Records on the Wall Mean Kids Run it All

There is something about Sunday's that I love. Not sure what it is, but I've always liked Sundays. Sunday's are sort of a lazy day I guess, and I'm sort of a lazy guy in some ways, so I guess that's where my train of thought comes in. As I sit here looking at the walls around me, with framed records and framed 8'11" autographs on them, I look at the artists they represent and realize things are so very different now then when they were up and coming artists.

One thing that comes to mind immediately, almost in alarm, is that the MUSIC INDUSTRY IS NOT IN TROUBLE. The RECORD INDUSTRY is. There is a misconception brought on by the media covering the major record labels that the music industry is in a state of emergency, this could not be further from the truth. Labels are having a hard time selling records, nothing else. The music industry consists of touring, merchandise, records, television, publishing, producing, and so many other things. If one piece of the pie is gone, it doesn't mean the pie is no longer edible.

A long long time ago, when a record came out, if I bought the record it was mine. If I lent to someone to listen to, I no longer had that record. That was the beauty of the record industry. In order to get the music, you HAD to buy it. Now a days, if I give someone an mp3 to listen to, I still have it and so do they. This is the problem the record industry is facing right now. The thing is, it's not going to be the dinosaurs at the major labels to come up with a new business plan on how to do things, it's going to be a young mind, maybe a band, maybe not, that comes up with the plan that revolutionizes the way we do business in the industry.

Bands and artists these days do things like sell ad space on their trailers to fund tour marketing, play elks lodges and vet halls so kids can get in cheap, and they sell a ton of CD's that way. Bands let fans pick the set list for the show, allow fans to design their own merchandise to buy, and do as much as paint their entire van/converted school bus to be one huge rolling advertisement for their band...and then EMI lays off employees to cut expenses down.

It's so sad, and this may be stretching it a bit, but it's so sad that you might have better luck putting a 17-year old lead guitar player who handles the business in his screamo band as the CEO of Sony/BMG, EMI, Universal, or Warner Bros, and get better results than your getting at the present time.

Be innovative. Cut the shit.

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Now as well as providing free blog posts and articles for bands on how they can help further their music career, The Opening Note is offering consultation services for the bands/artists who take their career a little bit more seriously and are looking for guidance. Check out the "Consultation" section of the site and inquire about what we can do for you! ----------------------------------------->

Thursday Run Down

• Having failed to stop piracy by suing internet users, the music industry is for the first time seriously considering a file sharing surcharge that internet service providers would collect from users. (Check it)
• Sueing Napster was the record industry's biggest mistake...(No Really)
• I have received a few comments about my story talking about Trent Reznor being a genius, because without his labels in the past he never could have done what he did, but readers must understand, NIN is not a huge act anymore. They are none as a fringe act, meaning they were once big but can't sell out a small sized arena. Reznor has made $1.6 million in sales and had over 700,000 transactions. That's more than Justin Timberlake after a month of album sales. (Read a great article on this extremely smart guy)
• Here is a list of peeps that have pissed off the IRAA enough to go to court....Star Wars style...

Untitled from thesixtyone on Vimeo.

Wednesday Run Down

• EMI has made peace with the music industry's international trade association, more than three months after its private equity owner threatened to cut its annual funding for its activities in half or pull out altogether. (Read Article)
• Baby bands looking for that big break, buzz bands hoping to become the next big thing and big bands trying to rejuvenate their careers all bring their A game to about 80 venues -- bars, coffeehouses, nightclubs, parks, restaurants, amphitheatres, concert halls, TV soundstages, churches and even the odd private house. With most of the round-the-clock action centred around two bar-riddled cross streets that are closed to vehicular traffic during the event, SXSW resembles New Orleans during Mardi Gras -- but with cowboy hats, BBQ and much better music. (SXSW Stuff)
• A group set up to protect civil rights in the digital arena has condemned the music industry for mounting High Court action against Eircom. (Check it)

• With an ever increasing number of people downloading their music for free, albeit often illegally, over the web, the music industry is at a critical juncture: adapt or die. We7 is a music download website that hopes to set the tone for the music industry in the 21^st century. It thinks it has found a way to make music available for free and yet still generate revenue for record companies and artists. (Read More)

Tuesday Run Down

• With the new business model for labels being a service based company, digital labels such as Musicwerks, Zoomoozik, and now Missing Beat are emerging. Check out Missing Beats press release HERE.
• Couple taken in as UK's largest music faud! (Read Article)
• Music Conference 2008, for the new music industry (Read Press Release)
• Finally, the RIAA admits that suiting over file sharing DOES NOT WORK! (Read Full Article)
• Civil War breaks out in the Music Industry, and as usual, record label executives seem to be on the wrong side of it. (Check it)
  

Monday Run Down

• Many say that without a corporate tie-in, many bands won't make it. Read article from AdvertisingAge here.
• Consensus at CMW seminar says fees for filing sharing are coming, sooner than later. (Read Full Article)
• History of SXSW Music Festival. (Plain and Simple)
• This year at SXSW, everyone is looking for TV-ready acts! (Check it)
• Canadian music and movie pirating headquarters raided by Mounties (For Real)
  

What IS Hip Hop?

