Topic: Sound Recording Industries

Call for New Leadership in the Music Industry

I was just listening to a podcast entitled The Future of Music hosted by David Slusher from IT Conversations. He was interviewing the authors of the book of the same name, Gerd Leonhard and David Kusek. David indicated that he has ...READ»

BeCG Wants a Music Revolution

An extreme team within the world's fifth-largest music company is working to win the file-sharing battle and overhaul an industry. Can it get its competitors to stop suing and play along?READ»

iTunes' Share of Music Market Grows to 25%

It's safe to say the music industry is in a transition period, but one thing that's not going anywhere? iTunes. iTunes has quickly taken hold of a good portion of the entire music industry: it accounts for 25% of all music units sold ...READ»

Saving the Music Industry -- Environmentally, At Least

As the music biz starts tossing out jewel cases by the busload as they try to jump on the green bandwagon, a Canadian enterprise is also looking to clean up the music industry. Yangaroo, a Toronto-based venture, is innovating the ...READ»

Warner, 7digital Spread the Music

In a sign that the major labels are finally beginning to embrace digital music worldwide, U.K.-based digital music provider 7digital announced a pan-European licensing agreement with Warner Music to sell their MP3s, nearly completing ...READ»

Is the Music Industry Blackmailing Microsoft?

Microsoft plans to pay Universal Music a percentage of its revenue from sales of its new portable media player, the Zune, the New York Times reported yesterday. Microsoft is trying to position the Zune as an iPod killer and plans to ...READ»

The Birth of the Goog-Tube

The rumors are true! Google has acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. According to a Google press release "YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community." The transaction has ...READ»

Record Realization

Is the record industry finally getting the message? CNN reports Vivendi unit Universal Records is slashing prices on its CDs in an effort to lure consumers back into record stores and away the nether worlds of file ...READ»

The Sound of Freedom?

Today’s deal by Bertelsmann to sell its big BMG music publishing unit to Vivendi seems, at first glance, like a victory for the little guys. After all, music giants such as Sony, Warner, and EMI all wanted to buy BMG -- and the ...READ»

Fixing the Music Model: Virgin Media, Universal to Launch Subscription Service in U.K.

In another ambitious scheme to repair the music industry and discourage illegal downloading, Virgin Media inked a deal with Universal Music to offer an unlimited-download subscription service to customers in the U.K. by year's end. ...READ»

RIAA To Stop Suing Individuals For Music Piracy

'Tis the season traditionally associated with goodwill, but I'm not sure I could've predicted this piece of good news: the Recording Industry Association of America is going to stop suing individuals for music piracy. There are ...READ»

Coffee with Peter Fader

Early this afternoon, Peter Fader, a marketing professor at Wharton, stopped by Fast Company's offices to visit. We sat down for coffee and conversation, exploring Fader's work in predictive and explanatory models for electronic ...READ»

I Download Illegally -- and Harmlessly

Good news for music downloaders: A recent study shows that Internet music piracy not only does NOT hurt legitimate CD sales, it may even boost sales of some types of music. That's good news for file swappers of all stripes. In a ...READ»

Rest High Above the Clouds, No Restrictions

The New York Times had an article (free registration required) this weekend about satellite radio coming under fire from the music industry. Both XM and Sirius are offering players that let you record off their channels, not unlike a ...READ»

RIAA Still Suing Individuals, While E.U. Lightens Three Strikes Rule

Piracy and copyright issues are still troubling the world, and recent news about the RIAA, and the European Union's copyright laws highlight this fact. The RIAA is reportedly still suing people when it said it wouldn't, and in ...READ»

Al Gomes and Bignoise

Selection of testimonials:D.U.I. Mark Jachimczuk: "You both have done an amazing job. I really cannot thank you enough for everything. Bless you both." Adam Balawender: "Thanks for everything you do. You continue to open up the ...READ»

Survey Shows MP3 Pirates Also Buy the Most MP3s, So Why All the Fuss?

A survey conducted in Norway found that music consumers who regularly download illegally pirated music tracks are also the largest purchasers of legitimate digital music files, by a factor of 10 over non-pirates. So, you have to ...READ»

Are Slipping iPod Sales Bad News for the Recording Industry?

Over at PaidContent they're making a bit of noise about some thinking by analyst Mark Mulligan that says a slip in rising iPod sales is bad news for the record industry. It's an interesting idea, but basically misses the point. The ...READ»

SpiralFrog: Is it Over Before it Begins?

SpiralFrog, set to launch in Q1 2007, was supposed to be a new model of digital music distribution. The plan is an advertiser supported model, where users get to download music for free -- as long as they watch advertising. It ...READ»

Can Sony's Lia Vollack Save the Music Industry?

Lia Vollack, Sony's soundtrack guru, is the shrewdest music executive in Hollywood. In the past five years, in the face of a little glitch called the Failure of the Music Industry -- the 40% drop in CD sales since 2000 -- Vollack's power has grown immensely. Why? Because soundtracks -- often purchased as a keepsake of a movie -- reliably sell CDs. Can the record labels keep her happy long enough to hold onto their last cash cow?READ»

• Music Goes Green
• Six Soundtracks that Topped the Charts
• Music's Invisible Money Machine

Al Gomes and Bignoise

Artists Hall of Fame :Brian Scott Co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Blue Man Group Appearance: Lead vocals and guitar on The Arm's "Bucket" CD: 'Digital Mystery Tour: Side One,' Track 1Bill Champlin Lead singer of ...READ»

Music Lover, Can You Spare a Dime?

According to indie rocker Jill Sobule, there's only one thing record labels are still good for and that’s financing albums. Everyone is preoccupied over which music-distribution model will win out, but the fallout of the Internet's ...READ»

The Music Industry: No Longer a One Trick Pony

There was a time when all a record label had to worry about was making hits. Good hits paved the road to successful albums, and then the label got paid--really paid. As holder of the majority of the publishing rights of music ...READ»

Media: Can Google, Limewire Outplay iTunes?

The digital music market continues to be an exemplary battleground for the implications new media has on pre-established business practices. Startup gBox and infamous Limewire are venturing into the digital music market to try to ...READ»

Google Readying Music Service. What the Hey?

Here's one you probably weren't expecting: There's a rumor Google's poised to leap into yet another business sector--music. Actually, given Google's expansionist habits it's probably not a surprise. But it is confusing. The rumor's ...READ»