Riot Fest Chicago is Moving to Douglas Park
The dust has settled and the official verdict is in: Riot Fest is saying goodbye to Humboldt Park and hello to Douglas Park.
Mike Petryshyn, co-founder of the recently named Best Music Festival in the US, released a statement about the festival's move to North Lawndale:
In my very first meeting with Alderman Cardenas, I was happy that we were discussing logistical details and how we could enrich the community. Quite frankly, I was silently ecstatic. He gets it and it was genuine. Our goal has always been to leave a positive impact in the community we call home by helping local independent businesses, hiring ward residents and making an impact year-round. We did that in our previous home and plan to do the same — if not more — in the community surrounding Douglas Park and the 12th Ward.
As soon as we started discussing community, it was refreshing to see George get up from his desk and start pointing on the ward map to the local businesses we need to meet and have a formal introduction. He was excited and so was I. To have an an elected official see clearly how we can bring good things is humbling. To be appreciated for who we are—as people running an indie company and a festival—by the him and all of the supporters has been inspiring.
The strife between Riot Fest organizers and Alderman Maldonado of the 26th Ward (where Humboldt Park is located) has been well-noted since last year's festival that left the park with thousands of dollars in damages. And while the festival is committed to repairing the park, Maldonado and other Humboldt Park residents were vocal with their opposition to the festival's return despite overwhelming support that resulted in over 8,000 signatures (ours included) to keep the festival in Humboldt.
Riot Fest also announced the lineup for this year's festival will be released next week, ensuring a busy Riot Fest-related news month ends on a high note.
You can read the festival's official announcement here.
Iron Maiden Plan Tour Using BitTorrent
The music industry was turned on it's head near the turn of the century when Napster and peer-to-peer file-sharing essentially ended what had been a gilded era of $20 CDs being sold with two radio hits at a massive record store. That all changed as the P2P network and then the rise of torrents increasing pushed music online and into the digital realm. As bands and artists saw their discographies pilfered by online "pirates," new strategies were put in place, grandmas were arrested and Steve Jobs convinced everyone to start selling their songs for a dollar apiece, the album format be damned.
While that sequence of events has led to exponentially more free music than we've ever enjoyed, it has also meant declining revenue for labels and artists who have had to innovate and experiment with new strategies to keep the game going. One of the more interesting ways I've seen this happen is the way heavy metal group Iron Maiden recently turned the tables on the pirates, by analyzing where their music was downloaded on the popular BitTorrent download client to decide where to route their next tour.
The logic was simple: if they're willing to steal the music, they probably like it a lot. MusicMetric, a UK company that specializes in analytics for the music industry by capturing everything from social media discussion to traffic on the BitTorrent network, crunching the figures to determine an act's popularity in certain locales. "Having an accurate real time snapshot of key data streams is all about helping inform people's decision making. If you know what drives engagement you can maximize the value of your fan base. Artists could say ‘we're getting pirated here, let's do something about it’, or ‘we're popular here, let's play a show’," said Gregory Mead, CEO and co-founder of the London-based firm in a press release.
While it first was reported by Complex and Rolling Stone that Iron Maiden actively used this information to route their latest tour, the band has since denied anything of the sort. While their dates seem to have coincided with MusicMetric data suggesting large fan bases in South and Central America, where they have since played several successful shows, the band is not ready or willing to be the poster child for mining piracy data into usable information.
About a month ago I posted a story about comedian Russel Brand releasing his latest stand up via popular torrent search engine The Pirate Bay, utilizing the site's popularity to push his product for free, which he also interestingly sold as well. The UK seems to have the first fascination in manipulating piracy networks for their own gain, which may be a sign of the digital age ravaging the old guard in a country where 70% of independent record stores have closed. It seems to be getting to the point of adapt or die, who would have thought it'd be Iron Maiden's lead to follow?
Black Moth Streams New Single
A band of heavy noise rockers from across the pond, Black Moth is coming at you with their new single "The Articulate Dead" off of their much anticipated latest album "The Killing Jar." The UK has been busy destroying festival stages throughout the UK and Europe with their aggressive punk for the past few years. But Black Moth isn't just noise and madness. Their razor-blade sharp guitar riffs, shout choruses, and lead singer Harriet Bevan's seductive vocals grab you and hold your attention with clenched fists.
A metal/rock/punk mashup -- think Black Sabbath meets Pretty Girls Make Graves meets Queens of The Stone Age -- Black Moth has evolved into an explosive sound of their own with "The Killing Jar," while staying true to their influences. "The Killing Jar" will be available in North America on CD, download, and limited edition vinyl on October 1st via New Heavy Sounds.
https://soundcloud.com/new-heavy-sounds/01-the-articulate-dead