Metamorphosis of an Experience: Physical to Digital

Tearing off the plastic film, the click as the case swings open, the smell of the glossy booklet and the excitement as you close the deck of your stereo… I grew up in the era of CDs and I always loved the experience of getting that album you’d been waiting somewhere in the range of 2 to 4 years for. There was something to be said for the physical interaction involved with getting that new music. I would mark the day of release on my calendar and once I got it home I would pop in the disc and examine the artwork and liner notes as it played.

In 2009 this is a practice that most find arcane, overpriced and inconvenient. The Internet has changed the way we consume music (and everything else) and people have less patience for the models of days passed. Rather than waiting for the latest magazine spread featuring an interview and photos of your favourite artist you can do a Google image search while perusing their Twitter entries. Instead of heading out to the store on release day you can surf to the iTunes store or whatever free sharing site has managed to get a hold of leaked tracks early. At the very least you can visit the band’s Myspace page and hear the tracks they’ve chosen to exhibit.

Breaking New Ground: The Nine Inch Nails Approach To The Music Industry

It was big news when Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor broke ties with long time label Interscope Records (owned by Universal Music Group) after the release of “Year Zero Remixed” in 2007. In an interview with the Australian newspaper The Herald Sun in May 2007, Reznor described his distaste for the major labels and their actions. He recounted how he had entered an HMV in Sydney only to find that his band’s new album was priced $10 to $15 more than most other releases. He told the paper that in a conversation with a label rep about the situation he was told, “basically it’s because we know you’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people buy it. True fans will pay whatever”.

 

Josh Freese Marketing Update

In a recent post (February 24, 2009) the unorthodox marketing initiative of artist Josh Freese was discussed in detail. The following is an e-mail sent directly from Josh Freese to Bob Lefsetz (famous for his career spent as an American entertainment lawyer/author of “The Lefsetz Letter”/majordomo of Sanctuary Music’s American division) that Lefsetz published in one of  his many “mailbag” posts on April 11, 2009. Here Freese discusses the results of his unique approach thus far:

From: Josh Freese
Subject: Checking in with an update.

Hi there Bob. How are ya?

So, I wanted to check in and give you an update on what’s been going on just after the first week or so of my records release. My label, “Outerscope Records” (that’s me, my girlfriend and our nanny when the kids are asleep) is proud to report that  I’ve sold about 150 of the $50 of the packages and all 25 of the $250 packages (those went in the first 24 hours.) In less than a week I have sold 4 of the $500, 2 of the $2,500, 2 of the $5,000, and the big old $20,000 package! No one has bought the $75,000 package yet but I’ve had someone fairly serious inquiries about it (still only “talk” at this point though.)

Concert Ticketing: The New Frontier

Perhaps the only topic receiving more attention these days than digital downloading and the unstable footing of the major labels is concert ticketing. As record sales have bottomed out, the revenue accrued from touring has not only remained strong but has in fact increased. This is one reason that “360 deal” has now become a commonly uttered term in the industry. Concert earnings and merchandise sales, which at one point were largely immune to being tapped by the labels, are often included in these umbrella style deals that trade overarching representation for a cut of everything. Madonna signed such a contract with Live Nation in 2007 for $120 million that combined her recording, publishing and touring revenues.

 

Since concert tickets are continuing to sell it is no surprise that more people are trying to get into the game. It is well known that goliaths Live Nation and Ticketmaster are hoping to join forces (if they can get past all of the anti-trust concerns) but a new addition to the playing field is a little company by the name of Wal-Mart. In a different twist on the ticketing front, Wal-Mart will work on an act-by-act basis, choosing specific artists to work with rather than selling tickets to anything/everything. In return, the artist

The Label Debate Continues

One of the most consistently debated and pondered over topics proliferating the conversations of the industry these days is the importance of the record label. Do artists still need them? Can you succeed without one? Whose interests do they have in mind? If you look back at the previous entries on this site you will see that there is a lengthy discussion on the position of labels in the current market. Rather than reiterate what has been said earlier this is an opportunity to look at a few recent occurrences and make a few observations. 

