Taylor Swift Joins The Sundresses in the 21st Century

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so we’re really pleased to see The Village Voice lauding Taylor Swift and her major label Big Machine for delivering music with pizza. While it’s still a good idea, they should have called The All Night Party. Not only did we do this three years ago, we did it better!

The first difference is of course the pizza itself. The Sundresses Pizza was offered by Northslice Pizza, as opposed to cardboard Papa Johns (big mistake). Maybe Taylor’s demographic is older, whiter, and uncooler, in which case it makes some sense. The Sundresses Pizza was simply a better pie: the music was another topping alongside your preferences, and you got an entire pizza, not a dough-faced homage to Brad, Jeremy or Makenzie (Swift’s pie is smaller than a regular and larger than a small). Oops.

The Sundresses’ partner Northslice was intimately connected to Cincy’s music scene. Located in Northside Tavern, they served music fans daily until their closing (a couple years after this promotion).

ANP Hosts Play It Forward Legal Seminar for Artists

The All Night Party hosted a free legal seminar at Ultrasuede Studio, put together by Play It Forward and law students at Northern Kentucky University’s Chase Law School on Sunday October 14, 2012. Play It Forward was founded by local radio personality and musician Gary Burbank to take care of musicians in need. They’ve stepped up for all kinds of emergencies and been there for artists, so we wanted to stand with them. Legal issues are confusing, sometimes painful for musicians. It’s kind of our bag, so this was a great opportunity for us to give back to a great institution in our community.

NKU Law students Scott McDorman, Karen Rose, and Jennifer Benjamin broke things down for a group of local musicians, backed up by Jennifer Parr and Play It Forward director John Sheil (an attorney and NKU/Chase grad). Lots of great questions were asked, and clear answers were provided (along with free coffee and donuts). NKU law professor (and part time DJ) Ken Katkin was in the wings too, checking in with timely details. The All Night Party was happy to explore licensing and legalities with a group of artists over donuts and coffee (free, naturally!).

Introducing Distroli: The Simple Solution for Licensing and Distribution

While we’ve been licensing music from Day One and have specialized in digital distribution management for bands, physical distribution and band-friendlier licensing enrollment remain unrealized dreams. We always assumed a bigger, richer company would fix the obvious problems with distributing CDs and products, but 3 years in it remains an undiscovered country.

While working with CincyTech on the Bunbury Music Festival’s Techbury Tent (our partners WVXU interviewed bands playing the fest), we discovered Cincinnati Innovates grant competition for entrepreneurs and innovators. Artist Coordinator Brad Schnittger had just moved over to All Night Party full time, so we had the resources to collect our thoughts and present our next Big Idea: A simple platform to consolidate the paper-work, uploads and hassles of licensing, physical and digital distribution.

Without a grant or financing, we lack the resources to pull this one off. It’s an expensive, technically challenging project. But with the help of friends and fans, our entry shot from #227 to #15 in just a week (other entries have been accumulating votes since May!). So suddenly it’s starting to look real, but we really need all the help we can get. Check out our idea at http://cincinnatiinnovates.crowdspark.com/entries/227, and if you like us please lend your vote (and maybe a share on Facebook!).

We’ll fill in the blanks after the contest phase ends, but for now we’re just keeping our fingers crossed.

Cat Canyon Opens With Soundtrack by The All Night Party

The Cincinnati Zoo’s new Cat Canyon exhibit just opened and is already a hit with zoo-goers. Thanks to lots of thick glass, the new enclosures let visitors get up close and personal with malayan and white tigers, and snow leopards (not to mention cougars, between the Night Hunters exhibit and Cat Canyon). As you walk through you’ll hear a special soundtrack featuring forest sounds, birds and cat-calls native to each animal’s native habitat. The All Night Party not only created the soundtrack, we consulted on speaker placement and tuned the program to recreate a natural environment for both cats and visitors.

Sound design at the Zoo isn’t a new thing. The nearby Night Hunters exhibit features an installation and soundtrack created by All Night Party partner John Curley, while ANP Chief Dave Davis designed day and night-time soundtracks for the Manatee Springs exhibit. Davis has a passion for creative sound design, and custom installations. When The Experience Music Project in Seattle tapped Cincinnati’s Lightborne video, they called The All Night Party to dial-in their mix for a Sky Church exhibit. Davis’ previous work includes a special surround soundtrack for the Newport Aquarium as well.

