hypebot

Merlin Finally Makes Indie Deal With MySpace

Indie licensing agency Merlin, which represents almost 10% of the global music market, has reached an agreement with MySpace Music on behalf of its labels. The deal covers both streaming and purchase; and will be extended to indies that are not members of Merlin.

 Some Merlin members we're outraged last year when MySpace spun off MySpace Music into a separate entity giving the four major label groups equity and control; and leaving independents locked out  of  the boardroom. Details of the new deal are not public, but it does include non-voting indie representatives at some MySpace board meetings.

Now "the same eligibility and level of participation" will be offered to all independent labels licensing content to MySpace Music. Without offering details, both sides say that it is  "a plan tailored specifically for the independent music community that offers Merlin what it has sought from the outset – an opportunity to participate in and benefit from the financial growth of MySpace Music – in recognition of its contribution to that growth". 

It's about time.

TunesPro Sells Legal 19 Cent Hit Song Downloads

UPDATE: Our pal Brenden Mulligan at ArtistDirect is hearing from sources that TunesPro is NOT authorized by the labels and as of Friday afternoon the site appeared to be down.

U.S. based TunesPro.com is selling 19 cent single track downloads and albums for $1.88-$2.78 from all the major labels; and they are doing it legally. "We have deals with all major labels and with lot of the independent ones," a TunesPro spokesperson told Hypebot, " and every day we get requests for more independent ones to get their stuff on the site".

"We lose 39 cents a song."

How does TunesPro price songs at 70 to 80 cents below iTunes and Amazon? They admit to losing $.39 a song. "But we think this will be good promotion instead of paying ridiculous advertising prices." Eventually the price will rise to $.79 a track in 2-3 months "once we spend our promotion budget."

Sony Wants To Take On iTunes

Sony is taking a page from the Apple playbook and will open an online store for music, film, books and other digital content next year. Years after iTunes launched and went on to dominate more than 70% of the global digital music market, the electronics and entertainment conglomerate has decided to enter the game. Dubbed temporarily the Sony Online Service, the store is part of a wider plan to return the ailing giant to profitability.  "Sony has been too focused on hardware," says Tokai Tokyo Research Center analyst Osamu Hirose. "It has to focus on networked products [and] delivering digital entertainment to consumers."

Susan Boyle Grabs Amazon's Biggest Ever Pre-Sale

The usually press shy Amazon made a rare announcement yesterday: internet and TV sensation Susan Boyle’s upcoming album, “I Dreamed a Dream,” has become the largest global CD pre-order in the history of the online retailer. Per usual, however,  the number of units Boyle sold to reach #1 prior to her November 23rd release was not part of the announcement. 

Boyle proves that adults will still pay for music; and whatever the number, it was big enough to leave Amazon's head of music almost giddy. “We were excited when Susan Boyle’s album became the top CD pre-order in the U.S. We’re absolutely ecstatic now that the album has become our largest global CD pre-order,” said Craig Pape, senior manager of Music at Amazon.com. “Looking at the rest of our global Top 5, you see titles that resonated in their local markets. Susan’s album is clearly capturing the hearts of our customers around the globe.”

Amazon also released a list of the Top 5 CD pre-orders of all time for Amazon, along with their top-selling country:

What Should We Talk About At The MIDEM Bar?

During January's MIDEM international music convention in Cannes, I've been asked to host a day of their new MIDEM+ program. It's a great opportunity to get off the convention floor to network in a much more intimate setting. Part of the my job as a "Connector" is to host an informal discussion at the MIDEM+ bar. I'll let the wonderful folks from MIDEM explain:

"MIDEM+ delegates will be invited to join you at the MIDEM+ bar, for a one hour of informal discussion about a new business topic of interest pertaining to the Music Industry. This session will be announced in the programme as 'Join the Conversation with Bruce Houghton', and is scheduled from 3:30pm to 4:30pm."

They're asking me to choose a topic and I'd love to hear your suggestions. What should we talk about at the Midem+ bar? I hope to see you there.

