Thanks to the hard work of the talented Jorden of No Dice Ink, we are proud to announce the release of an animated video for “The Baghdad Shuffle”! Give it a watch and let us know what you think.

themartyrindex.com
nodicestudios.ca

Molotov Rocktail on Vinyl

Additionally, our new album, Molotov Rocktail, will be available on 12″ vinyl as of June 29th. We’ll be releasing it as part of our Sled Island Festival show at the Palomino (109 7 Ave NW – Calgary). Noon. Check us out and come score some sweet vinyl!

See you on tour!
The Martyr Index
TMI on myspace
TMI on facebook
Comrades of the Martyr Index
download Molotov Rocktail!

The Molotov Rocktail Tour

May 01 – Kelowna, BC
May 02 – Vancouver, BC
May 03 – Seattle, WA
May 04 – Portland, OR
May 05 – Eugene, OR
May 06 – Medford, OR
May 07 – Arcata/Eureka, CA
May 08 – Chico, CA
May 09 – San Francisco, CA
May 10 – Berkeley, CA
May 11 – Sacramento, CA
May 13 – Reno, NV
May 14 – Salt Lake City, UT
May 15 – Idaho Falls, ID
May 16 – Helena, MT
May 17 – Spokane, WA

Calgary-based Meter Records and The Martyr Index are proud to announce the offering of TMI’s new album “Molotov Rocktail” for permanent free download as of Saturday, April 12, 2008.

Unlike similar offerings from several high profile artists like Radiohead and NIN, the move by The Martyr Index and partner label Meter Records represents a real shift to a committed “free distribution” model. The offering is a rebellion against the traditional music industry paradigm, representing a more progressive “free distribution” model.

Lead guitarist Marek Vermin credits their support of the new approach to the band’s independent spirit, “Independent music has always survived the various economic and technological transformations that have upset music capitalism and today is no different. Today, the executives steering the bloated entertainment industries are terrified of the possibility of people hearing music without paying for it. Music is written to be heard. Everything else is peripheral, but the music industry has been treating it in the exact opposite manner for too long. It’s time to take our music back!”

Local record label, Meter Records is enthusiastic about the release. “We’re proud to work with The Martyr Index to make “Molotov Rocktail” available for free download as part of Meter’s shift to a model based on free distribution of album music. We couldn’t be happier that this kind of committed and innovative change is happening in Calgary – a city known for its ‘indie’ spirit and history,” said Meter Records founder, Dean Rudd.

The sophomore effort is a blistering new collection of TMI’s signature brand of energized, socially conscious rock n’ roll, and is a celebration of independent rock spirit. The 14 track album features several politically charged tracks including, “Hacienda Luisita”, “Calgary Libre”, and “Oso Blanco” a song inspired by a Cherokee/Choctaw whose outlaw antics of robbing US banks to donate money to the Zapatista Rebels and the poor and dispossessed in Chiapas saw him dubbed “Robin the Hood” – a title and record which would later see him sentenced to 80 years in U.S. prison. The new album also features the first recordings with new vocalist Jenny Kost.

The free record is available here: http://themartyrindex.com/downloads

About Meter Records
Meter Records believes in the liberation of album music for the purpose of greater reach and proliferation of music in general. As a self-proclaimed “Artist Advocate” our mission is to empower artist partners to best connect with fans so that they can continue to do what they love, and do what they do best: make music. Above all else, we’re passionate about the musical pursuits of our Partners. We serve as a comprehensive partner in our artists’ affairs, facilitating and encouraging artist operation and achievement.

FREE MUSIC to Help Free the Music!

We’ve just posted a new song, “A Word and a Beat”, on our page on myspace, our page on facebook, and on iLike. This song, from our forthcoming album, Molotov Rocktail, is a celebration of underground independent music. Independent music has always survived the various economic and technological transformations that have upset music capitalism and today is no different. Today, the executives steering the bloated entertainment industries are terrified of the possibility of people hearing music without paying for it. The industry is attempting to force through legislation to engineer profitability into art and stop its mass proliferation. However, this is nothing but a false barrier between artists and listeners. Music is written to be heard. Everything else is peripheral, but the music industry has been treating it in the exact opposite manner for too long. So, let’s take our music back!

In honour of the vitality of art and the people who aren’t afraid to share their culture freely with others, we are going to be releasing our new album, Molotov Rocktail, for free on the internet in conjunction with Meter Records. Keep visiting our website in April to download the album. And make sure you share it with others.

Viva rock n roll!
The Martyr Index

For more information and to offer support to Byron, please visit his website at www.osoblanco.org.

To continue Oso Blanco’s mission and support children in Chiapas, visit the site of Schools For Chiapas

“Oso Blanco” is a track featured on our forthcoming album, Molotov Rocktail, on Meter Records. Look for it in April. It’ll be available free online or for sale on CD and Vinyl.

