So, the Grammys, whom I’ve often been critical of, make a credible, relevant decision and award album of the year to Arcade Fire for The Suburbs (which, unlike previous years’ winners, probably was one of the best albums of the year.), and then… they get slammed for it! People are going crazy that an indie band could beat the factory-produced ultimately-forgettable commercial pop music of Gaga et al. Assumptions of bribery, corruption, ineligibility and incompetence are afoot on the social networks (Hypebot posted a few Twitter examples here).

The fact is, this indie band have won a bunch of awards over the last seven years, and The Suburbs is their third Long Player. I was a late-comer myself, picking up Neon Bible in late 2009. That album, released in March 2007, reached # 2 in the US and UK charts, saw them grace Saturday Night Live, earn a nomination for the Polaris Music award, and spawned a tour of 122 shows (including 33 festivals) in 75 cities and 19 countries. The band have also performed at events for Barack Obama, alongside Jay-Z, have been booked to play Lollapalooza 2010, as well as headline Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2010 and Coachella 2011. In a year of yet-further-declining-sales, The Suburbs debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 charts with 156,000 sales in it’s first week.

Essentially, an indie band doesn’t come out of nowhere and pick up a Grammy – they have put in a lot of work over the years, and have both critical acclaim and public appeal. Perhaps, what some of the Twitter pop rebels don’t realize, is that while Beiber does have a lot of Twilight-loving tween fans who buy his mp3s, the rest of the music loving population is also out there, going to festivals, buying vinyl albums (yes, really!) and supporting fresh, emotive musicians and songwriters. Indie bands that are able to play multiple instruments, write lasting music and have their shit together when it comes to marketing, videos, licensing and touring are a powerful force. Another couple who spring to mind are Vampire Weekend and The Black Keys. Independently distributed albums may not be in your Wal-mart shopping basket, but that doesn’t mean you should write the process off altogether.

The Suburbs won the Grammy for Best Album deservedly. I’d even recommend listening it before you start knocking Arcade Fire. In a case where genuine musicianship outclassed manufactured chaff, perhaps we should celebrate that the music industry is still alive and well?

by Lee Jarvis.

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Music institution, Berklee, has created a comprehensive resource for the music industry regarding wages for music industry jobs: the Salary Ranges for U.S. Music Positions in Performance, Writing, Business, Audio Technology, Education, and Music Therapy pdf documents a variety of music-linked careers and their respective salary ranges, including orchestra positions, choir director, film score composer, A&R, managers, music attorney, sound engineer, music teacher and many more.

From the original article: “Although Berklee’s collection of music career resources is exhaustive, this type of information wasn’t aggregated anywhere. Peter Spellman, director of the Career Development Center, had the idea to create a chart for advising purposes and to share with Berklee and the larger music community around the world. Providing analysis on the data and trends in the industry, Spellman sees music technology and social media-related fields experiencing growth in terms of job creation. He says, “Students who can both arrange a jingle and advise a small company on how to incorporate Twitter or Vimeo will find more chances to add value in the new music economy.” There is also great potential for those with expertise in digital marketing, new media PR, and micro-sponsorship development. ”

Spellman goes on to say, “There are plenty of bands and artists building loyal followings and making middle class livings who have redefined ‘success’ for themselves.” This is absolutely true of the new music industry. By realigning your ideas of success, i.e. not expecting to magically get signed and sell millions of albums, you can create achievable goals, and with focus and determination make a living from your musical endeavors.

The PDF resource can be downloaded from here

by Lee Jarvis.

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You seem to be web-savvy enough to be reading this blog, so I’m going to assume you’ve heard all the furor about The Beatles over the last 10 days. Yes, The Beatles have finally released their catalogue of music on iTunes, seemingly ending decades of feuds between Apple Corps (the company owning of much of the rights to The Beatles music) and Apple Inc. (Steve Jobs’ computer monster that originally signed a deal to never be involved in music.)

