As a serious music fan who used to pride himself on being ahead of curve on the latest and greatest artists, my recent stumbling upon popcuts was music to my ears (awful pun acknowledged). The community, launched by three music afficionados, with certain haunts of pyramid-scheme-like simplicity, rewards early adopters for the purchase of up and coming artists’ tracks.
By rewarding those who are really taking a chance by purchasing cutting-edge/often unheard of music, I think popcuts is really on to something here…Each track sells for 99 cents, of which the site takes 10-20%, with the artist able to dictate how much of the remaining funds they would like to claim. The remainder of the $0.99 is earmarked for distribution to every person who has already purchased the track.
While I wouldn’t suggest liquidating your savings account to make a quick cash-grab (unless your ideal portfolio consists of music credits), the site’s value proposition capitalizes upon important principles that I think will make this going concern, if not a solid buyout target for one of the bigger music stores out there (shudder): Read More »
My travel schedule is lighter this month, so I am getting caught up on some issues, one of which is the proposed copyright legislation introduced by the Canadian government in mid-June. I think it is a massive step backwards by the government. It more than repeats the mistakes of the misguided US legislation which, as we all know, has worked out so well for the industry, musicians and fans. How many teenagers were hauled into court this week for downloading a few tunes?
Not surprisingly, most industry groups supported the legislation, because it takes such a hard line against sharing music. But some artists were quick to criticize: Read More »
As popular as wikis have become, they aren’t yet in use across all mediums. Case in point: music. However, a company called Sonoma Wire Works appears to have solved this problem. Sonoma Wire Works has announced the launch of RiffWorks T4, an online music-collaboration application. With RiffWorks T4, musicians can record ideas, use drums and guitars, and add effects to quickly create songs. Most importantly, users do this online, and can easily collaborate with peers around the world — all for free! When finished, their tunes can be broadcast on RiffWorld.com.
Technology empowers users. Apple’s GarageBand, for instance, enabled just about anyone to make professional sounding music (provided a certain level of musicianship). A while ago, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails released his music as GarageBand files so that fans can remix them as they please (think open-source music). GarageBand has been popular since the source of the music is standardized, people can send it around and collaborate with friends — basically “playing tennis” with works in progress. However, the distribution of these edited files has effectively been limited to e-mailing music attachments back and forth. Very 1.0.
RiffWorks T4 solves this problem by making the music itself wiki based. It lets four people work on the music at once, but there’s no upper limit to the number of potential collaborators. It also synchronizes the piece across the computers of all of the contributors, and keeps a copy on the web that is always up to date and universally accessible. RiffWorks T4 has wikified music. Because of its centralized, collaborative nature, for the first time ever we can have crowd created music, I wonder what it will sound like.
A darling of the Wikinomics blog (1,2,3), Radiohead has impressed before, and with their latest video for House of Cards, they do so again. Maintaining their promise not to make any conventional music videos for their anything but conventionally released In Rainbows, the band’s latest video was made using Geometric Informatics and LIDAR (think radar, but with light) technology normally reserved for geographic mapping and catching speeding cars, among other things.
Here’s an interesting little story from TorrentFreak - when Mr. Suitcase published an album last year, he started receiving payments from Stim (the Swedish Performing Rights Society), which is funded via a tax on all recordable media in Sweden. This is often referred to as the “Pirate Tax”, as it is designed to compensate artists for having their creative output “stolen” in various ways. To quote Mr. Suitcase on how he responded:
“First, I got a bit put off by receiving the money because to me, that kind of arbitrary hand-out of alms is a ridiculous system. Then I thought, why not see it as an opportunity and earmark the money for something creative. And since the money came from piracy, I had to use it for more piracy, right?”
So he created a new album, fully funded by the tax, by using other people’s music and putting it through some old effects boxes he acquired. In turn, the end result is what some might call a pirated mash-up album, fully funded by an anti piracy tax. I’m sure not everyone would agree with his approach, but one (or at least I) have to love the mindset he took to get there:
“To me, ‘Frauds’ is a statement. There’s so much negativity in the debate. ‘File sharing means artists can’t…’, ‘File sharing means nobody will ever…’ I think it’s the opposite, I think the beautiful aspect of the digital era is that anything recorded can be remixed, tweaked and modified.”
