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Some More Stuff
July 27, 2007
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"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity; lick it once and you'll suck forever." -- Brian Wilson.
I don't know which news item was the one that made me laugh harder this week. At first I thought it was Lindsay Lohan's "I'm innocent" statement after she was arrested again for DUI and cocaine possession. But then came the statement from Democratic presidential candidate John Edward's wife, Elizabeth, who said she was giving up tangerines to help battle global warming - due to the carbon footprint the trucks that transport the tangerines leave in her home state of North Carolina.
"I live in North Carolina. I'll probably never eat a tangerine again," she said. Gee, what a sacrifice. Ms. Edwards. Uh, but what about the carbon footprint the energy you use in your $150-million house is leaving?
After weighing both items for some time, Elizabeth Edward's wins hands down. Reasoning? We expected Lindsay Lohan to do something stupid again. But Elizabeth Edward's statement sounded like it was something THE ONION would have concocted.
Now down to business.
Last week the big news was Prince's deal with the London SUNDAY MAIL, which guaranteed his new CD "Planet Earth" being distributed to over two million readers. In my commentary last week, I wrote " What is certain is this: Established artists with a legacy of great music can make more money by taking a (major) label out of the picture entirely. New distribution methods are needed and artists are seeking them now. (Just ask Paul McCartney about his Starbuck's deal) If anybody in the business is angered by what Prince did, they should first ask themselves what they would do if they were in his shoes. All he did was what any artist should be doing: He made the best deal possible in a fast-changing music retail environment."
Well, this week, Starbucks/Hear Music announced that two more artists, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, are joining their fold.
While some industry executives might not think much of Mr. Taylor and Ms. Mitchell leaving their labels because their sales don't equal those of other current artists, they should remember that REAL artists like Taylor and Mitchell were once the foundation for building a healthy roster at all labels. It seems that in the rush to meet quarterly numbers and spend gobs of money on videos to satisfy the MTV audience, artist development was sacrificed as the major labels filled the distribution channel with disposable "flavor-of-the-month" music.
One need only look at the current album charts to see that great A&R and artist development can produce incredible results in a declining retail market for music. Nickelback has sold six million; Carrie Underwood has sold five million plus; Chris Daughtry has sold three million-plus; Justin Timberlake has sold three million plus; Rascal Flatts has sold four million-plus, Walt Disney's "High School Musical" soundtrack has sold four million-plus; Beyonce has sold three million-plus; and Fergie has sold two million-plus on her solo debut. There's more, but I think you get the picture.
Nothing has "cannibalized" album sales more than the complete lack of focus in the industry on developing and signing artists that can deliver these kinds of sales levels. Oh, sure, every label WANTS the artists they sign to sell gobs, but the dearth of artists that can actually do so is grossly apparent.
Don't blame Steve Jobs and iTunes for cannibalizing album sales. If anyone at any label thinks iTunes is principally responsible for actually doing so, then ask yourself what the "Now That's What I Call Music" CDs do at retail. This week Volume 25 (yep, that's right folks, Volume 25!) of that K-Tel type collection debuted at #1 on the BILLBOARD charts. Proving again the age old adage: "When you have lemons, make lemonade." The "lemons" being albums not worth their price at retail if they only contain one or two good tracks, and the "lemonade" being the cheaper way to buy the hits instead of wasting money on all the CDs you didn't want to buy in the first place.
As CD sales continue to decline, not one major label group has come out and announced anything about possibly developing their own iTunes-type store. Why not? What are you guys waiting for? You complain about iTunes daily, so why not do it yourself if you think you can do it better? If you can do it better, THEN DO IT. Now.
More artists like James Taylor, Paul McCartney, Prince and Joni Mitchell will seek new homes and new deals elsewhere. Sooner or later, one of your younger artists that sells multi-platinum might do the same, too.
Then another.
And another.
Then what do you do?
AS I WAS SAYING...
"EMI's recent decision to drop DRM has had a hugely positive impact on our potential to collaborate with brands in order to offer consumers downloads that they can play across all digital music players." -- Barney Wragg, EMI Global Head of Digital
I was a big pro-DRM-free music supporter a long time ago. I wrote about why I thought DRM-free music would benefit both artists and labels months before EMI announced they were going to make their online catalog available DRM-free on Apple's iTunes for a little more money.
The reports I get from a few labels all reflect the same thing: Since offering DRM-free music, EMI's online sales have increased. No, sales haven't soared dramatically, but they've increased enough for anyone to see that EMI's decision was a smart one.