With all the delays in the ‘launch’ (the iTunes Store went live in 2003, and digital music has been around longer than many music consumers), I wondered if it was a case of too little, too late. Nielsen Soundscan released the figures yesterday, and in the first seven days, The Beatles sold over 2 million singles and more than 450,000 albums. Quite a lot. Well, kinda…..

I’m not a die-hard Beatles fan, but I own 4 of their albums on CD or 12″ vinyl. I’m not in a rush to go out and sweep up another 4 or 5 digitally, especially when Amazon played along and dropped the prices of all the remastered Beatles albums on CD to a competitive $7.99 each. I’m sure I’ll pick up another one or two at that price soon, but right now I have been sidetracked by their Thanksgiving week sale, where they have slashed prices on various digital albums to just $1.99 each. So far I have picked up LPs from John Legend & The Roots, Gorillaz, Belle & Sebastian, KT Tunstall, Vampire Weekend and more.

Before this starts sounding too much like a promotion for Amazon, my point is this… Album pricing needs to be drastically adjusted. At $1.99 I am (and many others are, i’m sure) sweeping them up: exploring new sounds, current trends and past hits of unknown artists. Discovering new music and taking a ‘risk’ is fun and easy. Yet, I don’t know if the industry can sustain at that price point (at least, not with major labels and their costs involved.) Eight bucks for a CD? I’m still going to have to choose wisely, and just pick up one or two a month that are dead certain. I’m not risking too much – too many memories of being burnt by terrible LPs from the 90s

$12.99 for a digital album that isn’t full WAV or FLAC quality, and I may have bought in previous formats over the last 20 years, and could potentially rip a better quality recording from… I’ll pass every time. If convenience is king (and, it is), it is not convenient for me to spend 52 bucks to ‘replace’ my Beatles collection with inferior quality audio, years after I bought the CD/vinyl.

Correcting this price point could inspire a whole new generation to buy a collection of Beatles albums. I’m not saying that younger music listeners aren’t into them now, but chances are they ripped a copy of Sgt Pepper about 10 years ago. This year, there have been two much more headline worthy releases – Taylor Swift sold a whopping 1 million albums in the first week with her latest release, and Eminem topped off a $60m tour with another million sales of his ‘Recovery’ LP – going platinum in just two weeks.

With all the hype for the Beatles, and all the things this could have been, I feel it is much ado about nothing. And so… Apple (Inc. and Corps), if you halved the price per unit and sold twice as many units, would that have been a bad move?

by Lee Jarvis.

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There is something of a trend occurring in music right now. Producers, sound architects, composers and bedroom musicians are all experimenting with interesting new sounds created from extreme time stretching of existing pieces of work.

Something of a nonsensical niche? Not quite; recent blockbuster movie ‘Inception’ had it’s soundtrack created from various speeds of one song. Hans Zimmer, who composed the music, extrapolated his entire score from Edith Piaf’s ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’, slowing down the original chirping brass section to something of a daunting, menacing foghorn. Zimmer told the New York Times recently that the idea for this musical game had begun with Mr. Nolan, the film’s director and writer. “He had the Édith Piaf always written in the script [...] I had to go and extract these two notes out of a recording.” He adds that all of the music in the score is “subdivisions and multiplications of the tempo of the Édith Piaf track.”

A switched on Youtube member had already figured it out and posted online.

Another example of how time stretching can be used to make something quite beautiful of an unexpected source, 20-year old Nick Pittsinger of Tampa, FL. slowed down a recent hit from popular face of music industry commercialism Justin Bieber. Hosted at Soundcloud, the audio has received a rather astounding 1.3 million streams in the last four days.

J. BIEBZ – U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

I wonder how else we may see this trend spill into popular culture. Compilation albums of re-released old classics? Specialist download stores? Who knows. I for one think it can be an exciting, inventive and entertaining angle on music conception, recording and production.

by Lee Jarvis.

