Dark Star Records is Pleased to Announce that “Knockout” by the Band UNBREAKABLE is the #1 Best Selling Album at Planetworks, beating out Tinsley Ellis, Celldweller, and Asia. “Dark Star Records had just signed a deal with Planetworks this year for CD Sales outside of the USA (Europe, UK, Germany and the rest of the World)”. So far things are going very well”. Quotes Jeffrey A. Swanson President of Dark Star Records.
Buy the New Album KNOCKOUT from UNBREAKABLE Today, Produced by Herman Rarebell “Scorpions”
Damien Dante and Jeffrey A. Swanson the owners of the Jezebeth Franchise are very pleased to announce that JEZEBETH is Now Available on STREAMPIX at COMCAST XFINITY ON DEMAND. The Jezebeth Franchise has now become the Jezebeth Empire with: Blu-Ray’s DVD’s, Books, Tons of Merchandise and now even a Jezebeth Comic Book. “It’s great to see the original Jezebeth movie finally released on Cable TV” quotes Director Damien Dante. It appears that there is no end in site for the Jezebeth Movie Franchise, with “Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun” now hitting the Film Festival Circuit, and “Jezebeth 3 the Guns of El Diablo” slated for Shooting in 2015. Plus, Damien Dante has even begun writting “Jezebeth 4 The Devils Triangle” a Pirate Adventure Film. All of the Jezebeth movies are written and Directed by Damien Dante and produced by Damien Dante and Jeffrey A. Swanson. To purchase Jezebeth movies and merchandise go to: www.sglmoviestore.com/horror/jezebeth
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR THE OFFICIAL COMCAST INFINITY ON DEMAND LISTING:
The Jezebeth movies are distributed by SGL ENTERTAINMENT / DARK STAR RECORDS along with our partners Indie Rights Movies and MVD Entertainment, and the movie Jezebeth features music from Dark Star Records Artists, Soundtrack Now Available Worldwide
BUY THE JEZEBETH ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK HERE:
Dark Star Records is pleased to annouce that we have signed a deal with Planetworks, an International Sales, Licensing and Distribution company. “This is Huge News for our label and many of our artists” quotes Lloyd Freeze the Vice President of Dark Star Records. “This deal will allow us to expand our physical sales into countries all around the globe.” Lloyd Freeze who is now heading up our International sales division will be working together closely with Chris Callahan the CEO of Planetworks and Jeffrey A. Swanson President of Dark Star Records.
Planetworks is an International Sales, Licensing and Distribution company exclusively representing and distributing independent and major record labels to markets outside of the U.S. We offer official International Distribution as a turnkey solution via our extensive distributor network. As a label’s International Division, we use MVD Entertainment Group for product fulfillment, warehousing, pick pack and ship, which ultimately provides us with added focus in exploiting rights and securing distribution opportunities that deliver new found sales for our labels.
Here is a list of Dark Star Records titles already in the Planetworks system, with many more titles on the way.
Unbreakable / Knockout / Item # DSR0085
Grigori 3 / On Your Six / Item # DSR0053
Sacred Dawn / A Madness Within / Item # DSR0046
Conquest / The War We Rage / Item # DSR0074
Low Twelve / Skin In The Game / Item # DSR0072
Two Ton Anvil / Coming Home / Item # DSR0067
Shooting Hemlock / Colored Spackled Empty / Item # DSR0066
Shooting Hemlock / Big Green Monster / Item # DSR0043
Bloodstream Parade / Apocalypse In Retrospect / Item # DSR0027
Herman Ze German / Take It As It Comes / Item # DSR0039
Supermercado / Chupacabra / Item # DSR0030
SGL Entertainment is pleased to announce that it has just released the official movie trailer for the vampire western film “Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun”. “It’s the year 1881 and the outlaw vampires Jezebeth and Billie Gunn, now bitter enemies have parted ways after a human child is gunned down in cold blood. Now after 130 years that same child who became a vampire is used by the outlaw Billie Gunn as bait to lure Jezebeth back to the land where it all began for a bloody final showdown at high noon. The movie stars Ana Santos as Jezebeth and Reyna Rios as Billie Gunn along with Ruby Gonzalez, Frank Warpeha, Drake Mefestta, Stephanie Ann Lison, Jeff Lison, Gwen Bartolini, Jennifer Bartolini, Gracie Serrano, Skylar Serrano, Ian Serrano, Pinelope Love, Nelly Souders and Ray R. Wise. Both the movie and the trailer were scored by the award winning film composer Chris Thomas, who recently scored the animated film, Cadaver, starring Kathy Bates and Christopher Lloyd. Chris also scored music for CSI and the Popular Television show LOST. Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun was Written and Directed by Damien Dante and Produced by Damien Dante and Jeffrey A. Swanson with ADR by William Shary and Scott Caputo of Studio 32 out of Chicago. The movie was edited by David OBrient Jr. and Scored by Chris Thomas with Cinematography by Jeffrey A. Swanson. Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun will be Available on Cable Television, Blu-Ray, DVD and on all the latest cutting edge Video On Demand Platforms in 2014 via SGL Entertainment, R-Squared Films and our many other distribution partners.
