I’ve compiled a selection of some of the most important music industry news of the past week, along with a few of my own thoughts. Let me know in the comments section if you think I’ve missed anything notable.

Music News from Around the Web

If you can’t make money selling records, and you can’t make money touring…

Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap is certainly not a nameless artist working for her big break. She has won a Novello award, a Grammy, and her music has been featured on a host of TV shows and film soundtracks including Garden State and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Still, with the majority of US venues being owned by a single monopoly (as well as similar issues in other parts of the world) and record sales hitting record lows, it has apparently become difficult to make ends meet for even relatively successful artists such as Heap. Read more at The Guardian.

We’re The Same We’re the Same We’re….

Not exactly music industry news, but applicable nonetheless. Look at all the band websites, MySpace or Bandcamp pages out there and it’s unfortunate how many of them look like carbon copies. In his most recent post, marketing mastermind Seth Godin advises companies (and bands) to build websites and online identities that actually communicate what is unique about them. In other words, don’t spend your energy trying to fit – spend your energy trying to stand out. Read more at Seth’s Blog.

Love Thy Hater: How to Learn and Profit from ‘Bad’ Feedback

Justin Boland of DIY hip-hop blog Audible Hype dropped this post yesterday. The headline says it all, but here are some of the choicest bits:

“This is a business, not a talent show.  That’s real simple but 90% of rappers will still complain about their skills getting slept on.”

“If you really thought you were the shit, you wouldn’t need to prove it.  Arrogance is actually not confidence, it’s insecurity.”

“So when I get this type of criticism, I ask for more detail: was it my mix, was the emcee wack, was the structure wrong, has it been done before, are the rhymes elementary, was the hook weak? I want to know these things. If enough people say them, I’ll learn from it. And overall it can help the listeners become better listener as well.”

The entire post is well worth a read. You can find it here: AudibleHype.com.

Record Sales Week Ending 5/23/10

Glee

Here are some excerpts from Bob Lefsetz’ weekly recap of the charts. Are the charts really a good way of measuring what’s going on in music? Of course not. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to see the numbers.

1. Glee: The Music, Vol. 3-Showstoppers Sales this week: 135,748 (Debut.)

“I’d love to tell you this album is crap.  A souvenir for mindless twits.  But instead I’m going to say it’s loaded with certified hits, and you can hear the joy in the performances.  Puts a smile on your face, makes you want to get up and do the Safety Dance yourself.”

2.  Black Keys “Brothers”Sales this week: 73,370 (Debut.)

“If you listen to the opening track of “Brothers”, “Everlasting Light”, you’ll reach for the skip button immediately if you’re not a fan.  You’ll think this music is made for people who are too hip for the room, who use bands as a badge of honor.  And you’d be right, “Brothers” is number one at the Music Monitor Network’s independent stores.”

"Are you as rich as me? Of course you're not!"

3. Justin Bieber “My World 2.0″Sales this week: 61,828. Percentage change: +2. Weeks on: 9. Cume: 1,104,631.

“It’s laden with the sound effects of Top Forty radio.  Yup, all the tracks sound alike, with the synthetic drums, the heavy bottom, the focus on rhythm. That’s what it takes to win on Top Forty.”

4. Damian Marley & NAS  “Distant Relatives” Sales this week: 57,285. (Debut)

“At first this sounds just one step away from being an SNL skit. Imagine rap and reggae meeting…  Is this a marriage we were truly waiting for?”

5. Lady Antebellum “Need You Now” Sales this week: 46,013. Percentage change: -15. Weeks on: 17. Cume: 2,126,068.

“There’s nothing new about Lady Antebellum, but they do the old so well.  This is barely country, there’s just occasional Nashville instrumentation to make sure it’s safe for country airplay.  This is as mainstream as it gets today.  And isn’t it funny it’s outselling all the hits on Top Forty.”

Read more at Lefsetz Letter.

More trouble in paradise

German collection society GEMA was involved in a ‘heavy case of fraud.’ According to reports, 10 members and 2 employees reported live events all across Germany that never actually took place. The members were paid royalties by GEMA for the fake performances. Billboard’s report doesn’t indicate which members were involved in the scam, only that the acts involved were mostly ‘popular music’ but also that ‘no prominent GEMA members [were] among the accused.’

According to Billboard ‘GEMA represents the copyrights of more than 60,000 members (composers, lyricists, and music publishers), and GEMA also represents over 1 million copyright owners all over the world. Worldwide, it is one of the largest societies for authors of music works.’ Read more at Billboard.biz.

More Music Industry Headlines:

Apple is said to Face Inquiry about Online Music Tactics from New York Times.
Supreme Court Rules Pirate Bay Must Stay Blocked from TorrentFreak.
Musicians and Health Insurance: Taking the Pulse from HypeBot.

Photo Credits: Lee Jordan, Kerosene Photography

Lot’s of new releases this week including Blizten Trapper’s highly engaging Black River Killer, and Mew’s excessively titled No More Stories Are Told Today I’m Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories the World is Grey I’m Tired Let’s Wash Away.