Those of us who make predictions about the future can often run into a particularly frustrating problem – being right, but being right too early. This is something I’ve been through a few times, particularly with the Naked Corporation – I thought, and continue to think, that it’s a great book about the future of the enterprise and transparency, but when it was published in 2003 it never really gained the traction I hoped for. Fast forward to 2007 – while I was particularly happy about how well Wikinomics was (and continues to be) received, when I saw this cover of Wired Magazine that came out around the same time… let’s just say I couldn’t help but wonder how the Naked Corporation would have fared if the timing worked out better.
Such issues of timing and prediction underlie Paul Krugman’s excellent Op-Ed piece in the NY Times called “Bits, Bands, and Books”. He opens by quickly recapping the technology bubble of the late 1990s, the inevitable collapse, and then jumps to the recent oil and food shocks that have reminded us we still live in a “material world.” But it’s what he says next that is most important:
So much, then, for the digital revolution? Not so fast. The predictions of ’90s technology gurus are coming true more slowly than enthusiasts expected — but the future they envisioned is still on the march.
Weezer released their latest music video ‘Pork and Beans” on Youtube last week. The band has always had a special spot in the hearts of those labeled geeks and nerds, probably stemming from the bands image and the fact they had one of the first digital videos to be widely distributed. If you recall the “Buddy Holly” music video became so popular it was included with the Windows 95 , and was my first introduction to the band, of which I would consider myself a fan. Unfortunately I also remember that Microsoft also included the trailer to Rob Roy, which I would say missed the demographic of computer users in the 90s by a wide, wide margin (still haven’t seen it).
All of this makes it fitting that the band chose to not only release their latest music video on YouTube, but also to make YouTube an integral part of the video itself. There is an excellent post by Nicholas Carlson that lists and links to all of the now famous YouTubers that appear in the video. Take a minute to watch the music video which is posted below and see how many of the ‘stars’ you spot.
NEW YORK - Comcast Corp., which is under federal investigation for blocking some file-sharing traffic, is investing in a startup that delivers high-definition video using file-sharing techniques.
Seattle-based GridNetworks on Monday said that Comcast would make an unspecified investment in the company and collaborate on developing so-called peer-to-peer file-sharing techniques that are “friendly” to Internet service providers.
The article also states that Comcast plans to stop all bandwidth shaping (usually in the form of slowing down peer to peer traffic) by the end of the year, certainly a good step if they want any of their customers to use the GridNetworks service.
This move is yet another following an all to familiar pattern: companies resist the way technology is being used, then throw their hat in the ring completely ignoring the solutions that already exist, instead suggesting (what for many people is) a superfluous alternative (Napster vs. iTunes, YouTube vs. ComedyCentral Streaming, ThePirateBay vs. NetFlix).
As many of our readers know, we have been following the music industry quite closely for some time. While most record companies are stuck to their old model, a few innovative artists are making headlines by connecting directly with their audience. Arguably the most forward thinking artist has been Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. In the past, the band released its music under the Creative Commons License making it available for remixing. It has also released a collection of tracks with flexible pricing ranging from $0 to $300 depending on the fan’s preference.
In the latest coup in the industry, Reznor’s newest album, “The Slip”, is being distributed on the band’s website for free and without any method for payment. (Also under Creative Commons License) The simple message on the website says “thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one’s on me.”
Although this might seem like an exercise in altruism, Reznor is also a shrewd businessman. While the band may take a hit on record sales, its upcoming 26 concert tour will give them an opportunity to make up the revenue. This may be the ultimate test of the “free” model for music, especially for big bands. If Reznor comes out on top, many others will surely follow as soon as their recording contracts expire.
Inspired partially by Mike’s Guitar Hero posts (1)(2) and endorsements, I had been searching for a Guitar Hero III for my Wii for weeks, when finally last week, I was able to find one at an Electronics Boutique in downtown Toronto.
I resisted playing the game for a couple of days as I knew I would get pulled in, but once I cracked, boy did I have fun. While I’ve only played for a cumulative three or 4 hours, I have had a blast doing so. Being the “hero” I knew I would be (sarcasm noted), after defeating Lou, the boss on Easy, I was ready to move on to the next bigger and better challenge, which I my case was Rock Band.
I had played the popular Harmonix game at a friend’s house on PS3 and was blown away when mid-way through a song, a friend suggested they wanted to hear an Oasis song, and lo and behold, to my astonishment, the owner of the game grabbed the PS controller, went online and purchased “The Oasis Pack” and within minutes, we were butchering the popular cover Wonderwall.
How much of a premium would you pay for unlimited legal music downloads?
