Jerry's Blog
Indie Labels Are Now Heavily Dependent on Major Label Distribution…Digital Music News – Report: Indie Labels Are Now Heavily Dependent on Major Label Distribution…
Why SoundExchange Will Soon be Forced to Play Fair… Digital Music News – Why SoundExchange Will Soon be Forced to Play Fair…
* Just a numbers game? SoundExchange is now trumpeting cumulative artist and label payouts of $1 billion, a hefty number indeed. That includes a current quarterly payout rate of more than $100 million, but how much is still sitting in SoundExchange’s bank account, unmatched or otherwise unpaid? The New York Times says $132 million in unpaid cash was floating on the books as of 2010; IRS forms suggest more than $305 million for that year. When we asked for up-to-date figures, SoundExchange president Michael Huppe said ‘thank you for your interest’ (seriously) before dumping us onto a press person. Who then told us we’d get the information later…
* Are you connected? We’ve been testing Qualcomm Atheros’ Skifta system over the past few days with some frustrating results. The mobile- and app-based entertainment control system unifies PCs, Sonos, and IPTVs into one uber-app interface, though the theoretical niceties quickly crash into practical roadblocks. We’ll keep testing; an updated version is on the way.
* Speaking of Sonos, the company has just landed a monstrous, $135 million funding round. KKR, Redpoint Ventures and Elevation Partners are leading, with $45 million earmarked for product development and $90 million apparently designated for various executives and stakeholders to cash out their positions. Separately, the company is showcasing its latest zone peripheral, the SUB, at its LA-based ‘Sonos Studio’ on La Brea in Los Angeles.
* But wait: this is some fly hi-fi hardware, but are you getting walled in with your Sonos? AOL defined the early ‘walled garden’ of the internet, but it seems like a similar situation is emerging with networked stereo and entertainment systems. A lingering gripe about the svelte WiFi-connected Sonos system is that it refuses to amplify your own laptop speakers – which means that the vast range of audio coming from the interwebs can’t be ported throughout those home ‘zones’.
* Spotify is now layering a free, new-and-improved radio experience into its iPhone and iPad apps. That includes very Pandora-like thumbs up and thumbs down functionality; we’re awaiting word on whether this is still the Echo Nest powering.
* Oh, there’s another ‘billion’ floating around, this time for Eventbrite. The ticketing disruptor has now sold one billion tickets since inception, according to details shared today.
* Sean Parker was a no-show for New Music Seminar (#NMS2012) in New York on Monday, though big names like Lyor Cohen, Bob Pittman, and John Sykes made the gig. Cohen urged labels to support one another, defended the 360-degree deal, and pointed to the CD as a format that kept executives ‘sleepy and retarded’…
* A few hundred miles south, the Library of Congress is now ingesting a massive ‘treasure trove’ of artist and industry executive interviews. The voluminous audio collection of over 200 interviews, compiled by retired music executive Joe Smith, includes chit-chats with Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney… you get the idea.
* Blame electronica? Electric Daisy Carnival is now on the defensive after two Carnivalers died in Vegas last week. But both happened outside of the event walls itself: one involved a drunken run-in with a truck (guess who won); the other an ecstacy-inspired freefall from the 27th floor of a Strip hotel. Separately, Pasquale Rotella, head of EDC promoter Insomniac, faces a raft of charges in Los Angeles loosely related to the overdose of a teenage attendee.
* Songza is enjoying quite the moment, but will it last? The well-curated playlister scored a million iOS installations in just 10 days; now the media is starting to gush over their newfound upstart. Actually, these are some pretty good playlists, hype-bubbles a
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Country Music Legend Mickey Gilley Talks up New Book “Unconquered”
Country Music Legend and the Original “Urban Cowboy” Mickey Gilley Talks up new book “Unconquered: The Saga of Cousins Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Swaggart, and Mickey Gilley” with author J.D. Davis. Publishers Weekly calls “Unconquered” an “entertaining and epic story of perseverance and the power of family ties. |
ey kids: circumvention doesn’t pay! And with that, YouTube video-to-download upstart clip.dj is now toast. This looks like a self-imposed shutdown, though the quickly-rising circumvention tool is now supremely inoperable. And, this may have been prompted by a YouTube nastygram and general clampdown on the circumvention space. Earlier this week, Torrentfreak reported that Google was threatening to take action against popular video-to-mp3 conversion site youtube-mp3.org.
* Face it, you’re getting acquired. It’s unclear whether the acquisition spree will continue, though Facebook has just acquired Face.com for a reported $100 million. Face.com powers some creepy/controversial facial recognition features for Facebook; the company indicated that the buyout was largely a talent and technology grab (just like pre-IPO old times).