 

It is apparent that the music industry is no longer controlled by a group of head honchos or dominated by a few superstar artists. The playing field has been leveled in recent years as it has been made easier for fans to seek out new music and satisfy their niche tastes. Radio friendly tracks and Top 40 singles are not our only option. The Internet has allowed every person to determine their own tastes and this is diversifying what is popular or even successful music. If that is the case then some would suggest that the record label’s power in marketing and breaking a band has been diminished. Many bands are taking a portion, if not their entire career into their own hands. Myspace,

Pearl Jam Re-monetizing a classic in a fickle age

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Widely considered to be one of the most influential bands of the 1990’s and one of the key members of the grunge movement, Pearl Jam has followed the increasingly popular trend of re-releasing one of their most successful albums in a new and improved package. With an estimated sixty million albums sold worldwide throughout their career it may be difficult to determine which album that would be, but for the band formed in the mid 1980’s, it was their freshman release “Ten” from 1991 that seemed most appropriate. Although released at the end of August 1991, “Ten” reached notable commercial success in mid 1992 when it was certified gold and reached number 2 on the Billboard charts. With songs like “Jeremy”, “Alive” and “Even Flow”, the album remained on the charts for over two years and has gone on to go twelve times platinum (12 million album sold).

Josh Freese takes album marketing and promotion to new heights

It seems today that the big question being asked by the music industry is how to effectively market and monetize music. We’ve seen successful artists the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead abandon their major label ties and test the “tipping jar” (or pay what you want) and “free digital album” waters. In both cases however, the artists’ long standing track record of quality music and devoted fan bases are what have allowed such methods to work. It is still the music that is drawing people in.

Best known as the drummer for such bands as The Vandals and A Perfect Circle, and as a tour or session drummer for acts like Nine Inch nails and Ashes Divide, Josh Freese is testing out a new method of marketing that takes a different approach to selling music. Freese’s new solo album, “Since 1972”, due out on March 24, 2009 is available to fans at a variety of costs ranging from $7 to $75,000. The lowest end of the cost spectrum gives fans a digital download of the album including 3 videos. As the cost goes up the number of orders available becomes more limited (25 at $250, 15 at $500, 10 at $1000, etc.) until the top price at which only one order will be taken.

So what does $75,000 get you?

Live Nation Ticketmaster?

The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on Tuesday that according to “people familiar with the matter”, global ticket seller Ticketmaster and international concert promoter/management firm Live Nation are close to a merger deal. The two companies are some of the largest and most powerful in the music industry. Until recently Ticketmaster has held a strong monopoly on concert ticket sales although Live Nation launched its own ticketing operation in January. Interestingly enough, Ticketmaster had purchased a majority stake in the talent agency Front Line Management Group Inc. back in October for $123 million.

Together the company would be named Live Nation Ticketmaster and would easily become the world’s biggest concert promoter, ticketing service and artist management firm. Questions are stirring about the possible anti-trust issues surrounding such a merger. Ticketmaster was already accused of holding a monopoly over ticket sales before Live Nation entered the market so one can only imagine how a merger of the two will result.

Should the two companies finalize a deal, which could be announced as early as next week according to the paper, the new Live Nation Ticketmaster will control more than 200 artists including acts like U2, Jay-Z, The Eagles and Guns ‘N Roses to name a few. There is no word yet as to which company would be acquiring the other or how such a merger will affect fans and service fees.

 

Info Sources: 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123371303837346367.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/02/04/live-nation-ticketmaster-close-to-merging/

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090204/Ticketmaster_Nation_090204/20090204?hub=Entertainment

CHART goes completely digital

Launched in 1991, CHART magazine has been a voice for Canadian artists admidst the many music publications like Rolling Stone and Spin that focus more on the music to the south of us. Started by two York University students, Edward Skira and Nada Laskovski as an airplay chart for campus radio stations in Canada, it eventually grew into a monthly magazine featuring interviews, reviews, etc. 

Now, almost two decades later, CHART’s current issue will be their physical print edition. They will now be providing readers with Canadian music news via their website only (www.chartattack.com). In comment, Skira noted that “considering the state of the music industry and considering the state of the advertising industry, the advertising side of print was just not working very well and we basically had to go with the future and that’s the online side.”  Essentially there is a lack of advertising money which is the life-blood of such physical press.

