Okay, so the archaic nature of the music industry and the steadfast refusal to adapt to the changes brought about the internet may hardly be a new topic for discussion, but given recent events (namely MegaUpload being taken down), it is worth looking at how the music industry and record labels have reacted since the introduction of the internet.

What should have been a medium that allowed for cheaper distribution, new business models and an invigorated approach to discovering and nurturing talent has instead largely been somewhat of a hindrance to the major players, who seek to maintain the status quo and continue with the old way of doing business. Ultimately, this has been to their detriment as they’re effectively competing with the groundswell of communities on the internet and in social media. But just how did the music industry screw itself so massively?

Ignored the benefits

The fact is that the digitisation of music and the arrival of the internet should have been a good thing for the music industry. Not only did it mean cheaper production, allowing labels to do away with expensive CDs and packaging, it also meant cheaper and more widespread distribution at 50 per cent of the cost of CDs. In ‘What You Really Need To Know About The Internet‘, John Naughton gives a compressed history of digital audio, where he explains that when Napster came along in 1999, fans got a taste of the ease of downloading and sharing music. But the labels chose not to listen. Napster then spawned subsequent services – Limewire et al that far exceeded the rate at which the music industry was able to respond: positively or negatively.

Not only did the music industry fail to recognise the benefits afforded by the internet and sharing music online, they also spectacularly ignored the fact that this was exactly what fans wanted. They also failed to react at a time when they could have. When file sharing first started, it was restricted massively by the size of files and the speed of broadband to actually download these files. It was largely inaccessible to the populace, but had they predicted that the increase in appetite for instant music would occur alongside improving technology and broadband speeds, they could have got their houses in order to be ready when it did arrive.

What they have also seemingly consistently ignored is the appetite for music that the internet and social technologies has brought about. While the industry seems to focus on album sales as an indicator of the internet ‘killing’ music, this is the wrong place to focus. Indeed, album sales have been in steady  decline since 2000:

Yet digital music sales are not diminishing, as in 2011 digital music sales exceeded physical sales. And while total album sales (including physical and digital) grew by 1.3 per cent from 2010 to 2011, in digital album sales exclusively, there was a huge 19.5 per cent of growth. So the internet is not proving the threat the music industry is claiming it is, nor does it seem to be hampering profits in the way that they claim.

Capitalist models in a collective medium

Where the music industry seems to be failing most, is in the refusal to adapt their business models to reach the full revenue potential of the internet. The accusation leveled at MegaUpload wasthat it was causing losses of up to £300 million, through lost sales across creative industries. While there is a fair amount of contention around how that figure was reached and how the lost sales can really be attributed, the fact is that those in the creative industries are attempting to bring down those that they deem to be doing wrong by them, instead of looking at the revenue potential that might come by collaborating with sites like this.

The music industry is a greedy industry, led by capitalist motivations when all around it, its fans are embracing a collective medium that brings new opportunities not only in access to music but also through collaboration. Were the industry heads to adjust their capitalist motivations and accept that just might not be the way to do things any more, they may instead reach a new, better way.

Again, we can look to history to prove this lesson. While collaboration, interpretation or elaboration upon an existing work may ultimately be seen as detrimental to the original artist, we can see otherwise in the example of literature. In 1652, the philosopher John Locke kept a commonplace book in a library. This was essentially a public book where different people could make notes or record passages from works they were reading. It was essentially an early form of crowdsourcing. Yet it didn’t lead to a compromise of the original works. Remixing has its place in creative industries for centuries. It hasn’t led to the demise of them.

