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On The Other Hand, The Album Is The Real Thing
October 24, 2008
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"It would be an awful shame to have the opportunity, and not make the right album."
-- James Blunt"It would be an awful shame to have the opportunity, and not make the right album." -- James Blunt
This week, the lead singer of Third Eye Blind, Stephan Jenkins, told a few hundred attendees at the San Fran Music Tech Summit that in today's digital age, "The album is an arbitrary concept. It's not something that has to exist. I don't think it's necessary or useful."
"Here's what's really attractive to me," he went on to say. "We live in the excitement of that song. Let's go record it. And then we upload it and it's for sale for $1 the next day."
He also mentioned he hates "album filler," obviously a reference to those mediocre songs put on too may albums by (mostly) disposable artists who really have only one or two good tracks on a CD.
Jenkins also made the point of saying that he thinks it's better to release individual songs online, and bundle them later for sale if the artist(s) wants. Gee, what a novel idea. Putting a bunch of great songs together for sale. And that would be called what? Oh yeah, an album.
The Internet allows artists to release songs whenever they want on their own timetable and from a creative standpoint, that's not a bad idea, but it's not a new idea. Artists that had some say in regard to release of their music used to do the same thing when we didn't live in a digital world. The Beatles released lots of singles that didn't appear on their albums until well after they broke up, and then they finally appeared on greatest hits and anthology collections. Other artists did the same. The Beatles also released albums that had no singles on them at all. ("Sgt.Pepper," "The White Album," "Rubber Soul") But, releasing "singles" has always been a part of the music business.
While Mr. Jenkins might believe albums are "unnecessary in the digital age," it is the loss of the album as a cohesive piece of work that has contributed in great part to declining CD sales in the music industry. When artists release albums with only one or two good songs, and their CDs are priced at $10 at retail, it makes a whole lot of sense in the consumers' eyes to only buy the good songs and skip "the filler." Until iTunes came along and started getting people in the habit of buying songs, they would just download those songs illegally via any P2P site or network they were using. (And I'll say it yet again, iTunes isn't "cannibalizing" album sales; check the multi-platinum status of many albums on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart to counter that invalid argument)
While I agree with Jenkins that "The album is an arbitrary concept. It's not something that has to exist." The album doesn't "have to exist" if the artist isn't capable of creating one all that good. But, I completely disagree with the other part of his statement when he says, "I don't think it's necessary or useful."
Nothing is more necessary for an artist's career longevity than making great albums. Yes, great songs live on forever, but great albums are the foundation of long-term careers, and they create a bond with the audience long after a particular song is out of mind. When they are creative masterpieces they can change the direction of popular music the way Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" did, the way The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper" did, the way The Who's "Tommy" did, the way Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On" did, the way Public Enemy's "It Takes A Nation Of Million To Hold Us Back" did, the way Nirvana's "Nevermind" did, and so on, and so on.
When albums are a great collection of songs put together as one piece, they become albums that have with stood the greatest test of all, the test of time. That's why albums like The Eagles "Hotel California," Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon," Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors," Michael Jackson's "Thriller," AC/DC's "Back In Black" and dozens more are still selling year over year, though released decades ago.
And speaking of AC/DC, their new album "Black Ice" (their first in eight years) hit the street and sold almost 200,000 copies yesterday, even though it's being sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. Sales for the first week now are now estimated to be over 800,000. In today's retail music environment, to say this is a huge success would be a gross understatement.
AC/DC have been together for 35 years. They have never had a top-10 single (believe it or not, "You Shook Me All Night Long" peaked at #35 in 1980), but they've always put together great albums that sold millions, and their concerts were always terrific.
When asked why he robbed banks, the famous bank robber Willie Sutton simply replied, "Because that's where the money is."
Years from now when some people wonder why some albums are still selling and others aren't, tell them "Because that's where the great music is."
And Now This...
In my continuing dialogue about the problems the TV networks are having, I thought I'd point out that not even the barrage of political coverage they are all giving this presidential election is helping them one bit. (Although one reason might be the public is completely burnt out on politics since these campaigns started almost two years ago)
According to Nielsen Media Research, all three evening news shows experienced audience drops year-to-year for the week of Oct. 13th-19th, 2008. CBS News shed a half a million viewers, falling from 6.4 million to 5.9 million; ABC News dropped from 8.1 million to 7.6 million; NBC News slumped from 8.2 million to 7.8 million.
