modern music marketing

Podcast Trouble

At Chicago's WCKG-FM 105.9 radio station, a local radio pro has gotten into trouble for offering podcasts of his show...But this re-purposing of Steve Dahl's show has come to an abrupt halt because of copyright and royalty issues.
Lawyers for station-owner Infinity Broadcasting, a division of Viacom, have determined that the rights agreements covering live streaming of programs do not necessarily cover downloadable versions of those same shows.
The copyright implication of the radio podcasts are interesting: Dahl writes on his site: "The digital copyright laws are ever changing and ever expanding, and quite lucrative. I recommend that area of law to you youngsters out there thinking about going to law school. In the meantime, please forgive me for this little interruption in bringing you the future."
This retreat in Chicago comes as Infinity promotes a format change in San Francisco that will make KYCY-AM "the world's first podcasting radio station."

Music marketing has become very complex

via NetFamilyNews

However, even though teenagers won't be scrambling for an iPod sporting the signatures of U2's musicians, this special-edition iPod is very interesting - as part of the ongoing recording-industry-vs.-music-fans debate. One analyst told Wired News he was following this one because he's very curious to see how other bands will work with MP3 player makers as a means of distribution. Music marketing has become very complex - from testing tunes on blogs like MySpace.com to pre-installed playlists on MP3 players - and our teenagers are key targets of all these methods and messages.

TWISTA DEATH PROPHESY ACCURATE: LIFE IMITATING ART?

SupersonicUSA Records announced today it will not release the hotly anticipated video for the newly remastered Twista track, "Ride Till We Die," out of respect to those close to the man who died.

"It features horrific van and car accident that is too closely mirroring the recent tragedy," Tony Reynolds, SupersonicUSA Records Owner said.

The single was recently released exclusively on iTunes where it made a major impact on its first day running up to #56 on iTunes top 100 rap tracks even besting MASE's "I'm Back," which has had heavy radio and BET and MTV video airplay.

On Monday the Chicago Rapper was released from an Erie, PA hospital after his touring van veered off Interstate 90 and slammed into a median. District Attorney Brad Foulk said "all of them except the driver, were ejected onto the medial strip." Arthur Dixon, one of Twista's security staff, died of his injuries at the hospital.

The video was shot in part to be used in the new movie, "Black Salt," (http://www.blacksaltfilm.com). "We intentionally shot the video in a more aggressive nature because the single will be used on our martial arts film, which is in production," Owen Ratliff, Owner of Ratti Entertainment said.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame -- Read 'em and Weep

The always entertaining teverett talks about the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame annoucement. If you have time also check out this thread. It's why industry people still visit "the rope".

H of F -- Read 'em and Weep

Nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are out. Remember, the basic procedure is (or seems to be) this:

A Star Chamber, including Ahmet Ertegun, Seymour Stein and Jann Wenner, prepares a list of nominations.

That list (see below) is mailed out to a list of supposed movers & shakers, who vote for eight of the nominees, on a weighted scale.

The Hall of Fame Committe throws out the votes, and name the people they wanted to in the first place, plus a few people whose names haven't come up before.

With that in mind, the nominees:

J. Geils Band
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5
Buddy Guy
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Randy Newman
O'Jays
Gram Parsons
Pretenders
Sex Pistols
Percy Sledge
Stooges
Conway Twitty
U2

"oh, God, we need more women"
Patti Smith
Wanda Jackson

"Keep in mind: W/E/A/ acts this time around"
J Geils
Gram Parsons
Pretenders
Sex Pistols
Percy Sledge
Stooges
Randy Newman

(Conway Twitty recorded briefly for Elektra and WB, but nobody there remembers that or stands to profit from a victory)

Don't forget to check out what they had to say in Cleveland...

The Rock&Roll Hall Of Fame Website

Politics, Music and Marketing Part I

John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants worked with MoveOn.org to create two fundraisers in the form of a CD called The Future Soundtrack For America (Barsuk) and companion book The Future Dictionary Of America. The CD features a mix of live and previously unreleased music from They Might Be Giants, Death Cab For Cutie, R.E.M., Elliott Smith, Tom Waits, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. The satirical book boasts an equally impressive line-up including Jonathan Franzen, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates and Kurt Vonnegut.

