
Every year before the
CMJ Marathon is held the folks at
CMJ poll the College Radio community, asking it to nominate its peers for the best performers of the year.
This year, The Syndicate was nominated for 9 industry awards! 6 individual awards, and 3 overall company awards. Check out what categories we were nominated in, as well as what some of our peers had to say about each person nominated. Read More…
In this day and age it seems like everyone is on the go, working from anywhere besides their desks. Because of this phenomenon, The Syndicate has teamed up with the popular mobile application company Viigo.
The folks at Viigo just launched a new ROCK version of their mobile reader. There, fans can get mobile rock news wherever and whenever they wish. Two of our online properties, Metal Insider and Deaf Left Ear are part of the eight flagship websites that make up the application’s feeds.
The app is free, so go and download it right away and start getting your entertainment news wherever you want. http://getviigo.com/rock. You can read the full press release after the jump. Read More…

NJ post-hardcore band
THURSDAY have inked a record deal with
Epitaph Records.
Thursday frontman, Geoff Rickly had the following to say.
“One of our biggest concerns was that we find a situation where we could be free to just be Thursday. Epitaph have continually voiced their desire to help us become the band that WE have always wanted to be. It’s a great feeling to have a label encourage you to be more socially conscious and politically active. It’s a great feeling to have a label owner push you to explore the most experimental and challenging aspects of your band’s music instead of dissuading you. It’s a truly great feeling to be working with a label that all of our friends have had so many great experiences with.”
Thursday will still release their forthcoming split EP with Japanese band Envy on Temporary Residence this fall but the band is already planning on putting out their 5th studio album in the spring of 2009.
Read the full press release after the jump. Read More…
Posted in
Industry News,
Music at September 30th, 2008.
Now that a Sirius/XM Satellite Radio merger is one step closer to reality, you may be asking yourself logical questions about future types of programming packages and usability of older equipment. Thankfully satellite radio blog Orbicast spells it out in plain English.
Both companies have defended the possible merger as a venture that will benefit consumers, promising compatibility with existing radios and more flexible pricing and programming choices, including a delicious a la carte option. We break down the post-merger choices for you after the break. Read More…
Posted in
Industry News,
Radio at July 29th, 2008.

One of our favorite radio stations,
WXPN has announced they will be teaming up with an equally awesome website,
Daytrotter.
Daytrotter has worked itself into being a required stop for bands to get into their studios and record live music sessions. Artists ranging from Death Cab For Cutie to Vampire Weekend have all stopped by the site’s studios and recorded tracks for the site to give out to its wide audience.
Like Daytrotter, XPN has built up a solid reputation as one of the best AAA-formated radio stations in the country. The Philly-based station is known for taking risks (see their merger with y-rock a few years back) and “Daytrotter Radio” will probably be no different.
“Daytrotter Radio” will debut on Wednesday, May 7th at 10:30pm on WXPN. The half-hour show will be hosted by the ‘Trotter’s founder Sean Moeller. The show will feature music from the website’s vast recording sessions and be transmitted on XPN’s terrestrial airwaves as well as their three websites – www.xpn.org, www.yrockonxpn.org, and www.xponentialmusic.org. The show will also be available for download at www.daytrotter.com.
You can read the official press release after the jump. Read More…
Posted in
Industry News,
Radio,
Websites at May 6th, 2008.
The Department of Justice has approved a merger between SIRIUS Satellite Radio and rival XM, over one year after it was first announced. The move has been hotly contested, with the companies arguing their merger would benefit consumers and not create a monopoly (the argument being that consumers aren’t choosing between two satellite radio providers, but rather between terrestrial radio, iPod, etc when looking for music and entertainment choices). Both Sirius and XM have promised a number of benefits to their customers should the merger happen – a la carte service, a variety of channels, etc.
But don’t expect to be tuning into a wonderland of XM-Sirius goodness any time soon though, as the FCC still needs to sign off before this is final – and they’ve been the slowest decision makers of all. Hopefully this won’t drag out for another year, but with the National Association of Broadcasters still fighting valiantly against the merger, who knows…
If you’re the type who likes to read big words, here’s what the D to the O to the J had to say:
After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers. The Division reached this conclusion because the evidence did not show that the merger would enable the parties to profitably increase prices to satellite radio customers for several reasons, including: a lack of competition between the parties in important segments even without the merger; the competitive alternative services available to consumers; technological change that is expected to make those alternatives increasingly attractive over time; and efficiencies likely to flow from the transaction that could benefit consumers.
You can read the Department’s official release and analysis here.
Posted in
Industry News,
Radio at March 24th, 2008.
Last night TVT RECORDS, the country’s biggest independent record label, fired off the bulk of its staff. The label is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before the end of the week.
Since forming in 1985, TVT has hosted a wide roster of acts. Ranging from Nine Inch Nails early on, to current acts like The Polyphonic Spree and Lil’ Jon.
At this time there are no reports of what will happen to the current roster artists, what will happen to label’s upcoming release schedule, or why this decision has been made. But lately there’s been more than a few reports of the label’s artists publicly airing problems with label founder and current President, Steve Gottleib. Like this recent one by Pitbull.
In fact, even though he’s not been on the label for many years, Nine Inch Nails frontmant Trent Reznor posted this single sentence statement about the label on hiswebsite then linking to this story on allhiphop.com.
18 February 2008: you’re gonna get yours
Not ALL news about the music industry is bad these days.
Damn Trent! That’s cold!
But maybe all those record breaking “Crunk Ain’t Dead” bling chains weren’t a good idea after all.
Posted in
Industry News,
Music at February 19th, 2008.