Okay, yes, 99% of America may know more intimate details about Paris Hilton than is healthy for anyone, but keeping on top of the names and careers of performing artists outside of those few still successfully clinging to the major mega-corporations can seem a daunting task. We're told that everything you need to know is available via the Internet, but how to shake out what you need from all those pages?
Flavorpill
Newspapers used to offer a centralized place to learn a little bit about a lot of topics. Economic forces are reshaping their ability to do that job well, and alternative media sources available online are picking up the slack. Still, with no common place to turn, it can feel like you have to already know what you want before you can find it.
So how to keep on top of the trend-setting events happening beyond your own creative daily grind? Stories might be scarce in your local daily, but Flavorpill delivers a culturally-slanted selection of art, book, fashion, music, and world news right to your inbox. Plus, if you live in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, or Miami, you can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter that delivers capsule overviews of buzz-attracting shows in your town. The service is free; all you have to do is visit the site, enter your email address, and select which newsletters you wish to receive.
ArtistShare
Along with the major dailies, the major labels in the record industry are also anxiously monitoring their bottom lines. Artists who are tired of getting lost in this shuffle have taken up many new approaches to recording and distributing their music independently, but perhaps none so sophisticatedly as those involved with the alternative-release model built by ArtistShare. Participating artists raise funding for their recording projects through their fan base by offering special interactivity options, like the opportunity to download scores-in-process or watch a recording session. You might pre-order a download of a new album with bundled interview content for $9.95 or sign up to be an underwriter ($1,000 and up) and snag a VIP invite into the production and release process. This is no throw-away vanity project for the artists: Maria Schneider and Billy Childs have already picked up Grammy awards for discs released via ArtistShare, and Bob Brookmeyer and Brian Lynch have just received 2007 Grammy award nominations. See how this can integrate with an artist's career by visiting Schneider's website.
Yahoo!Groups
The official channels, even those of the off-the-charts and under-the-radar sorts, can only be so useful for your particular areas of interest and concern. Services like Yahoo!Groups (or googlegroups, if you prefer -ed.) allow users to establish a communication network of their own or join one already up and running: think of it as a way to plug into a line of conversation between fellow colleagues and enthusiasts—online or via email—whenever you wish. There is no cost to start or join a group.
There are 24,949 groups talking about the performing arts on Yahoo already, so finding a good fit for you can take some time, but once you do, you'll be able to read what others have to say about a topic and email your thoughts and ask questions of a whole group with just one click. Or you can start your own group, even with just a handful of people, and build it as you meet new colleagues and invite them to join. All posts are archived, and you can also use the Yahoo!Group site to share and store networking resources such as files, photos, and a group calendar.
Though it can sound like an amateur tool for hobbyist, it's also a remarkable professional connector. I'm part of a group that includes several hundred women music journalists—many of them writers for the major dailies and glossies—and amazingly the conversation has been going strong for several years now.
Showing posts with label musicians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musicians. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Is This Really Helping Us? Mp3 blogs and the sublime chaos of online music
2006 has been a big year for music. Everything is changing so fast that it’s hard to know what’s a fad and what’s a fundamental shift in the way musicians and fans do business. Myspace seems ubiquitous. YouTube has made celebrities out of nobodies. Mp3 blogs are everywhere, and now they are all being archived and aggregated. Microsoft has entered the mp3 player fray, and what the hell is a mog? The New York rock scene is burgeoning, and the RIAA is kicking and screaming and scrambling for any penny it can find.
The question that I hope to answer is how, out of all of this confusion and over-saturation, do musicians stand to benefit? Call me an anarchist, but as a composer I can’t help feeling intensely optimistic about the chaos surrounding music this year. And here’s why:
Among musicians and record executives alike there is an idea that people have a limited amount of room in their lives for music. (So by extension, access to free music will fill some if not all of that space). The problem with this is that it doesn’t take into account the fact that digital music isn’t just changing music, it’s also seriously changing us. The fact that iPods create instant and random access to vast music collections, and that google and myspace create instant access to artists and their music means to me that musical “meta-geography” is drastically compressed. We get more music in less time and less space. But what does that mean?
