the dotmatrix project

(originally uploaded by evie22)

Bob Lefsetz

[…] Do you want to make a deal with a major, for their theoretical infrastructure, or sell to your core and make eight bucks a record? That’s the new game. Instead of selling your soul to reach everybody, concentrate on your base, growing your base, organically. There’s plenty of money in the music business today. Just stop swinging for the fences. A bunt gets you on first too.

Yeah, but a home run gets you home with a guaranteed score, instantly.

That’s the promise the industry has sold to potential talent for years, and it’s what talent dreams about when taking a shot at making it within any industry — put in the work and come home with stuffed pockets.

It’s a calculated business promise to fulfill an understandable desire, but as Bob alludes to, it’s an even greater long shot for success in this day and age.

Consider the recent changes at play within the music business:

• Music videos have become a relatively weak form of promotion with the death of MTV as a full-time video channel, and the explosion of decentralized video online
• FM radio has become a wasteland for mainstream retreads and bottom-line enhancing rotations
• CD sales are dropping year after year, as people no longer buy into the $12+ price point of an album
• Sold out mega-concert are primarily limited to dinosaur super-acts while being supported by old people with cash to burn
• Online radio, such as Pandora and Last.fm, is gaining larger and larger communities each year
• Music event listings can be created with numerous online services, which greatly increases competition for the entertainment dollar
• The web allows people (artists, producers, merchandisers, venues and fans) to easily connect with one another, which reduces the need to participate within big label infrastructure

There will always be acts willing to turn over creative control for a gamble at a quick road to celebrity, but majors labels aren’t the equivalent to the employers of your father’s 40 year-long, one gig career. Majors don’t cultivate the longevity of an act unless the act breaks big and/or sells consistently well… and that has become harder and harder to sustain through industry marketing.

Once we all moved beyond the boob tube and FM radio as our primary introduction (and reinforcement) to new music, the majors began to lose their ace in the hole for generating buzz. And while that programmable market still exists, it has shrunken considerably. Even more disconcerting to the majors must be the fact that many of those people who dodge the one-way sales pitch of traditional media go on to rebel against the machine by simply participating and uploading their own media files online.

By default, the two-way nature of the live web expedites the evolution of our perception of industry as a one-way street to a partnership — the antithesis of the type of consumer any industry wants. More and more, people want to connect with the artists they support and on levels deeper and more far reaching than simply buying an album and playing it over and over again deep into the night prior to hitting a show.

I don’t know if I’d use the same metaphor of a bunt to describe the choice of embracing community over signing away one’s soul shooting for the aggregate, but advising musicians to work on building their own careers by interacting with the people that dig their sound?

Rock on.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Molly and gang dropped their original at Murphy’s Bar a few weeks back, smack dab in the mountains of Boone, NC. I swear that stage was no bigger than 10′ x 6′, yet somehow they fit the entire six-piece crew.

Cozy venue. Southern Funk rocking all night. Inebriated smiles ’til 2am…

Priceless.

Clement Mallory always puts on a great show — whether he’s behind the mic or showcasing local talent.

Yvonne Johnson will be a guest speaker as well, so come on down and enjoy the evening.

(originally uploaded by michele cat)

Okay, so it’s not a scalable service for downloading music and compensating artists directly, but Dear Rockers is a fun site to browse. All of us RIAA haters have fantasies of paying artists directly, such as with Saul Williams and Trent Reznor’s latest project, but we’re stuck with either one off artist-driven services or gimmicks like this.

There’s an opportunity here… I can smell it.

I’m betting that the person who creates an engaging experience (the difference between YouTube and Vimeo) and a scalable service that allows artists to upload their music and set their own price point — whether it be free or donation or lower than the “established” price point of $.89/$.99 individual tracks — is going to be a very successful entrepreneur.

This industry is ripe for an all out price war, but the key will be to not only focus on distribution; provide artists the ancillary services that big labels offer, giving them no reason to sign their life and profit margin away.

An online community with hooks for social networking between professionals on one side; expose artists and product to fans on the flip.

Okay, who wants to invest?

Words are failing me as I try to describe the experience I had last night of listening to Kurt Cobain describe his childhood, his approach to creativity, his clashes with authority and himself — all set to haunting narrative and location specific vignettes of beautifully shot film, from stills to time-lapse sequences.

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such an intimate exploration of a human being, let alone a musician that influenced me as much as Kurt Cobain did in my adolescence.

Brilliant work from all involved.

Thank you.

I’d rather pull out my eardrums with tweezers that listen to most 50 Cent tracks, but you gotta give him credit for staring technology in the face and not blinking. I guess he has an advantage over Doug Morris and the rest of his ilk in that he’s previously dealt with raining bullets.

Dodging the damage of MP3 downloads must be cake by comparison.

