News
Tom Felton and Six String Productions Ltd
6th October 2010
With great excitement we announce that Harry Potter star Tom Felton has chosen Sunshine HQ to build and power a bespoke website and online store for his brand new label Six String Productions. The site is now open for business with the first single out now!
The first release is by Tom himself and is called “If You Could Be Anywhere”. Six String Productions plans on expanding its roster in the future and they describe themselves as “an indie label with a passion for new and vibrant talent, where our artists get to decide the direction of their music.” Six String is the brainchild of Tom Felton, David Proffitt and Philip Haydn-Slater.
Cy Curnin
6th October 2010
Having made his name in the innovative new-wave band The Fixx, Cy Curnin has now signed SHQ to handle publishing for his extensive back-catalogue of solo work.
If you find yourself on the continent, Cy can be seen on tour with the legendary Midge Ure in Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands, 22-28th October!
Andreja and Alek Sapic
6th October 2010
Also freshly signed up with SHQ are the brothers Sapic!
A fantastic songwriter and talented multi-instrumentalist, Andreja can be seen playing alto sax for Plan B.
Alek’s recent work includes the track ‘London to Ibiza’ for the Party Hard project on Stealth Records. You can find out why the track is hammering its way across the Ibiza club scene with a free preview at
https://www.deep.hu/catalog/UDZ006D
Amplifier
6th October 2010
The release of new album ‘The Octopus’ is right around the corner! You can grab yourself a free pre-release taster of one track, ‘The Wave’, at
http://amplifier.bandcamp.com Only 5000 downloads available, so be quick about it!
Rico Levant
6th October 2010
Souldalicious Vol. 1, featuring our very own Rico Levant on ‘I Wanna Be Free’, is available for streaming off Rolling Stone. Go to
http://www.rollingstonemagazine.it/musica/souldalicious-vol-1-la-compilation-di-left for a listen, plus a neat little article on the album for any Italian-speakers out there!
Turboweekend
3rd October 2010
Sunshine HQ have partnered with Supervision Management and are now building a new website and D2C store for Danish group Turboweekend. Turboweekend have already had number one hits in Europe and Tiesto’s remix of their song “Trouble Is” has had more than 750,000 views on Youtube!
Keep an eye out for their forthcoming 5 track EP which will be available from their store in November!
Jarle Bernhoft
2nd October 2010
SHQ are building a D2C store for an exciting new talent – the amazing soul singer Jarle Bernhoft. Jarle is a Norwegian artist who will soon be playing to tens of thousands of people as the support act for Joe Cocker on his European tour starting late October.
Tiananmen
30th September 2010
After their fantastic first album ‘There Is A Day, There Is An Hour’, Tiananmen have returned to the studio and are busily recording new material at Sheffield’s Redfern Studios! Go to
http://tiananmen.co.uk/ for more on the guys.
Mike Gatto
30th September 2010
Mike is collaborating with Cinephotorooms and author Kerry Griffeth to produce a video tying together Mike’s song ‘Candlelit Romance’ and Kerry’s new book ‘A Hand Full Of Leaves’, as well as co-writing some songs for hip-hop duo TMG’s second album. Head over to
http://www.mikegatto.co.uk/ for more on Mike!
Hope and Social
30th September 2010
The release of Hope and Social’s new video for ‘James’ is right around the corner – stay tuned for updates, or check out their blog to get info straight from the horse’s mouth at:
http://www.hopeandsocial.com/category/hope-and-social-blog/
Miracle Boy
30th September 2010
Graham Ginty’s first release under his new pseudonym has arrived! You can check out his brilliant remix of Styrofoam’s ‘Get Smarter’ at:
https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/278502/Get%20Smarter
Hope & Social's summer holiday
10th September 2010
With their knack for outside of the box thinking when it comes to connecting with
their fans- Hope & Social have pulled off yet another successful special event for
their fans this past weekend. This time around - Cliff and the Shadows style, they
hijacked an open top Yorkshire Pullman Routemaster and transported everyone to the
seaside with Sunshine's Roo Pigott flying at the helm as bus conductor. A barbecue
at the beach, a gig at The Sailing Club and then finishing off the "Marching on
Through" video series with everyone. All in all a perfect day all round.