* Felony charges are now being levied against one-time Curtis Management chief financial officer Rickey Charles Goodrich. That’s Pearl Jam’s management group; Goodrich is charged with bilking the group of nearly $400,000, according to local reports.
* Beatport has just launched Beatport Mixes, a service that allows DJs to upload their mixes while paying associated rightsholders. Sounds ambitious and simultaneously unenviable; Beatport is also promising 10 percent back to the mixing DJ.
* Senate deliberations over the proposed UMG+EMI marriage begin tomorrow. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will be chit-chatting with the likes of Lucian Grainge, Irving Azoff, and Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the webcast starts at 1:30 pm EST.
* Separately, Universal has received a formal Statement of Objections from the European Competition Commission. That could prompt more concessions; UMG indicated that a detailed response is being prepared.
* There’s more on VEVO, including a curious plunge in traffic as reported by comScore. Year-over-year uniques slipped 20.1 percent to 48.3 million in May, from 60.4 million in May of last year; time spent watching has also nearly halved over that period. Other measurements, including compete.com, tell a different story.
* Karaoke is heading towards the cloud, like everyone else. And to discuss that we have the upcoming Karaoke Cloud Music City Summit in Nashville, slated for Friday.
More at karaokesummit.wordpress.com
* Is internet radio merely a feature, not a product? Such is the conjecture of abrasive BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield, who pointed to Spotify’s recently-retooled, app-ready radio relaunch as a major competitive threat to Pandora. Spotify is now spinning radio as a free app, though major differences in how songs are selected – as well as total catalog – are worth noticing.
Jerry's Blog
* Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC2012) is now descending upon San Francisco. Chitter-chatter surrounds a newly-unveiled iOS6, more on OS X Mountain Lion, updates to an Apple-grown mapping app (instead of Google’s) and Siri improvements. CEO Tim Cook will preside, and of course, a rumors of a new iPhone are also simmering.
* Perhaps catastrophes like the Indiana State Fair and Pukkelpop are causing promoters to err on the side of caution. Accordingly, Electric Daisy Carnival organizers reacted quickly to high winds in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Attendees were initially shuttled into the bleachers at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the gates were closed before the entire evening was cancelled. Saturday tickets were accepted for the Sunday night event, in which tamer weather prevailed.
* Across the country, Bonnaroo was stuffed with names like Skrillex, Alice Cooper, Phish, Radiohead, Questlove, D’Angelo, GZA, Childish Gambino, Kenny Rogers, Bon Iver, and the Beach Boys. It was also live-streamed on YouTube, just like Coachella before it.
* The race for centralized and distributed media management continues. Qualcomm Atheros has just launched its Skifta Engine, usable by device manufacturers to create mobile-based, media distribution solutions for DNLA-enabled devices. We’re currently testing Skifta; more ahead.
* On the publishing side, the Netherlands-based Fintage House has entered into an investment and strategic partnership with UK-based Rights Agency Limited. Fintage specializes in publishing rights across film, music, and tv, including digital; the combination will widen the collective footprint in neighboring rights.
* Fanzy, a Facebook-focused, social loyalty rewards engine, now has 20,000 brands using its platform add-on. Sony Music Entertainment is among the bigger names.
* Our bad: we misspelled Azealia Banks last week (also, it’s pretty easy to misspell ‘misspelled’ for added embarrassment).
* Insert angry major label artist here. The latest is Fiona Apple, whose team is fighting label Epic/Sony to stop meddling in her latest album marketing campaign. Perhaps the irony is obvious, as is the omnipresent present-day dysfunctionality.
* Are aliens stealing our music? That’s the focus of Listen.com (and ultimately Rhapsody) founder-turned-author Rob Reid, who tongue-in-cheeks the possibility of some seriously, ‘Universal’ sized piracy. Year Zero hits shelves July 10th.
It’s Official: Songwriters Are Now Getting Less Money from Traditional Radio…http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120611bmi
* It wasn’t a music-focused WWDC, but Apple was bursting with smooth-tech releases. That includes a number of Google jabs, most notably a homegrown, Yelp-peppered native mapping app, and tighter integrations into Facebook and Twitter. Both the updated OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6 are designed with more social aspects in mind, as well as beefed up iCloud components like Documents and mobile ecommerce-focused Passbook.
* Oh, and Siri is growing up, and navigating streets and apps alike. And on the hardware side, an ultra-thin MacBook Pro was the dazzler, while the Macbook Air got slashed sub-$1,000.
