Ever wondered what PRS for Music Foundation do (and if you work in the industry then you really should know) just take
a look at this video below.
http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/
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We’ve long been a fan of the Un-Convention crew and their valuable, entertaining, educational, friendly events. Well, June sees them head to another part of the UK to help musicians, songwriters, bands, promoters and all kinds of music industry folk find their way in this mess of a business.
Well, in their words…
Un-Convention is a global grassroots music and creative community – that meets physically and virtually to share ideas; discuss and debate cutting edge issues around music, technology and creativity; and facilitates members engagement with their peers. Un-Convention has happened 17 times around the globe in 2 years and has another 20 events planned for 2011. Un-Convention happens in 5 continents and in cities from Swansea to Sao Paulo. Un-Convention involves 1,500 artists and bands, 16,400 participants, 36,000 gig goers and 140,000 people online per year. 40% of people attending Un-Convention are from disadvantaged backgrounds. It happens in some of the most amazing spaces including The Roundhouse and The Southbank Centre.
Visit www.unconventionhub.org for more details.
Shipyard Songwriters is bringing Un-Convention to the North East for the first time. Spread over two days the festival will combine a series of events looking at the art and creative processes behind songwriting. Unconventional spaces around the High Level Bridge in Newcastle and Gateshead will be occupied for a weekend of new works, talks and performances by some of the best emerging and established songwriters around.
Launching the festival on the Saturday afternoon at The Mining Institute and The Bridge will be an opportunity for North East based songwriters to show their song-writing wares, with sets from O’ Messy Life, Ben Holland (The Winter Hill Transmission), Ian Hunter and Paul Campbell and much more to be confirmed, plus a special appearance from Liverpool-based award winning playwright and songwriter Lizzie Nunnery to round off the afternoon.
On Saturday night at the Mining Institute, three highly regarded local songwriters – Jez Lowe, Pete Scott and Brenda Heslop (from Ribbon Road) will discuss how the writers of the past such as Joe Wilson and Tommy Armstrong influence them as song-writers today and what of their way of writing can we carry forward into the 21st century? The discussion will be followed by a concert with the writers who will illustrate their points in performance.
We are delighted to welcome two of Chemikal Underground’s finest songwriters Aidan Moffat and Adrian Crowley to round up each night of the festival. Representing song-writing from the nations of Scotland and Ireland respectively, they will give us their own unique modern slant on the human condition. Whether Aidan Moffat is being ex-frontman of Arab Strap or L. Pierre, architect of ambient soundscapes, the man from Falkirk seems to excel in whatever musical or literary projects he turns his hand to. He has always been recognised for his remarkable way with a candid (and often lurid) lyric and with the release of his solo albums he has shown just what a gifted and observant writer he is. Adrian Crowley’s music has been described as a heartbroken steam engine whistling Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’ as set to music by Leonard Cohen. Bringing us subtle poignant beauty from Dublin’s fair city.
Lizzie Nunnery will also be performing on the Sunday afternoon at Morden Tower as Shipyard are delighted to work with Liverpool based Almanac to create a theatre production written especially for Un-Convention Tyneside. Commissioning some of the most exciting local and national songwriters, musicians and writers – ‘Stories in the Walls – A Happening in the Tower’ will create a piece of real collaborative theatre, where the songs and music are an integral part of the performance. Expect the souls and spirits, the waifs and wanderers within the city walls, coming out to tell you their story, waiting to perform, all the living and all the dead.
Add to this, talks by (amongst others) veteran North East songwriters Pete Dale and Nev Clay, an official ‘songwriters pub’ acting as a meeting place for artists and audience to have a drink together and other events still to be confirmed and it’s a canny nice festival for the North East.
by Lee Jarvis.
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April 19th – 21st sees the arrival of a three day conference designed to fill the missing link in DIY Artists’ careers. MusicConnex aims to facilitate and promote social networking, informative discussion and inspiration amongst industry experts, emerging and established music acts and new media. Created by music professionals for music professionals, MusicConnex is London’s premier DIY Music & New Media Event.
