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The Streaming Thing Again
October 3, 2014
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"The data underscores an ongoing tectonic shift in the music industry, in which decades of doing business based on per-song/per-album transactions (for either digital music or CDs, vinyl or tape) are giving way to a world where music is increasingly sold like a utility: Pay a subscription fee or sit through ads, and you get digital access to a seemingly limitless stream of songs."
-- From the article on CNET, linked belowFrom CNET, "Streaming services are quickly changing the way we consume music, from single tracks or albums to a smorgasbord of tunes. As a result, the download services are losing out to the streaming services, and it looks like the revenue from streaming will outstrip downloads in only a couple of years.
U.S. revenue for streaming-music services rose 28% to $859 million in the first half of the year, compared with $673 million in the year-earlier period. The category included subscription services like Spotify and Apple's Beats Music, streaming radio like Pandora and Sirius XM and on-demand services like Vevo or YouTube. Meanwhile, digital downloads -- like the singles and albums sold on Apple's iTunes -- dropped 12% to $1.3 billion in the first six months of the year. " Read Streaming music swiping sales from music downloads
And this viewpoint from an article by Mark Mulligan, "Disruptive technology and the change it brings can be overwhelming, particularly when it threatens to change forever all that we have known. Streaming clearly fits this bill. But the impact of change is as much in the eye of the beholder as the disruption itself. While it would be bland and disingenuous to say that change is merely a state of mind, a positive outlook that is focused on the opportunities can make the world of difference ... the shift to streaming is going to be easy, but it is going to happen anyway. Artists, labels, managers, publishers all need to decide whether to work with streaming now, and have some control over the process, or wait until they have no choice at all." Read Why The Music Industry Needs To Take A Positive View Of Streaming Music
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 2
SIRIUS/XM WILL APPEAL (OF COURSE)SiriusXM has confirmed it will appeal the decision from a U.S. District Court judge in California that determined the service must pay royalties for airing music by "Happy Together" group The Turtles made prior to 1972, when federal copyright law was expanded to include master recordings.
Judge Phillip Gutierrez ruled last week that SiriusXM violated the master recording rights of Turtles songwriters Flo & Eddie, who filed their lawsuit in 2013 seeking $100 million in damages.
SiriusXM Will Appeal Last Week's Major Copyright Ruling
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 3
WHAT ARE APPLE & MAJOR LABELS PLANNING?Remember all of the money you spent -- and the record labels made -- when upgraded your record and tape collection to "superior sounding" CDs? Former label chief and Jimmy Iovine certainly does; and I'm hearing persistent talk that he's close to selling a similar audio upgrade campaign to Tim Cook and his new bosses at Apple.
Iovine and his Beats colleagues have long been critics of the audio quality delivered by traditional mp3s. They set out to fix it with Beats headphones, earbuds and speakers; but that's just the start. "The thing I am most proud of is that we got a generation of young people to care about sound quality," he told the WSJ. "We believe in the entire sound ecosystem, We are going to find its flaws and fix them." Are Apple And Major Labels Planning A CD-Like 'Audio Upgrade' Campaign?
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 4
RADIOHEAD'S THOM YORKE WANTED TO SEE IF BITTORRENT'S PAYWALL WOULD WORK … IT DIDThom Yorke's release of his latest solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, directly through the BitTorrent file sharing service appears to have been a successful gambit. As of noon on Monday, there had been more than 430,000 downloads.
While figures weren't provided for how many of those downloads had been of the free track and video on offer at the site, or how many users had shelled out the $6 fee for the full album, Matt Mason, chief content officer of BitTorrent, told USA Today that the company was "been really, really happy at the conversion rate." Thom Yorke Nears Half A Million Downloads For New BitTorrent Album
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BETWEEN THE GROOVES
ITEM: eMusic, which has been selling digital downloads since 1998 (try to wrap your head around that), says it will be "exiting the mainstream music business" and returning to its roots as an indie outlet, The New York Times reports. Specifically, the service will no longer sell music from UMG, Sony or WMG.
