please do… The vM would love for you to join our conversation!

A big hello to all of our volumMonster Friends out there! We hope you have an AWESOME week! A lot of you are on Spring Break… do The vM a favor and enjoy the beach for him!

Lots going on at The vM! Here’s just a couple of items:

NEW CODES OF THE WEEK

We’ve added some new FREE Codes of the Week to the volumMonster home page! Check them out and redeem, download, and enjoy if you haven’t already!

AIRFIVEROCKS: This is a code from Nashville based band Air Five! They refer to their music as Powerpop / Alternative.  It’s great stuff and we’re excited to have them offering FREE content to volumMonster Fans!

LONELYROAD and DOMINATION: These two codes are for our metalMonsters out there! If you like Metal you’re gonna love Atlanta, GA based band, Halcyon Way! Great sound and serious chops!  They’re offering multiple files to volumMonster Fans!

EVERLIFE: The volumMonster is still very excited to be offering this Behind The Scenes video from EVERLIFE! The girls have been touring over in Europe and are anxiously awaiting the US release of their new Acoustic EP, “At The Love Library”! They’re not as anxious as The vM is! We love these girls and know that you will too! Check out their video and give their music a listen!

SHARE IT!

Are you sharing your codes with friends?  If not, why not? Is it because you didn’t know you could?

Well…. YOU CAN!  Simply click on the SHARE IT icon next to the code you want to share.  Send your friends a message letting them know they can redeem, download, and enjoy! Update your STATUS too!

volumMonster is SOCIAL DOWNLOADING at it’s best! Don’t keep it or the codes you love a secret! Spread the word!!!

Check back in again soon! We’ve got more updates planned for the near future!

Building a community -  One Fan… One Artist… One Download at a time!

redeem.  download.  enjoy.

WOW!

The vM watches the daily Google Analytics reports and is excited to say that over the past 30 days, in addition to the United States of America, vM has had visitors from 48 other countries!

We can actually say that literally, overnight, The vM went global! In less than 2 months, we have a number of fans and artists from all over the world joining the vM community!

That just shows the power of the internet and how universal the language of music is.

Walt was right after all… it is a small world.

Here at volumMonster, we’ve been asked more than once what makes us different.

Well, there are MANY differences! However, you won’t necessarily see that by just looking at the home page or reading through the frequently asked questions. Whether comparing our service, pricing, programs or philosophy, the many differences that make volumMonster special will very quickly become evident, but you need to be on the inside.

Of all the things we’re doing here at volumMonster, our greatest goal is to build community and strengthen relationships - one fan,  one artist, one download at a time. The greatest challenge we face is building community and strengthening relationships - one fan, one artist, one download at a time!

So in reality, as we work hard to successfully navigate our greatest challenges, we are simultaneously accomplishing our greatest goals. We’re on a steady course!

Sound interesting? See for yourself! The vM community is made up other people JUST LIKE YOU! The vM needs more people JUST LIKE YOU! We have new fans and new artists joining every single day! So take some time to investigate and realize that volumMonster is so much more than just another average, everyday digital download site.

Downloads may be what we do, but it’s far from who we are!

volumMonster….  Building Community - One Fan… One Artist… One download…   at a time.

We may have a lot of codes around here, but you don’t need one to become a part of The vM Family!

Join us and see for yourself!

redeem.  download.   enjoy.

There are many reasons why we have volumMonster.  This article from the AP on Feb. 27th highlights just one of the many.

http://eepurl.com/wd_

There is no need for any of this.

To fans out there:  Don’t steal music.  It’s wrong. Period. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

To the industry: You can’t stop it. It doesn’t matter how many lawsuits you file or even win.  When you get one of them, 10 more pop up.

volumMonster is helping both the industry and the fans in this case.  Fans - the music (or any other files) you download on volumMonster are 100% legal because the owner of the file is making it available to you for free download. So no worries here!

Industry - instead of fighting the war, take control of it.  Give fans the content you want them to share and download.

The beauty of volumMonster is that it makes FREE DOWNLOADING a win-win for everyone.

