 The Civil Wars’ highly anticipated sophomore self-titled album will be released August 5 on Sensibility Music/Columbia Records.
The new album The Civil Wars was recorded in Nashville between August 2012 and January 2013. Charlie Peacock was once again at the helm as producer for the album.
Additionally, Rick Rubin produced the duo’s performance for the track “I Had Me a Girl” in August of 2011. Peacock later completed the track by producing the instrumentation and mix.
The album was recorded amidst a grueling touring schedule, exhausting workload and a growing disconnect from their families. Handwritten personal statements from band-members Joy Williams and John Paul White can be viewed at www.thecivilwars.com
 Heidi Talbot ‘Angels Without Wings’ album documentary
Heidi Talbot released ‘Angels Without Wings’ back in February this year which featured a host of collaborations with the likes of Mark Knopfler, King Creosote, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Karine Polwart, Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow) Julie Fowlis and more.
Heidi Talbot's Angels Without Wings is an album of new, original songs taking their inspiration from the world of traditional folk music, with guest contributions from artists as diverse as Mark Knopfler, Jerry Douglas, King Creosote, Julie Fowlis and Tim O'Brien. Talbot was born in Co. Kildare in Ireland. She grew up in a musical household, and began singing as a child in the church choir her mother played organ and sang for. After finishing school, she spent time in New York, where she joined the Irish-American supergroup Cherish The Ladies. Her solo 2008 breakthrough In Love And Light won her international acclaim, including a US Indie Acoustic Award which signalled her music's crossover appeal.
Collaborations with Eddi Reader, Idlewild and Drever, McCusker & Woomble followed, along with multiple BBC Radio 2 Folk award nominations.
The majority of Angels Without Wings was written with longtime friend Boo Hewerdine and her husband, the producer and multi-instrumentalist John McCusker
Has the iTunes Music Store passed its peak?
Charles Arthur
You mean, has it peaked and are we all eventually going to stop buying music online, if current trends continue? No, on both counts.
Despite the release of a study by Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research which suggests that the number of purchases per iPod sold of songs from Apple's iTunes Store (for it's no longer only music; there are films, TV episodes and music videos there too) are not accelerating, there are some indicators that there's still room at the top for digital music.
After analysing thousands of credit and debit card transactions of 4,000 people (a statistically valid sample) over 27 months, Bernoff concluded that people do not, over time, accelerate their purchase of online music. Instead, the number of songs sold per iPod (which might be a good approximation - although you don't need an iPod to buy from the iTunes Store) has held steady, averaging about 20 per player.
"The iPod is not necessarily a machine for generating revenue for the music industry," Bernoff noted in his report. "If iPod owners continued to purchase music tracks throughout the lifetime of their ownership, one would expect to see iTunes sales growing at a faster rate than iPods," he concluded.
The problem with his negative conclusion is that accelerating growth in downloads does seem to be what's happening. Says who? Says Michael Constantinos, a graduate at Johns Hopkins university, who has graphed the growth of music downloads from the iTunes Store using publicly-available data from Apple. It shows a remarkable exponential trend (see http://cmichae.acm.jhu.edu). His estimates, made in February, suggest that Apple will pass the 2bn songs mark some time next February, and that the announcement of 1.5bn downloads, made in September, was "pretty much on schedule".
But Bernoff says sales from the store have slowed since January. Can both be right? Perhaps. January is traditionally a time when downloads from the store leap, because everyone is taking advantage of the iTunes gift vouchers that they got for Christmas. Thus downloads (from all music sites) first exceeded physical singles sales in the last week of 2004 - the end of the first year that the iTunes Music Store (as it was) was open in the UK. Expect more of the same this year; for 2006 also saw the first song to reach No.1 purely through digital downloads (Gnarls Barkley's Crazy).
But Bernoff's analysis couldn't spot voucher purchases, which bump up the January downloads volume. That makes the rest of the year look quieter, followed by a leap at the end as more people get broadband and vouchers, and download songs. Recorded music is a seasonal business, as the rash of TV adverts for dire "Best Of" CDs indicates.
The iTunes Store isn't going away, and nor are its customers. But Bernoff's research does indicate consumer reluctance to commit to downloads. Perhaps that's because one can often buy the physical CD for the same, or even less, on Amazon than the iTunes Store. In which case the problem is simply one of price. But that's not a problem for Apple - it's one for the record labels. Will they ease their pricing to encourage us online? The signs, it must be said, aren't encouraging.
back to top
 HARMONY SHINES ON CSN CLASSICS
Remastered and Expanded
HDCD® Edition of Daylight Again.
LOS ANGELES - In 1969 former Byrd David Crosby, Buffalo Springfield's Stephen Stills, and former Holly Graham Nash came together in a beautiful harmonic convergence of vocal chemistry, precision musicianship, and emotional lyricism.
Atlantic/Rhino salutes one of rock's first supergroups with the release of the remastered and expanded version of one of the trio's best. Remastered in HDCD for the first time and featuring unreleased and rare bonus tracks (all remixed using the original master tapes), DAYLIGHT AGAIN will be available separately at regular retail outlets and at www.rhino.com.
On June 21, 1982, the triumvirate returned with their third studio album, DAYLIGHT AGAIN. Highlighted by the hit singles "Wasted On The Way" and "Southern Cross," the album also mixed Nash's evocative balladry, "Song For
Susan" and Stills' rocker, "Too Much Love To Hide," with "Delta," one of Crosby's best.
DAYLIGHT AGAIN is expanded with four previously unreleased bonus tracks including a demo version of "Might As Well Have a Good Time" plus "Raise A Voice," "Feel Your Love," and "Tomorrow Is Another Day."
New concert hall
lets audiences sit back and recline
Wouldn't it be nice to lie down and relax in a concert hall to listen
to live music? This is the idea behind a new concert hall that will feature
comfortable seats that recline up to 45 degrees.