Highlights include:
• Over 100 Industry thought leaders from the Music & New Media space.
• Over 40 Digital Platforms and Sessions across 3 days including speakers from;
Aspiro, AudioDraft, Amazing Media, AWAL, BandCentral Ltd, Beatport, Believe Digital, Bounce Mobile, BuyMyPlaylist, Decibel, Dada, Electric Sheep, FanShake, GoMix, Good Lizard Media, International Music Community InGroove, LEN Inc (Live Entertainment Network), JumpOff, MATIvision, mflow, MTV, Music Metric, Music2Deal, Music2Text, Music Dealers, Myplaydirect, Muzu TV, Omnifone, PledgeMusic, Radar Music Video, ReverbNation, Sentric Music, Slice The Pie, Songkick, Sounday, SoundCloud, Spotify, SplitGigs, The Orchard, TopSpin, Wimp, and WE7.
• Exclusive seminars from Facebook, YouTube & MTV, REVERBNATION, and OK Go.
• Seminar from Jonathan Forster GM Europe & VP Ad Sales at Spotify speaking about; the future of music streaming, consumption and the impact on the Artist community, and how artists can utilise their platform to promote and leverage their viral activity.
“I welcome MusicConnex to the music business event schedule and look forward to attending. The opportunity for BPI member companies to further engage in the areas the conference wants to cover, particularly the digital world, is something that the BPI energetically supports.”
- Julian Wall, BPI, Director Independent Member Services
“Technology is driving unparalleled levels innovation, disruption and empowerment within the global music industry. MusicConnex will showcase the latest innovators and thought leaders in this space as the traditional rules of engagement for music change.”
- Tim Hadley, Omnifone, Director, Corporate Communications
“I think MusicConnex is an event that can show musical entrepreneurs all facets of the music industry and how to develop their skills and make money from their careers. Encouraging artists and supporting new talent is something that’s close to my heart and when I heard MusicConnex were providing a platform to network, showcase and inspire I really wanted to be a part of it.”
- Austin Daboh, BBC Radio 1Xtra, Music Manager
We reached out to MusicConnex because it is the kind of event that our Music Jobs members would gain a lot of ideas, advice and direction by attending. Due to the current economic climate, and because we love our members (yes, you!) and, well, the fact that we are pretty awesome, we can offer a 3 day pass at the exclusive discounted price of £49. That is £49 instead of the regular £199 for three days of panels, seminars, live showcases, masterclasses, workshops, exhibitions and networking with key industry figures.
To secure this deal, go to www.musicconnex.co.uk/tickets, click on “click here to enter promotional code” and enter MJOBSDEAL1
Purchased tickets also provide entry to the LIVE gigs in the evening for CanadianBlast and the MusicConnex Showcase (this is on a first come first served basis.)
Fore more info and updates on Music Connex, check out MusicConnex Twitter and MusicConnex Facebook.
by Lee Jarvis.
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The Featured Artists Coalition is a group of artists working together to provide support and guidance to each other. The impetus for the founding of the FAC actually came from a group of music managers, as the Coalition’s Matthew Brown explains, “The FAC was brought into being by a group of managers who realised that the Music Managers’ Forum could never be as effective as they would like, simply because they weren’t the artists.” The managers in question spoke to some of their artists, who agreed to help form the Coalition.
In 2009, following a soft launch a year earlier, the Coalition was launched formally with a board of ten artists. It’s since gone from strength to strength and the board numbers heavyweights including Billy Bragg, Annie Lennox and Nick Mason.
The FAC’s aims are threefold. Foremost, says Matthew, “Is creating a sense of community amongst artists; we’ve recognised that when artists get together interesting things happen. It’s been inspirational for people involved in the FAC to get together with other artists.”
As part of this “coming together” the FAC provides educational services and social events designed to foster a sense of community amongst its members.
Its other focus is assisting artists in finding their way through the business and technological landscapes of the industry. Matthew remarks that “There’s an overwhelming amount of complexity in today’s music industry; no matter where you are in your career you can benefit from guidance. Every artist faces a level of complexity; the FAC aims to help its members navigate this.”