Happy to use social media for their own gains

What’s interesting is that when you consider all the accusations and lawsuits brought about by music labels against social technologies, they seem perfectly happy to gain from it on their own terms. This can be seen perhaps most starkly in the case of 31 of the world’s largest record labels, filing a lawsuit against TubeFire – which allowed people to easily download videos from Youtube. The site was removed and $3 million in damages were sought. Juxtapose this with the fact that Universal Music and Sony BMG are the two highest earners on Youtube and it seems we have an unfair game being played:

The labels are happy to use a social platform where they can easily generate revenue, but when a derivative of the site is launched, they bring out the heavies and have it removed. This is not the way social technologies function and it will surely ultimately be detrimental to the labels, as they are not playing the game in the right way, only taking and not providing, which is against the ecosystem of the internet and therefore not sustainable.

Failure to collaborate with social networks

When Facebook launched their Open Graph last year, a number of music partners were announced, including Spotify, Earbits, MOG and Slackr. When Facebook announced 60 new Open Graph apps this year, a number of music partners were announced, including Turntable.fm, Rhapsody and SoundCloud. On neither of these occasions was a record label on the list. Now of course while we can’t know whether the labels sought this but were rejected by Facebook, it’s hard to imagine Facebook turning down a collaboration opportunity with a major label.

The failure to work more openly with social networks or let’s be honest, Facebook ,will impact the music industry massively. Not only have they effectively missed out on free advertising (how much of your timeline is now filled with links to songs your friends are playing?) but also on revenue. Opening up on Facebook did not cause the demise of Spotify. Of course not. It did the exact opposite and they are now benefiting from over four million more users.

A plug in the ocean

The music industry is screwing themselves over with the sheer impossibility of what they are trying to do. By filing complaints against sites that host or link to copyrighted material, instead of adapting their copyright policies or collaborating with the communities on there, they are entering a never-ending fight that will only seek to damage their reputation and continually force them to give users what they want. Shutting down Napster didn’t kill music sharing online. Indeed digital sales (not free downloads) continue to rise. If the increase in free digital downloads is occurring alongside a rise in paid downloads, then the music industry is creating a problem that doesn’t need to be there.

What they should instead be doing is focusing on new ways to offer content, that fits with user’s desires. Take the fact that our time online is now at a premium as we face a barrage of content. Sure, there are a significant group of people that will happily stream or download content for free, slowly and sometimes at a poorer quality. But there is also a significant group, who value their time, that are willing to pay for access to the music that they want, in return for a speedier service.

Spotify certainly aren’t having any trouble getting people to pay for their service, despite there being a free, ad-supported version available. Either way, Spotify is winning and generating revenue in a way that (the majority of) record labels won’t do because they have instead focused their attentions on an impossible struggle.

The might of the community is simply too strong for the music industry, and they seem doomed to ignore this.

SonicAngel – doing it right

The problem, of course, is not consistent across the entire music industry with smaller, younger labels emerging or adapting to make the most of the benefits available within social media and also develop new business models at the same time. The Belgian record label Sonic Angel is a good example of this, though it’s early days so the success of their model is yet to be proven. They are working with Massachussets Institute of Technology to develop tools that effectively scan the web for new talent, so doing away with heavy investment in A&rR that is often bandied about by record labels as needed to nurture talent and justify their stance against downloading.

Further to this, they are also implementing a model that relies on the crowd, as opposed to trying to fight against it. Fans are given the option to buy shares in the artists, as well as voting on content uploaded by artists themselves, which gives the record label deeper insight into what their fans actually want. And Sonic Angels are certainly not an isolated case, as other ventures such as CrowdBands are attempting to harness the collective to change the way music is found, funded and distributed.

This is exactly where the music industry needs to be headed. The simple fact remains that the old way of doing things no longer applies. And just as with every cultural or creative industry that has undergone a forced change through the evolution of technology, fear abounds. But just as these industries have undergone changes for hundreds of years that were initially seen as a threat, they didn’t spell the end. Scribes hand-writing copies of books didn’t kill literature, the printing press didn’t kill literature, public libraries didn’t kill literature, the internet didn’t kill literature, ebooks didn’t kill literature. None of the changes the music industry is undergoing means that it is a dying industry. Just that they may have to be less greedy and more amenable to change.