1. Music is worth less now that the supply lines are so vastly broadened.
2. Fans know about more artists and are connected online to the artists they like.
3. Fans are more connected to musicians’ touring schedules, merchandise and videos.
4. Mp3 Blogs, podcasts, and web radio have created a host of new ways for musicians to get their music to an audience.
5. Internet users are becoming more knowledgeable about music because they hold more artists in their heads (and iPods/computers) at once. Just as how multi-disc CD players made extended and randomized listening possible, digital/online music has taken that plurality to a new extreme.
I won’t argue that this is all good news for major record labels and their artists. Those corporations depend to a certain degree on a uniformity of taste to skyrocket their profits. And the uniformity of taste is in a downward spiral. From the New York Times (December 11, 2006):
“Consumer fickleness has become evident on the Billboard charts, where the old blockbuster album appears to be a dying breed. More titles have come and gone from the No. 1 place on the magazine’s national album sales chart this year than in any other year since the industry began computerized tracking of sales in 1991. Analysts say that reflects the lackluster staying power even among songs in demand.”
I would call this “fickleness” a new plurality in global taste. I'd also call it good news. It’s not that people are listening to less music. It’s that people don’t depend as much on the record labels and Clear Channel to tell them what to buy. Now they can go on iTunes or eMusic and preview the album before they buy it. They can go to Hype Machine or elbo.ws to link to reviews/downloads and hear tracks, or go to an artist’s myspace page. And for the independent recording artists this is huge because they can now compete. The fact is that all of these new avenues are crawling with talented independent acts, which the record industry has managed to keep out of big radio and record shops for decades.
Of course there are problems:
1. A lot of mp3 blogs are just trying to get traffic (and adsense dollars), so they post whatever is buzzing on hype-machine and feed a kind of hyped conformity.
2. Many people are using Mp3 blogs to freeload tracks. (But I think all of that is actually reifying the value and meaning of “The Album” which is rarely posted in its entirety. And in my opinion most artists that aren’t already on a major label benefit from some free downloads of their tracks. I argue that some one would be more likely to see you live, buy your album, pass you along, if they’ve gotten a good taste of your music for free.)
3. Most Mp3 blogs are focused on one sector of taste: indie-rock. So the hip-hop, classical, folk, electronic, experimental, blogs might need to sprout their own hype machines so that their posts aren’t drowned out by Mp3-hunters/bloggers feverishly hunting for the next not-so-big-big-thing in indie rock.
4. The iTunes model of a paid download with restricted sharing capabilities is fading. CDs are things still worth buying and mp3s are everywhere for free, so why buy an mp3 that you can’t share?
So how can independent musicians use the new landscape of digital music promotion?
Find the blogs, podcasts, online zines and web radio programs that feature the kind of music you play. These blogs are always looking for new music, but case them first. I’d say, again, that the majority of Mp3 blogs right now are dedicated to alternative and indie rock. But there are blogs dedicated to hip-hop, dance, electronic, world, folk, experimental, classical, eclectic, country, etc. (post suggestions for non-indie rock blogs in comments), and most of the "indie-rock" blogs are open to many types of music. Read them and take note of what they request of musicians submitting their music. Many have disclaimers like this one from Said the Gramophone “if you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch: (emails here) please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments,” or this amazing one from Confessions of a Music Addict. Be respectful, send smart and well put together emails, don’t spam and maybe you’ll get some bloggers to check out your CD, come to a show, write a review or post a few Mp3s.
Hype-Machine and elbo.ws are Mp3 blog aggregators, which means they archive the blog reviews and postings that your band receives. These are sites that actually keep track of the kind of press which was previously way under the radar. Of course if your band starts to get serious buzz from blogs, hype-machine will be great help, but that’s kind of like saying if you jump in the lake you’ll be wet.
It remains to be seen what a site like Hype-Machine will contribute to independent musicians’ struggle to connect with people who will like and support them. Hype Machine and friends have helped to fuel the frenzies around bands like Beirut et al but I don’t think the 20 year old who runs it has totally considered the way it’s shaping the hype that it wants to track.
Yet I’m still optimistic.
I’m optimistic that people all over the world are activating their own music tastes so much that they are creating serious new media force with mp3 blogs.
