Blog Title: Future of Music

Explorations of the future by the authors of "The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution"

Radiohead knows where the real revenue comes from

Great to see a band of this stature make a bold move like this. Radiohead has released their latest album "In Rainbows" online and for free, if you want it. They will also accept whatever amount you wish to pay for the songs. Brilliant! Bertis Downs, manager of R.E.M., says "This is the sort of model that people have been...

CD Sales Take Another Dive

CDs are now sliding precipitously, especially in the United States, and that has intensified media diversification efforts at major retailers. At the halfway point, year-over-year disc sales in the United States dropped 15.1 percent, according to Nielsen Soundscan. That gap has since broadened to 18.4 percent. For retailers like Trans World, Hastings, and Virgin Megastores, diversification has now become an...

Gerd Leonhard?s Open Letter to the Independent Music Industry

Music2.0 and the Future of Music is yours ? if you can resist the temptation of becoming just another music cartel. On June 29, 2007, while at London Calling, I was invited to speak to a small group of indie record label leaders at the annual AIM / WIN gathering in London. I took this opportunity to take a good...

Good Copy Bad Copy - Stealing Culture

Watch a fascinating social commentary on the state of affairs in copyright and the internet. See the whole hour long movie here.

The plunge of the Major Music Labels (New York Times report)... the end of Music1.0 is near?

Good reporting from the NYT, as usual. Some of my favorite morsels are below, plus my comments. Link: Music Labels - EMI - New York Times. NYT: "Despite costly efforts to build buzz around new talent and thwart piracy, CD sales have plunged more than 20 percent this year, far outweighing any gains made by digital sales at iTunes and...

MTV News: Cell Phone As iPod, Virtual Concerts And A Great Jukebox In The Sky

You're sitting at Starbucks and a friend who just swiped his credit card into the store's music kiosk to download a brand-new mixtape onto his MP3 player tells you about a rare My Chemical Romance track he heard last night, which you proceed to download with a few clicks on your cell phone. Or maybe you discover a hot new...

Digital Music Direct to the Customer

Mark Cuban is a smart guy. He dashed off a couple of ideas here that make a lot of sense. I completely agree with him that the big copyright holders (labels and publishers) can act as "networks" and bring their music to market. It is interesting that none of them are thinking this way at the moment, and the old...

Digital Music Rules of the Road for Artists

Here is an useful list for success in the immediate future: - Utilize MySpace and other websites to its full potential and don?t be afraid to ?give your music away for free?. If one million people listen to your songs online, don?t see it as you just lost 1 million dollars in potential sales. See it as you just got...

It is amazing that Apple gets away with this.

It seems that P2P file-sharing networks, iTunes, and the iPod have grabbed the sweet-spot of digital music. Indeed the iPod is the sweet spot. An interesting fact is that most of the files (90%+) on any given iPod were not purchased from the iTunes store - but are the result of file sharing, cd ripping and other sources. The fact...

Cracks in the Armor - the future is upon us

Little by little news emerges as different artists and companies try new approaches to music and the music business. Not all succeed, but some do, and they point the way towards the future of music. For example: Samsons, a Jakarta based band have sold over 2 million ringback tones in Indonesia and Malaysia. Ok Go made history with their homemade...

Great Resource for Musicians - Artisthousemusic.org

ArtistsHouseMusic is a free, comprehensive, and interactive online community for musicians and music business enthusiasts. ArtistsHouse provides expert advice from some of the most successful music entrepreneurs and educators in the country. Songwriting basics, how to book and promote gigs, the ins and outs of copyrighting and contracts, how to audition successfully, and how to become an effective music educator...