Quiet Criticism: industry

Showing posts with label industry. Show all posts

Showing posts with label industry. Show all posts

14.4.09

Indie Record Stores at Risk

Independent record stores are declining in numbers. The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) reports that just 300 indie record stores remain in the entire United Kingdom, down from over 1000 a decade ago.

The industry shift to online music consumption has also plagued major retailers, as we reported in January, but stores are trying to fight back with the second annual Record Store Day on April 18, when more than 1000 stores worldwide will offer in-store events and performances. Read more...

21.3.09

SXSW Panel: Should Artists Be Paid for Radio Airplay?

The “Should Artists Be Paid for Radio Airplay” panel at the SXSW festival debated whether the United States should adopt the rest of the world’s practice of paying artists and labels when their songs play on the radio. The promotional value of music on the radio, as in free advertising, was deemed irrelevant, because 60 percent of music on the airwaves is at least two years old. Continue reading...

18.3.09

Live Performance Sales Overtake Recorded Music in UK

The live music business surpassed in value the recorded music of the UK last year. Calculations presented at the International Live Music Conference on Saturday by Will Page, Chief Economist at the Performing Rights Society, give solid indication that the future of the music industry is live. Continue reading...

11.3.09

YouTube Stops Broadcasting Itself in the UK

Youtube is blocking access to all premium music videos that were previously available to UK internet users, after failing to reach a licensing deal with the Performing Rights Society (PRS). The BBC reports that “thousands” of music videos were suddenly gone starting late March 9^th, punishing UK consumers for the lack of an agreement. Continue reading...

Music Business Models, What Will Work?

Scottish-American musician David Byrne, known best for being a founding member of the Talking Heads, has summed up the future of the music industry: changes in the past decade have reduced the value of its services to artists. With new business models (he counts six total), free distribution and low recording costs, Byrne believes that “at some point [the music industry] became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over.” Continue reading...

5.3.09

The Pirate Bay Trial Ends: Innocent or Guilty?

After two weeks of fast paced litigation, the Pirate Bay ‘Spectrial’ has come to a close. In the final days of the trial this week, the prosecution called for jail time for the defendants, which the defense lawyers refuted in their closing statements. Continue reading...

27.2.09

EMI Files Suit Against Music Search Engine Seeqpod

EMI and Capitol Records are suing music search engine SeeqPod for copyright infringement in New York. Seeqpod doesn’t host tracks, but provides a search index and player for them, and despite the lawsuit, says that it will continue business as usual. Read more...

26.2.09

Pirate Bay Trial Day 9: BitTorrent Isn’t Illegal

The Pirate Bay Trial is advancing rapidly, yesterday John Kennedy, the chief executive of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) explained how piracy was responsible for the downfall of the music industry, and declared the $2.67 million fine “justified and maybe even conservative because the damage is immense“. Continue reading...

25.2.09

Last.fm Denies Giving Users’ Data to RIAA

After U2’s latest album, No Line On the Horizon, was leaked online, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reportedly became interested in users listening to the album on Last.fm. Then on February 20, online magazine TechCrunch posted an unsourced rumor that said Last.fm was revealing users’ listening data to the RIAA, an accusation that Last.fm’s employees are vehemently denying. Read more...

24.2.09

Irish Internet Users Blocked From The Pirate Bay

The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) has threatened internet service providers (ISP’s) with legal action to the point where Eircom, the country’s biggest internet provider, has buckled under the pressure and simply blocked users from accessing file-sharing sites, especially The Pirate Bay. Continue reading...

20.2.09

Touch and Go Records Ends New Signings and Distribution

Chicago indie label Touch & Go Records will stop signing new artists and distributing new albums, and will be continuing forward as a catalog label. A source told Billboard that all planned albums for this spring will still be released, but also that the label will lay off 20 employees in the coming weeks and that their distribution company will shut down. Continue reading...

18.2.09

Liberty Saves Sirius XM From Bankruptcy

Liberty Media Corp has agreed to lend $530 million to Sirius XM Radio Inc. in exchange for 40 percent of the satellite radio provider. The deal effectively saved the company from bankruptcy, and sent the value of its shares up 100 percent. Continue reading...

17.2.09

Follow The Pirate Bay’s Spectrial

The Pirate Bay is in court today, as previously reported, and the “spectrial” is being transmitted live. You can follow the proceedings via live audio feed and twitter. Read more...

14.2.09

The Pirate Bay Stands Trial On Monday

The Pirate Bay operators Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström stand trial on Monday in Stockholm. The four defendants are accused of “promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws” and face up to two years in prison and SEK 1.2 million in fines. Read more...

12.2.09

Editorial: Major Labels Struggle to Survive

It is a fact that the music industry is in recession. In the aftermath of 2008, when miserable record sales and widespread file-sharing destroyed profits for major labels, the music industry is now scrambling for new ways to get their hands on your hard-earned cash. Competing with “free” isn’t easy, and the industry has shown it’s ready to adopt creative attitudes toward music consumers and free distribution, while simultaneously trying to implement new business models that force money into their pockets via taxes or subscriptions. It’s time to take a closer look at these schemes. Continue reading...

11.2.09

Grammys Recover TV Audience

After last year’s dismal TV audiences, the 2009 Grammy Awards captured 19.05 million households, up from 17.18 million in 2009. With a variety of artists, spanning decades of music, the 3 ½ hour CBS broadcast was able to appeal to all ages and galvanize the failing industry. Read more...

University Tax, Google Deletes Posts from Blogs

Ruckus‘ closure of leaves room for other companies to target universities, get mobile remixing with Touch Mix, and Google adopts a new policy towards music sharing blogs. Here’s the newest in technology: Continue reading...

6.2.09

RIAA Lawyers Taking Top Justice Posts

President Obama is filling the senior ranks of the U.S. Department of Justice with the Recording Industry Association of America’s top lawyers. Donald Verrilli, the man who shut down Grokster and sued Google on the behalf of Viacom, announced Wednesday that he had been named Associate Deputy Attorney General. Continue reading...

Apple Backtracks, Warner Music Sues Songbeat, Wii Music Sells Poorly

Songs downloaded from Apple iTunes Plus don’t work on all mp3 players, Wii Music tanks in sales, and Warner Music files suit against handy music app Songbeat, here’s todays tech news: Continue reading...

3.2.09

RIAA Backtracks by Opposing Court Webcasts

As previously reported, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is easing up on file-sharing lawsuits, promising to not pursue more cases in the future. However, the good will has been retracted, with the RIAA failing to withdraw existing lawsuits that have already been filed and opposing court decisions to allow online access to a court hearing. Read more...

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