Pandora Buys A Radio Station, Songwriters' Group Calls It A 'Stunt' :The Record:NPR GearAndGuitars 18 Hours Ago 07:11 AM Quote: Pandora Buys A Radio Station, Songwriters' Group Calls It A 'Stunt' : The Record : NPR
This week, the Internet radio broadcaster bought a radio station in Rapid City, S.D., in an effort to get the more favorable royalty rates given to terrestrial broadcasters. But the move has songwriters and composers up in arms.
Musician Blake Morgan says the only way for him to make a living going forward is for streaming services to pay a fair rate.
"I have a new record coming out — most people have new records coming out," he says. "These are things that we've worked on for months, if not years, and we're not looking to be paid unfairly. We're simply looking for a fair working wage for the music that we make."
| Pink Floyd back catalogue available on Spotify after song plays pass 1m | Technology Whitecat 1 Day Ago 11:57 AM NMPA: David Israelite, RIAA's Cary Sherman Work to Mend Fences Between Groups GearAndGuitars 1 Day Ago 07:12 AM Quote: NMPA: David Israelite, RIAA's Cary Sherman Work to Mend Fences Between Publishers, Labels
At NMPA's annual meeting, the organization's president David Israelite and RIAA chairman and CEO Cary Sherman pointed out that it is time for record labels and publishers to reconcile their differences with regard to mechanical licensing, performance royalties, and rates.
Speaking to the labels and digital music services, he said, "We should be able to disagree about rates while agreeing to work together to fix the system so licensing works." While record companies can tout where the publisher's songs would be without its artist, and publishers can ask where the label's artist would be without their songs, 94 of the top 100 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 last year had outside songwriters or an outside songwriter working with the artists.
| BLABBERMOUTH.NET - MEGADETH Drummer Says 'Internet Piracy' Is To Blame For Lower 'Sup GearAndGuitars 2 Days Ago 10:39 PM Quote: BLABBERMOUTH.NET - MEGADETH Drummer Says 'Internet Piracy' Is To Blame For Lower Sales
Metal-Rules.com: "Super Collider" debuted at #6 on the Billboard Top 200 albums in the USA and #4 on Canadian Billboard charts. That's the highest ranking since "Youthansia" back in 1994, so congrats! According to sales figures, "Super Collider" sold below "TH1RT3EN" for week one… Do you attribute that to changing times, illegal downloading, etc?
Shawn Drover: Of course it is. We are certainly thrilled to have a #6 record on Billboard in America and #4 in Canada, but sales are way down for the entire music industry right across the board, which is a real drag. Internet piracy, torrent sites and all that are the reason why.
| BUYOUTS-Bain Capital's Guitar Center hits rough patch | Reuters Whitecat 2 Days Ago 11:20 AM Pandora is Stiffing Artists - The Hill's Congress Blog GearAndGuitars 4 Days Ago 02:59 AM Quote: Pandora is Stiffing Artists - The Hill's Congress Blog
As a songwriter and ASCAP member, I found the recent opinion piece by Pandora’s assistant general counsel ( “Why Pandora bought an FM radio station” ) to be long on rhetoric but short on facts. Unlike Pandora, ASCAP is a nonprofit membership organization that collects and distributes royalties to the hundreds of thousands of songwriters, composers and music publishers it represents.
Savvy readers will note a mere four percent of Pandora’s total revenue is spent on licensing public performance rights from songwriters and composers. That means we make a fraction of a cent every time one of our songs streams on Pandora’s service — while the company's founder has cashed out more than $15 million in stock since the company went public.
| Happy Birthday to You: film-maker files lawsuit over song's copyright | Music | gu Whitecat 5 Days Ago 12:37 AM Pandora’s Scorched Earth Attack on Songwriters GearAndGuitars 1 Week Ago 01:11 AM Quote: Tim Westergren’s Mask Is Slipping: Pandora’s Scorched Earth Attack on Songwriters | Music Tech Policy
Just in case you didn’t quite get it before, Pandora has now demonstrated unequivocally that they loathe songwriters so much that they’d literally do anything to screw them. Including antics like buying an FM radio station.
