A Pizza Mind

My thoughts About Barack After the First Election

2011-12-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

Everyone has crowned our president and given him the keys to the white house. We have all said ok.. go... Make miracles. Change hundreds of years of systemic racism, prudice, ignorance and struggle. Go out there and make black folk turn around the self hatred that has further crippled us. GO!! But has anyone evaluated the fact that we may not be ready ? We expect this man to come wave a wand, and the second he does something that looks like he choosing the wrong side, black folks are gonna crucify that man. Are we able to allow him to grow as a leader without completely doubting his "loyalty"? After all, he did pledge an oath to this country not to black america. Did you ever think about all the knowledge and burdens he will be faced with on the first day? The secrets that have only been known by 48 other men? Just because he might make things better don't make him christ. It Just means currently he is the best option. As long as he makes a difference thats positive then thats good enough. He cant be everything to everyone and he is human. Lets remember that.

SAME SONG: INSIDE THE PAYOLA, POWER AND CORRUPTION IN THE MUSIC

2011-10-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

SAME SONG (EXCERPT)

INSIDE THE PAYOLA, POWER AND CORRUPTION IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

BY PAUL PORTER

Do you know Karen Kline? I do. And so do a lot of people in the music industry. She used to be a really good friend of mine. For a minute, I was in love with her, even though I knew the relationship could never last. Karen’s known and loved throughout the world of music, video and radio. She’s a jetsetter and she’s known for being reliable and dependable.

And Karen Kline has this incredible ability to be in many different places at theexact same time.

This Saturday morning, like many Saturdays for years, a truck will show up to the homes of many people in the music industry and Karen will be delivered right to their front door.

I met Karen while I was staying at the Hotel George in Washington D.C. (I’d heard of Karen for years but we’d never been formally introduced). It was 1999 and I had just been hired as the Program Director at BET, the fast growing entertainment channel. BET was then being broadcasted into over 48 million homes and my job would be deciding what videos would be played on the channel.

By this time, music videos had surpassed radio as the place to break a record. And the record labels were nervous. Was I going to change the format? Cut down the number of videos played? Pick and choose what kind of videos I would allow to be played? The answers were yes, yes and yes. But no one knew that yet.

It didn’t matter. My friends at the major record labels were not going to take any chances.

During my first week at BET, I set up the playlist, deciding which videos would be played and how often. I cut the playlist, from four hundred titles to a mere eighty. Some industry executives were elated; some were furious. The next weekend, a FedEx truck pulled up to the Hotel George with two packages for me.

Both packages were exactly the same, five thousand dollars in each, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and tucked inside the FedEx envelopes. No return address; no instructions, just the name Karen Kline, a fictional woman that I loved like she was flesh and blood.

It’s called payola. And it’s as old as recorded music itself. Even the very word tells you how far it goes back. Payola is a contraction between the words “pay” and “Victrola,” the old-school phonograph that was used to spin the very first records.

Payola is firmly embedded in the music industry, deep in the grooves like tracks on a vinyl record. It’s been going on for so long that it’s hard to believe that people are still getting away with it. But they are. I know I did.

And it wasn’t just money. When I was working at BET, I was still coming up to New York City every weekend for my job as a DJ on WBLS. Every Friday, various record labels would fly me up to New York, usually first class, and put me up at the best hotels. Knick tickets, pricey restaurants, whatever I wanted—I would have because I was in a position of power. I had control. And if you were a record label executive, you needed to make sure I was happy.

Almost everybody in this industry takes money. If they have the power to put a song on the radio or a video on television, they’ve been offered money to do it—and they’ve taken it. Maybe it’s only been once or twice. But they’ve done it.

I turned down payola for years. I really did. But it’s impossible to turn down ten thousand dollars in cash when you know you’re going to play the song anyway and it’s from a friend you’ve known for twenty years. There’s just no way to turn that down.

So, I’m putting that out there right now. I’m guilty. I’ve taken money. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. But I’ve never been anyone’s slave. Legally, I could go to jail or maybe not. I think I could win my case. I’ve taken money. But I’ve never played a song or a video I didn’t like. I know I still have to live with my demons. And maybe I’ll have to pay the price for it. But I’m not alone. And my relationship with Karen Kline was a one-night-stand compared to how she’s operating today. Karen Kline is not just visiting people on Saturday mornings anymore. She’s married—to corporate America. And she’s bringing in more money than anyone could ever fit inside a FedEx envelope.

SAME SONG is an explosive look at the corruption that is running rampant throughout the music industry. From the desperate promotion departments at major record labels who will do anything to get their acts on the radio and on video to the greedy program directors who take cash, gifts and other luxuries,SAME SONG will explore how corruption is rearing its ugly head once again.

SAME SONG also examines “legal payola” and how corporations are now the major beneficiaries of under-the-table payments and pay-to-play.

With the Telecommunications Act of 1996, consolidation would forever change the music industry. It was a bill that was originally designed to stimulate the economy by loosening up the rules for selling goods on the Internet. But inadvertently, it gave license for communications companies like Clear Channel to start buying up radio stations like penny candy.

Before long, seven companies owned 70% of the radio stations in the United States. There were very few individual owners who could determine what would be played. This meant smaller, corporate-influenced radio playlists. There would be less variety and more of the same artists, over and over again. These new stations were like funnels and the only records that would make it through were the ones with the cash to push them out. If the record labels wanted to hear their acts on the radio, they would have to fall in line—and cough up major bucks.