Though you can't lie down in Hakuju Hall, which is scheduled to open on
Oct. 4 in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, the reclining seats will offer a new way
for audiences to relax. Although the hall seats 300, the number of seats
will be reduced to 162 during selected performances. This will allow for
more space to recline seats, creating a spacious setting in which audiences
can relax.
"Just because you are physically fit does not necessarily mean you
are healthy. Physical well-being and mental relaxation should be balanced,"
said Yuri Kajitani of Hakuju Institute for Health Science Company, Ltd,
the medical equipment manufacturer that is setting up the hall at its
headquarters. "We made the hall to provide time and space for
people to relax."
Dimly lit with soft orange lights, the hall is uncharacteristically elegant
and relaxing. It was designed by architect Albert Abut in what Kajitani
says is his first concert hall project.
"Hakuju Hall was beautifully designed to be unlike regular concert
halls," Kajitani said. "It was created with an image of
relaxation in mind."
Even audiences who have a hard time relaxing in concert halls should
have no problem getting comfortable in the reclining seats, Kajitani
said. "They will be so relaxed they may even fall asleep," she
laughed.
Intended for solo recitals and small orchestras, the hall has been designed
to bring out the best sound quality possible.
According to the company, priority has been placed on its modern appearance
and acoustics. The Hakuju Institute realized that precise reverberation
levels were necessary to ensure transparent sound, which is essential
to accommodate the delicacy of chamber music.
The hall's seats are upholstered with a soft material that absorbs
sound. To balance this, the walls are made of more rigid materials,
Kajitani said. "As a result, the echo would be almost the same
whether the seats were full or empty."
Leading up to the opening, the company is holding a series of lounge-style
preview events in the hall's foyer. The first one, which was held Aug.
12, featured a bossa nova program and had a turnout of about 130 people.
Audience members can purchase drinks and snacks from the bar in the foyer,
and enjoy them at their seats or at a counter that overlooks the skyscrapers
of Shinjuku. The hall is located on the seventh floor of the building,
and on the ninth floor, there is an outdoor terrace, where audiences can
congregate during intermissions.
The bar is open from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Concerts are held at 7:30 p.m.
and 9 p.m.
Preview events will be held each Friday (except for Aug. 15) through Sept.
5. The final preview will be held on Sept 9. Admission is free.
The opening concerts on Oct. 4 and 5 will feature five artists from different
genres, including shakuhachi, piano and various stringed instruments.
Admission is 5,500 yen.
The hall will also stage a series of "reclining" concerts,
during which the number of the seats will be reduced and all seats
will be reclined. To attract audiences who are new to classical music,
the concerts are categorized according to instrument: violin on Oct
16, piano on Nov. 2, cembalo on Dec. 4, oboe on Jan. 8 and song and
lute on Feb. 19. Admission is 1,500 yen.
Other series include the Yoyogi no Mori salon concert series, which will
begin Oct. 7 and feature performances and lectures. Tickets are 5,500
yen to 6,500 yen, which includes one drink.
Music arm doesn't chime with Toshiba
Electronics and energy giant Toshiba plans to sell its entire stake in Japanese label Toshiba EMI to British partner EMI Group, saying that music was no longer relevant to its business.
Toshiba said it would sell its stake for about $179m and complete the deal by September.
One of Japan's major music and entertainment companies, Toshiba EMI is currently controlled 45% by Toshiba, with the rest owned by EMI.
Toshiba accepted an offer from the EMI Group as 'the music content business today is less relevant to other businesses within the Toshiba Group,' it said in a statement.
Toshiba EMI primarily handles domestic artists but also sells albums in the lucrative Japanese market for some of EMI's top acts - including The Beatles.
Toshiba has been focusing increasingly on its energy operations and in October completed the purchase of US nuclear power plant maker Westinghouse from British Nuclear Fuels for $5.4 billion.
back to top
Big Media Big Targets
Deregulation-bred behemoths draw increasing flak from inside Beltway and
out
Ann Chaitovitz and other union negotiators for TV and
radio artists sat across from executives of the five largest record labels
last week for the latest round of contract negotiations covering 15,000
singers, music groups, narrators and actors. Before they launched into
the typically contentious issues of royalties, insurance and pensions,
Chaitovitz briefed the executives on a separate matter that would put
the two sides on solidly common ground. The next morning, the American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the record labels
issued a joint condemnation of the media giants "ruining" the
American music industry. Big radio-station groups are pushing a de facto
payola system, they said, that forces artists to pay a handful of promoters
to secure programming time. The recording industry isn't the only sector
pumping up the volume against the country's giant broadcast station groups,
cable operators and programming networks.
Advertisers, small broadcasters and Congress are speaking out against
what they consider an increasingly monopolized media industry that makes
it nearly impossible for new and independent artists to get airplay or
pitch shows or for small advertisers to buy time. "For some time,
our interests have been aligning with the record labels when it comes
to consolidation," says Chaitovitz, AFTRA's national director of
sound recording. "We hope the FCC, Congress and the Justice Department
will look at the impact vertical consolidation of the industry is having
on musicians and actors." Although there is no formal coalition
to fight media concentration, opposition to the consolidation wave is
starting
to gel. For the first time since the FCC's 1993 repeal of the financial-interest
and syndication rules (fin-syn), which prevented broadcast networks from
owning a financial stake in the domestic syndication of network programming,
the pieces of a broad-based opposition to media consolidation appear
to
be falling into place.
"There is growing recognition that consolidation has been harmful," says
Andrew Schwartzman, of Media Access Project, a
public-advocacy group that has fought a largely futile battle against
deregulation. The same week that AFTRA, the Recording Industry Association
of American and other consumer and independent media advocates were urging
Washington to eliminate the bottleneck created by promoters, a team of
powerful lawmakers fired their own warning shot across the bow of big
media groups. Led by South Carolina Democrat Fritz Hollings, three senators
called on the FCC to investigate the effect that consolidation is having
on programming and demanded that the FCC back off on any ownership deregulation
until the review is complete. "The effort to promote diverse voices
has been undermined over the last decade by extensive media concentration
and changes to FCC rules," the senators said.