If you need to realistically portray some real or imagined soundscape, The All Night Party has the talent and tools to get it done.

SXSW HearPlugs Save the Date for ANP

As we headed off to Austin to be the first Cincinnati music or licensing company to every host a SXSW showcase, we were a little worried: The Lions Rampant, one of the strongest bands in our line up, were going head to head with Heartless Bastards on the first night of the festival (before most fans or bands had arrived). ANP’s marketing and sales head Monika Roberts had a Big Idea: since many Austin clubs sell ear plugs for $2/pair why not buy a bunch to give away, featuring music from our Midwest by Southwest tour bands? Being a marketing diva, she devised a Facebook ad plan to reach fans in Austin who might be interested, and tasked Chief Daved with putting together a few hundred sets for the promotion.

It worked in spades! The last of the HearPlugs were gone by the time The Lions Rampant hit the stage to a solid crowd, opposite the biggest Cincy band at SXSW, and fans could be seen all over Austin with bright yellow-and-orange ear-stuffers. But more important, fans also scanned the QRs and downloaded music at a blistering pace. Even giant’s, like Starbucks’ Hear Music, see their download cards are redeemed at a rate well below 10%. Our HearPlugs hit 30% before our bands left town the next day! A whole lot of fans now have songs from MWXSW tour bands on their iPods.

But the story gets better. When our tour manager Venomous Valdez returned to Austin in June touring with Wussy guess what she spotted on venerable radio station KUT’s bulletin board…

June Third Thursday Rocks aliveOne: The KillTones & Mad Anthony

In the sweltering heat of June The KillTones and Mad Anthony invaded Mt. Adams, playing raw, sweaty rock for the masses.

Things started off slow, but by the end of Mad Anthony’s great set the club was full of fans, attracted by their relentless, smart songs played full-tilt (volume to 11). Things are getting interesting in Mt Adams this summer!

In August highlights from this set and previous Third Thursday concerts will be posted to The All Night Party’s UltraSession site, so stay tuned.

Next up in Mt. Adams: Joe Hedges (from July for Kings). 

May Third Thursday at aliveOne: Young Heirlooms and The Ridges

In May our Third Thursday series at aliveOne continued with a two-band line up: Young Heirlooms and The Ridges packed the house and brought their folkishly freaky tunes to Mt. Adams.

The energy was terrific, and expanded the appeal of the Third Thursday concept. While The Ridges feature members from all over the state, it didn’t hurt having a Mt. Adams resident on guitar and vocals - Victor Rasgaitis’ neighbors to filled the club this month. 

Third Thursdays at aliveOne: Sohio Kicks Off the Series

The All Night Party helped aliveOne (941 Pavilion St in Mt Adams) kick off a new music series with regular free (!!!) shows on the 3rd Thursday of each month.

This month Sohio brought the rock (http://sohiomusic.com/). In addition to live music and drink specials, we’re recording these shows to feature in the club’s jukebox and our UltraSessions project (site launching officially in August with video performances from Wussy, The Seedy Seeds and many others, at http://www.ultrasessions.com.

Each quarter one band will be fan-selected for a return engagement on a Friday night, so the idea’s more than just Third Thursdays – we’re always working to introduce great original music to new neighborhoods and venues, starting in Mt Adams. Venomous Valdez (aka Rene Dean, who was our tour manager for MWXSW) is curating the event for ANP, as we continue to develop opportunities to make a living for artists regionally. So if you’re interested in playing drop her a line (venomousvaldez@yahoo.com).

Bringing the Rock (and free HearPlugs) to SXSW’s Soho Lounge

Tuesday’s a great night to be in Austin: SXSW kicks off and in recognition, The All Night Party is offering free Musicated “HearPlugs” at their showcase at the Soho Lounge, on Tuesday March 13 at SXSW 2012. And yes they really are free, but it’s first come first served, and when they’re gone they’re gone, so get to the Soho Lounge early to grab a pair!

While you’re there catch six great bands on our stage: WussyThe Sundresses,  The Whiskey DaredevilsThe Lions RampantThe Seedy Seeds and Oh My Me. Best of all: we’re attaching music from four of these bands to these Musicated HearPlugs offer (scan or enter the code on the card for free downloads).

Enjoy bands all night at SXSW, then listen to four great bands. – Grab your HearPlugs, then scan the QR code or enter the landing page to get the music too!

*Offer only good at Soho Lounge for The All Night Party SXSW Showcase on March 13, 2012 – free while supplies last, first come first served!