But there's even bigger trouble brewing. You can read about them in the news article I link to below, 'Network Audience Eroding, New Threats Loom.'
AND THIS...
If there is an economic slowdown, don't tell it to Apple.
"This week Apple announced a 27% increase in profit compared to a year-ago, posting revenue of $4.84 billion and a quarterly profit of $546 million, or $.62 per diluted share. The company beat the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, who forecast Apple to earn 51 cents a share on $4.67 billion, according to MarketWatch. During the same period one-year ago, the company posted revenues of $3.68 billion and net profit of $430 million, or $.50 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Apple said it shipped just over 1.6 million (1,610,000) Macs and 8,729,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 30% growth in Macs and 35% growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter."
(Source: http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/10/18/apple.posts.546m.profit )
Will Record Labels Control Digital-Music Lockers?
A fitting anthem for Michael Robertson these days would be The Rolling Stones' hit, "Get Off of My Cloud." For nearly a decade, Robertson, the often controversial cofounder of MP3.com and Linspire, has toiled to store music in the cloud, the term used to describe the seemingly limitless amount of data and services accessible with a Web browser. But in the past, Robertson's efforts have led him into epic legal battles with the music industry. That's where he finds himself once again. In November, EMI filed a copyright suit against him and his music service, MP3tunes.com.
More recently, Robertson has had to watch competitors generate headlines with an idea he helped pioneer. On Monday, Lala.com launched a service that enables customers to upload songs into digital music lockers (or the cloud) and then stream the tracks to Web-connected devices. Before launching, Lala obtained licenses from each of the top four recording companies. The differences between MP3tunes and Lala are many but chief among them is this: Robertson doesn't believe services such as his are obligated to obtain licenses to help consumers store legally owned music.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Microsoft Says "Rock Band," "Guitar Hero" Average 3.8 Million Downloads Per Month
While the music industry struggles to sell CDs, Microsoft revealed this week that gamers purchase around 3.8 million 'Guitar Hero' and 'Rock Band' downloads per month via their XBox Live network. (That would amount to 45.6 million annually folks, and that ain't hay!)
Read more about it by clicking here.
Wii Music To Go Up Against 'Guitar Hero,' 'Rock Band'
The arrival of Nintendo's Wii Music in stores this week sets the stage for a battle of the music video "games" this holiday season, as the new Wii Music takes on the latest versions of Activision's three-year-old "Guitar Hero" (Guitar Hero World Tour) and EA's year-old "Rock Band" ("Rock Band 2").
In recent research from NPD Group, 22% of consumers said they plan to give video games as gifts this holiday season -- ranking behind apparel, toys, movies, books and electronics, but ahead of accessories, music, food and fragrances. Last year, according to NPD, music game titles accounted for some 12% of the total $9.5 billion in video game sales--or $1.2 billion. The figure for music game sales was only $132 million in 2005, but has already reached $896 billion this year. NPD does not make full-year projections.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Newest 'Guitar Hero' Lets People Create Music
It has fed the dreams of millions of air guitarists, headbangers and rocker wannabes. It has exposed a new generation of fans to classic rock and metal while helping the slumping record industry boost sales. Now, for an encore, the wildly popular "Guitar Hero" video game franchise has a new, more ambitious goal: It wants to help you record original music and share it with other fans around the world.
Read more about it by clicking here.
iLike, TuneCore Make Indie Music Together
Hey, indie bands. Does MySpace Music's big focus on the major labels make you sad? iLike wants to hear from you -- literally.
The "social music" company, best-known for its add-on apps for Facebook and iTunes, has partnered with music distribution start-up TuneCore so that unsigned artists can market their music through iLike and get royalties when it's streamed there.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Lime Wire Adds Social Networking Features
The file-sharing software LimeWire, with "80 to 100 million reasonably regular users," is one of the biggest forces in music distribution and still faces a lawsuit from multiple record labels. But now that the majors have made deals with MySpace, YouTube and other content networks, LimeWire hopes to offer the sort of licensed P2P service that the original Napster could have become. One move in this direction is a new personalization feature that lets people share music and other content only with specific friends.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Apple Sells 200 Million TV Shows In Three Years
Apple said Thursday that it has sold 200 million TV episodes on iTunes. This might sound like a lot, but the money that TV networks see from the deal may still be relatively small. The company also announced that the download store would offer high-definition TV shows from all four of the major broadcast networks -- CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC -- and that it had sold 1 million HDTV episodes since last month.
