DISCLAIMER: Music files shared here are for sampling purposes only and are intended to bring joy to music lovers. I strongly believe that music-sharing results in more awareness for artists and as a result, more revenue. If your music is featured in a Share Me Sunday post and you are opposed to this sharing philosophy, please email me at info@shinydotbulletin.com and I will take the file down right away. Respect.
Music industry types have put on their thinking caps and come up with a new way to extract another few pennies out of the value of a copyright: licensing lyrics to clothing manufacturers. EMI Music Publishing is the latest to embrace the trend, having made a deal with the British grocery store Sainsbury’s “Tu Clothing” line that will involve printing lyrics from the publishing house’s 1.3 million-song catalog on designs for men, women and children.
Jonathan Channon, executive vice president for EMI, couldn’t resist a bit of wordplay: “Classic songs are part of the fabric of everybody’s lives, and we’re delighted that people will now be able to wear their favorite songs through this deal.” Get thee to a punnery, Channon.
Overall, I don’t think this is such a bad idea… it’s not going to make anyone rich, but following a microtransaction model makes sense, it’s the right direction. However, it does remind me of those awful days when me mum would buy our clothes at the local Dutch Boy. [shudder]
“It is no longer enough to be smart — all the technological tools in the world add meaning and value only if they enhance our core values, the deepest part of our heart. Acquiring knowledge is no guarantee of practical, useful application. Wisdom implies a mature integration of appropriate knowledge, a seasoned ability to filter the inessential from the essential.” — Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman
James Pew over at Studio Manifesto has taken great time and care to post an awesome collection of non-music oriented thoughts, ideas and links to inspire and guide the aspiring musician in his/her quest for personal success.
On July 28, 2008, ADM issued two sets of standards and guidelines: Advertisement Unit Standards and Downloadable Measurement Guidelines.
These guidelines and standards arose from the collaborative effort of our representative committees and an open comment period in which the entire online community was invited to provide feedback and input.
Advertisement Unit Standards
Final Version issued July 28, 2008. PDF Download
The purpose of the Advertisement Unit Standards is to provide baseline recommendations for advertisement units in order to better facilitate advertising transactions relating to downloadable media.
Download Measurement Guidelines
Final Version issued July 28, 2008. PDF Download
The purpose of the Download Measurement Guidelines are to establish baseline recommendations for how individual publishers, companies and organizations can measure how downloads are delivered to consumer audiences.
Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice introduced Bill C-61, which many have dubbed the Canadian DMCA, in June 2008. There was an immediate outcry from thousands of Canadians concerned that the bill would render illegal every day activities and harm both consumers and businesses.
The C-61 in 61 Seconds video competition is one way that you can speak out. Just post your video as a response to this video. We will post the best videos on the FairCopyright4Canada channel. Deadline for submission is September 1st. A great panel of judges that includes the Barenaked Ladies Steven Page and Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian will select the best of the best. The winners will be announced on September 15th.
To make sure that your voice for fair copyright in Canada is heard, be sure to write to your MP, the Minister, and join the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group today.
Okay - it took me a minute, but I get… Kanye and Absolut have joined forces to poke fun at lifestyle marketing, the kind of marketing the music business *believes* it lives or dies on (please note emphasis on *believe*)… Instead of going the aspirational route and portraying a rich, well-dressed Kanye hanging in an elegant club drinking Absolut (the Kanye you wish you could be), their tactic is to skip the vodka cocktails and smalltalk and get to the point - see Kanye, take a pill and be Kanye - straight-up. Fuck inference …
… but wait, aren’t they still trying to peddle Absolut to y’all?
There’s an idea here but it really smacks of insincerity, don’t you think? Or perhaps it’s terrible execution of a good idea that needs more fleshing out.
Time will tell. In terms of execution, there’s zero social media on the site currently, but you can sign up for a countdown alert via email… looks like something’s going to happen in ten days.
I guess the Violent Femmes are positioning themselves for a comeback. They’ve just posted their musical response to Gnarls Barkley’s awesome cover of Gone Daddy Gone - a cover of Crazy. Just read about it via Stereogum.
Yes, you read that right, 54 whole seconds are available right now for you to enjoy and share with all of your friends. ‘Cause really, who doesn’t fall all over the keyboard to share incomplete music with their friends… and hopefully in the end that’s enough to spark pre-orders for the limited edition vinyl coming on June 24th…
Excuse the sarcasm, but geez guys what an asshole strategy, do you hate your fans? Not only that - it’s a cover! You’re offering a snippet of a cover!
In the age of consumer backlash against DRM (offering snippets is definitely a lo-tech version of DRM), offering snippets is bad strategy in my books - I don’t care if you’re the Violent Femmes or Prince or aunt Zelda on the sitar… don’t do it.
