Music Industry News

Forrester Study Offers Plan to Save Music Industry

Source: HypeBot
September 10, 2009

A Summary & Commentary - Forrester Research has released an aggressive road map of changes that analyst Mark Mulligan says are “necessary to save the music industry from the current Media Meltdown it finds itself in. The CD is dying, the 99 cent download model clearly isn't enough (nor is live), and ad supported and subsidized models all have much distance to go".

“a continual artist-fan relationship"

The challenge is to make people willing to pay for music again and ...

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Notes from the Net: A Miles Davis Mega-Set; Jimmy Forrest Remembered; Plus News, Reviews, Interviews, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
September 10, 2009

Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest.What with the time demands of the recent site re-design, keeping up with breaking news, and doing some actual paying work in there somewhere, it's been nearly three weeks since our last installment of NftN, and in that time ...

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Jay Leno: When You're Innocent, Because of All the Secrecy, No One Shakes Your Hand and Says, 'Welcome Back into the Fold,

Source: All About Jazz
September 10, 2009

The Writers Guild Cleared Jay Leno, but Now Must Indict Itself

Few issues during the November 2007/February 2008 writers strike stirred as much anger and emotion as whether Writers Guild, West, member Jay Leno violated the unions strike rules during his return to hosting The Tonight Show. The WGAws investigation into Leno was conducted with utmost secrecy. Last month, Hollywood found out Leno had not been charged but only because his name did not appear on the press release of ...

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Wells Fargo Exec Used Malibu Colony Home Lost by Madoff-Duped Couple

Source: Michael Ricci
September 10, 2009

A top bank executive was seen spending weekends and hosting parties in the $12-million beach house. The bank says it will 'conduct a thorough investigation of the allegations' by neighbors.

The Malibu Colony home formerly owned by Lawrence and Linda Elins is a sleekly modern, 3,800-square-foot, two-story structure built in the early 1990s by clothing designer Nancy Heller. Its huge glass windows look out on a patio, deck and the Pacific. The home's value was recorded at $12 million when ...

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Blue Music Group Introduces Instant Net-CDs

Source: Michael Ricci
September 9, 2009

Blue Music Group is the first record label to introduce Instant Net-CDs on its website. In addition to offering common mpeg layer 3 ("mp3") and advanced audio codec ("aac") media, the entire Blue Music Group catalog is now available in a full quality CD format, including printable artwork, lyrics and inserts. “This is a major step for music sales to become entirely postal-free. Neither the sound quality nor the liner notes are an issue anymore," says Mika Pohjola, the artistic ...

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Photographer Annie Leibovitz's Lifework is on the Line

Source: Michael Ricci
September 7, 2009

As the famed celebrity photographer faces the loss of her photos, observers see a portrait of unfocused finances.

Annie Leibovitz could lose her 200-acre Astor Barns country estate up the Hudson River from New York City and her town house in New York. Leibovitz had two goals for a proposed series of her famous celebrity photographs, enlarged to 5 feet tall, at a price of $25,000 each. For starters, “She said she would like to make more money," recalled Fifth ...

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Album Sales Continue Downward Spiral

Source: HypeBot
September 5, 2009

Billboard shares an analysis of the latest bad news on the music sales front. The highlights (low points?) include:

Album sales were down 18.1% compared to last year, 31% compared to '07

The July 5 week period 6/28 - 8/1 was down 10.3% compared to the same period in '08 and 22.8% vs. '07. Michael Jackson provided a sales bump that began with his death on June 25th.

Year to date album sales are down 14.5% vs. '08 and ...

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Hot Property: Bing Crosby's Old Stomping Grounds for Sale in Toluca Lake

Source: Michael Ricci
September 5, 2009

A Toluca Lake home referred to as the Bing Crosby Estate is listed at $10 million.

The singer and actor lived on the property from 1936 until early January 1943, when the 20-room house was gutted in a Christmas tree fire, according to news reports from the L.A. Times archives. The damage to the structure and its contents was estimated at $200,000, and the familys cocker spaniel, a complete collection of Crosbys recordings, his golf trophies and his pipe collection ...

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