In fact, they would rather spend their IPO millions–gained by their one product, music–on something as idiotic as buying a radio station and take on the burden of FCC licensing (including the inevitable opposition to their license at the FCC) than pay songwriters fairly.
| Gibson apparently no longer a guitar company | Musical instrument industry news | MI Whitecat 1 Week Ago 11:06 AM Uncertainty, Copyright and Courage by Paul Williams GearAndGuitars 1 Week Ago 11:47 PM Quote: Uncertainty, Copyright and Courage by Paul Williams
On Tuesday, June 5th ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams delivered a powerful keynote to attendees of the CISAC World Creators Summit in DC. He spoke passionately and pointedly about what it means to be a creator in today’s challenging digital environment.
Quote:
Literature, music and art have value to individuals, to businesses and to countries. They open our hearts and minds. They inspire. They teach. They comfort. They drive economic growth and innovation. They define our time; they define our cultures; they bring us together.
So then, why are we now in the position of having to defend ourselves against the insidious erosion of the basic principles of copyright in so many parts of the world?
Intellectual property rights are a cornerstone of democracy. As a citizen, a creator and a consumer, I should have a reasonable expectation that I live in a society where thieves and outlaws are not allowed to run rampant – even when they are operating in cyberspace. But when lawmakers in North America and Europe tried to enact legislation that would help enforce laws against online fraud and theft, the technology sector said it would break the internet. They called it censorship.
| | Time and Cost of Making an Album Case Study: NIRVANA GearAndGuitars 1 Week Ago 07:14 PM Quote: Time and Cost of Making an Album Case Study: NIRVANA
To make an album of this sound quality today, you could probably get away with spending a bit less. But not by as much as you might think. My best estimate is that $30,000-$60,000 could get this record made in a similar kind of room with comparable recording talent. This assumes that a pretty decent studio, coupled with an somewhat established producer that has actually worked on a few records you love, will run an average of $1,000 – $2,000/day in 2013.
The costs have dropped a bit— not because the equipment costs that much less, but simply because the paying market for recorded music has shrunk so significantly.
| How An Unknown Country Music Artist Reached #1 On The Amazon Charts With No Radio Air syntheticrhyme 1 Week Ago 07:06 PM Trent Reznor Changes The Paradigm Again - Forbes GearAndGuitars 1 Week Ago 06:55 PM Quote: Trent Reznor Changes The Paradigm Again - Forbes
Trent Reznor (Photo credit: Wikipedia) In a blow to the current trend of Do It Yourself in the music business, Trent Reznor, the poster boy for DIY, and his band Nine Inch Nails have resigned with Columbia Records, according to a recent press release.
What makes the move so significant is that despite the formidable social presence of Reznor, the last two NIN albums (The Slip and Ghosts I-IV, both independently released on Reznor’s Null Corporation label) sold far below what the band had been used to.
Even though the profit margin was greater and the band was able to sell a number of additional higher-priced packages along with the album, no indie label (especially a personal one) has the infrastructure to push an album to stratospheric worldwide sales, something that Reznor obviously recognized with his return to the Columbia fold.
| Achieve Success In The Music Business No Matter Where You Live | WWA1 syntheticrhyme 1 Week Ago 01:48 PM Apple to sell audio ads on ‘iRadio’ music service - Technology Industry News | Ma Whitecat 1 Week Ago 02:13 PM Fair Trade Music; Initiative, World's Songwriters Unite GearAndGuitars 1 Week Ago 03:38 PM Quote: Announcing the "Fair Trade Music" Initiative, World's Songwriters and Composers Unite to Form a Global Advocacy Network
For the first time in music industry history, over 25,000 songwriters and composers from nearly fifty countries throughout Europe, North America, South America, and Africa have joined together to form a new, wholly independent advocacy Network for music creators.