A longer-term aim is to influence the legislative process in the UK. The FAC believes that artists should retain ultimate ownership of their music, and agreements between artists and other industry players should be handled fairly and transparently. It campaigns for an overhaul of the UK’s increasingly archaic rights laws to reflect the technology-led landscape of the music-industry. It has developed a set of six key demands that it states will make the industry much fairer for artists, and give them rights more aligned with those of authors, which are undoubtedly stronger.
Matthew says that “it’s just a fact that changing things through legislative processes is slow, so whenever possible we’ve been working with other organisations, such as the Musicians’ Union and the MMF to try and action change on issues that we feel are important. And these are generally on the business practice end of things.” A cause Matthew is particularly passionate about is “on air, on sale”. The FAC feels the practice of releasing a song to radio weeks before it’s released for sale is counterproductive; driving people towards illegal downloading. “It doesn’t make sense” says Matthew, “Taking an aggressive anti-piracy stance and still using an anachronistic practice of putting stuff on radio eight weeks or so before it’s for sale.” The FAC calls upon the industry to change this practice, and has received positive feedback from artists regarding this campaign.
The Coalition is funded solely through contributions from its members, you guys. Five percent of UK PPL earnings secure your membership; in keeping with its equitable outlook, the more you earn, the more you pay.
The last word goes to Matthew, we ask why artists such as you should join the FAC, “Because it’s really the only place that artists can get together with their peers; the FAC is made up of performers grappling with the changes taking place in the music industry. By being part of the FAC you can be in touch with a group of fellow artists and get to grips with this change collectively.”
http://www.featuredartistscoalition.com/
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Supporting Tomorrow has limited places available at their enlightening seminar designed to show young people how to improve their chances of employment and guarantee a work placement in the media industry upon completion. Clare Hudson, Director of Supporting Tomorrow and Enterprise Educator of the year 2010 will be leading the seminars. Finding good employment opportunities in the current climate is very challenging, this seminar is for anyone who is leaving education or needs some support to get that all important step on the career ladder!
Self made millionaire, Clare Hudson was brought up on one of London’s most notorious estates, but has over come many challenges to become an accomplished entrepreneur. Clare has established two successful businesses in the music industry, which have raised the profiles of Lady Gaga and Pixie Lott. This year has seen Clare awarded the ‘Women to Watch’ Award ‘Switched-on’ by Business Link and over all sfedi/Lloyds TSB Enterprise Champion of the Year’
Demand from Teachers and Parents have lead Supporting Tomorrow to design the Seminar ‘Bridging the Gap,’ to give young people an in depth insight into the world of work. Speakers from different professions including Management, Marketing, Teaching, IT, Media, and Engineering will discuss the pathways into the professions. Participants will get essential tips and advice on securing placements, interview techniques and how to stand out in a crowded jobs market.
For full details and to reserve your place, go to: www.supportingtomorrow.co.uk
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January saw a “highly productive and optimistic” MIDEM 2010 conference take place in Cannes. The event had kicked off with the “New Models At Work” panel session, with Amanda Palmer speaking about her 2009 self-funded solo album, and her online community of fans. Hal Ritson from The Young Punx added that artists need to “get some emotional contact with [the people listening to their music]” and that music bloggers giving away free downloads should be viewed as the modern equivalent of radio promo. Starting with an inspirational DIY discussion is great, but I’m sure people were looking for other ways to get involved, as each artist’s strategy will be completely different.
Luckily, there was a diverse set of panelists and topics; with video games and mobile device apps being two major industries in the future of music, as well as possible revenue streams for artists, I am glad to see that those topics were of great importance, and even had specific discussion panels (see below). One of the quotes from the ‘Apps’ panel became the most retweeted live posts of the conference… the news that “Shazam #App is selling 300,000 songs a DAY via iTunes”.
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Afternoon to you all.
I have to say it was a little strange not heading off to the pub last Monday for an FM. Strange but good to have a break.
The number of out of office replies I am currently getting suggests the rest of the industry is off at the moment but can I please request that there really is no need to say where you are going in your message. I don’t really want to know about those of you in Barbados, St Lucia, Thailand or Australia.
