Greg Sandoval of CNET seems to think so, but Billboard wants you to give it a little more time.
Feb 292012
Feb 072012
Spin is releasing a new version of its website next month (March 2012). In an attempt to compete with streaming media such as Spotify and Rdio, the website will feature tracks at the top of its page, all linked to editorial content and blogs. These blogs will have nine different focuses: various music genres and entertainment categories.
Could these additions add SPIN to your daily digital reading list?
[Source]
Jan 302012
Billboard recently posted excerpts from an interview they conducted at MIDEM with Sony’s Tony Schaaff. Within the article, he discussed Sony Music Unlimited, a streaming service by the major music company. Unfortunately for Sony, millions of accounts were recently hacked, and Schaaff explained how the company has been dealing with the obviously negative backlash from that situation as well.
Regarding Sony’s need for a higher consumer subscriber level, Schaaff shared that the company will be focusing on retail and global. The global marketing campaign will feature Sony Entertainment Network as a whole, not only their retail devices.
With the huge (and growing) number of competitors in the music streaming field, Billboard asked of Music Unlimited, “Why bother?” Schaaff’s answer began simply, with “…this is not a sprint, this is a marathon.” Just how large is the competitive market? Sony itself licensed music to 250+ different services in 2011. Schaaff went on to say that if Sony didn’t think it was bringing something new and innovative to the market, it wouldn’t bother entering such a crowd.
Finally, the question is brought up about the hacking case and how he feels Sony consumers are feeling in regards to trust in the company. According to internal data, engagement with the brand is higher than ever, and Schaaff seems confidant that all of the trust has been regained. On a company end, Sony has invested a large amount of money in beefing up its security to make sure nothing like that happens ever again.
How do you feel about Sony Music Unlimited, the hacking scandal, and how Schaaff has portrayed Sony in this interview?
Related articles
- How Sony plans to take on Spotify and Netflix (thenextweb.com)
- Music Unlimited coming to iOS (ces.cnet.com)
- Sony Singing Apple’s Tune (blogs.wsj.com)
- Apple gets taste of Sony’s Music Unltd. (variety.com)
Jan 232012
Head on over to Alternative Press to hear the exclusive stream of Hit The Light’s latest album, “Invicta.”
What do you think?
Jan 032012
Most musicians using social media are sharing videos of one kind or another. While the videos may be professional or just quick updates for your fans, the infographic below can be helpful.
Using Google Analytics (as everyone should be), you can look into how your fans are accessing your content (i.e. Smart phone, desktop, tablet). This information can help you see where and how many videos you should be posting.
As you can read below, tablet users are much more likely to watch most or all of your videos. If a large percentage of your traffic is from tablets, you know you can gain engagement this way. If your fans are mostly on Twitter, maybe you should focus on communicating in a way that isn’t video-based, as Facebook beats out Twitter for video sharing by quite a bit.
Do you often use videos to communicate with your fans? Feel free to share your links below!
Dec 052011
Wow, check out Spotify updating even more. They really do seem to be trying to be the Facebook of streaming music. Besides getting more social and a better looking design for certain sections, they are allowing the creation of outside applications. The “buddy list” feature seems reminicent of Facebook’s Ticker.
Have you gotten the update yet? What do you think?
Oct 312011
We’ve been hearing a lot about indie record labels taking back the licenses for their music to be streamed on Spotify (mostly metal labels), but here is a high profile artist to add to the list: Coldplay.
Image via Wikipedia
While seven of the band’s albums are available on the service, Mylo Xyloto, the latest release, is not, and will not, be available. C|Net was the first to receive the information, in addition to reporting that EMI (Coldplay’s label) is “a little embarrassed” of their artists’ decision.
No reason behind the pull was given, but many are speculating that it is because of the very low payouts most artists are receiving from the streaming service.
Do you think more major artists will be pulling partial or full catalogs from Spotify (or other streaming services)?
