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'This Is It' #1 Box Office Here And Around The World, Album Debuts At #1, Radio Still Asleep
November 6, 2009
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"We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public."
-- Walt DisneyLast week I wrote about radio missing the boat with the whole Michael Jackson media storm and because of the anticipated box-office for the "This Is It" documentary.
The film did indeed finish the week here in the U.S. at #1, grossing $23 million for the weekend and $42 million to date, beating out "Paranormal Activity," and is still the #1 film at the box office through today.
This week the "This Is It" soundtrack album sold just under 400,000 copies and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart. (The #2 album, by Creed, sold approximately 125,000)
I assume since radio isn't playing the "This Is It" single, they don't care about all the people in their potential audience that bought the #1 album, or that went to the see the film.
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 2
NEW POLL SAYS MORE THAN HALF OF ONLINE READERS WON'T PAY FOR CONTENT
I wrote several commentaries awhile back on why I don't believe the pay-for-content model will work.
This week, yet another poll from Ipsos Mendelsohn and PHD says the majority of online content readers will not pay to read content online. You can read about it here: http://tinyurl.com/ykm3muz
So once again I say, Good Luck Mr. Murdoch.
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 3
WATCH WHAT YOU TWEET OR ELSE YOU COULD GET NASTY TWEETS IN RETURN -- A LOT OF THEM
As inconsequential and inane as so much of the Twittersphere seems, even staunch intellectuals are falling victim to its unprecedented distributive powers. Take, for example, the armchair book critic who recently tweeted of the tweets of Stephen Fry, the British writer, actor and television personality: "Much as I admire and adore the chap, they are a bit ... boring." As a result, the Birmingham-based man attracted a frenzy of vitriolic attacks along with public scorn.
Along with power as a real-time and open broadcast platform, "it was also an example of how Twitter reinforces the tendency of adults to behave like high school students, passing rude notes, spreading exaggerated rumors and obsessing endlessly -- and pointlessly -- about who said what mean thing about whom," the Times writes. To borrow Sprint's current slogan: Welcome to the now network.
Read the rest here: http://tinyurl.com/yj7gqn8
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 4
THE BIG P2P GOVERNMENT FILE-SHARING MYSTERY
Though peer-to-peer, or P2P as it's more generally known, first earned wide public attention in the late 1990s with the emergence of Napster and the practice of illegal file sharing of music over the Internet. This February, a company that monitors P2P networks said that it had found blueprints and avionics about the president's helicopter, Marine One, on a computer in Tehran. An investigation later found that a third-party defense contractor with access to that data was using a computer that also had P2P file sharing software on its hard drive.
In this case, the breach occurred because a junior staffer saved the document on her home PC, which reportedly also had Gnutella file sharing software. One congressional source familiar with the inquiry says that she saved the document on her home PC, but failed to realize the folder could be shared with other users on the P2P network.
Read the rest here: http://tinyurl.com/yzv9mmt
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 5
IF YOU SPAM, YOU'RE GONNA' PAY THE PRICE
A federal judge in California has ordered Sanford Wallace to pay Facebook $711 million for spamming its members. But it's unlikely that the social networking site will be able to collect much from Wallace, who filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Read the rest here: http://tinyurl.com/yet2eua
And Now For Some News ...
Yet Another Report: Illegal Downloaders Spend MORE On Music Than Those Who Don't Download Illegally
For not the first time in history, the music industry's greatest enemy might also be its best hope. Indeed, a new study from England finds that consumers who illegally download digital music files also happen to spend more money on music than any other group.
"The people who file-share are the ones who are interested in music," Mark Mulligan of Forrester Research tells The Independent. "They use file-sharing as a discovery mechanism." The poll, conducted by Ipsos Mori on behalf of British think-tank Demos, surveyed 1,000 16- to 50-year-olds with Web access, and found that one in 10 people admit to downloading music illegally.
Previous studies have found a similar overlap between music enthusiasts willing to pay money to get their fix, and those willing to steal for it. Yet, this most recent U.K.-based survey finds the largest spending gap yet between those who admit illegally downloading music -- $126, on average -- and those who claim they never download music dishonestly -- $54.
Researcher Peter Bradwell said the findings should force companies and politicians to 'wake up to the changing nature' of the music industry as the Government plans to disconnect illegal downloaders from the Iinternet in a 'three strikes and you're out' rule.
Read more about it by clicking here, or here.
The YouTube Detectives Are Watching
The Guardian (UK)Hoping to finally turn a profit on YouTube, Google is appealing to music and film footage rights owners to make ad revenue from their content rather than remove it from the video-sharing site for breach of copyright. The search giant has been selling a fingerprinting system for rights holders that means YouTube can identify their material even when it has been altered and made part of user-generated content such as wedding videos or satirical clips.
