Music Archive

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What I’m Listening To (January ’08 Edition)

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on January 26, 2008Posted in: Music, Music Picks, Reviews

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to stop being jaded about music and actually listen to new stuff. It’s a good thing I did, because theres a bunch of really awesome records out now. I hope this continues on throughout the year and I can make these posts a regular feature.

The album art/title will take you to the Amazon product page for the CD. The Myspace link will let you listen to some songs. I’ve made it a point to put my favorite song pick so you know which track to go for if you’re in an impatient mood.

That being said, here are my favorite new records of the first month of 2008 (after the jump):

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Last.fm Goes On Demand

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on January 25, 2008Posted in: Articles, Music

CBS owned social music site, last.fm, announced on Wednesday that they would begin offering full-length track streaming of over 150,000 songs including catalog from the four major record labels.The two major points of the release are:

  • On demand, ad-supported streaming via the last.fm website or client – 150,000+ licensed songs with a limitation of 3 plays per track per user
  • Pay-Per-Listen royalty scheme – artists/labels will get paid based on the number of times their songs have been streamed (independent artists will get paid directly from last.fm)

First of all, I want to applaud CBS and last.fm for taking their service in this direction. I’ve used last.fm for a couple of years now and the number one wish I had was full-length track streaming. 30 second previews are simply useless as a music discovery tool. Like the recent fall of DRM, on demand free full-length track streaming seemed unattainable just one year ago. It’s good to see that progress is being made in catching up to actual consumer behavior. That being said, this service has a ways to go before it starts to become an indispensable music tool.
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As If The Writing On The Wall Weren’t Any Clearer

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on January 18, 2008Posted in: Music, Video Games

NPD just released their year-end figures for 2007 video game sales:

1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) – 4,820,000
2. Wii Play with Remote (Wii) – 4,120,000
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) – 3,040,000
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) – 2,720,000
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) – 2,520,000
6. Pokemon Diamond (DS) – 2,480,000
7. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) – 1,900,000
8. Guitar Hero II (PS2) – 1,890,000
9. Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) – 1,870,000
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) – 1,820,000

Now, let’s compare these figures to Soundscan’s 2007 year-end figures for music cd sales:

1. “Noel”/Josh Groban: 3,699,000
2. “Soundtrack”/ High School Musical 2: 2,957,000
3. “Long Road Out of Eden”/Eagles: 2,608,000
4. “As I Am”/Alicia Keys: 2,543,000
5. “Daughtry”/Daughtry: 2,497,000
6. “Soundtrack”/Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley: 2,489,000
7. “Minutes To Midnight”/Linkin Park: 2,099,000
8. “Dutchess”/Fergie: 2,064,000
9. “Taylor Swift”/Taylor Swift: 1,951,000
10.”Graduation”/Kanye West: 1,892,000

I wonder which industry is doing better.

I’m going to point out a couple of obvious things. The average price of one of those video games is about $50. The average price of one of those CDs is about $10.

A scant few years ago this sort of thing would be UNHEARD of. Music is universal. You can play music CDs on pretty much any modern device anywhere (car, stereo, computer, alarm clock, etc.). To play any one of those video games you need to make an initial investment anywhere from $130-$400. AND you need to be at home or near a TV you can hook it up to.

The music CD is dead, people. We need a better way to buy our music and we need it now.

Oh, and video game industry? Don’t make the same mistake the record labels did. You’ll be facing the same problem very soon when it’s technically feasible for big budget games to be as easily consumed as music is currently.

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Individual 2007 Top Ten Lists

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on January 11, 2008Posted in: Articles, Comics, Movies, Music, TV, Video Games

Indulge me as I’m in a list making mood. After the jump I’ll list my lists. They’ll include top tens for music, comics, video games, movies, and television shows. Since I’m too burnt out now to write something for each entry, I won’t. I’ll be happy to conduct a civilized conversation in the comments or email though. Oh, and the lists will contain only things I have experienced in ’07. Stuff I didn’t get to until after the new year, but released near the end of last year (e.g. There Will Be Blood) will go on next year’s lists.
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Top Ten Entertainment Experiences Of 2007

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on January 10, 2008Posted in: Articles, Comics, Movies, Music, Sports, TV, Video Games

