Next BIG Nashville and Leadership Music Digital Summit have joined forces to become a progressive music event in Nashville. This year they are combining to host a four day music festival with a two-day digital summit engaging industry leaders, innovators and instigators in lively conversations and presentations.
This year's event will take place on Sept 29 – Oct 2. Speakers to incude:
Continue reading "NBN + LMDS Announce Initial Lineup Of Speakers" »
In celebrating the 750,000th artist to register at ReverbNation, the indie music marketing hub and Ernie Ball have partnered up and are co-sponsoring a Music Showcase at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City; it will be held at Crash Mansion on Thursday October 21st and will feature 7 artists selected from the submissions by CMJ and Ernie Ball. No submission fee is required for artists.
The artists selected to perform at the showcase will also receive a $500 cash travel stipend courtesy of the two co-sponsers. The deadline for submissions is August 22, 2010. Artists are required to have a free ReverbNation profile and a Reverb Press Kit in order to apply. Go here to learn more or submit today.
Some might be privy to this if they follow either the developments at Topspin Media or the marketing efforts of Band of Horses, The Pixies, Eminem, and The Dandy Warhols, among others, but the direct-to-fan platform now sells tickets.
In once such instance with The Pixies, reportedly, the group started out with an email list that was next to nothing and with the help of the team at Topspin, within a year’s time, they were able to grow it into the six figure range.
"CD Baby has worked hard on our internal processes to get artists’ titles processed and live the day they sign up, and iTunes has been great with their speedy listings of digital content lately. We haven’t promoted that until recently because we’re dependent on iTunes continuing to go live with new content within 24 hours, which is something we don’t control. However, for as long as iTunes keeps making tracks and albums live overnight, we’ll keep offering super fast iTunes delivery, which we know artists are clamoring for."
With Summer in full swing, and the World Cup over by the end of the week, we will again have time to read! I assembled a summer reading list of books that I have found to be inspiring, energizing, thought-provoking, innovative and entertaining.
This guest post is by Charlotta Hedman (@fjoms), a journalist who blogs for the Music 4.5 project, a series of events that bring together people from the technology and the music industry.
The music industry seems to be bracing itself for peak-revenue in the same way the rest of the world is waiting for the oil to run out. Is it really true that piracy will turn some countries into a cultural wasteland? According to some reports it's already happening. In Spain where downloading isn't illegal album sales by local artists have dropped 65 percent in recent years. It's gloomy news for an industry who's become so dependent on what now seems like an archaic business model. IFPI isn't happy and believes that global legislation is needed for the industry's survival.
As anyone who operates in this space knows, tracking and monitoring conversations around your business, artists, and blog is a constant must.
There are many tools out there, some good, some not so much. One site I have just become familiar with is called Social Mention; it is a social media search and analysis platform that aggregates user generated content from across the web into a single stream of information. Judging by a few preliminary searches, the site seems like an easy way to track and measure what people are saying about you or anything across the web's social media landscape in real-time.
At all times, Social Mention monitors 100+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc. How do you keep track of all the conversations happening around you?
This post is by Ryan Van Etten (@ryanve), Editor/Producer of VirtualMusic.tv; he was our featured corespondent at New Music Seminar in New York.
Mr. Owl, How many clicks does it take to get to
the rock n' roll center of a retail mp3? Let's find out.
A One... A two-HOO...too many!
Mr. Owl just Bit Torrented right into your album because it was easier than buying it on iTunes. It took less clicks.
Continue reading "What I Learned At NMS: Count Clicks To Content" »
Recently, I spoke with Aaron Ray who is a Partner at The Collective, Head of New Media. He is currently overseeing all digital initiatives and running all strategies, assets and communities worldwide for artists such as Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Enrique Iglesias, Big Boi, Staind, and Slash. In this particular interview, we will be focusing on his involvement in recent happenings with Linkin Park and Ray's insights into the evolution of the project.
Continue reading "Interview: Aaron Ray, Partner At The Collective Pt. 1" »
One such instance is the internet radio site Live365; it makes good office background music when I don't feel like making the effort to do otherwise. What they've done is streamlined the interface, eased access to their radio stations, and made their audio player available from every page in the site.
Continue reading "Live365 Updates Site: Quick & Dirty Net Radio" »
ese days, old is new in music business: Artists find intriguing ways to mine catalogs. (DNJ)
A&R platform Music Xray, used to receive song submissions from artists, acts, and rights holders, launched a new song to opportunity matching service called "S2O" that automatically pairs songs to opportunities. Artists simply upload their songs at the site and wait to be alerted when appropriate opportunities for their songs are identified. This new service is completely free.
