Just the other day I was told by someone who owned a wine bar that they really liked our music and would love for us to play at their place. She then told me the gig paid $75 for a trio. Now $75 used to be bad money per person, let alone $75 for the whole band. It had to be a joke, right? No, she was serious.But it didn’t end there. She then informed us we had to bring 25 people minimum. Didn’t even offer us extra money if we brought 25 people. I would have laughed other than it’s not the first time I’ve gotten this proposal from club owners. But are there musicians really doing this? Yes. They are so desperate to play, they will do anything. 
29% OFF on a selection of 29 CDs until February 29th! To celebrate this bissextile year, we offer you a 29 % discount on a great selection of 29 CDs until February 29th! Don't miss this chance to discover new artists in our shop! 
(UPDATED) In the the spring of 2009, iLike had 45 million registered users and was the #1 music application on Facebook. "Is There An iLike Effect?", we asked then; and the answer was yes. 
Sony Music under fire after cost of greatest hits set on iTunes rises by more than 60% after singer's death. 
The country's Auswärtiges Amt, or foreign office, has withdrawn instructions to sign ACTA, an international agreement aimed at harmonising copyright enforcement around the world. A German government source told ZDNet UK on Friday the government will postpone its decision on whether it should sign or not until after the European Parliament has voted on the treaty in June. 
Torrent search engine BTjunkie is the latest file-sharing service to fall on its sword in the wake of the Megaupload sting. Junkie, one of the largest BitTorrent indexes, decided to shut down voluntarily. 
Guest post by Molly Neuman, eMusic's VP Label Relations and MD Europe via digitalmusic.org. For a large segment of music consumers, downloading music to own is something that's seen as music's past. 
CANNES, FRANCE -- After a decade-long battle against file-sharing, music and technology giants are now pushing users to share to their hearts’ content, with online music recommendations a key issue at the MIDEM trade fair that wrapped up Tuesday. 
You may have noticed that freemusicarchive.org, is still accessible. We'd prefer to stay online even as we stand with the 7000+ sites who are voluntarily blacked out to send a message to the U.S. Congress. It's unclear whether the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) could actually stop online piracy, but it's clear that these proposed laws would threaten a lot of healthy online activity -- including those that support independent artists. 
The guitarist was left speechless when he went to withdraw some money from the cash-point and realised that he had received £1.8million overnight. 
There’s lots to report on from my trips to Paris and Nice. I’ve been so busy, I apparently didn’t even notice an earthquake in Italy whose tremors were felt throughout southern France. But that will have to wait for a later date, as I am now in Cannes in the midst of the hurly-burly that is MIDEM. 
"The European Union and its member states - including the UK - have signed the controversial anti-piracy agreement ACTA. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), often compared to US proposed bill SOPA, is an international trade pact that seeks to establish an international legal framework for countries to join voluntarily. It would effectively create an anti-piracy governing body." 
The Megaupload troubles make for interesting discussion because there is much to be said on both sides. Whether the illegal aspects of the network "outweigh" the legal aspects is a question that will be discussed for months and perhaps years. |
The Pirate Bay and its users are copyright infringers, the High Court has established in a judgment that will probably lead to the popular file-sharing site being blocked in the UK. The High Court has ruled that The Pirate Bay and its users do indeed infringe copyright, a ruling that could pave the way for the site to be blocked in the UK. 
Mojo remains the biggest-selling print music magazine in the UK after seeing circulation fall 7.5 per cent in the second half of last year, out performing its stablemate Q, which fell 12.1 per cent to 75,522 - according to ABC. The music (rock) sector was up 16.3 per cent in the between July-December compared with an increase of 22.6 per cent in the first six months. This is largely down to the ABC debut of free magazines: The Stool Pigeon, Properganda and DIY Magazine. 
Whitney Houston was a phenomenally talented performer. While her sudden death is sad, it’s not shocking. But if the economic energy unleashed by Michael Jackson’s untimely passing is any indication, Houston’s death will boost the fortunes of at least two of the companies that produced her work. We're building a totally free platform of tools for artists and labels to sell, share, and promote music directly to their fans. ![CD Baby’s 2011 Annual Stats [Infographic] | Kill The Record Industry | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/ZL7j4r2Cdm5u7JpJTDVAczl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
2011 was a banner year for indie music releases, and we’re pleased that CD Baby has continued to be the leader in independent music distribution. Click on the image to see the full size infographic of our key stats for 2011. 
For years now, the legacy entertainment industry has been predicting its own demise, claiming that the rise of technology, by enabling easy duplication and sharing [...] is destroying their bottom line. If left unchecked, they say, it is not only they that will suffer, but also the content creators, who will be deprived of a means to make a living. And, with artists lacking an incentive to create, no more art will be produced, starving our culture. [...] What we found is that not only is the sky not falling, as some would have us believe, but it appears that we're living through an incredible period of abundance and opportunity, with more people producing more content and more money being made than ever before. As it turns out... The Sky Is Rising! 
Megaupload users got a temporary reprieve this week when the companies that hosted the site's servers, Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications, agreed not to delete any Megaupload data for at least two weeks. Musician Neil Young offered a vigorous defense of record companies, followed by an equally vigorous defense of piracy, and laid out a rough sketch of a new way to distribute music in the digital age. 
As I sat and planned the program for the June 2012 New Music Seminar, it occurred to me that we are approaching the first anniversary of the music business resurrection. After ten years of decline, the music business hit bottom in the second week of February 2010 and began to rise the week of February 14th. There have been many reports of the music business comeback and many have tried to figure out what was responsible for this upturn. Some have credited Adele, others the shuttering of Limewire, still others the Walmart $5 dump bins. 
Here's an interesting pie chart that can be quite disturbing to a new artist or band (can't remember where I found it). It's not entirely accurate, but it's enough to give you the idea that working at McDonaldsmight be a better career choice than the music business. 
You may be here this year. But what about next year, and the year after that? This is now an obvious problem for Midem organizers, who finally got the memo that legacy doesn't pay the bills. Which is why a complete facelift is now underway, with SXSW and even upstarts like the SF MusicTech Summit informing the transformation. The highly-structured presentations and discussion blocks of yesteryear have been replaced with frenetic, all-at-once how-tos, with lots of emphasis on DIY, startups, and 'hothouse' innovation. This is now a legacy conference struggling to find a brand-new sweet-spot, whatever that may be. 
The VP of EMI's Urban Promotions says that the best way to tackle piracy is not to introduce bills like ACTA or SOPA - but to simply provide better service. |
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