FINAL

Today
The times they are a-changin’. Famed rock and roll artist Bob Dylan’s legendary words from one of his most renowned songs continue to hold true today, and surely this aphorism can be applied to the music industry of today’s world. Rapid growth in technology and the Internet has led to a plethora of alternative digital options for consumers to use to listen, share and discover new music.

These new, non-traditional media options have been greatly affecting the music industry as we know it, and will continue to influence and transform the way we run our industry in the future. In the next couple of years, one can’t deny that many things will change in the industry. I would like to focus on five specific predictions of ways that the music industry will incorporate non-traditional media in the next five years.

1. Online Music Stores
Digital music downloading services such as iTunes are increasingly becoming a more popular method of finding new music. iTunes is so user friendly and easy that it has come to the point that consumers are even beginning to accept the fact that music isn’t always completely free— with Steve Jobs standardizing the 99 cent download, iTunes purchases are at an all time high and illegal downloading is nowhere near as prevalent as is what is the mid and late 90s. But the real issue with Online Music stores is DRM—consumers purchase the music yet they aren’t able to use it how they want, on the player they desire, and they aren’t allowed to share it as they please.

However, Steve Jobs’ recent statement that all music should be DRM free paired with EMI’s recent declaration that they plan to make all of their music in their catalog DRM free is promising for the Online Music stores. Indie labels are likely to follow suit with the DRM free tunes, and the other big three will likely feel the pressure. In the next five years, not only will all music on online music stores will be DRM free, but consumers will be able to access the stores not just on their home computers, but through their cellular phones, their MP3 players, their cars, and other interactive media devices. Consumers will be able to purchase music universally and use it as they desire through various player outlets.

2. Portable MP3 Players No doubt about it—the iPod reigns the portable player throne today. Attempts to introduce the Microsoft Zune have failed and the iPod has become a nearly essential item for consumers today—it is to this generation like the radio was to our grandparents, or the Walkman was to our older siblings. The iPod is so powerful because it allows users to download personal libraries of music via the convenient online music store iTunes (or through other illegal DRM-free venues) and offers the portability that consumers desire in a user-friendly, hip little player.

But with the expansion of universal wiFi in the next five years, I predict that new versions of portable MP3 players won’t just be to play personal libraries of music or video. MP3 players of the future will be all-encompassing units that can connect and share files wirelessly between units (a good idea offered by the Zune that failed because of the limited time offer the sharing allowed.) The players will be able to stream user-customized internet radio and connect to online music stores on demand to access DRM free tunes whenever they want them. While we have progressed much, in five years the portability, connectivity and interactivity will continue to expand and grow in the form on multifaceted units and universal connectivity.

3. Video and Music on Demand
We’ve all heard of TiVo and Video on Demand programs. These digital recording systems have caused uproar in the television industry, with networks worried about losing advertising revenues when consumers begin to watch their TV commercial free. The music industry is also following suit, and programs like Applian have emerged. This program is like TiVo for radio, allowing users to record their favorite radio shows, online music, podcasts and satelittle radio either as a live stream or as a scheduled recording. Users can convert the files to various formats and edit the content into their personal file to enjoy at their discretion.

The fact of the matter less than half of don’t watch the commercials anyway and in the next five years they just aren’t going to put up with it (especially with the emergence of such on-demand technology). Americans are subject to hundreds of advertisements every day, and its becoming to the point that we are becoming blind to the bland advertising we see between our favorite shows and we are changing the channel or turning off the radio when we come to a commercial break. So the first step for the next five years is in the advertisers shoes—we will always be influenced by a killer commercial or marketing plan, but advertisers need to think of alternative methods of grabbing the consumer and the 30-second add just isn’t going to cut it anymore—users want and are going to get their music and their video on demand.

4. Portable Video Games
Video games are becoming a great market for the music industry as well, as the gaming industry is booming and the players themselves are becoming increasingly portable and with improved quality. Many of the games have background music to go along with the game, and this offers another opportunity for the music industry to license their tunes and make money. Additionally, games that revolve around music itself have become increasingly popular—take Guitar Hero the extremely popular interactive guitar playing game which in 2005 won numerous awards including Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Interactive Achievement Awards Game of the Year for 2005 and IGN's Best of 2005 Best Music Game. The original version of the game featured 47 playable songs, 30 of these tracks being of the originals and 17 songs that were the real deal. Guitar Hero 2 came out this last November and includes 64 songs, 40 of them being licensed and 24 independent or bonus tracks. It is clear that the music industry will continue to use video games as an outlet to circulate their music and as a source of income in the next five years, and this outlet is not a bad idea considering the gaming industry is also growing.

Take the iPod for example and its latest addition—the iQuiz. Available via 99 cent download on your iTunes, by downloading iQuiz and you will have four trivia games with questions on pop culture, music, movies and TV. Music Quiz 2 even scans your iPod and tests your knowledge of the music and artists on your personal device. The most promising feature is the iQuizMaker interface, a free downloadable program that allows users to create their own iQuizes about anything they desire and share them with other players. This creative combination of gaming, music, and social networking is only an allusion to the kind of gaming that the future will bring as the world becomes even more technologically advanced and interconnected.