Source: Simplyzesty.com

By Paul Porter

@IndustryEars

It’s hard to understand what Black radio should be when it’s been missing for years.

After the demise of legendary WRKS-FM in New York, Michael Baisden has been on air petitioning his listeners for a spot on WBLS-FM, New York’s remaining Black adult format. Baisden, while correct on the silencing of Black voices on radio, is dead wrong about Black radio’s problem being something new. Black radio has been taking a whipping for almost 15 years.

The 1996 Telecomm Act, was the beginning of the end of Black owned and formatted radio stations. The Clinton backed Telecomm Act, lifted ownership limits and ushered in a new era of corporate ownership. Local programming, news, music and voices have been systematically homogenized. Black radio’s microphone has been muted.

The Telecomm Act, disproportionally affected people of color. Radio stations went from being black owned, serving local communities to being a part of corporations that serve stock holders instead of listeners. The real problem Baisden misses is what black radio used to mean for local communities. Black radio at one time was the main authentic source for all parts of Black culture.

While the FCC gives license to radio stations to service local communities, corporate owned stations have cleverly figured away around it. While Baisden thinks the problem is that he needs to be on WBLS. The real problem is that WRKS is gone. All their public shows, community outreach and all the things that they did for the millions of people in New York for 30 years are gone.

Black radio has turned into a corporate machine, pumping out a pre approved playlist of corporate hits. WUVS-FM in Muskegon, Michigan is a prime example of what Black radio should be. The LPFM (low power FM) is Black owned and with only 100 watts and is highly successful. Earlier this month, WUVS held a local job fair that landed residents over 500 jobs. Locally owned and operated stations can do big things. Black radio needs to lead by examples like this: The Beat 103.7 Job Fair

Syndication music-radio morphed from Tom Joyner to the dominant force it is today in Black corporate radio. Out went local talent, music and public service and in went condensed playlist and cost cutting measures that benefit stock holders and not listeners.

Black adults are 75 times more likely to hear syndicated radio than their white counterparts. Black music radio is syndicated more than any other music based format in the country. Corporate America has systemically taken away black voices. One of the people doing it is Michael Baisden. It’s ironic that he’s talking about black radio and the lack of voices. He’s killed local issues, local music and he’s part of the corporate structure that’s done it.

That’s how the black microphone has been muted – having fewer voices on that only talk about certain issues and don’t deal with local communities except to come in and do a concert or party.

I give them Black radio credit for backing Obama’s campaign, Jena 6 and being out front on the Trayvon Martin case but there are issues that happen in local communities that syndication never talks about. Black radio rarely missed local issues that now are merely part of the distant past. Black radio was the rock of the culture. Now black radio is a corporate mess that it’s really not black radio, it merely looks and sounds Black.

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As a fresh voice out of Houston, Texas, J MIKE is quickly and not-so-quietly building a fan base regionally and across the United States behind the power of his first official album, Insomniac Chronicles. In his hometown, he’s drawn a following by performing at local venues. But he’s building a brand by dazzling audiences in other parts of Texas, including Austin and San Antonio, reaching the West Coast with shows in Los Angeles, and making an impact in southern cities with hot music scenes like Atlanta.

Performing live in 2011 with the legendary funk/R&B group Cameo is an indication of the kind of success J MIKE has in mind for his own career. Also, he’s opened for Kirko Bangz, Bun B and WuTang Clan. He credits Lil Wayne and Kanye West as significant rap influences, and considers Michael Jackson a key influential figure earlier in life, listening to the late singer’s award-winning albums and multitude of hit songs as far back as he can remember. Like the King of Pop, J MIKE is showing early versatility in his style, and creating new ideas for his music.

This young recording artist says music has always been an essential part of his life, even when his early dreams involved a career in the NBA. Those pro basketball dreams were perhaps instilled early, in part, due to the excitement surrounding the Houston Rockets who won back-to-back championships when “Michael” was starting his first years of school, at an elementary school northwest of Houston. He would spend years developing his skills on the court before his passion for music ultimately won.