To put the 200-million number into context, Peter Kafka at Silicon Alley Insider figured it this way: Apple sold the 200 million episodes over three years. If each show sold for the standard $1.99 iTunes price and the networks took a 70% slice then they would have seen about $280 million. That means the group is getting just over $93 million a year.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Bloomingdales Does 'The Ultimate' Beatles Collector's Gift
Perhaps this is not quite what Beatles fans were hoping for, the deal to see the Fab Four's music go digital has yet to be done, but Blomingdale's isn't waiting.
The department store is making available, exclusive to its U.S. stores. a limited edition ultimate collector's box: Beatles iPod set. Angled as the ultimate Beatles collector's gift, it includes a numbered 120GB iPod in black etched with the Beatles' logo on the front and Abbey Road on the back. There's also 13 original Beatles CDs, plus two masters and the "Love" CD, all with an engraved guitar pick. It's all packaged in a great looking gift box, and only 2,500 are being made available for the price of $795.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Three Years Later, MySpace Looks Like A Smart Buy
Critics scoffed at Fox when it shelled out $580 million for MySpace back in 2005, well before the company showed signs of profit or was even monetized in any significant way. But now, three years later, TechCrunch declares it money well spent.
Fox Interactive Media -- which is mostly MySpace -- earned about $850 million in revenues during the fiscal year that ended in June, and is projected to hit $1 billion next year. And MySpace is profitable. It now employs 1,600 people worldwide, compared to just 150 in October 2005 -- that's more than a tenfold increase. And though Facebook may have the momentum, MySpace's network has continued to grow in size, with 73 million unique visitors a month in the U.S., reaching nearly 40% of the population.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Network Audience Eroding, New Threats Loom
The Wall Street JournalThis fall, popular broadcast-TV shows are seeing their audiences jump by more than one-third when you include people who record the shows and watch them later on DVRs. But even with those viewers added, fewer people overall are watching the big broadcast networks. During the first two weeks of the TV season, an average of 9 million people watched prime-time programming live and within seven days. That's down 6.6% from last year, per Nielsen.
Bigger problems ahead include the growing popularity of broadcast TV shows on Internet services like Apple's iTunes, which are "training the audience to believe there's no urgency in watching anything," says Preston Beckman, Fox executive. February's transition to digital TV is another threat because households that switch to cable or satellite are likely to start watching a greater variety of channels.
Read more about it by clicking here.
DIAMOND HONORED
NARAS president and president/CEO of the Music Cares Foundation, Neil Portnow, announced this week that Neil Diamond has been selected as the 2009 MusiCares Person of the Year. The dinner and concert honoring Diamond is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2008. just two days prior to the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, with the proceeds providing essential support for MusiCares, which ensures that music people have a place to turn to in times of financial, medical and personal need.
YEAH, SO THROW ANOTHER SHRIMP ON THE BARBY AND RELAX
Australian music stores sold AC/DC's "Black Ic"e before the street date. "We don't care about embargoes. We are here to sell music and the fans are here to buy it," said one retailer.
PUMPKINS TO SMASH AGAIN
To celebrate the launch of Guitar Hero: World Tour, the Smashing Pumpkins will perform an hour-long set at a Los Angeles Best Buy on October 25th. DJ Jazzy Jeff and "the official Guitar Hero band" will also play.
FOO FOR YOU
Foo Fighters will document their sold-out Wembley Stadium concerts from last June with a new DVD, out November 16th. Foo Fighters: Live At Wembley Stadium will feature 18 songs culled from all six Foo albums.
BRITNEY DISMISSED
The charge of driving without a license levied against Britney Spears has been dismissed. Following two days of deliberations, the jury couldn't come to a unanimous decision, though 10 jurors were in favor of acquittal.
