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Press releases
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Mi2n,
New Music Weekly, PR.com.
FOR THE 2009 PRESS ROOM, CLICK HERE!
2011
Sunset Music Publishing launches an innovative online
automated licensing tool for music supervisors to find
production music in all formats and with all styles of
music.
Sunset Music Publishing announces the launch of its
automated licensing tool, an innovative new online
marketplace for production, or stock music catalog.
Sunset Music Publishing can now offer its extensive
library of high-quality royalty-free production music to
be used by music supervisors and by all music designers
in their production, as background music, in stores,
restaurants, theme parks, on hold and any place that
needs any style of music, and for any place that needs
music. Sunset Music Publishing can now offer its clients
four ways to license its product along with offering
four separate options for its potential clients,
including the master use licensing of all single tracks,
bulk packages by genre and style, by perpetual use along
with being given the ability to listen and review every
track by music stream. The company has launched an
advanced search technology with moods, styles,
descriptions, Beats per Minute (BPM), instruments,
instrumentals, and with an automated cue sheet
programmed for every song. Sunset Music Publishing makes
it easy, convenient and affordable for its clients to
buy the production music they need, after listening to
any song, twenty four hours a day, and without having to
deal with any other humans. As for the online
marketplace for this type of product and service, Sunset
Music Publishing is the first affiliated company to any
record label (Sunset), to offer this automated way of
licensing music. The company can now offer its catalog
of recorded music by its own up and coming musicians at
all of the labels distributed at Sunset.
“I am psyched to get this launched today; Sunset Music
Publishing can show how it is one of the integral parts
of us building one the most innovative and progressive
music companies in the world and besides that
recognition for the company, this is just another way
for us to showcase our catalog that is available for the
production music industry today,” says head of Sunset,
Don Lichterman. He goes onto say that “doing things the
automated way online continues to grow how businesses
gets done in general, and in this case, music
supervisors, can now review and retrieve our music at
any time.” Sunset Music has more than 150 entries on the
nomination ballot for the 54th Grammy Awards this year
and (Don) Lichterman says that from what he does see
growing in this part of the industry is that “more
companies are sprouting up with a system like I have set
up at Sunset.” Lichterman describes “Universal’s
(Universal Music Publishing) amazing system which after
I saw the launch of it last month, and I merely expanded
on their concept of dealing online, however at Sunset,
you can check right out using our own e-commerce.”
Lichterman and Sunset also have one of the only A&R
Submittal tools in place, and the company now does it
royalty payments and statements online and paperless.
“With this automated licensing tool being used as an
online platform to license songs by my artists, Sunset
Music Publishing enables buyers to search in any way,
using any type of mood, style, instrumentation or any
keyword, before they find, listen and determine on their
own, whether they want to license any of the music that
is priced in a cost effective affordable way, but what
is best is that this can all be done in an easy way. And
it can be done anonymously 24 hours any day of the
week,” to then enter into what is our royalty free based
standard license terms. Sunsets music is now available
at the www.SunsetMusicPublishing.com web site as online
music streams for the use of any retail outlet that
broadcasts music, theme parks, restaurants that play
music, any businesses (on hold, for presentations,
etc.), as website background music, or for use in films
and TV productions.
Kevin Hart
(Sunset Live Recordings) Opens The 2011 MTV Video Music
Awards
The comedian
isn't the official host the awards show, but if he was,
he says he would've dropped one million dollars from the
ceiling and gotten Oprah back on the air.
SUNSET OFFERS A SONG ALONG WITH
ACCESSIBILITY TO WORKING WITH OUR ARTISTS THROUGH THE
WHOTUNE WEB SITE!
One song by every artist at al of the Sunset
distributed labels have been added to the Who Tune (www.WhoTune.com)
web site. WhoTune is a Premier Online Music Community
promoting artists, Music Education, music products &
music news, etc. WhoTune allows artists to reach a true
global audience that allows artists exposure to &
collaborations with musicians in different countries &
from different cultures. WhoTune radio, has also added
our songs to their playlist and will participate in the
Pimp My Song program, the online feature that invites
our musicians from around the world to help complete
unfinished projects! Our artists signings are feom
countries all over the world and will be given the
ability to collaborate with other Musicians residing in
Paris, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Tokyo,
Shanghai or any other part of the wolrd! WhoTune
provides an extensive Music Samples library, to help you
write and produce your next hit song! WhoTune will also
prove to be the conduit for our song placement into the
Rock Band and XBox games, the world’s leading Music
based game with millions of users worldwide. By adding
our songs on the Whotune dedicated ‘Rock Band’ songs
page –all approved (U.S. artists only) tracks become
available in the Rock Band Store and on the Xbox LIVE
Marketplace.
SUNSET PARTNERS WITH WEMIX, THE
INNOVATIVE WEB SITE FOUNDED BY RAP STAR LUDACRIS!
Five (5) Songs from all artists at all of
the Sunset distributed labels have been added to WeMix,
the web site and company run by rapper, actor,
philanthropist and record label executive, Ludacris.
Sunset has partnered with the new media company,
Disturbing Tha Peace Entertainment and MegaMobile TV to
give fans and artists the ability to remix these songs
and to create "mashups" between fans and our music
artists.
Three Weeks In June
Is Being Released This Month!
Three Weeks In June
will be in stores this month and will be
available wherever books are sold online, in
stores, digitally as eBooks and as an Audio
book.
Don Lichterman’s Three
Weeks In June is set to hit every store this
month, and will be available at any place
that sells paperback books, eBooks and audio
books!
Traveling in America has never been the
same, the Don Lichterman book, Three Weeks
In June, is not just a book about travelling
all over the United States. (Don)
Lichterman’s route in America, explores his
visit to an Indian Reservation, to the
largest music festival, on a rock bands
final tour, while travelling all over the
United States. The adventure is helped along
by him losing his cell phone, his wallet,
all of his money, and he broke his pda while
managing to somehow receive cash from a
Western Union, get his tickets replaced for
any shows, rented a car and got on an
airplane without any identification. “This
is not just a story about what I did for
that three weeks span of time,” the author,
Don Lichterman says about his newly
published book, “this is a very political
book.”