First developed two years ago, the ContentID system is finally attracting record labels, TV producers and sports rights owners with the promise of ad dollars, according to the Guardian. To achieve its goal, Google's computers are comparing all the material uploaded to YouTube -- around 20 hours every minute -- against "ID files" from a 100,000-hour library of reference material from the rights holders.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Spotify: A Love Song
From CNET.comSpotify technically isn't available in the U.S. just yet, though the U.K.-based company hopes to bring the software stateside by the end of the year. After what seems like an eternity, an awesome free streaming-music service has come along. But will it be taken away just as quickly as it's stumbled into one reporter's life?
Read more about it by clicking here.
The Beatles For 25 Cents A Song? Not Really...
From CNET.comLast week, a music site called BlueBeat made headlines by offering Beatles songs as free streams and 25-cent downloads. The Beatles are known for not making their songs legally available on iTunes or any other online forum, so observers rightly asked "how are they doing this legally?"
EMI, the record label that owns The Beatles' recordings, has a simple response: They're not doing this legally. But here's where the story gets very strange. BlueBeat is owned by a company called Media Rights Technologies, which specializes in digital rights management technology. DRM is supposed to be used to prevent copyright infringement. But according to a 2007 blog post on HuffingtonPost.com by the company's founder, Hank Risan, MRT backed into this business after being -- get this -- targeted by the RIAA for copyright infringement.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Jobs -- The Man, The Myth, The Legend
FortuneFortune takes a close look at the evolution of Steve Jobs -- perhaps the closest thing we have to a tech deity -- and "his outsize impact on everything he touches." How's this for a bold statement: "The past decade in business belongs to Jobs." Well, the man has already "radically and lucratively reordered" four markets -- computing, music, movies and mobile telephones.
As are result, since 2000, Jobs has grown Apple from a $5 billion company to one worth about $170 billion. Yet, what really inspires this piece is clearly the fact that Jobs was feared a goner less than a year ago. But, one liver transplant later, he's back at the wheel of Apple, and gearing up to "disturb" still more markets, including TV and the greater publishing industry.
Read more about it by clicking here.
100,000 iPhone Apps And Counting
Apple.comApple says that its iPhone App Store has surpassed 100,000 apps, divided into 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. To date, App Store users have downloaded well over two billion apps. Thanks to the marketing and design genius of Apple, along with its first-mover advantage, the company presently boasts the largest and most-used app store online.
Rivals, and Google in particular, are expected to experience their own mobile app booms in the near future. Flurry, a San Francisco-based mobile metrics company, recently reported a 94% rise in the number of projects started by Android developers between September and October. Meanwhile, AdMob, which serves advertising inside mobile apps, recently noted that Android OS accounted for 17% of all smartphone traffic in its network in September -- up from 13% in August.
Read more about it by clicking here.
'60 Minutes' Sparks Controversy Over Segment On Movie Piracy
TechdirtCBS's "60 Minutes" report about video piracy on Nov. 1st has critics at Techdirt fuming. They say the report covered only the MPAA position, without any attempt to challenge the speakers or to include anyone who would present a counterpoint. In the show, for instance, director Steven Soderbergh claims that "piracy is costing Hollywood $6 billion a year at the box office," but fails to mention that Hollywood has been making more at the box office every year the past few years.
"No one at '60 Minutes' thought to talk to anyone outside of the studio system to see if the claims made sense," says Techdirt. "It didn't talk to the growing number of people who are making movies and embracing file sharing to help get those movies seen. It didn't talk to copyright experts and consumer advocates."
Read more about it by clicking here.
Best Buy Will Stream DVDs Online
NYTimes Bits BlogBest Buy, a top seller of DVDs, is not ignoring the possibility someday of their extinction. On Tuesday, it's expected to announce a partnership with Sonic Solutions' Roxio CinemaNow service, which will allow it to stream first-run DVDs directly to consumers online. With the service, consumers pay once for a "DVD," which they will eventually be able to play on any device: television, Blu-ray disc player, personal computer, handheld media player or smartphone.
Best Buy-branded, the service is expected to be available starting early next year. This is not the retailer's first foray into the digital realm. Just last month, it announced a deal with Netflix to stream its movie library to Best Buy's Insignia-branded Blu-ray disc players. Will this latest effort stick? The analysts that The Times surveys, at least, believe Best Buy certainly has enough clout to press both movie studios and consumer electronics companies to adopt a one-time payment model.
Read more about it by clicking here.
