Amazon Making Moves

I have not seen one piece of positive news the past few weeks for the labels. They are getting hit from all angles and chances are they will all join forces with Amazon to take market share away from Apple.

Amazon is partnering with Pepsi for a promotion that kicks off on February 3 to give away 1 Billion MP3’s. Amazon is offering 40 cents/song to all the major labels for participation but normally they pay between 65- and 70 cents for digital tracks. Apple pays labels about 70 cents per download. To give you a sense of the scope of this promotion Apple has only sold 3 billion songs since 2003. Amazon is hoping the huge attention around the Super Bowl Pepsi ads build brand awareness for their digital download site.

Only two of the major record labels (EMI and Universal Music Group) are selling their music via Amazon, and Universal has yet to offer its entire catalog. If Amazon can build some momentum it will get harder for Sony and Warner Music Group (WMG) to hold out. Since its September launch, Amazon has taken a 3% percent share of the digital download market.

Photo Finish

 

The winning bid for a pair of tickets and afterparty pass to the Ahmet Ertegun tribute show at The O2 in London on December 10, 2007 was £15050.00=$30,935.25.

Not in the budget

I just got done reading the article “Live Nation’s New Act” in today’s Wall Street Journal. It talked about their “transformation” to find new ways to leverage themselves and expand to other businesses within the music industry. They claim the Madonna deal is only the first and they expect 3 dozen more artists to sign similar deals. This would drive a stake in the labels which are already scrambling to sign these ‘360’ multiple rights deals.

They have already acquired Signature Network, one of the biggest concert-T-shirts companies as well as UltraStar Entertainment LLC and MusicToday LLC, which run fan-club and e-commerce Web sites for musicians. It seems they are also going continue to whore out the Fillmore brand in the small-mid sized venue market.

They have the money to buy up companies and make pay Madonna crazy money but Gawker/Idolator dug up that this year’s Christmas party is BYOB!!!!

This is great stuff…..

It’s that time of year again!! This year we will be having a combined celebration for the staff of Fillmore NY at Irving Plaza and Blender Theater at Gramercy. Here’s the important info:

When: Friday, December 7, 2007 from 8PM-11PM

Where: Downstairs lounge at Gramercy (127 E. 23rd just in case you didn’t know…)

What: Karaoke!! And other good times…

Drinks: BYOB- sorry guys, this is a no-budget party, not to mention you people drank a warehouse worth last year… Seriously, please bring a bottle of your favorite booze or wine or a six pack o beer (or your fave Snapple drink if you don’t drink alcohol.)

Snacks: Some will be provided BUT if you feel like baking (Jesse Bellin), we all love treats!!

After Party: TBD (but you know there will be one!!)

I think that about covers it! Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Looking forward to having a cup ‘o holiday cheer with all of you!!

-Gawker/Idolator

Countdown…

 

With 3hrs left at Seatwave.com the current highest bid is £15000.00=$30,841.37.

Email me your predictions. Stay tuned….

Best of 2007

 

Paste seems to be the first to post their picks for top albums of 2007. Check out the entire list here.

1. The National – Boxer
2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
3. Bruce Springsteen – Magic
4. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
5. Feist – The Reminder
6. M.I.A. – Kala
7. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
8. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
9. Band of Horses – Cease to Begin
10. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
11. Radiohead – In Rainbows
12. Avett Brothers – Emotionalism
13. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
14. Loney, Dear – Loney, Noir
15. Kanye West – Graduation
16. Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
17. Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
18. Miranda Lambert – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
19. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – Living with the Living
20. Blonde Redhead – 23

Another Great Deal

 

The Seagate FreeAgent External USB 2.0 Hard Drive, 650GB is only $109 at Frys.com until 11/30. This is a ton of storage for an incredible price.

Captain Obvious

 

Imagine how some of the executives are sleeping these days.

Warner Music Group posted a 58% drop in quarterly profit due to falling CD sales. Digital music revenue was up 25 percent at $130 million during the quarter, but this could not make up for the short-fall in compact disc sales.

Led Zeppelin auction update III

 

There is a tremendous amount of attention on Led Zeppelin this week. They are on the cover of this month’s Rolling Stone and Google put their landmarks on Google Maps and Earth. The band even revealed that the first song they played together in rehearsal was 1973’s ‘No Quarter’.

I love the story about Ian Astbury from the Cult “slipping” last wknd about plans to be the opening act for the future Zeppelin tour. The band didn’t make any comments which I’m sure is to give the impression this show in London is a very special singular event and not to be perceived as a warm up gig.

The 24 hour countdown has begun for the pair of Led Zeppelin tickets up for auction on Seatwave.com. The current winning bid is £6800.00=$14,035.50. Remember just last month a fan from Glasgow paid $191k for 2 tickets.

Round-trip ticket from Glasgow to London $300

3 night stay at fairly decent hotel in London $750

2 tickets to “one time” Led Zeppelin reunion concert $190,000.00

Finding out Led Zeppelin is planning to tour and ticket prices are $125……Priceless.

Save Internet radio

 

With new revenue streams the hot topic in the industry this move to increase rates for a growing market is not the way to bring in additional dollars. This not only effects the big media companies but also Pandora which I’m a big fan of.

Article from Bloomberg:

SoundExchange, which represents record companies including Sony BMG, Warner Music Group Corp., and Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, increased their royalties 38% in July. Yahoo and AOL stopped directing users to their radio sites which in turn may hurt the growth of Internet radio, which increased listeners 39 percent in the past year, according to researcher ComScore Inc. in Reston, Virginia.

“The current math doesn’t add up,” said Lisa Namerow, managing director of AOL Radio in Dulles, Virginia. “If the rates remain as they are, it would be very challenging to sustain a business that is profitable.” The radio sites generate revenue by selling advertising.

Failure to reduce royalties may mean shutting down Pandora, founder Westergren said. “At the new rates we’re losing tons of money,” he said. “If we don’t think there’s a real answer that’s going to happen, it’s our fiduciary responsibility to stop.”

Yet another festival II

 

With Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza already established events, is there really a market for another one? The new Vineland Music Festival  is only one week after Lollapalooza.

Philadelphia lost out on the chance to be host to another music festival  set for this summer. C3 Presents, the promoters behind Lollapaloolza and the Austin City Limits Festival are holding the 3 day Vineland Festival from Aug 8-10 on a 550 acre farm in Vineland, NJ. C3 Presents will partner with Festival Republic, the British promoters behind Glastonbury and the Reading Festivals in England. (Festival Republic is 50.1 percent owned by Live Nation U.K.)

Charlie Jones of C3 Presents says “The idea is to take a European-style model and blend it with a more customer-friendly model like ACL and Lollapalooza, which have been in an urban park setting, and create something that’s like no other festival in the world.”