The same would happen in video as well. When Bob Johnson sold BET to Viacom for three billion dollars, it meant that MTV now owned it’s only major competitor. And getting your video on either channel would now cost you thousands.

SAME SONG is about how the digital age in the mid-90s exposed radio stations that frequently lied about how often they were playing the songs they were being paid by record labels to play; it’s about how the golden age of the trained broadcaster was soon replaced with interns, DJs and mixers who, for years, had been silent in the booth. SAME SONG explores how radio has become one of the few media outlets where salaries have plunged as profits have skyrocketed. AndSAME SONG will break down the shake-ups that will be happening very shortly. Much like Alan Freed’s payola trials in the 50s, and the pay-for-play scandals involving music men like Clive Davis in the 70s, the music industry is on the cusp of another huge investigation and many of the major players in the music industry may find themselves unemployed, at best and possibly, in prison.

And in many ways, SAME SONG is my story. Since 1976, when the busing riots in Boston sent me scrambling into the radio station at WRBB at Northeastern University, the music industry has been my life. During my very first stint in radio, I was Paul “Pure Love” Porter from midnight to three AM and I fell in love with the medium of radio and the impact I had on my community.

Radio introduced me to women. Radio introduced me to cocaine. Radio introduced me to some of my best friends. And radio killed some of them too.SAME SONG is a ride through my whirlwind of media jobs, working for and with some of the most colorful, well-known and scandalous players in the music industry.

I know that radio and video are influential in shaping young minds. And my experiences have changed my outlook. “Morality is not an option” is now my mantra. And there are people out there who won’t buy it. They’ll think I’m writing this book for revenge or just to make a buck. That’s fine. I can live with that. I can’t live with what’s become of the music industry. I’m partly responsible for bringing it to the depths it’s sunk to today. But I can also be responsible for exposing the ugliness and peeling back the layers for everyone to see.

Google+ Now Has 50 Million Users (After Just 88 Days)...

2011-09-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

That's the latest tally from 'unofficial Google+ statistician' Paul Allen, whose figures are now being closely watched. No, not that Paul Allen (Microsoft, American Psycho): this is the cofounder of ancestry.com who uses rare surnames to forge Google+ estimates, the latest of which now crosses a healthy 50 million.

That is, after just 88 days, a 'breakneck' if we've ever seen one. "Since being opened to the general public (over age 18) last week, Google+ has been growing by at least 4 percent per day, meaning that around 2 million new users have been signing up each day," Allen noted.

All of which makes this a great time to start ramping your Google+ strategy. Because Google has a huge base to convert, starting... now. "By integrating +1 and Circles (targeted sharing) and other Google+ functionality into its Chrome browser, Android phones (and tablets), Gmail, Google Reader, Blogger, Google Photos, and other properties, Google+ will give its more than one billion users repeated chances to sign up for and use the functionality of Google+," Allen relayed (of course, in a Google+ post).

All of this is happening against significant product development, including more work on profiles for companies (and perhaps bands as well...)

Join the early discussion.
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/092911googleplus

FACEBOOK IS THE NEW GOOGLE

2011-09-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

Facebook Admits to Tracking Logged-Out Users...

paul

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Spotify dropped the undeletable cookie, but Facebook has now admitted to tracking users — even when they're logged off. That is, through various cookies and unique identifiers sent from like buttons, all of which are complicated to remove. "Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit," programmer and technologist Nik Cubrilovic exposed in a recent blog.

"The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions."

This also means that users will probably share more activity than they intended, thanks to 'lubricated' APIs. But don't worry, Facebook can explain. Perhaps attempting to contain another privacy blow-up, Facebook told the Wall Street Journal that this complicated cookie-and-identifier setup is all about security. That is, preventing false logins and phishing attacks without extra authentication.

And, Facebook further claimed that all of this logged-out data is immediately deleted (you'll just have to trust them on that). "The onus is on us to take all the data and scrub it," said Arturo Bejar, Facebook's director of Engineering. "What really matters is what we say as a company and back it up."

Facebook is no stranger to these sorts of breach controversies. The company has been caught improperly collecting data on a number of occasions, and its security standards are, let's say, insecure.

All of which raises another question about Spotify's decision to attach themselves to the Facebook hip. Because these things don't always end well.

Which Are You? 14 Music Industry Dress Styles...

2011-06-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

presnikoff

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The days of dress codes and proper attire are long gone, at least in the music industry. But after close observation of music executives in their natural conference habitat, we've identified a few commonly-donned attires. It's a Digital Music News fashionista exclusive...

Don't Think Traditional Radio Matters? Then Read This..

2011-05-25T18:38:00.001-07:00

The first chart compares the number of songs streamed online to the number played across traditional airwaves in the US, specifically between the dates of January 3rd and May 1st of this year. The second weights those plays against the total audience for each play/spin. The data was compiled by Nielsen, and presented at the NARM conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

ILLwrite Featured on MTV Hive

2011-05-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

The debut solo album of Pennjamin Bannekar has finally arrived. The much anticipated work has been in the making for the last year and has the final touches before it launches May 3rd 2011. The success of the current single "ILLwrite" which can be seen on MTVU among other video channels has many people waiting to see what the member of Project: Fr3sh can do alone. The album has a depth of range yet centers on the person Pennjamin has become through the journey of life. Producers such as Best Kept Secret helped shape the feel of the album which also boast features from Chicago's new school hip hop artist such as Omen and Phil G who give a standout performance on "Counterfeit." "Fast Cars" is a lyrical second to none but one of the most creative ways to talk about sex. Please Listen and enjoy this art.

