-
WMG Says No More New Free Streaming ... Is This A Good Idea?
February 12, 2010
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. 24 years working in executive promotion capacities at both Capitol Records and at Universal Studios' MCA Records. Recognized as one of the industry's top professionals.
-
"Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed. The 'get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price strategy', is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future."
-- Warner Music Group Chief Executive, Edgar Bronfman Jr.Maybe the news from WMG chief Edgar Bronfman Jr. about not wanting to license Warner Music anymore songs to sites like Pandora, Grooveshark, Spotify, Last.fm and others had something to with the fact that WMG reported a net loss of $17 million, following a year-ago gain of $23 million. (You can read about this here http://tinyurl.com/yesxbel or here http://tinyurl.com/yjvkhgh )
Maybe not. Maybe Mr. Bronfman and others at WMG think the free streaming of music just isn't in the best interests of the company and the artists they represent. Whatever the case, the decision will certainly result in the following: Less music from WMG artists will be available on sites that offer free streaming to a global audience; and those people who want to listen to the music they seek out by artists that might be on WMG labels will find a way to do so by either stealing it online, or by file-sharing with friends.
No getting around those facts, Mr. Bronfman. Trying to stick a finger in the dike, to stop the overflow of technology that is changing by the nanosecond, just isn't going to do much these days.
I wonder what many of WMG's newer and developing artists think of this decision. Most of them are probably tech-savvy and have used the Internet to gain exposure in some fashion. Most of them probably have fans who might have discovered their music, or chose to listen to it on many free-streaming sites, before they decided to purchase a CD, or a digital download.
Mr. Bronfman and his executive team at WMG surely spent time making this decision, but one has to wonder how the decision will benefit anybody in the end. If Mr. Bronfman and WMG think it will result in any financial gains for their labels and artists, I would sure like to see the spreadsheet that has the empirical data to back that up.
Mr. Bronfman was also the one who was an advocate of variable pricing on songs for iTunes. He now admits, ""The price increase probably couldn't have come at a worse time" because price increases occurred "in the teeth of the worst recession since the Depression."
Yes, that's true. But in the midst of this horrific recession, Wal-Mart sales are up. Why? Everyday low prices. Maybe, just maybe, the whole variable pricing strategy didn't work because people weren't going to pay more for the same music they were accustomed to buying cheaper before. (I think Steve Jobs warned labels this might happen with variable pricing as well )
But I digress, back to issue at hand, the free streaming of music online.
Despite WMG's decision, free-streaming will continue with or without their artists.
But in a digital world where more people are online than ever and listening to music more often on their computers and mobile devices, why would anyone want to limit exposure on any of their artists anywhere?
------------------------------
THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 2
FOLLOW-UP: MTV HAS HIT SHOWS BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC?
Last week I wrote about the plethora of reality shows filling up MTV airtime and said, "I just think the days of thinking the call letters MTV stands for "Music Television" are long past."
This week this from the channel's marketing head Tina Exarhos who was talking about the MTV logo change, "The people who watch it today don't refer to MTV as music television. They don't have the same emotional connection that, say, the people who are writing about the logo change do."
No, they certainly don't, Tina. The people writing about the logo change remember when MTV was a cutting edge channel that entertained millions of people. It inspired musicians, video artists, directors, and it kept the audience entertained with one of life's most simple and loved joys: music.
Congrats on the ratings success of shows like Teen Mom, Jersey Shore, Real World: D.C., The Hills, Real World: Brooklyn, Real World: Cancun, Real World/Road Rules: The Duel 2, etc., Tina.
MTV is now just "teenage wasteland."
(You can read more in the news story about the MTV logo change below)
-----------------------------
THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 3
THE EMI STORY JUST GETS WORSE
For EMI, it's getting to be a habit. These bad news stories, that is.
EMI Music issued their earnings report for their fiscal year that ended last March, and the net loss of 1.56 billion pound ($2.48 billion) was far worse than the previous year's loss of 412 million pounds ($649 million).
In the meantime, EMI's accountants have raised "significant doubt" about its ability to continue as a going concern in a report that speaks clearly about Terra Firma's £4.2 billion ($6.6 billion) investment in the music group, the Financial Times reports.
-----------------------------
THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 4
THE RIAA STILL FIGHTING TO PROVE THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING
As if we needed more proof the RIAA was acting like Don Quixote and attacking windmills, the following:
* The RIAA Takes A Hard Line Against File-Sharer Who Is Asking Judge To Reduce $675.000 In Damages: The record labels are arguing that grad student Joel Tenenbaum's request that the judge reduce a $675,000 damage award for file-sharing is "ridiculous" and should be rejected. Last year, a jury found that Tenenbaum infringed copyright on 30 tracks and ordered him to pay $22,500 per song. You can read the whole story on that here: http://tinyurl.com/yejlxw2
* RIAA opts for new trial in Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset (You can read about that one here: http://tinyurl.com/az7bw
------------------------------
THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 5
THE SUBSCRIPTION THING
Check out the news story below about Real Networks and Viacom spinning off Rhapsody. From the article: "Rhapsody has never really caught on with music fans. Rhapsody has suffered from what has dragged on most subscription services. Music fans generally prefer to own their songs; they don't want to risk losing their music libraries, should they fail to keep up their monthly fees."
