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POPSRIP Music Business 1.0 1876-2008 Today in New York, 500 music company executives gathered for a historic conference at which the music business as we have come to know it was declared dead. Born in 1876 with the introduction of player piano rolls, the recording industry has fallen on rough times in the face of digital competition. Consider that the following statements were made at this gathering which were uncontroversial and would have been considered heresy mere months ago: * DRM on purchased music is dead * A utility pricing model or flat-rate fee for music might be the way to go * Ad-supported streaming music sites like iMeem are legitimate players * Indie music accounts for upwards of 30 percent of music sales * Napster isn't losing $70 million per quarter (and is breaking even) * The music business is a bastion of creativity and experimentation The recording industry was 132 years old and is survived by thousands of digital music companies, independent musicians and geeks lik
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POPSMySpace Set to Debut Music Service This could be a significant development for ad-supported free music service fans. MySpace, with millions of users, could provide a huge new market for the Big Four labels. What this will do to the thousands of independent bands who use MySpace as a promotional platform is left out of the discussion apparently.
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POPSCD Sales Still A Brisk Business For Some
From Idolator, we have short but sweet post about a small indie record store still succeeding in Green Bay, WI. I have heard other reports of indie record stores still doing well despite the wider turn in the business as a whole. As the indie stores find their way forward it shouldn't surprise anyone that recorded music is still a tactile experience for many fans. Downloads of the legal or illegal variety are great for listening to new music or out of print classics you can't find anymore, but for real fans they want to hold the CD in their hands, read the liner notes and look at the photos in the inner sleeve. Lesson learned: never forget music is an experiential business. Fans still want to experience a connection with their favorite artists. This is why the live music business is still so vital and healthy, that experience at the show and the ticket stub and tshirt to go with it can never be downloaded, neither can the CD case with liner notes.
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POPSScorsese to Direct Bob Marley Biopic Martin Scorsese has announced he is working on a documentary of the life of reggae king Bob Marley. The film will debut on February 6, 2010, the date Marley would have turned 65 had he lived to see it.
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POPSYahoo Sells Music Service to Rhapsody Yahoo ( YHOO Unlimited Music was a service as was stated in the Techdirt piece below, a service designed to fail. They bought the wonderful MusicMatch player only to dub it down and screw it up for use as the Yahoo Unlimited player, and now they are selling their subscriber base to Rhapsody owned by Real Networks , the clear leader in the music subscriptions category.
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POPSU2 To Stay Put with Universal The Internet rumors were flying recently that U2 would soon be leaving Universal Music Group ( VIV ) to head to greener pastures at Live Nation ( LYV ). Turns out that was not quite true.
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