The music industry of the 90s no longer exists. Record labels are having to change and adapt daily in order to keep up with technology of the times. This blog will attempt to chronicle these changes, and perhaps even suggest ways for the industry to become competitive once more.
With album sales at record lows and in the face of a recession, record companies are changing the way they do business. The age of the 360 deal has arrived. The hype that exploded when Live Nation inked a 360 deal with Madonna last fall has continued at relatively high levels. But is this new craze all it is cracked up to be?
Ron Fair, Chairman of Geffen Records, explained how the first 360 deal came about. Berry Gordy created it when he founded Motown Records. The way his company worked, Motown took care of everything from dressing the artists to recording the albums. Motown undeniably changed the music industry of the 60s, and now many industry people are looking to the 360 deal to change today’s industry.
Listening Post’s Eliot Van Buskirk quotes BPI’s (British Phonographic Industry) CEO Geoff Taylor:
Increasingly new streams of revenue are coming into the picture. As consumption patterns change, music companies are finding new ways to recoup the huge investments they make in music. They are using new technology to find new audiences and offer consumers more choice. Today’s record business is unrecognizable to that of five years ago. Labels have rapidly evolved into digitally literate businesses that generate significant revenues through licensing.
The British might have “evolved into digitally literate businesses that generate significant revenues,” but as far as I can tell, the American companies have a lot of catching up to do. Labels are beginning to lose (or at least rumored to be losing) major clients like Madonna, U2, and the Rolling Stones (that was the rumored one).
U2 could not join a new craze without adding its own spin, of course, and they pulled a pretty smart move this time. Instead of trusting the inexperienced Live Nation to produce their records, they signed another recording contract with their label, and are letting Live Nation cover everything else. With the amount of promotion experience Live Nation has under its belt, everyone ends up winning (except whoever was doing U2’s promotion before the new deal).
This hedging of bets by U2 calls into question the wisdom of putting all of one’s musical eggs into one greedy company basket. Live Nation is spending money like it’s going out of style, causing splits between the risk-takers and the more conservative higher-ups.
They’re saying to wait and see what happens to Madonna to see if this kind of deal is profitable. I, for one, totally agree. I’m so happy to see the music industry coming up with new ideas (finally), but before throwing all available funds into the new system, make sure it works! The beeper was a great invention, but what if we had all invested in it? Where would we be now?
I'm excited to see what actually happens in future of 360 deals. If they fail, the repercussions will be great. If, on the other hand, the deals actually work, it will be an important move towards the integration of the music industry into the modern world. We shall see.
My RSS feeds have exploded over the last couple of days with news about Chinese Democracy.Again.But this time, Axl Rose is absolutely not involved in the controversy.Apparently a blogger named “Skwerl” posted nine unreleased tracks from the long-awaited album on Antiquiet.(How long has it been now?Thirty years?)
The songs quickly disappeared after FBI showed up at the blogger's work to "ask him a few questions." I would probably pee my pants if the FBI showed up at my work, but according to Listening Post,
[Skwerl is] not too worried about getting his ass handed to him in a court of law. "It may be a legal gray area since it wasn't for download; it wasn't a finished product," he said. "We aren't sure who owns the recordings. I feel like I might survive this."
I can not wait to see what happens to him.
Judging from the nature of the comments on the Aniquiet site, early reviews of the songs seem split right down the middle, with half the listeners loving the new songs, and the other half wanting to tear their ears off after listening.I was not fortunate enough to find the site before the FBI and Axl’s people forced asked Skwerl to cease and desist, so as of now I have no comment.
Perhaps someday the album will actually come out.In my humble opinion, Axl knows he waited too long, and is terrified of releasing an album that will never live up to GnR fans’ expectations.Or maybe he is just biding his time, waiting until the time is ripe.For now, dear friends, we wait, until the next Skwerl leaks the tracks (and then will someone please tell me before the FBI gets involved!)
We were sitting on the dance floor, surrounded by glo-sticks and scantily-clad ravers, when Matt had the glorious idea to make a homepage that had everything you could want at your fingertips! It was the perfect plan. We were going to be rich. Unfortunately, the folks at Pageflakes beat us to it. I was introduced to Pageflakes a few weeks ago, and have not been able to keep my fingers off it since then. (Well, except for the first few days, when I was too busy cursing the Pageflakes crew for slaughtering my dreams of wealth.) It has all my needs, from Sudoku when I need a brain tease, to a "Hot or Not" rating machine for when I need a laugh. If you can't find your perfect flake, don't sweat it, simply make one with the "anything flake." To get you started, I'm going to give you a tour of my Music pageflake. Enjoy!