DIDDY RAGS
Diddy has added another piece to his empire after he and his partners purchased clothing company Enyce for $20 million. The deal is a steal for Diddy, considering seller Liz Clairborne had paid $114 million for Enyce in 2003.
PAGE SAYS NO, FANS SAY YES
Jimmy Page said he would not endorse a campaign to get Led Zeppelin a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Still, the fan-driven pursuit to get Zep recognition in Hollywood can be followed here: http://www.ledzeppelinstar.com/
DON NEEDS TO GET ON THE LOVE TRAIN, TOO
Soul Train host Don Cornelius was arrested over the weekend in Hollywood on felony suspicion of domestic violence. He was released on $50,000 bail and ordered to appear in court next month.
DON'T SOMEBODY WANT THEM?
The Human League have begun work on a new album their first since 2001's "Secrets." With no record deal in place, "We'll have to find another way of getting it out to the public," says singer Joanne Catherall.
PASSING
Levi Stubbs, Jr., the lead singer of the Four Tops, died in his sleep last Friday at his Detroit home after a long battle with multiple illnesses. He was 72. Cancer and a stroke forced Stubbs to stop touring with the famed Motown quartet in 2000.
PASSING
Soul singer Dee Dee Warwick, sister of Dionne Warwick and cousin of Whitney Houston, died this weekend. She was 63. In addition to her solo career, Dee Dee also served as a backup singer for Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett.
Quotes of the week
"Wearing a bikini on a magazine cover is my 41st birthday present to myself. I could bend in ways I haven't been able to since I was a teenager. My husband (Tim McGraw) loves it!"
-- Country superstar Faith Hill, who bravely decided to pose in a bikini at age 41 for the December issue of Shape. And we are sure Tim loves it too, Faith."I always took pride in being a little underground -- it really is a very unlikely record to cross over. The other songs on the chart are Katy Perry and the Jonas Brothers ... then you see "Paper Planes" and it's cool because there's hope: 'Thank God the future's here.'"
-- M.I.A. to Rolling Stone, on the unexpected crossover success of her hit song "Paper Planes."To be honest, there's nothing I want to talk about less than politics. I'd rather vomit and lick it up."
-- Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, in Blender."I wet myself, Fergie-style."
-- Katy Perry, explaining what happened after she was asked to host MTV's Europe Music Awards, to MTV. And doing that won't help you or Fergie one bit image-wise."I've already fallen in love with 20 guys since I've been here."
-- Miley Cyrus, on visiting London, to reporters on the BBC's Switch Live. Easy girl, remember Disney signs those checks."I'm not afraid to say I have imaginary friends."
-- Diddy, claiming he feels Frank Sinatra's "presence" to PEOPLE magazine. Really? And what was Mr. Sinatra rapping?"This song is for the emotionally retarded. You might know a few people who fall into that category - God knows I do."
-- Madonna, taking an onstage swipe at husband Guy Ritchie as she performed for 20,000 fans in Boston last week, after it was announced that she and Guy were seeking a divorce. Some people have class, others don't.
THE RADIO INTERVIEW on 'THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE' - From newsblaze.com
"Steve Meyer is on the front line of global music sales and distribution which he expects will soar to pocket-bursting levels. What's more, he shares his insight and ingenuity with us. Steve gives us both historical perspective and futuristic vision as he chats with Judy about the love of his work, trends of the business and his personal points of view about success, happiness and blending life with the lust for life. Steve joins Judy and helps us discover the thrill of having it all with a sense of balance and purpose. "
You can listen to an interview I did with Judy Piazza of 'The American Perspective' by clicking here: (It runs about 15 minutes)
http://www.thesop.org/index.php?id=10306.
The Blogs
Check out a great blog by Jerry Del Colliano, the Director Executive Programs, Clinical Professor Music Industry & Recording Arts, at the Thornton School of Music,University of Southern California, by clicking here: http://www.insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com.
Box Office
Check The Daily & Weekly Box Office (and more film info) at: www.boxofficemojo.com.
TinyURL
Check out www.tinyurl.com where you can make a smaller URL that will work for any webpage you wish to link to or reference. (As you can see, I'm using it in my news stories above!)
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