Although some controversy stems around the concept and location of the video, the most pressing issue is her public display of nudity.  A woman in Dallas complained about her two children being exposed to the display, which then led to a lawsuit for disorderly conduct.  A fine of $500 was charged, but Badu chose to contest her case.  City officials say the fine would have been $4,000 and attached to a year in prison had police been called to the scene.

This begs the questions, “where do you draw the line between artistic expression or freedom thereof and disorderly conduct?”  Badu of course was trying to convey an important message about humanity.  It was a story of “liberating yourself” she says.  “I tied it in a way that compared the assassination to the character assassination one would go through after showing his or her self completely.”  Badu wrote to her fans on Twitter, “funny, i thought i was outta shape thus encouraging others toward self love .. but they think im showin off. lol. the irony.”

As music managers it’s important to let artists express themselves and not infringe on their artistic creativity and integrity. It is also important to guide them into making smart business decisions.  We have to look at the prospects and weigh the options to see which risks are necessary or worth the battle.  It this case Badu and her team decided it was the impact they needed to get the message across. Badu’s camera crew hinted at the notion that getting arrested would have been the perfect finale.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20001641-504083.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/;kw=%5B13193,139265%5D

Music Start up Beyond Oblivion promises a Music Liberation by setting free all forms of recording digital music while at the same time monetizing it all. The operation is currently in stealth mode, with a launch date of 10.10.10. I recently ran across an article in AllHipHop about the service and its potential to change the music industry. I also visited the website, here. After all the reading and digging, I’m still not even sure what this service is supposed to do.

Beyond Oblivion “….combines the stickiness of a social network with unlimited life-of-device access to the largest music library on Earth, within a vast ecosystem where content owners are paid per-play no matter if the original music file was ripped, bootlegged or legally or illegally downloaded.” As I understand it, this manifests as forming partnerships with content and device creators that enables them to package and sell music to consumers, while monitoring the play of any music file, anywhere, and then in turn paying copyright holders directly for that usage.

In essence, their theory is that 95% of people pirate music (according to IFPI), leaving only 5% that actually get charged for the digital music they do consume, and that 5% is overpaying. They think that by charging 100% of users a substantially smaller amount, invisible to the consumer since they will be paying it in device costs, a substantially greater amount of revenue can be generated. The have their proprietary method on exactly how this is supposed to work out under tight wraps, which is partially why I can’t make any sense of it. I like the idea in theory, but even their informative paltry slide show doesn’t really explain much. Guess we’ll have to wait till “Liberation Day” to find out for sure. 10.10.10, be sure to mark your calendars.

Beggars Group is an unusual company to flourish in a music industry that became increasingly riddled by suits since the 1990’s. It is a London-based record company that owns four independent music-centric labels called 4AD, Rough Trade, Matador Records and XL Recordings. Beggars’ four label recently picked up one-fifth of the Times (UK publication) Top 100 records of the decade. In a time when record companies are doing lousy in the industry, Beggars runs a group of record companies that are doing quite well, in the eyes of the economic market and critics, alike.

In 1977, spurred by the British punk rock movement, Beggars Group was founded as an independent label called Beggars Banquet, by Mike Mills. Over three decades and four significant label acquisitions later and Mills still runs the show while the catalog’s focus remains largely alternative. The operations at Beggars are unique, Mills signs every check personally and looms over the weekly revenue statements, though allows each label much freedom. He doesn’t require any of the labels to do a budget as he believes, “It’s impossible to predict how music will sell, so why waste the time.”

One reason the company grew steadily over the years is that it did not try to dominate the world all in one go. Beggars’ labels were picked up over time and each label invests in about 20 new acts a year, a modest number compared to the often-lofty goals of its competitors. Beggars’ reports it has digital revenue of about 50 percent of its total, which is higher than the industry average. And if that isn’t enough to brag about, Beggars’ labels also succeed at selling full-length albums much better than the rest. For example, the industry average is about 10 or 12 tracks sold for every album, whereas The Xx (Beggars’ artist) sells three tracks for every album, or a 1:3 ratio.

Mills attributes much of its success to the Internet, which has really improved things for independent labels, and I’d have to agree with him. I am a firm believer of the Beggars’ vision and the way it runs its company so efficiently in an industry of excess. I’m a diehard fan of many artists in Beggars’ catalog, therefore I’ve followed each label’s progress over the years. I’ve seen a significant difference in the morale of Beggars’ labels, compared to other independents that do not have the same strategies in place. I am excited to see which artists choose, and are chosen, to work with the company next.

- Brooke

Soooo just like I had mentioned and prophesied a few weeks back, Apple has killed music service Lala. This time it’s official, as the above screen shot spells out the final nail in the coffin for the company. It looks like just a matter of time until music is brought into the cloud by user uploads of their own tracks. I discussed how this is crucial both in terms of gaining popularity with customers and with avoiding additional licensing contracts. But, I forsee a good amount of legal opposition no matter what happens. Stay tuned for further developments.

