Deconstructing This Week in the Music Industry

Posted on 23. May, 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. Thanks to This Day in Music for the music history. Most Popular: Amazon to Torrent site: stop letting your users buy our music - Another major retailer misses out on [...]

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ReverbNation Paying Artists to Give Away Free Songs

Posted on 22. May, 2009 by refe.

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ReverbNation announced a new feature yesterday designed to generate revenue for the site and for some of its artists. The Sponsored Songs program will add a small, branded message to the digital cover art of each download. The message will then show up every time that song is played. In exchange for allowing the ad [...]

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Why Your Band Needs Booking and PR Before Management

Posted on 21. May, 2009 by refe.

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I am all about the do it yourself approach. Artists who are also jack of all trades will be much more successful in the early stages of their careers than those who wait for others to come along and handle the ‘business side’ for them. With that said, there does come a point where all bands [...]

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The Unlikely Prince of Indie

Posted on 20. May, 2009 by refe.

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Greg Kot, in his new book Ripped, focuses on the story of an unlikely but high profile independent artist – Prince. While the diminutive 80’s pop star and his music may not seem relevant to many of you, it turns out he is actually an interesting example of an artist bucking the traditional system [...]

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Is Music’s Long Tail Really Dead?

Posted on 19. May, 2009 by refe.

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There has been a lot of noise across the internet recently about a new study by UK licensing organization PRS that seems to question the validity of the Long Tail theory. You’ve probably seen all sorts of catchy blog headlines declaring the ‘Long Tail’ deceased – the topic has quickly become the music industry’s Ivy [...]

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Can’t Live With the Major Labels, Can’t Seem to Get Around Them

Posted on 13. May, 2009 by refe.

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Right now the whole music industry is caught in a Catch-22. The major record labels are bleeding money and lack the capital to invest in real talent. Real talent is usually risky, and right now the majors can’t absorb any risk. Yet, the ones who would rise up and bring the creative deconstruction have their [...]

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Seth Godin and the New Free

Posted on 12. May, 2009 by refe.

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Free markets are cyclical. Economic trends will start out slow, pick up speed, boom, plateau, BUST. Take our current recession – three years ago even someone like me could afford a McMansion and a four car garage (boom,) and now we’re losing sixty-thousand jobs a month (bust.) The same can cycles can be found in the cost of goods and services. [...]

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Spain Says File Sharing is Legal – Obama Says “Your Wrong”

Posted on 12. May, 2009 by refe.

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Now Obama’s transformation from free-culture savior to copyright lobbyist bulldog appears to be complete. A few months ago the Spanish government ruled that personal use file-sharing is legal and that the sites that host file sharing are protected as long as they don’t directly profit from copyright infringment. The Obama Whitehouse is not happy about this.

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Amazon to Torrent Site: Stop Letting Your Users Buy Our Music

Posted on 11. May, 2009 by refe.

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Amazon.com looks to be the latest example of a major music retailer missing out on a huge opportunity to profit from file sharing – and this one was practically handed to them!