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Posts Tagged “the biz”

the biz

Downtown Takes The Express Train Away From Warner Music Group

Downtown Records, home of Justice, Santogold, Kid Sister, and many other bands seemingly designed for the blog era's express-consumption cycle, is moving its distribution from the largely Warner Music Group-owned ADA (with occasional upstreams over to Atlantic) to a deal with the Fonatana distribution arm of Universal Music Group. (The deal beings with the release of this month's Cold War Kids disc.) Downtown has done well keeping on top of today's music trends, so whatever avenue gets them the most exposure in retail is clearly in their best interest, but what does this say about WMG, which has seen more than its fair share of artists jumping ship from it these days as well? [Marketwatch]

3:30 PM on Fri Sep 5 2008
By Dan Gibson
126 views, 3 comments

Latest by owenmeany: Heh - wait till this blog-friendly label sees how UMG likes to deal with all things digital. more »

Jermaine Dupri Still Has A Job And we have another reason to post this classic Idolator-crafted image one more time! [Business Sheet / Previously]

4 comments

in a world...

"Variety" Goes Behind The Music (In The Movie Trailer)

Variety launched a package called Music for Screens yesterday, and it's full of pieces that are apparently designed to appeal to people who like music, but prefer it in 45-second clips—you know, when it airs during movie trailers or crucial scenes on Gossip Girl. I was particularly interested in the trade pub's look at people who compose music for movie trailers. More »

1:30 PM on Fri Aug 22 2008
By Kate Richardson
226 views, 2 comments

the biz

Least Shocking News Of The Day: Music Retail Numbers Down

The 152-store, Texas-based chain Hastings Entertainment, which has a lot of stores based in the Texas/Oklahoma area and more scattered around the West, is probably a good measuring stick by which to judge music retail in general. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the news isn't all that great: Revenue in general is up compared to last year, but that might be largely due to gains made selling refurbished iPods and Webkins. Meanwhile, music retail is down 14.2% over last year, which wasn't that great of a year to begin with. Still, the stock's dividends are apparently steady, so Hastings will likely be around next year—but it may be out of the business of selling music by then. [Motley Fool] More »

5:15 PM on Tue Aug 19 2008
By Dan Gibson
149 views, 3 comments

Latest by owenmeany: Heh...Candlebox. more »

EMI has issued a statement on its $30 million lawsuit against the Jared Leto-fronted outfit 30 Seconds To Mars that says in part: "The hard work of EMI's global team and of the band has resulted in sales of 3 million albums and singles, multiple awards and a growing, global fan base. However, we have been forced to take procedural, legal steps in order to protect EMI's investment and rights during contract renegotiations initiated by the band and management." So should we translate this frosty corporate missive as "videos shot in China cost money, you dumbasses" or "sure, we'll keep the publicity stunt going so people remember who you are when your next record comes out"? [Earlier]

3 comments

they write (open) letters

Jared Leto To EMI: F U, Pay Me (And Those Other Dudes In The Band)

Late Friday, EMI announced that it was suing the Jared Leto-led outfit 30 Seconds To Mars, whose last album for the label's Virgin subsidiary came out in 2005, for $30 million dollars because of breach of contract issues. While the exact amount of damages sought was probably the result of "cuteness" more than anything, EMI's grievance seemed somewhat solid—after all, the band "repudiated" its contract, on which it had one album left, last month. In response to the suit, the former Jordan Catalano penned an open letter to his fans, his band's former label, and any other parties who might be interested. More »

9:30 AM on Mon Aug 18 2008
By Maura Johnston
712 views, 7 comments

Latest by Norman: I have a few friends in bands who sell lots of records for major labels. In separate conversations with them, it seemed like there was a general consensus with major label math: If you spend a substantial but not ridiculous more »

the biz

Blog Prankster Reveals Just How Hard It Is For Major Labels To Profit From The Internet

The poor, yet overpaid sucker who takes Sony BMG's digital EVP slot might want to pencil in "figure out how to make money off label Web sites" as the first order of business. Recently, Columbia Records decided to travel down the Google AdWords route to monetization, a decision that the dude behind Hypebot decided to exploit by taking out an ad for his site that said "Major Labels Are Obsolete." At last count, Hypebot proprietor Bruce Houghton had spent less than $5 on his ad impressions, but if attention from the people he was trying to prank had an actual cash value, he'd have at least enough money to buy the deluxe edition of Billy Joel's The Stranger by now. More »

4:30 PM on Fri Aug 1 2008
By Maura Johnston
474 views, Comment

help wanted

Sinking Ship Seeks Captain, Promises Hazard Pay In High Six Figures

So what if the unemployment rate is up? Two job-listing-related posts in one morning = happy times are here again, baby! Valleywag has unearthed a Sony BMG-posted job listing for an executive vice president of its digital ventures, a job that comes with a $700,000 annual paycheck. (And free CDs! Don't forget the free CDs.) But after eight months of searching, the company still hasn't found an appropriate candidate. What type of people are they looking for, do you ask? More »

