Group items tagged

Measurement is the key to success. In the industry this measurement is called (intimidating music please) - THE SOUNDSCAN. Fortunately i've never had to judge my artistic worth based off the soundscan, but for those of us lucky and unlucky enough to under go this tracking system it can be a psychological torment, sucking the creativity and positivity right out of a project. Happily we have a new form of measurement that shifts from pessimism to optimism. READ MORE to find out what they are.

Here's an interesting one. Remember when the labels were on Apples heels to allow for a more flexible pricing structure than the 0.99 cent that apple had set? It even got so out of hand that _ started removing content from the iTunes store (Like a big baby!), only later to put it all back in, remember this? Well ever since apple conceded in allowing labels to increase popular tracks from .99 cents to $1.29 digital revenue has slowed. Warner saw and 8 percent growth in the holiday quater verses 20 percent the year before while digital album downloads gre 5 percent in december, down 10 percent in the sept quarter and 11 percent in the june quarter. Warner CEO Edgar Bronfman seems optimistic thought saying that the price change has been a "net positive" for warner, but agreed that a 30 percent price increase during a recession probably wasn't the best move. No duh.

Malcolm Gladwell ,author of the book Outliers, is pretty adamant about his 10,000 hour rule. The rule states that in order to master any craft 10,000 + hours of practice must be accumulated. And getting in that many hours of practice can take 10 years or more. Basically, you gotta put in your work. The music promotion blog has a piece on Steve Martin that really attests to the decade journey that one must take to reach celebrity over night. By the time Steve was propelled into great public awareness he was a well oiled machine, ready to deliver the goods. Television (tell a lie to your vision, particularly shows like american idol and other media sources are very good at trivializing the years of work that some of our greatest icons put in to achieve icon status. Record Labels have even been fooled forgoing development for the young inexperienced (We've seen how well that works). Thats actually the equivalent of getting hired for an entry position and then getting promoted to CEO of the company a few weeks later, needless to say, that company's going to fail. I guess the point of this is if you want to increase your chances of success, not being signed but actually be icon status (being remembered for the many things you've done, not just the first thing), then you have to sleep in that car, perform in front of an audience of empty chairs, bounce from label to label because when god finally taps you on the shoulder and says its go time your going to outshine all of the others not even half way through their 10,000 hour mark. Put in the time and you will be rewarded.

How Effective is your Word of Mouth. So you have this great Album that your going to showcase tonight at your newest gig. Once the crowd heres your inspiring melodies and awesome rifts the word should spread about your magical compact disc right? Well Openforum blogger Yvonne DiVita begs to differ, she believes word-of-mouth is manufactured, not born. Here are 5 effective ways that you can manufacture your word-of-mouth through positive actions.

Labels put more musicians in the poor house.

Is Radio now synonymous with Gas Station. Jerry Del Colliano seems to think so. Big. National. Impersonal. That being said to bring positive results to radio is for the stations to remember the 80/20 rule. 80% live and local, 20% national or voice tracked (if at all). The number one way to start turning radio around right now is to abide by the 80/20 rule. It's not really that costly to do. Brings immediate live and local results. Returning to live and local rights a lot of wrongs.

Forget the Record Deal, What about the Publishing Deal. While labels are understandably trying to mitigate their risk, by targeting artists who are already as "developed" as possible, it seems that publishers have taken on greater roles as nurturers of talent. Taylor Swift go her start by honing her songwriting abilities under the guidance of Arthur Buenahora at Songy/ATV Music publishing. Keri Hilson speaks about having first developed as a songwriter with Universal Music Publishing, and how that experience helped her launch her solo career with Interscope Records. HERE is a full interview with Eric Beale, who began his tenure in the industry as a songwriter, writing songs for the Jacksons and Diana Ross. Hopefully this interview gives you some further insight into the world of publishing and some hints on how you can either get into the publishing business as a working artist or as a career, helping other artists hone their skills!