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Successful artists typically fall into two categories: passionate art and commercial appeal. A third category, between the two sweet spots, is a gap where artists can fall into and have a hard time working out of.
Seth Godin explains in his blog:
“A delta blues guy who plays for tiny audiences in Memphis is in the sweet spot of the passionate. John Mayer is in the sweet spot of pop. Both are great guitarists, neither is too edgy or too trite. Both made a choice. But there are a thousand guitarists who are neither. They’re afraid to embrace one curve or the other and end up with neither.”
I’ve witnessed it only occasionally where art and commerce converge in an ultra successful union. Typically artists will either be in one of the sweet spots (some sweeter than others) or they will fall through the cracks within the gap because labels, radio, and retail don’t know what to do with them. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how talented they are either.
Read the rest of Seth’s article which is spot on applicable to what happens often in the music industry. Check it out here.
The recent news that Wal-Mart is demanding a CD price cut from record labels sent ripples throughout the music industry. Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest music retailer, and they are threatening to pull out entirely from selling CD’s to make room for more profitable product lines (such as iPods, video games, DVD’s). The chain’s recent success selling the Eagles CD exclusively (bypassing traditional labels and music distribution) gives them even more leverage in a rapidly changing music retailing landscape.
Other music retailers watching from the sidelines will await the outcome of this latest skirmish and will also demand concessions of their own to remain competitive. With the costs of doing business at the labels (including finding, launching and developing new artists) on the increase the pressures mount on several fronts. Labels and artists are being pressured to perform like never before.
If Wal-Mart decides to stop selling CD’s it will not have a significant impact on their sales, as they maintain music only accounts for about 1% of their sales volume. Unfortunately the labels (especially certain genres like country) rely on Wal-Mart to the tune of about 40% or more of their sales base on every release. Imagine the quantum shift Wal-Mart’s exodus would create for the music industry. Labels are struggling as-is to not only break new artists but maintain sales bases for their established acts at retail.
Digital sales, while on the upswing do not offset the losses on the physical side at retail. Another trend is the consumer’s desire to pick and choose only the hits, or the songs they like and not the entire album. The next generation of music consumers will not be tied to the prior generation’s album-mentality when it comes to their buying habits. Labels and artists have to develop new sales models to maintain revenue streams and incentivize consumers to step up for their product. Many are experimenting with product exclusives, such as bonus tracks and video content. Some are attempting to drive customers to their web sites for bonus material or opportunities for fans to obtain early access to concert tickets.
The emergence of Live Nation (who recently inked several high-profile deals with the likes of Madonna and U2) as a powerhouse in the music industry indicates the savvy artist is taking more control over key aspects of their careers. The labels are seeking new models and partnerships with retail and radio, along with Internet vehicles to expose artists to consumers. The competition for the entertainment dollar is fierce in the marketplace, as today’s buyer has many more choices than their predecessors.
MySpace, Facebook and other web-based environments are finding their foothold as launching pads for new artists to grow and cultivate fan bases. The marketing gurus in this new arena are seeking and finding alternatives to traditional radio and TV outlets to expose their art. Consumer-driven and designed content is the new conduit. The music and entertainment customer wants to make their choices and have their individual stamp on the finished product, whether it’s picking their own songs to burn to CD or designing their blog pages.
Another challenge this creates for the labels is the artist development process. How long can a company stick with a new artist until they see payoff? What costs should be shared by the artist in this plan? Look at the development of classic artists like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, et al (neither of which had early commercial or radio success) and wonder if they would have stood a chance in today’s environment. Where is the next generation, and who is passing the baton? The future of the industry will evolve at its own pace, but hopefully the “gatekeepers” will make the right decisions and there will continue to be viable artists.
Meantime, the retail landscape will continue to be a challenge for the labels and the artists, regardless of who is in charge or picking up the checks…
David Sanders is Nashville Label Manager for Koch Entertainment Distribution
One of the more interesting panel discussions of the Leadership Music Digital Summit yesterday was “Digital Retail: What’s The Future?”