Now, EMI's DRM-free downloads are opening the door to significant strategic partnership with name brands. This week in the U.K., EMI announced it has made an agreement with digital agency Verve Life to maximize its music catalog for global brand promotions to create customer retention and loyalty for companies.
As part of this arrangement, Burger King is the first brand partner to take advantage of this opportunity in the U.K. Consumers will be able to search for, sample and download a pre-paid EMI Music track from a specially-created microsite after inputting a unique code. From the EMI press release: "Codes are being distributed to Burger King consumers upon purchase, and there will be links from the microsite to an online retailer allowing consumers to purchase further tracks by EMI artists featured on the microsite. EMI is the only major music company offering content for this first-of-its-kind program and will be featured as the exclusive provider of digital music in experiences being developed by VerveLife for several other global brands." (http://www.emigroup.com/Press/2007/press51.htm )
Kudos to EMI for stepping out and creating such an alliance where both they, and the artists they represent, can benefit.
Again, any label executives still holding out on DRM-free agreements would be wise to see the proverbial handwriting on the wall. Those labels that continue to insist on selling music with DRM are going to find themselves at the back of the bus that's moving down the cyberspace highway at breakneck speed.
XM, Sirius Unveil Plans For Post-Merger Price Cuts
If the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio goes through, the combined company plans to offer packages of channels at reduced rates, including a 50-channel offering that's almost half the price of today's lowest-price option.
New "a la carte" options, which will enable consumers to pick 50 or 100 channels from XM and Sirius' lineups (minus "premium" offerings like those from Playboy, that is) for $6.99 or $14.99 per month, respectively, are scheduled to kick in within one year of the merger's completion, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin and XM Chairman Gary Parsons said in a joint statement Monday. With the 50-channel plan, subscribers would have to select channels from either XM or Sirius, not both, and could opt to add additional non-premium channels for 25 cents each.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Review Roundup: Cool Wireless Music Devices
Snaking wires across your living room floor is fast becoming a thing of the past. No, we're not talking about Bluetooth technology. There are a host of other wireless options to help you stream your tunes across rooms -- and even throughout your whole home. Put your Wi-Fi to good use with one of these wireless audio systems can free you from your wired life. See which one delivers the best sound on PCMag.com.
Read more about it by clicking here.
THX Hears The Call Of Consumer Electronics
In 1983, "Star Wars" director George Lucas took aim at decrepit theater sound systems. Whirring air conditioners, fuzzy-sounding speakers and nearby noisy lobbies were obscuring his carefully crafted sound effects. He founded the company THX to ensure that a theater's playback environment could reproduce sound the way filmmakers meant for a movie to be heard. Audiences loved him for it. More than two decades later, the pioneering company hopes that one of its new technologies, code-named Blackbird, will revamp consumer electronics in the same way.
THX wants to enable DVDs, CDs, videogames and digital downloads to communicate with the hardware they play on. The technology embedded in the content will automatically adjust settings so that visual and audio playback is optimal, according to company executives.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Russian Prosecutors Seeks Jail time For Allofmp3.com Owner
A month after music site shuts down, authorities seek a three-year sentence and $590,000 in restitution in the massive copyright infringement case.
Read more about it by clicking here.
A Device That Plays Tunes and Tests Your Clicking Skills
FROM THE NYTIMES.COMSome makers of portable media players have learned their lesson: No matter how good the hardware is, if it does not streamline the process of getting and organizing music, pictures and videos, people will just keep buying iPods.
The latest effort to marry hardware with good software is from Iriver, which recently announced a partnership with RealNetworks to integrate Real's Rhapsody music service with the new version of its Clix player, called Clix Rhapsody. The 4-gigabyte model sells for about $190 at Amazon.com and other online retailers. The player, which has a crisp 2.2-inch liquid crystal display screen, includes a 30-day free trial of the Rhapsody To Go music service. After that, the subscription fee is $15 a month for unlimited downloads.
Read more about it by clicking here.
AT&T, Apple Differ On The iPhone Gap
The honeymoon might already be over between Apple and AT&T. The two partners stood in stark contrast Wednesday evening following the results of Apple's third-quarter earnings, in which the company revealed it sold 270,000 iPhones in the first 30 hours the product was on sale. Earlier in the week, AT&T said it had activated only 146,000 iPhones during a similar period of time.