Check out the New Single Featured on MTV Hive

twitter.com/pennbannekar

Check out the New Single Featured on MTV Hive

MTV Partners with Sony/ATV's Extreme Music to Promote Unsigned Artists

2011-03-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

March 01, 2011
By Ed Christman, New York

MTV will partner with Sony/ATV's "Extreme Music" production library to market the music of unsigned artists and bands to music supervisors for commercials, television shows and movies.

The partnership, which will operate under the name HYPE, will see MTV executives identifying unsigned artists whose music might work well in MTV shows. Initially, the music will be shopped to MTV productions and then through the Extreme relationship be come a secondary offering to other music supervisors at other networks and brands.

What's more, for music that connects with music supervisors, MTV will serve as its digital distributors bringing the music to online digital retailers and other digital music service providers.

"One of the amazing things at MTV is its support for championing emerging artist and its desire to be a part of an artist's career at the beginning," said Joe Cuello, MTV's senior VP of creative music integration. "Our shows can afford to provide emerging artists with opportunities.

"We don't have a prime portal where artist can come and compete for the opportunity, although there is potential for something like that down the line," he continued. "We do have a team of people who go to shows who talk to [musicians], and producers and have dialogues" with people who know about up-and-coming music.

Already, artists like Midi Mafia, Locksley, and National Skyline" have benefited by having their songs placed in the "Jersey Shore" reality show, while 3D Friends has enjoyed placement in "Skins." For example, Midi Mafia was featured in Season 2 of Jersey Shore and has scanned 22,000 track , after selling a little bit short of 2,000 units in 2009.

"It's no secret that the music industry is gasping for air and struggling for ways to break new artists," Extreme Music CEO Russell Emanuel said in a statement. "HYPE's hybrid model as an artist-friendly incubator leveraging its ability to license tracks directly in high profile shows will dramatically boost an act's profile. This is a new breed, second to none career jump-starting opportunity. It's production music on steroids!"

While Extreme has expertise in shopping production music, Cuello said it is the Sony/ATV company's relationships with other networks and brands that will enable it to show the songs of HYPE artist for synch opportunities.

Beyond that, MTV will perform digital distribution for any music that HYPE connects with synchronization opportunities. HYPE and the artist will share revenues 50/50, Cuello says. That split holds for distribution too, and while that is above standard digital distribution fees that can range anywhere from 13% to 20%, the HYPE rate allows it to share in the revenue created by the synchronization opportunities. On the other hand, if HYPE distributes music from the artists that is not used in shows, it would be willing to negotiate more standard fees.

Finally, if HYPE efforts on behalf of artists leads to major label attention, artists "are unencumbered" by their HYPE deal. "We would love to get these artists signed" with labels, Cuello said.

Wow, YouTube Really Thinks We're That Stupid...

2011-02-17T07:08:00.001-08:00

Sorry, the gig is up on free music. It isn't making bands rich, or even making ends meet, for that matter. If you need proof of this, check out this discussion thread about Spotify - it contains real numbers and testimonials about how paltry the payouts on free access are (http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/012511pointzero). It's not just Lady Gaga that's getting the shaft.

The rest is also mostly a work of fiction. Because for the most part, free isn't driving more people to shows, selling more t-shirts, or making real fans buy the album. Just talk to a band trying to make this work. It sounds good on paper or on a conference panel, but most bands are having trouble turning these theories into reality. Still, free is a necessary evil for any artist that wants exposure - you just have to live with it, like crappy weather. Otherwise you're basically putting your music in jail.

Which is why it's hilarious to hear YouTube talking about how free is now even better than paid. Except the only problem is that paid also sucks! "If you were to look at the numbers for Lady Gaga, the number of views she gets on YouTube versus downloads that she gets on iTunes, obviously, a single download on iTunes will pay her more than a single view on YouTube," product manager Phil Farhi told Evolver.fm. "But when you look at the traffic — the number of people that are coming back and watching her videos over and over again, watching her videos before they download the song, or discovering them on YouTube — you can see how that scale can compete with a paid service."

So, the fringe artist with record-setting YouTube views somehow proves the theory? Or, represents something even remotely typical for even well-supported artists? This soggy logic quickly falls apart, though another YouTube executive pointed to big-time earnings by big-label partners. "Our larger music partners on the site are making millions of dollars per month," YouTube director of content partnerships Chris Maxcy offered. There's also a bridge for sale on eBay.

And the best part? YouTube and Google are making billions per month! But this gets even worse, because separately, some music executives are wondering whether this freebie bazaar is really better than P2P, BitTorrent, or any number of protocols for illegal content transfer. "The argument that 'at least we have them in a legal place' [with services like Spotify and YouTube] isn't making any sense," one top-ranked major label executive told Digital Music News at Midem. "Because all of that is based on the notion that you can monetize this all somehow, which basically boils down to hope. It's not a business model."

Paul Resnikoff, publisher.

32 Different Ways Artists Can Make Money...

2011-02-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

But which ones are really producing serious revenues? Here 32 different possible possible revenue streams for artists, as compiled by the Future of Music Coalition (FMC). The group is currently conducting a survey of musicians to figure out which streams are working the best.

