futuremusicpast

2006-06-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

He said It, I Did'nt......
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Why Aren't The Weakend Signed?

In my daily troll of the digital rockosphere, I noticed this post at Absolutepunk. A user posed the question "why a band this good doesn't get signed?" This is my attempt to answer.

First, the criteria is different for music listeners and labels. While I've purchased quite a few recordings based on just hearing someone's music, I've personally signed only one band from a demo. The basic difference is this... buying a record costs about ten bucks. Indulging an impulse doesn't really hurt.

Signing bands requires a pretty significant investment. That investment needs to come back so the label can record more records. In the days where "bigness" is king and the chain stores rule the retail roost, getting something heard costs alot more money than it used to.

Here's a short list of criteria I ask myself when it comes to rock bands:

Do they have good music? Yes. It's the first question but not the last. This is often followed by "will enough other people think so too?"

Can they cut it live? Nothing worse than pieces of wood who can't play on the stage.

Is the frontperson charismatic? I'm not talking incredibly handsome or sexy. It's that eye-magnet quality that makes people want to watch.

What's the work ethic? If the band hasn't played any out of state shows before putting out a record, there's a huge signal that they're going to do more of the same. Waiting for a label to come in on their white horse and save the day with tour support before you hit the road is bad news. Get a van. Book and play some shows. It's an investment in making your band and if you can't do it, why should someone else?

Are they in it for the right reasons? Third rate rockstars looking to "make it" before they hit their mid-20's are trouble. Those who don't couple their hunger to play Madison Square Garden with a genuine love for the lifestyle are going to wind up angry and embittered. If you don't find joy in sleeping in shitty kids houses, waking up with another unwashed band member spooning you, living on $5 a day, or driving all night to a gig with 10 attendees, then stay the fuck home and get a job.
Do they have a business infrastructure? Can the band get to shows on time? Many small indies play manager and even booking agent for alot of their bands. In reality, having to do that detracts from the labels core mission of trying to convince Transworld to bring in more records to support a few Warped Tour dates.

Do they make friends easily? Wallflowers don't really cut it. You gotta be in the mix to create relationships with other bands. Many big tours that "break" smaller acts happen becuase of friendships between bands not some back room powerplay.
Anyone have additions to this list?

1 Comments:

Nice. I like #5.. I really dont think that many bands realize that they wont suddenly be filming episodes of cribs, and showing off their sweet tour bus the instant they get a deal. Bands that have already proven that they are good (and even like!) the realities of it will do wonderfully compared to the oth

2006-06-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Mo Ostin May Rejoin Warner Bros. Records

Universally respected music executive Mo Ostin may be returning to Warner Brothers Records in a consulting capacity according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ostin whose 30 year career began as an accountant and confident for Frank Sinatra and his Reprise Records imprint went on to head all of Warner Music and later the DreamWorks Record label until it's purchase by Universal in 2004.

It is unclear what role Ostin who is now 79 might play, but he would be re-joining a group of famous executives that still have strong connections with the company including Ahmet Ertegun who serves as founding chairman of Atlantic Records, Seymour Stein who is CEO of Sire Records, and Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman who heads WMG's online label Cordless.

While all of these execs from the company's glory days and particularly Ostin had unquestionably brilliant careers and added much to the industry, speculation is that their presence is primarily ceremonial and serves as effective window dressing for Wall Street investors.
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Don't worry I don't think Mo is gonne be cruisin around to clubs in your neighborhood looking for the next Frank, or Aretha, or signing anybody for that matter!

2006-06-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

A & R man John Kalodner retires

While at Geffen, Kalodner is credited with reviving Aerosmith. Among the many other acts he worked with are Genesis, Phil Collins, Yes, AC/DC, Santana, Cher, Bon Jovi, XTC, Shawn Colvin, Peter Gabriel, Whitesnake and countless others.

Kalodner told Billboard.biz that he has no immediate future plans. “I didn’t want to announce the formation of a management company or a publishing company, just that I want to retire from the business I loved.” - From CelebrityAccess MediaWire
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you think your music is as good as these artists, or your influenced by them and it would take a guy who thinks they're great and discovered them to "get" your music,those ears are now gone.

2006-06-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Digital A&R Man
Posted Jun 19th 2006 11:46AM by Grant Robertson

Can computers play A&R man, deciding what is and isn't a single? We may be closer to a digitally selected future than you thought.

Computer software devised in conjunction with Platinum Blue Music Intelligence claims to do just that. You'll have to find the artist, and then get them to sign a contract that tilts in your favor, but beyond that it's all math.

The program analyzes 30 criteria including melody, beat, tempo, chord progression and cadence, and cross-refers them to a database of three million songs. It spots mathematical similarities even though songs might not sound the same or even be from the same genre. The developers claim the software can identify a potential Top 30 hit within 20 seconds and has an accuracy rate of at least 80 per cent.

The technology has already generated at least one hit single for Sony BMG and been used by a string of other major labels, including EMI, Capitol Records, Universal Music Group and Disney's Hollywood Records.

Is this the music future you wanted? Or is it just a new-fangled device to help decide where to throw the payola money?

[Source: The Sunday Times, London]

2006-06-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

The labels have settled thier payols lawsuits, paying millions in fines.(Wonder why theyre not making money and why bands are leaving?)

Spitzer's documents portray a culture at EMI in which pay for play included expensive trips and $30 video games. Some employees' attempts to mask alleged wrongdoing were more successful than others, the documents reveal.

"Grand Theft Auto Vice City. Can you hook me up?" read one e-mail from a radio programmer to a Virgin Records promotion executive, referring to a popular video game.

In another instance, an independent promoter discussed with a Virgin executive how best to hide a $400 cash payment that EMI had made to KSRH-FM in Northern California for airplay of songs by the band Gomez.

"What do you need the $400 invoice to say?" the promoter asked in an e-mail. "How 'bout $400 website promotion?" the Virgin executive replied, adding in another e-mail: "I meant as long as they have a website, in case somebody checked."

Other documents make it clear that pay for play did not always come that cheap. One e-mail lists $76,000 spent over 15 weeks with various stations and independent promoters. Another e-mail said that, to promote the song "Never" by Amanda Perez, $220,000 was allocated to the independent promoters that Spitzer alleged fulfilled pay-for-play scams...

2006-06-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

HOW THE MAJORS CAN SCREW UP MUSIC DOWNLOADS,BUT INDIES CAN MAKE IT WORK...

Three years ago, eMusic was owned by major music player Vivendi Universal. Despitethe
presence of a large corporate parent, the site was in trouble. As Pakman puts it,the
business model was "broken." That's because eMusic was offering unlimited downloads to users
who paid the monthly subscription fee, but each download cost the company 8¢ in mechanical
rights fees. You can do the math—anyone who downloaded more than 125 tracks was actually
costing the company money. Plenty of people were downloading more than 125 tracks amonth.
On a fat broadband connection, this was not difficult to do.

(Universal sold the company, since it wasnt profitable!!)

Dimensional Associates bought it.
They rebuilt the entire front and back ends of
the website to make the appearance more professional and to produce an analytics driven
business that could easily figure out what changes resonate with customers and what do not.
They rebuilt the management team to better focus on niche marketing. And—crucially—they
capped subscriptions (currently US$9.99/month for 40 downloads, US$14.99/month for 65
downloads, and US$19.99/month for 90 downloads).
The new site was relaunched in September 2004. In addition to its new look and new pricing
structure, eMusic developed tools to make it simple for users to discover new music. Some
were obvious, like the decision to license metadata from the All Music Guide, or the
incorporation of a browsing engine that lets users easily drill down into increasingly
precise categories.
One surprising move, however, was to hire several distinguished music critics to serve as
"curators" for the site. These included people like Michael Azerrad, a former Rolling Stone editor and authority on indie rock; Justin Davidson, a Pulitzer-prize winning critic; and
Kevin Whitehead, NPR's jazz critic.

it's clear that its subscription model is working. In the 18 months since
the relaunch, the company has clawed its way to the #2 position among digital download
services (this does not include streaming music). Pakman claims that eMusic has 12 percent
of the market compared to Apple's 61 percent, and that his company has now sold more than 60
million songs. Since eMusic does not sell individual downloads but only monthly
subscriptions, its members download a lot of music when compared to iTunes, for instance. As
Pakman puts it, "An iTunes customer downloads one song a month, on average; an eMusic
customer downloads 20 songs a month, on average."
The majors are terrified of piracy and so
insist on strict DRM controls to safeguard their music. The indie labels that eMusic works
with generally don't have that fear. "The indies have always viewed the world differently,"
says Pakman. "You know, the indies struggle for attention, for customers, so the notion of
someone actually digging a track and e-mailing it to 10 of their best friends—doing
self-promotion—that's music to the ears of the indie record labels. Whereas an RIAA member
says, 'We've got to sue that guy.'"

2006-06-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

RIAA Sues Family Without A Computer

By Newsferatu, Writer
Sunday, April 23, 2006 @ 8:38 PM

No Internet Service, Either

From the Rockmart Journal:

A Rockmart, GA family is being sued for illegal music file sharing, despite the fact that they don’t even own a computer.

A federal lawsuit filed this week in Rome by the Recording Industry Association of America alleges that Carma Walls, of 117 Morgan St., Rockmart, has infringed on copyrights for recorded music by sharing files over the Internet. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and requests unspecified monetary damages.

The lawsuit states, “Plaintiffs are informed and believe that Defendant, without the permission or consent of Plaintiffs, has used, and continues to use, an online media distribution system to download the copyrighted recordings, to distribute the copyrighted recordings to the public, and/or to make the copyrighted recordings available for distribution to others.”

This came as shocking news to the Walls family, who were notified of the lawsuit Friday afternoon by a newspaper reporter. James Walls, speaking on behalf of his wife and family, said they have not been served with legal papers and were unaware of the lawsuit.

After being shown a copy of the court filing, Walls said he found the whole thing bewildering.

“I don’t understand this,” Walls said. “How can they sue us when we don’t even have a computer?”

Walls also noted that his family has only resided at their current address “for less than a year.” He wondered if a prior tenant of the home had Internet access, then moved, leaving his family to be targeted instead.

However, the RIAA’s lawsuit maintains that Carma Walls, through the use of a file-sharing program, has infringed on the copyrights for the following songs: “Who Will Save Your Soul,” Jewel; “Far Behind,” Candlebox; “Still the Same,” Bob Seger; “I Won’t Forget You,” Poison; “Open Arms,” Journey; “Unpretty,” TLC; No Scrubs,” TLC; and “Saving All My Love for You,” Whitney Houston.

2006-06-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Nettwerk Mgt's McBride Encouraging His Acts To Go D.I.Y.

Nettwerk Music Group CEO Terry McBride has advised his

company’s clients to take note of the indies and the DIY-scene, telling the major stars they

no longer need to sign with a record label.
McBride feels the benefits for today’s artists of keeping control over their musical output

far outweighs those of being signed to a label. “We’re focused on setting up our artists as

their own record label,” the Vancouver-based McBride told Billboard. “I’m advocating for

artists we manage not to sign- or re-sign-with a label unless it’s a

pressing-and-distribution deal to work back catalog with new projects.”
Nettwerk Management’s 42-act roster includes stars like Avril Lavigne and Dido, who are both

signed to Sony BMG, as well as several lesser-known acts. The company also operates a label,

Nettwerk Productions, and a publishing company.

McBride told the magazine that within three years, “probably 80%” of releases from his

management clients will be through their own labels.
During the past three years, Nettwerk has set up an infrastructure across North America to

support projects of its management clients, including marketing teams spread across offices

in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Nashville, Boston and New York. McBride plans to open a marketing

office in Europe, to work with Nettwerk Management’s London and Hamburg offices.

Billboard’s Larry LeBlanc reports that Nettwerk’s first test of their plan came in 2004 with

the Barenaked Ladies’ release “Barenaked for the Holidays” on their own Desperation Records,

distributed in North America by Warner Music.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold over 350,000 units in North America.

McBride claims the band, formerly a Warner Music act, earned more than $3 million in

royalties from the album, which is more than any of the group’s other releases, except its

1998 career best seller “Stunt,” on Reprise Records.

“We’re pleased with the money per unit we made, [compared] to being within the traditional

label system,” Barenaked Ladies vocalist Steven Page told the magazine. “It’s like selling a

million records.”

The Internet offers artists access to ancillary revenue, McBride told the magazine, through

selling exclusive downloads and streaming audio and videos. However, he laments that the

music industry is still “locked into a per-unit mentality.”

According to McBride,” We should be locked into a per-dollar mentality – how much income we

can create from downloads, streaming, TV placements, movie placements, selling physical

discs [and] selling the live and acoustic versions

2006-06-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Billy Bragg Pulls MySpace Content, Cites User Agreement

British musician Billy Bragg has just pulled his music from MySpace, citing problematic

ownership guidelines. While going through the terms and conditions, Bragg discovered that

MySpace owner News Corp. has the right to reuse his compositions without securing special

agreements or making payments. "The real problem is the fact that they can sub-license [the

music] to any company they want and keep the royalties themselves without paying the artist

a penny,” said Bragg.

MySpace responded by admitting that the terms and conditions are confusing, but

denied any intent to encroach on artist rights. The company also said it will revise the

document to remove any ambiguities.

MySpace is one of the premiere web destinations for music discovery, and that has helped

up-and-coming bands build fanbases and garner attention. Still, the Bragg protest could

cause some negative publicity in the very rights-sensitive digital domain. Meanwhile,

the quick response from MySpace to diffuse the situation shows a savvy understanding

of the digital landscape,

where even the perception of wrongdoing can spark a backlash.

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Ok people, no chicken littles, please!Every 6 months in the music community some legal

wanna-be starts reading paragraphs and getting paranoid about OWNERSHIP of rights.Every

Magazine,website,label,manager,publicist,photographer,etc. has to have the RIGHT to promote

you.Thats what you want them to do.MySpace has broken tons of artists, major label ones,

too.Don't you think if they were going to steal all your stuff, theyd be putting out the

Coldplay album and selling it? THINK ABOUT IT!! Nobody is trying to steal all the music in

the world.First of all Myspace has made Billions selling the site to Fox News Corp without

ever stealing anyones music! They make money from ADVERTISING not stealing your bands

music.Dont forget they are a free medium who exists to promote your music and help you reach

fans at the click of a mouse.Don't be an idiot like this Billy Bragg who obviously needs

cheap publicity for 1 minute, which just like Janet's nipple will not result in him selling

1 more cd.The top 2 money making ventures in music are Myspace which sold ADVERTISING to Fox

News Corp, and American Idol which sells Advertising to FOX TELEVISION.Don't be

confused.Just use the free advertising of your band to the same 50 million market that Fox

paid billions for for free.

2006-06-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

2006-06-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

Testimony of Todd Rundgren

Hearing on
“Parity, Platforms and Protection: The Future of the Music Industry in
the Digital Radio Revolution”
Before the U.S. Senate

Committee on the Judiciary

April 26, 2006

Chairman Specter, Senator Leahy and members of the Committee:
My name is Todd Rundgren, I am 58, and I am a professional musician. I
have also been employed as a record producer, composer for film and television,
technology spokesman and computer programmer. I am the designer and
developer of PatroNet, an internet-based subscription service that allows
audiences to provide direct underwriting of artists in exchange for insider
information, direct communication, discounted merchandise and first-look
experiences of the artists’ work, all within a community structure.
This is my 40th year as a musician, and 18th year as an independent. I
left Warner Brothers in 1998 with the conviction that the major labels were
unprepared for, and were indeed hostile to the inevitable changes that digital
technology would effect in the way that music would be created, marketed and
experienced. I wasn't so prescient that I foresaw the rise of the internet, but I
was convinced that I would be hindered in any attempt to use new
developments to alter the ground rules.
2
One of the first cutting edge projects I was involved in concerned digital
rights management, a concept that did not yet exist. I was hired by, ironically
enough, the Warner Full Service Network, an interactive television pilot project
that sought to merge video, computers and high-bandwidth home delivery. The
plan was to create on-demand music services that could be navigated on one's
home TV -- kind of like an iTunes for the early ‘90s.
When it came time to plug the music in, everything I had suspected about
the savvyness of the industry was crystallized. To a label, every one of the
majors refused to consider the possibility of putting music they controlled onto a
server. Ironically, even the music division of Warner Brothers would not
cooperate, even though this was only a demonstration project.
Ever since then, the behavior of the majors has been that of a mindless
parasite, contributing nothing, yet trying to get it's snout into the bloodstream of
any new development. The knee-jerk justification is “protection of artists”, which
would more accurately be represented as the interests of highly bankable artists
still under contract. For every one of those, there are a hundred with a lifelong
bad taste in their mouths over the way they were treated when sales began to
lag.