Alright, so the title is an obvious exaggeration, but it raises an interesting question - How much would you pay for an iPod or iPhone with unlimited access to the entire iTunes catalogue? That seems to be one of the questions being kicked around by our Cupertino, CA friends these days. In an effort to beat (or at least match) Nokia’s launch of their “comes with music” line of mobile devices, Apple appears to be in negotiations to deliver a line of premium iPod and/or iPhones that would be bundled with unlimited access to all available iTunes music.
I must give credit to Thusenth for this post, as he was the person who originally told me about SeeqPod.
SeeqPod is a fantastic music flash-based site that works as a search engine. Users can search to find mp3 files that are hosted on other people’s sites. It links to content as Google would, although it does allow users to play the content from their site, but ultimately they never host any of the content. Although I’m not always the biggest proponent of Flash due to its proprietary nature, it is instances such as this that demonstrate the situational applicability of the software. But I digress.
The nature of this site, however, hasn’t stopped Warner Music from suing the “playable search” company. You can view a PDF of Warner’s complaint against SeeqPod here. SeeqPod claims its music search technology is legal because it doesn’t actually host any files. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has a provision that protects search engines from charges of infringement when they return potentially infringing results. Read More »
The music industry is NOT dead - it’s just in need of some long-overdue ingenuity and perhaps it’s not the same old dinosaurs at the top who are in the best position to deliver. For those music cynics out there, I’d like to reacquaint (or rather introduce) you with Trent Reznor. Front-man of popular industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails and business man extraordinaire, Mr. Reznor has long been a ray of hope in the dark world of a troubled industry.
Reznor’s most recent industry-leading coup came just over a week ago and should serve as a lesson for the rest of his troubled and not-so-forward-looking colleagues. Read More »
Breaking news from the Digital Music Forum East 2008 Conference. In Ars Technica’s coverage of the conference, they posted the highlights of Ted Cohen’s opening speech which contained the groundbreaking news: Music 1.0 is dead. To be fair, the former Senior Vice President of Digital Development and Distribution for EMI seems to have a pretty good idea about what’s going on.
What surprises me, is that it needs to be said at all. Is there anyone anywhere who doesn’t understand what kind of trouble the old music industry model is experiencing. There’s more print and and bandwith devoted to the topic of its slow death every day than Gutenberg could have imagined in his wildest dreams and yes, I can see the irony in writing that in a piece on the same topic.
Here’s just one example of the what I’m getting at. Last year 48% of U.S. teenagers did not buy a single cd - a ten per cent increase over 2006. One estimate puts the ratio of illegal to legal downloading at 20 to 1. Clearly, it’s time to re-think things.
Cohen suggests a solution. He says that instead of wallowing in their desperation, the industry needs to be to be “wildly creative” and look a new models of doing business. I have a wildly creative suggestion. Instead of trying to swim up stream, all the time, the music industry could try getting with the program. Do I have a concrete solution? No. But there are success stories that the industry can look to for starters.
The success of Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want album is just one example of the music industry trying to drag itself into the 21st century. The digital market is only going to grow as legal downloads occupy an increasingly important and sizable component of revenue. It’s time the music industry took these fringe ideas and ran with them instead of trying to prop up a failing business model.
Although there are many things China can learn from its North American counterpart in this new world economy, there’s at least one thing North Americans can learn from the Chinese.
China has developed a reputation for bootleg products (CD’s, DVDs, software etc.). So here’s a crazy thought, instead of refusing to change and opting to take measures such as suing their customers, or coming up with crazy DRM policies…. the Chinese music industry is – adapting. Albeit, not by choice, Chinese record companies have given up trying to fight piracy like their European and American counterparts and instead, are looking at different business models.
I recently had the pleasure of stumbling across this movie on the internet. A little behind the ball on this one, Good Copy Bad Copy is a documentary originally created for the Danish National Broadcasting Television network that was eventually released for free on the internet in 2007. It first appeared on The Pirate Bay and then was officially released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.
GCBC is a insightful documentary about copyright and culture in the context of Internet, and is directed by independent Danish directors Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen, and Henrik Moltke. The film goes around the world, showing the changing attitudes toward art and culture in Nigeria, Sweden, Brazil, the UK, and in the US. It features interviews with many people with various perspectives on copyright, including copyright lawyers such as Lawrence Lessig from Creative Commons, Tiamo and Anakata from The Pirate Bay, music producers, and controversial music artists such as Girl Talk and Danger Mouse who, as we all know, created the Grey Album by mixing The Beatles’ White Album with Jay-Z’s Black Album.