A. If you are a composer or songwriter, here are possible revenue streams from your musical compositions...

1. Retail sales: Mechanical royalties from physical sales of recordings of your songs at stores, concerts or via mail order.

2. Digital sales: Mechanical royalties from digital sales via online services (CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody, MySpace Music)

3. Sheet music sales.

4. PRO Royalties: Royalties for the public performance of your work (airplay on radio, TV, movies, jukeboxes, live performance and foreign royalties, and home recording and foreign levy payments) as distributed to you by ASCAP/BMI/SESAC.

5. Advances from publishing companies during a publishing deal.

6. Payments from publishers for litigation settlements.

7. Commissions for works.

B. If you are a performer (think Patsy Cline), possible revenue from sound recordings...

8. Digital performance royalties: Royalties for the digital performance of your recordings — airplay on satellite radio, webcast stations, cable TV stations — distributed to you by SoundExchange.

9. Advances from record labels that are not just reimbursement of recording or touring expenses.

10. Label payments for tour support or recording expenses.

11. Payments from labels for litigation settlements.

12. AARC royalties: collected for digital recording of your songs, foreign private copying levies, and foreign record rental royalties, distributed to US artists by AARC.

13. AFM Payments (TV, Film): Payments from the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund to performers on recordings used in TV and other secondary uses.

14. AFM Payments (Recordings): Sound Recording Special Payments Fund to performers for the sales of recorded music

15. AFM/AFTRA Payments: Payments from the AFM/AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund (distributes recording and performance royalties to the non-featured artists)

C. Possible revenue from licensing your musical composition or your sound recording...

16. Ringtone Sales: Mechanical revenue from ringtone sales

17. Synch Licenses: Synchronization royalties based on master rights licensing your song to TV/movies/video games/commercials

18. Sampling Licenses: Licensing fees from other musicians sampling your songs.

D. If you're a performer, possible revenue from live performances...

19. Touring and shows: compensation for playing live shows or performances, including busking.

E. Revenue from a performer's brand...

20. Merchandise sales: t-shirts, posters, etc.

21. Sponsorship: of tour or of a band/artist.

22. Direct financial support from fans/patrons.

23. Ad revenue or other miscellaneous income from your website properties (click-throughs, commissions on Amazon sales, etc.)

24. Acting in television, movies, commercials.

25. Product endorsements.

26. Other licensing of your persona (to video games, comic books, etc.)

F. Revenue from an artist's knowledge of the craft...

27. Work for hire/hired as a studio or live musician or composer

28. Work as a music teacher

29. AFM/AFTRA session payments: Session payments for recording sessions, TV appearances, and performances flowing from synch licenses

30. Producer: income from producing or music direction

G. Other ways a musicians' work can be funded:

31. Government grants.

32. Nonprofit/foundation grants.

Streets Is Watching: WMG Shares Boom 27%...

2011-01-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

Streets Is Watching: WMG Shares Boom 27%...

Guess the Street loves a juicy 'for sale' sign, especially when Goldman is pulling the strings. In early morning trading on Friday, shares of Warner Music Group (WMG) boomed past 25 percent, and ultimately finished up 27.33 percent to $6.01.

Late Thursday, word leaked on a possible purchase by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), though apparently other suitors are knocking. Either way, the potential buy screams 'buy' to traders, who all want an easy, overnight payout.

Separately, something else is happening in France, where WMG chairman Edgar Bronfman has been handed a hefty fine for illegal insider trading. This goes back to a 'past life' involving Vivendi, and a Paris court has now saddled Bronfman with a 5 million euro ($6.7 million) bill. Of course, Bronfman is planning to appeal, though this seems like a separate stage of drama.

More ahead.

Major Layoffs at Universal Music Group; As Much as 50%...

2011-01-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

Universal Music Group has just completed massive layoff round, according to information from roughly a dozen sources. A spokesperson for the label has also confirmed the round, though specific numbers were not revealed.

So who's saying what? One source pointed to a chop as deep as 50 percent 'across the board,' which seems a bit high, though another pointed to a similar percentage reduction at Interscope. Another high-ranking partner pointed to something "big, very big," and a distribution partner pointed to sales executive Mike Davis as "the first casualty". According to information shared, Davis was most recently Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Universal Music & Video Distribution (UMVD).

The list of sources saying "huge" and "massive" goes on and on. Separately, both Variety and the New York Times are pointing to a chop of 60 in North America, though that seems only relevant to staff-level employees. Ongoing, Digital Music News is getting emailed with unconfirmed dribs-and-drabs, with most pointing to a rather extreme downsizing.

