Artsfest request Applications from Performing and Digital Artists - Closing date Friday May 28th 2010
May 8, 2010
ArtsFest, Birmingham will run from 10th -12th September 2010
We are very pleased to announce that applications for ArtsFest 2010 for performing and digital artists are now open. Applications for visual artists will open next week, week beginning 10th May and close 28th May 2010.
To apply please log onto the website: www.artsfest.org.uk
Mid way down the homepage there is a link to the performing and digital arts applications forms. Please click on the link for the form you wish to complete.
You will then be directed to guidelines to help you complete your application, and by entering your email address where requested, you will then be directed to your application form.
Once you have entered your email address, you will receive an email containing a unique link to your application form. Using the save buttons at the bottom of each page in the application, you can save your application part way through completion of it. Then by clicking on the link in the email, you can return to your application at another time. This means that you do not have to complete your application in one sitting, but can complete it in several sittings if you wish, provided you do so by the closing date of 6pm, Friday 28th May.
If you are having difficulty completing your application, please remember to look at the information, hints and tips given when you click on the blue
Information symbols that appear throughout the application form. If you have a query not answered by this information then please contact us on 0121 464 5678 or by emailing artsfest at birmingham.gov.uk.
ArtsFest receives large numbers of applications from artists each year and to assist the efficiency of our administration processes we ask that wherever possible you complete your application on-line. If for any reason however you are unable to do this and would like to request an email, hard copy, or large print version of the application form then please do so by telephone or email at the details above.
We look forward to receiving applications from all involved with The Music Network
ArtsFest
Birmingham City Council
Events Section
C/O Manor House
40 Moat Lane
Digbeth
Birmingham
B5 5BD
0121 464 5678
artsfest at birmingham.gov.uk
www.artsfest.org.uk
ArtsFest 10th -12th September 2010
FUZZBOX - Eighties pop punk band ‘We’ve Got A Fuzzbox & We’re Gonna Use It’ are making a return in 2010
April 28, 2010
You may want to know that it’s Official – FUZZBOX are back. The Eighties pop punk band ‘We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It’ are making a welcome return in 2010 with the announcement of a UK Tour.
The reunion will see the band take to the stage with their infamous fuzzbox sound, which dominated the charts in the 80s. Hits like ‘Pink Sunshine’, ‘International Rescue’, ‘XX Sex’ and ‘Rules and Regulations’ will feature in what is to be the band’s first European Tour in 20 years.
May 2010 Dates
13 Southampton Joiners Arms
14 Bristol Fleece n’ Firkin
15 Manchester Roadhouse
16 Glasgow King Tuts
17 York The Duchess
18 Norwich Norwich Arts Centre
19 Nottingham The Social
20 Oxford Oxford Academy
22 Birmingham Birmingham Academy
23 Colchester Colchester Arts Centre
24 Brighton Audio
25 London Islington Academy
Fuzzbox will be releasing a new single on Gotham Records, as well as working on a new album. For all enquiries, please contact Barry Tomes: barry at barrytomes.com or +44 (0)7966 174 319
Yes! They’re back! ?And the fabulous “We’ve got a …FUZZBOX… and we’re gonna use it!!” have specially selected all of YOU to attend their secret exclusive tour launch-party. ?Expect an evening of FUZZTASTIC entertainment…?Prepare yourselves for a taste of tour – See an exclusive live performance. ?Be entertained with much FUZZ and NONSENSE including a splendifierous 80’s disco with DJ Declan.? Be rewarded with a prize for the best 80’s fancy dress.
Tuesday 4th May Starts 7.30pm? DON’T BE LATE!
The Asylum?38-43 Hampton Street, Hockley, Birmingham B19 3LS
All enquiries to Barry at BTMG 07966174319? barry at gotham-records.com
www.fuzzboxfans.com
www.youtube.com/fuzzboxfans
Mark from Iron Man Records interviewed by Katy Jay at Musoplex March 2010
April 3, 2010
Mark from Iron Man Records interviewed by Katy Jay, unsigned music champion from 101.8WCRfm in Wolverhampton.