The innovative activation scheme that Apple and AT&T came up with for the iPhone launch made life much easier for many early iPhone customers, in that they could take their new purchase home and activate it from the comfort of their living room. It also made for a stressful weekend for those who ran into problems activating their iPhones. But what's to account for the 124,000 iPhones that were sold by Apple but not activated? Apple and AT&T were not on the same page in the early hours after Wednesday's conference call.
"We activated 146,000 iPhones from 6 p.m. on Friday until midnight on Saturday," said Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman. "Apple's results are what they are."
Read more about it by clicking here.
HDTVs That Defy Definition
So you bit the bullet -- you bought an HDTV. The only snag left is those old-school standard-def cable channels and your DVD library, which will be just way too expensive to replace with HD DVDs or Blu-ray. (Besides, that's yet another new drive you'd have to buy.) Thankfully, these five HDTVs do a great job of enhancing standard-def pictures. PC Magazine will help you tweak your TV settings to get the sharpest picture possible.
Read more about it by clicking here.
THIS WEEK'S 'WHO CARES?' NEWS ITEMS
ITEM #1: In the 7/12 issue of "Who Cares," I wrote " Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab. (For now anyway)." Well, good ol' Lindsay didn't let us down. She was arrested again for drunk driving in Santa Monica early Tuesday, just 11 days after checking out of the Promises treatment center in Malibu. The actress was pulled over after police officers reportedly witnessed her vehicle chasing another car. She subsequently failed a field sobriety test and was taken to the station, where she was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license and possession of cocaine. She was released Tuesday morning on $25,000 bail.
ITEM #2: Lil Wayne and Ja Rule were arrested separately in New York Sunday and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, police said. Gee, how unique. Rappers arrested for carrying handguns.
CONGRATS
CONGRATS #1 TO: To BMG Label Group Chairman/CEO, Clive Davis, who was feted at the UJA-Federation of New York's "Music Visionary of the Year" Award this week at N.Y.C.'s The Pierre. Clive was surrounded by friends and family, and Jennifer Hudson performed two songs, "Weekend in New England" and "One Moment in Time," the latter the UJA-Federation theme. The event raised more than $1 million, which beat all previous records for fundraising.
CONGRATS #2 TO: To Drew Carey, who confirmed during a Letterman show taping Monday that he has been tapped to replace Bob Barker on "The Price Is Right."
CONGRATS #3 TO: To Julia Roberts, who will receive the 22nd annual American Cinematheque award on Oct. 12th.
NO LOVE FOR IKE
The mayor of St. Louis turned down a request to make Sept. 2 'Ike Turner Day' in honor of the R&B icon's scheduled performance at the Big Muddy Blues Festival. No reason was given as to why the request was turned down, but a mayor's aide said he "did not feel comfortable issuing it." Gee, considerng Ike's colorful past, I wonder why.
BRITNEY BEING BAD AGAIN
It's all over the web now since OK! magazine has released details of their disastrous cover session with Britney Spears, claiming the singer arrived late, appeared "disoriented" and opted to get prepped by her posse of friends rather than the professional hair and makeup team provided by the tabloid. The magazine also reports that Spears abruptly walked out of the July 19 interview and photo shoot, but not before taking and/or damaging nearly $21,000 worth of designer clothes
ELVIS TENNESSEE PLATES THANKS TO A GARDEN STATE RESIDENT
Tennessee residents were looking forward to having state-issued Elvis Presley license plates on their cars. The state required 1,000 motorists to preorder and pay the fees for the specialty license plates before putting them into production, but was still about 100 orders short as the deadline approached. It seems an anonymous New Jersey donor ponied up the remaining $3,500 in fees so that the plates could be manufactured as planned.
BIG LOVE BIG ON HBO
HBO has re-upped its polygamous drama "Big Love" for a third season, ordering 12 more episodes. The new season is due to begin filming in November.
JONI AND JAMES JOIN THE STARBUCKS' ROSTER
As I mentioned earlier, Starbucks/Hear Music announced that Joni Mitchell and James Taylor would follow Paul McCartney to the label.
MORE OF THE SAME
NBC's 'Singing Bee' isn't the only karaoke-based competition to get a pickup order. Fox has ordered another 13 episodes of its own singing contest, 'Don't Forget the Lyrics,' which also challenges contestants to remember the words to popular songs.
