Them Crooked Vultures Let It All Hang Out on YouTube

They may not be the first group to put their entire new album on YouTube, but it’s still not something you see every day. New “supergroup” Them Crooked Vultures has confidently made their self-titled new album available free for anyone to listen to on the wildly popular video sharing site YouTube.

This may be an interesting experiment, whether or not the band planned it as such, I do not know. Will the release of the entire album online for free have any impact on album sales? Some fans have commented on YouTube and indicated that they plan to buy the album and applaud the group’s decision to put their music out there.

Other fans indicate that those who download music illegally are mostly kids who cannot afford to buy their music or people who would not buy it even if the downloads were not available. Groups like the RIAA surely do not agree with that assessment, but might this move by the Vultures prove them wrong? Is there any measurement that is used to accurately predict album sales? It would be interesting to know if the YouTube release has any effect on the numbers.

Perhaps the group is just facing up to reality, knowing that their album will be available online whether they put it there or not. I don’t think it takes a seasoned internet veteran to locate free music to download online, and it seems that barely any popular group is immune to having their material shared though various methods, which include download sites, news groups, torrents, P2P Networks, and perhaps others I have never even heard about.

The official release for the new album is set for November 17th.

To check out their new album in its entirety, head on over to Them Crooked Vultures’ YouTube Channel.

Tags: Album, Free, Online, Streaming, Them Crooked Vultures, YouTube

Chickenfoot Leaks Short Sample Track on The Net

Newly-minted supergroup Chickenfoot, has made a short sample of their sound available on their as-yet-unfinished website. The new group, which is comprised of Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith is working on the completion of their debut album which is supposed to be released sometime this year.

The track is pretty short, just under a minute long, which makes it hard to form an opinion, but I did like the mix quite a lot. To my ears everything sounded nice and clean, and about where it should be – nice guitar and drum sound.

It’s definitely got a hard rock feel to it, and I am rather looking forward to hearing more of what these guys have been working on. I’m not sure about “supergroup” status just yet, but this short track sounds promising.

Hagar reports that the chemistry among the members of the group is the best he has ever experienced, even when compared with Montrose and Van Halen.

As for the name Chickenfoot, there was some talk a while back that the name was just temporary until they were able to come up with something better. The fact that the name of their new website is Chickenfoot, makes one wonder if the name has grown on them and have decided to stick with it.

Check out the sample track on the group’s website.

For more, see Blabbermouth.

Tags: Chickenfoot, sample track, Streaming, Website

AC/DC Bassist Cliff Williams Is Ready For The Road

The year 2000 marked the last new album release by Australian hard rockers AC/DC, but after eight years, the band is back with a new album about to hit store shelves. More specifically, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club store shelves, since the group’s deal with the retail giant makes them the only brick-and-mortar retailer that will offer the album for sale.

"It’s nice to be back again," says Williams, who lives part-time in Fort Myers, Florida. "I feel recharged."

Although the group has not been working together regularly for a while, Williams has stayed sharp despite his encounter with a sharp object at his other home in North Carolina where he cut himself badly while cleaning up the glass from an accident involving and oil lamp. An injury that led to several surgeries and physical therapy.

Apparently, he recovered well from the accident. "I’m playing better than I’ve ever played. The thought of

never being able to play again never entered my mind, says Williams.

The new album, Black Ice, is being compared in some ways to the group’s best-selling album, Back In Black,

which was the first album the group released back in 1980 after the death of original lead singer Bon Scott. Back In Black has sold and estimated 42 million copies around the world, making it second only to Michael

Jackson’s Thriller as the best-selling album of all time.

To read more, check out The News-Press.

For those that are itching for a sneak preview of Black Ice, I received the following from Sony Music:

AC/DC’s Black Ice is currently streaming on VH1’s The Leak, giving fans a taste of AC/DC’s first album in eight years a week early.  Black Ice will officially be available for purchase starting Monday, October 20^th.

