From Crackle: Open Labs interview with "Teddy Riley"--super prod...

Music industry turning against LOUD recordings?

Turn Me Up!™ is a non-profit music industry organization campaigning to give artists back the choice to release more dynamic records. To be clear, it's not our goal to discourage loud records; they are, of course, a valid choice for many artists. We simply want to make the choice for a more dynamic record an option for artists.

Today, artists generally feel they have to master their records to be as loud as everybody else's. This certainly works for many artists. However, there are many other artists who feel their music would be better served by a more dynamic record, but who don't feel like that option is available to them.

This all comes down to the moment a consumer hears a record, and the fear that if the record is more dynamic, the consumer won't know to just turn up the volume. This is an understandable concern, and one Turn Me Up! is working to resolve.



Check it out here:
http://www.turnmeup.org/index.shtml

TuneCore, iLike Bundle Indie Services

TuneCore and iLike have teamed up to offer independent and unsigned artists a package deal on both distributing and promoting their music. The partnership is more of a bundled product than it is a new service, as both companies offer their core services independently. But together, the two hope to present a more complete message than they could marketing their services separately.

TuneCore brings to the table a wide digital distribution platform, which can post clients' music to all the major digital retailers and subscriptions services. Once the music is available, iLike then lets users promote it through full-song streaming applications on social networks like Facebook, Bebo and other channels. Each time their music is played, artists get a royalty from the corresponding service hosting the file.

The partnership between the two firms lets artists sign up for both services at the same time, rather than requiring separate agreements.

Artist Quote of the Week

"Most of us go to our graves with our music still inside of us."

-unknown

Five Lessons Publishing Should Learn from Music

1. An iPod for Books Will Change Everything....

2. Think Beyond DRM....

3. If You Help Us, We Will Buy

The music business and Hollywood made a big mistake by fighting online distribution....

So, to publishers: Make your stuff available online. Make it easy to find. Make it easy to buy. And don't insult us: if a physical book -- with the cost of production, distribution and retail overhead -- is worth $20, a digital book is not. Cut the price accordingly. Take your margin, but don't abuse your customers with outrageous prices for e-books (otherwise, we will find other ways to get our books).

4. Don't Be Afraid of Free

Do you remember how in the olden days, the publishing business lead a massive effort to shut down public libraries, because free was the enemy of the publishing business? How they fought to stop people giving a gift of their favorite books to a friend? Me neither. Libraries help readers, they help publishers, they help books in general....

5. Find Out What Your Customers Want

Then build your business around that....Don't try to shoehorn us into an old business model that doesn't make sense with new technology. Your job is not to force customers to behave the way you want them to. Your job is to find out what your customers want, and then deliver it to them. Times are changing. Find out what we want, what we need, and then help us get it....

In Digital Music Market iTunes Still No.1

According to Ipsos’ fifth annual TEMPO Digital Music Brandscape study iTunes is the No. 1 fee-based digital music venue. Apple’s music distribution service managed to hold on to its position despite Amazon’s success this year, and RealNetworks’ Rhapsody’s gains, Retailer Daily reports. The object of the study was tracking fee-based online music brands and consumer digital music behaviors. The survey revealed to Ipsos that awareness and use were steady among the most dominant brands this year.

While iTunes grew in terms of awareness, usage, familiarity, and “best brand” mentions, Amazon’s first year also proved strong. According to the study, initial awareness, usage, favorability and “best brand” ratings were comparable to any of the top brands following iTunes. In fact, the online music retailer managed to match iTunes’ user satisfaction level. Rhapsody gained in both aided and unaided awareness, usage and favorability, but not as much as iTunes and Amazon did, of course. For the rest of the brands, total awareness, familiarity, and favorability decreased – not by much, though!

The reason iTunes’ brand strength has not weakened in light of increasing competitive pressure is that, during this same time frame, consumers became more demanding of the digital music services they use. iTunes dominates this market, but that by no means suggests that there isn’t room for innovative competitors with differentiated offerings.

The business side and creativity of music

As you all know having someone in your corner early in your music career to steer you in the right direction is vital, and along with that being confident enough to trust someone to handle your business affairs. But keep in mind what I said earlier, watch your manager like a hawk no matter who they are.


But on the plus side, a manager who has music business and creative vision will see beyond making money from just managing your affairs but know the right A&R people for your style of music. Along with that, session players who are suitable for stage and studio work if your band has to take on hired guns. Along with being able to see what markets are suitable for your genre of music which may not be in North America, But Europe or Asia.


An agent should be separate from a Personal Manager to better enable an agent to concentrate on bookings in clubs, festivals, and bigger venues along with setting up concert dates where a band can start opening for others. Having an agent take care of the money gigs and a manager setting up your music business and taking care of personal affairs, enables you and your band to concentrate on the creative end of musicianship. But musicians should at least have a working knowledge of the business side of music. That way if you and your manager part ways, you and the other band members can take over the business end temporarily.


Learning about music and thinking differently:


Even if you've been in the business for years you can still learn from guitarists who've only been at it for a few months believe it or not. They may play something at a jam session that totally floors you and end up using that little riff or chord structure as an element of your style, by changing it slightly so you're not just stealing it. As well, and I keep saying this, learn as much as you can about the music industry from others and reading magazines such as Canadian Guitar Player Magazine, Canadian Musician and Guitar Player to learn the latest innovations and to constantly educate yourself. Associate yourself with musicians who are serious about their craft and you won't constantly find yourself spinning your wheels in bands that go no where.



I may be getting a bit off topic, but what I'm talking about in this article is imperative to do. I know a lot of music industry people would disagree with me on when to hire a manager and how to run one's music business, but then again you have to think differently guys.