Services to remove illegal content.


RIPBLOCK : ANTI MUSIC PIRACY

Removing illegal music downloads and file sharing site links.



If so, do they produce tangible results or is it just a service which contacts the sites which host it?

You know what is interesting? This guy tells the same story many here are telling, but only in passing mentions piracy. Worthwhile read.

Everything popular is wrong: Making it in electronic music, despite democratization – Little White Earbuds

There is an interesting and in depth article in the SF Gate today about Ark records and their business model. Do you think he is right about the future of the industry?

Why 'Friday' just might be the future of pop

Interesting view from the largely DIY dance music perspective.
Very long I'm afraid, but packed with many home truths (in my opinion).
Interesting upbeat conclusion that what really matters in the future music business will be uniqueness. Of course, being unique is incredibly hard and destined to consign most creative people to the trash bin.
Everything popular is wrong: Making it in electronic music, despite democratization – Little White Earbuds

Man who wrote Da-da-da-DA da-DAA - charge! song wants to er, charge for it | News.com.au

the Bop Wall

The BOP Wall | Facebook

open...: Why Google Should Buy the Music Industry

"The fact that this is literally true tells us something that is often overlooked: the music industry is economically quite small and unimportant compared to the computer industry. And yet somehow - through honed lobbying and old boy networks - it wields a disproportionate power that enables it to block innovative ideas that the online world wants to try.

On a rational basis, the music industry's concerns would be dwarfed by those of the computer world, which is not just far larger, but vastly more important in strategic terms. But instead, the former gets to make all kinds of hyperbolic claims about the alleged "damage" inflicted by piracy on its income, even though these simply don't stand up to analysis.

But that throwaway comment also raises another interesting idea: how about if Google *did* buy the music industry? That would solve its licensing problems at a stroke. Of course, the anti-trust authorities around the world would definitely have something to say about this, so it might be necessary to tweak the idea a little.

How about if a consortium of leading Internet companies - Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Baidu, Amazon etc. - jointly bought the entire music industry, and promised to license its content to anyone on a non-discriminatory basis?

At the very least, the idea ought to send a shiver down the spine of the fat-cats currently running the record labels, and encourage them to stop whining so much just in case they make the thought of firing them all too attractive to the people whose lives they are currently making an utter misery...."

This is said by a wired magazine writer, a proponent of open source. It seems that they're actually killing the music industry and other industries by *choice*. In other words, they're going "this is our world now, you can sod off and if you don't like it we'll buy you out!"

This is not the "thoughts" etc we've been having over the past few months, this is straight from the horses mouth from a credible source in the digital industry.

I will not be reading nor buying ANY Wired magazines in the future.

Party's Over! Spotify Seriously Limiting Free Usage... - Digital Music News

Are these the changes needed to launch in the USA... I wonder...

Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper is a book that got some honest insights... What do you think about this book?

“The music industry is toast, my friends. And congrats to Rolling Stone vet Steve Knopper, whose fantastic new book Appetite for Self-Destruction explains why.” - Village Voice


Q: Is there anything the major labels can do to save themselves?

A: For one, it'd be great if (the Recording Industry Association of America) stopped suing its fans (who illegally download music files) — that would rehab their image a bit. And labels should forget the notion that they're just there to sell CDs, but to sell singles and ringtones and anything else related to what fans of that artist want. So maybe they won't be high on the Billboard chart, but they won't go away. But, to an extent, any of this may be too little, too late. - S.Knopper


Books of The Times - ‘Appetite for Self-Destruction,’ by Steve Knopper - When Labels Fought the Digital, and the Digital Won - Review - NYTimes.com

Appetite For Self Destruction - 'Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age' by Steve Knopper - Los Angeles Times

Appetite For Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper review | Non-fiction book reviews - Times Online

Hi all.

I was wondering if any of you has experience in composing music for theater.
Not strictly speaking of musical or opera, so not a singed song in the middle of the play but more a soundtrack for the play.
i think that to some extent is the same principle of scoring for films, unless you have more freedom.