J MIKE’s debut album features the track Insomniac, which contains a lyric as a nod to his personal heroes. “My greatest inspirations are people you never heard of,” he delivers as a testament to his desire to break new ground with his new music. His often credits his father, a restaurant owner by trade, with guiding him in learning to effectively make decisions and choosing the right direction in life. His mother plays an active role in his career now, too, as a marketing force for her son’s online presence on social media sites.

J MIKE’s early life consisted of schooling and sports in his suburban Houston neighborhood. His younger sister, born seven years after him, was the first of the siblings to get a taste of the entertainment world when she worked as a professional child actor and model a decade ago. But the future performer missed no opportunities to dazzle family, friends and people everywhere he went with his Jackson-inspired dance moves.

J MIKE delivers his music and message to fans 24/7 thanks to a multiple online platforms, including his website, JMikeMusic.com, Twitter @JMike713, and a YouTube channel known as JMikeMusiic. His tracks can also be heard on Phenomenal Radio, a highly versatile Hip Hop radio station that plays Indie artists and has listeners in over 60 countries/territories. Inquiries from booking agents, radio and television producers and other content producers should be directed to J MIKE MUSIC at 713.875.0863 and by email at jmike@jmikemusic.com.

It was 1990 when I realized that Hip Hop was my music drug of choice.

There were MC Lytes, Yo-Yos, Queen Latifahs and Lauryn Hills. Women were very present in hip hop, when I was coming up. You couldn’t remix a track without allowing Da Brat to grace a track, or a Fugee performance wasn’t the same without Lauryn Hill jumping out on stage with her vintage hat of choice, swayed to one side. Females in hip hop were very relevant and promininent. I mean I remember gaining my first since of “Respect My Womanhood” from Queen Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y.”

Had a boy called me out of my name, he would have been suckerpunched if not told from his head to his toes. Why? Because back then the female rap game was all about promoting “respect for women”, and I couldn’t be a fan of rappers like Lauryn Hill and not love myself, or check the most disrespectful boy for calling me out of my name. I often raise my brows and wonder what happened to that? I remember watching award shows and feeling honored that women were receiving awards in the same categories as a men would.

Watching a women do the same things a man could do; even better, gave me a lot of inspiration as a child. I felt unstoppable watching these powerful female MC’s perform. They kept the real female hip hop fan base satisfied. After all, in the nineties it wasn’t about “selling sex” for these females. It was more about demanding respect for the female gender, and letting other people know “Listen, we’re not putting up with any sh*t”.

I needed that. Then something happened. It seemed to me that rap labels dominated by men started to push something much more distracting into the presence of female hip hop fanbases; SEX. And I mean, why NOT have a female rapper who can rap and also show her ass for entertainment? The easiest thing right? An influx of more feminine artists began to peak. There were the Lil Kims, Foxy Browns, who began to surface. Screaming “UNITY” amongst other females was beginning to wipe away slowly. All of the attention placed on “giving women respect” was masked by a sudden wave of “chocolate skin, bare assets, and speaking on situations like sex just like a male would”, in their hip hop projects. Hell, it was a little too contradicting to talk about “respecting women”, with your vagina print showing on an album cover. So with the introduction of certain female artists the final cause of death; Female Hip Hop Murdered Female Hip Hop.

Yep, we did it to ourselves. Once again, this situation proved that women follow the wants and desires of men way too much. We want to be sexy yet bad in their eyes, even if it means ruling out some of our own self respect in the midst of it. You think not? Sure look at the timeline of events. I was growing up in an era at 12 and 13 years old, wanting to be the great writer and artist people like Lauryn Hill was. Nowadays the same age group are destined to be like Nicki Minaj, a self proclaimed plastic surgery made female who claims to be bi-sexual. Where is the “strength” in that?

