New music monetization models

I was recently talking with a close friend about the increasingly bleak outlook of the music industry, we were both attempting to predict what the new music model may be. I was suggesting its going to be a middle ground between, brands, artists and a cause. Clearly not a well thought out solution, but I am sure there is something in it, give me a couple more months and I would have cracked it.

If you cant wait until then PSFK, recently put up a post entitled 'Album as Advertisement or Application', worth reading, check it out here.

DJ Vinroc - The Art of Beat Making: "Believe"

I am a sucker for short film, and DJ Vinroc latest video making a beat for his song "Believe" plays like a short film, I thought I would share my appreciation, check it out below. ENJOY


The Art of Beat Making "Believe"-Vinroc from Vinroc on Vimeo.

Music is .....

To me this quote best describes music 'asides from silence, music is the only thing that can express the unexpressable'. You know the feeling when you hear a tune and it communicates exactly what you were thinking but couldn't articulate, making you feel like 'ooh i'm not alone'.

I believe this is why music is so important to culture, because it allows people that are very different to have something in common. Its like when you go to a show you will see people different ages, different races all feeling the same vibe.

Bob Marley sang ' when the music hits you feel no pain', again for me this couldn't be more true. Often when I need inspiration, motivation of just comfort my first salvation is music.

I also feel I have learnt soo much through music, music was originally designed to pass on messages, although for certain music this has lost its way, there is still a big amount of great message music that is trying to guide us closer to truth.

At the end on Common 'like water for chocolate', pops rap breaks it down.

Hip Hop, Hip Hop, the language of the underground railroad
In it's purest form
Yeah true hip hop is just like the Underground Railroad

If the message is not for you
It can sit on your nose and your brain remain froze
So when you see me traveling on a spiritual high
I'm flying high with Cee-Lo
Or maybe watching my long's heart dancing to a De La flow

Everybody knows there's no fruit on the tree without The Roots
And Black Star said we are what we are
The Knowledge Of Self Determination
And my little homie KG
Up there in Minnesota milking 10000 lakes

Keep the heat on em', we got to be kind to the growing mind
So if your heart is real
You will hear Big Will and Ms. Lauryn Hill
If your love is true, you will hear Badu-ism

And you can't go right until you go left
and get some ingredients from the music chef Jazzy Jeff
Children, I've travelled this globe
north to south, east to west
And whenever my soul appears lost
I turn to the musical stylings of a Tribe Called Quest

Check out a good post on the future of digital music here

Hispter Rap

Jay Smooth's illdoctrine vlogs are always interesting and thought provoking. This one I thought was especially interesting, Jay puts his views on the issue of Hispter rap out there, what do you guys think? Is there really even a such thing as Hipster rap and if so is there a need to hate on it?

New Music Strategies

We have all been hearing the talk for a while know that the music industry is dying etc etc, well I recently met a guy called Andrew Dubber at a conference and he has laid out some fresh approaches for online music business.

Thing 1: Don't believe the hype - There’s a great deal of discussion about music online in the mainstream press, and there are a couple of predominant threads to that coverage. Mostly, it’s not true.

It pays to be able to separate fact from fiction and hype from reality when it comes to the online music environment. Especially when your livelihood depends on it. Here are the two most important things to watch out for:

1) Technological determinism
2) People tend to lie

Thing 2: Hear / Like / Buy - There are lots of sophisticated tricks and tips for marketing music, online and off. But if you mess up this one fundamental principle, you might as well not bother at all.

Music is pretty much unique when it comes to media consumption. You don’t buy a movie ticket because you liked the film so much, and while you might buy a book because you enjoyed reading it so much at the library, typically you’ll purchase first, then consume.

But music is different — and radio proves that. By far the most reliable way to promote music is to have people hear it. Repeatedly, if possible — and for free. After a while, if you’re lucky, people get to know and love the music. Sooner or later, they’re going to want to own it.

Thing 3: Opinion leaders rule - How do you know what music to buy? Often, another person tells you - generally in some mediated way. Different media, different people, same principle.

Other than hearing, then liking, the most common and reliable way to find out about music is via the opinion leader. Often this will take the form of a press review or column — or some sort of radio feature. Occasionally, it’ll come from the telly. If you happen to respect the opinion of the person or institution telling you that the record is great, the chances you’ll be persuaded are reasonably high.

Thing 4: Customise - All this talk about the music industry online overlooks one simple fact: there isn’t one. There are many. One size does not fit all.

You’ve seen the website. It has a landing page with a photo on it and a little bit of blurb. There may be one or two things that move on it, or it might even have an animation. It has a fairly simple navigation system along the top or down the side. The links say things like About Us, Gallery, Downloads, Contact, Our MySpace — and the links take you to exactly the things you might expect when you get there.

Thing 5: Connect - It might seem an obvious thing to say about using the internet, but if you don’t connect, then you might as well not bother switching the damn thing on.

Having a website is not a promotional strategy. If you’re going to have a website, you need to have a promotional strategy.

Your promotional strategy should generate traffic — and, more importantly, repeat business. In order to get people to check out your website, it can’t just be tucked away on its own little shelf in the world-wide-library (to stretch the metaphor).

You can download the complete ebook here

UK Youth and Muisc

Raised in the "always on" world of the Internet, on-demand content and social media technologies, today's youth has different expectations and media consumption behaviours than previous generations. This trend is especially evident when it comes to music. Driven by iTunes and the iPod, the youth of today have a big appetite for digital music, ring tones and all things mobile.

A study from Jupiter Research found that "worldwide, mobile music generated 4.4 billion dollars in 2005 and is expected to generate 9 billion by 2009...Mobile music now accounts for 15% of the entire music market--and youth leads the way (Juniper Research: Mobile Music: Ringtones, Ring-backs & Full-tracks (second edition & third edition)."

In February and March of 2008 the University Of Hertfordshire conducted the largest U.K. academic survey of its kind, When they looked at the music consumption behavior and experience of young people (aged 14-24).

Among the findings:

* Around 90% of respondents now own an MP3 player. They contain an average of 1770 tracks - half of which have not been paid for;

* 14- to 24-year-olds love music - arguably more than any previous generation;

* 58% have copied music from a friend’s hard drive to their own, and 95% copy music in some way;

* 63% download music using P2P file-sharing networks;

* The CD is not dead. Even if a legal file-sharing service existed, over 60% say they would continue to buy CDs;

* 42% have allowed P2P users to upload music from their computer. Much of this behavior is viewed as altruistic;

* 80% of current P2P users would be interested in a legal file-sharing service - and they would pay for it too;

* Money spent on live music exceeds that spent on recorded music.

Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, summarises what this all mean for the music industry:

“The music industry should draw great optimism from this groundbreaking survey. First and foremost, it is quite clear that this young and tech-savvy demographic is as crazy about and engaged with music as any previous generation.

Contrary to popular belief, they are also prepared to pay for it, too. But only if offered the services they want. That message comes through loud and clear.”

Music: John Legend - Green Light

This is my tune for the bank holiday, I just hope wherever I am it gets a play!

Music: U-N-I 'Beautiful Day'

Visually I am tasting this today, I not sure how it is where you are, but around me its a 'Beautiful Day', so this tune couldn't be more appropriate. These guys are amazing, if you don't know get to know

Music: Sumthin Gotta Give

Musically this is what i'm tasting right now, the sentiment of this tune is very relevant to what is going on in the world at the moment, something has to give.