Musoplex describes Mark Badger as “…..Head of one of Birmingham’s most loved and influential independent record labels…..Iron Man Records have released music from grindcore to punk and anti-folk over the last 15 years. Hear Mark’s views on bands, recording, touring and being the head of a label. The interview features footage of …..punk band Police Bastard, Anti-folk New Yorkers Dufus and Last Under the Sun.”
Mark talks about Police Bastard and Trogg, Tape Trading and life before filesharing and the Internet, touring with a band on a budget you can stick under a glass, the idea of giving bands a small amount of help at a critical time, Robert Lloyd and The Nightingales, how the label got involved with Seth and Dufus and he talks about his own band called Last Under The Sun.
Here’s a direct link: http://blip.tv/file/3407655
MUSIC WORLD RADIO Top 20 Chartshow - Vote & Nominate at http://www.topchoons.com
March 1, 2010
The Alternative Top20 Chart - February Week 4
MWR Weekly Listener Music Chart - Music by the People, voted for by the people and played for the people.
Music World Radio - Our mission is simple; to bring great music to music fans, no matter the style or genre. We are sometimes eclectic and different but always classy and never ever staid or boring. If you love great music, Music World Radio is the place to be for all your musical tastes and needs and perhaps you’ll hear some stuff you’ve never heard before. So check our schedule, tune in and get involved with one of the hottest cool music stations out there. Remember, it’s your music, your world, your radio! Contact MWR here
http://www.musicworldradio.com
MWR Top 20 Chartshow - Vote & Nominate at http://www.topchoons.com
1. Nice As Pie - Bad Girl
2. Rudy Jr & The Lovepirates - Stupid Chick Opus8
3. Neongrau - Hi Level Slacker
4. Dead Drunk Society - Black Beauty Musclecar
5. Redlight - Whats Going On ?
6. Katrin the Thrill - You Make Me Wanna Die
7. Victims of Bad Television - Questions
8. Johnny Normal - Time
9. Fistfuzz - Tongue Depressor
10. Shag Nasty - Punk Anthem 77
11. Iguana - Undone
12. The Satin Dolls - Walk Away
13. Pop Incorporated - Looking 4 KLF
14. Seven Thorns - Forest Majesty
15. Frauenarzt & Manny Marc - Disco Pogo
16. Sarah June - Cowboy
17. The Rotten Rebels - My D-Day
18. Richard Snow & The Inlaws - Silent Girlfriend
19. Vinyl Fiction - Dont Call For A Revolution
20. Conflict and Kemmikal - The Dancer
MWR Top 20 Chartshow - Vote & Nominate at http://www.topchoons.com
The Alternative chart at Music World Radio is presented live on air every friday night - a guarantee for airplay to every track that makes it to the Top20. A wide selection of nomimations are equally given a spin on air during the chart show - and over the week by all the MWR DJs.
No genre is left out of the MWR Alternative Top20. If the listeners want dance, techno, death metal, punk or indie rock - thats what theyre gonna get - and if they change their mind and jump on the europop train, so does the chart. The listeners have all the power to nominate and vote!
If you have an appetite for more music rants, alternative charts, album reviews, news from Club Impulse Second Life and a wide variety of other music related randomness drop past the gossip blog and leave your comments.
Check out the bands in the charts here, there are plenty of goodies from new and unsigned acts burning through the barriers with fresh ideas, established acts firing up the party with monumentally powefull musical parades and thought-to-be has-beens making their way back to the charts with new interesting material
Musoplex - A collective of music-centric professionals working under one roof in Oldbury
February 16, 2010
Dictionary: - Musoplex (aka the ‘plex)
Birmingham’s brightest collective of music-centric professionals working under one roof in Oldbury.
Musoplex is home to: -
Framework Studios - headed up by Si Reeves this legendary studio works across the board - in the last 2 months alone we have recorded everything from acoustic songs for a West End show to the new Police Bastard EP for UK and US release soon and everything in between from tribute bands to mayhem metal from Frozen Theory and indie-disco from Discotheque Wreck. Lee Phillips - Corner Studios, Wolverhampton, is also on our Producer roster.
Rehearsal Rooms - we have 4 - they all work, they are much used cos they are only £9 per hour.
