February 2012
3 posts
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Self-Titled Magazine's Needle Exchange #88... →
Self Titled Magazine’s consistently excellent weekly Needle Exchange weekly mixtape features a delicious Drum + Bass set from Ulrich Schnauss this week.
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You Cannot Develop Artists When Everyone Thinks... →
At SF Music Tech 12, at the final ‘What’s New’ panel we heard Universal Music Group digital executive David Ring justifying the need to extract innovation stifling up front fees from start-up music services. There was so much that was wrong, self-serving, and just plain hypocritical with the answer - and it’s weighed on me ever since. A great dialog on the panel came to...
December 2011
5 posts
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The man who made music videos pay →
Doug Morris and the birth of Vevo [Financial Times]
The symbiotic rise of MTV and the promotional music video are the stuff of legend. With the formation of the first nationally broadcast music video cable channel, low-key, often vanity video projects became one of the most cost effective ways to promote music to a national audience, soaring beyond touring, and equaling radio.
Those days are...
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Seven seconds that changed the face of music →
The Economist, yes really, on the birth of Jungle
WatchThe David Fincher video: The Karen O + Trent Reznor cover of “Immigrant Song” from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
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November 2011
5 posts
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Survival of the fittest: The last indie record... →
An interesting look at the changing product mix at indie record stores: Not surprisingly recorded music is a loss-leader while growing array of tech, media, and ‘lifestyle’ products provide the margin. [via DMN]
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Pandora's Box Unlocked: Are Those Profits Miracle... →
“Given that Pandora’s ad revenues and costs rise and fall in lockstep, where did that profit come from?Here’s one theory: Pandora has somehow found a way to charge its advertisers more….”
[via Business Insider]
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Spotify, Rdio, And MOG On Artist Payments: Don't... →
Spotify, MOG, et.al. are not the enemy. They may not be the solution either, but they are an on-ramp in right direction. Fast Company with a bit more perspective on the pointless artists vs. streaming service debate: http://bit.ly/uWNvjw
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A Genuine Freakshow manager Erik Nielsen weighs... →
It may not be so much about what Spotify pays per play… as much as how much of that income your label passes through to you. 10% of Digital Income? [via MusicAlly]
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September 2011
7 posts
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Universal + Live Nation - What Does It Mean →
Live Nation has been teasing the market about a forthcoming, transformative deal… and today we have it. Universal Music Group and Live Nation have combined their artist management assets to create what they are calling the “World’s Largest Music Management Firm”. UMG contributes its collected artist management operations, Sanctuary, Trinifold, Twenty First Artists, and 5B while...
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Old School and Older School →
The mess at Interscope is reminiscent of the ‘good old days’ of records, radio, money, and more..
For almost two years, the offices of Interscope Records have been used as a drop off and pickup point for road cases alternately filled with kilos of cocaine and more than $1 million in cash , according to documents filed by federal prosecutors… read on… HypeBot
...
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The End Of The Bookshelf As We Know It →
As book ownership declines, IKEA redesigns its classic Billy bookshelves for a book-free world. A great data point and perfect lead in for this Economist overview of the changing face of publishing.
In the first five months of this year sales of consumer e-books in America overtook those from adult hardback books. Just a year earlier hardbacks had been worth more than three times as much as...
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Why Technology Can't Save The Music Industry
For better and for worse, technology can’t save or kill the music industry. The music industry is in a state of siege, because we are still trying to adapt new technology, new tools, to an old way of thinking, to an old model. At the end of the day, Spotify, Rhapsody, et.al. are just a more efficient pipelines than bricks+mortar (albeit pipelines so broad that they have substantially...
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What Happened To The Big-Idea In Music Tech ? →
A really interesting read from Dave Allen as he gears up for his SF MusicTech panel of the same name.
I read this article recently: The Elusive Big Idea by Neal Gabler, a senior fellow at the Annenberg Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California and the author of “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination.
For me it was a fascinating reminder of how timid our...
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Eventbrite Stacks Board of Directors with Concert... →
Eventbrite continues to position itself for the push into Ticketmaster turf. Earlier this year Sean Moriarty, TM ex-CEO, joined the EB board. now Bonnaroo’s founder, Ashley Capps joins the BOD as well. Bonnaroo, and AC Entertainment’s other festivals, have been using Eventbrite successfuly for several years. This seals the relationship
Billboard: bit.ly/pxysB6
August 2011
5 posts
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Scientology Strikes Back at The New Yorker →
A few months back, The New Yorker published a brave and in-depth look at the seamy underside of Scientology, drawing in significant part on the break-away story of writer Paul Haggis. The Church of Scientology has finally rebutted with a faux New Yorker style cover and pamphlet that would be clever if it was not so vicious…
[New York Times] http://nyti.ms/q8XqyT
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The Business of Burning Man →
From a beachside gathering in 1986, Burning Man has grown into a week long desert sojourn with over 50,000 revelers. With tickets ranging from $200-$400 and a community largely driven by volunteerism, how exactly does the business of Burning Man play out….
