hypebot

I'm Sad Taylor Swift Just Sold 1.2 Million Copies Of "Red", But Not For The Reason You Think

Taylor Swift sold 1.208 million albums in the U.S. last week.  That makes "Red" the 3rd best selling album of 2012, and the eighth largest sales week for an album since SoundScan started tracking in 1991, according to Billboard. But with these first week numbers, impressive by any standards, come some sobering stats that should concern the music industry.

On Tour With #CNTRL: Beyond EDM - What To Do When A Show Is Cancelled

Hypebot’s Hisham Dahud is currently on tour with CNTRL: Beyond EDM (on behalf of his digital marketing company Fame House), a 17-city college tour across North America educating students about the origins and future of electronic music, with lectures and shows at each city featuring some of the genre’s pioneers including Richie Hawtin, Ean Golden, Paco Osuna, Loco Dice and more. These are his stories from behind the scenes.

Eminem vs. UMG Digital Music Court Battle Ends With Secret Settlement

Universal Music and FBT Productions told a California Federal Court that a settlement has been reached in their legal battle over how digital royalties were calculated on early Eminem recordings.  The deal, which comes prior to the damages phase of the case, ends one of the mostly closely watched trials in the music industry.  Exactly how the secret settlement will effect dozens of similar pending lawsuits is unclear.

The Fan Guru Offers Alternate Route To Radio, Now Seeking Artists To Sponsor

The Fan Guru is a recently launched startup designed to help musicians get on the radio. What they're basically doing is using ad buys to feature music in a form that fits the station's programming rather than sounding like an ad. It's an interesting approach and they're seeking artists to sponsor with applications due by November 10th.

Have You Become A Social Media Zombie? [INFOGRAPHIC]

By now most musicians understand the relevance and importance of social media. But despite all the good that social networking can do, it can also cause us to lose some of our friends and family who become too caught up in their digital worlds. So in the spirit of Holloween, we thought we'd present you this hillarious infographic demonstrating the various "zombie" personalities that are spawned from overuse and misuse of social media.

What Are The Essential Features Of A Hit Record?

What does it take to make a hit record? I’m sure most people want to know the answer to this. There are no hard and fast rules since every song is different, but Marcel Williams identifies a few factors that many hit records share. Most hit songs have a well produced track and strong vocals. Check out more features of a hit record on Music Think Tank.

Music Tech Startup News: h1tchr, Mirrorgram, Timbre, Shoutomatic

This edition of Music Tech Startup News features such interesting projects as h1tchr's liner note app for Spotify and Boreta's Mirrorgram photo app made in partnership with StageBloc. In addition, Timbre raised a bunch of money at last week's FutureM Shark Tank in Boston for its local concert discovery app and Shoutomatic added short URLs featuring "Shouts" en route to Web destinations.

Apple Delays iTunes 11 Until November

11/29 UPDATE: iTunes 11 Will Finally Launch Today [REPORT]

The launch iTunes 11, a major overhaul, which Apple promised would go live in October, has been delayed until November, the company revealed yesterday.  “The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right," spokesman Tom Neumayr said in a statement. "We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.” But why the delay?

Music Hack Day Reykjavik Goes Tongue In Cheek With Infinite Gangnam Style, Horsify & OMGig

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

Music Hack Day Reykjavik took place this weekend. We weren’t there, but we have been inspecting the creations that emerged from the event, and wow, are we ever impressed — not only by Infinite Gangnam Style, but by other stuff too.These people made some truly weird things, like Horsify, which contains some of the most hilarious in-app dialogue we have ever seen (example: “Ooh niiice! a hip hop horse! On an average a horse lays 19 dozen eggs in a year.”)

NEWS BRIEF: UMG Settles Eminem Lawsuit, Carly Rae Song Suit, 6 Strikes Reviewed, Kickstarter & More

Wednesday 10.31.2012

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Deep Think: Joey Flores of Earbits on the Challenges of Building a Music Startup

Guest post by Kyle Bylin of sidewinder.fm, a music and tech think tank.

In 2011, several headlines asked this question, “Can Turntable.fm save music?” It didn’t, as it turns out, but that’s okay. Songza has become the next savior. Group listening is out and playlist curation is in. In 2013, a new pack of music startups will emerge with equally cool apps. Media outlets will fawn and another savior will rise.

Pandora Competitor Senzari Acquires Wahwah.fm

Miami based international Pandora competitor Senzari has acquired Disco Volante, the Berlin based startup and creator of mobile music service wahwah.fm. Wahwah which launched in 2011, and is available in the US and Germany, turns music on iPhones into net radio stations available globally and to others nearby. Details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

TuneSat Helps Musicians Get Paid For Unreported & Unlicensed Use Of Their Music On TV

Earlier this year Zoe Keating raised awareness of the peculiar reporting processes of ASCAP for performance royalties in live settings. Now TuneSat, a music detection tech company, is doing the same thing for television reporting. Claiming that a majority of uses of music on tv are not reported to Performing Rights Organizations and that those that are still rely on manual processes, TuneSat makes a strong case for artists investigating their services.