10:30 AM on Fri Aug 1 2008
By Maura Johnston
281 views, 4 comments

Latest by N/A: Tom Whalley: [www.hitsdailydouble.com] more »

pawn shops won't take gold records, fyi

The Music Biz Is Hell

It's not coal mining or deep sea fishing, for certain, but the music business can be incredibly stressful, what with the threat of unemployment being constantly right around the corner as your division is eliminated or the entire company gets sold to a salad-dressing manufacturer. During my brief stay in the world of distribution, I would regularly shuffle through resumes from people who had made six-digit salaries and were applying for jobs that paid substantially less just to stay in the game. Rolling Stone's Web site is currently featuring a gallery of 10 former music biz types who escaped and are striking out in new directions, from building a hotel in Puerto Rico to attending medical school. Take a look through these inspiring stories, Edgar Bronfman, and think of what life could be like after you stop running a business into the ground. [Rolling Stone]

10:30 AM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Dan Gibson
212 views, 4 comments

Latest by N/A: @okiedoke: I think the latter. Actually, both would keep Bronfman away from the music business, so either would work. more »

the biz

Some Music Business-Related Statistics Are Actually Trending Up

Hey, guess what? Music-business stocks are only doing poorly, as opposed to piss-poorly! Shares of Warner Music Group and Live Nation, both of which have taken hits lately, have sort of risen from their recent doldrums; WMG saw a five percent day-to-day increase at the end of yesterday's trading, while LYV rose "as much as nine percent" during the course of yesterday. Media attention helped out WMG, which was called the best-performing media stock of 2008 by the New York Post earlier this week. That's because the stock price, despite the company taking a beating from industry observers, has rebounded 34% from the $5 mark it was at when this year rang its opening bell. (Of course, the stock's current "good" price is way off the stock's highwater mark of $29.48. I thought people who traded stocks were supposed to know how to read through slightly fishy math?) Meanwhile, one of the explanations for Live Nation's uptick seems a little fishy to these eyes. More »

9:45 AM on Thu Jul 24 2008
By Maura Johnston
242 views, 1 comment

Latest by N/A: Yeah, as fuel prices fall, I think, investors are less nervous about diversifying their investments. But even that gets shaky with news about rising jobless claims and poor housing sales...In the end, LYV did pay too much for Madonna and more »

bright sides

Prisons Remain A Music-Industry Growth Market

Sure, some people might be dismayed that the number of people being housed by America's prison system is ever-growing, but you won't catch Bob Paris, owner of Pack Central, among them. In fact, thanks to skyrocketing incarceration rates, his slice of the music business is booming! Paris' company sells music to some 50,000 prisoners across this great land, with a warehouse that carries 10,000 CD titles and 5,000 cassettes. Cassettes are preferred by many prison complexes because they can't easily be turned into weapons, although many titles don't even come out on cassette anymore. (Also: Paris has to manually remove the screws that hold each tape together because they're forbidden.) This story is one of those pieces that makes you realize just how bad the music industry has it right now, from the lede, which says that Pack Central is "doing nicely" in the face of record-retailer turmoil, all the way down to the "you can't download in jail" point. At least Billboard's thought enough to include lists of the most popular current and catalog titles, so we can get a glimpse of the human side of the operation. More »

12:30 PM on Mon Jul 21 2008
By Maura Johnston
552 views, 5 comments

Latest by cheesebubble: Wow. You can't even escape shitty music in prison (save for Pink Floyd). more »

the biz

Concert Business' Behind Sorta-Saved By Ever-Increasing Ticket Prices

Pollstar's Top 100 Tours chart for 2008 so far is led by Bon Jovi ($56.3 million for 39 shows; average ticket price $87.98) and Bruce Springsteen ($40.8 million for 29 shows; average ticket price $99.02), and a superficial gloss on the overall numbers would indicate that the music business' new "let 'em make it back on the road" strategy is at the very least holding steady. North American concert grosses totaled $1.05 billion between January and June, a figure that's unchanged since last year. But Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni thinks these numbers are better than they should be, given the dire economic news greeting the country's front pages every day, and he went so far as to ask the New York Times, "When is the bottom going to drop?" The answer seems to be "whenever promoters get tired of not selling overpriced tickets, and adjust prices accordingly!" More »

12:00 PM on Mon Jul 14 2008
By Maura Johnston
330 views, 3 comments

Latest by MrStarhead: The 3DD/Staind/Hinder show is playing mostly secondary markets that aren't going to get a Bon Jovi or even a Nickelback to come to town. Just look at the dates: Portland, Maine, Kearney, Nebraska, Wichita, Kansas, and Bossier City, Louisiana. If more »

a box set of my posts (with sticker set) will be out in october

Do You Remember The Box Set?

