creative deconstruction

Music and Tech Recap – February 2010 Edition

Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Gabriel Nijmeh.

The east coast edition of Digital Music Forum played out in New York on February 24th and 25th. Digital Music News did a great job capturing some of the key points raised in the various talks. Here a few of the interesting discussions and if you want to check out the rest, follow this link.

Live@DMF: [...]

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State of the Music Business at the Millennium Music Conference

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by refe.

This past weekend I attended the 14th annual Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg, PA. Fourteen years is a long time for anything to last in this business. I would imagine that panel topics have changed quite a bit since the conference first appeared on the scene in 1996.
This year members of over 300 bands were [...]

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Music and Tech Recap – January 2010 Edition

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Gabriel Nijmeh.

2010 got off to a quick start with CES in early January, another Apple love fest and Midem 2010, the annual music biz conference held in Cannes, France. Although it was reported that attendance at Midem was down from previous years, there was still a lot of interesting panels, news and announcements made over the [...]

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Mother of All Music and Tech Recaps – December 2009 Edition

Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Gabriel Nijmeh.

Another year has passed and we can only hope – and more importantly work – towards making the new year and new decade in the music business less tumultuous and one where the the disruptive forces of change are embraced for the sake of the artists and fans. Because it’s about the music, isn’t?
Now more [...]

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Creative Deconstruction, the Music Industry and DIY in 2010

Posted on 18. Dec, 2009 by refe.

As 2009 comes to an end I thought it might be a good time to evaluate how things are coming along here at Creative Deconstruction. I began work on the blog around February of this year, and published the first posts in March. Since then I’ve humbly watched as a nice little community has developed [...]

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Music Technology Recap – November 2009 Edition

Posted on 02. Dec, 2009 by refe.

This is a guest post by Gabriel Nijmeh, a business analyst and music technology enthusiast.
Another month whips by since Refe first asked me to write the October music tech recap and I’ve really started feeling deja vu. You probably are feeling the same way but doesn’t it seem like we keep discussing the same issues and topics [...]

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A Tale of Two Formats: Digital Downloads and Vinyl Hit New Sales Records

Posted on 24. Nov, 2009 by refe.

Last week’s Soundscan numbers tell the unlikely story of two very different formats rising to record breaking heights side by side.
According to Billboard three artists (Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas sold over 10 million tracks each, with Taylor Swift expected to do the same next week. These numbers shatter the previous record [...]

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Spotify No More Indie-Friendly than Radio?

Posted on 23. Nov, 2009 by refe.

When Pandora and Last.fm arrived on the scene and Spotify was still just a twinkle in Daniel Ek’s eye, many independent artists and fans looked to online music streaming as a new beginning. These services promised a more democratic approach to music discovery than traditional radio and offered the chance to wash away the stains [...]

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Grooveshark Gets a Makeover

Posted on 26. Oct, 2009 by refe.

The music streaming market is quickly heating up, even as many question the financial sustainability of the streaming model. Spotify seems to be the golden boy of the press (it also happens to be my personal preference) but it certainly isn’t the only contender. Only a few weeks ago Grooveshark made the headlines as the [...]

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New Music Review: Sufjan Stevens – The BQE

Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by refe.

October has been a big month for Sufjan Stevens (who I wrote about yesterday, if you missed it.) Run Rabbit Run dropped on the 6th, and today brings us the release of another Sufjan Stevens project – The BQE. Much like Run Rabbit Run, which is a chamber music re-imagining of Sufjan’s electronic sophomore album [...]

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