I have striven to tie together the “replacement parts” an independent
musician would need to build enough audience for a sustainable living. Amongst
these is, of course, the internet and a raft of contractors who can press and
distribute discs for you and, if you can afford it, take on the promotion and
3
marketing normally provided by a label. The only problem is getting heard.
Terrestrial radio, especially of the syndicated flavor, is not available to most
artists even if they do have a traditional label deal.
I am opposed to any measures that would insinuate the major labels into
an area that they have failed to husband, and to capitalize off of artists they
have abandoned or never had any interest in.

The myth that you could survive
very long on record company advances has long been debunked. Players need to
play to get paid and need audiences to play to. All the majors have ever done is
try to claim the audience as theirs alone,

and to lower expectations by exposing
them only to the generally substandard product the majors begrudgingly
underwrite.
Worse yet, across the board fee structures like those proposed discourage
the exposure of new talent in deference to audience favorites as broadcasters try
to recover those fees. And worst of all, syndicated radio, the majors partner in
neglect, does not deserve exemption for the abysmal quality of product they
deliver. The fantasy that this type of legislation helps music or musicians should
be summarily exposed for what it is: yet another futile attempt to turn back the
clock to the days when they were the sole gatekeepers to an artist’s future. Thank you for inviting me here to testify today. I would be pleased to
respond to your questions.

2006-06-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

COMMENTARY: AN ARTIST'S VIEW: NEW MEDIA IS NOT THE ISSUE

BY TODD RUNDGREN

Recording artist, producer and Web site developer Todd Rundgren recently testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on digital radio and the future of the music industry. Here he reflects on his experience at the hearing.

There are likely a few more credible witnesses the [music] industry could have sent to the table to defend the status quo, but how it came to be the very least credible witness is probably testament to the credibility of their argument.

Edgar Bronfman is a liquor magnate who took a flier on Warner Music when it appeared ready to collapse and startled everyone when he propped up the brand with his own (?) money.

Because he cared about the music. Did anyone fall for this?

I sat at a table with this man as he defended the rights of labels and their associated artists while simultaneously negotiating his reward for killing off another distinct brand and its legacy. Many industry giants would be spinning in their graves if they were not still alive and somehow mute with respect to the unbearable irony.

I spent most of my recorded life on a Warner label or subsidiary, and felt comfortable in the presence of Mo, Michael, Lenny, Ahmet, Jerry, et al. because I believed they approached me with respect. Ed probably has no idea what my contribution to the WB cache, however minute, might ultimately be, because by the time he ever reads this he will probably have unloaded the label.

Though my Senate testimony was sponsored by XM Satellite Radio, I did not and do not speak for them.

The issues that I and my peers will face have more to do with the cynical avarice of the witness for the RIAA than with the "dangers" of the new mediums and technologies they so fear and misunderstand.

And since immigration has moved every other issue to the back burner (placing new law out of reach), the industry resorts with the desperation of a late night cable-addicted invalid to the lawyer glut.

It's a horse race to see who can be the last to get monetary satisfaction. Meanwhile, the star witness for the plaintiff is third for takeoff in a private jet to a ski holiday in Gdansk. With a full iPod.

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2006-06-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

COPYRIGHT FEES GOING UP!

While there are certainly places on the net that will gladly copyright your music for $200.00 the actual price charged by the Govt office of Copyright is $35.00 It has been for a long time, but apparently more people are copyrighting songs so the new price effective July 2006 will be $45.00 We have posted many times about scams so we want to make sure you know this is a legitimate increase.Unless Congress votes it down, this is the new price!

2006-06-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a little tip for all of you.I received absolutely the best A&R letter in a MySpace message from an artist which made me go check out the website.They were very polite, short, to the point, simply asking me to check out the website.Now, for one thing the website was really good at doing what its supposed to do, make you stay and check out everything!In addition it was kind of a unique format that you don't see everyday.It was short and to the point,but made you check out each thing the artist had done in thier career.(Granted this artist has done a lot) Each page was contained on the main page, and each page showed you music,video,pics and press for almost each year of the artists career.So I not only checked out the site, I felt compelled to write back and comment on how good the site was! Now for one thing this shows you that when your site is NOT good, people will not write back and tell you! The only criticism I had was one simple little thing, but you can all take a clue from it.The new song demos were up, so of course I checked them out.Good songs too!As I'm listening, all of a sudden the song gets to the first chorus, so Im really listening with all ears and its a great Title and hook, and the TRACK FADES OUT!Hmmmmmm.Now I know a lot of you don't want anyone stealing your music.I know.And that's a rant for another day in which I will explain to you that anyone who is capable of hearing your song once and completely reproducing it in a studio is capable of writing their own music and has an ego and would never be caught dead using yours!(There are notable exceptions and we will go through those !) But music people, A & R,Publishers,Producers, managers, etc have a saying about listening
to new songs..."Don't Bore Us, Get To The CHORUS!" If youre going to fade your song out so no one can download it, at least do it after your hopefully wonderful CHORUS has finished playing! If youre going to go to all the trouble to write it, record it, put it on the web, at least let us get "hooked" by it!

2006-06-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

SANDI THOM: The Girl who was signed on the Internet...

"Since Thom's story first appeared in the Sunday Times in March, an army of bloggers have chipped away at press claims that she was a penniless, desperate singer who turned to the internet after her car broke down on the way back from yet another sparsely attended gig.
They pointed to her publishing deal with Windswept Pacific Music (home of Beyonce Knowles), her collaborations with well-known songwriters, her professionally produced website and the track record of her manager Ian Brown in promoting a number of other unlikely success stories. They also reproduced statistics from web tracking services such as Technorati showing there was little interest in her website until the first stories appeared in the London Evening Standard and the Sunday Times."

The Times Online is keeping the Thom story visible as the artist heads for the top of the British charts. It looks like Thom's PR agency is cooking the books:

"The Times has discovered that Thom’s PR agency offered thousands of fans free copies of her album in return for their sending messages encouraging people to listen to the single through the social networking website, MySpace.com, which is owned by News International, parent company of The Times.
Fans admitted buying multiple copies of the single, as iTunes downloads and CDs, all of which counted to the song’s 32,720 chart sales last week."
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If you got signed to a Major label and only sold 32,000 copies they would drop you in a heartbeat.First of all, you should be able to sell 30,000 on your own in order to attract a major label, who should then be able to promote you to the point of selling at least 300,000 otherwise why would you sign? Remember they will own your music.She will get a very small percentage of her 30,000 sales.On her own she would get a much bigger piece of that pie, and you would need a bigger slice, since youre only selling 30,000.

2006-06-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sanctuary dismisses founder
Andy Taylor

Bob Ayling to take over......

In 1998 BA announced the establishment of a low cost carrier, Go Fly. Another key policy of

Ayling's time as CEO was the pursuit of a merger with American Airlines. This was ultimately

unsuccessful due to the conditions placed on the deal by regulatory authorities, the most

painful of which was the sacrificing of landing slots at Heathrow.

In 1999 British Airways reported a 50% slump in profits, its worst since privitisation. In

March 2000 Bob Ayling was removed from his position. British Airways announced Rod Eddington

as his successor in May.

On May 23 2000 Ayling was force to resign from the New Millennium Experience Company, the

company which ran the Millennium Dome. The Millennium Commission demanded the resignation in

return for continued investment, because it was concerned that the existing management had a

poor history of controlling costs.

2006-05-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

Would Major Labels get pulled from iTunes?

After months of rhetoric, the majors are now walking away empty-handed from their renegotiations with Apple. A 99-cent, uniform price point will prevail - not just on the iTunes Music Store, but also on other stores like Napster, who take their pricing cues from Apple. So what happened? The result is actually not that surprising, especially considering the power dynamics at hand. Apple held all of the cards in this one, both in terms of the underlying business fundamentals and the pre-game press battle. But now that the negotiation round is over, labels can shift their resources to more lucrative digital growth areas.

Bluffing is one thing, but actual negotiating power is another. And in the end, Apple had the power to resist virtually any demand that the labels were making. Forget about diplomacy, that was never really part of this process. Actually, the opposite of diplomacy – an ego battle – was a stronger component in the negotiation. Blame it on the labels, who started talking tough in the media in a botched attempt to squeeze Jobs. Or blame Steve Jobs himself, who has been non-conciliatory and absolutely uninterested in getting muscled. Either way, the result was a hard-line stance from Apple, and a total flinch by the majors.

Looking through the business lens of Apple, any other result would be foolish. Apple is ultra-protective of its consumer, and that approach has resulted in rich dividends. The major labels, on the other hand, have a highly contentious and acrimonious relationship with many music fans and artists. Sure, generalizations can be dangerous, though the characterizations are not too far off. And why would Apple want to take cues from the labels, who have alienated a large number of buyers while stumbling in the digital transition? Jobs feels strongly that a uniform price point is the path towards customer satisfaction, and nothing is going to disrupt the sacred iPod+iTunes cow. Certainly not the labels, especially following waves of consumer adulation and affirmation for the Apple digital strategy.

In fact, it seems that Jobs would rather remove the entire major label catalog than play ball with a variable pricing plan. Why? From a business perspective, dropping major label content would have little effect on the bottom line, and Jobs would protect his vision of simplicity and elegance. Most fans rip their CDs, or file-share, and few are relying on Apple as their sole source of music content. But beyond that, Jobs easily massaged the press to get an upper hand, deftly using the baggage that already surrounds major labels. If majors pulled their catalog, Jobs could simply blame the “greedy labels” once again, and focus his store on up-and-coming, independent content. Major label artists would probably defect to gain positioning, as they did in Japan, and the well-imaged Apple music revolution would continue.

2006-05-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Digital music formats are gaining steam every day, but are artists getting a fair piece of the action? A recent class action lawsuit involving Cheap Trick, The Allman Brothers, and Sony BMG has placed the issue front-and-center, and more executives are now discussing the matter. Grabbing headlines is the all-powerful, 99-cent price point on stores like Apple, but that is less important for artists. "The way the deals are made, so far, the artist is getting about 2.5 cents [on a 99-cent download]," said top manager Bill Leopold, speaking at a Musexpo symposium in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Another executive concurred, pointing to payouts of "less than a nickel".
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Major lables just dont get the digital download revolution.Most new business model Indie Labels (certainly ours, PBJ Records)split the revenue with the artist giving them an equal share in the profits 50-50, rather than 2.5 cents per .99 download.

2006-05-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Allman Brothers, Cheap Trick v. Sony BMG: More Details

Recent legal actions against Sony BMG by both the Allman Brothers and Cheap Trick have stirred the waters over digital royalties, accounting, and price points. Digging deeper into the class action complaint, filed with the United States District Court in Manhattan on April 27th, some highly questionable accounting practices are alleged. As reported earlier, the defendants claim that sales of 1,000 paid downloads (at a 99-cent price point) yielded merely $45.05 in band revenues using deduction formulas inherited from physical goods. That includes a "net sales deduction" of 15 percent, a "container charge" of 20 percent, an "audiophile deduction" of 50 percent, as well as a royalty rate of 30 percent on the remainder. Wholesale payouts on digital downloads are listed at 70 cents within the action, of which publishers command approximately 6.9 cents.

The issue emanates from the structure of the original contracts for both groups. The Allman Brothers finalized their agreement in 1989, while the Cheap Trick contract was completed in 1976. Both pre-date the advent of digital sales, though the plaintiffs allege that payments should follow a formula based on licensing. After receiving a wholesale payout of 70 cents, and paying publishers, the plaintiffs offer a "correct" calculation of 50 percent of net licensing receipts. Using that formula, the resulting payout on 1,000 downloads is $315.50. Overall, the class action estimates total damages in the range of $25,000,000. Representing the defendants are Labaton Sucharow & Rudoff LLP, and Probstein & Weiner.

2006-04-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

Allman Brothers, Cheap Trick Challenge Sony BMG Accounting

The Allman Brothers and Cheap Trick have recently lodged class-action proceedings against Sony BMG, claiming that their digital royalties are simply too small. The action focuses on exactly how digital downloads are being counted, and both bands are alleging that Sony BMG is using antiquated royalty formulas derived from physical product sales. That includes deductions for product breakage and packaging charges, according to the plaintiffs. The contracts for both groups were finalized prior to the advent of digital formats, and have not been updated. Moving forward, the groups are pushing to have their digital sales categorized as a license, which would increase the royalty percentage substantially.

The problem is a significant one for older artists, many of whom have antiquated contracts. "Sony Music is presently engaged in a widespread attempt to underpay its recording artists," said attorney Brian Caplan said. "With the technological advancements in the music industry, where many people download songs to their iPods and other portable devices, it is essential that artists receive the royalty income to which they are entitled." The filing contends that the group currently earns $45.05 for every 1,000 songs downloaded, or 4.5 percent. The group is pushing to increase that compensation level to $315.50, a seven-fold increase. The lawsuit was announced on Thursday.

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Breakage clauses in old contracts have always been a problem, but with digital downloads, lets face it, theres no beakage!this is one of the things people really dont understand about how a bands contract is so much better in a download oriented label, because it eliminates all the little reasons to withold money.You get a bigger percentage, and theres no witholding.

2006-04-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

Chatter Bubbles Again on EMI, Warner Music Merger Possibilities

Will EMI and Warner Music ever walk the aisle together? Veteran executives have seen chatter bubble repeatedly on the possibility, while European regulators have presented a roadblock in the past. Sparking the latest round of speculation, a recent report in the London-based Sunday Times pointed to "preliminary talks" that will "resume in earnest within months". Meanwhile, insiders have pointed to some more advanced preparations, and stock market activity could be reflecting the rumor. The merger would reduce the total number of major labels to just three

If the Majors are doing so good, why do they need to merge? There will eventually be only 1 major, and everyone else will be independent and use downloads!

2006-04-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

April 24, 2006, 5:45 AM ET
U.S. Judge Orders Labels To Reveal Documents

A U.S. federal judge has ordered major record labels to turn over privileged documents after finding they may have used misleading information to convince the government to abandon a major antitrust probe.

The ruling late on Friday (April 21) from U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco came out of a dispute over which documents Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group and EMI Group Plc should be forced to release in a lengthy copyright battle over Bertelsmann's investment in music-swapping service Napster.

Prosecutors in 2001 began investigating whether music labels secretly worked together to use two joint ventures, MusicNet and Pressplay, to discourage digital downloading and protect CD sales by fixing digital music distribution terms.

During the investigation, the joint ventures and their record label parents each submitted a "white paper" to the DOJ summarizing their arguments. They also provided documents that included redacted, or blacked out, sections to remove privileged material.

The U.S. Justice Department abandoned the probe in December 2003, citing no evidence of wrongdoing.

Napster investor Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Bertelsmann's co-defendant in the lawsuit, charged that the arguments offered in the white papers were known to be false or misleading.

In the ruling, Patel said Hummer Winblad provided reasonable cause to believe that information in the white papers was "deliberately misleading."

Patel ordered UMG and EMI to turn over all previously held communications related to the antitrust investigation within 30 days of the order.

The parties could not immediately be reached for contact.

-- Reuters

This is pretty much the first time we have seen any evidence that the majors not only dont get digital downloading, but are actually trying to stop it, and covertly too!!