5. Social Networking
The concept was simple when it all started—a website that enables users to create personal profiles and connect with others online. Social networking is no longer such a simple concept today, as social networking sites have expanded to include only specialized groups: everything from couchsurfers to virtual pets to music. These sites are no longer just for socialization, but for sharing of knowledge, videos, music, and even selling themselves to the business market. The MySpace music revolution has actually been the most influential site for the music industry, exponentially expanding the ability for a performer to have their music broadcast. Just a few short years ago, a struggling musician could practically remain hopeless to have their tunes be broadcast to a widespread audience via the radio without the proper connections or record label assistance. However, with the expansion of social networking sites, everyone has the microphone and the whole world can listen to their tunes at the touch of their fingertips. The need for record labels is becoming increasingly obsolete as artists are able to use social networking sites to network, create awareness and build their own fanbase—all digitally. In the next five years, record labels may utilize social networking sites for their benefits, displaying their proudest on their sites for fans to discover new music and connecting artists that sound similar to spread the word digitally in a social networking format. If record labels fail to embrace social networking, the social networking business plan just may be more powerful than the traditional promotion plans that record labels currently hold.

Tomorrow
The music industry is an ever-changing force and of course I can’t even fathom the technology that will be developed in the next five years that could entirely change the music industry as we know it. In my lifetime I have gone from a computer and cell phone free life to a life where I feel dead without my computer and cell phone. It is clear that in the last five years the industry has changed astronomically, and the industry’s hesitation to embrace the changing industry is in actuality its downfall. The music industry still has a chance to grasp the technological crutch and get back on its feet, and I hope that in the next five years they aren’t afraid to leave the shelter and enter the storm. I think that Dylan would approve.

Keeping the Earth Alive and Singing

Popular music of today isn’t the same as popular music in the 60s and 70s. Of course today’s music is digitally re-mastered with higher quality sound and is more widely accessible because of the larger number of music venues, but one could argue that the biggest difference isn't about the sound quality or the accessibility of the music. The content of the music itself is different. While music of the 60s and 70s was often fueled by political and cultural conflicts, today’s music is more often than not much more superficial. Live Earth, a worldwide concert with goals to combat global warming, brings music back to its politically charged roots. The tour will hit all 7 continents and will last 24 hours on 7/7/07, with artists performing around the world simultaneously to support the same cause. Live Earth features critically acclaimed performers such as Bon Jovi, John Mayer and Madonna in the U.S. location alone, among many other world renowned acts.

The U.S. show will now be held at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey, but this location is only a recent determination after Republican lawmakers refused to authorize the concert location of the Mall in Washington D.C., stating that the partisan concert couldn’t be permitted in such a venue. It is unfortunate that peaceful protest through music is no longer embraced by our government and is instead considered unacceptable. However, with the expansion of the Internet and using this technology as a tool to stream the concerts to the entire world, the actual location of the event becomes a non issue.

The concert will be streamed live via liveearth.msn.com and also broadcast on 120 television networks around the world, reaching approximately 2 billion people. The concert’s organizers (led by political spokespeople such as Al Gore) want to educate and inspire businesses and governments around the world to take action to solve the climate change crisis, and by using technological advances, they are able to reach the largest possible audience and use music as a tool to promote change. Sound familiar?

Beatles on the Apples

The big Apple Computers released a statement this week that said they have settled a lawsuit with the littler Apple Corps., the business entity that owns the Beatles. Apple Corps. had recently sued Apple Computer for $59.4 million due to accounting fraud and failing to pay royalty payments. This is the latest lawsuit in a series of lawsuits that have occurred over the past 25 years. The legal battles have kept The Beatles off iTunes, but this recent agreement is promising for fans who want to purchase one of the Beatles’ 255 songs via the iTunes store.

Steve Jobs has been teasing consumers with the speculation that Beatles music would soon be available on iTunes. The most notable tease was at the 2007 Macworld conference in January, where when displaying the latest iPhone invention, Jobs played Beatles music from his phone during the demonstration.

It is clear that something is heating up between the two Apples. Apple Corps. has been stubborn long enough—it is time that they embrace the idea of putting Beatles tunes on iTunes. While the most hardcore fans have likely already downloaded their Beatles songs illegally, with a proprer marketing strategy and a digital rerelease album with extras and remastered content, it is likely that consumers will positively respond to the Beatles music beign available online. In fact, some experts even guessed that the introduction of the Beatles catalog on itunes could make from $50 million to $100 million revenue. While some consumers may be hesistant to purchase because of the frusturation of how long it took to put the Beatles catalogs online ,and others will be unwilling to replace their illegal catalogs with legal versions now that they are available, the fairweather Beatles fan will be likely to check out the Beatles albums on the iTunes once it becomes legally available. By putting the music online, both Apples will grow.