The book, Three Weeks In June also discusses
the controversy with the War on Drugs, the
private jails and private prisons all over
America while also discussing how corrupt
the bank system is today, and how
corporations should be responsible for their
actions. “I touch into everything and I give
solutions along with my pints, including how
to gain jobs with ease today, let alone how
gain huge revenues with those jobs, how to
gain money in general with ease today, how
to stop the ridiculous spending we do as a
nation.” “I also go off about how corrupt
the criminal justice system is today and has
been for decades,” says (Don) Lichterman.
Don Lichterman is the founder, current
chairman and head of the Sunset
Entertainment Companies. Since starting in
the entertainment industry he has garnered
more than eleven (11) Gold, Platinum and
Multi Platinum Records Awards issued to him
by the Recording Association of America (R.I.A.A.),
four (4) Gold, Platinum and Multi Platinum
A.R.I.A. (Australian Recording Industry
Association), and has worked three of the
largest and most successful entertainment
companies in the world. Lichterman has been
a participant at the Grammys on The Hill
Advocacy Day, on behalf of the Recording
Academy, at the Senate Building in
Washington DC for last two years in a row in
2010 and 2011. He was also presented all
around achievement award for most successful
year ever at major record company.
(Don) Lichterman also shows his colors by
making no bones about growing up on Grateful
Dead tours confirming that he has seen
exactly 381 shows before Jerry Garcia died
in 1995. He then says, “I think I somehow
managed to have accumulated to see over 250
Phish shows since I first met the two of
them at that Widespread Panic show at the
Roxy in Hollywood” and “since I was first
taken to see that band at their own show in
1994.”
The book’s cover art is designed by renowned
designer and former Creative Development
head at Jupiter Media Metrix, George
Yatrakis. The soft covered book is set to be
in stores like Amazon, Borders, Books A
Million and everywhere that sells books,
along with digital companies for eBooks at
Amazon Kindle, SONY Reader, Apple’s
ibookstore and the book will be available as
an audio book starting in July. The book’s
chapters all begin with quotes from popular
world leaders and pop culture icons like
David Wilcox, Chris Rock, Willy Wonka, Hal
Sparks, The Grateful Dead, Seinfeld, Genesis
and more fun quotes help make the points
about “what we face as a nation today.”
About the Author, Don Lichterman:
Don Lichterman is the founder, current
chairman and head of the Sunset
Entertainment Companies. Since starting in
the entertainment industry he has garnered
more than eleven (11) Gold, Platinum and
Multi Platinum Records Awards issued to him
by the Recording Association of America (R.I.A.A.),
four (4) Gold, Platinum and Multi Platinum
A.R.I.A. (Australian Recording Industry
Association), and has worked three of the
largest and most successful entertainment
companies in the world. Participant for the
Recording Academy at the Grammys on The Hill
Advocacy Day at the Senate Building in
Washington DC for last two years in a row in
2010 and 2011. Also, presented all around
achievement award for most successful year
ever at major record company.
2010
Wolfgang's Vault
Newport Jazz Releases 1960
Wolfgang's Vault adds 1960 to its Newport
Jazz releases: Muddy Waters, Dave Brubeck,
Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan and Dizzy
Gillespie are featured.
Wolfgang's Vault has released the second
year in its Newport Jazz archives: 1960.
Historic performances that are included in
the 1960 series are highlighted with a
notable afternoon that seemed it would be
the last for Newport Jazz - when Langston
Hughes, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and
about 16 performers total were presenting an
afternoon lecture/demonstration on the
Blues. The lecture itself is an amazing
moment in music history. At the end:
"Willis Connover, Newport Jazz Festival
emcee and radio host for Voice of America in
Europe, then closes the proceedings on a
somber note, announcing that the board of
directions of the Newport Jazz Festival had
voted to accept the decision of the city
council of Newport to suspend activities of
the Newport Jazz Festival, beginning with
the evening concert on July 3. "In other
words, there will be no concert tonight
or…again," he told the stunned audience.
To hear that full performance and read more:
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/goodbye-newport-blues/concerts/newport-jazz-festival-july-03-1960-afternoon-show.html
Equally enthralling in the Newport Jazz 1960
at Wolfgang's Vault series are the
performances by:
Muddy Waters
The Louis Armstrong All-Stars:
The Gerry Mulligan Big Band
Dave Brubeck:
The November 2009 releases of the 1959 show
including Count Basie & His Orchestra,
Dakota Staton, Thelonious Monk and 26 others
were met with overwhelming acclaim for the
quality of these decades old recordings.
The Newport Jazz Archives at Wolfgang's
Vault are available to be streamed free, or
downloaded as Mp3 or lossless FLAC files for
audiophiles. All shows in Wolfgangsvault.com
are also available on the free iPhone app:
Sunset signs
production and distribution deal with
Memphis based booker and live music
promoter, Papa G. Records.
Memphis based
record label, promoter, booker and
Production Company, Maverick Group Marketing
Inc. (MGM) / Papa G. Records and Sunset
Records / Sunset Distribution Company have
announced today an exclusive worldwide
distribution deal through Sunset Records /
Sunset Distribution Company. The multi year
contract and joint venture between the
Memphis based multi-media record company
Papa G. Records and with the New York & New
Jersey based Sunset Records & Sunset
Distribution Company is a deal that will
bring current artists like Crushing Juliet
and Chosen View to Sunset from the Papa G.
label/company.
Don Lichterman,
the head of Sunset says that “Papa G.
himself (John Garrison) is one of the top
A&R people in the world, and my plan is to
allow him and his staff to go off to sign
any artists he works personally in the
Memphis areas,” and “because he books and
promotes one of the best halls (The
Minglewood) in one of the best music areas
in the world (on Beale Street in Memphis,
Tennessee), I look forward to having him
deliver new music to Sunset for many years.”