For the first time in 5 years the UK music industry has reported growth in revenue.  Since the advancement of technology and digital access to music, CD sales and album sales have suffered significantly.  Although the sales of physical CD’s are still declining, digital sales have finally offset that loss.  Trade income rose 1.4% to £928.8m. This rise in sales has been partly attributed to albums from artist such as new UK sensation Susan Boyle and Michael Bublé, and from the passing of the music icon Michael Jackson. Not just the artists are attributes to the rise in digital sales, but of course, the increase in downloads. Downloads are a fifth of industry revenue and make up 99% of purchased singles.

Industry experts and researchers are slow to celebrate this increase, seeing it as a very small step in the right direction.  They are of course hopeful that this is just the beginning, but are still on the proactive, defense to make the industry thrive again.

The CD is not as obsolete as people seem to think. In fact, it is nowhere near.  Geoff Taylor, Chief executive of BPI (the record industry’s trade association), insightfully states, “People have underestimated the CD as a product for the digital age. It’s a long way from death; the industry still sells over 100 million a year.”

Despite the 6.1% decline of CD sales last year they are still high on the market.  Even though physical is typically on the decline the UK has actually seen a rise in music DVD sales—16.1% to be exact.  Physical isn’t going anywhere to soon.

It seems that the music industry is slowly coming to terms with this technological revolution.  The only way for the industry to prosper under these new conditions is to accept them and learn how to use them to their advantage. They have to take control of our industry and not let it be run by technology, but rather use technology as a tool to run the industry. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

READ MORE

Advertising supported, free streaming media service we7 has broken a barrier in the music business. We7 has finished out its first month where all of the music on its service was paid for completely by advertising revenue. Its streaming site was launched less then two years ago and users can steam music for free, though can only create a playlist by paying/registering for the service (also for free). The company currently boasts over 4 million tracks available for streaming in the UK, with content from all four major record labels. Content available for play outside of the UK is limited.

We7 claims that it is the “first music streaming service to demonstrate that the music on-demand ad-funded model can work in the mainstream market.” This funding landmark is extremely significant for the company, and for the music industry as a whole. The fact that we7 reports this achievement was the goal of the company since it first started demonstrates to other companies that goals of a similar nature can, and will, be attained by those who strive for it.

We7 only recently embraced the “fremium” business model by offering an advertising-free service for a monthly subscription, starting its usage in February 2010. Fremium is a business model that works by offering basic web services or a basic downloadable digital product, for free, while oftentimes charging a premium for advanced or special features. The business model has seen an increase in utilization by Web 2.0 companies in the past few years. In this case, we7’s fremium model does not charge for anything, and is financially fueled by short audio adverts, or blipverts, that play before the streaming of each song.

I think that we7 is on the right path to offering quality music at a value to its users. The fremium business model it employs is one that other companies should consider adopting if they are facing significant challenges in generating revenue through other types of models.

- Brooke

There’s been a bevy of posts circulating the blogosphere over the past week about the probable death of music site Lala at the hands of its new owners, Apple. When Apple first acquired the company back in December (for an undisclosed amount), the rumor mill was swirling with analysis as to what Apple could be planning, how Lala would fit into their digital music strategy, and what a move into the cloud/subscription model could mean for Apple. Well, despite any well wishing or positive analysis that might have come out of the takeover, all that is hogwash now. With reports that operations are sluggish, updates near non-existent, and still no iPhone app, it seems Apple is slowly dissolving the brand and sending it to the big-website-start-up-graveyard.

This move disturbed me at first, which quickly (rather rashly, I’ll admit) launched me into a mini-rant on Twitter. These statements are summarized below but I wanted to use the blog to clarify and expound a little.

Basically, I’m distraught that Apple single-handedly brought down physical music formats and now it seems they are stalling further digital advancement. And for what reason? Well, initial speculations were that Apple would have the technology to put all music in the cloud, and do so in a way that it was immediately available to iTunes users. Now though, it seems to be revenue generated. Once music moves to the cloud, customers no longer think of music as a possession. It is no longer “my music library” that you use, but “the music library” that you access from numerous devices. But if we no longer own music collections, we no longer need convenient portable devices like iPods to hear that music. Demand shifts from Apple products and into a new device, a music access device.

After some thought, it makes more sense. I don’t think Apple has killed Lala vindictively, as if they saw them as macro-level competitor that they needed to buy and eradicate before they grew out of hand (something the Big 4 maybe should have considered with Napster, but I digress…). But I do see them doing away with the brand competition and instead ingesting its technology, waiting to regurgitate it after some tweaking. They are probably thinking up a master plan/device/strategy that will shake things up in a major way, and they’re just holding off until the right time to implement it. While taking Lala and destroying it is bad for the spirit of innovation and the new music industry revolution, I suppose it is a smart business decision in the grand scheme of things.