2006-04-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

So SONY BMG supposed to have nerged but appaerently the Nashville branches have never played nice yet but now are starting to have to merge...all the Indie labels love being on iTunes since it puts us on equal footing with all the majors, but the majors dont like it and are pressuring Steve Jobs to raise the price of downloads for them!! (Go ahead boys...!)At CTIA the phone is the thing since most people feel it will be the frontier for music distribution... at PBJ we have our podcasts available on mobile phones thru Pod2Mob...of course we all heard about the girl getting signed in england by doing a webcast from her living room, she broadcasted 21 days straight then got signed.Nobody said though that she had been singing, writing, performing, for many years, had built up a fan base, also was a student at Pul McCartneys School for the Performng Arts, so she had paid dues, was hooked up and oh yeah, shes good.Now she started with her own fan base then generated 100,000 people tuning in.Now the music industry these days are all a bunch of bean counters (accountants)and they resond to numbers.This is why you need to be on Soundscan because they count (and publish) numbers.A lot of acts are getting signed these days by being able to demonstrate some type of numbers.this is why MySpace is so important and A & R person can look at your site and see how many people are tuning in.Believe me, if you have the numbers they will find you. So first you have to actually play out and tour to get some real fans, then make sure you are publishing those numbers,Myspace,Soundscan.

2005-12-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

MUSIC #1 SEARCH
Yahoo released information today on the top web seraches, and amazingly, as CD sales have fallen this year by 10%, all the top 10 searches on the web are for music!In fact music topped all searches except searches that excluded it completely (like sports)Especially digital downloads,which is bad for the Majors, but great for Indie labels and artists.This shows us that the "Long Tail" concept of internet marketing is working.When you go to Amazon,you see 'people who likes Britney Spears also liked Alanis Morrisette,people aho liked Alanis also liked (fill in more obscure artist)next it gets to your band and then people in other countires, or anywhere in the world might be finding out about your band.Our strength as a an indie label is to have distribution everywhere in the world, so that when these people find out about you on the web, your cd is available wherever they are.This new research by Yahoo proves that this concept is the wave of the future.This has all been a long time coming, but the numbers are starting to bear our predictions out.

2005-11-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

Well now we can say our distribution is pretty close to major!We are in the digital downloads and web stores and the databases for these stores and heres the rankings
(remember we spend no money on payola, attorneys, copy-protection lawsuits,mergers,stockholders,offices, jets,limos,or expensive champagnes! Ok, maybe on New Years Eve, but hey!)

ITunes Music Store Cracks Top 10 List Of Leading U.S. Music Retailers In Q3 2005

It was only a matter of time. According to The NPD Group, in the third quarter of 2005, Apple's iTunes Music Store broke into the top 10 list of leading music retailers, based on the equivalent number of units sold.*

In Q3, the top 10 retailers were as follows (note: numbers within parentheses denote retailer unit-sales position in Q3 2004):
1. Wal-Mart (1)
2. Best Buy (2)
3. Target (3)
4. Amazon.com (4)
5. FYE (10)
6. Circuit City (Tied for 5)
7. Apple\iTunes (14)
8. Tower Records (Tied for 7)
9. Sam Goody (Tied for 5)
10. Borders (9)

"The ongoing and growing popularity of Apple's iTunes Music Store now positions the company as a leading music retailer, and continues to legitimize legal digital music retailing," said Russ Crupnick, music and movies industry analyst for The NPD Group. "With the growing interest in digital music, forecasts of more iPod demand this holiday, plus the stocking-stuffer appeal of iTunes gift cards, we can expect Apple to increase its share even more by year's end."

2005-11-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile back at Sony-BMG....now heres the other side of the story.How much money does Sony-BMG (obviously by the name, 2 former Major Labels unable to stand on thier own.How is that "Major?")spend on attorneys to defend lawsuits form the Texas attorney general?This is just one day in the life of a newly-merged,less employee, less money "major".Whatever it costs (gee, attorneys cant be expensive, right?)its comin out of the overall budget. Hmmmm, less money to promote your band.But you could wake up tommorrow, work on your MySpace site for your band, and reach 14 million people directly, and probably not deal with any lawsuits, attorneys at all!
So we distribute your record and make it available everywhere, you promote it to your fans, you play gigs,we split the profit 50-50, and theres no royalties withheld, no advance to recoup,you own all your masters.

Texas Sues Sony BMG Over Copy-Protected Discs

The messy fallout for Sony BMG continued Monday when Texas attorney general Greg Abbott filed suit against the label. The lawsuit alleges that Sony BMG violated a new Texas law that prohibits the dissemination of spyware (Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act). Meanwhile, Abbott pointed the finger at Sony BMG for creating other serious security breaches on consumer computers, including vulnerabilities related to outside viruses. "Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," Abbott said in a statement. "Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime."

2005-11-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

Ok so in the continuing demise of the major labels,Warner gets caught in payola bribing radio stations to play thier music.First of all,the music must suck!Second, it costs money to pay bribes, so in these days of cost cutting, mergers, downsizing,there isnt really much money left for them to promote your band.You might just do better being on MySpace!This is one of the premises of our label and studio right now, we just distribute the music over all the available digital channels (120 and growing every day!)web stores and list on store ordering databases so fans can go to any store and order your bands cd.

Warner Music Settles Payola Investigation

Warner Music is the latest major label to settle with New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer over payola charges. As part of the settlement, Warner agreed to pay $5 million to various charities, and will cover $50,000 in state legal fees. The label also promised to discontinue its questionable radio promotion practices, many of which had been curtailed following the start of the Spitzer investigation and an earlier settlement involving Sony BMG. Spitzer found the label group — which includes Atlantic, Warner Bros., and Bad Boy — to have systematically delivered under-the-table gifts and cash to top radio programmers and stations. "Warner Music has illegally provided radio stations with financial benefits to obtain airplay and boost the chart position of its songs," the complaint reads.

Spitzer outlined several distinct activities that violated various payola statutes in New York. “Contrary to listener expectations that songs are selected for airplay based on their popularity and merit,” the settlement reads, “Warner Music has obtained airplay for its songs through such deceptive and illegal practices as (a) bribing radio stations employees…to play its songs; (b) providing a stream of financial benefits to radio stations…on the condition that its records receive airplay; (c) using independent promoters as conduits for illegal payments to radio stations to obtain airplay; (d) purchasing spin programs and using syndicated programs to manipulate chart positions of its music, and (e) engaging in fraudulent call-in campaigns to increase airplay of its songs.” The complaint used subpoenaed emails and testimonials from Warner Music employees to back its claims. Meanwhile, Warner Music noted that “various employees pursued some radio promotion practices on behalf of the company that were wrong and improper,” and pointed to reforms already in place.

2005-11-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well here it is! MySpace Records the new record label from MySpace with founder Tom Anderson (you, know, hes everyones freind, you have him as a friend!)picking the bands by using the popularity of thier MySpace activity.The first band is Hollywood Undead, picked by the sheer popularity of thier MySpace activity. These are real people showing real interest in bands so its not like aAmerican BS crap where the contest itself is making so much money and nobody cares what happens to the artists career afterwards, theyre basically selling advertising.It will be interesting to see how the marketing of the artists career goes after being picked, but it should signal to some people that the television shows and contests have a different agenda that is not pure, whereas real people on MySpace are all spending thier own time checking out bands so you know they eally likes the band.All you bands, you need to be sure by now that you are on MySpace and have a good presence there.Still there will only be a few slots for bands to be on the MySpace label, just like any other label, but its a good way to pick bands and more realistic.

2005-10-30T10:51:00.000-08:00

Well of course you all know that MySpace has been bought by Fox News! So far it hasnt changed anything to the casual viewer.They are thinking about a MySpace Record Label, though!WMG and EMI still rumored to merge.(isnt that the last merger left?)Since WMG issued thier stock and it fell, I don't remember them saying that the reason we should all buy thier stock is that they were going to merge with EMI.I thought they said they were strong and had a plan and were going to launch a digital label and work with iTunes.They have publicly disagreed with Steve Jobs who criticized them for being "greedy" wanting to raise the price of a digital download song on the phone to $2.99 The labels kind of have a little point in that ringtones are 30 second mp3 clips of a song and can be $2.99 and ringtones are a huge expanding profitable market for them right now.So why shoudlnt the full song be more? Well, because we have pretty much established that a song should be .99 The new iTunes Cingular phone lets you put songs in iTunes format on your phone, but you probably paid .99 for them on iTunes.The consumer is not going to pay MORE than 2.99 for a song they can get for .99!Once again the major labels have such a huge overhead from the old days of the business they dont know how to be profitable in the new market.The point of digital distribution is that the label has no overhead.You should be profitable immediately and also split the profit more fairly (50-50) with your artists.

2005-09-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

KORN & EMI SIGN NEW DEAL

Ok, well now we have some good artist-label deals starting to come around.. of course its from my favorite artist management group, The Firm! You might have noticed that Kelly Clarkson won a lot of VMA's.We told you here that she was shooting them very fast.(Actually whie on tour!!They are smart and she is a trooper!)You would have thought that Gwen Stefani would have won them with all the money behind her, and some pretty pricey videos, but I think Gwen is all focused on her fashion line right now, and who can blame her? Theres way more money to be made in merch, and her stuff is expensive! Her least expensive shirt is around $75.00 and you can get a CD with a bag she designed for $40.00, so the music is pretty much an ad for the clothing line!Well, The Firm managed to get Kelly a lot of attention at the VMAs.So now they are managing KORN and the new deal with EMI is an artist-share deal where EMI will be involved in everything,Merch,Touring, etc. as a partner with the band.This is one of the first Major Label deals of its kind.Of course PBJ Records pioneered this idea and only does this type of deal exclusively with its artists.We like to be business partners with our artists, that way were all pulling together on the same team (plus we save on lawyer fees!)

2005-08-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well so much fun stuff in the record biz these days you cant comment on it all at once!Warners (a never-ending source of amusement!)has decided that they will do some e-commerce.That doesnt mean they actually will, it just means they've now started saying it.DRM issues are everywhere and funny.Theres basically 2 main copy protection schemes, of course Apple & Microsoft.Apple's doesnt play nice with anybody else.Microsoft does with some and not with others.Now we have phones coming into the market and they all want a new DRM sceme, so theres a whole crew of them working on that.The iTunes phone keeps getting announced and rumored, but nothing yet.Of course the FCC not to be outdone by the Attorney General had decided to jump into the payola fray, so theres a new round of fines coming up for that.Lollapalooza folded, but they did a 1-off version in Chicago.(competing the same weekend as the Vans Warped tour!hmm, I'm no booking agent,(well actually I am) but!!)In Korea digital downloads actually surpassed CD sales!

2005-08-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well, couldnt resist this.... Matt's band, The Drama, having been flown to NY all last week to showcase for every major label all week, went to LA this week for more.At the showcase, a band was rehearsing next door.ASHLEE SIMPSON!! They crowded around the door, listening.I said, how was she? They go "she couldnt hit a note to save her life"!

2005-07-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Music Pirates Actually Purchase More

According to digital music research company, The Leading Question, "music pirates spend four and half times more on legitimate music downloads than average fans." That's not too hard to believe if you stop and think about it...Despite the RIAA and the IFPI's propaganda and public relations strategy - discovering new music online has long been thought of as being complementary to physical/digital sales and here's some more quantitative proof to prove it...

The BBC also reports that "The research clearly shows that music fans who break piracy laws are highly valuable customers," according to Paul Brindley, director of The Leading Question. "It also points out that they are eager to adopt legitimate music services in the future...There's a myth that all illegal downloaders are mercenaries hell-bent on breaking the law in pursuit of free music...In reality, hardcore fans are extremely enthusiastic about paid-for services, as long as they are suitably compelling.
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People who download legal or otherwise are people who are spending more of thier time aquiring music.These are people you want to market to.Obviously Radio with its J-Lo payola is not a place to find good new music.You need to get your music out there no matter what the format so that people can find it, share it, and get the whole "viral marketing" thing happening which builds street cred and is also the most cost-effective.The amazing thing is there has always been people who share thier favorite music with others and used cassette-taping, taping off the radio, etc to do it.For one thing its still not illegal to listen to some music and tell your freinds "Hey that's a great band, I like that". My MP3 player records off the radio, which if it was illegal, they couldnt have made it. I can play all sorts of things for people to listen to and hope that they like it.Google's G-Mail and Yahoo are both 1 gig size now meaning you can send way bigget files.Nobody is writing emails that long (if they are I hope I dont get on that list!)Get your music out there anyway you can so people hear it, share it, buy it, spread it.

2005-07-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

OK NOW THIS IS FUN!!.....
Here's the actual memos from the labels showing that they pay for crap to be on the air, who, what and how much!

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Please be advised that in this week's Jennifer Lopez Top 40 Spin Increase of 236 we bought 63 spins at a cost of $3,600."

"Please be advised that in this week's Good Charlotte Top 40 Spin Increase of 61 we bought approximately 250 spins at a cost of $17K …"

Ironically, it didn't help, as the memo notes that the company actually lost spins — or plays of the record — even though they laid out money for them.

See above: The internal memos from Sony Music, revealed today in the New York state attorney general's investigation of payola at the company, will be mind blowing to those who are not so jaded to think records are played on the radio because they're good. We've all known for a long time that contemporary pop music stinks. We hear "hits" on the radio and wonder, "How can this be?"

Now we know. And memos from both Sony's Columbia and Epic Records senior vice presidents of promotions circa 2002-2003 — whose names are redacted in the reports but are well known in the industry — spell out who to pay and what to pay them in order to get the company's records on the air.

From Epic, home of J-Lo, a memo from Nov. 12, 2002, a "rate" card that shows radio stations in the Top 23 markets will receive $1000, Markets 23-100 get $800, lower markets $500. "If a record receives less than 75 spins at any given radio station, we will not pay the full rate," the memo to DJs states. "We look forward to breaking many records together in the future."

Take Jennifer Lopez's awful record, "Get Right," with its shrill horn and lifted rap. It's now clear that was a "bought" sensation when it was released last winter. So, too, were her previous "hits" "I'm Glad" and "I'm Real," according to the memos. All were obtained by Sony laying out dough and incentives. It's no surprise. There isn't a person alive who could hum any of those "songs" now. Not even J-Lo herself.

"We ordered a laptop for Donnie Michaels at WFLY in Albany. He has since moved to WHYI in Miami. We need to change the shipping address." One Sony memo from 2002: "Can you work with Donnie to see what kind of digital camera he wants us to order?"

Another, from someone in Sony's Urban Promotion department: "I am trying to buy a walkman for Toya Beasley at WRKS/NY.… Can PRS get it to me tomorrow by 3 p.m. … I really need to get the cd by then or I have to wait a week or two before she does her music again

Feb. 13, 2004: "Gave a jessica trip to wkse to secure Jessica spins and switchfoot." That would be Jessica Simpson, for whom Sony laid on big bucks in the last couple of years to turn her into something she's clearly not: a star

From a Sony internal memo on Sept. 8, 2004: "Two weeks ago it cost us over 4000.00 to get Franz Ferdinand] on WKSE

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Gee, and why is it that Major Labels arent profitable?

2005-07-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

Heres another one we predicted......
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Sony BMG Music Agrees to $10 Million Payola Settlement

Seattle Times: Yesterday, during a press conference held by New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a string of incriminating e-mails from record-company executives was unveiled as part of an in-depth "pay-for-play" probe of the music industry. Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the world's second-biggest record label, admitted that its employees lavished cash, trips and other bribes on radio stations and their employees to get its music on the air. Spitzer said that, 'Sony BMG's efforts to win more airplay took many forms, including outright bribes of electronics to radio stations and paying for contest giveaways for listeners'...Sony BMG responded in a statement that "direct and indirect forms of what has been described generically as 'payola' for spins has continued to be an unfortunately prevalent aspect of radio promotion." It added that "various employees pursued some radio promotion practices on behalf of the company that were wrong and improper." The company apologized for "such conduct."

As a result, Sony BMG agreed to tighten its promotion guidelines and will pay a $10 million fine.

(Oooh, $10 million.Hmm do you think they made more than that on the sales? Gee that oughta stop it! Its one of the few profitable startegies the music business has ever had.And they talk about piracy...)

