What is Music Licensing?

Music licensing is the process by which songwriters, in theory, get paid for their work. In much the same way you don't own that copy of Doom or Windows, a purchaser of recorded music does not own the music, they own the media that music is stored on, and they have a limited right to use the music for themselves, so long as 'using' doesn't mean 'making unlicensed copies of' or 'broadcasting' the recorded work.

There has long been a school of thought that those who buy music have the right to do as they please with it. By the same token there is school of thought that says that an artist or composer has the sole exclusive right to decide how and when their work will be used, and for what price.



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Trouble in Paradise?

U2's longtime manager, Paul McGuinness, took a swipe at Internet providers today, according to a Reuters story. He demanded that ISPs create disconnect policies to end illegal music downloads and that governments should force them to do so. He believes record companies and musicians are being ripped off in the digital age:


He spread the blame between record labels that "through lack of foresight and planning allowed a range of industries to arise that let people steal music"; Silicon Valley companies that create marvelous devices but "don't think of themselves as makers of burglary kits"; and governments who "created a thieves' charter" by agreeing that ISPs should not be responsible for what passes along their pipes.

Read the entire article@
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/thebigblog/archives/130591.asp

QTrax

Qtrax—the free, ad-supported, "legal" P2P service that launched at MIDEM today—apparently isn't as ready for prime time as it claims. The company claimed it had licensing agreements with all four major record labels, when in fact it has none.

The company briefed reporters on the new service last week in preparation for Monday's launch, claiming it had a catalog of 30 million tracks from the four major and independent labels. It then officially unveiled the service at the MIDEM music conference in Cannes-complete with a host of celebrities including James Blunt, the Sugerhill Gang and Morris Hayes.

However Warner Music Group issued a statement saying the service was definitely not authorized to distribute its catalog, as no licensing deals were yet signed. Sources at EMI Music Group, Sony BMG and Universal Music Group all confirmed to Billboard that they too did not yet have deals with the company. A source from UMG says it expects to finalize the deal "within the next few weeks," and the company is in talks to finalize agreements with the others as well.

Qtrax did at one time have licensing deals in place, but the term of the deals either expired or were for a different iteration of the service than what went live.

The inconsistencies with its music licensing status is just one of several missteps that may make Qtrax one of most bungled service launches in the history of digital music. The company's press release and pre-briefings with reporters all pointed to the "live" launch of the Qtrax service. But on Monday the site shows it is only a beta launch, something the company didn't mention in its press build-up.

Additionally, there are several important details about the service Qtrax officials have failed to make public. For instance, the service does place some limitations on music downloaded from it, but the company has not outlined what those are. It also said it would launch in several countries—in keeping with its "global" moniker—but wouldn't say exactly where.



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@http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i1fe3c2dd05a1be96afcf681265ce2d0e

What is Creative Commons?

The Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others legally to build upon and share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as Creative Commons licenses. These licenses, depending on the one chosen, restrict only certain rights (or none) of the work.

Artist Quote of the Week

Going to radio with a rap record prior to going to the consumer is like having no foreplay with your girlfriend.""

Lyor Cohen, Def Jam/RAL

Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists....

Recording costs have declined to almost zero. Artists used to need the labels to bankroll their recordings. Most simply didn't have the $15,000 (minimum) necessary to rent a professional studio and pay an engineer and a producer. For many artists — maybe even most — this is no longer the case. Now an album can be made on the same laptop you use to check email.

Manufacturing and distribution costs are approaching zero. There used to be a break-even point below which it was impractical to distribute a recording. With LPs and CDs, there were base manufacturing costs, printing costs, shipping, and so on. It paid — in fact, it was essential — to sell in volume, because that's how many of those costs got amortized. No more: Digital distribution is pretty much free. It's no cheaper per unit to distribute a million copies than a hundred.

Touring is not just promotion. Live performances used to be seen as essentially a way to publicize a new release — a means to an end, not an end in itself. Bands would go into debt in order to tour, anticipating that they'd recover their losses later through increased record sales. This, to be blunt, is all wrong. It's backward. Performing is a thing in itself, a distinct skill, different from making recordings. And for those who can do it, it's a way to make a living.

