hypebot

Vote For MTV's O Music Awards' Hottest Music Technology NILF

The MTV O Music Awards has listed out the hottest coders, entrepreneurs, writers, and others of the like who work in music and technology. Obviously, this category is one that we hold near and dear to our hearts, but admittedly we were all just a little bummed that none of us made the list… =(

Rdio Plans To Compensate Artists For Bringing In Subscribers

In a move that could potentially shift the favoritism of artists towards one music subscription service, Rdio is working on a plan to pay artists for bringing their service new subscribers, according to Billboard. This could be a good move to gain the endorsement of artists. But more importantly for Rdio, it could help them address their growing need for more subscribers, as their market share lands somewhere behind larger players such as Spotify and Rhapsody.

File Sharing Research Supports Adaptation As Best Industry Reponse

A recent study from a researcher at NC State University in Raleigh found connections between increased filesharing of leaked albums and increased sales of those albums. The findings were a bit limited but it correlates nicely with an overview of filesharing research conducted by Drew Wilson at ZeroPaid. Wilson took a close look at nineteen academic studies of filesharing that, taken as a whole, suggest industry adaptation may be the most productive path forward.

This Week's iTunes Top Songs, Albums & Apps

For the week of  5/21/2012

Top Songs
1."Call Me Maybe",Carly Rae Jepsen
2."Payphone (feat. Wiz Khalifa)",Maroon 5
3."Somebody That I Used to Know",Gotye
4."Starships",Nicki Minaj
5."Wild Ones (feat. Sia)",Flo Rida

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Martin Atkins Has A Kickstarter Campaign & Why You Need To Give A Fuck

Martin Atkins has a Kickstarter campaign to fund his new book Band:Smart. I made a pledge, and you should too. Here's why: The "advice for musicians" space is overcrowded, and to filter out the crap, we need to support the people that have actually lived what it is they're trying to tell us. As a touring musician, indie label owner and longtime participant in rock's underbelly, Martin Atkins knows what the fuck he's talking about.

A Streaming Music Service You've Never Heard Of Has 10.5 Million Active Users

Dhingana, a legal Indian music streaming service, recently surpassed 10.5 million monthly active visitors, becoming the largest legal Indian music streaming service. It is a social music streaming service that allows users to discover and enjoy Bollywood and Indian music, and is accessed by users across 220+ countries / territories every month. Dhingana is also said to have a collection of over 350,000 songs across 35 different genres available legally and for free.

How to Get Gigs on Sonicbids

How do you get gigs? Simon Tam gives some practical advice on how to use Sonicbids to get gigs and his thoughts on the site. Check out the tips and if you’ve used Sonicbids, let us know what has worked for you.

NEWS BRIEF: Future Of EMI, Skaker Adds Music Partners, EDMbiz, Rickroll Trouble, Tape.tv & More

Two views of EMI + Universal: Losing EMI to Universal would be a tragedy, says Pete Waterman. But an EMI exec says, "Universal didn't buy us to destroy us."  Or did it? Of course, the deal isn't quite done yet...

• Shaker’s 3D hangout/nightclub built on top of Facebook will launch on June 8th with a little help from Live Nation and BandPage (TechCrunch) Music is central to Shaker with Troy Carter and Scooter Braun among early investors.
• EDMbiz adds Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and Lollapalooza Founder Perry Farrell to speakers list.

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Pandora Losses Widen, But Stock Surges As Listeners Rise To 52 Million

(UPDATED) Despite a spike in revenue, higher costs drove much wider losses as Pandora reported to it's Q1 2013 to Wall Street.  The company reported a loss of $20.2 million on revenue of $80 million,  compared with $6.8 million for the same quarter last year.  But the loss was smaller than analysts had expected and Pandora stock jumped 16% after adding about 3.5% in the regular session.

Slowbizz Shifts To Pinterest To Grow Global House Concert Network

(UPDATED) If you're having trouble growing your own network, why not use some else's?  That's the motivation behind global house concert network Slowbizz's shift of their entire artist discovery platform to hot social image network Pineterest. "We strongly believe that Pinterest is simply an awesome platform to like, love & share great content," according the startup. "This is the place to be seen & heard."  Here's how it works: 

Why Radio Plays Same 20 Songs: The Sad Truth Of Media Consolidation [INFOGRAPHIC]

If you’ve ever tuned into terrestrial radio in your car, at home or at the office, then you’re well aware that commercial radio stations tend to play the same songs in rotation over and over again. Is it because these songs are so hot that people are just demanding stations play them? Hardly. The sad truth of the matter is that only six companies control 90% of the media: GE, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, and Time Warner (compared to 1983 when roughly 50 companies owned the media).

