Music Industry News

Part 3: Community Building

Source: MusicianWages.com
April 13, 2011

In November of 2008 I moved to New York City. I'd been working in local, regional theatre and tours for over ten years and I was determined to get a job playing keyboards on Broadway. This is part three of a five part series. For the full story, visit the series home page:

How I Became a Broadway Musician

An actor friend of mine knew an actor who knew an actor who knew an actor who needed ...

Continue Reading...

Toots and Grace

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
April 13, 2011

The first section following the introduction of my 1989 book Jazz Matters is titled “A Common Language." It ends with this: Like every art form, jazz has a fund of devices unique to it and universally employed by those who practice it. Among the resources of the jazz tradition available to the player creating an improvised performance are rhythmic patterns, harmonic structures, material quoted from a variety of sources and “head arrangements" evolved over time without being written. Mutual access ...

Continue Reading...

Take Your Time, Do It Right - Five Essential Steps to Self-Releasing a Record

Source: We All Make Music
April 12, 2011

Most bands put a lot into making their records. They spend tons of late nights in the studio, arguing over things like whether the snare should be louder or softer; they fuss over the creation of artwork, the selection of the packaging, the creation of the liner notes. Often, the entire process takes months. Despite limited resources, most bands do an okay job with that part. But the next part – the record’s release – is where a lot of ...

Continue Reading...

Labels Could Owe Artists More Than $2 Billion in Unpaid Royalites

Source: HypeBot
April 12, 2011

This guest post by Dave Kusek, a VP at Berklee College of Music and CEO of Berkleemusic was experpted with permission from his Future Of Music blog. If you are a recording artist or a manager and have been distributing music on iTunes under a deal with one of the big record labels, pay attention. ...the producers who helped Eminem achieve his success are paving the way via a lawsuit against Universal Music and others, to larger payouts for digital ...

Continue Reading...

Part 2: Resume Building

Source: MusicianWages.com
April 12, 2011

I wanted to play keyboards on Broadway, but I didn't know where to start. I did know, at least, that moving straight to New York with a liberal arts degree and 10 years experience in community theatre was a bad idea. I knew the first thing I needed to do was gain more experience and build my resume. This is part 2 of a 5 part series. For the full story, visit the series home page:

How ...

Continue Reading...

Record Industry Profits if Napster Never Hit [chart]

Source: HypeBot
April 9, 2011

For over a decade, US album sales have been racing to the bottom. In the trial brief for their case against LimeWire, the record industry has presented a graph that shows how sales may have fared had Napster never occurred. It's an interesting chart to analyze. Would sales have continued to race to the top or would the video game boom taken away some steam? Given the technological and cultural shifts have happened since Napster, it feels dishonest to say ...

Continue Reading...

Advice: Finding and Making the Most out of a Music Industry Internship

Source: HypeBot
April 9, 2011

This post is by Hypebot intern Hisham Dahud. His Twitter: @HishamDahud. There have been a few discussions circulating the web lately about unpaid internships in the music industry being worth it or not. The fact remains that the entertainment and music sectors continue to be areas where many people are willing to work for free, so companies need not pay interns. But speaking from personal experience, unpaid internships are only worth as much as the overall experience the intern can create from ...

Continue Reading...

Governor Deval Patrick Declares April as Jazz Month in Massachusetts

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
April 8, 2011

Governor Deval Patrick has issued a proclamation declaring April 2011 to be Jazz Month in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The proclamation praises the legacy of jazz as an American art form and the contributions of Massachusetts jazz performers like Chick Corea from Chelsea, Roy Haynes from Roxbury, Phil Woods from Springfield and others. And the proclamation points to the 5th annual Jazz Week in greater Boston sponsored each year by JazzBoston, which takes place April 29 through May 8, 2011. ...

Continue Reading...