As for pre-selling limited edition vinyl… some free advice: sales are not your problem right now, it’s awareness… give the track for free now. It’ll be on every mp3 blog within a week and the sales will come.
Don’t piss off your fans, especially fresh out of the gate like this, it never works.
WuChess, a partnership between Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and ChessPark, a social network around online chess playing, launches today. It’s the “world’s first online chess and hip hop community” and will also include exclusive videos and mp3 of the “hottest cats in hip hop.”
See a tour of the service here. That’s as far as most of you’ll get on WuChess, because, incredibly, they’re charging $48/year to join. ChessPark, by contrast, at least has a free version (but no videos or mp3s, sadly). The company promises to donate “a portion of the profits” to the Hip Hop Chess Federation.
Awesome. Hip hop, chess and $48 per year - definite winner.
Muzicons is a new music sharing site that lets you create a widget (or Muzicon) to host on your blog. The idea is that you allow others to “hear” your current emotion.
Here’s mine - “I’m a Moon Around You” by 22-Pistepirkko:
A cute twist on iMeem… bonus: you upload your own mp3.
Whole Foods Moves Into Void Left By Starbucks
Posted by Charlie Moran on 05.02.08 @ 05:00 PM
The only music I’ve ever seen at a grocery store has been in those New Age CD displays, where you can push a picture of a waterfall and hear the sounds of rushing water or a photo of Machu Pichu and you hear Andean flute music. If you’re crazy enough to like this sort of thing, you can pick up the CD and fill your home with mood music like a Glade plug-in. But besides that, who’s shopping for music when they’re busy squeezing tomatoes or ordering sliced deli meats?
Whole Foods thinks it knows the answer. Yesterday the grocery chain announced a new initiative with Inspire Entertainment to bring the first of what it hopes will be many hand-picked CDs to its stores. Apparently, there are already 130 stand-alone displays for music in the company’s stores, and Whole Foods has been selling a small selection of discs at the check-out for some time now — although SFS has never noticed them before. Inspire claims the displays have tripled music sales, although who knows the kind of scale that’s on.
The first artist in the Whole Foods Artist Discovery Series will be Greg Laswell, currently signed to Vanguard Records, a historic indie label that was once the home to the Weavers and Paul Robeson. Laswell’s second LP is due from Vanguard this July, but before then he’ll drop the EP “How The Day Sounds,” which will be sold in Whole Foods locations this month.
This news arrived within a week of Starbucks’ announcement that it would be scaling back its Hear Music Label by handing off “day-to-day operations” to Concord Music Group, the indie label it’s been working with. But, as opposed to Starbucks, Whole Foods doesn’t appear to be entering the record business with its own label, and it’s not clear if Laswell’s new EP will be an exclusive in retail locations.
Man o man… here’s my take away, my favourite quote: “If you’re crazy enough to like this sort of thing, you can pick up the CD and fill your home with mood music like a Glade plug-in.”
@ Whole Foods: I look to you to be experts on organic, fair-trade, ethical and healthy food choices. Why are you wasting resources to enter this space? How is it a value-add to anyone? No one goes to the grocery store to buy music and I doubt they ever will. If anything, this program devalues your position as an expert on food and it devalues the musician. It devalues music.
@ Musicians: do what you do best - make music! If you’re good, your cream will rise to the top. It will. Stop looking for the easy way to fame - it doesn’t exist, it’s gone. Get it through your head. If you love what you do, make it sustainable. Make music, utilise the web, play live shows - you *can* make a living playing music if you’re committed to music and not attached by the ego to a desire for fame. Only you can avoid becoming a Glade plug-in.
LOS ANGELES - A company backed by investors including Will Smith and major record labels has launched a new Web site offering 10,000 free, high-definition music videos.
Universal Music Group announced Wednesday that it has joined EMI and Sony BMG in backing Santa Monica-based PluggedIn.
The Web site features music videos from artists such as Gwen Stefani, Green Day, Coldplay and Norah Jones and is powered by a new media player that supports full-screen high-definition video.
PluggedIn also announced a partnership with Smith’s production and management company Overbrook Entertainment.
Tommy Hilfiger and Sony BMG have now teamed on a tubular concept called TommyTV. The online video destination features concert footage, artist interviews, music videos, and other artist-related content, all within a 3D, flexible interface. The action, at TommyTV.com, already features concerts from Faithless, Good Charlotte, Bruce Hornsby, DJ Krush, Five for Fighting, John Legend, and Michael Jackson.
The beta release builds upon an earlier Hilfiger concept called Tommy Sessions, which features artists performing within smaller, studio environments. Now, Hilfiger is tapping YouTube to organize an audition and voting process for promising acts, and rewarding the winners with TommyTV slots. Sony BMG may pluck new talent from the concept as well, part of a quickly-shifting A&R process.
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