hypebot

MTT Weekly Recap: Why You Should Give Your Music Away For Free

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

• Rich Gordon: The importance of good email standards
• Jeremy Belcher: Why You Should Give Your Music Away for Free
• Leena Sowambur: Goal Setting Workshop For 2012

Goal Setting Workshop For 2012

Ready for the new year? With each new year, people make resolutions that usually are abandoned and not kept. On Music Think Tank, Leena Sowambur has posted a presentation on goal setting that can help you get to where you want to be or at least get you closer to attaining your goals. Make 2012 memorable!

Unsigned Social Media Star Alex Day Sells 100,000 Copies of Forever Yours

Going into the final UK sales week, Alex Day's single "Forever Yours" hit #4 on top UK singles with multiple version in the iTunes Top 100. Yesterday he announced via Twitter that he'd sold 100,000 copies of the single worldwide. Day is raising money for charity with his effort, but is his YouTube-fueled celebrity more than a stunt?

Manchester Orchestra Asks Fans To Sing Along & Why It's Working [Best Of Hypebot]

All week we are featuring the best and most popular articles that appeared on Hypebot in 2011. This one is by regular contributor Hisham Dahud.

Atlanta-based indie rock group Manchester Orchestra has launched a unique and interactive fan experience for their song, “Virgin” - a track that’s been described as “a song to the fans” by the band. In the spirit of the song’s lyrical content, the band has created a campaign for fans to have their voices heard … literally.

Why You Should Give Your Music Away For Free

The debate on whether or not you should give away music for free continues with Jeremy Belcher’s latest post on Music Think Tank. He covers music services, indie music sales, and the concept of Hear-Like-Buy. To add to this, Hisham’s earlier post on music piracy explains that artists show their love first by giving away music and then the audience will help spread the word, attend the shows, and buy merch. What do you think of giving away music for free?    

Inteview: Kevin Browning, Head Of Creative/Business Development For Umphrey’s McGee

This interview comes via new media and music blog Kickshuffle.

Kevin Browning is head of Creative and Business Development for the Chicago-based “improg” band Umphrey’s McGee. Kevin has been involved in key aspects of the band’s business since the beginning and worked as the band’s front of house engineer & producer for over a dozen years. He transitioned to his current role at the beginning of 2011, where he oversees marketing and distribution, as well as other social and digital media efforts. He also runs “The Floor,” the band’s popular and perpetually-updated blog.

Join Hypebot's Holiday Online Networking Party & Introduce Yourself To Our Community

(UPDATED) It's become a holiday tradition for Hypebot to host an online networking party.  Most of the music business shuts down during the holidays, but we keep publishing on a lighter schedule. And like us, many readers are using this down time to work on exciting projects to unveil in 2011. Others are just looking for a constructive solution to the holiday work day blahs. Get involved:

Kyle Bylin: Chaos We Can Stand [Best Of Hypebot]

All week we'll be featuring the best and most popular articles that appeared on Hypebot in 2011. This one, subtitled "Attitudes Toward Technology and Their Impact on the New Digital Ecology" is by former Hypebot Editor and Billboard staffer Kyle Bylin.

I. Where Salvation Lies

Upon discovering that I had relatively poor vision in the seventh grade—difficulties seeing the whiteboard and anything from afar—it was understood that I would need to get glasses. Not just any glasses though, the specific style that I wanted were those worn by the front man of the rock group Linkin Park, Chester Bennington; they were thick-framed, black glasses, and in my mind, they looked amazing—on him. As it would turn out, the glasses looked less than stellar on me and I got a completely different pair.

How To Live A Creative Life [INFOGRAPHIC]

How to live a creative life.  Whether your a musician, manager, part of a record label, starting up the next big thing in music tech or writing another blog post, how to live  a creative, interesting life is at the core of why every Hypebot reader gets up in the morning.  This infographic, which does not focus solely on music, offers a useful and sometimes amusing glimpse at the possibilities.

Peter Frampton & The Knack Sue Universal Music Over Digital Payments

Singer and guitarist Peter Frampton has sued Universal Music Group's A&M Records over digital download royalties.  Frampton's lawsuit comes on the heals of a similar action filed against Capitol Records by the heir of Bruce Gary, the drummer of The Knack. Since UMG is in the process of buying Capital parent EMI, both lawsuits could become there problem.

Music Pages Reign On Facebook, But Are Big Numbers Enough? [Best Of Hypebot]

All week we'll be featuring the best and most popular articles that appeared on Hypebot in 2011. This one is by regular contributor Hisham Dahud.

It’s clear by now that music is huge on Facebook. So huge in fact, that 7 of the 10 most liked pages on Facebook belong to musicians, averaging 43 million likes. Additionally, the top 250 artists on Facebook have a total of 2 billion likes, and the most “liked” artist on Facebook (Rihanna with 47.7 million) has more likes than the top five athletes combined.

2011 Was A Great Year For Spotify [By The Numbers]

Despite some legitimate concerns over the amount of revenue returned to artists and streaming music's impact on sales, Spotify had a breakthrough year. Here's it looked like based on official company figures:

• Launched in 5 new countries, including (finally) the U.S., Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium

MORE:

5 Top Music Tech Trends For 2012: Augmented Reality Remixes, Mainstream Hack Days, Live Shows

It seems obvious that music tech in 2012 will be a growing field of activity with more investment and business attention. Trends will center around the implications of ubiquitous music enabled by streaming from the cloud to multiple devices. Augmented reality will continue to see its strongest development in audio as the scannable environment is remixed. Music hack days will receive increasing mainstream and major label attention as mini-incubators.  Live performance will continue to grow interconnected with the web.

