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Beastie Boys Pave A New D.I.Y. Path With Fan Shot "Awesome" Concert Film

The Beastie Boys lent 55 fans quality digital cameras at a 2004 Madison Square Garden Show with some simple instructions: do whatever you want, rock out, act like a filmmaker, act like fan - but always keep rolling tape.  This creative use of new affordable technologies is titled "Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That" and is debuting this week at Sundance.

The may be the first concert film ever shot by amateurs. But the final $1.2 million product, is apparently anything but amateurish. Three teams of editors working on Macs with Final Cut Pro did three initial cuts, which band member Adam Yauch (aka MCA, aka Nathanial Hörnblowér) and editor Neal Usatin then molded them into one final cut.

Affordable high quality digital cameras and editing software have been available for several years as has the option of direct to DVD release.  But with the advent of video iPods and paid video downloads as well as the coming digitization of movie theater projection formerly niche content can become a source of real income. 

Every artist should be investing today in a good camera and shooting everything from rehearsals to recording sessions to backstage.  With a little editing it all can be offered - free or paid - and serve as another way to sustain fan interest in this area of increasing media fragmentation.

Hypebot Digital Music Quick Hits

- Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store has seized an 80% share of the British digital download market in less than 18 months of opening for business, the computer giant said.

- Imagine subscrbing to a digital radio station for $1 for a week, a new band download for 25  cents or a live concert web cast for $2?  PayPal today announced new micropayments processing fees for digital goods. The new pricing will provide merchants with a more affordable way to process payments for low-cost digital content such as video games, online greeting cards, news articles, mobile phone content and digital music. PayPal's micropayments pricing is designed to give customers the convenience of a-la-carte purchases, such as 99-cent downloadable ringtones, without having to sign up for annual subscriptions or pre-funded payment accounts. An extension of PayPal's existing payment service for digital music providers, PayPal's new micropayments pricing is designed especially for payments less than $2. The new fees will enable merchants to process payments at a rate of 5 percent plus 5 cents per transaction. Merchants can learn more about PayPal's new micropayments pricing by contacting micropayments@paypal.com.

Hypebot Digital Music Quick Hits

- Just ahead of the iTunes phone announcement later today, Verizon has just released three MP3 phones. The Motorola E815, UTStarcom CDM-8940, and an upgraded LG VX8100 will each allow consumers to add music directly from their PCs mirroring the expected Motorola iTunes phone. WATCH HYPEBOT FOR iTUNES PHONE UPDATES !

CelebrityAccess MediaWire - The Orchard has joined the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) as a founding associate member and the first digital distributor to financially support the new organization. Based in New York, The Orchard is the leading distributor and marketer of independent music worldwide and is the music industry's preeminent independent trade association in the US.

Newly incorporated, A2IM was created to represent the interests of independent labels in business, government and the media. It will also serve as the leading edge for the exploration of new and innovative forms of music exposure and distribution.

- Samsung and XM Satellite Radio are developing a combination MP3 player and  satellite radio receiver called the neXus, is expected to hit the market within the fourth quarter of this year. It is expected to be compaitble with the upcoming XM + Napster service.

- Norwegian programmer Jon Johansen or "DVD Jon," has done it again. "It" is the cracking of a key Windows Media Player encryption that masks user and port information for WMA streaming files.

DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS - WEEK IN REVIEW

• A slate of second quarter earnings announcements were released this week. RealNetworks posted respectable subscriber, revenue and profit gains, with music helping to bolster gains. Sirius Satellite Radio also posted strong subscriber and revenue gains, though net losses were sizeable. Napster posted doubled revenues, though net loss figures remained worrisome. And Warner Music revealed its earnings card Thursday, showing a modest net loss alongside a small revenue gain. Digital revenues now account for 6 percent of overall sales receipts at the major label. Finally, iRiver-owner Reigncom recently crossed into the black.
• Apple was quite active this week, launching an iTunes Music Store in Japan.
• And HP terminated its iPod co-brand program.
• P2P volume increased in July, with BigChampagne reporting a sharp increase in average simultaneous users.
• MTV was also in the news this week, revealing plans to push concert footage from 50 Cent and Eminem exclusively to broadband viewers. Coverage will then extend to "linear" television, but only after the exclusive broadband window.
• The satellite radio sector was also active. Ford listed several new models that will carry factory-installed Sirius receivers, further intensifying that relationship. And global satellite radio provider WorldSpace fetched $241.5 million in a recent Nasdaq IPO.
• Elsewhere, word of an upcoming Amazon music store circulated this week, with the company seeking a new recruit to manage content licensing.