Full List of Stuff White People Like

2011-01-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

found this and got a chuckle out of it
#134 The TED Conference
#133 The World Cup
#132 Picking Their Own Fruit
#131 Conan O’Brien
#130 Ray-Ban Wayfarers
#129 Banksy
#128 Camping
#127 Where the Wild Things Are
#126 Vespa Scooters
#125 Bob Marley
#124 Hating People Who Wear Ed Hardy
#123 Mad Men
#122 Moleskine Notebooks
#121 Funny or Ironic Tattoos
#120 Taking a Year Off
#119 Sea Salt
#118 Ugly Sweater Parties
#117 Political Prisoners
#116 Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore
#115 Promising to Learn a New Language
#114 America
#113 Halloween
#112 Hummus
#111 Pea Coats
#110 Frisbee Sports
#109 The Onion
#108 Appearing to Enjoy Classical Music
#107 Self Aware Hip Hop References
#106 Facebook
#105 Unpaid Internships
#104 Girls with Bangs
#103 Sweaters
#102 Children’s Games as Adults
#101 Being Offended
#100 Bumper Stickers
#99 Grammar
#98 The Ivy League
#97 Scarves
#96 New Balance Shoes
#95 Rugby
#94 Free Healthcare
#93 Music Piracy
#92 Book Deals
#91 San Francisco
#90 Dinner Parties
#89 St. Patrick’s Day
#88 Having Gay Friends
#87 Outdoor Performance Clothes
#86 Shorts
#85 The Wire
#84 T-Shirts
#83 Bad Memories of High School
#82 Hating Corporations
#81 Graduate School
#80 The Idea of Soccer
#79 Modern Furniture
#78 Multilingual Children
#77 Musical Comedy
#76 Bottles of Water
#75 Threatening to Move to Canada
#74 Oscar Parties
#73 Gentrification
#72 Study Abroad
#71 Being the only white person around
#70 Difficult Breakups
#69 Mos Def
#68 Michel Gondry
#67 Standing Still at Concerts
#66 Divorce
#65 Co-Ed Sports
#64 Recycling
#63 Expensive Sandwiches
#62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
#61 Bicycles
#60 Toyota Prius
#59 Natural Medicine
#58 Japan
#57 Juno
#56 Lawyers
#55 Apologies
#54 Kitchen Gadgets
#53 Dogs
#52 Sarah Silverman
#51 Living by the Water
#50 Irony
#49 Vintage
#48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops
#47 Arts Degrees
#46 The Sunday New York Times
#45 Asian Fusion Food
#44 Public Radio
#43 Plays
#42 Sushi
#41 Indie Music
#40 Apple Products
#39 Netflix
#38 Arrested Development
#37 Renovations
#36 Breakfast Places
#35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
#34 Architecture
#33 Marijuana
#32 Vegan/Vegetarianism
#31 Snowboarding
#30 Wrigley Field
#29 80s Night
#28 Not having a TV
#27 Marathons
#26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
#25 David Sedaris
#24 Wine
#23 Microbreweries
#22 Having Two Last Names
#21 Writers Workshops
#20 Being an expert on YOUR culture
#19 Traveling
#18 Awareness
#17 Hating their Parents
#16 Gifted Children
#15 Yoga
#14 Having Black Friends
#13 Tea
#12 Non-Profit Organizations
#11 Asian Girls
#10 Wes Anderson Movies
#9 Making you feel bad about not going outside
#8 Barack Obama
#7 Diversity
#6 Organic Food
#5 Farmer’s Markets
#4 Assists
#3 Film Festivals
#2 Religions their parents don’t belong to
#1 Coffee

NIELSEN BDS TOP 10

2011-01-19T09:03:00.000-08:00

Urban
Friday, May 14 2010

POSITION ARTIST TITLE
1 Trey Songz Neighbors Know My Na...
2 Usher Feat. Plies Hey Daddy (Daddy's H...
3 Monica Everything To Me
4 Timbaland Feat. Drak... Say Something
5 Rihanna Rude Boy
6 Ludacris Feat. Nicki... My Chick Bad
7 Gucci Mane Lemonade
8 B.O.B. Feat. Bruno M... Nothin' On You
9 Usher Feat. Nicki Mi... Lil Freak
10 Jay-Z Feat. Swizz Be... On To The Next One

Rap Was the Only Genre That Gained In 2010...

2011-01-12T09:23:00.001-08:00

So what do rappers know that the rest of us don't? Actually, that's a lengthy discussion, and one explored in-depth last October (see 'related article' below). But maybe a culture of rapid releases, mixtapes, DJ influencers, and modular production is proving a cockroach in this nuclear winter.

A curious stat just popped up. Just looking over Soundscan numbers for 2010, most genres suffered catastrophic declines. Rock dropped 16 percent, Alternative slumped 21 percent, and Classical tanked 26 percent. Country, which shed 5 percent, was the only genre spared a double-digit decline.

Yet Rap managed a 3 percent gain on US-based sales of 27.3 million albums. And, keep in mind that overall, albums decreased 12.7 percent.

Sounds great, but will it last? Perhaps this bubble deserves a pricking early on. Subtract out Eminem - whose Recovery scored sales of 3.4 million - and it looks like Rap is just another loser. And, digging back into previous years, it turns out that Rap has suffered its fair share of double-digit plunges. In fact, the genre commanded album sales of 75.1 million in 2005, only to drop 20.7 percent the following year.

Rejected! Supreme Court Refuses to Toss Price-Fixing Suit Against Majors...

2011-01-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

A suit accusing the four major labels of price-fixing will proceed, thanks to a blunt Supreme Court decision. That upholds an earlier ruling by a Federal Appeals Court in New York, based on significant evidence of pricing collusion starting in the early days of digital distribution.

How early? Well, this would be caveman times in the compressed scale of digital music civilization. The consumer lawsuit starts with label ventures pressplay and MusicNet, both aggressively-priced and extremely limited products. Of course, very few music fans bit, especially given limited catalogs, ponderous DRM restrictions, and oh-so-easy and free P2P alternatives.