Network officials, who wouldn't speak on the record, say they believe
that Hollings doesn't have the power to roll back the past decade's deregulation
but is trying to stem future relaxation by making clear that there will
be an expensive battle to overcome his legislative roadblocks. Hollings
can also threaten to cut the FCC's budget as punishment for moving too
far. "He's telling the FCC, 'We're watching you,'" says one
network executive. Adds Scott Cleland, analyst for the Washington-based
Precursor Group, "Capitol Hill wants to keep the FCC on a leash,
and, every now and then, they yank the leash."
The senators' stand comes as the FCC is undertaking a sweeping review
of media-ownership limits and is examining whether it should preserve
program-access rules requiring cable operators that own programming networks
to sell their shows to satellite-TV competitors and independent cable
operators. The program-access rules expire in October, and the FCC is
expected to propose revisions to national and local media-ownership limits
next year. The FCC also is reconsidering cable channel-occupancy limits
that bar operators from devoting more than 40% of their capacity to affiliated
programmers.
On top of that, two major merger reviews are under way: Comcast is vying
to more than triple its size by buying the country's largest MSO, AT&T
Broadband, while EchoStar hopes to become the sole direct-broadcast-satellite
provider by acquiring rival DirecTV.
Few mergers have been blocked since the deregulatory Telecommunications
Act was passed in 1996. Last week, the FCC continued its favorable treatment
of industry deals by approving Clear Channel's purchase of the Ackerley
Group's 16 TV stations and four radio outlets. The radio and outdoor-ad
giant is now the 17th-largest TV group. Also, Clear Channel was given
12 months, rather than the standard six, to sell stations in five markets
where its holdings violate local crossownership limits. The Comcast-AT&T
deal is expected to be approved because the cable ownership limits have
been vacated, but the Justice Department is expected to take a harder
line on the EchoStar-DirecTV deal.
Since 1994, when cable operators held a stake in 53% of national cable
networks, the percentage has dropped to 35% of 285 national programming
networks. Those figures prove that the program-access rules should go
away, the cable industry argues. But supporters of the rules say cable
operators still retain control over some of the most widely viewed cable
networks and wield sufficient power to dictate prices and muscle their
affiliated networks' rivals out of channel space. The massive wave of
consolidation was launched by the '96 Telecommunications Act, which eliminated
the national cap on radio-station ownership reach, lifted the cap to 35%
on TV-household reach and greatly relaxed local ownership limits.
In radio, the average number of station owners in each market has dropped
from 13.5 to 10.3 since 1996. The number nationally has dropped 25%, from
5,100 to 3,800, even as the total number of stations increased.
The biggest broadcast networks are now clamoring for the FCC to let them
buy more stations, and conglomerates such as AOL Time Warner, Disney and
Viacom have become dominant players in nearly every facet of the entertainment
business. Federal judges set the stage for further deregulation in February
2001 by ordering the FCC to redo the 30% cap on a cable company's share
of pay-TV audience. Since then, additional court rulings have greatly
increased chances that the FCC will relax limits on national TV reach,
on operation of two TV stations in a market, and on crossownership in
local markets. Additionally, the D.C. Circuit Court, interpreting the
congressionally mandated biennial regulatory review, said the FCC must
either justify keeping ownership rules on the books or throw them out.
Unprecedented market power has emboldened the giant companies to abuse
their positions, their critics say. The worries prompted the so-far unsuccessful
battle for industry-wide open-access rules requiring cable companies
to
carry competing Internet providers on their broadband platforms. Time
Warner systems, however, are obligated to carry unaffiliated ISPs as
a
condition of the MSO's merger with America Online. Although the battle
for open-access rules is being waged to prevent cable from discriminating
against rivals in the future, the forces pushing for tighter radio regulation
say that industry is being damaged today. AFTRA charges that Clear Channel
and other dominant radio groups have found a way to get around the ban
on paying stations to play specific songs, a blatantly illegal practice
banned in the 1960s. In today's "de facto payola," stations
tend to build their playlists from songs suggested by promoters in exchange
for a fee, union officials say. Sometimes, the funds originate from the
record labels
themselves.
"This is a loophole in the rule," Chaitovitz says. "We
hope the FCC and Congress will revise the rules."
AFTRA also has charged that, in markets where Clear Channel often owns
six to eight stations, it is all but impossible for local and independent
artists to get play because the company relies on national playlists that
dictate songs each station airs. Clear Channel officials declined to comment
for this story. But it's not just artists, media watchdogs and a few lawmakers
who are questioning the scope of media consolidation. Some industry players
are beginning to complain, too. Clear Channel's competitors in several
markets have lined up to block acquisitions of their local competitors
by the radio giant.
"We've gone from one voice to a multitude of voices questioning the
wisdom of massive consolidation and domination of a local market by a
company," said Howard Topel, a Washington attorney helping Davis
Broadcasting's fight at the FCC against Clear Channel's purchase of a
competing outlet in Columbus, Ga. "The momentum could reach the
point where the commission has to respond."
Those opposed to relaxation of the TV ownership limit have a surprising
ally: the National Association of Broadcasters. Worried about the power
of the broadcast networks, the smaller station groups that now control
the NAB have put the powerful lobby to work on the side of keeping the
limit in place. With no apology for inconsistency, the NAB still supports
relaxing other TV and radio ownership rules. The advertising industry
doesn't have a unified stance on deregulation either, so trade groups
such as the American Association of Advertising Agencies have stayed
out
of the fight. "Some people don't see the problems I see," says
Allen Banks, national media director at Saatchi & Saatchi. "The
FCC and the Justice Department rationalize deregulation on the argument
that you can move to another platform if one company dominates one platform
in a market. But you can't avoid the guy who's screwing you in TV by
going
to radio because he's likely to screw you there, too."
