INNOVATION | creative deconstruction

Why Innovation Is Not Enough to Build a Brand (Or a Band)

Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by refe.

14

Innovation is important. It elevates a product beyond simple retail and causes it to become a catalyst for change in the marketplace and culture. Innovation is also notoriously elusive. Today’s stroke of genius could be tomorrow’s old news. Worse, that first-to-market concept you’ve been hustling to get out the door could be short-circuited by the [...]

Continue Reading

Copyright and Music – Do Great Artists Steal?

Posted on 21. Sep, 2009 by refe.

14

Last year guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani filed a lawsuit against Coldplay alleging that ‘Viva La Vida’ contained “substantial, original portions” of a track he put out in 2004 called ‘If I Could Fly.’
Coldplay responded by saying that if the two songs were similar it was purely coincidental. Dozens of video mashups, music theory analyses, and [...]

Continue Reading

The Future of Product Innovations in Music

Posted on 15. Sep, 2009 by refe.

3

During the reign of the CD there seemed to be no need to innovate. For decades that one product brought in plenty of revenue to keep the industry rich. If it’s not broken why fix it?
Meanwhile, we understand now that new technologies were quietly transforming the markets. At some point the right time to succeed [...]

Continue Reading

The Importance of Innovation in Music

Posted on 31. Aug, 2009 by refe.

5

As a music listener, what is the most important factor that determines whether or not you like a particular song, or album, or artist? The last couple of posts I’ve published have produced quite a few comments that seem to consider innovation to be the litmus test. That doesn’t surprise me at all, and I’d [...]

Continue Reading

Imogen Heap Shows Us That DIY Pays Off – And Takes a Lot Of Work

Posted on 13. Aug, 2009 by refe.

18

Spend enough time online and you might begin to suspect that some media folks want you to think that the DIY approach will somehow be less work than then a traditional career in music. Strange, given that the term itself implies the opposite. ‘DIY’ does, after all, stand for ‘Do It Yourself.’ More rewarding? Less [...]

Continue Reading

How a Subscription Model Can Enhance Your Release Strategy

Posted on 27. Jul, 2009 by refe.

4

It seems redundant by now to say it, but the new music market that artists face today is a lot different than at any time in the past. The way people enjoy music is different, and the way music is purchased is different. I wrote recently about ways artists can respond to these new market [...]

Continue Reading

Artist Uses Innovative Distribution Model in Ambitious Album per Month Project

Posted on 20. Jul, 2009 by refe.

0

CreativeCommons.org ran a story last week on their blog about an artist named John Wood who is doing something interesting with his music:
“Beginning this past March, John Wood has written, recorded, mixed, and mastered an album a month. Distributed under the moniker Learning Music Monthly, the music arrives on the first of the month as [...]

Continue Reading

Radiohead Manager, MAMA and Nettwerk Team Up to Create New Alternative to Record Labels

Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 by refe.

4

Radiohead manager Brian Message has reportedly teamed up with MAMA Group and Vancouver-based Nettwerk Music Group to launch a new kind of record label, called Polyphonic. Polyphonic will allow artists to retain their copyright, and will give new artists a fifty-percent share of profits. Established artists may earn an even higher percentage, with hints of [...]

Continue Reading

Moby’s Best Selling Track? The One He Gave Away For Free

Posted on 02. Jul, 2009 by refe.

2

For all those in the music industry who are still not convinced that ‘free’ can play a defining role in an artist’s business model, here is yet another success story.

Continue Reading

Creative Culture and the Growing Copyright Extremism

Posted on 19. Jun, 2009 by refe.

1

Creative culture is on the rise, thanks largely to recent technology. Anybody can shoot a video or record a song and upload it to YouTube and millions of people might see it. Digital technology has put the arts back into the hands of the people.
Copyright lawyer and chairman of Creative Commons Larry Lessig gave a presentation about [...]