There's a lot of thread here about film scoring, but i do really prefer theater and moreover the idea to became a "note factory" ( if you had the chances to ) is not appealing to me.

anyway i don't want to start a debate cinema vs theater

I'm more interested in collecting some experiences and advices

I'm currently done with my first experience, and I'm starting a second one.
Music is not my primary job, so I'm not a pro, but I hope to became it.

I have a quite good music training, and a quite vast music knowledge.
i actually work in the IT so no problem at all with computer and technology.

My first project is something completely "amateur", and it is an adaption from an ancient greek comedy ( lysistrata ) so the music is primarily intended to be sung by the "chorus" on stage.
Plus, we decided to add some music for some particular moments. It is mainly orchestral music with mixed influences. (vsl+sibelius+reaper for mixing)

In this case, the author and director is a friend of mine so I had the chance to have an important amount of freedom and anyway the most part of the job was to create songs, in the end not so complicated.

The other project I'm going to start is quite another level, all the people involved have already some experience and their goal is to became pro. I call it a semi-pro project.
It is something written from scratch, and it will be a mix of theater and modern ballet, and also in this case the author and the director is the same person.
I'm less confident with this person, but when, after having red the text, I proposed to her a 2 mins of mock-up, she was so happy about my music that she asked me to go wild with my workflow and bring to her as much music as i could, then she will choose some parts, and will eventually ask me to fix them for her needs or on the contrary she will tailor the scene around the music (this is the way she loves to work, and I find it great)

All this introduction is to say that, until now I've been lucky, and even if I think that composing music for theater gives you more freedom I think that it is not always so simple.

So if anyone of you had similar experience, can you tell me how things are for real ? Am i just living a dream because I'm working with inexperienced directors ?
Once this project finished, which are the things I missed that I need to know for searching other projects ?
I mean, how people work in this field ? How much pain ? :D

Ah btw, I live in Paris where theater is strongly appreciated and the are a lot of young companies out there waiting for my cheap/free music :P but before to proclaim myself as an apprentice theater composer I want to be sure I'm not missing smtg important about how it works
and if you have some books to suggest about the technical part of composing for theater it would be great, you know smtg like rimsky-korsakov principle of orchestration, or shoenberg fundamentals of composition, even more modern of course ! :D

thank you very much

Record Industry Profits If Napster Never Hit [CHART] - hypebot

YouTubeToPay$100million

Interesting, and about time. Now if they'd only pay the people who's rights are continually violated... It will be interesting to see how they police/protect their own content, now that they're actually paying for it.

As predicted, the glass ceiling on UGC is starting to reveal itself and tech companies are going to have to pony up some dough if they actually want to get quality professional content.

Netflix Outbids HBO for David Fincher and Kevin Spacey's 'House of Cards' - The Hollywood Reporter

A good Read

Report: Feds Probing Info Sharing on Popular Mobile Apps | Digital Media Wire

Survey: 3 Out of 4 Unsigned Artists Still Want a Label Deal... - Digital Music News

everyone still wants a label deal, no one wants to pay for music... looks like getting a label deal is still attractive after all... but why when you can DIY with TuneCore ?

So we all know the music industry is suffering and everything is going down the hill. Is this total BS? Oh yes it is.

So there is this false belief that today you need to have a "big business", in e.g., health or IT and if you're present on the Chinese market you are so successful and have a bright future. If you own this small music & video store in Africa you have no future. Well. Guess what. Over the last year the music & video store industry has grown by +205%, compare that to the Internet Software & Service industry that has grown by +62%. Big business has grown by +12%, very small business has grown by +30%. The South African market has grown by +37%, the Chinese market has grown by +16%. I mean, wake up.

So it's not true that you shouldn't start a music business today. What should you not start today? Well, starting a big business in the electronics stores industry in Greece is maybe not the most brilliant idea you can come up with.