WELL, IF SHE EVER GETS THROUGH IT ALL, THERE'S A TON OF SONGS SHE COULD SING ABOUT IT
More trouble for Mindy McCready. The country singer was arrested in Florida Saturday and charged with misdemeanor counts of battery and resisting arrest. She was released on $1,000 bail and ordered to appear in court Aug. 14.
AT LEAST THE KIDS ARE READING
About 8.3 million of them, a record-breaking number, bought copies of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in the United States within the first 24 hours of the book's release.
BLADE RUNNER REDUX
Twenty-five years after "Blade Runner's" initial release, Warner is releasing "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" --the definitive version of director Ridley Scott's iconic sci-fi film. The DVD set hits shelves Dec. 18 and includes five different versions of the film and a three-hour documentary.
BACKSTREET BOYS 2007
The grown-up boy band is plotting an as-yet-untitled October comeback album, a follow-up to 2005's "Never Gone." Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and AJ McLean will celebrate their 10th anniversary on Jive this year, minus ex-bandmate Kevin Richardson, who quit the group last year.
WHO SAID "TALK IS CHEAP"?
Oprah Winfrey earned a reported $260 million last year. That makes her the highest-paid TV star ever, in case you didn't already know. Placing a distant second was "American Idol's" Simon Cowell, who mustered up only $45 million for his role on the Fox network's smash hit talent show and other projects.
Quotes of the week
"Yes. I am innocent...did not do drugs; they're not mine. I was almost hit by my assistant, Tarin's, mom. I appreciate everyone giving me my privacy."
-- Lindsay Lohan in an e-mail to "Access Hollywood" anchor Billy Bush, in response to him asking if there was any message she'd like to make public in light of her arrest early Tuesday morning on suspicion of DUI and cocaine possession. We would love to give you privacy Lins ... but you're fast becoming a wretched excess a la Paris Hilton."Since Lindsay transitioned to outpatient care, she has been monitored on a SCRAM bracelet and tested daily in order to support her sobriety. Throughout this period, I have received timely and accurate reports from the testing companies. Unfortunately, late yesterday I was informed that Lindsay had relapsed. The bracelet has now been removed."
-- Lindsay Lohan's attorney, Blair Berk, on her client's post-rehab backslide. Ooops, doesn't sound like your client is as innocent as she claims then, huh counselor?"Jennifer has never toured. I've toured all my life. This is where I can step in and say, 'Oh, my God, this could be fun,' and introduce her to that world."
-- Marc Anthony talking to BILLBOARD magazine about the possibility of doing a tour with wife J-Lo. Be careful, Marc. Taking your wife on the road may not be the best way to get closer as a couple."I've actually rented Björk's swan dress. I know that's kind of recycling, but I saw 'An Inconvenient Truth.'"
-- 'The Office' star and outstanding supporting actor nominee Rainn Wilson, on what he plans to wear to the Emmys."If things go well and we get married, I'm going to be smart this time and I'm going to have him sign a pre-nup and if we get divorced, I'll get half his allowance."
-- Paula Abdul, talking about her younger boyfriend on "The View." If you get married? Let's first see if this guy stays around as long as one season of "American Idol.""I think that we had a nice, as they call it, chemistry. I was very taken with him."
-- Christopher Walken, on playing the husband to cross-dressing "Hairspray" co-star John Travolta, to DETAILS magazine.
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THE ONION (www.theonion.com) STORY OF THE WEEK:
New Eco-Friendly Packaging Triggers Boom In Guilt-Free Littering
ROCKFORD, IL -- Nick Sundin used to be neurotic about littering. The 37-year-old pediatrician admits he kept trash bags in his car, and would even pick up and throw away garbage he found on the street. Since boyhood, Sundin said, he was keenly attuned to the environmental degradation littering caused, an attitude triggered by the famous Keep America Beautiful "Crying Indian" public service announcement he saw on television as a young man. Not anymore.
"These 'eco' products are amazing; they've totally changed my life," Sundin said. "Now, I just toss my used seventh generation-brand paper plates out the car window, knowing they'll soon be absorbed into the earth."
The growing "green" trend in product packaging, which emphasizes the use of recycled, biodegradable post-consumer paper-based materials and relies less on petroleum-derived polymers like styrofoam, has unleashed a spontaneous trashing of sidewalks, road sides, and pristine wilderness by gratified consumers.
Read the rest and laugh here: http://tinyurl.com/2ev9ao.
The Blogs
Check out a great blog (that I contribute commentary to) 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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