Every once in awhile a cool event comes along and we wanna be involved! That’s why for the second year we’re proud to be media sponsors of Silicon Valley Rocks. Benefiting Music in Schools Today (MuST), SV Rocks is 7 bands comprised of at least one exec from the tech community.

Tech professionals by day, rockers by night – on December 9 at the Great American Music Hall, they’ll pick up their instruments and venture onto the big stage to let their alter egos shine… for a good cause and the love of music.

Silicon Valley Rocks 2009 will bring together the Valley’s tech community – from VCs and entrepreneurs to bloggers and software developers – to raise money for Music in Schools Today (MuST), a Bay Area non-profit that seeks to rescue music programs from budget cuts.

The second annual showcase will once again feature Silicon Valley bands and original rockers who will entertain and amuse your entire social graph.  Friends of the Highway Girl can save $5 off tickets at all pricing levels by clicking here.

Cameron McGill & What Army live at Albums on the Hill in Boulder, Colorado. You can stream more of Cameron’s music (for free) over on TheHighwayGirl.com!

Last.fm Launches Four HD Radio Stations: Just a few hours ago, Last.fm Discovers launched in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. The social music experiment has gone to another level. [Mashable]

How much is a fan worth?: How much should an artist be willing to sacrifice (or spend) today to acquire fans? And how many fans are needed to be able to make a living as a musician? These aren’t easy questions to answer, but I want to try anyway. Or at least start. [Music Think Tank]

Australian Indies Rally Against MySpace: The dispute is part of one that has been going on globally since the launch of MySpace Music in the U.S. Led by trade group Merlin, some indie labels have chosen to boycott the service until they get a deal closer to the one negotiated by the majors which include a combined 40% equity stake. [HypeBot]

Copyright Infringement Insurance Policies for Songwriters: There’s a reason why most who are just entering the industry don’t know about this insurance option: it has always been unaffordable for the majority of songwriters. Until now…  [Artist House Music]

This week we’re dusting off our podcast with Rebekah Jordan.

I walked into Karma Coffeehouse in Hollywood one night to play a show and Rebekah Jordan was onstage.

The first thing I noticed was her voice. Motown I thought. Soulful. Then I listened to the words and I realized they’d been written by someone who had lived them.

The last thing I noticed was just how damn comfortable Rebekah was on stage. Like she was home. I wasn’t surprised to find out later she’s been in films as well.

Keep your eye on this lady.

This very large band from Boston is really so great. Their song Last Drag is so powerful and it just sticks in your head! They are one of our highest rated artists that we’ve had on the show! The feedback on this band has just been tremendous!

Milquetoast & Co’s lead singer, James McAndrew, just has one of those incredible voices that makes this band unforgettable. Can’t wait to see them live!

• Stream Milquetoast & Co on TheHighwayGirl.com
• Subscribe Milquetoast & Co on YouTube
• Follow Milquetoast & Co on Twitter
• Buy “Drinking and Smoking Too Much with Women I Hate” on CD Baby

The one of a kind Paul Doucette performs live from The Fox Theatre in Boulder, Colorado.

This week we’re dusting off our podcast with Greg Laswell.

Greg Laswell is a San Diego staple. He’s won Producer of the year at the SD Music Awards and continues to produce other artists. Greg has signed a record deal with indie label Vanguard and I heard he’s been producing Minnie Driver (picking up where Ryan Adams left off).

We sat down together in the VIP room at The Mint in Hollywood to discuss things like wi-fi in bars and how much we love dogs. Greg’s songs are melodic and take you on a mellow journey that will leave you one very happy camper.

• Georgia Tech Edison Fund Invests In Band Metrics: Band Metrics is a web based system that provides in-depth geographical reporting of where and how music is played, shared and discussed online. [HypeBot]

• Music Industry Wants Royalties from iTunes 30 Second Samples: This entire industry seems to be run by people who don’t just not understand the internet, but are aggressive about not understanding the internet. They have their old way of doing business and the old way the world works, and they’ll be damned if any new fangled thing like a complete upheaval in the way people acquire and listen to music is going to change that. [TechPoint]

• Dear Lily Allen: An open letter to Lily Allen in song format, regarding her recent campaign against filesharing and her decision to quit music.[YouTube]

• What I Learned From a Music Industry Startup: We can talk until we’re blue in the face about how artists should be using facebook, myspace, last.fm, immem or what-have-you to connect with fans (which is all true), but if the music sucks, none of that is going to matter. [Justin Travis]

• MPAA Opposes Download Royalties for Songwriters: The Digital Media Association (DiMA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other industry organizations are opposing ASCAP’s claim for public performance royalties for digital downloads of sound recordings for their composer, publisher and songwriters members. [Music Industry Report]

• The Liberating Effect of MP3 Blogs: Nick Hornby used to find record shops scarily intimidating (remember High Fidelity?), but the advent of MP3 blogs has liberated music fans everywhere. Writing exclusively for OMM, the author reveals why… [Guardian]

The quirky Emily Arin came to me via Sonicbids and I was yet again surprised at the wealth of truly interesting talent out there.

Hailing from Ithaca, NY. Ms. Arin is receiving praise from many at the moment including influential WFUV mainstay and Idiot’s Delight Host Vin Scelsa. Emily’s package arrived on my doorstep with a hand-written, vintage postcard. Need I say more?

I LOVE her song When You Knew Me When, I know you will too!

• Stream Emily Arin on The Highway Girl
• Subscribe Emily Arin on YouTube
• Official Website
• Buy “Time and Space” on CD Baby

• Back to school with RIAA-funded copyright curriculum: With a new school year in full swing, Ars takes a look at the RIAA’s newly updated copyright curriculum. Your kids could be learning from it—so what does it say? [ArsTechnia]

• MySpace Beats Facebook with Twitter Sync: MySpace began rolling out new functionality today that allows users to sync their MySpace status updates with a Twitter feed. [HypeBot]

• Music is Losing the Facebook Fan Race: Who has the most fans on Facebook? A dead pop star, the president and Vin Diesel. [HypeBot]