PENRYN, CORNWALL (24 November 2009)

If you stopped a person on the street and asked them what industries were the biggest polluters of the environment, the music industry probably wouldn’t make it on their Top 10 list. It probably wouldn’t spring to mind at all. One international label believes the environment should not only be an agenda item for the music industry – it believes the issue could be the answer the industry needs in addressing the illegal sharing and downloading of music.

Credit for the idea goes to MA Professional Writing and BA(Hons) Broadcasting students at University College Falmouth. Students’ comments during a Digital Branding unit taught by Aardvark Records Managing Director Alex di Savoia prompted him to implement a Green policy. It’s a policy the label hopes will be adopted by other labels worldwide.

UCF media students’ felt MP3s were green and CDs were not. While there wasn’t a definitive correlation between the students’ perceptions and their preferences of mp3s over CDs, it was evident that green and environmental issues were important to them. By no means a call to arms to abandon CDs, the students thought the music industry could do more to address environmental issues in CD manufacturing.

Online audio and video players (or widgets to those in the know) and its digital DJ pool are important audio and video promotional tools for the label. However, Aardvark distributes countless promotional CDs to DJs, radio stations and music video channels around the globe. Effective today, as part of its Green Policy, Aardvark will drastically reduce its use of promotional CDs. Instead, it will promote the use of its audio and video widgets to music editors and feature writers and music websites. By copying a small amount of freely available hml code, online publications and websites will have the latest full-length Aardvark releases playing on their websites.

di Savoia said. “The petrochemicals used in manufacturing CDs are environmentally toxic. CDs also don’t biodegrade. What I’d like to see is record labels investing in research to make CDs environmentally friendly. Recycling unwanted CDs and DVDs could be one answer. The industry could win back deteriorating public perceptions by adopting green manufacturing processes. It could also give the beleaguered CD format a new lease of life.”

So how could this provide an answer to illegal downloading? di Savoia said: “The problem current illegal music downloading and sharing measures have is they are punitive with an air of hysteria. People either tune out to the issue or take the excessively punitive measures as a challenge. Success lays in making the behaviour social unacceptable at a grassroots level. The message would have to be clear: that mp3 sales fund the research needed to make CDs green.”

di Savoia and University College Falmouth students believe lessons can be learned from drink driving campaigns. “It’s definitely not cool to drink and drive. It’s becoming uncool to take drugs and drive. These campaigns are successful because the key message targets behaviour. If labels are prepared to fund research into ‘greening’ CDs from digital music sales, that’s something people would understand. For example, if every label paid five cents from each mp3 sale into a research pot, then the estimated 40 billion illegal downloads for 2008 (IFPI) would have resulted in a loss of billions for this research and development. That’s a very powerful and easy message for people to get and support.”

For more information regarding this press release, please contact Alex di Savoia:
Tel +44 (0) 1326 376 013, Mobile: +44 (0) 7950 839 256 or email alex@aardvarkrecords.co.uk or visit www.aardvarkrecords.co.uk

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Erik
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Press Release/01 June 2009

Power to the people…the sweet sounds of success
Aardvark Records pays fans to sell music

PENRYN, CORNWALL (01 June 2009)

While more than a few record labels rally behind the “three strikes and your out” approach ISP providers are being urged to adopt in tackling illegal mp3 sharing, Aardvark Records is taking a customarily different approach. The independent label is paying its artists’ fans to share music.

The label is adopting a new method to encourage people to share and pay for its tunes – by turning fans into retailers. Aardvark launched its own branded digital music download store today after signing a licensing agreement with the online music platform People’s Music Store (http://peoplesmusicstore.com/aardvark). The store allows users to design and open their own storefront, selecting a batch of songs from a library and then selling them; earning themselves 10% of the profits to use towards buying new music.

How big can an individual store be? Users can sell up to 50 DRM-free albums from a indecently wide range of high-quality electronica, rock, pop and other music.

People’s Music Store was founded by Ged Day, who launched Bleep.com for Warp Records — “the first” DRM free 320 Kbps MP3s store, back in 2004. This is a key factor in the platform’s credibility. If it all sounds rather like Burn Lounge, you couldn’t be further from the truth. People’s Music Store is a completely different animal, not only due to its cred-laden genesis as part of Warp/Bleep, but because it never charges storefront owners. Storefront owners only have respect and free music to gain so they have no incentive to barrage people with spam.

Aardvark director, Alex di Savoia, said: “While this solution isn’t going solve the situation of illegal, it is a cooler, friendlier way forward for the music industry. It was a short hop, skip and a jump away from our established practice of encouraging fans to share our embeddable music widgets. Now, fans receive a reward from sharing… accruing points which count towards free music.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Aardvark. The label has a wide range of genres which fit nicely into our platform,” said people’s Music Store founder Ed Underwood.

“I think People’s music Store addresses the ‘peer to peer’ issue, by enabling ‘peers’ to advocate legitimacy themselves,” said co-founder Ged Day when speaking about the appeal of people’s Music Store for labels and music lovers. “As is standard for music download services (Bleep, iTunes, etc.), artists and labels are paid a cash royalty for all sales. Our standard split is 60/40 in favour of the supplier and this applies whether the customer paid using cash or points.”

