The Myth of the Long Tail…
Posted June 27, 2008 — in Music News
The Long Tail Myth: The Long Tail suggests that blockbusters will be less lucrative because of competition and more options. Anita Elberse, a Harvard Business School associate professor suggests new evidence tells a different story. Based on Rhapsody music data and DVD rental data from an Australian Netflix clone called Quickflix, she concludes that the blockbusters are not losing share to the long tail of niche products in those markets; indeed, they’re gaining it. Read the full article here.
Tickmaster Wins Against Automated Bots: Ticketmaster has been awarded more than $18 million in its case against RMG Technologies. RMG Technologies were “bombarding Ticketmaster’s Web site with millions of automated ticket requests denying “the public access to tens of thousands of tickets.
Fantasia dropped by 19 Management? Fantasia has been dropped by 19 Management, yet she still has her contract with J Records. Fantasia record sales have been decent compared to other idols.
Unoriginal: The Wall Street Journal has an article titled ‘Musician Makes Tunes By Borrowing Others‘ that talks about a musician, Gregg Gillis, who dissects hit songs by other artists and stitches the bits together to make his own propulsive dance music. Is it worth suing?
Joss Stone on piracy - “I love it, music should be shared”: The only part about music that I dislike is the business attached to it. Now, if music is free then there is no business, there is just music” says Stone. Personally, I think live shows should be free, especially with gas prices rising. I would rather pay .99 cents for a track then spend 60 bucks to fill up my gas tank. If fans are willing to drive to a show, they should be entitled for a free performance. Also, after Stone’s last record failed to resonate with the public, she decided to launch a legal battle in a bid to leave EMI and free her of her current three-album deal with the record label.
Kate Perry Makes History: Katy Perry hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “I Kissed A Girl”. Perry also makes history with the 1000th #1 single of the Rock era on the Billboard chart, which began in 1955 with Bill Haley & The Comets’ “Rock Around The Clock” according to FMQB. We knew that song was a hit, we finally got something right…
Clive Interview: Check out this interview with Clive Davis. He discusses the strength of A&R and other strategies he has adopted during these rough times. This is an older interview..
Makes history as the 1000th #1 single? Right. Talk about an empty accolade…
I’ve been listening to the new Girl Talk record for the past few days & I’m pretty confident saying that if “original” artists were 1/10th as thoughtful and creative as Gregg Gillis, there wouldn’t be a market for record. Should he be making money off of it? I dunno. Maybe not. But as a record, it’s totally legitimate.
What I love is that they aren’t shying away from the debate… you can download the record from the label for free @ http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/__girl__talk___feed__the__anima.ls___/ to form your own opinion on it.
Comment by Jon Cole — June 27, 2008 @ 11:10 am
I don’t care what the history is, that Katy Perry song has
possibly the worst message I have ever heard in a song.
Fact, so many young girls now are experimenting and will become lesbians because of that song. What a horror.
Ok, now that I got that out of my system on to Joss Stone. What a stupid stupid woman. If I am reading correctly she wants to give away the music and now the live performance. Somebody help me here.
Comment by jill — June 27, 2008 @ 8:26 pm
Ever get goosebumps from how bad a song is? That’s what happens when I hear “I Kissed A Girl.” So I’ve been skeptical ever since KOAR started pimping this single. Love the music, love the video. But these lyrics are terrible. Terribly fake. Not believable at all. It’s hard to listen to this and think she actually kissed a girl and did in fact like it. I don’t know what to say about it hitting #1 except that this is the era of the producer.
This is 2008 people. No one cares if you kissed a girl anymore. This is not 13 years ago, you know, when that huge hit by the exact same name came out. Hell, I might as well come out with I Kissed A Girl in 2020 and see what happens.
Comment by Keith — June 27, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Is it really a “horror” that someone becomes a lesbian? And do you really think that’s how it works? You hear a song & then kiss a girl & become a lesbian?
Comment by Jon Cole — June 28, 2008 @ 7:24 am
“Waking Up In Vegas” by Katy Perry is a better song in my opinion than “I Kissed a Girl.” Not sure why the song (”I Kissed a Girl”) sparks so much controversy, other than the fact that Katy’s the daughter of two pastors. I don’t recall Jill Sobule getting as much attention when she released her song with the same title back in 1995.
Comment by Aaron — June 28, 2008 @ 8:16 am
Keith, don’t be skeptical, in fact, we called out the lyrics both in a post and the comment section -
http://www.kingsofar.com/2008/05/16/
new-music-new-singles-and-radio/
Once again, Katy has a great ‘original voice’, meaning when you hear one of her tracks, you know it’s her. Vocally alone, she can separate herself from the rest of the clones. The track ‘I kissed A Girl’ is a well crafted song, lyrically it’s terrible. The lyrics were made for the lowest common denominator; club goers, who want a new song every Friday night to HUMP and Dance to. Katy will always be remembered for singing ‘I kissed a girl’, and its ashame, because she can deliver more than that.
Katy has a similiar voice to Frida who was decently known in the 80’s.
check out the track and you can here the similarity
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uz5DkTF2RW8
Comment by koar — June 28, 2008 @ 8:46 am
Just wonderful. Jill Sobule already did the song 13 years ago. Parents must be thrilled that their daughters are experimentally smooching one another all with the blessing of Billboards Hot 100. Some things are more important than a hit records.
Comment by Brett — June 28, 2008 @ 11:28 am
The Billboard Hot 100 has been packed with much more provocative commentary on hetero promiscuity day in & day out for well over a decade… it’s a long way from “My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard” or Get Low or Skeet Skeet. Talk about a double standard. Nine times out of ten a girl kissing a girl is pretty harmless… you don’t become a lesbian from hearing a song & kissing one girl.
What bothers me the most is that it’s empty sensationalism… the Jill Sobule song actually provided context and you felt like you were getting to know who she was. Katy Perry is just trying to shock people. The song doesn’t reflect anything deeper than the fact that she’s an attention whore.
Comment by Jon Cole — June 28, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
Are you saying that you personally think that live shows should be free because gas is expensive? Or was that a continuation of Joss Stone’s quote? Please tell me that was her talking and not you…
Comment by Rob Hawkins — June 28, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
Gregg Gillis = Unoriginal. That’s correct. This shit is awful.
I thought you were supposed to get permission and/or pay for samples used.
This shit sucks. Can’t write a song?…just steal shit.
Comment by Tim — June 28, 2008 @ 11:19 pm
Greg makes songs that take zero money away from any other artists. No one is going to purchase a Girl Talk song because he used a 1/2 second to 10 second sample of their favorite artist.
Greg puts on a great live show. Just search for performance reviews and you should get an amazing gallery. He makes people believe in the power of mainstream music because he has admitted to listening to the radio over and over for inspiration.
Comment by A2daC — June 29, 2008 @ 8:39 am
American Idol is pointless if artists keep getting dropped. They found their break through artists .. now its time to move on to a different source of finding talent.
Comment by realmad — June 29, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Wow, what a terrible cover. But hey, it’s perfect for the five minutes of fame AI era (because no one cares about these artists for even fifteen minutes, anymore). However, anyone who thinks someone is going to actually become a lesbian *because* of a song, is a fkin’ idiot.
Comment by Mondogarage — June 30, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
OK Joss. You go ahead and perform free shows and collect royalties off of 99 cents songs. See how long you can afford to feed yourself.
Comment by MB — July 2, 2008 @ 10:27 am