I headed to Random.org this morning to get a truly random number from one to nine, and the result was eight. And the eighth person to correctly respond was…

Ryan Allen, of Dryden, Michigan.

Congrats, Ryan! You’ll be receiving your GM-1 very soon. And thanks to all who entered. I may run more scavenger hunts like this in the future…though I think next time I’ll drop a hint or two so we get a bigger pool of potential winners.

Oh, and if you’re wondering? The birthday cake is here.  Thanks for playing!

[T]hough it sounds WICKED UNCOOL TO SAY IT, build your band’s brand! It sounds “markety” and not genuine, but here’s all it means – pick a band name, get an artsy friend with a camera to take your picture, get an artsy friend with a pen or a computer to make you a not stupid logo, and start using that name/photo/logo wherever you can! If fans can associate your awesome music with a set of faces and a style of art, it’ll make them that much more aware of what you’re trying to do. And then you can make t-shirts and stickers and buttons and all the “stuff” that bands get to make other than music.

There’s a lot more smart advice in the article, all from a guy with a lot of experience both in PR and in a band, and you would be wise to pay attention if you’re looking to get the word out about your music.

I’d add two things that John doesn’t mention, though:

First, pick an original band name. This also may sound “wicked uncool,” but in the age of the internet it’s important to choose a name that can be Googled easily. (And note that punctuation and added spaces are pretty much ignored by Google at the moment, so for example, “a t o m” and “J.A.C.K.” are absolute bitches to find. You don’t need to go too far in the “iwrestledabearonce” direction, but be thinking about whether your potential fans will be able to find you.)

And second: For the love of all that is holy, get your music up on Amazon and iTunes. Amazon, at least, is really, really easy to do yourself; and there are a number of services to help you get your stuff up on iTunes. Yes yes, I know, these big corporate monstrosities are far from the indie ideal. But they’re also the two biggest purveyors of music around right now. For a lot of people, if you’re not up on at least one of those two sites, you basically don’t exist.

Anyone have any other advice for bands looking to spread the word?

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But I don’t want to get all maudlin and reflective; I want to celebrate! So let’s have us a little giveaway.

Well, perhaps not quite so little: I’ve decided to give away the Omega GM-1 that I reviewed back in March. If you’re not familiar with the product, it’s a set of sensors that allow you to connect a real, actual drum set to a Guitar Hero kit — or a MadCatz portable Rock Band kit with an optional adapter, not included — so that you can play real drums in your music game of choice.

Now, this unit retails for $250, so I’m not going to make it terribly easy to win this. You’ll have to invest a bit of time and have a bit of luck. You’ll also, I’m afraid, have to live in the U.S., or have an address in the U.S. that I can send this to; I’m not going to be able to deal with international shipping for this one. Aside from that one caveat, though, anyone can win. You’ll find all the details after the break. Continue reading →

We’ll be recording starting at 8:00 pm Eastern (that’s 5:00 Pacific), and get this: You can tune in live to hear us “umm” and “uhh” without a net, by hitting the Starpower Live Ustream feed. I promise not to embarrass you.

Well, probably not forever. But at least until the next big sale, which doesn’t happen all that often, lemme tell you.

Check out the complete lists of Rock Band and Guitar Hero tracks and packs on sale to grab some last-minute deals.

Here’s the whole rundown of what’s on sale for Guitar Hero, and here’s what’s being offered for Rock Band. And should you also wish to grab some tracks for the Lips series, you can see what’s available at the LIVEapalooza page.

Seriously, there are some crazy deals in there. And should you want to save even more — and if you can act fast — you can pick up 1600- or 4000-point cards through Amazon for $3.45 off the regular price. They’ll have to be physically shipped, but if you order today (or you already subscribe to Amazon Prime and get the free two-day shipping), you ought to be able to get your order before the sale expires on Monday the 12th.

From July 6 through July 12, start a dance party on Xbox LIVE where you, your Avatar and your friends from around the globe can rally for a limited time sale on top music game add-ons.  We’re discounting albums, track packs and songs for “Rock Band” (MTV Games), “Guitar Hero®” 5” and “Band Hero®” (Activision Publishing Inc.) and “Lips” (Microsoft Game Studios). From Green Day to The Rolling Stones, the stage is yours.

No specifics about what exactly is going to be discounted yet, but hopefully we’ll find out in advance so you can prepare yourselves to jump on the deals.

There’s a bunch of other XBL content going on sale as well, so hit the Read link for the full press release.

[Read, via RockBandAide]

Now, I expect I’ll be covering some of the music games for G4; if so, you’ll find previews posted at their E3 2010 previews page, and I’ll do my best to update here anytime anything relevant goes up there. And of course I’ll do my best to post anytime I see something on my own that you fine people will be interested in.

But your best bet in terms of coverage from me is to subscribe to the Plastic Axe Twitter feed. I’ll be a lot more likely to have time to punch up a quick Tweet (oh god I still hate that word so much) or post a quick picture than to have time to write up a full post.

In the meantime, please to enjoy this post I wrote many years ago about the E3 experience. Much of this still holds true, though alas — the Ziff party (and as far as I know, the Sony party) is no more.

Dance Dance Revolution has enjoyed improbable success for well over a decade at this point, and recent refinements using motion-sensing technology (e.g., the Wii’s Just Dance) have added a further dimension to the format. An arm-flailing, pelvis-gyrating dance game certainly seems like a good fit for a full-body-sensing controller. But to have it come out of Harmonix? I’m not certain I buy it.

There’s precious little detail in the article, so we’ll have to consider this very much a rumor at this point. But who knows? We may learn more at E3.

Which is the week after next. Yikes!

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