Greg Rollett (@g_ro) is from the music marketing company, Gen-Y Rock Stars.
Here at Hypebot, we are rolling out our summer reading lists, written by some of the leading thinkers in the industry. If you happen to be in that crowd, email me five of your picks and reasons why the music industry should be reading them.
Here is Greg's list:
Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Yesterday, Hypebot broke an interview with TuneCore CEO Jeff Price. In it, he said it was disingenuous for companies, like Ditto Music and others, to claim 24-hour live times to iTunes, because there is no way to guarantee that; it depends on too many factors that exist outside of the control of digital music distributors. Also, Price went even as far to say that making such promises, ones they know they cannot keep, “preys on the hopes, dreams and aspirations of musicians.” Lee Parsons, co-founder of Ditto Music, had this to say in response:
Hi Jeff, a few quotes to add to the article, I hope you don’t mind me quoting direct from TuneCore:
"Yes, we have 24 hour delivery" & "To put hundreds of releases into iTunes this quickly, it's the culmination of years of work." Peter Wells of TuneCore claiming credit for the fast delivery times.
Continue reading "Ditto Music Responds To TuneCore CEO Jeff Price" »
Radio, the hallmark marketing outlet of the traditional record industry, faces its own share of huddles to overcome, if it hopes to forge a bright path into the digital age. Mainly, learning how to integrate a social media mindset into an old media world. And thus far, Mark Ramsey says their social media efforts are pathetic at best. He squarely asks if broadcasters realize that Pandora knows infinitely more about each one of its 60 million consumers than the average radio station knows about any of theirs; they don't. This part applies to equally to radio and artists:
"Your radio station is to a radio network as any one of your listeners is to her network of friends, her 'social network.' And 'social media' describes the content and the pipeline for that content people choose to share with their friends. Where there’s no sharing, there’s no 'social' and no 'media.' Social media is not a promotional vehicle per se for your station. It is a network of relationships that live outside you – it is a set of connections you can be part of only if the participants in those relationships want you there. (Read more.)
1. "Love the Way You Lie," EminemTop 10 Albums
2. "Dynamite," Taio Cruz
3. "I Like It," Enrique Iglesias
4. "California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg)," Katy Perry
5. "Airplanes (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore)," B.o.B.
6. "Billionaire (feat. Bruno Mars)," Travie McCoy
7. "Cooler Than Me," Mike Posner
8. "Ridin' Solo," Jason Derulo
9. "Not Afraid," Eminem
10. "Teenage Dream," Katy Perry
Continue reading "This Week's iTunes Top 10 Albums & Singles" »
Despite being a pioneer in user recommendations and its overall leadership in the online shopping sector, Amazon has been slow to embrace social shopping. But a new feature launched yesterday allows Amazon shoppers who connect their Facebook account to Amazon to get recommendations from their Facebook friends on what to buy.
Numerous studies have shown that a friend's recommendations have the most weight with shoppers, and the Amazon Facebook connection places the users friends right inside the buying cycle. Shoppers who connect their accounts can:
Continue reading "Amazon Connects With Facebook For Social Music & Media Shopping" »
This post is by Ryan Van Etten (@ryanve), Editor/Producer of VirtualMusic.tv; he was our featured corespondent at New Music Seminar in New York.
Since before you heard of Google, Chris Vinson has been designing musician websites. Like many today, he was in a band that needed a website. He did what anyone with enough determination would have done—he built it.
Continue reading "What I Learned At NMS: One Call To Action" »
Citigroup lost a March bid to end the lawsuit that accused it of misleading Terra Firma during the purchase of EMI because none of the related documents forced Terra Firma to sue in England, according to the judge's opinion which was finally released this week.
According to Apple's web site, this position is responsible for supporting the iTunes business by providing reporting and analysis, trouble-shooting and resolving business issues, managing label involvement in iTunes projects, and facilitating strong business relationships with major labels. This role will primarily involve working with the iTunes team in Cupertino and US-based label contacts, with some interactions with other iTunes regions as well.
Continue reading "Help Wanted @ Apple: iTunes Label Manager" »
Univision has agreed to pay $1 million in a settlement with the FCC over payola allegations. The case involves "an isolated group of employees" at Univision Music Group between 2002 and 2006. Univision Music is now part of Universal. (FMQB)
Eric @BigChampagne tweeted that those of us following @ultimatechart on Twitter - the name of his wonderful new comprehensive online music chart - are following an imposter that "stole our logo, trolling for followers...we're working with twitter to shut it down."(UPDATED)
...Because The Grand Prize Alone Is Worth Over $3,500!!!
