Ball of Sounds

"However, he did confirm that Rhapsody will add a feature that lets blogs and other sites embed full..."

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:34:37 -0700

“However, he did confirm that Rhapsody will add a feature that lets blogs and other sites embed full songs from Rhapsody, similar to imeem’s offering. As long as a particular user hasn’t reached the 25-song limit, they’ll be able to listen to the song in full via Rhapsody 25, whereas some of imeem’s songs are only embeddable in 30-second samples.”

- Rhapsody To Sell MP3s via Web, iLike, MTV and Yahoo | Listening Post from Wired.com

Interesting!

"JEFF LEEDS: I think that sort of transparency, where we’re all declaring our positions publicly, is..."

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:39:13 -0700

“JEFF LEEDS: I think that sort of transparency, where we’re all declaring our positions publicly, is here to stay. In music it means that all these little tribes and congregations of fans can mobilize in really powerful ways. And that in turn is contributing so much to the changes you see in the relationship between the artists and the machinery, the industry underneath and around them. It’s a crucial space to watch. I always think of music as Patient Zero in all the disorder that is changing everything in entertainment and media, including, by the way, newspapers. It’s worth paying close attention.”

- Sasha Frere-Jones

Engage your fans across the web from one place. ArtistData...

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:53:44 -0700

Engage your fans across the web from one place. ArtistData empowers musicians and music organizations to extend their reach and do less data entry.

via ArtistData

They make tour date entry, a breezey. And go vote for what sites they should hook up next.

"When we approached the major record label decision makers in order to obtain licenses for some of..."

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:48:44 -0700

“When we approached the major record label decision makers in order to obtain licenses for some of the music in their catalogs we have routinely faced demands for very large cash advances and fixed per-stream minimum payments, pressure to give them ‘free’ company equity, and requirements of utterly bizarre usage restrictions. It seems that the industry’s major stakeholders still prefer this turf to remain unlicensed rather than to allow real-life, workable and market-based solutions to emerge by working with new companies such as Sonific. This is not the way forward.”

- Gerd Leonhard

Welcome to Sonific

Sonific.com goes offline on May 1, 2008

"Here, it’s simple: You can contact just about anyone you want. The only rule is you need to..."

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 09:48:47 -0700

“Here, it’s simple: You can contact just about anyone you want. The only rule is you need to contact them personally, with respect, and do it months before you need their help! Contact them about them, not about you. Engage. Contribute. Question. Pay attention. Read. Interact.”

- Seth’s Blog: Catchers and throwers

Six Awesome Ways To Learn About Music (While Listening To It)

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:37:06 -0700

Six Awesome Ways To Learn About Music (While Listening To It)

At EMI, could digital music kill the 'record' promo? | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:52:21 -0700

At EMI, could digital music kill the 'record' promo? | Tech news blog - CNET News.com:

Interesting article on EMI’s digital-before-physical approach to marketing Yelle in the US.

Online Fandom » Sharp Insights into Indie Music...

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:25:56 -0700

Online Fandom » Sharp Insights into Indie Music Fandom

“Fonarow is an anthropologist, and she draws on theories of ritual and aesthetics to argue (and I don’t begin to do her argument justice) that essentially the indie gig is serving as a music-based trance-like coming-of-age ritual akin to drum-based rituals you see all the time in places like Africa. During the ritual transformation, fans come of age as they gradually start to become more protective of their bodies and practical about other life-responsibilities and move from the front of the stage (pure feeling) to the back of the room or leave altogether (adulthood).”

"In other words, not paying for In Rainbows today is helping people eliminate the balance they still..."

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:32:00 -0700

“In other words, not paying for In Rainbows today is helping people eliminate the balance they still owe for buying Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness when they were broke in 1995.”

- Anyone Seen My $4.2 Billion? - Chuck Klosterman

Pretty Goes with Smart: A Rational Look At The Business of Selling Music

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:03:27 -0700

Pretty Goes with Pretty: Anyone Can Sell a Product

“Musicians, being the simpletons they are, have connected the dots—all two of them. “If my music is sold in a grocery store, I should make a deal with a grocer. If my music is sold in coffeehouse, I should make a deal with the coffeehouse. If my music is being downloaded outside of any bricks-and-mortar establishment, accessed directly by my fans, I should make a deal with my fans.” Thus Paul McCartney signs to Starbucks, the Eagles make an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart, and Trent Reznor makes a million bucks in a week by going straight to his fans.

It is that fucking simple. Music industry stops supporting music retailers; music industry destroys its own niche; music industry renders itself obsolete. If music is nothing more than a product, well fuck dude, anyone can sell a product.”

: Who's Spending on Social Networks?

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:48:45 -0700

: Who's Spending on Social Networks?:

Illuminating article on the amount of money being spent on social networks.

"The RIAA’s goal is to get from complaint to judgment as quickly as possible. So far the..."

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:47:11 -0700

“The RIAA’s goal is to get from complaint to judgment as quickly as possible. So far the evidence that they have been able to cheaply amass is the shared folder, and if that’s all you need to prove copyright infringement, then it’s very, very easy for the RIAA to generate victories against large numbers of people.”

- New ruling may “grease the wheels” of RIAA litigation machine

Quote via EFF staff attorney Fred von Lohmann

"Seemingly none of the skills that propelled the recording industry to bloated, profitable excess in..."

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:52:55 -0700

“Seemingly none of the skills that propelled the recording industry to bloated, profitable excess in previous eras have any relevance in the current Web-centric economy, so why — nine years after having their milkshakes drunk by a geeky, Napster-inventing college kid — are record labels still hiring only people with music-business backgrounds? Would it kill them to get a nerd or two on staff?”

- Why Won’t the Music Business Hire Nerds? — Vulture — Entertainment & Culture Blog — New York Magazine

Groove Armada 360 deal Bacardi (via )

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:29:31 -0700

Groove Armada 360 deal Bacardi (via )

$22.3 billion spent on 'branded entertainment marketing' in 2007

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:43:07 -0700

$22.3 billion spent on 'branded entertainment marketing' in 2007:

This stuff is for real ya’ll.

"Congress is not really interested in people who don’t vote, and there is no lobby for illegal..."

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:09:46 -0700

““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.

Launch

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:18:17 -0700

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.

"To “run” the label, the BoDeans have put together a team of indie firms like OarFin,..."

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:48:19 -0700

“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.

Net Radio + Social Networking = Powerful Marketing

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:45:14 -0700

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!

"You see what they did? The shirts are eye catching and appealing enough to be worth wearing or at..."

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:18:57 -0700

“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.