Spitzer has also asked for documents from the other three major labels: EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group...While Spitzer would not talk specifically about investigations into those companies, he said the payola problem goes "way beyond Sony BMG." Spitzer also called on the Federal Communications Commission to take a "very hard look" at the major radio-station owners and consider stripping the companies of broadcast licenses in cases where they are found to have "violated a public trust."

(Ok now this is actually the funniest sentence in the whole thing. The biggest major-radio station owners would be ....hmmm Oh yeah, CLEAR CHANNEL.So do you think the FCC will strip the companies of thier broadcast license?? Obviously he knows they did it.So 2/3 of all stations in the US are going to go off the air tommorrow for playing J-Lo records?? ("Oh Happy Day"...sorry)I don't think so!

2005-07-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Apple iTunes, Microsoft raise Royalty payment rates to indies to same as Major Labels...

According to the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) - which is a new trade group for independent labels - indies currently account for 27.5 percent of music sales in the US, and up to one-third of online listening on Internet radio and other venues...With numbers like that - this growing segment is getting harder and harder to discriminate against in regards to royalty rates for digital downloads...According to A2IM director Don Rose, "Microsoft has also agreed to bring small labels as close to parity with the majors as possible, both for its existing download service and the subscription service it plans to launch later this year." If you look at the confluence of factors in the market, you have the majors retreating and trying to develop a strategy, and you have indies being able to expand in the market."

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Well, of course you heard it here first, but we have been saying these things for a long time.(10-15 years now)Another milestone that puts Indie labels on equal footing with majors, while the majors get sued for illegal radio promotion bribery (again) And continue to put more copy protection on thier cds.

2005-07-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

Wow so many amazing things going on right now, the big MGM vs Grokster decision comes down from the Supreme Court, and everybody claims it as a victory for thier side,(especially Major Labels) and yet CD sales are down and downloading is WAY up.iTunes has podcasting now, (our podcast is on there!)We have a digital radio Station on Mercora radio now (Mercora.com and search PBJ)it allows listeners to stream, comment, blog, chat, view pics of artists, we get a whole profile on them (we have a lot of listeners in France!)MySpace gets bought out by Fox News, they are going to tie in Real, Rhapsody and Napster (which is great for us since we have distribution with all of those!)Also on the radio station we have a "Buy Track" & "Buy Album" buttons.Some majors are being headed by film and tv execs now trying to run them as video content companies.Thats ok looking ahead at mobile phone video offerings, but i dont think its healthy to have video people running what is supposed to be an audio company. I go on rants frequently about people judging music as a visual medium instead of aural!Judging a band/artist by thier looks,doing all the marketing decisions by visual (pics and video)Certainly you have to have those elements, but you must remember youre trying to get people to but your music to LISTEN to it!!Dont substitute visual for the lack of knowledge
of the music itself!Theres plenty of not-Jessica-Simpson-looking artists who sound amazing and people love to buy thier music and LISTEN to it! (When you think about it, theres probably WAY more not-super-model-attractive musicians!First of all if they were that good looking, they would be models or actors!)
Most of the Majors really dont know what to do right now, so you are going to see more weird behavior from them.Basically CD sales are falling and downloading is skyrocketing.Make sire your music is available for downloading all over the world by people everywhere who are sitting at thier computer terminals more than they are getting dressed up, driving thru traffic,going to a little club with nobody there on a Tue night,paying a cover, not being able to drink,drive home, be out late and get tired, and still not actually purchase your music (I know; you have 100 copies of your cd all pressed up, shrink-wrapped and barcoded with awesome cover art and magazine quality professional photography ready at every gig you do, right! NOT!!)And oh, yeah, you have the Soundscan forms ready all the time to make sure you get credit for all those gig sales, right?
Hey im not saying you shouldnt do gigs, but as a marketing plan it really doesnt hold a candle to making your product available all over the world to but at a persons figertips, where they are, when they are there, ans let them spend their few dollars on you directly, while your at the gig anyway, cause thats what you do.

2005-06-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

Indie Labels Flex Collective Muscle With New Trade Group

In an attempt to counter the market power of the four major music companies, 125 of the largest independent record labels in the United States announced the formation of a new trade group earlier this week. The American Association of Independent Music (or A2IM), which will be based in New York with a lobbying arm in Washington, DC, will work to give indie labels clout commensurate with their collective market share - pegged at 25% by some industry observers. Members of the new group include TVT, Lookout Records, Beggars Group and Tommy Boy Records, among others.

Whatever the impetus, the timing couldn't be better for this move. With the major label system and its products finding a cool reception from a growing number of music fans, and decision makers either unwilling or unable to adapt to fundamental changes in the marketplace, conditions are shifting in the indies' favor. As TVT's chief executive officer, Steve Gottlieb, puts it: "Manufactured pop culture is disintegrating before your eyes as the Net takes hold," and the nimbler, less risk-averse indies are best positioned to take advantage of the digital transformation. While the majors look at P2P file sharing, podcasting and other forms of digital distribution and see thieves, pirates and the willful disregard of copyright, the indies increasingly see a chance to connect directly with their customers - and an opportunity to steal a march on the Big Four. As Gottlieb points out, independent artists now account for 30% of internet radio play, and labels such as Artemis Records (Steve Earle, the Pretenders) have been distributing files over P2P networks for over a year. Add the fact that podcasters, at the wheel of the fastest-growing media phenomenon around, almost universally avoid major label music due to potential licensing infractions and it starts to look like there's a digital train leaving the station - and the majors aren't on it.

2005-06-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, one of the things that is amazing about all the stuff is that the other day a band I was talking to told me they had a major label showcase set up. I congratulated them and asked them how it happened. They said that the major needed a lot of new bands to replace all the bands it was dropping! I said hmmm I doubt it. Now we read that WMG drops 93 bands! Think about it, they cut 1600 jobs, sell the publishing drop half the bands and theyre more efficient! And for making the company more efficient, the top 4 executives get millions in bonuses in thier pocket from the sale of stock (which dropped opening day on Wall St. from $24.00/share to $16.00!! I bet Martha Stewart didn't get a tip about that one!) Now all of those bands who got dropped probaby paid some lawyers and managers a lot of money to negotiate favorable contracts. Not so favorable when youre dropped! I bet the new contracts are a lot more favorable to artists! Of course I havent seen any new signings to Warner Bros announced lately, hmmmmm?

2005-06-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

WARNER DROPS 93 ARTISTS

In addition to taking millions in bonuses for the top executives of WMG in thier stock grab by valuing the company so high by cutting 1600 employees (to make it "more efficient"!)a little-known fact has come to light that they have dropped 93 of its 193 artists! (amazing in itself since I dont think all those artists held press confereneces to announce that they were dropped! So how would you know? Oh, yeah you read this blog!)Oh, and that will make them even more efficient! Now if you are artist #100, would you be worried? Considering artist #1 is Linkin Park and they are leaving, how would you feel if you were #'s 99-2?

This just in.....
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Warner Music Group Corp. announced it has completed the sale of Warner Bros. Publications to Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. The sale was announced on December 16, 2004.

Warner Bros. Publications, based in Miami and the U.K., prints and distributes a broad selection of sheet music, books and educational materials, folios, orchestrations and arrangements, and tutorials and methods. In addition, Warner Bros. Publications markets printed versions of Warner/Chappell musical compositions and other popular songs throughout the world.
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So now they have sold thier book and folio publishing company, if you were an artist that was left on the sinking ship, what would you think? BTW, this deal started in Dec 2004 and was just announced as being completed, so that means they were planning on this all along, but didnt tell anyone!

Ok, so all you bands out there that are STILL waiting for the big major label deal........icient!)

2005-05-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of Creative Commons? It's time that I make you aware of it.You might see a little Copyright notice -looking thing at the bottom of some websites.Instead of a C in a circle, there are 2 C's in the circle!Heres a little intro article about it.Basically, these guys believe that if you want to let some people use your music in certain ways you should get a license from them and post it so people know they can sample it, edit it, chop it up and use it in thier own song.

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NEW YORK (Billboard) - An innovative approach to sharing and licensing copyrighted material is spreading around the globe, gathering millions of creative works under its umbrella.

The movement, spearheaded by a nonprofit organization called Creative Commons, is little-known in the music industry.

Yet sponsoring groups in 31 countries have adopted the Creative Commons approach. Sponsors in nearly 40 more countries are said to be in the process of launching the project.

For the most part, the various Creative Commons licenses have been applied to academic material and blogs. In many instances, creators permit others to make use of their works without compensation.

As Creative Commons chairman and Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig travels the world encouraging international adoption of Creative Commons, the movement has begun to arouse concern in the music business. Some industry leaders say that the group's approach -- applauded by many -- is in effect a Trojan horse that could erode copyright protection or harm unwitting artists.

Creative Commons dates back to 2001, when a number of figures from the academic world recognized that there was no way for Web users to determine whether works posted on the Internet -- essays, articles, photographs, poetry, music -- could be used freely as public-domain works or in some ways without the copyright owner's permission.

At least one widely circulated CD has been developed using Creative Commons licenses. Wired magazine approached artists to provide music under the Creative Commons licenses for a CD distributed with its November 2004 issue. Sixteen agreed, including David Byrne, Beastie Boys and Chuck D.

"Lessig and his followers advocate a shorter copyright term," says attorney Michael Sukin, a founding member of the International Assn. of Entertainment Lawyers.

Critics of Creative Commons say that offering these licenses to artists without encouraging them to get legal advice or explaining risks is dangerous.

Andy Fraser hates to think what his fate might have been had Creative Commons existed when he was a young artist.

Fraser entered the business in 1968 at age 15, when he became the bass player/co-songwriter for British rock/blues band Free. Two years later, while in the dressing room after a bad gig, he started bopping around telling his bandmates, "It's all right now." After about 10 minutes a song was born, with co-writer/singer Paul Rodgers contributing lyrics.

"All Right Now," released on Free's third album, "Fire and Water," became one of the most-performed songs in performinbg rights organization Broadcast Music Inc.'s repertoire of about 4.5 million works. The song has been played nearly 3 million times -- the equivalent of repeatedly playing it for more than 28 years.

While Fraser has written more than 150 songs, continuing royalties from radio and TV use of two compositions -- "All Right Now" and "Every Kinda People" (first recorded by Robert Palmer) -- generate most of his income. Had he given up his rights to those early hits, he would not have the resources to cover his treatment for AIDS.

Such a decision might have been tragic. Fraser says he has been kept alive by medication, radiation therapy and experimental medical treatments -- largely paid for with his song royalties.

"No one should let artists give up their rights," he says.
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Now every year when I attend South By Southwest, I find these guys at thier booth and I ask them " How would you suggest I explain this idea to the artists on my label?" And without fail, every year, they look at each other and shake thier heads and then say "I don't know". Now I have a Personal Policy about a few things.(I started making my own Personal Policies whenever some store person says to me "well we have a Policy about that." I decided I have some Policies too!Like I don't shop at your store and I tell all my freinds not too!)So one big policy with me is simply this: IF YOU DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOW! I'm sure BMI and all the publishers in the world would pretty much say dont mess with this stuff, If you write a song, copyright it, and dont give away the rights. On the other hand if youre a techno-DJ-beat-makin' type, you might be willing to benefit from letting some people mess around with your stuff in hopes that it gets "out there" more. But I think with all the ways to promote music on the Net you probably should just get it recorded, post some samples on a website and let people try it and buy it.Another part of that strategy is like keeping people on your website when they get there. If you have Calendar for your gigs, dont put it on another huge site, (especially not one that contains huge awesome graphic ads for the biggest and well known major label artist that does music in your genre!)Instead get a calendar program that opens up within your site, so fans can check out (and print, email links to freinds,etc.) your gig dates,in a seperate window that closes when theyre done and leaves them back on your site!

2005-05-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well it continues to be an amazing time in the state of the Music Business right now, but you have been able to read "News Before It Happens" right here for some time. While Warner Brothers tries to go public and raise money from the public to pay off thier staggering debts, Wall Street issued advice to investors that the stock price of $22-24 per share is definitely not worth it, so don't buy it, Warner (WMG) opened today at $17 a share.This may not net them the amount of money they need to pay off debts and make a profit.In addition, adding insult to injury, with top act Linkin Park announcing that they will leave the label,Warner ridiculously invited the band to play at the New York Stock Exchange!! Band members used the occasion to comment that it is this kind of thing that shows how completely out of touch the label is, and that they definitely will not change thier minds and are leaving! If you have a band and were lucky enough to meet Linkin Park and were able to ask thier advice, I'm sure they would say don't get signed to Warner Brothers!
On other news, one of our favorite Podcasts is by Jason Halbert, keyboard player and bandleader for Kelly Clarkson. He and guitarist Al get off the tour bus and do what all of us musician/studio/label types do... go directly to Starbucks!! They do a podcast from each Starbucks where they ask the Barista tough questions and try to stump them, and try to get the Starbuck people to give them stuff! So far they've aquired thier own aprons and a whipped-cream machine to outfit the bus as a rolling Starbuck!Matt went backstage and front row at the concert in Florida, then hung out in the dressing rooms and bus.He said Kelly is the consummate professional, performing flawlessly under every condition (migraines)as well as riding on the band bus with everyone. Apparently she was extremely lucky since the original Idol contracts stipulated that the winner was automatically signed to 19 Productions for recording and management.I had often stated that it would be a bad deal for the winner since they are much more interested in the show revenues (with advertising from big sponsors) than putting out the record and actually managing one persons career.Recently it has been reported in Billboard and elsewhere that 19 was bought out by a billionaire who is buying up entertainment properties.I believe that made Kelly's contract void, and the new owners were probably glad of it, since that is not thier business. The Firm wisely stepped in and now manage her. You can clearly see she has blown up since then, with songs at #1 in Billboard, several singles, videos and a huge tour right now! The tour is adding dates and going to Europe and then back here to bigger venues. (The Firm is also managing Linkin Park.)For you gear freaks, Kelly uses the new Digidesign live console with all the great Pro Tools plug-ins (like we use at our studio)They are one of te first to use it on tour. John Mayer recently took out a Pro Tools rig, but they did'nt actually run the house sound on it. These guys are running it and they love it.The $60,000 price tag beats the heck out of the Midas board they are using for monitor mixing.

2005-05-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, now this is the best one ever! I have been predicting this for so long I can't even remember! Linkin Park is leaving Warner Bros! That's right, that's what I said.Now I have been saying for so long (you can read back in these posts to see when)that a smart manager of a great band that was signed to a major should be saying to them, we signed with you because you had marketing people, people in offices all over the place, and we were a priority at this label, and now that youve merged with another major, we arent the priority, and youve cut the marketing money, and the staff,this isnt the deal we signed, we want out!The Firm is generally considered to be one of the, if not THE smartest, best management companies around. I have quoted thier wisdom often here as they were speaking at music conferences and being asked the tough questions, and they are very forthcoming with thier opinions, and are usually proven right.Well, guess what, they manage Linkin Park.They were quoted as saying that Linkin Park accounts for 10% of Warner's sales and that since the layoffs and budget cuts that they want out of thier deal and that they do not intend to record for Warner and would rely on thier own touring and merchandise sales to sustain them.In addition they are looking for several million payout of moneys owed them. This all comes at a time when Edgar Bronfman and his investment group that bought Warner are looking to raise 800 million in stock.Why? To pay off debt (600 million) Now if they need to raise stock to pay off debt, why would you invest in it? And if your band is signed to them, wouldn't you want out? And more to the point for you, why would you want to be signed by them? If Linkin Park wants out, why would you want in? I know, you still want to get signed by a major label.Well, there should be plenty of room for you soon!The other 200 million they need to raise is for Edgar to get a 200 million one-time cash bonus payment.Yep, thats right, for running the business into the ground.

