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yahoo

Hoping to boost revenue, MySpace Music has begun experimenting with audio advertisements that users must hear if they want to listen to music for free online. The 30-second ads began appearing last week when users listen to songs on artist profiles, album pages, playlists and pop-out players. They expand on a trial that began in [...]

californiachronicle

Universal Music Publishing Group’s global chairman and CEO David Renzer is warning 2010 could be the most challenging year yet for music publishers, but is optimistic his company will grow its revenues. Renzer says UMPG, the world’s biggest music publisher, performed strongly in 2009 when it beat its targets and will “push hard” for [...]

nydailynews

It’s MTV, minus the “music television.” The network that launched the video about killing the radio star has redesigned its iconic logo - to take out the music video.
The new look, revealed on-air yesterday, features the original 3-D large “M” with the small, graffiti-style “tv” on the right side. But the new design is expanded, [...]

usatoday

Steve – I saw you on TV discussing how a woman who owned a cookie business reinvented it by tapping the wholesale market. In this economy, I bet there are a lot of people who would like to reinvent their business, but going wholesale is not a viable option. I am a lawyer for instance. [...]

diymusician.cdbaby

With live streaming becoming increasingly popular among the indie music community, our friends over at Justin.tv gave us this tutorial to get artists up to speed with using their site. If you’re not familiar with Justin.tv, it’s definitely worth a look as they have tools geared specifically for musicians.
Justin.tv is a free YouTube-like site [...]

knowthemusicbiz

Imagine you’re at a busy metropolitan airport. The luggage carousel goes around, and people stop by, check the luggage tags, and pick up their belongings. As the day wanes, though, there are still lots of suitcases left on the conveyer belt with no luggage tags and no one to claim them. Now, what if I [...]

links.assetize

The Minneapolis rapper known as Dessa doesn’t have a typical hip-hop profile, but her talent more than compensates. Maggie Wander, 28, graduated from the University of Minnesota at 20, and then worked as a medical writer. She co-founded an a cappella group called the Boy Sopranos. She’s an outspoken fan of Jeff Buckley and the [...]

starpulse

Ozzy Osbourne’s long-awaited autobiography is an official hit in the U.S. - the book has landed on the New York Times bestseller list. I Am Ozzy, which chronicles the shock rocker’s rise to international fame, has hit the number two spot on the “hardcover nonfiction” list.
The book was originally scheduled to arrive in 2008 but [...]

futureofmusicbook

If you are trying to make money selling recordings, or producing them you are selling into a market that is auguring into the earth. If you are a pure-play label – either cash out soon and go home before it’s really too late, or start writing a new business plan. It is time [...]

gigwise

Michael Jackson’s doctor has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter over the singer’s death. Dr Conrad Murray entered his plea during a short court hearing in Los Angeles earlier today (February 8). A judge must now decide if the case is to go to trial. If found guilty, Dr Murray faces up [...]

press release

Just Music is a music management and record company dedicated to the development and personal management of new talent from around the world. Just Music has brought together a talented and growing group of young artists ready to expand their careers while following the core objectives of Just Music. The team at [...]

press release

Miami-based music producer Thomas Demerritte, who is also Founder and President of the non-profit ADMIT Program, has just published the first-of-its-kind book for young readers about the music industry. That’s a Rap! - A Music Industry Sourcebook for Generation Next (funded and distributed through Demerritte’s Tavette Entertainment Group) is an easy to read 160-page [...]

tmcnet

SmarTrend identified a Downtrend for Warner Music (NYSE:WMG) on November 24, 2009 at $5.55. In approximately 3 months, Warner Music has returned 13.7% as of today’s recent price of $4.79. Warner Music is currently below its 50-day moving average of $5.39 and below its 200-day moving average of $5.57. Look for these moving averages to [...]

flavorwire

The Unsound Festival New York kicked off Thursday and will continue to dominate a variety of venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn through Valentine’s Day. This stateside version of the renowned Polish event seeks to move beyond the bounds of techno, drum ‘n bass, and house, to expose an electronic music world that’s more than computer-generated [...]