Lots of Good Apple, But A Rotten Apple Spoils the Barrel

Apple recently made a deal with EMI (one of the four major record labels) to offer DRM-free music from their catalog via the iTunes store. This means that there won’t be any limitations on EMI music (shocking, I know—music that you purchase legally you can actually use in whatever way you want, as if you had bought the CD.) This was a good move for Apple, giving the consumers what they want and making legally purchased music have the same DRM-freeness as illegally downloaded music. But Apple’s mistake comes with the decision to charge $1.29 for the DRM-free track and offer this premium version for download alongside the $.99 standard version, which still has DRM. The reason why so many consumers download music illegally is the price. At almost a dollar per song, music can get pretty pricey. Consumers are barely willing to pay .$99, and by charging even more for DRM-free music, Apple is spoiling the entire deal. Consumers will not be willing to pay $1.29. Some claim that the higher quality of the $1.29 songs is enough for some people, but for me at least I generally listen to music via my iPod or my computer speakers (not the best sound quality at all, simply because of the speakers.) The upgrade in quality probably wouldn’t even be noticeable at all.

Apple definitely did a good thing by breaking its boundaries and allowing the sales of DRM-free music. It is a good idea. But they must not charge us more for something which we already claim is too expensive—it’s just poor business. If Steve Jobs were to get rid of the DRM versions of songs completely and just sell DRM-free tracks at $.99, I think that both iTunes and EMI would see rewards, and this would encourage other labels to jump on the DRM-free bandwagon.

Sirius Behind the Steering Wheel but Going Nowhere

Sirius satellite radio systems have recently announced that they are introducing factory-installed Sirius radio units on a number of vehicles, including BMW’s Mini Cooper and Ford’s Lincoln MKZ, MKX, Navigator, Navigator L and Mark LT starting with 2008 models. For the Ford vehicles, the unit will come with a six-month subscription with hopes that the consumer will purchase the monthly fee based subscription thereafter. In the Mini Coopers, the consumer must purchase the component at $950 and a subscription to the service goes for $1,400 and lasts the life of the vehicle, which amounts for a pre-purchase of approximately 9 years of use. The strategy of including thier prepaid service in the cost of the car is clever—a consumer already spending a large amount of money on a car may not notice paying a couple thousand more.

However, I doubt that consumers are that blind and I can’t imagine this prepayment sales tactic will amount to very many consumers purchasing the installation and lifetime subscription package. Consumers who are unfamiliar with Sirius radio won’t even know if they will like it, let alone spending over $2,000 and committing to the service for the next 9 or more years. Also, considering the face that Sirius has been in the news recently for its merger with XM may make consumers wary of the stability of the brand and will therefore be less likely to be willing to commit to the service for an extended period of time. Sirius is trying to force consumers to purchase their product for an extended period of time without any trial period, and while the idea is novel can’t imagine that many consumers will fall for it.

Campuses Whip Back to College Crackdown

The Record Industry Association of America is cracking down on piracy on college campuses, a site where excessive piracy occurs due to illegal file-sharing over high-speed college internet networks. The RIAA’s tactic-- sending letters not to the students themselves who have been targeted, but to their universities. They recently sent out pre-litigation letters to 400 students via their respective 13 universities across the country that threaten lawsuit if the student doesn’t settle for between $3,000-$5,000 within the next 20 days. The student can log on to p2plawsuits.com and make a quick settlement online in order to avoid litigation. The organization plans to send 400 more next month. The university is expected to forward the letter to the student, acting as a messenger for the RIAA. This tactic makes the university aware of the problem of copyright infringement at their school, and the RIAA hopes that this will encourage universities to begin to implement methods that would tackle the problem and stop piracy at their university. Additionally, it is meant to create bad publicity for the university as a whole (USC has made RIAA’s publicly-issued ranking of the College Piracy Top Five, coming in fifth.)

However, campuses are cracking the whip of resistance against the RIAA. University of Maine has joined with administration at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Nebraska in a refusal to be the messenger for RIAA and a refusal to provide student information to the RIAA for them to target said student for piracy. The universities will inform the student if they receive a pre-litigation letter, but they will not forward it to the student directly and the student will have to come pick it up from a disclosed location.

The fact of the matter is that their method of attacking the user through their school will fail to stop kids from downloading music illegally, and more and more campuses will begin to be uncooperative with the RIAA’s requests. Check out this video that was released by the RIAA, available via YouTube and sent out to schools across the country explaining how students are able to be caught and targeted for piracy.

The video wasn't well received by students (many of the YouTube comments are sarcastic and its clear that the video is corny.) As a student at a top-five-targeted school, I never saw the video so USC must not have distributed it widely. While most campuses have implemented student conduct codes that prohibit file sharing, still these restrictions just won’t stop students from sharing. Since 2003, there have been 18,000 lawsuits, yet P2P filesharing has increased froom 5.5 million users per month to 9.3 million.

Piracy is definitely an issue, but suing the consumer is not the solution. The RIAA needs to develop a way for students to access music when and where they want it, free of restrictions, and they will be willing to pay for their tunes if they get the product they want.

