Brave Brands: / DIY Music: / Music Business: / Music Marketing: / Music Retail: / The kind of stuff citizensound does:
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: A tip from me on artist management
Well, a recent visit to a London Starbucks (Hammersmith Tube) gave me a little surprise. We all now know of the tie-up with Paul McCartney and the fact that they have shifted a fair few of his recent release. Good news for all. In store now the price has dropped to £5.99 which suggests that...
Roots of Reggae: Book Recommendation
Been reading a lot of music books recently. This one is for any fan of reggae music of the 70s. Bass Culture is brilliantly researched and packed full of insights by Lloyd Bradley So well written in fact that, as I read it I noted the tunes I had to buy. Thanks to Selectors Music...
The future of music retailing?
It was another sad day for music retailing last week as the very fine Fopp chain of some 80 stores went into the hands of the receivers. While Tesco, one of the biggest music retailers in the UK, also announced it was not making any money out of CD’s, with chief exec, Terry Leahy, predicting...
Starbuck’s audio blitz
There has been an enormous amount of coverage on the Starbucks/McCartney tie-up. At the Venice Festival of Media, Pete Jenner suggested that Paul McCartney would have been better tying up with Saga Holidays than Starbucks. This may be a fair comment if McCartney wanted to target his new release to what some might feel is...
Vox Pop Record Store and more in Manchester UK
Nick and I took a trip to Manchester UK to meet up with a number of people. First stop Gary McClarnan. We met up at his great record store Vox Pop. Also sells the best cup of coffee in Manchester plus some great Tees. Then headed off for an evening listening to people discuss the...
Our Favourite Waste Of Time
Following on from Andrew Dubber’s blog post on the death of music retail, this month’s Word Magazine has an excellent nine page feature on the subject, with David Hepworth mussing on what we might be missing if the record store dies. Hepworth makes some interesting points: Our passion for music was bred out of scarcity...
Goodbye independent record shop?
Really interesting post on the death of music retail by Andrew Dubber, degree leader of Music Industries at UCE Birmingham. His suggestion is for the independent stores to give up the ghost and go online, creating your community there. Very thoughtful piece from someone who clearly loves the independent store but fears for their future...