S.K.I.T.Z Beatz published by Sunshine HQ
5th September 2010
Sunshine HQ has just signed up cutting edge urban producer S.K.I.T.Z Beatz for an
exclusive songwriter agreement. S.K.I.T.Z Beatz has already produced tracks for
the cream of U.K talent including Tinchy Stryder, Wiley, Skepta, Tempa T, Brazen
(Roll Deep) and JME as well as touring with Chase and Status. He has also landed
himself the musical director role and composer for the younger and more streetwise
version of EastEnders, E20, the online series. Sunshine HQ is very excited to be
working with such a talented producer.
Downboy Recordings and Media use Sunlight platform
4th September 2010
Downboy Recordings and Media have chosen the Sunlight platform to power their online
business – Downboy are a multi media production, management, distribution and marketing
company with an incredible roster and an exciting array of worldwide projects. The
platform is scheduled to go live over the next month.
Albany Down, Tunetribe and Arising Artists
2nd September 2010
Albany Down jump on board with Sunshine HQ, in association with Tunetribe and Arising
Artists. Albany Down are an exciting rock band that have just won a nomination for
the International Acoustic Music Awards (IAMA) - Congrats guys!
Sunshine HQ upgrades to the latest superfast servers
31st August 2010
Sunshine HQ has again upgraded its servers to give them the leading edge in the
industry. Harpreet Singh – Sunshine's Technical Director reports that the massive
upgrade includes more memory, more CPU's and another server added to the already
impressive technical artillery. Sunshine HQ has upgraded Ms SQL Server 2005 to Ms
SQL Server 2008.
Sam Roman artist store
20th August 2010
Also this month we are pleased to announce that Sam Roman's artist store is being
built for his up and coming full-length album and promotional video. This year Sam
received an investment deal and his record company and Soulsonic Record's Limited
was launched.
Sunshine develops X-Factor application
5th August 2010
We were really pleased to be chosen to work with Modern English on the X-Factor
Facebook Application, sponsored by Chicago Town Pizza.
Plugged in Yorkshire
15th July 2010
Roo Pigott will be representing Sunshine HQ on a panel hosted by Plugged In Yorkshire
@ Tramlines Festival. Head to the VT MySpace for more details! Also this month Tiananmen
will be playing Beanfest at The Star in Rotherham on Saturday 24th July, an all
day event with proceeds going to charity.
Sunshine HQ partners with Rightsman
6th July 2010
Sunshine HQ has formed an incredible partnership with Rightsman in order to provide
the technical and commercial infrastructure for Rightsman's many exciting activities.
Alonestar
25th June 2010
Award winning urban artist Alonestar has called upon Sunshine HQ to customize and
synch his online social networks. Alonestar has toured the UK with Busted and Blazing
Squad (Under the management of Simon Webbe - Blue) and has built his reputation
as a great all round talent.
Little Power Records
13th June 2010
U.K boutique label Little Power Records has a brand new D2C store created and powered
by Sunshine HQ.
Tom Linden
10th May 2010
Diverse London Film/TV Composer Tom Linden is launching his brand new website this
month...go to
www.tomlinden.co.uk and check
it out. Tom's collaborations include Basement Jaxx, Twinkle Brothers, Baileys, Green
Wing, Universal, Soho Film Festival, BBC, Orange, EMI, Firetrap, BMG, to name but
a few...As well as work on the website design Sunshine HQ have customized and synchronized
his social networks.
Shifting Sounds open for business – Magnet School and MTV
23rd April 2010
Also in April, London based indie label Shifting Sounds put out their first release
hosted on their bespoke Sunshine HQ built D2C store. The first release is from Austin
Texanites "Magnet School" whose music has been licensed for next season's MTV show
"Real World" as well as the Hollywood reality show "Keeping up with the Kardashians."