Record Labels No More, Turn to the SnoCap Store

With the development of programs such as SnoCap which allow artists to sell their songs directly via their MySpace page, the necessity of record labels is slowly becoming obsolete and the all-digitial, do-it-yourself promotion is becoming increasingly popular with artists. Artists are able to record their songs and then through self-promotion via their MySpace websites, can set their own prices for their songs and collect the money themselves without a deduction of any of the profits. Take a shot of Tila Tequila for example—the self-made MySpace celeb has turned down two record label offers, claiming that she would rather have complete control over her music and her image rather than just another artist who is just a part of “the system”. She currently sells her songs via using indie911's Hoooka application on her MySpace page as well as on iTunes, but she has yet to release a record. Her fame has been built digitially alone, and her songs are downloaded directly to her consumers in a digital format. The singer has over 1.7 million friends and she is in the top 50 of MySpace artists for her genre. She has lots of fans, but the question lingers—is she making money? The growth of paid downloads is on the rise—up 54% this year. But still, the track is available solely online, and while the direct access from the MySpace pages is effortless, it may be just as easy for consumers to turn to P2P software when they are already at their computers. But SnoCap is still promising for struggling artists and it’s partnership with MySpace and the creation of MyStores is a promising venue—a recent study revealed that this year MySpace was recognized as a music outlet by 54% of survey respondents, up from 16% awareness level just 12 months earlier. And last week SnoCap signed a number of independent labels for distribution through its software, so it is expanding to artists who are signed to labels as well as unsigned artists. If the major record labels were smart, they would keep this Sno ball rolling and allow their music to be distributed through MyStores as an alternative venue to profit from legal, online downloading.

Music For Your Eyes

Nokia has created music for your eyes with their latest visual radio systems. Visual radio is radio broadcast paired with song information, video and interactivity that allows listeners to respond and give feedback—all via your Nokia cell phone. They are offering visual radio through Infinity radio, a station conglomerate that owns about 180 radio stations located in 22 states. Visual radio is also broadcast in seven other countries. The radio system not only shows pictures and reveals the name and artist of the song being played, but users can also directly purchase ringtones, take quizzes on the artists, rate DJs and songs, and get insider facts about artists and concerts.

Nokia actually understands that consumers consider interactivity with their stations and mobility as two key characteristics of quality radio. Visual radio offers consumers these two attributes, through a venue that they already own (their phone) and stations that they already listen to (their local FM), but also add a little extra through the additional features.

So Visual Radio is easy to use and accessible. But will it be a hit? It’s great that Nokia is working to help fix radio and actually encouraging technology, interactivity and a mobile radio through multi-functioning devices. However, the downfall of visual radio is that while the additional features are nice, it fails to change radios largest downfall—the content. The songs that listeners hear are identical to what they would hear on their local radio station, because it is just that—their local station. The cost of internet-ready phones and a wireless plan that includes internet access may also be a problem for lower-income users. And I wonder how much using visual radio drains the battery of your cell phone—enough to make visual radio dead?

MTV Breaking Through the Net

MTV wants to party like its 1999—back in the late 90s, MTV was synonymous with youth culture, defining style, music and social attitudes. But today, television is no longer the outlet where young people turn to discover these cultural norms; rather, people turn to the Internet. MTV Network has lost that pull that they had in previous years with this important demographic, so they are turning online in order to recapture the youth generation. The network already has 150 Web sites online, but they are preparing to create thousands more along with three interactive online communities— Laguna Beach for teens, Nicktropolis for kids and Virtual Hills for young adults. They hope that by creating these digital gateways, they will encourage viewers by allowing them to watch shows, generate feedback, re-edit its television shows and contribute to the MTV channels.

The network has already began MySpace-esque communities, up-to-the-minute message boards where viewers can simultaneously watch MTV on the television and comment on the show online and personal profiles. The expansion into audience-segmented communities will only offer users a place that is more specifically geared towards them, and will be more effective for the user and for MTV as well. The communities will be a tool to discover what it is exactly that this youth demographic desires.

The move online is a smart move for the company, which created controversy in February in response to their demand that the MTV and Viacom content would be removed from YouTube. Consumers were frustrated that they wouldn’t be able to access content online (a venue where young consumers absolutely are turning to find content). They will be able to use feedback from the users as tools to improve their stations along with giving the consumer the easy access to content that they desire.

Despite criticism, MTV Networks have reported that since the removal of content from YouTube, their own sites have received 55% more traffic than this time last year. By creating interactive websites that take into account their audience (the three communities will be focused to audience demographics in content and aesthetic appeal), MTV has a chance to regain viewers that have been lost in the last ten years. Viacom expects that the move online will help double their revenues from its digital services to $500 million next year, and I think that if they successfully capture their audience, the capabilities of the expansion to the Internet community are endless.

I Liiiiiiikkke Good Music

“I liiiiiiike” is no longer just an overquoted phrase from a popular movie. It is now also a social networking service. iLike is a music-focused site similar to last.fm that allows users to create profiles online and share music with friends (real friends or those with similar musical tastes through thier high compatibility ratings). The program also caters free downloads according to musical taste. The site recently hit half million users and ticketmaster.com has also invested $13.3 million in the company, giving Ticketmaster 25% of the shares in the company in hopes to promote concert ticket purchases.

iLike is growing, and their lack of wariness about working with other companies is part of their appeal. Not only is iLike Ticketmaster-friendly, there is also the incorporation with the iTunes software. The program has a downloadable sidebar that directly connects to the iTunes library to offer recommendations and also has a wishlist where users can place songs they enjoy and directly connect to the iTunes music library. The system is so easy to use—so easy, that in fact people are actually buying music. The company released a statement saying that “more than 50 percent of logins result in a purchase, or the filing of a song in a wishlist for purchase consideration later.” This means that half of the time a user signs on, that user either buys or considers buying a song from iTunes.