Its immediate goal will be the championing of a set of Fair Trade Music Principles designed to ensure transparency, fair compensation, and autonomy for music creators in an increasingly complex and non-transparent music business landscape.
| Krystian Zimerman reportedly halts recital, criticizes YouTube - latimes.com GearAndGuitars 1 Week Ago 03:35 PM The Greatest Music Myths Facing Up And Coming Producers, Home Musicians And Mixing En syntheticrhyme 2 Weeks Ago 03:21 PM Pianist storms out over phone clips Whitecat 2 Weeks Ago 02:52 PM London police target pirate websites Whitecat 2 Weeks Ago 12:18 PM Musician Jack White saves Detroit Masonic Temple, paying off concert venue's $142K ta Whitecat 2 Weeks Ago 11:04 AM When did cover songs become annoying marketing ploys? - Salon.com GearAndGuitars 2 Weeks Ago 05:38 AM Richard Florida: Nashville is ‘Silicon Valley’ of the music business | Bu Whitecat 2 Weeks Ago 11:20 AM British pop bubble bursts – but Robbie Williams still flies the flag | Business | Whitecat 2 Weeks Ago 03:36 PM Live: Google, David Lowery and the BPI talk ad-funded piracy GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 09:14 PM Quote: Live: Google, David Lowery and the BPI talk ad-funded piracy
The topic of ad-funded piracy has been increasingly prominent in recent months, with musician David Lowery, Beggars Group founder Martin Mills, music industry body the BPI and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Innovation Lab (among others) questioning why so many big brands’ ads appear on sites that are engaged in piracy.
“Most people doing piracy are not some guy in his bedroom…”
At this point, Google’s Theo Bertram gave his company’s view, suggesting that he agreed with most of what Lowery had said. “It does seem to me to be an entirely sensible way to tackle piracy… most people doing piracy are not some guy in his bedroom altruistically sharing music with his friends.
It’s people making money out of piracy, and it’s big business: some of these sites have 2m visitors regularly, and they’re not doing a bad business from advertising.”
| Music venue unveils 'school of rock' Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 07:04 PM Musicians' frustration at filming Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 06:33 PM Google: Pirate Site Blocking Just Leads To a Game of Whac-a-Mole | TorrentFreak Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 02:59 PM Quote: Google: Pirate Site Blocking Just Leads To a Game of Whac-a-Mole | TorrentFreak
During a debate in London last night, Google's UK policy manager said that he believes that blocking 'pirate' sites only leads to a game of whac-a-mole, whereas going after them as a business is more effective. The debate's key theme was whether it would be possible to strangle advertising revenue to unauthorized sites but it's no surprise that the BPI took the opportunity to criticize Google for still not doing enough to hold back piracy.
| Record industry denies failing stars Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 11:35 AM Quote: Record industry denies failing stars
The BPI's chief executive hits back at accusations that labels are failing pop stars because of a lack of long-term investment in new artists' careers.
| New Nine Inch Nails Album Will Be Out This Year On Columbia Records GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 11:20 PM Quote: New Nine Inch Nails Album Will Be Out This Year On Columbia Records
Surprise! Nine Inch Nails have a new album that they're putting out on Columbia later this year.
Rob Stringer, Columbia's chairman, also offered his thoughts: "We are thrilled at Columbia to work with a true renaissance artist like Trent Reznor on the return of Nine Inch Nails and an exciting new chapter of innovative music from them."
| What if Joey Bada$$ was a Startup... - traxx24.com chandlerpro 3 Weeks Ago 06:29 PM What if Joey Bada$$ was a Startup… Great article on this up and coming 17 yo. rapper Joey Bada$$: Joey Bada$$: The Four Principles of Startup Success
Quote:
“Here’s a thought experiment: what if Joey Bada$$ was a startup? He’d be something social, in the music space obviously, and real young, preparing for a Series A round. If Bada$$ was tech, not rap, why would he be outcompeting his rivals?
