MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

Terry McBride’s Nettwerk Music Group, (home to Jamiroquai, Barenaked Ladies, and Sarah McLachlan), live music and media behemoth Mama Group Plc, and Brian Message’s ATC Management (manager of Radiohead, Faithless, and Kate Nash), combined forces to create Polyphonic, a new artist investment and development company embracing the 360-degree model, Music Week announced yesterday.  The company has committed more than $20m for its first year of operation, marking significant additional capital thereafter, to provide “an important funding option for artists” asserted Brian Message adding “ATC and Mama have co-invested in a number of new artists over the last three years and Polyphonic marks the next iteration of that business. Now, together with Nettwerk, we want to be working with a much bigger group of artists and managers and the capital we have available makes that achievable.”

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Starting at approximately $1000, emusu provides a turn-key solution for managing and selling your digital assets from your own domain, as opposed to distributing to third-party ecommerce websites or via social network applications.  The system is entirely web-based and the company is sinking its teeth into the music industry.  Ouch. 

The service allows its customers to create custom web pages from a series of handy templates and enable fans to buy directly from the source or incorporate its technology into an existing site geared for music retail.

The fact is that most artists simply don’t sell.  In fact, most labels don’t sell a volume of any note.  As such, even if the service was free, managing your own music sales is not too far up your priority list unless you’re shifting so many units that iTunes’ commission significantly diminishes your bottom line.  Furthermore, if MySpace, boasting approximately three million *active* musician users can’t make Snocap work on exclusive terms, how is emusu going to convince prospective clients that they can sell – and sell more – on their own?

At a time where the industry is shifting away from record sales and toward ticketing, merchandising, bundling, licensing, sponsorship, and advertising, emusu is a surprising entry into the space.  Selling recorded music is no longer the end game but rather the marketing collateral to sell something else.  The infamous 360 deal is a tribute to this strategy and Live Nation is a testament to its success.  Starbucks too.

However, if emusu can leverage its platform to forward thinking megastars such as Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails, both of which ’sold’ direct-to-the-fan, they may have a lucrative client.  Or two.