Heather McDonald

Let’s talk some basics today - licensing versus distribution. Now, the word “licensing” can have a few different applications in the music realm, but let’s take it in the sense of licensing as a flipside/alternative to getting a distribution deal.
First, you’re right - digital distribution options like Tunecore make a lot of these considerations [...]

411mania

A recent study from the Wharton Business School on the actual cost and process involved in digital music has revealed some interesting information. In this case, it has pretty much proved what most people have been saying all along – We’re paying to much.
What is real interesting is that the study found that the real [...]

Musicthinktank

Question:

You are a musician and you want to sell your music on digital retail sites. You are deciding between two digital distributors to deliver your new album to retailers. The two distributors, Distributor A and Distributor B, have different payment terms and fees.

* Distributor A charges a one-time album [...]

latimesblogs.latimes

The Times is exploring how the Internet and social media are reshaping the recording industry in an occasional series of stories called “Broken Record.” Here’s a link to the first story by pop culture writer Geoff Boucher. Geoff explains the idea behind the series in this video:

pbs

The exponential growth of Internet bandwidth combined with the ability to significantly compress digital audio has impacted the music industry in numerous ways, for better and worse. Just as file trading created a massive network of pirated music, the ability to stream audio in real-time has allowed for a number of innovative content distribution and [...]

nytimes

The closing of storied music sites, often accompanied by protest, fund-raising and other exercises in futility, has become a recurring spectacle in this growing city, where the official stationery carries the legend “Live Music Capital of the World.”
People tend to blame the latest influx of Californians, reliably traced to the latest technology boom associated [...]

Sohh

Rap mogul Jay-Z has reportedly given his official co-sign on music newcomer Susan Boyle and suggested the former reality television star make a run in the clothing business.According to Young Hov, Boyle represents a vast majority of women.
“What Susan’s achieved is unbelievable. Everybody wants a piece of her and the market for her is [...]

knowthemusicbiz

As an indie artist you have no job security, no constant paycheck and no retirement plan. You might not be able to do much about the first two but you can definitely do something about the last, the retirement plan. As a self employed musician you can invest in your future and save [...]

undercover.com.au

Massive Attack have commissioned a series of short films to promote their new album. For the launch of their new album ‘Heligoand’ Massive Attack have got together some of the most talented independent film directors around to choose a song from the album and produce a short film on their chosen subject to accompany it.
www.heligoland-films.massiveattack.com
There [...]

musiclicensingmoney

I think if you want to get into the world of production music and music licensing in general then I would study the pros. Do anything and everything they are doing because most television, film productions are using their services and music in one way or another so it’s great to pay attention to what [...]

press release

Valence Records makes its debut with 96kHz audiophile downloads in electronica, jazz and contemporary music. Elite musicians, superior recording quality and new technology for international distribution lead the way to the future of the music business. “This is a time of great opportunity for creative arts and the music business! It’s all about collaboration. [...]

prohiphop

A press release from the Nielsen Company and Billboard titled “The Nielsen Company and Billboard’s 2009 Canadian Industry Report” isn’t really about Canada’s music industry as a whole but about album and single sales in Canada. That said, it’s well worth a look.
What bothers me about these reports is that they only look at sales [...]

abclocal.go

Bruce Springsteen wants his name off a lawsuit demanding licensing fees from a N.Y. bar where a band played his songs. A statement on Springsteen’s Web site said he didn’t know about the lawsuit that was filed Wednesday in federal court and wouldn’t have agreed to be a plaintiff if he had been asked.
It says [...]

youtube

Recorded on my iPhone in Frankfort, Illinois, United States. Carl Terrell Mitchell, better known by his stage name Twista (formally Tung Twista), is an American rapper who once held the title of fastest emcee in the world, according to the Guinness World Records in 1992, being able to pronounce 11.2 syllables per second.[1] His 2004 [...]

topspinmedia

I was honored and excited to present on the topic of Managing, Measuring, and Marketing with Data for the MidemNet Academy last week in Cannes, France. I crafted the presentation to be more of an educational tool, which shares data from our Topspin direct to fan marketing campaigns and related best practices. There are links [...]