For More Info on Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun Go To:
All of us at Dark Star Records would like to thank our Administrative Manager Baby D Frost for 5 years of Awesome service. “I remember first meeting Baby D Frost at Indianapolis Metal Fest II in 2008” quotes Label President Jeffrey A Swanson “This hot looking blonde came over to our booth and did some shots of Jagermeister with Me and the VP Lloyd Freeze”. “She said I should work for you guys, I could promote the hell out of you. So, we gave her some post cards to pass out and wow, the next thing you know she’s doing photo ops with Mistress Juliya and the bands from Indianapolis Metal Fest II, and getting tons of people to sign up for the Dark Star Records Mailing List”. “She’s been working with us ever since” and Yes!!! She’s a Real Samurai!!!
So, on the 5 year anniversary of working with the talented Baby D Frost who is not only our Administrative Manager, but is also a Model and an Actress, we would like to Commend her on her dedication and service. Baby D Frost played a key role in the successful movie JEZEBETH and also worked closely with Jeffrey A Swanson and the Director Damien Dante. Baby D Frost traveled all the way from Indiana to Wisconsin to help us complete our movie, and she never missed a day of filming. “Baby D Frost” We Love You Baby!!! and Thank You!!!
Major Label Artists at Dark Star Records will be receiving some of the Highest Royalty Rates for their music on iTunes Radio because of their Partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. Dark Star Records Artists included in the deal are: Black and White, Blackfinger, Bloodstream Parade, Bloody Mary, Conquest, Daisy Chain, DD Rand, Deepest Symphony, Drop, Grigori 3, Hammeron, Herman Ze German Rarebell, House Of Holland, Jeff Swan, Lords of Meat, Low Twelve, Lydian Sea, Matt Mercado, Metal Shop, Pist, Ript, Rival, Sacred Dawn, Shatter Their Illusion, Shooting Hemlock , Slam Bang, Slave Driver, Supermercado, The Projectionists, True Witness and Two Ton Anvil. “This is a Huge Deal for us”. Quotes Dark Star Records Label President ~Jeffrey A. Swanson. “As streaming music will most likely play a key role in the future of digital media”.
Ahead of its launch of an online radio service Apple AAPL -0.56% circulated terms to independent record labels last week, many of them more generous to the music companies than what rival Pandora Media P +2.14% currently pays.
Apple intends to pay royalties to labels based on a blend of how many times listeners hear their songs and how much advertising Apple sells, according to the terms, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
During iTunes Radio’s first year, Apple will pay a label 0.13 cents each time a song is played, as well as 15% of net advertising revenue, proportionate to a given label’s share of the music played on iTunes. In the second year, that bumps up to 0.14 cents per listen, plus 19% of ad revenue.
That compares to the 0.12 cents Pandora pays labels per listen on its free service. Apple is also offering music publishers more than twice as much in royalties than Pandora does.
