Do they mean us?
“They’re almost all terrible-hideous, out of date and boring – and the last place you’d go to find anything of use.” What could ‘Music Magazine of the Year’, The Word, be talking about in their Worst Things About The Internet feature, this month? A crime so hideous that it’s up there with spam, pointless registration...
DIY Music: / Music Business: / Music Marketing: / The kind of stuff citizensound does: / Unsigned Artists: / Venice Festival of Media:
That Venice Festival of Media panel in full…
We finally got hold of the recording of our DIY: Do or Die session at this year’s Venice Festival Of Media. You can listen to it here or by downloading it to listen to on your computer, iPod or MP3 player. Again a big thanks to Maarten Steinkamp, Jon Webster, Martin Stiksel and John Ingham...
If music be the food of love, play on…
One of the big problems we all have when we go into a music store to browse, be it in the high street or online, is what do we want to buy? For many of us it might be what fits with our mood at the time. Music stores are generally rubbish at trying to...
DIY music: It was easy, it was cheap: part 2
After digging out my Desperate Bicycles records I decided to hunt out my copy of the first single by Scritti Politti. If that name seem familiar it may be from the hits they had in the mid 80s with singles such as Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) or The Word Girl, or you may...
When Jazz meets Guy…
I read that Jazz Summers, manager of The Verve, was planned to meet Guy Hands, boss of EMI this afternoon. That would be one meeting I would like to be a fly on the wall. Looking forward to reading the press release for that meeting of minds. Someone should snap up the rights to the...
Which Bands will reform in 2008?
Here are my Top 5 thoughts/hopes/fears for who will reform in 2008: 1 The Sundays – babysitters permitting 2 Cocteau Twins 3 The Kinks 4 The Banana Splits 5 More rubbish boy/girl bands desperate to cash in… Any other thoughts?
Could better packaging increase music download sales?
Let's face it; few music fans have ever preferred the CD booklet to the album sleeve. With CD sales continuing to drop, and downloads nowhere near replacing the shortfall in sales and revenues, could making the downloads more attractive to music fans help boost sales? Fans have always wanted something special. Limited edition sleeves, picture...
Who is to blame when it all goes wrong – artist or label?
Rereading those quotes from Rolling Stone, made me think of a recent article in the excellent Word magazine. In David Hepworth's "And Another Thing" column he attacked the musicians who look to blame someone else when their music doesn't sell. As Hepworth clearly points out "Those artists who used to think they could float on...
The future of the music industry: the artists perspective
Rolling Stone magazine, the venerable American music magazine, hit it's fortieth anniversary in 2007. Like many 'old school' content businesses they are still struggling with what content to put online and what to save for the physical edition. So sadly all the quotes from their 'Future Of Music' feature in the 15th of November special...
DIY Music – So what kind of artist wants to go DIY?
At In The City, the DIY Music panel that Nick and I ran centred around young artists trying to break through, rather than the established artists that the press write about all the time. As a focus for the panel, we invited the talented young musician Rob McCulloch (apologies for the red eye look Rob,...
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Artists formally good or artists presently brave?
We are witnessing so many young people finding their own path in creating, distributing and marketing their own music. The Punk ethic gone global so to speak. Meanwhile established artists are also finding their own way, be it Simply Red, Paul McCartney or Prince. Some are of the opinion that such artists are past their...
Starbucks, McCartney and the fans…who benefits?
Now that this one has had time to settle, has it actually worked for all? Well, Starbucks seem to be on a roll with their label, signing James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. Not hearing much about the financial success of this, but given they are full steam ahead on the artist sign-up front Starbucks clearly...