And Now For Some News ...
MTV Changes Its Logo And Drops 'Music Television' Tag
New York Daily NewsMTV redesigned its iconic logo to take out the music video. The new look features the original 3-D large "M" with the small, graffiti-style "tv" on the right side. But the new design is expanded, so that photos of MTV talent, including the cast of "Jersey Shore," "The Buried Life" and "My Life as Liz," can be seen through it. More telling: the "music television" tag line is history.
Over the past few years, MTV has come under fire from critics and fans who say the network known for music television no longer played music videos. And while fans can check out artists on sister stations MTV2, MTV Hits and MTV Tr3s, MTV itself has moved on to more reality and, in the upcoming months, scripted programming. "Music is still at the heart of everything we do, but it's about a lot more now," Tina Exarhos, executive vice president of marketing and multiplatform creative projects, added. "If MTV didn't change, we'd be irrelevant."
(My question to Tina is: And how are these shows "relevant"? They are relevant to only one thing: ratings. And if music is really "at the heart of everything" MTV does, then one must assume MTV no longer has a heart that's beating)
Read more about it by clicking here.
Warner Music Posts $17 Million Loss in Fiscal Quarter
ReutersWarner Music Group posted a narrower-than-expected loss on Tuesday as strong sales in Britain and France helped overcome declining demand for traditional music discs in the United States and Japan. But the No. 3 music company, whose top selling artists include Michael Buble and Enya, continues to face a shrinking market for compact discs and international licensing revenue.
Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman said the company continued to perform strongly in digital music sales, which accounted for 35% of all sales in the quarter.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Real Networks And Viacom Part With Rhapsody
CNETRealNetworks and Viacom plan to spin off the Rhapsody subscription music service. At the same time, Real has decided to give up a controlling interest in the music service. The company will no longer own a majority stake in the company and will hold slightly less than 49% of the company's shares. Viacom owns a similar amount.
Real agreed to contribute $18 million to the new company. Under Real's control, Rhapsody has never really caught on with music fans, who prefer to own their songs. The spinning off of Rhapsody appears to be the first significant move made by Robert Kimball, who is interim CEO.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Disney Has Big Plans For The iPad
PaidContentWhile some critics are less than enthusiastic about Apple's iPad, Disney has big plans for it. Among other forthcoming integrations, says CEO Bob Iger, the world can look forward to an iPad companion to ABC's Lost, an ABC News app, a Disney digital books app, an improved version of the ESPN Sports Center app, and Marvel apps.
According to paidContent, some of these products might be adapted for the iPad, while some will be created from scratch. According to Iger, the iPad platform will "enable us to really start distributing product that is different than the product you typically see."
Read more about it by clicking here.
Sirius Feels Safe With Stern
All Things DigitalWith Howard Stern's five-year Sirius XM satellite radio deal set to expire in January 2011, there's speculation he could jump to terrestrial or Internet radio. (And what about those "American Idol" rumors?) Speaking at an industry meeting, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin is dubious the company will lose Stern. "In this world of fragmentation, great content prevails. Howard Stern is great content. Having said that, we would like him to stay with us, and we are optimistic that he will continue to do so."
Karmazin views Internet radio as a competitor, but isn't too worried by it. "There are a lot of choices for audio content," he remarked. "And obviously, the Internet is one of them. But the question is who's going to the largest player? And I think that's our spot to lose. I believe we will be the most profitable of audio content choices."
Read more about it by clicking here.
Digital Dissenters
USA TodayDon't call it a backlash, but USAToday.com has some purely anecdotal evidence to show that at least some consumers have had it with social networks. "Their reasons run the gamut from being besieged by online 'friends' who aren't really friends to lingering concerns over where their messages and photos might materialize," the publication says of those potentially pioneering souls who've consciously unplugged from the Facebook revolution.
"If there's a common theme to their exodus, it's the nagging sense that a time-sucking habit was taking the 'real' out of life." One byproduct of these digital dissenters is the rise of sites like Web 2.0 Suicide Machine and Seppukoo, which help people erase their online selves.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Wal-Mart, Target Discouraging Redbox Competition
BusinessWeekRedbox is renting an awful lot of DVDs at that $1 price and Wal-Mart is now boxing out Redbox, imposing strict limits on the number of DVDs any one customer can buy at a time, making it harder for movie-rental kiosks such as Redbox to acquire large numbers of newly released discs. The new rules took effect Feb. 1st and include a five-DVD cap on new releases, mirroring limits placed by Target (TGT) in December. Target's cap remains in effect for one week to several weeks after a movie is released to stores.
