Hootsuite.com has made it easy to manage your social networks and keep your sanity doing it. The site offers more than just a website link shortener for users to utilize.

The Twitter focused site lets you add and update your social networks including Facebook, WordPress, LinkedIn, Myspace and Ping.fm.

This site has recently streamlined its interface to make it easier to use. You can now customize your streams, tabs and columns on the dashboard.

Former vocalist of Come & Live’s Holding Onto Hope, Cory O’Keefe has launched his long awaited project, LUVD.com.

“LUVD is certainly not mine, it belongs to everyone. This is 100 percent a family,” O’keefe explained. “Each one of us has the capacity to inspire and uplift another human – the first step is just believing we are capable.”

The site is designed to be a community for the arts. Whether its music, fashion, photography or whatever you feel your creative calling to be, LUVD.com has something for you.

31 days, 31 curators, 31 exclusive Cloudcasts.

Mixcloud is all about discovering great radio presenters and DJs, and bringing together curators from around the world to one platform where you can find the very best mixes, radio shows and podcasts at your fingertips.

As Mixcloud approach their first birthday they will be showcasing some of the biggest editorial voices around, who they have been proud and honoured to have worked alongside in the last 12 months.

The indie music website, Mixest.com, is all about the music and nothing more. The site’s mission is to “maximize your exposure to new indie music.”

The look of the site is simple with a streaming music player and three commands including pause, next, and more obscure. The ‘more obscure’ option allows users to skip that song indefinitely.

Did any of you follow the whole Old Spice Man nuttiness that went down a few weeks ago? Old Spice used the online popularity of their recent commercials to stage a social media blitz. They invited users from all the major social networks on the web to ask questions to the Old Spice Man, and he answered them via YouTube videos.

The unique thing about the Old Spice Man videos was the speed with which they were released. Someone asked a question on Twitter, and minutes later, a hilarious video response was up on YouTube. Social media experts say this campaign was so successful because there is an ever-growing demand for live and real-time video online.

What Does This Have To Do With Music?

We’ve finally hit that point where our computers and internet connections are fast enough for live streaming video to actually be successful. And people love it. The reality and the intimacy of this type of connection – not just with friends, but with brands and celebrities and political figures – is slated to be the next big thing. Which is why it’s time for musicians to get on board.

And yes, we’ve seen it before. Big media companies and businesses have been hosting live feeds of concerts online since 1996 (Free Tibet!), and DJs have been webcasting jams and shows on video streaming platforms for a while. But now the time is ripe for independent artists hosting live video events, DIY style. No “And now, the iPad brings you Bon Jovi!” brand sponsorship necessary.

Attention indie  bands and artists, Headliner.fm wants to help you connect with other musicians and ultimately reach new fans and better promote your music. The website is a “promotion exchange” for bands and artists to help build awareness for each other.

Bands who sign-up on Headliner are able to join forces with and promote other bands on each other’s Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace profiles. Members are rewarded a number of “band bucks” (proportionate to how many followers they have on their social media sites) which can be used to buy requests from other bands to give your band promotion on their social media profiles.

Reports are a brewin’ about  a new “social network” called Google Me after a tweet was posted by Digg’s Kevin Rose. That’s right, Facebook, you allegedly have a competitor being released into the social media realm soon.

It brings me to ask questions about the upcoming social network…

Will it be artist friendly? Is there going to be a music player for bands and artists? Are they going to take aspects of Myspace to help the cause?

Koolhaus Games just announced a new international contest for unsigned bands to enter to win the chance to have their music featured on the soundtrack of the next version of the iMP: Surf the Music game for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad game available on iTunes Music Store.

According to the website, iMP: Surf the Music is an interactive funkadelic music rhythm game for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Unsigned bands may enter songs until July 2, 2010 midnight (PDT). Submissions will be posted on their contest website and the winners will be voted on by fans from all over the world.

Choice may already be disappearing for online music distribution.

Are these gadgets deciding the fate of the music industry?

Sometimes all the little bits of news happening over the course of a week seem unrelated, but taken together, they form an interesting picture of what’s going on in the world.

Take, for example, two seemingly unrelated bits of music news, both of which, on the surface, seem to have little to do with the burgeoning independent music movement.

Item #1

Reuters posts a news story about the “music business” (whatever that is) needing Eminem’s new album, Recovery, to be incredibly successful. The gist of the article is that music sales have dropped so dramatically over the last decade that the industry is at the point where it needs a huge smash hit to pull it away from the brink of collapse.

Item #2

Buzz is again floating to the surface around the launch of a Google music service. Google, word has it, is planning on opening a digital music store which will be linked directly to search results. Google a band name, and you will be given the option to buy.

Further developments will likely involve the creation of a Google-powered cloud-based subscription system that lets you stream all your music onto your phone. Assuming that your phone works with Google’s Android software.

Connection?

Gigjunkie.net offers a one-stop shop for tickets, listings, and tour dates. The site’s newest feature is the launch of Concert Ticket Affiliation.

Earning revenue from your website’s traffic couldn’t be easier with the GigJunkie Affiliate Program, according to the website.

Signing up to GigJunkie’s new services will not only enhance your website content, but could also earn you hard cash.

As part of Nike’s Tied Together Worldwide relay run in support of the (RED) charity, Mixcloud was asked to curate a soundtrack to the London leg of the run on Monday 7th & Tuesday 8th June 2010.

Some of the teams representing across the globe include Tumblr, The Fader Magazine, MTV, Hot 97 Radio, Vice, Supreme, and Colette. Mixcloud teamed up with designer Kate Moross to create fresh artwork, and sourced some exclusive high quality Cloudcasts from the teams participating in the London relay.

Have you heard of Microsoft Tag, yet? It’s an innovative way to give your fans exclusive content and music via mobile devices. You can either dish out print marketing tags or apply the tags to your website for free.

You can create the tag online  and customize it to help brand your project.

Fans can download Tag Reader and scan away to open the URL’s that you have tagged on your product.

You do need a Windows Live account to access MS Tag.

BandCentral.com officially launched today, offering bands a suite of essential tools that will enable them to take control of their music careers. With BandCentral, artists, managers and labels can organize all the vital business aspects of band life – everything from tours and fan databases, to merchandise and money – enabling them to develop and sustain successful careers.

BandCentral is already being used by thousands of bands, labels and managers, worldwide and changing the way they work for the better.

“There’s real potential here for BandCentral to change the way artists take control of their careers, and I’m certainly keen to see how labels and artists get to grips with it,” said Darren Hemmings, Digital Marketing Manager at PIAS.