Lana Del Rey's chart-topping album, Born to Die (Image by rongzhiwei)

Singer Lana Del Rey’s highly anticipated album Born to Die was released last week to mixed reviews and outstanding sales (it hit No. 1 on the iTunes album chart above Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, and even Adele).

The question arises: What, if not musical ability, does it take to make it big in the music business?

Considering the publicity generated by her strange, atonal SNL performance, which was just bad enough to be interesting, her success on the charts makes sense. If listeners aren’t buying her album because they enjoy her music, they’re buying it to revel in how mediocre it is. But a new study on artist releases suggests there’s more behind Del Rey’s recent chart-topping than the media buzz surrounding her confounding public persona. It might also be a matter of good timing.

According to a study conducted by the Independent, January is the perfect month for an artist to release an album. At the beginning of the year, sales of only 30,000 albums can result in a No. 1 spot on the charts, resulting in increased sales, radio play, and gigs at major festivals. And after the holiday lull, people are ready for new, exciting music in the new year—even if it comes from Lana Del Rey.

For more on Del Rey’s new album check out Stephen Deusner’s article on Salon.com.

Incidentally, the only Wiki article available for viewing during the shutdown was a page describing SOPA, the anti-piracy bill that could lead to the broadening of the Department of Justice’s internet-policing powers and some serious internet censorship. You might never read a more exciting Wikipedia article. After all, SOPA is what the online encyclopedia protested by turning out their lights, giving their users a taste of what might come if the bill is passed in its current form. The words just come alive.

The bill is in fact something to worry about for many Americans. For instance, if it passes, streaming an episode of Jersey Shore, an offense that is unpardonable but not necessarily criminal, would land you in jail for up to five years (And you thought a virus was the worst you could catch from an illegal Nicki Minaj download).

An estimated 7,000 websites joined Wikipedia in putting up the day-long, digital stink. But just hours after the demonstration, the Department of Justice proved it didn’t need SOPA to be passed in order to crack down on file-sharing services, seizing Megaupload.com’s domain names and arresting four of its heads for copyright infringement.

Now virtual war has broken out between the Department of Justice and a subversive band of hackers who are cunning and courageous and may have watched “V for Vendetta” a few too many times. The group known as Anonymous, which Wikipedia describes as an, “Internet meme that originated in 2003…representing the concept of many online community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, digitized global brain,” launched a series of massive hacks yesterday on the websites of Universal Music Group, Recording Industry Association of America, Motion Picture Association of America, (MPAA) and the FBI, causing shutdowns.

The coordinated attacks, which involved around 6,000 participants, were not so much in defense of Megaupload as they were in retaliation for an overreaching move made by the Department of Justice to shut the site down. “Even without SOPA having been passed yet, the federal government always had tremendous power to do some of the things that they want to do,” wrote Barry Brown, spokesperson for Anonymous. “So if this is what can occur without SOPA being passed, imagine what can occur after SOPA is passed.”

Click here for Nate Anderson’s full article on the Megaupload shutdown, or here for billboard.com’s article on the Anonymous attacks.

Music industry data analysts Next Big Sound offer up their trends and highlights of last year’s digital music world.

Next Big Sound are a platform that allow artists, managers, marketing professionals, and all kinds of music business-people to monitor a variety of online activity, from video plays to fan comments and more. They strive to provide this data with timely and concise reports and visual representations in order to help artists achieve their goals. In their words, “we believe in the power of data to transform the music industry.”

With all these analytics running 24/7, they were able to publish a report for the entire industry on all activity for 2011, and one which is both succinct and informative. The ‘State of Online Music 2011‘ displays the top artists on various social media platforms, and a daily breakdown of each site’s use. They also compiled a top 50 list across all platforms.

The methodology used to create the charts and lists, consists of four parts, which I will touch on here, but are given more in depth descriptions in the full report. Percent Growth is a direct amount increase in the number of plays or fans over the whole year for all artists recorded. Breakdown by Day shows the average ratio of activity on each given day, across all artists. The Social 50 is a regular list created by Next Big Sound, and created by producing a “composite artist score based on a combination of the metrics in the days leading up to the chart”. VEVO versus YouTube is an important factor in their tallying, and deciding that VEVO is credited with a play when their video is within the YouTube website avoids double counting.