Is Rolling Stone Dead? A Cover Story Nets Just 2000 New Fans [Best Of Hypebot]

All week we'll be featuring the best and most popular articles that appeared on Hypebot in 2011. This one is by regular contributor Robin Davey.

The cover of a recent issue of Rolling Stone Magazine featured a relatively unknown band called The Sheepdogs. They found themselves there by way of a competition, beating out numerous other acts to be selected as the cover stars. 

A few days after Rolling Stone landed in my physical inbox, I wondered what impact this would have on the bands popularity in this very digital age. So, using the barometer that so many artists and industry people like to use to determine the worth of a band, I started watching the likes for the Sheepdogs Facebook page.

What Cities Produced "The Best Music" In 2011 [INFOGRAPHIC]

Does where music is made matter? A study by Patrick Adler, a doctoral student in urban planning at UCLA, appears to prove that it does. Adler used allmusic.com’s database and press coverage to "assign a locational base of operations" for every act on Pitchfork critic's top 100 of 2011, then counted the number of hits or hit producing acts per city. If an artist had 2 hits, they were counted twice. If there was a collaboration involving artists from more than one city, it divided between those cities. The results:

Is Music Piracy The Problem… Or The Solution?

Yesterday in a comment left on one of Hypebot's Best of 2011 articles, one reader expressed a viewpoint that ending piracy is the #1 route to a professional career in the music industry. They went on to say:

“You can't have jobs where there's no money. People who aspire to professional careers need to learn who is robbing them of those opportunities.”

While it’s clear by now that piracy has caused the music industry as a whole to lose a substantial amount of its revenue, it’s important to examine the root of the behavior in order to fully understand piracy and the people who choose to participate.

Pandora Launches Web Hub For Live Concert Series

Pandora has announced an online extension of the free, live concert series that the company debuted earlier in the month. The Pandora live concert series hub is currently sponsored by Budweiser.

15 Indie Artist Revenue Opportunities For 2012

[BEST OF HYPEBOT] Indie artists are making money in all sorts of ways, often by combining a variety of small revenue streams and one-off deals into significant income. Here are 15 revenue streams or opportunities from my Hypebot posts of 2011. Like media appearances, no one will make you rich (or famous), but together they offer a range of options.

15 Indie Artist Revenue Opportunities For 2012

Active vs. Passive Fans: Why Radio & TV Still Rank Tops For Music Discovery [Best Of Hypebot]

All week we'll be featuring the best and most popular articles that appeared on Hypebot in 2011. This one is by regular contributor Hisham Dahud.

The data presented in a recent NPD Group/NARM study found terrestrial radio and syndicated television among the main influential sources of music discovery (60% and 49% respectively). With all the new avenues for music discovery out there, why are the majority of people still choosing to shape their musical tastes through premeditated and controlled media sources?

The Importance Of Good Email Standards

The majority of people still use email to communicate with others. Email can be used to get a point across, but if written poorly, confusion and bad etiquette can occur. For musicians, writing good emails is important to let your fans know about shows, an upcoming album, etc. On Music Think Tank, Rich Gordon identifies problems with quick communication and lessons you can learn from it.

Alleged Threats From Live Nation Lead To Lawsuit By NJ Promoters

Live Nation is facing a lawsuit from two local New Jersey concert promoters after they claimed Live Nation used threats and coercion to prevent the promoters from booking acts for the State Fair Meadowlands last summer.

New Social Network Pinterest's Growth Represents Marketing Opportunity

Pinterest uses the digital pinboard as the organizing concept for a content and discussion-focused social network that is wildly successful with over 11 million total visits in one recent week. At first glance the homepage reminds me of the nicer women's mags I see in the grocery store checkout line. That may help you identify a demographic match for a lifestyle site that seems to be missing music.

QR Codes 2012: Death By Augmented Reality?

Are QR codes dead in 2012? Are they a fad to be left behind as augmented reality takes hold? QR codes have been plagued by poor mobile network performance and are being deployed in a fairly cliched manner by being stuck on any surface that can handle printed graphics.  But QR codes also have the potential to continue as visual symbols of data caches, from images to audio files to videos, and indicators of virtual destinations, such as mobile sites or download points, as we move towards devices and software that transform the environment into a scannable augmented surface.

QR Code Music Marketing in 2011

10 Tips To Advance Your Music Business Career [Best Of Hypebot 2011]

All this week we'll be featuring some of the best and most popular articles that appeared on Hypebot in 2011.  This one is by regular contributor Hisham Dahud.

 No matter where you are in your career, it’s important to look back at the basics. It allows you to think like a beginner again; back to when you could visualize the most possibilities. The following ten tips, taken from a NARIP event in San Francisco, will help move forward your career in the music business - however far along you may be.

1. Have a Plan

We're Here! Publishing During Holiday Break plus Join Our Online Networking Party

Hypebot will be publishing throughout the holiday break. Each day we'll cover any breaking news, some timely new pieces, and one of more Hypebot Best of 2011 - some of the best and most popular posts of the last year.  And be sure to stop by our online Holiday Networking Party to share your projects for 2012. There's some great activity going on right now.