It really is quite enough just to say you’re away – for those of us without holiday plans, it’s more than enough to bear!
Despite the exodus, there is still plenty of news.
Before I update you all, I really wanted to get something off my chest. Not quite my Friday rant about the difference between the Music industry and the Record industry. But a little rant non the less.
I think we have developed Cultural ADHD.
I know we have a history in this country for building people up and then knocking them down; the reasons for which seem inexplicable to me. However, as technology continues to change the way we live our lives, it seems we have developed an insatiable appetite not only for the technology but also what we consume through it.
This year, we have the highest number of female artists nominated for a Mercury. On this basis, there is already talk that labels are no longer signing female artists as they’ve ‘had their time’. Increasingly we give a band 2 albums at best before we get entirely bored of them (or is it the case that actually the quality of music being made is actually dropping?). The proliferation of electronic bands seems to have been and gone too. And what next – folk?
Align this with our insatiable appetite for technology. Myspace is so last year, Facebook so last month – Twitter – well that’s so yesterday. Spotify – how long will the enthusiasm for that last – some say the bubble has already burst. Rightly or wrongly, I am not a big myspacer, facebooker or twitterer. As you should know, I value personal relationships – it’s the very reason for the creation of FM.
It seems to me we are so obsessed with what’s next, we don’t seem to take much stock of what’s now and make much of an effort to enjoy it. Whatever happened to letting things develop and grow – good old fashioned nurturing?
People continue to demonstrate their love of being part of something real – festivals, gigs and so on. But now some of the festivals are suffering – is that because there are too many? Yes others are selling out like Glastonbury, Bestival etc
All I know is that our ability to enjoy something for a reasonable length of time seems to be diminishing as we have greater expectations from technology and what it delivers.
That this is spilling over into the way we enjoy music I think is a real concern. I think we need to take a collective deep breath and take a little more time to enjoy what so many people have spent so much time, effort and energy into making.
OK, so now on to other things.
O2 and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity are proud to announce a one off concert, featuring unique collaborations from some of the UK’s greatest music talent at London’s most celebrated music venue, The O2.
Taking place on 11th September, O2 Rockwell in aid of Nordoff-Robbins will see influential musicians including Robert Plant and Tom Jones, sharing the stage with some of the best new talent to come out of the UK in recent times. This unique event will be a celebration of the amazing contribution that Nordoff-Robbins has made to Music Therapy and the music industry over the past 50 years.
The artists confirmed to play the event, with more to be announced, in no particular order include…
Razorlight
Tom Jones
Robert Plant
Joss Stone
Ronan Keating
Gaz Coombs & Danny Goffey (performing as Hot Rats)
Gabriella Cilmi
Beverley Knight
Lulu
Dan Gillespie Sells (The Feeling)
David Gray
… with more artists coming together to plot and plan a very special Super Group to play for one night only, and legendary collaborations amongst the other artists, it truly will be the musical spectacular of the year.
One hundred percent of proceeds from the show will be donated to Nordoff-Robbins.
Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy has established itself as THE charity of the music industry, with support from across the globe and patron’s that include David Bowie, Coldplay, Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, George Michael, Cliff Richard, Keith Richards, Sting, Rod Stewart, and Paul Weller to name but a few. Since its inception back in 1959 when Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins put their individual talents together for a fantastic cause that has helped millions, it has gone on to host and benefit from some fantastic events.
Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy is the UK’s largest music therapy charity and the O2 Rockwell event is part of its celebrations marking 50 years of the Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins collaboration. It provides over 35,000 music therapy sessions to children, young people and adults who are challenged by disability, illness or injustice, through its national centre in London and over 70 national projects. Nordoff-Robbins does not receive statutory funding and needs to raise almost £3 million a year to continue to operate.
Ticket prices for Rockwell range from £40 to £65, and further information can be found at www.o2rockwell.com.