MTV & RealNetworks In Talks To Give Rhapsody More Autonomy ...Or Is This A Cut And Run?

According to SEC filings by RealNetworks, they are in negotiations with MTV to change their partnership in the Rhapsody Music service and perhaps give it more operating autonomy.

Two years after founding the joint company, the partners may reduce Real's 51% share in Rhapsody so that both parties own 50% or less of the digital music service. According to the filing, the goal of the negotiations is to "enable Rhapsody to operate more independently of either party."

Even with MTV's $230 million investment in Rhapsody, the music subscription and download service has failed to gain real traction. And now competitors like Napster, MOG and perhaps Rdio and Spotify are or will soon be offering stiff competition at lower price points.

DiMA’s Jonathan Potter Announces Resignation

Jonathan Potter announced on Thursday that he is resigning as Executive Director of the Digital Media Association (DiMA) effective December 31st. The DiMA, which is the main advocate for webcasters, online media and digital services was founded by Potter in 1998; and helped lead the industry through a tumultuous fight to revamp laws and royalty structures to fit the new digital era.

“I am grateful to DiMA’s member companies for allowing me to serve them – and their innovative technologies and services and their passionate people – for so long and in so many exciting ways.  I hope that my next adventure is as challenging and rewarding,” said Potter in a statement.

Video: Duran Duran's John Taylor On Attention, Competition & The New Music Industry

I set off quite a debate last week when I published a quote from John Taylor of Duran Duran's presentation at UCLA's 40th Anniversary of the Internet conference that Twitter was "diluting (musician's) creative powers". Here is video of Taylor's full speech which leaves may leave you both respecting and disliking more.

More Music Industry News: Google + Lala, Billboard Sale?, UK Piracy Fight, Facebook Is UnCool & More

"A captain of the sinking boat doesn't get to drive the tugboat."

- a tweet yesterday from indie artist Jonathan Ammons on major label doubts about Spotify

• Google’s Chrome OS Netbook Video Shows Lala as Embedded Music Service. (Epicenter) Watch the demo video after the jump.  I think we'll see these companies working together mor; if not an aquisition by Google.
  
• Is today the day that Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter will be sold? (paidContent)
• Strong UK Anti-Piracy Plans Slammed By Liberal Democrats - Details of Lord Mandelson’s draconian pro-copyright plans contained in the Digital Economy Bill leaked out yesterday, provoking a wave of dissent. The Liberal Democrats have now made a statement, voicing dismay at this “utterly shameless” attempt to introduce major rules without proper Commons assessment. (TorrentFreak)
• Is Facebook getting to be uncool for 18-24 year olds? Media agencies debate the consequences as usage among younger consumers appears to slip (Ad Week)
• Peter Gabriel on the future of the industry. The former Genesis frontman on fan funding, reliable filters, and why he would commission an alternative to The X Factor
• Interns Wanted - The Future of Music Coalition has opened the application process for interns for the spring and summer semesters of 2010. (more)
• Slacker Radio Mobile App Delivered to T-Mobile USA Customers on BlackBerry Curve 8520 Smartphones. (press release)

Video: Google Chrome OS Netbook with Lala:

Snoop Dog On Fan Interaction & Show "Business"

“I’m not a star that’s in the sky. I’m a star that’s in the eye”

"Its called show business. For awhile I had the show, but not the business.

Snoop Dog On CNBC via Daily Swarm

Reports: MySpace Buys imeem At Fire Sale Price

MySpace has completed the purchase of imeem, which has been rumored since Monday, at a price that could make venture capitalists wary of investing in any startup that requires music licensing.

TechCrunch puts the purchase price at just $1 million. Imeem's debt is also being assumed and some assets are not included in the deal, say TechCrunch's sources, including millions of dollars in accounts receivable. But VentureBeat's sources says the purchase price is $7 to 9 million - $1 million in cash plus earn outs to retain key employees. About half of the current staff of 55 will be cut after the sale, according to reports.