On the issue of the future of CD product, UMG Nashville EVP Sales, Marketing & New Media Ben Kline said, “I can’t imagine CD’s ever going away. I can’t imagine Wal-Mart and Target not selling hard product. It’s the ones (retailers) in the middle that will be hurt. I don’t think you’ll be able to walk into a mall and purchase a CD.” Kline went on to comment, ”We still can’t afford to be in the singles business” when asked about the current state of selling digital singles and why labels are not being more singles driven.
One of the major discussions prevailing was how to grow digital sales as CD sales fall. Each panelist had their own ideas including:
- Better devices
- Ubiquitousness
- Multiple product offerings in one bundle
- Player compatibility and coordination between platforms
- Exceed experience of music ownership with consumers
- Stop narrow focusing on subscription based models
On the subject of future business models within retail, the industry vets responded with:
- Ben Kline: “Demand price models (where price is equal to the demand of the music). Not every song should be .99 cents.”
- EMI CMG VP Sales & Marketing Mark Adkinson added, ”Steve Jobs can’t run our business for us or he will run it right into the ground. He wants to sell devices, not music.” Mark also stressed the need for pervasive distribution within the music industry.
Tim Jones
Program Director - Citadel WGKX Memphis
Previous employment:
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KBQI/KSYU Albuquerque PD
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Clear Channel HD Format Lab PD
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WDDD Marion-Carbondale, IL PD
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KEZS Cape Girardeau, MO PD
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KDXY/KDEZ Jonesboro, AR PD
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WYCQ Nashville, TN On-Air
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KFIN/KIYS Jonesboro, AR Evening Personality
Years in biz: 18
What do you miss about Albuquerque? The golf courses, my cousin Mark and various friends, the dry weather and the Sandia mountains.
What is your favorite restaurant in Memphis? Hands down… always will be the world famous Rendezvous.
What are the unique challenges of programming in the Memphis market? Memphis is a great market to program in but just like Albuquerque I find myself in an ethnic battle for the top spot. This is not only challenging but often frustrating.
Are you currently utilizing, or planning to utilize: podcasts, video, texting or other digital technology in your programming and promotions? If so, in what way? We are doing some podcasts and video. The texting is on the horizon for us as well. I am excited about the future of technology hence why I have an Iphone. I love it.
What is the most pressing problem radio faces today? How do you think it should be resolved? Shrinking budgets and audience. I believe you have to put money in to make money. I am very fortunate that Citadel still believes in this as well. I am very blessed to be in this company. As far as audience goes, people’s tastes change, we have to change with them and give them what they want or they will go somewhere else.
What can record labels and artists do to better serve you and your station? I think country does a great job. You will not find rock or pop artists doing what country will. We are very lucky.
If money and time were no object, what would you most like to do? Travel around the world on my time schedule with no cell phone and on my own personal jet with my best friends and family in tow.
I’ve never known a time where Rita did not work the front desk. How long has she been there now? 14 years and counting, she rocks.
What are your favorite web sites and blogs? I am a Perez Hilton/TMZ addict. I also check out NY times, All Access, Ebay, Mediabase and Yahoo daily. Crazy thing is my search engine is GOOGLE but my home page is Yahoo. I know, doesn’t make sense to me either.
What is the most ridiculous thing about the music business? That could turn into a novel. Do you really want me to go there?
Do you ever play local or regional country acts? If so, do you have a success story? I am a fan of a local guy here: The Brad Kessler Band. This kid has something. We’ve spun him here and there and he always opens for us when we need him.
What advice would you give someone wanting to get into the music business? This too could be another novel. Main point would be …be careful who you are getting into business with. Personally, I think some of the old blood in Nashville needs to move on because they are way behind times. Sorry, that was my inside voice.
How important is it for a station to be local for their specific market? That’s the thing that keeps us close to the listener…no matter what anyone tells you…this is the key!
THANKS TIM!