A Look Inside The Incredible D.I.Y. Hustle Of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis [VIDEO]

Guest post by  documentary filmmaker Jabari Johnson. His latest project looks at d.i.y. Hip-Hop artists Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, whose "The Heist" just debut at #2.

I always check Hypebot to see what's going on in within the music industry landscape and I know it's helped a lot of DIY musicians over the years. As a documentary filmmaker I'm always looking for who to cover, who is next, and most importantly who is making amazing music that has a story worth telling. I've known Macklemore for a few years now and when I first heard "The Versus EP" him and Ryan Lewis put out a years ago I became an instant fan.

So You Have A Great Song - Now What? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Well, a lot actually. It takes so much more than simply uploading a digital file of one of your tracks, and then assuming that truly good music will always get discovered and heard. While yes, it does and always has come down to the quality of music, many musicians find it overwhelming the amount of work that goes into building and sustaining an independent music career. It requires inspiration, strategy, and perhaps more important than ever before, a relationship with your fans to morph your music from beyond a hobby and into a sustainable and viable career.

The Top 20 Internet Audio Stations And Networks [CHART]

Triton Digital has released its monthly Internet audio Top 20 Ranker for September 2012, listing the top-performing Internet audio stations and networks. Topping the charts are Pandora, Clear Channel, Cumulus Streaming Network and Slacker. However the largest webcasters witnessed very little growth month-to-month, as Pandora's “Average Active Sessions” (defined as total listening hours divided by number of hours in the reported time period) was up 3%, while CBS's AAS continued to drop; 11% since August.

The Social Media Bandwagon: Everybody "Likes" a Winner

Everyone likes a winner. Mumford & Son’s album, Babel, sold 600,000+ copies in its first week. However, does a splashy debut lose significance as media becomes increasingly digital? It seems like more people are using a big debut to replace a legacy as a benchmark of worth. Check out Tom Dennehy’s post on Music Think Tank to read his opinions on debuts and the digital world.

SoundExchange Reveals What Pandora Pays Artists

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

Earlier this month, Pandora revealed artist payouts in the millions, as part of its ongoing campaign to reduce the royalty rate for online radio — or at least add a similar burden to FM radio, which pays no performance royalty.

Google Finally Adds Warner Music, Brings Scan & Match To Free Music Locker In U.S. & Europe

(UPDATE 2) Google is adding scan and match service when it's Google Play music download store and free music locker launch in Europe on November 13th.  Scan and match will also launch in the U.S. soon after, according to the company. Matched songs will automatically be added to the users online locker without the need to upload it.

A long sought after new deal with Warner Music Group finally allowed Google to add scan and match.

Transfer Your iPhone Music To Spotify With M2S App

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

We’ve caught wind of an intriguing iOS app that promises to unite what are, for many of us, two disparate worlds: the iTunes music stored on our phone’s Music player and our Spotify playlists. M2S ($2, iOS) installs quickly and easily. First, you select certain songs (or “all songs”), or just specific playlists. Then, you zap those up to your Spotify account, as new playlists. Simple.

UPDATED NEWS: Sandy Cancels Concerts, Pussy Riot Suffers, Pandora Upgrade, SeatGeek, Midemlab & More

Tuesday 10.30.2012

Music Business News & Views From Around The Web

UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

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Google Play Music With Scan & Play Cloud Locker To Launch In Europe 11/13

Google is bringing Google Play for music to Europe on November 13th, according to an official statement from the company. Users in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be able to both purchase music from the Google Play store and add up to 20,000 songs from an existing music collection to a free cloud locker for streaming to Android devices or web browsers.

Troy Carter At Wired 2012 On Owning A Direct Relationship With Fans

Troy Carter was interviewed during last week's Wired 2012 gathering and he spoke quite a bit about the power of artists having a direct relationship with their fans. In Lady Gaga's case, that desire to connect led to a Lady Gaga-centered social network called Little Monsters. Carter shared some of what they've learned along the way.

Looking To Make Money From Facebook? Expect Them To Make Money From You

Guest post by Gray Blue, founder of Lumberjack Marketing

Many have started petitions in an attempt to get the multi-billion dollar social corporation to change their current EdgeRank policies, particularly as it relates to how posts from a brand or business show up for fans (users). The biggest complaint seems to be along the lines of, “I’m not going to pay for something I’ve once used for free”. Yes you are. Accept it.

The History Of MTV [INFOGRAPHIC]

Yes, yes – we know. MTV may not be the same musical force it once was, but it is still worth examining the timeline of an entity that essentially changed the way we enjoy music. When the first music debuted on the network (The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star"), it completely altered how gathered around musical content. It wasn’t just about listening anymore; we also wanted to watch our music.