You can view and/or download the full report from here.

by Lee Jarvis.

“I think you have a whole generation who doesn’t care if they own anything,” says Mike More, CEO of Headliner.fm. “Accessibility has become paramount. This is what consumers want — they want it everywhere and on all their devices.”

As the accessibility of an album becomes more important to the majority of listeners than the content of its album leaf, we may eventually be buying Lady Gaga CDs off eBay as rare collector items. Stock up while you can. Thank Napster for the profits.

Click here for more information on the digital world.

Evidently the modern world is not growing tired of the same old Yuletide tunes (especially if they’ve been revamped by the likes of Buble), so in the spirit of the holidays, we’ve compiled a short list of some interesting interpretations of your favorite Christmas classics.

Last Christmas - Florence and the Machine

The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) – Jim James (My Morning Jacket)

Silent Night – Tom Waits

White Christmas – Bob Marley & The Wailers

Happy Xmas (War is Over) – The Three Tenors

Happy Holidays from Music Jobs!

Borrowed, stolen, or properly sampled is the question that has come into play.  Soul music legend Syl Johnson had the intro of his track ‘Different Strokes’ sampled by Jay-Z and Kanye West in the song ‘The Joy’ that appears on their new album Watch the Throne.  

Jay-Z and Kanye are hoping to leverage the Federal Copyright laws for tracks pre-dating 1972 and show that the song would fall under fair use.  However, Syl doesn’t see it that way and has officially filed a lawsuit again Jay-Z and Kanye, their label, and everyone else involved that he can.  He’s taken on huge artists in the past and obviously isn’t afraid to go to bat for his art.

The whole situation has taken a turn for the worse, and: “This is where it starts to get ugly.  Unfortunately lawyers for Jay-Z and Kanye West are attempting to discredit the claim entirely.  ’Any claim based on the alleged use of Plaintiffs’ recording is barred because, (a) the allegedly copied portion of the Plaintiff’s recording is not part of the musical composition; and, if it is part of the composition, (b) is not protectable and/or (c) any use was de minimus.’ ” according to Paul Resnikoff, the Publisher and Founder of Digital Music News.

Read the rest of his article, When Should a Recording Copyright End? The Throne Battles a Soul Legend…, for the full story and to hear a sample of the two tracks in question side by side, so you can decide for yourself.

I think this situation yet again points to rappers continually sampling illegally from previous artists’ work.  Jay-Z and Kanye can afford to license the music, so why didn’t they do that from the start, or at least do their due diligence to make sure that the track wouldn’t come under fire for infringement?  You would think that a legendary soul artist would at least be owed that, after all by Jay-Z and Kanye including that intro on their track it makes you think that they were paying tribute to the legend and his work.  However, they’ve come up short from a tribute and are now being called thieves…

What’s your take on the legality of this copyright infringement claim?

This announcement comes weeks after Eddie Murphy dropped out as host, and assures us that even if Billy Crystal is his replacement, the Oscars won’t be lacking in funk this year.

There’s the question of how such a collaboration will sound. The Lion King with Hip Hop beats? “Drop It Like It’s Hot” featuring a sweeping orchestra? The odd couple have already worked together on the original soundtrack for the animated film Despicable Me, giving us a taste of what to expect.

Now curiosity abounds: Will Gary Oldman receive his first ever golden statuette (or even his first nomination) for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? Will Ryan Gosling be double-nominated for Drive and The Ides of March? And of course, will they walk the red carpet to the beat of “Hot in Herre” or “Pass the Courvoisier”?

To view the full article by Gil Kaufman click here.

They want you to donate their money – yup that’s right THEIR money, up to $300,000.00 that is.  That’s a pretty sweet chunk of change.  There is a slight catch, if you can even call it a catch, but their matching your donation to Kanpe.  Kanpe is a wonderful organization that is helping Haiti rebuild after their disastrous earthquake last year.