Apple won’t have to pay royalties for some performances of songs that are already in listeners’ iTunes libraries, or songs that might be on an album that a listener owns just part of. Similarly, “Heat Seeker” tracks selected by iTunes for special promotions, are also exempted. Apple also doesn’t have to pay for songs listeners skip before 20 seconds have elapsed. The company only gets to avoid paying royalties for two songs per hour for any given user.
The terms for independent labels are similar but not identical to those given to the three major record companies – Vivendi SA VIV.FR +1.50%’s Universal Music Group, Access Industries Inc.’s Warner Music Group and Sony Corp. 6758.TO +1.70%’s Sony Music Entertainment – which are expected to receive cash advances against future royalties.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Pandora was criticized by members of the band Pink Floyd in a recent USA Today opinion piece for complaining it pays too much in royalties to make a profit and asking artists to support its efforts to get a law passed that would cut the fees it pays.
Pandora founder Tim Westergren said Wednesday that it isn’t fair to compare Apple’s royalty rates with Pandora’s because the services work differently, and that different features on the two services could trigger different royalty payments.
“It’s apples and oranges,” said Mr. Westergren, referring to the two services.
The ad revenue iTunes Radio generates might not necessarily be more significant than Pandora’s. People familiar with Apple’s thinking said the company is primarily hoping that iTunes Radio will encourage listeners to buy the tracks they like at the iTunes Store and help the tech giant sell more iPhones, iPods and other hardware.
Though music sales are slipping fast across the industry with the growth of subscription streaming services that offer unlimited music for a monthly fee, Apple is likely to stick for now to its business model of selling songs on iTunes. That business has become marginally profitable in recent years, these people said – as long as that model remains sustainable.
The new radio service gives Apple a venue to develop its iAd system – a mobile advertising platform for Apple devices that allows third-party developers to embed their apps with ads, these people added.
The iTunes Radio licensing document also includes several references to terms for the use of music in talk, weather, sports and news programming on the new service. The agreement said Apple wouldn’t have to pay the independent labels royalties for snippets of music used in the background of those sorts of programs. But it’s unlikely Apple will invest much in creating such programming, given that it has long shied from creating its own content.
Clear Channel Communications Inc. Chief Executive Bob Pittman said recently that only a tiny fraction of the people who listen to iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s digital service, listen online to such programming.
Watch this Special Promotional Video featuring the Song “Big Green Monster” by Shooting Hemlock
Courtesy of Dark Star Records
Dark Star Records Artists will come standard in the new BMW 5 Series as part of a deal with the U.K. based music streaming service rara.com billed as the first direct-to-car music streaming service in Europe. Major Label Dark Star Records in Association with Sony Music Entertainment is part of a deal with rara.com that includes the labels entire catalog of over 50 titles to be available for streaming direct from the dashboard of the new BMW 5 Series. Unlike most other in-car streaming services currently available throughout Europe, rara.com’s fully integrated offering is built into the vehicle allowing users to instantly stream music without needing to plug in a smartphone. Launched in December 2011, London-based rara.com currently operates in 33 international markets, including U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa. In addition to its new BMW offering, the service is available to access via the web and on Windows 8, iOS and Android devices. “The digital music landscape is always changing” quotes Dark Star Records President Jeffrey A. Swanson. “Right now we are focusing heavily on streaming music services like: Pandora, Rdio, Jango, Spotify, Slacker, Rara.com, Etc. as we see the world is embracing these evolutionary ways to discover and listen to new music”. “The deal with BMW and rara.com is a major milestone in the evolution of digital music distribution, and everyone at Dark Star Records is very excited to be a part of this historic deal.
Dark Star Records is now a part of the largest most powerful digital distribution company in the world. The Orchard and the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA), the two largest digital aggregators in the United States, have now merged. And, Sony Music Entertainment will be a strategic investor in the combined entity, sources tell Billboard Magazine. As part of the deal, Sony will own at least 50% of the merged company, the sources add. As a result of the deal, the merged company will have revenues of about $130 million.
