Business Models | creative deconstruction

The Lower Class Musician

Posted on 16. Feb, 2010 by refe.

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For some music is a hobby and that is okay. However, if you plan on feeding your children by touring the Chitlin’ circuit, that’s another thing entirely. When I realized that writing songs for Columbia Records and recording demos with The Fugees wasn’t going to sustain me forever, I had to get adjust my expectations. These gigs were few and far in between and often times didn’t pay half as much as you would expect them to.

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

Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by refe.

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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 [...]

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Mother of All Music and Tech Recaps – December 2009 Edition

Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Gabriel Nijmeh.

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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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New Forrester Report Presents ‘Music Product Manifesto’

Posted on 04. Oct, 2009 by refe.

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The latest music business report from the Forrester Research Group hasn’t produced the kind of buzz that the last one did. That’s likely because while the previous report did have some solid ideas, it wasn’t the answer people were looking for.
The report is called Music Product Manifesto: The Product Features That Will Save Recorded Music. [...]

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Head of Australian Recording Industry on the New Music Business

Posted on 23. Sep, 2009 by refe.

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The new music industry could be effectively broken down into two different camps, with the traditional recording industry on one side and the proponents of the emerging independent DIY models on the other. The two camps rarely see eye to eye, but in many ways the debate between them is quite balanced. The traditional recording industry has all of the [...]

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Deconstructing the Week in Music 8.10-8.16

Posted on 16. Aug, 2009 by refe.

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Here’s a recap of what went on in the music industry this week. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Know something we don’t? Submit a story.

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

Posted on 13. Aug, 2009 by refe.

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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 [...]

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What the Music Industry and the Credit Crisis Have in Common

Posted on 10. Aug, 2009 by refe.

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I stumbled on an interesting animation that attempts to explain the United States’ ongoing credit crisis in easily understood terms. It’s a great video, which you can see in its entirety here.
At a certain point in the video the narrator begins to explain the problem of sub-prime mortgages. Basically, the banks and investors were getting [...]

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Deconstructing the Week in Music 7.20 – 8.2

Posted on 02. Aug, 2009 by refe.

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Here’s a recap of what went on in the music industry this week. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Know something we don’t? Submit a story.

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This Business of Music

Posted on 31. Jul, 2009 by refe.

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Art and business are not incompatible, but they do make an odd couple. One constantly pulls at the other as both try to achieve their own distinct goals and serve their own purpose. Just like in any relationship, there are times when common ground allows for beautiful things to happen. Other times their differences threaten [...]