Imogen Heap’s Ellipse officially launched this week with a deluxe edition that includes a bonus CD of instrumental tracks. If you want to try that one before you buy it, we’ve got it streaming here.

A few notable reissues were released this week as well, including Wilco’s Being There and Summerteeth, and Radiohead’s Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief and Kid A.

The complete list is below with affiliate links to purchase straight from iTunes or Amazon (depending on whether it’s physical or digital.) You’ll notice that this list only includes major label acts – this is simply because I don’t have the time to track down each and every new independent release. If you are an independent artist or record label and would like your upcoming releases included on this weekly list please contact me.

August 25th 2009

Alan Singley & Pants Machine – Feelin’ Citrus
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug (vinyl)
Asobi Seksu – Transparance (vinyl)
Beach Boys – Christmas Harmonies
Bela Fleck – Melody of Rhythm: Triple Concerto and Music for Trio
Biffy Clyro – That Golden Rule
Blitzen Trapper – Black River Killer
The Bloody Beetroots – Romborama (vinyl)
Bob Dylan – The Best of Bob Dylan (Limited Edition “Collector’s Crate” with CD and T-shirt)
Bob Dylan – The Essential Bob Dylan (3 Disc set)
Cheap Trick – Sgt. Pepper Live (DVD)
Collective Soul – Collective Soul
Datarock – Red (vinyl)
David Mead – Almost and Always
Dolores O’Riordan – No Baggage
Felix Da Housecat – He Was King
Fun. – Aim and Ignite (vinyl)
Gospel Gossip – Dreamland (vinyl)
Hank Williams – The Unreleased Recordings (vinyl)
Imogen Heap – Ellipse (Limited Edition Bonus CD)
Jeff Healey – Songs from the Road
JET Shaka Rock
Kitty Daisy & Lewis – Kitty Daisy & Lewis
Matisyahu – Light (vinyl)
Ingrid Michaelson – Everybody
Merrimack – Grey Rigorism
Merzbow – 13 Japanese Birds, Vol. 8
Mew – No More Stories…
Patton Oswalt – My Weakness is Strong
The Postmarks – Memoirs at the End of the World (vinyl)
Radiohead – Amnesiac (collectors edition)
Radiohead – Hail to the Thief (collectors edition)
Radiohead – Kid A (collectors edition)
Reigning Sound – Love and Curses (vinyl)
Sally Shapiro – My Guilty Pleasure
Sadra Bernhard – Whatever it Takes
Science Fiction Corporation – Science Fiction Dance Party: Dance with Action (vinyl)
Sic Alps – L Mansion
Soulsavers – Broken
The Spider Bags – Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueller World (vinyl)
Still Life Still – Girls Come Too (vinyl)
Tim Buckley – Live at the Folklore Center, NYC – March 6th 1967
Vandaveer – Divide and Conquer
Various Artists – Taking Woodstock (soundtrack)
Wilco – Being There (2 LP, 1 CD reissue)
Wilco – Summerteeth (2 LP, 1 CD reissue)
Will Hoge – The Wreckage (vinyl)
YACHT – See Mystery Lights (vinyl)

Time for our 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. Of course our coverage of music news is by no means exhaustive, so if you know something we don’t submit a story.

Most Popular:

• Imogen Heap shows us that DIY pays off – and takes a lot of work – Taking an objective look at what some are calling the ‘new music business model.’
• What the music industry and the credit crisis have in common – Greed is greed.

This Week:

• What makes a great live performance? – Guest post by Andrew McMillen.
• New Music Releases: August 18th 2009 – New music by Temper Trap, Cave Singers, and Choir of Young Believers.
• What will it take to unite artist, industry and fan? – An editorial on the future of the music business.
• Imogen Heap update, plus full streaming of new album – Check out free streaming of Imogen’s new album Ellipse.

Other News:

• MySpace buys iLike for $20 million
• iTunes captures 25% of all music sales, 69% of downloads

Music Video Picks:

No new videos this week. Check out the archives.

This Week in Music History:

1963 - Stevie Wonder became the first artist ever to score a US No.1 album and single in the same week. Wonder was at No.1 on the album chart with ‘Little Stevie Wonder / The 12 Year Old Genius’ and had the No.1 single ‘Fingertips part 2′. This was also the first ever live recording to make No.1. (This Day in Music.com)

A few days ago Heap posted an update on Twitter linking to her website where she has her new album Ellipse streaming in its entirety. The record doesn’t officially drop until August 25th in the US.

Heap’s new work is full of her trademark quirky sentimentality. Her breathy, incomparable voice provides an anchor throughout the album’s different textures.  Ellipse begins with the bubbly, synthesized ‘First Train Home.’ In ‘Earth,’ Imogen’s multiplied vocals call to mind an assembly line of robots singing a cappella. ‘Swoon’ injects a bit of energy and and attitude into the middle of the record, giving way to an almost anthemic chorus. The breezy, sentimental ‘Between Sheets,’ and the manic ‘Aha’ finally lead the listener to the album’s dreamy anti-climax ‘Half Life.’

