Interesting Country Music Survey

A recent study funded by the Country Music Association and covered by The Tennessean uncovered some interesting facts that corroborate some of the findings from an earlier posting about country music:

• About 2 in 5 Americans ages 18 to 54 consider themselves country music fans.

• About 5% of American adults consider themselves "countryphiles," or exceptionally passionate fans of the genre.

• They're predominantly Caucasian, more female than male, and are evenly distributed across all age groups and income levels.

• They feel that country music represents their value system.

• They hate it when an artist like John Mellencamp dabbles in the music but doesn't stay there long. They're happy to embrace a new artist in the country genre though.

• And most surprising, 50% of country music fans DO NOT have home Internet access.

This accounts for why digital downloads are so low in the space, but it also provides a pretty good overview of the audience. One can only hope that the music business in Nashville reads this carefully and takes action accordingly to accommodate those fans.

The Lefsetz Plan

Industry gadfly Bob Lefsetz had a brilliant idea in one of his recent newsletters. With the film business doing so well because it's a cheap source of escapist entertainment, why not do the same thing with the music business? One night, all over the country, a musical act in every venue for the same price.

Here's a quote of exactly what Bob proposed in his newsletter:

I'm positively stunned at the movie grosses. It appears that during the recession, people want cheap, escapist entertainment. But the best movie doesn't compare with live music. Which is why we in the music industry are going to steal the movie business' thunder, we're going to unite and show the public the power of live music.

We're gonna start with one night. A weeknight. A relatively dark night. A Monday or a Tuesday. On said weekday in every venue in every city there's going to be talent, performing live, for the exact same price of a movie. Ten bucks. Paid in cash. No ticketing fees, no facility fees, no bullshit. Ten bucks.

And who is going to perform?

Let's start in L.A. Stevie Wonder is gonna play Staples. Prince is gonna play the Hollywood Bowl. My buddy Billy Gibbons and his band ZZ Top are going to play the Nokia. Kanye West is going to play the Palladium. AND THEY'RE GOING TO DONATE THEIR SERVICES! To a good cause, the industry that pays their bills.

If you want to get rich, be an athlete. Except for a few superstars, musicians are now the itinerant troubadours they've been for ages. Getting off on the good times, the sex and the dope. The reward is playing. The NFL might get everybody to tune into the Super Bowl, but no musical act can get that kind of coverage, that number of eyeballs, no matter how the deck is stacked. There's endless music, and everybody's got his own favorite, which is why we're going to have a multitude of bands playing. But this benefit is for the business itself, to keep it alive. It's time for this industry to do a benefit for ITSELF!

Don't tell me about the lines, about people camping overnight, about those who can't get in. THIS IS WHAT WE WANT! This is how you generate publicity. This is the story the press wants to cover. Much more than the endless I'm sitting in front of my computer and can't get good seats from Ticketmaster.

Think of the heat, think of the ink, think of the publicity!

But our primary mission is to grow live music. Plain and simple.

Concerts are too expensive. Too many shows are about choreography rather than musical excellence. We want to illustrate the sheer joy of music, naked and unadorned.

Boy, is he right. Going to a show is way too expensive, especially in this economic environment. What ticks everyone off the most is when Ticketmaster adds on the "convenience charges" and "facility charge" and the "ticket printing charge" so your $40 ticket (if you're lucky) turns into 60. Add $15 for parking, $10 for a beer and if you've got anything left over, $15 for a T-shirt and you have an expensive night out.

And going to a club is no better, although no one is making money there. There's zero margin, but it's still too expensive.

The concert industry will price itself out of existence if it doesn't wise up soon, and the Lefsetz plan is a good start.

Beatles Sign Game Deal?

Apple Corp (The Beatles record label), MTV and game maker Harmonix announced that it will release The Beatles: Rock Band game on September 9th. This is unbelievable on several fronts:

1) The Beatles are still not on iTunes, yet they signed a game deal.

2) Can you believe that the toughest-to-license band in the world signed a game deal in the first place?

I can't even imagine the amount of money they'll be receiving from this, but I bet it's larger than the GDP of a small country.

I've railed against Guitar Hero and Rock Band for a long time now (certainly in numerous posts here), but I'm beginning to think that I'm wrong. My thought was that, with all the time that kids are spending on the games instead of learning to play a real instrument, they were hurting the music business in the long term. I've recently found empirical evidence to the contrary though. Several guitar and music teachers have told me that the number of students starting lessons have increased and they directly attribute it to these games.

It's good to be wrong about something yet have some great consequences come of it. I'm glad to be wrong in my opinions all day long if that's the case.

The CD Turns 30 - No Gift From MP3

The Compact Disc turned 30 years old this week. That's the time period between now and its first demonstration, not when it became commercially available in 1982.

In that time, 3.5 billion CD players were sold along with 240 billion (yes, with a 'B") discs.