New Book: "The Art Of Digital Music"

A new book The Art Of Digital Music is getting some buzz and seems worth a read.  We have not seen a full copy yet, but here is an overview from the book's web site:

"Recordable CDs now outsell conventional discs by more than 7 to 1 as millions of music enthusiasts rush to create their own personal soundtracks. Today, nearly every piece of music we hear is touched by digital technology. Following the trajectory of other revolutions such as desktop publishing, musical tools have finally reached that magical intersection of power, ease of use, and standardization that enables the average person to unleash the music that’s within them. And world-class artists have benefited even more from this new creative freedom."

"This book is designed to instruct and inspire two groups of readers: those who want to use technology to make better music, and those who want to learn how technology is changing the way music is created, experienced, and shared. Unlike a typical how-to book, The Art of Digital Music will captivate readers by showing them firsthand how top artists — pioneers such as Alan Parsons, Herbie Hancock, BT, Todd Rundgren, Steve Reich, and Phil Ramone — use digital technology in their work."

"In addition to interviews with artistic pioneers, The Art of Digital Music features lively discussions with...the producers, engineers, software wizards, and Internet visionaries who are shaping the sound of the future. The authors enhance the book with numerous how-to sidebars and provocative pull quotes..."

Amazon has the book on sale at discount here.

Yetnikoff Sounds Off On Sorry State Of Music Biz At Commotion Records Event

Chris Marlowe writes on HollywoodReporter.com that, "Attendees at Commotion Records' event at the Grove in Los Angeles Tuesday evening got a double-barreled look at the music industry."

"...the former president of CBS Records Group during the highflying '80s (and Commotion co-founder), took the floor, and it became "The Walter Yetnikoff Show."

"...An unholy terror at the height of his power at CBS, he has mellowed into an almost avuncular figure..."

"...During a question-and-answer session, the outspoken Yetnikoff vented his spleen about the contemporary music business. "When you set out just to make money, you often don't," he said, noting the biz's ongoing decline. "Today's music industry bores me because it's run by conglomerates. ... Today's pop music is mostly really boring, because it's a copy of a copy of a copy."

"He added, "Would Bob Dylan get a contract today? I don't think so -- he sings funny." He pointed out that Bruce Springsteen was allowed to take a big chance with his now-classic solo 1982 album, "Nebraska." Yetnikoff said, "The patience (with Springsteen) paid off. In today's climate, I'm not sure the record executives would be that patient."

"So who does Yetnikoff like in music these days? "The White Stripes -- it's original," he said."

Read the full story including much more in the indy film soundtrack business here.

deviantART Summit Begins Today In LA

Today and tomorrow digital art web site deviantART.com is throwing a big event for art deviants at the Hollywood Palladium. The emphasis of the event is to help educate aspiring artists on how to break in to the big time with their art.

From ANIME to LITERATURE, DIGITAL ART to GRAFFITI, PHOTOGRAPHY to PIXEL ART and everything in between they're going to recreate what takes place on deviantART.com every single day of the year, in a massive gathering of the truly devious...and of course HYPEBOT is gonna be there.

We think registration is a bargain @ $55.

Execs Seek Music's Next Killer App.

Music industry execs have been trying to read the tea leaves for the next killer music app for some time.  Legal P2P?  Subsriptions?  Ringtones? Downloads and streaming to cell phones?  At the recent Digital Music Forum in LA "video" seemed to be on everones lips...

