March 27, 2008
$22.3 billion spent on 'branded entertainment marketing' in 2007

This stuff is for real ya’ll.

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March 26, 2008
“ Congress is not really interested in people who don’t vote, and there is no lobby for illegal downloaders,” Lee said. “Honestly, you have a better shot with your crack ho.

Panel discourages media piracy - News

Quite a point you’ve made there, sir.  

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March 25, 2008
Launch

muxtape:

Muxtape is up, you can create an account and start using it right away. Here’s my muxtape. The feature set is minimal to start with, but expect rapid developments. This tumblr will serve as a changelog and to highlight new features as they evolve. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

 A new mixtape option.  Legality somewhat in question I’d guess.  And apparently you can only create one mixtape.  Which is a rather interesting idea since most people have multiple mixes that they might be working on at a time.  Also it seems that there is no way to take your playlists and put it anywhere else except their hosted site.  There are no widgets. 

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March 24, 2008
“ To “run” the label, the BoDeans have put together a team of indie firms like OarFin, Koch, Under The Radar, Songlines and Moxie Star to handle various aspects of distribution, radio promotion, publicity and marketing with the band itself in control.

hypebot: BoDeans Go D.I.Y. With Impressive Results

This seems to be a trend in music marketing.  Instead of having everything done within one label umbrella, there is WAY more outsourcing going on with promotion and distribution. This can work really well, or rather badly depending a lot on the amount of communication that goes on between all the various aspects.  There still needs to be a central hub that controls these offshoot parts of the album release.

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Net Radio + Social Networking = Powerful Marketing

hypebot: Net Radio + Social Networking = Powerful Marketing

“A cost-effective new release campaign can now bypass traditional media entirely and focus  on web radio, social networks and proven to be effective music blogs.”

This article has some nice points about the value of online radio.   This is an interesting point because of the increased pressure from the CRB with royalty rates that would effetively kill most online radio statoins.  I’m glad to see some numbers backing up their influence!

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March 21, 2008
“ You see what they did? The shirts are eye catching and appealing enough to be worth wearing or at the very least examining in the store but the real product was the game. The shirt is a promotion, a benefit, a bonus that the game audience gets. You like this game? Why not wear the shirt for it, let your friends know. If these games were sold in the toy or software section they would get lost in the crowd. They aren’t halo or grand turismo or whatever iteration of GTA they are up to, and thats the point.

Kevin Allen Jr. -

Interesting concept.  Not completely original but I’m surprised that this was at a Target. This might be an interesting venture for a fashion conscious musician.  I can see it working on a smaller scale.

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“ That’s classic Sherman Antitrust Act behavior. It’s called tying, and it’s where a company with a monopoly position in one market uses that monopoly position unfairly to compete in another.

hypebot: eMusic Promises Lawsuits If Apple Offers “Unlimited”

Interesting development.  I don’t forsee anything happening for awhile if the bundled music package is true.  This reminds me of the silly rumor about Jay-Z starting a label for apple.  People love to speculate! 

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March 20, 2008
“ Music is about taste. No amount of qualifications or expertise or insider privilege will send me to read the work of a music journalist whose taste leads me down blind alleys - see Q or NME, for example.
The Raconteurs - Almost Music 2.0 « Song, by Toad •

Alice 

“The music video for my song ‘Alice’, an electronic piece of which 90% is composed using sounds recorded from the Disney film ‘Alice In Wonderland’. Download the full song in 160kbps MP3 format here: http://www.nickbertke.com/FTP/Alice.mp3”

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March 19, 2008
TiVo Integrates Podcasts with Set Top Box

Good news for podcasters!  For the long-term sustainment of podcasts, having them integrated with as many services like TiVo is great because you can acess podcasts more conveniently.  Though I can’t think of anyone who listenings to podcasts via television.  Oh well, one step at a time.

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Indie labels bypass iTunes, give digital sales a shot

This is a nice article about how labels and artists are moving away from iTunes and starting to be more independent, controlling their own online stores.  This is smart for a number of reasons, especially if you’re a label with a strong brand and people that pay attention to what you’re doing.  Lable stores are a great way for you to conntect directly.  You get more information, control prices directly, can follow trends immediately and generally don’t have to wait for 3rd party reporting like you would with iTunes. 

IODA is currently working on releasing out own label download stores.  We have several up already, but more are coming!

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March 18, 2008
http://campaign-archive.com/archive.phtml?cid=E8FOR8OGI4&rid=ilgV7G0El6

Naxos- they know what they’re doing.  A great example of a label that knows their audience and gets them the information they want in a variety of ways.

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March 5, 2008
Merge Records Store

Matt really likes this new store.  And I’ll admit, I like the sassy little drop-down menu from Purchase. Clean! 

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“ Reznor has put aside most concerns about fairness and has concentrated on a practical goal: Generate as much revenue as possible while getting the music into as many hands as possible. Is it fair that some people will take the entire album on file-sharing networks? Maybe, maybe not, but a business model that is constructed upon one party’s definition of fairness is probably not going to achieve the best result. Reznor understands the futility in fighting file sharing and he knows he can sell his music in spite of file sharing.

Coolfer - The Fairness Principle: Fairness or Profit

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