The Arcade Fire have pledged again this year give them a sizable donation, matching what we all kick in.  In exchange for helping an awesome cause at the holidays the band will also send you a postcard as a thank you:

Hi Guys,
This is Win from Arcade Fire. If you are having a hard time deciding what to get your friends and family for gifts this year, give them our money! For any donation you make to Kanpe this holiday season, the band will match it. We will also send a nifty little post card, signed by Regine and I, to put under the tree, or wherever you put your gifts (it’s not our business). For any silicone valley jerks who might try to bankrupt us, lets put the upper limit at 300,000$… Have a great Holidays
Luv, Win

Check out the full article on Pitchfork for more details and how to donate!

As of this week, you are now able to download high quality MP3s or WAVs directly from the online music magazine.

Originally focused in Australia, Resident Advisor quickly grew to an international leader in their field. Starting with music news, event reviews, photo reports and an active forum, it soon added a podcast, DJ charts, even an event ticketing system, and has grown over the last 10 years to become one of the leading electronic music magazines. 2011 has seen it expand it’s reach further, hosting a series of 10 events across the globe (from London to Berlin to New York to Moscow and more), and now the announcement of direct in-site download sales.

Tracks are added to you RA shopping basket, which has previously been very effective in the sales of event tickets. The playable samples and track information is powered by UK retailer Juno, and the pricing structure is very similar, with mp3s priced from $1.45 to $1.89, moving up to $2.45 to $2.75 for full quality WAV files.There is also a ‘processing fee’ of $0.10 added to each transaction.

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So, what does this mean for the 2011 digital music fan? Well, each month, roughly 3000 DJs, from 80 countries chart 30,000 tracks. These are also compiled into a monthly Top 50. Alongside the aggregated and artists charts, Resident Advisor will begin adding music from top artists and labels with the aim of “giving the electronic music community a convenient channel through which to legally purchase music while browsing RA”. This equates to a lot of music out there, and some possible positive and negative affects for the RA community.

The Good

Resident Advisor is a place where people head to learn about new music. It is a logical step to involve an in-site system to purchase legal quality music downloads, and makes things easy for the music fan / consumer. Convenience is king, and being able to add a track to your cart whilst perusing the charts of your favorite DJs and live acts has an element of loyalty to the creators and taste-makers of underground music.

The Bad

Resident Advisor has always earned respect among electronic music enthusiasts for not being led by record label money or PR companies and the like. Whilst they have featured charts and podcasts, they are normally submitted and judged purely on artistic merit. Mixing in the factor of music sales means that another angle needs to be taken into account; offering a chart or podcast with 30 tracks and only one for sale can look lazy or incomplete, and so an artist could be encouraged (directly or indirectly) to submit ‘better known’ or ‘more readily available’ content.

The Result?

Seeing as the service only launched a few days ago, we’ll have to give it a bit of time to tell how it will affect consumer habits and the site itself. Will it dilute the current underground ‘premier’ content that made the site so well loved and popular? Perhaps it will persuade more DJs and music collectors to stick to the convenient legal ways to get their music fix of the next big hits.

by Lee Jarvis.

The band, to put it mildly, has had a tumultuous history together.  According to Richard Smirke’s article “Stone Roses Reunite, Announce 2012 Concerts” – he describes the anticipation of the announcement:

“Speculation about the band’s highly-anticipated comeback began late last week when London-based PR firm Murray Chalmers PR – who represent Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue, among others – invited journalists to “a special press conference for a very important announcement.”

Since disbanding in 1996, demand for the Manchester-formed four-piece to reform has grown with each successive year. A long-standing animosity between former song writing partners Brown and Squire, dating from when Squire quit the group via a phone call, was previously believed to be the main stumbling block to the group reuniting.”

I for one cannot contain my excitement about this reunion, which many many people thought never would happen but all secretly hoped would.  The Stone Roses album, the ‘Second Coming’ was a pivotal album in my life as a teenager (I got into them a bit late into the game, but due to my older brother I didn’t miss out on them completely).  It’s still in rotation on my iPod, amongst their other albums.  I truly look forward to these upcoming shows, and hope that they’ll schedule some international dates near me.  That is a concert that I couldn’t miss out on.  Their music has helped shape me and my musical tastes, and set me up to be a life long Britpop fan.

It’s great to know that the guys have mended their relationship and are interested in giving it another go.  Thank you from all of your fans, and we look forward to making new memories at your concerts and possibly even getting some new music!

Who else can’t wait till next summer for this highly anticipated, yet so unexpected reunion?