Whether the final number is $1M or $9M, it is far lower than the $20+ million that imeem raised and burned through during its 6 year life. My sources blame the failure almost entirely on what many see as excessive liscening fees from the labels, as well as, lower ad revenue caused by the battered economy. Imeem was, after all, attracting almost 6 million visitors monthly. But that number had been falling; more than 12% in recent months.

A Record Store Joke

"What do you call a CD

that retails for more than $9.99?

Answer: A return.

"...Our customers have spoken loud and clear. They love their CDs and they love purchasing them from indie record stores. The only problem we're currently facing, and will continue to face in the future, is the current price point...we've inherited the $9.99 price point from the non-traditional retailers, from the loss-leader shenanigans of the big boxes to the digital smoke and mirrors offered up online."

- Eric Levin of The Alliance Of Independent Media Stores

AIMS debut sales for November 17th, 2009

Chris Knight: Real Music

I usually don't write about music; particularly not by artists that Skyline Music, the booking agency that I run, represents. Hypebot is much more about the music business and tech, but occasionally something moves me and I want to share it.

Last night, I saw Chris Knight perform as an acoustic duo at the wonderfully intimate Kirk Avenue Music Hall in our newly adopted home of Roanoke, VA.  Americana / outlaw country twang is usually not my thang, but Chris Knight won me over…bigtime.

If I had to describe him in two words, it would be “redneck Dylan”. He sings about the rural workingman’s hard life at a time when earning a living with your hands is more difficult than ever. But his lyrics transcend the normal songwriting rhymes to reach the level of poetry and his stage demeanor matches the songs –  both rough edges and sharp wit; ready for a fight and ready to extend a hand – all at the same time. Given the right breaks; Chris Knight could be an icon. Check him out.

It's The Last Day...

Thursday is the last day to:

Ask Amanda Palmer A Question - Hypebot readers rather than the live audience will be asking the questions when indie artist Amanda Palmer talks about her unorthadox and succesful self-promotion tactics at the State Theatre in Falls Church, VA on Thursday. Leave your question for Amanda here now.  We'll publish her answers next week.

Share your favorite music industry advice and win 1 of 3 copies of the updated edition of Don Passman’s "All You Need to Know About the Music Business".

VEVO To Launch December 8th

Major online music contender VEVO is set to launch the evening of December 8th. "The VEVO service at VEVO.com and at YouTube.com will go live in coordination with our launch event in New York on December 8th," read an email sent late Wednesday from the Universal, Google and Sony backed startup. VEVO is being created to help the major labels better control and monetize their online video content. UMG’s YouTube channel has more than 3.5 billion views, making it the most watched on the top rated video site, and VEVO will benefit from some of that traffic at launch.  “We believe that at launch, VEVO will already have more traffic than any other music video site in the United States and in the world, said Universal CEO Doug Morris when announcing the formation of VEVO earlier this year. "And this traffic represents the most sought after demographic for advertisers, especially as advertising dollars continue their shift from old media to new."

But VEVO has not yet convinced all the major label groups to jump on board. Yesterday EMI announced a deal to deliver extensive content to popular online video service HULU; and WMG appears to be taking a multi-channel strategy recently renegotiating its deal with YouTube and partnering with FreeWheel for video monetization.

More Music Industry News: Teamsters, Kiss, AOL Layoffs, Guvera.com, Pandora Soars & More

