In an interview with Panda Labs, a member from Anonymous, the group behind the attacks that forced the RIAA and MPAA sites offine, clarified their position in the file-sharing debates. First and foremost, they’re advocates for piracy. That we knew. However, they don’t view file-sharing to be solely a means through which they gain obtain movies, music, and media for free. Rather, they consider it to be “the next step in a cultural revolution of shared information.”
Vevo's revenue is in the "tens of millions," collected through sponsorships and advertising, but the site is still not profitable, CEO Rio Caraeff told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt yesterday. "Vevo is an experiment on a grand scale,” according to Careff, with more than 50% of revenue passed on to the labels and artists.
Well, this is a case of ‘it was bound to happen.’ Yet the idea of a street musician playing a sitar on an iPad is still very intriguing. According to Alex Shpil, the publisher of the video, she used the Seline HD app and was also recording the sound using binaural microphones. Does the fact that the girl is playing on a relatively expensive device—a new iPod—change people’s perceptions of how much they’re willing to drop in her ‘instrument’ case? Or, is that irrelevant?
Are file-sharers killing the careers of artists that the record and music industries create? Or, are we? We—broadly defined as the social media hype machine that we've played our part in fueling—both as professionals and fans. It's as if our society has ventured into a new age of extremes. The traditional music consumption system is running on fumes; mainly, the momentum created by nearly ten years of MTV's Total Request Live. Everything else being played is new to the extent that it came out in the last ten years to twelve months, yet it all sounds deathly restricted to the same formulas.
GigaTools is a promotional tool for DJ's, musicians, record labels and booking agents to manage, promote and share their event schedules online. Artists can integrate their events schedule with any number of sites and social networks. Management and agents can maintain multiple schedules for their roster in one interface and ensure that all upcoming events are always up to date across their entire companies web presence.
At a time when the RIAA and other trade organizations are trying their damnedest to disrupt the culture of file-sharing and persuade teenagers and college students alike to feel guilty for downloading music off the web, one of the most famous pop stars of this generation has sided with the fans. In an interview segment that aired on Good Morning America, Justin Timberlake admits to the anchor that, had he not skipped college and went onto become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, he would've illegally downloaded music of the web too.
(UPDATED) While sharing with your Twitter followers is useful; the real hope of most tweeters is that their 140 characters go viral. But how often does that happen? And how long does a tweet "live"? Online marketing firm Sysomos examined 1.2 billion tweets posted in the last two months to find out. Their benchmark: when a tweet generates a reaction or retweet, it suggests the the tweet resonated enough to spark a conversation or to share it with their followers. What they found may surpirse you:
Indie music marketing hub ReverbNation and APM Music have partnered to launch a “ReverbNation Music” library. The publishing company will assist in licensing this set of music into TV, movies, trailers, video games and other types of productions. Through statistical analysis, ReverbNation is qualifying artists for the program and sending out invitations accordingly.
(UPDATED) Despite the RIAA's best efforts, as of today Mulve is still online. To be clear, I'm not a supporter of unauthorized file-sharing; and though I understand the desire to shut down the biggest offenders, they aren't going away. Mulve is a reminder that the industry needs to put it's efforts elsewhere and give consumers legal choices that generate revenue for labels and artists.
French music industry reaches deal with YouTube. (AP)
Musician + Author = Crap - This week musician Ben Folds (formerly of the Five) and rock-obsessed novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity) released a collaborative record called Lonely Avenue. (Boston Phoenix)
RIAA Claims That If COICA Isn't Passed, Americans Are 'Put At Risk' (Techdirt)
This guest post is by Max Willens, editor ofWe All Make Music, a website dedicated to helping musicians thrive in a post-label world.
"As brands become more human [in the social media space], you're going to see them acting differently because there's no place to hide anymore." - Bonin Bough, PepsiCo
Music marketers lecture artists to make more money by "extending their brand". Animal Collective decided to extend their band's brand to do some good. Each member of the group has designed a shoe for accessory and clothing maker KEEP. Profits from sales will go to the Socorro Island Conservation Fund, a non-profit working to preserve the Revillagigedo Archipelago off Baja California, where illegal fishing, in particular of its shark population, is a continual threat.
To be sure, The Social Network is about more than just social networks and Facebook; there's a much larger story. But it is ironic that the person who scored the film, Trent Reznor, can't use them. Or, at least he has given up on using social networks and media—for the moment. In a recent interview on Mashable, Reznor gave an interesting answer as to why that is.
