D A Recordings has brokered a deal between its preferred payment gateway for emusu.com, Click and Buy, and key client EMI Music. An initial introduction made by D A led to the creation of ‘Fresh Sounds 2007′.

The compilation of principally development acts from across the EMI stable of labels includes MIMS, Tiny Dancers, and Jakobinarina well as Mobo nominated Unklejam and hit making international Dj, David Guetta.

“The idea for the compilation came from the need for a product that we cold launch quickly alongside Click and Buy’s rollout through the cash top up network, Payzone.” explains D A’s M D, Chris Thompson… “Click and Buy’s affiliation with Payzone means our younger customers who don’t have access to plastic need not pay inflated SMS mobile network charges, instead they can use cash to purchase Click and Buy credit that can be used throughout the emusu.com network of digital music stores. No-one likes to pay more then they should and the rollout through Payzone means we can offer unrivaled consumer value and maintain record company and artist margins whilst opening up a key route to market through convenience stores.”

EMI are one of the first to embrace the channel, offering up their 10 track download only mp3 compilation just as school kids’ return from the summer break. The album is just £2.99 with single tracks at the usual 79p. Click and Buy have added a £1000.00 photo competition give away advertised alongside ‘Fresh Sounds 2007′ on leaflets designed to add impact to the launch to be distributed through a selection Payzone’s 25,000 convenience store partner outlets. ‘Fresh Sounds 2007′ is officially released September 10 on www.freshsounds2007.com.

An important year for musical creativity and diversity is highlighted by the 12 Albums of the Year shortlisted for the 2007 Nationwide Mercury Prize, announced on Tuesday 17 July.

“This year’s Nationwide Mercury Prize shortlist celebrates a remarkable range of artists who use their albums to tell stories, shape moods, explore emotions and lift the spirits,” says Simon Frith, Chair of Judges. “The list marks the emergence of a wealth of eclectic talent making music with great energy, excitement and personality.”

This year’s shortlist demonstrates the continuing musical vitality of regions throughout the British Isles . The View, with Hats Off to the Buskers, hail from Dundee while Dublin-based Fionn Regan is shortlisted for The End of History. Maps’ James Chapman recorded his album, We Can Create, in his Northamptonshire bedroom and The Young Knives, whose Voices of Animals and Men is shortlisted, now live in Oxford after forming in Ashby de la Zouche. Sheffield ‘s Arctic Monkeys won the Prize in 2006 and continue to make musical history by being the first artists to be shortlisted in two consecutive years – this year for their number one album Favourite Worst Nightmare.

Among the debut albums on the list are New Young Pony Club’s energetic Fantastic Playroom, the haunting self-titled album from Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford, and Jamie T’s Panic Prevention, which provides a witty snapshot of growing up in contemporary Britain . Other debut releases come from Klaxons with their exhilarating Myths of the Near Future and the beautiful and intriguing album by Bat For Lashes, Fur and Gold.

The shortlist is completed by Back to Black, Amy Winehouse’s UK number one album and Maths + English by a previous winner of the Prize, Dizzee Rascal.

The 2007 Albums of the Year are:

Bat for Lashes Fur and Gold
Maps We Can Create

Fionn Regan The End of History
The View Hats Off to the Buskers

Music service provider, D A Recordings, set the standard at the West Midlands ‘Creative City Awards 2007′ held at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre last Thursday, 19 July.  D A’s emusu.com music ecommerce platform saw the Brum based enterprise pick up awards in both its nominated categories of Outstanding Innovation and Outstanding Business Development.  M D, Chris Thompson, said, “It’s great to see the music industry recognised in this way.  We’re really proud to be leading the creative sector regionally.  Having won ‘Most Promising New Business Start-up’ back in 2005 I felt we had something to prove and was as nervous about the Creative City Awards as our recent deal with EMI”.  D A powers www.emimusicoffer.com, a DRM free digital store enabling EMI to offer album downloads as brand promotions using pre-paid PIN codes.

The Blue Hippo camera crew will at the D A Recordings/emusu.com stand no. MBA101 on Thursday 28 June offering half hour interview slots with acts.  Each will be professionally edited and soundtracked to your specification and your exclusive branded video interview of 5-7 minutes will be sent to you post event within 2 weeks for immediate exploitation.  The web interview package has a minimum value of £500.00.  You can pre-request a production slot at London Calling and get this complete service for £100+VAT including a further 10% discount on any future emusu music ecommerce or Blue Hippo video production services.

 To book your acts 30 minute interview production slot please email vision@emusu.com detailing your company, your act, and your preferred time slot.  Production slots will be allocated on first come first served basis.