1. Trusted Crew: Joey Bada$$ is part of Pro Era, a collective of rappers, MC’s, producers, and entertainers. At his show, almost the entirety of Pro Era joined him on stage. On 1999, Bada$$ mixes in the voices of his friends, who take verses and sing hooks. If Bada$$ was a founder, he’d be surrounded by talented people he trusts, each of whom brings a diverse set of skills to the team. Bada$$ has been so successful thus far because he embraces collaboration. 1999 is the sum of its parts, not an individual effort.
2. Scarcity Two rules: 1) you can have awareness without scarcity but not the converse and 2) awareness plus scarcity equals buzz. Lots of people can know about your product, but without an element of the elusive, the mysterious, and the charismatic, awareness doesn’t translate into desire: to use the product or to seek it out. Joey Bada$$ has not put on many live shows, but his public exposure is peaking. Awareness of his music has been amplified by sporadic coverage from the Times, Complex, some blogs, etc.
3. Production Value: There is a virtuosic quality to Bada$$’s rapping. A combination of high production value and musical talent makes his music exciting. It’s a fun, slick listen, well-designed, beautiful, “quotable”—all the characteristics that make a tech product successful. Bada$$ has not neglected aesthetics. Too many tech startups launch without a viable, stylish interface. Mainstream appeal, whether for a rapper or a mobile app, depends on attractiveness and ease-of-use.
4. Freemium: The mixtape-then-live system is essentially freemium: download the music for free, then, pay extra to get the live experience. Freemium is one way to simultaneously cultivate scarcity and awareness.” www.Traxx24.com is a music career coaching blog helping musicians to Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains) Talks Music Piracy | Ultimate Guitar GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 05:52 PM Quote: Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains) Talks Music Piracy | Ultimate Guitar
"But with the advent of the Internet and sharing and shit going everywhere, you can’t do that anymore. We really haven’t been playing anything off the new record that’s not out yet.
We used to play new stuff all of the time. When we were touring ‘Facelift,’ we probably played half of ‘Dirt’ on the end of that tour. It’s a cool thing to be able to do, but you hardly have any control over your own music.
We’d rather wait until you get the best quality version of what we created before you start getting shitty iPhone versions from crappy gigs."
| Dan Le Sac at The Great Escape: The music industry is talking, so why aren’t Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 05:31 PM Music industry battles ‘bots’ siphoning concert tickets | Business & Tec Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 05:30 PM Social Media Marketing: The Best Time To Post And Tweet? | Fugitive Sounds Daedalus77 3 Weeks Ago 03:58 PM What are the best times to post on social media sites and issue tweets? This article helps you figure out the optimal times to reach the largest swath of individuals. Helpful for studios and musicians, alike. Roundtable Discussion: What The Music Industry Isn’t Talking About | Fugitive S Daedalus77 3 Weeks Ago 03:46 PM Sidewinder.fm publishes a fascinating roundtable discussion featuring three influential thinkers in music and tech, focused on interesting shifts in listener behavior and how to improve curation on subscription services. Tom Hawking: “Who’s Destroying the Music Industry? IRS Documents Reveal RIAA Daedalus77 3 Weeks Ago 03:44 PM Interesting facts on the RIAA. Pop music industry is 'failing' Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 12:51 PM Quote: Pop music industry is 'failing'
The chief executive of Arts Council England, Alan Davey, says the popular music industry is suffering from "market failure" and "short-termism" as he announces a £500,000 fund to help musicians.
| Quincy Jones talks music, legacy and why he likes Ludacris | The Music Scene GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 05:54 PM Quote: Quincy Jones talks music, legacy and why he likes Ludacris | The Music Scene
Q: How have you adapted over the years to the way the industry has changed?
A: The industry doesn’t change your production - you still do what you believe in. What’s sad is that there is 98 percent music piracy everywhere on the planet. It’s just terrible.