But Saatchi & Saatchi Director of Local Investment Kevin Gallagher
says consolidation created unprecedented ability to drive down audience-reach
costs by striking package deals with large local groups. "This has
opened opportunities for advertisers to negotiate packages that are advantageous
to clients."
How far the FCC will go to persuade critics of Clear Channel and opponents
of media concentration in general remains an open question. Chairman
Powell
is taking an analytical approach and warning that there's no sure vote
for deregulation: "I'm one of those moderate moderate Republicans
who bristle at the suggestion that all we do is get up in the morning
and decide to do away with the next 50 regulations."
back to top
Independent Record Labels
Join Forces To Create World Independent Network
The independent record
trade associations of Australia (AIR), Canada (CIRPA) and the UK (AIM)
have joined forces in a global partnership to create the World Independent
Network (WIN), which will jointly represent music sales of up to $7.5bn.
The US and European associations, AFIM and IMPALA, have already committed
to join the network, and other independent trade associations are being
contacted to join. WIN exists to improve business networking opportunities
between its members, enabling independents around the world to communicate
and deal with each other. WIN's first initiative is to create a worldwide
network of market resources which member labels can access, enabling them
to better identify and contact partners in the territories represented.
This will include a searchable database of member labels, industry statistics
and information on charts, magazines, directories, web sites and events.
David Williams, AIR's Chair said " over the last three years we've
seen AIR grow from 20 labels to 200 labels. That growth has been mirrored
by the development of AIM in the UK and Impala in Europe. The formation
of WIN extends those national networks to the world. Of course it's great
for independent labels, but its also fantastic for anybody who likes
music. It opens up the world for independent music. "
Alison Wenham, AIM's Chief Executive said: "We are building a structure
to support independents around the world, helping them to overcome the
many commercial hurdles that exist when developing international business"
CIRPA's President Brian Chater added: "Many independent record producers
are very good at what they do in their own countries, but they are not
always as good internationally. We believe that this network will
give them more power and more useful resources."
MAINTAINING BUSINESS HEALTH
IN AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
by Peter Spellman, Music Business Solutions
Many in the music industry are experiencing the same things right now
as we all seek to grapple with the new world disorder. The economic downturn
and September 11 attacks have pounded already weak sales in a music industry
grappling with rampant piracy and slowing CD replacements. Gigs are drying
up, distributors are 120 days out, customers are staying home, and bills
are piling up. Music groups are under pressure to make deep-seated changes
to survive the times ahead and the "ripple effects" will be
profound.
Most likely your business is feeling the effects of the sudden economic
downturn as well. I can sense it in my own clients too. People are a
bit
paralyzed right now and it's showing in more "cocooning" and
a general reluctance to part with hard-earned cash from a paycheck that
may not arrive next month.
Despite a gloomy money picture, it is crucial to keep your head out of
the sand. Times like these force us to reevaluate out deepest values and
desires. We have before us a golden opportunity to take a fresh look at
our businesses, streamline and strengthen our operations, and put ourselves
on steadier economic ground.
Here are several financial management tips to help guide you and your
company through these turbulent times:
1. PLAY DOCTOR
An accurate diagnosis of the cause of your business problems is essential
to resolving and preventing their recurrence. Though external factors
play a big role in business dynamics, in most cases, the real cause of
business troubles is often internal. So the first thing you should do
is take your internal pulse.
Although every small business is unique, here are the most common causes
of financial difficulty:
* Expenses that exceed revenues
* Improper or inadequate financing
* Overly rapid growth funded by debt rather than by business profit (watch
those free credit card offers!)
* Poor management skills and business know-how among business owners/key
management (the #1 cause of business failures in the U.S.!)
* Ineffective mechanisms for decision-making and problem-solving
* Inadequate attention to marketing or an ineffective marketing program
* Key customer groups experiencing a financial downturn
* A poor or faulty product or service
* Lack of an adequate market for a product or service
* Unwillingness to look objectively at business difficulties.
2. CHOOSE
YOUR MEDICINE
The specific actions you take to stabilize your business and resolve its
problems will depend on your diagnosis. Following are some possible actions
to consider:* Evaluate all expenses including business-related travel
or entertainment, subscriptions, the purchase of supplies, raw materials
or equipment, insurance, the use of outside professionals, postage, phone
services, etc. to determine which can be reduced, delayed or eliminated.
* Eliminate or shelve products or services that are not making money.
* Evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing activities and modify as
needed.
* Assess current staffing levels to determine if there are positions that
could be eliminated or consolidated without damage to your company's effectiveness
and efficiency.
* Reduce staff salaries and/or benefits.
* Reduce your own salary.
* Cut prices. This action alone can sometimes provide the cash a business
needs to turn itself around.
* Defer maintenance activities as long as possible.
* Increase efforts to collect your accounts receivables. Call those who
owe you money, and press them for it. When necessary, use the services
of a collection agency.
* Delay paying your accounts payable as long as possible but without incurring
additional charges or jeopardizing your standing with suppliers, creditors,
your bank, etc.
* Increase the productivity of your sales staff through special incentives,
bonuses, training, etc.
* Sell assets that are not needed, including equipment, gear and office
furniture.
* Consider moving to less expensive space or reducing the amount of space
you are renting.
* Identify new sources of cash.
* Meet with your creditors, bankers and suppliers about lowering your
monthly payments, restructuring or consolidating debt, obtaining additional
credit, etc.
* Talk to the IRS about working out a payment plan for any back taxes.
* Improve your managerial skills and business know-how by taking classes
or attending seminars (lots of great stuff online!.
3. TAKE YOUR MEDICINE
This (when a business is in crisis) is not a time to be secretive and
protective, but a time to actually open up your situation to the people
who are in effect your financial partners, and to ask them for their help.
When necessary, provide your creditors with cash flow and sales projections,
fact sheets and documentation that will help support your case.
