The Piano Man is signing a sweet tune with the announcement of worldwide publishing agreement between Billy Joel and Universal (UMPG) / Rondor. The new deal will focus on licensing Joel's catalog, which hasn't often featured in TV, film or advertisements.
The Hypebot
Music Industry Jobs & Internships Board continues to
attract a growing number of music companies offering plenty of job and internship
opportunities. We've included of the highlights below.
If there’s one thing that today’s digital and participatory
culture has shown us, it’s that people flock to where they can have in on the
fun and involve themselves in the content they are consuming. Recognizing
this, famed California rockers Linkin Park have come out with a creative music
video that puts fans and their Facebook friends right in the center of the
video’s storyline.
From the FanBridge Blog, part of the Fan Marketing Institute. For weekly lessons like this via email sign up here.
Do you have a YouTube channel? Are you looking to collect emails from people who view your videos on YouTube? (9 out of 10 smart people say “yes!”) Most video creators like the idea of having a prompt to join their fan list as a part of their videos but you don’t want to go and add extra frames to each one, since this can be a big hassle with a lot of videos. Well, don’t sweat it! We have awesome news: YouTube just introduced intros and outros for video playlists.
Earlier this week Grooveshark proudly announced: "After working closely with Google to get rogue apps removed, we're delighted that the official Grooveshark app has been reinstated in the Android market." But as of today, the Grooveshark app has been once again removed from Google's app marketplace.
Music videos using social media combined with mobile and web technologies continue to break new and entertaining ground. For a little Friday fun I present three music videos beginning with Father Tiger's "Shell" which uses over 5000 images processed through Instagram.
Since it's inception, Tunecore has paid more than $300 million directly to indie and d.i.y. musicians. So it was big news when co-founders Jeff Price and Peter Wells abruptly exited the company. In the weeks that followed, there has been no explanation or statement of future plans from Tunecore. Yesterday, Wells was the first to break the silence with an exclusive Hypebot interview. What do you think of the changes? Should artists pull out of Tunecore? VOTE HERE:
Founder of Violator Management and instrumental figure in the development of hip-hop, Chris Lighty has died. He was 44. While police have not confirmed a cause of death, the New York Daily News is reporting that Lighty died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Bronx apartment, following an argument with his ex-wife.
With the fallout of Jeff Price and Peter Wells leaving
TuneCore, the business practices behind digital distribution companies have
certainly taken center stage in recent weeks, with many musicians now taking a
closer look at whom they entrust their catalogs with. While a plethora of
options still exist from familiar names like CD Baby, ReverbNation or Ditto
Music – each with similar, yet uniquely different pricing structures – one
South Korean startup is hoping to shake up the game by offering a distribution model not yet
seen before.
Hypebot presents the eighth episode of The Upward Spiral Podcast, an ongoing discussion of the new music industry featuring Kyle Bylin of Live Nation Labs (and former Hypebot Editor), music industry consultant Jason Spitz (Former Director of Marketing at Topspin), and Hypebot's Hisham Dahud (also of Fame House). They launched the podcast as a platform for conversations about the issues that face artists and music professionals.
The folks at Fuse.tv have produced a video tour of New Your City's album cover landmarks. From a Bob Dylan street scene to LL Cool J standing on top of his car infront of his high school and the real location of the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique", it's a reminder that music and musical careers are often inspired by place.
Spotify has approved its first third-party app for the fascinating intersection of music and location: Tunaspot, which turns the sharing of location-based playlists into a virtual geo-caching game, wherein the dominant metaphor is that chicken of the sea, the mighty tuna fish.
Enig'matik Records is a Bandcamp-only label based out of Australia with a focus on electronic music. The label puts out digital releases and organizes live events. It's a lightweight model that can't be described as truly unique but is a great example of how digital music distribution has opened up the possibilities for microlabels and related indie activity.
Shuffler.fm, one of our favorite ways to “channel surf the music web,” has a new iOS version of its online music magazine we liked so much last August.
During an interview with MSNBC, Live Nation's Michael Rapino discussed the signs of strength in this summer's concert season. Matching the tone set during the company's Q2 earnings call, Rapino stated that globally, things are shaping up to be a "strong year" with both Ticketmaster and Live Nation tracking year over growth of 5%. However, he was careful to add the qualifier 'global' into his remarks several times when referring to this perceived strength.
Pandora has released financial results that show strong growth failing to stem growing losses. For the second quarter of fiscal 2013, total revenue was $101.3 million, a 51% year‐over‐year increase. Ad revenue grew to $89.4 million, a 53% year‐over‐year increase. Subscription and other revenue rose to $11.9 million, a 36% year‐over‐year increase. But Pandora is still far from profitable.
In May, co-founder Peter Wells exited TuneCore followed earlier this month by CEO and co-founder Jeff Price. Since then, the company has not named a successor, issued a statement or responded to inquires regarding these seismic changes to their executive team. For the first time, one of the co-founders, Peter Wells, speaks out in an exclusive Hypebot interview.
According to the
global analyst firm Ovum, the global digital
music market is expected to grow at 15% annually, reaching nearly $22.5
billion by 2017. Subscription services are said to be in large part responsible
for the growing revenues, predicted to show a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 46%, stemming from bundling partnerships with
service providers.
Though Kickstarter does provide a variety of stats and analytics for both the public and for project creators, tools for people wanting to track specific campaigns or to research and compare campaigns are relatively limited. Kicktraq is a useful campaign analytics tool that allows you to follow the progress of specific campaigns, including projections while a campaign is live, and to research finished campaigns.
As MTV’s highly anticipated Video Music Awards draws closer
(airing next Thursday 9/6 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles), the network
has begun to focus deeply on individual platforms within the digital sphere,
seeking to create a more unified experience among web and mobile users in hopes
of having them be as much a part of the show as its participants. While the
primary focus naturally rests within social media, MTV has seemingly pulled out
all the stops to make this year’s VMAs the most interactive one ever.
Music tech startups stay busy all summer long while planning new projects for the fall. StageBloc, Musicplayr and Limited Run have been improving their services with plenty of upgrades. MusicHype launched a white label version of their fan platform. Fall events include artist promotion from Songbird and a concert series from Artist Growth.
On Monday evening, Amanda Palmer used Twitter e-commerce tool Chipify to sell a "Stop Pretending Art is Hard" t-shirt just 24 hours after she'd conceptualized it. Two hours after launch, she was logging a $20 sale every 30 seconds. Chripify has now shared a graphic look inside Palmer's latest successful Twitter campaign:
