Category: music

Radiohead still needs major label

On By Rick McIn bad news, musicLeave a comment

Damn.

This is like Churchill saying, “Let’s speak with Hitler one more time. See if we can talk some sense into him.”

Radiohead is apparently not quite ready to follow Nine Inch Nails into a life without record labels. Although the group has made its new album In Rainbows available for download on its website for whatever price fans are willing to pay, the album will still be released on CD, most likely via one of the Big Four labels.

read more … Radiohead still needs major label to let world see its “Rainbows”

Yahoo Music spells it out to labels

On By Rick McIn economics, good news, musicLeave a comment

Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo Music, Ian Rodgers, gave a presentation to some members of the music industry last Friday at Digital Media Forum in LA.

He was blunt:

I’m here to tell you today that I for one am no longer going to fall into this trap. If the licensing labels offer their content to Yahoo! put more barriers in front of the users, I’m not interested. Do what you feel you need to do for your business, I’ll be polite, say thank you, and decline to sign. I won’t let Yahoo! invest any more money in consumer inconvenience. …

It’s over for Digital Rights Management.

I’ve read a dozen commentaries on Rodger’s speach, the best being Yahoo’s Ian Rogers To Music Industry: “Inconvenience Doesn’t Scale” by Mike Arrington on TechCrunch.

Like me, Arrington thinks these death struggles of the music industry will lead to drastically lower prices and far greater convenience.

I’ve hardly bought any music over the past 10 years. When songs cost $.15 each, and it’s no hassle to impulsively grab a track with my iPhone, I’ll buy plenty.

Long-term I expect the total value of all music in the world to stay about the same — a given percentage of disposable income of all the people in the world. But more artists will split the loot more equally. And many record executives will be selling real estate.

Subscribe to Ian Rodgers – personal blog.

I notice the front page of Yahoo Music links to Radiohead right now. They are siding with consumers now, not the labels.

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Yahoo Music beta

PS

I’ve been dissing Prince of late. (He has been acting even goofier than usual.)

But I like the fact he gave away albums for free in the UK. His corporate master Columbia, a unit of Sony BMG, was not amused.

Oasis, Jamiroquai may join Radiohead

On By Rick McIn good news, musicLeave a comment

Finally …

The suits are paying attention. Maybe now the big 4 will give some time developing the much needed future music distribution system.

These are fearful times for the music industry. As record companies train their considerable legal might on a Minnesota mother accused of illegal downloading, their talent is walking out the back door.

No sooner had Nine Inch Nails announced on Monday that it no longer was under contract to a record label, when word came that Oasis and Jamiroquai are considering whether to release songs online for free, according to British publication, The Telegraph.

…

Even the hardiest music executive is going to struggle to spin this news. There’s no hiding what’s occurring here. The music industry is on the threshold of disintermediation, a fancy word that means the Internet is threatening to blast a thick layer of the sector’s infrastructure into blue oblivion–just like it has with travel agents, stockbrokers and newspapers.

…

So far things look promising. Radiohead’s promotion has attracted enormous attention, according to the story in The Telegraph. The paper reported that although the band declines to say how many fans have pre-ordered albums, the group’s Web site (buy it here) has soared from the 43rd most visited music site in the U.K. to No.1.

Google reported that searches for Radiohead are 10-times higher this week, according to the paper.

It’s not victory. But history will show that Radiohead was the turning point.

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NEXT … it’s time for sober second thought:

But artists should understand the direction they’re headed. Album giveaways are the latest sign that music sales will soon no longer fuel the record industry’s economic engine.

In Radiohead’s case, the thinking is that even if only few people fork over money for In Rainbows, the group can make up some of the revenue with the sale of concert tickets and merchandise. And the bands could save big by not having to cut the label in.

If the system works this way, great. But for the performer this means we’re heading back to the days of wandering troubadours and minstrels singing for their supper. Not really, but it does mean long days and nights on the road, for sure.

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Radiohead at Wolverhampton Civic Hall – 16.05.2006 – flickr

Add Oasis to the list of bands considering music giveaway | Tech news blog – CNET News.com

Radiohead says f*** you to recording industry

On By Rick McIn economics, music, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Radiohead claim their groundbreaking decision to offer their latest album, In Rainbows, for any price consumers choose is paying off, proving the commercial viability of their direct-to-fans model.

read the details … Radiohead gamble pays off – Telegraph

Buy the new Radiohead album — In Rainbows — digital tracks directly from the band. Pay what you want.

You can even get In Rainbows on vinyl LP if you wish. Let the marketplace decide, not record executives.

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Next …

Less than a month after publicly calling executives at his music label unprintable names, rocker Trent Reznor has signaled that his days of working for a record label are over.

The only official member of the band Nine Inch Nails, Reznor announced Monday that the group is now a “free of any recording contract with any label.” Representatives from Reznor’s music label, Universal Music Group, were unavailable for comment.

Reznor provided few details in a note on the band’s Web site about how the group plans to proceed, but his announcement raised hopes among fans that he will follow the lead of British band Radiohead, which last week announced it would handle sales and distribution for its upcoming album, In Rainbows without the backing of a label.

Two well-known bands taking to the Internet to sell their own albums is not yet a trend, but it certainly must be a cause for concern in the halls of the four major music companies. The question raised by the defections is whether well-established performers need big music conglomerates in the digital age.

First Radiohead…now Nine Inch Nails bids adieu to music label

I’m keeping my fingers crossed this is a trend.

This is exactly what the idiots at the Record Industry Association of America deserve for suing their customers. ($222,000 for sharing old Foreigner tracks on-line – what?)

See what Xeni Jardin has to say – Radiohead lets fans pick price for new album

Yoko Ono – Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland

On By Rick McIn musicLeave a comment

If you’re like me, you like John Lennon’s music and wish he was still making it today.