* And, remember Roqbot? The fun idea is to give music fans the ability to control music in bars and clubs through their mobile devices. Actually, the company first started making noise at SXSW in 2011, but is suddenly back with $1.2 million in funding. Check for a formal announcement ahead.
* Looks like Last.fm has had a lurking security issue for three months or more, but only recently discovered the problem. GigaOM unearths the far broader breach; Last.fm warned users over the weekend that usernames and passwords had been broadly poached.
* Someone hates us in Nashville. The Production Music Association (PMA) is hosting their executive forum on music valuations on Thursday, June 21st, not earlier as we’d mentioned. The action happens at the BMI offices in Nashville at 6 pm; more at the pmamusic.com.
* Elsewhere, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) will be holding its annual meeting in New York on June 13th. Author Robert Levine will keynote.
* In the app world, Songza suddenly has a top-ranked iPad and iPhone app, thanks to updates involving its concierge feature (not yet available on the Android side). The iPhone app is the top free app in the music category; the iPad app is the top free app overall.
* Separately, Spotify has just updated its Android app with a number of enhancements. That includes full support for Android 4.0, 320 kbps quality, and Last.fm scrobbling. Check it out on Google Play.
* Which brings us to Soundrop, a highly-social, Spotify-based app that has just rallied $3 million from Northzone.
* She kept her head up – literally. Lady Gaga suffered a mild concussion during a recent performance in New Zealand, thanks to an on-stage accident, but managed to soldier through 16 songs.
* ReverbNation is now broadening its artist affinity play on Facebook. As part of its Facebook-focused ‘Promote It’ advertising launch, ReverbNation was initially targeting users through ‘similar artist’ likes. The list has now expanded to include actual listens through Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, Deezer, or MySpace.
* Also on the funding front, MyMusic has just grabbed a $1 million angel seed round. The company is focused on aggregating the vast range of artist assets littered online, and presenting them in a more coherent, unified fashion. “The site was born out of our frustration with not being able to find all of the information about the music we loved in one place,” said CEO Rob Lane.
If the Internet Is Global, Why Is Music Still So Regional? http://digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120611borders
Jerry's Blog
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PRS Guitars Offers New ‘Stripped’ 58 Model
The “Stripped” 58 is a no-frills American-made guitar for short-scale, singlecut players. Made by PRS Guitars in Stevensville, Maryland, this vintage-inspired instrument delivers straight-forward tone in a no-nonsense package. |
Are we officially entering analytical overload? Data analytics firm Musicmetric is now tracking fan responses on an hourly basis, and even recommending the best time of day to market to an audience. “Even something as simple as sending out a promotion during the peak time of day for network fan activity of your artist can give a measurable impact on conversion,” said Musicmetric CEO Gregory Mead.
* 7digital is beefing its stateside presence considerably with several new hires. Jon DeMond-Axelrod (formerly eMusic) and Matt Jwayad (Apple, Pandora, Sprint) are jumping in as Business Development Directors, with Kyle Pierce (formerly IODA) assuming a Project and Account Manager role. Anna Siegel will drive marketing initiatives, while Lisa Tiver (formerly Rightsflow) will consult on publishing matters.
* This could be a tough summer for the majors (and recordings in general), if the latest Soundscan sales are any indication. In its second week, John Mayer’s Born and Raised dropped 70 percent to roughly 65,000 units, another big-name artist with a bigtime second-week slip. And that was the top-charting album for the week; Adele’s 21 posting nearly 58,000 units.
* Barack Obama and Mitt Romney opened the CMT Music Awards with a comedic skit, a nice kick for everyone involved. “The President and Governor Romney each understand the reach of the CMT audience, particularly on our highest-rated night of the year,” said Brian Philips, president of CMT.
* Also in Nashville, the Production Music Association (PMA) is hosting a symposium on Thursday related to current music valuations. Joel Goodman (Cue Music, MusicBox), Ron Mendelsohn (Megatrax), Mark Montgomery (FLO {thinkery}), Marshall Seese, Jr. (Mowgli Games), and Shawn White (Scripps Networks Interactive) are among the executives chewing over this complicated topic. The action is happening at the BMI offices; more at http://goo.gl/7T4zt
* So how much cash is Gobbler playing with, anyway? A company executive recently pointed Digital Music News to $3.05 million in total funding since January 2011, with a $1.75 million venture round finalized earlier this year.
* James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond – the drug kingpin that once used Interscope’s Santa Monica offices to traffic cocaine – has now been found guilty on 13 charges related to narcotics trafficking. Rosemond formerly managed Akon, Game, Brandy, Sheek Louch, and Mike Tyson, among others. Rosemond faces life in prison.
