Globally Recognized Talent Including Sleepy Sun, Bear in Heaven and Carsick Cars to Perform at IODA’s Annual SXSW Bash

San Francisco, CA — February 10, 2010 — IODA, the global leader in digital distribution, marketing, and technology solutions for the independent music and film industry, today announced the details of its Annual IODA Opening Day Bash at the upcoming South by Southwest Conference and Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. Over the last six years, the concert has proven itself as an important showcase for some of the hottest acts of the year including Blind Pilot, Deer Tick and We Were Promised Jetpacks – all who played at the 2009 event. Sponsored by LimeWire Store, this year’s event features bands from Brooklyn to Beijing, San Francisco to Melbourne. During the conference, IODA’s VP of Marketing Adam Rabinovitz will be speaking on the Global Music Marketing panel: How to Reach Fans Worldwide on Thursday, March 18 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm and IODA’s VP of Content Erik Gilbert will be speaking on the Trends in Taking Your Music to Market panel on Wednesday, March 17th from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm.

What: IODA’s Opening Day Bash at SXSW

Where: Emo’s Annex, 603 Red River (corner of 6th & Red River), Austin, TX

When: Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Time: 12 – 6 PM

IODA Sampler: All bands are represented by IODA and will be part of IODA’s free SXSW music sampler. To hear this collection of music, go to www.iodasxsw.com.

Performing Artists:

• A Sunny Day in Glasgow (Mis Ojos Discos)
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA / Sydney, AUS
With the release of their new LP, Ashes Grammar, Philadelphia’s ambient pop outfit, A Sunny Day In Glasgow, are continuing to dazzle and amaze with new material and exploration into uncharted musical grounds while consistently providing their fans with the dreamy, ethereal comfort their highly loved previous material was heralded for.
http://asunnydayinglasgow.com

• Bear in Heaven (Hometapes)
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Growing from a seed planted in the Southern US years ago (all members hail from Georgia or Alabama) Bear in Heaven began as the musical arm of Jon Philpot in 1998. “Bear in Heaven’s greatest trick is creating music that evokes the sort of physicality and scope that could soundtrack a Hollywood film, but also works equally well at stirring up intimate bodily passion.” Pitchfork (8.4/10 rating)
http://bearinheaven.com

• Carsick Cars (Maybe Mars Music)
Hometown: Beijing, China
Sonic Youth collaborators and Bejing’s hottest export, Carsick Cars, are racking up critical praise for their genuine, youthful, and empowering brand of garage rock. In June, the group released its second album, You Can Listen, You Can Talk, on the Maybe Mars label, with songs in both English and Mandarin. The album solidifies Carsick Cars’s status as the leaders of the Beijing rock scene.
http://carsickcars.com

• Les Shelleys – Tom Brosseau and Angela Correa (Fat Cat Records)
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Les Shelleys is a partnership of two top Los Angeles artists, Tom Brosseau and Angela Correa. Enamored by field recordings and making unique new arrangements of songs they loved, the two recorded in Tom’s Echo Park bungalow with a mini-disc recorder given to Tom by a friend. You can hear dogs barking from a neighbor’s yard or a man coming down the street with a cart full of bottles to recycle – and the catch of pure and simple moments. Their debut album will be released on Fat Cat Records in Summer of 2010.
http://myspace.com/lesshelleys

• Sleepy Sun (ATP Recordings)
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Whether droning madly, spiraling into cascades of infinitely echoing vocals or kicking back with their blissed-out take on classic Americana rock, Sleepy Sun are a band that demand your attention. Formed in Santa Cruz and now based in San Francisco, this intense sextet of twenty-somethings released their breathtaking debut album, Embrace, in May 2009 and will follow it up with Fever in 2010. Though the press is quick to rifle off a laundry list of rock’s greatest ghosts to describe their sound, one live show is all you need to know Sleepy Sun have stumbled upon something very much their own.
http://sleepysun.net

• Summer Cats (Slumberland)
Hometown: Melbourne, AUS
Summer Cats play upbeat pop songs in a Stereolab-meets-Go-Betweens style, replete with distorted keyboards, feedback guitars and hook-laden basslines and all accompanied by Scott Stevens’ distinctive vocals. They are best played loud, in your bedroom, while your parents are out. The Melbourne five-piece know how to write addictive pop songs with just a hint of ’60s garage edge
http://myspace.com/summercats

• The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! (Luaka Bop)
Hometown:New York , NY
Founded in late 2007 as means for front man Neil Fridd to yell about his romantic mishaps, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! has blossomed into a real juggernaut of epic dance floor revelation. What do they sound like? It’s sorta dance-soul music, like synthed out Otis Redding covers on fast forward. Dance music with too many cooks in the kitchen, but in a good way. That is to say, there are sweet beats mixing with four vocals and two horn lines happening too, making for a unique, dense, dance floor throw down that’s suitable for both club rock outs and secluded headphone listening.
http://theterrorpigeondancerevolt.com

• Tobacco (Rad Cult/anticon)
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
As a member of psychedelic/electronic indie pop outfit Black Moth Super Rainbow, enigmatic Pennsylvania-based artist Tobacco cast summery spells with analog synths and tape machines. As a solo artist, Tobacco employs many of the same styles and strategies that fuel his work with the band, but with a darker, more fractured edge.
http://myspace.com/tobacco

• Zeus (Arts & Crafts)
Hometown: Toronto, CAN
Zeus was born from the musical friendship of Mike O’Brien and Carlin Nicholson. The two Toronto-based musicians have been living on the road for the past few years as the backing band for singer/songwriter and Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett. As astute students of the history of rock n’ roll and purveyors of a sound that cross-references the British Invasion with ‘70s southern U.S. rock, Zeus’ music demonstrates a band with an innate ability to create powerful and infectious music and do so as though it’s an entirely natural process.
http://themusicofzeus.com

For more information about the event, featured artists and other IODA artists and labels playing during SXSW 2010 visit http://www.iodasxsw.com.
IODA, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, is one of the industry-leading digital distribution companies for the global independent music and video community. IODA provides comprehensive services to record labels, physical distributors, artists, and filmmakers, including license negotiations; media encoding and metadata management; royalty payment administration and reporting; and marketing and promotional support. Founded in 2003, IODA represents a rapidly expanding roster of more than two million music tracks and over 5,000 independent film and video titles. IODA distributes its music and video catalog to hundreds of digital storefronts worldwide, including all major digital music services like iTunes®, Amazon MP3 and MySpace Music and mobile carriers and outlets such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Nokia. The company’s website is www.iodalliance.com.