Today we are today excited to announce another new partner. WaWaWa is the largest legitimate independent download store in China. Created exclusively for mainland Chinese consumers, the store delivers DRM-free mp3’s via a monthly subscription plan. The service also allows subscribers to stream their downloads from any location providing access for the 40% of Chinese users who access the web from Internet cafes.

A recent survey by Beijing-based research group Music 2.0 found that a third Chinese music consumers are willing to pay for downloads. In the study, listeners cited their current inability to find non-mainstream music and desire for better niche and foreign music discovery tools as chief among the reasons for this. Previously non-mainstream music was mainly available through unauthorized services. So as you can see, Wawawa is in many ways a landmark music service directly tailored to the needs of Chinese listeners.

We hope that by providing music to this platform Record Union will open the doors to the Chinese market for independent and unsigned bands from around the world, and help satiate the hunger that Chinese music lovers have for niche foreign music.

We will send our entire catalog to Wawawa in the coming week. As always, if you would for some reason not like your music featured in this store please contact content(at)recordunion.com before Wednesday 10th March, 16:00.

Drum roll, please! Record Union are proud to present our very first video. It is intended to introduce new people to the service, and communicate what Record Union are all about. We would like to thank Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus for letting us use their music for the video. Enjoy!

Record Union would like to congratulate Troublemakers, whose album “Made in Sweden” was voted the best punk/hardcore album of 2009 at Manifestgalan over the weekend.  Manifestgalan is a prestigious award, handed out to the best independent releases from a range of Genres in Sweden each year. Made in Sweden is a masterful mix of classic Swedish punk rock and rock´n´roll, with all the trademark power, pace and attitude which makes music within this genre truly great. The band, and Hans Selander (The A&R who recruited them) are obviously extremely happy with the result.

You can listen to “Made in Sweden” on: Spotify, Deezer.

Today we are pleased to announce that Manchester based indie rock outfit The Words release their first UK chart registered single “FAG“. FAG is a very catchy song, incorporating the lively hooks, powerful vocals and quality delivery which are trademark of the The Words sound. Record Union are proud sponsors of this release, and hope it´s success will match the awesome talent and dedication of the band behind it.

The Words draw on a variety of influences ranging from The Strokes, Kings of Leon & Arctic Monkeys through to Elvis, The Beatles, David Bowie and Motown, the band have managed to produce their own unique upbeat, feel good sound which gets people singing along whilst also hitting hard in all the right places.

“FAG” is that kind of song which you will keep coming back to - catchy is doesn’t describe in accurately, morish is a little better, addictive might be going a little far, but not much. Give FAG a listen on the widget below, as well as the second song on the EP “I just wanna Dance”.

“FAG” is available on all major online stores, such as iTunes, TuneTribe and Amazon and. If you are in the UK, you can order the track via SMS here.

There is no doubt that 2009 it has been an exciting year for Record Union. In May Record Union set out with the bold ambition: to democratize the access to digital distribution. By putting comprehensive digital distribution within the reach of all artists, our aim was to set out to strengthen independent music all around the world. The overwhelming enthusiasm and support we have received is making this ambition a reality, and we look towards 2010 with the same eagerness and ambition with which we set out.

The launch of a music service is never without its challenges, but thanks to the feedback, constructive criticism, and above all, the patience of our users we were able to overcome many of these. We promise that we will work even harder in 2010 to build and improve our service.We have some great new partnerships lined up, and will be adding new functionality to the website which we are certain you will all appreciate.

We would like to thank all those who support our vision and are part of Record Union; all the artists, the A&Rs, our trusted partners and of course all of those who love music as much as we do. Without you, we would not have made it this far.

We wish you a great end of 2009, and the best of luck in the year to come.

Liberate the music.

Fantastic news! Record Union has now secured a distribution deal with yet another major music service. Lime Wire, maker of the popular peer to peer client, launched LimeWire Store in the spring of 2008, selling fully licensed content from an array of artists and labels. Listeners can pay for music in a number of different ways, including monthly subscription models which enable them to download a certain ammount of songs, or a standard pay as you go model. All of their songs are offered in 256kbps MP3, DRM free. LimeWire Store’s music team is committed to providing participating artists and labels unique promotional opportunities with exclusive releases, targeted marketing and events.

Record Union will soon send our entire catalog to Limewire Music Store. If for some reason you would not like your music to become available on this service, please contact content@recordunion.com before Friday the 18th December 16:00 CET.

We are excited to announce that Record Union will now be collaborating with The Peoples Music Awards! Together we will work hard to create even more opportunities for independent artists around the world.

For those who don´t know about them, The Peoples Music Awards are the first and only global unsigned music award, and are dedicated to aiding the discovery of new independent music. Record Union are really impressed with the awards, and think it provides a great platform for aspiring independent musicians to grow their fan base and gain the recognition they deserve.

The way the awards works is that independent artists, bands and producers can upload their music on www.thepeoplesmusicawards.com, and the general public and a panel of music industry representatives can listen and vote on their favourites. There are various stages to the voting, but their music player and voting system makes this all very straightforward. The winners are announced in there swanky awards ceremony which is this year held in London, and is broadcast all over the world. Next year, we are excited to announce that the Record Union A&R network will be among those sitting on the judges panel.

If you are determined to achieve success in music, then The Peoples Music Awards may just be that extra push which you need. Signing up is free, so head over to their website and sign up now!

Fantastic news! Crescendolls are the official winners of Jack Rocks Sweden 2009. They made it through three rounds of tough voting by a panel of respected judges to make it to the finals held in Stockholm last night. Four bands battled it out onstage in front of a select audience, but in the end it was Crescendolls who clinched it. Inside sources tell us that it was a close run thing between Crescendolls and Oholics, both bands currently distributing their music with Record Union. For you Swedish speakers, you can read more about Crescendolls and the Jack Rocks competition here.

Record Union would like to congratulate Crescendolls on this impressive feat, and wish them the best of success in their bright future.

We are pleased to inform you that today 32 new releases from Record Union were added to the Spotify service. We have been extremely impressed by the amount of plays Record Union artists have been pulling in, and we are sure this batch will contribute to these. To find out if your release has been included in this update, check out this spreadsheet. If your release was included, time to go out to your fans a tell them the good news!

The finals of Jack Rocks Sweden is being held in Stockholm on the 26th November! Crescendolls and Oholics will be performing and are gearing up for a killer show. Other bands include: Jonas Schwartz, Kickback Circus and The Itch. Want tickets? Send an email to: jackrocks@p-s.se.