Music Industry News

Google Ready to Give Music Labels Tens of Millions of $'s, Deals to Buy Rhapsody or Spotify Off

Source: HypeBot
December 16, 2010

Google is reportedly offering to pay the record labels tens of millions of dollars in advances so they'll sign off on a Google Music service.  For now, the focus is on a Google online music locker, but a Spotify or Rhapsody style streaming service will follow. Google's in house music technology lawyer Elizabeth Moody has just started negotiating with music publishers regarding the service; in part because even big checks haven't encouraged record labels to agree.  Publicly the labels say ...

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Levon Helm Hospitalized; Full Recovery Expected

Source: JamBase
December 16, 2010

GET WELL LEVON Levon Helm was hospitalized in New York City on Saturday with a cold, but is expected to make a full recovery and be released within the next few days. Speaking to the Poughkeepsie Journal, Helm's manager Barbara O'Brien said “Levon came down with a little bit of a cold this week and because he's got COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], a little bit of a cold to you and me is a lot more serious for him." ...

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Video: Real-Time Music Criticism on Youtube

Source: HypeBot
December 15, 2010

HowToListenToMusic provides a glimpse into how real-time music criticism might work. This critic has taken to PowerPoint like slides that analyze the song while we listen. It was enough to make me listen to Ke$ha's “Your Love Is My Drug" against my will, asI grew curious as to what they'll say. The reviewer is semi-serious, with a little bit of snarkiness for taste. This makes for a series of YouTube videos that are worth a glance—even if you disagree with ...

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Best of 2010: The Most Interesting and Innovative Music Start-Ups

Source: HypeBot
December 15, 2010

This post was written by Chris Bracco, and originally appeared on his blog, Tight Mix. You can follow Chris on Twitter or subscribe to his . The end of the year is approaching rapidly, and a lot has happened in the music industry over the past twelve months! There have been many incredible albums released this year, some of which surprised the public and even became nominated for Grammy awards. You see all of these “best of/worst of" lists pop ...

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Standing Next to the Grooveshark Sales Funnel

Source: HypeBot
December 15, 2010

Look. You can scratch, claw, scream, and bitch about Grooveshark and services like it all you want, but fans don't care. I'm not saying its morally correct, but the average fan doesn't care if artists are getting paid for streams. Fans don't care if the labels make money off Grooveshark. Most of all, fans don't care if Grooveshark makes money off of Grooveshark. They want to stream music—for free—and don't care where they do it. Whatever site lets them do ...

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The Music Industry's Biggest Blunts, 2000-2010...

Source: Digital Music News
December 14, 2010

Why do we play this game? It seems that in times of digital disruption, the music industry has had this strange tendency to cling to potential saviors, almost all of which disappoint. The major labels are masters at this, though this goes far beyond the Big Four. And, it makes you wonder whether the same blue-sky, save-the-industry mentalities are currently driving areas like cloud-based models, DIY distribution, and 'middle-class artist' concepts.

But what are the biggest blunts this industry has ...

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Papa Roach Bashes Geffen/Interscope in New Single, Says Execs at Old Label Should "Burn"

Source: HypeBot
December 14, 2010

There's no shortage of songs where artists express their utter despisement for the music industry. In their latest single “Burn," Papa Roach bashes their former record label Geffen/Interscope for allegedly being “two-faced." In a recent interview with Rockaaa.com, lead singer Jacoby Shaddix said, “There's a lot of two-faced shit in this business. Geffen/Interscope pissed me off—it was a really bad ending with them." Apparently, the label put out ...To Be Loved: The Best Of Papa Roach against the band's wishes ...

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Citigroup Likely to Take Control of EMI by Christmas

Source: HypeBot
December 14, 2010

The official line is that they are still weighing options, but Guy Hands has reportedly been telling Terra Firma investors that they could loose control of EMI to lender Citigroup before the end of the year. His statements come a few weeks after he lost a last ditch lawsuit against CitiGroup claiming fraud and just days after reports that several groups of Terra Firma Investors told Hands that they are unwilling to add  more cash to save the debt ridden ...

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