While there hasn’t been data released yet that I could find about ticket sale boosts for Ticketmaster after their iLike partnership, I’d like to predict that ticket sales will grow from this affiliation. Clearly the iTunes sidebar has made it quick and easy for consumers to purchase the music that they find on iLike, and a similar venture with Ticketmaster will make newly-discovered artists’ concerts just a click away. The fact is that people aren’t unwilling to pay for music so long as the music is good and easy to purchase. By assisting people to find this good music, using easy-to-use formats, and working with other corporations not against them, everybody will benefit in the end.

Don't Let Copyright Ruin WiFi

In 2009, smog won’t be the only thing that blankets Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently proposed a wireless internet (WiFi) plan that would supply over 4 million residents in a 498 square miles radius with free or low cost wireless internet. The project would be completed in 2009 and would be one of the largest urban WiFi networks.

So if the proposed plan does come to be, what does this mean for the radio industry? The expansion of WiFi networks will allow internet radio to expand rampantly—ubiquitously accessible Internet radio will allow the musical diversity, accessibility and interactivity that radio consumers of the modern world desire. Internet radio is already on the rise, with “revenue from online streaming music radio has risen to $500 million from $49 million in 2003.”

With free internet available to everyone in Los Angeles, it will allow even the underprivileged easier access to Internet radio. There is already WiFi in many homes and commercial locations across the city, but with WiFi across entire metropolitan areas, the internet will become entirely universal. With WiFi, consumers would be able to access custom-made Internet radio broadcasts not only at home, but also over their mobile phones, or other multi-functioning internet ready devices (like the iPhone). WiFi will allow greater accessibility to these Internet radio stations and in turn higher number of listeners. Internet radio adaptors could be invented and installed in cars so that drivers could listen to the radio too (perhaps one of terrestrial radios last real successful venue these days).

But sadly once again, there are those out there that are working against for radio consolidators and small online indie outlets. The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proposed March 5 to change the way online radio stations pay royalties. They are currently determined by a percentage of revenue that each particular station makes, but if the new rule becomes law, they will be forced to pay per-song and by the number of listeners that each station draws (larger corporations like Time Warner's AOL Radio, Yahoo!'s online station, and Clear Channel's Online Music & Radio are already forced to do this.) The more hefty fees still can generate profit since they are such a large corporation, but for a smaller online radio stations, “could raise royalty fees paid by some online radio stations more than tenfold —enough to put many smaller stations out of business.”

If smaller stations weren’t able to continue production in the face of larger radio stations and the large conglomerates take over the market online as well, WiFi won’t be enough to help save the radio industry. But if CRB fails to pass the proposed increase in funding, digital radio accessed through universal wireless internet will be just the makeover that the radio industry needs. Let’s hope CRB is tuned in to this reality.

NIN Fans Caught in the Web

Nine Inch Nails have recently redefined the concept album, creating a conceptual game for fans prior to the album's release that incorporates the Internet to promote the album in ways that have never been seen before. Their latest Year Zero has yet to be released, but has already built a cult following of fans who decode mysterious messages at various cryptic websites and decipher clues about the dystopia world of “Year Zero” (which followers have revealed is actually 2022, or the year that the evil “presence”is Born Again).The basis for the game first began with a tour t-shirt, seen at the left.

The bolded letters on the back of the t-shirt spell out the clause “i am trying to believe”. iamtryingtobelieve.com is a website which begins to explain what the world will be like at Year Zero. Click here for a more specific description of the eccentric world of Year Zero from Rolling Stone.

The initial website has sparked dozens of fan websites, blogs and message boards with different ideas about what all the various clues mean. You can visit one of the more popular sites here.

The clues are deciphered over these websites through followers alone, and then discussed and analyzed at great lengths via the Internet. Additional clues have been added into the mix, through USB flash drives that have been found on the floor in bathroom stalls at various NIN concerts. The USB drives have included three leaked album tracks (download the first single for free, My Violent Heart ), various pictures seen only through use of a spectrograph (a machine that converts a sound wave into an image), and Morse codes at the end of the leaked tracks that point to new websites where they can try to discover more clues.

The latest website revealed just a few days ago is called Art is Resistance, which claims that the only way to resist this dystopia from becoming reality is through promotion of the album art so that we can find new clues and halt the process of Year Zero from becoming reality. Fans can download AIM icons, desktop wallpapers and printable stickers in order to fight the Year Zero world.

So what if a fan doesn't have Internet access? Bolded numbers on the back of another t-shirt are 310-295-1040 which is a U.S. phone number that directs callers to a puzzling message with clues and clips from NIN songs.

