Showing posts with label record labels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label record labels. Show all posts

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Before the Music Dies

This is pretty powerful stuff.

I've written before about the "quality" of modern music, but usually in the context of the technical aspects of recording, winning the "Loudness War", etc. This documentary does a very good job of examining the history of the music industry, how we got here, and where we might go.
Moving interviews with Dave Matthews, Quest Love, Erykah Badu, and scores of other performers,  journalists, and critics painfully contrast with "man on the street" interviews of people talking about their current fave pop acts.
If you care about your "art", be it Film, TV, Music, Theatre, New Media, etc, this is a great look at what happens when the BIG money rolls in.
A film narrated by Forest Whitaker, 'Before the Music Dies' lays out a cautionary story about the deteriorating state of the music business, and argues that the quality of music is going downhill. This is a must-see for anyone who cares about music. Out since 2006, it's steadily gained a following and has achieved critical acclaim.

read more | digg story

And here's the trailer:

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Sub Pop Jumps into the MP3 Retail Arena



Not much to report here, but your favorite neighborhood fanzine turned record label, Sub Pop has started up it's own MP3 retail site.

The selection isn't huge (currently about 200 albums), the bitrate is low (192Kbps), and right now you can only purchase full albums (not singles), but they are working on updating all of that.

What's nice is that they include album art, and when they increase the quality of the rip, you will be eligible to re-download the track for free (I'm looking at you iTunes).

What I'm most excited about is the idea that they'll be focusing on rare and out of print albums a staple of their catalog. With iTunes, Amazon, etc focusing on more commercial catalogs, this move really appeals to the "long tail" theorist in me.

Check out their announcement here.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

More Bands Following Radioheads Example

So of course there's the NIN announcement, but the Telegraph is reporting on even more groups wading in after Radiohead (you should actually be downloading their new album now instead of reading this, unless you're reading this while WAITING to download their new album). For me, this is probably the most exciting development in distribution since the original Napster debuted.

Oasis has already announced that its next single, Lord Don’t Slow Me
Down, will be available only to download for 99 pence. Meanwhile
rumours abound that Madness, a band with a loyal fanbase amongst
40-somethings, is considering giving away its next album for free.

MADNESS?!?!?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?
ONE STEP BEYOND?!?!?!
I'M SO THERE!!!



*ahem*

Labels are going to have to get savvy PDQ, or they'll be going away.

And right now, I can't really say they'd be missed...

READ THE REST @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK


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