imeem – Music is Social

imeem announced today that we’re joining with Google to make it even easier to hear and buy the music you search for online.

Starting this afternoon, when you search for a song or an artist on Google, you will be presented with deep links directly to the pages on imeem from which you can sample songs, buy downloads and explore more music.

For nearly four years, imeem has worked hard to realize our vision of letting fans stream any song, at any time, with the costs supported by advertising.

This vision is driven by our belief that the key to stemming piracy is making it easier to find music than it is to steal it. As recent research has shown, people will do the right thing when the right thing is also the easiest to do.

Search already plays an integral role in our business, not only in how people get to imeem but in how they find music to play once they’re here. By integrating imeem links directly into search results, Google and imeem are making music discovery even more convenient — in a way that does right by fans and artists.

We believe this partnership will bring more people to imeem and introduce a much wider audience to legal music services that make it easy –and fun—to discover music.

We’re proud to be working with Google during such an exciting time for music.

imeem is at it again. We’re heading to Austin, Texas for the Austin City Limits Music Festival and are throwing another exclusive after-party. Come hang out with us!

On Friday, October 2, imeem is taking over The Independent in Austin (501 Brushy Street,Austin). We’re excited to be featuring The Knux along with Bird Peterson, Table Manners Crew and DJ Sober. We will also have a free photobooth with pictures by Annie Ray.

This is the latest in a series of imeem LIVE events we’re bringing to a city near you. imeem LIVE extends the imeem experience into a concert setting, bringing fans closer to the artists they love — no computer required.

This 18+ event is free to the public. Entry is RSVP only – sign up at www.imeem.com/live. Arrive early as space is limited; RSVP doesn’t guarantee entry.

Hope to see you there!

RSVP for this event is closed

imeem is looking for imeem users in the San Francisco Bay area who’d be willing to talk about their experiences using the site (and get paid for it). If you’ve been using imeem for at least 3 months, visit the site at least 1x a week, and are between the ages of 15-30, we’d love to hear from you. Interviewees will be paid $75. Email sarah@imeem.com if you’re interested.

Inglewood’s finest purveyors of feel good funk and hip-hop, U-N-I, were Born To Rock the stage. Since the duo’s inception, they’ve released 2 mixtapes, 1 album and garnered a MTV award for best LA Breakout Artist. In this playlist for Gap, the boys count down the songs that inspire them to rock the stage. Enjoy classic cuts from Mos Def, 2Pac, De La Soul and more.
Gap: Born To Rock with U-N-I Playlist

Producer, engineer and emcee 88-Keys is a pioneer and a true original. Having already worked with A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def and Musiq Soulchild, 88-Keys decided to focus on his own music after close friend Kanye West heard him rap. 88 took time from his tour with Kid Cudi to create an incredibly eclectic playlist of tracks from Blink-182, Metronomy, Bilal and more.
Gap: Born to Rock with 88-Keys playlist

Colin Munroe’s chameleon-like talent has earned him a devout following amongst both true hip-hop heads and indie rock snobs. The Toronto-bred singer-songwriter contributed a dynamic playlist of favorites from Bob Dylan, Lewis Taylor, Regina Spektor and more.

Gap: Born to Rock with Colin Munroe playlist

Get a free MP3 download of Cobra Starship’s hot single, “Hot Mess,” for free on New Music Tuesdays on imeem. The catchy indie rock tune has been climbing the Billboard charts and follows the band’s hit release of “Good Girls Go Bad,” featuring Leighton Meester from Gossip Girls. Be sure to get your free download today, brought to you by Dr Pepper.

Download “Hot Mess” by Cobra Starship for free here

imeem’s giving streak continues this week with 2 more free MP3 downloads.

Go to New Music Tuesday to download the hot new track from Fabolous, Keri Hilson and Ryan Leslie, “Everything, Everyday, Everywhere,” for free, courtesy of Dr Pepper.

Download Loso’s new single here and listen below.

Everything, Everyday, Everywhere – Fabolous

You can also listen to brand new albums from Jessie James and Cobra Starship this week and be sure to stay tuned for more free MP3s from Cobra Starship and Kid Cudi coming up.

In other free download news, get your copy of “Goodbye,” from Kristinia’s gorgeous debut album “Exposed,” brought to you by Walmart.

Download Kristinia’s “Goodbye” here and listen below

Goodbye – Kristinia DeBarge

imeem is giving away free MP3s every Tuesday throughout August, thanks to the good folks at Dr Pepper.