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Erik
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Press Release/18 May 2009

Lights, camera…Aardvark
Aardvark Records music video licensing deal with the Independent Coffee Network (PENRYN, CORNWALL and LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 18 MAY 2009)

Aardvark Records and World Wide Arts’ Independent Coffee Network have announced a licensing deal which sees the British record label supply the US-based music video entertainment provider with its promotional music videos. The video licensing deal will see popular videos from acts like Yahel, Zetan Spore and Little Spitfire broadcast in independent American coffee houses from coast to coast.

WWA provides independent coffee store owners with an HD flat screen television that delivers fresh and engaging content with music via broadband. The content also includes appropriate short messages from brand marketers to promote their products and services. The Independent Coffee Network mission is to serve thousands of indie coffee stores as one, creating a powerful independent group of stores.

“This platform is a better fit with Aardvark’s ethos than a previous licensing deal we tried to strike with Starbucks,” said Aardvark Director Alex di Savoia. He continued with: “World Wide Arts and the Independent Coffee Network represent fair trade, which is something we endorse and are known for as a record label. We admire their indie spirit and this innovative approach in providing our artists’ music videos in a new context.”

WWA created the Independent Coffee Network with a simple proposition: give the independent coffee store owner a unique and original media product, differentiating them from ubiquitous chain stores and connecting the fiercely loyal and independent consumer with the indie business owners. WWA aggregates original musical content from all genres and delivers the first and only network of original artistic video content to independent coffee store owners. The independent Coffee Network brings coffee customers thought content that is contextual to the coffee house environment creating better engagement for customers and marketers.

“With screens going up everywhere there is still a severe lack of interesting content. We have chosen to focus on content that is contextual to the coffee house environment first. That has made our screens an engaging experience through music and art and an gives marketers reach to a highly coveted demographic during their daily routines,” said founder, Dave Shikiar. Creative Director Justin Holt agrees; “Bringing independent art and music to the masses, while maintaining the artists true spirit of being an independent is a great opportunity for all. Aardvark Records has been a exceptional part of us pioneering that front since the beginning. This has been a very rewarding partnership and we cannot wait for what Aardvark and its’ artists create next.”

ENDS

For more information regarding this press release or Aardvark Records,
please contact Alex di Savoia: Tel +44 (0) 1326 376 013 or
email alex@aardvarkrecords.co.uk or visit www.aardvarkrecords.co.uk

For more information about The Independent Coffee Network or Word Wide Arts,
please contact Dave Shikiar Tel +1 323 524 0002 or
email dshikiar@worldwidearts.com or visit www.worldwidearts.com

About Aardvark Music
Established in 2001, Aardvark Music Ltd is the parent company of Aardvark Records and Aardvark Dance. Collectively, Aardvark is one of the UK’s most creative music companies in the UK with an international reach disproportionate to its small size. Its staunchly independent stance and pioneering spirit have produced a string of well-received releases worldwide, spanning a variety of music genres: dance, pop and rock. Current hit-making writers and producers include: EricM, Zetan Spore, Little Spitfire, Everett Young, Yahel and Jeff Alford.
Aardvark started life as a local record label handling a variety of Cornwall-based artists. It has since grown into an international label with a network of in-house licensing agents and A&R spread around the globe. It continues to rack up a series of music industry firsts. Aardvark was one of the first record labels to use podcasting. It was one of the first label groups to support internet radio. Other firsts include: providing music videos to YouTube, Google Video, Singingfool, ROO TV and a host of other online music video entertainment wesbites; providing full tracks on MySpace, Reverb Nation, Bebo and Last.fm; setting up a blog to share thoughts about music industry developments and news; and using widgets for people to share its music and its videos with their friends. Recent audio content provision deals such as the one struck with the gaming company Audio-Surf and the peer-to-peer driven music sales service People’s Music Store are a continuation of its ethos.

About World Wide Arts’ Independent Coffee Network
World Wide Arts (WWA) delivers unique, interactive entertainment experiences that capture the imagination and influence the behaviour of consumers in an “on the go”, “on demand” world.

Moving beyond traditional broadcast media and the personal computer, WWA reaches consumers in the world’s finest coffee establishments through their in-store flat screen Network.

WWA aggregates original artistic content in all genres and, using broadband and HD flat screens, delivers the first and only micro Network of original and compelling content to independent coffee store owners. The ICN brings independent coffee store customers thought provoking, ambient, artistic content from professional content providers.
The result is an innovative digital media platform that entertains and informs millions of consumers while enabling marketers to connect with their customers in new and meaningful ways.

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Erik
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Press Release/ 02 February 2009

Russian Mobile ringback tone deal for independent UK record label
PENRYN, CORNWALL & ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (02 February 2009)

Independent record label Aardvark Records has signed a deal with Russian mobile content and service provider United Fun Traders (UFT) to supply music for the burgeoning Russian audio Ringback tone market.

