Music Arsenal Blog

We're happy to announce we've just launched the all new version of Music Arsenal! Not only that, but a new front site as well. Its been a grueling couple of weeks and we're very pleased with the results. We'd love to hear what you think.

More details tomorrow!

Just wanted to give everyone a quick heads up on the new version of Music Arsenal and our progress. The private beta is going great and we'll be opening up some more invites very soon so make sure you signup.

We have over 1000 hand gathered, quality contacts in the Music Arsenal directory now. There are a variety of magazines, blogs, record stores, college radio stations and more. This directory is growing very fast so check back often for updates.

We're also working on redesigning a couple of the contact pages to make them easier to navigate as well as adding functionality for advanced searches and mailing label printing.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions so far, you've helped us a lot!

After months of design, coding and development we're pleased to announce we're beginning a beta period of the new Music Arsenal application.

To signup, just fill out the Beta Signup Form.

There's a new version of Music Arsenal you say?

Yes! There is! We've rewritten Music Arsenal from the bottom up to be easier to use and easier on the eyes. Our new version also doesn't focus on just record labels. The application is also useful to artists and anyone interested in music.

What's new in this version?

• Shared Contacts - Users can now access and add information to the Universal Music Arsenal database. This way if you're a newly formed artist or company you'll have access to quality contact information at your fingertips. While this is brand new right now, we plan on this feature growing quickly.
• Easier Everything - We've rethought and redesigned the application with ease of use in mind. We've also consolidated many areas of the application for better flow.

What's coming up?
Well we're not done yet and we have a lot of features rolling out in the near future.

• User Messaging - Users will be able to message other users of Music Arsenal to quickly build relationships.
• Scene Reports - Easily find out all you need to know about a city or market where you're looking to tour or promote a product.
• Lots More - There are several other big features of the all new Music Arsenal which we'll be rolling out in the very near future.

Keep an eye on this blog for developments!

I purchased the Before the Music Dies DVD after recently seeing snippets of a public showing at Omaha music venue, The Waiting Room. I finally got around to watching it last night and I must say I was very impressed.

The documentary revolves around the changing industry in both the major label and radio play/ownership. It began with discussions with major artists (Dave Matthews, Erika Badu and more) about the fabrication of teen idols and how many of the true music talents are being passed over for pushing a bubblegum act to make a quick buck. It also had several acts commenting on the consolidation of radio and playlists being shrunk to certain songs that have passed the group evaluation and universal market appeal tests. I think the most important points made in the movie were about the music and radio industries hurting themselves in the long run by paying more attention about making money now rather than having long term vision for their artists and companies.

Its clear that long term artist development of the 60s, 70s and 80s is a thing of the past. If an artist doesn't write that hit single or their album doesn't meet sales expectations chances are they'll be dropped for the next flavor.

If you have 90 minutes to spare and would like to check out an interesting documentary about the changing industry I highly suggest Before The Music Dies.

I wanted to give the readers a quick update that we've recently added some new functionality to Music Arsenal which allows you to import contacts from an Excel file. We know it was tedious when you had a big list to hand type everything back into Music Arsenal so we've automated everything and make data population quicker and easier!

If you click on the 'Data Import' link on the left navigation you'll be taken to a page with instructions on how to upload then import your contacts. Now, instead of adding a couple hundred contacts to Music Arsenal over a day or two, it will only take you seconds! E-mail me at jimmy (at) musicarsenal.com and let us know what you think!