LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ AirPlay Direct) - AirPlay Direct, a leading provider of secure digital delivery of music and electronic press kits to music industry professionals around the world, today announced the signing of the alternative rock band a'tris to the AirPlay Direct artist advocacy and education program. a'tris is the first band to come completely through the AirPlay Direct artists and repertoire (A&R) initiative that was started in 2007.
"This is the most aware and relevant band of our times," said Robert Weingartz, CEO of AirPlay Direct. a'tris was in the first 500 bands to sign up to use AirPlay Direct to deliver their broadcast-quality music to radio stations globally. Since that time, a'tris placed in the top 5 artists in two of the alternative rock artist contests as decided by music industry professionals. It was in October of 2008 that a'tris was chosen unanimously by the music industry professionals participating in the A&R conference to win the artist contest.
"I am very excited to be a part of such a forward-looking organization," said Mason Taylor, frontman for a'tris. "It is a true pleasure to be working with a team whose main focus is educating and empowering the artist." AirPlay Direct is supporting the band's February 2nd release of their self-titled EP. The EP includes tracks (both live and remastered) from a'tris' two previous albums as well as a preview of their upcoming fall 2009 release.
AirPlay Direct will be looking at artists who continually are in the top of their artist contests, the winners of which are chosen by industry professionals appointed by the sponsors of the contest, for future signing opportunities. The company will not be accepting unsolicited material for signing consideration and encourage all artists to submit their material through the artist contests if they wish to be considered. The revolutionary business aspect of signing with AirPlay Direct is that the artist maintains the rights to their material and artistic control of their product. The company is focusing its efforts on educating the artist and providing the artist with free premium digital tools to build their career. The AirPlay Direct platform is free and open to all artists and labels to use.
Formed in 2004 in Boston, a'tris released their debut album, 'appeal,' in November of 2005. a'tris released the EP 'Of the Commons' in 2007 as well as their second full-length record, 'Lensing' which featured the track, "Automatic Doors." The music video for which garnered placements on MTV Latin America and Much Music and resulted in the band being featured as Microsoft Windows Media Player's artist of the week in May of 2008. The 'Automatic Doors' music video was in the Top 10 on OurStage.com in June 2008 Music Videos category as well as in the Top 10 on Famecast.com in August, September, December '08, and January '09 Rock Music Videos. 'Automatic Doors' was the No 1 Rock music video out of 2,315 Rock music videos on FameCast in October of 2008, and placed 3rd in November 2008 on the whole site (cross-genre). a'tris has played hundreds of shows coast-to-coast and are currently finishing up their third full length release.
AirPlay Direct is an easy to use digital file transfer system that was developed to streamline radio / artist promotion activities for today's music industry. AirPlay Direct's FREE services replace the unnecessary time and expense of putting together and sending out costly traditional artist packages and press kits via snail mail.
