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It's A Tivo/Podcast World We're Living In...But There's...
November 4, 2005
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"In the digital era, the future is one in which consumers watch or listen to what they want to watch, when they want, at any time they want, on any device. This is a generation that will not wait for content to be delivered to them at a prescribed time." -- Carly Fiorina, then Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard on 4/19/04
I think I've run the above quote from Ms. Fiorina several times in the newsletter, and for good reason. It sums up so very much of what is happening as things change in the consumer marketplace.
After I put last week's commentary to bed (' Changes In The Paradigms' ) and sent it off for all to read, I read the news that 2005 is going to be the worst year for the newspaper industry since the last ad recession in 2001-2002. (Click here for more information.) Industry analysts don't expect next year to be much better.
As the numbers for newspaper subscribers and readers continue to drop other indicators point to the fact that more people are turning away from traditional news media delivery and they are getting their news online. Why the major newspaper companies didn't see or realize just how fast things were changing is a whole other argument, but they now are faced with the same problems that the music industry (and others) have: how to survive and create a new model to generate revenues as the digital future evolves.
Of course there are a myriad of ways for the newspapers to create those revenues: content syndication; streaming video and feature story podcasts for a fee; new online ad revenues with strategic partners sponsoring "advertorials"; and more. If they get busy real fast, they might even find they're online futures will provide better profit margins as well as costs of printing decrease. But the opportunities abound.
And this week, as if to show how fast things are still moving and how fast revenues can be generated in the TiVo/iPod world we're living in, the news comes that Apple has already sold one million video downloads in 19 days since it launched its Video iPod. (See the story below ' iTunes Store Counts 1 Million Video Downloads') This success is further evidence that what Ms. Fiorina said over a year and a half ago is true and that the "digital future" she talked about is already here. As I said last week, the paradigms are changing.
While these changes cause disruptive shifts in the way so many companies do business toady, they also force those in leadership positions to discover new ways to generate revenues for tomorrow. And this is certainly a good thing, because too many have been doing business the old way...the "Don't fix it if it ain't broken." way.
So back to the business of music. This week, album sales were down 11.6% (or 1.3 million units) from the previous week, down 8.7% or from the same week of 2004. Year-to-date sales are presently 456.3 million, down 9.8%, or 49.4 million off from last year.
The opportunities exist and can be plentiful for the music industry in this most difficult period of transition. I hope the leaders see the "Park Place" and "Broadway" pieces of real revenue potential as they move forward. Steve Jobs has seen them and he's already claimed his stake in segments of the evolving digital "real estate." It's time the major music companies do the same.
Radio's Real Estate Bubble To Bust Soon
One place where real estate isn't booming is the terrestrial radio business. Other than the effervescent world of dotcoms in the late 1990s into 2000, no sector boomed harder than radio. Powered by industry deregulation in 1996, along with easily accessible capital companies like Clear Channel and Infinity, not to mention every other smaller group, bought up every radio station they could. To this day, Clear Channel owns over 1,200 radio stations with creative deals that reportedly allow them to run as many as 800 more that they "warehouse," waiting for their friends on Capitol Hill and in the White House to add to the number of stations one company can own via additional deregulation. While they wait, listeners are tuning out by the hundreds of thousands for all sorts of new technologies and various social reasons.
Read more about why Audio/Video News' Jerry Del Colliano Jr. thinks terrestrial radio is headed for a bust by clicking here: here.
iTunes Store Counts 1 Million Video Downloads
Apple Computer said on Monday that it has sold more than 1 million videos in the 19 days since it launched its video iPod and started selling TV shows, short films and a wider assortment of music videos.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Goodbye Songs, Hello Videos
CNET's Eliot Van Buskirk explains why music and video are currently undergoing another unholy intermingling.
Read more about it by clicking here.
MySpace.com Creates Own Record Label
MySpace.com, one of the top music destinations on the Internet, is starting its own record label. The imprint, to be manufactured by Universal Music Group's Interscope Records will begin life Nov. 15 with the release of the compilation "MySpace Records: Volume I."
That initial title will feature a mix of tracks by major-label, independent-label and unsigned acts, including Weezer, the All-American Rejects, Dashboard Confessional, Fall Out Boy, AFI, Against Me, Plain White T's, New Year's Day and Hollywood Undead. MySpace Records should find an immediate audience in users of the Web site that spawned it.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Popstars Turn To Tech For A Hit
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- When Madonna takes the stage in Lisbon this week to perform her new single "Hung Up," it will be the culmination of weeks of promotion harnessing new technology that is revolutionizing the music industry. Major artists are increasingly using the Internet, mobile phones and music appliances like Apple Computer's iPod to generate hype and sales, combining technological advances with the traditional mainstays of live performance and interviews.
Read more about it by clicking here.
IBM Slows Speed of Light, Readies It For Networking
IBM has created a chip that can slow down light, the latest advance in an industry wide effort to develop computers that will use only a fraction of the energy of today's machines.
The chip, called a photonic silicon waveguide, is a piece of silicon dotted with arrays of tiny holes. Scattered systematically by the holes, light shown on the chip slows down to 1/300th of its ordinary speed of 186,000 miles per second. In a computer system, slower light pulses could carry data rapidly, but in an orderly fashion. The light can be further slowed by applying an electric field to the waveguide.
Read more about it by clicking here.
DIRECTV to Launch Its First Exclusive Original Programming Series, CD USA
New Show will Feature Live Performances by the Hottest Artists
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov 1, 2005 -- In a move destined to have as much impact on the music business as the launch of MTV 25 years ago, DIRECTV announced today the debut of CD USA - a weekly exclusive performance-based series. CD USA will premiere exclusively on DIRECTV on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006, and will deliver the largest selection of back-to-back-to-back performances available on television.