MORRIS STEPS DOWN
If you haven't already heard, Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Doug Morris intends to step down from his CEO role next summer, BusinessWeek reports. The company is reportedly grooming international CEO Lucian Grainge to replace Morris, 71, who is expected to remain chairman of the world's largest record label.
MORE FAME FOR LADY GAGA
Lady Gaga becomes the first artist in the 17-year history of Billboard's Pop Songs chart to notch four No. 1s from a debut album. "Paparazzi" is the fourth #1 from the album.
VIBE IS BACK
Vibe magazine is coming back from the dead on Dec. 8th with a buzzworthy cover subject: Chris Brown. In June, Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting fellow performer Rihanna.
APPLE TO RELEASE BEATLES USB
Following the 09.09.09 debut of the digitally re-mastered catalogue on CD, Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are pleased to announce the worldwide release of a limited edition of only 30,000 Beatles Stereo USB apples on December 8 in North America. The apple-shaped USB drive is loaded with the critically acclaimed re-mastered audio for The Beatles' 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs' visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original U.K. album art, rare photos and expanded liner notes. All this, but their music is still not available on iTunes.
FOR PEACE
Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon will donate proceeds from the sale of their digital single, "Give Peace a Chance" (40th anniversary version), to the United Nation's Peacebuilding Fund. The commemorative single is on sale now at iTunes.
BEATLES FOR SALE
If you're a fan of music, The Beatles and Rock Band, you've no doubt had your eye on the recently released Beatles Rock Band bundle. It normally sells for $159.99, but Amazon is offering The Beatles: Rock Band Value Edition for $99.99 shipped. It's available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. The bundle includes the game itself, along with three "instruments": guitar, drum set and microphone. You can optionally add two more microphones and sing three-part harmonies.
NO DOUBT SEZ 'NO WAY TO BAND HERO
Although several artists have been depicted in music games like Guitar Hero in the past, Gwen Stefani's No Doubt is having some trouble with its own likeness in the newly released 'Band Hero' game from Activision. According to a court filing obtained by the Los Angeles Times, the band sued Activision over a feature in the title that provides gamers with the opportunity to have band members perform another artist's songs.
GAGA DOES GOSSIP
In just over a week Gossip Girl will go Gaga when the singer performs a special rendition of her new single "Bad Romance" on the November 16th episode, fittingly titled "The Last Days of Disco Stick."
RI-RI ADDED TO AMA
Rihanna has been added to the star-packed lineup of the American Music Awards, which air November 22nd live from Los Angeles
Quotes of the week
"I'll bring home new records every weekend, as soon as they hit the charts. I don't want to get arrogant about my track record. I earn it the hard way, by keeping my ears fresh and making sure that I don't go over the hill ... To keep fresh, to give advice, to be a fountain of expertise, it requires hard work. You gotta keep your ears to the ground, in every category, whether it's rock or hip-hop or pop. I listen every weekend to those records that hit the charts."
-- Clive Davis, In VANITY FAIR"I know a couple other guys were singing and they won't say it, but I'm man enough to say that Fergie's 'Big Girls Don't Cry,' Crap! I would sing that in the gym."
-- Jay- Z, manning up to working out to the pop star, to HuffingtonPost.com"The game, yeah, yeah, they're going to be doing a Who one next year. There is one planned. [The idea] is fabulous. Anything that gets non-musical people interested in music is wonderful."
-- Roger Daltry, dropping a major hint that 'The Who Rock Band' might be coming soon,"At any point during [Dancing with the Stars], did you consider using witch craft to help you?"
-- Jimmy Kimmel, to eliminated contestant and former Sabrina, the Teenage Witch star Melissa Joan Hart, on his late-night show
"Whoa, hold on. The joke is like 1996."
-- Melissa Joan Hart
"But you know what, so are you, to be honest."
-- Kimmel's retort"Twitter should just be, like, banned from this universe."
-- Miley Cyrus, in a radio interview with B96 in Chicago
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THE ONION (www.theonion.com) STORY OF THE WEEK:
1999 Collaboration Between Carlos Santana, Rob Thomas Somehow Standing Test Of Time
LOS ANGELES-Sources reported Monday that "Smooth," the 1999 collaborative effort of guitarist Carlos Santana and singer-songwriter Rob Thomas, has somehow persevered against all odds and continued to receive regular radio airplay this week.
Read the rest here and laugh: http://tinyurl.com/yhup9fj.
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 Jerry Del Colliano's (the founder of INSIDE RADIO) daily blog, by clicking here: http://www.insidemusicmedia.blogspot.comWebsite
Check out attorney Ray Beckerman's website at: http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com where he prints news about the RIAA's ongoing activities
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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