Coldplay To Give Away Live CD

In another example of the new way of doing business in today's music world, Coldplay is giving away LeftRightLeftRightLeft, a new 9 track CD. There is a catch though, you have to buy a ticket to one of their upcoming shows to get it.

Actually, another way to look at it is that if you buy a ticket, you get a free CD. The release will also be available as a free download on the Coldplay website and will contain versions of Coldplay hits like "Clocks", "Viva La Vida" and "Fix You".

The way I look at this is that Coldplay could've just made this their next release and charged their fans for it, but instead basically chose to give it away instead as a perk for buying a ticket. It's a great example of the economics of free in that it gets them press for their upcoming tour (we're talking about it now) and provides a nice little reward for fans too. Plus it didn't cost them much in terms of production since it was a recorded live show, and the cost of pressing the CD and artwork will no doubt be built into the ticket price.

This is a great example of the way business should be done in Music 3.0.

New Music Seminar To Return

The premier music conference of the 80's and early 90's, the New Music Seminar, will return once again on July 21st at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The brainchild of Tommy Boy Record's Tom Silverman, NMS was the place to be once upon a time.

Like most conferences, NMS started off really small with just a couple of hundred people, but soon became a large, must-attend event. And also like most conferences, became so large and unwieldily by the end of its 15 year run that the movers and shakers stayed home. Once the word gets out that something is cool and there's access to industry insiders, every kid that can dig up $400 is there looking for their big break. At that point the conference starts rolling down the mountain of indifference by the very people that it's built upon and it's not coming back (it seems like South By Southwest is nearing that point now).

Silverman is wisely keeping the attendance limited this time around, but tickets are only $99, which makes me think that he's doing this for the right reasons and not to make money.

According to Silverman, the new NMS will serve as a guidepost for “disenfranchised artists disheartened by the state of the industry and desperate for change.” The Seminar will be presented in association with NYU Steinhardt’s Music Business Program.

I don't know if you can ever go back to the good old days, but I'm glad that Tommy Silverman's trying. Good luck. Click here more information of the New Music Seminar.

3 Reasons For And Against Digital Music Subscription

In doing research for my upcoming book "Music 3.0 - A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Digital Age" (published by Hal Leonard and to be released by the end of the year), virtually everyone I interviewed highly endorsed the subscription model as the ultimate solution for digital music and claimed it to be the inevitable direction that the music industry will take. Subscription means that you pay a basic fee like $10 - $15 per month and then are able to access any song you want whenever you want where ever you want.

This view has been held by those inside the industry for a long time, but I really didn't get it until last week. In helping my partner clean up the hard drive on her laptop, we were eliminating everything that was outdated, already backed up, or simply no longer needed. After much work there was still wasn't much drive space reclaimed, so I took a look at her iTunes folder. Sure enough, she had well over 20 gigs of songs! At that moment, I understood that subscription was the future of the business.

Here are the reasons that I believe it will work:

1) It's a lot more cost-effective for the consumer. As industry pundit Ted Cohen states, “For $10 a month, you can get 10 songs on iTunes or 10 million songs on Napster.”

2) Managing a lot of songs takes time and a lot of storage space for the consumer (see my story above).

3) There's potentially a lot of money to go around - much, much more than the business is generating today. The potential buying public in the US alone is 100 million. If only 50% of those subscribed at $10 a month, that's $500 million a month spread around to everyone in the business. The consumer will never be happier and the industry will grow overnight.

Here are the reasons against it:

1) It's hard for people to get over the idea of "renting" music after buying it for almost forever.

2) Most artists are afraid of subscription. Oh, they like the idea of steady income every month, but as of yet there's no way to ensure they'll actually see any of it. Most fear that the labels will take the lions share of the money and the artists will not see their fair share.

3) It's a publishing nightmare. As of now, the artist and publisher split a grand total of .18 cents (less than 1/4 of a cent!) each time a song is streamed. Most publishers claim that they now get statements that may be 5 phonebooks high of reported streams that add up to maybe $12, of which they only get to keep $3. In other words, it costs way, way more to process the paperwork than they're capable of making in it's current form. It's great that you can get the type of granular information about number of plays that publishers always hoped for, but they'll never sign off on subscription until they stop losing money on the deal.