Even though the CD is now into a slow death roll, it's had a remarkably successful run and has made a lot of people and companies wealthy. Too bad we can't say that for it's replacement.

Drum Recording Handbook

Another new book that I've written along with engineer Dennis Moody has just been released called "The Drum Recording Handbook". Dennis has been my engineer on projects that I produce for years, and he's the go-to guy for such monster drummers as Michael White, Ricky Lawson, Gary Novak, Bernie Dresel, Dave Weckl (who are all in the book), Vinnie Colaiuta, and Steve Ferrone among others.

The book is about the best method to get great drum sounds even with inexpensive gear, although it covers a lot of drum related issues like tuning, studio environment, phase cancellation (the drum sound destroyer), and the drummer's headphone mix.

Of all the things in this book that I wish I knew when I started out, learning what it takes to make a drum kit sound good before you even put the mics up is number 1. Let's face it, if the drums don't sound good by themselves in the room first, no amount of electronic manipulation will make them sound good later.

A 90 minute DVD also comes with the book where Dennis takes you through the steps of miking each drum, getting sounds, and getting a mix together. Michael White (drummer for Steely Dan and Earth, Wind & Fire among others) the takes you through drum tuning and even plays a song.

For more info, check out The Drum Recording Handbook here.

Virgin To Close Last 6 Stores

The last 6 Virgin Megastores in the United States will close later this summer, which is another blow to the already depleted ranks of the dwindling ranks of US music retailers.

The 6 stores, located in Hollywood, San Francisco, Denver, Orlando, and in New York's Time Square and Union Square, were actually doing OK even in this economy, taking in about $170 million last year.

The irony is the reason the stores are closing is that the real estate the stores are on has become more valuable than the income they produce. According to Simon Wright, chief executive of Virgin Entertainment Group, "Our six best stores from a retail point of view are also our six best stores from a real estate point of view."

But the real message here is that Virgin clearly sees no future selling recorded music. Even in this horrible real estate market, it's better to get out while you can.

The Suit That Could've Change Everything

Rapper Eminem and record label Universal Music Group (UMG) just completed a battle in court that could've dealt a final death blow the music industry.

Eminem's FBT production company sued UMG over what amounts to the definition of ownership of a digital file. FBT claimed that UMG owed them more money because a digital file sold by iTunes or Amazon MP3 is actually a license. UMG insisted that regardless of whether it's a CD, vinyl record, or digital file, Eminem's music is part of their distribution deal.

So is it licensing or is it distribution? That's what the court had to decide.

There was a lot of money at stake here. If the court decided that selling a digital file is a licensing deal, then the record label and the artist would split the proceeds 50/50 and the artist would be entitled to about 35 cents per download. But if they decided it's distribution, then the original recording agreement would still be in force and the artist would make about 15% (more or less), or about 10 to 20 cents on every download instead.

FTB claimed that, since there's no manufacturing or packaging costs (which are covered by the record label), and only a single copy is delivered to the digital download companies, then it should be a license, since that's what occurs in other licensing deals. UMG argued that a sale is a sale regardless how it happens.

On Saturday, the court sided with UMG and the industry released a giant sigh of relief. You can be sure that the issue isn't dead and will be revisited in the future, however.

New Prince Album Is Too Much Music

The upcoming Prince album is to be a triple disc set and will be exclusively available at Target department stores. The set will include Prince's two original studio albums called LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUN" and a third disc titled Elixer by his latest protege, the singer Bria Valente.

Prince has made 3 mistakes with this release:

1) 2 original discs is creative overindulgence and way too much music to be consumed at one time. Albums are dead, and long 2 disc sets promise that this release will be forgotten in no time. Prince would've been a lot better served by releasing just a few of the very best songs rather than diluting whatever good material he has with the filler that we know will be there.

2) the third disc by his unknown protege might get her some short-term exposure, but it's no guarantee of anything beyond the lifetime of a very short candle. It's already competing with Prince's two other discs, which is competing with all the other new releases, which are competing with Prince's catalog, which is competing with the internet, games, social networking, television, and all the other things that take one's attention these days.

3) choosing Target as the exclusive distributor probably wasn't the smartest business decision that Prince could make. Wal-Mart and Best Buy have longer reach and more traffic. Unless, of course, it was the only deal on the table.

It'll be interesting to see just how well the release will do, but the prediction here is it'll tank.

Band Improvement Book Finally Released

I hate to be so self-serving 2 days in a row, but just thought I'd announce that my new book, How To Make Your Band Sound Great, has finally been released.

The book is about the many ways to improve your band, starting with your individual playing, to the interaction of the band itself. The book also includes a DVD where I take a band (The Bohunks, a ska band from LA) and demonstrate many of the techniques laid out in the book.