But the price-fixing continued even when consumers came around, according to the suit. The drama ensued with allegedly-corroborated download pricing floors of 70 cents, though labels are of course denying this. The cooperation levers include 'most favored nations' (MFN) agreements, which essentially require any service to extend the most favorably-negotiated terms to all major label partners. That avoids a smokey room collaboration, but ultimately results in the same outcome.

The label request was denied without comment. Reference Supreme Court case Sony Music Entertainment v. Kevin Starr, No. 10-263.

If Major Labels Are Bleeding So Badly, Why Are They Still Creating the Biggest Artists?

2011-01-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

Do we have to talk about the demise of the major label system again? Perhaps this is just a four-car pileup that demands a slow-down and stare. The lights are dimming at EMI, political upheaval is tainting UMG and Sony, and WMG is often considered 'next' for the wolves. But if the majors are bleeding so badly, then why are they still creating the biggest artists? And, perhaps more importantly, why aren't indies and DIYers even close to taking the lead?

Sure, indies and DIY artists have more fan access and traction than ever before. And major label artists are selling less every year. But manufactured acts like Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga are still perched atop the charts, and casting a long shadow over anything with indie cred. This isn't the way it was supposed to work out, and it's harder than ever to blame some Soundscan skew.

Why? For starters, Soundscan isn't the only chart barometer anymore. Take a gander at the BigChampagne Ultimate 100, and a somewhat-similar list of big-label priorities emerges. In fact, the latest Ultimate 100 lineup has less indie cred than a Celine show in Vegas. On the latest ranking, the top ten artists were Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Eminem, Daft Punk, Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas, Lil Wayne, and Enrique Iglesias, in that order.

But how can that be? After all, BigChampagne is blending a broad number of online, offline, traditional, interactive, non-interactive, and physical elements into its rankings. Yet it still regularly produces chart toppers like Jason Derulo and Katy Perry, not Pomplamoose and Amanda Palmer. In fact, most of the top 100 are serious major label priorities.

Maybe the fantasy was that somehow, a total chart upheaval would result from all of this digital disruption. That big bullhorns like terrestrial radio wouldn't matter anymore, or that do-it-yourselfers would rise to superstardom without any serious backing. That artists like Corey Smith were dyed-in-the-wool DIYers, not musical careerists. Or, that the idea of big, mainstream artists would somehow vanish.

How naive we were.

-pr.

Join the early discussion at
http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/011011majorlabels

Music Marketing and Promotion 102

2011-01-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

Posted By Musician Coaching

In Part 1 of this article I outlined the importance of having prepared properly for a new music release. This covers everything from having captured video, stills and writing about the making of your new music to making sure you have your social networks and website sorted so you have places where said footage can live and work to your advantage. I also neglected to mention that it is important that your bio, press clippings and photos are up to date at least several weeks if not months prior to your release date. Long story short – there is a ton of set up to do for any well marketed and promoted release and there are a ton of moving parts to keep your eyes on.

Yes, like a game of whack a mole. If you are releasing your record 100% on your own- chances are you are going to miss some of these metaphorical moles but I thought it would help if you at least knew them by name. An easy way for me to go over this believe it or not is to go over in very broad strokes the way record companies functioned around their releases over a decade ago. It is easier to break them down from their old terrestrial functions because the digital age has blurred the lines of what is PR vs. marketing vs. sales vs. anything else that moves the needle for an artist’s career. The solutions the different record label departments use today (and that you will use on your own) are very different than they were ten years ago but the needs that these departments addressed are still the same. You will note of course I am leaving out finance, business and legal, art, A&R – because they are slightly less applicable and there is no mention of a film and TV department or digital / online departments because ten years ago such departments were very tiny if they existed at all. They will be covered in a follow up article.

Meet the old moles:

Marketing:

It was the job of the marketing person to have relationships with various other entertainment entities and brands, to find interesting opportunities for their artists, to communicate with the band’s management and agent and make sure that all of the other departments at the label were performing their functions on a schedule that maximized the impact of everyone’s efforts.

Sales:

Sales departments at labels made sure..... this post is continued at

http://musiciancoaching.com/music-business/music-marketing-and-promotion-102/

Privatizing Taste on the table to balance budget

2011-01-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

August 26, 2010|By John Byrne and Todd Lighty, Tribune Reporters
Mayor Richard Daley is looking at getting the city out of the festival business and handing off curbside recycling to a private company as he scrambles to fill a big budget hole without raising taxes before February's election.

The nearly $655 million record shortfall is so severe, the mayor is even willing to consider tapping into a previously untouchable pool of development money to make ends meet.

"People don't want to see government growing. They don't want to see their taxes growing," Daley said Thursday at a City Hall news conference. "This is very, very difficult economic times."

But Daley provided no details on how much money the privatization efforts could fetch or how many city workers could lose their jobs. And observers noted all of the ideas Daley floated won't balance the budget. They wondered what else the mayor might put in play before he presents his financial plan to the City Council in mid-October.

"The mayor is giving away too much, and yet these proposals won't begin to address the shortfall we're looking at," said Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd.

As Daley rolled out his patchwork of potential budget solutions, he once again warned that service cuts can't be ruled out next year. Slicing services before voters go to the polls could prove problematic, however.

Daley is limiting his options this time around after raising property taxes in 2007, selling off parking meters and raising fees in 2008 and spending reserves last year. The mayor reiterated Thursday that he won't be increasing taxes or fees or auctioning off other assets to balance his new budget as he awaits an economic turnaround.

