[gb] Studio

…5 minutes later the album has downloaded to my Apple Music Locker^ in the cloud… I switch… to iTunes on my phone and start playing the album from the cloud. Once I get to my apartment I switch to iTunes on my computer and continue playing it.

Music industry executives may well not like what’s happened to their industry, but is it really bullying from Apple? Or isn’t it simply that Apple does not do what the music executives wish? That Apple runs its music store its own way? What the music industry really doesn’t like is the whole idea of downloads. They want to go back to selling $18 discs. Pre-iTunes, “music downloads” were pretty much all free bootlegs.

During a time when many music fans are clamoring for free music, Heap’s fans actually helped ensure her music wasn’t prematurely leaked.

The music business was waiting to die in its current form about 20 years ago. But then, hallelujah, the CD turned up and kept it going for a bit. But basically, it was dead.

“The idea was really simple thinking: ‘We sell millions of records, so you should advertise with us [in the record’s liner-notes],’” said Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group, a unit of Universal Music Group.

We want music that resonates. And we want music. Lady GaGa is outfits. Katy Perry is so second rate she’s third rate. The future looks more like the Kings Of Leon. A band that’s been around for years that finally breaks through. And doesn’t break the bank when it sets ticket prices.

Screw lawn tickets at a discount. That’s like listening to music on your neighbor’s stereo. How about getting a ticket for a developing artists show when you buy the ticket for a star. We’ve got to get people sampling, we’ve got to get people coming to the show on a regular basis.

“It’s all about re-creating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music,” a source told the FT. How will this happen? Liner notes and artwork on the big 10-inch screen.

Instead of receiving an advance and then possibly reaping royalties later if they have a hit, musicians will share in all the profits from their music and touring. In another departure from tradition in the music business, they will also maintain ownership of their own copyrights and master recordings — meaning they and their heirs can keep earning money from their music.

…But here’s something funny: the best selling itunes track is ‘shot in the back of the head’.
Why is that funny?
Because its [sic] the track we’ve been giving away for free for the last 2 months and that we’re still givng away for free.
Odd.

We’ve got a music problem. The music being purveyed is not seen as necessary to most people’s lives. It’s too discordant, or made for the cash register, not humans. Until we change the product, we’ll remain in the doldrums.

That’s our dilemma. Where is music’s “Sopranos”? Where is its “Slumdog Millionaire”? Where is the product that’s unforeseen, yet is clamored for.

In short: top tracks that remain $0.99 moved up, tracks that jumped to $1.29 moved down.

I know, I know, this is not how the major labels do it, this is not what they taught you in business school, you’re impatient. Well, welcome to the real world. People only need great. You’ve got to be great. And even if you are, you won’t be an overnight success. But people are looking for great, and when they find it, they tell everybody they know.

Let’s say record labels had jumped in when Napster’s user base was at 26.4 million per month. Let’s say, conservatively speaking, half don’t want to pay and go to… some other free service, leaving 13.2 million users. Let’s say each uses the official Napster to buy 10 songs for $1 apiece every month. That’s record business revenue of $132 million per month, or $15.84 billion a year. Sure, labels would have had to pay artist and publisher royalties out of that, but the overhead of trucks, warehouses, crates, and record stores suddenly gets cut dramatically. And remaining CDs suddenly get a powerful, Internet-based marketing and promotional tool. In hindsight, after years of plummeting CD sales and industrywide layoffs and artist-roster cuts, it’s clear that making Napster official circa 2001 would have been a huge positive for the record business.

Live Nation to acquire Ticketmaster for $2.5 billion, plus $700 million in convenience charges.

And the fan is screwed. Consolidation has not helped the fan one bit. Label consolidation reduced the variety of music. Promoter consolidation drove the price of concert tickets sky high. Music itself may be free, but going to the show is a once a year event. And after you’ve seen the dinosaurs, do you really need to go every year?