• Composers and lyricists make pitch to join Teamsters - Seeing demand for movie and TV music growing and take-home pay shrinking, about half of a group of 400 sign up to band together with an unlikely ally. (LA Times
• KISS Celebrates Their Guitar Hero Downloadable Songs Release with Their First Web Concert on Facebook via Ustream.
• Analysis: "The Demos P2P Study and Other File-Sharing Numbers" from Glen Peoples @ Billboard.biz
• AOL: We need to fire 2,500 'volunteers'. That's 1/3 of the staff. (CNet)
• Universal Music has licensed Australian based ad supported download site Guvera.com which is scheduled to launch in the US early next year.  The company's technology also makes it possible for brands and advertisers to target broad or very specific consumer segments. (press release) Before you say (as I almost did), here's another ad supported music service ready to fail, check out the way they handle ads and targeting.  If brands buy in, the concept has potential.
• Pandora jumps ahead in US internet radio rankings - Pandora jumps to #1 for Domestic rankings based on Average Active Sessions from 6a.m.-8p.m. weekdays, with 230,435 AAS and over 66.8 million session starts in October. CBS Radio is #2, followed by Clear Channel Radio, Citadel Broadcasting and Entercom at #5. When expanded to all week and 6a.m.-midnight, the rankings remained the same. (FMQB)
• U.S. Labels Unconvinced By Spotify’s Freemium Model. (paidContent)
• Are The Record Labels Using Bluebeat's Bogus Copyright Defense To Avoid Having To Give Copyrights Back To Artists? (TechDirt)

EMI Music Publishing Adds To A&R Team

EMI Music Publishing North America has rearranged its North American creative A&R team, including the appointment of Rich Christina to a new senior role in its East Coast team. Christina joins EMI as SVP of Creative, based in New York. He was previously VP of A&R at Sony/ATV Publishing.

Leotis Clyburn has also joined the company, from TVT Publishing as Senior Director of Creative. Clyburn will work on projects for EMI Music Publishing and Roc Nation, based in EMI's New York offices.  Andrew Gould, who joined EMI's East Coast A&R team in November 2007, has been promoted to Senior Director of Creative. Gould will make the switch to EMI’s Los Angeles office later this month.

MySpace Music Overhauls Charts

MySpace has overhauled its music charts. Following a month after the addition of their Artist Dashboard, the new MySpace Music Charts are part of an effort to provide artists and users with more data and discovery options. "Over these past few months we’ve gone under the hood to take a closer look at the intelligence underlining the MySpace Music platform," says MySpace Music President Courtney Holt.

The new MySpace Music Charts include:

• Artist, Song, Album, and Video Charts across genres
• Charts by territory
• Links to friend and connect with artists they discover in the charts.
• New “Movers” section that highlights fastest rising artists and content across the network
• Artist contributed content
• Songs, albums, videos are available for free to stream for users in all territories

Real To Power Mobile Music For France's SFR

Real now powers music services in 11 EU countries

RealNetworks has signed a three-year deal to power the music service for SFR, France's most successful operator in mobile music. The service was transitioned to Real's platform on 17 November 2009.

Real also powers the music services of mobilkom austria group's A1 in Austria, and Vodafone music stores in 9 countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Greece, The Netherlands, Romania and Spain.

Shazam! "Digimarc's suing us!"

Digimarc has filed a lawsuit for patent infringement against Shazam, the provider of popular mobile music identification and discovery applications.  

Digimarc asserts that Shazam's music id technology infringes three of Digimarc's patents, including two patents dating back to 1995. Digimarc's patents relate to technology that enables devices to identify audio and visual content and immediately link the consumer to associated internet services.

The Band Is Not The Brand

This guest post is by Scott Perry. With his free email newsletter and web site, the New Music Tipsheet,keeps the industry informed of new releases as well as commenting on trends and sharing industry news. Scott

Band as brand. Band as brand. Band as brand. Simply put, the most overused, misunderstood phrase by the entire music industry. Sure, having a recognizable audio & visual identity is important – it makes it easier for your fans to recognize you, makes it easier to sell that merch, makes it easier for Fortune 500 companies to pick YOU to be the face for  THEIR brands! 

Stop it. Please, never use that phrase ever again – it does nothing but focus on the end goal, without actually thinking through the means by which the artist becomes an everyday part of a fan's life.

Three articles all hit me at the same time last week : veteran marketer Al Ries's discussion of the overuse of Twitter / Google / Internet / Facebook (TGIF) as marketing tools without a defined strategy, 2) Ian Rogers' in-depth blog post about the tactics used to set up his first management client Get Busy Committee, and most importantly, 3) a WSJ article on the decline in charitable giving in 2009.

Did you know that out of the $300 BILLION in annual charitable contributions, 35% -- $107 billion – goes to one cause. Not literacy, not to the environment , not to the arts, not to health care, but to RELIGION. Now, I'll grant that a good portion of that $107 billion is doled out to the other causes listed above, but think about it –- that little church down the street represents over 1/3 of all charitable giving in the United States.

1 Nine Month Old Band + 48 Hours = $10,000

We Are Listening offers artists exposure via contests and critiques from industry experts. On their informative blog they also highlight issues and artists that emerging and d.i.y. artists face.  Excerpted with permission is the story of how one nine month old band raised $10,000 in 48 hours to finance a recording project. Brian Mazzaferri, Lead Singer / Songwriter / NES-Player from Chicago NES-Rock band I Fight Dragons writes:

Gaining fans is well and good, but at what point can one expect to actually turn a fanbase into a living? Well, we took our first stab at answering that question 2 weeks ago.  We decided to offer this:

Lifetime Membership USB Drives

They come preloaded with all of the music we’ve ever released (including email-list only tracks), and they guarantee the owner a free digital copy of anything we ever release, as well as free admission to any live show of ours now and forever.  And there will only be 100 ever made.

We posted the link, sent an email to our mailing list, and within 48 hours all 100 were sold.

Why did it work?

1. We give a lot of free stuff away.  A LOT.
2. The upside is infinite.
3. We’re selling Memberships, not Products.

Brian shares much more detail on the We Are Listening blog here.

Hulu Nabs Norah Jones And EMI

EMI Music becomes the first major label group to pact with Hulu, the popular U.S. online video service that offers TV shows and movie. EMI will offer concerts and videos from artists on its labels including Virgin, Capitol and Blue Note.

The relationship kicks off today with exclusive content from Norah Jones whose new album “The Fall” debuts this week. The Norah Jones page on Hulu will feature multiple concerts and  her entire collection of music videos.  An interview with Jones is available on the Hulu blog.

What Is SoundExchange?

You've heard of SoundExchange. But how does it differ from BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. Did you know that even sidemen can collect royalties from SoundExchange?  Who is eligable to collect from them and how does it work? They created this short video to explain.

via Indie Music Tech

More Music Business News: Troubles At EMI, Comcast Helps LN TM Merge, Pirate Bay, The Oprah Effect, New Music Seminar L.A. & More

• EMI Death Watch: $4 Billion In Debt, No New Signings, No Marketing $, How Long Can Guy Hands Last? Will Warners Buy? A great compendium of EMI stories from The Daily Swarm and will WMG finally buy EMI? (MediaMemo)
• Comcast is working with Ticketmaster and Live Nation to help salvage their merger now under U.S. antitrust scrutiny. (Bloomberg)
• Pirate Bay moves to decentralized DHT protocol, kills tracker - The Pirate Bay announced today that it was killing its popular BitTorrent tracker, relying instead on the truly decentralized DHT protocol to handle file location and downloading. For TPB, it's all about removing centralized points of control. (ars)
• Report: Despite Economy, Entertainment Subscriptions Hold Up. (DMW)
• The Oprah Effect impacts music sales - Chatshow host tunes in with CD picks. (Variety)
• New Web Services Turn Ticket Buying Into a Social Occasion (NY Times)
• Hastings Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAST), the entertainment retailer, reported results for the three and nine months ended October 31, 2009. Net loss was approximately $3.4 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 compared to net loss of approximately $3.7 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2008.
  
• The New Music Seminar is coming to L.A. on Feb. 2.  Get our tickets and stay tuned for a great list of panelists and more.
  
• Music: Too Expensive to Be Free, Too Free to Be Expensive (Wired)
  
• Pop Is Dead: How Radiohead shed their skin and changed the music industry. (StereoSubversion)

Participate: Ask Questions, Give Advice, Sell Out(?)

There are some particularly lively discussions happening now on Hypebot that you should get involved in:

1. Ask Amanda Palmer A Question - Hypebot readers rather than the live audience will be asking the questions when indie artist Amanda Palmer talks about her unorthadox and succesful self-promotion tactics at the State Theatre in Falls Church, VA on Thursday. Leave your question for Amanda here now.  We'll publish her answers next week.

2. Share your favorite music industry advice and win 1 of 3 copies of the updated edition of Don Passman’s "All You Need to Know About the Music Business".

3. Join the discussion: Is It Possible For A Band To Sell Out Anymore?

Faceboook Restricts iLike App

Social Networking Wars Heat Up

Now that iLike owned by rival MySpace, Facebook is restricting some features of the iLike app on it pages. The move is bound to be unpopular with the 12 million users that have made iLike the #1 music app on Facebook. Over the last few days Facebook users who had installed the iLike app received this message:

"Due to upcoming Facebook changes, your Music data on Facebook won’t show on your profile and you’ll stop getting concert alerts. Take this step to save your music data."

The restrictions stop users from adding music to the Facebook profile and receiving personalized concert alerts. iLike has responded by asking users for their email address to send concert alers directly. 

Facebook's move against iLike is also a bi-product of what they called a wider campaign of "New Ways to Find and Engage with Your Favorite Applications".  Obviously, new does not always mean better.

Bandcamp Adds Physical Sales, Bundling

click on image to enlarge

Digital artist services site Bandcamp has just added a number of new sales options to its d.i.y. sales and marketing toolkit. Now artists can sell both physical merchandise and digital music from Bandcamp or bundle the sale of both together. You can, for example, create a vinyl, poster and download package, give fans the digital files immediately, and then ship out their merchandise.

Set-up appears fairly simple and most shipping and taxation issues are handled right inside the application.  And using Bandcamp is still free...for now. This four minute intro video explains the new features:

Chartjackers: Crowdsourcing To Top The UK Charts

The BBC TV show Chartjackers follows four UK YouTube favorites during a 10 week quest to crowd-source a number one single for the charity Children In Need with no money. record industry experience and not much musical talent.

The overview: “The lyrics of the song are made up of YouTube comments, compiled into a song by another YouTuber. The lyrics were released and then YouTubers wrote a melody for the lyrics, and we picked our favourite. We held YouTube auditions via video response to pick the band, found the producer of the song through YouTube, and the music video is made up of literal interpretations of the lyrics, clapping and singing along, by YouTubers!”

More Music Industry News: EMI Debt Troubles, Copyright Time Bomb, Dynamic Ticket Pricing & More

"Only dead fish go with the flow"

- a Tweet very early this morning from Derek Sivers

• Citigroup rejected EMI's latest proposal to refinace its massive debt. (MusicWeek) As a result Terra Firma is writing off 90% of EMI's original value. (StrategyEye) Is anyone surprised?
• Copyright Time Bomb Set to Disrupt Music, Publishing Industries (Epicenter) Read this.
• Setback for malicious prosecution lawsuit against RIAA - A lawsuit accusing the RIAA and record labels for malicious prosecution was dealt a blow with a judge's ruling that the labels had a reasonable basis for their original legal action. (ars)
• AOL to spin off Dec. 9, begin trading Dec. 10. (CNet)
• Diognex introduces dynamic ticket pricing.
• MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta will make his first keynote appearance outside of the United States On Saturday 23 January at this year’s MidemNet, the international forum on new technologies and new business models in the music industry. (Midem)
• Muzicall, an EU ringback service, raised $13.5M in new funding.
• Would Anyone Pay for MySpace Music? (Gigaom)

MySpace In Talks To Buy imeem

Does The Move Clear The Way For A MySpace Subscription Service?

MySpace is in late stage negotiations acquire imeem, according to several sources, much like social networker bought iLike just months ago. MySpace and imeem are each struggling in their own way: MySpace with declining visitors and imeem with an unsustainable business model. But will the whole be greater than the sum of the parts?