If you are funded by angels or family, be ruthlessly honest about your
situation and what you're planning to do about it.
Here are some additional cash-generating possibilities to consider:* Cut
expenses to the bone.
* Rent out office, studio or plant space that you do not need.
* When not using it, offer others the use of your equipment on a contract
basis--evenings, weekends, slow times, etc.
* Keep less inventory on hand.
* Identify other ways to use your assets when they are not being used
by your primary business.
* Barter for services.
* Make greater use of free-lancers, independent contractors, and interns
.
* Take advantage of your recognized expertise or skill in a certain area,
and develop a new product or service based on it that requires little
or no additional expenditure of money, additional marketing, etc.
* Explore the possibility of a joint venture with a company in a similar
or complimentary business to yours. For example, combine your products
or services together with another business into one big package. You could
split the profits. For example, a general business band can team up with
a catering company to offer a package of services for corporate party
and event planners. The possibilities here are endless.
* If you have not already done so, consult with outside professionals,
such as representatives of SCORE (Service Corps of retired Executives,
www.score.org) or your local SCDC (Small Business Development Center (http://www.sba.gov/gopher/Local-Information/Small-Business-Development-Centers/),
as well as with your accountant, attorney or another reputable professional
who may be able to provide you with ideas and advice.
Some of these guidelines
may seem excessive or harsh; some are simply common sense reminders.
But a key ingredient to successful business management
is the ability to be ruthlessly objective: to clearly see what needs
to be done and to respond intelligently and creatively to the challenge.
These practical steps will hopefully lighten the load and alleviate some
stress so you can continue to do the work that needs to get done.
Dig deep inside and be surprised by your own potential to work things
out.
Every other month,
Peter Spellman sends out a wonderful informative music newsletter
called
Music Biz Insight Above is an excerpt from the new Music Biz Insight
#28, reprinted with the kind permission of Mr. Spellman. For more
information,
please check out his website: www.mbsolutions.com
back to top
Think Global, Act Local:
Digital music companies
have largely focused on developing a base of musicians to draw traffic
to their sites. Now they are trying to figure out how to deal with the
unsorted pile of music they've been left with.
Filtering content
to promote the best music on a site has helped, but what happens when
lightning strikes and you find a band that really has a shot to make it?
For a price, localmusic.com can help you out.
An information and
promotion company that helps keep indie rock communities informed in twelve
cites across the country, localmusic.com launched its Creative Marketing
Solutions campaign to help labels and bands connect with the new, young
demographic of music listeners.
For Producers and Studios
Tutorials at streamingmedia.com
The first round of
tutorials outlines streaming media concepts and requirements from lens
to monitors. In the weeks to come, visitors can expect in-depth analysis
of industry tools, procedures, techniques, and case studies from industry
professionals around the world. Whether visitors are producing, encoding,
serving, or integrating streaming media content, the tutorial section
will provide a springboard for getting the job done. http://www.streamingmedia.com/tutorials/index.asp
Structured Audio - the Sound of the Future
By Tako Steinz
Imagine a website
with streaming CD-quality audio transmitted through the average user's
modem. This is exactly what can be achieved by using Structured Audio
(SA) part of the new MPEG-4 Audio standard.
MP4-SA is different
from other audio file formats, like MP3 and RA (realplayer) and WAV, in
a fundamental way: instead of describing the recorded audio data, it describes
the music-making process and the instruments and effects and mixing console
that were used, the notes played, and the slider and knob movements. It
describes these things in such a precise way, that it's possible to perfectly
recreate the audio by following the description.
This method yields
two major advantages. Files are extremely small compared to sizes of
current audio formats (SA files will be around 3 kilobyte for a 1 minute
interactive, interesting and complex performance!) and because the
sound is rendered on the end-user's computer, the sound will be exactly
the same wherever it's played. A feature that might be even more interesting
than "just" minimizing audio data is the following:
Because of the way
Structured Audio is organized, it's possible to make the music <really> interactive,
which will lead to things never heard of before. Suppose you want to
create a musical performance as part of a video game, where the moods
of the characters modulate the music, not just by fading in some new
audio files, but by letting the music change itself while it's being
played! This is possible with MP4-SA.
SA lives within
the MPEG-4 paradigm of "streaming" data and "decoding" processes. The Structured
Audio toolset is not only a method of synthesis, but a streaming format
appropriate for WWW-based (or any other channel) transmission of audio
data. Any fully compliant "MPEG-4 decoder" must contain an implementation,
in hardware, software, or both, of this music-synthesis language.
It may be clear that
MP4-SA is capable of giving audio on the web a whole new impulse. Realizing
all these great possibilities. We (a group of composers, sounddesigners
and software-developers) are researching and experimenting with MP4-SA
for quite some time now.
At the moment we
are intensifying our efforts. When web or multimedia based products need
streaming interactive audio but space or bandwidth are limited, MP4-SA
is the solution.
Digitize This:
Indiana University
announced its intention to build a $3 million digital library to support
the research and study of music.
Without the use of
Napster (which the school banned last year), students and faculty will
have access to collections of music across several genres, and will be
able to read lyrics, display digital scores and even create their own
compositions.
The money will be
provided by a four-year grant from the Digital Libraries Initiative, which
receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
Music
Industry Hails EU Crackdown On Piracy
The
music industry unanimously welcomed plans for a new EU Directive strengthening
the enforcement
of intellectual property rights, announced by the European Commission
in Brussels yesterday. IFPI, the organization representing the recording
industry worldwide, welcomed the Commission's pledge to make combating
counterfeiting and piracy a priority during enlargement negotiations
with EU candidate countries.
The proposed Directive
aims to harmonize and strengthen laws governing civil damages in piracy
cases. It will also deal with rules concerning the search and seizure
of pirate produce and evidence. Unfortunately, the proposed Directive
at this stage falls short of putting forward rules to harmonize the
criminal penalties needed to deter piracy. The industry will continue
to press on this issue. Counterfeiting and piracy increasingly involves
organized crime groups operating across borders.
