Music Industry News

Fanbridge Grabs $2 Million, Acquires Damntheradio

Source: HypeBot
January 20, 2011

FanBridge has acquired damntheradio. This will extend the fan relationship management tools that the company offers to encompass a Facebook too. This news comes as FanBridge closed a $2 million Series A financing round. FanBridge has also taken damntheradio out of private beta and launched a fully self-serve version of the product. Artists will now be able to create their own media-rich Facebook fan pages using the service. All of the damntheradio founders will be joining the FanBridge team full-time and be ...

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Spotify Closes First U.S. Deal with Sony

Source: HypeBot
January 20, 2011

Last week, rumors surfaced that Spotify was close to a U.S. deal with Sony. That rumor has turned out to be true. Sony has finally signed up with Spotify. Before they launch in the U.S. though, Spotify will need support from at least two other labels, one of which needs to be Universal, as they're the largest. Reports indicate that the terms in the Sony deal is favorable, allowing them to offer a service similar to the one they have ...

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News Alert: Major Labels Discover Common Sense Thwarts Music Piracy Almost Every Time

Source: HypeBot
January 19, 2011

After reading the news that Universal and Sony Music plan to use “instant singles" as an effort to curve music piracy several times, I feel like the major labels have discovered common sense. Sadly, not even for the right reasons.  The article clearly states that they believe this move will show ministers that they're “playing their part in fighting copyright theft." The omission that they're making is that this looks good and hopefully makes them more money. If their new ...

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Fair Trade Coffee, Meet Fair Trade Music - Where They Cut out the Evil Middlemen Too

Source: HypeBot
January 19, 2011

Another day, another artist community launches. Fair Trade Music is a new site that strives to step aside from the music industry and cut out the middlemen in it. Donations can be made to artists. They keep 100% of the money. This way, artists who don't want to sign with the big bad record labels can thrive through direct support from their loyal audience. Artists will also be able to notify fans of their concert listings and other such happenings. ...

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If Steve Jobs Dies Do Musicians Lose?

Source: HypeBot
January 19, 2011

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Why Labels Abandoned A&R...

Source: Digital Music News
January 18, 2011

The following is a guest post by Ritch Esra of the Music Business Registry. Esra attempts to answer the question: whatever happened to traditional A&R? “My take is that the traditional A&R process as we've known it is dying for a few reasons;

(1) The major labels are hiring fewer and fewer A&R executives because the volume of acts—and more importantly the types of acts—being signed have dramatically decreased. The A&R process used to be about the discovery, signing & ...

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Is That Jazz?

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
January 18, 2011

The Seattle Composers' Salon is pleased to announce the third-annual IS THAT JAZZ? music festival taking place the last two weekends in January (Fri-21, Sat-22, Fri-28, Sat-29) in Seattle, Washington. The festival will feature four inspired evenings with eight compelling performances at an exquisite space for listening to music, the Chapel Performance Space.

IS THAT JAZZ? is a festival dedicated to daring and exploratory artists who are redrawing the boundaries of jazz, and infusing the genre with new forms, new ...

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Sony, Universal Plan "Instant" Singles to Beat Pirates

Source: HypeBot
January 18, 2011

In a reversal of a decades old marketing strategy, Sony and Universal will begin putting new singles for sale as downloads on the same day that they are released to radio. The new policy, which the labels hope will encourage younger users to pay for a new song rather than grab it free, is being implemented first at the UK branches of the two label groups, but seems likely to spread to other territories. Previously, labels gave radio up to ...

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