Music Industry Forum

Weekly News Roundup Nov. 16 - Nov. 22, 2008

NME: Guns N' Roses' 'Chinese Democracy' breaks MySpace record

Billboard: No Doubt Regrouping For Tour

BBC: Paul McCartney Wants To Release "Lost" 14-Minute Beatles Track

Business Wire: Gaylord Entertainment Announces Key Leadership Team Promotions

NARAS: GRAMMY Foundation, Do Something Launch Key Change Grants Program

Vivendi CEO 'Has No Clue' How Slump May Affect Biz

Via Reuters

The chief executive of Europe's largest entertainment group Vivendi is cautious on prospects and monitoring costs because he had "no clue" how the downturn would affect his different divisions.

Speaking at an Ofcom International conference in London today (Nov. 21), Jean-Bernard Levy was asked in which areas of the business he was optimistic and in which he saw the most risk.

"I have no clue how to answer your question," he said with a smile. "Some people tell me this will generate consumer spending. Some people show me market surveys explaining that entertainment as a whole has become as essential as food or health.

"Some people say that especially the kind of digital entertainment which we are in, is quite cheap.

"But because I don't know we have to be very cautious. We are going to control the cost within the company and hopefully because the products [and] the content will be good we will be rewarded and not hit too much by this recession. But I would be very bold to tell you we are immune."

Levy said he had still not seen any signs of a downturn at Vivendi, parent company of Universal Music Group, but was making sure they were prepared if it did happen. Vivendi also has interests in games, TV and telecoms.

He also said he was watching France Telecom's push into providing more movies and programmes and said the rules needed to be equal for all.

"As France Telecom is the very dominant player, as the incumbent operator in France, there is of course a big risk that the rules would be biased and we will be watching that very closely," he said.

Microsoft announces new Zune Pass music subscription model

Consumers can now keep the tracks they love

Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s digital music and entertainment service, today announced landmark agreements with major and independent music labels to bring significant new value to the subscription music model. The Zune Pass subscription service currently gives consumers on-demand access to millions of tracks for $14.99 per month. Starting today subscribers will also get to select 10 tracks per month to keep and add them to their permanent collection (an estimated $10 value).

Agreements have been signed between Microsoft and EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group, as well as independent distributors INgrooves, Independent Online Distribution Alliance and The Orchard. The Orchard delivers digital music, video and brand services globally, and represents labels including Barsuk Records (Nada Surf) and Fania Records (Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz). IODA represents labels including Arts & Crafts (Broken Social Scene, The Stills) and Ghostly International (Matthew Dear, School of Seven Bells). The new enhanced subscription model came about as a result of close collaboration with all of these companies.

Zune Pass subscribers will have the added benefit of retaining digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3 tracks from Sony BMG and UMG, in addition to MP3 tracks from EMI Music, Warner Music Group and a large portion of the independent music labels. With the addition of tracks from UMG and Sony BMG, Zune will soon offer over 90 percent of its music in the MP3 format.

“The way people consume music has changed. With the shift to digital from CDs, it is more challenging than ever to offer the right mix of deep content, music discovery and economic value,” said Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune at Microsoft. “People want the freedom to listen to whatever they want across millions of songs, combined with the confidence that they can keep their favorite tracks forever.”

From its inception, Zune has bet on the power of subscription, not only as a consumption model but also as a way to highlight the music discovery features central to the Zune experience and the PC platform. The Zune service gives consumers convenient and unlimited access to the music they want, and also connects them to other music fans and expert sources to help them find the music they will love. The new enhancements to the Zune Pass subscription service offer unprecedented value for all music fans.

“The subscription model continues to redefine the digital music landscape, and today’s announcement is great news for consumers, artists and labels,” said Simon Renshaw, chief executive officer of Strategic Artist Management (representing Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Everclear, Tila Tequila and Aly & AJ). “This breakthrough offer makes it easier than ever for consumers to discover new music and will encourage deeper engagement in the digital music space, and that is good for the entire industry.”

A Zune Pass gives a subscriber access to millions of tracks that can be streamed or downloaded from a PC or directly from a Zune device when in a wireless hot spot. Downloaded music can be shared among up to three PCs and three Zune devices. In addition to unlimited downloads, consumers now also get to select 10 free tracks per month to keep and add to their permanent collection. These tracks can be burned to a CD or moved to other devices even if their subscription ends.

