April update: music / band / artist promotion news and bits

April Update: music / band / artist promotion news and bits

Hey all been so busy recently just a quick round up of some of the most interesting commentary on the digital promotion and digital music front

Awesome new blog series warming up from our very own kiwi online music guru, Andrew Dubber at http://www.newmusicstrategies.com

Answers to 100 questions he gets asked about music and the internet regularly . . . looks like it's gonna get good, so check it out.

BOB BAKER ON THE JAY-Z / LIVE NATION 150M deal:

Ask yourself these questions ...

• Where is there an intersection between my style of music, my fans, and the supporters of a business or organization?
  
• In what way could I use my music to help a company connect more with its customers?
  
• And how might they help me in return?

It's an amazing era. So ask the right questions ... and you might get some amazing answers!

BOB LEFSETZ ON THE MYSPACE MUSIC DEAL:

If this had happened even one year ago, it would be considered a big deal. But at this point, with iMeem streaming music, with music available free, with major labels having less power than ever before, it merits little more than a shrug.

Now Mark Zuckerberg [Facebook] may have been revealed to be a barely pubescent money-hungry twerp who doesn't really care about his users . . .

For those who haven't heard, Myspace Music will be relaunched in a few months all kitted out to make money selling stuff – downloads etc,and through ads etc. the point is that all the majors are on board and common dissent suggests, everything that once was great about myspace being a place where little guys still had an opportunity will be compromised as fox network, Myspace's parent company, plays to the majors desire to head off Apple Itunes domination of the download market and online revenue.

I think what we've got to be ready for is that the computer industry could swallow the music industry whole at any point, and that's what I'm preparing for!

Things could totally change very quickly if Apple or other Tech companies decide they want to play hard ball with the music industry. Vodafone is now selling more singles in New Zealand than anybody else and bloggers around the world are talking about it . . .

Which should be proof enough that changes are underway and yet the government agencies, established local labels, artist platforms such as amplifier and the artists themselves lag behind in their efforts to create a dynamic online environment for New Zealand music.

This obviously doesn't concern me a GREAT deal because over 80% of my client based is overseas.

Here's another exceprt. I'm sorry. I know I should be working harder to credit my sources!!!!

"Whenever writers try to explain the collapse of the music industry, they inevitably blame the labels themselves; they point out how wasteful and inefficient the corporate structure was at places like Elektra and Chrysalis, and how unfair it is to charge kids so many dollars for a disc that costs pennies to make, and that modern consumers have come to the realization that 'music longs to be free.' This may all be true, but I'm not sure it's a viable explanation for things like huge layoffs at Def Jam. Lots of industries succeed despite being poorly modeled. What happened is this: Young people needed more money to pay for their rising levels of self-imposed debt, so they unconsciously gravitated toward the first technology that provided a cost-saving alternative. Because four-minute digital-song files are relatively small (and thus easily compressed), ripping tracks for free became the easiest way to eliminate an extraneous cost. It wasn't political or countercultural, and it had almost nothing to do with music itself. It was fiscally practical. It was the first, best solution.

People didn't stop buying albums because they were philosophically opposed to how the rock business operated, and they didn't stop buying albums because the Internet is changing the relationship between capitalism and art. People stopped buying albums because they wanted the fucking money. It's complicated, but it's not."

This is why at kurb im always on about alternative revenue. Things are going to get real sad for parts of the industry soon, all the money caught up in the sale of copies is just going to disappear.

A lot of businesses that don't adapt will go bust and people are going to lose their jobs. I'm not sure whether or not many music industry bloggers know it, but they sure don't mention it.

I make CD's and DVD's for a living. I know all about CD's, I know I will still make CD's for a few years yet, but there will be no success stories about bands that sell lots of songs. Downloads, CD's or otherwise.

The success stories will be about the bands that found some other way to create value and get out there. And the musicians who eat will be the ones who found a hundred different ways and things to sell to make a dollar.

interesting feature at Portfolio.com

Future Pop by Jeff Yang

Mar 27 2008: CDs are dead, and Korean impresario Jin-Young Park knows it. American music labels could learn a thing or two from the model he's built in South Korea.