Also on the label are The Sound Movement who put out their first acclaimed record
with well known indie label Truck Records.
Hope & Social
19th April 2010
Hope & Social's new album "April" is out now!! It includes all the usual Hope and
Social fayre and some added springtime beauty in the form of Garforth Brass Band,
a string quartet, the "Come Dine With Us" bottle orchestra and the band's first
full blown sax solo. From the wide-eyed positivity of opening track "April" to the
hand on heart honesty of "Marching on Through" it's all in there.
Sunlight CMS Version Upgrade
15th March 2010
Sunshine HQ Technical Director, Harpreet Singh announced today that all Sunlight
stores have benefitted from upgraded features and functionality. The occurrence
of over 35 upgrades to the system means an even more intuitive ability to serve
client needs.
Harpreet commented, "This is really something special in the digital technology
space - the architecture of Sunlight means the front end design and text of the
stores and websites can work independently from any back end restrictions which
are notoriously problematic and inflexible with other e-commerce systems. It's so
exciting to see several years of hard work come to fruition - it is everything that
we knew it could be and the recent upgrades are a huge step forward in terms of
demonstrating the sheer scalability of the platform - without any compromise."
The upgrade includes more reports and analysis, sub category release control including
featured, latest and most popular releases for all digital and physical products.
Barry Gilbey, Operations Director of Sunshine HQ is delighted with the response
from the Sunlight client user base, "On the basis that you get the ultimate of bespoke
flexibility, yet evolution from a single database driven platform, at zero cost
is revolutionising the way our clients are capitalising on the benefits of their
'direct to fan' relationship in order to promote, exploit and therefore monetize
their content. The fact that our clients retain their rights and receive the fan
data, provides a solid framework for a long term successful business model - and
they are thriving."
Sunshine HQ is leading the way in the technology sector of the music industry by
providing a long awaited framework that provides the wide range of solutions necessary
for content owners to embrace a quickly changing economic landscape. Managing Director,
Will Machin confirmed phase II of Sunlight CMS is at the testing stage and is due
to be rolled out at the end of Spring 2010. System specification requirements have
already been produced to take Sunlight through no less than 10 phases over the coming
18 months.
Sunshine congratulates partner on Brit award
4th March 2010
Sunshine HQ would like to congratulate Barry Grint, from one of our great mastering
partners Alchemy, who mastered Oasis' '(What's The Story) Morning Glory'. The album
recently won the Brit award for the best album of the last 30 years.
Sunshine HQ forms partnership with South Yorkshire Filmmaker’s Network
26th February 2010
Music media and entertainment solution provider Sunshine HQ has announced a partnership
with the South Yorkshire Filmmaker’s Network in order to provide music supervision
services for their various projects.
Sunshine HQ will offer access to its extensive catalogue of music from a wide variety
of genres in return for the soundtrack rights to the relevant projects, thereby
both supporting the network and stimulating the local economy. The regions film
makers are invited to contact Sunshine HQ through SYFN to discuss their project.
A result of the merging and multiple acquisition of several distinct specialist
companies to form expert teams, Sunshine’s specialist services include Publishing,
Digital & Physical Distribution, E-Commerce & Internet Solutions, Marketing,
Label Management, Licensing, and Bespoke Technological Development. Significantly
for this partnership, Sunshine also holds an international presence as a synchronisation
agent and music supervisor, having been part of various film and TV projects around
the world. The company holds the UK’s most credible boutique music catalogue, hand-picked
for its diversity and appeal for synchronisation into TV and film, and looks forward
to a long a fruitful partnership with the South Yorkshire Filmmaker’s Network.
Please contact the SYFN or Roo Pigott (roo.pigott@sunshinehq.com) at Sunshine HQ
to discuss the opportunity in more detail.
Sunshine HQ Welcomes Steph Reid to the team
23rd February 2010
We are pleased to announce that Steph Reid has joined the Sunshine HQ business development
team. With 20 years experience in the industry in the US and UK markets, Steph has
an incredible ability to organise and oversee projects to their finish. Everyone
at Sunshine wishes Steph every success with us in a long and fruitful partnership.