2005-04-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

Were at Antone's for an Austin Music Foundation meeting with Pat Green. He's very interesting for the indie artist because he sold 300,000 records without being sign ed to a label! Now when I was at Motown, I had an intern who came back from his vacation in Denver and said he saw a band that sold 300,000 records and were not signed. We tried to get them signed but to no avail. Now you would think that would be a no-brainer! Well recently Pat signed with Universal. So I asked him, what made you sign with a Major? He said he decided to make the trade off (he was making $8.00 per cd, and 1 million per year.No major will ever give you that deal!) for more concert tickets sold, and more merchsndise sold, since the major's promotion would bring him larger audiences.And he was right. He now makes more money.Now for most indie artists, it first of all shows that you can shoot for a high goal of selling your own cds. Believe me, when you are doing that, a Major will find you!Now in the middle of this, in walks Clifford Antone and hes got Jerry Jeff Walker with him. Now Pat has just finished saying that Jerry Jeff and his wife, Susan are the model for what he does and taught him everything about the business. And this is all being shot for television, but Andy Langer, the interviewer says the obvious and they get Jerry Jeff (whos standing in front of us, shaking hands) up to talk.Now Jerry says when he was signed to his first deal, the day he got there the guy who signed him was already gone.So he says I want to see the Vice President. They say weve got 4 of them.So he finds a guy and says whats your plan for these artists youve got 25 of them.The guy says we have no plan, were just gonna put them all out and see what the public buys.So he experienced all of that back in the day.Then they asked him about downloading & piracy and he had a great comment. he said I dont know but the music has to go out. He related a story about messing around with a silly song called "Pissing in the wind" backstage at a gig, and when he got to the next gig everybody already knew the song! So it got me to thinking, people have always recorded stuff and passed it around, its just we have different mediums these days. But his point is that people have to find out about songs and artists somehow and with radio in its current state downloading, sharing and now Podcasts are the way to go to expose the new artists.

2005-04-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

So Im talking to Matt, and his engineer freind is hanging out with Bruce Swedien at his ranch/studio in Ocala.Apparently Bruce just flies in with has rack, and start tracking stuff on his Pro Tools rig there, among other places.We got into a discussion about it and I'm basically saying, with the closing of Major studios, Hit Factory, etc, everybody has a Pro Tools rig in thier garage.With the Major labels merging and downsizing, they dont have the money to spend anymore on the theory that made Micheal Jackson,Quincy Jones & Bruce Swedien the best in the business.If you read Quincy's autobiograhy, as great as he is, he basically just hired the best songwriters, the best arrangers, the best musicians and the best engineer (Bruce Swedien)Those songs are all still played on radio every day,whereas Michael's later stuff isnt.But that might have been the last time that a label had the money to throw at hiring the best of everything and Quincy, who produced Frank Sintara and came up playing trumpet in the big band days,was allowed to record the old fashioned way, using the best of everything.I personally love the tradition of Bill Putnam (we use his United Audio software LA2A's, 1176 compressor,Pultec,Cambridge,Nigel, etc)I was priveleged to record at Ocean Way Studios and have Allen Smart show me the modifications on the console, basically containing different API and SSL modules on each channel, and that studio was the built by Bill Putnam and Frank Sinatra teamed up with him to form Reprise Records, which is now Warner Brothers, but all that is back in the day and basically nobody does it that way anymore.Bruce Swedien is basically the living link to Bill Putnam
and that is the real tradition that we have been handed down in this day, but its all Pro Tools and Plug-ins now. I think every Producer-Engineer should go study what these guys did to develop these amazing tools that we are still using today, even if it is in software form and not hardware.If you go to Mixonline.com and search Bill Putnam or Bruce Swedien you can find some really good info. I will post some links on future blogs for this.

2005-04-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with all the digital music plays and advances and mergers, etc. is tough these days, but we do it.I was talking to someone the other day and i said, "We're in th MP3-making business. It's like were an MP3 factory and we just keep turning them out. It doesnt matter to us whether its going to be on the phone, the net, the iPod,or whatever, they all need mp3s and were just gonna keep turning them out!" From the perspective of a digital record label, that all that really matters to us.I dont care what format they use as long as they all put our mp3s on it!

Check out a new Podcast from Jason Halbert, Kelly Clarkson's band leader. They get off the tour bus and go to Starbucks in different cities!
"One For The Road"
http://www.podcast.net/show/38594

2005-04-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

So Warner Brothers wants people to give them 750 million dollars.Theyre raising money by going public.Now Edgar Bronfman and his group bought the company not that long ago, for less and now they want us to make it profitable for them.(Probably so they can cash out, get thier money back and make a few bucks.)Now the only way the deal will get done is if they agree to merge with EMI.So lets see, niether one of the 2 of the last 4 major labels left standing is making any money (in fact they are losing money)And yet, some artists will sit here and tell me that they are waiting to get signed by the big major label.Hmmm.Now first of all, the majors are broke. They need money. How many bands do you think they are signing? Second, if they did sign you, how much money do you think they would spend on you? (the stockholders come first by the way)And third, even if all that happens, and then they merge,what happens to the person who signed you? And your budget? Mergers are why so many music business people are out of a job (and starting indie labels, because they know it doesnt take that much money to find a band, record them and put it out!)It probably would be good if all the majors just go away.Them we can all just go make the record we want, get paid some royalties right away & enjoy life! Well, stay tuned!

2005-03-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well, pretty amazing. I had the opportunity to attend a trade show in New Orleans called CTIA.Turned it down since this is always SXSW time.Go to SXSW and everything is all about digital, downloading, new delivery systems.That's great because thats where I was at anyway.In Billboard this week main articles are all about Steve Jobs is a genius.(Pretty smart since Billboard editors are probably vacationing at SXSW anyway and everybody in the Music Business already knows that and they aint readin' thier Billboard copy this week!) So the next thing all the news is about phones.Turns out they are the next delivery system.So Motorola announces that they will show an iTunes phone and then doesnt actually do it.So at SXSW everybody knows where to find bands, no body has a shortage of bands, they are all excited about the delivery system for these bands and iTunes has shown the way, but the phone is the ultimate controller for digital music download purchasing.So all the news is at CTIA this week. For one thing, the Keynote speaker at SXSW is Robert Plant.hey I. love Zepplin and all that, but he isnt exactly at the forefront of todays music scene.Keynote Speaker at CTIA: Puff Daddy! That's right Sean "Puffy" Combs, President of Bad Boy Entertainment. Thats should tell you something. And theyre having a Fashion Show with designers, showing models on a catwalk wearing digital phones with MP3 Players in them. People! Its all about the phone.The biggest players in the Music Business are the phone companies. Get your band into a digital delivery system, or better yet, all of them!

2005-03-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

Recording Studios' Fears Realized

NEW YORK (Billboard) - This year is becoming an inauspicious one for the professional recording industry.

For several years, as various factors conspired to engender a severe music industry recession, studio owners and managers, engineers, technicians and producers have voiced increasing fears about the future. Recording budgets shrank, rosters were trimmed. All the while, the tools and methods of recording were undergoing dramatic transformation.
Wolf Stephenson, an owner of recently shuttered Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Ala., spoke for many industry professionals when he said last month, "When computer and hard-disk recording really got cheap and better at the same time, it just knocked the socks off a lot of studios, (Muscle Shoals) included."
The historic Muscle Shoals joins the list of recently closed major-market facilities Hit Factory, Cello and Royaltone. Those closures follow several others during the last few years.

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MY TAKE:

"Recording budgets shrank...."

Ok so that tells us that a record CAN be made for a lot cheaper than what they were charging the artists budget! This is the amount of money that they claim they have to make back in order to break even, while you're not getting paid any royalties, even though you may have negotiated a big amount, lets say 10%, or 10 points.That amount is usually measured by lawyers as "penny rate".because in the real world it amounts to pennies, literally! People in the record business have always known that a record can be made for $6,000.00 because every now and then they agree to make a record for a friend for cost.The giant record budgets of $100,000.00 are a thing of the past because the major labels were just inflating that amount so they wouldny have to pay ANY royalties, no matter how great a rate you negotiated! There are some real smart lawyers who work hard for thier bands and will tell you that when you negotiate the royalty rate, you have to remember that the majors use thier own custom software packages to run all this and they are NOT going to go in and change whats already in the computer! Thats what ensures that they make a profit, plus they would have to pay the software authors all over again every time you change the rate! So trust me, that aint gonna happen!

"Rosters were cut......"

This is a funny one. Most people aren't aware of rosters being cut! There are physically less slots for bands to be signed into than ever, but nobody really sees it.If your favorite band changes labels, you don't really think about it. That happens all the time. You probably think they got a better deal and made more money! NOT! They got unceremoniously dumped, and had to take a worse deal, just to keep going!
(Now thats not always true, for example a real smart deal was struck by CURB Records when they got Tim McGraw.He promotes himself very aggressively, pays for everything himself, and they in turn give him carte blanche to do whatever he wants and they put it out! When this first happened people thought he got a bad deal. I am writing this after the fact and we know he was #1 on Billboard, appeared on Monday Night Football, NASCAR,crossed over with Nelly and they are everywhere now.)
But overall, rosters were cut!

I was playing on a gig a while back with a producer of an artist that had been featured in Rolling Stone, her major label debut. I was telling hin that while at Motown, I had predicted that recording studios (and Major Labels) would eventually dissappear.I said "every kid on your street has a computer recording system.Who needs a producer?" He shot back " if everybody has the same system, my records will be better!" I realized he was right.It's not the equipment, it's what you do with it.

# # #

2004-11-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

Infinity Cuts Ties with Independent Promoters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Infinity Broadcasting on Wednesday said it had severed ties with independent promoters, following the lead of other radio chains that have stopped the controversial practice of taking payments in return for playing new songs on their stations.

The move comes just over three weeks after U.K. music giant EMI Group Plc (news - web sites) confirmed that the New York Attorney General had begun a probe of how music companies influence what songs are played on the radio.
"We're not going to be utilizing independent promoters, effective immediately," said Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for Infinity Broadcasting, a unit of Viacom Inc .

(in other words; you were!)

Infinity declined further comment, but its move follows similar actions by radio giants Cox Radio Inc and Clear Channel Communications, who ended the long-standing practice of accepting payments for research from independent promoters also seeking airplay for new songs.
Radio companies are prohibited from taking cash or gifts in exchange for playing a specific song,
unless they disclose the transaction to listeners.
But it had become common within the industry for independent promoters to pay radio stations annual fees often exceeding $100,000 for advance copies of their playlists.
According to industry executives, the promoters would then bill record companies for each new song played on the radio, adding millions of dollars to earnings for radio companies.

My Commentary:

Ok this is great because last week everybody said their companies had policies against this and that they never did it. This week they are all holding press conferences to announce that they have stopped doing that thing that they never did!If it adds millionsof dollars in revenue to radio stations, who arent really doing that good over all anyway, what are the stockholders going to say about losing millions of dollars in revenue from bribery, that the companies say they never did, but today announced that they are stopping it??

2004-10-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

Investigation into Payola........

EMI to Face Spitzer Music Industry Probe

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - EMI Group PLC (EMI.L), the world's third-largest music company, on Friday said it and other music companies faced a New York probe into how music companies influence what songs are played on the radio. "We are cooperating fully with this inquiry, which is at a preliminary stage," EMI said in a statement.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has served subpoenas against Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI and Warner Music.

Warner Music declined to comment
Sony BMG declined to comment.
A spokesman for the Universal Music Group was not immediately reachable.

EMI, the only publicly traded, stand-alone music company among the four majors, was down four pence at 216p at 1455 GMT.

The investigation revisits a decades-old practice of employing middlemen to sidestep U.S. laws restricting the bribing of broadcasters to air particular songs without disclosing this to listeners.

EMI said in the statement it had a strict, long-standing policy against unlawful radio promotion practices.

"EMI has no reason to believe that there will be a material financial impact on the company," it added.

One music industry source said the investigation could be beneficial to the music industry, which shells out hundreds of millions a year to the promoters.

"If the process is changed, where we no longer played that game, it would probably be a benefit to us," said one music industry source regarding the practice.

Clear Channel Communications (NYSE:CCU - news), the largest U.S. radio conglomerate with 1,200 stations, in April 2003 said it stopped dealing with independent promoters altogether.
"This seems to be a very small niche part of the market," said Investec analyst Kingsley Wilson earlier on Friday.
Spitzer has targeted the music industry before, securing $50 million in unpaid royalties to thousands of artists such as David Bowie (news) and Dolly Parton in May.

My Commentary:
Ok, so , let's get this straight.It is a decades old practice to bribe radio stations for the playing of songs and not tell the listeners, and its a strict company policy NOT to do that, BUT if the rules were changed so they didnt HAVE to bribe stations(which they dont, because they have a policy against it) it would be a financial benefit to the company, since they would save all that money that they ARE NOT PAYING to anyone since its A.Illegal and B.Againsy company policy.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm..............

2004-07-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

Sony BMG Plans to Cut Up to 2,000 Jobs

LONDON (Reuters) - Sony Music and BMG plan to shed up to 2,000 jobs or about 25 percent of their combined work force the Financial Times reported on Friday.

A Sony spokesman contacted in New York had no immediate comment, and a BMG spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The newspaper said the overhaul is expected to involve one-off charges of $300 million to $350 million, mainly for severance payments.

The two companies agreed to merge last year as the music industry confronts competition from DVDs and video games and the threat of Internet file-swapping.

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MY COMMENTARY:

Ok, first of all 2 of the last 4 "Major" Labels (whatever that means anymore!) have now merged so neither one of them is actually very "Major", they are losing 1/4 of the people who work at BOTH so that means:
25% less promotion,
25% less marketing,
25% less attention to your band
(if you were already signed to them, or IF, as you all so desperately hope, you got signed to this)

Now I hope you all had Music Lawyers representing you and managers that were so smart that you included in your contract a 25% INCREASE in royalties if the Major Label you signed to DECREASED their work for you by 25%!! BUT I SERIOUSLY DOUBT ANYONE DID!

Now don't forget in addition to a reduction in actual people working on your stuff, its going to cost them 3-4 HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to achieve this! (Don't forget Warner Brothers just finished "repossessing"Madonnas Label, because she owed them 100 MILLION!)

So now theres a lot less money to go to your band.The reason you all think you have to sign with a Major Label, is because you dont personally have 100 million dollars to spend on your band! Well, guess what? NEITHER DO THEY!With all these losses and mergers and bands already signed that they now have less people and money to commit to, there is probably no more money than you have to promote your band even if you got signed tommorrow!

BTW, this process is going to take 1 year to complete.Who do you think is going to be out looking for bands to sign this year?
NOT the 25% who are gone. Not the people who are staying, but have to reorganize thier job to each do 1.25 persons job, just to keep thier paycheck. ( I'm sure they weren't already busy!)

Please, people, do not tell me how you are waiting to get signed by a Major Label! They are very busy right now falling apart, and they don't have any time or money or people or resources for the bands they are already committed to (whose genius Managers & Lawyers already got paid huge sums for signing them to companies that now are technically renigging on THEIR terms of the contract) let alone people or time or money to go looking for more bands to sign that they cant fulfill promises to!

You need to be independent and do it yourself! Prince got out of his contract, he has a Platinum album, with no label and no radio!(Now I'm not saying you can get the attendance Prince has, but he is schooling you all & showing you the way to getting 100% of your royalties upfront, in advance, with no distribution, no lawyers, no negotiating anything!) We always say to the Independents, youre not going to get radio, youre not going to be on a Major Label, make the record yourself, and sell it at your shows! You will get 100% of the entire record.You dont even have to wait for the Royalty STATEMENT (and I mean Statement, cause it aint gonna be a check, its going to be a statment of how they spent your money!)

2004-04-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Wouldnt you think that you were doing pretty good in the Music Business if you were
Outkast,Usher,Pink,Avril Lavigne,Dido,Whitney Houston,Kenny G? Or if your producers were Jimmy Jam
& Terry Lewis, or The Neptunes? A lot of these people just won Grammys! But, guess what, thier Label just folded!

Bell Tolls for Arista Records
Fri Mar 12, 8:32 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Gail Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - RCA Victor Group's rebirth as a stand-alone division of RCA Records is a harbinger of an impending massive reorganization at sister label Arista Records, according to sources.

Those sources confirm that most of the BMG North America label's 170 staffers will be let go. The downsized label would retain a small A&R and marketing staff but be placed under the RCA Music Group banner.

The label's artist roster will be divided among sister divisions Jive, RCA and J Records.

