Google Music announced yesterday what pretty much everybody was expecting — a music store that puts purchased music into your cloud locker that you can access from any browser. What wasn’t quite expected was allowing artists to upload their own music and manage their own sales. With Google Music’s Artist Hub, they can do just that.

As their Artist Page explains, there is a one-time $25 fee for each artist, and then you can upload as many albums as you’d like. However, if the artist already exists in their database, the initial $25 fee is waived. Google will take 30% of each sale, just like iTunes and Amazon.

Of course, if anyone buys music, they can then allow any of their friends on Google+ to listen to it for free in full once by sharing it with them. That’s a good idea in theory, but until they allow the track to be embedded right there, it’s not that great. Someone shared a track with me for a free listen, but it took me several clicks and signing in different places to get to it. If it’s not easy to use, the feature is essentially pointless.

So all in all good for budding artists out there but until they implement it properly, it will remain an after thought me thinks.

(tunelab)

Our friends over at HDE have been entered for Band of the Month for November on Valkyrian Music, so if you dig what you hear, vote for them!!

VOTE

Her Dark Embrace feature on the brand new compilation music brought out by the independent & totally awesome music news website, Valkyrian Music.

The album is entitled ‘From The Depths Volume One, and is available for FREE as of today!

Featuring bands like Escape From, Windrider & Cryptic Age, as well as an exclusive new track from Wolfthorn, the album boasts an impressive 23 tracks, with the new mix of HDE track ‘Flatline’ sitting pretty right at the heart of the album.

For more information regarding the album, as well as a full track list, head on over to Valkyrian Music’s official website – LINK

To head straight to the download page, just follow this link – CLICK HERE

Also don’t forget to check out the bands official forums!!

So you may have gathered, we love all things Apple here at RT, and would wonder where we’d be without our iPhones and iMacs. What has this got to do with legendary rocker Alice Cooper you ask? Well, he has this one-of-a-kind app that transforms your iPhone or iPod Touch into the perfect air guitar or air drum kit so you can rock out to Alice’s ace new album like you’ve never rocked before.

Play along with exclusive interactive songs from “Welcome 2 My Nightmare” or remix tracks with Alice Cooper’s freaky air FX — you control the nightmare! You can even challenge your friends by sharing your score on Facebook or Twitter. It also looks ace on the amazing retina display.

The app Features:

* Play along with tracks from Alice Cooper’s epic new album, “Welcome 2 My Nightmare”, on air guitar and air drums
* Remix tracks with the air FX
* Challenge your friends and post scores via Facebook and Twitter
* Follow Alice with direct access to Facebook and Twitter feeds
* Sign up for the latest Alice Cooper news, downloads and exclusive competitions
* Grab “Welcome 2 My Nightmare” direct on iTunes, CD or colored vinyl

A short time ago RT reviewed the awesome band THIS WICKED TONGUE. Since then they’ve been plodding along working hard to strive for excellence. The band have been filming a music video on yesterday and Tuesday (24/25 Oct), and the final video is due for premiere at The Marrs bar in Worcester in November (25/11). So for all you Worcester goers, head on down to the Marrs Bar to check it out. We of course will be posting up the new video for your viewing pleasure.

Steve Jobs was and is a legend. RIP.

”Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com”

Funeral For A Friend are set to release a new nine track EP which will serve as an expansion to their ‘Welcome Home Armageddon’ album, released earlier this year. Titled ‘See You All In Hell’, this collection of tracks will include one brand new song ‘High Castles’ as well as a selection of live, acoustic and cover songs. It will be released digitally and on CD on 7th November. The release will also coincide with a vinyl edition of ‘Welcome Home Armageddon’ which will include a CD insert of ‘See You All In Hell’.

The band say of the release – “We wanted to release something special as an add-on to ‘Welcome Home Armageddon’ and we’ve got some different versions of tracks from the record on there in the form of live, acoustic and a remix by our friend LoveGadgetsHateGizmos. It was a lot of fun to throw in a Strife cover as we’ve all grown up as massive fans of that band. We were really eager to get back into the studio and write the follow up to ‘Welcome Home Armageddon’ and I think ‘High Castles’ is good indication of where we’ll be taking things on the next record.”

To top off their already brilliant 2011, Funeral For a Friend will be hitting the road in October for a run of headline dates with support from Escape The Fate, The Amity Affliction, The Bunny The Bear and Straight Lines. FFAF have also been shortlisted for the Inaugural Welsh Music Prize alongside such acts as The Joy Formidable, Manic Street Preachers and The Blackout.

“There is extraordinary heart in what they do. And there is much of that here.” – Kerrang!
“FFAF sound like they want to be a band again.” (8 / 10) – Metal Hammer

Metal Mark from SkullsNBones.com did an interview with guitar player Fredrik Åkesson of Swedish progressive metallers Opeth before the band’s September 28, 2011 concert in Nashville, Tennessee. Video below.

OPETH’s new album, “Heritage”, sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart.

OPETH’s previous studio CD, 2008′s “Watershed”, opened with more than 19,000 units to land at No. 23.

“Watershed” was the follow-up to the band’s acclaimed “Ghost Reveries” CD, which debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard chart back in September 2005 with first-week sales of just under 15,000.

OPETH’s 2003 album, “Damnation”, premiered with a little over 5,000 copies.