What the HECK is going on with the Music Industry‽‽‽

Yes, THREE interrobangs!

But seriously, what is going on? It seems every day over the last week I've been reading about incredible change, and yet I'm still seeing business as usual.


First off is the whole debacle over Trent Reznor's remix site remix.nin.com. After butting heads with Universal (apparently releasing NIN samples in this manner would impact Universal's lawsuit against Youtube/Google, lol), Reznor just threw the site up anyway. Universal's control is weakened, but not completely absent as Reznor did make some small concessions. From LiveDaily.com:

The head-scratching apparently ended on Monday (11/26), when Reznor unveiled remix.nin.com, where an FAQ explains how the site is dealing with the aforementioned concerns about fans using unauthorized materials in conjunction with their NIN remixes. The site describes unauthorized materials as "samples of songs by other artists, or samples from movies, TV shows, or video games," and says that any remixes containing such elements "will be rejected during the approval process."
"Please understand that it is not our wish to impose these restrictions on your creativity or the functionality of this site, but we have no choice in the matter," the FAQ continues.

So Universal's been hamstrung, and apparently so has Warner. Hot on the heels of Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr's admission of mishandling music's digital conversion (add that to Doug Morris bumbling through his explanation of how these new intarwebs frighten his age-ed soul, via Wired), we're now witnessing an accelerating drop in CD sales. Warner specifically, is reporting a 58% drop in CD sales over this time last year, and a net profit of only five million dollars (as opposed to twelve last year, via Yahoo/Reuters).
Warner's plan is to get more involved in artist "packaging" including image rights, management, advertising, and touring revenue, but for a company that is, admittedly, reactionary and obstinate about change, one has to wonder if they can actually shift gears fast enough to stay relevant. Madonna has already left to pursue more non-traditional distribution, not to mention a whole slew of others like NIN and Radiohead. Will others follow their example, or stay with the current, failing business model?
[Cartoon from HijinksEnsue]


Lastly, EMI is considering pulling funding for the RIAA. One of the Big Four that support the fan-suing organization, it's looking to cut a significant portion of the $132 million it contributes to the RIAA each year. This would be a positive step in my opinion, and right in line with EMI's new radical stance (Idolator), but I can't let go of that number. One HUNDRED and THIRTY TWO MILLION dollars, every year! That's TEN times the profit Warner made LAST year on album sales. You really have to question an industry that will pay ten times what it makes to sue and harass the very customers it's trying to attract. [Story @ Ars Technica]


So, we've got all this news, newsnewsnews, and yet the RIAA is still blackmailing people, artists aren't getting paid any better for their work, and it still costs me $15+ for a new-ish album (unless I go "gray market", or locked DRM crappy low bitrate download). Great.

*sigh*

Enough bitching from me, back to work...

'Hands tells EMI staff to "WAKE UP"'

Sent to me from Mrs. Audio Guy (thanks Hon)!

Story out of Variety, apparently Guy Hands (chairman of Terra Firma, the new owners of EMI) is telling his staff to wake up and get with!

Following the developments of iTunes, P2P, and most recently Radiohead's decision to forgo traditional studio support in releasing it's latest album (and asking fans to only pay what they think it's worth), Hands appears ready to turn the entire music industry on it's ear.

Hands wrote: "Rather than embracing digitalization and the
opportunities it brings for promotion of product and distribution
through multiple channels, the industry has stuck its head in the sand."
The Terra Firma boss believes that other EMI acts and their managers will
be following the Radiohead initiative closely to see whether such a
business model can earn musicians more money than following the
traditional record company route.
"Why should (established acts) subsidize their label's new talent roster — or for that matter their record company's excessive expenditures and advances?" Hands said in his memo.

This is very encouraging. It's one thing to have peripheral acts like The Bare Naked Ladies and The Grateful Dead supporting radical distribution of music, but to have the head of a major label practically daring the rest of the music industry (and challenging their mistakes) is down right awesome. Between this and their stance on DRM, EMI is shaping up to be the most forward thinking label in music.

The formal distribution of music can not become a free service or a loss leader. If there's no incentive to craft an album, if artists can not benefit from the distribution of their content, then we'll be headed for a musical dark ages.

READ THE REST HERE @ VARIETY

Heh-heh, turn the industry on it's "ear" ...

No Copy Protection = Increase in Sales!

I TOLD YOU SO! I did.

Anyway here's a brief examination of EMI dropping DRM. Initial reaction has been VERY positive:

"The initial results of DRM-free music are good." Increased sales of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon were singled out. That's true. Digital sales of Dark Side of the Moon have averaged over 3,600 units since the launch of iTunes Plus and the availability of unprotected AAC files. In the 11 prior weeks, average sales were 830 units per week. That's an increase of 272%. In the week iTunes Plus was released, digital sales of Dark Side of the Moon jumped 350% that week alone."

Read all about it here.

And So It Begins: DRM-Free Album Edition

The first DRM-Free album from EMI has finally dropped, and it's not on iTunes!

Damon Albarn's 'The Good, The Bad, and The Queen' is available for sale directly from the band's website as 320Kbps MP3's.

HUZZAH!

The story is posted at Blogging Stocks on AOL, and apparently Apple stock prices are tentatively rising since EMI's announcement.

Could it be AudioGuy?
Could there ACTUALLY be money to be made by NOT treating paying customers like criminals?
someaudioguy some audio guy recording voice over demo voice acting production music riaa copyright copy protection

Idolator Talks EMI

Quick follow up to the story earlier about EMI releasing DRM-free music (I've quickly become a very big EMI fan ... huh ... ).

Idolator has an awesome write up on what this move means for you, the consumer.

"People who want to pay for music (yes, there are still a few out there) will have even more incentive to buy EMI's albums digitally, and consumers who were, in the past, stymied by attempts to move their iTunes-purchased music around--whether to different computers or to portable players that aren't necessarily the iPod--will have a slightly easier time doing so now. (Even the Zune will be able to play the unprotected AACs offered by iTunes.)"

Read the rest here!

I'm very excited about this. Especially once the Beatles make it to iTunes.

GO EMI! Yes! DRM-FREE MUSIC THROUGH iTUNES!!!

Yup this deserved all caps.
This is exactly what the consumer needs right now. EMI will be offering their entire catalog of music for sale on iTunes, DRM free, and (supposedly) at a higher bitrate.

The Catch?

It'll be .30 more expensive for a single, and wait for it...

... the same price for an album ($9.99).

So far the move seems to be garnering some negative press on "teh blogosfeer", but this is exactly what we want people.
I personally would've payed $2 a track for higher bitrate, and to play the music on my ipod, my 6700, Mrs. AudioGuy's Rio, and to use it to cut up my own ringtones.

This is great folks! EMI has apparently had problems paying their electric light bills of late (love that pun), so we need to support any move they make that is for the consumer (as opposed to watching them poor more and more money into lawyers and lawsuits).

Here's hoping that more labels follow suit!

Read the rest here!
someaudioguy some audio guy music voice over demo production voice acting audiobooks narration announcer