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Seth Godin on the Music Business

This is a special, Internet-exlusive episode of Music Business Radio featuring Seth Godin.  This episode was taped backstage at the 40th annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, TN.

We talked about the changing music business, how musicians and labels can make more money, how to get raving fans, word of mouth, tastemakers (and how to be one), licensing, and much more.

Special thanks to Jeff Walker and the staff of AristoMedia for help with this interview!

For future Internet-exclusive episodes, subscribe to our podcast.

Got a Record Deal... Lost It... Then Got it Back Again

Here's a bonus interview with Warner Brothers artist, Eric Hutchinson. Eric talks about getting a record deal, losing it, and then getting it back again...with the same label!

Like audio interviews? Get the podcast!

Music Business Predictions for 2009

Matt Rosoff has some interesting music industry predictions for 2009.

Thoughts?

Music City Remixed

My friend Craig Havighurst just completed a radio documentary for WPLN called Music City Remixed. 

This is a great documentary about how the music business is changing and what's going to happen after the major label shakeout is over.  I suggest everybody listen to it.

Download or listen below...

Thoughts?

The Real Reason Record Sales are Down

Record sales are down...at least traditional record sales.  Downloads are up.  It's not hard to go up when you're starting so low though.  Just a few years ago, we didn't even have downloadable music.

Of course, when you add everything up and include the downloads, record sales are still down.

Here's a list of the best-selling music artists.  It's likely we'll never see anybody added to that list.

Why?

It's not because of illegal downloads.  It's not because current music sucks.  It's not because of anything we did wrong.

Strangely enough, we'll never see another act added to that list because of something we've done right.

If your band was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you'd probably be pretty happy about it, right?  You'd be exposed to millions of people and chances are that you'll sell a few albums because of it.

If you'd been on Johnny Carson's version of the show 30 years ago, you would have been exposed to even more people...and sell even more albums.

If you'd been on the Ed Sullivan Show 20 years before that, you'd do more than just sell albums-- you'd be able to tour the country...and assuming you could keep up your level of performance, probably have a long career after that.

What's the difference? 

Choice.

When Ed Sullivan was on the air, we didn't have 400 channels to choose from...and that's how we was so big.  Johnny Carson has a similar situation.

Record labels were once like that.  Acts were able to sell millions of albums because consumers didn't have thousands of choices to pick from.

That's good news for you.  The "old school" system was great for the people who were on top.  If you were Frank Sinatra or Elvis, you got tons of attention.  There was no "middle class" though.  You were either getting the attention of record labels or you weren't.

Today, you can easily release an album.  In fact, it's so easy, you could literally record something today and have it available to the world by tomorrow.

That means more albums are being released...which means consumers have more choice.  Add that to other entertainment choices, such a video games, satellite television, and home video.  These things weren't a factor 30 years ago.

But they're a big factor now... And strangely enough, there is music involved in every one of them.

Because of this, I'd argue that while album sales might be down, music sales are not.  People are simply consuming music in a different way.  No longer do we have one format-- we can get it via our phone, a portable music player, video games, movie rentals, satellite radio, streaming online stations, and any number of ways.

This means that artists and songwriters are being paid in a different way.  They are getting paid though.

We might not have the "superstar" artists of the past and even the "Tonight Show" type of television shows might not mean as much as they once did, but there is still a ton of money to be made in music.

Personally, I'd rather have it this way.  The consumer wins because he has more entertainment options and musicians and songwriters win, since they'll have more options to be creative and be paid.

Thoughts?

Perez Hilton to Get Warner Imprint?

That's what the New York Times says...

"Mr. Lavandeira has been negotiating a deal that would provide him with his own imprint at Warner Brothers Records, a division of the music giant Warner Music Group, he said. This was confirmed by several other people associated with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because no deal has been made. The talks are preliminary, and an agreement is not certain, but Mr. Lavandeira could receive $100,000 a year as an advance against 50 percent of any profits generated by artists he discovers and releases through Warner Brothers, these people said."

BETA Records To Sign 100 Indie Artists In 2008

NOTE: The following information is provided here in the interest of information and should not be considered an endorsement. If you have any thoughts on the subject, positive or negative, please post a comment.

Rebelling against the current downturn for traditional record companies, Chris Honetschlaeger, President of BETA Records (www.betarecords.com), has announced a new generation of record deal which partners the company with the artist in a non-exclusive three song contract and plans to sign 100 artists in 2008.