Before I get started, let me first make it clear that I’m a white boy, originally from Maine, and that I am fully aware of this fact.

I hear a lot of flack around town these days about Hip Hop. It’s usually negative, something along the lines of, “I can’t stand that Soulja Boy shit”, or “All they talk about is bitches and hoes”. I’m here to put the record straight on what Hip Hop is, and why it’s more than just a rapping.

Hip Hop is a culture. What started off in the late 1970’s as dancing, graffiti, and rapping has emerged into much more. Early pioneers such as Big Daddy Kane, Grand Master Flash, Young MC, Naughty by Nature, and Run DMC paved the way to bring the Hip Hop culture into commercial America.

Today Hip Hop is like cinema. When you go to a movie, you have so many different choices. You’ve got Drama, Comedy, Action, Horror, Rated-R, Rated-G, Porn, and Cartoons. It goes on and on. Hip Hop, as well as Rock N’ Roll for that matter is the same way. You’ve got entertainment rap, such as Soulja Boy and Snoop Dog. You’ve got Gangsta rap in the likes of Dr. Dre, Warren G, 2Pac. East Coast rap in B.I.G. and Diddy, Dirty South, and CHI-Town with Kanye. It goes on and on, and that’s just the rap element. You’ve also go Producers, DJ’s, R&B singers, dancers, etc.

The point is there is a place for all of it. Don’t walk around saying you hate Hip Hop. That’s like saying you hate life. When you go to the club you can’t deny that you love hearing Soulja Boy when you’ve had a few drinks and you’re ready to cut it. That’s what it’s there for. It’s entertainment. At the same time, driving in your car you pop in a Lupe Fiasco, or Common, maybe Pac. Those are the guys that get you when you’re in an intellectual mood. You’ve got guys like Cee-Lo, who can give you both. Let’s not forget something like Erika Badu, or Outkast either.

The culture of Hip Hop is in everyone, even a white boy from Maine. Don’t hate on something you really know nothing about. Because when it comes down to it, the Hip Hop you hate, may be the Hip Hop in you…

Artists think the whole world is out to get them!

Growing up as a musician(and yes I am aware I still have a lot of growing up to do), going to college and now working in the music industry, I learned at a very early age that artists literally thing everyone they meet is out to get them.

I, for a long time, was one of these artists. Everything an artists spends money on they think of what's going to happen in the long run and how and if they will see an immediate return from the investment spent. This is a smart move, but many times an artists will not go through with an opportunity if there is no promised result.

For example, an artist may not run an advertisement because there is no "promise" for the people that will go to the show as a result of the ad.

I work for a digital record label, and this is not by any means an endorsement for the label, in fact I won't even mention the name. The point of this blog is the recent frustration I've received as a direct result of talking to bands and acts about working with us. What we do is offer bands an opportunity to create and develop a fanbase through net marketing, A&R support and digital distro. We advertise the artist on sites like Rollingstone.com, Filter, Blender, and a little over 100 other notable sites. The act also gets A&R consultation with a music industry professional A&R scout that is included in the price. This all goes along with getting digital distribution, which is free anyways.

The point of the matter is, and I won't disclose the price but I promise it's cheap, 90% of the artists I talk to refuse to put any investment into their career. I actually got, "Are you serious? We would NEVER put money towards advertising, thats not our job", from a band a few days ago. I cannot believe the amount of bands out there, that draw less than 50 people per show (on a good night), have home recorded music that can't even begin to match, sound quality wise, what's on the radio, that have the balls and arrogance to think that Clive Davis himself is going to walk into their shithole garage one Sunday afternoon while they're smokin' butts, drinking Bud, playing out of tune guitars, and SIGN them.

In the bands I've played in, we've put up serious cash for promotion and marketing, as well as recording, and we've worked hard to earn the money before we dished it out. A band is a business. If you're serious, and I'm sure you are, get off your ass, become a working band and earn what you "think" you have. News flash: You're NOT that good, and NO band is as important as you think YOU are.