A couple of Lefsetz gems this week:
“The major labels have lost their luster. By wanting to reside in the twentieth century, by playing by old rules. By wanting instant success, instant riches, at a high price to the consumer. But that era is never coming back.
Today we’re closing the door on the twentieth century. Today we’re drawing a line in the sand, that acts last, not executives. The future of this business will be based on artistry. The music will come before commerce. It has to. The old tricks of scarcity and publicity used to drive the old moguls’ priorities no longer work in the new world. There will be a new set of moguls. Who know this. No one from the old world has evidenced an ability to adapt.”
and this………
“Madonna may have made a deal with LiveNation, but that does not mean she’s the ubiquitous cultural icon she once was. No one can be. There’s no center and too much choice. We watched those shows on network television in the sixties because we had no choice. As soon as we had options, we abandoned the networks for cable. And now some are abandoning the box completely for the Web.
It’s kind of funny to see Madonna trying so hard. And that’s what she’s doing. Rather than kicking back and figuring out how to play in the new world, she’s just ramping it up old style. Add on the glitz, add on the glamour… Like someone under forty who wasn’t around the first time through is even going to give a shit. Like kids are going with their buddies to see her at overinflated prices because of the new hit. Nah, if they go to the show at all it will be with their parents, as nostalgia.
Give Radiohead and Trent Reznor props. They’re living in the now. Madonna is living in the twentieth century. It’s as if Michael Jordan assembled a superstar team of young ‘uns to go for an NBA championship… It would be creepy. And just looking at Madonna is creepy. Wasn’t she the one with the air conditioned teeth and the chubby thighs? Wasn’t she the one with the sassy mouth, but the body of the girl next door? Wasn’t she attractive because she was playing dress-up? Wasn’t she Susan in that movie? Wasn’t that truly her own screen success? When she was an underdog, someone who didn’t fit in, as opposed to a superstar giving dictation?
But this isn’t solely about Madonna. It’s about Jay-Z. It’s about anybody who sold millions of albums under the old paradigm. You just can’t do it anymore. You just can’t get enough eyeballs. You’re a niche product, no matter how hard you flog yourself.
I was sitting in a restaurant in Toronto. And I put forth the question, have you heard the new Madonna track?
Karen, one of Canada’s foremost music journalists, on the trail of everything new and trendy, said no.
Tanya, an exec at EMI Music Publishing, said no.
Felice said no.
And I said no too.
But according to the chart, the Madonna track was number one.
I guess the chart doesn’t mean much anymore.”
Tempted to throw away that old promo copy from a label? UMG says that sort of action is “unauthorized distribution” and therefore illegal. Read the details here.
So what happens when a radio station gives a promotion CD away and the winner turns around and sells it at a garage sale or tosses it in the trash? Could the contest winner be sued as well?
Goodwill and Salvation Army better watch their backs!
This is so 1990’s.
50 Cent and Universal Music Group are being sued for promoting the “gangsta lifestyle”. Read about it here.
That got me thinking about what lifestyle country music is promoting. Who could sue us? Soccer moms? Former 70’s rock fans? The state of Texas?
See comments and please feel free to add your own.
How would you feel about a music site that organizes music according to your moods? What would be your thoughts about a destination where you can legally download MP3’s based on emotions?
Guitarati is conducting this grand sonically visual experience by assigning colors to music.
It is certainly unique and outside the box, but will it resonate?
A short Businessweek.com article on labels trying to play catch up with digital opportunties and the latest music partnership with MySpace. Click this to check it out.
Amy and I went to a party for our good friends Mitch and Sarah who are getting married later this month. It was at the home of their friends David Thoener and Tamera Petrash. David is a highly regarded sound engineer, mixer and producer. I knew that he worked on the Santana project and won a Grammy in 2000 for “Smooth”. Cool. Great song.
So we went to their home and it was a nice group of friends and new people we hadn’t met before. After engaging in some wine and cake, Amy and I decided to go explore the house since it had a nice variety of art and music industry awards.
