NEWS

Digital Streams to Get Own Music Chart

Next week, the Official Streaming Chart will be compiled for the first time, underscoring the importance of the role such services play in the way music is consumed today.

Over the past 12 months, 2.6 billion audio streams were delivered in the UK and in 2011 label revenues from streaming services increased by 30 per cent to £35m in 2011 – accounting for 4.5 per cent of total music industry revenues.

To create the top 100 rundown, the Official Charts Company will be taking data from leading streaming services including Spotify, Deezer, Napster, We7, Zune (Xbox Live) and new mobile phone start-up ChartsNow.

All the more reason for artists to get Royalty-Ready. Want to learn more? Contact Itchy Music for additional information, HERE.

Read the full article HERE:

IME’s ENROT – A Crowd Pleaser

COMMENTARY | It started as any other night out at The Slidebar in downtown Fullerton,, Calif. the simple idea of taking a break from life and enjoying the company of others. Unlike every other night, however, it ended in several new acquaintances and a powerful performance by my new favorite metal band — Enrot.

After engaging in lengthy conversation, it was finally revealed to us who they were, and suffice it to say that we were at least a little surprised to find out that we were talking to one of the bands of the night’s lineup.

It was really great to see artists with such humility when their superb performance could have easily enlarged their ego. Beyond being gracious and genial people, they were all about pleasing their fans — who were enjoying every moment of the performance. It was such a captivating performance that it left the crowd wanting more, yet happy to have heard it at all…

Read the FULL Show review HERE

The Tyranny of Tradition Summons A BAND OF ORCS

Who would’ve thought that an Orc would have so much to say? That’s exactly what Keith Spillett of the Webzine “Tyranny of Tradition” found out recently, when he summoned the Santa Cruz based underlings and heavy metal makers known as A BAND OF ORCS.

Appearing on his doorstep, a menacing and quite verbose GOGOG BLOODTHROAT, the lead singer of the tribe. In his recent essay entitled “1504 Words With Gogog Bloodthroat From A Band Of Orcs” Spillet inquires of a typical day in the life of an Orc, why they chose metal music as their earthly manifestation and learns of a “magical” new album in the works.

Here’s an excerpt from Tyranny of Tradition:
April 16, 2012
1504 Words With Gogog Bloodthroat From A Band Of Orcs
By Keith Spillett

Gogog Bloodthroat, the singer from A Band Of Orcs, had broken down my front door and was climbing my stairs with a giant knife between his teeth. I tried desperately to run away, but Gogog grabbed me and pinned me against the wall. He was raving about a magic album they were recording that was coming out in June or July that was going to destroy all human eardrums. According to Gogog, the cover art was going to be done by a brilliant slave named Chuck Lukacs. I was able to ask him some questions before I blacked out from the beating I received.”

Be sure to catch more ABOO at: www.abandoforcs.com and read the full interview HERE.

OneThirtyEight Experiences IME’s RULE OF THUMB!

The lasting impression of a great performance never gets forgotten! ‘Tis the case when GE138 caught Itchy Metals’ hardcore brothers RULE OF THUMB at the Bunkhouse, Las Vegas along with Ringworm, Full Blown Chaos, Unfair Fight and Demon Lung. Onethirtyeight.org is a web ‘zine about the Las Vegas Punk Rock Music Scene. Here’s a quick excerpt on GE’s review of the ROT set – catch the entire article HERE:

From OneThirtyEight.Org:
“The next band up was called Rule Of Thumb, and I’ve seen that name on countless gig flyers and yet I’ve never seen them play before. I didn’t know if that was a bad thing or a good thing before I saw them play, but after I saw them play, I realized that it was a bad thing because Rule Of Thumb are a good fucking band. They got a heavy ass sound, reminiscent of bands like Biohazard or even Helmet, which is sort of combined with this party vibe Rap attitude to just, I dunno, work! LOL And anybody that sports a Public Enemy sticker on their instrument is alright in my book! They’re a bunch of scary looking dudes, but N.J. Pete told me they’re some of the coolest, nicest guys in town, and for him to say that about somebody is definitely saying something! It definitely made enjoying the band a little bit easier to do. Rule Of Thumb just pummeled their way through a pretty brutal sounding set of tunes, stopping in between songs to get the crowd to drink with them or to just Thank them for coming out and seeing them play. Pete was right. These guys were nice. It wasn’t some Rockstar rehearsed ‘Hey – How ya’ doing out there?’ kind of shit, that’s for sure. Cool to see. Rule Of Thumb jumped and danced around and rocked the fuck out and seemed to have a good time while doing it. I liked what they were doing, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing them again sometime soon. I don’t know how these guys flew under my radar for so long but I’m gonna remedy that situation Pronto! Rule Of Thumb are definitely one of the better Local bands here in town. Does anybody else dig these guys too?”

Catch more RULE OF THUMB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lvruleofthumb

Itchy Artist MIKEDRASTIC: Interview with Seattle’s Juice Radio

After becoming the 46th winner in Juice Radio’s (www.gojuiceradio.com) “Fresh Coast Faceoff”, Itchy Metal Entertainment veteran MIKEDRASTIC chopped it up with music director D-Money about the difference between life behind and not behind the mic, riding motorcycles, and gives the fans a sneak-peak of his upcoming project by revealing the title for his full length album.

MD is currently on the road as one of the featured performers on the recent Working Class Artists tour (along with IME artists A.K.A. & SUEDE). Check out “the big guy with a heart” who’s known for keeping it real, mixing with metal and rockin’ the rap out of folks…