Browsing all posts in June, 2009.
Michael Jackson’s Fame
The NY Times had a great article in Sunday’s paper about Michael Jackson and fame. The point of the article was that Michael Jackson will likely be one of the last superstars in this new age of fragmentation. In the article, David Segal notes that Jackson reached worldwide fame and popularity in a simpler time. [...]
RIAA Victory?
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) just won a $1.92 million lawsuit against the file sharer Jammie Thomas-Rasset. $1.92 million dollars. Way to go RIAA. Unfortunately, this threat will stop very few people from sharing files. In fact, it’s likely they will only stop if sued themselves. The threat is just not that real [...]
New Role for Record Labels
Two rappers are providing a glimpse into the changing landscape of the role of the record labels. In the past, record labels would try to find bands that were just on the verge of breaking and making it big. They would bankroll the album and provide initial funds for touring. Now, it seems that labels [...]
Facebook vs. MySpace
It’s official. Facebook has now surpassed MySpace in unique visitors. For May 2009, Facebook had 70.278 million unique visitors compared to 70.255 million for MySpace (results by comScore). Yet, for artists, MySpace is still the go-to site for music. A MySpace page is still a requirement and it seems to have a better platform for [...]
John Mayer at Target
I went to Target this past weekend to purchase John Mayer’s new live cd, “Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles.” Now I know, it’s a little outdated to go buy a physical cd in a retail store. But this was to be a gift for my father, and he prefers cd’s. [...]
Album Sales
Nielsen just issued their NARM report highlighting trends in album sales. Here are some of the main findings: By the end of 2010, 50% of music unit purchases will be in the digital format. Physical albums still generate more revenue than digital sales, so digital increases will not make up for physical declines until 2011 [...]
Twitter’s Limitation for Artists?
Are there any negatives to using Twitter? All we read and hear about these days is the Twitter phenomenon. And other than the naysayers who think Twitter is the ultimate in narcissistic adoration, does anyone who uses it not like it? I think one clue into this is the low level of people who Twit [...]
Pandora’s Box of Concert Promotion
The hugely popular iPhone application, Pandora, has added a new feature to their service. Pandora is an internet radio that recommends songs based upon bands that you like. Pandora is now partnering with SonicLiving to include concert listings for bands while their music is streaming on Pandora. Pandora’s Chief Technical Officer, Tom Conrad, had this [...]
Hulu Live
Hulu, the website where you can watch your favorite shows in return for watching a few ads, is now expanding into live broadcasting. They are also showing live concerts for bands like Dave Matthews Band. This is a big shift. Live broadcasting over the internet. This is the beginning of content being viewed through the [...]
Text Messages per Month
Nielsen just released data to say that the average teenager sends 2,272 text messages per month. That’s almost 80 a day. That’s a lot. What does this mean to musicians? One big insight here is that this shows us the way that teenagers are communicating. Phone calls and messages are decreasing. It takes too long. [...]