He further stated that “the record companies don’t have the kind of money they had even a couple years ago. The Canadian major record companies are not signing the number of Canadian bands that they used to sign and they don’t have as many bands that we spotlight than they used to have. They are focussing on physical sales of CDs and the audience that’s buying those is not necessarily 15 years old; they’re 35, 40 50-year olds. The focus then is on artists that would appeal to people that are still buying CDs, while [the labels] try to figure out their digital strategies.”

Given the situation, CHARTattack has been given a full makeover in order to meet the standards set by its physical publications. Will these industry changes affect the content? Skira answered “we have a base that we’ve built on with the magazine, so I don’t think we’re going to all of a sudden be covering Celine Dion because we’re online. Basically we’re trying to build a community that’s interested in like-minded stuff. We definitely want to look at ourselves as tastemakers in terms of what we’re covering.”

While many may be sorry to see the magazine disappear off store shelves, there are features to be found on the website that will hopefully make up for the loss. For one thing, readers no longer have to wait a month for the latest edition as the website will be a constantly publishing source of music news. There is certainly more flexibility in the amount of information they can offer since the costs and limits of physical pages are gone. Not to mention, for those of you new to CHART’s site, there are features like “Pumping On Our Stereo” (what the staff are currently listening to) and the “Daily Poll”.

Today’s poll: “You can only save one… Morrissey or a baby seal”. Head over to the website to weigh in on the vote.

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chart_(magazine)

http://www.eyeweekly.com/blog/post/49604

Top Selling Albums of 2008

With 2008 behind us we can look back on another year of music and remember the songs and the albums that we loved and hated. We all have our own personal ideas about what were the best and the worst of the year but it’s always interesting to see what was the most successful. Granted, technology has vastly altered our conceptions of what makes music “successful” these days. In addition to physical album sales, tour earnings and merchandise sales there are ring tones, digital downloads (purchased or not), Pod casts, myspace visits, etc. to account for. Is success measured by the amount of money earned or by the number of fans reached? What about artistic merit and critical acclaim? 

It is difficult to pin down who was the most successful overall so let’s just review the top album sellers. Before we began it is worth noting that since Nielsen Soundscan began tracking sales in 1991, the best selling album has never sold less thn 3 million copies… until now.

01. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III (Cash Money / Universal) [2.88 million]

02. Coldplay – Viva la Vida (Capitol / EMI) [2.15 million]

03. Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine / Universal) [2.11 million]

04. Kid Rock – Rock N Roll Jesus (Atlantic / Warner) [2.02 million]

05. AC/DC – Black Ice (Columbia / Sony) [1.92 million]

06. Taylor Swift – Taylor Swift (Big Machine / Universal ) [1.6 million]

07. Metallica – Death Magnetic (Warner) [1.57 million]

08. T.I. – Paper Trail (Grand Hustle / Atlantic / Warner) [1.52 million]

09. Jack Johnson – Sleep Through The Static (Brushfire / Universal) [1.5 million]

10. Beyonce – I Am… Sasha Fierce (Music World / Columbia / Sony) [1.46 million]

 

All told, 428.4 million albums were sold in 2008. That is 14.4% less than 2007’s 500.5 million albums sold. Of the albums sold this year, digital downloads accounted for 65.79 million (15.4%). In 2007, only 10% of the sales were digital.  

 

2008 also saw an intersting change in sales of vinyl. Almost 1.9 million albums were sold which is more than any other year since Nielsen Soundscan began its tracking in 1991. It is also the first time since 2004 that more than 1 million vinyl albums were sold in the calendar year. The top selling vinyl album this year was Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” which sold 26, 000 copies.

 

Digital track sales exceeded the billion mark this year for the first time reaching a total of 1.07 billion sold. This is 26.7% more than 2007. The top selling track of 2008 was Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” which sold 3.37 million.

 

With all of this said, 2009 should be a very interesting year. There are a number of highly anticipated releases in stock regardless of where your tastes lie. From U2, Bruce Springsteen, and Morrissey, to Marilyn Manson, Green Day and Mastodon, to No Doubt, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Amy Winehouse, to Dr. Dre, Eminem and Jay-Z… These are just some of the big titles to be expected and even more exciting is all of the new music out there to discover this year. Happy Hunting.

Source: www.billboard.com