Here at Hypebot, we’ve channeled our inner pop stars and have written the first data-driven hit song. The catch is that we would like you to write a the music and perform a cover of our song lyric. Today, July 27, through August 10, we will be accepting entries into The Hypebot Hit Song Contest.
The voting process will be taking place throughout the competition; winners will be finalized and issued on August 11. There will be one grand prize winner and three runner-ups. To enter the contest, look for the lyrics below, perform a cover of the song, and visit our SoundCloud page where you can upload your creation.
Continue reading "The Hypebot Hit Song Contest: Enter Now" »
This post is by Ryan Van Etten (@ryanve), Editor/Producer of VirtualMusic.tv; he was our featured corespondent at New Music Seminar in New York.
10 seconds to engage someone—to impress them.
In his research for Futurehit.DNA, Jay Frank discovered an impressive trend: Shorter song intros lead to better sales. "2/3 of bestselling songs have an intro that's less than 7 seconds." The average intro length for Top 25 songs is 6.6 seconds. "You really have 10 seconds to engage people."
Continue reading "What I Learned At NMS: You Have 10 Seconds" »
As I write this, I'm listening to music on the improved iSound site; it's an online, personalized radio station, with a heavier lean towards indie music and up-and-coming artists. The sound is rich and the music is good, so that covers the most important bases. The site proves to be a simple and rather efficient way to discover new music, based on your current preferences. Also, what's nice is that there are no play restrictions, meaning, there's unlimited skips and song plays.
Being that iSound is a HTML5 player; it works on the iPhone and iPad, no app needed. The site isn't new, launched back in 2004, but since then, the founders realized that discovering music on there interface wasn't as easy as it should be. So, they set out to put intelligent discovery at the core of their user experience and redesign the service. Thus far, the site has given me great recommendations.
Record leaks happen. I remember being 14 or so and having gained access to some albums a couple months before the street date hit. Was there a gray area there? Of course. But, these were albums I had been waiting for in excess of two to three years and I wanted to hear them badly. If fans can hear the the music, they will. Back then, if a record leaked, nothing happened - for the most part. The album street date didn't change. Over at MTT, there's a really smart post on how an artist that Jesse Cannon manages turned a leak that could have turned out to be a catastrophe and managed to make it into a great success. The best part:
"I ended up spending two hours while I was out on a Friday night begging a 16 year old girl from Canada to not leak any more of the record (not the type of thing they tell you about when you go to music business school) after she posted a song on her Tumblr. At this point we realized the record would inevitably leak early." (Read on.)
This guest post is by Brenden Mulligan, founder of ArtistData. ArtistData was acquired earlier this year by Sonicbids, where Brenden is now the VP Strategic Development. Follow him on Twitter @bmull.
I've always loved my music collection. It helps define me. I was one of those people with an abnormally large CD collection, mostly filled with non-major label music that none of my friends had heard of.
I've also always loved technology. When CDs were on the way out and MP3s were on the way in, I quickly digitized all my CDs into MP3s and then gave away my CDs. I still owned all the music, but didn't have the clutter. Giving up the album artwork was tough, but the positives outweighed the negatives.
Continue reading "Suddenly, I Don't Think I Want To Own Music Anymore" »
On iTunes Delivery, His Competitors & More
Yesterday, I spoke with Jeff Price, the CEO of the digital music distributor TuneCore. At recent events, certain companies have been advertising 24-hour live times with iTunes and I reached out to Price for his opinion on this matter. Since Hypebot published the news of this occurrence, it was illuminating to hear what Price had to say; this topic is clearly on his mind every day.
How have live times to iTunes changed over the years and what is the process that music has to go through in order to go on there?
Jeff Price: For the past six weeks, the majority of TuneCore Artist music has been going live on iTunes within 28 minutes to seven hours after they checkout. These lightening fast live times continue today. Five years ago, when I launched TuneCore, it took six to eight weeks for music to go live. Getting music live faster has been one of the singular things I have been focusing on for years.
Continue reading "Interview: Jeff Price, TuneCore's Outspoken CEO" »
Google has reportedly opened talks with the Harry Fox Agency as part of an accelerated effort to open a its own music service. (NY Post) Rumors have Google Music launching before Christmas, but I'm not so sure...
Music Publishers Copy Major Label 360 Model
Music publishers were once thought of as safe havens for artists. They nurtured songwriters, introduced them to the industry and sought ways to broaden their income with covers and placements. Now, it appears that they want more - a lot more - than a piece of the act's publishing in exchange for their efforts.