UDPDATE: I later stumbled upon this article from Tech Crunch that brilliantly, and more specifically, outlines some of the assumptions I made above. Author Michael Robertson hypothesizes that its not the major label licenses, digital library, or 10 cent revenue model that will become critical to Apple, but instead Lala’s technology as a personal music storage service. He says Apple realizes that any new music solution must include music already possessed by the user. Meaning a new iTunes version will surface that syncs a user’s music into the cloud, syncs future purchases into that cloud, and merely stores it individually for each consumer to later access. The additional bonus of this strategy? It avoids new licensing agreements completely. Clever dogs…

Jaron Lowenstein succeeds at marketing on the cheap for new single, "Pray for You"

Remember that hit song back in 2000 called “Crazy for This Girl”? It was a light-hearted rock piece performed by identical twin combo Evan and Jaron that peaked in early 2001. Many so-called “one-hit wonders” never successfully make it back into the industry, let alone the charts. Though Evan Lowenstein has broken away from the former musical duo and is now gaining momentum with his solo work.

“How is he doing this?” you might ask. Well, Lowenstein is maximizing his dollar by skipping the usage of the costly traditional marketing model and going straight to a cost-efficient, cherry-picking methodology of spreading the word. Instead of spending thousands on upfront costs like piggy-bank breaking recording sessions, market research testing and publicists, Lowenstein decided just to spend $5,400 for a single release, accompanying video and exposing the song on targeted social networks and in select clubs. The new model Lowenstein is using targets fans first, than radio and lastly the label.

I believe Lowenstein has something here. He is breaking away from models used for years past that just do not yield results anymore, and creating his own bundle of fan-driven tactics. It’s paying off for him, too. The song Lowenstein used this method for, “Pray for You,” is rising in a  number of areas. On iTunes U.S., the song ranks 53rd this week, up from 298 in early March. 140,000 singles have been sold; 25,000 in the last week alone.

Keep on keeping on, Jaron! I will be eager to see what other cherry-picked packages artists come up with in the days to come…

-Brooke

Last month, Warner Bros Entertainment UK posted a job on the University of Manchester career website seeking an intern. Not completely out of the ordinary, but this intern was for a career in the industry that was pretty uncommon. Warner Bros. was basically searching for a budding computer programmer who could develop bots that trawl the internet looking for pirated files. The programmer job description also included going to message boards, comments sections of blogs and sites to bait files, seek them out, make “trap” purchases of illegal material, and issue copyright infringement notices. Essentially, to be a spy.

As if filing lawsuits at every infringement case wasn’t bad enough, now Warner Brothers leads the way into more subversive tactics by actually hiring 18 yr old spies to do their duty work. I really hope these new interns are not an actual line of defense for labels, because I can’t see this practice taking much wind out of the sails of pirates. It may slow down some illegal file proliferation near release dates and leaks of new albums – and that action is warranted – but as a solution to illegal file-sharing this will fail miserably. While I can accept a spy to ward off leaks, the long term ability of hiring spies won’t do much for correcting the already broken industry. Hopefully Warner Bros. has their cogs turning for ideas in a macro view, one that will change the industry for good, rather than simply employing these spy-and-stall tactics. We shall see.

Spring is upon us and that means graduation is looming for hundreds of thousands of students across the country. A portion of those students will graduate with various types of music degrees, whether it be performance-based, business-centric or a more behind-the-scenes studio type degree.  However, this time is not as joyous for graduates as it has been in years past as the unemployment rate is fixed at nearly 10%. This means that music graduates will be scrambling to “get their foot in the door” to find any relevant work and many will end up taking jobs completely unrelated to what they studied in school.

Charlotte Lee, a Junior Account Executive at Hudson PR, offers some advice in Music Week to upcoming graduates on how best to jump over the music job acquisition hurdle. For those who lack sufficient work experience and are not able to spend time or money on internships, Lee suggests utilizing a new music marketing tool called In4merz.com. In4merz is a 10,000 member-strong street team anyone can join to help promote their favorite artists while gaining valuable experience in the music industry. The program operates on a point-based system and artists are mainly promoted on social networking sites.

The founder of In4merz is Clare Hudson, a music industry professional who is now delivering Creative School Workshops in classrooms all around the U.K. due to the popularity of the website. I see this program as a launching pad for those who truly are unable to find work experience in other places, though I do not believe college graduates should rely on websites such as In4merz that tend to “spoon-feed” opportunities into the mouths of the less-proactive. These types of work-experience programs operate best while complimenting other methods of adding value to your degree while striving towards wedging your foot more and more through the “door” of the music industry.

-Brooke

]]> http://aemmdecisionmaking.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/getting-your-foot-in-the-door-of-the-music-industry/feed/ 0 bblocki foot-in-door