When you visit my pageflake, it is broken down into several categories which I will in turn break down for you right here:
My RSS Feeds One of the advantages of the "blogroll" feature on most blogs is that they open up so many different paths to research for material. Most of the RSS feeds on my pageflake were found through other blogs, not by searching directly. They are all connected through this network of "blogrolling." I will often see one blog from my roll quoting another blog from my roll. It's almost like a little club for music bloggers. The disadvantage of this is that the news from the blogs is often exactly the same.
This is where the beauty of blogging comes in, because each blogger takes what is often the same news and makes it his or her own. I did a blog a few weeks ago about the differing voices from the Listening Post, and how the same qualities that give each writer unique voices make otherwise repetitive posts interesting every time. Headlines like "Dead Men Do Sell Nikes" are so much more intriguing than "Converse Puts Out New Product."
Listening Post is my favorite out of all the RSS flakes because the contributors update it several times per day and they have a plethora of material from which I can pull my topics. Another favorite is Coolfer, which also updates daily and is a great source for music business news. Recording Industry vs. the People is perfect because it focuses on the interminable debate over the legality of downloading. FutureMusic and AfterDawn both focus on music-related technology, which is important because a some of the other sites are more internet-centered.
Hypebot and Inside Music Media are more personal blogs with a lot of opinion from the writers, which helps me by making sure I have different viewpoints and can see multiple sides of an issue. Music Marketing provides helpful tips to aspiring musicians and has avenues for them to post their work online. Play and NYT Music are news blogs with a broad coverage of all things music-related. Cyberextazy is kind of useless because it hasn't been updated since January, so I'm going to have to replace that.
My Active Searches For my active searches section, I have two awesome flakes: one called Universal News Search and one called Universal Blog Search. I've filtered each search with the keywords "music," "industry" and "digital." These keywords ensure that the news and blogs that appear daily in the flakes are relevant to my subject matter. Throwing in the keyword "digital" reinforces the technology themed part of my blog: how the internet is changing the music industry.
My Zotero Bibliography You most likely will not find this on many other pageflakes (they don't even have a biblio-flake yet). My bibliography section is a grouping of four sources (two books and two scholarly articles) that supplement my research. The books (whose annotations can also be found in the previous post) are about the future of digital music and its effect on the industry. One essay is an example of a successful music industry (in Sweden) and the other is a prediction of what will happen to the future of touring.
My Diigo Bookmarks My Diigo Bookmarks is just one pageflake, but it's very important. When I find something online that I think might be useful, I just bookmark it to my Diigo account and continue browsing uninterrupted. The Diigo pageflake helps me to keep track of all those little tidbits that might be useful sooner or later, by using an RSS feed to constantly update my flake every time I add a new bookmark.
My Social Bookmarking Soulmate My bookmarking soulmate is also just one pageflake, however helpful he might be. It is the equivalent of a Diigo pageflake for another person with my same interests (my soul mate). Read my previous post all about him for more information.
The following are excerpts from an annotated bibliography I'm working on, placed here for your edification.
Burkart, Patrick, and Tom McCourt. Digital Music Wars: Ownership and Control of the Celestial Jukebox. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. Digital Music Wars deals with the potentially unstable structure of the music industry in the context of file sharing sites and the concept of copyright. According to the book, the industry would like the public to believe that the concept of a “Celestial Jukebox” is a good idea and would benefit the general public. What they don’t tell you, however, is the fact that the owners of the jukebox control who gets what for how much, meaning that they can impose separate levels of subscriptions, and retain certain media for those willing to pay higher prices. The authors, both professors at separate universities, seem to be aiming at people already in the music industry, or academics interested in it. While the prose is clear and quite readable, the book is set up in a somewhat boring, academic-themed way. The authors cite their works religiously, providing a large index and in-depth bibliographies at the end of each chapter and at the end of the book. Readers of the book will find it useful for finding other sources on the music industry in general and the future of digital music in particular. The authors seem slanted towards the artists and opposed to the conglomeration of music labels that currently exists. However, here is something to think about before I continue to the next book: despite all the support the authors seem to give to the concept of free speech, Digital Music Wars is copyrighted.
Kusek, David, Gerd Leonhard, and Susan Gedutis Lindsay. The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution. Boston: Berklee Press, 2005. The Future of Music attempts to chart a map of where the digital music boom is headed, claiming that in ten or fifteen years, music will be as ubiquitous as water. The authors also detail the reasons for the record label’s troubles, share legal downloading sites and “inside” information about the music industry, and explain the psychology behind how labels market the music and how consumers choose what to buy. Kuesk, a musician, inventor, software developer, and professor, and Leonhard, a speaker, musician, business and technology expert, and self proclaimed “futurist” are experienced in the ways of writing. Everything about this book, down to the font itself, is designed to make it marketable to anyone who owns any type of music playing device. Although the authors obviously aimed for people who are already interested in the music industry, anyone who picks it up would probably find it interesting and easy to read, due to the short paragraphs, inclusive prose, and multiple journeys through the authors’ imaginations. Readers will benefit from the suggestions the authors give about finding the best sites and software for digital downloading, and from the “insider” viewpoint of the industry. They also share interesting facts, such as how instrumental video games have been in the promotion of certain artists’ work. The authors’ emphasis on this “music like water” theory almost makes one wonder if they’re planning on releasing a beta version of it soon. That aside, though, the book is enjoyable and informative, with interesting information and a great voice.
I especially liked The Future of Music. As of this writing, I haven't finished reading either book, but I'm looking forward to exploring more of Kusek and Leonhard's imaginations.
The more information I dredge up about the internet and its cornucopia of tools and applications, the more I believe the concept of privacy has ceased to exist.The web is no longer safe.I have discovered social bookmarking sites.
It makes me wonder about the consequences of my actions.What if I attempt to privately bookmark a page and I accidently make it public?I’d be completely exposed.The entire world could find out about my fascination with this video.(Ten points for Curious George, twenty negative points for Jack Johnsuck.)I would lose my street cred in an instant.It would be like catching The Game at a Hannah Montana concert.
But like most slightly depressing ideas, these stalker sites have a plus side.Because along with social bookmarking sites, I have also discovered (drum roll, please) RSS FEEDS.And, with the help of an ungodly tech-savvy person, I’ve discovered that combining the two saves me a ton of research.
My new best friend is Miguel Caetano.He doesn’t know I exist yet; in fact, his website is entirely in Portuguese (I think). But thanks to the combined efforts of del.icio.us and pageflakes, he has already directed me towards several glorious pages that will help me save the music industry.Alright, maybe they’ll just save my blog, but that’s a noble cause too, because someday my blog will help save the industry.
Miguel has a del.icio.us page where all his bookmarks are visible to anyone with a del.icio.us account.As of 24 hours ago, that includes me, too.He has thousands of sites bookmarked on del.icio.us, and adds several more daily.For those of you who know what “bundles” are, he only has one, and it only has one tag in it, which makes getting through his many topics a bit more difficult.There is one tag on fascism, and there are 1,566 tags on music, with hundreds of tags on everything from direito to Web 2.0 in between the two.
The only thing Miguel is consistent about is that he always writes a description of the webpage.Sometimes it is the first sentence of the page, and sometimes it is his own summary.Sometimes it is in English, sometimes, Italian.I would love to know exactly how many languages Mr. Caetano is fluent in.Here is one example:
If society members are to consider if there were ‘another way’, an intuitive response might be to ask if Societies could and should pursue equity relationships with nascent firms.
I found a ton of pages through Miguel that I will be checking up on again, but the one that stood out from the rest was Rolling Stone.“Rolling Stone?!” I can taste the indie faction of my legions of readers seething with betrayal.“How can you use them for your blog?”I have to admit, going to the suits for information had never crossed my mind.Why would I want to go to a corporate magazine for information I can get elsewhere?However, I am a staunch advocate of getting every viewpoint, even if said viewpoint is probably getting paid off to only print certain stories.
So, dear readers, congratulate me for trying to stay unbiased, do not shun me for selling out.In fact, I make no money from this, so selling out is literally impossible.Check out Miguel’s page; check out Rolling Stone’s blogs; I am sick and tired of the internet and I am going to go sit on my porch and pretend there are stars upon which to gaze in the smoggy skies of South Central.