ITEM: Despite his usually prolific pace -- he's got 25 studio albums under his belt and just released two new albums -- Prince is not exactly tearing it up online. On Tuesday, he kept that not-so-hot streak going on Facebook. Prince's Three-Hour Facebook Q&A Yields One Actual Reply
ITEM: Tweeting "the music industry hates me," making many headline writers happy, Kim Dotcom said good bye to Baboom. The high-profile, high-stakes approach wasn't working and Baboom's CEO says that now they can focus on the Baboom brand rather than the Dotcom brand. Plans are still in the works to launch the much-delayed music service in the 4th quarter 2014.
ITEM: Wearables aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but the revolution won't necessarily be on our wrists. READ MORE
ITEM: VentureBeat reports Microsoft announced the next generation of its Windows operating system. Read More
ITEM: TechCrunch reports over the past several years, Showyou has been in the business of helping users find interesting videos that might appeal to them. Read More
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THE 'A-SIDE' - THE BONUS TRACKSWant to Hear The Who Imitate Daft Punk?
Aretha Franklin Shares Fiery Adele Cover
Prince to Livestream Paisley Park Party
Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Video to Live Again as 3-D Film
Was 1994 the Best Year for Movie Soundtracks?
U2's 'The Unforgettable Fire' at 30: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review
John Mellencamp Talks Inspiration, Smoking & Acting Your Age
Neil Diamond Spreads Brooklyn Love
Hear the Jackson 5's Long-Lost First Recording 'Big Boy'
Could 'Weird Al' Yankovic's Silent Film Short Be an Oscar Contender?
New Tango Music Pix App Creates Shareable Slideshows With Music Powered By Rumblefish
8 Insanely Valuable Items You Probably Owned (and Threw Out)
Ello? Ello! Does This Suddenly Popular Social Network Have Music Marketing Potential?
Swedish Scientists Hide Bob Dylan Lyrics in Articles
Cheap and crazy-expensive audio components commingle at the New York Audio Show 2014
GoPro Hero4 Black delivers smooth 4K video, better low-light performance
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Meet Matchstick, Mozilla's $25 Chromecast alternative
The fastest alternative to Wi-Fi and Ethernet
3 Near-Future Scenarios That Are Changing The Way We Work Today
Short News Items ...
SAD NEWS FOR AC/DC:
Earlier this summer, AC/DC finished recording a new album -- their first since 2008 -- but this accomplishment came hand in hand with bad news: Malcolm Young, who founded the band with his brother, was hospitalized. Now the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Young has been moved to a nursing home in the suburbs of Sydney. The home specializes in treating patients with dementia.
NEW CARRIE:
Carrie Underwood revealed plans for her first greatest hits compilation during an appearance on NBC's 'Today' last week. She also announced the release of a new single from the collection, "Something in the Water," out already. The album titled 'Greatest Hits: Decade #1', will be released on December 9th.
ANDRE 3000 LEAVES HIP-HOP:
Andre 3000 says he didn't discover Jimi Hendrix until the late '90s. Years later, he's starring in the biopic 'Jimi: All Is By My Side.' The Outkast co-founder would like to make another "dope rap album," he says, "but I know it would be something else." Read More
AH, C'MON … SERIOUSLY?
CNNMoney reports a $250 million lawsuit has been filed against Walt Disney (DIS), claiming that its mega-hit "Frozen" stole directly from someone's real life story. Read More
SPRINGSTEEN AND OTHERS TO ROCK VETERANS DAY:
This Veterans Day, Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Rihanna, Dave Grohl and Metallica will be among numerous artists who will head to the National Mall in Washington D.C. on November 11th for "The Concert of Valor," an all-star event that will pay tribute to armed services. The special, which also features performances by Carrie Underwood and the Zac Brown Band, will air live on HBO at 7 p.m. EST.
U2's NEXT:
In 2010, U2 started recording a new album with Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton. Now that 'Songs of Innocence' is finally out, they're looking ahead to a tour that will "start small," The Edge tells Rolling Stone. "We certainly can't get any bigger than the last one." Read More
LANGE DOES LANA?
"American Horror Story" knows its way around a shocking moment, but some things still manage to elicit gasps: For example, Jessica Lange singing Lana Del Rey. Jessica Lange is Covering Lana Del Rey on 'American Horror Story'
DIAMOND TO MORRIS:
Neil Diamond has signed with the William Morris Endeavor agency for his representation worldwide.