Redbox and NCR are among the largest U.S. operators of DVD-rental kiosks, which rent movies for about $1 a day and, according to Adams Media Research, are the fastest-growing distributors of movie rentals. Kiosk rental sales are expected to rise 42% to $1.3 billion this year, Adams says, stepping up competition with Netflix, iTunes and rental stores, such as Blockbuster Entertainment. Before the limits, Redbox got about 40% of its new DVDs from retailers, Adams estimates.
Read more about it by clicking here.
THIS IS IT #1:
Michael Jackson's tour rehearsal documentary, "This Is It," sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, according to the Hollywood Reporter; 21% of the title's sales came from Blu-ray discs.
OZZY SELLS BOOKS:
Ozzy Osbourne's memoirs 'I Am Ozzy' debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction. (People at the Times were probably shocked so many of Ozzie's fans could actually read)
COHEN'S BAD BACK:
Leonard Cohen has delayed his European tour due to a back injury. A statement from his publicist indicates Cohen has been instructed to undergo four to six months of physical therapy, but "Doctors have confirmed that Mr. Cohen is otherwise in terrific shape, thanks to years of exercise and careful diet."
REALLY:
Madonna's manager Guy Oseary has been named as another rumored replacement for Simon Cowell on "American Idol." New York's Daily News quotes an "Idol" source who claims Oseary is a leading candidate, along with Jamie Foxx and Tommy Mottola.
BEYONCE VIDEO DUETS:
Beyoncé and Alicia Keys are filming a video for their duet "Put It In a Love Song" off Keys' The Element of Freedom in Rio de Janeiro, the AP reports. Beyoncé also recently shot a joint clip with Lady Gaga for their track "Telephone."
GET READY FOR THE NEW ONE:
The 25th anniversary "We Are the World" for Haiti relief has launched a new website in preparation for the song's unveiling during the Olympics' opening ceremony tomorrow evening. .
SOUL ROCK BAND:
Songs by soul great Otis Redding are coming to Rock Band next week. Original master recordings of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)," "I'm Sick Y'all," "I've Got Dreams to Remember" and "Love Man" will be available as a track pack or individual songs for Xbox 360 and PS3, and individual tracks for Wii.
CELINE BACK TO CAESARS:
Celine Dion is returning to Sin City. The singer will launch a new residency at Caesars Palace that kicks off on March 15th, 2011, Billboard reports. Her original five-year run grossed $385 million.
Quotes of the week
"Absolutely they hurt. Absolutely! I'm not going to lie. But no pain, no gain, as they say. I don't mind. I will suffer"
-- Victoria Beckham, on her penchant for wearing impossibly sky-high stilettos, to Glamour magazine. Gee, why should they hurt so much, Victoria? Based on what you looked like on "American Idol" (anorexic chic?), you couldn't weigh that much."Jay-Z, did you not get one of these in your gift bag? Am I cooler than you?"
-- Stephen Colbert, after using his brand-new Apple iPad to read the nominees for the first award of Sunday night's Grammys. And has anyone but me noticed whenever the camera is on Jay-Z, he looks like he's pissed off at the world?"I thought it went OK. I understand it's a TV show. Cameras were everywhere. I was so blinded that I couldn't see. It didn't even feel like a concert ... And what can you do in 12 minutes?"
-- Roger Daltrey, commenting on The Who's halftime Super Bowl show."I want to thank Capitol Records. It's nice to look at a building that you helped pay for."
-- Ringo Starr, getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside the famed Capitol Tower."If I do say so myself, I can't imagine anyone else but me replacing [Cowell]. I mean, how else are they going to make that show work? Who knows how to broadcast and who knows how to be interesting? And who's not afraid to speak their mind? A $100 million to judge a karaoke contest? Yeah, I think I would do that show for $100 million," Stern said. "It would be the best thing that happened to me. What a cush job: $100 million for four months. Who wouldn't take that?"
-- Howard Stern in Rolling Stone, on the rumors of his being asked to replace Simin Cowell on 'American Idol'
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THE ONION (www.theonion.com) STORY OF THE WEEK:
NASA Launches David Bowie Concept Mission
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL-NASA officials announced today the successful launch of the new shuttle Moonage Daydream, marking the beginning of a long-anticipated two-week conceptual mission inspired by British rock star David Bowie.
According to NASA administrator Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden, Jr., the highly experimental glam space program-dubbed Project Starman-has been in development for exactly five years. Though engineers initially feared the mission might "blow our minds," the historic launch ultimately proceeded without incident.
Read the rest here and laugh: http://tinyurl.com/ybb4ccm.
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!)
-
-