Despite the financial maneuvering, Daley's budgets have failed to stay balanced the last few years, resulting in unpaid days off and concessions by unionized city workers. The mayor wants more of that next year.

Daley also suggested putting out for bid all of the city's lakefront festivals, including the mammoth Taste of Chicago. Hiring a company to run such events could save the city money, and the mayor said there's already been interest by potential bidders.

In addition, City Hall will seek to privatize the curbside recycling program that now reaches about 241,000 homes in 29 of 50 wards. Daley said he hopes privatization will bring enough savings to expand the household blue bin program, which has stalled in recent years in a blow to his image as a "green mayor." But he acknowledged citywide recycling is not in the cards for the foreseeable future.

J. Ivy "2012" ft. Twone Gabz & Mikkey Halsted

2010-12-30T09:47:00.000-08:00

Bilal’s Tainted Love

2010-12-29T14:38:00.000-08:00

FULL SCREEN
The Sounds of VTech / Bilal: Tainted Love

Bilal’s New Video “Is This Love”

2010-12-29T12:24:00.000-08:00

FULL SCREEN
The Sounds of VTech / bilal_isthislove_web

On August 30th, 2010, a very special rendition of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love” was recorded in Los Angeles.

It was a very special day. Perfect weather, a studio reminiscent of a studio in Capitol Records during the 60’s, a great cast of musicians… the stars aligned and this video was made.

Plug Research approached Bilal and Miguel separately with the idea of doing cover songs. Since they’re both friends and admire one another’s work, (Bilal performed at Timeless: Suite for MaDukes), it was a easy match.

It was Bilal’s idea to work on “Is This Love.” Miguel booked the talented cast of musicians, many he had worked with before, and wrote the basic charts. Bilal made sure to get the sound he was looking for.

A couple of songs were recorded during this session… So if you’re interested to hear how Bilal’s renditions of Soft Cells “Tainted Love” turned out, or even Portisheads “Strangers”… well you’ll just have to check back. But for now, enjoy Bilal’s rendition of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love.”

Airtight’s Revenge on Plug Research is Bilal’s first album in 9 years. Make sure to get a copy of it by clicking HERE.

Band:
Bilal (vocals)
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (musical director, violin)
Om’Mas Keith (piano)
Dennis Hamm (rhodes)
Brandon Coleman (organ)
Marcel Camargo (guitar)
Gabe Noel (bass)
Gene Coye (drums)
Allakoi Peete (percussion)

Executive Producer: Tom Bacon
Produced By: Plug Research
Shot by: Greg Ponstingl and Denny Kim
Edited by Greg Ponstingl
Recorded by Benjamin Tierney
Mixed by: Benjamin Tierney & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

How to Get Booked- Build A EPK

2010-12-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

Written by Nisus

One of the key promotional tools I use for booking gigs as well as finding potential artists to book is the electronic press kit or EPK. As a resident for Blasthaus promotions in San Francisco, I get a fair number of people asking to play our shows with artists such as Fake Blood, Boys Noize and Vitalic. The first thing we ask for is always a mix and their EPK, which are quick ways to evaluate how serious someone is about their Djing. Fundamentally an EPK houses content that explains why someone should be interested in booking you for a gig. Surprisingly few Djs bother to put one together. Even fewer are effective. If you want an edge in the challenging world of professional Djing get organized and get together an effective EPK. Here’s how.

What is a EPK?

An EPK is simply a container. The things you fill it with are up to you and the story you want to tell about yourself. Generally every EPK contains these six items:

Bio
Photos
Videos
Productions/mixes
Past Performances
Links

The Bio is the trickiest and most important part. Writing about yourself in an interesting way is harder than learning to DJ. The best way to avoid causing the reader of your bio to immediately delete your EPK and mark your email as spam is to simply stick to the facts. Most important and first up is describing your sound. What kind of music do you play? This seems simple but is often overlooked. Next include important shows you have played, other artists in your genre that you have played with, remixes you have done, releases and residencies you have held etc.. For great examples check out how Windishdoes it for their artists.

Unless you were a child prodigy with ten years of experience by your 13th birthday leave your humble beginnings out of your bio. I can’t read another “from a young age”, story without hitting delete fast enough. This also applies to hype. “Blah blah blah Dj Bootybanger’s rise to fame”, delete. Many promoters will immediately be turned away from booking you if they fear that your inflated sense of self will translate into you being difficult to work with. The diva days of DJing are very, very over. Excitement about what you do is great, but don’t pad it. If you don’t have enough to talk about in your bio then it’s a sign that you need to get busy setting and achieving goals that will help you become more valuable to potential promoters.

BIO DO’S

Stick to the facts
Describe your sound
Career highlights
Artists you have performed with
Residencies
Releases/Download stats

BIO DONT’S

Don’t start at childhood
Don’t talk about your rise to fame
Don’t pad it with hype

COLLECT THE PROOF

No one cares if no one knows. Following your bio should be a wealth of media. You have been recording all of your sets and asking your friends with cameras to come shoot photos and video at all your shows right? If not, get on it. Friends are your best resource because friends love helping their friends succeed (especially in exchange for drink tickets). Do you have any press clippings or interviews you have done? Twitter exchanges, blog mentions, album releases, song download and play stats, radio interviews etc… Again think of your EPK as a container for all of this media.

Get It Out There!