I’m optimistic that access to music has become so rapid online that if I want to hear the new Joanna Newsom album I can do it in one second.
I’m optimistic because even after listening to the whole thing on hype-machine I still couldn’t resist buying the album at a small record store in Greensboro.
I’m optimistic that a lot of musicians aren’t being so precious about when and where they are releasing their music. Leaking tracks to blogs and posting works in progress on myspace all draws fans in more and let’s people into the process in a great way.
I’m optimistic that musicians seem to be giving away their music more and more but also seem all the more hopeful about their chances at making a life out of music. I don’t think it’s false hope. The fact that the RIAA is hysterical about falling profits is good news for all the artists who have been and will be shut out of the Major Label Machine. The Internet is allowing those artists to market and distribute a lot more freely and effectively. The Internet is also making it more likely that the average Joe might listen to an independent act.
And finally I think that the more music people listen to the more variety and creativity they’ll desire. So the fact that more music is fitting into the same space in peoples’ lives is good news for anyone making music that is less than conventionally marketable. I hope that the chaos and innovation of online music culture actually goes hand in hand with more chaos and innovation in music making.
www.musicisfreenow.org
further reading:
Mp3 blogs Sell Out!
The Boston Globe on Mp3 Blogs
CNN Money on the Hype Machine
A summary of mp3 blog legality
Music is free now and here's why
How to Misuse the Hype Machine
Mp3 blog list on Hype-Machine
The question that I hope to answer is how, out of all of this confusion and over-saturation, do musicians stand to benefit? Call me an anarchist, but as a composer I can’t help feeling intensely optimistic about the chaos surrounding music this year. And here’s why:
Among musicians and record executives alike there is an idea that people have a limited amount of room in their lives for music. (So by extension, access to free music will fill some if not all of that space). The problem with this is that it doesn’t take into account the fact that digital music isn’t just changing music, it’s also seriously changing us. The fact that iPods create instant and random access to vast music collections, and that google and myspace create instant access to artists and their music means to me that musical “meta-geography” is drastically compressed. We get more music in less time and less space. But what does that mean?
1. Music is worth less now that the supply lines are so vastly broadened.
2. Fans know about more artists and are connected online to the artists they like.
3. Fans are more connected to musicians’ touring schedules, merchandise and videos.
4. Mp3 Blogs, podcasts, and web radio have created a host of new ways for musicians to get their music to an audience.
5. Internet users are becoming more knowledgeable about music because they hold more artists in their heads (and iPods/computers) at once. Just as how multi-disc CD players made extended and randomized listening possible, digital/online music has taken that plurality to a new extreme.
I won’t argue that this is all good news for major record labels and their artists. Those corporations depend to a certain degree on a uniformity of taste to skyrocket their profits. And the uniformity of taste is in a downward spiral. From the New York Times (December 11, 2006):
“Consumer fickleness has become evident on the Billboard charts, where the old blockbuster album appears to be a dying breed. More titles have come and gone from the No. 1 place on the magazine’s national album sales chart this year than in any other year since the industry began computerized tracking of sales in 1991. Analysts say that reflects the lackluster staying power even among songs in demand.”
I would call this “fickleness” a new plurality in global taste. I'd also call it good news. It’s not that people are listening to less music. It’s that people don’t depend as much on the record labels and Clear Channel to tell them what to buy. Now they can go on iTunes or eMusic and preview the album before they buy it. They can go to Hype Machine or elbo.ws to link to reviews/downloads and hear tracks, or go to an artist’s myspace page. And for the independent recording artists this is huge because they can now compete. The fact is that all of these new avenues are crawling with talented independent acts, which the record industry has managed to keep out of big radio and record shops for decades.
Of course there are problems:
1. A lot of mp3 blogs are just trying to get traffic (and adsense dollars), so they post whatever is buzzing on hype-machine and feed a kind of hyped conformity.
2. Many people are using Mp3 blogs to freeload tracks. (But I think all of that is actually reifying the value and meaning of “The Album” which is rarely posted in its entirety. And in my opinion most artists that aren’t already on a major label benefit from some free downloads of their tracks. I argue that some one would be more likely to see you live, buy your album, pass you along, if they’ve gotten a good taste of your music for free.)
