KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Power Arts Company, Inc. release a three album series for the Kindergarten and Pre-K crowd performed by a new cartoon band called The Blankies(TM). The songs not only overcome the “babyish” sound of most children’s music, they also address three important uses of music.

HOUSTON, Texas — Paid in Full Entertainment, Inc. released today the new CD from DJ / artist Mista Madd which is being distributed by Memphis based Select-o-Hits distribution. The new CD covers various topics and features Houston notables Paul Wall, Slim Thug, HAWK, Lil Flip, Chamillionaire, Shei Atkins and others.

COLUMN: Commercial makers are grabbing songs faster than ever before. Can’t quite remember the title of that oldie? Want to know who does that new techno funk dance groove track? Scott G is rather fond of some Web sites that help you out and let you help as well.

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Acclaimed jazz bassist Jay Leonhart will premiere his new one man-one bass show, “Nukular Tulips”(TM) on March 24 at Stage Left Studio in New York City. Leonhart, who has played with everyone from Tony Bennett and Marian McPartland to James Taylor and Queen Latifah, still seems to have enough time in between bass notes to allow him to take a good look around the world to see what’s going on.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — NOTION Music is pleased to announce that Inal Bilsel of London is the grand prize winner of the company’s first Realize Music Challenge, a competition that drew entries from composers across the globe.

COLUMN: CHAPTER ONE: The Basics — If you’ve read the introduction to this series of articles, you may have an idea of what a Podcast is all about, but now we’re going to start getting into the details; the specifics of what, where and how to listen to or build a Podcast program.

COLUMN: Writing about music is like knitting about sculpture. Sure, that’s a paraphrase of a more famous line, but isn’t that the kind of thing music critics do? Scott G is happy to disparage those pencil-neck geeks of the music press (even while his alter-ego The G-Man fears the result when his “Crazed + Dazed” album is released).

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Electronic artist The G-Man and country keyboard player Doug Colosio announce the formation of Golosio Publishing, a music licensing company which will supply songs for film, TV, games and commercials. “With six dozen new production music tracks and well over a hundred songs, we’re ready to create any type of sound you can imagine,” states Scott G, who is also the recording artist known as The G-Man.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A&R Select, the music industry’s benchmark in independent promotion and marketing, has recently extended a helping hand to many artists affected by the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina. A&R Select’s timely and heartfelt outreach is an important part of their vow to assist musical artists in underprivileged circumstances.

BOONTON, N.J. — Spending on digital rights management (DRM) software and hardware to protect entertainment, commercial software, and other information will exceed $9 billion dollars over the next five years, says a new market research report from Insight Research Corp.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two new CDs - “Spirit of America” and “She Dances” - have been released by Make it Happen Now (MIHN) Records, a new recording company in Memphis, TN. “Spirit of America” features original songs such as “We are Strong,” and “the Pledge,” to new versions of classics such as “America the Beautiful.”

INTERVIEW: Bringing indie artists together with fans is just the start for SoundOrbit. Their goals include creating a synergistic relationship between artists, agents, managers, record companies, distributors, producers, radio, film, advertising, and venues for live performances. The ideas come tumbling at you in this interview with SoundOrbit founder Alisa Mikeal.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — It didn’t take long for music marketing website, SoManyMp3s, to become one of the most popular promotional tools for independent artists seeking to elevate activity on their MySpace page, say the project’s founders. The service has one goal: to help independent artists reach “MySpace Celebrity Status” by gaining friends, and with the help of plays and visits.

MINNETONKA, Minn. — Minnetonka Audio Software announces AudioTools(TM) Consult(TM), a workflow assessment, custom engineering and software development service designed to automate complex audio workflow processes.

MIAMI, Fla. — Sdoia-Satz Music Institute (The Husky Gang School), the prestigious, private music school in Miami with a reputation for outstanding musical excellence, is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is offering a $100 discount on its $250 two hour comprehensive aptitude test. This test evaluates the untrained sense of pitch, rhythm, strengths and weakness of personality and natural musicianship.

INTERVIEW: Plug-ins, dynamics, compression, the use of maximizers, and so-called home mastering are all part of the aural landscape dealt with by mastering engineer Art Sayecki. In the conclusion of this interview with Scott G, everything gets fixed in the mix, including the controversial concept called artmastering. Part 4 of 4.

INTERVIEW: Are you recording on the right frequency? Mastering engineer Art Sayecki talks with Scott G about EQ, mixing, samples, wavetable synthesis, dithering, encoding, and what you may hear on sessions using 192 kHz. Yes, it’s an earful.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Music lovers are used to ringtones on mobile phones but music from independent artists can be difficult to find. Free software on the BETA Records web site (www.betarecords.com) is changing all that.

MINNETONKA, Minn. — Minnetonka Audio Software announces AudioTools(TM) Batch Pro(TM), an out-of-the-box software application that will revolutionize the way the audio assets are managed and processed. Part of Minnetonka AudioTools structured workflow; Batch Pro is the industry’s first fully automated processing tool for audio assets.

MUNICH, Germany — Sonja Armisen, Tango Fusion Club founder, announces the release of a second CD, “TangoFusionClub Volume Two: Electronic Tango Flavoured Beats,” which has a distinctly refined, and electronic flavor. The decision to release this CD followed the amazing success of TangoFusionClub: Electronic Tango Beats Volume One.