MediaShift

Mediatwits

Mediatwits #22: Remembering Steve Jobs with Two Biographers

by Mark Glaser

Welcome to the 22nd episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week is a special edition dedicated to Steve Jobs, the technology visionary who died on Wednesday. The news spread quickly online and on social media, with so many heartfelt memories, stories and old videos. And of course, in death as in life, Jobs remained a polarizing figure, with so many admirers and so many haters.

• October 6, 2011
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MusicShift

SXSW 2011: Music Apps Get Social; Streaming Battle Continues

by Jason Feinberg

SXSW is easily the most chaotic experience in the music industry. For the 14,000 people that attend the music conference it provides opportunities to immerse themselves in the ecosystem that powers much of the global business. It is one of the best times to tee up deals and relationships that could power significant developments for the rest of the...

• March 22, 2011
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MusicShift

4 Insights on the Future of the Music Industry

by Jason Feinberg

The music industry is still in tremendous turmoil. Yet it is also full of the kind of discussions needed to remake and rebuild the industry. Fostering those conversations is the purpose of the revamped New Music Seminar (NMS), the most recent edition of which took place last week in Los Angeles. The conference focused on the music industry's evolving economic...

• February 22, 2011
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MusicShift

Silverman: CD Sales to Co-Exist with Cloud, Digital Downloads

by Mark Glaser

There's a growing feeling in the American music business that the future will be in the cloud. No one will need physical CDs anymore, but will listen to music on streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify, which will eventually merge into a grand digital jukebox. But industry veteran Tom Silverman, who founded dance music label Tommy Boy Records in...

• February 4, 2011
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MusicShift

6 Predictions For the Music Industry in 2011

by Jason Feinberg

The music industry had a wild ride in 2010. Companies came and went, layoffs hit every sector, rapid growth delivered opportunity, and Spotify still didn't launch in the U.S. This year, 2011, should be no different. Here are some predictions and thoughts about what 2011 may hold for the music industry. 1. A Major Label Shakeup Despite all the talk...

• January 18, 2011
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MusicShift

10 Truths About the Modern Music Business

by Jason Feinberg

I've been covering the digital music business for MediaShift for more than 18 months, and in that time I've chronicled new services and examined key trends and news. Below is a look at 10 things that I've come to believe are true about the modern music business. 1. The "DIY Revolution" has Been Relatively Ineffective Although going it on your...

• October 14, 2010
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MusicShift

Rent vs. Own: The Streaming Music Debate Continues

by Jason Feinberg

The exponential growth of Internet bandwidth combined with the ability to significantly compress digital audio has impacted the music industry in numerous ways, for better and worse. Just as file trading created a massive network of pirated music, the ability to stream audio in real-time has allowed for a number of innovative content distribution and promotion methods. Digital music streaming...

• February 5, 2010
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MusicShift

The Year in Digital Music and Predictions for 2010

by Jason Feinberg

As 2009 comes to a close, and the music industry shifts focus to 2010, it's worth looking back at some of the noteworthy events of the past 12 months. This is also the right time to look ahead and predict what will happen next year. For some in the business, this year brought trouble after trouble; for others, 2009 was...

• December 16, 2009
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MusicShift

Record Labels Are Losing Power to Fans, Artists

by Jason Feinberg

Over the past month, I received a significant amount of feedback on my recent MediaShift article, What Will Record Labels Look Like in the Future?. People from all areas of the music industry reached out and shared their feelings on future business models, and strategies for moving forward. Regardless of their background, practically every person I spoke with agreed on...

• October 9, 2009
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MusicShift

What Will Record Labels Look Like in the Future?

by Jason Feinberg

The pioneers of the music industry couldn't have seen this coming in their wildest dreams. When publishers were selling sheet music in the late 1800s, the idea of people privately sharing their product, independent of location and physical constraints, would have seemed ridiculous. But now record labels have been decimated by the digital shift, and are rethinking their entire business...