Female Hip Hop killed itself because the fan base became distracted and more focused on what the male population in hip hop wanted, instead of what WE as women wanted. Rappers influenced by true icons like MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, etc did not just die off on their own. They lacked support. They lost fan base to the needs of men. Women who were too naive to understand that we were playing into a man’s game. They died off because no longer did women want to listen to “being empowered and standing for respect”, but “sucking d*ck and being the freakiest b*tch in the bedroom for good for nothing materialistic men”. That’s why.

Female hip hop committed suicide because labels agreed to unleash females with one common thing on their mind; selling sex. We sold out. We as a female race in hip hop sold out, at something that to do nothing but produce sexual desire for the male fanbase of hip hop. Why put all this time in effort into my actual lyrics when I can get a record deal from having a fat ass, freaky lyrics, and a pretty face? This became the common thought across the board in upcoming female artists. Not to mention the many different men, pumping Koolaid into the hearts of goregous women with Senior Citizen weak bars, by telling them that their looks will make them go far. Instead, short lived rap careers became prominent for females. A few labels picked them up and used them for a short while, then gone. Amil vanished just like she never appeared. Lil Kim’s fan base continuously depletes because the fans have nothing left to grasp for. We’ve seen both tits. I think.

2 shots and we were down for the count. Trying desperately to pump the life back into our sector. I’ll tell you what. It’s going to take a woman with the courage of a giant to resuscitate female hip hop back to its respectable state. I pray one day she arrives.

Female Hip Hop Committed Suicide.

-Chakara

After 30 years as spirited and often ferocious rivals, WBLS (107.5 FM) and WRKS (98.7 FM, Kiss-FM) will become one.

In a turn as sudden and stunning as the Yankees merging with the Mets, the city’s two adult urban radio stations announced in a joint press release Thursday that they will become “One Family, One Station.”

Kiss and WBLS began simulcasting at 10 a.m. Thursday, starting with a tribute to the 30-year legacy of Kiss.

As of 12 a.m. Monday they will become a single station at 107.5 FM, under the WBLS call letters.

RELATED: ESPN TAKES OVER 98.7 FM FREQUENCY

It is likely this news will not please all listeners, many of whom feel there are already too few black media voices in the city.

The merger is part of a major reshuffling triggered when Disney agreed to acquire 98.7 FM from Emmis.

The complicated $96 million deal essentially lets Disney lease 98.7 FM as of Monday morning, when it will start simulcasting ESPN radio there. ESPN radio is now heard on the weaker 1050 AM signal.

Disney had been thirsting for an FM signal so it can better challenge CBS Radio’s all-sports WFAN (660 AM).

A key factor in this new deal is that WRKS and WBLS have both had financial problems, at the stations themselves and with their parent companies.

Emmis last year also sold its 101.9 FM frequency in New York.

WBLS was recently acquired by YMF Partners after its parent company Inner City Broadcasting went into bankruptcy. This had led to considerable speculation whether YMF would sell WBLS or change its format.

It was expected that any move to change the WBLS format to something other than urban, which launched in 1971, would have met strong community resistance.

In several ways Thursday’s move is a classic case of two companies in a shaky financial position deciding they would be stronger if they worked together as one.

Still, the merger changes the landscape of urban radio dramatically, since adult urban listeners now have one station instead of two.

Both WBLS and WRKS have been the top-rated station in the city at various times, and even in low periods they have routinely averaged well over a million listeners apiece per week.

As for hosts, the merger will integrate them starting Monday.

Steve Harvey‘s syndicated show, now heard on WBLS, will continue in the morning.

Shaila from Kiss will do middays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Jeff Foxx from WBLS will do 3-7 p.m., and Lenny Green from Kiss will do 7 p.m.-midnight.

That means Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden of WRKS, among other hosts, will be gone.

Since the WRKS name is also disappearing, the two stations are jointly holding a “celebration of the legacy of Kiss-FM” all weekend.

