Louisiana's Squint lands sponsorships after GarageBand success

After moving to Louisiana from the more remote reaches of Michigan, pop punk band Squint began to attract attention for their high-energy live shows and catchy song writing. They recorded an album produced by the legendary Ed Stasium (Ramones, Soul Asylum) and their song "Quite" eventually became track of the week on GarageBand.

Based on the momentum of their great GarageBand charting, sponsorships fell into place like dominoes for Squint. After their live show was selected for worldwide broadcast by HDNet, AKG microphones and Atlas mic stands took interest in singer Dane Adrian's stage antics and signed on to support the band.

Adrian recently wrote us in thanks for our help in pushing Squint's music career forward. "GarageBand is an awesome ally in this business," he told us. "You get [the listener's] first instinct based on what they hear -- not what they see -- and in today's world where 'video killed the radio star', that is hard to find. GarageBand has garnered us many new fans and supporters. It's truly a useful tool... GarageBand helped show us which tracks were strongest on our record, and that began the ball rolling."

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Multi-platinum musician Jason Mraz launches debut podcast with Gcast

The Mrazcast has launched on Gcast, and if the first episode is any indication, Mraz has a promising future in podcasting. Following the amicable departure of his band's lead guitarist Bill Bell, Mraz began auditioning replacements. In his first podcast, entitled "Show Me Your Licks", he presents illuminating and often hysterical one-on-one accounts of meeting and jamming with four prospective guitar players. Besides being chock-full of great music, Mraz delivers on-point psychoanalysis of each musician in a constant voice-over narrative. The 'cast is capped off with an endearing interview with departing guitarist Bell as he relaxes in Mraz's pool. It's an entertaining half hour even if you're not already familiar with Mraz's unique sound.

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