(Don) Lichterman also says that “he (Papa
G.) Is on the pulse of picking up on new
trends in music” and that Papa G. is also
“on the pulse of hearing new bands that play
live at the Memphis venues he books live
shows.” Lichterman goes on to say that he is
“thrilled to work with Papa G. as a great
extension to my company,” let alone
“watching him do his A&R for Sunset because
he has brought me to hear some of the best
arrays of music collectively, that I have
heard in one sitting in many years.”
The new
production and distribution deal will
continue to develop, license, and release
recorded music and any entertainment related
product the Memphis based company (Papa G.
Records) delivers to Sunset in any genre
and/or in any format. Aside from the initial
releases of the alternative rock bands,
CHOSEN VIEW (The Common Thread is due in
stores: September 21, 2010) and CRUSHING
JULIET (Broken Cadillac is due in stores:
September 21, 2010) that are being released
through the Sunset Record label, Papa G.
Records plans to deliver bands in a variety
of genres including Blues, Americana, Art
Rock, R&B/Soul, Rock N’ Roll, and World
music. The first projects through the new
Papa G. / Sunset deal is slated for Fall
release in 2010 with two new albums, The
Common Thread (In Stores 9/21/2010) which is
a brand new album from the alternative rock
band by CHOSEN VIEW (Sunset Records) and the
Broken Cadillac (In Stores 9/14/2010)
alternative album by pop rock act, CRUSHING
JULIET (Sunset Connect). "Both of these
artists are an enormous talent with key
songs for radio so I want them out by the
end of September this year,” (Don)
Lichterman says about the first two Papa G.
titles being released in the Sunset
Distribution system, “we (Sunset) are
extremely psyched to be able to bring his
(Papa G.) music, his bands and his sense of
direction with music he works to the next
obvious level in this industry, I also want
to get his music and bands out to more of a
mainstream and global audience." The
alternative sub modern rock song, “Under The
Swell” by the Chosen View’s The Common
Thread CD has already begun to impact radio
in the US and radio overseas in Italy, and
the UK and “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” on
the Broken Cadillac CD have already been
placed through two license (to be announced
this month) deals both in the United States
and in Italy.
MARCH
2010
Cryout and
friends record live concert from the Oklahoma Blues Hall
Of Fame for a CD release set to hit stores on 4/20.
Live roots
reggae from the Oklahoma Blues Hall Of Fame with Cryout
and a group of top musicians record their live album to
be released through on Sunset Live Recordings on 4/20
next month.
Over the
last decade of music, dancehall, ska and all types of
reggae music have seen much critical acclaim with a
great accessibility to the mainstream marketplaces, and
there has been plenty of attention given to all sorts of
Jamaican styled music. On the upcoming live CD, Jerry
Criner, the founding member and aka of Cryout, evokes
his fine, smooth vocals as he recreates his singles,
onto a live CD. From the radiant roots reggae classics,
"Gee Song,” “Desire” and “Funky Rasta” (originally
released on his studio albums “Nothing Beats A Failure
But A Try” and “Righteous Medication For The Soul”) to
songs never before released on CD, "Screw Face” and
“Hook, Line & Sinker."
Cryout'
singing and vocals has the classic feel of Bob Marley
along with the spark of a Peter Tosh, while showcasing
his own delivery style to reggae fans. The percussion (Torrence
Bear Cushinberry) is layered perfectly with vocals (Cryout)
that are fused into "dub" style with its rhythm tracks.
The authentic reggae sound makes this the person CD for
reggae lovers and for lovers of live music. To see
Cryout play live, is to see a spectacle and add in the
top musicians in the genre (Selby Minner, Torrence Bear
Cushinberry, Buck, Tony Mathews, Richard Web and Cryout),
you have the making for a huge event at the Oklahoma
Blues Hall Of Fame. Not unlike an impromptu jam and jazz
fest style show out on the streets, fans at the show
were grinning and swaying while dancing throughout the
entire set.
The live CD
consists of 9 songs with an old fashioned reggae jam
thrown in by the artists. And, Cryout playing live
offers fans great live reggae music at a very special
venue. The show came together last summer (2009) at the
Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame which were preceded by what
were weekly jam sessions that had been broadcast all
over the world from the Down home Blues Club, which is
also known as one of the last remaining true juke joints
in the United States. These live sessions came from the
same place that plays host to the Dusk til Dawn Blues
Festival, an event every Labor Day Weekend courtesy of
FOR Blues Inc. and Friends Organization. The show itself
has no doubt set some great standards for reggae fan,
and they are trying to prove they could prove to be one
of the best reggae bands in America.
Combining an
array of musicians, the Cryout, Live From The Oklahoma
Blues Hall Of Fame is a polished live CD with a cascade
of vocal harmonies, and an array of amazing musicians.
Selby Minner thrives on guitar, Richard Web plays guitar
and Buck sets the rhythm on his bass with songs like
“Fort Lauderdale Shuffle,” and Torrence Bear Cushinberry
drums throughout the entire CD with Tony Mathews play
lead guitar on “Drop Of Water.” “I am psyched to run
this via the Sunset Live record label,” Says Don
Lichterman, the head of Sunset, and “fans of reggae will
no doubt need this CD for their collection.” This is
classic Roots-Rasta styled reggae music and the entire
ensemble click perfectly that night.
JANUARY 2010
Indie Record Label to open
Merchandise Company this week offering officially
licensed product and band merchandise with both new and
established artists.
Online Retail Company,
Sunset Vending is being launched this week by founder
Don Lichterman.
New online music merchandise
retailer Sunset Vending (www.Sunset-Vending.com) is
being launched by Sunset Records founder Don Lichterman.
The new online merch company is designed to accompany
products made for his new music artists signed to the
Sunset labels, with legendary branded music artists like
The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones,
Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and AC/DC. Sunset Vending
has also signed specific license deals to resell and
offer popular branded items by iconic organizations and
estates like Sesame Street, Star Trek, Marylyn Monroe,
Star Wars, John Wayne, Betty Boop, DC Comics (Batman,
Superman, Wonder Woman), Looney Tunes (Taz, Bugs Bunny,
Tweeter and Sylvester), Snoopy and the Peanuts gang
along with many more official licensed deals that are
currently in place. And along with many new license
deals that are coming to the company.