UFT, which supplies one of the biggest Russian mobile operators with music content, has licensed over 700 songs from the label’s catalogue. The partnership combines Aardvark’s expertise in building successful relationships with mobile entertainment content providers with UFT’s strength in the Russian mobile telecommunications technology market.

Best known for the chart topping dance and electronica acts from its sub-label Aardvark Dance, the Cornwall-based label’s pop, folk, rock and soul acts are also included in the deal. The partnership with UFT features songs from dance acts Yahel, Zetan Spore and the gold-selling EricM. Rock act Little Spitfire, singer-songwriter Everett Young and folk acts such as Steve O’ Connor, Satya Graha and Moondragon were also names that excited the Russian mobile content provider.

Aardvark Records director, Alex di Savoia, said: “This marks the first time our music will be legally available to buy in Russia. The security of UFT’s delivery platform and its knowledge and relationships within the Russian mobile content market make them the ideal company for us to partner with.”

In recent years personalized ringback tones have become globally popular. Callers hear audio playback that has been selected by the party being called. The audio can be music, voice messages and greetings or sound effects. Users have a subscriber account that allows their audio selection to be modified through the Internet, WAP, SMS, USSD or Voice User Interfaces.

di Savoia is enthusiastic about entering the Russian music marketplace: “The Eastern European footprint on our website accounts for around 28% of the 3,000 unique daily visitors we receive online. 17% of that Eastern European traffic is from Russia, and it’s very ‘sticky’ web traffic. Until now we couldn’t supply our releases to the Russian market in Rubles. This made our artists’ releases expensive for the average Russian consumer to purchase. This deal will see our releases competitively priced alongside domestically produced Russian artists.”

Andrey Kupriahin, UFT Business Development Director, added: “We are excited to be doing business with Aardvark Records. The Russian RBT market is huge and still growing. However, customers always need music: new, cutting-edge, high quality, chart-presented, different genres. That’s why UFT looks to independent record labels. Independents mostly fashion new music. We don’t want to just fill up our popular cellular service with great melodies – we want to bring the latest music trends to Russia.

“UFT has 6-years of success on the mobile VAS market and we hope we’ll share our experience with Aardvark Records – not only for RBT, but for many different areas. I can see great potential in our two companies working together.”

For Aardvark Music, the deal with UFT is the latest in a series of groundbreaking digital entertainment ventures, including high profile online partnerships. Last year, Aardvark struck a high profile content deal with the online computer gaming company Audio-Surf. It was also one of the first music companies to embrace the power of user-generated content by signing video distribution and revenue partnerships with ROO TV as well as distributing its videos through YouTube and then Google Video. Additional ventures have include Bebo, ReverbNation and Last FM

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Erik
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Here is the entire press release:

Aardvark Records puts the pedal to the metal.
Aardvark teams up with fitness DVD production company Global Ride LLC.
PENRYN, CORNWALL

Aardvark Records and Global Ride Video Productions today announce a partnership which will see the British record label supply the US-based spinning/indoor cycling DVD production company with its extensive catalogue of rock and dance tracks. The music licensing deal will see the initial delivery of chart hits from dance acts Jason Sean, DJ Front and Liquid Factor; the folk/Americana act Satya Graha; and the Indie Rock-BritPop crossover act Little Spitfire available on the newly launched cycling fitness DVD series.

The Pennsylvania-based Global Ride started as a Spinning, Yoga and Pilates Studio serving the local community. It has since expanded into the health and fitness DVD market with the launch of its in-house production studio and DVD series. The spinning/indoor cycling series will be formally launched on 1 December 2008 with a Nationwide Tour in 12 American cities from the East Coast to the West Coast. Large, prominent Spinning/Indoor Cycling studios will be the locations for the DVD series’ premiere. Selected cities include Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta and Denver.

Gene Nacey, Global Ride Director, said: “We have spent over 18 months preparing our first DVD series. Aside from editing the videos, finding good music was the most time consuming process. I was committed to not using royalty free ‘canned tracks’.” When discussing sourcing music for the project, Nacey continued: “I spent a lot of time looking for something good. When I found Aardvark Records, it was like a godsend. The music was just what I was looking for, in an affordable range. Their website made it so easy to search and find the music as well as secure the license. I look forward to doing a lot more music licensing with Aardvark Records.”

Virtual riding used to be more like car paced videos from the travel channel, or videos of lots of cyclists in padded shorts set to music few would personally listen to if they had a choice. With Global Ride DVDs, all that has changed. Virtual cycling has now taken on more structure and is suited for both individual workouts as well as group classes. Between the commercial licensed music, the multiple coaching tracks and the live performance tracks, simulating the ‘ride outside’ has never been the same.

The Global Ride team will post daily blogs covering their road trip every day as well as uploading short YouTube videos from each location where the Global Ride DVDs are shown. What makes this fitness DVD series different? The Global Ride team believe that Spinning and Indoor Cycling is on the cusp of a change, where video will become a standard offering at every health and fitness club. Global Ride sees this as the best way to bring the two worlds of the committed outside cyclist and the dedicated indoor spinner together to share in each others experience – at least in part.

Stay tuned,
Erik
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