This Directive is
the cornerstone of a far-reaching action plan aimed at strengthening
the fight against intellectual property theft in Europe that costs
EU creative industries 4.5 billion Euros each year.
In an important
step forward, the Commission will investigate ways of regulating optical
disc plants (producing CDs, CD-ROMs and DVDs) to ensure they only manufacture
legitimate product in future. The creative sector has long campaigned
for tighter regulation of optical disc plants, since much of pirate
product currently flooding the market originates from ostensibly legitimate
plants.
The music industry
applauded the key role played by the European Parliament in ensuring
the EU gets effective tools to combat piracy. Mme Janelly Fourtou,
rapporteur for the EC Green Paper on Counterfeiting and Piracy at the
European Parliament, said: Piracy not only does severe damage to business
interests but has a detrimental effect on consumers. Members of the
Parliament were unequivocal about the need to fight piracy, so we fully
support the ambitious and concrete measures outlined by the Commission."
The December 13th
announcement of a proposed Directive is part of the follow-up Communication
to the European Commission's 1998 Green Paper on Piracy and Counterfeiting
in the Single Market. Facts about piracy in the European union
Physical recordings
account for the bulk of the world music pirate market, comprising an estimated
1.9 billion discs and cassettes with a total 1999 value of 3.5 billion
Euros. Annual sales of pirate music CDs alone now exceed 500 million units
worldwide. More than 25 million pirate files are also available for trading
on the Internet Legal music sales exceed illegal ones in no fewer than
19 countries. Eastern Europe and Latin America are the regions with the
highest domestic piracy rates.
Europe's software,
music and audiovisual sectors combined are estimated to lose some 4.5
billion Euros annually as a result of counterfeiting and piracy Governments
lose billions of Euros in lost tax revenues Large-scale criminal organizations
are increasingly involved in counterfeiting and piracy and use profits
to fund other illegal activities such drug trafficking, prostitution,
arms trading and terrorism Theft of intellectual property has cost approximately
a quarter of a million jobs in the entertainment and software industries
Counterfeiting and piracy is a disincentive to industries to invest in
the creation of new works and products and in developing new markets.
back to top
Meta Trust Utility Open Rights Initiative
The Open Rights Initiative, which was announced last month, includes the
Open Rights Library, Open Rights Architecture, Open Rights Developer Program
and the Digital Rights Management Institute. The Meta Trust Utility community
will be able to share components via the Open Rights Library at http://www.openrights.com/.
Open Rights components
are targeted to include music, audio, video, and text content building
blocks and applications for electronic publishing, business to business,
and enterprise applications and services. Open Rights components from
Inter Trust will not include technology needed for the trusted DRM core.
Infonation
http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/e_infonation.htm
Compare countries' geography, economy, and population, as well as other
data with this online database, maintained by the United Nations.
Ads Take Aim at Online Music
by Christopher Jones
Corporate sponsorship of music is so commonplace these days that most fans
don't even bat an eye when their favorite artist pops up in a Pepsi commercial
or at a Microsoft launch party. But how will online music fans feel about
ad banners that pop up every time they listen to a music track? New York-based
EcerAd will test that concept with a new technology that embeds banner ads
in the free music tracks listeners download to a PC. When the track is played,
a revolving series of ads comes up regardless of whether a user is online
or offline, and stays in the forefront of the screen during the duration
of the song.
Media Alliance
Mass Media Alliance
now offers secure ONLINE MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION and payment. So if you
need to renew or would like to join, please go to http://www.mass-media.org/about.htm to
see the different types of memberships. Benefits include free admission
to meetings, health insurance discounts, the monthly Communiqué and
other discounts.
THE REAL REASON MAJOR RECORD COMPANIES SUCK
by Peter Spellman
An
artist who signs a major label recording contract today is probably taking
the biggest
risk of his or her career. With a mortality rate of 1 out of 10 failures,
it's clearly a crap shoot whether a new major label artist will "make
it" or not. The list of "where are they nows" over the last ten years
runs into the thousands. This sucks! When we try and figure out why this
mortality rate prevails, a number of familiar reasons present themselves:
o the major labels are putting out TOO MANY RECORDS...True, but I believe
this is merely a symptom of a bigger problem; o the major labels are SIGNING
ARTISTS TOO INDISCRIMINATELY...Yes, but this too is symptomatic of something
deeper; o the major labels are peopled with DYSFUNCTIONAL, TURF-PROTECTING
CLIMBERS...True sometimes, but this too is merely a symptom; o the major
labels aim for A LEAST-COMMON-DENOMINATOR MUSICAL "SOUND" that will appeal
to the masses...Yes, but a symptom again. We can go on and on with possible
reasons and never arrive at the REAL one. The real reason major record
labels suck is because they are "divisions" within larger multi-national
corporations that are obligated, BY THEIR VERY NATURE, to behave in a
certain art-destoying way.
Let me explain.
There are certain obligatory imperatives by which all corporations
must operate. These imperatives are assumed, accepted, rarely articulated
and color everything a corporation does. Now don't get me wrong. There
ARE music people within corporate record labels - people who are truly
turned on by music creation, recording and promotion. I know some of
them. But when push comes to shove, all their actions must reflect
the policies and procedures handed down from "corporate". Too much
independence on their part and they will be handed a pink slip and
shown the door. There are seven ruling imperatives corporations (including
music corporations) must obey, and each imperative has a profound effect
on how music and artists are treated, regarded and disposed of. Here
they are:
1. THE PROFIT IMPERATIVE:
Monetary profit is the ultimate measure of all corporate decisions.
Shareholders "own" corporations and they expect the value of their shares to increase,
not decrease. Forget the little old lady that owns a few shares of stock.
