Dear friends, we are pleased to inform that 184 Record Union releases have just now been added to the Spotify catalog (a total of over 1200 tracks). We know that many of you have been waiting for this update, and that some may be waiting still. We assure you that both Record Union and Spotify are doing our utmost to get your music on this popular service as efficiently as possible. We have put all the new releases into the following spreadsheet.

Among the many gems in the new release, here are few we have selected to highlight:

Babylon´s Burning by Babylon Bombs
Dark Dont Smile by The Swiines
Malmö Kallar by Trevolt
Powertrio Proudly Presents Ten Out Of Ten by Crescendolls
Moving on by Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the night

Digital explosion is a perfectly suited name for the dance/electronic/trance outfit hailing out of Turku, Finland. Their music is digital, and most definitely explosive! With catchy electronic hooks, rapid beats and soaring fast paced synth, the tunes will be buzzing through your head long after you have ceased listening.

The element of Digital also carries another relevance for the band, who first met their success selling MP3s on MP3.com in 2000. They hope to fuel this success and feed their loyal fanbase with their last 2 releases, one called “Electronic Revolution”, and the other a selection of their previously released material (adequtely entitled “Selection“). Find them on Spotify here.

This really is dance music at its highest quality, and one can only imagine what kind of havoc it reaps when unleashed on the dancefloor. Give them a listen on the player in the sidebar to find out what what we mean. “Summer in Belize” is simply nuts.

We thought we would try something new here on the blog today and post a Record Union Spotify playlist. Contained in the list is a selection of tracks from Record Union artists which we think captures the spirit of the weekend! Maybe something to put on before you head out and see you friends? or something to keep the festivities going and the end of the night? Well, you decide! You can find the playlist HERE. Let us know what you think!

Next week, we will post a playlist of music selected by our A&Rs, so watch out for this too. You can find all the playlist created by Record Union and rate them on Share My Playlists. From the all of the Record Union team, have a super weekend!

Since he started as a DJ 14 years ago, Alex Sayz has relentlessly devoted himself to his music. Arranging events from a young age, he is a 2000 gig veteran and has made the dance floor crucial to his own artistic survival. Now producer and co-creator (with Niklas Bergwall) of Top DJ Records, he is using his reputation as an innovative world class DJ to create and produce cutting edge music which is causing havoc on dance floors around the world. His last release “Shame on You” (feat. Lawrence Alexander) recently reached #16 on the Billboard dance airplay chart. Record Union caught up with Alex and talked to him about his current projects.

For those who don’t know about Top DJ records, can you tell us a little about what you are up to over there?
TopDJ Records is part of TopDJ Music Sweden where we also have TopDJ publishing and TopDJ management. Me and my colleague started TopDJ Music because we wanted to control our releases. We don’t want to blame anyone else if we don’t success. Since Im first of all a DJ everything we do have to be for the dancefloor. When we sign artists or when we produce music we only have to ask us a simple question: would I play this out on the nightclubs?

Your release “Shame on Me” recently achieved #16 on the Billboard dance air charts. Was this success expected?
No I couldn’t expect any Billboard chart in my dreams. Everything took off when I visited the Winter Music Conference in Miami this year. I handed out some demo CD’s and received some calls when I got back home. Some major labels and some minor. I fell for a label called Parker Recordings. Mr. Parker is well known in the business and previously released acts like Lasgo and Ian van Dahl for a bigger label. I had a feeling that Parker Recordings would work hardest for “Shame On Me” so we chose them. Luckily it paid off.

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Mother Popcorn makes you wiggle, it is true. Their infectious upbeat 70s funk Motown influenced pop is just too much for your body to handle. It is party music, through and through.

But it´s not necessarily the kind of party music which has people jumping around banging their heads, more a lounged back, sophisticated party music – imagine a party of well dressed people drinking refined cocktails celebrating life and having a good time. Live, however, im sure its a completely different story. However, regardless of what setting one plays Mother Popcorn, alone in your room, or at a party, the effect of their music is undoubtedly uplfiting.

So what of Mother Popcorn themselves? Well, they are based in Swedish coastal city of Gothenburg, there are 6 members and they are all skiled musicians. The music is well thought out, technically precise and superbly executed - the elements of Vocals, Trumpet, Saxophone, Guitar, Bass and Drums coming together to produce a clean, seamless concoction of musical goodness.

Mother Popcorn have released a self entitled debut EP on Record Union. The 4 songs it contains are just enough to satisfy, but like their growing fan base, we are looking forward to hearing more!

Why not head over to Spotify and give them a listen? If you get really hooked, you will find their music on most online stores, such as Amazon MP3, iTunes and emusic.

Record Union are excited to announce a partnership with Deezer, one of the most popular streaming services in the world.  With 9 million users and as many unique visitors a month, Deezer is a streaming giant, offering browser based on demand streaming from a vast catalogue. And now it´s time for Record Union artists to get in on the action!