Since You Can't Beat Apple, Join Them: Sony Music Unlimited Bows iOS Apps On Friday

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

When Sony Entertainment Network chief Tim Schaaf told Evolver.fm in an exclusive interview last December that Sony was working on an Apple iOS app for its unlimited music subscription, Sony Music Unlimited, we took it as a sign that Sony was committed to reversing its tradition of developing music services mainly for its own hardware.

MusicHype Identifies Top Fans, Creates “Welcomed Knock on the Door” Approach to Fan Marketing

MusicHype’s approach to artist-to-fan marketing becomes evident after just one look at their company motto: “Every fan counts, but some count more than others.” This philosophy stems from the well proven principle that those top tiered fans, those super fans, will account for the majority of an artist’s revenue stream; and will ultimately be largely responsible for their success. The problem for most artists (and those who support them) however, has always been the difficulty of specifically targeting those fans that are the most receptive to marketing messages based on their current interactivity and interest with the artist. MusicHype looks to solve that, by allowing artists and marketers to strike while the iron is hot.

Can You Recover From Free Music?

Free music is a touchy subject among some musicians. On Music Think Tank, Mark Knight feels that giving away music for free may be a mistake and recommends another approach to tackling free music. What do you think?

Google Adds Working Moog Synthesizer To Homepage - #Awesome

You have to admit that Google creating a functioning Moog Synthesizer for their home page doodle is pretty awesome. They've even added a record button.  Post links to your musical creations on our Hypebot Facebook page for all to hear... We'll highlight the best.

Indie Rock Band Cab 20 Pitch For Funding On ABC TV's Shark Tank

Members of rock band Cab 20 and manager Tom Callahan took to the Shark Tank stage to pitch a deal to fund their band. When faced with the final decision, they turned down the offer, but gained a higher profile in the viewing audience and in the music industry. I spoke recently with manager Tom Callahan about Cab 20's experience on Shark Tank. 

The Week's Top New Music Apps: Radios, Summer Festivals & Designer Mixtapes

Guest post by Knar Bedian of Evolver.fm.

As the thermometer consistently tops 70 degrees here in New England, it’s safe to say summer is coming in. For music lovers, that means music festivals. This week’s batch includes Last.Fm’s Festivals app (available for Android, iPod and iPad) to get you ready for this year’s wave of shows.

O Music Awards Tips Nominees, Lineup: Flaming Lips vs. Jay-Z, Most Fucked Up Live Show & More

The third edition of O Music Awards will take place June 27th with 24 hours of events starting in Memphis and ending in New Orleans.  During the day, The Flaming Lips will attempt to break Jay-Z's Guiness World Record for the Most Live Concerts In 24 Hours (Multiple Cities). Awards will be given out over the course of the 24-hour bus-powered livestreamed series of events from Fan Army FTW to WTF I Love This Award to Most Fucked-up Live Performance Gone Viral.

NEWS BRIEF: New Facebook Concerns, VEVO Hunts $$, Echo Nest + Discog, Moobahton, Mulligan & More

Facebook stock was holding steady around $32 on Wednesday. That's off its $38 IPO and first high in the mid $40's, but still far better than feared given reports that U.S. regulators are looking at  problems with the offering.

• VEVO is in early stage talks with new investors, according to the Financial Times.  At present, there are no IPO plans for the music video aggregator.
• The Echo Nest has added discographies site Discogs to it's growing Rosetta Stone database.

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Indaba Launches Social Contest Suite, Amplifies Marketing For Brands and Labels

Indaba Music, the well-known musician social network & collaboration platform, announced today that it has launched its Social Contest Suite, an end-to-end music-marketing platform that connects independent musicians with fans via a new socially integrated music discovery product. Geared towards both brands and labels, the Social Contest Suite syndicates musician activities (such as recording) and fan actions (such as voting) through Facebook and other web properties to amplify and instigate authentic user-generated conversations.