Most shares are owned by tremendously wealthy and thus politically influential
individuals and most importantly by other corporations, many of which
are investment banks. All are itchy for quarterly, measurable profits.
"EBITA" (earnings before interest, taxes and amortization) controls everything.
Senior corporate officers are notorious for wearing "ninety-day glasses".
Three months ahead is as far as most CEOs can see. This myopia often
infects the entire organization, as relentless pressure to perform over
the short term radiates from the top. A factory may be closed rather
than modernized and an artist dropped rather than developed because the
tax write-off makes the next period look better.
2. THE GROWTH IMPERATIVE:
This goes hand-in-hand with the profit imperative. Profit means growth,
expansion of the talent pool, expansion of the master catalog. Corporations
live or die by whether they can sustain growth. Music corporations
must keep on signing new artists in order to use their vast infrastructures
and justify their overhead expenses. Sometimes company growth doesn't
happen fast enough to suit the ambitious, however, and sometimes it
doesn't happen at all. What to do then? The power-hungry CEO's typical
solution is to expand by acquiring another company. Growth by acquisition
has been the modus operandi of the corporate music business since the
1970s. EMI is a case in point. By acquiring such hot labels as Virgin
and Chrysalis and bringing its antiquated operations up to snuff, EMI
for a while seemed headed to the top. But chairman Sir Colin Southgate
also pressured his executives to maintain double-digit growth, first
in good times, then in the face of a rapidly deteriorating market.
They responded by pumping out quick-buck anthologies and slashing costs
willy-nilly when they could have been building talent for the long
haul. Managed for short-term results, EMI has literally consumed itself
in pursuit of its numbers. The profit and growth imperatives are the
most fundamental corporate drives; together they represent the corporation's
instinct "to live."
3. COMPETITION AND
AGGRESSION: Corporations place every person in management in fierce
competition with each other. Anyone interested in a corporate career
must hone his or her ability to seize the moment. This applies to gaining
an edge over another company or over a colleague within the company.
All divisions of major record companies are attempting to represent
themselves as an indispensable component of the recording industry.
The day-to-day work of dealing predominantly with one specific medium,
whether the music, the image in the video, the radio media, or the
press, tends to result in different staff assessing the potential of
artists in different ways and developing their own agendas and goals
rather than working towards a shared overall vision. As a label employee,
you are expected to be part of a "team," but you also must be ready
to climb over your own colleagues when an opportunity presents itself.
This does not make for an environment conducive to artist development
nor record sales.
4. AMORALITY: Not
being human, corporations do not have altruistic goals. In fact, corporate
executives praise "non emotionality" as a basis for "objective" decision-making.
So decisions that may be antithetical to aesthetic goals or artistic integrity
are made without misgivings. Corporations, however, seek to hide their
amorality and attempt to ACT as if they were altruistic. Lately, for example,
there has been a concerted effort by American industry to appear concerned
with environmental cleanup, community arts or drug programs. Likewise,
major labels are starting to once again toss around the phrase "long-term
artist development" as an antidote to the perception they are shortsighted.
But this can only be rhetorical in a corporate setting where quarterly
results rule the environment. Product (and its creators) not bringing
in the necessary numbers will continue to be dropped like a bad habit.
Don't be deceived! It is a fair rule of thumb that corporations tend to
advertise the very qualities they do not have in order to allay negative
public perceptions. When corporations say "we care," it is almost always
in response to the widespread perception that they do not have feelings
or morals.
5. HIERARCHY: Corporate
laws require that corporations be structured into classes of superiors
and subordinates within a centralized pyramidal structure: chairman,
directors, chief executive officer, VPs, division managers, and so
on (based primarily on military models). Unlike the freedoms of an
entrepreneurial business, large company decision-making must pass through
layer upon layer of management. This makes the process of product development
slow and ponderous (for example, from the time a band is signed it
can be a full year or longer before their first record is finally released
owing in part to this dense hierarchical management structure). Furthermore,
high executive turnover and frequent management "purges" at large record
companies can often delay or even derail a recording project indefinitely,
leaving artists in the lurch.
6. QUANTIFICATION:
Corporations require that subjective information be translated into
objective form, i.e. numbers. The subjective or spiritual aspects of
music, for example, cannot be translated, and so do not enter corporate
equations. Music is evaluated only as "product." Some in the industry would prefer
to treat music like other industries treat cars and refrigerators. But
music cannot be treated as such. As the creative extensions of human spirit,
music will always defy attempts at control. Indeed, just when the majors
catch up with a "new" music trend they often find that the market has
shifted and music lovers have moved on to something else.
7. HOMOGENIZATION:
Corporations have a stake in all of us living our lives in a similar
manner. The ultimate goal of corporate multinationals was expressed
in a revealing quote by the president of Nabisco Corporation: "One world of homogeneous
consumption. . . [I am] looking forward to the day when Arabs
and Americans, Latinos and Scandinavians, will be munching Ritz crackers
as enthusiastically as they already drink Coke or brush their teeth with
Colgate." Corporations are structured and optimized for the "mass market"
and so what they sell must appeal to the broadest audience possible. Their
musical mainstay has been CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio or Top 40 Pop) -
predictable, non-adventurous, formulaic. They have dominated the airwaves
and circled the globe with this musical pablum. Incidentally, homogenization
is one of the reasons the corporate music business (along with most other
corporations) is in such crisis today. It is facing a rapidly segmenting
marketplace where consumers have become unpredictable. It always depended
on "The Next Big Thing" to flush its corporate ledgers. But the very
concept of one artist who can unite a large pop audience and help shape
and define it (ala Elvis, The Beatles, Springsteen) seems about as dead
as the 45-rpm spindle.
Next Big Thing?
More like "Next Modest Thing That Might Appeal to a Portion of the Demographic".