EVERLIFE Exclusive!

We’re excited to announce our first volumMonster EXCLUSIVE and even more excited to announce it in partnership with EVERLIFE! If you don’t know who these girls are, well, at least you’re probably not aware that you’ve been living on another planet!

EVERLIFE is currently on tour across the pond and they are offering a FREE download of this “Behind The Scenes” video! To download your copy just go to volumMonster.com and ENTER YOUR CODE: everlife

To find out more about EVERLIFE, or the upcoming release of their new EP, visit EVERLIFEONLINE.COM!

Oh and be sure to check back for more volumMonster Exclusives coming soon!

February, 10, 2009 (NASHVILLE, Tennessee) – Nashville-based company, Volum LLC, is thinking outside the box with it’s first product release, volumMonster.com. Using what the creators call the “Power of Free,” volumMonster offers a valuable service to both fans and artists. While at first glance you might be tempted to think of volumMonster as just one more digital music service, the players behind it, co-founders and music industry veterans, Sean Smith and Kelly Poe, confess that while their core service offers digital downloads, that’s where all similarities end. “volumMonster is unlike anything out there right now,” says Smith.

Smith, a successful, nationally recognized independent recording artist, says he was looking for a new, inexpensive way to get his music into the hands of potential fans. “I scoured the Internet looking for a tool that would give me the ability to freely offer my music in a protected environment, while also giving me insight into who my fans are,” says Smith. “It didn’t exist, so we decided to build it.”

“This past year has been hard for everyone, including those of us crazy enough to make a living creating music,” says Smith. “The downturn in the economy has only magnified what we’ve known; that the music industry needs a new model. In times like these you can either give up, or get creative!”

volumMonster offers artists the ability to upload original content they’re willing to give away. While audio files are the most obvious files offered, volumMonster doesn’t stop there. Artists can use volumMonster to upload and give away multiple file formats including pictures, videos, documents, and more. Artists then create codes that fans redeem in order to access their free content. With each redemption the artist receives valuable insight into who their fans are and where they live.

“If we’ve learned anything in recent years, it’s that more and more fans want to download music rather than purchase it in a store,” says Kelly Poe, volumMonster co-founder and developer. “Fans want unlimited access to free content and they want to share it with their friends.” Poe went on to say that for years the music industry has waged a legal war to try and stop “music pirates,” those who steal music using illegal downloading sites and peer-to-peer file sharing networks, but that the time has come for the industry to go in a new direction. “volumMonster is going to blaze a new trail and help set the stage for how fans and artists interact in the future.”

“We felt it was time to embrace every fan’s desire to download free content and encourage it rather than fight it,” says Smith. “volumMonster gives fans free access to the content artists want them to download and share.” volumMonster is a paradigm shift for an industry that has sustained itself not through the sale of music, but the sale of a physical delivery product. “CD’s are going the way of the dinosaur and will soon take their place in history next to vinyl records, 8-tracks and cassette tapes,” says Smith. “Going forward, successful artists will have to create and build their own unique brand, and then make it readily available to fans. Music can be profitable, but it’s going to look completely different.”

While volumMonster may very well be a needed paradigm shift, Smith and Poe will be the first to admit that giving away a free song is not a new idea. “For years artists have tried to build a fan base by using what we call the ‘If-Then’ method,” says Smith. “We’ve said to our fans, ‘IF you sign up for our mailing list, THEN we’ll send you a free song.’ That method is flawed because it places the burden of relationship on the fan. They must do something first. volumMonster allows an artist to simply offer fans a gift, one that can freely be received.”

Mike Cowan, of the Athens, GA, based Alternative Rock band Scarlet | Snow says, “The greatest thing about volumMonster is that it works! We teamed up with volumMonster to give away our new EP, The Needle, for the first month of our 2009 release. volumMonster worked flawlessly and we gave away more than 1,200 digital copies of our EP! For an Indie band, that’s a serious number,” says Cowan. “We’re also going to use their volumCards as a way to physically distribute our digital downloads at live events,” says Cowan. “volumMonster is by far the most progressive, fan building music download site on the internet.”