According to Digital Music News, "...Wendy Nussbaum, senior director of eLabs at Universal Music, pointed to increased experimentation on various music video formats and distribution methods....the new possibilities include selling video downloads, streaming video content to mobile devices, and pushing the nascent video ringer. That could be a pre-cursor to an increasingly visual mobile world, with streaming video already hitting the marketplace through services like VCast from Verizon."

"But one mobile VP was less enthusiastic on the trend of streaming mobile videos, with Mike Gaumond of Motorola pointing to some thorny delivery issues. According to Gaumond, the economics and bandwidth are just too taxing, even within a 3G delivery network..."

"But mobile audio playback is still a big future market, with a rush of new devices now coming with mp3 capabilities. According to Gaumond, 750 million new phones will be shipped this year, and “a huge amount will have mp3 capabilities, while a subset will have the memory to store 1-4GB of content on them”.

Read the full Digital Music News article here.

Paid Product Placement For The Music Industry?

COMMENTARY: A Federal Communications Commissioner has called for an investigation into the growing practice of product placement and paid product pitches in TV and film.  They're not illegal if they are disclosed according to Democratic commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, but too often any disclosure is well hidden or totally absent.

Product placement has become an increasingly effective tool in an era of commercial skipping and TiVo.  And music on TV - whether an appearance on Letterman, a song played on the O.C., or as part of a car commerical - has often proved to be a very effective promotional tool.

So why haven't record labels sought paid product placement of songs or even live performances on TV and film?  Obviously Letterman wouldn't put a band on stage for a few dollars, but why can't Antigone Rising be playing in the background when Jenifer Gardner kicks some evil doer's ass?  Why shouldn't a Spring stein song be given royalty free to the ALF-CI in exchange for promo in exchange for us in a TV campaign.  Wouldn't everyone win?  Ask Sting and Michael McDonald what TV commercials have meant to their careers.

It can't possibly be that labels are morally opposed to pay for play. After all they've been doing that in wide variety ways since God created independent promotion.  It's probably because music marketers - particularly in these downsized times - are among the most uncreative and conservative thinking marketers we've ever seen. 

Product placement is no panacea. But in an era of tight radio playlists and a highly competitive entertainment marketplace, it should be an important arrow in any music marketer's quiver.

MTV To Launch Overdrive On Web

(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) MTV: Music Television will launch on April 25 its new hybrid channel, "MTV Overdrive" to entertain viewers with both a linear viewing experience and video on demand capabilities in one web-based application.

"MTV Overdrive" delivers a sleek, new video screen to viewers at broadband speeds and features exclusive and dedicated content including: continuous MTV News updates, artist interviews, music videos, live music performances, original and newly created short-form programming, MTV and MTV2 show footage, movie trailers and much more. "MTV Overdrive" is the latest addition to MTV's multi-platform strategy, delivering content to viewers everywhere they demand it: on-air, online, wireless, VOD and more.

"Like our audience, we are always evolving, finding new ways to create compelling content for breakthrough technologies, and Overdrive is a powerful new platform that allows users to have more control over the way they experience MTV," said Van Toffler, MTV Networks Group president. "Combining short-form linear viewing with an on-demand experience, Overdrive is a great example of our ability to provide viewers with personalized versions of MTV programming that is available whenever they want it."

"With an incredibly high percentage of young people using broadband, it seemed essential to create a new hybrid screen with its own content to complement MTV, MTV2, MTV.com and *MTV," said Jason Hirschhorn, SVP Digital Music & Media, MTV Networks. "Whether it is up to the minute information from MTV News, live music performances or exclusive footage from their favorite MTV show, viewers now have direct access to the MTV entertainment experience on their own schedule or in a new, linear on-demand 'lean back' manner."

