DIY Diva Claims Responsibility for iTunes' Holiday Traffic Jam

New York, NY (PRWeb) January 2, 2007 -- According to the Associated Press, "Swarms of online shoppers armed with new iPods and iTunes gift cards apparently overwhelmed Apple's iTunes music store over the holiday, prompting error messages and slowdowns of 20 minutes or more for downloads of a single song." Singer/songwriter Carla Lynne Hall, known as indie music's "The DIY Diva" has claimed responsibility for the overwhelming overflow to iTunes, and has publicly apologized to any users who were unable to purchase music over the Christmas holiday.

"I want to apologize to all the iTunes customers that were unable to access iTunes over the holiday," says Hall, "I've been doing my best to encourage all my friends, and even strangers, to buy my MP3s online, and I'm afraid that my results may have been a little too successful. But iTunes is back to normal now, so please come back!" Online market research company HitWise has reported that there were four times as many people visiting the iTunes site on Christmas than at the same time last year. Analysts also believe that the increase in traffic was likely the result of too many people with holiday iPods and iTunes gift cards trying to access the site at once.

And how is Hall involved? "It all started with my goal to be #1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs without a record deal," continues Hall, "I pulled out all the stops to create a grassroots campaign online. But as luck would have it, iTunes wasn't able to capture the sales that woulda, shoulda, coulda been mine. The silver lining of all of this is how this traffic jam demonstrates the ever growing digital music market. I always believed that the Internet would change how the music business worked, but I believe that we're only beginning to scratch the surface."

Described as "Norah Jones meets Sade for tea on their way to visit The Beatles," Carla's music reached a wider online audience when she blogged about the Rock Star: Supernova reality show earlier this year. Worldwide fans of the CBS TV reality show visited Carla's blog for her passionate performance commentary, and also purchased her MP3s. Says Hall, "This 'experiment' in guerrilla music marketing proved to me that the world, and not just the local music scene, is an audience worth pursuing. 2007 will be a great year for music on the Internet, and I'm looking forward to making even more fans online!"

Supernova is the latest CD release on Carla Lynne Hall's Moxie Entertainment label, and is available on CDBaby.com and iTunes. Hall has opened for legendary bluesman Taj Mahal, and has performed at clubs and college campuses throughout the United States. According to Rockrgrl Magazine, "Hall's velvet voice and heartbreaking songs draw you in with their richness". Front & Center, Carla's debut CD, was released in 2001, and rose to #3 on college playlists. Also known as "The DIY Diva" in indie music circles, Carla Lynne Hall is also the author of The DIY Guide to the Music Biz, and her columns appear in Vibe Magazine, MusicDish.com and other publications around the globe. Carla's eBook, The DIY (Do It Yourself) Guide to the Music Biz is available at www.DIYGuide-MusicBiz.com. Carla Lynne Hall blogs about her own quest towards rockstarhood on http://www.MySpace.com/carlalynnehall.

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