There are so many reasons why this marketing ploy is so genius. I am not a NIN fan, but I found myself browsing the websites , trying to figure out exactly what this was all about. This reveals to me that by creating a mysterious phenomenon around the album, they are able to spark interest outside of their normal fans (so that the entire online community will be interested). They have used merchandise such as t-shirts as tools for clues to feed their story (so that more people want to purchase merchandise). They use concerts as a venue to release the latest clues to the story (so that more people will want to buy tickets to their tour). They have released tracks one by one online and allowed free sharing of these tracks, allowing even those who weren’t NIN fans to sample their tunes (perhaps making new fans). They offer free downloadable icons, posters and stickers so that anyone can market their album in the non-digital world. And I don’t doubt that when their album is finally released, they will sell a higher percentage of physical albums as opposed to digital albums, as consumers will be interested in obtaining the extras and the clues that may come with the tangible CD. In an era when the purchasing a physical copy of the record itself is dying, NIN are using the Internet as a tool to market their records, their merchandise and their tour. Remarkable how using the Internet has NIN fans caught in the Web, and I can't imagine that the hype surrounding this marketing ploy will help NIN in all aspects of thier latest release.

The Best Music in Life is Free

Dispatch are not sell outs, in the figurative sense. They never signed a major record label, creating their four albums independently. They donated proceeds from their six years of near-constant touring to various charities. And they broke up three years ago in 2004 with a free concert in Boston, drawing 100,000 dedicated fans. But Dispatch are sell outs in the literal sense—they recently sold out the 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden for three separate nights this July for a series of concerts that will benefit poverty-striken Zimbabwe. And surprise surprise, they used the internet as a completely effective promotional tool for the events.

Dispatch originally was only going to have one concert, and they released tickets to the event exclusively to their MySpace friends. The band has just over 57,000 friends, and through this promotion alone, the concert sold out in 30 minutes. They added a second show released through MySpace as well, and this one sold out in 12 hours. They then announced a third show to the general public through ticketmaster.com (which is also online promotion, note) and the show sold out in 23 minutes. At 20,000 concert attendees a show (that's 60,000 ticketholders) and $39.50 a pop, that’s almost $2.4 million for Dispatch to aid their cause.

If the price is right and purchasing is hassle-free (like with the ease of the internet and iTunes), people for the most part are willing to pay for music. But if the rampant expansion of P2P filesharing is any indication, many consumers think that the best music in life is free. Record labels are slow to pick up on this idea, believing that offering music for free will hurt their industry. But they fail to realize that by using the internet as a promotional tool, free music and free concerts may actually lead to profits. Ozzy Osborne is putting this idea to the test this summer, entitling Ozzfest “FreeFest” and completely doing away with ticket prices, relying on internet-based sponsorship, along with concert merchandise and vending to make money from the event.

Those who may not even be huge fans of the bands playing at Ozzfest would be tempted to attend anyway— the word “free” is certainly appealing. Without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for concert tickets, people will be more willing to support sponsors and purchase merchandise at or before the event over the website. And who knows, maybe a skeptic can be turned into a fan after attending the event, and be willing to purchase music to support their newfound bands and buy concert tickets and merchandise in the future.

Not only is the idea of a free concert pretty sensational, but record labels would be surprised by this second "sensational" fact: Ozzfest is using internet promotion to advertise the event. To make sure that you will get free Ozzfest tickets, the website suggests signing up to receive email notifications (from their friendly sponsors?) until the ticket information is released. When the information is released, those who desire tickets will be directed to sponsored website where they can secure their tickets.

If the record labels were smart, they would use this example as a clear indication that radio and records just don’t work as a promotional tool anymore. The internet not only allows consumers to search and discover new music, but it also allows quick and easy music and concert purchase, with just the click of a button. And through the internet and social networking sites, promotion is practically free for the bands— a MySpace page is free to set up. Bands can post pictures, blogs, and concert event reminders. Listeners can stream music for free and receive important information through word of keyboard. Record labels may argue that the best music in life isn't free, but they must be on board with the idea that the best promotion in life is free. Clearly the internet is becoming an increasingly more important and effective tool to promote new music.

Apple and Starbucks Brewing A Hot Idea

When I go to Starbucks, this is what I order: a grande, double shot, skinny, sugar free vanilla latte with extra foam. Back in my small-coffee-with-room ordering days, I swore I would never be that girl with the painstakingly specific order. But as my coffee order has evolved over time, so have my sentiments. If I’m going to pay $4 for a cup of joe, it better be what I want. I can get coffee for free from the coffee machine in my house, but I am willing to pay for Starbucks because it’s handy, it’s quality, and it’s in a convenient (and trendy!) portable container.

Those adjectives that I just used to describe my cup of coffee could be easily applied to another little something I often carry around with me—my iPod. Much of the appeal of the iPod and the iTunes store is that they are quick and easy to use. The music downloaded from iTunes is sure to be of utmost sound quality, and you can bring your music anywhere you want to go. Plus there’s the aesthetic appeal—those white ear buds and pretty colors sure do look cool.
iPods are surely popular with the 18-24 demographic, and in the last five years Starbucks drinkers between the same age have risen from 3% to 13% of their total consumers. So it’s a natural progression for Starbucks to collaborate with record labels to create Starbucks Entertainment and special coffee houses with in-house coffee bars.

The corporation started in 1990 and has progressed to include an XM radio station, numerous café-media-bars across the nation where consumers can burn CDs at the Starbucks store, in-store CD racks offering exclusive or unique compilations and releases, and most recently a Hear Music section at the iTunes store that offers coffee-house chill playlists and carefully selected music for Starbuck’s loyal consumers.