Raven: Record Label - housed in the small office at the front Andy works on finding quality bands (usually by sticking his head out the door and listening to whoever is in) and we record them and release them. Only a year old and 5 releases in but it does get easier as it goes along. March 1st sees the release of a 3 version single - Your Silence - from Discotheque Wreck to be followed by the EP later in March. Pre-orders alone have already made the Top 10 for Indiestore downloads and the songs go live on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon etc on March 1st. The band tour the UK to promote the single and EP soon - see www.discothequewreck.co.uk
Photography - The ‘plex has it’s own photo / video studio too - and 3 photographers to choose from. The last few weeks have seen shoots for The Ganders, Butterfly Fan the Inferno, Planet Rock and more. Competitive to completely creative - you choose what you want from us and we deliver.
Promotion - we have just secured a much-needed local venue for live gig promotion - watch this space.
Videography - We work very closely with Pete of Abstract Reaction. His 4 camera live videos are stunning, his visual creativity beyond compare. Pete is just back from a European tour making a band documentary as well as accompanying Dufus on mush of their UK tour. We are now looking forward to making the first of a series of interview videos. Pete is also a superb Wolves Uni grad photographer.
Learning and Development - Katie Southall (radio presenter Katy Jay) helps us to keep on top of learning and development projects - currently running the excellent Sound It Out project. Katie is also a superb photographer.
We have links to management teams, get our bands radio play and generally help in any way we can.
The ‘plex Team.
Si Reeves - Studio, Head Producer
Andy Ward - Studio, Photography, label, business
Katie Southall - Learning and Development, Photography
Affiliates
Pete Rhead - Videography and photography
Lee Phillips - Producer
Musoplex
Junction 2, M5 - Oldbury
mail at musoplex.com
How does Iron Man Records choose it’s artists and how does it promote them?
November 28, 2009
An article about Iron Man Records, Birmingham writtten by JANINE LABUSCAGNE BA (HONS) Media & Communication, University of Central England, 2007.
“…..There are two kinds of music – good music and bad music. Good music is music that I want to hear. Bad music that I don’t want to hear” Fran Lebowitz, Metropolitan Life, 1978
The objective of this study discusses promotional strategies generated by the independent record label, Iron Man Records. The research examined the use of the Internet as a free marketing tool and how traditional methods of running a label did not have an affect on Iron Man. Discussing this, I examined the theoretical areas of music industries, promotion and punk in order to understand and gain a solid background for the development of my research.
Conclusions are then put forward after conducting a participant observation, that social networks play the biggest part in promotion for the label. Findings throughout the research have been put forward about the different strategies used in the process of online promotion, as well as more general suggestions for further research.
‘De muziek is de geleende creativiteit en motivatie in ons leven’ (translated from Dutch), music is the borrowed creativity and motivation in our lives. The music industry has had one of the biggest influences in our lives and on our culture. An example of this would be Wall (2003) and Anderson’s (2006) statements which look at popular music as the: “soundtrack to our lives” (2003; 1) and that “we are consumed by hits – making them, choosing them, talking about them, and following their rise and fall” (2006; 2). The world of the music industry is one which has been forced to make changes because of the constant development of new technologies. These changes are in order to keep fans consuming the product that is for sale – music. Britain is a nation of music lovers and we buy more music than any other country – four units per capita each year (IFPI Recording Industry in Numbers 2002).
The music genre known as punk, has been around since the late 1960s, when unemployment was a prominent social feature in Britain. It would appear that we are currently witnessing a re-evolution of the music industry and punk’s DIY (do-it-yourself) ethos within independent record labels. Beyond the development and creation of music, technology has created an impact on the production, distribution, and consumption of ‘Iron Man Records’ music. “Record companies see the other media as promotional avenues for their music” (Wall 2003; 111). There are many new and different social networks such as MySpace, MOG and Flickr which will be one of the main areas of focus for the research. These social networks have evolved on the Internet and the trend displayed by many bands in choosing independent record labels, such as Iron Man Records, above major record labels demonstrates what Barrow and Newby argued about how the music industry:
“Without popular recording artists there would be no music business and without record companies there would be no musical product to be bought in the shops” (1995: 2-3).
