Global Music Registry Meets Consumer Consumption Model
February 9, 2011A thought provoking post from the Rethink Music blog. The barriers to creating a global music licensing registry are substantial in and of themselves. As consumer behavior shifts away from ownership to an “anytime, anywhere” access model, accurate, streamlined licensing will be key to a great music experience for the public as well as solid…
Selling the DIY Dream
December 9, 2010The larger music business has always contained a smaller industry focused on selling the dream of success to independent musicians. In the Go-Go record label days, this involved access to decision makers and copious amounts of advice on making your music more “commercial”. Musicians hoped that Mr. Big would hear their amazing song, fall in…
Career Tracks: Chi McClean, Part 3
November 3, 2010Photo by Andrew Keller Chi McClean is an independent singer-songwriter currently touring in support of his 2009 release, Something Out There. In Part 3 of our conversation Chi discusses music publishing, endorsements, branding, and his next release. Read Part 1 Read Part 2 How are you handling your music publishing? CM: I set up McClean…
California Copyright Conference : “The Music Industry: A Survival Guide for the Future”
October 13, 2010Tuesday evening’s panel at the California Copyright Conference dinner in Sherman Oaks was quite upbeat considering the many uncertainties of these times. The panel, moderated by Shawn LeMone, ASCAP’s VP of Film/TV and Visual Media, and Diane Snyder-Ramirez, VP of Royalty Accounting and Administration at The Royalty Review Council, consisted of: Russell Emanuel, CEO, Extreme…
Career Tracks: Chi McClean, Part 2
October 2, 2010In Part Two of my conversation with indie singer-songwriter Chi McClean we discuss the importance of building personal relationships with fans and industry partners and the challenges of doing it all yourself…Chi is currently recording his second record. You can find out more about Chi on his website: www.chimcclean.com and pick up his music at…
Career Tracks: Chi McClean, Part 1
September 3, 2010Photo by Andrew Keller This is Part 1 of an interview with indie artist, Chi McClean, the latest installment in the occasional Career Tracks series of interviews. You can read Part Two of our conversation here. Chi McClean is a singer-songwriter with an intimate, down-home style and classic California good looks. Originally from New York,…
Can Positive Deviance identify successful outliers in the music industry?
August 6, 2010Positive Deviance (PD) is an approach to problem-solving that has proven to be highly effective at facilitating systemic social change in situations that appear hopeless or intractable. The basic idea is simple: focus on the successful exceptions, not the failing norm. In their fascinating book, The Power of Positive Deviance – How Unlikely Innovators Solve the…
Record Labels & Modern Music Industry Careers
August 3, 2010In the DIY discussions of the last ten years the utopian idea that artists somehow don’t need “record labels” has been promulgated as the beginning of a new era, but how that career management void would be filled has never been entirely clear. In the most general sense, a “record label” is the total, organizing,…
Entrepreneurship and the New Music Industry
July 22, 2010I recently interviewed Jason Fried, co-founder of technology company 37signals for Berklee Today magazine. The article draws parallels between starter companies and music careers. If you haven’t done so already check out 37signals’ great little business book, Rework. Thanks to Mark Small at Berklee Today for making this happen… You can read the full article…
Don’t Go For The Masses, Go Direct-To-Fan
July 22, 2010Reblog from Hypebot.com: Don’t Go For The Masses, Go Direct-To-FanAuthor: Kyle Bylin – www.hypebot.comMajor labels are mass marketing power giants; it’s what they do. Before the advent of the social web, they were the only way to reach the masses. Due to their influence on commercial radio stations, big-box retail outlets, and television, much of this…