I'm convinced that subscription digital music will eventually take over the business. Already Rhapsody has nearly 800,000 users and Napster has 700,000. The upstart Spotify has over a million subscribers in Europe alone (it's not available in the States yet due to licensing issues) and is getting rave reviews. But as our friend Ted Cohen says, "If iTunes announced subscription tomorrow, we’d be over the hump."

We keep hearing rumors that might happen. Stay tuned as the digital space continues to be the most interesting part of the music business.

Vinyl Really On The Upswing - Top 12 Retailers

In recent posts we've continually mentioned how well vinyl records are selling, now comes a couple of stories suggesting it's not a fluke.

First of all, rumor has it that Best Buy is considering allocating floor space for a display to sell a small number of vinyl records. Bear in mind that Best Buy is #12 of the top 100 retailers (according to Stores Magazine) and that giving floor space to any merchandise is a cold and calculated decision, so that means the format has some real heat for the moment. Supposedly only 200 titles will be displayed, which isn't very many, but it's a lot more than the zero that they sell now.

Also, a nice article in the LA Times yesterday (sorry, can't seem to find it online even though it was on the front page) talked about 3 new vinyl stores that recently opened in LA within the last year - Origami in Echo Park, Vacation in Los Feliz, and Little Radio in downtown LA. As owner Neil Schield said in the story, "It's the only area of the physical music business that's growing."

I know I mentioned Best Buy as #12 on the top 100 retailers list before, here are the other 11:

1. Wal-Mart (who else?)

2. Home Depot

3. CVS

4. Kroger

5. Costco

6. Target

7. Walgreen

8. Sears

9. Lowes

10. SuperValu

11. Safeway

Prince And Tavis Smiley

While respecting his music and musicianship, I've always thought Prince to be both pompous and arrogant, so I almost didn't watch when the great Tavis Smiley interviewed the Purple One on his PBS talk show last night.

I don't know what made me give this a chance, but I'm glad I did. Prince turned out to be a lot more normal and down-to-earth than I ever thought he could be and I actually enjoyed the interview a great deal (I must admit that I enjoy most interviews that Tavis conducts though).

Perhaps my attitude comes from my only live encounter with Prince at Hollywood's famous Sunset Sound studios (where so many huge hits were cut in the last 40 years) in the mid-80's. I was recording in Studio A while Prince was camped out in Studio C. Sunset Sound has a nice enclosed basketball court, and during a break I noticed Prince out there shooting baskets by himself. I decided I go challenge him to a game, or at least shoot some hoops with him, when out of nowhere, a huge bodyguard jumped in the way just as I hit the court's entrance. "Prince don't want no company," he stated with a conviction that let me know there was no way I was getting in there, so I backed away and went back to work.

Anyway, I have a way different view of the guy now, thanks to Mr. Smiley. Here's a short 2 minute portion of the show to judge for yourself.

Frank Zappa and Radiohead On Why The Music Business Is In Sad Shape

Frank Zappa died a little more than 15 years ago but his words never seemed so relevant as he opens this video on why the music business is in such sad shape nowadays. Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenberg from Radiohead also chime in.

The first 3 or 4 minutes of the video are the best (especially Frank), but it's still an interesting commentary on today's music business regardless.

Record Pressing Plant Videos

Believe it or not, vinyl record sales continue to grow every year as an appetite grows for the format in just about all musical genres and all demographics of music buyers. Most artists really want to release their wares on vinyl too, but are prohibited by the costs and limited (but growing) market.

That being said, a record is something tangible that you can hold in your hand, which you can't do with a download. And because you can touch it, it's easy to understand exactly what it is, as pointed out in one of the following videos. And as reported yesterday, vinyl sales were up a whopping 222% on Record Store Day last Saturday.

The first video takes a look at how a vinyl record is made, and the second one looks at the last pressing plant in Detroit. Enjoy.