BETA will analyze and utilize listening behavior across its own fast-growing community database of 75,000 unsigned artists to find, sign, and develop the best 100+ acts over multiple genres throughout the year. BETA has already signed 5 acts with another 12 pending in genres ranging from metal to pop.

NEW DEAL
The BETA deal incorporates a multitude of distribution channels available online including featured placement of the artist within the newest version of the BETA Records website slated for release in Feb 2008. "Plugging into the new BETA is like accessing over 100 distribution channels simultaneously," says Georg van Handel, BETA Records CEO. "Alongside selling songs and ringtones, BETA will unveil two innovative online revenue features to monetize the artist. BETA has solved the industry wide riddle in its upcoming website release to generate revenue from the passionate and engaged fan who already owns the music via purchase or piracy."

NON-EXCLUSIVITY
Contracts with BETA "allow the artist to keep all physical CD sales, tour and concert revenue, and merchandise," notes Honetschlaeger. "BETA's position takes a 50/50 stake in the copyright, digital song sales and online advertising of the artist's music. All of this comes packaged in a concise 8-page contract, blessed by some of the best music attorneys in Hollywood. And since our deal is non-exclusive, BETA allows and encourages artists to find other deals to help with their career growth. I am convinced that we will discover the next generation of superstars faster and more efficiently than Universal, Sony, Warner, and EMI combined," Honetschlaeger adds.

In working with each of the 100 artists signed to the company, BETA will utilize its new multimedia facilities in Hollywood to record both the audio and respective video of each song in a high energy 3-day 3-song production schedule. With 18 streaming cameras and microphones in the studio, not a moment is lost in the "making of" each song and video.

FUTURE PLANS
BETA plans on hosting a private unveiling dinner of the new site to a group of 50 press, bloggers, forum leaders, and music industry tastemakers in the first week of February. Those interested should contact scottg@betarecords.com.

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MLK Jr. and the Music Business

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States.

MLK had a dream.  He wanted people to live together as equals, without being judged by their color of skin.  While we're getting closer to that, it hasn't happened yet...but here's a funny story about how it did happen once.

I have a friend, Bob Tucker, who was in a Memphis-based band in the 1950s called The Tarantulas.  Like a lot of bands from the area, they played soul music.

This was during a time when it was common for "record deals" to be for single songs.  And people had that authority to sign upcoming acts without having to run everything past a committee, Board of Directors, etc...  Things were much more simple.

So, Atlantic Records heard about the band and signed a deal with them...through the mail.

When they showed up at the studio, you can imagine the surprise on Bob's face when people exclaimed, "You're white!!"

Like Wolfman Jack, Bob was so funky, people thought he was black.

Hard to believe there was a time when the music actually spoke for itself, isn't it?

And that's the story of the first white band on Atlantic Records. :)

Old Men Who Run the Music Business

More thoughts on old men who run the music business.  This time, from Frank Zappa...

Rodell Records

I don't know when they started, but around the mid to late 90s, Rodell Records was in every magazine with an ad for a "Nationwide Talent Search."

A search for them doesn't reveal much, but as you'll see from this page, there was a time when they were everywhere and people were talking about them all over the place.  It's my opinion that this activity ultimately led to their demise. At least I think it did...  Is this company still around?  New name, maybe?

During this time, everybody you'd run into had a story about this company.  It was a very similar situation to what you hear now about the "music publishing" companies that send letters to everybody who sends their songs for copyright registration.  So I thought I'd put something up as a place for people to tell their stories about this company.

Here's mine...

I'd heard the stories and was curious about the company.  Was there anything they'd turn down?  In 1996, I sent them a copy of the very worst demo I'd ever received.  Off key, poor musicianship, no songwriting skills, the works...

Two weeks later I had a letter from Rodell saying they had received my demo, but were taking 3-4 weeks to review things, due to the "high volume" or material they were receiving.

And about three weeks after that, I got another letter saying that my song had been reviewed and based on a "point system" of originality, content, technical ability, and overall presentation, they felt that the song I had sent in had "commercial potential."

This was from something on a cheap cassette tape, a hand-written bio, and the worst package I could possibly put together...

The letter went on to say they were working on a major project and how the project's success was contingent on the "personalities" involved having a good working relationship.  It talked about how this opportunity could move my career forward and how I needed to telephone them to complete a "confidential personality profile" to make sure we could get along. 

Sound familiar?  If you ever dealt with this company. post your stories below...