So you can't find a great investment in China? Try invest in Maranatha Record Company in South Africa and see what happens. You might be surprised about the returns you get.

Maranatha Record Company South Africa

Bob Geldof laments rock's future | Music | Entertainment | London Free Press

"Maybe this hyper democracy of the Web simply gives the illusion of talent ... Everybody has got the means to say anything they want, but nobody has anything to say."

This article could set off a nice and heated discussion over here at the moan zone.

Bon Jovi blame Steve Jobs for 'killing the music business'

So did Steve Jobs kill the music business?

My view is that Steve Jobs/Apple/iTunes has definitely been supportive to the IT industry and "slightly" unsupportive to the Music industry. What I mean with "slightly" is this:

The total music experience of a listener is 50% source frequencies and 50% destination frequencies (yep, the listener can tune his instrument as well) Music must always be consumed at highest level of frequency detail in order for music to transfer from source to destination with 100% efficiency. With compressed audio you typically get less than 5% of the original ambience frequencies, resulting in a very degraded listening experience. This in turn, without consumers knowing so, has a negative effect on music attractiveness. The visibility into which artists have very emotional/authentic messages and which ones don't is dimineshed as well, hence we now end up with low quality pop music hits all over the world. All of this contributes to declining sales figures for the music business, which in return makes music companies struggle.

I cover more about the effect of audio compression including audio degradation calculations on this thread:

Read this: The truth about the music industry's tough economic conditions

I also want to add that, while Apple is contributing negatively to the music business, it is likely so in the short term, but in the long term the story might be different because IT in itself is a very efficient domain for music due to its availability and distribution power.

Anyone got to read this news? The title says it ALL

Read more here:

Napster pioneer may buy Warner label to push digital music | Electronista

Wish you all great week and support #Japan

Cheers!!

Phil Collins Quits, Apologizes for Career - Popcast

Author Moses Avalon gives 100 Answers to 50 Questions on the Music Business and reveals Secrets of Negotiating a Record Contract

Hal Leonard Corporation is shipping two new music business titles by top-selling author Moses Avalon. 100 Answers to 50 Questions on the Music Business and Secrets of Negotiating a Record Contract (Hal Leonard Books, $19.95 each) are must-reads for any musician, band, or industry professional.

Avalon, author of the best-selling music business title Confessions of a Record Producer is back with 100 Answers to 50 Questions on the Music Business, a pointed analysis of business issues for musicians, producers, and managers. Chosen from questions submitted by readers of Avalon's popular blog, the 50 questions he addresses in this book represent the most pressing issues in the modern music business. Avalon takes the provocative (but realistic) stance that there's usually more than one valid answer to an important question, so he addresses each question from multiple viewpoints. His no-nonsense 100 answers make up an essential "cheat sheet" for anyone looking to break into this challenging industry.

What is a producer, and why do I need one? When do I need a manager? What is a copyright, and do I really need one in the Internet age? What social networks are worth joining to get more fans and sell more music? Am I too old for a record deal? Should I work with a publishing company or just start my own? These are just a few of the many tough questions Avalon tackles in the book.

In his newly revised edition of Secrets of Negotiating a Record Contract, Avalon exposes the record companies' hidden agendas by picking apart the language of actual recording agreements written by major-label lawyers. By showing what's really going on in a typical record contract, Avalon puts power back into the hands of those who make the music. Focusing on artists' issues such as advances, royalties, and distribution, Avalon explains the purpose of each clause, offers negotiating advice, and outlines alternatives for developing new contracts that protect artists. User-friendly and featuring entertaining inside stories, the book clarifies common terms as they are used by the music industry, reveals over 100 key loopholes that will cost artists money, and includes a glossary of major label recording-contract jargon.