International Music Consultancy (IMC) Partners with Sunshine HQ
12th February 2010
Sunshine HQ is very pleased to have won the global R&D contract for International
Music Consultancy (IMC) to provide the tech infrastructure to the highly anticipated
artist and consultant global network. Sunshine HQ will provide a system whereby
artists and consultants can be automatically and strategically connected to each
other, via an online filter & correlation system. Aspects of the system will be
integrated into Sunlight, on a license basis for the unique intelligent payment
gateway to span the global macro and micropayment markets.
Sunlight HQ global e-commerce and CMS platform is shining brightly at launch
30th November 2009
Sunshine HQ has just seen its new version of the end to end direct to consumer retail
platform, Sunlight HQ go live in the last 2 months. It is sophisticated (mobile
friendly/compatible) online retail software that has been designed and built for
music, media and entertainment companies, wanting to communicate and distribute
content direct to their audience/fan base.
Harpreet Singh, tech director comments "We at Sunshine are incredibly proud of delivering
the ultimate direct to fan platform. It includes a raft of features within the CMS
that can easily control and add value to any release, promo, event or campaign.
The platform is also built in the newest version of the .NET code, therefore, allowing
us to scale up and / or provide flexible bespoke developments, upgrades and flexible
3rd party integration efficiently, which dramatically cuts the cost of tech services".
Sunshine HQ Director, Mark Debenham noted that "It also retains all fan/end user
demographics and KPI's in great detail, enabling clients to understand who is visiting
and buying from your own ‘branded’ store front, thus facilitating a direct relationship
with the fan base, this then has longer term advantages to induce further repeat
business ongoing." In terms of the platform's uniqueness, the "features such as
territory restriction by continent and an intelligent payment gateway which maximises
the supply chain margin, are just a few of the USP's of Sunlight"
The Sunlight retail platform has is a 360degree online music retail solution. It
allows maximum flexibility and robustness.
Sunlight powers full websites with digital stores or just the digital store, which
can either be standalone with a unique domain name e.g. www.artist-release.com for
a specific product release, or as a satellite site linked out from another/label
website, or they can be seamlessly integrated into an existing site via a “Store”
button link on your navigation bar.
All Sunlight stores:
- Allow you to sell digital and physical products and merchandise through one check
out
- Allow you to sell via SMS
- Allow you to set up a product subscription service
- Allow you to maximize user generated content
- Allow you to sell audio, video and other media in any format/file type.
- Allow you to set your own price
- Allow you to offer bundle products as well as single products
- Allow you to offer pin codes for brand promotions/ticketing solutions
- Allows you to create live / on demand low cost and high quality streams
- Allow you to create deep links (one click to your checkout from anywhere) that you
can embed into any html supporting website.
- Allow you to create localized content and checkout in local currency
- Are MCPS/PRS registered
- Give you state of the art royalty accounting system – you can view this in ‘realtime’
- Gives you detailed end user demographics from all sales activity - you can view
this in ‘realtime’
Sunshine HQ signs UK’s largest hip hop
and urban label group
25 November 2009
The Hip Hop Village digital distribution is now serviced by Sunshine HQ on behalf
of RGS Entertainment. The catalogue brings with it an exciting roster including
Snoop Dogg, Buster Rhymes, Kanye West, LL Cool J and Soulja Boy. The albums will
be hitting all the big retail shelves very soon.
Sunshine HQ will be attending Midem 2010
25 November 2009
A specialist from each team will be attending Midem in 2010. You can view details
of each on Midemworld - please feel free to get in touch if you want to discuss
opportunities. You will be able to find us in the British at Midem stand, or in
a pub!
Sensoria 2010
25 November 2009
Sunshine HQ are once again consultants for the UK's premier film and TVfestival,
Sensoria. Held annually the festival plays host to some of the industries heavy
weight guests including Safta Jefferies, Heather Kreamer and Jason Alexander. Sensoria's
2010 pro day will take place on April 29th. For more details see http://www.sensoria.org.uk/