A new survey on Americans’ use of the Internet done by Pew Internet says that six in ten American adults are now wireless Internet users, and mobile data applications have grown more popular over the last year. Cell phone ownership has remained stable over the last year, but users are taking advantage of a much wider range of their phones’ capabilities. The survey showed that as of May 2010, 33 percent of adults use their phone to play music, up from 21 percent in April 2009. Additionally, 20 percent have used their phone to watch a video, 15 percent have posted a photo or video online with their phone, and 11 percent have purchased a product using their phone.

wow! Technology rules!

Article Written By: Rock Along Productions

As you may know the Blooze Bar suffered a fire recently, so the community pulled together to help the owner! The result was a rockin show last night!

Martini Ranch has been one of those venues, you know you can go and see great live music. Last night was no exception! On the bill: Michael Nitro, Whiskey Six, Razer and Age Of Evil! Razer was fantastic, they played some new and very cool tunes.

Martini Ranch has always been a favorite for us at Rock Along. Robert Kagnoff was so very nice and made sure we had everything we needed including all access! It was so nice to talk with all of the bands. The energy in the place was amazing. All the bands had fun playing. As quoted from Chris Catero of Razer “When Whiskey Six approached us about doing this show it was not just yeah, it was Fuck yeah!”

It was very cool to see the whole music community coming together. I often wonder why it takes a tragedy for everyone to share, love and be kind……The music scene here in AZ could be stronger than any other place in the world if we could pull together everyday.

I wanted to mention some great people that made this event happen. First all the bands that played last night, Razer, Whiskey Six, Michael Nitro and Age of Evil. Next all the very cool people at Martini Ranch! Also all the sponsors for the raffle prizes including Atomic Custom Guitars which donated 2 guitars for the raffle, also one was signed by Bullet For My Valentine! Other sponsors included Zia Records and Rock Thiz Magazine. The music community that helped organize this was incredible, they include Tammy Payne, Anne Hernandez, Becky (Rocker Chick) Matt Indes, Michelle Beyer- Piscesgirl, The Blooze bar people, and all the rest of you!

It was a night of rock, laughter and some tears especially as Tumbleweed (owner of the Blooze bar) got on stage and spoke about what this all meant to him. He seemed to be overwhelmed with emotions as expected. He truly does appreciate the love and support he has seen in the last week. He stated that ” The Blooze will be back soon even better than ever” . No doubt the rock is not lost and we all will rock again!

The moral of all this? Support the local arts and music, but also support the community as whole. Pull together with your fellow man/woman and do the right thing! This was displayed last night and it was nice to see!

We support the Blooze Bar family! Best wishes for a great comeback!

Here is a slideshow of pictures from the Martini Ranch Blooze Bar Benefit Show:

This Thursday! Martini Ranch will be hosting a benefit concert to help provide aid to the victims of the Blooze Bar fire, which has now been reported to be caused by an ceiling electrical fire. A $5 donation at the door is all it takes to help and reach out! I am so impressed at everyone that has banded together in the music community to help.

Microsoft and Google are using their search engine services to better connect fans to entertainment content.

Microsoft launched a new entertainment vertical to its Bing search engine in June, which displays details on up coming tours, streams full-tracks of artists and contains buy links within the results.

Google put together a similar package last year and is now building a music download service that will be tied to its engine and Android mobile operating system.

According to Microsoft, 10 percent of all Internet search queries are entertainment-related, with music lyrics accounting for 70 percent of those searches.

Microsoft is trying to position itself above Google as a better entertainment discovery tool. Bing has more complete features when searching music, such as lyrics, tour dates and buy links.

However, Billboard.com reported that its sources said Google will launch a music download service that is tied to its search engine. Music searches on Google currently link to a full-song being streamed from MySpace Music.

Google announced during a developers conference for the company’s Android mobile platform in May the acquisition of Simplify Media, which is a content-syncing technology that Google demonstrated can be used to automatically sync and stream music purchased online to any Android phone.

Google is facing opposition from groups like BPI, a trade group representing U.K. record labels. BPI issued a take down notice to Google in June, demanding it remove links to 17 songs from third-party websites it deemed as infringing.

If Google complies with the group’s demands then it would set a precedent that will almost certainly result in a flood of additional take down notices from every music label and publisher eager to eliminate pirate links on the world’s most popular search engine.

Microsoft senior VP of online services Yusuf Mehdi said that Bing will comply with the music industry’s take down request, but has no plans to alter the search algorithm that determines search results.

However, when it comes to music, all of them fall behind compared to Apple, which commands 70 percent of digital music download sales in the U.S., according to NPD Group. Although Apple has not jumped into the online search market, both Microsoft and Google are competing with Apple on the rapidly growing smartphone market.

The worst-selling summer concert season in recent memory has claimed another victim — Lilith Fair, which on Thursday canceled 10 shows, adding to a grim list that includes U2, Christina Aguilera, Limp Bizkit, Simon & Garfunkel, certain Eagles stadium dates and Rihanna’s tour opener originally scheduled for tonight. “It’s the reality of this summer,” says Terry McBride, Lilith Fair’s co-founder. “It’s just across the board. Main Street is still in recession. We’re not out of this yet.

The tour, which includes singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan on every date and rotating headliners such as Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones and Loretta Lynn, will continue its remaining 24 dates as planned — and McBride adds that the non-canceled shows are selling well. However, Kelly Clarkson also announced today that she is skipping her previously scheduled Lilith dates to complete work on her upcoming studio album. Lilith Fair was the top-grossing concert of 1997, at more than $16 million, but it has struggled to sell tickets in its comeback year, in part due to the economy and in part, some concert-business sources say, because its marketing campaign never really kicked in.

John Scher, a New York promoter who tried unsuccessfully to book Lilith for a 25,000-seat stadium show, adds that the Lilith tour is a symptom of larger problems in the tour business. More than ever, huge promoters such as Live Nation and AEG Live are attempting to outbid each other for top tours, over-paying numerous artists, then wind up raising ticket prices too high. As a result, Live Nation, the world’s biggest concert promoter, had to create a no-service-charge deal for all of its amphitheater shows, including Lilith, last month. “We are not, as an industry, creating any lasting careers and very few big headliners,” says Scher, also co-manager of Simon & Garfunkel, whose tour was selling decently well before Garfunkel developed vocal strain last month and had to cancel.

What is happening to the music business? With big tours being canceled are more people turning to local music for entertainment? Does this help or hurt local music? Share your thoughts on this post!