This deal comes in the wake of the merger between INgrooves and Fontana. Shamrock Capital acquired Fontana from the Universal Music Group and merged it with INgrooves, leaving the major as an investor with a 15%-20% stake in the combined entity. Dark Star Records the hard rock, metal music label who came in on the ground floor with IODA has been a part of the merger since day one. “We now have more options then ever for our artists” Quotes Dark Star Records label president Jeffrey A. Swanson. “And we will even have the opportunity to distribute some of our films through this newly formed company”. This is a major step forward for Dark Star Records and the world of independent media.
Movie Fans Rush Online to Buy JEZEBETH and the Blu-Ray SOLD OUT in a few hours. The Jezebeth Blu-Ray went on sale at midnight on March 27th 2013 at Amazon.com and other internet retailers. “With all the hype and press leading up to the release date, it’s not surprising that the movie Sold Out, but I don’t think anyone anticipated that it would sell out in only a few hours” Quotes Executive Producers, Creators Damien Dante and Jeffrey A. Swanson. We’re not sure exactly how many copies we’re sold, but being released through “R-Squared Films” a major independent movie distributor, I’m sure it was big. If you were one of the Lucky Ones and You Pre-Ordered Your Jezebeth Blu-Ray, Then You Should be Receiving it in a Few Days!!! You Can Still Order JEZEBETH on Blu-Ray Today!!! And as Soon as they get more is stock, they will ship it to you.
Order the Jezebeth BluRay at Amazon.com
This Sadistic Vampire movie Written, Directed and Produced by Damien Dante and Co Produced by Jeffrey A Swanson is the first of many in this movie franchise. The movie Jezebeth has gained a lot of momentum this last year with the production of “Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun” and the controversial “R-Rated trailer” that had been leaked to the public. The New BluRay Edition of Jezebeth includes an Exclusive never before seen “Unrated” Directors Cut Movie Trailer for Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun, a Vampire Western, and the Latest in the Jezebeth Movie Series. This special BluRay release also includes a music video “The Demonic Solo” performed by Ex-Manowar Guitar Player David Shankle. The movie’s soundtrack also features music by Herman Rarebell (Scorpions), Pamela Moore (Queensrÿche), Conquest, Slam Bang, Supermercado, Bloodstream Parade, Grigori 3 and Others.
David OBrient Jr.Filmmakers Damien Dante and Jeffrey A Swanson, the creators and producers of the Jezebeth Film Franchise have assembled their dream production team. With the success of their first full length cult classic vampire horror film Jezebeth, and a second film Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun in post production, the two business entrepreneurs began searching for their film editor. After a long search and with the help of some industry friends, the filmmakers signed on David OBrient Jr. from Texas. David is best known for editing: Lady Girl, Bad Sister, The Back Up, Jump Out, Junie’s Leverage, Chiaroscuro and others. Film Director Damien Dante has been working very close with David and his company C & G Productions, and the film edit is really coming together. Then just by fate, Damien and Jeffrey had meet William Shary on the set of Jezebeth 2, it was the final shoot, the vampire bar scene, and William was one of the extras. William had been a facebook friend for quite a while and mentioned that he and his partner Scott Caputo had a pro recording studio called Studio 32. After researching dozens of Chicago based studios we decided to have a meeting with William and Scott. Studio 32 was just what we were looking for., with a full size drop down projection screen, sound rooms and a large selection of sound effects. Also, William Shary is a seasoned drummer, while Scott Caputo is a keyboard player and an orchestrator, both are music producers and both have officially signed on to the team. Jeffrey A Swanson, William Shary and Scott CaputoWith the movie Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun more than half edited, it won’t be long before we begin our ADR, Score, Sound Effects and Foley. And, as always the movie Jezebeth 2 will be loaded with great music from the Dark Star Records music label. With Damien Dante as Director, Writer, Producer and Jeffrey A Swanson as Cinematographer, Music Supervisor and Co Producer along with David OBrient Jr., the Editor, plus William Shary and Scott Caputo on Sound Production, it looks as though we now have our Dream Team. Look for Jezebeth 2 Hour of the Gun in the Fall of 2013 and Jezebeth 3 Hell’s Desperatos in 2014.