This book has been in my head for a long time. You learn a lot about what makes a band sound great when everything is under the microscope of the studio, and I wanted to translate the things we do in making records directly to bands that always wonder, "Why don't we sound like xxx (your favorite band here)".

As a matter of fact, that's the main reason for the book. I can remember when I was in my very first band in Minersville, PA and wondered "Why don't we sound like the best band in town?" No one could tell me.

Then when I began playing with the best band in town I wondered, "Why don't we sound like the best band in the region?" No one could tell me again.

Later when I was playing with The Other Side, the best band in that part of the state, I used to wonder, "We're really good, but we could be better. Why don't we sound like an Aerosmith record?" Again, no one had an answer to that simple question.

Well, this book does have the answers, and if a band just follows a single tip from Chapter 8, they'll get better seemingly overnight.

I'm really proud of How To Make Your Band Sound Great, and if any of you should buy or read it, I'd love your feedback.

Snew Hits #1!

A band I produced last year, Snew, has hit #1 on the album charts of the on-line radio station Ilike2rock net radio. The band is commonly described as a cross between AC/DC and Aerosmith along with a bit of Jackl (though I don't here it) for good measure.

This is their 3rd trip to #1, with previous stints on High Octane Radio's Dirty Thirty, and Cyco.com. The band's Snew You album also made a number of "Best of 2008" lists from around the world as well.

Snew's worldly songs are observations about life and the human condition, rather than the typical love-hate relationship songs that most bands and artists resort to when they not accomplished songwriters. Combine that with some really classic rock riffs and you have something that you can't stop listening too. I must admit that I'm biased, but they've had so many really good reviews that I feel somewhat vindicated in feeling that way. You can see and hear them on their website at Snewyou.com.

I had a great time working with Snew, and it's great to see them have success around the world. We also just cut a version of Deep Purple's Highway Star with guitar god Allan Holdsworth playing the solos that are as unusual as they are great (yes, it's Allan playing a guitar and not an organ for the second solo). You can download it for free on their website.

Depeche Mode's iTunes Pass

The new iTunes Pass program gets its first attempt to break the 99 cent per song barrier with the new Depeche Mode record slated for release on April 21st.

iTunes Pass allows the buyer of the album to access exclusive content from the artist for up to 15 weeks. The content will include videos, exclusive singles, remixes and other content items and will be piped directly to the customer's iTunes account as soon as it's available. The charge is a flat $18.99 which includes the full album when it releases plus numerous extras. If a customer buys a Depeche Mode Pass today, he'll receive the new single Wrong as well as the Black Light Odyssey Dub Remix of the new track Oh Well. They will also receive the new album Sounds of the Universe on its street date plus promised music and video exclusives before and after the album's release over the next fifteen weeks.

iTunes Pass is an attempt to counteract illegal digital downloading by providing an extra value that can only be had by actually buying the product.

The program is also being offered for television shows like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, where it does seem to be a bargain. If you buy an individual episode, it currently costs $1.99, but if you now buy a 16 episode pack, it reduces the price of each show to 62 cents. However, you get the current show plus the next 15, not our choice of your favorite 15.

This amounts to something that Apple said it would never do - subscription.

2/3rds Of All Music Consumers Buy CDs

According to NPD Research, 2/3rds of all music buyers only buy CDs. Their research also claims that there are 2 to 3 times more CD consumers than for digital downloads.

If that's the case, where are those buyers at? They're certainly not buying product these days, as the sales are less than 50% of what they were in 2000. NPD also claims that there are 20 million fewer music buyers than there were as recently as 2006. Where'd they go?

I think it's the result of 2 things:

1) There are fewer and fewer places where you can actually buy music from a retail brick and mortar store these days. Sales would be a lot better if CDs were easier to find. The industry is losing the impulse buy, which is the thing that music stores were always good for. You'd go in to buy a certain CD and leave with 2 more. These days, even if you find a store that carries CDs, the choice is so limited that it virtually eliminates the impulse sale. Which brings us to:

2) The music just isn't as compelling as it used to be. The many years of neglected artist development finally caught up with the industry. You can't change the industry culture so drastically and not have it hurt. Here are the factors leading to the abyss that the industry faces (in no particular order):

• Thanks to MTV, the industry regarded music secondary and signed artists for their image instead of talent.

• The corporate culture of the majors caused them to be shortsighted in that quarterly profits became more important than long term artists development. If your first album tanks, you're history. When music was at its peak, an act might get 3, 4 or even 5 albums to develop their audience.

• The record labels lost a huge portion of the audience when they milked the rap and hip-hop trend dry, leaving millions of record buyers out in the cold with nothing that appealed to them for so long, they became former consumers. Now they buy games, watch TV and play on the computer but they don't buy music.

The major labels will never get religion. It's too late. The industry has changed for all concerned; artists, record labels, retailers and consumers. Now we need someone to pick up the pieces to either bring those buyers back, or development some new ones.