The Very Best of John Lennon

If you’re like me, you are indifferent about Yoko.

Or even dislike her. “She broke up the Beatles, Man!”

Actually, I am starting to dislike Yoko.

Yoko Ono is set to unveil a ‘light tower’ in Iceland on October 9, on what would have been John Lennon’s 67th birthday.

Ono collaborated with engineers from Iceland and Japan on the Imagine Peace Tower, which she designed to collect “wishes for world peace”.

The tower is a beam of light emanating from a giant wishing well, which features the words ‘imagine peace’ in 24 languages, says the Associated Press.

It will be lit every year from October 9 (Lennon’s birthday) to December 8 – the anniversary of his death.

The tower was built in Iceland because “it is a very eco-friendly country that relies on geothermal energy”, said Ono.

She plans to bury every wish in capsules around the tower, so that the open space will turn into a forest.

Ono says the tower is the “the biggest birthday present I gave to John”.

Yoko Ono set to unveil Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland | News | NME.COM

If she had any style at all, Yoko would stay in the background during celebrations of John’s 67th birthday on Oct. 9th. Let John and his music be centre stage.

Check the official website to see if it’s all about John Lennon – ImaginePeace.com
.

… Or Yoko?

Fatboy Rick – The Journey

On By Rick McIn music, travelLeave a comment

My wanderings reminded Rocco of the great Fatboy Slim song The Journey:

That journey-a call me quick,
That journey-a call my name,
That journey-a have it’s way,
an’ have me wonderin’ all my days.

I can’t stay home, I gotta keep movin,
I gotta keep doin’, I gotta get out,
I gotta roam, it’s somethin’ that moves me,

…

Sometimes I get beat up, sometimes I’m the beater,
Sometimes man my feet hurt from walkin’ so long,
Sometimes I’m defeated, sometimes I get cheated,
Sometimes I just need it, ’cause sometimes I’m wrong,

…

The Journey Lyrics

Coincidentally the album art looks something like the beach out front here in Mazatlán,

Palookaville

Amazon takes aim at iTunes

On By Rick McIn Apple, audiocasts, music, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Apple is well known for disregarding the competition.

But when an 800lb gorilla like Amazon walks in the room, even Steve Jobs takes notice. Amazon.com is now the new go-to music store. (Unless they don’t have the track you want, of course.)

iTunes will have to respond.

Remember when Amazon.com was just a bookstore? On Tuesday morning, the online retailer launched the public beta of its much-anticipated rival to Apple’s iTunes Store: Amazon MP3, which features over 2 million songs free of digital rights management copy protection, which means they’ll play on any computer, music player, or music-enabled cell phone. …

Each song is encoded at 256kbps, the file quality that Apple offers for its DRM-free iTunes Plus premium music selections, which it sells for $1.29 apiece rather than its usual 99 cents. Amazon’s pricing for Amazon MP3 ranges from 89 cents (including the top 100 best-selling songs) to 99 cents; albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99.

It goes without saying that Amazon is aiming squarely at Apple, and it’s attempting to hit the digital music monopoly where it hurts–with regard to pricing, file quality, and versatility, all of which have come under scrutiny by critics. But this could also be a painful blow for eMusic, the online music store that has made a small name for itself by selling exclusively DRM-free music.

Amazon launches beta version of DRM-free music store | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

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AmazonMP3 beta

I expect Audible.com is scrambling too. Everyone knows what Amazon did to competing book stores.

Nokia leapfrogs iPhone – ya right

On By Rick McIn Apple, music, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Nokia is a great company. No doubt.

There’s no way an upstart could walk in and beat them at their own game.

Right?

So why does Robert Scoble prefer his iPhone over the more expensive N95?

Nokia has a bunch of new devices that I want to try. I have both an iPhone and a Nokia N95. I am keeping track of how often I pick up either device. The iPhone is winning. Bigtime.

Nokia tries to get leadership position back from iPhone « Scobleizer

Here’s Nokia’s vision of the future. Their next great phone.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Look familiar?

As they have before, Apple has reinvented and, thus, reinvigorated an industry. This time the mobile phone industry.

Nokia is chasing Apple. Not the other way around.

Stop the presses … Nokia just opened a “music store”. What innovation!

satellite radio is AWESOME

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, economics, music, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I’ve yet to meet anyone who tried satellite radio who later canceled the service.

I’m listening to SIRIUS RADIO right now.

The Coffee House station (Acoustic rock, singer-songwriter, a favourite of Dave and Lisa Adlard) is terrific. It’s only one of 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and entertainment.

Fantastic.

Perhaps commercial-free is the way to go for the internet too. Simply PAY for what you want to see.

Most of the channels are also available to subscribers via internet, as well.

Cost about $13 / month.

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SIRIUS radio Canada

Kanye vs 50 Cent

On By Rick McIn economics, musicLeave a comment

I expected 50 to win this rapper battle. (Great PR for the ailing rap music business, by the way. Dropping major releases Sept. 11th made for great press.)

But I do like Kayne West too. His videos are great.

The results are in and, as predicted, Kanye wins. According to Nielson SoundScan, his Graduation is the No. 1 album in the country, topping the inordinately crappy Curtis by 50 Cent, who had promised to retire if he were outsold (he will probably break this promise). Something no one expected, though, are the numbers — Curtis moved a still-impressive 691,304 copies in the six days since its release last Tuesday, but Graduation sold an amazing 956,936, giving Kanye the best first-week album sales in more than two years.

Kanye West Wins Sales Race, 50 Cent Inadvertently Saves Music Business — Vulture — Entertainment & Culture Blog — New York Magazine

Who’s Kenny Chesney ??

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To see the video Here’s the Good Life by Kanye West click HERE. (Couldn’t find it on YouTube.)