Music Business Times Label News Feed Informer http://feed.informer.com/images/fd.gif http://feed.informer.com/ http://app.feed.informer.com/digest3/ANAXRCICWF.html Respective post owners and feed distributors http://feed.informer.com/ A record label is launching a talent hunt aimed at religious orders around the globe in a bid to recruit a troupe of chart-topping nuns. London-based Decca wants to record an album of plainsong and chant in time for the Pope's UK visit in September. The idea for the album was inspired by an old recording of singing nuns rediscovered during an office move. Nuns and religious orders are being asked to contact Decca with examples of their singing within a month... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8578799.stm Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8578799.stm? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:58 GMT 'Royalties are a means to pay producers in the future - and in perpetuity - based on record sales,' said Albini, who is also a music journalist. 'If a band does a show, blows a whole bunch of minds and a bunch of people become fans and go out and buy millions of records, the producer gets paid. I think that's ethically unsustainable. I don't think you should pay a doctor extra because a patient doesn't die. I think the doctor should be busting his ass for every patient. I don't think I should get paid for someone else's success... http://techdirt.com/articles/20100315/0323318563.shtml Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://techdirt.com/articles/20100315/0323318563.shtml? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:53 GMT While concept stage Immitter seems to be trying to develop a music promotion engine, I'm not sure what tools they'll provide to artists, practically speaking, as they haven't yet developed their initial service (they're still very early stage), but this is a creative video about some of the challenges musicians and bands face vying for exposure to their music... http://www.indiemusictech.com/music_marketing_for_indie/2010/03/challenges-artists-face-promoting-music.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsnapmusic%2Fmusic_marketing_for_indie+%28Indie+Music+Tech%29&utm_content=Google+Reader Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.indiemusictech.com/music_marketing_for_indie/2010/03/challenges-artists-face-promoting-music.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsnapmusic%2Fmusic_marketing_for_indie+%28Indie+Music+Tech%29&utm_content=Google+Reader? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:49 GMT Hardly a costume change later, Lady Gaga is now countersuing ex-boyfriend Rob Fusari. Last week, Fusari dropped a $30 million-plus lawsuit on Gaga, alleging unfair bilking of royalties. Fusari claimed a critical role in the formation, conceptualization, and transformation of Stefani Germanotta into the current pop juggernaut, though the Gaga camp is questioning that account of the relationship. But the real contention surrounds contractual agreements. Fusari is waving... http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/032110gaga2 Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/032110gaga2? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:38 GMT Swedish artist and composer Magnus Uggla has launched a scathing attack on the owners of Spotify. After discovering that Sony BMG is a shareholder and after receiving virtually no payment from his music being played there, he has withdrawn his tracks from the service declaring, 'I’d rather be raped by The Pirate Bay.' For many years now the media has been filled with the industry line that the operators of The Pirate Bay are little more than thieves, handing out other people's content without ensuring creators get paid. Few have been more vocal than the music industry, who time and again distill the situation down... http://www.playfairnow.org/?q=node/67 Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.playfairnow.org/?q=node/67? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:30 GMT He fears hackers are stealing his music label Syco’s tracks and he wants the Feds to stop them in their tracks, so to speak. According to reports, computer geeks are becoming unstoppable at their successes of breaking into the label, which is part of Sony BMG, and stealing unreleased songs to upload onto illegal sites. The X Factor judge is understandably furious at losing out to these brazen hackers... http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/818174-simon-cowell-in-talks-with-fbi-over-leaked-syco-music Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/818174-simon-cowell-in-talks-with-fbi-over-leaked-syco-music? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:28 GMT Charlie Gillett was a broadcaster, journalist and author who played a significant role in shaping the tastes of several generations of music fans. After writing The Sound of the City, one of the first books to attempt a serious survey of the early history of rock'n'roll, he began his broadcasting career on BBC Radio London, presenting the weekly Honky Tonk show throughout most of the 1970s. The programme became hugely influential, popularising American roots music and unearthing British acts such as Dire Straits, Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, all of whom received their first exposure on his show before any of them had signed a recording contract. He also co-managed Ian Dury and discovered Lena Lovich... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7066912.ece Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7066912.ece? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:44 GMT Magnatune relaunched itself today with a new business model. We're now in the no-limits membership business. Why the change? Simply put: membership today accounts for 74% of our revenue. Over the past two years our album download sales have declined while the unlimited downloads memberships have grown. The two graphs below spell out a clear message from our customers: We don't want to buy your downloadable albums one at a time, we want unlimited access. And we're willing to pay. Here is our revenue over the past two years, comparing downloads vs membership: http://blogs.magnatune.com/buckman/2010/03/new-business-model-for-magnatune.html Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://blogs.magnatune.com/buckman/2010/03/new-business-model-for-magnatune.html? Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:30 GMT A songwriter and music producer who claims he helped launch pop star Lady Gaga says she squeezed him out of her lucrative career after he co-wrote some of her songs, came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal. Rob Fusari filed a $30.5 million lawsuit against the Grammy Award-winning performer, saying his protege and former girlfriend ditched him as her career soared. 'All business is personal,' said the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Manhattan state court... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100318/ap_en_mu/us_people_lady_gaga Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100318/ap_en_mu/us_people_lady_gaga? Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:24 GMT It is easy to make the case that the music industry, far from imploding, is one of the great success stories of the recession. The most dramatic example of this is in what kids are supposed not to be buying any more: single tracks. Last year sales of singles soared to an all-time UK record of 152.7m units, an astonishing 33% rise in a year when the whole UK economy (GDP) contracted by 3.3%. If the music pundits seriously think that these are not being bought by kids, then it shows how out of touch they are with their customers. These same youngsters who were – and probably still are – massively downloading free music from the internet were prepared to pay up to... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-facts Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-facts? Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:21 GMT Have you heard of Chat Roulette? It's the latest web site to create a major buzz in a very short period of time. In a nutshell, Chat Roulette allows anyone with a webcam to log on and randomly be connected live with other people on the site one by one. If you don't like who you're connected to, you click 'Next' and get another random paring. It's been widely covered (and made fun of) in the media. But I, along with a lot of online marketing people, thought it was a flash-in-the-pan novelty site with no possible self-promotion value. How could you possibly make use of such random connections... http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/the-1st-musician-to-make-amazing-use-of-chat-roulette.html Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/the-1st-musician-to-make-amazing-use-of-chat-roulette.html? Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:18 GMT At SXSW Wednesday, eMusic debuted a new A+R (Access + Rewards) program that gives U.S. members exclusive offers and discounts. In addition to their eMusic subscription members now get special access to selected clubs and festivals, opportunities to connect with artists, deals on music hardware accessories and discounted entry to music museums like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. New offers will be added on an ongoing basis. A partial list of U.S. launch partners and benefits... http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/03/emusic-adds-subscriber-rewards-program.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FDqMf+%28hypebot%29&utm_content=Google+Reader Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/03/emusic-adds-subscriber-rewards-program.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FDqMf+%28hypebot%29&utm_content=Google+Reader? Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:12 GMT The analytics tool was developed in-house by The Orchard's technology team and is available in English, Spanish and French. It transforms daily and weekly sales data generated by stores into easy to understand sales figures viewable by type of transaction, time period, and location. The tool displays near real-time sales information from album downloads, track downloads, track streams, video streams, video downloads, and ringtones... http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100318005383&newsLang=en Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100318005383&newsLang=en? Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:55 GMT The bigger Pandora gets, the bigger its royalty bill, a variable cost structure that makes it difficult for many content-based businesses to scale. Pandora is a serious chunk of total SoundExchange royalty revenues from online radio. Despite all of the wrangling over non-interactive royalties on recordings, Pandora now accounts for roughly 44-45% of total SoundExchange royalties for non-interactive streams, according to details confirmed by both companies... http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/031710pandora/view Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/031710pandora/view? Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:54 GMT The Universal Music Group could rewrite U.S. music pricing when it tests a new frontline pricing structure, which is designed to get single CDs in stores at $10, or below. Beginning in the second quarter and continuing through most of the year, the company's Velocity program will test lower CD prices. Single CDs will have the suggested list prices of $10, $9, $8, $7 and $6. To accommodate the lower pricing, UMG labels also plan to step up deluxe versions of albums that can sell at higher prices for the more devout music fans and collectors. UMG is also banking that the lower price points will at the least be offset by increasing CD sales volume... http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i56ed42b9a46f8554e2671afccecca01b Delicious/mbtimes/laticker http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i56ed42b9a46f8554e2671afccecca01b? Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:50 GMT