Before we find out, imeem's board will almost certainly be forced to accept a fire sale price for the free music streaming service. Young Dalton Caldwell has kept imeem going and growing to 16 million monthly visitors for six years despite what many believe are unrealistically high royalty demands from the record labels.  Now investors are said to be tired of propping up imeem, and the deep pockets of MySpace and parent News Corp are riding to the rescue.

Why would MySpace buy imeem?  As with the iLike purchase...

M Music & Musicians: A New Magazine Launches In The Middle Of The Recession

M Music & Musicians, a new multi-genre print music magazine, is set to to launch in January. In addition to traditional newsstand sales, M will be shipped with customer purchases made through major online musical gear retailer Sweetwater guaranteeing a built-in distribution of 160,000 starting with the first issue. 

M MUSIC & MUSICIANS
Songs inspire us. Music moves us. M connects us.

Published 8 times per year, the magazine will showcase music journalists, photographers, designers and gear experts. Mmusicmag.com will add exclusive interviews, interactive elements and an online community.

The M team is led by Merlin David (formerly of Performing Songwriter);

Win The New Edition Of Passman's "All You Need To Know About The Music Business"

Share your favorite music industry advice and win 1 of 3 copies of the updated edition of this industry bible.

For nearly two decades Don Passman’s All You Need to Know About the Music Business has been regarded as an essential guide to the music industry. Nw in its 7th edition, the book covers a wide array of topics, including picking the right team, negotiating a record deal, publishing and copyrights. It also addresses current topics like digital downloading, piracy, and 360 deals, as well as:

• Copyright Royalty Board’s latest decisions regarding online transmissions
• Music downloads, webcasting, streaming and podcasting
• Video streaming services
• How royalties are computed in the digital age
• Developments in deals with independent labels , including upstream deals
• The latest on royalties, advances, video budgets, and copyright laws

WIN 1 OF 3 COPIES

Passman's book is filled with practical advice for anyone navigating their way through the tricky waters of the music industry.  What is the best you ever given or gotten (practical or not) about the music business?  Share it in the comments below. We'll reprint the best and name the winners on Friday.

Order the book.

Is It Possible For A Band To Sell Out Anymore?

"While we might be irked that our favorite band has sold a song to VW or McDonald's, we can instantly decontextualize and remove that song from its annoying commercial counterpart. When we don't buy full albums anyway, when we don't care about album sequence (which is all about intention) or look at the band's artwork or the label they're on (again, all intentional decisions), and when all of the songs we want are free-floating in the ether untethered, then advertisements aren't a source or means of "selling out." Instead, they're the new radio.

So, is it possible for a musician or band to sell out anymore? Probably. I think the bigger question is, why do we no longer care?"

- author and musician Carrie Brownstien of Sleater-Kinney on NPR's Monitor Mix

Zenph Gets $10.7M For Musical Re-Performances

Badly done cover versions may soon become a thing of the past. Why am I not rejoicing?

Zenph Sound Innovations has created a technology that turns music into data "to understand and precisely recreate musical performances" and secured $10.7 million to develop and promote it.

The processes turns audio recordings into data sets. Zenph captures musical nuance, with details about musicians’ note choice, volume, touch and articulations in micro-second timings. With this data, a virtual artist can play re-performances, precisely replicating a musician’s playing in an original recording. One use of the data is the production of pristine new renderings that transcend the limitations of the original recording process. 

Zenph’s technology re-performed a live recital by legendary composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff. The recital featured works originally recorded by Rachmaninoff from 1921 to 1942 re-performed onstage on a specially-outfitted Steinway concert grand piano. 

Verizon To Forward RIAA Letters

Verizon has agreed to forward warning letters provided by the RIAA to targeted subscribers warning them of illegal activity.  While far less than the three strikes policies advocated by some in the recording industry, the move marks a shift for Verizon who previously resisted requests from rights organizations.

"We recognize the importance of copyright and the need to enforce those copyrights," a Verizon spokesman told CNET. "Without that enforcement, intellectual property won't be generated at all. At the same time, it's important for our customers to be assured that they won't have their privacy rights trampled." 

