call me crazy…but what if a band sold pixels to their friends, family and local businesses as sponsors for their tour? the pixel ads go on your site and they can either be a company logo or a photo of the person. like a wall of love. pixels of love tour. ahhh.

Check out the Pixel Ads at Geek Culture

Many of you may have heard of OurStage by now. They have teamed up with CMJ, Bonaroo, Paste Magazine and a multitude of music related companies to promote artists that fans have voted worthy of recognition and a $5,000 cash prize.

Yes, that’s right…$5,000 is given away, once a month, to the artist that gets the most votes. The clever folks at OurStage have installed a few obstacles to prevent it becoming a popularity contest, including a .50 cent charge per vote, billed to your cell phone. A bit of a bummer, but you can expect that the talent that rises to the top is the cream. My good friends, Saturna, were close runners up in month and became featured artists at the Ourstage Bumbershoot stage.

Through The Roxy I have had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with their delightful and enthusiastic staff. EJ (Entertainment Jockey) Alyssa Jane is an engaging host and one sharp tool in their marketing shed. If she and the other staff I have encountered are anything like the rest of the team at OurStage, artists can rest assured they are in good hands.

Someone has finally figured out how to manage all your profiles from one location - and the basic service is FREE. Artist Data Systems will synchronize your profiles on most music related social networks, from one location with one entry. They also offer tour management tools and a content management system to use in place of a traditional website.

Media Futurist and author Gerd Leonhard, along with fellow futurist Glen Heimstra, is featured in a series of interviews discussing the future of online media. Their insights are valuable information for anyone with an interest in doing business online. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to watch and learn. I will be posting several of the videos here over the next few weeks.

In the following interview Gerd and Glen discuss the future of user generated content. Artists, in particular musicians, are natural content creators. Music videos, digital music files, tour updates, etc. For more information about the future of online media check out Gerd’s book “The Future of Music: Manifest for the Digital Music Revolution.”

Meebo is a new service that allows users to access their IM buddies and chat with them from any computer with no installation required. For musicians on the road, this could be a handy little site. Instant messaging is a great way to stay in touch with your fans and develop stronger loyalty. With Meedbo you don’t even need a laptop to utilize this easy marketing tool.

Skywax is a collective of designers that make free websites for musicians. I can’t attest to the quality of the sites, since they don’t have links to any of their work, but I love the idea. According to Skywax, they are all about the music. Now, isn’t that music to a musicians ears!

From the Skywax website:

“Skywax is where web designers get together to provide free web design for their favorite artists, musicians, and DJ’s. As of November 26, 2007, Skywax is officially open to the public.

The project was started in 2006, and has grown exponentially since then, but the roots are still the same. The designers are all about the music, the art, and the people. If you’re an artist and you’d like the Skywax crew to design your website for free, they’d definitely like to meet you.”

It was inevitable, the movie business was going to be staring down the barrel of the piracy gun sooner or later. Hopefully studio execs have learned some important lessons about digital rights and distribution from their counterparts in the music industry. Abandon the copyright lawsuits in favor of improving delivery technology and focus on winning over movie fans rather than alienating them. But that’s just my two cents. This video from the CBC reveals that David can still take down Goliath.

This just in from the CMJ newsletter:

“British label EMI, which was recently purchased by a private equity fund, is considering a significant cut to the amount of money it provides the trade groups, including the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) and the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI), according to a report by Reuters. Each of the four major record conglomerates contributes $132.3 million to fund these groups and is it is expected that this option is one possible scenario that could occur due to difficult budget choices, following a consistent and continuous drop in revenue. In the past, the RIAA has admitted that their legal campaign against music piracy has been financially detrimental, but they would not officially comment on this move. Others, like BAGeL Radio station director Ted Leibowitz, has publicly admitted that the RIAA’s campaign has been a “financial disaster” and an “even greater public relations disaster.”

$132.3 Million dollars each from the four majors! That’s $529.2 million dollars a year. And, in case you were under the impression that the money the RIAA gets for taking people to court was going to the artists it claims to be protecting - the truth is that the money goes to pay for legal fees. So, $529 million a year, plus legal fees, goes to support the company that The Consumerist rated the worst company in America. EMI is doing the right thing. Let’s hope the other labels follow suit.

This is a hilarious demonstration of the disasters that both bands and management get themselves into. Old school or not, it is still relevant.