A new NPD report, The Connected Experience: Building a Bridge Between Devices & Content, shows that while consumers are using connected devices to access digital entertainment content, there is still a great deal of room for growth. 75% of U.S. consumers age 13 and older did not connect or download any digital content in the previous 3 months.
In retaliation to the survey that the National Association of Broadcasters conducted—that showed 78% of the American public would consider paying a one-time fee of 30¢ to gain access to local radio stations through the built-in cell phone chip—the Consumer Electronics Association has carried out their own survey. In it, they report that 70% of cell and smart phone users are not interested in receiving FM radio broadcasts on their phones. More damning still, CEA survey found that 80% does not support a government mandate that would force manufacturers to include an FM tuner in mobile phones.
Could this be the beginning of the end? Lady Gaga has now added the distinction of taking the top positions on Last.fm's latest "Most Unwanted Scrobbles" list. Seven of her hottest tracks including mega-hits "Poker Face" and "Paparazzi" were among the most frequently deleted form user playlists last month on Last.fm. Ke$ha and Justin Beiber rounded out the top 10.
Unauthorized downoad site Mulve.com was offline for several days, reportedly because of action by the RIAA. “Just letting you know that Mulve has received a DMCA take down request from the RIAA, so it needed to be taken offline,” Mulve told TorrentFreak. But as of Wednesday, Mulve was back online.
Say you're a new artist or have signed one to your roster. Months have gone by, the recording process is over, the CDs are ready to be shipped, and the marketing push has long since been underway. What data would be most helpful in determining how successful the new song or album is going to be? There are a number of traditional routes, however, a recent line of research is suggesting that search inquiries predict the success for films, games, and songs.
Former KCRW “Morning Becomes Eclectic” host Nick Harcourt is back as curator of The LiveBuzz. It's Buzzmedia's new addition to an music and celebrity blog empire that includes Stereogum, Idolator, Absolute Punk and more.
The Second Circuit appeals court has ruled against ASCAP and determined that music downloads are not a 'public performance' under copyright law. Thus, the streaming music royalty rates that Yahoo, Real and others pay to the performing rights organization have been overturned and are being reexamined. For now, they only have to pay for creating copies of music, but ASCAP may continue their battle.
(UPDATED) Recent upheaval at Live Nation, including yesterday's resignation of Barry Diller, would seem to mean little to the average musician. But when the biggest player in both live concerts and ticketing shakes, the rest of the industry tremors. Just as the diminishing power of major labels and major media has opened up incredible entrepreneurial opportunities and led to more consumer choices; cracks in the Live Nation armor mean more openings for new promoters, venues and ticketing platforms.
Barry Diller has resigned as the Chairmen of the Board of Live Nation Entertainment. Many observers believe that Irving Azoff will end up at the helm of the live concert and ticketing giant.
Vox, Sony UK's blog that was supposed to shut down the CD demo, shuts down. (Music Ally)
As their trial hits day 2, Pirate Bay founders send an e-mail: 'Should we risk jail? (CNet)
You are greeted with a smile and repetitive hello by the stewardess as you roll your bag out of the flimsy, makeshift tunnel and onto the plane. Approaching your seat, you force your piece of luggage into the overhead bin closest to your row.
You glance at your ticket, reminding yourself for the last time what seat number you'll occupy. Spotting your seat, you climb over the knees of two others, and position yourself next to the window. You push up the arm rest and tilt your seat back. The engine starts, followed by a jolting rumble and then a soothing hum.
Traditionally, when journalists write about the widening of the digital divide, what they're talking about is the gap between those who have access to digital technologies and those that don't. As a recent article in The Wall Street Journal points out, that's no longer the case. In this context, the rift that they're speaking of relates to the growing disconnect between attendees of live concerts who feel entitled to brandish their cell phones, digital cameras, and, in a rising number of cases, full-blown camcorders and those who think that the very act of doing so defies the purity of the live music experience.
George Howard, the former president of Rykodisc and author of the 9GiantSteps blog, has posted his first entry over at Music Think Tank. In it, Howard argues that streaming music and video has stuck up on most people. That they may have enormous collections and be loyal to physical mediums yet slowly, but surely, they have started to stream more and more. To the point where their precious artifacts of yesteryear are even collecting dust bunnies.
"With the internet making it ever easier to discover new music, musos scrambling to stay ahead of the game and record labels getting ever more frantic in the face of their decline, it seems that these bands are rolling by at an increasingly swift pace. Every week throws up new bands you're told you must hear..."
Since we're all suffering from digitally induced A.D.D., how does a band keep from having the spotlight shine on them before they're ready or watch it shift to the next big thing before they've had the time to mature?
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