Even MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) CEO Dan Glickman makes an appearance. He briefly comments on the MPAA’s involvement with the raid on The Pirate Bay. Glickman states that although he knows piracy will never be stopped, they will try to make it as difficult and tedious as possible.
Amongst the most interesting segments include a trip to Russia to look at the rampant bootlegging that occurs there, the perspectives of the Nigerian film industry and the Techno Brega musical movement in Brazil, which has been using a business model for years that was originally considered to be pioneered by The Pixies, Metallica, and Phish back in 2004.
What becomes obvious progressively throughout the film is the death of the current business models used by the record industry and the lack of control which is becoming more prevalent in the current consumerist climate. The old vanguards are fighting to retain their revenue while people are endlessly re-using and recycling copyrighted material in order to create new art-forms.
I would highly recommend this light-hearted and neutral account of the current state of copyright to anyone. The link to download GCBC can be found here. Feel free to donate something to the makers of the documentary if you enjoy watching it.
Oddly enough, the RIAA has never sponsored any of our research programs. Who knows why? Perhaps it’s posts like this, this, this, this, this, and this. Trust me; when we use terms like “house of cards”, we mean that in the most positive possible light.
A couple of items piqued my interest this week. This article describes how, for the first time, weekly album sales have fallen below 7 million and the #1 album by Alicia Keys has the second lowest sales for a top album in history. If I moved next week to Pitcairn Island, I might well be the best hockey player in town. Doesn’t mean that I have a decent wrist shot.
A more distressing article appeared in the Economist (and received wide play on the blogosphere) that discussed how free CDs do not appear to be a good enought deal. From the article:
… EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there.
Is there a hierarchy for piracy for those in the Net Generation? A visit to torrentspy, the pirate bay or any other torrent search site and you will find a plethora of hacked, cracked and pirated software. This generation has grown up in a digital world that has seen the creation of Napster, experienced the RIAA suing children and the use of invasive DRM technologies (which oddly enough only hampers those who actually legally obtain their media).
Technology and old business models have collided and by most accounts the media giants have responded poorly. In many cases still refusing to accept that the world is changing and business models needs to change and adapt along with it. Does this mean we should ignore copyright and condone piracy, no, but it doesn’t mean that we should continue down the path we have been on either.
It’s been a tough year to be in the music industry. Sales of the labels bread and butter products – CDs, cassettes LPs etc. – have fallen 15% in the U.S in 2007. Consumers are spending more on other forms of entertainment such as DVDs and video games. Even artists are shunning the major labels. Madonna signed a huge deal with a concert promoter, Prince gave out copies of his CD with a newspaper, Paul McCartney decided to work with Starbucks and Radiohead released “In Rainbows” for free on the internet. Other obvious pressures include file-sharing, the rise of Apple as a giant in one of the only growth segments of the industry and emerging online competitors such as Sellaband and thesixtyone.
It’s no surprise that the industry is slowly changing. One of the most promising developments is the move towards selling DRM-free music. The last major label, Sony BMG, made the announcement today. Although Sony’s motives are far from enlightened, mostly fear of Apple and the need to match the other three major labels, this means good news for JT fans who will be able to get his songs on Amazon. This more open approach is definitely not the cure for all the industry’s woes, however, it’s a first step in admitting that the customer is and should be in control.
The music labels have a chance to turn things around in a positive way as Apple continues to control the vital iTunes – iPod link. It is conceivable that some company, say Microsoft, comes out with a cooler player than the iPod, and consumers will demand an alternative to iTunes. Assuming that Apple holds on to its DRM (there were hints that it may not) an alternative will have to emerge. Many labels, with the notable exception of EMI, have thrown their weight behind Amazon. With online sales expected to continue growing - they increased by 45% in 2007 - it will be interesting to see if the music industry is able to create a truly open distribution model for digital music in 2008. As for CDs, it seems that their era is quickly drawing to a close.
thesixtyone is another innovative site that lets users rate music uploaded by musicians. The most popular bands are displayed on the homepage after receiving “bumps” from listeners. Bumps cost points, although, users can gain by promoting music that is popular with others. The system is designed to let people build their credibility as music listeners. This innovative site is similar to Sellaband, a service that allows users to bankroll new musicians for a share of the revenues. Sites such as thesixtyone and Sellaband are quickly creating an alternative model for the discovery, financing and promotion of new music.
Technology and the US election I've written several times about the impact of social networks on this year's US Presidential election - see here and here. And let's be honest, the use of such networks and new web 2.0 technologies has been dominated by Obama. He’s embraced social networks like no other candidate in an attempt to connect with [...]