Sunset Vending will set up
its artists from its indie labels with specific popular
merchandise items that bands will be able to sell online
at Sunset Vending, at their own websites, at the labels
web sites, at Amazon’s store along with being able to
sell these products at their live shows. Sunset
distributes (Sunset Distribution Company) an array of
established and brand new acts like Sekshun 8, Gina
Thompson, Federal Moguls (QBall from Bloodhound Gang),
Anthony Geraci, TenPenny Joke, Down From Zero, Capt.
Crunk, Original Black Pantah, I Kong along with Mark
Simmons, Deon Cole, Kevin Hart and other live recordings
from shows at the Laff House Comedy Club. “I am in hope
that the Sunset Vending Company will give us the ability
to showcase some cool band merchandise," says Don
Lichterman, the head of Sunset Vending, “and that has
already begun to pay off because even just yesterday; I
picked up a unique product line hand made by a fan of
the band Sekshun 8.”
(Don) Lichterman then says,
that he “implemented the merch company’s business plan
in the same exact way that I started my other companies
at Sunset, which is to accompany my new signings with
established, branded and legendary music artists.”
Sunset Vending plans to allow bands to get their
merchandise into dedicated fans hands without having to
buy them at shows and Sunset Vending will also be
selling official licensed products by popular music
artists.
JANUARY 2010
Sunset Live (www.Sunset-Live.com)
is honored to join OurStage, MTV Networks and their
partners to bring our community live streaming coverage
of “Hope for Haiti”.
The live concert downloads
will also be available at iTunes after the show ends
tonight. The Hope For Haiti Concert features live
performances by Wyclef Jean, George Clooney and CNN’s
Anderson Cooper will host the two-hour global telethon
airing Friday, January 22 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. And, the
celebrities also scheduled to appear in support of
relief efforts include Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Mary J.
Blige, Jennifer Hudson, Shakira, Stevie Wonder, Alicia
Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend,
Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock,
Keith Urban, Coldplay, Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, Beyonce,
Rihanna...Go To Sunset-Live.com to see the show!
DECEMBER 2009
Sunset moves its record label
web sites to the Secure Green Web Hosting
Platform and Web Servers Powered By Wind and
Solar Energy
Sunset Records moved over 60
web sites last week to its new web servers
powered by wind technology and solar energy
Sunset, the “greenest” record
company in the world, takes its
environmental campaigns to another level by
using Wind Powered Technologies' and Solar
Powered energies’ to provide its’ Web
application security, Storage for its web
servers along with its PCI compliance for
its record label and artist hosted web
sites. Sunset will continue to provide the
current and the future artists signed to the
label, their own private portals providing
security, SQL relational databases and a
Cross Platform Site Script. In addition,
Sunset now has their servers at their
specific co-location with dedicated hosting
for its label web sites and artists web
sites.
Don Lichterman, the head of
Sunset say that "After using a few solutions
over the last three years, and considering
my vision for my online infrastructure at
Sunset, dealing with this transition now was
an easy decision to make this month.” (Don)
Lichterman goes onto say that “moving our
content to our new servers is not only the
first step in becoming environmentally sound
at work, it is also long overdue for us to
be using
an environmentally conscious,
carbon neutral online business model,” and
“it starts with how we house our content on
its servers.” Lichterman also feels that in
doing this now at Sunset, “we will always be
able to cater to
our growing company and this
is just more incentive and added value that
our staff and artists get when you work at
the world's greenest record label".
Sunset is also known for
starting one of the most comprehensive and
critically acclaimed digital only record
labels this last year with Sunset Connect (www.SunsetConnect.com).
"(Sunset) Connect became very well known
this year and the press has been over the
top great for us gaining the recognition
after starting a label like Sunset Connect
this year,” says Lichterman, and “now, there
is zero hypocrisy which is why I felt so
good after making that change this month.”
Sunset will also provide their staffers,
labels and artists even more secure and even
more compliant to the digital millennium
Acts and “without a huge investment in
resources and/or man hours,” and Lichterman
ends the conversation saying that “I am so
happy to have this added value implemented
to our online solution."
Sunset is one of the
forefront runners and one of the most
innovative record labels in the world. The
company’s web site infrastructure is powered
with 100% renewable wind and solar energy
(90% wind, 10% solar) rendering its servers
and business operations carbon neutral. Don
Lichterman and his Sunset record Labels take
practicing social responsibility and its
overall Green Movement on its daily business
operations, to another level this month.
OCTOBER 2009
Sunset Records Strikes Deal to Integrate
its Mobile Content with Vio Mobile
Agreement Will Enable Vio Mobile Users
and Vio Distribution Partners to Seamlessly Release
Sunset Records Contextually Relevant Ringtones
at Hundreds of Retailers and Mobile Carriers All Over
The World!
Sunset Records announced today it has
signed an agreement with Vio Mobile, one of the
industry’s leaders in mobile distribution, to provide
mobile ringtones across several mobile retail channels,
with hundreds of mobile carriers in territories all over
the world.
Under this newly signed mobile
distribution agreement, Sunset Records ringtones will be
integrated into the Vio Mobile distribution network,
enabling millions of users globally to effortlessly
discover Sunset’s mobile content. Vio Mobile is also
integrating its distributed ringtone catalog with the
popular electronics company, Acer, for branded purchases
so buyers of the new Acer MP3 Player, can discover its
music on the new Acer media player. Sunset Records will
also ensure that its links to the Vio Mobile website are
set up integrated on every artist page. The Sunset
artist pages are set up that when fans click through the
links off their artist pages, they will be offered
ringtones, playback tunes, wallpaper graphics and all
relevant mobile content.
