Inside Recording industry (various articles)

squashed · Inside Recording industry (various articles)

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/...31f-8ecb-267ee1929141&k=28750

When Byrne started in the business, musicians faced debt from the word go. "You had to pay a recording studio and they held you hostage. You had to have a recording engineer and, often, a producer and an assistant - all these people getting paid," he said.

"It was an expensive environment, and the record company had to advance you the money for the recording costs, which might cost as low as $15,000 and then, of course, go up to ... the sky. But it was always pretty much more than you had in your pocket. More than you were making from the club gigs you were doing. You needed a record company, so immediately, you were in debt to them."

Technological advances now give the performer a head start, and economics are only part of it. Byrne said it took Talking Heads at least three albums before he began to feel their sound was being properly captured. With home computer-based recording equipment, the artist can make a fine-sounding recording without outside help.

"All these costs start to go away, and the artists - as a by-product - start to learn how to make their records sound the way they imagine them, all by themselves. They're not beholden to somebody else - some mysterious magician that calls himself an engineer or producer. Right away, they don't have to be in debt to a record company," he said.

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I was particularly interested in the following passage:

At the root of the resistance for many — besides a perhaps decisive fondness for getting things free — is a complaint that the record industry is trying to take away the ability to make copies of music to use personally and to share with friends — a practice that Americans have long enjoyed.

In this regard, it is important to remember that music sharing predates P2P programs. Think about the movie High Fidelity and its use of the compilation tape as a central plot device. In this regard, it is important to remember that choice that the music industry made when it negotiated the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), the legal response to Digital Audito Tape (DAT) recorders. The advent of DAT created a very mild version of P2P. DAT tapes were digital and hence did not lose fidelity when copies. The AHRA required DAT recorders to have built-in technological safeguards that prevented multigenerational copying of DAT tapes, but in return the industry agreed to a provision that essentially legalized the making of analog tapes. The compilation tape was "decriminalized." (The industry insists the the immunity from liability is not the same as "legalization.") By legalizing analog taping, the music industry itself fueled the social norm that permits copying and sharing of music. When new technologies made such copying easier, faster, and cheaper, the practice exploded. But the norm was already in place, and in a context that seems relevant similar, the law supported the norm.

http://lsolum.blogspot.com/archiv...m_archive.html#106424693740975695

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What does Lessig have in mind? The Digital Millenium Copyright Act? I think so, but we will have to wait to find out.
Catalogs The next chapter is called "Catalogs" and it begins with the compelling story of Jesse Jordan, a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who developed a very effective search engine for the files on RPI's network. That search engine listed all the files on the searchable portions of the network--including, of course, mp3 (and other music) files--hundreds of thousands of them. Of course, the catalog of files also included lots of other stuff--about 75% other stuff, but nonetheless the RIAA was not amused and Jesse Jordan received a demand letter and the RIAA wanted all of his savings in exchange for dropping the suit against him.

http://lsolum.blogspot.com/archiv...m_archive.html#108059783231055546

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I was bored with the old record company's jaded view," McCartney says, plopped on a sofa in the large, comfortable farmhouse that doubles as a rehearsal studio here in the rolling, tree-studded hills of rural East Sussex. Outside, there is an old windmill, and in the near distance, the hazy blue carpet of the English Channel.

"They're very confused, and they will admit it themselves: that this is a new world, and they're a little bit at a loss as to what to do. So they've got millions of dollars and X budget … for them to come up with boring ways — because they've been at it for so long — to what they call 'market' it. And I find that all a bit disturbing.

(link: need cookie)

http://www.latimes.com/entertainm...8355.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

via /.
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/06/12/013257.shtml

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While I was searching for the reason Frank Zappa's music was recently pulled from iTunes (actually not of particular interest to myself musically, but a friend had mentioned it to me and I was interested in the why of the situation), I came across this article written by Zappa in 1983.

In it, Zappa talks about the physical waste associated with the sale of music, and the associated waste of material in promoting these physical representations of music by the colorfully described "cocaine-tweezed A&R Brass." He mentions the advent of the compact disc as a smaller and possibly more efficient way to distribute the music (he doesn't mention any issues regarding sonic fidelity though, fwiw).

Zappa also notes that it is not the medium but the music itself that is of primary concern and interest: "MUSIC CONSUMERS LIKE TO CONSUME MUSIC . . . NOT PIECES OF VINYL WRAPPED IN PIECES OF CARDBOARD."