radioandmusic

Composer and music producer Biddu, who is considered one of the pioneers of the indie-pop music was conferred the 5th Jack Daniels Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday evening in Mumbai. The 60 plus musician shuttles between London and Spain and is currently in India to promote his autobiographical work ‘Made in India’.
After scoring [...]

jam.canoe.ca

Rockers 30 Seconds To Mars called off a screening of their documentary in Los Angeles on Thursday night following a bomb scare.
The band, fronted by Jared Leto, was due to show the film to fans at The Hive venue in West Hollywood, but the event was scrapped and the building evacuated after a man rushed [...]

mio.co.za

A South African Afrikaans rap group has taken the Internet by storm with explicit in-your-face lyrics, provocative performances and using cyberspace to promote their music. A website set up by the group, Die Antwoord (The Answer), received millions of visits in the past four days, crashing the server it was hosted on after the group [...]

Bob Lefsetz

There was a space in my bookcase where I kept my cash, waiting for four bucks to accumulate…then I went and bought an album, which I played again and again until I knew every cut, until I accumulated enough money to buy another, when I repeated the process. You see, music was scarce.
Now [...]

digitalmusicnews

Facebook may have entertained the possibility of a dedicated music play in the past, a la MySpace Music. But the company has since shifted its sensibilities, at least according to recent statements. “We have no plans to launch a music service on Facebook,” a representative told TechCrunch, responding to an inquiry related to [...]

news.bbc.co.uk

Record company EMI has reported an annual pre-tax loss of £1.75bn in the year to 31 March 2009 and said it needed more money to stay afloat. The results for EMI, which has deals with Robbie Williams and Coldplay, include more than £1bn in write-offs.
The firm has been hit by illegal downloading and the move [...]

spinme

Over the past few months, I’ve seen a huge surge of interest in my third book, Music Management for the Rest of Us. It could be that a bunch of folks are thinking about pursuing music industry careers, in the wake of crazy layoffs all over the United States. But it’s also likely that more [...]

wendyday

I gotta state right upfront that I am biased against 360 Deals. I understand WHY they exist, I just find them unfairly oppressive in the label’s favor in an industry with a draconic history of jerking artists out of money. I stopped negotiating deals for artists in 2005 because I refuse to do [...]

nahright

Quiet as kept, Swizz Beats sampled Justice’ monster “D.A.N.C.E.” record for Jay-Z’s “On To The Next One” off Blueprint 3. If you don’t remember the words “on to the next one” being mentioned on the Justice song, it’s because Swizz chopped up the words “under the spotlight” and looped it for the chorus. Either way, [...]

blog.syracuse

The headline from Big Machine Media screams: Take YOUR Turn for Success. The No Label Needed Contest and Series wants bands to enter. Through Monday, Feb. 8, “unsigned acts can submit demo packages” at this metalinsider link. Twenty finalists will be picked; they’ll go before a vote of the public as well as a panel [...]

latimesblogs.latimes

One of my favorite economic policy bloggers, Matt Yglesias, started a kerfuffle the other day with a frighteningly commonplace point about the vain fight of creative producers against free content online, especially vis-a-vis music file-trading. In short, he proposed that in a perfect marketplace for music,
“The price of a song [...]

baltimoresun

Clarence Copeland Greenwood isn’t fond of labels. Critics have struggled to categorize his music. He’s heard it described as everything from alternative rock to urban funk. “You’ve got to listen to it,” said Greenwood, 41, who performs as Citizen Cope. “It’s got certain sensibilities of American pop. It includes music forms of R&B to country [...]

press release

.music (DOT MUSIC) has surpassed 2 million global subscribers, friends, followers, fans and petitioners across social media platforms, including Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. It is a clear, powerful showing of support to the much-anticipated .music Top-Level Domain (TLD).
“The .music domain extension is about giving the global music community a unique identity and a highly [...]

press release

The Music Tee, the newest and most innovative way to enjoy music, is excited to announce that they have signed blanket deasl with several record labels, including Warner Brothers, Interscope, Downtown Records, Shangra-La, Knitting Factory, Dim Mak and several other indie labels. Described by the Los Angeles Times as “a novel approach to music [...]