Tickets are on sale now from the following outlets:
The O2: www.theo2.co.uk
Kililive.com: www.Kililive.com
Ticketline: www.ticketline.co.uk
Stargreen: www.stargreen.com
Gigantic : www.gigantic.com
Now, for those of you worried about how to make money from your music, Own-it www.own-it.org are holding a free event called ‘How Not to Get Ripped Off’ as an introduction for creative businesses on how to protect and make the most of their creative work.
When: 19.08.09 at 18:30
Where: Street Lecture Theatre, London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle, London , SE1 6SB
Please visit http://www.own-it.org/events/how-not-to-get-ripped-off for details and to register
Going back briefly to holidays, I have come across a pretty spectacular resort in Goa. Now we are not a travel agent so you really do have to go through to the link and do all the necessary checks but this place does look stunning and if you think a healthy retreat but be just what you need, maybe in the New Year, then this seems like an ideal spot. You can check all of the details out here
http://www.sandawellness.com/india/main/index.html
and if you want to find out more, please contact them directly here anna@essence-communications.com
With so much covered in this mailing, I’m going to leave it at that for now but details will follow later this week of September FM events in London, Liverpool and New York.
Enjoy your week folks.
Sybil
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The weekly newsletter from the UK’s favourite entertainment gossip site Popbitch threw up an interesting snippet about the current state of the UK music industry. Valid points all round highlighting that some of the blame for the ‘hear now, gone tomorrow’ shelf life of artists can be attributed to the those influential media folk who insist on hyping up acts before they’ve actually achieved anything.
While those in the know can big up acts in print & online and insist we pay attention its obvious that without (a) the goods & (b) support of major radio stations the likelihood of real success is minimal. The UK music consumer is a fickle soul and while many like to keep up with trends others are not so easily manipulated by being told what they should like. Music is too subjective for any one person or even small group to determine what will make someone go download or buy a track. Its all a gamble and some get it right but more often they don’t and the artist is the one that suffers. The industry needs to back off and let the music speak for itself.
”Stop the hype! Save our future pop stars….”
It’s time to put a stop to the Critics Choice “these are the bands you WILL like next year” lists. Not only does it narrowcast music taste to a sheep-like following of what music bullies say you “should” like but it’s counter-productive, placing an unfair burden on the shoulders of artists who haven’t yet had time to develop a fan base or nurture their talent.
Everyone who writes about music falls over themselves to praise the newly-annointed, in a Emperor’s New Clothes desperation not to look uncool. And music fans who might have enjoyed discovering a new artist see the acres of hyperbolic newsprint, and then when they eventually hear the albums inevitably think “Is THAT it?”
Let’s look at this year’s annointed few:
Little Boots’ album entered the chart at five, but then dropped to 40 and right out of the charts. Florence and The Machine – no album yet, and not even a top 10 single. White Lies – two weeks in the top 10 before dropping straight out of top 40. Empire of the Sun peaked at 19; Frankmusik can’t get arrested. VV Brown is written about like she’s Beyonce but hasn’t yet had a hit.
Little Boots
So three cheers for La Roux. We don’t have to love it to be pleased that the UK music industry has one artist that’s actually selling. We only wish it sounded more creative than a copy of early 1980 synth pop. As a fanfirst time round of 80s synth pop, popbitch now knows how original 60s rockers felt when Shakin’ Stevens started topping the charts in the 80s with his erzatz “Green Door” charm.
La Roux
Subscribe to the Popbitch newsletter here - http://saffy.links.org/sub/list/popbitch
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If you’re in a band, or a producer, there is always one important question – how am I going to get a record deal?
It used to be a simple formula but things have changed. The onus is now on the band to work it themselves – to come to the label with a finished product. In the past, a band would get signed on a demo and the record company would pay for the band to go into the studio. Not anymore – the music business landscape has evolved so quickly that the industry has struggled to keep up.
(But this is not just a music industry problem. Any industry who experienced such a dramatic shift in the way they do business in such a short period of time would be left playing catch up).
My name is David Silverman and I own one of the leading music PR companies in the UK, Outpost. This isn’t the time or place to go into how I actually came to work in PR, but lets just say it came from being an artist myself – being in a band, a producer, a DJ. I also own a record label and music publishing company, 3 Bar Fire.
