.
Physical CDs: Audiolife actually presses your discs on demand which is great. I don't know about art quality but it definitely saves the artist the expense of getting discs manufactured. Audiolife also offers deals on bulk disc pressing in case you need to need some for gigs.
MP3 Albums and Singles: Audiolife lets you sell your songs or whole albums which is key in this digital age.
Ringtones: You have to check for the prices on the ringtones because it varies with providers.

Cost up front:
Free. This is great, most sites were charging a "huge" upfront fee on top of the fee taken for units sold. Most of the time it took a band a year to just make back the upfront fee.

Cost per unit sold:
Most of their charges seem pretty good for the artist especially with all the services they provide. Audiolife makes it's money based on what you sell so you never have to pay anything unless you sell something. Awesome for the artist, hopefully Audiolife can sustain itself until artists start using and selling through them.
Here are Audiolife's charges
MERCH - Audiolife charges anywhere from $4.82 to $42 per clothing piece. You would have to adjust your sell price over this amount to make money. Basically works like Printfection or Cafe Press.
Physical CDs - Audiolife charges $5.49 per disc which covers manufacturing, a 4 paneled booklet, 2 sided tray card and a clear jewel case. Not a bad deal really, at least you don't have huge inventory overhead you have to deal with.
MP3 Albums - Full album downloads are $3.00 which is pretty decent. You could charge $7.99 or less and still make a decent profit.

Visibility:
Looks like audiolife has some sort of widget that allows you to post your store on any site you want including, MySpace, a blog or wherever.

Payments:
Audiolife at this point only accepts Visa and Mastercard, I wonder if they will add Paypal or other types of payment in the future.

Payouts:
They pay each month, I can't tell if there is a minimum.

Looks like a real good service, if anyone has tried it I'd love to hear about it. Since it's free you may as well sign up and start selling, what do you really have to lose?

HERE IS THE PROMO VIDEO AND PRESS RELEASE FROM AUDIOLIFE

Audiolife Offers The Most Cost-Effective, Flexible, and Profitable Way to Sell CDs Online

Tue, 03 Mar 2009, 18:02:34 EST
Edited by Debra Tone

Audiolife, an Artist Services Company headquartered in Los Angeles, has built a new technology platform that will change the way indie artists sell CDs online

LOS ANGELES, Calif., March 3 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Audiolife (www.Audiolife.com), the Los Angeles-based Artist Services Company responsible for the development of a new media web-platform specifically designed for indie artists to sell music online and on-demand to fans, has released an in-depth report of findings on the future of selling CDs online. The report, "The New Way to Sell CDs Online: More Cost-Effective, Flexible and Profitable," compares the Audiolife model to competitors like CD Baby and Nimbit, and provides clear quantitative data to support the advantages of using Audiolife.

The data proves that artists who sell up to 2,500 CDs online will make more money through Audiolife than they would through traditional CD distribution outlets. There are currently hundreds of thousands of artists selling their CDs online that don't sell more than 2,500 units. In fact, the average artist on CD Baby sells less than 5 CDs per year. This new model offers a cost-effective alternative that will allow artists to spend money on marketing themselves rather than upfront merchandise costs.

"Our goal with this report is to educate artists, record labels and the industry at large about the practical and economic advantages of using the Audiolife platform," stated Brandon Hance, Audiolife Founder and CEO. "We believe that artists should be focusing on creating and marketing great music rather than worrying about logistics, vendor management and up-front merchandise costs."

In addition to the financial advantages, the report explains the practical advantages of Audiolife such as speed to market, creative flexibility, and the removal of inventory management. This empowers artists to sell new products such as EPs, custom CDs for fans, and live concert albums that wouldn't have been available otherwise.

To download the Report visit: tinyurl.com/AudiolifeReport.

About Audiolife

Audiolife (www.Audiolife.com), a division of Inhance Media, is an Artist Services Company founded in 2005 by USC graduates Brandon Hance, Aaron Wiener, and Nishit Rathod. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company is currently in public beta and continues their dedication to empowering artists through new technology solutions.

Contact: Rebekah Iliff
Audiolife
Phone 310-770-8338
Rebekah@Audiolife.com

All trademarks and service marks are the property of the respective parties.