Music Business [view: normal]

Indie licensing agency Merlin, which represent almost 10% of the global music market, has reached an agreement with MySpace Music on behalf of it labels. The deal covers both streaming and purchase; and appears to also extend 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 offering the four major label...

Can low prices attract customers that stay?

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"....

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 ret...

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 ...

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...

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 t...

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 gratef...

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.

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"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 Bill...

“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

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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 ...

"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-lead...

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. Ameri...

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 ad...

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. U...

• 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" fro...

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.

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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 Ho...

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,...

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 li...

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 import...

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.

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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 mu...

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

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• 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, kill...