In David’s office I noticed a wall full of gold and platinum albums (yes, the door was open). I couldn’t help but to check them out. I still remember how much I wanted one of those back before moving to Nashville and it finally happened in 1994 with The Mavericks. Such an amazing memory that lead to more “awards” over the years. I’m very proud to have played a part in so many artists careers and music and the plaques are nice reminders of that. Over time though, they just aren’t that important to me anymore, but I still love to look at them when they are displayed at other people’s homes or businesses. Especially the blasts from the past.
The first plaque on David’s wall to catch my eye was the J. Geils Band “Freeze Frame”. Wow! That was one of my favorite records in high school. Then I noticed Billy Squier “Emotions In Motion”. No way! Another fantastic album. Then a quick scan of the rest: Heart, Sammy Hagar, Meat Loaf, AC/DC, Aeorosmith, KISS, Triumph, Bon Jovi, The Fixx, Billy Joel, The Hooters, ELO, Def Leppard and many others. It was everything I listened to in my youth. The Rock utopia of the 70’s and early to mid 80’s.
Amy said I was standing there with my mouth open just staring. It was like the soundtrack of my high school years before my eyes as the songs on those albums created flash points in time. A memory of listening to J. Geils “Centerfold” on a beat up radio while riding to school on the bus. Or camping out for Billy Squier tickets that went on sale Saturday morning right after the Sammy Hagar concert ended on Friday night. When “Pyromania” came out and rocked my world. Seeing Bon Jovi open up for the unmasked KISS. Turning it up to 10 when the cannons fired on AC/DC’s “For Those About To Rock”.
As I continued to be amazed at the wall, David walked into the room and proceeded to tell stories about how he recorded the cannons on the AC/DC track. What Bon Jovi was like back in the day before he exploded. Working with Mutt Lange, Gene Simmons, Santana, David Bowie, Def Leppard, ELO, and John Mellencamp on albums and in the studio. The history of my rock and roll years. The songs and artists that influenced my taste in music. David was in the mix. Literally!
David, according to his bio, started his career in 1974 as an assistant engineer at the Record Plant in New York City. He learned his craft working on such seminal albums as Aerosmith “Toys In The Attic,” Bruce Springsteen “Born To Run,” David Bowie “Young Americans,” John Lennon “Walls and Bridges,” Electric Light Orchestra “Face The Music” and Richie Blackmore “Rainbow Rising.”
He began engineering and mixing records in 1976, and since then has enjoyed a thirty year run of hit records including classic records for AC/DC (”For Those About To Rock”) , John Mellencamp (including “Little Pink Houses”), John Waite (including the smash “Missing You”), J. Geils Band (all of their hits), Matchbox 20 and many others.
He has worked on countless Country and Contemporary Christian projects as well. If you’d like to check out his complete discography with dates please go here.
Just when you think you can’t be awed any longer in Music City, there is always a surprise waiting to happen. That’s one of the reasons I love this town and the incredibly creative and down to earth people in it.
I am on a mission now to have David guest blog.
From portfolio.com:
Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr., is considering one of the boldest plans to combat illegal downloading and peer to peer file sharing networks. The idea? To charge everyone using the internet.
Consumers would pay a monthly fee, bundled into an internet-service bill in exchange for unlimited access to a database of all known music.
Read the entire article here and decide if this is an innovative idea or another desperate attempt to “fix” a broken business model.
From www.ft.com by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical new business model that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices.
The “all you can eat” model, a replica of Nokia’s “comes with music” deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand for a new generation of Apple’s hardware. Apple would not comment on the plan, but executives familiar with the negotiations said they hinged on a dispute over the price the computer maker would be willing to pay for access to the labels’ libraries.
Nokia is understood to be offering almost $80 per handset to music industry partners, to be divided according to their share of the market. However, Apple has so far offered only about $20 per device, two executives said. “It’s who blinks first, and whether or not anyone does blink,” one executive said.
