“The term ‘music industry’ is a misnomer. In reality the ‘music industry’ is not one industry, it is several independent industries. This is an important distinction because if we say that there is a “crisis in the music industry” it suggests an equal amount of misfortune for everyone (musicians, the recording industry, the live-music industry, Internet radio, etc.) and in fact this not true. Misuse of the term ‘music industry’ distorts the reality of the situation. For example:” —> click on this.

OHHHHHHHHHH!!!  Ha, record industry sucks and I have to change some words on this blog now…

“Duncan Freeman, the man behind Band Metrics, has added another venture, MusicScout. It’s a free location aware mobile music smartphone app that enables you to express your thoughts about the band you’re watching in real-time from the venue.  The Android app is available now, and the iPhone app will be available once approved by Apple in about 2 weeks.” -> Read ON!

HypeBot.com is really rad.

If only the internet was free…

“Everyone’s trying to invent a way to actually make money doing something that matters, something that’s creative that they enjoy,” – Ruban Nielson

The Mint Chicks are going experimental - with their business plan…

Here is the link to an interview with Ruban about the bands plans to charge fans $5 for the opportunity to remix/cover the single Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! and win an opening slot with them.

In another article on Stuff we find out the band has also quit Warner and are offering their latest EP Bad Buzz exclusively on a new Kiwi start up, MusicHy.pe.

Annabel Youens, the spokesperson for MusicHy.pe shares some strong views about Major Labels in the story, saying they are a drag on the industry and “hoovering” cash from bands.

Although this new model for selling music is still mostly unproven, it’s nice to see major labels being cut out of the equation.

Good luck I guess.

Read the rest of Luke Appleby’s story on Stuff.

For more background on MusicHy.pe from BusinessWire, click HERE.

“For all the talk of the MySpace-assisted success of Arctic Monkeys or Lily Allen, it’s hard not to think that one of the web’s biggest effects might actually be the opposite of the kind of will-of-the-people surge that powered those artists into the limelight. Instead, the net might have made music a more scattered, microcosmic experience, where a wealth of blogs and messageboards mean that anything, no matter how recherche, can find an audience – just not a stadium-filling, platinum-selling one.” Read on traveller

In this feature, The Guardian’s Alexis Petridus uses a “parlour game” to give perspective on how music can change over a decade, or in the case of the noughties, how it didn’t change. What changed instead was the industry and the technology. But why not the music? 

At a guess I’d say the internet is to blame (as usual).  It makes old musical movements easy to peer into. People can enjoy a large range of songs that hark back to specific time periods which have to be interpreted as best we can, with many re-inventing sounds and fashions that align with their personalities the most appropriately. In our constrainingly self aware times, pop music, like a Tarantino film, is a cultural pastiche.

“In the most recent sign that Apple is looking at alternative ways for people to store and play their digital music, the company has agreed to buy Lala, a four-year-old start-up based in Palo Alto, Calif., a person with knowledge of the deal said Friday.” – Read more

Apple take on music streaming business alongside their relatively successful (As opposed to record companies) iTunes system of customers purchasing songs individually and downloading.

“Faced with shrinking market shares, fragmenting audiences, disappearing brick-and-mortar recorded music retailers and a continued double-digit decline in compact disc sales, Canadian independent record labels that exclusively sold and distributed CDs until a few years ago are acting as agents and booking concert tours for their artists.” – Read on here

There is really no doubting the power of music to affect change. Especially when it has been wrenched from the hands of threatening copyright owners and put in the hands of average citizens like you and me through a process of de-centralisation that continues despite the industry leaders best efforts to ebb the free flow of music. Read more from the Business Standard’s Craig Fernandes –> here.

De-centralisation is my Music Industry buzz-word of the day. This article makes the point that, coupled with ideas in Wired blogger, Chris Anderson’s “freeconomics” post, music can be shared and stored in abundance. Fans have a greater choice of music from more sources than ever before.

Oh no, the “music industry” can’t capitalize on this. Even in retrospect, it’s possible there was never anything they could have done about it. Glenn Peoples from Billboard says the Music industry could not have made a deal with file sharers back in 2000, shortly after Napster went online,  due to the complexity of the business.

But the “music industry’s” troubles don’t translate into trouble for musicians or for fans, so lets get loose and make the most of new innovations the internet is offering for free! I’ll do a page on websites I have found which allow people to sell and promote their products soon. Sick of reading about labels. It is one whinny, negative aspect of change for the better.

Bye bye now.

According to new information received from music industry insiders, it turns out that Spotify isn’t ripping off the artists, the labels are.

By allowing its users to access millions of songs for free, the music streaming Spotify has revolutionized the music industry by handing them a potential competitor to illegal downloading. – > Read full article on Torrent Freak.

Shucks, those crazy labels!

“IMNZ, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and WHK Business Growth are banding together to
make possible fully funded business training for the music industry.” Read on here.

Independent Music New Zealand are offering music industry training for New Zealand record labels and music managers. The course takes half a day…

This seems too quick, but according to the article they cover lots of sticky topics for musicians like ownership rights, royalties and common tax deductions, which are useful to anyone who is contracted or owns a small business.