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Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y.

Top D.I.Y. & Indie Music News

• Louis CK Shows Music Industry How Direct Ticketing is Done and How It Can Defeat Scalpers
• Ginger Wildheart's Fan-Funded Album Outperforms Rihanna And Coldplay On UK Charts
• The Future Of The Music Industry is Demonstrated by Alex Day
• The Mast Enlist DJs & Hybrid Distribution for UpUpUp (Remixes) EP
• Everest's Russell Pollard Shares Tips for Indie Artists On Sponsorships & Touring 

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MusicThinkTank.com Weekly Recap: How to Create a Successful Kickstarter Campaign & more

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

 

• Ariel Hyatt: How To Make Your Facebook Timeline POP!
• Simon Tam: How to Create a Successful Kickstarter Campaign
• Tom Dennehy: Research Says Young Listeners May Embrace CD Quality Audio. Habit Says It Won't Be on CD.
• Jamie Leger: The Indie Artist Launch Plan - Part TWO

REWIND: The New Music Industry's Week In Review

Top New Music Industry News

• Deadmau5 Says 'All EDM DJS Are Button Pushers' but Peter Kirn Sets Him Straight
• The Capitalization of EDM Continues as Live Nation Acquires HARD Events
• Far Further Vs DotMusic in Battle For .music Domain
• In Wake Of WFNX Sale Two Newspaper Sponsored Web Stations Vie For Alt Rock Audience
• Hypebot Seeks Editorial Interns
• Visit Hypebot on RebelMouse For Our Daily News Briefings

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Facebook Experiences 4.8% Decline In Unique Visitors

Could the Facebook craze finally be leveling off? A recent report from the analyst firm ComScore indicates that the amount of unique U.S. visitors to Facebook has dropped slightly in May when compared to April and March, and has shown a 4.8% overall decline in six months. This decline in traffic could cause concern for investors, as Facebook's high market value is primarily associated with its growth potential.

Fan-Funded Album Outperforms Rihanna And Coldplay On UK Charts

Proof that one does not need to be a pop goddess or multi-platinum selling rock band to make it onto the charts, a relatively unknown singer-songwriter named Ginger Wildheart (who first made a name for himself with the 90s rock band “The Wildhearts”), is currently sitting at the #9 spot on the UK Mid-Week Top Album charts with an album that was funded by his fans through PledgeMusic. A milestone for crowdfunding and direct-to-fan music as a whole, this fun-funded album even outsold music goliaths Rhianna and Coldplay – despite being recorded on relatively shoestring budget.

Denial Of A Digital Lifestyle: Living The Life Of An Ostrich (With Your Head In The Sand)

Guest post by Brian Thompson of Thorny Bleeder.

According to legends (although there is no evidence to show that this is true), ostriches have a tendency to bury their heads in the sand as a way to avoid danger.  Today, people are often said to bury their heads in the sand when they refuse to confront or deal with a problem, and choose to deny it.

And that's exactly what's happening with many people in the music business, on both the label side and the artist side (it's the latter that I find most shocking).

This Label Earns Almost 80% Of Revenue From Spotify

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

When a Swede talks about Spotify, it helps to have a grain of salt nearby. The freemium streaming service seems to be something of a matter of national pride over there.

Some places, like England or Jamaica, invent major musical styles that traverse the world. Sweden produced the means with which some of the world’s most fervent music fans now listen to that music.

Successfully Crowdfunding Classical Music

Just like other genres of music, classical musicians have been successfully crowdfunding projects large and small via Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms. The Conducting Business podcast recently hosted a panel discussion related to crowdfunding classical music. Central to that discussion was the successful campaign by violinist Tracy Silverman to raise funds to record a CD of an original work he composed to be performed with the Calder Quartet.

Apple Plans Major iTunes Overhaul [Report]

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on a major iTunes overhaul that could mark the biggest change in the program since 2003, when it emerged from Apple’s purchase of a music player for the Mac called SoundJam MP.

As I write this, Spotify is playing a track of Mitt Romney talking about health care. It’s also downloading and uploading data representing music, because the desktop version of Spotify uses a peer-to-peer architecture that helps the company save on bandwidth by making users stream bits of music to each other on their private internet connections.

The Week In Music Apps: Android Songkick, Mashup Makers, Rock/Rap Battles & More Efficient Facebook Stalking

Guest post by Andrew Garsetti of Evolver.fm.

The music world was hectic this past week, the most newsworthy item being the lethal pre-show stage collapse of the structure housing Radiohead’s beautiful and engrossing performance visuals. We also saw an art installation in L.A. turn heads with its ingenuity and the free release of a normally $200 Moog keyboard.

NEWS BRIEFING: Microsoft Takes On Spotify, Dotcom Wins Big One, Live Nation EDM, .music & More

Curated Music Industry News From Around The Web

UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

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"Live Nation Part 2" - Will Ownership Consolidation Ruin EDM?

Guest post by Daniel Lieberman, Policy Fellow at Future of Music Coalition.

We’ve seen this movie before: large media company enters growing, now profitable music scene. Large media company buys up all the smaller regional operations it can get its hands on. Now that smaller companies are together in one happy music pool, large media company presents pool to advertisers and marketers. Large media company soon cashes out of the conglomerate it created at handsome profit, walking off into the sunset.  

