Music Industry News

"We've Got a Social Chart Now Too," Says Billboard.

Source: HypeBot
December 4, 2010

Billboard has introduced the Social 50, which “ranks the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites." Put differently, the staff heard about this thing called Ultimate Chart and thought it was about time to get social too. It will be interesting to see how the two charts compare. However, Big Champagne's Ultimate Chart still pulls data from more locations than Billboard. In the coming months, Ultimate Chart will be rolling out more indie related charts. That's when ...

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Gerd Leonhard: "Music Industry Will Be Totally Disrupted and Re-Booted by Outsiders"

Source: HypeBot
December 4, 2010

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PledgeMusic Starts Record Label, Signs First Band

Source: HypeBot
December 4, 2010

With the goal of fully leveraging their Pledge system as an A&R platform, PledgeMusic has launched a record label and publishing company. Indie starlets The Damnwells are the first act to sign on with PledgeMusic Recordings; they will retain all rights, ownership, and publishing. In turn, PledgeMusic Recordings will provide the group with the guidance and expertise that they may have traditionally looked to a label for. After a site campaign, wherein the group raised close to 200% of their ...

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And Now, 100 Not-so-F*ked Music Companies...

Source: Digital Music News
December 3, 2010

We recently dug up 100 completely f*ked music companies, a stark reflection on a punishing space. Those were mostly dead companies, but what about the future? Who's not only not f*ked, but pushing the space forward?

Well, here's a list of companies (or divisions of companies, entities, performers, innovators, etc.) that are not-so-f*ked. In fact, they're likely to still be here in five years—and quite possibly, they'll be shaping the next-generation music industry.

2. Apple ...

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A Music Service Better Than Piracy? It's Possible.

Source: HypeBot
December 3, 2010

This is part two of my interview segment with Jonathan Sasse, who is SVP Marketing at Slacker Radio. In this interview, Sasse contends that pay-to-play isn't within Slacker's best interest and that there's an art to creating a great radio station. As well, he believes that radio in the best, all around source for music of discovery. Hypebot: If we gave you a bag of money, would you play “The Hypebot Hit Song“ three times an hour? Why might that ...

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Is the Right Hand Talking to the Left? The Onsmash Situation...

Source: Digital Music News
December 2, 2010

Dozens of pirate and counterfeit sites were yanked down over the Thanksgiving holiday by the US Government, and most were asking for trouble. But serious questions now surround a number of hip-hop sites caught in the mix, particularly OnSmash.com. According to several sources to Digital Music News, those inside the rap industry hardly regarded OnSmash as a pirate. Instead, OnSmash was treated as a critical promotional and tastemaker vehicle. In fact, prior to the shutdown, a large number of rap ...

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A Groovier Thing - Dizzy for President!

Source: Riffs on Jazz by John Anderson
December 2, 2010

With the midterm elections behind us and the rumors and prognostications already starting for the presidential election of 2012, let's hope and pray for an inspiring candidate like the one we had in 1964. No, not Barry Goldwater or Lyndon B. Johnson—I mean John Birks “Dizzy" Gillespie! Dizzy's presidential run began as something of a lark, and it never really developed much beyond that stage. A bunch of “Dizzy Gillespie for President" buttons had been created several years before for ...

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Rockhouse Partners Creates Event Marketing Client

Source: HypeBot
December 2, 2010

(UPDATED) Rockhouse Partners has launched a new division of their tech based marketing agency called Rockhouse Live. With it, comes a platform that aims to help venues and festivals sell more tickets. It will act as a marketing agency and provide show promoters with a turn-key solutions that will help them sell tickets while keeping costs low. These tools and services will integrate with a ticket provider's existing data to enable real-time insight into ticket trends and marketing channel ROI. From ...

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