This time, the event will return to the centrally based CAMDEN CENTRE. The format will be based around two rooms, one with networking space, a bar and a networking lunch – along with space for around 24 stands to be hosted by digital companies. We’ve reduced the number of stands available this time, so that we can offer the networking lunch that was so popular at last April’s event.

The seminar room will host a session of free 2 minute introductions, allowing up to 30 digital companies to introduce themselves to label attendees. There will also be a keynote speech from Merlin CEO Charles Caldas, and three seminar sessions with a focus on online marketing – as requested by AIM members.

As a digital company you may wish to simply attend the event, or to host a stand.

Attending the event

Visit the AIM website NOW to book tickets – click here http://www.musicindie.com/242.asp?sub=Events#. Entrance is £20 inc VAT and lunch for members/Friends of AIM, and £80 inc VAT and lunch to non members. There is a 15% discount on the standard price for members of MMF, MPA and BPI.

Introduction
Many producers, small niche labels, self-releasing artists and managers know that, irrespective of genre, all roads point to digital in some shape or form. Yet whilst knowing that an online presence is as essential as it is desirable, many remain unclear, if not bewildered, as to how best establish and maintain an online presence – much less how to reach, engage and grow a subscriber base. And the growing number of formats, distribution channels & platforms, coupled with advancing technology only serve to confuse the picture for many wishing to occupy the digital space.

Buzz Building: Squeezing The Most From The Web will enable those starting out in cyberspace to best navigate the digital maze. From website commissioning & design through to online sales and marketing, a panel of digital experts and online marketing gurus will discuss how to create an effective, online presence and develop practical online marketing strategies.

The session will comprise two topics:

Website Development – creating and maintaining an online presence

• design – development of a brief & good website design considerations
• site construction – bespoke vs off-the-peg solutions
• integration of audio – streams, podcasts and downloads.

Online Marketing – practical and effective strategies in the digital environment.

• e-campaigns/data mining/key site population/search engine optimisation
• DIY approach – self-releasing artist/grassroots fanbase development
• indie label approach to online marketing.

ClickandBuy’s Founder and Chairman of the Board, Norbert Stangl, said: “This investment represents an important milestone for ClickandBuy. We expect that this investment from Intel Capital will strengthen our competitive advantage in E-Payments and confirm our position as one of the leading e-payment systems in Germany and Europe while providing an ideal platform for global expansion.”

Arvind Sodhani, President of Intel Capital commented, “We are witnessing a rapid increase in broadband penetration which is fueling a variety of consumer internet services in addition to growth in downloads of music and videos. Customers and merchants seek a trusted, secure and convenient method to transact on the internet and this is driving ClickandBuy’s rapid growth into becoming a leading global payment service provider.”

As an ASP, ClickandBuy makes it possible for merchants and linked stores to outsource e-commerce services and complex billing for paid content, services and goods. The system handles billing in various currencies, various VATs, credit card processing, live customer care and fraud detection. ClickandBuy offers an abundance of payment methods, including the 40 most commonly used payment procedures in Europe.

Many well-known providers, such as Apple iTunes, T-Online (powered by ClickandBuy partner Deutsche Telekom AG), Electronic Arts, iVillage, Codemasters, Skype and the leading entertainment portals (dating, music and gaming) use the ClickandBuy payment service throughout Europe and the US. Leading European media companies also bill with ClickandBuy, e.g., The Independent, La Tribune, Gazzetta dello Sport, Telecinco, Financial Times Deutschland and Neue Zürcher Zeitung

One of the key factors for ClickandBuy’s success has been its highly developed fraud prevention system, which protects both the customers and the providers of ClickandBuy against Internet fraud. Many customers and merchants use ClickandBuy for its high security standards and its quick and easy implementation process for the selling of goods online.

When and how did the company first get started?
Though D A Recordings was founded in 2001 it barely traded until 2005 after developing its emusu.com software. Establishing the service provider aspect of the business was far from a smooth process says Chris…

“After consulting the Birmingham based start-up signposting centre, Creative Launchpad, we applied for a Feasibility grant form Birmingham City Council. This was granted and gave us the resource to focus on our business plan. I’d already researched and written a plan for distributing music over mobile networks but we wanted to focus on a more tangible and achievable business model.