I have climbed highest mountains I have run through the fields Only to be with you Only to be with you I have run I have crawled I have scaled these city walls These city walls Only to be with you But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
U2's chart-topping anthem (and one of my personal favorite songs) sums up eloquently what all of us here on planet Earth are feeling: a sense of searching. Some people turn to religion to fill the gaping emptiness; some turn to drugs so they just don't notice it anymore. And some people go to the internet. After all, Google is the best search engine.
The internet has everything a person needs to distract from his meaningless life, from soul mates to shopping. Interested parties can find websites and blogs dedicated to subjects as diverse as world politics and as obscure as horticulture.I have little interest in horticulture; however, I have followed with marked interest the changes the internet has made in the music industry.
Since the appearance of Napster and subsequent sites like Kazaa and Limewire, record labels have struggled to adapt. For years they tried cracking down on downloading fiends worldwide. You probably remember that crooked twelve-year-old who made headlines when a record company sued her for thousands of dollars for downloading songs. Then iTunes made downloading legal. At least then the companies could make some money off of the downloading. However, it didn’t solve one big change that the internet brought upon the companies.
In the early ‘90s, if a person heard a song on the radio that he just had to have, he went out and bought the entire CD. If he was lucky, he might have been able to buy the single. Today, if a person hears a song he likes, she just downloads it for a dollar (or for free), and probably never even thinks about the other songs. This is especially true of one hit wonders like Jet or Strawberry Alarm Clock, and songs like “Low” by Flo-rida and "Crank That" by Soulja Boy. The songs are great and people are downloading them like crazy, but the rest of the album goes virtually unnoticed except by die-hard fans.
So why am I, a mere college student, blogging about the problems the industry is having?
Like most teenagers growing up in the Los Angeles area, I fancied myself a sort of music connoisseur amongst the sheep of my generation. I listened to the Mars Volta, not Blink 182. I saw bands in coffee shops and garages, not the Gibson Amphitheatre. I was so proud of my knowledge of superior music of which the masses knew nothing. My bubble burst when I discovered that most of the “indie” bands I paid tribute to were in fact Billboard Top 100 hits, often reaching as high as gold and platinum. I finally conceded that I was just another member of the flock.
In spite of my decidedly bourgeois tastes, I’ve always wanted to be a part of the music industry. I wanted to be an A&R rep so I could spend all my time at concerts, looking for great new bands. But with record companies so afraid of losing even more money, the A&R reps aren’t really allowed to sign bands that aren’t generic and sure to bring in lots of preteen fans. Entire genres have devolved into a bland, homogenized soup. Thus another effect of the internet on the music industry has been the thwarting of my childhood aspirations.
The survival of the music industry ultimately depends on the innovation of the music industry. Maybe the record labels will think of a way to utilize the internet to their benefit. Right now they are always one (or two or three hundred) steps behind it. Perhaps someday they will get it right. Until then, I will faithfully blog about their misadventures in the ever changing world of music.
(Post#2)
Perusing the interweb the other day, I found this lovely blog from which I will be pulling some information in the future. The name is Coolfer , and it's all about the business aspect of the music industry. The author flaunts himself as a seasoned professional:
Glenn Peoples has worked in the music industry for over eight years and founded Coolfer.com while working and living in New York City. He currently lives in Nashville and attends Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.
Although Glen lives in Nashville, the blog touts itself as being "New York-based," perhaps to lend a sense of credibility. Nashville is a huge music metropolis as well, so maybe he just liked the sound of New York better. He started the blog in 2003, with the intention of exposing "the fledgling blogosphere to the insights of a person within the music industry." Well well well, Mr. Hoity Toity.
Glenn posts nearly every day (at least every weekday, and often more than one post per day). He’s quite dedicated to his blog, often writing lengthy and detailed posts on his topics. The posts tend to stick to the realm of business. Glen makes it clear to his readers that "Coolfer.com does not review albums or concerts." He only will mention an album if it is related to music business.
The technorati authority rank of Coolfer is not as high as some blogs (it sits at 288), but it is highly regarded by such industry types as senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine Nathan Bracket , and claims to be "a respected and widely read source of news and opinion."