Almost a year ago the RIAA announced that it would stop suing illegal file sharers and work with ISPs to shut down the activity. But to date no U.S. ISP has agreed. The letters from Verizon are  part of a test by the company expected to begin Thursday. Jonathan Lamy, an RIAA spokesman, confirmed the the test but declined to comment.

Which Samartphone Should You Be Developing An App For? Think Again...

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users in 3Q09 (Thousands of Units

Company	Sales	Share (%)	Sales	Share (%)
Nokia	16,156.4	39.3	1    5,472.3	42.3
RIM / Blackberry	8,522.7	20.8	5,800.4	15.9
Apple	7,040.4	17.1	4720.3	12.9
HTC	2,659.5	6.5	1,656.3	4.5
Samsung	1,320.6	3.2	1,114.8	3.0
Others	5,368.0	13.1	7,793.3	21.3
Total	41,067.6	100.0	36,557.4	100.0

From the report:

iTunes Gets More Linkable

 Apple has changed the links generated on its iTunes store to be directed to a new iTunes Preview site which gives consumers the option of previewing music without launching the full iTunes application.

Links to the iTunes Preview page can be grabbed via the store's "Copy Link" feature. Until know, if you didn't have iTunes installed on your computer you were forced to download it before sampling music.

image via Apple Insider

More Music Industry News: Developers Shun iPhone, DJ Hero A Flop, Pirate Radio & More

• More Freedom Necessary as Top App Developers Abandon iPhone. (EFF)
• Why DJ Hero flopped -  DJ Hero enjoyed strong buzz, positive reviews, and came attached with some of the biggest names in music. In terms of sales, however, the game is dying an ugly death at retail. (ars)
• Music Biz Disagrees: P2P Does Not Promote Sales (paidContent UK)
• XP4, developer interactive music technology, and indie label Ministry of Sound have just launched a an interactive mixtape – Anthems: Electronic 80’s. It features tracks from The Human League, Devo, Gary Numan, New Order, The Pet Shop Boys, The Thompson Twins, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Thomas Dolby, Simple Minds, Erasure and A Flock of Seagulls. Fans hit keytar keys to control how tracks mix.
• The Real Pirate Radio: Music's Eternal Influencer (Esquire)
• iTunes Music Store review. (Anything But iPod)
• Ex-Quireboys keyboardist Chris Johnstone is the lead lawyer for Music Choice (The Lawyer)
• Interview: Andrew Fischer, CEO, Shazamr talks about music discovery; getting money from Kleiner Perkins; and how firms can build businesses around mobile. (MidemNet)
• Video Game Developers Say That Piracy Really Isn't A Big Threat To Business (Techdirt)
• The Daily Swarm Interview: Steve Albini on Recording 2,000 Albums, Nirvana, How Geffen Tried to Put Him Out of Business, & Disregarding the Listening Audience... 'I’ll Literally Work With Anybody'...
   

REWIND: The New Music Industry's Week In Review

• Ask indie musician and self-promotion queen Amanda Palmer a question.
• Topspin's Ian Rogers share details of his experiences as a manager.
• Traffic has jumped at Lala and iLike since the Google partnership.
• MySpace Music may limit bandwidth and start charging.
• "Wire" Producers To Bring Record Industry To HBO. Who Should Play The Roles?
• Live Nation And Ticketmaster Both Beat Analysts' Pre-Merger Expectations.
• Are Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter for sale?
• A Spotify delays launch, MOG may have US all to itself.
• Kyle Bylin on The Elsewhere Musician: Making Connections in a Fragmented World.
• Monetizing Mobile Content: Hybrid Models.
• Andrew McMillen: Why Music And Mp3 Blogs Are the New Radio To The Beggars Group.
• Survey: Spotify Reduces Illegal Downloading.
• Blink 182's Tom Delonge: "Put It Out There For Free"
• Why MySpace And Wikipedia Pages Are More Important Than Ever.