We’re going to be posting more songs from our forthcoming Album, Molotov Rocktail, until it drops in April, so keep checking back to hear more.

The Martyr Index on myspace
The Martyr Index on iLike
The Martyr Index on iLike facebook

Love The Martyr Index
Jenny, Mark, Ian, Casey and Jimmy

Hold up… Fair remuneration for artists? Wait a second, are we talking about the artists who are often trapped in contracts with hostile record companies and have to break up bands just to keep making music? Are we talking about the artists who are the last to get paid when records sell? The artists that don’t see a non-recoupable cent until well after the A&R reps, lawyers, accountants, bookkeepers, secretaries, presidents, mailroom clerks, temp workers, database managers, and so forth have already been paid? Are these the same artists that don’t get distribution in most record stores because those distribution channels are closed to independents? Maybe we’re talking about the artists who make $0.10 on every $20.00 album sold, but only after the record company has recouped their costs and is 99% risk free? Is it possible that it’s the artists who thought they could get their video played on music television and their sweet new song played on radio only to find that payola still dominates the industry, with no hope of competing with the bribes (advertising) that the majors can offer in exchange for rotation? Or perhaps we’re referring to the artists who thought they had artistic integrity, but find out that because of the contract they signed, they have no control over the licensing of their music to corporate interests for use in advertising, television and films?

Of course, fair remuneration of artists is constantly heralded as a rationale for increasing copyright protections when it is very obvious to any artists involved in the industry that remuneration within the industry is almost non-existent. Yet artists are being duped into thinking that they’ve been hurt by piracy despite the fact that independent artists have never made much money from distribution of sales, partly because channels have largely been closed to us. Most sales, if you control your own recordings, come directly off the stage. You play shows and that’s where the music is. However, piracy has changed the dynamic of distribution. It has levelled the playing field to a certain extent, because people can freely share culture with each other and get a wider sampling of music. Now it is the tastes of fans that fuels distribution of music in addition to the traditional album-to-record-store route that is controlled by a select few in the industry (and the hierarchy within that structure is pretty intense too). Piracy is a democratizing effect within the music industry, because it allows the music to become distributed by fans based on its connection to them. Their musical tastes are no longer dependent upon who has the best access to their regional “market”, but are now predicated upon what they can scour on the internet and what their friends want to share with them. As a musician, the whole point is to be able to reach out to someone and have them feel your music passionately. When that connection is made, then you have produced something meaningful. That carries over and people go see the artist live if they can. If they really care enough, they’ll even pay for an album they’ve already pirated. This relationship serves to better the state of independent music and artists benefit wholly from being heard.

The movement for increasing copyright protections is obviously spearheaded by and in the interests of the major publishers and distributors, not the artists that they have no problem ripping off in contracts. Yet the majors cite the “poor artists” whenever this issue comes up. Unless artists are 100% in control of distribution and production of their works, which almost never happens when an artist is considered potentially profitable, then increased digital protections won’t help artists one bit. Further, increased controls will likely benefit major labels to the detriment of artists, who usually don’t have enough money before they sign a contract to pay a lawyer to protect their interests against the record company’s team of accountants, lawyers and other such parasitic agents.

In fact, we believe that increases in digital protections will only serve to hurt smaller artists altogether, unless we find a new measure for copyrighting material that protects us from the industry while still allowing fans to access and distribute it easily. One method is to begin a movement to boycott major labels by artists and fans. Fuck them. Let them die. Who cares if 100 bureaucrats don’t get paid for every album released? The industry is a bloated, top-heavy behemoth that needs to take a serious nose-dive into a pile of its own shit. Another option is for artists to begin to have their music digitally unprotected. Artists can opt to have their music released in DRM-free manners, thus enabling sharing by fans. Finally, support piracy every chance you get. Make sure that anti-artist/pro-corporate legislation is opposed and even if it goes through, continue to violate it. This is a form of civil disobedience in the cultural arena. We believe that culture shouldn’t be restrained by profit margins. Musical diversity shouldn’t just be for people who can afford to have a 1000 records in their collection.

Copyright should serve to protect artists from the industry, not the industry from fans! Long live music piracy!

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In celebration of our support for music piracy, The Martyr Index is re-releasing our 2001 release of the LP “1936″ as a torrent. You can download the .zip file here and the torrent here. Please share. We want to get the torrent out there. If the .zip or torrent link is expired, please let us know and we’ll re-post them of e-mail you the torrent.

If you want to support the band, please come see us live or feel free to purchase our material either from Meter Records, CD baby, or as mp3s on iTunes.

Also, be on the lookout for our forthcoming album “Molotov Rocktail” in 2008. If you buy it, please remember to share it.