Check out this exchange from an interview by Pål Nordseth at a club in Oslo, Norway:

[…] “How are G-Unit Records doing in these times of file-sharing?

“Not so good.” he responded. “The advances in technology impacts everyone, and we all must adapt. Most of all hip-hop, a style of music dependent upon a youthful audience. This market consists of individuals embracing innovations faster than the fans of classical and jazz music.”

“What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists.”

Thats quite a statement. Organizations like the RIAA are always talking about how the artists get hurt by file-sharing but 50 Cent clearly doesn’t agree. In fact, he appears to appreciate the value of a good fan, whether he buys or file-shares his music, as he explains:

“A young fan may be just as devout and dedicated no matter if he bought it or stole it.”

Indeed. It’s been said time and time again - get the music out there by any which way, fill the gigs and capitalize on the merchandising and ends will meet. 50 Cent agrees:

“The concerts are crowded and the industry must understand that they have to manage all the 360 degrees around an artist. They, (the industry), have to maximize their income from concerts and merchandise. It is the only way they can get their marketing money back.”

He finishes up: “The main problem is that the artists are not getting as much help developing as before file-sharing. They are now learning to peddle ringtones, not records” he said.

“They don’t understand the value of a perfect piece of art.” […]

50 Cent is using marketing terminology like “360 degrees” to describe the value proposition surrounding an artist and the major labels can’t come up with anything better than suing their customers and boycotting iTunes.

Amazing.

UPDATE: Cayocosta, over at RecProAudio, has a different take on 50’s revelation:

Apparently not realizing that piracy-catalyzed 360 deals are actually recouped directly out of the artist’s pocket, he went on to offer the following when addressing the issue of lost recorded-music sales revenue, “The concerts are crowded and the industry must understand that they have to manage all the 360 degrees around an artist. They, (the industry), have to maximize their income from concerts and merchandise. It is the only way they can get their marketing money back.”

Further expounding on the negative effects of piracy, he offered, “The main problem is that the artists are not getting as much help developing as before file-sharing. They are now learning to peddle ringtones, not records. They don’t understand the value of a perfect piece of art.”

I could be off here, but 50 Cent’s perspective sounds steeped in the shoes of an artist / label executive, not in naivety.

With most major deals, all money put up by the label must be recouped prior to an artist getting a dime of profit from any revenue stream managed by the label. With fans that download music for free, it seems to me that 50 Cent is looking at the silver lining of the situation and chalking it up to a marketing expenditure — similar to producing music videos in the golden age of MTV.

Maybe instead of suing people for spreading the goodness of an act, labels should focus on the remaining opportunities to maximize their profits and stop trying to force their will on both a market and open technology? 360 deals don’t represent an ultimate answer, but neither does suing their fan base.

Those who have passed through the U.A.E. on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan are already familiar with what has been dubbed by travelers as the "Axis of Evil" Terminal. I'm sure most, if not all Westerners who pass through Terminal 2 for the first time are immediately struck by two facts:

1. Terminal 2 is a very far taxi ride away from the main area of the airport
2. Every flight arriving to and departing from Terminal 2 just happens to be from Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan (I haven't see Iranian flights, but if there are any to and from the U.A.E. I'm sure they go through Terminal 2)

The first time I looked up at the arrival/departure display in Terminal 2 I couldn't help but chuckle to myself and pull out my camera for a shot.

I had an unexpected treat recently while transiting through the "Axis of Evil" terminal which made my transfer a true delight. I happened to be near the Kandahar departure line and saw a tall, heavy set Anglo appearing man with dreadlocks walk up and stand on line. A moment later he turned in my direction and I caught a glimpse of his shirt. On the front read "Fat People Are Hard To Kidnap".

I had trouble containing myself. Seeing the gentleman, reading the shirt, all while being in the environment we were in, ranked one of the funniest things I have seen in my years of travel. I soon approached the man and asked if I could take a shot of him without showing his face and he was happy to allow me the opportunity.

(originally uploaded by polyfonken)

Warner Music’s Profit Slips 58% as Industry Struggles

The Warner Music Group said yesterday that its fourth-quarter profit slipped 58 percent amid a softer international market and a decline in compact disc sales.

Its results, however, topped Wall Street estimates.

The company said earnings for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 fell to $5 million, or 3 cents a share, from $12 million, or 8 cents a share, in the period a year earlier.

[…]

For the year, Warner reported a net loss of $21 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with a profit of $60 million, or 40 cents a share, in 2006.

The Truckers are a band that I’ve paid top dollar to see live. They’re an amazing mix of talent, personality, storytelling and rock bravado. I’ve paid merchandise prices for all of their albums as well.

But in this day and age, don’t you think that a $17.98 pre-release price might limit the reach of their voice into other markets? I could be completely wrong. Maybe they’ve developed a core following of folks like me who can fulfill their sales goals without worries.

In any event, I’m on this like a rat on a Cheeto.