• August 18, 2009
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MusicShift

The Time is Right for Direct-To-Fan Marketing of Music

by Jason Feinberg

As the music industry continues to evolve and search for a sustainable and profitable business model, the direct-to-fan (D2F) approach is making great advances, from artists just starting their career up to superstars with massive fan bases. Artists marketing and selling directly to their audience is not necessarily a new or revolutionary concept -- one can find examples of artists...

• June 24, 2009
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MusicShift

MusicTech Summit Breaks Through Tired Memes of Music Confabs

by Jason Feinberg

Survival in the music industry, particularly moving forward into the digital space, comes down to two core elements -- relationships and knowledge. And if you have the first one, you might not even need much of the second. One of the quickest, most effective, and fun ways to increase both your relationships and knowledge at the same time is attending...

• June 5, 2009
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MusicShift

How Bands Can Avoid Making 7 Big SEO Mistakes

by Jason Feinberg

There is an entire school of thought, as well as a sizable industry, dedicated to the optimization of websites to show up higher in Google search rankings. Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques vary from simple content changes to tricks that game Google's system, referred to as "black hat" SEO. Optimization can be a complex topic -- read Mark Glaser's article...

• April 29, 2009
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MusicShift

Maximizing the SXSW Experience with Social Media

by Jason Feinberg

Every year, thousands of bands, music industry professionals, and hardcore fans flock to Austin, Texas for the mighty South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival. Over the course of nine days, three distinct but interwoven conferences take place -- Interactive, Music, and Film. For the uninitiated, SXSW can be an overwhelming, daunting experience. But for tech-savvy patrons, technology has made the...

• April 1, 2009
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Digging Deeper

New Gatekeepers Twitter, Apple, YouTube Need Transparency in Editorial Picks

by Mark Glaser

There was a time when all you needed was a good record review in Rolling Stone or a stellar book review in the New York Times to get a boost in sales and popularity. But as those old gatekeepers lose their cachet in the digital age, a new set of gatekeepers has sprung up and they don't have bylines. These...

• March 26, 2009
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MusicShift

Five Tips for Musicians to Engage Their Fans Digitally

by Jason Feinberg

There was a time when celebrity musicians were positioned as unreachable idols. Those days are long gone; in today's wired marketplace, musicians have to forge a personal relationship with their audience to keep their fans' interest. And for many, that means creating opportunities for fans to have an inside look into all aspects of an artist's life.

• March 9, 2009
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MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

BronxRhymes Uses Locality, Maps to Track History of Hip-Hop

by Megan Taylor

BronxRhymes is an attempt to raise awareness of the history of hip-hop in the Bronx, the northwestern borough of New York City where the musical style is thought to have originated. The history of hip-hop is illustrated through rhymes and plotted on an online map.

• February 4, 2009
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Thought Leader Q&A

Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride Puts Fans in Charge of Bands

by Mark Glaser

The people formerly known as the audience (TPFKATA) are doing more than just fact-checking newspaper stories, time-shifting TV shows and capturing breaking news on their cameraphones. They are also helping run their favorite bands, designing and voting on concert T-shirts, mixing studio albums and even voting on which cities should be included in a band's tour. At the vanguard of...

• December 11, 2008
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Jennifer Woodard Maderazo

The Blessing and Curse of the iPod Touch

by Jennifer Woodard Maderazo

Here at MediaShift, we have had some less than perfect experiences with mobile devices and the Internet. Earlier this year, Mark wrote "a manifesto about what would make for a smarter smartphone." And last summer "I grumbled about the bad time I was having with my new smartphone." The Treo 680 was under-delivering in the one area that had convinced me to purchase the phone in the first place: surfing the web.

• March 14, 2008
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Jennifer Woodard Maderazo

Last.FM, Jango, Pandora Trounce Music Discovery via Radio

by Jennifer Woodard Maderazo

Back before the Internet, listening to the radio was a one-sided experience. Beyond the occasional call-in request, music radio was about listening to whatever the DJs decided to play whenever they decided to play it. But a new breed of online music services are giving listeners access to music content on demand, and most are for free. Can these...