Premiering on The 101 (DIRECTV channel 101, and in high-definition (HD) on channel 401), the weekly hourly show will feature a mix of music genres, including pop, indie, rock and urban.
Read more about it by clicking here.
SOMETIMES WHEN YOU "FIGHT THE POWER" YOU LOSE
A federal jury in Los Angeles convicting Ronald Isley, of the Isley Brothers, of tax evasion Monday. The R&B singer faces over 20 years in jail when sentenced Jan. 9.
LIVE 8 BRINGS IN THE BUCKS
Per Billboard, the Live 8 series of 10 concerts from this past July raising awareness of the need for increased African aid also raising more than $12 million from the sale of TV and DVD rights and other ancillary sources. The surplus was donated to anti-poverty programs on that continent.
BEATLES BIO
The Beatles: The Biography, a new 856-page biography on the rock legends by Bob Spitz, who obtained the participation of Paul McCartney and the late George Harrison, hit bookstores this week. Meanwhile, the white suit John Lennon wore on the album cover of Abbey Road sold for $118,000 at a Las Vegas auction.
iPOD TV GUIDE
Check out www.podguide.tv . It's an online guide to the best video content for iPods. Yup, things are happening that fast.
LEAVE IT TO A COUNTRY SINGER TO COMPARE HIS MARRIAGE BREAK-UP TO LOSING A BIG-SCREEN TV
Kenny Chesney told Life magazine that breaking up with Renee Zellweger was "like opening the door to your house and having someone come in and take your big-screen TV off the wall during the big game, and there's nothing you can do about it."
ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS HAVE SOME FUN ... AT HALFTIME
Sheryl Crow performing during halftime of the Thanksgiving game between Denver and Dallas in support of the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Christmas campaign.
WRITE YOUR OWN BLONDE JOKE FOR THIS ONE
Jessica Simpson telling Teen People magazine that she has seen a therapist to help her deal with the relentless gossip about her marriage to Nick Lachey.
ELVIS ON YOUR CAR
There could be a new frontier in Elvis memorabilia -- the Elvis Presley license plate, sanctioned by the state of Tennessee. Elvis Presley Enterprises can move ahead with its plan when 1,000 orders for the plates are assured. The state requires that minimum order to approve a specialty license plate, which costs $35 more than a regular tag. If approved, the Elvis license plates would be available only for cars registered in the state. Proceeds would go to the Regional Medical Center, the Memphis region's main publicly supported hospital and home of the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center. The license plate would feature an image of Presley with a guitar and "1956." That was the year Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" went to No. 1 on the pop music charts.
THE FAST TRACK TO OWNING A PIECE OF A SONG
British record producer Andrian Adams raking in $173,000 on eBay after auctioning off his share of Britney Spears' single "Everyday."
SOUR GRAPES AND NO SMILE
Beach Boy Mike Love suing fellow bandmate Brian Wilson, accusing the musician of hyping his most recent album, Smile, at his expense. (Editor's note: a) Is he joking? b) This is more press than Mike Love's had since he sued Brian a few years back)
COMING SOON!
- Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (11/8)
- Kate Bush, Aerial (11/8)
- Kenny Chesney, The Road and the Radio (11/8)
- Original Soundtrack, Music from The O.C. Mix 5 (11/8)
- Il Divo, The Christmas Collection (11/8)
- Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run: 30th Anniversary Three-Disc Set (11/15)
2005 Industry Conferences
Date Name Location Portable Media Expo November 11-12, 2005 Ontario, CA 2005 Digital Entertainment & Media Expo (DEMXPO) November 30th, December 1st Los Angeles, CA International CES January 5-8, 2006 Las Vegas. NV
Quotes of the week
"I tell everybody that 40 is the new 20, but I don't want to see me in rock 'n' roll clothes when I'm 60."
-- Sheryl Crow in In Touch. Gee, didn't Mick Jagger once say something like this several decades ago?"Madonna told the 'New York Daily News' she no longer wants to act. Well that makes it unanimous. "
-- Jay Leno"Congratulations to the White Sox. They won their first World Series since 1917 ... Think about that, 1917, that was so long ago. Do you realize that was the year of Cher's first farewell tour? "
- Jay Leno
NARIP Information
NARIP (The National Association of Record Industry Professionals) promotes career advancement, education and good will among record executives. To find out more about this great organization, how you can join or attend their events, just go to www.narip.com.
Date Name Location November 5 NARIP Workshop - Independent Distribution Solution w/Clay Pasternak Los Angeles November 10 Las Vegas Meets Hollywood's Sunset Strip: An Evening with Jerry Greenberg & Bob Greenberg "Music Business Opportunities In Las Vegas: The New Hollywood" NARIP Kicks Off Discussion in Vegas at The Rainbow, Thursday, Nov. 10th, 7:00 P.M. Top record execs JERRY GREENBERG and BOB GREENBERG will kick off a discussion on the explosive growth of the music business in Las Vegas sponsored by the National Association of Record Industry Professionals (NARIP) at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in Vegas.
The B-Side - 'Blips'
WELL, MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE SHE ACTUALLY WATCHED AN EPISODE OF 'THE SIMPLE LIFE': NEW YORK
Nicole Richie wouldn't say no if she went back in time and had a second chance to try heroin. Richie told Jane magazine that given a second chance, she "probably would" try heroin again because that's her personality. After going to rehab, Richie is fine now and is planning her wedding to Adam Goldstein.
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