In the midst of a flailing record industry, Starbucks has embraced technology both in their stores and through the internet, and low and behold they are actually selling CDs. Executives at Starbucks Entertainment have reported that CDs in their stores “often account for 20 percent to 30 percent of the record's weekly sales, and sometimes as much as 50 percent.” Another top executive from EMI Group said that Starbucks was among the top four retailers for every single one of his label’s records sold at the store.

And not only are they selling CDs, but they are able to make quite a profit off of them. An example—Starbucks sold Beck’s “Guero” in their stores for $15.95, which is nearly 2 dollars more than the suggested retail price, but still managed to sell over “38,000 over a six-week period this spring.”

One could argue that consumers may be more willing to purchase something when they are already in the store buying something else—a pricey cup of coffee. But I think there’s something more to it.

While people may be willing to purchase CDs when what they want is a physical copy of the CD, when it’s just an extras-free burned CD, consumers just aren’t interested. They can get that on their home computers. So the in-store CD burning bars weren’t as big of a hit as Starbucks executives had hoped, and many have been demolished. But what's going to come in thier place?

Starbucks wasn’t afraid to abandon the CD and focus more on digital music, and their recent collaboration with Apple on the Hear Music section of the iTunes store reveals this. Check this statement from Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, claiming that, “Within 12 months, probably, you're going to be able to walk into a Starbucks and digitally be able to fill up your MP3 player with music.” I think that soon enough there will be an in-store kiosk where consumers can connect thier own iPods to the iTunes store and purchase songs to immediately upload and listen. But with digital rights management, iPods are only able to connect to a limited number of computers and they aren't compatible with multiple playlists. This kiosk (under current laws) simply wouldn't work, but does the fact that this idea is clearly heating up insinuate that DRM may not last for much longer?

So let’s relay the facts—Starbucks and Apple have partnered and created a Starbucks-specific section of the iTunes store. Starbucks executives make claims of being able to use MP3 players in Starbucks stores within the year. And Apple executive Steve Jobs writes a letter urging lawmakers to do away with digital rights management laws that would inhibit connecting and buying digital music at a kiosk in Starbucks. All this is amidst a period of growth for a Starbucks Entertainment as a digital music provider, and after they have already established themselves as a prominent non-digital distributor.

It’s pretty clear that Starbucks and Apple are brewing something hot for the digital music industry, and so long as DRM is revoked it seems as if this iPod friendly downloading technology might be available in a Starbucks near you within this next year.

Will the Record Industry Make Nice With The Internet?

Apparently, mean girls finish first. The Dixie Chicks were the big winners of the evening last night, taking home five 2007 Grammy awards, including Album of the Year for Taking the Long Way and Song of the Year for “Not Ready to Make Nice”. The Chicks have been attacked by nationwide radio-station boycotts and a considerable drop in concert attendance in the United States in recent years, as fans and radio djs responded to a comment made by lead singer Natalie Maines in 2003 in regards to President Bush and his stance in Iraq. Check out the trailer for the documentary Shut Up And Sing, which followed the Chicks in the heat of their scandal and gives a overview of the story.

Not willing to censor her opinions, Maines and the Chicks stuck by their opinion and suffered financially as many of their more traditional fans were offended by her comments. However, the Chicks didn’t care, and told their fans as such through their unapologetic single, released on March 16 of 2006 in advance of their album. The chorus:

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go 'round and 'round and 'round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Many radio stations still refused to play the single and promote the new album. However, “due to digital sales the single hit the Billboard Hot 100 at number 28, the week's highest new entry for the week ending May 6, 2006.” (wikipedia.com) Without the single being readily available on radio stations, consumers were clearly turning to alternative methods of discovering and enjoying new music—the internet and online music downloading stores.

Even despite the positive single debut on the charts, many stations still refused to play the song, but their latest album Taking the Long Way debuted at number one on the U.S. pop and country albums chart and went gold within the first week after the May 23 release.

And now the Chicks have won five Grammy’s, earning a hat trick with the Academy, taking home the award for the song, record, and album of the year. By looking at radio airplay, apparently the academies behind the making of radio playlists aren’t on par with the academy who determines who should win awards.

I’ve learned in my Public Relations classes that any publicity is good publicity, so I will agree that the gossip surrounding the Dixie Chicks did promote their new album, albeit in a scandalous light. But the fact that the single was clearly lacking in radio promotion (which is supposed to be the number one music promotional tool) begs the question as to the importance of radio today as the number one tool to promote a new song. Listeners didn’t have easy access to the song via traditional methods, so they turned to the internet and digital downloading in order to listen to the tune.

It seems as if the Academy has decided that what the Chicks said about the war four years ago is actually starting to make some sense, and if low Presidential approval ratings are any evidence, the country is starting to agree with the Chicks too. Although it took us some time, its still reassuring that after a while people are willing to evolve and change their opinions in response to a changing world.

Now if only the record industry officials were willing to embrace a changing music industry and evolving technology like Americans and the Academy have embraced dissenting opinions and changing national sentiments. The radio industry needs to change its traditional ways and viewpoints and give the consumers what they want in order to survive. I assure you ultimately it will benefit them in the end if they are willing to be open minded to change as an industry. When will they will be ready to make nice with growing technology and less traditional viewpoints?