* Elvis Presley is about to receive a full holographic revival, probably the first of several. Digital Domain Media Group – the group behind the Tupac hologram at Coachella – has just finalized a deal with Core Media Group to spark a range of holo-fantastic ideas for the King.
Yes, there are 35 different Latin American countries. And Deezer has just gone live in every single one of them. That’s all part of a worldwide launch strategy that avoids the US entirely.
* That was fast. After signing in April, Azelia Banks has now split with Gaga manager Troy Carter. Which means Carter’s quest for a smashing number two starts anew…
* Thank you, RIAA? The Pirate Bay is now thanking the trade group for asking Google to ban the BitTorrent tracker from its results. “Users will go directly to us instead and use our search instead. We’ll grow even more massive,” the site thumbs. “It’s really hard to compete with Google, but if they can’t index media search engines like us, we’ll be the dominant player in the end.”
* Another day, another stunning mobile stat or prediction. A study by Ericsson asserts that mobile data volumes will multiply by a factor of 15 over by 2017, thanks partly to technological leapfrogging in many countries.
* Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch has just passed away, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Welch was 66.
* After all that? The Recording Academy has now restored the Latin Jazz Album category to the Grammys, a move that follows endless protests and a lawsuit on the matter. Perhaps Linda Chorney should give this interesting new genre a try; the Grammys air February 10th.
* Greece says yes. But the European Union is now getting ready to file its ‘statement of objections’ to the proposed marriage between Universal Music Group and EMI.
* Facebook is now delivering a centralized App Center.
* If you’re a Last.fm user, change your password! The CBS-owned site was part of a very substantial series of hacks that compromised usernames and passwords for sites that included LinkedIn.
* This is a slightly different direction for the company, but Bandcamp is now opening a discovery component called ‘Discoverinator.’ After all, they do have hundreds of thousands of albums…
NAB: Royalty Rates Have ‘Suffocated the Expansion of Internet Radio…’
Digital Music News – NAB: Royalty Rates Have ‘Suffocated the Expansion of Internet Radio…’
Jerry's Blog
Amanda Palmer, Kickstarter Millionaire…
But can this be done again, and again, and again? Or are we just ogling at another lottery winner?
This was the scene on Amanda Palmer’s Kickstarter campaign on Tuesday.
Backers: 20,822
Pledged (of $100,000 goal): $1,000,000
Hours to go: 58
And this was the rest of the scene…
http://digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120529palmer
* Filestube.com, heard of it? Well, the recording industry has: according to stats just released by Google, Filestube has been the subject of the most takedown notices yet (in search). That is, more than the Pirate Bay and Hulkshare, among others.
* Big screen, small audience. On Tuesday, iHeartRadio announced an expansion into Google TV, a move that shifts the 800-plus station selection onto a much larger interface. Separately, the Clear Channel-owned app has also expanded into the Nook.
* Jambase has just launched a Facebook app, one designed to connect lots of concerts with lots of friends.
* “The frequency with which smaller venues are closing is scary,” NME editor Krissi Murison just told the Guardian in a rather dour piece about British club closings. “There’s the Charlotte in Leicester, TJ’s in Newport, I could go on and on. It feels like not a week goes past without more closing.”
* Sam Moore, he’s the ‘Legendary Soul Man’. But does that mean he can sue a film studio for making a movie that loosely arcs his life story (called, Soul Men)? No, according to a federal court ruling just issued, which found that the Sam & Dave soulman wasn’t infringed by the Weinstein Co. biopic. Or, damaged by libel or unfair competition, among other allegations.
* And, on the topic of barbed legal entanglements, there’s a new development in the long-running dispute between No Doubt and Activision. No Doubt argues that their avatars were misused without adequate warning in Band Hero; the group’s lawyers have just been granted the right to argue in front of a jury.
* Ouch! Facebook keeps tanking… this time to $28.84 by the Tuesday bell. That’s a near-10 percent one-day drop, spurred by negative bets.
* And, that already appears to be dragging an ecosystem of Facebook-connected businesses, including VEVO. The video upstart has been rumored to be pondering an IPO. “A jump into the shark-infested IPO waters right now would destroy all the momentum [Vevo] has created for itself,” a source just told the New York Post.
* They speak your language! Viki, an innovative TV play that relies on crowdsourced lyrics translations, has just inked licensing deal with Warner Music Group.
* Pepsi is unwrapping aspects of its music campaign on Twitter. The action starts with free downloads this week, then progresses towards streaming ‘pop-up concerts’ with heavy ‘crowd’ participation.