It's widely thought that the LaFace-affiliated acts (OutKast, Usher, Pink, Cee-Lo) will be transferred to Jive. Sarah McLachlan (news), Dido and Avril Lavigne (news) would shift to RCA, and Whitney Houston (news), Kenny G and rap newcomer J-Kwon would go to J Records.

Arista staffers already have been notified about the impending restructuring. No definitive time frame for the reorganization could be confirmed at press time.

But sources generally agree that most changes will occur only after the release of key albums by Usher (March 23) and J-Kwon (March 30).

Also unclear is the fate of Arista's imprints, which include Jermaine Dupri's So So Def (Dupri is also a senior VP at Arista), Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' Flyte Tyme and the Neptunes' Star Trak.

BMG declined to confirm or deny any element of the impending reorganization.

When contacted by Billboard, a spokesman issued the following statement: "BMG is in the process of evaluating the labels and staff in North America. We will announce any decisions or changes at the appropriate time."

Talk about Arista's future heated up after the announcement that Arista Associated Labels would revert to the RCA Victor Group moniker. A year ago, BMG Entertainment split the RCA Victor Group into BMG Classics and Arista Associated Labels.

Daily operations of the stand-alone division are now supervised by Jeb Hart, who continues as senior VP of worldwide marketing for RCA Records.

Hart reports to Richard Sanders, RCA's executive VP/general manager, and Ashley Newton, executive VP of A&R for RCA. He succeeds David Weyner, who departs from his post as executive VP/GM for Arista Associated Labels.

Sources say Arista Associated VP of A&R Joe McEwen and director of A&R Jonathan Miller also have exited. Again, BMG refused to confirm or deny the departures or other possible staff changes within the RCA Victor Group.

The reformed RCA Victor Group comprises the Private Music, Windham Hill, Bluebird and Victor labels.

Its collective roster includes R&B/rock singer Etta James, pianists Jim Brickman (news) and George Winston and singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata.

"Under this new structure, the RCA Victor Group will maintain its independent culture while benefiting from the depth of RCA Records' A&R and management strength," Charles Goldstuck, president/COO of BMG North America, said in a statement.

Arista's expected restructuring follows the termination of former president/CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid. He succeeded label founder Clive Davis in July 2000.

Davis has since been appointed chairman/CEO of BMG North America. Reid has moved on to Universal Music Group as chairman of Island Def Jam.

In recent weeks, the industry has seen UMG fold its DreamWorks label into Geffen Records and the Warner Music Group consolidate its venerable Atlantic and Elektra labels into a single operation.

Reuters/Billboard

2004-04-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Madonna (news - web sites)'s Maverick Records label, home to the Material Girl as well as Alanis Morissette (news) and Michelle Branch (news), has lost $66 million since 1999, according to recently unsealed court documents filed by its adversary and partner, Warner Music Group.

The documents relate to the latest spat in the 12-year-relationship between Maverick and Warner Music, which was recently bought from Time Warner Inc. by an investment group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr.

Last month, Maverick sued Warner Music for $200 million, claiming breach of contract and fraud. The Warner documents were part of a pre-emptive claim filed in a Delaware court asking a judge to find that the company had fulfilled its commitment to Maverick.

The documents claim that in order for Maverick to get out of its joint venture with Warner Music, which is up at the end of the year, Maverick will have to pay $92.5 million, in addition to the value of Warner's interest in the label. The price tag includes the $66 million in losses, a $20 million loan and $6.5 million in unrecouped fees.

According to Warner Music's filing, if Maverick cannot raise the money needed to buy itself out the joint venture, Warner can convert the label into a "purely passive economic interest," taking all control of the label away from Maverick. In this case, Maverick would reap no profits from the label until the losses were repaid.

A Warner Music spokesman declined to comment. Maverick could not be immediately reached. The label is gearing up for the May 18 release of Morissette's first album in two years, "So-Called Chaos." The following week, Madonna begins a world tour in Los Angeles.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Ok so if youre an artist and you dont want to be signed to a label, you get your own label right? But that deal can end up the same way as the regular artist deal, your LABEL gets dropped from the label!1 more reason to just stay Independent!

2004-02-19T00:11:00.000-08:00

Programmer Sets Up Mask For File-Sharers

Wyatt Wasicek was so outraged by the recording industry's legal assault on users of free music-downloading sites that he decided to ride to the rescue. He created a program called AnonX that masks the Internet address of people who use file-sharing programs such as KaZaA.

Available for $5.95 per month, AnonX sets up a virtual private network, or VPN, between a user's computer and the company's computers. The AnonX computers act as proxies, and actually do the Web surfing for the subscriber.

In theory, no one outside of AnonX can see the subscriber's Internet address - including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has forced Internet service providers to turn over subscriber information as part of its campaign to sue hundreds of individual song downloaders, including children.

Wasicek, 29, promises not to divulge his 7,000 users' Internet addresses, and believes he can't be forced to do so. Although Wasicek lives in Austin, Texas, he says AnonX's official owner lives in Vanuatu, the loosely regulated Pacific island that also hosts KaZaA's parent company, Sharman Networks Ltd. AnonX's servers are strategically placed overseas as well. An RIAA spokesperson declined to comment on Anonx.

Wasicek says he put a filter on AnonX to block its use for child pornography. He also says he'll cut off service for egregious downloaders of copyrighted material. So why bother creating AnonX?

Wasicek's day job is at an Internet service provider that frequently gets letters from the entertainment industry demanding subscriber information, and he claims most of them are erroneous, wasting everyone's time. Wasicek said he decided to shield file-sharers who generally use the technology legitimately but might occasionally break copyright law without realizing it.

"I'm doing this to protect the family with the 13-year-old, not the 25-year-old with 25 movies he's sharing with his buddies," he said. "I wanted to go back to the good old days when people could surf anonymously."

AnonX subscriber John Bayreaux, 42, said he understands why record companies want to protect their copyrights, but he disapproves of their attempt to foil peer-to-peer technology. He said he downloads some songs, mainly "international music that is hard to come by," and doesn't want to fear the prying eyes of the RIAA.

Often, proxy technologies can dramatically slow Web surfing because they force data to take extra steps to get relayed to the end user's computer. Bayreaux said AnonX "works like a charm," with no noticeable delays.

2004-02-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

Yet another "Pop Idol" product arrived at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart yesterday (Feb. 15), taking a particularly well-loved Beatles song to the top for a third occasion. English duo Sam And Mark scored an instant bestseller via "With a Little Help From My Friends" (19).

Hmmmm, another one of those totally original brand new artistic discoveries that the major labels should be "paying attention" to....

2004-02-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

Randy Jackson's comments (with my commentary!)

Entertainment - Reuters

Randy Jackson Takes Industry to Task
6:15 PM ET

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Randy Jackson is a hero. And it's not just because the music-industry veteran -- who is a judge on "American Idol" -- has given a lot of great advice in his Hyperion book, "What's Up, Dawg? How to Become a Superstar in the Music Business."

He is not afraid to rock the boat by criticizing the music industry, even though he could easily coast on his success.

(Why should he be afraid, nobodys hiring him. And he IS caosting on his success!)

The industry, Jackson tells Billboard, is "in the toilet" and does not seem to know how to pull itself out of it.

"I think record companies are so out of touch with the public, and that's why the music business is hurting," he says.

(REALLY!? YOU THINK?!)

"The content is bad: The typical album has only two or three songs that matter. have got to figure out a way to get back in touch with what the public wants.

(as opposed to those Idol albums that all have 15 great songs on them!)

"What 'Idol' has proved to me is that the public wants the most talented person, no matter what size or color. Most of the people who've gotten far on 'Idol' are people who would never get a deal from record companies."

(I agree most of the people on Idol wouldnt get a record contract!But most record companies dont get free Prime-time tv exposure to cram any old singer down the American publics throat either! They have to actually work to make the record a success, so it might help if the artist was actually good!)

A noted musician/producer, Jackson previously was a major-label A&R executive (at MCA Records and Columbia Records) who has worked with many of the biggest names in music, including Mariah Carey (news), Whitney Houston (news) and Celine Dion (news). Along with his "American Idol" gig, he manages up-and-coming singers Nikka Costa (news) and Van Hunt.

(Thats true but that was 10 yrs ago, and the major labels made Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, who can actually sing, and Mariah (who married the label head) I would call that coasting on your success, and if hes so great how come nobodys heard of Nikka Costa and Van Hunt?)

Jackson plans to record a solo, jazz-leaning album with guest performers, as well as start his own record label, all within the next year.

(I'm sure he does, so does everyone else!)

As for the third season of "American Idol," which is currently under way, Jackson says, "I think a girl may win this year." As for the show's pop-culture impact, he remarks, "'American Idol' is no fluke. The music industry has got to pay attention."

(Really, a girl will win... you think? American Idol is not a fluke. What exactly should the music industry be paying attention to? Bad karoke singers? You think the Music Industry should all get tv shows, and audition these same people? Good idea, no more Korn,John Mayer,Norah Jones, just more Justins & Kellys!)

Reuters/Billboard

2004-01-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

One thing nobody has brought up or thought of concerning new portable music players that can hold 45 hours of music!
The President of Sony says "people can remove this minidsc and share it with freinds". Of course the freinds have to only have a Sony minidisc player! Do you know anybody who uses one of those things? I actually use it, but for a completely different reason. The recording version can record on a tiny minidisc with CD quality. It runs on 1 AA cell battery, is smaller tham a cigarette pack. I record all my bands albums on it live.The minidiscs are re-usable.I just pull it out of my pocket, plug it into the pa, hit record and
forget about it. Every 80 min, i pop another in.( My band plays 4 hours at a time. You may not need this if you play a standard 45 min set.) But I digress.

IF YOU CAN RECORD 45 HOURS OF MUSIC AND SHARE IT WITH FREINDS WITHOUT USING THE INTERNET, DONT YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL BE COPYING ENTIRE DECADES OF MUSIC, NOT JUST SHARING 1 SONG????????

Who cares about file sharing 1 song, when you can copy the ENTIRE HISTORY OF RECORDED MUSIC for free? They are talking about gigabyte storage of 500,000 songs! How many songs do you have in your entire collection of everything, including vinyl,8-track,cassette,cd,minidisc,MP3,OggVorbis,Windows Media Audio,Sony ATRAC,Apple iPod? Who has time to listen to 500,000 songs? It's like an Encyclopedia! I have one. I don't crack it open every day and read a few chapters. I dont think theres gonna be too much worrying about copying 1 file after this.

2004-01-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

Two months ago Sony made this great announcement, and I am sitting here after the current CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and Apple has already made a cheaper version of its own product, and Sony is announcing that they WILL.... make a version of thier own Minidisc that will hold 45 hours on one disc. It isnt compatible with any other products and will not be cheaper.

2003-11-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

Furthermore, the phenomenal success of iPod has been pointed to as a sign that Sony has lost its innovative magic that spawned the Walkman and proved that a product can "out-cool" Sony in its own backyard.

"The question is why didn't they get into iPod and iTunes like Apple did and they still haven't gotten there," said ING analyst Richard Chu.

Earlier this week, Sony said it would launch a rival to Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod digital music player next year for as little as $60, a price only one-quarter or less than the $200 to $400 Apple charges for various versions of its sleek product.

(Dont forget way back there I posted the breakdown of how the Artist gets absolutely 0% on .99 downloads! So now you have the Labels that make the music and the manufaturers of the playback hardware all arguing over a tiny amount of profit. They're both completely unprofitable,
and shooting at each other and thier customers.

If you make your own music, and sell it on your own website, even if you sell it on CD baby and they take $4, YOU ARE STILL P R O F I T A B L E!!!!!!!!!!! And guess what percentage of profit you get to keep? Oh yeah..
ALL OF IT!
Now think about it............. how much money do you really need to make to be an Artist and play your music and keep on creating more. You dont have to pay:
A Lawyer.
Manager.
Publisher.
Accountants
Publicists
Agents
Secretarys (assistants)
not to mention all of those people are not on your side, they are trying to cheat you!

2003-11-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

If you never understand 1 thing about how
the Music Industry loses money to piracy,
and yet HAS ITS OWN SELF TO BLAME, read this..

Even though Sony's strategy to integrate software and hardware businesses has been replicated by other corporations, such as Microsoft Corp, some industry watchers have suggested the company's entertainment divisions have thwarted growth efforts at its mainstay electronics business. A July article in Barron's suggested that Sony's ties to the music business prevented it from pursuing a product such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod digital music player, due to concerns it might encourage piracy.

2003-11-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

(A little History........)

TOUGH TIMES FOR SONY MUSIC

The announcement of Sony-BMG comes 35 years after Sony first entered the music business in 1968 through a joint venture in Japan with CBS Records, which held 20-percent of the global marketplace at the time.

Two decades later, Sony would acquire all of CBS Records and a year later, it would pay $3.4 billion in cash for Columbia Pictures in what was the largest purchase ever by a Japanese company.

The music and movie businesses became pillars of Sony's strategy to combine its hardware products -- televisions, DVD players and Walkmans -- with hit software titles.

In recent years, Sony Music has fallen on hard times. It cut staff, reduced costs and ousted former head Thomas Mottola, the man credited with jump-starting the career of Mariah Carey (news).

( So if youre smart enough in the business to sign Mariah Carey, promote her,-marry her- become head of the label, you're still gonna get fired!)

2003-11-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

Sony Aims to Tune Out Music Merger Risk

by Daisuke Wakabayashi

TOKYO (Reuters) - The merger of Sony Music and BMG could bring a whole new stable of recording artists to listeners hooked on Sony Corp's electronics, but analysts say the alliance is more about minimizing risk than seeking gain.

The proliferation of file-sharing services such as KaZaa and a weaker retail market pushed Sony's music business -- eight percent of group revenues -- into the red, with an operating loss of $79 million in the year to March 31.

(OK PEOPLE; PAY ATTENTION,

1. Music is only 8% of SONY's business

2. It LOST.......that's right I said LOST...SEVENTY-NINE MILLION $$$$$

(Would you sign away a big chunk of your income to managers and lawyers who would fight to get you signed to that label?)

"This deal might not help in terms of profitability, but this is about Sony minimizing its risk," said Standard & Poor's equity analyst John Yang.

(OK, so HE SAID; the merger of SONY which is UNPROFITABLE, with BMG ....
might STILL NOT BE PROFITABLE????)

The joint venture combines No. 2 Sony, which includes such artists as Beyonce Knowles (news) and Bruce Springsteen (news), with No. 5 BMG that is home to Britney Spears (news) and Elvis Presley (news).

(OK:#2,Beyonce & Sprinsteen are:

NOT PROFITABLE

and even if you combine them with #5, Britney & ELVIS
-and cut all the duplicated jobs,manufacturing,etc-
they will STILL BE;

NOT PROFITABLE)

Analysts, however, dismissed the notion that this would lead to a major bump in earnings.

"We do not see increased size as necessarily leading to increased profits," said Deutsche Securities analyst Fumiaki Sato in a note to clients.

2003-11-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

BMG, Sony Take Lead in Music Merger Race

(4 Majors down to 2+2!)

By Boris Groendahl and Adam Pasick

FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Sony Music and BMG took the lead in the ailing music industry's race to consolidate on Thursday, signing a 50-50 joint venture pact while EMI lined up funds to buy Warner Music.

(Consolidate is a good word. That;s what you do when you're broke.You 'consolidate' your bills, not your profits!)

German media giant Bertelsmann said the company's BMG unit would tie up with Sony Music, linking the world's fifth- and second-largest record companies, but added the deal did not include a cash component. A final agreement is expected within several weeks.

The combined firm would rival market leader Universal Music's 25.9 percent share of global music sales and bring together artists ranging from Sony's Beyonce Knowles (news) and Michael Jackson (news) to BMG's Britney Spears (news) and Pink.

(I'm sure if you were Michael or Beyonce you would think you were top priority at your label, and your lawyer-managers did a lot of dealing-which you gave up a lot of profit for- or the same for Britney & Pink)

The Sony-BMG link-up comes as banks put the final touches to a $1 billion funding package to pay for an EMI Group bid for Time Warner's music arm, sources close to the situation said.