A radio campaign at a small level costs around $10,000. Radio ad's start at around $400 for a week and only go up. No label is going to take a band that can't sell out rooms, let alone 50 tickets and invest $$$ into it. Get a grip on reality.

If I've offended you, then I've done my job. GET TO WORK!


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Thursday Run Down- Slice the Pie

• Slicethepie.com releases first fan funded album. You can see the press release here. The sad thing is, they didn't even plug the band's website in the press release. To read more about fan funded music, check out this article.
• YouTube has yet to pay any royalties out to any of the artists signed on with one of the four major labels that signed deals with YouTube 18 months ago. (Read Article)
• Wal-mart's CD Markdowns worry Music Industry(Read Article)
• IndieMV welcomes two new entertainment business pro's to the team. (Read Release)
  

Reznor the Genius

Trent Reznor has really got a good thing going. In under a week he's made $1,000,000 by essentially giving his new album "Ghost" away for free. The album has 36 tracks total. Reznor made 9 available for free, and then through his website has many different packages ranging from $10.00-$300.00 in retail value. He's done all of it without label support, and because of it has banked. In 3 days he sold out of the $300.00 package, which only had 2500 units available.

The point is, while labels are bitching about illegal downloads and this and that, here is an artist that, on his own, GIVING his music away and then letting the fans decide HOW and WHAT they want to buy. Talk about fan loyalty. NIN is going to be one of the biggest selling acts this year, and lets not forget, it's an instrumental.

Wednesday Run Down

• THERE COMING FOR YOU! 8,000 new lawsuits were filed globally this week already. These guys mean business, so WATCH OUT! (Read Full Article)
• Greg Sandoval wrote a great article describing what we can see further down the road in 2008. Anything iTunes prices, to Amazon and Ad-supported downloads. (Full Deal)
• The Pirates Have Won! Now What? (Worth a Gander)
• It took less than two days for the Nine Inch Nails to sell out 2500 copies of the Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition CD Package at $300 direct from the band's web site. Add to that any reasonable numbers fron the $75 deluxe edition, $10 CD/DVD preorder and $5 download and it appears Reznor has pocketed a cool million $'s plus without the help of a label and only viral promotion. (Full Post from Hypebot)
  

Combat Against Illegal Download Bill

You have downloaded music for free. Fact.

Your broke. Fact.

Your mind set is, "I'm only one person, what difference do I really make?"

The answer to that is, "A big difference".

The first two years I was in college I downloaded music probably more than most people do. Then I was told off by a guy who worked out 5 times a day and was basically told I was a giant d-bag for downloading artists music for free.

Another Fact: You are a giant d-bag for downloading music from artists who, let me tell you are a LOT worse off financially than you are. Stop being a d-bag. Thats all I ask.


Pass the bill and get these greedy mo-fo's taken care of.

Tuesday Run Down

• JupiterResearch analyst says the record industry needs to revolutionize it's business model even further because of online downloading and legal P2P sites. (Read More)
• Magazine hails Reznor "creative" and the music industry "stinky". (Check it)
• If you're in college, you could be policed by your university to help stop illegal downloads! This is first happening in Tennessee, but could spread to other parts of the country. (Read Full Article)
• Wal-mart has plans to stay at the top, what will iTunes do? (Read More)
  

Licensing Opportunities Presidential Campaign '08

Imagine the possibilities....

Monday Run Down

• According to MCV, the trade organization’s figures show that the games business was the second most valuable entertainment market at retail in 2007, and it is fast approaching the DVD industry.(Read Article)
• Will Bundling Save the Music Industry? Whatever you say about the recorded music industry today, there's no shortage of choice. (Read Full Article)
• Downloading Ringtones, Playing Music in Public May be Illegal (Read Article)
• Pittsburgh Tribune puts a "Spin on the Industry". (Apology Accepted)
• Nine Inch Nails follow Radiohead with Free Album! (Check it)
  

Musician Resources

To the right you'll see separate links to other sites I run. Check out new entires in Marketing, Radio, PR, and Networking, as well as my "hit list", which contains kick ass blogs/websites.


Party on Wayne, Party on Garth.

Bands Can Track MySpace Hits...Geographically

A new site I came across today called Hitslink allows bands to track their hits via their MySpace page geographically. All a band needs to do is place a smaller banner on their page and it will track hits to your account. A band can track which parts of the world view their site more, helping to pin point target markets when touring, and also when showing data to clubs, promoters and talent buyers world wide. (And it's FREE)