08.03.2004: IrishUnsigned hits the "terrible twos":Ron, IU

more news... back to home page...

As of this week, IrishUnsigned is two years old. Despite being an 'idea' in Dave Reid's braincell for a good year beforehand, IrishUnsigned officially launched on March 8th 2002, with a glowing welcome form the Irish Independent (who should probably have known better)

Describing IU as "A much needed and innovative development in the domestic music arena", they illustrated the fact we obviously paid them too much.

In the meantime we have had some successses (most notably persuading Ger Meade that it would be in his best interests not to turn down our offer of a permanent spot n the IU 'team') and we expect much more.

Only today we confirmed the use of two pieces of music from the compilation CD "Scene Unheard Volume One" for use by Channel Four (Wales).

Also previously:

* Another independent TV producer has requested the use of various pieces of music from the CD;

"Scene Unheard Volume One" hit the shelves, and the charts, with the entire thing funded by and co-ordinated by the artists on the CD. The second in the two-CD set was a first, we believe, for Europe, with an Internet 'stream' on the CD without the need for the Internet.

* Sutras have had their track "Machine" voted the best song of the year by Hotpress readers and radio listeners.

* Pharaoh House Crash tasted fame and (relative) fortune by having their compilation track 'Four On The Floor' featured for about three weeks on RTE's cult TV sitcom "Bachelors Walk";

* North Horizon released their debut EP,

* The wonderfully melodic RedKid released their debut EP

* The Answer did what is officially now called "The Last Ever Wittness Festival";

* Sutras did "Party in the park",

* DeXtra are just finished their debut single;

* Edel Dooley, an associate member of the IU team, took up a position in the new BeatFM station in Waterford, and proceed to trounce both RTE and Today FM in her timeslot (Saturday and Sunday, 6pm to 8pm)

* IU struck up a strategic partnership with US based radio service providers including the 68-country, 1million listenership "Live Disks Radio" which gave us a one-hour show of our own at 7pm every day (2pm EST).

* Ger Meade took our request to see if he could "find someone else to help out" a bit far when his wife Passarose announce the arrivel of little Julian. Apparently he's already better at sequencing than his dad. Soon there'll be no need for Ger in IU at all.

There's been much more - some of it public and some of it behind-the-scenes. There is every reason to believe that there will be a lot more in the future. The IrishUnsigned name is becoming better known, especially Internationally, and we are continuously fielding queries about the state of the music Industry in Ireland and how to avoid becoming stuck in it.

For our next trick, our ambition is to release "Scene Unheard Volume Two", drive the development of a new type of music charts that is fairer and much (much) more transparent, pressurise industry in Ireland to support music development in Ireland, and stop sending all the money we spend on music to other Countries by playing Irish acts on Irish radio and Irish TV and Irish advertising campaigns more and more.

Anyway, don't get me started on *that* soapbox...

Email the author
Printer-friendly version