But while this is bad news for the corporate giants, it is good news for
their indie counterparts. A number of indie labels specializing in "niche" music
markets (hip hop, ambient, folk, Celtic, etc.) are grabbing market share
almost daily and breaking open a lot of champagne. So in conclusion,
let us remember that the Musical Industrial Complex must, by necessity,
bow to corporate imperatives that will inevitably clash with art. It's
nobody's fault; it's the nature of corporate cultures, and any artist
desiring to get into bed with this culture should proceed with eyes wide
open. Your partner could be your nemesis.
by Peter Spellman
www.mbsolutions.com
back to top
Every other month,
Peter Spellman sends out a wonderful informative music newsletter called
Music Biz Insight. Below are some excerpts from the new Music Biz Insight
#17, reprinted with the kind permission of Mr. Spellman. For more information,
please check out his website: www.mbsolutions.com
MERGER MAYHEM?: THE UPSIDE OF A DOWNSIZE
by Peter Spellman
The largest merger
in recording industry history occurred late last year when the Dutch-owned
Polygram Label Group was bought by Seagram's of Canada for a whopping
$10.6 billion. Already an owner of Universal Music (Geffen,Dreamworks,
Interscope), the acquired Polygram cachet included the labels A & M,
Island, Motown, and Mercury among others.
As a result, the
core record industry now boils down to five major conglomerates (BMG,
EMI, SONY, WEA, and Universal Music Group), and that could be reduced
to four if rumors of a buyout of EMI by BMG are substantiated. These
five supply about 80% of all the music heard on the radio.The shifting
of tectonic plates caused by giant mergers inevitably results in upheaval
and dislocation. Record companies A&M and Geffen have been folded
into Interscope Records, a successful former indie operation in its
own right, responsible for the rap stars Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur,
among others. Mercury and Motown (down from over 200 employees to 7)
have virtually ceased to exist with any former autonomy gone. Numerous
smaller labels are also on the chopping block on both coasts. When
all is said and done Seagram will issue pinks slips to over 3,000 employees
worldwide (including many middle managers and a number of executives)
and let go of 300 artists by the end of this year. What people fear
most is that what remaining diversity and originality there is in popular
music will be snuffed out for the sake of making easy, unchallenging
money-spinners: in other words, more Take That and Spice Girls clones.
Serious artists, some say, have already found it difficult over the
past decade or so to hold on to their integrity and resist the pressure
to over-commercialize. Others feel that in its drive for efficiencies
and global markets, the music business is drifting away from its homebase
constituency of disaffected, affluent Western youth. Rock, they say,
is endangered in corporate hands.
But before we start
cursing the music-biz execs and their evil bean-counting accountants,
consider this: The Universal/Polygram merger could actually turn out
to be a good thing for contemporary music. "The good news is that it'll be
like 1952 all over again," commented Billboard editor Timothy White in
the wake of the merger. "People will take their severance packages and
start little labels, just like when Ahmet Ertgun started Atlantic Records
with a bunch of artists nobody else wanted."
Indeed, the indie
sector of the music business is its fastest rising star. Empowered
by
affordable recording technologies and a hyper
abundance of entrepreneurial
resources, independent music companies are springing up like mushrooms
in a moist field. Many of the most important developments in contemporary
music, starting with the launch of rock `n' roll, were the result
of entrepreneurs
at independent record companies taking chances on talents that were often
thought of as being too far outside of the mainstream for the major
labels
to sign.
The fact that Seagram's
Universal Music Group wants to sever ties with so many acts is a condemnation
of the industry's tendency to sign talent so indiscriminately. The statistics
on record sales are dismal. According to the Recording Industry Association
of America, 9 out of 10 new record releases fail to recoup their production
costs. Nine out of ten - that's a mortality rate that would easily sink
any other business. But because of the music's profit-to-cost ratios it's
been allowed to exist. One hit fills the coffers fast.
Based on personal
observations of Warner Bros. releases over a four month period, I noticed
that the label averages 25-30 new releases per month. That's more than
one per working day. There's little chance record company marketing departments
can give more than scant attention to most of these records. There is
simply not enough time nor people on staff to form a strategic plan and
then effectively work that plan. Most new artist releases are given a
generic marketing plan and thrown against the wall, while the label crosses
its fingers hoping they stick.
Faced with this
tough reality, the music industry is now downsizing into a more compact,
cost-effective
version of its former obese self. Big Mac-sized marketing campaigns are
out (or, at least, not quite the priority they were) and "we-care-because-you-do" artist
development is coming back in as the music industry wakes up to the
fact that bands cannot live on hype alone. Perhaps the new Seagram
regime will set an
example of this new corporate attitude.
Most are unaware
that Seagram chief Edgar Bronfman is an armchair songwriter who co-authored
Celine Dion's , "To Love You More." It's hard to imagine Time Warner chief
Gerald Levin or the head of Bertelsmann or Sony writing a song that would
be played on the radio. "The music business is now going to be the most
important business to us - which it's not to most of the other companies
that are running large entertainment businesses," said Bronfman to the
Los Angeles Times earlier this year. "Seagram has corporate management
that loves music, loves the music business and loves the creativity of
the music business. I think that's a good place for a music company to
be." We all hope so.
Peter Spellman, Director
MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
http://www.mbsolutions.com
We invite you
to visit these industry related websites:
 In
Hollywood: The website for Working Hollywood http://www.inhollywood.com/ih/
Film Music Magazine
http://www.filmmusicmag.com/index.html
ASCAP http://www.ascap.com
BMI http://www.bmi.com
SESAC http://www.sesac.com
The Film Music Network
http://www.filmmusic.net
The Songwriters Guild
of America (SGA) http://www.songwriters.org/new/home.htm
The Society of Composers & Lyricists
(SCL) http://www.filmscore.org
Professional Composers
of America (PCA) http://www.procomposers.org
The Music Industry
Pages http://www.musicindustry.com
Music Network USA
http://www.mnusa.com
Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) http://www.riaa.com
Liquid Audio http://www.liquidaudio.com
Real Audio http://www.real.com
back to top |