In the past a press kit was more like a brochure presentation for a time share in Vegas. These days the EPK is a decentralised media bundle comprised of all of your digital sources. Include links to your Facebook page, Vimeo, Youtube channel, Soundcloud, and as many other digital outlets as you feel comfortable managing. I do go through and watch people’s youtube videos’ of their performances and correlate them with their mixes. Myspace may be your top search result and shouldn’t be neglected even though it’s frustratingly impossible to use. Check out the level of detail and thought DJ Shadow’s team put into their marketing and merchandise planning. If you are your own team, getting this right may be as important as mixing tracks together.

Your EPK, even if you never send it to a single person, is a valuable tool in motivating yourself to get organized and to produce content and achieve goals. It should be given the same attention as the time that you spend practicing your craft. Your EPK should be ready to be copied and pasted into an email, uploaded as a .zip file, given its own page on your site and linked to. Create a unique introduction to the person you are sending it to (hopefully someone with whom you have already connected with on the phone). For example: “Hey Steve here is that information about Nisus that we talked about on the phone. If you need anything else to get this gig booked or have questions about pricing please call me personally.”

Get Valuable!

The best way to create an effective EPK and to get dj gigs in general is to make yourself valuable. This is where patience and effort come into play. You might even call this the “work” side of djing. Develop relationships with everyone in your scene, get billed with similar artists, play well, ask for residencies and never talk shit. Overall, it’s a lot of little things that add up to the momentum that gets you to those bigger remarkable steps that end up filling your EPK.

Touring Collapsed In 2010. So What Happens Next?

2010-12-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

alexandra

Wasn't this supposed to happen in 2009, when consumers were freaking out and slashing unnecessary expenditures? Actually, the concert sector displayed strength and resiliency in '09, but simply collapsed this year. Figures recently released by Billboard show the following for North America in 2010:

Gross receipts: Down 26.6%
Attendance: Down 24.4%
Number of Shows: Down 16%

So what was the final tally? A total of 11,555 shows attracted 38 million people and $2.1 billion in gross, according to the stats. The worldwide declines were somewhat better, but not by much.

Still, there were bright spots, but mainly at the top. Huge, superstar tours from acts like Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga outperformed, as did mega-festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo. But while the rich got richer, the once-rich were cancelling and staying home, including stars like Christina Aguilera, Lilith, and the touring Idols.

Meanwhile, serious questions surround the little guy. The talking point is that indies are enjoying more opportunities on the road, and some are definitely pulling it off. But many bands are hitting the road out of necessity, and finding it difficult to make serious money from strapped fans. That leaves the question: is there enough money out there to support the touring artist - of whatever level - or are different solutions needed?

Teena Marie, Trailblazing Singer Known As The Ivory Queen Of Soul, Has Died

2010-12-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

04:17 pm

December 27, 2010

by JACOB GANZ

Listen to the Story

All Things Considered

[4 min 8 sec]

EnlargeChris Graythen/Getty Images

Teena Marie performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in May 2010.

Lady T. Vanilla Child. The Ivory Queen of Soul. Mary Christine Brockert earned all kinds of nicknames over the course of her career. The one most people knew was Teena Marie.

Marie died yesterday at home in Pasadena, at the age of 54. A white woman whose exceptional voice made her a success in the traditionally black genres of soul, R&B and funk, her career began on Motown in the late 1970s. The cover of her 1979 debut album,Wild and Peaceful, didn't feature her photo; Marie later said that Motown chief Berry Gordy wanted people to listen to her voice without getting distracted by the color of her skin.

Talking to Audie Cornish on All Things Considered on Monday, University of Pennsylvania music professor Guthrie Ramsay explained Teena Marie's talent in technical terms:

"She sings with a very robust chest voice but she also has what we call a coloratura range. And that is, she can sing — I tested it out — she's singing high Cs, high C sharps. And she moves effortlessly through the range of her voice; she has a signature and very fluid melisma — singing lots of notes on one syllable. And although her voice had a naturally wide vibrato, there was a sense that she was very much in control of it."

Rick James was one of many fans of Marie's voice. The two were romantically involved for years, and made songs like "Fire and Desire" and "I'm a Sucker for Your Love" together.

Marie had an acrimonious split with Motown; she filed a suit against the company that led to a law preventing record labels from keeping a musician on contract but refusing to release records. Ramsay says that Marie came into an industry that was in transition, and sometimes hesitant to embrace unconventional artists.

"You had some of the smaller labels being bought by larger corporations, and at that time they began to exercise a lot more artistic control over these artists in terms of what kind of music they wanted them to put out and what kind of image they wanted them to have. So she kind of stood out as an anomaly because first of all she was a white woman singing very soulful songs throughout all of the genres. She was participating in R&B ballads. She sang over funk songs. She did pop songs. Her "Ooh La La La" song is an early smooth jazz type of song. So she was really quite ambitious in her stylings, but at the same time she had to fight record labels in order to get the full range of her musicality out there."

Marie continued recording for labels like Epic and Cash Money; she recorded hits like "Ooh La La La," "Fix It" and "Lovergirl" in the '80s. Her final album, Congo Square, was released in 2009 on Stax.

Ramsay says Teena Marie's connection with soul was deep.

"She was a person who personified the idea that culture is learned. And for whatever reason, she was raised in a situation where she was exposed to soul music, R&B music, and she embraced it as her own. She believed that if it moved her, she could be part of it."

Rex Ryan Foot Fetish Video

2010-12-23T23:01:00.001-08:00