(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) —
Epic Records is launching artist RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to further enhance their existing online concepts and technologies, and premiering over 35 RSS feeds for its established and emerging artists, including Incubus, Fiona Apple, Tenacious D, and Natasha Bedingfield. The label is the first among the majors to adopt RSS feeds for a wide array of its artists. Really Simple Syndication is an XML feed used to share news content throughout the web.
Without visiting the artist’s web site, the latest news headlines can be pulled from their favorite artist web sites directly into websites such as MyYahoo! or Google, their personal weblog or an RSS news reader. The majority of the RSS feeds pull news content directly from the artist websites' news pages. There are also feeds that allow fans to pull content from artists' blogs. For a full list of Epic Records RSS feeds, visit http://www.epicrecords.com/rss. The RSS feeds can also be accessed via the individual artist websites.
"Standard artist websites and online promotions are no longer enough for consumers who want something more than static content," says Cory Llewellyn, Epic Records vice president of Digital Media Marketing and Promotion. "They want content from the artists and they want to pull it themselves to read at their leisure. These emerging technologies allow them to connect with the artists they love on their time and in a much more dynamic and engaging manner."
Epic Records has also begun to launch podcasts — audio web feeds that fans can subscribe to. A three-episode Franz Ferdinand podcast about the recording of the band's new album, You Could Have It So Much Better, was launched late last year. INXS is working on a podcast to coincide with the launch of their world tour. More podcasts will be scheduled for the first half of 2006.
"Fans really want to be closely connected to the artists they love," says Llewellyn. "These emerging technologies allow them to do exactly that on their time and in a much more dynamic and engaging manner." –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