During my high school years, picking out what box set I wanted for Christmas was a real highlight of the pre-holiday season. 1991's pick was the Atlantic Rhythm and Blues box; in '93, I selected the second volume of the Stax-Volt singles. Saving up the hundred bucks required to buy the collections wasn't likely, so when Dec. 25 rolled around, I couldn't have been happier to find the collection of plastic, cardboard and paper sitting wrapped up under the tree. Although those times were certainly special for me, how long will the box set survive? More »

11:00 AM on Tue Jul 8 2008
By Dan Gibson
1,181 views, 39 comments

Latest by Aaron Poehler: Most people have been burned by box sets which either try to provide all the hits and more, resulting in a box full of stuff they already own, or try to put out 5 hours worth of stuff that was more »

signings

Live Nation Gets Its Nickelback

Inescapable Canadian nu-heshers Nickelback have signed a long-rumored 360 deal with Live Nation, which gives the concert-promotion behemoth the rights to produce and profit from the band's tours, recordings, merchandise, and other ventures. (The deal is for three albums, according to Reuters, and worth somewhere between $50 million and $70 million.) While there were rumors that the company was going to hold off on signing many more 360 deals, president and CEO Michael Rapino told Variety that his company will sign "up to six" artists in the inaugural year of Live Nation Artists; Nickelback is fourth, behind Madonna, Jay-Z, and Shakira. Last week, when the Shakira deal was signed, a major label executive told the New York Post that Live Nation was trying to "establish itself in a big way in each genre no matter what the loss leader is going to be on it," and the company now has pop, hip-hop, Latin music, and rock all covered. So what's next? More »

8:53 AM on Tue Jul 8 2008
By Maura Johnston
588 views, 13 comments

Latest by Captain Wrong: @Chris Molanphy: I have learned more about Nickleback in your post than I ever wanted to know. LOL more »

the biz

Guy Hands Finally Finds An Exec To Take Over EMI

Starting in October, the new CEO of EMI Records will be Elio Leoni-Sceti, an Italian advertising executive with no experience in the music industry. Terra Firma leader Guy Hands has been looking for someone forward thinking and informed enough to take over EMI's top recorded-music position since buying the company last August, and evidently no one available was more appropriate for the position than a guy who made his name pushing house cleaning supplies for Reckitt Benckiser. Chris Martin must be delighted! Will Leoni-Sceti have the same success with Katy Perry as he did with laundry detergent? Guy Hands sure thinks so! More »

5:00 PM on Mon Jul 7 2008
By Anthony Miccio
311 views, 2 comments

Latest by The Illiterate: This is getting as bad as the movie industry in the late 70s. Soon no one who actually knows about music will work for any of the major labels. more »

the biz

The Recorded-Music Business Stems The Bleeding Just A Bit

Sure, the past few weeks have been good for the recorded-music industry, what with Lil Wayne and Coldplay breaking through the 500,000-sales-in-a-week barrier that even heavyweights like Madonna and Usher couldn't surpass. Overall, though, 2008 has been another dismal year for the biz, with this year's 204.6 million units sold through June 29 representing an 11% year-to-year decline. (Last year's tally at this time was 229.8 million units.) But take heart, everyone: At this point last year, album sales were on a 15.6% year-to-year slump. See? Numbers can make any semi-depressing reality look good! More stats from the reports after the jump. More »

1:00 PM on Thu Jul 3 2008
By Maura Johnston
302 views, Comment

bring back midnight madness

Retailers Would Prefer These "Digital Pre-Releases" Come To An End

Bands like the Hold Steady and Stars have managed to hold on to some cash that would have likely been lost to pre-release piracy by releasing their albums digitally before the product was ready for stores. But, not surprisingly, retailers would really appreciate it if bands and labels would knock it off. The National Association of Recording Merchandisers claimed in a statement yesterday that a unified street date helps spur on competition and lower prices for consumers. The release also stated that "over the past few months, there have been instances where release dates for physical and digital versions of albums did not coincide, creating unnecessary and unwelcome marketing obstacles, consumer confusion and, most importantly, missed sales opportunities." Somewhere in the halls of Apple, Steve Jobs was seen silently chuckling over the unfortunate loss of "sales opportunities" for brick-and-mortar music retailers. [Billboard.biz]

2:30 PM on Fri Jun 27 2008
By Dan Gibson
265 views, 5 comments

Latest by Ahh! Jim lad!: A weird story (I think?) about The Hold Steady: the "Web Sheriff" ([websheriff.com] - "Prevention Is Better Than Cure" ??) left a comment on a blog I write for saying how much they appreciate us not posting a leak of more »

the biz

If A Hip-Hop Artist Leaves A Label, Will Either Make A Sound?

Billboard reports today on a few "top rap acts" with expiring contracts and a taste for more direct streams of cash. Although Jay-Z has proven that hip-hop can venture outside the traditional record-label world, what does that mean for acts like Outkast, LL Cool J, and the always delightful 50 Cent? More »

4:15 PM on Fri Jun 20 2008
By Dan Gibson
507 views, 5 comments