The Northside Festival in Brooklyn, New York is returning this month for its second year in a row, and in doing so is continuing its theme of celebrating and shining a light on a local community currently teeming with independent artists. 2009 saw the festival’s inaugural run with 30 NYC-based record labels, blogs, independent show promoters, radio stations and other industry professionals curating showcases of their own, bringing together 250 bands to the Williamsburg/Greenpoint neighborhoods during a four-day span. Last year’s lineup included artists such as The Hold Steady, Sunset Rubdown, Free Energy and the Dodos… Presented by L Magazine, this year’s festival will again bring together a multitude of emerging artists including Liars, High Places, Titus Andronicus, Twin Sister, Real Estate and many others – a FilmFest has also been added this year.

The Northside Festival will take place June 24 – 27th… For more info check out the festival’s website, and you can also enter to win free badges and an iPad here…

One Million + Sold

The clock is ticking for Terra Firma to come up with enough funds to keep control of EMI – recent reports indicate Guy Hands has rallied some of the investment firms’ largest backers in an effort to raise the minimum needed by the fast approaching deadline… Apple announced at the start of the week that they have already sold one-million iPads, that’s less than half the time it took to sell the same amount of iPhones… Elsewhere, Warner Music Group reported a 15% rise in digital revenue in its most recent quarter… Tunecore delivered stats from 2009 that included a total of $35-million in download and streaming income for artists… And The Register takes an interesting look at Beggars Group in an interview with indie label-group head Martin Mills…

Apple's New Game-Changer?

No question about it, this week saw two stories dominate the headlines and bloglines and pretty much anywhere that covers music and media, and it wasn’t the Grammy’s… First was the announcement that the DOJ had approved the Ticketmaster – Live Nation merger, much quicker than most anticipated, with the result being the formation of Live Nation Entertainment.  As to be expected the reactions were plentiful and varied, including a thumbs up from influential artist manager Jim Guerinot, while Spaceland Productions founder Mitchell Frank and other indie promoters see reason for concern – both stories appearing this week in the L.A. Times music blog Pop & Hiss… The other widely reported and debated news this week was the unveiling of Apple’s new iPad. The announcement of the one-of-a-kind device was greeted with praise and skepticism, as most new Apple products do, including estimations as to what the iPad will mean for the music industry, how it will take down the Kindle, why a rebuilt iTunes is more important and Bob Lefsetz explains why he won’t be buying one.