New York, NY – September 23, 2010 – Critically-acclaimed indie rock darlings Metric have partnered with Indaba Music, Topspin and RCRDLBL.com to launch a remix program designed to source an entire album’s worth of remixes of the songs from their album Fantasies. The album, which earned the band MySpace’s coveted “Triumph of the Year” award, was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for Album of the Year, and won the Alternative Album of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards, will undergo a reinvention at the hands of IndabaMusic.com’s 500,000-member-strong global community of musicians. The band themselves will choose their favorite remix of each of the album’s 10 tracks and award each winning remixer with $1000.
Metric believes that directly engaging their fans, as well as Indaba Music’s community, will provide them an ideal forum for sourcing remixes while at the same time deepening the connection with their supporters. The band’s decision to self-release Fantasies in 2009 in approximately 20 countries across 5 continents without the backing of a record label marked the beginning of a new chapter in their career and has given rise to an explosive growth in the band’s worldwide profile and popularity. Despite becoming the first band to achieve their first ever top 20 hit at US commercial radio without label support (a feat they repeated with their second single) and a slew of other impressive accolades, above all else Metric credits the tenacious support of their fans as being most responsible for taking the band to new heights.
Says Metric, “We’ve always believed that if we could just cut out all the extraneous middle men and interact as directly as possible with our fans that we would win. The more we engage with them, the better we do. The more we do it, the better it gets! With people in 205 countries and territories able to participate in remixing Fantasies, this will become the thing we’ve done with the furthest reach to date. We know how many talented musicians there are around the world that are just looking for a chance to be heard and this seemed like a good way to potentially offer some of them an opportunity to see that happen! We’re super excited to see what’s going to come of it!”
Not only is the program forward-thinking for the band, the program also marks a first for Indaba Music, as Topspin Media’s direct-to-consumer sales technology will be incorporated into all Metric remix competition pages. A long standing Metric collaborator, Topspin’s involvement will enable fans and musicians to purchase advanced stem packs straight from each contest page for $1.99/song, providing musicians with dozens of isolated stems, and thus enhanced sonic flexibility. Additionally, as with all Indaba Music remix programs, the competition will also offer a free basic set of stems for each song.
Nate Lew Head of Marketing, Business Development at Indaba Music said, “More than a third of Indaba Music’s users spend over $1,000 annually on instruments, equipment and offline tools. Clearly they invest in their craft, and we’re thrilled to be working with Metric and Topspin to offer our global community of musicians, many of whom are active remixers, with a musician-specific version of the Fantasies record (via advanced stems), as well as an incredible career opportunity.”
Additional promotion for the program will be provided by RCRD LBL, thepremiere online destination for the hottest daily music downloads. RCRD LBL will also maximize exposure for the selected remixes, by featuring them on their site, social media pages, and distribution partner sites.
Entrants should register at http://www.indabamusic.com/studio_access/metric. The top remixes will be announced in early 2011.
About Indaba Music:
Launched in New York City in February of 2007, Indaba Music has been a pioneer in the onlinemusic collaboration space, enabling anyone with internet access to connect with musiciansfrom around the world to create, edit and mix studio-quality music together online. In additionto social networking, production and collaboration applications, Indaba Music now providesmusicians with a growing collection of third-party applications, information resources andlifestyle benefits from a diverse collection of industry leading companies, including iTunes,Alfred Music, Hal Leonard, Sweetwater, Electronic Musician and more. IndabaMusic.com,a “musical ecosystem,” seamlessly guides musicians through all stages of development,fusing music education, creation, promotion, sales and talent discovery into a unified onlineexperience.
To date, IndabaMusic.com has provided collaborationopportunities with musicians including OK Go, Mariah Carey, Crystal Method, Peter Gabriel, JohnLegend, Linkin Park, Matisyahu, The Roots, Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, Weezer, Yo-Yo Ma and more.
About Topspin:
Topspin is the world’s best software for direct-to-fan marketing and retail. The choice of marketing professionals, Topspin powers the direct-to-fan efforts of Linkin Park, Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire, Eminem, and thousands of other artists.
About RCRD LBL:
RCRD LBL is the premier online destination for free, curated, legal, MP3 downloads from the hottest marquee and emergent artists. RCRD LBL delivers free daily curated MP3’s on its website, through its content partners, and directly to you, on the RCRD of the Day daily email newsletter.
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