Glenn’s business school background bleeds into his writing—he often blogs about the consequences that certain actions will have on whatever business it is he happens to be discussing. He is professional about it, however, admitting weak points in his arguments when they do appear, and keeping his observations concise and on topic.
Out of Glenn’s more recent posts, two stood out to me as being particularly interesting and relevant to my blog. The first was his EMI Recap: Hands' Letter To Investors, Rumors About Recorded Music, which chronicled the troubling debt of media giant EMI. The second was A Familiar Dilemma, in which he compared the plight of an author who was tricked into leaking his book over the internet to record companies who do not know how to deal with the file-sharing world on the internet. This comparison of art forms in trouble intrigued me because it created a means for closer assessment of just how much the record industry is struggling.
Both these posts were relevant to mine because they deal with problems in the music industry which the internet caused by changing the status quo. Future posts will delve more deeply into these issues, but for now I merely point out these posts for your own edification and interest.
Although I will be checking for new information on Coolfer, my blog will differ in that it will not be limited only to the business side of the industry. I will also discuss the technological components of the industry and the effects they have on it.
Having said that, music business is still part of my blog and I will definitely be writing about the troubles that record labels continue to immerse themselves in. God knows they will give me ample fodder for my posts.
(Post #3)
Who would have ever thought that sites entirely dedicated to music could be stuffy? Such is the case, however, in most of the blogs that are directly relatable to my topic: technology and the music industry. Many read like newspaper articles, informing the readers of new developments in the world of music, without infusing any soul into the words themselves. Listening Post is one blog that stands out from the inexpressive crowd. It benefits from having several contributors who add unique voices to the site.
Eliot van Buskirk is the editor of the site, and he focuses more on the news and technology posts on the blog. Van Buskirk knows the value of letting his news speak for itself. Take, for example, this post about Stonehenge. Any attempt at comedy would have paled in comparison to the videos themselves, so he very wisely chose to simply explain the videos and post them. Nobody outwits Christopher Guest.
(If you like Spinal Tap at all, you need to watch these videos. Mr. Guest has once again outdone himself. Here are the other four.)
Van Buskirk does manage to slip in subtle humor into most of his posts, however newsy they might be. His wit is dry and often of the ironic persuasion, as shown at the end of his post “Dead Men Do Sell Nikes:
No doubt this would have been a huge hit with Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Jerry Garcia and Jim Morrison, who are, of course, all widely remembered for their love of synergistic marketing, product endorsements and co-branding opportunities.
(I bet they're all really laughing about this. Kurt is, anyway. He always loved messing with his fans.)
The rest of his post, however, reads like the straight newspaper article-style of writing so popular with other industry news bloggers. He sticks to the facts, supporting them with direct quotes and links to his sources. His posts are well-proofread, grammatically correct, and intelligent-sounding, while still easy to read (again going back to the newspaper feel).
Another favorite van Buskirk line of mine comes in the post “Fans Rip Metallica a New One.” He spends the entire blog quoting outraged fans who claim that Metallica has done “too little, too late” in making their new website, Mission: Metallica, a more direct-to-fan program. The quotes tend to run along the lines of "Lars is a douche bag" and "Metallica...I hope your music rots on store shelves." Van Buskirk follows all this up with a sarcastic, "People -- tell us how you really feel.”
Van Buskirk’s subtlety contrasts with the other bloggers on the site, such as Scott Thill, whose posts are more artist-centered, giving him much more room for development of a personality and voice in his writing. He is bolder with his posts, suggesting in one that his readers attend an exhibit “naked, in the spirit of ‘Gobbledigook.’” If van Buskirk is the news reporter of Listening Post, then Thill is the odd one with the weekly column.
I loved perusing the posts on Listening Post and they will inspire anyone interested in music in general and the industry in particular. The writers know a lot about the business and they choose a wide variety of editorial treats to appeal to every palate.
Who would have ever thought that sites entirely dedicated to music could be stuffy? Such is the case, however, in most of the blogs that are directly relatable to my topic: technology and the music industry. Many read like a newspaper article, informing the readers of new developments in the world of music, without infusing any soul into the blog itself. Listening Post benefits from having several contributors who add separate elements to the site.