• November 29, 2007
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Your Take Roundup

Musicians Should Diversify Income in Post-CD Era

by Mark Glaser

"If you love somebody, set them free." It's an old adage that Sting eventually made popular set to music, but it also applies to recorded music these days. More and more artists are giving away some tracks to help market themselves, either by selling other tracks, going on tour or hawking merchandise. As CD sales go down, and digital...

• October 16, 2007
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Digging Deeper

6 Maxims for Music Promotion in the Digital Age

by Mark Glaser

Not too long ago, there was an established route for promoting musical talent. The music would go into heavy rotation on the radio and MTV, the artist would play in a record store, and promotion might include an advertisement in a music magazine. But the old formula has been updated with the advent of digital distribution, social networking sites...

• October 4, 2007
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Your Take

How do you think bands should make money?

by Mark Glaser

With digital distribution and file sharing online, bands have been able to get their music in front of more fans than ever before. But because of file sharing and cheaper downloads, bands also might feel like they can't make as much money by selling music and will often give away some MP3 tracks. In fact, Radiohead recently decided to let...

• October 1, 2007
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MusicShift

Music Industry Losing Control Over Album Sales

by Mark Glaser

Why is the retail price of a new music CD $15.98? Where does this price come from and how is it set? Is it fair? For a long time, I've wondered about the high price of music, especially when bought in physical form as a compact disc. As longtime music buyers, we have a certain mindset about the CDs...

• January 22, 2007
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MusicShift

A Heated Conversation with the iPhone

by Mark Glaser

Last night, I was visited in a dream by the new Apple iPhone, which strangely enough I was able to converse with. The phone hovered above my head vaporously, its disembodied voice coming out of the speaker in silky, hushed tones. This is what I can remember from the conversation.

• January 12, 2007
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Open Source Reporting

Eliminating Physical Media Sprawl of CDs, DVDs, Books

by Mark Glaser

Lately, I have declared my own personal war on clutter in my life. That means all the paper littering my home office had to go. Those outdated hats from Burning Mans past also were out, as were old loose photos of places I don't remember. But for whatever reason, in each clean sweep I do of my stuff, I can never part with my collections of books, CDs, VHS and DVD movies (not to mention vinyl records and audiocassettes).

• September 28, 2006
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MusicShift

SpiralFrog Misses the Point of Digital Music

by Mark Glaser

First, let's congratulate the traditional music-on-wax industry for trying something new in digital music -- outside of suing its customers. The largest of the music companies, Universal Music Group, announced it would offer free music downloads through a startup called SpiralFrog supported by advertising. The other big music companies are negotiating with SpiralFrog, too. Clap, clap, clap.

• August 31, 2006
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MusicShift

Your Take Roundup::Do-It-Yourself Ways to Find Good Music

by Mark Glaser

Just as the Internet and technology have changed the way people get their news, the same can be said about finding good music. At one time in our unconnected, non-Internet past, we had to listen closely to the radio, studiously writing down artist names and song titles, and then going in search of the music at local record stores...

• May 12, 2006
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MusicShift

CD Swapmeet::La La Love Ya, Don't Mean Maybe

by Mark Glaser

I have a wall of CDs that sit around gathering dust. I always thought that one day I would just rip them -- i.e. copy them to my computer hard drive -- and get rid of them. But that day never came, and the CDs just sat there, unlistened to and unloved. Then came La La, a service that...

• March 10, 2006
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MusicShift

Your Take Roundup::Long Live CDs! But Not Too Long...

by Mark Glaser

The question put to you was "What is the shelf-life for CDs and packaged music?" Because there are so many new ways to get music -- downloaded on peer-to-peer networks or through services such as iTunes or streamed online -- I wondered how long people would gravitate to CDs or any type of physical package with prerecorded music. Adding...

• February 8, 2006
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