Labels aren’t doing very well at the moment. In fact, they’re darn right horizontal on their deathbeds.
People don’t want to pay for music anymore.
Children are being sued for copyright infringement.
Every digital music startup in the last three years has flopped.
It’s grim.
Yet there’s never been a better time to start a label.
Go ahead, sign a few acts – no one else will.
Nobody expects an advance or a fat tour bus. It’s budget airlines all the way.
Invest in talent while it’s cheap and ubiquitous.
Don’t know how to do it? Plenty of executives out of the job. Go talk to one.
Four tips to get you started:
1. Quit your day job. Nobody will take you seriously if you’re doing something else 9 to 5.
2. Stick with what you know. If you lack people skills, avoid public relations. Focus on your strengths and, when you can, develop or outsource your weaknesses.
3. You’re in business. Act that way. Get organized. Lots of stupid people own hugely successful businesses. You too can create a successful business.
4. Pick great acts. Treat them well. Work hard for them and they will show you returns.
Music is a safe bet. There will always be money in it.
YouLicense, the first online music licensing marketplace, released a product update last week detailing the launch of Private Label, a new service catering to YouLicense’s target customer base comprising of independent labels and enterprising artists. Private Label is essentially a branded storefront, specifically developed for the streamlined procurement of synchronization and master use music licenses. This is a major turning point for YouLicense which, until now, has very much operated as a destination site and, arguably, the only standalone open marketplace for music licensing. The company has already converted noteworthy distributors and labels including INgrooves, Big Fish Media, AWAL, MBop Digital, Dashgo, and Cyberset Records. Private Label is currently in closed beta but interested parties can request an invitation here.
The ridiculous feud between Gene Simmons and Bob Lefsetz came to a head at Canadian Music Week yesterday and has since been getting a lot of coverage. The entire exchange portrays both parties as ungainly and slapdash, and the issues neither relevant nor compelling. Just silly… but a good laugh. See for yourself if you haven’t already.
Online streaming radio and music tastemaker, Jango, has launched a somewhat controversial artist promotion programme called Jango Airplay. Essentially a pay-to-play scheme [and reminiscent of terrestrial radio “payola” which has been illegal since the fifties], Jango Airplay provides artists and their agents a direct means of plugging their songs to Jango’s listener base of 6 million for a fee. Much like the StumbleUpon advertising initiative, displaying a sponsored web page for every nine unsponsored web-pages, the promotional value of this scheme is not absolute: “If you get 50 positive ratings, your song starts playing for free in general rotation on Jango. If your song continues to get good ratings, it will be played more and more often and in more and more stations.” For $30, Jango Airplay offers 1000 plays, each track linked to its distributor (i.e. Amazon, iTune).
Pay-to-play may be an unpopular paradigm among musicians but this is actually an unprecedented opportunity for artists and labels to reach a new audience and guarantee some rotation. For not much more than pocket change, bootstrapped musicians can gain some insight on who is most likely to listen to them, rate them up, and perhaps even purchase something. Assuming that Jango Airplay plugs sponsored tracks appropriately, this is a truly awesome marketing platform for the music industry.
Epic Records, part of Sony’s Columbia/Epic Label Group, has appointed singer/songwriter, Amanda Ghost, as its new President, replacing Chris Walk who left the label after his contract ran out last year. With 25 million record sales in the last three years under her belt, Ghost is one of the leading commercial songwriters in today’s music market, responsible for major cuts including “Beautiful Liar” (Beyonce/Shakira), “You Are So Beautiful” (James Blunt) and “Tattoo” (Jordin Sparks), to name a few.
Ghost’s appointment, somewhat unconventional for the label behemoth, comes as surprising news. Perhaps it’s part of a new game plan to denote a new positioning in the record industry; putting the ‘creatives’ at the very top of the ladder.
Rob Stringer, Chairman of Columbia/Epic Label Group, statement:
“I am delighted that Amanda has chosen to bring her creative vision and flair to the Epic label. In the changing environment of the music business, record labels undoubtedly need to be complete partners with the artistic community and Amanda will be the perfect executive to meet that challenge.”
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.
Google’s VP of Content Partnership, David Eun, said that YouTube “is not screwing the labels, and, if anything, needs to partner more closely with them”, in response to Warner Music Group’s demand that YouTube remove every video from WMG’s catalogue.
Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion in an all-stock transaction. It has since been working closely with record labels and independent rights owners on a number of mechanical royalty models for balanced and mutual content monetization, at which point, it struck a ‘blanket license’ deal with Warner. However, Warner has not been able to re-negoatiate terms with Google who, resultantly, had to remove videos under WMG’s authorship or which contain copyright associated with WMG’s publishing. As this amounts to a great many clips which are now ‘unplayable’, YouTube, the world’s largest video portal, can no longer claim to provide “infinite choice”, at least under the music category which will no longer include Madonna, REM and Eric Clapton, to name a few. Quite a blow.
The feud has snowballed and YouTube users are documenting their frustration on the video portal. Here’s one version I enjoyed watching:
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