Artist Quote of the Week

"Don't try to explain it, just sell it."
--Colonel Tom Parker

Connecting Bands With Talent Buyers

OurStage.com has launched a new online tool to help up-and-coming acts book concerts, while allowing music venue talent buyers to browse for new talent on the road.

The Web site’s new Marketplace tool allows bands to sign up for a free electronic press kit, which can be viewed by talent buyers across the country. Concert bookers can also listen to music the artist has uploaded to OurStage, which is ranked by fans who use the site.

To help push the new online tool, OurStage has teamed up with Live Nation, which has reserved 300 performance slots for the site’s top-ranked artists.

OurStage allows artists to upload music and videos, which are later voted on by fans. Since launching in March 2007, the Web site has partnered such music festivals as Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot, Newport Folk Festival, JVC Jazz Festival Newport and Noise Pop.

Executing a great marketing strategy?

In today’s music business, having an effective web marketing strategy can make the difference between you being a local, national or international music star.

A key element in your web marketing strategy should be the selection of your bands name. Why? Because your bands name will also become your bands keyword on the Internet.

I’m sure you’ve heard of references to AOL Keywords, but AOL isn’t the only place where people use keywords for search. Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK and many other search engines use keywords to help millions of people find what they are looking for on-line.

If someone is looking for information about your band on the Internet, they are most likely, going to type your bands name into a search engine. When the search engine returns the results, you’ll want your website, or your myspace page to be in the top of the listings.

My suggestion is to choose a crazy (or very creative) keyword. A crazy band name, when used as a keyword, will help your listings in search engines beyond your wildest imagination.

Digital Sales Predicted To Pass CDs By 2012

A new study from Forrester Research Inc. predicts that half of all music sold in the U.S. will be digital sales by the year 2011, with digital music surpassing the CD in 2012. The Massachusetts-based research firm says that digital music sales will increased with a compound annual growth of 23 percent over the next five years, bringing in $4.8 billion by 2012. However, CD sales figures will continue to decline to $3.8 billion by 2012.

"This is the end of the music industry as we know it," stated James McQuivey, VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research. "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."

Forrester adds that although major music chains such as Tower and Sam Goody have shuttered stores, when retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart give music less floor space, it will truly signal the end for CDs. The company also predicts that "experiments in ad-supported downloads will be silenced by the powerful combination of DRM-free music and on-demand music streaming on sites like imeem.com.:

Mid-Year Sales Report

At the mid-point of 2008, U.S. album sales stand at an 11% decline when compared to the same period a year ago. Though not as precipitous a drop as the one recorded in the first half of 2007 (15.1%), this year's first half tally is 204.6 million units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s compared to 229.8 million units scanned in the first six months of 2007.

That drop is fueled largely by the 16.3% decrease in CD sales; digital albums posted a 34.4% increase to 31.6 million units and now account for 15.4% of album sales. Digital tracks continue to be a bright spot, growing 30% to 532.7 million units in the six month period ended June 29. That compares with the 417.3 million recorded in the six-month period ended July 1, 2007.

At this point, the top-selling album was Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III," with 1.5 million scans; followed by Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through The Static," at 1.2 million; and Mariah Carey's "E=MC2," with 1.1 million units.

The best selling tracks were led by Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," at 2.6 million units; followed by Flo Rida's "Low," featuring T-Pain with 2.4 million units; and Jordan Sparks "No Air" duet with Chris Brown, which clocked 2.1 million units.

Looking at album market share, the Universal Music Group continues to dominate the U.S. industry with a 31.2%. But that's down from the 31.5% the company posted in the first six months of 2007. Sony BMG Music Entertainment also lost market share. The company finished the first half with 24.8%, down from the 25.3% it had in the corresponding period last year. Coming in third in the rankings, WEA tallied 20.8% share in the first six months of the year, up nearly one percentage point from the 20% it recorded in the first half of last year. EMI’s market share fell to 9.4% from the 10.4% it had last year.

Like WMG, the indies where the only other group to gain market share, finishing collectively with 13.9%, up from the 12.9% the group garnered in the first half of last year.

Tunecore sweetens deal

Digital distributor TuneCore is now sweetening the deal with a one-price, one-track distribution plan. The company will soon distribute any artist track across eleven stores for a flat price of $9.99, according to information shared by the company on Friday. That replaces a pricing formula that includes per-song, per-store and yearly maintenance fees. The new, flat-rate plan starts June 20th.


The TuneCore distribution network includes iTunes Stores in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Others include AmazonMP3, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody, LaLa, and GroupieTunes. Artists retain all royalties, and TuneCore deals are non-exclusive. Added 06/09/2008.