Eliot van Buskirk is the editor of the site, and he focuses more on the news and technology posts on the blog. The subject matter of van Buskirk’s posts is often hilarious enough on its own to make too much of an attempt at added humor seem superfluous. Take, for example, this post about Stonehenge. Any attempt at comedy would have paled in comparison to the videos themselves, so he very wisely chose to simply explain the videos and post them. Nobody outwits Christopher Guest.
(If you are a Spinal Tap fan at all, I highly recommend watching these videos. There are links to the other four on YouTube.)
Van Buskirk does, however, manage to slip in subtle humor into most of his posts, however newsy they might be. His wit is dry and often of the ironic persuasion, as shown at the end of his post “Dead Men Do Sell Nikes:”
No doubt this would have been a huge hit with Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Jerry Garcia and Jim Morrison, who are, of course, all widely remembered for their love of synergistic marketing, product endorsements and co-branding opportunities.
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last 50 years, all of the abovementioned artists were outspoken opponents of the corporatocracy.
The rest of his post, however, sticks to the straight newspaper article-style of writing so popular with other industry news bloggers; he sticks to the facts, supporting them with direct quotes and links to his sources. His posts are well-proofread, grammatically correct, and intelligent-sounding, while still easy to read (again going back to the newspaper feel).
Another favorite van Buskirk line of mine comes in the post “Fans Rip Metallica a New One.” He has spent the entire blog quoting outraged fans who claim that Metallica has done “too little, too late” in making their new website, Mission: Metallica, a more direct-to-fan program. He follows all this up with, "People -- tell us how you really feel.”
Van Buskirk’s subtlety contrasts with the other bloggers on the site, such as Scott Thill, whose posts are more artist-centered, giving him much more room for development of a personality and voice in his writing. He is bolder with his posts, suggesting in one that his readers attend an exhibit “naked, in the spirit of ‘Gobbledigook.’” If van Buskirk is the newspaper reporter of Listening Post, then Thill is the odd one with the weekly column.
I very much enjoyed reading through the blogs on Listening Post and I recommend it to anyone interested in music in general and the industry in particular. The writers are knowledgeable and they choose a wide variety of treats to appeal to every palate.
For this next post, I am going to profile a similar blog which from which I will be pulling some information in the future. The blog is called Coolfer , and its description reads:
Coolfer is a New York-based blog that covers music and the music industry. Started in August of 2003 as a way to expose the fledgling blogosphere to the insights of a person within the music industry, Coolfer.com has grown to become a respected and widely read source of news and opinion.
Also located in the about section of the site is a description of the blogger behind it:
Glenn Peoples has worked in the music industry for over eight years and founded Coolfer.com while working and living in New York City. He currently lives in Nashville and attends Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.
Glenn posts nearly every day (at least every weekday, and often more than one post per day). He’s quite dedicated to his blog, often writing lengthy and detailed posts on his topics. He generally keeps his posts to the realm of business, and makes this clear to his readers. He explains:
Coolfer.com does not review albums or concerts. If there is an interesting business-related aspect to a new release, Coolfer.com will try to mention it.
The technorati authority rank of Coolfer is not as high as some blogs (it sits at 288), but it is highly regarded by such industry types as senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine Nathan Bracket. Glenn’s business school background is quite apparent in his writing—he often blogs about the consequences that certain actions will have on whatever business it is he happens to be discussing. He is professional about it, however, admitting weak points in his arguments when they do appear, and keeping his observations concise and on topic.
The second was A Familiar Dilemma, in which he compared the plight of an author who was tricked into leaking his book over the internet to record companies who do not know how to deal with the file-sharing world on the internet.
Both these blogs were relevant to mine because they deal with problems in the music industry which were brought by the internet changing the way things are done. Future blogs will delve more deeply into these issues, but for now I’m merely pointing out these topics on Coolfer as interesting and worth reading.
Although I will be checking for new information on Coolfer, my blog will differ in that it will not be limited only to the business side of the industry. This is, of course, a huge part of my blog and I will often blog about the troubles that companies like the abovementioned labels continue to immerse themselves in; however, I will also discuss the technological components of the industry and the effects they have on it.
I enjoyed stumbling upon Coolfer and I hope you will check it out too!
With album sales at record lows and in the face of a recession, record companies are changing the way they do business. The age of the 360 deal has arrived. The hype that exploded when Live Nation inked a 360 deal with Madonna last fall has continued at relatively high levels. But is this new craze all it is cracked up to be?