Over the years Kiss has often emphasized the heritage of black music, and has hired hosts like Isaac Hayes. In the 1990s it launched a “classic soul” format that shot it to the top of the ratings for several years.

In recent years it has slumped, however, and Emmis Chairman Jeff Smulyan Thursday blamed some of that on Arbitron’s switch to a new ratings system, the Personal People Meter (PPM).

PPM replaced the old “diary” system, where participants wrote down their listening, with an electronic recording device.

Almost all black and ethnic stations saw a dramatic drop in their ratings under the PPM system. A stream of protests and litigation have led to recent agreements that Arbitron would increase its efforts to reflect all listening fairly.

Meanwhile, however, many black and ethnic stations have warned that the lower ratings plus the general economic recession have decimated their ad revenue and put them in serious financial trouble.

Smulyan echoed that caution Thursday, saying in a release that “recent changes in the way radio ratings are measured made it very difficult for us to find success with Kiss FM.”

Whatever the reasons, New York will wake up Monday morning with one fewer radio station serving urban listeners.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/98-7-kiss-fm-merge-long-time-rival-wbls-move-shakes-nyc-radio-landscape-article-1.1067910#ixzz1tANCrHw5

Social listening is the art and practice of regularly paying attention to social media. Using social listening, you can learn a lot about your audience, influence discussions and improve your search engine rankings.

Here are four ways you can use social listening to enhance SEO.

#1 – Learn the Slang

On websites, people tend to write in a very proper and formal tone while on Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites however, people tend to just write the first thing that comes to their heads.

One great thing about the spontaneous nature of their messages is that people tend to use casual language rather than carefully considered language. That can really help you pick up slang that you can use in your own messages and your own copy. You can also incorporate this slang to help you pick up longtail search traffic.

For example, in the marketing industry, marketers call email submits “subs.” On websites, most authors will just call them “email submits.” However, on Twitter and Facebook you’ll find people using “subs” more than “email submits,” as it’s shorter and more catchy.

#2 – Observe and Predict Trends

Twitter and Facebook are great ways to predict a trend. If you notice that all of a sudden people are talking about one subject, you can jump on that bandwagon early.

It takes time for webmasters, websites and even bloggers to catch up. However, social media websites like Twitter and Facebook are more or less instantaneous.

This moment a coherent thought is formed within a community, it’ll be visible on Twitter and Facebook. People will make offhand comments, people will share resources and the idea will take off like wildfire.

Pretty soon, hundreds of web pages will pop up talking about whatever topic is hot right now. However, if you can get in on the game early by noticing it first through social media, you’ll have a big leg up. Get there early and you can become a major player in the conversation.

#3 – Use it to Inform Keyword Research

Social media can inform your keyword research. A lot of people tend to treat social and search as two completely different marketing mediums. In reality, they have a lot of overlap.

Use social media to inform your search marketing keywords. Look on Twitter for new trends, new products, new ideas, new competitors and check out how the search volume is going.

Google Trends can give you a good idea of whether a search term is going up or down. The Google Keyword Tool can give you a good idea of how much traffic the term gets today, though it isn’t useful for predicting future traffic.

If you only use traditional tools to do keyword research, you’ll always be playing catch-up. You’ll only be optimizing for terms that others have already beat you to. When you use social media as well however, you can get ahead of the curve and be one of the early players.

#4 – Optimize for Blended Search

There’s a lot of traffic to be had in blended search. Blended search refers to Google’s practice of placing videos, images and local results within the search results itself.

Trying to rank on Google for a main keyword term can be very tough. It could take months, even years of work.

However, if nobody is targeting the blended search results, you can often skip all that work and jump all the way to the top.

Pay as much attention to optimizing your videos, your local results and your images as you do to your website. Make sure you have the right keywords, make sure you have a great title, a great description and get backlinks to your videos and other media.

These are four ways social listening can help improve your SEO.