The research question, ‘How does the punk music label, Iron Man Records, choose its artists and how does it promote them?’ is a significant topic in the industry to investigate. The independent label has not been explored in depth before, although academics have looked at similar areas of the music industry. The study will look at how relationships are being built between a record label, the music industry and bands. The study also looks at what steps are being taken to promote and market Iron Man Records music. Read more here: Click link for full article on Iron Man Records
Countercultural Capital & the Creative Economy - How do 1990s DiY Music ‘Entrepreneurs’ talk about the contemporary music business?” by Charlotte Bedford 2008
June 4, 2009
Here is a link to “Countercultural Capital & the Creative Economy - How do 1990s DiY Music ‘Entrepreneurs’ talk about the contemporary music business?” written by Charlotte Bedford for her MA Media Enterprise – Birmingham City University (May 2008)
It makes an interesting read…..here is a brief summary:
Placing independent music at the centre of the wider creative industries, this paper captures experiences and perspectives from 1990s DiY Music in order to inform the understanding of the rapidly changing ‘business’ of music. The research builds on Leadbetter and Oakley’s (1999) description of a ‘new’ model of work derived from cultural entrepreneurs’ characteristic ‘independence’, and Wilson and Stokes’ (2002) subsequent paper on the changing nature of small independent businesses in the music industry. These ideas are considered in relation to cultural and popular music theory, particularly drawing on Thornton’s (1998) concept of ‘subcultural capital’ where value within a music scene relates to the lines of demarcation differentiating between underground and mainstream. The role of the cultural entrepreneur is examined through accounts and opinions of independent music practice then and now, exploring the extent to which the current Do-it-Yourself digital music trend is new and ‘independent’.
A NIGHT OF PUNK ROCK ANARCHY - The Wagon and Horses, Digbeth, Birmingham, Saturday 14th march 8pm Door tax: £6
February 23, 2009
A NIGHT OF PUNK ROCK ANARCHY IN BIRMINGHAM
The Wagon and Horses, Digbeth, Birmingham
Saturday 14th march
8pm
Door tax: £6
A NIGHT WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN SALT . BIRMINGHAM WILL HOST 3 OF THE FINEST BANDS ON THE PUNK ROCK CIRCUIT.
FROM IRELAND: PARANOID VISIONS (THE HATE OF THE CITY)
(includes members ex members of : striknien dc / P.A.I.N.and Bad Manners)
LONDON PUNKS :
THE RESTARTS - ANARCHO PUNK AT ITS BEST
FROM DERBY:
POUNDAFLESH - LIKE WATCHING A RIOT KICK OFF
The Music Network Meeting 4pm, 29th January 2009, Birmingham TIC
January 14, 2009
The Music Network organises a NETWORKING EVENT
on the last Thursday of each month, 4-6pm
at The BCU Technology and Innovation Centre(TIC), Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG. (directions/info tel: 08712 262725)
The next meeting is open to all on Thursday 29th Janauary 2009 4pm til 6pm at The TIC, Birmingham.
The Birmingham branch of Musicians Union will be supplying luxury chocolate biscuits and good coffee for all. There’s food and drink afterwards supplied by the creative networks lot too. Come and talk about music and what you’re up to and meet some new people, you know it makes sense.
The Music Network organises the meeting for the benefit of music related businesses in the West Midlands region. If you have news to report, a presentation to give, an event to promote, any new points for discussion, a pitch to make, a new website or online music business to talk about, business cards or flyers to hand round, an appeal for help, advice or guidance or even if you just want the free tea and biscuits and some quality entertainment…you are all invited.
AU-Squat-Festival Frankfurt, Germany- squatted for 25 years
May 25, 2008
Birmingham based band Police Bastard have been invited to Frankfurt, Germany.
On the 7 and 8th of June 2008 the autonomous cultural and living project and oldest squat in Germany, the AU in Frankfurt/Main, celebrates the 25th aniversary of the squatting.
The AU can look back on 25 years of non-profit DIY concerts, soup/people’s kitchen and many other great cultural and political events. The area offers a self-organized living space for a lot of different people.The AU is a political space which positions itself against each way of racism, nationalism, antisemitism and sexism.
Sat 07.06. Open-Air Festival (AU-Fest)
Bands playing are
LIFE BUT HOW TO LIVE IT! (Norway), 1982 (Germany), POLICE BASTARD (UK), CHARGE 69 (France), NOISE ANNOYS (Germany)
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