"For the past 20 years, MTV News has covered stories that are relevant to our audience, first on MTV, and today the MTV News department creates tailored news for MTV2, mtvU, mtvnews.com, syndicated radio, satellite radio, wireless partners, and even some of our MTV's around the world," says Dave Sirulnick, Executive vice president, MTV News & Production. "With the addition of 'MTV Overdrive,' viewers will now be able to see fresh MTV News reports all the time, and we are excited about this huge step forward."

View a Beta Version here.

Click below for the six channel MTV Overdirve line-up.

THE END OF RADIO AS WE KNOW IT

Wired Magazine and Wired.com have published a series of strong articles under the title "The End Of Radio As We Know It".  One chronicles the already much written about move by Howard Stern into satellite radio and another looks at the rise of NeoRadio - niche radio programming with an attitude.  The article sites LA's Indy 103FM and DJ's like the stations Steve Jones (who not coincidentally was also the guitarist for the Sex Pistols) as an example. It goes on to describe how radio exces are planning ahead for the coming boom in digital radio that will allow them to cram at least two signals into a dial position that now only holds one.   Special receivers will be needed but one would hope that a doubling of the available stations would lead to more programming diversity.  The third article looks at the podcating phenomenon fueled in large part by net pioneer Adam Curry.  This simple combination of existing technologies has the potential to emboldened legions of creative audio programmers who just love sharing their musical tastes or point of view with the world.

Sadly missing from this great report card of radios present and future is any real mention of Internet broadcasting.  Thousands of streams are already available attracting a listenership far greater than both satellite radio services combined.  And with delivery of these streams to cell phones only months away these net radio programmers seem to face a bright future that Wired would have included.

Overall, however this is a Strong series of articles that are worth reading.

Click here.

New System Identifies Initial P2P Uploader

WATCH OUT P2P USERS: BayTSP, a provider of peer-to-peer file-sharing tracking services for the movie and music industries, announced on Monday the launch of a new system called FirstSource, which it says can automatically identify the first users to upload copyrighted or trademarked content to the eDonkey and BitTorrent file-sharing networks. The company said that several thousand available copies of movie files can typically be traced back to such an initial upload file. "Identifying and taking action against the first uploaders can greatly slow the distribution of illegally-obtained intellectual property and might make users think twice before doing it," said BayTSP CEO Mark Ishikawa.
http://www.baytsp.com

CES Awards Provide Glimpse Into Entertainment's Future

  The Consumer Electronic Show Innovations Awards have become one of the best indicators of future trends in entertainment and entertainment delivery.  If the 800 or so products just nominated in 29 categories are any indication of the future then portability, the convergence of multiple technologies in a single convenient device, utilizing the potential of broadband to deliver content, and home networking are all current trends that manufactures and the judges see expanding.

Some nominated examples include the Trio a high-end, networked tuner that combines an AM/FM, and XM satellite radio tuner and the ability to stream Internet radio over a wireless home network and the TAVI 020, a small portable device that lets you enjoy music, HD movies, photos and other digital content almost anywhere and can download content directly from internet. 

The awards are a joint project of CES and The Industrial Designers Society Of America an they assemble a panel of 27 judges including journalists, consumer electronic design experts, and other industry figures.  The winners will be announced at the CES show in Las Vegas in early January. 

A complete list of nominees is available here.

Microsft Unveils New Media Center 2005 To Mixed Reviews

As part of their bid to extend it's reach from your desktop into your livingroom and beyond, Microsoft yesterday unveiled Windows XP Media Center 2005.

As Hollywood Reporter writes: "In the future described by Microsoft on Tuesday, a single remote control will allow consumers to have their choice of movies, music, photos, television and other media wherever and whenever they want it."

"Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect, unveiled the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating platform at the heart of this vision along with related products and services from dozens of other companies during an event at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with assistance from Queen Latifah. Consumers will now have one interface that will direct them whether they're programming the software's DVR functions or choosing a movie to download", Gates told reporters.

The tech editors at CNet, however, gave the product only a "Good" rating and wrote that "Media Center Edition 2005 is the best desktop DVR app out there, but it's not yet ready to play hub for your digital home."