“The Sunset Records partnership with Vio
Mobile emphasizes our continued expansion to get our
music placed in every worldwide distribution channel and
then also highlights how we can integrate our content
with ease,” says Don Lichterman, the Head of Sunset
Records. “I was impressed right away with what Ivan
(Woodson) has built at his company,” says Lichterman
about this deal and that he is “confident that Vio
Mobile partners and its users will be able to find our
mobile content in every network and all over the world.”
With this deal in place today, Sunset
will have its catalog of recorded music available
through the Vio Mobile network of over TWO HUNDRED (200)
mobile carriers around the world.
SEPTEMBER 2009
The Philadelphia Comedy
Festival will be held this from November 4th
through November 8th. Hosting the festival
is the Laff House Comedy Club located at
South Street in the heart of south
Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Comedy
Festival will be held this from November 4th
through November 8th. Hosting the festival
is the Laff House Comedy Club located at
South Street in the heart of south
Philadelphia. It will feature many
comedy-related events with very special
comedy showcases at the Laff House Comedy
Club starting November 4th going
through November 8th.
Some of the festivals
comedians include Paul Mooney (HBO's Def
Comedy Jam, Chappelle’s Show, In Living
Color), Mike Blackson (The African King of
Comedy), Teddy Carpenter Martin Lawrence
Show, Host of “Later”), Donnell Rawlings
(Spider Man 2, Chappelle’s Show, The Wire,
Chelsea Lately,
Law & Order) and featuring the New Faces Of
Comedy. There will also be additional top
local comedians showcasing their brand of
comedy at the festival this year.
The Laff House Comedy Club is
responsible for showcasing world famous
comic acts dating back 25 years to when
David Brenner first brought the club in the
national spotlight. Since that time, The
Laff House Comedy Club has presented popular
comics Joe DeRosa, Kevin Hart, Roz, Mark
Simmons, Deon Cole, Michael Shawn and many
more international comedians currently
working in film, TV and on the stand up
circuit at live shows.
The world famous Laff House
Comedy Club has also released CDs by with
popular comedian artists like Kevin Kart
(I’m A Grown Little Man, Live From the Laff
House, Vol., I), Mark Simmons (It's Funny To
Be First, From The Mind Of A Rebel, Make
Room For Comedy, Laff House Live), Deon Cole
(You Should Have Put Me First), Gerald Kelly
(Green Eyed Bandit), Roz (Live From Laff
House) & Jamal Domon (Based On A True Story)
all have releases with Sunset Live
Recordings that are in stores today. The
Laff House has a series of live performances
by popular comics Michael Shawn (Wendy
Williams Radio Show Co Host), Mark Simmons
(Barbershop & Barbershop 2) and Kevin Hart
(Soul Plane) on DVD and as Videos On-Demand
(at Amazon)
The club owner, Rod Millwood
(Gina Thompson, Mykal Rose, Don Ward), is
also responsible for producing popular
comedy albums such as the top selling Kevin
Hart, I’m A Grown Little Man CD which was
recorded live at his club. Millwood is
listed on the nomination ballot as the “Best
Producer” for producing the new Kevin Hart,
Live From The Laff House (Listed in Best
Comedy Album Category) CD this year.
Don Lichterman says that he
“bets that some of the comics that perform
that week at Rod’s (Millwood) festival, will
have their show released on CD if we get the
appropriate rights,” and Lichterman goes on
to say that he is making plans for
Sunset-Live to present a night dedicated to
"live downloads" making these sets available
to comedy fans all over the world. “We have
the great ability to place anything at top
retail outlets online like iTunes, REAL,
ZUNE, Yahoo Music, AOL Music, Napster,
eMusic and even as ringtones and playback
tunes for cell phones,” says Lichterman.
For all press information,
please contact Don Lichterman at Sunset Live
(Don.Lichterman@Sunset-Live.com) and Rod
Millwood (Rod.Millwood@SunsetRecodings.com)
at the Laff House Comedy Club.
The Laff
House Comedy Club is located at 221 South
Street, Philadelphia PA 19147 and can be
found online at their official website (www.LaffHouse.com)
Kevin Hart Releases A Brand New Live Comedy
CD with Sunset Live; Live From The Laff
House Comedy Club.
Sunset Live Recordings sets up the
brand new Kevin Hart, Live Comedy From The
Laff House Comedy Club to stores all over
the world.
Kevin Hart’s new live comedy album
release, Live From The Laff House Comedy
Club is another unique live concert show
performed at the world famous Laff House
Comedy Club (Philadelphia, PA). In his live
act, Kevin Hart is flawless. His obvious
tone and vocal pattern are not only catchy,
mesmerizing, it is unmistakably his
trademark in the entertainment and comedy
world. “He captivates the audience every
time he does his stand up act,” says Don
Lichterman, the head of Sunset Live
Recordings. Lichterman continues to say that
“his style is totally accessible and his
live act is always perfect; he also does a
lot of great improve work while adding a lot
of spontaneous comedy when you see him
live.””He is an absolute pro on stage,” says
Lichterman about Kevin Hart and his stand up
comedy set.
On this new live CD released at Sunset
Live last week; this is another example of
how Kevin (Hart) speaks his mind about
everyday life. The CD is produced by the
world renowned Rod Millwood (Gina Thompson,
Mykal Rose, Don Ward) whom has produced
other comedy CDs for popular comedic acts
like Roz, Mark Simmons, Deon Cole, Turae
(Gordon), Gerald Kelly, Jamal Domon and
also, Hart’s, I’m A Grown Little Man is a
top selling album for Sunset. The label also
has a comedy video by Kevin Hart entitled,
Make Room For Comedy, being worked with
strategic Partner, Amazon Videos On-Demand.
And, Rod (Millwood) is also the founder of
the Laff House Comedy Club located at South
Street in Philadelphia (PA) and he has
videos at Amazon On-Demand released with
Sunset by comic artists like Mark Simmons,
Deon Cole and Michael Shawn.