I’ve been on the frontline of the industry for the last 10 years and I’ve seen the changes in the industry first hand. I want to share my 13 GOLDEN RULES to make it in the music biz if you’re an up and coming band (or established for that matter!), a manager, distributor, DJ, agent or anyone else that would be interested in knowing how to generate the kind of promotion you need to get noticed…
The number 1 rule. If you haven’t got a great product to sell, then people are unlikely to want to buy. I think the polite phrase is you can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silver purse – or words to that effect. Go away and come back when you have some decent, new, relevant music to play – not a copy of someone else’s and not something that’s dated. Don’t trust what your friends/girlfriends/brother/mother/sister says. You need proper honest feedback.
Just set one up. How? – because I just set up a record label and its called ‘This is My Record Label’. It’s that simple. You get a website saying www.thisismyrecordlabel.com, you get a myspace with the same name. You set a release date and you get 200 promo CDs made up (you can do this yourself, just make sure they look good!). Then you start sending them out (see sections below).
Now instead of being unsigned, you are signed to ‘This Is My Record Label’ or whatever name you choose, and you’ve immediately lost the stigma of ‘unsigned’ which is loaded with negativity.
What tracks do you put on the promo CD? Release a single – one main track plus one other, 2 tracks in total. If you can get any remixes done then do so, no more than 2.
This needs to be 2 MONTHS away (see later for why). Say today is March 1st, then set your release date for the first Monday in May (records are always released on a Monday, don’t ask why, that’s the way it is).
If you’ve got some music to play, then get some kind of show/live date lined up to play it. Tell people about the dates. Hell you can even sell some of your CD’s from your new record label there. Set the gig up as close to the release date of your single as possible.
If you’re in a band you need to look cool. You’re aspirational, you’re a product and consumers need to believe that what they’re buying into is some way going to rub off on them.
And this isn’t you against a graffiti strewn derelict house/disused railway line. If you can get some great, creative shots done then this is a big advantage – magazines and websites need their pages to look great. If you’ve got great shots…..then you’re doing their job for them.
Pick up the mags that are relevant to you and your music. Pick out the reviews editors, news editors and features editors. Send them the promo CD with a PRESS RELEASE (a one page description of the music with the date it will be released, short background on the track, the band/DJ and anything else that is interesting or newsworthy).
Now, this is the reason you have set your release date 2 MONTHS away – monthly magazines have a minimum 6-8 week leadtime. That is, they need to get your CD, listen to it, send to their reviewers, get the written review back, send to designers, add pictures, get mag signed off, get to printers, get to distributors, get in shops, BEFORE the record is out! That takes about 6-8 weeks. Hence if you send a release to a monthly mag with a release date only 4 weeks away, they probably won’t do it. For a weekly mag, you’re looking at about 4 weeks leadtime, for a daily publication around 3 weeks.
NB – Send CD’s to magazines, not MP3’s. Make sure full details and contacts are on there. Make it stand out from the crowd – make it look like they should listen to it.
You need to listen to the radio and pick out the shows that play your type of music. Then, you need to find out who PRODUCES that show, and send them the CD, not the DJ – the producers decide what gets played. Include your press release as described in point 7 above for press. Lead time here is 4-5 weeks before release date! So send this AFTER you have sent your copies to press.
Goes without saying these days – get your videos/filmed performances up on YouTube and keep your Myspace up to date. Make a ‘Fan’ page on Facebook. Twitter to your friends. Which web magazines do you need to hit? The ones that cover your genre so hit them with your promo CD from your label (with press release). They will take it seriously because it’s not a ‘demo’.
Sell your downloads on your website, Myspace – have a look into digital distribution (sometimes called digital aggregators) to get your music distributed to download stores all over the web.
Flyering. You’ve got to promote your gig and your releases – invest in some help from some friends. Pick gigs of similar artists and flyer outside after the gig. Put in shops and bars. If you don’t market yourselves and don’t have a marketing plan, then no one is going to know about you, simple as that.
