Rhapsody goes DRM Free...

Add Rhapsody to the ever-growing list of digital music retailers who have stripped DRM from their catalogs.

The joint venture between RealNetworks and MTV Networks today (June 30) converted its entire database of five million songs to the unprotected MP3 format, both for music accessible on its client-based application, as well as that on a re-launched Web-based store.

The move is part of a multi-faceted initiative that the company hopes will make Rhapsody the default music provider on the Internet by facilitating the act of streaming and buying music from multiple partners -- such as iLike, MTV, Verizon Wireless and Yahoo.

As part of the announcement, Rhapsody finally laid bare the details of its much-heralded partnership with Verizon Wireless. Under the agreement, Rhapsody will operate the online VCast Music store, where users can buy and downloads music online, as well as Verizon's wireless over-the-air music service.

A copy of any song purchased from a Verizon phone will be available DRM free from the online store, and users will be able to transfer any subscription-based Rhapsody tracks to up to 10 models of Verizon phones. Tracks downloaded to the phone will remain protected with DRM.

Most significantly, Verizon subscribers can opt to upgrade to the Rhapsody subscription service and place the monthly cost on their mobile phone bill.

Users will not be able to download subscription-based music OTA just yet (just a la carte tracks for now), but that capability is planned for the future. About 99% of the Rhapsody catalog will be available for purchase from mobile phones, and Verizon executives expect to finalize licensing deals with the remaining 1% soon.

But this is only the wireless element of the plan. Going DRM free, combined with the existing practice of letting non-subscribers stream 25 songs per month for free, allows Rhapsody to take a wholly Web-based approach to streaming and selling music online.

Without DRM, Rhapsody can now stream and sell music via a new Flash-based player simply, which does not require any software download or customer login. The 25-song limit is tracked by computer rather than individual. The player also offers a "buy this" option to acquire the track (however, users will need to set up an account to buy songs).

The company hopes this combination will allow it to act as a sort of music engine for the Internet, an initiative dubbed "Music Without Limits." Fans browsing partner Web sites will soon be able to stream in full any song listed on those sites (under the 25-song a month limit) and also have the option to purchase the song right there without having to launch a dedicated music store application like iTunes.

Artist Quote of the Week

"In Los Angeles, they don't want you to fail, they want you to die."

--David Geffen

You License Review

“YouLicense aims to gain traction in the growing market for direct music licensing deals.

An online music licensing marketplace, YouLicense enables artists and those seeking musical content to conduct business directly without the need to deal with music companies.

Content is indexed and easily searchable. YouLicense provides standardized contracts so that both buyer and seller immediately know the legalities of a deal, allowing for a quick and easy transaction.

The obvious competitors to this site are the variety of Podcast focused free and paid music marketplaces. Whilst music licensed by YouLicense can be used for podcasts and other forms of web created content, the site aims at the full spectrum of music uses: Film & Television, Advertising Campaigns, Music on Hold, Mobile Phone Content and Audio Projects. Items offered are also not limited by format. Ringtones, sheet music and beats can be listed along with the traditional pre-recorded music.
The goal of YouLicense is to make music licensing and copyright trade a simpler and more direct process. Whilst the service is still in private beta testing, I gained access to the marketplace and it certainly looks like it’s going to deliver on its goals.”

Gas Prices/ Indie Bands

CNN reported earlier this week that the average filling station is charging $3.94 a gallon, with 11 states and Washington, D.C., above $4. This means a much higher overhead for bands.

“If you’re playing smaller clubs, you’re making 100 bucks a night, if that, and you can’t get across the country,” says Rodriguez.

Sarah Cronin, singer of the Boston group Drug Rug, is currently on tour, and having a similar experience.

“More than half of what we make over the course of a tour goes right back into our gas tank,” she says.

Blake Hazard of the L.A.-based Submarines says her band is only playing big cities on their current tour, because they literally can’t afford to have a bad night.

“We drove through Omaha, Nebraska … It’s such a cool city, you know, but we didn’t play there,” she says. “It’s gotten harder to make ends meet in the traditional way through touring and selling records, but we’re doing what we can for now.”

Doing what they can for now seems to be a common mantra among bands. The Syracuse, N.Y., road warriors Ra Ra Riot bring additional nongas-guzzling transport on the road with them.

“We also have all of our bikes with us, which we can use to get around the cities, or to go on quick errands,” says guitarist Milo Bonacci. “The high gas prices definitely affect potential profit. It makes coming out in the positive that much more difficult. … Sometimes guarantees barely cover the price in getting us to the venue.”

The guarantee, what a club promises a band regardless of how many people pay to see them, is a part of the chain reaction of a struggling economy, according to Brandy Hartley, who does the booking at the Philadelphia club Johnny Brenda’s.