Avalon also introduces the concept of the "360 deal" in which labels participate in revenue from multiple areas of an artist's career. For the first time, the label and artist are partners. Advances and royalties are higher, deals more complex, and yes, the potential for rip-offs increase as well. This new edition illuminates the pros and cons of the 360 deal components: website rights, fan-club rights, publishing rights, touring, and all the new areas that the label is hoping to encroach upon.

Whether you're about to sign a new record contract, or you're chomping at the bit for the chance, 100 Answers to 50 Questions on the Music Business and Secrets of Negotiating a Record Contract are two books no musician should be without.

For book cover art and press release in MS WORD format, visit: HL_030211_Avalon_Business

IFPI: Debut Album Sales Have Plunged 77% Since 2003... - Digital Music News

2010 Music Website Heat Map

Spotify 'worth a billion dollars' - News, Gadgets & Tech - The Independent

interesting news to stir the debate

Apple Reportedly Looking to Offer 24-Bit Music Files in iTunes Store - Mac Rumors

I never thought I'd see the day of 16bit lossless, let alone 24!

Is YouTube Destroying or Saving*Music? - MTT - Music Think Tank

Have you heard about crowd funding?

Excerpt from Wikipedia (Crowd funding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The crowd funding approach has long precedents in the sphere of charity[citation needed]. It is receiving renewed attention from both commercial and social entrepreneurs now that social media, online communities and micropayment technology make it straightforward to engage and secure donations from a group of potentially interested supporters at very low cost.

One of the pioneers of crowdfunding in the music industry have been the British rock group Marillion. In 1997 American fans underwrote an entire US tour[2] to the tune of $60,000, with donations following an internet campaign - an idea conceived and managed by the fans before any involvement by the band. Marillion has later used crowdfunding with great success as a method to fund the recording and marketing of several albums, Anoraknophobia,[2] Marbles[3] and Happiness Is the Road.[4]

Crowdfunding in the film industry was pioneered by Spanner Films with the climate change documentary The Age of Stupid[5]. The Age of Stupid team, headed up by Franny Armstrong, successfully raised more than £900,000 over a period of 5 years (december 2004 to 2009, date of release) to cover both the production and promotion of the film. The film’s crew worked at very low wages but also received crowd-funding “shares”. Under the terms of the crowd-funding contract the investors and crew are paid once a year for ten years from the release of the film.[6]

They were followed by french entrepreneurs and producers Guillaume Colboc and Benjamin Pommeraud from company fr:Guyom Corp. when they launched a public internet donation campaign in August 2004 to fund their film, Demain la Veille (Waiting for Yesterday).[7]. Within 3 weeks, they managed to raise nearly $50,000, allowing them to shoot their film.

Crowdfunding's earliest known citation[citation needed] was by Michael Sullivan, fundavlog, August 12, 2006, "Many things are important factors, but funding from the 'crowd' is the base of which all else depends on and is built on. So, Crowdfunding is an accurate term to help me explain this core element of fundavlog."

****

Many bands came to Brazil this year due to a successful website called Queremos ("we want")...

LCD Soundsystem talking about Crowdfunding concert they just did last week.

YouTube - QUEREMOS! LCD Soundsystem

****

This is "Just in Time" model. You eliminate the risk chance of a concert, or any project... Everybody is already paid before the concert happens.

The future is now.

Google is now investing $100 million in celebrity shows through YouTube.

Very TV network of them, no?

Strange seeing them investing in creating their own content for a change ...

Google's Plan To Spend Millions On Celebrity YouTube Channels Irks YouTube Stars

(I wonder how long until they have to start filing DMCAs.)

I really thought this would fall flat. I mean its good, blah blah..and of course she knows its dripping with Madonna dfegad, but kind of forgettable..