The Changing Face of Burning Man [New York Times]: http://nyti.ms/qdbTov
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Key Copyrights To Expire in 2013 Setting Stage for... →
In a 1978 change to copyright rules, creators were granted to the right to recover ownership at the 35 year mark, provided 2 years advance notice. As we approach 2013, the first works are becoming eligible…. the stage is now set for an epic battle between the struggling record industry and the artists that built it….
[New York Times] http://nyti.ms/nwLgie
May 2011
1 post
Let the games begin: Eventbrite raises $50MM to... →
The only question has been when, not if. Basic GA (general admission) ticketing seems like it should be ripe for disruptive change. With the cost of any other swipe of the credit card maxing out at about 3%, (to the retailer) why should a ticket purchased online carry a 25% additional charge to the purchaser? So now, a new, disruptive, technology intensive player enters, only needing to clear...
January 2010
4 posts
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The New York City Record Store Year-End Roundup -... →
“In 2009, we began the weekly Local Top 10, a series we hoped would prove that New Yorkers were far too stubborn to let the record store go. The series ran until last month, when we literally ran out of stores to cover—not the best sign for the future of music retailing in New York City. Before we gave up altogether though, we went back to all the stores we originally profiled and...
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“The two companies sketched out a plan where Spotify’s excellent Android...”
– Google And Spotify Dance Over U.S. Launch
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“There is also the possibility that the DECE is making a flawed bet on the...”
– Hollywood and Technology Companies Work to Make Digital Video Portable - NYTimes.com
December 2009
4 posts
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“We’ve been building this out for six months, but you really don’t...”
– Refreshing candor from Vevo CEO, Rio Caraeff from this Billboard Q&A. Vevo’s music video website launches today.
Billboard.biz Q&A: Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff
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“Here’s the thing: I work at Rhapsody. I know what we pay Warner Bros. for every...”
– Read Tim Quirk’s full post - it’s a must read
Too Much Joy» Blog Archive » My Hilarious Warner Bros. Royalty Statement
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Can Traditional Radio Make You Famous? TuneCore... →
TuneCore, which provides a self-service distribution and marketing platform for independent recording artists, will select a few up and coming artists and plug them into the more traditional radio promotions machine. The experiment, to determine if it is possible for successful self-marketed artists to break at radio. Stay tuned. Hopefully TuneCore will share their experiences along the way.
...
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“As a consumer I like Spotify – it has a great interface, it’s easy to find what...”
– Music Ally | Blog Archive » “Can Music Be Free?” week: Rebel Digital’s Robin Kent talks Spotify, Guvara and label attitudes
November 2009
22 posts
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“Figures from the record labels association IFPI Sweden show revenues rose 18% in...”
– Sweden sees music sales soar after crackdown on filesharing | Business | guardian.co.uk
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Fair Play? A Million Spotify Streams Earned Gaga... →
(paidContent.org)
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“People have been wondering all year when Hulu would begin adding music videos....”
– Quote from NYTimes: Hulu Steps Into Music With EMI and Norah Jones
With launch of Vevo pending; with YouTube ratcheting up focus on premium video and enhanced 1080p viewing - Is Hulu is becoming more aggressive to ensure supply of top tier music content?
By comparison with Vevo’s launch...
“Potentially more important are the efforts of ISPs, such as Virgin and BSkyB in...”
– American consumers are unlikely to adopt the music-subscription habit in the near term, but there is probably not enough revenue from the purely advert supported model of Spotify (basic) to support much of a music industry. But, Telco’s, ISP’s and Cable Co’s have several good...
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“After months of wrangling on the details, a deal has finally been reached on...”
– State of Maryland to build Live Nation a new Fillmore Music Hall in Silver Springs. A Governmental stimulus package for the live music industry?
Click for full read via the <Washington Post>
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YouTube Succumbs To Branding As Warner Music... →
With the adoption of the FreeWheel platform (announced earlier today) WMG has a strong strategy for monetizing via YouTube.
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“The goal of WMG’s ad strategy is monetize video content. As part of this...”
– Monetization of music video remains the last, and perhaps best and only frontier for the traditional record labels. Unlike the land grab of the 360 deal, there is a certain logic to shift from audio to audiovisual. CPM’s for premium video content are high and there is consumer willingness for...
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“MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, a veteran of skirmishes with the major...”
– From the Register’s well considered sifting of the numbers at Spotify. Yes, folks shifting to Spotify are easing up on theft via Bitorrent, but that’s because they are being offered the same music, still free, and with a brilliant user interface and mobile access. It’s no longer...
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“In September 1972, Roxy Music appeared on prime time TV in the UK. It was their...”
– Duran Duran’s John Taylor very intelligent thoughts on how Twitter and immediate access devalue creativity.
read on: BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Is the internet stifling new music?