The concept behind Deezer is simple: to offer free and legal on demand streaming to all kinds of music, from rock to hip hop, as well as jazz, electro and world music, while respecting artist rights and offering all a share in advertising revenue generated on the service.

Beyond a dynamic and highly developed streaming platform, Deezer boasts a range of functionality which enables users to share, listen and discover new music. These include genre categorised online radio, smart radios, an album download option, playlist sharing and a large social network of “deezernautes” actively sharing their musical tastes with friends and fellow listeners. Deezer also offers an application for the iPhone and Blackberry, which gives users the chance to enjoy over 35 web radios and their own “smart radio”, which bases its track choices on user listening preferences.

Being one of the only services of our kind to distribute music to Deezer, the Record Union team are celebrating. Our mission is to have the largest and most diverse selection of distribution partners in the world, and this is a step forward in this goal. We will soon send our full catalogue to Deezer for listing.

If any of you would not like to have your music on Deezer for some reason, please let us know before Sunday 30th August 2am Pacific time.

You may have noticed the A&R section of the Record Union website, and been a little curious what it´s all about. Well! Record Union gives people the opportunity to become part of our global “A&R network”. Now, traditionally A&Rs (which stands for “Artists and Repertoire”) act as talent scouts for Record Labels. Record Union is not a Record Label, but members of our A&R network perform a similar role.  It´s the A&Rs job to help us find aspiring new artists who will benefit from digital distribution, and recruit them to Record Union so that we can liberate their music!

We think it is important that everyone enthusiastic about music should be able to get the chance to participate in what music makes its way onto the global market. Also important is that people all over the world should be able to take advantage of the new distribution possibilities that the internet offers.  We are pleased to say that since launching the Record Union A&R network has been expanding rapidly and A&Rs have been responsible for bringing a diverse selection new music to Record union. We now have A&Rs all over the world in countries ranging from the UK, Canada, Jamaica and Spain. We are also pleased to see that people from every corner of the music industry have become involved,  ranging from artists, producers, recording studios, independent labels, managers, venue owners, bookers and others all united by their passion for music.

We will begin to feature more of this new music on the Dog Blog, and may even interview a few of our A&Rs so they can tell you all what they have been up to recently and what artists they have been working with. Watch this space!

If you are interested in becoming an A&R, why not head over to the A&R page and apply. You will find more information about the A&R on our FAQ page.

Dear ladies, gentlemen, comrades, friends and fellow human beings. Record Union is excited to announce that our first few releases have made their way onto the Spotify service! We are extremely pleased to be working with Spotify, and look forward to making it easy and straightforward for independent artists to get their music onto this revolutionary service.  The first 2 releases are - drum roll please! – “Nightfly” by Andreas Agurré, and “Long time comin´” by Motherpearl.
This is a pinnacle moment for Record Union, and just the beginning of our vision to democratize the access to digital distribution.

The Record Union expedition to Peace and Love was a huge success. The Record Union team had great responses from all the people coming to chat to us at the Record Union tent. However, the highlight of the festival for us was undoubtedly the 3 extraordinary performances by Boris Valdes, Frantic Sunday and Lissi Dancefloor Disaster, who took the stage at the Record Union P&L Showcase on Saturday. The turn out was impressive and the bands definitely did not disappoint.

The crooning accoustic melodies by Boris and his band captured the audience as if in a spell. Frantic Sunday, with their incredible onstage energy and quality delivery certainly gave their audience more than they could ever have bargained for. And Lissi Dancefloor Disaster, well, their talent combined with the guest appearances of Sophie Rimheden and rapper Henry Bowers quickly turned the dancefloor into a riotous effervescent frenzy.

Check the slideshow below for some pictures. We would like to thank Joakim Kvist ans Oscar Omne of Rock Foto for taking them. If you are having trouble with the slideshow, you can check them out on our Flickr page.

We would like to thank all the artists who sent us their application to play at the P&L Showcase this year. Both Record Union and the A&R network were extremely impressed by the quality of the entries we received, which made it very difficult to chose the final line up. However, we have now arrived at our decision. The 3 bands chosen by Record Union and our A&R network to play at Peace & Love this year are:

Boris Valdes

Boris lives in Malmö and passes most of his days in his studio in möllevången. He plays sweeping acoustic melodies, his distinctive voice penetrating each song with emotion and depth. His chosen instrument is the guitar.

www.myspace.com/boriskitchen

Uppsala based electro duo Lissi Dancefloor Disaster consist of Johan Tilli and Josefin Lindh. LDD create electronic pop with an attitude. With LDD, contagious dance-punk meets attractive electronic soundscapes and wonderful upbeat rhythms.

www.myspace.com/lissidancefloordisaster

Frantic Sunday was formed in Uppsala, Sweden, September 2008. The band members are: Tomas Karlsson vocals and organ, Ola Renman bass, Joel Yngvesson guitar and Henrik Nilsson drums. Their beating pop music is highly expressive and organic, influenced by bands such as Razorlight, The Strokes and Yo La Tengo,

www.myspace.com/franticsunday