Hit them up – not all the time so you annoy them, but maybe once a week or once a fortnight – make sure you have something interesting to say so people want to read it and not just delete it.
Take strategies from the business world and translate them into a musical context. You’re a product – you need to market yourself like the brands market their products. You may not have their budgets, but if you get into this way of thinking, you can find lots of cost effective ways to promote yourself.
What your trying to do is to get everything to happen at the same time. Radio, Press, Online, flyers, e-mails, gigs – you need to CO-ORDINATE your campaign – just as you would if you were running a business. You need everything running in snyc – create a diary, plan it out – and in this way, you will be able to build your profile, develop new and beneficial relationships and get the coverage you want.
Not famous yet? It takes time. You need to do this over a period of years – its rare people just become stars over night – it happens but is the exception rather than the rule. The ones that appear to have come from nowhere have actually been following the above rules for a long time…They’ve paid their dues, nothing comes easy.
David Silverman
www.outpostmedia.co.uk
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Is the music industry in serious decline or is it booming? Well… both.
‘Economy’, ‘Credit Crunch’, ‘Recession’. All very real to some people, but at the same time as the job cuts, the music industry is reaching more people who are consuming more music and more artists are making a living from it (some are even selling downloads and merchandise by the truckload). So what IS going on?
Forward thinking music 2.0 businesses that should be expanding are being forced to cut back.
Sirius XM laid off 50 staff including some disc jockeys, Pandora had to cut their team from 140 to 120.
These businesses are thriving in one sense, with more members, fans and subscribers every day – Pandora also stated that their listenership is ‘growing rapidly’ – and yet they are still struggling to fund their staffing costs. I think that this is because their ideas and business models are sound, but the market and industry as a whole is just not ready for them. Not just yet. The ones that aren’t adapting are looking even gloomier; Time Warner is expecting to cut 1,250 jobs across the media and entertainment sectors following it’s recently reported fourth quarter loss.
Then there are the small music businesses that are doing well, making a successful living from the music industry (isn’t that what it’s all about?). More people are doing so every year. They are selling downloads, CDs, T-shirts… it’s great!
Music businesses are split into two sections in my mind. There are the businesses of old, who have always relied on selling huge numbers of a physical product and ignoring the new ways of connecting with music fans. You’ll hear from them that ‘pirates’ are causing job losses, but in reality, they are selling less physical products than they were 10 years ago because 10 years ago people were still buying CDs in bulk to replace their out-of-date cassettes and vinyl. Those figures were unsustainable and it was unrealistic to expect that surge of purchasing to continue. The other trouble with that strategy in today’s digital world is of course, single song downloads. Why buy a turkey of an album for $15 when iTunes offers the best song for $.99? So yes, Sony’s music profits have declined 41% and Warner music can increase digital revenue yet the total revenue slides 11%. These companies are struggling to find a new way. We all know that.
The other section of businesses I would call music 2.0 businesses. People and teams who are looking for new models for success in the music industry. They may be online distributors or sell music-related products or services. They may be websites streaming to consumers for free (gasp(!)) or an artist giving their tracks away. What sets them all apart is how they look at building a community and reaching out to fans, with a view to creating real interaction, enjoyment and value for the consumer. Often on a personal level, because blogs and websites may be run by independent bands, and therefore often it’s the artists themselves answering the emails. This makes their music genuine, appealing, and because they don’t blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on old media marketing of average artists, they can (and do) succeed woth a small yet loyal fanbase. You could even put a band such as Radiohead in this sector, because although they are affiliated with a major label, their idea of branching out with a new concept and a ‘name you own price for our album’ strategy created a stir as it tried to push music consumerism forward.
Many successful careers and companies are crafted during tough economic times, let’s face it, people can’t throw money around so they only make the smart decisions (Gary Vaynerchuck taught me that). The smart advertisers and investors are siding with the ‘future’ of the music business, and shifting away from the dinosaurs, hence the split in the news headlines.
Maybe you should think about where your music career is now, where you want to be, and how you can appeal to fans and investors alike in these tough times, in order to create a relationship that you can both benefit from.
Lee Jarvis.
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