Detailed market research has shown strong appetite among consumers for deals bundling music in with the cost of the device, or in exchange for a monthly subscription, executives said. One executive said the research had shown that consumers would pay a premium of up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device, or a monthly fee of $7-$8 for a subscription model.
Apple, which is thought to make relatively little money from the iTunes store compared with its hardware sales, is also understood to be examining a subscription model.
Subscriptions would work only for its iPhone devices, where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers through the mobile phone operators offering the device, while the “comes with music” model would work with iPhones and with iPods.
The subscription models under discussion in the music industry include the provision for customers to keep up to 40 or 50 tracks a year, which they would retain even if they changed their device or their subscription lapses.
Other music groups are understood to be in talks with Nokia, which is keen to sign up as many of the major labels as possible before launching its first “comes with music” devices in the second half of this year.
The Academy of Country Music has announced the nominations for the categories, which, due to time constraints, will not be televised during the show. Congratulations to all of the radio stations and individuals up for an award. Click on the following link to see all of the nominations……. Read the rest of this entry »
I did not attend SXSW this year. Decided I had better things to do with my time. However, I did try to keep up with it as much as possible through a few informative blogs including ArtsBeat and Austin Music Source. Check them out if you want the rundown.
Now that I am fully recovered and rested from Country Radio Seminar, I can get caught up on the blog and the rest of my life.
The keynote address at CRS was actually turned into a panel after the cancellation of Sean Hannity a few days before. The hot topic? Sound performance rights for music on terrestrial radio. It was a high octane discussion fueled by radio consultant Joel Raab. Unfortunately, I don’t think it went far enough into the matter and like most panel discussions, ended without any ideas toward resolution.
David Ross writes about the keynote in Music Row:
Moderator/radio consultant Joel Raab framed the session with a brief synopsis of the opposing points of view. Labels and artists want terrestrial radio to pay a sound copyright fee, something which is recognized in all but four other countries worldwide. Radio’s stance is that they expose the product and therefore already perform a service for the artists and labels, so the use is a fair exchange. Panelists included Mike Kraski of Tenacity Management, John Simpson of SoundExchange, Tom Taylor from Radio-info.com and NAB Exec. VP John David. “Radio revenues are flat,” said Taylor, “but labels are in true pain. My hunch is that this year nothing happens, but this issue won’t go away.” “I wish everyone fun at the label parties,” said David, immediately adopting an argumentative stance while intimating the labels still have lavish party budgets. “We are not impressed with the $1.25 million small station proposed exemption, either. Our intention is that the money is not going to come.”
Simpson pointed out that these artist royalties are collected overseas, but in most cases not sent to the U.S. because this country does not have a reciprocal right. SoundExchange collects performance rights in sound recordings for digital transmissions, satellite radio and cable radio. “Artists who had great records of songs they didn’t write get nothing when their music is played over and over for years,” Simpson remarked. “In some sad cases they are forced to work until they die to pay the bills.”
Kraski delivered the label point of view. “On our side it is a moral imperative,” he said. “If one side wins big while the other loses then we all fail. We need radio, and radio needs content. There has to be a middle ground.” Kraski also answered the exposure argument by saying at least 40% of radio airplay is Gold music which doesn’t need exposure and is just to the benefit of the station.
Audience questions quickly brought the emotional impact of this economic issue to a boil. Radio audience members cheered when David said, “Zero is the only acceptable number to pay.” Fortunately the crowd was small and moderator Raab wisely cut off the discussion with a fade to lunch.
A forward thinking article on an application of the Long Tail for individual artists. Find 1,000 true fans, cultivate them and and make a nice living giving them what they want. Brilliant!
Or consider what recording artist Jill Sobule is doing:
Typically recording artists get an advance from the label to produce a new album, but Jill is taking a different approach. She is in search of $75,000 to create her next project and going directly to her fans with incentives for help. At this point they have responded in a big way with over 60K being donated. I think it is an incredible idea, especially for those artists who have a strong and passionate fan base. The time for innovation is now.