Check out the New Music Tuesday page today for a free download of Trey Songz’ “I Need A Girl,” the first single from his upcoming album, “Ready.”

During the month of August, the New Music Tuesday page will bring you the best of the week’s newly-released songs and albums, as well as free downloadable music. Sound good to you?

Keep an eye out for our next featured download on Tuesday, August 11 – and be sure to get yours while supplies last!

Download Trey’s MP3 at New Music Tuesday today!

Come and hang out with imeem at our exclusive afterparty during Lollapalooza.

On Friday, August 7, imeem is taking over Sonotheque in Chicago (1444 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago), and you’re invited! We’ll be featuring an all-star lineup of A-Trak, Treasure Fingers and Nick Catchdubs from Fool’s Gold.

This is one of many imeem LIVE events hopefully coming to a city near you. imeem LIVE extends the imeem experience into a concert setting, bringing fans closer to the artists they love (no computer required). Keep an eye out for updates on imeem LIVE during Austin City Limits from October 2-4.

This event is free to the public and 21+. Entry is RSVP only at www.imeem.com/live.

Hope to see you there!

Chicago Playlist

We’ve gotten a *lot* of feedback over the past 3 days about next week’s changes to user-uploaded photos and videos on imeem.

There has been some confusion about what is and isn’t changing, and I want to make clear that you will ALWAYS be able to post a profile picture, and to customize your profile theme. You will also still be able to post photos in comments by using standard embed code from sites like Photobucket.

We are listening, and wanted to give you an update on what we can do in response to your feedback.

First, we are delaying the removal of imeem’s photo storage features until Wednesday, July 15th. This will give imeem users extra time to transition those photos to other services.

Second, we’ve gotten questions about why we’re not offering a way for people to download and save the videos they have previously uploaded to imeem. The bottom line is that imeem was created as a place to upload and stream content; the site wasn’t built to support re-downloading of content (music or video), and making that change now isn’t practical for a variety of reasons. Our hope is that most users kept original copies of the videos they uploaded to the site. Our plan is still to remove all user-uploaded videos this Tuesday, June 30th.

This video change applies only to videos uploaded by users. We will continue to be a great place to go for official music videos, and in fact, it will be easier to search for and find music videos as a result of this change. You will still be able to express yourself by featuring these videos on your profile, alongside your favorite songs and playlists.

If you are an artist or label and would like to digitally deliver your video and make it available as part of our library of official ingested content, please contact us at partners@imeem.com.

Finally, we’ve heard from some VIP subscribers with concerns about the upcoming changes. We are offering refunds to those VIP subscribers who are directly affected by the changes; affected subscribers can send an email to VIP-support@imeem.com requesting a refund. Note: This email support address is for VIP subscribers only non-subscribers can email their feedback to our standard support address, support@imeem.com.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback.

Dalton

UPDATED: We are delaying the removal of imeem’s photo storage features until Wednesday, July 15th. This will give imeem users extra time to transition those photos to other services. Read more here.

I want to let people in the imeem community know about a few changes we’re making next week to simplify the site.

Starting next Tuesday, June 30th, we will no longer offer the imeem community the ability to access user-uploaded videos and photos. Any photos or videos that you have uploaded to your profile, or to groups you’re a member of, will be removed from imeem on the 30th. In preparation for next week’s changes, we’ve removed the option to upload photos or videos from our Web-based and desktop upload software.

We’re making these changes as part of an overall effort to simplify imeem so it’s cleaner and easier to navigate. This means enhancing imeem’s most popular social music features, and de-emphasizing some (like user-generated photos and videos) that are less popular, cost more to host & stream, or are of less interest to our advertisers. Simply put, there’s no ROI for us in UGV.

People come to imeem to enjoy music; we want to make it even easier for you to discover, buy & socialize around the music you love. Our recently revamped artist pages, which aggregate artists’ music and videos on a single page, and our new search page are just two examples of how we’re already refining the experience in direct response to feedback we’ve gotten from our community.

This doesn’t mean video is going away on imeem. You’ll still be able to watch thousands of music videos. And creating original video will continue to be a part of the services we offer for our advertisers.

One more thing: next week’s changes will not affect your profile pictures, or the MP3s you have uploaded to imeem – we will continue to give people the ability to upload and stream their music on imeem.

I realize that many of you may have questions about these changes. We’ve created a FAQ here to answer some of them, and have also set up a dedicated customer support forum where you can ask questions or share your concerns. We appreciate your support.

Dalton