Yesterday, activist investor and hedge fund manager Dan Loeb called for Sony to sell 20% of its music, film and entertainment division. Third Point, the fund managed by Loeb, owns 6.5% of Sony stoking, making it one of the company's largest shareholders with a stake of $1.1 billion.
Just when you think you've got your Facebook page looking good, your privacy settings tweaked and you're posting startegy down, Facebook makes another major and unexpected change. Frustrating, isn't it? Extremely Decent, a sketch comedy group based in Los Angeles agrees and is created this "real life" video of a Facebook update.
Google has completed deals with Sony Entertainment and Universal Music Group to launch two parallel streaming music services, according to several reports. Google appears likely to make the announcement at its I/O developer conference around Noon ET today. A deal with Warner Music Group is reported to have been completed earlier this year.
During today's earnings call, it was announced that former Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr. is leaving the company's board. His exit marks the end of an era. With first Lyor Cohen and now Bronfman officially exiting, along with their old school salaries and attitudes, we've lost two of our easiest major label targets. Here's a look back at our favorite Edgar Bronfman moments:
On demand music-streaming, YouTube videos, curated and automated playlists, iTunes' downloads... the ways that consumers discover and then consume music are shifting daily. To provide a look at the current music discoovery and consumption landscape, the team at music liscening shop The Music Bed created this infographic, How We Discover And Consume Music:
Brands will spend $1.28 billion in 2013 to sponsor music venues, festivals and tours in North America, a 5.4% increase from 2012, according to IEG Research. That increase puts music on par with the projected 5.5% increase in overall sponsorship spending and leads the 5.1% for the whole entertainment category.
By Virginie Berger (@virberg), founder and general manager of the creative and development agency DBTH.
To cut to the chase and get at the heart of the matter, the biggest apparent challenge that I can identify for direct-to-fan is that the music industry is broken and no one has yet discovered a practical model that will allow the typical independent, DIY musician to make money.
Exploring what it takes to be an entrepreneur in the music industry, Tommy Darker wraps up his three part series on how to successfully be what he calls a musicpreneur. Focusing intensely on the importance of developing your skills and approaching your endeavors with a trained mentality, if you're venturing out into the industry or already an active part of it, there is much to be gained by reading this series on Music Think Tank.
Music-related content creation jobs took a hit with the recent closing of many AOL Music sites. But new possibilities are emerging as Mass Appeal returns with a vengeance and $1.2 million dollars while Mountain Dew and Complex team up on Green Label. These publications represent two important routes for music publishing today, one a strong original content center on which a larger business can be built and the other a sponsored content site providing branded content that's less about the brand and more about the demographic target.
In Part 1 of Bandzoogle's “Tools of Music Fan Engagement” blog series, I discussed blogging.
Another important tool to use for fan engagement are email newsletters.
Having an email newsletter might sound a little old school, but the
reality is that it’s still proving to be the best way to keep in touch
with your fans over the long term. So when it comes to fan engagement,
having a newsletter should be high on your priority list of tools to
use.
A seemingly inevitable cultural embrace of analog, or what we used to call "real world" products and experiences, is underway and the music industry is very much in the forefront with indie record stores, vinyl, merch and live shows. But to hear a rep from Google speak the music industry is fetishizing the past and vinyl is outdated. Nevertheless, a new report supports the music industry's leadership in analog realms.
Have you been wondering if you should be pursuing a record label or whether you're just wasting your time? There has never been a better time to be an independent musician but you have to know what your goal is and you must have an informed and practical plan of action. Mark Doyon helps sort through your best bets on Music Think Tank.
In the second part of the Upward Spiral podcast, Solveig Whittle joins Jason and Kyle again to take a look at iTunes' current status in the market, evaluate its streaming music competitors, and peer into the future of Apple's devices, such as iTV and iWatch.
Royalty payouts and the burden they impose have always been a strongly debated issue when it comes to Pandora. The company has pursued numerous routes to lower the cost of music streaming from listening caps to government lobbying — some of which have been more successful than others. In this interview panel on Pandora, four influential executives in the music and tech industry weigh in on whether they think Pandora can find a sustainable, profitable business model.
Wreckroom is getting close to a year old and it seems to have settled into a pleasant groove. Adrian Grenier and friends open their basement recording studio to record a song and shoot a video. The audio and video are distributed on the project's channels and via participating acts. It's an increasingly common model for web arts projects and, maybe, for somebody a business. For now Wreckroom is putting out a steady stream of multimedia and hitting music festivals for low key showcases.
By Jason Spitz (@jasonspitz), an e-commerce expert who helps bands, comedians, and other artists build direct-to-fan businesses.
1. Shopping Habits
One big bottleneck to reaching the full potential of direct-to-fan is the audience’s shopping habits. Music consumers have learned that iTunes and Amazon offer a smooth, seamless shopping experience with reliable fulfillment.
Reed MIDEM today announced that Midem 2014 has been rescheduled to 1-4 February. Learning of the strong chance that the Grammy Awards will take place on the January 26th next year, to avoid key televised sports events, Midem organizers decided to reschedule the date of the 2014 international music business trade event.
Yala Music, the leading Arabic based music service, this week announced the launch of Yala Backstage, a free social media marketing platform designed to capture and monetize social media audiences focused around YouTube. Yala Backstage builds on the services offered to major Arabic music stars by Yala on a more individualized basis, and is open to all.
SoundCloud has hired Dan Gerber, previously the National
Director of Strategic Partnerships at Pandora, to head brand revenues. Gerber will start in June, and SoundCloud
will open it's first ever New York City office later this summer.
Dave Cool on 05/14/2013 in D.I.Y. | Permalink
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