Prince's Purple iPod Package Is Selling..........A Little

Prince's $2100 Opus One purple iPod and book collection has sold about 1/3rd of the 950 over the weekend. I guess that's OK, considering the price, but it's not like there was a run on these things.

But according to the British company that's actually doing the sales and marketing, Kraken Opus, they couldn't be happier.

I’m ecstatic about that,” founder and CEO Karl Fowler said. “Without being overly confident or too arrogant about it, we always knew that we would get to a sellout position within a few months.” To sell at this rate, however, was unexpected, he said.

It's pretty audacious to price any musical item at such a high price during these economic times, but the Purple One seems to be oblivious to the market at the moment. Even though it's obviously the brainchild of Fowler, all this paints Prince in a pretty bad light. Instead of being a brilliant example of Music 3.0 marketing like Trent Reznor, Josh Freese or Radiohead, it just feels like someone so full of himself that he feels that everything he puts out is worth the extra cost.

I'm sure Prince and Fowler will sell these packages out, but he sure isn't helping Prince endear himself to his fan base with this one.

A Brief Visit To NAB 2009

I made the long drive out into the desert yesterday to the land of fantasy - Las Vegas - for a quick look around at the National Association of Broadcasters NAB 2009 exhibition.

In truth, I was there more for meetings than to take a deep look at every new offering from the wide variety of audio, video, radio, television and satellite manufacturers on hand, but I did get to see most of the show at least briefly.

More than any other year, there seemed to be an air of quiet evolution in the new products, perhaps because of stifled R&D budgets, so there wasn't much that caught my eye. But as always, I have some general observations about the experience in general.

1) Las Vegas seems on the upswing from when I was last there in January. On the way into town there were a few billboards that were empty, but these were pretty far out of town and not in optimal locations. In January at CES, even many of the brand new electronic billboards were dark.

2) The traffic was back and it was pretty akin to the good times in Vegas. There was a long wait to get to the convention center and a long wait to get out of town at rush hour. In January, traffic was as minimal as you can get. That being said, parking was pretty easy and the main lot in front of the convention center never filled.

3) This year the NAB show itself contracted by 25 to 30%, in my estimation. There were just a few empty booths, but the show floor space was artificially walled in so it seemed more compact. Many exhibitors also downsized their booths, getting by with a 10' x 10' where 20' x 20' or more was the norm before the downturn in the economy. Even Panasonic, with arguably the best position on the show floor, reduced it's size by about 20% and their booth was pretty sparse as compared to other years.

4) That went for attendees too - I'd say down by 30% or so. The show was not crowded but it was busy. Every booth had someone in it, but no lines waiting to speak with a factory rep. This turned out to be a good thing for business though. As one factory sales guy put it, "We're having a great show. Everyone that's here is a buyer!" Indeed, I heard a few stories of big sales in the audio hall ($100k plus) off the show floor on the first day, which doesn't normally happen.

5) The party and swag biz was way off. Swag first - there was none except for cloth carry bags. At least they're good for the environment. Big lavish parties seemed to be a thing of the past according to all reports. There was only 1 event all week (the Sports Video Group) at the plush Studio 54 and I was told that was booked on a deep discount. Canon backed out of a big party there at the last minute, but other than that - nada. It used to be that there were so many great over-the-top parties that you couldn't decide which one to attend.

6) Forget the free magazines this year. There were only a handful (maybe 6 or 8) at the free book racks at the entry to the show. Other years it was more like 50 or 60. What does that tell you about the print business?

7) This year IPTV was a given. In previous years it was a flag that every manufacturer was flying, but this year it was just assumed that if you did anything near that space, your company was involved in it.

8) The coolest product that I saw was ioDrive by Fusion iO, a solid state drive that connects directly to your system buss, bypassing the bottleneck of the normal PCI I/O architecture. As a demonstration of how fast it was, 16 servers were accessing a single drive, which output 64 MPEG-2 files of DVDs to 16 screens all at the same time. That's 1024 DVD streams ALL AT ONCE! Wow!!

Fusion iO ioDrive

Video wall driven by ioDrive - 16 screens with 64 DVD streams each (and they all looked good too).