3. Most Mp3 blogs are focused on one sector of taste: indie-rock. So the hip-hop, classical, folk, electronic, experimental, blogs might need to sprout their own hype machines so that their posts aren’t drowned out by Mp3-hunters/bloggers feverishly hunting for the next not-so-big-big-thing in indie rock.
4. The iTunes model of a paid download with restricted sharing capabilities is fading. CDs are things still worth buying and mp3s are everywhere for free, so why buy an mp3 that you can’t share?
So how can independent musicians use the new landscape of digital music promotion?
Find the blogs, podcasts, online zines and web radio programs that feature the kind of music you play. These blogs are always looking for new music, but case them first. I’d say, again, that the majority of Mp3 blogs right now are dedicated to alternative and indie rock. But there are blogs dedicated to hip-hop, dance, electronic, world, folk, experimental, classical, eclectic, country, etc. (post suggestions for non-indie rock blogs in comments), and most of the "indie-rock" blogs are open to many types of music. Read them and take note of what they request of musicians submitting their music. Many have disclaimers like this one from Said the Gramophone “if you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch: (emails here) please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments,” or this amazing one from Confessions of a Music Addict. Be respectful, send smart and well put together emails, don’t spam and maybe you’ll get some bloggers to check out your CD, come to a show, write a review or post a few Mp3s.
Hype-Machine and elbo.ws are Mp3 blog aggregators, which means they archive the blog reviews and postings that your band receives. These are sites that actually keep track of the kind of press which was previously way under the radar. Of course if your band starts to get serious buzz from blogs, hype-machine will be great help, but that’s kind of like saying if you jump in the lake you’ll be wet.
It remains to be seen what a site like Hype-Machine will contribute to independent musicians’ struggle to connect with people who will like and support them. Hype Machine and friends have helped to fuel the frenzies around bands like Beirut et al but I don’t think the 20 year old who runs it has totally considered the way it’s shaping the hype that it wants to track.
Yet I’m still optimistic.
I’m optimistic that people all over the world are activating their own music tastes so much that they are creating serious new media force with mp3 blogs.
I’m optimistic that access to music has become so rapid online that if I want to hear the new Joanna Newsom album I can do it in one second.
I’m optimistic because even after listening to the whole thing on hype-machine I still couldn’t resist buying the album at a small record store in Greensboro.
I’m optimistic that a lot of musicians aren’t being so precious about when and where they are releasing their music. Leaking tracks to blogs and posting works in progress on myspace all draws fans in more and let’s people into the process in a great way.
I’m optimistic that musicians seem to be giving away their music more and more but also seem all the more hopeful about their chances at making a life out of music. I don’t think it’s false hope. The fact that the RIAA is hysterical about falling profits is good news for all the artists who have been and will be shut out of the Major Label Machine. The Internet is allowing those artists to market and distribute a lot more freely and effectively. The Internet is also making it more likely that the average Joe might listen to an independent act.
And finally I think that the more music people listen to the more variety and creativity they’ll desire. So the fact that more music is fitting into the same space in peoples’ lives is good news for anyone making music that is less than conventionally marketable. I hope that the chaos and innovation of online music culture actually goes hand in hand with more chaos and innovation in music making.
www.musicisfreenow.org
further reading:
Mp3 blogs Sell Out!
The Boston Globe on Mp3 Blogs
CNN Money on the Hype Machine
A summary of mp3 blog legality
Music is free now and here's why
How to Misuse the Hype Machine
Mp3 blog list on Hype-Machine
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Get the HINT
Are you a musician? Do you need advice or information about health insurance? You're not alone. A 2001 Future of Music Coalition survey of 2,700 musicians revealed that the complicated process of obtaining health insurance overwhelmed many of them. This is particularly true for emerging artists – the kind who are just building their careers and are so busy touring and recording that they have little time to think about practical things like health insurance.
FMC has recently launched a web-based portal called HINT – the Health Insurance Navigation Tool. The goal of this project is to provide informed, musician-friendly support and advice to curious musicians who need information about health insurance, for free.
There are two parts to this project: First, there are a number of articles that give an overview of the options available for musicians. The web portal also has links to valuable resources such as Fractured Atlas, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, The Artists’ Health Insurance Resource Center, among others.