“Scarlet | Snow gets it,” says Poe. “While volumMonster is a website for fans to legally download great content, for artists, it’s a tool for growing a supportive base of fans. Before a fan can download a file, they must let us know who they are by verifying their name, email, and zip code. Our relationship with fans means everything to us and so while we will never sell or share a fan’s personal information, when a fan redeems an artist’s code, that specific artist can at least see who their fans are and have the ability to begin building a fan/artist relationship. In a very short period of time, Scarlet | Snow has added more than 1,200 potential fans to their fan base, and therein lies ‘The Power of Free’.”

Yet, the greatest feature on volumMonster has got to be the ability for fans and artists to set up an account and use the social tools within volumMonster to enjoy and share the experience with friends. “You can’t create this type of service on the Internet today and not embrace the fact that people want to socially connect in safe, online environments,” says Smith. “There is a much larger conversation going on that volumMonster is simply tapping into. We’ll never be another MySpace or Facebook, but that’s because we don’t want to be. Our goal is for volumMonster to be the place where fans and artists interact and freely share artistic content online.”

volumMonster officially launched in December 2008, and is adding fans and new artists, including those signed to major labels, each week. Fan accounts are free and artists can choose from multiple account options including free, monthly and annual subscriptions.

For more information about volumMonster, please send an email inquiry to press@volummonster.com.

For media inquiries, please contact Brian Mayes at Nashville Publicity Group, (615) 771-2040 or brian@nashvillepublicity.com.

I’ve been amazed at how much kids are learning these days and even more amazed at WHEN! My kids are in elementary school and already are doing Geometry! I didn’t take Geometry until I was a Sophomore in high school. 

Lately, volumMonster has been learning about angles… That’s right, angles.  The way we see things often depends on our angle of view.  Our perspective.  As the angle of view or perspective changes, you can think you are looking at something completely different, and yet the whole time still be looking at the same thing.  

Giving away free downloads on the internet is nothing new.  We’ve been looking at this idea for some time now.  What we’re doing at volumMonster is changing the angle of view.  We’re giving Fans and Artists a new perspective.  

At volumMonster we’re making free downloading fun.

We’re making it social.  

Most of all we’ve made it seamless and easy!

Have you tried it yet?  WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! 

All you need is a code! Redeem it… download it… and enjoy!  

Here are some codes we’ve been impressed with here at The vM…  Hope you enjoy them!

ENTER YOUR CODE:

free, choices, jazzbrain, theneedle, grafting,  tomsabella, smoothjazz, nerd, bradreynolds, ambrightEPforfree

We’re adding NEW Artists and NEW Fans every single day!!! A big Thank You to those of you who have been with us from the beginning, who joined last week, yesterday, or will join today, tomorrow, and the day after! We’re putting a new face on downloading and you are a huge part in that! The perspective may continue to change, but you can count on the fact that volumMonster is always going to be THE place to redeem, download, and enjoy the very BEST Free Content on the Internet! 

FANS: Encourage the artists you love to join vM and upload content for you!

ARTISTS: Let your fans know you are here!

Are you ready?

LETS TURN UP THE VOLUM!!!!

IF YOU HAVE A CODE YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECOMMEND, LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW AND UPDATE YOUR CODE STATUS ON THE VM HOME PAGE!

redeem.  download.  enjoy.

As with anything, but especially a new website these days, early on most of your time is spent telling the world who and what you are. We’re doing that. We’ve twittered and tweeted.  We’ve set up a Facebook Fan Page and Facebook Group. We’re rockin’ it out on MySpace.

One idea we at vM think has value, is that as important as it is to know who you are, it’s just as important to know who and what you’re not.  volumMonster is a lot of things.  It’s a place for new connections.  A place where Fans and Artists gather.  A place where opportunities are endless.

What isn’t volumMonster?  Well, it’s not just another typical website where you download music.  If you stop there in your discovery you will completely miss it.  volumMonster is a new way for artists to be heard.  A new way for Fans to find great music and other content.  A new way to be different.  