9) Another cool product wasn't ground breaking at all but it was very practical. PC Prompter turned an iPhone or iTouch into a teleprompter with their software and hardware mount. For such a small display it was very usable. The PC Prompter guys told me that most field reporters that are only a one man or two man team use these all over the world and I can see why.

10) An finally, the audio guy in me picked up on these new Genelec tiny computer monitors (model 6010A). We're not talking your $49 Fry's model here, we're talking seriously high quality in a package that easily fits beside your monitor or laptop without getting in the way. For those of you who don't already know, Genelec is one of the top manufacturers of powered monitors in the audio business, catering to pro audio, TV post, home theater and hi-end consumer. Now there's a desktop model too.

Genelec 6010A Computer Monitors

The volume control (that round thing next to the mouse) for the 6010A's.

I wish I had more products to report but as I said, most of my day was filled with meetings rather than roaming the floor.

11) Finally, after speaking with journalists, exhibitors, attendees and industry sages, the general feeling was that there's a lot of shaking out about to take place in this market. A lot of old-line, bloated companies will not make it despite being perennial market leaders and general 800lb. gorillas. The companies that are lean, virtual, and provide both great products and services will be the winners, but we knew that already, didn't we?

My general feelings after gauging the temperature of the show? The economy's heading in the right direction but it's going to be a slow road getting there. There'll be lots of dead companies along road on the way. Be careful out there!

Video Games Down Too

It seems that even video games have been hit by the recession even though the industry has been thought of as recession proof. Sales were down 17% last month from the previous March.

Despite the fall in sales, industry executives show little worry since December is always the biggest for games, and games have now become a go-to gift. That being said, it appears the Easter sales are something to be counted as well, since 8% of industry sales in March were thought to be for Easter gifts.

Even though the industry is now huge (about $50 billion), it's reliance on blockbuster games is beginning to worry some in the industry. Many games now have the budgets of a big studio feature film, and, just like in the film business, if a big-budget game tanks it could take the developer down with it.

Sony Starts It's Own Touring Division Down Under

Sony Music Entertainment's Australian affiliate quietly launched a new touring division called Day 1 Entertainment intended to support the upcoming Simon and Garfunkel tour down under.

This is a particularly interesting step that seems to support the "360 deal" idea where a record label would be the sole supplier for everything that an act would ever need, from management to booking to tour support and merchandise.

For a label to warrant a piece of the action of all the revenue streams that an artist receives, it has to provide value in return. Day 1 Entertainment is a way to get into the business away from the media of the US in case of any problems. The fact that they'd begin with such a high-profile act is dubious, but if they should fall on their face we're a lot less likely to hear about it.

I doubt that a high profile act like S&G are paying a premium for this service, but you can bet that any newly signed act to Sony will if the business is a success.

Online Radio Begins It's Takeover

The Infinite Dial report from Edison Research was released last week outlining the listening habits of Americans, and there are some pretty interesting facts that were revealed.

Highlights of the study include:

• Online radio listenership grew by nearly a third last year as listeners discover specialized niches and new ways to listen

• 69 million Americans listened to online radio last month alone

• As a pushback to consultant driven broadcast radio, variety and control were given as the top reasons for the increase in online listening

• Thanks to in-office listening, 35-54 year olds dominate online radio listening numbers (so that's what they do when they should be working.)

• Online video saw viewership jump by a third to 69 million

• 40% of Americans over the age of 12 own an iPod or MP3 player

• MP3 player ownership among 12 to 17 year olds is 71%!

• Just 25% of consumers say they've purchased music online, but the number jumps to 41% among online radio listeners

• 1/3rd of Americans have a social networking profile

• 2/3rds of 12 to 24 year olds have profiles

• 40% of people with profiles visit them daily

• HD-Radio is barely making a dent in the consciousness of the listening public. (This isn't too surprising. The technology was way to long coming to market.)

So it seems that radio listenership is up, but not necessarily for broadcast radio. Listeners are finally revolting against the tightly controlled playlists foisted upon us by Madison avenue, consultants and focus groups. How long will it take before terrestrial radio begins to take notice?