A big day for news

So kind of a big day for me: RCRD LBL rolled out a redesign of the front page that better highlights all of the awesome music we're putting out there AND Ryan Block just announced that he's leaving Engadget to work on a totally new project with me. This is about as good as I think my life can get, I've never been more excited or happier about the stuff I'm working on. The redesign of RCRD LBL caps off Phase 1 of the site; we're going to be rolling out a TON of new features and new sites over the next nine months or so in Phase 2. I can't say as much about what I'm working on with Ryan, but I will say that I'm really looking forward to launching it in the near future (but not TOO near).

Rhizome benefit next week

Almost forgot to mention that Rhizome, the digital art non-profit I'm on the board of, is having it's annual benefit event on the 15th. If you're in NYC you should come, we're honoring Lynn Hershman Leeson and Josh Schachter (aka Mr. del.icio.us). Tickets are on sale here.

Six years ago

 

I haven't always owned this URL, the previous owner of http://roj.as/ was the ROJ, a Kurdish political party of some kind (why they chose .as -- American Samoa! -- for their TLD is beyond me). Anyway, not sure why I never thought to do this before, but I thought I'd share -- courtesy of the Wayback Machine -- what the site looked like back in 2002, three years before I bought the domain.

New RCRD LBL features

We're introduced a handful of new features at RCRD LBL lately, including:

• MP3 of the Day - A daily email newsletter highlighting one great track from the site. Probably the easiest way to stay on top of the site and make sure you don't miss anything good. There's a form for signing up in the upper right-hand corner of RCRD LBL.
• The RCRD LBL Top Ten - Our weekly chart of the most download songs on the site. Sort of an obvious thing which we should have had months ago, it's a great snapshot of what people are digging on the site.
• The RCRD LBL Podcast - Technically we started this back in December, but it was really off and on until we asked Trent Wolbe to take on the production job for us. Elliot's been doing an awesome job hosting and programming the show, I really love the idea of a music podcast where you can hear a song you like and then legally go and download it. you can grab the podcast feed here or click here to add to iTunes.

We've got a bunch of other stuff in the works which should be ready early this summer, as well as a roster of exclusive music from some amazing -- and pretty big -- artists.

Me at SXSW

I'm headed out to Austin tomorrow for SXSW, on Tuesday I'm speaking on a panel about ad-supported music. I'll actually be in town for the entire week, which is new for me. I've gone to Austin for SXSW Interactive for the past five years or so, but this will be the first time I've stuck around for the Music portion of the conference (this is the first year I've had a good excuse for being there). By the way, this is in no way affiliated with SXSW, but RCRD LBL will be hosting a blogger lounge in Austin next week. Details below: ______________________________________________________

Please join Team RCRD LBL at the The Leviʼs®/FADER Fort in Austin

The RCRD LBL Rec Room will be complete with WiFi, computers, and plenty of space to work. We'd love for you to come by, meet our artists, label partners and staff and enjoy all the awesome bands and DJs our friends at Leviʼs® and the FADER have booked to perform.

The Leviʼs®/FADER Fort Featuring the Leviʼs® Pop Shop

204 E 4th Street Between Brazos and San Jacinto Blvd Austin, TX

Wednesday March 12th through Saturday March 15th

OPEN 1pm-8pm DAILY

Schedule to be announced! All events are invite-only, private and require an RSVP: http://www.thefader.com/newsletters/fort/index.html

Space is limited based on capacity. MUST BE 21+