The next section is of particular interest today, as it relates directly to an attitude that I believe needs to be adopted regarding file sharing and digital music piracy. Zappa, however, was talking about home cassette recording as the issue of the day in 1983: "It is our proposal to take advantage of the POSITIVE ASPECTS of a NEGATIVE TREND afflicting the record industry today: HOME TAPING via cassette of material released on vinyl. "

All that is very interesting, but what is truly incredible is Zappa's proposal in the face of all of this:

"We propose to acquire the rights to digitally duplicate and store THE BEST of every record company's difficult-to-move Quality Catalog Items [Q.C.I.], store them in a central processing location, and have them accessible by phone or cable TV, directly patchable into the user's home taping appliances, with the option of direct digital-to-digital transfer to F-1 (SONY consumer level digital tape encoder), Beta Hi-Fi, or ordinary analog cassette (requiring the installation of a rentable D-A converter in the phone itself . . . the main chip is about $12).

http://soundslope.com/blog/seeing_into_the_future_of_music

http://www.zappa.com/cheezoid/whatsnew/world-news/FZ-Proposal/

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Steve Jobs Bullied Record Execs Into iTunes Deal on Christmas Eve

While Steve Jobs wasn't personally at Macworld to reveal that iTunes was going DRM-free and OTA downloadable, he's the one who made it happen—he bullied Sony Music's chairman over the phone on Christmas Eve.

The New York Times' account of the behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to iTunes going totally DRM-free, getting downloads over 3G and variable pricing is fascinating for several reasons. One, it reveals that while Jobs said he was taking the holidays off to spend time with his family instead of preparing for Macworld, he was plenty busy making record executives cry. The Christmas Eve call, the Times says, "ricocheted around the music industry."

Two, it reveals that Apple and iTunes have reached a tipping point since becoming the number one music retailer in the world: iTunes is now a more powerful institution than the record labels themselves. Just 18 months ago, Universal was flexing its muscles to show that iTunes still depended on the record instury, not the other way around. But in this round of negotiations, "several high-level music executives" told the Times (anonymously, of course) that "they operated in fear of Apple’s removing a label’s products from the iTunes store over a disagreement, even though that has never happened. The labels do not have much leverage in negotiating with Apple."

http://i.gizmodo.com/5144888/stev...into-itunes-deal-on-christmas-eve

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Record Label Marketing

Tom Hutchison, Amy Macy, Paul Allen "Record Label Marketing"
Focal Press | 2005-12-14 | ISBN: 0240807871 | 432 pages | PDF | 3,3 MB

Record Label Marketing provides clear, in-depth information on corporate marketing processes, combining marketing theory with the real world "how to" practiced in marketing war rooms. This industry-defining book is clearly illustrated throughout with figures, tables, graphs, and glossaries. Record Label Marketing is essential reading for current and aspiring professionals and students, and also offers a valuable overview of the music industry.

Record Label Marketing...

* Builds your knowledge base by introducing the basics of the marketing mix, market segmentation and consumer behavior
* Gives you the tools necessary to understand and use SoundScan data, and to successfully manage the budget of a recorded music project
* Presents vital information on label publicity, advertising, retail distribution and marketing research
* Introduces you to industry resources like NARM, RIAA, and the IFPI
* Offers essential marketing strategies including grassroots promotion and Internet/new media, as well as highlighting international marketing opportunities
* Reveals how successful labels use video production, promotional touring and special products to build revenue
* Looks to the future of the music business-how online developments, technological diffusion, and convergence and new markets are continually reshaping the industry

* The only book that looks inside the marketing machine of commercial record labels
* Presented in a clear, readable manner with industry figures (and how to read them), tables, graphs, glossaries and example marketing plans
* A dedicated website: www.recordlabelmarketing.com offers interactive assignments and updates

http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/business_job/0240807871.html

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Touch and Go’s cutbacks leave independent music labels reeling
Owners say they will have to scale back operations to survive; others unsure if they will be able to make it

By Greg Kot
February 22, 2009

As recently as 2006, Chicago’s Touch and Go was enjoying one of the most profitable years in its 28-year history.

Spin forward to last Monday, when employees learned the company was pulling the plug on record production and distribution for 23 independent music labels, putting some of those companies’ futures in question.

“Dumbfounded” is how one staffer described the reaction of workers who had showed up at the company’s three-story Ravenswood warehouse.

http://archives.chicagotribune.co...inment/chi-sun-touch-and-go-feb22