Chris Cornell has signed with V Cast to promote his upcoming concert. Fans that purchase a Chris Cornell album (this includes Soundgarden and Audioslave) are entitled to a raffle entry, which gives them a chance to win tickets for one of Chris Cornell's eight exclusive concerts.

Apart from the Audioslave vocalist, the eight-concert series will also feature hip-hop sensation Timbaland who is working with Cornell in his forthcoming album.

The concert is sponsored by Samsung and Verizon Wireless. Fans can go to the nearest Verizon Wireless stores to get a chance to meet the artists, get exclusive music downloads, and buy tickets.

Rap star Jay-Z has signed a deal with Norwegian songwriting production company Stargate, to form a new record label/publishing company.

The deal will be part of Jay-Z's Roc Nation venture with Live Nation.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the focus of the partnership will be to find new talent and develop them through mutually beneficial global partnerships, including music distribution, publishing, touring and merchandising.

For the past years, Stargate has produced an exemplary list of artists, including Rihanna and Ne-yo. Currently, the production studio has many pending albums from renowned artists, like Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce Knowles, Monica, R. Kelly, and Keyshia Cole. On the other hand, Jay-Z has a new album coming up Blueprint 3, which is slated for release later this year. 

 

Retailer giant Target has recently acquired the exclusive rights to Christina Aguileras newest album: Keeps Getting Better A decade of hits. Aguilera joins a host of great artists that are exclusively selling their music at Target and Target.com, the list includes: Grammy winner Alicia Keys, American Idol Carrie Underwood and teen sensations Jonas Brothers.

This acquisition confirms Targets more aggressive approach to the music industry. The company now sells everything, from knitted shirts to trash cans, making it a formidable competitor in the industry.

Keeps Getting Better A decade of hits will be available in Target and Target.com on November 11.

 

Plugging their music on TV is a great way for new bands to reach consumers.

In a report by Net Imperative, they said one of the most successful ways for obscure bands to breakthrough into the mainstream is to feature in Apples pervasive television advertising campaigns.

One of the best examples is the Brazilian band called CSS. After featuring their songs in an Apple commercial, they literally jumped from rags to riches from 340 albums sold per week to 2,000 and from 15 songs downloaded a day to becoming number five in Apple ring tone downloads.

In Europe, Hamfatter a currently unknown Brit band, is featured in the BBC show Dragons Den. The band is asking for 75,000 to promote their album. In exchange, the band promises to give 20% of their future earnings to the network.

The truth is the music industry is changing. Its a tough industry to crack, one minute artists are on top and the next their gone. With so much competition, entering the industry will be tough. With the entry of digital music (downloads, which are predicted to account for 40% of music sales in 2012) it becomes tougher - the game changes with that variable. Thats why advertisers are trying to reach consumers at an emotional level, as opposed to the conscious level. This means more TV plugs, less conventional advertising.