Quick Takes: Lady Gaga hatches a hit - latimes.com

Topspin Media » Getting Practical: A Step-By-Step Guide to Building an Online Marketing Plan That Works (Ian’s Presentation From New Music Seminar Los Angeles, February 2011)

The author of this article thinks so (including a good discussion on how evidence disproves the 'long tail' theory):

SSRN-In Defense of Copyright: Creativity, Record Labels, and the Future of Music by Brian Day

It's Getting Worse: Just 1,215 Albums Sold 10,000 Units In 2010... - Digital Music News

Sony threatens to dump iTunes, launch rival store - Yahoo!7

BBC News - Newspaper publishers warn Apple over iTunes sales

Activision disbands Guitar Hero business, cancels True Crime

Wow, YouTube Really Thinks We're That Stupid... - Digital Music News

Does Spotify Pay Major Labels More Than The Indies?
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/02/does-spotify-pay-lady-gaga-more-than-indie-artists.html

Spotify wouldn't offer as much free music (in the USA)
Spotify wouldn't offer as much free music here | Media Maverick - CNET News

FT.com / Media - Citigroup takes control of EMI from Guy Hands

seems decent

Hulu - Copyright Criminals - Watch the full feature film now.

Last time I was mentioning about this phenomenon was 1,5 year ago in this thread:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remot...henomenon.html

Back then there were at least some great old productions available that you could buy.

Anyone can tell that something serious is happening to the music industry as we speak. It's like something is sucking out every penny from the industry. Just have a look at the number of live music concert productions coming out in online and offline formats, they are not that many, are they...

All I know is that now I see no new music Blu-ray/DVDs in local music stores anymore. Is it the offline formats that have finally died? Is it a local phenomenon? Is it YouTube? Is it file sharing? What is it?

But wait a minute, has the live concert production industry ever been hot? I don't think so. The next question is, WHY NOT?!

It's a sad picture when I see young teens hang around the small section of live music productions in the local music store in hope to find something exciting, all they find is a few old do-bad-rock-for-money type of products. And of course they just leave the store without buying anything.

This industry could be so hot and it is almost dead.

I just wanted to share this view of mine in the moan zone and get the issue discussed once more.

Exclusive: Sonicbids Now Making a Serious Move Into Facebook... - Digital Music News

and here come the bands...

Exclusive: Wilco forms own label, aligns with Silver Lake's Anti- Records | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times

BBC News - Music publishers plan rights database

Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. Convicted Of Misleading Investors

Edgar Bronfman, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At the height of file sharing service Napster’s popularity, Bronfman was a leading opponent of the illegal use of peer-to-peer technology. As CEO of Universal, he helped lead the music industry's opposition to Napster, likening it to slavery and Soviet communism.

MIDEMBlog | Learn. Share. Inspire.

Dealmakers Down on Spotify at Midem. Really Down... - Digital Music News

This is one of only two US plants that Sony has.

Sony to shut CD plant in US; lay off 310 workers - BusinessWeek

Major Layoffs at Universal Music Group; As Much as 50%... - Digital Music News

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/conte...93464199780935

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...expected-74269

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...sic-group.html

I guess we'll see what the next week or two bring...

Maybe not.
There are stirrings in suburbia:
BBC News - Are record clubs the new book clubs?

How the Artist Became the Enemy of the Music Industry (TuneCorner)
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stor...44rRmzv6xkI_4Q
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stor...9RCdEMWYbi_Syw

Having read these and other recent articles on the state of the music industry, here are some angles I have compiled which make the above statement seem foreboding. What are your thoughts, agree or disagree, and do you have success stories to share that defies these observations?

Music is a sunset industry because...

1) It is fast becoming one that is a non "professional" industry. An industry is only professional when there is a high-enough entry-level skill-set required. For example, if one day, through availabilty of information or some technological advancement (like robots or intelligent machines), everyone is able to make pastries that people would pay to consume, pastry making will be no longer be a professional industry. In a non-professional industry, skill level no longer commands a price premium because there is no longer a significantly discernible difference between how a pastry baked by a trained patissier tastes different from one baked by a non-trained amateur's robot. The existing industry self-destructs subsequently because less and less people train to become patissiers and the standard of pastry making becomes leveled across the board. An example of an existing non-professional industry would be the cleaning industry.

