Apple iTunes Still #1, New Music and Artist Happenings, Promotion Better Than Prevention?
Posted August 6, 2008 — in Music News
Apples iTunes is still the #1 go to place for music buyers according to NPD. Below are the five leading music retailers in the U.S. for the first half of 2008.
1. iTunes
2. Wal-Mart
3. Best Buy
4. Amazon
5. Target
New Music/ Artist Happenings: KOAR favorite’s Lovers and Liars will be performing at Buzzfest 08 and will be preparing an announcement for release of a dual EP. Unsigned band Emphatic has been charting in the top 10 for the last 4 weeks on the Billboard West North Central Heatseekers chart.
The Arrival has new music on their myspace and will be heading out with Millionares, Brokencyde, and Hypercrush, check out the tracks Locked and Loaded and Is This What You Call Love.
Promotion Better Than Prevention? The debate of online piracy still continues to fuel music critics. Mark Cuban has an interesting piece called ‘Promotion works better than prevention‘. Cuban says the RIAA actually encouraged illegal downloading by explaining to everyone exactly where and how to steal music. He also says, “People with more time than money will steal content. They weren’t going to pay for it otherwise. People with a conscious will pay for the content. Fortunately that is most people.”
Disc Makers Buys CD Baby: Disc Makers buys CD Baby for $900 million. CD Baby will continue to operate as a separate company and founder Derek Sivers will act as a consultant.
A Message To Producers: Why are you producing new rock artists as if you were recording Neil Diamond? Soul and passion is missing in a lot of today’s music because of the homogenized sounds that are being recorded. Don’t believe me? Scroll down the pages on Smartpunk and Purevolume and you will experience wimpy guitars tones along with a whiny emo voice. Matchbox 20 and Jason Mraz offers a stronger sucker punch and that’s ashame.
I like the arrival new tracks, very catchy, though a little too pop. I really like Lovers and Liars and i agree with your producer commentary - same sounds!
Comment by paramorefan — August 6, 2008 @ 11:20 am
That is true, morally conscious people will pay for music. People who have alot of time on their hands will steal. I totally agree with Mark Cuban. Thats why emo/punk bands cannot make money because they write music for 11 year old kids who have alot of time on their hands who don’t buy and only steal. All those bands are bankrupt. But i agree that maybe we should be less concerned with piracy and stop leading the horses to the water.
Comment by rich — August 6, 2008 @ 11:41 am
Check this out!!!!!
Seriously what happened to it?
Is it just me or is it officially dead.
First came the boy-bands. Yes let’s have 5 teenage boys sing one song while dancing on screen. Sounds marvellous! To 10 year olds. But once they got too stereotypical, you know what I mean? Same old music, same old lovey-dovey lyrics. They are a shame to some old bands that actually made original music. The beatles anyone? Boyband/rock legend?
Then came the female popstars. Flaunting their body and singing love songs. But what do we have here? Their good girl image went rotten and they became idiots. Then some went bald, some went on drugs, and some went crazy. Not too nice.
Then came the punks. Made good songs, with new type of music. Then they started copying other’s music. Same old chords, same old lyrics. Utter fail. Remember the 70s? Iggy pop? HUNH? Whatever happened to that punk?
Then came the Emos. They were good at first (or not to most of you)..but then. They thought of a brilliant idea! They thought they could use the same music over and over again with different lyrics! No, just no.Their witty lines are not witty anymore and their hair is now another term for “Someone who loves the same gender”. I can’t believe censorship made me type that.
Then came the beloved Rockers. They are one of the only type of genre that has lasted a century with some kind of dignity. Let’s say Emos became rockstars too. And removed their make-up and screamed into the microphone. Talking about how their life sucks so bad. <— These people were then shot and we got some real rockers. WE STILL HAVE ROCKERS LEFT! Hurray.
*Cue psycho music.* GANGSTAS. What the hell? Let’s all say “YOUUUUUUUUU’ and try to mean something shall we? I can almost predict 35% of people will type “no u” at the comments page. Let’s ignore them. Now, hip-hop used to have a message. But then more Boys thought they could become Souljas and we got some bad music. Let’s all roll our eyes in unison and watch these morons degrade women.
Seriously. Please come back music. We miss you. There is very few bands/singers who are actually making good music right now. You know who you are.