EMI is the world's third-largest record company, and Time Warner's Warner Music is the fourth-largest.
WHO'S IN CONTROL?

A key sticking point in the Sony-BMG talks had been who would control the combined company.

Bertelsmann Chief Executive Gunter Thielen said last month he would aim for a 50-50 joint venture, while Sony USA head Howard Stringer said this week Sony wanted to keep control of Sony Music.

(Oh yeah, theres that sticky point again!)

The top five music labels are fighting declining sales and struggling to slash costs in an industry ravaged by music fans who increasingly download songs from the Internet and "burn" them onto blank compact discs.

Sony Music and BMG have been in talks since discussions between BMG and Time Warner got bogged down in September.

Time Warner has since started exploring a deal to sell Warner Music's recorded music business to EMI Group Plc (news - web sites). Separately, U.S. media billionaire Haim Saban and former Seagram Chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. are also exploring a bid for Warner Music, sources familiar with the situation have said.

An EMI-Warner deal would create a music giant bringing together the Beatles, Frank Sinatra (news), Madonna (news - web sites) and Norah Jones (news).

(Now I'm sure you could agree that The Beatles and Frank Sinatra and Madonna have had about the biggest careers that there are in the Music Business! Now theyre all going to dumped into 1 company.)

2003-11-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

Warner, BMG Close in on Music Merger
Tue Aug 12, 2:21 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters Industry to My Yahoo!

By Merissa Marr, European Media Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - Warner Music and BMG, the music companies behind pop diva Madonna (news - web sites) and queen of soul Aretha Franklin (news), have entered the home stretch in talks over a joint venture and could wrap up a deal next month, sources familiar with the negotiations said.

(If you're Madonna or Aretha, and you were "The Queen" at your respective label, guess what, now you're not!Think of how long it took each of them to achieve that, thier managers and lawyers arguing over all that , as well as getting paid to do it! and now boom! if youre the manager and the lawyer you have to tell this to the client that paid you all thier earnings to be #1 at their label.If youre not the #1, guess what, everybody just got bumped down. If youre close to the bottom, you might as well put up your website and start selling direct!)

Warner Music and its U.S. parent AOL Time Warner, and BMG and its privately-owned German parent Bertelsmann, all declined to comment.

A Warner-BMG combination would rank just behind industry giant Universal Music, bringing together artists ranging from REM and Alanis Morissette (news) to Bjork and Santana in a deal analysts say could be valued in the low single-digit billions of dollars.

(Do you think these artist all want to be lumped together?)

With rampant piracy tearing into global music sales, the two music companies see a tie-up as their best bet for beating the industry blues by offering the prospect of cost savings of $250-$300 million between them each year, the sources said.

(What do you think will be cut in order to save $300 million dollars?What do you think your artist promotional budget will be at a company that is trying to SAVE THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS?)

Warner Music and BMG, which rank as the world's fourth and fifth-biggest music companies respectively, see eye-to-eye on the broad structure of an agreement that would take the shape of a 50-50 joint venture of their recorded music arms, one source said.

But they are still hammering out the details of a deal, which could see one of them put up some money or additional assets to reach a 50-50 split, the source said.

"Size is one issue, but profitability is another, and we have to evaluate both as well as cash flow. The difference is not very big though," the source said.

(PROFITABILITY is the issue. I have the luxury of writing this one way after the fact and you will see as we head toward the current news that PROFITABILITY is the main thing. What if you combine the biggest Music Cos in the world and they are STILL NOT PROFITABLE?)

The industry heavyweights are still negotiating the nuts and bolts of combining their recorded music empires but are closing in on an agreement that would create the world's second-biggest music company, the sources said.

The two sides see industry giant Universal Music as their prototype. Universal Music, part of Vivendi Universal, has dominated the global music scene since its merger with Polygram in the late 1990s, boasting a market share in 2002 of 24.5 percent, with artists ranging from U2 to Eminem (news - web sites).

(In a normal business, 24% is not dominating the market!)

Warner Music and BMG would have a combined global market share just less than Universal Music's but would leapfrog the current number two, Sony Music.

Last year, Warner Music had revenue of $4.2 billion while BMG racked up $2.7 billion. However, those figures include music publishing and Warner's CD/DVD manufacturing business, which would not be part of the joint venture.

(So if you take out the DVD manufacturing- hmmmm selling the same old stuff on a new format-the only thing which music cos know how to do anymore-they are NOT PROFITABLE?)

But who takes what management roles is another issue yet to be finalized. Both Warner Music Chief Executive Roger Ames and BMG CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz are expected to take top roles.

(I'm sure they are! More jobs lost, less people to work for the artists, and yet more artists on the same roster.No priority)

2003-07-09T00:14:00.000-07:00

OK, I am going to break down the new .99 cent download deal for ya!
Looking at the revenue split on a typical 99 cent download sale,

the label is taking home 47 cents per track

(before accounting for production, marketing, promotion and other costs;)

the service provider is grossing 34 cents per track

(before technology, processing and distribution costs); and

the artist takes 10 cents

(before paying out to producers and other collaborators. You have to pay the Standard Royalty rate.The publisher/songwriter share is 8 cents.)

Let's see: THE ARTIST GETS 2 CENTS!! Is your music worth 2 cents??
No matter what method of downloading youre using you have to be making more than 2 cents!!

2003-07-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

Music Biz Seeking Profits at 99 Cents
Sun Jul 6, 1:36 PM ET

By Brian Garrity

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The music industry may have begun to figure out how to sell digital downloads, but making money from them is another story.

As the 99 cent digital singles model begins to take root across the industry through services like Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store, Liquid Audio, Rhapsody and a host of others set to bow for the PC this fall, industry executives and artist representatives are questioning whether the pricing model makes sense financially.

With all parties involved angling for nickels and dimes in the average download sale, labels, artists and service providers all agree on at least one thing: No one is getting rich from singles sales at this point.

"Even though sales look like they're doing fairly well through the iTunes situation, you still have to be doing an enormous amount of downloads for that to become a real income stream," says Whitney Broussard, an attorney with entertainment law firm Selverne, Mandelbaum & Mintz.

Still, digital distribution advocates say the long-term potential is there.

If the industry can figure out how to sell downloads numbering in the tens of millions, labels can theoretically scale back their physical manufacturing costs and enjoy a healthy alternative revenue stream to the CD.

Despite being limited to the percentage of Mac users running OSX, the iTunes service has sold more than 5 million downloads since its April 28 bow. It has average sales of about 500,000 tracks per week, according to sources.

Artist representatives say overall digital download sales must surpass 20 times that 500,000 weekly volume for the pay-per-download business to become economically meaningful once larger PC services kick in.

"Most of these services are not profitable," the head of a leading digital music service acknowledges. "Right now, we're just trying to get people used to paying."

Labels are doing their part by dropping the per-track wholesale price charged to digital services and, in some cases, simplifying royalty payments to artists.

But it's all a work in progress.

Despite encouraging signs from iTunes, high-ranking major-label sources say it is too early to speculate what share of the market downloads will eventually capture.

In an effort to help drive volume, some services are trying lower prices. Listen.com, for instance, has dropped the price of its burnable tracks to 79 cents.

"We think on an ongoing basis the price point would be better off being somewhere between 50 cents and $1, not necessarily a dollar," listen.com chief executive Sean Ryan says.

But Listen's offer is in the context of a subscription service. For a la carte download stores, there is little room for price elasticity.

Looking at the revenue split on a typical 99 cent download sale, it is clear that all parties have thin margins.

On average, the label is taking home 47 cents per track before accounting for production, marketing, promotion and other costs; the service provider is grossing 34 cents per track before technology, processing and distribution costs; and the artist takes 10 cents before paying out to producers and other collaborators. The publisher/songwriter share is 8 cents.

That's assuming the label is selling tracks at a 65 cent wholesale rate and that the artist is receiving an album royalty rate with no deductions applied.

Those conditions can vary, depending on the label, the artist's deal and the service provider.

Apple, for instance, pays a straight 65 cent wholesale rate for tracks, sources say.

With other services, the situation is not as cut-and-dried. The major labels are wholesaling tracks to them for as low as 52 cents and as high as 80 cents.

Some labels wholesale at a fixed rate; others have variable prices.

In the latter case, tracks from superstar acts and prerelease radio singles can wholesale at premium rates north of $1. The price then slides based on availability at retail of a physical single and length of time in the market.

There are also variables with the service provider in terms of distribution model.

For example, Yahoo and Best Buy, which serve as distribution affiliates, typically take 10-15 cents on the sale of each track.

Credit card transaction processing fees also help determine how much the service provider nets from download sales.

When consumers purchase a single track, or even a small number of tracks, the service provider loses money on the sale because the base processing fee for each purchase is at least 25 cents. The fee drops on a per-track basis as transactions get larger.

To address this, services encourage bulk purchases or mandate the purchase of prepaid bundles to spread out credit card transaction costs.

The labels' profit is likewise dependent on wholesaling strategies, artist deals and other expenses, including publishing fees.

Under copyright law, the labels must pay the full mandated per-track mechanical rate to publishers and songwriters for digital singles.

Also, tracks longer than five minutes receive a larger publishing royalty.

Additional potential expenses include digital rights management technology fees, the digital equivalent of co-op advertising and bad debt.

"People look at downloads and say, OThe record company is making out, because they don't have to manufacture a record.' But in fact, the margin can be lower for a download than a record," says a senior VP at one major-label group.

As far as artist payments are concerned, some labels pay out on the artist's album royalty rate--typically a 15% royalty on the wholesale price. Others give artists a royalty rate for singles sales, which is 12% on average.

It also differs from label to label whether deductions are taken on technology (typically 20%), packaging (20%) and free goods (15%) before paying royalties on a permanent download. Such deductions are standard with sales of physical CDs.

Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group are considered to be at the forefront of progressive wholesale and compensation efforts.

Both label groups announced last year that they would not deduct such fees in digital singles sales.

Artists also have to split up their take with producers and other collaborators.

For example, if a hip-hop song features a star producer, samples and guest vocalists, the artist can be left with only a few cents.

"It can be a very small amount of money," Broussard says. "Even with respect to the artist getting the state-of-the-art, artist-friendly provisions, we're still talking about a few pennies."

To date, download economics have not been an area of much concern for artists and their handlers because of the limited revenue opportunity.

But artist representatives warn that the jury is still out on the economic model for downloads, as far as artists are concerned.

Veteran manager Irving Azoff points out that many digital distribution deals are short-term licenses and that "there are going to have to be renegotiations later."

He adds, "If this thing really connects, they're going to have to go back to artists and pay more of the 50/50 model than the 80/20 model they're trying to do right now."

Reuters/Billboard

2003-06-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

Recently the Record Companies were all found guilty of "price-fixing" and were ordered to pay the public $75 million dollars.1 of the 5 majors left is trying to sell the co. The other 4 are seriously talking about consolidating all thier operations.Several major record store chains are operating at a loss and some are for sale & some already sold.And now they're going to sue the public in order to raise cash.I think it's just about over for the majors. It's time to throw in the towel,boys. Even the dot-coms recognized that moment.The real question for Independent artists is what do you do now? If you were still hoping that a major was going to sign you & promote & distribute your product,you are wrong! Even if they did, who in thier right mind would want to be signed to that? The time is definitely now to get your own label & promotion & distribution ideas together, because very soon it will be the only option!

2003-06-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

The Media takeover in the form of a bill that allows more radio stations (and television and Newspaper)to be owned by one company which was PASSED by the F.C.C. (Federal Communications Corporation)amazingly is now about to be stopped and reversed by Congress.This is because SO many people wrote AND E-MAILED thier Congressmen.Amazingly, the bill that allows fewer people to own and control the Media, which should have passed since the few Media outlets did not report on this story, was defeated by the MANY small media outlets (the Internet and PBS)which not only DID report on the story, but included links to email congressmen constantly! This has to be taken as a very positive sign for Independent artists everywhere, because in the one cause that certainly has NOT improved with the use of the computer, Radio, we have managed a first small victory!The main reson that artists cannot get thier music heard on radio nowadays is that Clear Channel 9and others) own all the stations and have such a small restricted playlist. Whae an srttists is talking about thier Promotional campaign, the subject of radio comes u0p becausre it has always been a traditional means of exposing the public to a new artist

2003-06-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

EMI's Chairman makes 1 million salary, his predecessor made 2 million. The new Chairman was told to make profit, so he cut 2000 jobs.The Majors are taking pay cuts AND cutting jobs. By the way, what jobs do you think he cut? If you were an artist signed to EMI, what jobs would you want cut? SALES force maybe? Would you want LESS people out selling your product? By the way, from the previous article, this would mean that they were trying to convince chain stores like Musicland & Tower, that are operating at a loss and near bankruptcy, to take huge amounts of your product and NOT PAY FOR THEM.So all that would happen is your product would get a lot of exposure to a lot of people so that when you tour and come to town, people know who you are and come out, so you can get the gate reciepts for your profit. Well, you might as well just give away your music on downloads! It's a lot of free exposure to your music by a lot of people! (And you dont have to deal with all those pesky industry types!)

2003-06-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

TOWER Records operating at a loss!
The Tower records chain RE-posted its profit & LOSS statement to reflect that out of the LAST 3 YEARS the 1 quarter that it made a profit (by SELLING off an entire Japanese operation!) actually wasn't a profit either because they misstated the actual selling price! (These guys can't even make a profit by QUITTING the business!) Theyre trying to sell it, nobody wants to buy it,Best Buy just had to give away the Musicland chain.If they go bankrupt or even sell the chain cheap,all the Major's product may go unpaid! And yet, people still say that Internet sales aren't a big deal, and some naive artists still hope to get signed to a Major.Remember, one big reason to sell your product over the Internet ( and at live shows) is that you don't sell on consignment! Remember the Majors (and, unfortunately,Indies!) "sell" thier product by inducing stores to take it on consigment.No matter how you look at it, that in itself is not really a sale.That's why you always hear them talking about "returns". (The old joke about Garth Brooks' album, is that it shipped: Gold and returned: Platinum!) If you don't yet believe that the traditional brick&mortar retail method of the Music Industry is over.... just keep reading the news!

2003-05-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting quote from a year ago during the Napster days....
"Meanwhile, mega mangers, Jim Guerinot (No Doubt, Offspring and Beck) and attorney, Gary Stiffelman (Eminem, Aerosmith and TLC) have estimated that their clients will make less than two 1000ths of a penny ($.0023 ) for each "sale" or download of music on the major labels' versions of Napster. This is far less than the amount Napster offered to pay artists in their attempt to settle out of court with the RIAA several months back."

2003-05-17T02:59:00.000-07:00

Ok so Apple's selling a million $0.99 per song downloads.Hmmmm... Its good that they convinced the record labels to let people do what they want with the downloaded versions. A couple of interesting points have been raised, though. First, $0.99 per song is the same price you pay per song at the store on a regular cd! Second, theres no physical marketing/packaging cost on a download.Third;the artists is getting the same amount of royalty!Apple os good at getting temporary quick publicity.This trend needs to translate to PC users (Macs are 3% of the total market) I can't imagine how Apple's main concern in all this is helping artists (the royalty structure alone is kind of a rip-off) and why they would EVER want to be doing anything for PC/Windows users.

2003-05-15T00:26:00.000-07:00

Green Room Productions is teaming up with Warner Brothers/Reprise Records to hold a showcase at the Curtain Club on June 26th.

Warner Brothers/Reprise A&R will be reviewing all submitted materials, selecting the bands chosen to play and in attendance at the showcase. Green Room Productions will be giving away great prizes (studio time, CD packages, posters, flyers, etc.) that any band in attendance will be eligible to win.

This is an open call for all bands who want a chance to play at this showcase. You'll have the opportunity to play in front of Warner/Reprise A&R reps as well as some of the industry's most influential managers, lawyers, publicists and booking agents. Also Green Room Productions will be giving away free studio time, CD duplication packages, and poster & flyer packages which all bands in attendance will have the opportunity to win.