Artist Growth Wins MTV O Music Award For Best Music App

Artist Growth, the mobile and web dashboard for musicians, has topped the voting for the “Best Music App” category in the MTV O Music Awards. The company, which only launched five months ago, defeated industry titans the likes of Spotify and Live Nation with interactive tools that enable artists "to be knowledgeable about everything from marketing to booking gigs," as MTV puts it.

Spotify Must Win Hearts To Grow Subscribers

Guest post by Kyle Bylin of Live Nation Labs.

Spotify, the online music service, has added a free, ad-supported radio feature to its iOS apps, which allows listeners to create and play music stations—akin to what Pandora offers—for as long as they want.

The need for Spotify to develop a radio service, some suggest, stems from its strategy of “attracting users with free, ad-supported services who can be converted later into paying subscribers.” While this may be true, Spotify also realizes that a radio service will allow it to appeal to casual listeners as well as the service’s more avid core users.

Music As A Service Part 2 - The Transition To An Experience Model (Community Over Content)

Part 2 of a guest post by Wesley Verhoeve (@wesleyverhoeve), artist manager, producer, curator, and founder of Family Records. Read Part 1 here.

Two of the biggest changes in consumer behavior are not only complementary, they even amplify each other. These are changes to embrace, not fight. The first change is the move from a product oriented economy, to one that values experiences over products. The second is a shift from isolated individual consumption to social consumption.

Google Unveils Nexus Q: 8 Things It Will Do For Music Fans

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

Yesterday, Google announced a new hardware device: Google Nexus Q, a $300 Android entertainment system for the home that Google calls “the first social streaming media player.” Here’s what it will do for music fans, according to what we know so far:

The Mast Enlist DJs & Hybrid Distribution For UpUpUp (Remixes) EP

It's true that The Mast didn't release their latest EP UpUpUp (Remixes) on Nintendo cartridge or other alternative media but they've done a pretty good job of covering all possible bases. They self-released on Bandcamp, released to iTunes via Channel A Records and pursued the Beatport crowd with the help of Playloop Records.  It's a joint project but also a remix project allowing The Mast to expand their reach and introduce themselves to new audiences.

Artist Development Today = Clarity, Direction & Commitment: The Indie Artist Launch Plan Part 2

This week, we have part two of the Indie Artist Launch Plan. Missed part one? Read it here. In part 2, Jamie Leger covers artist development and the performing artist/band launch plan. Check out some key areas to focus on by going to the full post on Music Think Tank.

Louis CK Shows Music Industry How Direct Ticketing Defeats Scalpers [100K Tickets / $4.5M / 2 Days]

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

Our piece about what funnyman Louis CK is teaching the music industry has attracted a fair amount of attention on the web this week — and as such, it’s only fair to follow up with information about how his strategy of selling tickets directly to fans, for one flat price of $45 regardless of city or seat, is working. As it turns out, it’s working great.

Ticketfly Expands To Offer Full-Fledged Marketing Services

(UPDATED) Independent ticketing and social marketing company Ticketfly has announced that they will begin offering full-on marketing services to their users. This announcement comes as the company found that while the average client sells just 30% of their tickets through the social tools Ticketfly provides, those clients who take full advantage of all of their tools see up to 70% of tickets sold through those channels.

Live Nation Settles With Michael Cohl - Does This Mean A Rolling Stones Tour?

Live Nation has amicably settled its legal dispute with former chairman Michael Cohl.  "We’ve had a long and fruitful history, collaborating with Michael Cohl," said Arthur Fogel, Chairman of Global Muisc and CEO of Global Touring. "We’re pleased that we’ve been able to resolve our differences, and can now get back to working together."

AM NEWS BRIEFING: Judge Blasts UMG Eminem Misconduct, O Music, ReDigi, Louis CK, Spotify, More

Curated Music Industry News From Around The Web

UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

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Amanda Palmer To Distribute Fan-Funded Album Through Alliance Entertainment

Kickstarter queen Amanda Palmer has announced that Alliance Entertainment will exclusively distribute her fan-funded album in the United States. Alliance is the largest wholesale distributor of home entertainment audio and video software in the U.S. and serves some 3,000 merchants including Target, Best Buy, and Barnes and Noble, and Internet retailers such as Amazon.com. Alliance’s recently acquired Audiolife division will distribute other fan-funded products (books, art, etc.) associated with the multidimensional album project Theatre Is Evil, set for a September 11th release.

Wesley Verhoeve: Music As A Service Rather Than A Product [Part 1]

(UPDATED) Guest post by Wesley Verhoeve (@wesleyverhoeve), an artist manager, producer, curator, and the founder of Family Records.

Yesterday’s article really seems to have struck a chord. Not only did it destroy all previous page visit and social stats for this blog, it also brought about the most heated debate in the comments and on twitter. The main criticism of my point of view originates from a certain false moral high ground, and a convenient historic amnesia when it comes to copyrights. It can be summed up as follows:

The Capitalization of EDM Continues: Live Nation Acquires HARD Events

As electronic dance music (EDM) continues to grow in prevalence, it continues to attract the attention of investors and major concert promoters looking to cash in. Robert Sillerman (the man who launched the concert company SFX, which went on to become Live Nation) has said that his revived SFX company is looking to spend upwards of $1 billion on acquisitions within a year. Sillerman has even reportedly offered $60 million to Insomniac alone, the company that produces the massive Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). Having already acquired Disco Productions earlier this month and Cream Holdings LTD in May, today marks another milestone for Sillerman and Live Nation – the acquisition of HARD Events.