At a recent Association of Independent Music Publishers luncheon at LA's House Of Blues, a panel of business affairs execs made it clear that now music publishers are demanding additional rights akin to major label 360 deals when signing new artists.
Panelists including David Lessoff (New West Records), Alan Melina (President New Heights Ent.) and Greg Saunders (Warner Publishing) shared a variation of common message according to those present: "If you plan on signing with us, make sure you come with all your rights intact."
What they said:
Continue reading "Music Publishers Demanding 360 Rights From Artists" »
Reporter Jason Snell attended this year’s Comic-Con to see how the iPad and other devices were affecting the comic industry; he found they seemed convinced that “the coming digital comic revolution, in which devices such as the iPad eliminate the need for reading printed media, will end up driving readers into comic-book stores in search for the good stuff—on paper.” This sound familiar? A presenter told the audience that comic shops are cultural centers; they could thrive in the iPad era, sort of like boutique vinyl record stores. Snell's thoughts:
"I’m not so sure. I recall people in the music industry talking in much the same tone about how record stores would always thrive because people wanted to go and hang out there, but the last time I checked, my local record store was being turned into a Trader Joe’s. And bookstores face the same challenge, as readers turn both to e-books and to buying direct from Amazon. The survivors are likely to be retail chains or independent stores with a very good sense of what it takes to create a pleasant, appealing retail environment—pretty much the antithesis of at least one class of comic-book store." Read More.
Did I mention almost every comic that’s published is scanned and posted on pirate sites within hours of release? But kids would never walk into a store and...
Cartoonist and author Hugh MacLeod, known most famously for his drawings on the back of business-cards, wry insights, and sometimes cynical humor, posted a short mantra that I found interesting. It's not very complex, but for many artists, entrenched in their various creative endeavors, I felt like it rang true. The everyday isn't always that inspirational and doesn't come with instructions, nor the needed motivations to pursue your passions. But, if you are chasing something special, whether its a new album or writing a book, MacLeod's assertion is rather telling:
"Some people live paycheck to paycheck. Some people live project to project. I prefer living “adventure to adventure.” I reckon that if you can’t treat what you’re doing like an adventure, it’s not worth doing. You might as well be dead. We all want the feeling of adventure. It’s just about the closest you can get to God while you’re still alive." Is your album an adventure? Read More.
Voyno and Hoover are authors of the fantastic blog The New Rockstar Philosophy and book by the same name, one you should also consider adding to your summer reading list.
Here at Hypebot, we are rolling
out our summer reading lists, written by some of the
leading thinkers in the industry. If you happen to be in that crowd, email me
five of your picks and reasons why the music industry should be
reading them.
Here's Voyno:
As regular Hypebot readers know, we're in the process of reshaping our parent company, national booking agency Skyline Music to better help our artists deal with the current realities of the live music industry. Our first step was a contest with the open community of talented artists and designers at Creative Allies to design a new logo for the company.
We had an amazing 131 entries with may great designs to choose from. The winner by designer Gamut was chosen with input from Hypebot readers and the Skyline Music and Hypebot teams. Two random Hypebot commenters, Corey Crossfield and Anna Drozdowski, will get a copy of "And Party Every Day - The Inside Story of Casablanca Records" for helping out. (Corey and Anna please email us with snail mail address.)
The new Skyline Music logo:
T
These first widgets will include secure and high quality music streaming; customizable interfaces; 1-click sharing on social networks and media; email tracking and collecting; widget tracking; and geo-fan tagging.
Hypebot Summer Reading Lists:
(UPDATED)
Listeners ages 25-54 listened to radio on average of 24 hours each week during a spring survey done by nielson research. This rate is nearly 7.5% higher than the 12+ population and is consistent with last year's findings. As counterintuitive as it may seem, commercial radio is still a fairly dominate force in our cultural lives.
If you don't know exactly what you are looking for, YouTube and its millions of videos can be a bit overwhelming. To help guide visitors through the clutter YouTube has launched a new music landing page (here) Their revamped music page - part of a redesign that started with shows and movies pages - showcases the most viewed music videos, special promotions, curated playlists, unsigned talent and add the ability to create on-the-fly mixes. For example if you are in the mood for electronic beats? Scroll down to that genre and click “play” for an instant playlist.
Here at Hypebot, we are rolling
out our summer reading lists, written by some of the
leading thinkers in the industry. If you happen to be in that crowd, email me
five of your picks and reasons why the music industry should be
reading them.
Here's what Jackie had to say:
Anyone seeking to make a career in the music business should study its history, and who better to receive this education from the characters in the industry that you just couldn't make up? Here are my recommendations for the most interesting and memorable tales from inside the music business:
get your job site
at simplyhired.com
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