Since the launch of the Zune portable media player and music service two years ago, Zune has invested in improving the subscription model and the discovery experience it brings to life. With the recent launch of Zune 3.0, Microsoft built additional value into the Zune Pass offering by adding new features focused on music discovery and personalizing the music experience for each user:

• Mixview. Customers can select an artist, album or listener from the Zune Social online music community to activate a dynamic visual mosaic of related music and listeners. With each click, users can take the view in a new direction. Mixview works with users’ current collection of music, in addition to tracks and albums from across the Zune Marketplace.
• Zune Channels. Subscribers can explore dozens of channels programmed by genre; explore sources such as Billboard Hot 100, The FADER magazine and KEXP radio; or access themed channels, like fitness, to get a steady stream of new music added to their collection automatically. Zune will even create custom channels for each user, based on favorite artists and genres.
• Personal Picks. Now the Zune software learns what kind of music users like and makes personal recommendations. Each week Zune suggests artists, albums and tracks based on the music each person has been listening to, as well as channels they might enjoy and listeners like them in the Zune Social.

To give people a chance to experience the Zune Pass subscription, Zune is offering a free, 14-day trial to all new customers. More information is available at http://www.zune.net/free .

Where would you say you have met some of your valuable music industry connections?

There is a great discussion going on over at the Music Industry Forum boards on LinkedIn about one of our favorite topics: networking.  Specifically, member Richard Sanchez asked the group "Where would you say you have met some of your valuable  music industry contacts?"  Answers have ranged from conference [i.e. MIDEM, CMJ, SXSW] to shows to the internet.  Networking opportunities are all around us.  We're going to leave the comments open on this one and would love to hear what you have to say ...

Clapton: The Autobiography

Clapton: The Autobiography has been out just over a year [six months in paperback].  It's a deep rich tale of a complicated life: his mother's early rejection, well documented drug use, affairs and the heartbreaking loss of his son, Conor, in 1991.  If you haven't read this book yet, you should.  If you have, buy another copy and gift it as a gift this holiday season to the music lover on your gift list.

Here's a round up of reviews:

Entertainment Weekly

In the charming and surprisingly candid Clapton: The Autobiography, rock's most beloved ax-wielder does come off as a man of deep and profound feelings — in the moments of clarity that accidentally transpire before he can get back to the smack (in the early '70s) or another bottle of booze (mid-'70s through the late '80s) or another gorgeous British bird (all of the above eras and then some). He's equal parts sexual aggression and emotional passivity, dogging a reluctant Boyd for years and then, once she succumbs, resenting her for the next decade-plus. (At a party celebrating their wedding, he hid in a cupboard, waiting to spring out and seduce one of his new bride's friends...but passed out and spent the night there.) Passages dealing with the tragic 1991 death of his son, Conor — who was memorialized in the hit ''Tears in Heaven'' — are less harrowing than you'd expect, if only because Clapton seems a little too detached in his then-new sobriety to deal much with his grief. Finally, after noting that he made a bed for the first time in his life in the '80s at the rehab center Hazelden, Clapton allows that he never had to grow up till fairly recently, and you sigh with relief: He does get what we've understood for the last 300 pages.

Curl Up and Read:

There have been dozens of books written about legendary guitar master Eric Clapton, and there is little left that is unknown about his life. That's precisely why this self-written reveal has been so anticipated by fans and followers. But it fails to deliver. What comes across is an individual who has experienced unbelievable popularity as an artist, and someone who has been able to hide behind that facade. For all that he tells us - and that's now much - there is obviously so much more that he holds back. In fact, you can learn more about the man from the abovementioned books already out.

Clapton was an illegitimate child (common knowledge), and he does talk about that. Actually, he blames most of his later troubles like alcoholism and drug abuse and infidelity on this early wrinkle. He takes us through his childhood and being reared by grandparents and his gradual realization of music. That is interesting but not profound.

Salon:

This isn't unusual in rock, where age does not always bring majesty. But for fans whose interest in rockers' lives is pretty much confined to carved-in-Mount-Rushmore figures like the Beatles and Bob Dylan, the new Clapton autobiography thus starts out at a considerable disadvantage, one that can uncharitably be summed up as, "Who cares?" Clapton did gain personal notoriety for his tormented relationship with George Harrison's wife Pattie, for beating alcoholism and drug addiction, and for the tragic death of his young son. But is the life story of a former rock legend turned artistic B-lister really worth reading?

The answer turns out to be yes. "Clapton" is really two stories in one, and he tells them both pretty well. On the one hand, it's a classic rocker's autobiography, a big bag of buttered celebrity popcorn, filled with inside dish about famous musicians, drunken, stoned escapades and abortive relationships. But it's also a redemption narrative, in which a wastrel is saved by grace after hitting bottom.