During this period we received an email form the Chamber of Commerce inviting budding entrepreneurs to pitch business ideas to a panel of millionaire investors. Taking the bate we applied and Richard, then co-writer in Digital Animal, and I attended an interview at Pebble Mill for a new BBC2 programme called Dragons Den. We were duly accepted and headed to London in October 2004 where we sweated our way through 10 minutes of reasonable questioning and 90 minutes manufactured reality TV pressure. Needless to say we didn’t get the £250k we’d felt so sure of. ‘Shaken but undeterred’ as I said on the show, we come back to Birmingham in the knowledge the whole charade would be broadcast to millions 3 months later!”

D A, recognising it required a technical partner to develop its proposition then set about pitching software companies and to partner in the business. Within 3 weeks of the Dragons Den pitch the online music start-up secured seed capital from business angles and went on to secure further development investment from ACF.

What have been your major projects to date?

• Winning contracts with over 160 record companies
• Building our own music portal to feature our clients, www.emusu.com
• Integrating our software with the Official UK Chart Company
• Winning major contracts to provide digital stores for major labels/artists

• • http://www.dameshirleybassey.com/
  • http://www.thesladestory.com/
  • http://www.susythomas.com/
  • http://www.enoshop.co.uk/
  • http://www.moneypennys-media.com/
  • http://www.sharonosbourne.com/

What has been your greatest achievement to date?
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of growing the business D A has experienced is implementing the processes and structure necessary to support its growth. “I believe that the key skill I’m developing as a director is to balance investment in human and technical resource with investment in our client acquisition strategy” says Thompson.

“It would be easy to overtrade and let clients down. Instead, by focusing on what know we can deliver, we have been able to build a solid foundation for a much bigger long term international new media entertainment business.”

What is next for the company?
“Diversification. We accidentally created our trading niche in the heart of the music industry. We did not anticipate the extent of the demand for ecommerce from established record companies” explains Chris. “Initially our model was focused on unsigned acts. By integrating with the established music industry royalty collection societies and involving them in our solution we have been able to meet the demands of the sector. We provide a unique service – we have become more like an online music marketing consultancy then a technology provider.

In 2007 D A intends to capitalise on its position by making its services available to independent artists and consumers. The idea is that there should be nothing to prevent anybody who creates new music or video from setting up a website and selling it online. The emusu ecommerce platform will facilitate that activity making it easier and simpler so that people have more time to create.

Where do you hope the company will be in 2 years time?
The D A operation is planned to expand to include satellite offices in major international cities. “Whilst the Internet has global reach it is important to become involved with local creative’s and local business in order to understand their potential and maximise the value of their output. We have experienced this regionally between Birmingham, Manchester and London” Chris observes. In two years I’d like to be employing a Managing Director and take a more focused role in one area of the business, perhaps repeating the start-up business development model in another territory.”

In addition D A uses the promo CD as its business card when speaking with new client prospects for the emusu music ecommerce platform, which has resulted in several licensing and distribution deals across our client base helping penetration of your product through new retail channels and territories.

“All at D A Recordings are proud and privileged to have been able to compile this CD. As well as being widely circulated at the world’s most renowned music industry trade fairs and to music consultants and media agencies globally this compilation is a showcase of the songwriters and artists who use the emusu music ecommerce platform.” boasts Chris of D A Recordings… “Unlike most sampler CD’s we have ordered the track listing to deliver a inspiring and challenging yet naturally progressive listening experience… the UK chart topping nu-pop folk of Nizlopi; the spellbinding songwriting of the late Matthew Jay; the tongue-in-cheek irony of The Nightingales; the luxurious pop of Kate Stephenson; Lautrec’s stunning electronic pop production; Jedeye’s dance genius; the seductive futurism of Chill Bill… whilst designed for promotional use we hope the industry will enjoy our 2CD collection for 06/07 as an album as well as a marketing tool!”

For more information about D A Recordings and their products and services please visit www.emusu.com.

Concerned that this hiatus between records would leave Superthriller junkies pining for their hit, the band conceived The Blank Album. In an audacious and unprecedented move, Superthriller propose to sell a fully artworked and exquisitely packaged, yet entirely blank CD for £10. So far, so bad. But rather than being a cold hearted scam, The Blank Album offers Superthriller fans access to a world of new material, B-sides, remixes and outtakes, and the chance to tailor the album to their own specifications. Here’s how it works:

1. Purchase The Blank Album, which is exclusively available via Rough Trade record shops and Rough Trade mail order from 30 October 2006.

5. Burn CD

Simple eh? Sometime in the future all albums will be sold like this, but just remember where you heard it first.

For more information, or to request a preview copy of The Blank Album, please contact Dan Stevens at Darling Department on 020 7379 8787 / dan@darlinguk.com