Comment by liz — August 6, 2008 @ 11:44 am
Until major labels start signing good music again .. everything will be lost and corrupted. The period of 1996-2003 was a great time for new rock bands that had a style, but a message with commercial hooks. Whoever said the emos are writing for the kids who steal music .. I absolutely 100% agree with. EMO/INDIE bands are starting to become a thing of the past and bands in the rock/metal/hard rock/alternative genre are getting sick and those bands, because they’re brainwashing people to buy non-articulated music with no message or commercial appeal .. but tons of fricking makeup and lipstick when real musicians should be playing their instruments.
BTW .. does Daniel Friedman shop bands? Emphatic is a great band and they deserve the Heatseeker popularity
Comment by realmad4646 — August 6, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
Yea but Jason Mraz and Matchbox 20 pack something else that those bands cant. True talent and great songs. Mraz might have the most flawless voice i have ever heard live and I think his new record is the best record of the year so far… featuring artist like Colby Caillat and James Morrison who to me might be the second best overall singer on planet earth.. next to Brian Mcknight of course
Comment by Cris — August 6, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Good observation KOAR, Matchbox 20 and Jason Mraz are heavier than Friday Night Boys and NevershoutNever. Wow, never thought of that, todays so-called rock bands are softer than the culture club. I don’t know if it can be classified as rock - maybe adult contemporary!
Comment by davey — August 6, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
I wouldn’t insult Neil Diamond buy comparing these new bands to him… “Crackling Rosie” has more substance
Comment by RR — August 7, 2008 @ 4:10 am
The problem with overproduction of these new rock bands is the fact that there are a ton of new producers out there that want to find the “next big thing.” They just want a band to work with, even if they’re not that great. So, you get a no-name band, with a no-name producer, who both want to be the next big thing, and you get overproduced crap, and a no-name label that finds a no-name distributor and suddenly it’s available to the masses.
Of course, that’s how my band (Prosevere) is doing it…haha…without the no-name label and distribution deal. It’s difficult to find the right people to work with, so if you can find a producer for relatively cheap that’ll give you the right price…of course you’re gonna take it to start out with. It’s tough to make it as a touring original act. Kinda makes you wonder if playing covers isn’t so bad.
Comment by Gary — August 7, 2008 @ 7:23 am
“*Cue psycho music.* GANGSTAS. What the hell? Let’s all say “YOUUUUUUUUU’ and try to mean something shall we? I can almost predict 35% of people will type “no u” at the comments page. Let’s ignore them. Now, hip-hop used to have a message. But then more Boys thought they could become Souljas and we got some bad music. Let’s all roll our eyes in unison and watch these morons degrade women.”
Liz.. I agree and disagree with your comments on hip hop. Ok.
1. Soulja Boy can hardly be classified as gangsta
2. Hip hop didn’t “always” have a message. There were a lot of feel good party hip hop songs as well. As well as a lot of nonsense that just made you laugh (Rapping Duke - Duh Huh). The difference was the artists cared about “the art” because there wasn’t a lot of money to be made at the time.
3. Even when we had NWA rapping about gangsta stuff… which honestly exposed a lot of us to what was going on in L.A., groups like Public Enemy, Slick Rick, De La Soul, Tribe called Quest and other thrived. There was “balance”.
3. There ARE STILL songs with “messages” and feel good songs that don’t involve “bitches, moneys and drugs”… but you have to be willing to go beyond what the “mainstream” seems to be focused on force feeding you. There are still artists like Talib Kweli, Kidz In The Hall, Murs, Little Brother, Jean Grae and others who still make music that matter (my label included… lol). You just have to find them!
4. Today artists (and not just hip hop artists) seem more concerned with “getting a check and being on MTV cribs” than actually making music that matters.
Comment by Universal Indie Records — August 7, 2008 @ 7:57 am
In the Disk Makers buys CD Baby piece, where did the figure of $900 million come from? I don’t see it anywhere in the linked article.
That seems like a pretty steep valuation of the company to me also, considering it has paid artists just over $80 million in all of its 10 years combined. At a $4/CD charge, CD Baby as a company would be making much less than that. Would you pay $900 million for a company that’s made maybe $50 million in the last 10 years? I wouldn’t.
Comment by Greg — August 8, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
CD Baby sold out for just over 20 million, which is about 1 years sales roughly, about right for a company which probably has 10-15% gross margins.
Comment by CDDude — August 16, 2008 @ 3:52 pm