You can listen to the complete album for yourself below. Let me know what you think. Actually, you can feel free to let her know what you think.

It will be interesting to see the kind of buzz (and sales) that this full-album preview generates once the album is available for purchase. It has the potential to be pretty powerful. Listeners have made it clear that they like to try before they buy, and more  than 900,000 fans now have the opportunity to experience her new tracks before they hit stores. Remember when artists had to rely on radio for that kind of exposure?

Heap has also made it very easy for the stream to be shared by offering code for website owners to embed Ellipse with no strings attached. That means that with no additional cost or effort to herself and her team Heap has allowed the larger online community to promote her work on their sites. And why wouldn’t we bloggers take her up on it? She’s given us something that goes beyond self-promotion and actually adds value to our readers’ experience. Without the ability to embed Ellipse in this post I would have probably just retweeted the link to the stream and called it a day.

All hype aside, I think this is a nice move that is consistent with Heap’s marketing strategy up to this point. Not every act is going to be able to reproduce what Heap has done in the promotion of Ellipse, (nor should they try – come up with your own strategy!) But there are a lot of good lessons to be learned.

What are you doing to promote your music? How are you using social media and the web to engage with fans? Do you have the help of a label or are you doing it on your own? Let me know – it’s easy to get wrapped up in the buzz surrounding high profile acts but I’m interested in stories about artists at all levels.

Also check out last week’s post Imogen Heap shows us that DIY pays off – and takes a lot of work.

Photo by kk+

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 artistically limiting? More fun? Yes, yes, and probably. But less work? No.

Better does not always equal easier. Creating quality music and running a business are both challenging tasks on their own. Put them together and you’ve got your work cut out for you. The artist/fan relationship is the lynch-pin in today’s music marketplace and that relationship also takes a lot of time and energy to maintain, let alone grow. As much as you might want it to be ‘all about the music’ there are many other responsibilities vying for your attention. One artist who has learned this lesson – and who has experienced its sacrifices and rewards – is Imogen Heap.

An article called The New Music Business Model: Imogen Heap has been getting a lot of attention lately. Any article with a headline like ‘The New Music Business Model’ is likely to get a lot of attention these days, but this one is worth reading. The author, Colette Weintraub of Deep Dive Marketing, describes the sometimes novel ways Heap utilized technology and fan engagement in the making and marketing of her upcoming album Ellipse.

Imogen Heap wasn’t starting at square one when she began promoting Ellipse – she already had a committed fan base thanks to a host of films and TV shows featuring her music. But with Ellipse Heap has expanded her reach exponentially, and has truly done the bulk of the work herself. She refinanced her house to fund recording, she communicates constantly with her fans, even crowd-sourcing song titles and album artwork, etc.

She does SO much, in fact, that it’s hard to see how she has any time left to create music.

I didn’t really think of it that way until I read a recent Lefsetz post about his reaction to the Weintraub article. Here it is:

I uncovered the essay … delineating everything Imogen had done to sell her new album.

And my first reaction was, is it worth it?

Now the activities took two years to unfold.  But suddenly, you’re no longer a musician, but a personality.  And so much of what Imogen was doing was generating no revenue.  It was all leading up to a single sales event, the ultimate release of an album.  Huh?

He goes on:

Do you have to be a newfangled self-marketer to have success in today’s world?  If that’s what it takes, if you’ve got to do everything Imogen did, how many will say no?  What about practicing, gigging, getting good? … Just about everything Imogen has done here has nothing to do with music … There’s got to be a better way to reach fans.

It was refreshing to see a different perspective on the ‘New Music Business Model’ buzz, and it got me thinking about something I had seen from Heap herself a few days before the Lefsetz post. In responding to one of her followers on Twitter, Heap indicated that she was feeling the strain the process was putting on her. The DIY model that she had embraced was leaving precious little time for what she loves most: music. You can read her updates in the screenshots below.

Building a successful career in music on your own terms and with your own two hands is a difficult task, more akin to the life of an entrepreneur than to the iconic lifestyle of a rockstar. You’re the CEO, the content creator and PR coordinator all rolled into one overworked and (usually very) underpaid package. It’s not for everybody. Not everyone is going to enjoy that kind of lifestyle, and let’s not kid ourselves – not everyone is cut out for it.

I appreciate all of the excitement Imogen Heap’s story has been generating recently, and I hope that her new album launches to enormous returns. It’s great to have such a compelling example of DIY success. Those who do choose to go for it would be wise to study her experiences.

That, and after following Imogen for while now on Twitter and in the media I can’t help but root for her. I suppose that means that what she’s been doing for the past two years is working.

Photo by Jeremy Cowart.