There is no mistaking Kevin Hart and
his accessible style of comedy. And, it
would not be a Kevin Hart live show without
him stating the obvious about his life. And,
for his die hard following, he dives into
subject matters like relationships with
women, relationships with family,
relationships with celebrities, and his
relationship with himself. However, in
particular with Hart, are his bits about
women and relationships between men and
women. Kevin (Hart) is no doubt one of the
most likeable entertainers today. You have
seen him host major television shows on
major networks and you have seen him act his
way in movies like Soul Plane. His
hard-edged in your face topics get washed
under the table when you hear his voice. He
also has the most incredible knack for
allowing his audience to hear his i9ntense
subjects almost making him seem like bad guy
saying what everything thinks, but he uses
the accessibility to bring jokes back round
full circle to a subject laughed about in
that set. And, that reminder and repetition
hones in his audience. Kevin Hart is comedy
gold and this new live album is perfect
because you get to hear Kevin with his
crowd.
The Live From The Laff House Comedy
Club CD opens up with a “shout out” to Kevin
promoting this new CD, he then intermingle
his brand of standup comedy. And, the bits
from his live show at the Laff House Comedy
Club, are now available on this new CD. The
album is filled with new material and as
always, Kevin Hart is not only political
with his constant talks about his own life’s
experiences throughout the entire CD. And,
the Laff House Comedy Club is always packed
every night with an exuberant crowd always
ready to see Kevin when he comes to Philly.
And, one can easily hear that Kevin rocks
the house making this a great live release
for Sunset Live. This is not necessarily a
mixed bag of greatest hits humor by (Kevin)
Hart, Lichterman says to expect to hear “all
new material and so if you have not seen
Kevin live on this tour, this is all new
material put together on a CD by Rod
(Millwood).” And, the new CD is available at
all top retail outlets in the world and at
all retailers that sell downloads, streams,
ringtones and playback tunes.
JUNE 2009
The Laff House Presents the
Philadelphia Comedy Festival beginning on
November 4 and running through the 8th.
The Philadelphia Comedy
Festival will be held this from November 4th
through November 8th. Hosting the
festival is the Laff House Comedy Club
located at South Street in the heart of
south Philadelphia. Comics that wish to
participate in the festival can submit an
“audition video” through September 18th,
2009. There are no fees for any submittals
in the professional comic category. For
information on the submission process for
comedic artists should visit the Sunset-Live
web site (www.Sunset-Live.com)
and the Laff House Comedy Club web site (www.LaffHouse.com).
The Laff House is responsible
for showcasing world famous comic acts
dating back to 25 years when David Brenner
first brought the club in the national
spotlight. Since that time, The Laff House
Comedy Club has presented popular comics
like Joe DeRosa, Kevin Hart, Roz, Mark
Simmons, Deon Cole, Michael Shawn and many
more international comedians currently
working in film, TV and on the stand up
circuit at live shows.
The club owner, Rod Millwood
(Gina Thompson, Don Ward), is also
responsible for producing popular comedy
albums such as the top selling Kevin Hart,
I’m A Grown Little Man CD. Millwood has also
produced Mark Simmons, It’s Funny To Be
First album along with Jamal Doman’s Based
On A True Story album, the Gerald Kelly,
Green Eyed bandit album, the Deon Cole, You
Should Have Put Me In First album and two
(2) more Laff House live albums with various
artists all within the last year. These
titles are available through Sunset Live and
the company has a brand new Kevin hart, Live
Comedy From Laff House CD coming out in the
next few months. Millwood’s Laff House
through its deal with Sunset Live has made
six (6) Videos On Demand at Amazon. Radio
Sunset has also featured Roz, Live From The
Laff House, as its Friday Night Concert.
“Rod (Millwood) is one of the
most incredible producers in the world
today,” says Don Lichterman, the head of
Sunset Live, the Sunset records live
download company. “He does amazing things in
the studio and he is one of the premier
promoters in the live comedy world.”
Lichterman (Don) and Millwood (Rod) boast to
having almost 70 releases on the Grammy
Nomination Ballot in 2008, and more notably,
Lichterman had Millwood’s Laff House CDs
placed on it over 25 times last year. Along
with that placement, Millwood was listed on
the nomination ballot as the “Best Producer”
last year. Lichterman continues to say that
“Rod (Millwood) producing this year’s comedy
festival is a no brainer and it gives us the
ability to work a night doing live downloads
with these comics.”
The prizes for new comedy
artists include two (2) round trip tickets
to travel on Air Jamaica to and from Montego
Bay, Jamaica along with a cash prize. And,
resort arrangements for housing are in the
Ironside Village at East Of Eden in Montego
Bay. Sunset-Live will present a night
dedicated to the "live download" making
these sets available to comedy fans all over
the world. And, at top retail outlets such
as iTunes, REAL, ZUNE, Yahoo Music, AOL
Music, Napster, eMusic and the sets will be
made available as ringtones and playback
tunes for every phone network.
The line up for the Emerging
Comic's Contest will be announced on October
19th, 2009.
For all submittal
information, please go to the Sunset Live
web site and to the Laff House Club web site
for precise information on how to submit
your work.
For all press information,
please contact Don Lichterman at Sunset Live
(Don.Lichterman@Sunset-Live.com)
and Rod Millwood (Rod.Millwood@SunsetRecodings.com)
at the Laff House Comedy
FEBRUARY 2009
The
Founder of Sunset Records Opens One of the
World’s Most Extensive Animal Friendly and
Vegan Related Web Sites
Veg Hed opens
its online store providing products never
used with animals and strategic partners
with activists that are against all forms of
animal cruelty.
A New Jersey
based organization with shared office space
at Sunset in New York City, Veg Hed is now
the best resource for “vegan” product and
related care products from top brands, and
is also set up as a very precise way to find
out about pivotal animal activist companies.
The company also extended its range of
releasing music and video by releasing
organic and eco friendly related DVD titles.
Known for its quality of music and
innovative record label structure, Sunset is
finding ways to use its resources for
various forms of activism and awareness. Don
Lichterman, the head of Sunset is also the
founder of the Sustainable Action Network
and the Green Junkee online retail store.