Second, FMC offers a free telephone advice service where musicians and managers can talk to an insurance expert about their situation and get help evaluating their options. For many musicians, half the battle is just cutting through insurance jargon and getting advice that’s based on their own situation. The HINT website portal offers an easy way to schedule a telephone consultation with our health insurance experts, Alex Maiolo and Chris Stephenson (who also happen to be musicians), to discuss the options that best fit their needs.
Health insurance isn’t cheap, and there’s not much we can do about that barrier besides supporting federal policy changes that would inch us closer to universal care. But in the meantime, we can try and address the other obstacles. FMC sees this project as a safety net for those musicians who remain uninsured because of lack of support or clear information. Those musicians who reach out for help will get it.
Services covered in this post: HINT (free)
Visit HINT here.
FMC has recently launched a web-based portal called HINT – the Health Insurance Navigation Tool. The goal of this project is to provide informed, musician-friendly support and advice to curious musicians who need information about health insurance, for free.
There are two parts to this project: First, there are a number of articles that give an overview of the options available for musicians. The web portal also has links to valuable resources such as Fractured Atlas, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, The Artists’ Health Insurance Resource Center, among others.
Second, FMC offers a free telephone advice service where musicians and managers can talk to an insurance expert about their situation and get help evaluating their options. For many musicians, half the battle is just cutting through insurance jargon and getting advice that’s based on their own situation. The HINT website portal offers an easy way to schedule a telephone consultation with our health insurance experts, Alex Maiolo and Chris Stephenson (who also happen to be musicians), to discuss the options that best fit their needs.
Health insurance isn’t cheap, and there’s not much we can do about that barrier besides supporting federal policy changes that would inch us closer to universal care. But in the meantime, we can try and address the other obstacles. FMC sees this project as a safety net for those musicians who remain uninsured because of lack of support or clear information. Those musicians who reach out for help will get it.
Services covered in this post: HINT (free)
Visit HINT here.
Does SoundExchange Owe You Money?
SoundExchange has recently released a list of approximately 9,000 unregistered recording artists and approximately 2,000 unregistered independent record labels who have until Dec 15 to sign up and collect outstanding royalties totaling over $500,000. The not-for-profit organization – designated by the US Copyright Office to collect and distribute royalties from webcasters, satellite radio services and other digital music providers to recording artists and record labels – has registered over 22,000 performers over the last year, and is looking for a few more including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Eliane Elias, Joe Lovano, Ornette Coleman, Albita, Arthur Rubinstein, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Cubanismo, Daniela Mercury, Danilo Perez, Dave Valentin, and Devil in a Woodpile.
"For a lot of managers, they probably receive the form letter and throw it in the trash without even opening it," Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw said to the LA Times in an article last month. "Now that there's a big sum involved, people will start to pay attention."
The expiring royalties were collected from between February 1, 1996 and March 31, 2000. To see if your artist is owed money for plays since March 31, 2000 visit www.soundexchange.com. Signing up to collect royalties is the responsibility of artists and labels. It's free to apply to be a member and details are here.
Says Willem Dicke, communications director for SoundExchange on the search effort in October: “It's going pretty well so far. To date we have had 681 artists and 87 copyright owners who have come forward and contacted SoundExchange to collect their royalties and that's a good start.”
You can view the list of artists here.
The unpaid label List is here.
Services covered in this post: SoundExchange (free - and they pay YOU)
"For a lot of managers, they probably receive the form letter and throw it in the trash without even opening it," Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw said to the LA Times in an article last month. "Now that there's a big sum involved, people will start to pay attention."
The expiring royalties were collected from between February 1, 1996 and March 31, 2000. To see if your artist is owed money for plays since March 31, 2000 visit www.soundexchange.com. Signing up to collect royalties is the responsibility of artists and labels. It's free to apply to be a member and details are here.
Says Willem Dicke, communications director for SoundExchange on the search effort in October: “It's going pretty well so far. To date we have had 681 artists and 87 copyright owners who have come forward and contacted SoundExchange to collect their royalties and that's a good start.”
You can view the list of artists here.
The unpaid label List is here.
Services covered in this post: SoundExchange (free - and they pay YOU)
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