Ball of Sounds

This is a pretty big deal, at least for the indie rock fishbowl.  There’s also an impending redesign for Pitchfork itself buried in here:

And later this year, as part of a massive redesign effort, Pitchfork.tv will integrate with its parent site, presenting innovations and further advancements to the world of online music journalism.

Seems like a cool move on Pfork’s part.  I’ve been hearing rumblings about them taking on video more aggressively, but had figured Forkcast was the full extent of that move.  Looks like I was wrong.

UPDATE: Stereogum has more details here. 

This is on my list of articles to read about music, free, and other subjects.  NOT writter by chris Anderson, but thoughts on his new philosophy.  

“Downloadable tools, plug-ins, and more”

Last.fm thrid-party applications!  Some of these look like they could be really handy!  Time to investigate!  

“Never miss a hot track again. Peel is an MP3 blog reader and player rolled into one. Subscribe and stream music the minute it becomes available!”

So the sell-line is a bit cheesy but this looks like a potentially great service.  Sorry PC users, this gem is only available for Macs.  

Well thanks Digikorps! 

I’m pretty sure we don’t charge for encoding though.  And also, the exclusive agreement means that two distributors can’t deliver content to the same site.  Like you can’t have two people giving iTunes your music. 

Nice :]

Blogged.com is a directory that offers ratings, reviews, and comments on a categorized list of popular blogs. Our blog directory is completely free to use and does not require any registration or sign up process. Blogged.com also offers a social network community that allows bloggers and readers with similar interests to connect with each other. This service is also completely free but will require users to fill out some basic sign up information.

So far Blogged.com looks pretty helpful! If you’re ever trying to find something specific online, like music blogs, this is a great place to look!

Another examination of the new music industry. 

The New Music Equation: Radiohead, Trent Reznor, Etc.

A x B x C = D

where

A = the total # of people who acquire the work

B = the percent who actually pay for it

C = the average amount each person pays

and

D = the total revenue received

 And then they examin it further than that.  I think that’s the thing about the new music machine, it’s not ABOUT a formula.  It’s being smart enough to know what works for you and your fans.  What works for Radiohead is different than what works any other big name band or even small ones.  Especially small ones.

“But not everybody feeling the pain is an overpaid muckety-muck, and the independent-music community is taking a major hit: No Depression, the award-winning bimonthly magazine that covers alternative-country and its variants, is going out of business after the May/June issue. And the primary reason for its demise is that record-label print advertising has plummeted even faster than compact disc sales, even while the magazine’s circulation has held steady at about 30,000.”

This is why I’m nervous about ad-supported online music services.  Because what happens when the supporting companies no longer wish to spend their dollars online?