Check out Black Ice here:

http://www.vh1.com/music/the_leak

Events surrounding AC/DC’s Black Ice launch in NYC and L.A. this week, bringing fans a first taste in the countdown to the excitement of Black Ice’s release date.  Fully decked-out interactive Black Ice trucks and “pop-up” stores will enhance the fan experience to new heights.

Beginning Thursday, October 16, AC/DC fans will be able to visit the Black Ice trucks in various locations (see schedule below) to listen to the Black Ice album in full, try out the yet-to-be-released AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack video game and compete for AC/DC concert tickets amongst like-minded super-fans.

Fans are invited to join the celebration at Times Square on Sunday, October 19 where Wal-Mart and MTV will unveil the AC/DC Rock Band-branded store, selling the first copies of Black Ice available to the public (which will be on-sale from the nearby Black Ice truck as well).

Dates are as follows:

New York Locations
10/16      12PM – 8PM       Farmers Market NY @ 15th & West Side of Union Square,
10/17       9 AM – 6 PM      Military Island (Times Square)
10/18       Roving New York
10/19       9 PM – 2 AM     Wal-Mart & MTV “Pop Up” store at Times Square (Album release 12:01 am)
10/20       12PM – 8PM      Times Square
10/21       12PM – 8PM      Spring Street (Soho)
10/22       12PM – 8PM      66-67Street @ Broadway

LA Locations
10/16       12PM – 8PM      Hollywood & Highland
10/17       12PM – 8PM      The Grove
10/18       Roving Hollywood
10/19       10PM – 2AM     Hollywood & Highland (Album release 12:01 am)
10/20       12PM – 8PM      Hollywood & Highland
10/21       12PM – 8PM      Universal City Walk
10/22       12PM – 8PM      Farmer’s Market all day

AC/DC’s Black Ice World Tour opens on October 28th at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA.   The worldwide tour – the band’s first since 2001 – promotes Black Ice, AC/DC’s latest studio album. Black Ice will be released on October 20th and sold in the U.S. exclusively at Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and acdc.com. The album is currently available for pre-order at www.walmart.com and www.acdc.com.

Tags: AC/DC, Black Ice, Cliff Williams, Streaming, VH1

Alice Cooper’s ‘Along Came A Spider’ Available For Streaming Free Online

No, I’m not talking about “LimeWire” or “eDonkey” or any other file-sharing network or any music-sharing website. I’m talking about Alice Cooper’s official MySpace page and he has generously made his new album, Along Came A Spider, available to listen to in its entirety.

That’s a pretty cool thing to do for his fans, but also makes me wonder if it will hurt the sales of the album. As I checked out the album on Cooper’s MySpace page, I did notice that there was a “Download” link for each one of them, but clicking them just presented me with a message that read: “Artist has not enabled downloads for this song.”

Admittedly, I am not much of an Alice Cooper fan myself, and really didn’t have any interest in downloading any of those tracks, but I did want to see if he had taken his generosity to that level.

It appears that the intent is to simply let fans listen to the tracks from the new album by “streaming” them in real time from his MySpace page. However, there are always ways around such things and some clever person has probably already written a “ripper” to pull music from MySpace and download them to their own computer. Let’s face it, if you can hear it, there is a way to capture it.

For all I know, Cooper and everyone else involved in the production of the new album are already aware of this, and they know that once fans get their hands on the CDs, some of them will be uploading them to file-sharing networks anyway. In that respect, I guess there’s really no harm done to those who are in line to profit from the new album.

Even for the multitude of fans who lack the technical expertise to download the tracks from MySpace, isn’t there a chance that some fans might spend so much time listening to the streaming versions that they get their fill of it and decide not to spend the money for the CD? Maybe I’m off my rocker here, and just don’t know enough about the level of dedication Alice Cooper fans have for the legendary rocker.

Anyway, I still think it was pretty cool for Cooper and the others involved in the decision-making process regarding this move, and I’m sure there are many fans out there who appreciate it. Check it out at Alice Cooper’s official MySpace page.

The official release for Along Came A Spider is set for July 29.

Tags: Album, Alice Cooper, Along Came A Spider, Free, MySpace, Streaming