MAC BACK:
After 16 years of playing with her dogs and baking cookies, Christine McVie decided to rejoin Fleetwood Mac. This week her band mates' and fans' wishes came true as the singer reunited with the Mac in Minneapolis for the first date of a 33-city tour. Read More
REDDIT GETS DOLLARS:
Reddit, the community-driven link site popular for its "ask me anything" series and abundance of nude photos, announced this week that it has raised $50 million from investors, promising that a portion of it will go back to users. Jared Leto and Snoop Dogg are just two of the people pumping money into it.
STEVIE TALKS:
Of late, Stevie Nicks has made two of her best solo albums and toured the world with Fleetwood Mac, who are now on the road with the long-lost Christine McVie. "Of all the elite '70s bands," she says, "we're the only one touring with the same lineup." Read More
Leaving Us
George M. Roberts, the master musician known as "Mr. Bass Trombone" whose melodic sound can be heard on Nelson Riddle-arranged albums for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, has died. He was 86. Roberts' skillful and innovative playing made him a much-in-demand session player in Los Angeles from the 1950s through the '80s. In 2005, he estimated that he had played on more than 6,000 recordings, spanning a half-century.
Quotes of the week
"I don't think it looks as though that's on the cards, so there's not much more I can say about that. I'm not going to give you a detail-by-detail account of what one person says and another person says. All I can say is it just doesn't look very likely."
-- Jimmy Page, finally facing facts: Robert Plant is just not that into a Led Zeppelin reunion."You can't make it up. It's a whorehouse and people go mad. Why wouldn't you have contempt for the movie business? It sucks most of the time. If I could do something like sell watches in China, then I would do that and just make movies like 'Maps,'"
-- Frustrated by the state of the film industry, John Cusack told The Guardian in an interview published Thursday."Wedding? What wedding? I was at a bar mitzvah."
-- Bono, in Venice, replying to reporters questions about George Clooney's wedding."Forty-seven days in rehab to get off Klonopin was way more horrific than 30 days to get off coke. The word "tranquilizer" should scare people to death."
-- Stevie Nicks, in Rolling Stone
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THE ONION (www.theonion.com) STORY OF THE WEEK:
Tense Party Enters Third Hour Of Unplayed Acoustic Guitar Leaning Against Wall
EUGENE, OR—The tension at a party hosted by area man Chad Kopp was reportedly increasing by the minute Friday as attendees continued to glance uneasily at an acoustic guitar leaning against the living room wall for the third straight hour. "Yeah, Chad's got a really cool place," Kopp's friend Eric Morehouse said to a small cluster of fellow guests, all of whom furtively eyed the guitar for any indication whatsoever that someone might pick it up and launch into a popular song, or an unknown riff they might later reveal as "just something [they'd] been working on."
The Music Industry Past, Present & Future, And The Internet I answer questions on EconTalk
I did an interview about the industry and the Internet at EconTalk with host Russ Roberts. Russ is also a professor of economics at George Mason University, blogs at Cafe Hayek, and has written three novels that teach economics. He's also the co-creator of the Keynes-Hayek rap video. (And if your understanding of the economic meltdown that occurred needs to be enlightened, this video will do it)
In the interview we talk about the evolution of the music industry, the impact of the digital revolution, and I give my reasons for believing in the virtues and potential of the Internet in enhancing the music industry. I point out, as I have many times here in the newsletter, that the internet allows numerous artists to make money from their music and it can enhance revenues from live performances by expanding an artist's base. We also discuss the challenges facing record companies and I suggest that the full potential of the Internet as a distribution channel has yet to be fully exploited. There's a lot of ground covered, but based on the comments already posted of those who have tuned in, they've enjoyed it.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Smart Marketing Consulting Services
Smart Marketing Consulting Services has been in business sixteen years, and consults clients in the music, entertainment, attraction, media, and technology industry on branding, marketing, online exploitation, maximizing new media, and more.
"And the beat goes on, the beat goes on ... drums keep poundin' rhythm to the brain."
"Work is life, you know, and without it, there's nothing but fear and insecurity." -- John Lennon
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