The Master Plan

Aug 9
“Technology has always shaped music,” he says, “be it 78s, 45s, LPs or CDs, it changes the shape of the music. With downloading, the artistic change hasn’t really hit yet. But it’s turned the economic model on its head. The major record companies have some smart people looking at digital models. But the question is, will the people at the top be willing to turn the business upside down?” An Old Rocker Gets Digital
Posted at 8:12pm

“Frequently, music industry professionals suggest that an increase in legitimate sales must necessarily coincide with a commensurate reduction in piracy, as if this were a fact… Rather, it finds that piracy rates follow awareness and interest. In other words, if you do a good job cultivating a legitimate sales story, you must also expect a similar up-tick in grey market activity. The biggest selling albums and songs are nearly always the most widely-pirated, regardless of all the ‘anti-piracy’ tactics employed by music companies.” Could ‘legal free’ displace ‘illegal free’?
Posted at 3:32pm

Steal This Hook? Girl Talk Flouts Copyright Law

Posted at 3:19pm

Aug 8
sympathyfortheartgallery: artistspaid: Popcuts Pays You To Find Good New Music From Techcrunch: The web is full of hipsters scouring the indie music scene for the next big thing. And while there is no shortage of communities where these trendsetters can share their picks, they’ve never stood to gain anything from being ahead of the crowd (aside from a slight sense of superiority). Popcuts, a Y Combinator-funded music store that launches today in public beta, is looking to reward these early adopters by paying store credit to the first people who buy a song that later goes on to become popular. When an artist signs on to the store, they allocate a certain portion of the revenue generated by their songs to go back to their fans. This money is then distributed according to how early each user purchased a song (the earlier you buy, the more you make). For example, the band My First Earthquake has decided to pay out 30% of its revenues to its fans. The earliest adopters (say, the first dozen people to buy the song) will break even after the song has been purchased by around 25 other people. Fans buying the song later on will still earn credit, but it will be earned at a much slower rate (the site will tell you how quickly you’ll be earning credit before you buy a song). Great concept!

sympathyfortheartgallery:

artistspaid:

Popcuts Pays You To Find Good New Music

From Techcrunch:

The web is full of hipsters scouring the indie music scene for the next big thing. And while there is no shortage of communities where these trendsetters can share their picks, they’ve never stood to gain anything from being ahead of the crowd (aside from a slight sense of superiority). Popcuts, a Y Combinator-funded music store that launches today in public beta, is looking to reward these early adopters by paying store credit to the first people who buy a song that later goes on to become popular.

When an artist signs on to the store, they allocate a certain portion of the revenue generated by their songs to go back to their fans. This money is then distributed according to how early each user purchased a song (the earlier you buy, the more you make). For example, the band My First Earthquake has decided to pay out 30% of its revenues to its fans. The earliest adopters (say, the first dozen people to buy the song) will break even after the song has been purchased by around 25 other people. Fans buying the song later on will still earn credit, but it will be earned at a much slower rate (the site will tell you how quickly you’ll be earning credit before you buy a song).

Great concept!
Posted at 9:11pm

Jul 31
“Ad-supported music has some bright spots and some low points. I’m not sure where trueAnthem ranks, but I like its business model. The startup raised $2 million and added Adidas as a sponsor. Unlike most free ad-supported music, songs from trueAnthem are available as MP3 files (the ones I downloaded were 128kbps) and begin with brief audio advertisements. There is also an ad at the bottom of each widget from which songs are streamed and downloaded. The press release says ad-free tracks can be purchased for $0.99 apiece, but I have not found a widget with this option.” Ad-Supported Music Startup trueAnthem Raises $2 Million, Coolfer. agreed: this model gets a check in the yes column from me. worth a look and a resume perhaps as well. (via sadbear)
Posted at 8:24pm

“The band’s latest freebie, “Fresh Born,” the first track from their upcoming full-length Offend Maggie, takes a decidedly steampunk approach to copy protection — they’ve posted the track’s sheet music in PDF format and encouraged fans to submit MP3s of themselves covering a song they’ve never actually heard” Deerhoof Tests Their Fans’ Music-Reading Abilities; Vulture Keeps Score — Vulture — Entertainment & Culture Blog — New York Magazine
Posted at 6:58pm

Jul 29
“Will this stop kids from trading infringing files? Kids are time-rich and cash-poor and have an infinite supply of ingenuity and impecuniousness to apply to the job of getting music for free. Last year, my freshman university students in Los Angeles regaled me with stories of “hard-drive parties” where everyone would gather with guitars, beers and whopping great hard drives that cost less than either the guitars or the beers. While the students jammed, sang and danced, they simply synchronised their drives using whatever laptops were lying around, transferring hundreds of gigabytes’ worth of music while composing and recording songs of their own. It made me wish I was a teenager again: that sounded a lot more fun than painstakingly recording my vinyl to 90-minute cassettes and shyly giving them to girls in the hope of impressing them.” Cory Doctorow: Filesharing deal will drive swapping underground
Posted at 7:26pm

Jul 28

Broken Record: Four Mistakes That Killed the Record Indstry Before File Sharing

somethingchanged:

artistspaid:(via yvynyl)
Posted at 6:58pm

Jul 26
“

Creating an advertising campaign and “extending it digitally” usually ends up as a checklist. Micro-site? Check. Online banners? Check. Social media? Check. Mobile? Check.

…Old habits die hard. While consumers are out there spending countless hours on social networks, file-sharing applications, chat, community sites, buying stuff, selling stuff and using multiple devices, some of us tradigital old fogies are still reaching for our beloved toolbox of the past in the hopes of getting their attention.

” Why Digital Marketing Needs a Reboot: Advertising Age (via somethingchanged)
Posted at 9:52am

Jul 17
artistspaid: Apricado: Selling Your Music Has Never Been This Easy From Techcrunch: Apricado makes the music submission process ridiculous easy (perhaps to a fault): After uploading a song, the site will automatically detect the artist name and generate a music store (for example, a song by Mika would generate www.apricado.com/Mika). Each song sold will be distributed without DRM, and the site will only take a 20% cut of the revenues (industry standards are usually 30% or more). Visitors who navigate to this site will be presented with a list of available songs. After entering their credit card information on the same page, the selected songs as downloaded as a single .zip file. Artists can also get embed codes for their stores, so they can offer a mini-marketplace on their blogs or MySpace (a Facebook app is on the way).

artistspaid:

Apricado: Selling Your Music Has Never Been This Easy

From Techcrunch:

Apricado makes the music submission process ridiculous easy (perhaps to a fault): After uploading a song, the site will automatically detect the artist name and generate a music store (for example, a song by Mika would generate www.apricado.com/Mika). Each song sold will be distributed without DRM, and the site will only take a 20% cut of the revenues (industry standards are usually 30% or more). Visitors who navigate to this site will be presented with a list of available songs. After entering their credit card information on the same page, the selected songs as downloaded as a single .zip file. Artists can also get embed codes for their stores, so they can offer a mini-marketplace on their blogs or MySpace (a Facebook app is on the way).
Posted at 7:49pm