2) Successful promotion relies more and more on novelty. Lack of attention span, clutter, info overload - all these makes bygone the era when all it took to promote records besides touring was to put money to pump it to radio and make a good music video. One can argue "oh all it takes is creativity to break through the clutter!". If you can put a funny video on Youtube and get 1 miillion views, everyone else will try it as well (because it doesn't cost much to do it). Then the novelty is destroyed. What's next? Climb a building and unfurl a banner to promote your album (like the French spiderman)? How many novelties can artists create - the number is definitely not infinite. And novelty is about the only thing that interests people enough to view your content nowadays. If it has been done before you can fuggedaboudit.

3) Its consumers have become its creators as well. And it is not like in a good way, e.g. in a certain part of the classical music era, people commonly bought scores and have a piano in their house. They partake in music making, though it is not strictly creation and it's strictly for personal entertainment. Now, the stereotypical bedroom musician or band in your neighbourhood whose guitarists can only play 3 chords can too upload their music online and sell it. It would be all good if only there is a efficient system of filtering music quality for the music consumer, but who's to define what is "music quality"?. Therefore the world is flooding with music by hobbyists, and that is hindering music consumers from music made by skilled musicians out there. Not only that, people who have the money or skills to spot talent and invest in them have trouble finding the gems out there.

4) The consumer's taste is highly fragmented, partly due to virtually limitless choice. Meaning, if you search for Punk, you may get retro-punk, death-punk, red-haired punk, screamo punk, not so emo punk - you get the picture - there are more genre-labels than actual differences in the sub-genres. Music services like Tunecore say there is more music being consumed or bought than ever in history. That is true, but if viewed from a perspective of a musician trying to make a living from his music, what is it in for him? You can tell him indie artists sold X million dollars worth of downloads in the past year, and on the average each consumer spent Y dollars more on buying music downloads than the previous year, but this artist only knows he sold $18 worth of downloads. Because of fragmentation, each piece of the pie in Chris Anderson's long tail is too small to even put food on the table for an artist.

5) The value of digital media is approaching zero, there's no longer scarcity, in economic terms. Discussed in great length in the past years. If people are not willing to pay for music, then no one can survive creating it professionally. Some say find other ways to monetize, like let advertisers have to pay for it. But no successful ad supported services survived or is successfully ubiquitous in all regions of the world, at least as of now.

6) The digital lifestyle era led to consumers having much more entertainment options and thus less of their time is spent on consuming music. This point is self-explanatory and largely proven true.

7) Revenue windows are lacking, when compared to movie-making. For movies, audiences still pay to watch them in theatres first (because it is a communal experience, and also it is largely affordable). Then subsequently there's the DVD release, rental, licensing to overseas TV networks, merchandising etc. There are only two forms of selling for music - recorded and live. Music downloads is not even selling fast enough, and would anyone pay to listen to an upstart talented band that they have never heard of? And how many new bands actually have the resources to sell shows on their own? How much would music fans pay to watch you live, more or less than a movie ticket?

8) The businesses that make up the industry are feeding on the industry itself, instead of growing it. Music schools are still selling courses on audio engineering (when soon there will be no purpose built studios left) and music business (when there will soon be no music business to speak of); gear and plugin manufacturers are profiting from making "feel-good" products meant for amateurs who have yet to develop skills to discern good or bad sounding tools; studios (out of survival) are undercutting each other and recording bands who obviously can't play and making them sound good artificially with drum replacement and autotune; stores like iTunes store and Nokia music are actually feeding the sale of their hardware products; music software makers are increasingly developing tools that will one day allow anyone to make music automatically with a touch on their screens...does any of these actually help create a future pool of real musicians that will beget an industry that is financially self-sustaining?

Why Labels Abandoned A&R... - Digital Music News

iOS app downloads could overtake music by March | Electronista