Lichterman says, “Veg Hed is an extension
within our office and we are doing a series
of special markets CDs with a concept of
using only music artists that eat veggie
every day and artists that are against
animal cruelty. This is my way to fulfill my
larger dream of being able to do more for
humans and animals in this world. Having the
ability to promote and distribute products
with top retail outlets like Amazon and
Target gives us an instant reach at 12% of
the online retail marketplace.”
Veg Hed not only will release its own
product line, the site brings together other
vegan product lines and links to vegan
fashion stores. Veg Hed also has up to date
information with a few of the top animal
activist companies in the world. Without
many great resources for shopping for vegan
items online, and to gain information about
vegetarian living and organizations that do
incredible things for wildlife, Veg Hed
brings this together on one web site.
Lichterman says, “Unless you are looking for
a specific item that you use all the time,
using products not tested on animals and
using products, let alone products that have
no animal product could be difficult to find
online and in stores. I am trying to find
ways to make this so easy for people to buy
these types of products all together in one
order. I am also trying to use top brands
that manufacturer product without any
animals. And, I want to make sure people
know they have easy choices to buy every
type of product that does not use animals.
This is more about awareness and reaching
out to a more mainstream consumer while
explaining this to them in a very easy way.”
Consumers are able to buy Sunset DVDs and
Sunset CDs that are related to wildlife as
well as strategically partnered companies
with products that manufacturer vegan styles
clothing, cosmetics, and clothing along with
products from the PETA (People For The
Ethical Treatment Of Animals) Mall, the
ASCAP store, the Sea Sheperd online store
and items from the North Shore Animal
League. The store is also affiliated with
the Dr. Foster and Smith Company to resell
their product line.
JANUARY 2009
Sunset Continues To Develop
Music Through Its Digital Record Label
Sunset has just launched a
digital record label this month, finding,
signing and developing music artists with
the overall objective of breaking them
through its distribution system, licensing
network, radio promotion, press and media
departments along with its live download
company and radio network.
Sunset Connect is the now the
backbone for the Sunset Records digital
division and moreover, this is one of their
best ways for the label to find new music.
The label will function as a newly created
division at the Sunset record label based in
New York City. The label started this month
by releasing full length albums by D’Cyple,
Obka, Ric Laue, Kan’Nal, Starr Cullars,
Cryout, a Cracker / David Lowery type of
songwriter from England named Clayton Road;
and many compilations that feature popular
music artists (The Crystal Method, Fatboy
Slim, Sneaker Pimps, Gavin Friday, Eve
Gallagher, Boy George, Leftfield, Death In
Vegas and more), and will now begin to sign
more music every month during this first
year.
Don Lichterman, the head of
Sunset Records, will run the digital only
label during the key launch stages in the
first few months, finding new talent and
implementing the A&R and lead time
administration. The Sunset Connect digital
label is set up to develop bands working
everything to major radio, press, retail and
for licensing opportunities in film, TV and
commercials in an automated way.
Lichterman’s Sunset Live download company
will be run through the Sunset Connect
distribution system although it will be a
standalone company run by its own staff. The
live concert download company has just
released a very special live concert by the
world famous comedian, Roz (Last Comic
Standing, Laff House Live).
Lichterman said about the
digital label that it is a convergence of
many factors with regard to the landscape of
distribution and working music today--
including promotional mailings and mailings
for music-licensing opportunities, and
today, every aspect of a record label can be
distributed to radio, retail, press and
licensing companies all digitally -- made it
the perfect climate to start Sunset Connect.
The label will provide the ability to
purchase physical CDs for placement at
Amazon, Target and its own CD / DVD Store,
through its On-Demand system powered by
Amazon’s Create Space.
"We have every aspect of what
a record label does for its music artists at
Sunset Connect, and working music this way
is cost effective for artists that it will
no doubt be the standard model for record
labels," Lichterman said in a press release
with Billboard Media Wire. "We are poising
Sunset for that time by starting the label
today and at the same time, this label pays
its artist 70/30 splits on net sales, which
will keep everyone recouped making money
every pay period.” Sunset Connect will look
to hire a label head and other staff members
for A&R acquisitions with the label feeding
off the Sunset Records divisions for its
promotion, licensing, marketing and
administration.
While Sunset Records has made
great progress in the last year with its new
music – the Federal Moguls (QBall from
Bloodhound Gang and Troy Walsh (MTV.com) new
project and platinum recording artist Gina
Thompson’s new project as run through the
main label (Sunset Records and Sunset Urban
accordingly) -- the Sunset Connect record
label will be committed to developing new
talent and up-and-coming music artists. Each
of the artists on the label has already
released indie albums and Sunset Connect
distributes the entire catalogs of these
artists. "We have great lee way now to
develop new music without getting them
thousands of dollars in the unrecouped
column, and we can take on so many more
projects today," Lichterman said.
Sunset Connects business plan
has taken the same shape as the rest of the
Sunset labels. There is a perfect mix of
brand new talent in with established artist
signings that are legends in the industry.
Of the new bands, Kan’Nal’s “Gypsy” was the
number one song played on the Radio Italia
Network last year for a few weeks and
D’Cyple’s two songs “My Life” and “Don’t
Wanna Be” have broken the top 50 on the Indy
Record Pool charts last year and is still
being featured in clubs charting every
month. Clayton Road also now has two songs
in Pure Play’s Music Network and every
artist is featured at Pandora. Sunset
Connect has digital deals with every top
online retailer including iTunes,
Real/Rhapsody, eMusic, Amazon MP3, Napster,
Shockhound and over 40 outlets. The digital
only label does make physical product via
Amazon’s On-Demand system making CDs
available at Amazon, target and the Sunset
Store, however, it will not carry any stock
inventory.
Top industry people at major
labels and at Indy labels admit there is no
set formula for a digital only record label.