Check out the donation levels for fans:
- $10 - Unpolished Rock (but with potential) Level: A free digital download of the album, when it’s released.
- $25 - Polished Rock Level: An advance copy of the CD. Weeks before the masses.
- $50 - Pewter Level: An advance copy and a “Thank You” on the CD.
- $100 - Copper Level: All the above, plus a T-shirt saying you’re a junior executive producer on the album.
- $200 - Bronze Level: Free admission to my shows for 2008.
- $250 - Silver Level: All the above, plus a membership to the “Secret Society Producer’s Club,” which means you’ll get a secret password to a website where I’ll post some rough tracks, or… something worthwhile.
- $500 - Gold Level:This is where it gets good! At the end of my CD, I’ll do a fun instrumental track where I’ll mention your name and maybe rhyme with it. And if you don’t want your name used, you can give me a loved one’s instead. What a great gift!
- $750 - Gold Doubloons Level: Exactly like the gold level, but you give me more money.
- $1,000 - Platinum Level: How would you like to have a theme song written for you? I’ll have a song you can put on your answering machine and show off. Again, this could be a gift.
- $2,500 - Emerald Level:Mentioned as an executive producer of the album — whoop-di-doo!
- $5,000 — Diamond Level: I will come and do a house concert for you. Invite your friends, serve some drinks, bring me out and I sing. Actually, this level is a smart choice economically. I’ve played many house concerts where the host has charged his guests and made his money back. I’d go for this if I were you.
- $10,000 - Weapons-Grade Plutonium Level: You get to come and sing on my CD. Don’t worry if you can’t sing - we can fix that on our end. Also, you can always play the cowbell.
Chris Anderson & economist Jacques Attali speaking at the 2007 Midemnet Forum about the future of the music business. The revolution is happening……
Inside Music Media is the blog of Jerry Del Colliano, founder of Inside Radio and current professor of Music Industry at USC. I could not decide which article to link to because they are all extremely relevant and well done, so I will just encourage you to check them all out.
Thanks to Chris Huff at KSCS/Dallas for the heads up.
For 20 years Bob Lefsetz has published the Lefsetz Letter. Bob has had stints as an entertainment business attorney, head of Sanctuary Music’s American division and consultancies to major labels.
In a recent post on his blog, he laments the future of labels and radio. Agree or not, Bob raises a lot of interesting questions on subjects we should be thinking about and discussing as an industry………
Last week I spoke at something called CIC, which stands for “Concert Industry Consortium”, Pollstar’s annual gathering of the concert geeks. And what a gathering it is, this ain’t no usual conference, EVERYBODY in the touring industry shows up.
And hanging in the lobby after I was done, I was bullshitting with Lewi, Strasburg and the assembled multitude, and Jim suddenly looked at his watch and said there was a panel he wanted to attend, about money. I’ll follow Lewi anywhere, so I followed him through the hotel, to hear what I figured was a discussion about getting paid at the gig. Boy was I wrong. This panel, entitled “Money Talks”, although chaired by Adam Friedman of Nederlander, was made up of VC’s, “venture capitalists” for the uninitiated. They were talking about the business BEHIND the business.
One had invested in HOB (House of Blues for those not up to speed on acronyms). There were issues of scale. Which they tried to address by purchasing Universal Concerts. But this didn’t do the trick and they ultimately sold out to Live Nation. Why did they make money? Because of the great real estate deals they’d made. Developers had cut them a break on rent because of the foot traffic the clubs generated. I’m sitting there listening to these guys thinking that I need an MBA, they’re talking about stuff I don’t know about. Oh sure, I’m aware of ROI (return on investment), but it went deeper than that. They talked about going public in just a few years, to get their money back, that was the PLAN! Then one said…in five years he expected there to be no music on terrestrial radio.
Boston Business Journal published a new report by Forrester Research Inc. that shows that half of all music sold in the U.S. will be digital in 2011 and sales of digitally downloaded music will surpass physical CD sales in 2012.