2007 was pretty lopsided for me in terms of where my quality entertainment experiences came from. It was a phenomenal year for video games. Perhaps the best single year of new releases for the medium since 1997, if not better. Conversely, there just wasn’t much there in terms of great music. Some solid releases, sure, but nothing that remain etched in my mind as transcendent. Live shows definitely resonated better for me than the album experience did. For sports, I’ll preface my conclusion by saying that I only regularly follow the MLB, the NFL, and the NBA. Besides the lone entry on the list, there were no other truly memorable moments for me this year. Television was fairly solid, despite the writers strike putting a damper on my mood late in the year. Comics had some pretty high moments, and also some pretty “meh” ones as well. Finally, 2007 was just not my year for movies as I wasn’t motivated to seek out much other than the obvious films. While some were fairly entertaining, I just couldn’t argue for their inclusion on this list over the items picked.

Without any more ado, here’s my top ten entertainment experiences of 2007:
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Ding Dong DRM Is Dead – Sony/BMG Joins Amazon MP3

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on January 10, 2008Posted in: Articles, Music

Just one year ago, we in the industry thought it unfathomable for even one of major labels to abandon DRM for digital downloads of music. Yet here we are, living in a world where all four major labels are now selling their wares sans DRM.A press release went out today confirming that Sony/BMG would be making their catalog available for sale on Amazon MP3 by the end of the month.Am I surprised at the celerity of the major labels in making the move to DRMless MP3? A little. I’ve always maintained it was a merely matter of time before the labels ditched DRM. If it was not to accede to consumer demand, it would be to fight the Frankenstein they created in the iTunes music store.

Do I think Amazon MP3 has what it takes to take on iTunes? Sure. Amazon MP3 sells the better product to more possible customers at a better price ($0.89-$0.99 compared to the $1.29 of iTunes Plus). As long as consumers are educated properly and the service is marketed competently, there’s a very good chance this may be the one challenger to the iTunes throne to succeed.

But does this really matter at the end of the day?

No.

The future of music distribution is not in a la carte track sales. It’s in the pay-what-you-want model that Radiohead and Trent Reznor have pioneered. It’s in the value proposition that eMusic offers when you are getting $25 tracks for $9.99 a month. Neither of these are the ultimate solution, but they are steps forward. You have to look at how MOST people are consuming music nowadays. They do it via bulk through bittorrent or eDonkey or what have you. Selling DRM-free MP3’s for $0.89 each would have been a good start… seven years ago. In order to be the true winner of this sad drama, you have to be looking ahead of current consumption patterns. You need to take chances instead of playing catchup.

We’ve got a long way to go before this is finished.

Read the press release [businesswire.com]

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Trent Reznor Is Disappointed With Fans

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on January 3, 2008Posted in: Music

Some of you might remember the release of Saul Williams’ latest album, The Inevitable Rise And Liberation of NiggyTardust, a couple of months ago.  Sales of the album were patterned after Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want model for their release of In Rainbows.  Now that the intarweb has had ample time to consume the album, Trent Reznor has made sales figures public:

Saul’s previous record was released in 2004 and has sold 33,897 copies.

As of 1/2/08,
154,449 people chose to download Saul’s new record.
28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning:
18.3% chose to pay.

As expected, a minority of people actually paid for the album, despite being offered higher quality file formats for the songs as an incentive.  How does Trent feel about this?

 If that assumption is correct – that most of the people that chose to download Saul’s record came from his or my own fan-base – is it good news that less than one in five feel it was worth $5? I’m not sure what I was expecting but that percentage – primarily from fans – seems disheartening.

He then goes on to lament over how he spent too much on producing the album and that it was a project that “nobody’s getting rich off [of]”.  However, Trent’s assuming a lot about who’s buying the record.  In exactly two months, the new record has moved almost as many “units” as Saul’s last album.  That’s a pretty decent amount, in my opinion.  Not to mention, over 5 times as many people have been exposed to the album.  Granted, the last album could have had more exposure due to file trading/sharing and such, but at least now Saul has hard numbers as to what his audience reach is.  Reznor’s disappointment is no undoubtedly exacerbated by the fact that he spent a lot of money producing and distributing the record.  Despite this, though, I feel this is one of the best sales models for a developing artist to adopt.  I would imagine lots of baby bands aren’t going to be spending the fortune that Reznor did to produce their albums.  It’s also a painless, non-insulting way for artists and fans to distribute and consume new music.  It provides a method of monetary compensation to the artist that may not have existed under the previous CD-only model.  Perhaps some more incentive could be given to the fans who like the music enough that they want to support it.  Maybe this could be a concert ticket discount, a piece of merch, or some kind of badge of honor.

