Recommended Show: The Brooklyn grassroots act Pete and J will perform at The Living Room (NYC) tonight. The band draws influences from many 70’s acts including Crosby Stills and Nash. A string of dates can be found on their myspace and our favorite track is This Is It.

Signings: Sonic Youth have decided to return to the indie world and have signed with Matador Records. Sonic Youth were previously on DGC/Geffen from 1990 until 2006.

Apple Squeezing Out Every Penny: Apple has started looking like what Microsoft was 10 years ago — a company that so controls certain market segments that smaller competitors can survive only by living on its scraps or staying out of its way says Newsweek.

Apple has been making hit products, but more importantly, it controls entire ecosystems. One iPod accessory maker says that Apple takes up to 75 percent of the sales price, leaving him with zero profit on some of his products when he sells them in Apple stores.

“Apple’s tactics might seem like smart business: why not squeeze every penny out of every deal? The problem is that if Apple squeezes too hard, some partners may go out of business, harming the ecosystem.”

MTV Name Change: The New York Post has an article titled Why Not Just Rename MTV Obama TV?. The article opens up with: REMEMBER when MTV had veejays who actually knew something about music and aired programs that focused on, um, music? Neither do I. MTV, of course, is a division of left-wing media giant Viacom. Viacom’s PAC is among Barack Obama’s biggest supporters.

The Man Who Invented The iPod in 1979: Apple has finally admitted that a British man who left school at 15 is the inventor behind the iPod. Kane Kramer who is now 52 created the iPod/digital technology and hasn’t seen a penny. This seems like a Behind The Music Story. He is now negotiating with Apple to gain some compensation from the copyright that he owns on the drawings.

Signings: Rap artist Afroman (“Because I Got High”) has entered into a unique distribution/marketing arrangement with Federal Distribution (a division of Universal/Republic) for release of his new album/indie imprint Hungry Hustler Records.

New Myspace CEO? After many months, Myspace is still on the search for a CEO to run the ship. The most recent possible candidate is Andy Schuon, former head of programming of MTV, MTV2, VH1 says the New York Post. Other candidates on the short list are Ex-Yahoo Music chief Ian Rodgers, MTV digital music guru Courtney Holt, former MTV executive John Sykes, and former AOL exec Jim Bankoff.

What Do Both Sting and Tool Have In Common? Both are making their video game debuts. Sting will add his voice to a character and Tool will contribute to the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour where fans will be able to rock out to the tracks to “Parabola”, “Schism” and “Vicarious”.

MTV Video Music Awards: Judging by the bloggers and the media outlets, MTV VMA’s is officially dead. The music itself and the awards didn’t generate any chatter. The small amount of press the VMA’s generated was when MTV decided to use its stage and airtime for a political tirade and emotional outbursts. Russel Brand The British comedian who is virtually unknown made lewd jokes about the Christian pop band Jonas Brothers and told the Hollywood pop tarts they must vote for Barack Obama “on behalf of the world”. American Idol winner Jordin Sparks was so offended by the hosts hate statements that she launched her own attack. See folks? This is the amount of chatter the VMA’s generated, a blip on the radar screen.

Out Of Touch: MTV is just as far up its own ass as any pop star if it thinks that giving out three meaningless statues to Britney Spears constitutes a comeback for her. You all deserve each other.” (FourFour)

From Stage Fright To The Net: She sits impatiently, staring at her computer screen, looking at the latest comments on her YouTube.com page. Her fan base develops not through record sales and concert attendance, but through fans listening to her on her MySpace.com music page and watching her oftentimes comical yet always entertaining videos on YouTube.

“In order for Tecle to conquer her fear of the stage, she decided to bring her talent to the masses through the power of the Internet”.

Have artists turned into mediocre marketers?

Read the full story here.

Better luck this time? Pennsylvania act Runner Runner which features former members of the pop/punk band Over It (formerly on Virgin) has generated some buzz lately with a more Top 40 friendly sound. Tracks like “So Obvious” and “Believe” seem prime for success on the heels of the likes of Metro Station’s “Shake It”. Take a listen to Over It’s first single “Siren on the 101” from their Virgin records debut and decide if the change in sound was one for the better, or worse.

Under Appreciated Indie: Atlanta indie rock group The Constellations have remained seemingly under everyone’s radar with the release of their debut LP “Southern Gothic”. Check out the track “Love is a Murder” featuring Cee Lo of Gnarls Barkley.

Singer/songwriters: A few international singer/songwriters worth a listen are Canada’s Shawn Hlookoff who generated buzz with one of his newer tracks, “Without You”. Australia’s Axle Whitehead has also been receiving some airplay in Australia with his singles “Anywhere” & “I Don’t Do Surprises”.

Shifting genres in Australia, the post-hardcore, rock band Closure in Moscow has signed to the US label Science Records and should be seeing a 2009 release. Comparisons have been made to anyone from The Mars Volta to Saosin, check out the single “We Want Guarantees” and the hard hitting “Breathing Underwater”.

Signing? Ohio pop/rock band The Undeserving have apparently signed a record deal, but have not yet revealed with who, read their blog here

Quick Hits:

Rev Theory
Listen to: Wanted Man
Definitely an improvement from the first and fist pumping lead single
“Hell Yeah”.

Valencia
Listen To: Where Did You Go?

Jack McManus
Listen To: Bang on the Piano
UK piano rocker with radio ready singles.

Soundcheck is written by Dallas who currently attends San Francisco State University and works on the Live 105 (KITS) Action Team.

inPASSING who hails from Orlando Florida collaborated with James Paul Wisner (Dashboard Confessional, Underoath, The Academy Is) and released an EP in the spring of 2008. The band also just released a music video for the track “All Together”. Our favorite track is Back Down.

Tour Dates:

Sep 12th    Backbooth - Orlando, Florida
Sep 14th    Green St. - Greensboro, North Carolina
Sep 18th    Big Daddy’s - Tallahassee, Florida
Sep 19th    The Porch - Brandon, Florida