Related articles
- Coldplay keeps ‘Mylo Xyloto’ off streaming plans (pbpulse.com)
- Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto won’t appear on Spotify (guardian.co.uk)
- Why Isn’t Coldplay’s New Album on Spotify? (techland.time.com)
- Why Coldplay and Adele Aren’t Bringing New Albums to Spotify (mashable.com)
- Music Diary Notes: Coldplay … NOT Coming to Spotify/Rdio/MOG/etc … (geardiary.com)
- The Awkward, Unanswered Questions That Led to Coldplay’s Spotify Embargo (musicindustryblog.wordpress.com)
Oct 112011
Image via CrunchBase
Digital Music News posted over the weekend about a topic that is very relevant to all indie artists: streaming payments. Specifically, they were trying to get an answer from Grooveshark (a music streaming service) regarding actual payment amounts to artists/rights holders/etc. Unfortunately, they were unable to garner any sort of number from them, but we can see what SVP Paul Geller had to say in response to their question:
“Right now Grooveshark has money coming in. I’m curious to know on a granular basis – on a per on-demand stream basis – what is the rights holder receiving? What is the artist getting, what is the label getting – per stream, per actual song?” – Paul Resnikoff, DMN
“So all of the contracts that we’re doing now are rev-share based, except for those with the PROs. The PROs get their statutory rates, and so do the publishers for interactive. And, the rest of them is just a pro-rata share. So I think that’s the common way to go about it now, I think that’s the only way that you can subsist on this type of money. And that’s why I think that we have to be creative about how to get more money into this ecosystem, because I don’t think anyone sees those numbers and is really inspired by them, I think people look at them and say ‘well this is a soft landing for the music industry,’ it’s ‘hopefully we don’t have to lay off too many people.’ And that’s why I think that Grooveshark is out there trying to be creative about how to infuse the industry with more money in ways that I don’t think are commonplace right now.” – Geller, Grooveshark
Go over to DMN now to read the rest of Geller’s response. Before you do, please tell me in the comments below what you think about the streaming music payments as they stand right now. Even for artists who are seeing money from this system, the payouts are quite low. Thoughts?
Related articles
- Behind the music: Why Grooveshark takes a bite out of artists’ earnings (guardian.co.uk)
- Grooveshark Music Streaming Comes to Boxee on Your HDTV, PC, or iPad [Updates] (lifehacker.com)
- Missed Out on the Spotify US Launch? Try These Alternatives (savings.com)
- Music Apps Revealed At f8 | Recap (socialmusicmedia.com)
Oct 042011
Go ahead, listen to that guilty pleasure song 500 times. No one has to know now, because Spotify has introduced the Private Listening feature. Much like private browsing, all it does is hide what you’re listening to while in the mode, meaning it won’t be sent to Facebook for all of your friends to see.
Thanks to Mashable for the screenshot showing us how to enter Private Listening mode!
Related articles
- Spotify Launches ‘Private Listening’ for Your Guilty Pleasures (techland.time.com)
- Spotify Hides Your Musical Taste From Facebook Friends With Private Listening Mode (mashable.com)
- Spotify Update Brings Private Listening Mode (socialtimes.com)
Oct 042011
Milyoni and Ridgeline Entertainment have teamed up to present Facebook users with the opportunity to watch the Michael Jackson Tribute Concert by streaming the concert live on Facebook–but not for free.
Users interested in watching performances by Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, and Jennifer Hudson can pay for the streaming concert with 40 Facebook credits or $3.99-4.99 (depending on how early tickets are purchased).
Have you livestreamed anything through Facebook in the past–specifically music? If so, does it seem worth it for you to pay for the ability to do so?
Related articles
- Michael Jackson Tribute Will Stream Live On Facebook (allfacebook.com)
- Facebook to broadcast Michael Jackson tribute show in pay-per-view first (digitaltrends.com)
- Black Eyed Peas to play at Michael Jackson tribute (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