This may not sound like a promising combination. Rock autobiographies can be superficial, gossipy and dumb. And redemption narratives are frequently marred by psychobabble and after-the-fact moralizing. Fortunately, though Clapton's perspective is that of a survivor, he neither flagellates himself nor tries too hard to justify his screw-ups. Mostly, he simply presents his misadventures with a kind of no-nonsense wryness. It's true that he does posit some self-help-tinged explanations for why he kept screwing up, which sometimes verge on the canned. But even canned self-analysis can contain truth. In the end, Clapton ended up cleaning up his own mess, and you'd have to be cynical indeed not to be moved by his tale of redemption.

Weekly News Roundup Nov. 9 - Nov. 15, 2009

NPR: Russell Simmons' Global Grind Connects The Hip Hop Generation

VH1: 50 Cent's New Album, Before I Self Destruct, Pushed Back To 2009 Release

SPIN: New York Dolls to Record New Album

Rock N Roll Hall of Fame: SoHo Calling: Rock Hall Annex to Open in NYC November 2

Rolling Stone: Jimi Hendrix Experience Drummer Mitch Mitchell Dies

Live Nation to Sell MP3s on Artists Web Pages

According to Digital Media Wire, Live Nation will soon begin selling MP3s from artists on three major labels on its own dedicated Web pages for the artists.

The songs from Sony Music, Universal Music and EMI artists will be licensed through Live Nation's Musictoday unit, which already powers fan sites for artists including the Rolling Stones, Celine Dion and Dave Matthews Band. 

The songs will be sold through appliedSB, which will handle aggregation, hosting and delivery services, a source told Digital Music News.

Music Industry Forum Podcast #2

Music Industry Forum Podcast Episode #2 by musicindustryforum

This week we talk with Brad Turcotte of Compadre Records and Music World Entertainment.

"Someone will eventually get it," Brad Turcotte tells us when he speaks about his passion for the music industry on episode #2 of the Music Industry Forum Podcast.  Brad is currently the President of Compadre Records and the Executive VP of his mentor Mathew Knowles' company, Music World Entertainment. 

Brad has worked for Columbia Records, Curb Records, and spent over a year as a songplugger for Nashville music publisher, A.P.I. Turcotte has worked for artist management and booking agency Bobby Roberts Company in Nashville and Image Management. Additionally, he has worked for several entertainment law firms assisting with the careers and music catalogs of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Blue October, Aaron Tippin, and Darryl Worley, among others.

In 2001, shortly after he moved back to Texas to accept employment with ABC Radio Networks in Dallas, Brad moved to Houston to attend law school, where he later started Compadre Records. Brad teaches music business at The Kinkaid School, and has a Music Business degree (B.B.A.) from Belmont University in Nashville and a law degree. 

As always, we love to hear your story ideas and feedback on the program - [email protected]. Advertising opportunities are also available.

CMA Songwriters Series presented by American Airlines

There are a lot of great events this week in Nashville as part of the CMA Awards - here's one we recommend checking out:

CMA Songwriters Series presented by American Airlines

Enjoy the show as the songwriters perform some of their hits as well as give insight into the stories behind the songs

Participating songwriters include

• Ashley Gorley
  “You’re Gonna Miss This” / Trace Adkins, “All-American Girl” / Carrie Underwood, “Don’t Forget To Remember Me” / Carrie Underwood
• Kelley Lovelace
  “All-American Girl” / Carrie Underwood, “Ticks” / Brad Paisley, “Laughed Until We Cried” / Jason Aldean
• Dave Berg
  “Stupid Boy” / Keith Urban, “If You’re Going Through Hell” / Rodney Atkins, “Moments” / Emerson Drive
• Deanna Bryant
  “Forever Love” / Reba McEntire, “Stupid Boy” / Keith Urban, “Don’t Make Me” / Blake Shelton

• Time: 9:30 PM/CT
• Location: Hard Rock Cafe, 100 Broadway
• Cost: $20 [ Buy Tickets Online ]

Weekly News Roundup Nov. 2 - Nov. 8, 2009

Spin Magazine: Mos Def Wanted By Las Vegas Police

FMQB: EMI To Outsource U.S. Operations?

Associated Press: Motown's Jheryl Busby dies at 59

CNET: Apple Planning a Cloud-to-Mobile Music Service?

MTV: Ludacris Launches Web Site, Drops Album Same Day As Kanye West

Stagecoach Festival: Announces 2009 Dates & Lineup

The Licensing Plate:  Umphrey's McGee Puts A New Twist On Selling Music

The Register: Chopping The Long Tail Down To Size