What if these kids (who download music illegally) worked for me for two months and then I said, “I’m not going to pay you.” That’s just not right.
| Rolling Stone Mobile - Politics - Politics: Guitar Center Employees Unionize in New Y Whitecat 3 Weeks Ago 02:58 PM Ad Industry Takes Major Step to Fight Online Piracy | Adweek GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 05:39 PM Quote: Ad Industry Takes Major Step to Fight Online Piracy | Adweek
The advertising industry took a major step Thursday in fighting rogue websites that steal copyrighted material and sell counterfeit goods. To cut off the financial support that keeps rogue sites alive, the nation’s two major ad industry associations recommended agencies and marketers take steps to keep brands' ads off those sites.
While the debate remains contentious, there has been universal agreement that the key to shutting down rogue websites was to cut off the money that keeps them alive.
Recognizing advertising was the first line of attack, GroupM last year became the first ad shop to adopt a comprehensive anti-piracy policy, compiling last summer an updatable black list of some 2,000 websites that are cut off from ads from blue-chip clients like Ford, AT&T, Unilever and Dell.
| Sony Corp considers Music division spin-off | Music Week GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 05:38 AM Quote: Sony Corp considers Music division spin-off | Music Week
Sony Corp. has confirmed that it will this week discuss proposals that it should sell part of its entertainment business as a new spin-off company to investors on the stock exchange.
The news comes a week after activist hedge-fund investor Daniel Loeb encouraged the spin-off of the company’s music and movie divisions in a letter to Sony CEO Kaz Hirai.
| BPI to call on courts to block Grooveshark | CMU: Complete Music Update GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 07:46 AM Quote: BPI to call on courts to block Grooveshark | CMU: Complete Music Update
a new list of services is being drawn up ready for a judge to take a look at. This list features BitTorrent search engines 1337x, BitSnoop, ExtraTorrent, Isohunt, TorrentReactor, TorrentCrazy, Monova, Torrentdownloads, TorrentHound and Torrentz; file-transfer services Filestube, Filecrop, Filetram and Rapidlibrary; download sites BeeMP3, Dilandau, MP3juices, MP3lemon, MP3raid, MP3skull, Abmp3, Bomb-mp3, Emp3world and Newalbumreleases; and finally, often controversial streaming service Grooveshark.
| Eminem's music publishers sue Facebook for copyright infringement over song use GearAndGuitars 3 Weeks Ago 06:59 AM Will indie-rock reunions become just part of the plan? | Music | For Our Co Whitecat 4 Weeks Ago 11:44 AM 45% Fewer Professional Working Musicians Since 2002 | The Trichordist GearAndGuitars 4 Weeks Ago 06:36 AM Quote: 45% Fewer Professional Working Musicians Since 2002 | The Trichordist
The numbers are simple and staggering. The internet has not empowered musicians, it has exploited them.
It is also important to note that these cuts are made from the bottom up, not the top down. It is the struggling and middle class musician that gets hurt first. The difference between “making a living, making music” or not is represented in these numbers.
| UK's most streamed song revealed Whitecat 4 Weeks Ago 10:47 AM Several Grooveshark Employees Have Now Signed Settlements | DMN GearAndGuitars 4 Weeks Ago 02:17 AM Google and Trichordist to debate piracy profits in London | Music Week GearAndGuitars 4 Weeks Ago 06:38 AM Quote:
“Taking place at the University of Westminster and hosted by Sam Shemtob, conversation will focus on how peer-to-peer sharing sites are dependent on advertising for income, the role of search engines and other businesses in controlling online advertising, and the impact to both legitimate services and creators.
In 2013, it seems somewhat amazing that advertising from major corporations is still being served to unlicensed music services - especially when, in theory, creative and tech businesses could pragmatically and constructively tackle the practice.
“MusicTank is delighted to announce such expert speakers as David and Theo to discuss this contentious issue and we look forward to a constructive and informative debate.”
| Average age of UK festival goers now over 30 | MusicRadar Whitecat 4 Weeks Ago 11:00 AM | 