Big Business Should Give More Than An Inch

Viacom has recently stated that they will remove their content from YouTube (Viacom is a huge conglomerate that owns Comedy Central, MTV, and BET among other popular networks) citing copyright infringement. This move has reaffirmed what has already been proven so many times in the past— big businesses are seemingly unwilling to embrace new technology for fear that they will lose money, while in fact the opposite is actually true.

Look at the movie industry— in the 50s when television came out, the movie-makers were terrified. The VHS and home video was even more frightening. And then came DVDs and merchandising. The original movie studios failed to realize that their product wasn’t a particular format (the theater movie), but that their product was actually an entire form of entertainment and all that goes along with it (which is turn means big bucks and booming industry). The music industry has a similar past. The industry had an evolution from radio to records to 8-track to cassette to mini-disc to CD and now to MP3, and at every step the big businesses are fighting to stay with traditional methods. They don’t understand that by working with (not against) their consumers they will be able to maximize their profits. The new technology will eventually take over, whether or not they like it or not, so why the censorship?

Say Viacom takes their content off YouTube and creates an alternative version of video streaming on their website—will it be up to the par that consumers want? Part of what is so great about these sites is the accessibility to such a wide library of content—lyrics from an old musical, karaoke versions of your favorite songs, clips from anything behind and in front of the scenes—nearly anything is available. When YouTube and MySpace has censorship it looses all its charm.

Looking back to the music industry, this entire situation reminds me of Napster in the 90s. The censorship of Napster created a new, boring Napster that no one wanted. The new Napster (legal, but nowhere near the access to obscure clips and only allows streaming, not downloads) was available at USC for only $15 a semester to stream music, and less than 500 students signed up. (usc.edu) I assume students were still downloading music at the same rate as before-- do you think they were turning to other illegal methods? Gasp!

Atleast steps in the right direction are being made. Now online video streaming by networks (controlled and legal) is becoming a growing method of ways consumers watch video. Nbc.com streams full episodes of television shows online, and since October of last year it has already delivered 42 million full episodes. (insidemusicmedia.com) But by looking at NBC.com, you definitely can’t get the same access that YouTube offers, as only the newest episodes are available for streaming and only from limited shows. Sound anything like the Napster censorship to you? When illegal options are available and legal options aren’t as good as the illegal ones, consumers will simply turn to the prohibited alternative. Case in point: the millions of illegal music downloads that still occur each day.

For this system to really work, Viacom and other big networks need to learn from their past and embrace the future. They should strike a deal with YouTube instead of cutting their ties. Traditional approaches to the music and video industry will be replaced by digital and online methods, and if they give a little now, ultimately the profits will be greater in the future.

More Power To You

TIME magazine decided to do something different when they declared their person of the year of 2006. The chosen person can be an author and an astronaut, a drug addict and a doctor, a president and a prepubescent child; this person of the year for 2006 is an ambiguous “you”, and they all have one thing in common. They all use the internet, which is something that is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and influential to American popular culture and media.

In fact, I think that this same “you” they speak of is also the musical artist of the year. Social networking sites like MySpace and the do-it-yourself video sharing site YouTube are increasingly becoming a more popular method of finding new music. All of the sudden anybody could become a music star; anyone with a camera or simple recording devices can suddenly broadcast their music on the internet for literally anyone to access. For example, this unknown artist topped YouTube charts today singing Beyonce.

And while their fame may not even make it fifteen seconds (let alone fifteen minutes), some artists have exploited these new online media sources, using them as a main promotional tool and actually creating hits through these online venues.

Take the band OK Go for example. Their “Here It Goes Again” video topped the charts on YouTube, and consequently sky-rocketed their record sales. The video features a dance routine on treadmills (see below), and is creative and unique but is also grainy and extremely low budget. And it was promoted simply through online word-of-fingertips.

Other artists have used MySpace to promote their album. Listeners can stream and sometimes download MP3 versions of the artists’ top songs, which is obviously a plus with our recent cultural try-before-you-buy mentality. Examples include Lily Allen, who released her album in the UK and then moved on to promote herself over MySpace until she gained enough publicity for a domestic release (and radio airplay) this last week.

But additionally by building online “friendships,” creating blogs, and posting bullitens, Myspace artists can connect with their fans in a more intimate manner—while a band would never have the opportunity to send all of their fans snail mail, with just a quick MySpace bulletin and suddenly all their “friends” are contacted. Through the internet, anyone can create a sense of belonging to their generation and American culture as a whole.

Radio and television used to be enough of a universal connection, with families getting together around the radio or TV to listen to or watch programs together. This enabled people nationwide to unite culturally through music and television shows— a ClearChannel-doting tween in the Midwest could be humming along to the same early 90s jam as a soccer mom in the south. With limited accessibility to only particular shows or stations, every one across the nation was able to share this mentality in a way that would have been unprecedented before mass media growth. But with the expansion of the Internet in the 90s and today’s increased connectability and diversity of media outlets, we are bored by the same stations and the same shows that are broadcast on traditional media. The internet really has given more power to the American “you”.