Based on what Wikipedia saysI am estimating that iTunes has maybe sold a total of 6.8 Billion songs since April 28, 2003 - i.e. exactly 6 years ago. Now Apple just announced that over 1 Billion iPhone & iPod apps were downloaded around the world (a good list of the top 20 free & paid apps is at Ben Tao's blog), during the past 9 months, already. Why is that? Why is music apparently less popular than software gadgets? Here is my 2 cents:
The music on iTunes is always paid-for while apps are sometimes free and sometimes paid (and at different price points), and are therefore an easier sell. Try and buy is still the best way to get hooked - and iTunes does not even allow me to listen to the full track before I need to shell out my dollar! In any case, the fact that some apps are entirely free can serve as a good reminder that for the creators there are many other, equally attractive forms of remuneration than just getting immediate cash. App developers certainly seem to have many other reasons than just getting paid 'by the unit', such as creating a stronger 'Pull' for their other offerings or providing the app to get a wider audiece for their skills - and the same argument could certainly be employed for music I would reckon. Why not start with the stream-on-demand, then offer the download for free or for a very low price - but then upsell the fans to a much larger fan package, similar to what Depeche Mode is now doing with their Season Pass. The ever-resourceful Techcrunch, btw, estimates app store revenues to be $777 Million for 2009 - I would be even more optimistic than that, though, because I expect much higher sales of iPhones and iPod after the next version comes out in June, featuring the build-in FM transmitter that can send the music wirelessly to your car stereo (radio execs... are you ready for that?)
The music on iTunes is both too cheap and too expensive (depending on how you look it it), but there's nothing that fits the "free stuff + premium" package that people like so much these days (such as for my favorite, Instapaper) which is how most people get hooked on the good stuff. In this world, Freemium Rules, indeed.
Most apps are really cheap and it's easy to part with a few dollars for something that may have real value for me - especially if one of my peers has just recommended it. I have purchased at least 40 apps, and I can tell you that the barrier to purchase an app is much lower than the barrier to buying songs at $1 / Euro 1. And yes, sure, unlike music the apps can't be gotten for free anywhere else (apart from what can be done with jailbroken iphones I guess) and that certainly is a factor - but even if they could be 'pirated', I would venture to say that I would still pay for them on iTunes, because it's LIQUID, quick, convenient, low-cost and no big deal. If the music industry can achieve the same (and not just on iTunes!), than you'll see those numbers go up, for sure. Liquid and friction-less are the keywords here - and that, to me, as you may have guessed, means the digital music flat rate.
Mobile phone apps are about ME, about my personalized style and experience. The apps give me the power to select what I like, try it and love it or hate it. See a guy's apps and you can get a feel for who he is (yes... that goes for women, too, but unlike guys you probably don't see them comparing iPhone apps over a drink;). If we can make music -and other content- more personal, more customized, too, my hunch is that would help boost the sales, as well.
Musician Wages a web-site that focuses on how to earn a living with your music, has a great post on leading a band. Very well layed out article for getting organized and setting the example. Here I will just give you the article sections and if you want to read the whole story head on over to A Musician’s Guide to Middle Management, or Leading a Band
Have a Plan
Organize Your Material
Communication Breakdown
Find out how each person prefers to be contacted
Discuss each musician’s priorities and commitment to the band
When selecting new products and services look for the Twitter Enabled logo. You no longer have to just microwave a bag of popcorn. Now you can use Twitter Enabled microwave ovens that will automatically send tweets out to your fans when your kernels have popped...
Seriously, the average employed person probably has about fifteen minutes a day to catch up on all his or her tweets. The easiest way to get un-followed is to start twittering about everything and anything you touch or do.
Some products and services that automatically post to Twitter will certainly be useful. However, twitter-overload is going to be the shotgun that kills this bird. It's only a matter of time before overloaded twitter users begin to unplug from streams of annoying, automatic tweets.
The music industry has been hit with a double whammy. Sales continue their decline and the global economy is in the midst of the the deepest recession since World War II. Layoffs, consolidation and much less venture funding are just a few of the obvious signs. But from adversity can also come opportunity. Waste is trimmed. New companies emerge where market leaders falter.
In addition to our regular coverage and commentary, this week Hypebot will explore how this dual downturn is effecting the music industry. Today the series starts from the artist's point of view: one who lives and sings about it and another who sees her fan's troubles and is making a small gesture in return.
Plus we want to hear from you. What effect is the economy having on you and your business? What opportunties do you see? Some Hypebot readers got the discussion going here. Leave your stories and comments there or anywhere you see a Music & The State Of The Economy story. We'll share some of them in a full post later this week.
European Parliament approves 70 year copyright for sound recordings.
Numbers can’t begin to describe Twitter’s impact. (Epicenter)
A sentenced Pirate Bay defendant and two politicians from Sweden's Green party are launching a fund to help people accused of copyright violations under the country's new antipiracy law. (CNet)
Facebook Makes It Easier For Developers To Play With Its Data. (paidContent)
An analysis of YouTube's content fingerprinting system (TechDirt)
Novelist Rick Moody shares a playlist that is "somewhat against the grain as far as 'indie' music goes these days, the obscure, the experimental, the ancient, each devoted to the project and the vision instead of the results" on his Swinging Modern Sounds blog.