For those of you that have already joined the vM family… THANK YOU! We promise to continue making your vM experience a positive one. We’re still slapping ourselves silly that you’ve chosen to join us for the journey.

For those of you still standing on the outside looking in… What are you waiting for? Come on in! Get to know us better.  Allow us to get to know you.  Trust us, the view of The vM is a lot better from here.  

Come see what volumMonster is.  

If for no other reason, than to find out you like what it isn’t.

THE NEEDLE EP by SCARLET | SNOW

SCARLET|SNOW, ATHENS, GA INDIE ROCK BAND RELEASES NEW EP “THE NEEDLE” FOR FREE DOWNLOAD ON JANUARY 1, 2009

    FRANKLIN, TN, JANUARY 7, 2008, – Indie rock band, Scarlet|Snow has finished their highly anticipated second release, “The Needle EP : An Extended Play Album in Two Parts.”  On January 1, 2009, the band began offering the entire album for free download from their website and blog in partnership with volumMonster.com, a new website that gives artists the ability to deliver original content to fans via FREE download. The Needle EP will be available as a free download for the entire month of January.  The CD will go on sale in February. 

   “volumMonster is very excited to partner with Scarlet|Snow in the release of this groundbreaking project,” states Sean Smith, volumMonster co-creator. “volumMonster is re-inventing the way artists and fans of great music interact,” says Smith. “In the first five days of this promotion, volumMonster delivered over 500 free downloads of The Needle! It’s exciting to see an Indie band like Sarlet|Snow step out front with such an industry leading vision for how music will be delivered and experienced in the future.”

   “We are very pleased with this project,” states keyboardist and songwriter Mike Cowan.  “The Needle is really a concept record that explores the ideas of pain, heartache and the paradox of healing.”  The band teamed up with Chris Combs ( of The Sum and owner of Chris Combs Music Productions) to produce and record the EP.  Chris is an accomplished performer, songwriter, and producer located in Statham, Ga.  “The Needle EP is an anthology of heart and soul blended with tasty riffs and epic chord progressions.  Producing Scarlet | Snow has been extremely edifying to my soul because they have so many moments that are waiting to be explored,” says Combs.  The band also tracked drums and bass at Japanski Recording Studio also in Athens. 

   In addition to the new record, Scarlet|Snow also maintains a blog called, “Creating the Needle.” (http://www.downloadtheneedle.com)  The band has been posting updates of the studio and writing process.  Readers can find videos of practice and studio sessions, interviews, song downloads, etc. on the site.  The band has partnered with The Christian Manifesto (www.thechristianmanifesto.com) to help spread the word about the EP.  Calvin Moore, head of The Christian Manifesto, states, “Scarlet Snow is a singular experience to behold. Defying conventional labels and shrugging off generic molds, the band creates a sound that reverberates deep within the soul and psyche. Effortlessly gliding between moody and dark and light and hopeful, Scarlet|Snow will arrest your attention and provoke new thought.  Scarlet Snow’s Needle EP is a marked improvement on their already impressive sound. Listen up people. Scarlet Snow is the indie group to watch in 2009!”

   Suzanne, lead vocalist says, “I think that this album will reach people who are looking for something real.”  Their last album, “Inclined” was met with both critical acclaim and controversy as they strove to stretch the boundaries of modern Christian Rock or as Mike states, “progressive rock…by Christians.”  The band is also a member of Indieheaven.com.  Indieheaven is the leading community of emerging indie artists on the web.  Indieheaven president Keith Mohr states, “In working with many thousands of emerging artists since 1997, few stand out to me as having a rare combination of ability, determination, and devotion to their music and mission. Scarlet|Snow is one of the few, the humble and the chosen. When I see a band who thinks outside the box in their music and marketing; that tells me they are tuned into the creator. I look forward to their new creations, and pray for continued success in their mission.”

  To download The Needle EP for free, be sure to visit volumMonster.com or check out www.downloadtheneedle.com for more information. 

www.scarletsnow.com