Lichterman says that he has “found the
perfect way to make everyone money and work
this music at Sunset Connect as close to
what you would do for an artist that has a
traditional record deal.” He also was quick
to say that the idea of doing this now is
almost “overdue, but for us at Sunset, this
the perfect time for this type of label
considering our label wide rosters at this
time. Our traditional label is working like
a machine and our artists and staff producer
(Rod Millwood) were named on the Grammy
Nomination Ballot 68 times leading up to
December 5th. We now have the formula to
make sure this label works like a cost
effective machine and ironically speaking, I
could see this label being the one that is
the main label as the industry phases out
physical DVDs and CDs."
Sunset Live Will Presents The Laff House
Comedy Tour in 2009 along with a brand
new live Comedy CD by one of the worlds
top comedians, Kevin Hart!
Kevin Hart (Soul Plane, Scary Movie,
Epic Movie, 40 Year Old Virgin) will
release a brand new Full Length comedy
album in Spring 2009. The Laff House and
Sunset Live are planning a nation wide
tour with comedians from BET's Comic
Review, Def Jam Comedy Show ion HBO and
with Kevin on the bill. Hart is playing
three nights at the world famous
Punchline Comedy Club in San Francisco
from 2/5 to 27/. Kevin's last comedy CD,
I'm A Grown Little Man is a top selling
CD at Sunset!
all Sunset artists chart on the aol
powered our stage last month!
Thirteen
(13) Sunset artists broke the Top 100 at
AOL's Our Stage for December 2008. Eight
(8) Sunset artists broke the Top 50 and
four (4) Sunset artists broke the Top 25
for the last month in 2008!
Back To The Top
Sunset Corporate Communications &
News Archives - Newsroom 2008 - Click Here.
|
Allow us to take you on a journey of sight and sound…
In the beginning, there were tapes — literally thousands of tapes of every format used in the capture of moving picture and sound from the last 50 years. Some were in such a state that they may only have had one more play-back left in them before the footage they contained was stripped away forever, while many others suffered from dubious labeling practices, making it difficult to determine what sort of content they might hold, where it was filmed, or even when. It has taken four years and millions of dollars to archive and restore this content so that it may be preserved and presented in the best possible form for your enjoyment, and we are proud to announce that the time has come for the great unveiling — the Concert Video section of Wolfgang’s Vault has arrived.
Bringing these aging concerts into the Internet era was painstaking work from beginning to end. Utilizing the best facilities available, we sought to gently improve the quality of our video concerts without robbing them of their natural vintage flavor. Once restored, each video was reviewed by our team of music experts to assess quality and catalog information about each performance, including exhaustive research to verify dates and venues of performances, as well as titles and cue points for each individual song — tens of thousands in all from the Bill Graham Archive, the King Biscuit Flower Hour, and the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals.
During the course of this process, we uncovered a huge spectrum of performances from some of the biggest names in music at legendary venues across the country: we found the Who at Tanglewood when Bill Graham brought the Fillmore East to Massachusetts, we found Ray Charles casually joining Aretha Franklin at the piano during the recording of her landmark live album at the Fillmore West, Lynyrd Skynyrd playing the Oakland Coliseum just a few short months before their tragic plane crash, even the Sex Pistols performing their last concert ever at Winterland — and that’s only the beginning.
We found hours of terrific concerts by lesser-known acts stretching all the way back to the ‘60s, and we have treated these with the same care and attention given to their more famous contemporaries.
Our goal is always to be as true to the live source recordings as possible, and we have maintained that commitment with our video content. In exploring the Concert Video section, you will immediately notice a wide variety in recording quality, even in videos from the same era:
Excellent Audio and Video
Excellent Audio / Dark Video
Poor Audio / Dark Video
When considering these concerts in their historical context, we simply couldn’t justify not sharing some of them due to these flaws.
It is important to remember that most venues were not lit to maximize the quality of video recordings, and the equipment available at the time offered little to compensate; consequently some of the content appears quite dark as stage lights change or come down altogether between songs.
Luckily in most cases, the audio portions of these videos are spectacular, so using the music as our guide, we have included even concerts or portions thereof that are less than perfect visually. Likewise, there are rare occasions where the audio suffers due to degradation or limitations of the recording method, or even simply from the unavoidable complications of live sound, but we have chosen to feature these portions as well.
We’ve also included some live concert ambiance whenever available — you’ll see the audience filing in and hear Bill Graham introducing the band; you’ll even get the rare glimpse backstage.
All of this has been carefully preserved and curated in an effort to bring you the most authentic live concert video available.
And because we love live music, all of this incredible archival footage inspired us to create new concert videos, too. The best in indie rock from San Francisco’s annual Noise Pop Festival and Austin’s SXSW have been added to our already stellar collection of videos.
Plus, we’re adding more all the time with upcoming location shoots across the country, and with our Vault Sessions series, which offers a little peek inside the Vault with some of the best performers on tour from yesterday and today.
To showcase all of this outstanding material, the Concert Video section of Wolfgang’s Vault has been designed for easy browsing and sharing. From any video page, you can share videos via Facebook or Twitter or simply by email, and registered users have the added benefit of saving their favorite videos to their MyVault page for easy access.
As you browse through the Concert Video section you may notice some familiar scenes along with the rarely and never-before-seen footage. Wolfgang’s Vault owns the copyright to 98% of the content featured on the site, and we have licensed parts of these concerts for film and television, including productions by MTV, VH1, CMT, CBS, and A&E.
All copyrights have been filed with the Library of Congress, and the few videos that we do not own have been licensed from a third party. Licensing is an important part of our business, so please contact us directly if you are interested in using some of this content in an upcoming project.
Once again, dear friends, we find ourselves at the beginning of something truly wonderful, and we are honored to share it with you, our faithful community. In the coming weeks and months we will continue to add new videos and feature classic material from our collection. We also understand that maintaining this vast archive is an on-going process, and we will be making improvements to existing content and site features along the way.
Please enjoy this latest addition to Wolfgang’s Vault, and thank you for your continued support.
Cheers,
Braden Towne
Director of Video Programming