“I will say that when working with booking agents now and booking future shows, there seems to be more emphasis on higher guarantees because of the higher gas prices,” she says.
But the buck doesn’t stop there.

“Businesses like ours are also seeing higher costs for operation, so it is very difficult to balance the costs,” continues Hartley. “I am sure it’s the same for bands.”

Some promoters take a harder line.

“I don’t pay bands more money than they are worth; we’d be out of business if that were the case,” says Randi Millman, who books at the Cambridge club T.T. The Bear’s. “[But] I do sympathize with both bands and our customers, in regard to our sinking economy.”

Matthew Prescott Clark, drummer for NYC’s White Rabbits, who seem to always be on the road, says the price of gas hasn’t slowed the band down yet, but it is a concern.

“Due to the current state of the record industry, it has put a hamper on our ability to make a sustainable living off of what we do,” he says. “You have to have money to record, and if you are dropping thousands on gas, it can really put a wrench into your plans.”

Another band who seems to barely be at home, Philly’s Dr. Dog, says they are now playing shows they booked before the price of petrol got so high, but they are trying to keep costs down while keeping their spirits and their body temperatures up.

“The increase hasn’t changed our plans to drive a lot,” they say, “just our plans to use air
conditioner.”

Record Stores Part II

You actually may already be networked enough to at least start your
quest to get your CDs into the physical record stores both to
"scratch that itch" of success and for the profit potential of
having your records sold commercially will bring. But we have to
be realistic about our expectations starting out.


The truth is that the big national retailers are not part of the
"music industry" in a strict sense of the word any more than
Wal-Mart could be considered a dietary specialty store just because
they sell skim milk. These big department store sized venues sell
music for only one reason, to make a lot of money. So they are
going to stock only artists that are extremely well known. Sadly
any more that means that much of what they stock are going to be
artists from ten or twenty years ago who people are aware of and
will buy those recordings from name recognition.

Also we have to understand that the contracts and lines of
distribution through those stores are primarily done by large scale
distributors who are working with the major record labels. It is
all a very carefully refined process in which music is produced as
a commodity to be sold with no more regard for the artistic merit
than they would worry about selling a movie even though it sticks.


Now this doesn't reduce the value of putting your release into one
of those stores but it does make that objective something we should
put at the end of our quest, not at the beginning. You are not
going to be able to walk into your local Best Buy, present your CD
to the manager and expect him to stock it in his store. He has no
control over those decisions and you will get nowhere with that
approach, even if you could get in to see him.


But the big box retailers are not the only record stores in town.
You know from being part of the music scene that there are other
smaller stores who sell Indie records and who are willing to take
chances on new bands or bands who are not going to appeal to the
mass market mentality. So those are the retail venues to target
first. Then once you get some momentum going and your CD is
starting to take off, that will draw the attention of the big boys
of the music industry and you can find your way to the bigger
stores once your "name" is big enough to take you there.


So with our target better known and with our focus on retailers
that are within the grasp of an up and coming act to break into,
the next step is to figure out how to sneak into the Indie record
stores. Getting your CD on the racks even in one of those funky
little stores still scratches that itch to see your release out
there on the racks ready to be sold to interested fans. But it is
also the first step in the long climb to success. And each step
means you are closer so it's a worthwhile quest you are starting
out on.

Artist Quote of the Week

"They were hovering around like buzzards, trying to figure out how they can dominate the space."

Chuck D

Music Into the Record Stores

There are a lot of ways to get your music into the hands of your
fans these days. There is no question that in the last ten years,
the music industry has changed a lot. Many of the "traditional"
ways that bands get well known, land record deals or even sell
their recordings has changed with the rise of internet marketing
and the Indie movement.


But the fundamental "equation" of being a professional musician
remains the same. And that equation is that you make music which
you must sell so you can continue to devote yourself 100% to being
a full time musician. And, as you well know, you are not the only
musician out there with that ambition. So the competition for fans
to buy our releases and attend our shows is intense. That
competition extends to getting the attention of record labels,
getting gigs locally or on tours and getting records "out there" so
people will buy them. But the equation remains that to be a
successful musician, you have to be able to support yourself with
your music.


The good news is that there are a lot more options not only for
getting recorded but for distributing your original material than
there ever was before. Indie record labels not only are in much
greater abundance than they were only a decade ago, their combined
sales and market impact on the music industry is a serious
challenge to the major record labels.


Often you can find an Indie label that focuses on your genre of
music and/or on your local music scene that will help you get a
release out so you can begin making sales and getting the
recognition you deserve. This is exciting because for decades the
major record labels held the music industry hostage and every band
had only one dream and that was to "get signed" by a major label.