It may not be the perfect solution to the music distribution problem, but it’s certainly a good start.  If more artists adopt this model, it definitely opens the door for bandwidth/backend solution providers to get in on the act.  Eventually, the benefits of economies of scale can be reaped, further making it easier for anyone to cheaply distribute their music to the world.

Kudos to Trent and Saul for actively trying to make headway on revolutionizing the business model of music.  Keep your chin up, dawg! You did good, Trent.  You did good.

NiggyTardust Followup [nin.com]

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I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on December 11, 2007Posted in: Music

In a move that even our British internet video friend would not accept, the RIAA is now claiming that MP3s that you have ripped from CDs you have purchased are unauthorized copies. That’s right, the very existence of digital music in the-file-format-which-must-not-be-named is an affront to all that is lawful and just. Forget about the fact that RIAA lawyers have already admitted ripping CDs for personal use is legal. Hypocrisy is only a speed bump on the path to oblivion.

I know I said I would not be surprised at anything the record labels do anymore, but come on. Really? Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the real record labels have anything to do with the RIAA anymore other than in name. As clueless as the major record label heads are, there is no way any sane person can fail to see what a detriment to health of the music industry the RIAA is. What exactly is it trying to do here? Even if they win every pending lawsuit, do they really think people are going back to buying cartloads of $18 CDs just like the good ol’ days?

Nay, the RIAA is a monster that is out of the control of those who have created it. But unlike horrific human creations such as the Cylons or Terminators, the RIAA becomes less terrifying and more cuddly with each action it takes.

via [gizmodo]

via [recording industry vs. the people]

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Satellite Radio Gets Off Easy

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on December 5, 2007Posted in: Music

getawayThe Copyright Royalty Board just finalized the new royalty rates that satellite radio providers will pay for the next 5 years.

Under the terms of the CRB Satellite Radio Services, XM will pay a performance license rate of 6.0% of those gross revenues subject to the fees for 2007 and 2008, 6.5% for 2009, 7.0% for 2010, 7.5% for 2011 and 8.0% for 2012.

This seems like a pretty sweet deal for XM and Sirius, with a modest rate increase over 6 years. Gary Parsens, chairman of XM radio seems pretty ecstatic over the decision:

“Moreover, the music performance fees set by the CRB are in the range projected by many financial analysts who cover this industry.”

Now, while satellite radio isn’t a money printing enterprise, it sure as hell has a lot more revenue generation going on for it than internet radio. OEM partnerships with a multitude of automobile manufacturers, portable devices, aftermarket add-ons for existing automobiles, internet subscriptions, the list goes on. Would someone care to explain to me how on earth the CRB decided the internet radio royalty increases were the least bit fair in light of this? Not only is the CRB/SoundExchange imposing a higher royalty rate on internet radio, they aren’t even offering the option of a revenue-based royalty payment scheme.

wat.

Read more [money.cnn.com]

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Internet Radio Sucks It From SoundExchange

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on December 2, 2007Posted in: Articles, Music

Bloomberg recently reported that AOL, Yahoo!, and Pandora are considering shutting down their internet radio operations due to the continued refusal of SoundExchange (the arm of the RIAA that collects royalty fees) to lower their preposterous royalty rate increases for song plays.

Siding with the music companies, the board in March ordered that royalties be raised to 0.11 cent for each song listened to from 0.08 cent last year. The rate is scheduled to reach 0.19 cent in 2010.

“The current math doesn’t add up,” said Lisa Namerow, managing director of AOL Radio in Dulles, Virginia. “If the rates remain as they are, it would be very challenging to sustain a business that is profitable.”

It may seem trivial when we are talking about fractions of a cent, but keep in mind this is for each play of each song for each user. When you start multiplying millions by thousands, you’re talking about significant number of pennies per year. Don’t forget that the rates are essentially doubling in the span of a few years.

The thing that caught my eye was the revelation that both Yahoo and AOL experienced a 10-11% decline in users last month. The Bloomberg report says it was due to AOL and Yahoo not linking to their radio sites anymore, but I’m still able to see links from their respective music home pages. Perhaps both companies pulled advertising or intra-site promotions. Regardless, this development is very troublesome and a portent of doom for the nascent internet radio industry.
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