So with all these changes, what happens to the labels? Some will survive. Nonesuch, where I've done several albums, has thrived under Warner Music Group ownership by operating with a lean staff of 12 and staying focused on talent. "Artists like Wilco, Philip Glass, k.d. lang, and others have sold more here than when they were at so-called major labels," Bob Hurwitz, president of Nonesuch, told me, "even during a time of decline."

But some labels will disappear, as the roles they used to play get chopped up and delivered by more thrifty services. In a recent conversation I had with Brian Eno (who is producing the next Coldplay album and writing with U2), he was enthusiastic about I Think Music — an online network of indie bands, fans, and stores — and pessimistic about the future of traditional labels. "Structurally, they're much too large," Eno said. "And they're entirely on the defensive now. The only idea they have is that they can give you a big advance — which is still attractive to a lot of young bands just starting out. But that's all they represent now: capital."

So where do artists fit into this changing landscape? We find new options, new models.

Read the entire article
@http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_byrne?currentPage=2

What is a 360 Degree Deal?

It's a new version of a recording deal.

The old version was set up for the label and management to get money/percentage from album sales.

In a 360 degree deal means that the label and management get money not only from album sales, but also from concert ticket sales and merchandise sales.

Touring and merch were traditionally the big money makers for artists. Most album sales usually make very little for most bands/artists.



Scary Stuff

Facebook vs. MySpace

Two years ago, Chris DeWolfe, the co-founder and chief executive of MySpace, was talking about international expansion with Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation bought the social networking site in 2005. According to Mr. DeWolfe, an entrepreneur used to moving at Internet velocity, he suggested that MySpace could expand to “four or five” countries in the next year.

“What about 13?” Mr. Murdoch said.

That was one of Mr. DeWolfe’s first lessons in just how fast business is done inside the News Corporation. MySpace ended up adding 15 local versions in the year. It is now up to 24 — “we just launched in Brazil,” Mr. DeWolfe said in one of his first interviews since signing a new two-year contract with the News Corporation in October.

In addition to expanding, MySpace is evolving. While it is introducing new musicians and playing host to amateur filmmakers, it is also signing artists to its own record label and developing online video series. It introduced a content guide, MySpace Celebrity, last week.

The world’s largest social networking site, MySpace has grown far past being merely “a place for friends,” as its slogan states. With an estimated 110 million monthly active users, MySpace is undeniably a powerful tool for advertisers who seek reach and efficiency.

Richard Greenfield, a media analyst for Pali Research, called MySpace a fantastic acquisition from a return-on-investment standpoint. The site was sold for $580 million; Mr. Greenfield said it was expected to have around $800 million in revenue in fiscal 2008, mostly through advertising.

“Rupert made an important bet,” said Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, which signed a $900 million advertising deal with MySpace’s parent, Fox Interactive Media, in August 2006. “He may find that this is the single best investment he has ever made.”

But MySpace has challenges, especially from Facebook, which has leapt ahead of MySpace in technology and has been accumulating users at a faster rate. Facebook, with its cleaner interface and higher demographic profile, is also seen by some advertisers as a better bet. By comparison, the reputation of MySpace — with its cluttered and often sexually tinged personal pages and lingering privacy concerns — has suffered.

“It’s definitely not the sexy pick anymore,” said Adam Kasper, a senior vice president at Media Contacts, the interactive division of Havas.

So MySpace has changed tack. What was seen as a competitor to traditional media platforms is starting to resemble one.

“Some people still perceive MySpace like it was in early 2004, as a niche place for scenesters in New York and Los Angeles. That’s how it started, but it’s become very mainstream,” Mr. DeWolfe, 41, said. “It’s about consuming content and discovering pop culture.”

As a result, the MySpace site resembles a portal like Yahoo or AOL as much as a social networking site. Peter F. Chernin, the president and chief operating officer of the News Corporation, called MySpace a “contemporary media platform” and said the site existed to “create content and connect people to one another.”


Read the entire article@ NewYorkTimes.com