All Submissions can be sent to:

ATTN: Showcase Submissions
Green Room Productions
1300 E. Arapaho, Ste. 101
Richardson, TX 75081

Send your press kits and demos along with the following information:
1) Name of Band:
2) Mailing Address:
3) City, State ZIP:
4) Phone:
5) Email:
6) Website:
7) Genre or description of sound and style:
8) Number of Members:
10) Please list name and age of band members:
11) How long has band been playing together?
12) What venues has your band played before?
13) What is your average crowd draw?
14) Have you recorded an album?
15) If yes, where did you record it and approx. how many copies have you sold?

2003-05-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

John Mayer allows taping at his concerts! Phish does this, also. It encourages people to share tapes with friends, effectively using them as an unofficial Street Team.It also encourages people to attend more than 1 show. John Mayer does not like to perform new material at shows for this reason.

16/03, 7 a.m. ET) -- If you're planning to attend a John Mayer/Counting Crows concert this summer don't forget to bring your microphone and audio recording equipment. The Grammy Award-winner allows his fans to record most of his live shows, according to his official website johnmayer.com, although the site notes that "no soundboard or power feeds are provided" and "wireless receivers are strictly prohibited."

The posting on Mayer's website also warns, "All recordings must be used for personal use or trading only. Selling or commercializing any recording is illegal and will jeopardize taping privileges for everyone."

The website also provides an e-mail and a fax number for fans to use if they should come across bootleg copies of live performances being sold illegally by retailers.

Mayer and the Counting Crows' co-headlining summer tour begins July 7 in Englewood, Colorado, and concludes September 2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The two acts will play more than 35 shows during the trek.

Due to heightened security measures some venues may not permit recording equipment, so it is best to first check with local concert venues.

2003-05-14T01:44:00.000-07:00

Internet Radio is starting to catch on, people! Bet you did'nt know they do Arbitron Surveys!
Check this out! (you might be able to reach a lot more people than you thought!)

Live365 Ranks As The Number One Internet Broadcast Network

NEW YORK, April 24, 2003 – Live365 was ranked the number one Internet Broadcast Network with 2,260,465 hours of Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) for the week of April 7, according to Arbitron MeasureCast Ratings.

Chaincast/StreamAudio was ranked the number two Internet Broadcast Network with 1,664,514 hours of TTSL, the sum total of hours tuned by listeners to a given station or network. MUSICMATCH was ranked number three with 1,296,186 hours of TTSL.

MUSICMATCH Artist Match was ranked the top Internet radio station with 303,203 hours of TTSL. WQXR was ranked number two with 216,468 hours of TTSL. JazzFM was ranked number three with 213,333 hours of TTSL.

As Arbitron MeasureCast ratings transitions to a subscription-only service, some stations previously reported in the Arbitron MeasureCast ratings have elected not to subscribe to the service and will no longer be included in the ratings. The ratings also may not reflect all tuning for the measured stations or channels since Arbitron may have received incomplete or unusable server data.

Demographic Highlights for the Week of April 7 – April 13
* The peak listening day was Wednesday, April 9, with 20 percent of the week's online listening.
* 77 percent of weekly online listening took place between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time.
* 13 percent of the week's total listening took place during the weekend.
* 85 percent of the measured listeners were between the ages of 18 and 54.
* 70 percent of listeners were men; 30 percent were women.
* In the U.S., 34 percent of listeners resided in the South; 29 percent in the West; 19 percent in the Northeast; and 18 percent in the Midwest.

Top 10 Internet Broadcast Networks (April 7 – April 13)

Rank Company TTSL CUME
1 Live365.com 2,260,465 450,419
2 Chaincast/StreamAudio 1,664,514 224,935
3 MUSICMATCH 1,296,186 358,034
4 Warp Radio 769,893 139,622
5 Moontaxi 586,529 79,039
6 SurferNETWORK 492,498 48,526
7 StreamGuys 483,888 145,264
8 ABC Radio Network 362,482 74,396
9 Clear Channel Worldwide 347,253 67,474
10 Virgin Radio 321,534 65,574

2003-05-14T01:38:00.000-07:00

Some musicians are having a hard time when clubowners say they can't afford to pay for Live Music because BMI & ASCAP come by and tell them they have to pay royalties for all the music in thier club(including the radio!) One musician took the case to court, claiming he only plays his OWN compositions, so why would the clubowner have to pay royalties to BMI & ASCAP (for other composers!) He won the case!

In a landmark opinion, the United States Copyright Office has affirmed the right of musicians to perform original compositions copyrighted in their own names, and traditional music in the public domain, anywhere they want to, whether or not the venue has a license from ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. The opinion comes in response to an inquiry from Congressman John M. McHugh (R, NY) on behalf of Richard Hayes Phillips, a performing musician.

Mr. Phillips had lost a job as the only musician at Schemmy's Restaurant in Rhinebeck, New York, after the owners received a series of threatening letters from BMI, a worldwide publishing empire that, along with ASCAP and SESAC, owns the rights to "virtually" every song published in the United States. BMI had demanded that Schemmy's pay an annual license fee, over and above what they might be assessed for the playing of recorded music, or cease the live performances. Mr. Phillips has never joined ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, nor does he perform any songs licensed by them, nor has he assigned his copyrights to anyone. He decided to contest BMI's demands.

Marilyn Kretsinger, Assistant General Counsel at the Copyright Office, upheld each of Mr. Phillips' contentions. In her words, "BMI has the authority to issue a license only for those songs that are in its catalogue of representation." If Schemmy's does not "publicly perform songs represented by BMI, then Schemmy's need not obtain a BMI license."

Ms. Kretsinger further states, "With respect to the musical compositions that Mr. Phillips has authored, no performance license is necessary since Mr. Phillips is the copyright owner of those songs." With respect to traditional folk songs in the public domain, if he is "not performing a copyrighted arrangement of a public domain folk song, then a BMI license is not required."

The opinion has far-reaching implications for independent musicians and for the entrepreneurs who hire them. No venue is in need of a performance license unless one or more of its musicians are performing compositions or arrangements copyrighted and licensed through ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. The copyright owner enjoys exclusive performance rights and, therefore, the exclusive right to profit from their performance.

Richard Hayes Phillips
4 Fisher Street
Canton, NY 13617
richardhayesphillips@yahoo.com

All related correspondence is posted at
http://www.northnet.org/minstrel , Appendix BMI.

2003-05-14T01:09:00.000-07:00

Not to be outdone: XM Satellite Radio is offering to partner up & feature some unsigned band music.You have to send a demo, and get picked, but hey you can get on the radio!

2003-05-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a new one for you: these new models are coming out fast & furious. Like the weather in Texas, don't like the New Music Industry model you've got now? Just wait a while!
Satellite radio. No royalties to artists.No charge to artists.
www.eoradio.com

2003-05-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

At 99 cents a download with virtually no restrictions on how and where the songs can be played, Apple's service for Macintosh users is proving to be the most promising alternative yet to free, pirated music.

"The hardest part was to convince the labels that 99-cents-a-download is a legitimate business," said Josh Bernoff, an industry analyst at Forrester Research.

(hmmmmm. I wonder if anyone at a label ever heard of singles?45's maybe...?)

"If it weren't for Steve Jobs' persistence, I don't think this would have happened," said Hilary Rosen, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America and its most vocal piracy fighter.
Jobs hit the right chord with artists and with some of the very record executives who had, two years ago, accused him of encouraging piracy.

(hmmmmm....apparently record executives are the last people qualified to actually recognize piracy when they see it!Let alone testify in Congress as to it's definition!)

Because Apple commands less than 3 percent of the desktop computer market, the iTunes Music Store amounts to a trial run, Rosen said.

More importantly, Jobs struck at the right time.
After two years of declining CD sales, unabated online piracy and lukewarm consumer interest for its own online subscription services, the industry was ready for something new.

That Apple's store sold a million tracks in the week following its April 28 launch apparently shocked record executives, who said they would have been satisfied with a million in a month.

Customers can keep the songs indefinitely, play them on any number of iPod portable players and burn unlimited copies onto CDs.
By contrast, industry-backed music services such as pressplay and MusicNet require monthly fees and disable songs once subscriptions end.

Singer-songwriter Janis Ian, a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee and vocal critic of her industry's anti-piracy tactics,said
"You can't call it visionary because they should have come up with this five years ago," she said. "It's ironic that a computer manufacturer is teaching the record industry the next step, and so far, that's what's happening."

Microsoft Corp., too, is entering the online music fray next week with MSN Radio Plus. Though it will initially charge $4.99 a month for streaming listening to music while connected online MSN may one day match Apple's per-song downloading onto computers, said Hadi Partovi, general manager of MSN Entertainment.

"Microsoft is glad to see the labels are providing more flexibility. They're providing that to anybody, not just to Apple," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said. "We think we can help the labels..."
Dan Sheeran, vice president of marketing at RealNetworks, sent Apple a thank-you e-mail. Apple "is really good at getting a lot of attention and other people tend to get the economic benefit."

___

I don't know if I need to comment too much on this one! Maybe you all can draw your own conclusions. But i do think the Record Industry has lost it's way completely and is waiting to be told what to do. Some people in the computer indistry have lost thier way as well, and are good at finding the NEXT (sorry, inside computer joke!) big thing and telling everyone what it is.

2003-04-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

You (bands) should all be forming "Street Teams' of people who support you & want to help. And you should be giving them a little something extra (cds,stickers,t-shirts) for helping! And you should have somone at the door of your gig, to make sure people who are coming to see you are counted at the door. Also you should have an email list.One band said they increased thier email address list greatly by hiring a local model to be the email list person & walk around the club! (Good idea!)

2003-04-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

Bands who are trying to get people to gigs! I know it's hard! Not everybody wants to leave the house, get off the net, drive downtown, drink or not drink, figure out how to get home safely....some bands have come up with an idea. It takes a little doing, but it does work!They get a bus ( maybe they rent some kind of school bus?) provide beer (!) in a cooler, drive the people to the gig (included in thier special ticket price) they all party there and back, and they get driven home! These bands can PROMISE to deliver a crowd to the clubowners! Ok, it's a little work, but it's one solution!

2003-04-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmm.... Apple pissed off the Industry with thier slogan "Rip.Mix,Burn" in order to sell more Macs....now the Industry wants to join up with them to start a download/subscription service........except it only works on Macs...............

2003-04-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

Streaming MP3 from your website in the browser!

2003-04-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am going to have to start keeping track of all the experiments in new entertainment distribution systems to see what happens to them.Whatever happened to Steven King's idea of writing 1 chapter of a book, allowing downloads for $1.00, or maybe .99, and if enough people downloaded them, he would keep on writing? I seem to remember he quit doing it.If it does'nt work for HIM, it ain't gonna work for us! I don't know, it's still a cool idea.

2003-04-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Billboard) - New Jersey-based artist Pat DiNizio, lead singer/songwriter of the Smithereens, has founded Patrons & Artists Together, a boutique entertainment partnership meant to fund his recording and touring projects and reward participants with a unique music experience, as well as provide free music via the Internet.

Limited to 100 subscribers at a cost of $1,200 each, the program offers CD releases that will not be available through conventional channels, private concerts, and more.

In a statement, DiNizio describes Patrons & Artists Together business model as "a 'vision quest' in which an artist partners up with his or her audience to make an end run around the way that business is done these days in the ever-imploding music industry."

Once underway, subscribers will receive a numbered and autographed copy of the two-disc set "This Is Pat DiNizio," which the artist says was equally inspired by the Beatles' "White Album" and the Rick Rubin-produced "American Recordings" albums by Johnny Cash (news). Subsequent albums -- including "Dark Standards," an album of standards on which DiNizio is backed by a jazz quartet and big band, a remix set, a Christmas album, a children's album, and a collection of demos for the next Smithereens release -- will follow about every four months.

Subscribers will also receive 50 copies of each album to distribute to friends and family members. Abbreviated versions of the releases will also appear online for free download by the general public, along with CD artwork.

Beyond the recorded music, DiNizio will perform a private "living room concert" for each patron, which includes DVD and audio copies of the performance for all in attendance. Each show will be coupled with a fund raising or charity performance to benefit a local organization of the patron's choice. Other perks include Smithereens tickets and backstage passes, and Patrons & Artists Together t-shirts.

"I believe that I've come up with a solution for any type of artist, emerging or established, to make his or her music available online for free to anyone in the world -- and still earn a living," DiNizio says. For more specific details on the venture, visit DiNizio's official Web site (http://www.patdinizio.com).

Reuters/VNU

Ok, I am going to analyze this deal and break it down as though it were the budget of a new label. (Because basically, this is what he's doing. Offering this as a model of the New Music Industry. We want to check out every new model that comes along and see if it will work for us. Don't forget he is an Artist, so he sees this from the point of view of just himself.)

Basically you are acting as your own label.You have a budget of 120,000
How are you going to spend it to promote your artist (you!)
1.print 25,000 cds
100 t shirts
2.give them away
3. give the artist no money for tour support, do no radio promotion, no publicity, you can't book a tour because he's too busy going to his friends' houses, and his better-known band can't tour either.

$120,00
100 2-disc cds
x50x100
Jazz 5000
Childrens 5000
remix 5000
Christmas 5000
demos 5000
Total 25,000
100 2-discsets 25,200

100 concerts
plus charity concert
200 concerts
(365 days =year?)
How are you going to book all the shows so they don't conflict w/people's personal schedules?
You get free backstage passes to Smithereens shows(when are they gonna play? he's busy going door-to-door 200 days/yr & how would you book the Smithereens' tour?)

DVD & audio copies for each house concert attendee?
50 ea? 100cds?x 100=1000cds
26,200 cds
each cd $4.00
x26,200
$104,800
$120,000
- 104,800
100 t shirts=$4.00 each
$400.00
$15,200
-400
$14,800 that would leave 250/wk salary (minimum wage) for the Artist (you're probably already making that now, hopefully more?)
no money for travel, (tour support)
no advertising
promotion, radio,retail (NO retail)
but free downloads for the rest of the world?
hmmmmmmmmmmm

If a label offered you that deal, most people would say don't sign!
If you just went out on your own (like you probably are now!) and SOLD 25,000 cds at only $10 each you would make 250,000,(over twice as much) reach way more people plus charge gate receipts for concerts & keep that money! You would sell shirts for 15, keep that money!
Sell dvds of a concert $20 ea. keep that money!
IMNSHO: I think you are just asking 100 of your closest friends for a loan.
You might as well go to a bank & start a label at least you could write off stuff.

2003-04-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

HOW TO USE PIRACY TO COMBAT PIRACY (and sell more records!)

Radiohead says a thief stole thier music... and put it out all over the Web.But they're not really MAD at the thief.And the real record is coming right out and the Thief stole the early mixes, not the good ones, the good ones are available at retail.All thier previous records were leaked on the net.They all sold REALLY well. This record is called "Hail To The Thief".If you have a record released on a label, you have a Promotions budget and a Publicity budget.The Label might even hire an ouside Promotions company and /or Publicity company. One with a good track record might be expensive. But if they cause you to sell a lot of records, it would be worth it.Radiohead generated a huge amount of publicity and promotion with this free press announcement (no need to have good press connections, it's news!) about a topic that is hot right now, actually using the topic iteslf to combat the problem itself! (Now that's up-to-the-minute!) Does anyone think maybe they LEAKED THE TRACKS THEMSELVES!! If this has happened to them on every previous record, would'nt you think they would have taken some steps to prevent it? (Methinks they dost protest too much!) Take a lesson, people! This is how to use piracy to combat piracy and sell more records! Of course, they're Radiohead and you're not! But, try to see how you can use this strategy to your own advantage. News releases are cheaper than Publicity companies. (A smart Publicity company would have thought of this, and charged the client a LOT of money! Hmmmmm.......maybe they did!)

2003-04-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmmmmm Courtney Love doesn't want to be on a Label... labels are Evil. We must overthrow the evil Labelz! We music do everything in our power, we must testify before Congress and create Organizations.......
Today in the News: Courtney Love wants to be on a Label. A BIG Label. EMI.

2003-04-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Future Music Past
We are keeping up with the State of Music while being aware of its past.
Its seems Musicians of the World have long wished for certain things to come to pass.............and now they have.What will the future be like? How will we shape it?