Music Business Times - Opinions Feed Informer http://feed.informer.com/images/fd.gif http://feed.informer.com/ http://app.feed.informer.com/digest3/R8OUGAC8IK.html Respective post owners and feed distributors http://feed.informer.com/ '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/oticker http://techdirt.com/articles/20100315/0323318563.shtml? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:53 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/oticker http://blogs.magnatune.com/buckman/2010/03/new-business-model-for-magnatune.html? Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:30 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/oticker http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-facts? Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:21 GMT The anticipatory press, the fans champing at the bit for a leaked video still and the premiere during E! News would have been considered par for course in the music industry 10 years ago. But lately, that kind of event has been few and far between. There are a few reasons for that shift, but the most crucial one is the reality of the recording industry: a blockbuster, big-budget video no longer means blockbuster record sales... http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/03/15/music.videos.future/ Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/03/15/music.videos.future/? Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:24 GMT An anxious music industry is watching to see whether debt-laden EMI is about to fall into the hands of its US bankers Citigroup. All the signs are that one of the great sagas of the credit crunch — private equity firm Terra Firma's $6.3 billion purchase of EMI, made at the height of the boom in 2007 — is heading for a climax. First, Edgar Bronfman, boss of rival US record label Warner Music, who has long coveted EMI, moved from New York to London last autumn. His office in Kensington Church Street is a couple of hundred yards from EMI, although he keeps a low profile here... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/markets/article-23816120-time-for-guy-hands-to-face-the-music-at-emi-and-sell.do Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/markets/article-23816120-time-for-guy-hands-to-face-the-music-at-emi-and-sell.do? Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:19 GMT Most entrepreneurs are best known for the enterprises they have founded. Michael Robertson certainly has been associated with successful companies, enough of them to probably put his net worth in nine figures. His considerable reputation in tech circles, though, isn't based on his companies as much as on the lawsuits launched in their wake. There have been three, the most recent of which is heading to a trial in a few months. Each has raised a fascinating issue that ought to concern everyone who uses a computer, especially if you listen to music... http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/17/digital-music-copyright-technology-breakthroughs-mp3tunes.html?feed=rss_home Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/17/digital-music-copyright-technology-breakthroughs-mp3tunes.html?feed=rss_home? Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:14 GMT The reality of the music industry today is that there isn't one biz model. It's about figuring out how to use downloads, streaming, promotion, ticketing, all these things. I don't think streaming music is stream with Spotify; people label us 'free' music. But people pay, either with time (adverts, which are targeting), or actually paying for the service... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031602669.html?nav=rss_technology/partner/three Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031602669.html?nav=rss_technology/partner/three? Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:58 GMT With an ever growing list of mobile music tools, like MultiTrack, we're going to see a flood of these kinds of releases from artists this year, some are already coming in from live performances, turning the iPhone into a professional recording device and instrument... http://www.indiemusictech.com/music_marketing_for_indie/2010/03/artist-creates-latest-music-release-entirely-from-iphone.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/oticker http://www.indiemusictech.com/music_marketing_for_indie/2010/03/artist-creates-latest-music-release-entirely-from-iphone.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? Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:14 GMT There's an increasing body of evidence that the policing of intellectual property has too often involved impinging on civil liberties, freedom of speech, privacy concerns, things that society may actually value at least as highly as intellectual property itself. There's a risk of an explosion there, I think, and it's a risk that the defenders of intellectual property themselves would do well to take note of... http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=10832&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+out-law-NewsRoundUP+%28OUT-LAW+News-RoundUP%29 Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=10832&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+out-law-NewsRoundUP+%28OUT-LAW+News-RoundUP%29? Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:01 GMT Unlike Spotify, which has launched in Britain but is not yet available in the US, MOG has no free component other than a 3-day trial. David Hyman, MOG's founder and CEO, said that there is no future for free music streaming. 'It's a brutally expensive customer acquisition tool,' Hyman said. 'You're not going to see free components [for streaming music services] in the US.' Hyman added that once existing deals expire, record labels won't support free streaming outside the US either... http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/shanerichmond/100004764/sxsw-2010-is-half-of-spotifys-business-doomed-mog-thinks-so/ Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/shanerichmond/100004764/sxsw-2010-is-half-of-spotifys-business-doomed-mog-thinks-so/? Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:51 GMT It is a tale of sex, debt and rock'n'roll that is unlikely to have a happy ending. When Guy Hands, a City financier with a penchant for fast food and an insatiable appetite for deal-making, came up with a plan to buy EMI, Britain's flagship music company, using billions of pounds of borrowed money, many wondered how he could possibly make a decent return on his investment. As it has turned out, he couldn't. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/14/emi-debt-internet-piracy Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/14/emi-debt-internet-piracy? Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:19 GMT Controversial copyright proposals put forward by the House of Lords that will see certain web sites restricted are exactly the same terms that music industry lobbyists were campaigning for, leaked documents revealed today. Last week the House of Lords added a new amendment to the Digital Economy Bill, Amendment 120A, that will give copyright holders the power to pressure internet service providers (ISPs) into restricting certain web sites... http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2259385/government-panders-music Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2259385/government-panders-music? Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:23 GMT Fans of the Grateful Dead are big believers in serendipity. So a certain knowing approval greeted the news last year that the band would be donating its copious archive—four decades' worth of commercial recordings and videotapes, press clippings, stage sets, business records, and a mountain of correspondence encompassing everything from elaborately decorated fan letters to a thank-you note for a fund-raising performance handwritten on White House stationery by President Barack Obama — to the University of California at Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz was understood... http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/management-secrets-of-the-grateful-dead/7918/ Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/management-secrets-of-the-grateful-dead/7918/? Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:25 GMT A handful of otherwise unnoticeable protestors outside the headquarters of the National Association of Broadcasters erected an 18-foot inflatable pig, bearing the message, 'Fair Pay for Musicians.' The pig has become the mascot of the MusicFirst Coalition, the performers' rights agency that collects and distributes royalties. For the last few years, MusicFirst has campaigned extensively against the decades-old exemption of terrestrial radio broadcasters (as opposed to Internet radio) from paying performers' royalties. Stations continue to pay royalties to rights holders, which in the end, include many of the recording industry institutions also represented by MusicFirst... http://www.betanews.com/article/Giant-inflatable-pig-used-in-recording-studios-Washington-war-with-broadcasters/1268263634?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bn+%28Betanews+Full+Content+Feed+-+BN%29&utm_content=Google+Reader Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://www.betanews.com/article/Giant-inflatable-pig-used-in-recording-studios-Washington-war-with-broadcasters/1268263634?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bn+%28Betanews+Full+Content+Feed+-+BN%29&utm_content=Google+Reader? Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:22 GMT The performance rights battle between the radio and recording industries has always been ugly. But now, things are just getting ridiculous, and further from the core issue at hand. The prime participants of folly are the RIAA, the recording-focused musicFirst Coalition, and the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters), a group now fighting over things like sausage, pork, and pigs. What? The sophomoric face-off has been ongoing, though a pig-focused advertising and awareness campaign by musicFirst is accelerating... http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/031010pig Delicious/mbtimes/oticker http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/031010pig? Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:17 GMT