Highlights
"In meetings with music labels here, they talk to me about releasing albums," says Park. "They can't accept that there's no such thing anymore. Where I come from, CDs are nothing—they're just souvenirs. I tell them, 'Wake up!'"

"In South Korea, where Park is building a new kind of music-business model, 80 percent of households have a broadband connection; downloads via both PCs and cell phones make up an overwhelming share of the nation's music market. Download revenue there has soared 422 percent since 2000, to $366 million, while CD sales have declined 83 percent over the same period to just $70 million in 2007...."

Read this and say YES:

"It's the artist as brand: In Korea, consumers don't buy music; they buy a product relationship that reaches across every media platform and entertainment genre..."

"Fans of the group can buy tickets for their live concerts at $110 a pop; purchase a growing array of their merchandise (the names and faces of top K-pop stars adorn everything from $5 phone cards to $500 cell phones and music players); download ringtones featuring their songs ($2); and even make bids on a charity auction for a dinner date with the girls on the popular social-networking site CyWorld (five fans paid between $3,800 and $6,000 for the privilege last year). And if all that's not enough, fans can always tune in to the Wonder Girls' reality TV series, now in its third season as one of MTV Korea's top-rated programs..."

CHEEEERSS

Kurb is a New Zealand based media promotions company providing a regular blog on digital promotion, marketing digital content and creating revenue from new media online.

Kurb also provides online promotion and revenue management services for musicians and artists internationally.

And the best value fast turnover physical media services in New Zealand including CD / DVD duplication and poster services. Our physical media services come with free graphic set up and support, free delivery, and free promotions advice and support for musicians.

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Herald piece on Vodafone music nz hits the blogosphere

Just in case you missed this one, this article in the herald has been mentioned by both Hypebot and Gerd Leonhard - the fact that Vodafone NZ is now our biggest retailer of singles.

It just seems a little bit concerning to me these kinds of imbalances in new zealands "digital community". The market, the digital consumer base is obviously there, but where are the platforms? Where is the local digital space for artists and fans to converge over local content and where is the support for this amongst traditional





Digital music sales in New Zealand are soaring with mobile phone company Vodafone selling the most music singles, beating out traditional record stores, The Warehouse, iTunes and rival phone company Telecom for the top position.



Apple, which makes iPod media players, Macintosh computers, the iPhone and owns iTunes, said in an announcement on April 3 it had become the top-music seller in the United States, surpassing Wal-Mart stores for the first time.



It cited consumer data collected in January and February by American market research firm NPD as evidence.



In New Zealand, Vodafone said it sold 106,000 singles and had 160,000 total music sales, including ringtones, albums, videos and singles, in December.



The songs are dual-delivered, meaning they arrive on a customer's personal computer and cellphone simultaneously.



Vodafone sells more singles than anyone else, either physically or digitally, and was the biggest digital music retailer last year , according to its music manager Morgan Donoghue.




He believes physical singles, with the exception of one-off charity singles, are being phased out.



"They've always been a bit of a loss-leader for record companies to sell albums. Because of the cost of manufacturing and the royalties that you pay the artists, there's no real margin in them for the record companies. Whereas in a digital world where you don't have to manufacture it, you deliver it once and you don't run out of stock or have to courier it to a store there is a big difference, digital music sales actually make financial sense.



"My parents grew up with vinyl, I grew up with CDs and my kids will grow up with music on their mobile phones and on their iPods. That's just the evolution of it. And then music will become something that we consume like we consume power or broadband, it's going to become a service.

"

Mr Donoghue said companies offering digital music sales were trying to combat people "stealing" music from free websites such as LimeWire and BitTorrent.



"What we're all doing is looking for the model where it's (music) at the right price, where people don't need to steal it. Because, I think people feel slightly guilty about it (stealing), but unless there's something done to curb the stealing I think it's going to have a massive effect on the industry.

"

He predicts fewer artists will be signed and record companies will focus on "one-hit-wonders" rather than spending time and money developing current artists, if the free downloading of music is not stopped.



The way people buy music has also changed what they are buying.



Because they were now easier to buy, more singles were sold than before digital singles were introduced, Mr Donoghue said.