This raises the question...should your band get involved in politics? Will it hurt sales of your projects?

First a little backgroud: I am personally a card carrying member of the ACLU. I have helped organize some get out the vote campaigns. I have voted in every election since I was 18 no matter what state I happened to be living in. And here's what I've learned...

First of all, politics are devisive. Especially today. Just like the music business have changed, so has politics. Politics has become a lifestyle choice. If you say you are a liberal that means a lot these days. Same if you are a conservative. Stating your political affiliation puts images in peoples heads, much like the images put in peoples heads when they see you wearing a suit and tie or hip hop gear.

Contrary to what what you are seeing on television, most urban artists avoid politics like the plague. I recently had to call some celebrity friends for a "get out the vote" campaign here in Florida. I called some urban artists I knew and every one of them said the same thing. "I don't get involved in politics...". After about 7 responses like this I changed my tactic and flat out lied and said it was a Hurricane benefit. No one turned me down.

Urban artist are generally smart marketers. Much smarter than the rock&roll guys. They have created an entire lifestyle around their product. Mixtapes, Freestyle battles, and bootlegs take care of the underground market. Clothing lines and product placements in the songs help spread the lifestyle to those who more mainstream. They introduce new artists to you all the time by placing them on their records. That new artist does his own record and then pulls some other artist up. The entire process is down to a science and they still happen to keep the streets involved so the whole process stays authentic.

But you rarely hear anything political. Why? Because politics does not fit the brand. You have your small sects of political bands and a mainstream artist may do a remix with you (i.e. Dead Prez featuring Jay-Z on Hell Yeah) but that's only for the underground. A way to keep up your cred.

But what about Rock bands and other types of music...I'll bore you with my opinions on that in a future post...

21st Century music marketing

The majors are peeking into the 21st Century...(via The NY Post)

...the record industry, for the first time, will hold upfront presentations next week before an audience that will include executives from many of corporate America's largest companies.

Executives from all five of the major music companies will present albums and new artists that they plan to release over the next 12-18 months, to attract branding deals from major corporations...

Don't quote me because the thoughts are still swirling in my head but the music business is dead. Long live the entertainment industry! Artist's are already getting paid for product placement in songs...everyday a band member asks me if I can help them get in the movies...yeah, the music business that I started in is dead, and you that may not be a bad thing...

G-Man bought up an interesting point:

Turn on any rap, urban or hip hop station and you can start counting the product mentions in the lyrics, some paid-for, some just happenstance. In the electronic-pop field, I have done it myself. On my "Electro Bop" album are songs such as "Paranormal Radio" (which begins as a documentary about American Technology Corporation's HyperSonic Sound system), "Sheena Sez" (about talk radio host Sheena Metal), and "Check the Tech" (about the joys of watching the TechTV channel).

Has this advertainment hurt acceptance of the album? Not that I've noticed. Many e-mails from around the world cite "Paranormal Radio" as their favorite track. Not one person has complained about the ad messages, I assume because the audience for my dance-oriented music is pleased to receive information about technology and a far-out rock-talk jock such as Ms. Metal.

B.L. Ochman is wrong...

So the latest Corvette Ad was pulled after leaders of seven auto safety groups wrote Tuesday to GM chairman Rick Wagoner to protest the television spot, saying it sent a dangerous message.

The ad, (watch it here) carries the disclaimer "This is a dream. Don't drive without a license." It shows a clearly underage boy imagining himself behind the wheel of a Corvette, taking the 350-horsepower car airborne - after driving it wildly through city streets and spiraling it through a large drainpipe - as the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" played in the background.

According to Ochman...It is a stupid idea to show children driving like lunatics in dream sequence or any other way.

Please...it was the coolest Corvette commercial in years.

More Ochman:Sadly, people really are so freaking stupid that corporations get tied up in endless litigation based on the premise that they should be able to figure out every ridiculous thing a litigious moron could come up with to do with their product. And then they have to have a warning on the product before the moron sues. The mystery is why GM approved the Corvette ad to begin with. Perhaps auxiliary penises aren't selling well these days.

Jeez...Man issues?