The report also claims that digital music sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent over the next five years, reaching $4.8 billion in revenue by 2012. In contrast, by 2012, CD sales will be reduced to $3.8 billion.
“This is the end of the music industry as we know it,” said James McQuivey, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, in a statement. “Media executives eager to stay afloat in this receding tide must clear the path of discovery and purchase, but only hardware and software providers can ultimately make listening to music as easy as turning on the radio.”
McQuivey, a former professor at Boston University, tells record executives to cheer up because there are ways to rise from the ashes. He says first, the industry should quit fooling around with music subscriptions and ad-supported models. People want to own their music and downloads have won. Only 7 percent of adults on the Web say they have ever tried a subscription service, according to the report.
In a final note, McQuivey suggests that music artists, who have historically looked down their noses at advertising, had better change. He says the industry should rip a page out of NASCAR’s playbook.
“Artists who used to pretend that their platinum album success was really about their “art” will no longer have that luxurious pretense because labels won’t sign them unless they agree to a barrage of sponsorship opportunities,” McQuivey wrote. “There will eventually come a day when Chips Ahoy will contend with the Keebler Elves over who can be the official cookie of the Taylor Swift world tour.”
Yet another lawsuit is pending in the continuing saga of major labels and the RIAA focusing their resources on the wrong fight. It appears they think, for whatever reason, it will get them somewhere, but is it the wrong direction from where they should be traveling?
Warner Music Group is the latest to file a lawsuit, this time against the playable music search company SeeqPod.
Wired columnist Eliot Von Buskirk writes in a recent article:
“Rather than attacking SeeqPod, the labels should view it as a template for how to make money on the internet, which isn’t going away any time soon.
The labels could even harness SeeqPod’s search technology to offer music services far more comprehensive than the ones licensed today.
The music industry would become “Google-ized,” deriving revenue from other products associated with music, rather than music itself.
With music sales continuing to decline, SeeqPod’s attempt to Google-ize the industry could be a perfect fit for the labels’ much-vaunted 360-degree deals, which emphasize merchandise, ticket sales and other revenue streams.
The question now, as it has been since the early days of Napster, is whether the labels are flexible enough to survive the free-music age.
Seeqpod may be more of a publishing/performance rights issue, but Eliot’s viewpoint makes sense. Rather than trying to protect a system that is becoming outdated, we should be embracing cutting edge solutions to cutting edge technology. Check out the full article here.
……without reading about the dilemmas of the music industry. On two separate flights (American & Northwest), in two different flight magazines. The first is an American Way article on the problematic future of the music business. The second is from NEA World Travler on how former artists are taking their personal experience into the ever changing music business world. Both good reads. Without the peanuts though.
Chris Anderson at The Long Tail has written a piece about how he has moved from listening to the radio to customizing his listening via podcasts on his iphone. He writes about NPR specifically, but then makes it an industry wide subject. Do you agree with his predictions? Why or why not? If you do, how do you challenge or utilize the rise of “personal broadcasting”?
“Now that I get my radio via podcast, I don’t have to take the bad shows with the good. I’ve got an a la carte menu, and I assemble my own schedule with what I want and when I want it”
“But look at the arc of history here. The podcast model is getting cheaper and more ubiquitously available (who doesn’t have a cellphone?), and it serves individual needs and taste better. Meanwhile the broadcast model, which is all about one-size-fits-all taste, is based on human labor costs and costly transmission equipment and is only getting more expensive. You can see how this story ends.”
“My shifting of funding from the general (radio station) to the specific (show) tells me that radio is going to get microchunked, just like the rest of media. The more granular, the better. We’re about to find out where people’s loyalties really lie.”
The entire post is here.
Seth Godin has written many excellent books and offers cutting edge insights on marketing, business and change for the future. Take his recent blog post on “Tribe Management”. All of us in the music and radio business should be thinking this way. Check it out.
This is from a November Freakonomics blog about the changing music industry. Some interesting insights.