Homeland Security Cranks Up The ‘Brain Music’ (Pollstar)
Blog network BuzzNet (renamed Buzz Media earlier this month) admitted to laying off 20% recently including staffers at Stereogum and Idolator. But when part-time and outside contributors are included, the cuts may go far deeper
"As you might have noticed, this is a bittersweet week around here; because of budget cuts, we’ve had to say goodbye to pretty much all the Idolator contributing writers, from columnists to daily bloggers. The site is going to go on as a solo project of sorts," editor Maura Johnston posted on Idolator.
She went to name 15 contributors no longer associated with the long standing music blog which Buzz purchased just last year. BuzzNet changed is name to Buzz Media in March after receiving $12.5 million in new funding.
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band and the growing audience that comes to see them could care less about the stock market crashing. But they do know what it's like to loose a job or worry about paying the doctor bills. This recent CNN interview and concert footage gives a glimpse of The Reverend's unique blend of rough music for rough times.
Lucinda Williams says she knows how tough it is out there. She also knows that the fees attached to her concert tickets are making things even tougher for fans. Since Williams cannot control ticketing fees, she wanted to do something to offer some kind of relief to her fans.
"I cannot, in good conscience, sit back and watch my fans get blatantly gouged." says Williams. "As an attempt to offset these fees, we are going to offer a standing credit at our merchandise table to everyone attending our upcoming US shows in 2009." Each fan who attends a Williams show this year will get a credit on merchandise. The discount of about $7 on clothing and $5 on CDs will also be valid online through July for fans who went to a show earlier in the year.
"I understand that this may only be a small gesture and in no way solves the problem long term, but I feel that it is important to try and do something to make it a little easier during this time," Williams adds.
"The artist is the goose, the songs are the golden egg. The album is the ovation process for the clutch.
Let's allow a closer quicker way to the yolk...who cares if it kills the goose. I've heard that even the feathers are tasty. After the pesky creature has been slain it should be placed in the bathtub to drain and be rendered so the eggs are easily removed. Fire up the toilet-cam and let the fun begin."
The Meat Puppet's new album "Sewn Together" comes out May 12th
MP3 search and play site Seeqpod has been down since Friday, but vows to return. "SeeqPod is in the process of moving a few servers... We'll be back up shortly", said SeeqPod CEO Kasian Franks on Sunday.
Seeqpod is in acquistion talks with "a large media company that was a competitor to Apple" according to MP3 Newswire. Any suitor would have to be willing to get involved with several pending rights holder lawsuits against the company.
COMMENTARY: Sadly, it's probably over for Seeqpod; or soon will be. If true, the major labels will have scored another victory that will prove pointless as imitator after imitator goes online. Seeqpod hosted no content, but proved immensely popular despite a very limited marleting budget because it struck a chord with fans. Once again, instead of monetizing that consumer interest; the labels have tried to control it. And once again, they will fail.
Perhaps its all of the lawsuits or just a technology issue, but mp3 search and play site Seeqpod has been down for almost a day as of Saturday afternoon. The company recently filed for bankruptcy.
If permanent, the loss is a mere inconvenience for search based music fans who are likely to simply return to using Google search or any of the plethora of replacement sites that pop up weekly.
UPDATE: The outage at Seeqpod which began on Friday continues as of Monday morning. The site vows to return. More here.
A request by Harvard law professor Charles Nesson and his student team for an expedited decision overturning the court's denial to broadcast the upcoming RIAA file-sharing trial against Joel Tenenbaum was denied.on Friday.
“I have circulated your request to my colleagues and received their responses,” wrote Chief Judge Mark Wolf in an e-mail to Nesson. “The District Court has decided not to take any action on the expedited basis that you request." It is unclear if the judges will rule later, but with the trial scheduled for April 30th, Nesson is now asking the court to reschedule. "It is in this hearing that Joel’s Constitutional claims will be considered, and it is only right that the public have a right ‘to see and to hear’ as per its own Constitutional right,” Nesson wrote to the court.
In January, Federal Judge Nancy Gertner approved a motion to permit the hearing to be streamed live over the internet. The music companies appealed, and the decision was overturned by the First Circuit earlier this month.
“The public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of a public webcast of the trial even in spite of differing opinions on file-sharing,” the students on the self-named Joel Fights Back team said in a statement. "Between comments on blogs and a petition circulating, we are amazed at the support for this issue.”
EXECUTIVE SHUFFLE:MySpace founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe is out along with several other top executives. Former Project Playlist and Facebook exec Owen Vanatta replaces him. In turn, MTV veteran John Sykes is replacing Vanatta bringing Project Playlist some much needed label credibility as the battle for licensing.
This video shows you how to use Yahoo Answers efficiently. Where musicians can really work their magic is with the questions of people looking for great new music similar to other artists. So take that RSS trick mentioned in the video and think about what artists you may sound like to start your RSS reader love.
THE EXECUTIVE SHUFFLE: MySpace founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe is out along with several other top executives. Former Project Playlist and Facebook exec Owen Vanatta replaces him. In turn, MTV veteran John Sykes is replacing Vanatta bringing Project Playlist some much needed label credibility as the battle for licensing.
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