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The good people of JaGoFF spend a lot of time on worthy causes. Over the last couple of years, Chicago has been under threat of an ill-conceived ‘Chicago Promoters’ Ordinance’ and the JaGoFF crew have been raising awareness, pointing out the huge holes an ridiculous impact it would have. This Promoters’ Ordinance, if passed into law, would effectively “drop a bomb on Chicago’s independent music community, if not nuke it entirely.” according to Jim DeRogatis at the Chicago Sun-Times.

To break it down:
*You would be required to submit to fingerprinting and background checks.
*If approved, you would be required to purchase a renewable license for $500 – $2000, even when working with a fully licensed venue.
*You must acquire $300,000 in liability insurance, even if working with a fully insured venue.
*You must notify chief of police seven days prior to event.
*The definition of “promoter” is vague and open to wide interpretation.
*The Ordinance targets the little guy while providing a big business exemption.

Although the Ordinance has currently been tabled, that does not mean it has disappeared; it can rear it’s ugly head in a mutated form at any time. It has also inspired Philadelphia to try and construct an equally-ridiculous set of rules that will crush the independent creative community.

JaGoFF have filmed a documentary to prove it. Do yourself and everyone a favor – Watch it, embed it, download it, share it… DO SOMETHING about it.

The Chicago Promoters’ Ordinance Kills Independent Music: A Documentary from the Street.
Part 01 of 07 (Head to The Record Industry’s Youtube Channel for all seven parts)

Filmed live in Chicago by: Sir Real, MOFO, 3Phaze & Joel Cote in the summer of 2008.
Produced & Directed by: JaGoFF
Presented in conjunction with: TheRecordIndustry.com
Film narration contains select excerpts from the white paper: “Why Chicago’s Event Promoters Ordinance Should Be Rejected” – courtesy of: Henry H. Perritt, Jr.; Professor of Law & Former Dean of Chicago Kent School of Law.

NOTE: All issues discussed reflect the time of filming and may not include recent revisions resulting from ongoing closed-door negotiations with “invited” members of the entertainment industry. However, the proposed ordinance as written is unconstitutional and should not pass in ANY form whatsoever.

Reaction to the ordinance:
“… a threat to the creative communities throughout the country and sets a very dangerous precedent – as one city goes, so goes another. Rinse and repeat.” – TheRecordIndustry.com

“… will pretty much drop a bomb on Chicago’s independent music community, if not nuke it entirely.” – Jim DeRogatis, Chicago Sun-Times

“… it doesn’t meet any public need and is very ill-suited to Chicago’s independent music community – as written, it is unconstitutional.” – Henry H. Perritt, Jr., Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law

“I cannot imagine a major metropolitan city, a world class city with the stature of Chicago having an ordinance like this on the books. It’s frankly embarrassing …” – Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune

“this really has a chilling effect…” – Shawn Campbell, CHIRP [Chicago Independent Radio Project]

“The ordinance will reduce the amount of music in Chicago, make events more expensive for consumers, dampen the large and growing economic engine that is Chicago music, and create a much less supportive business climate for Chicago’s small music business community.” – The Chicago Music Commission

For more info on the Promoters’ Ordinance and what you can do to help visit: http://www.TheRecordIndustry.com/

Lee Jarvis

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PRESS RELEASE

As The Digital Media Era Rapidly Expands and Shifts from Platform to Platform, Transition Music Corporation Takes It’s Next Major Step

TRANSITION MUSIC CORPORATION (TMC) EXPANDS UNSOLICTED MUSIC SUBMISSION POLICY TO NEW AND DEVELOPING ARTISTS AROUND THE WORLD. TMC’S NEW “SONG ONLY” LIBRARY: ULITMATE EXPOSURE PROVIDES INDEPENDENT ARTISTS WITH NEW SOURCES OF GLOBAL REVENUE AND EXPOSURE IN THE DIGITAL MEDIA WORLD.

LOS ANGELES, June 30, 2010, Transition Music Corporation new “song only” library: Ultimate Exposure provides independent artists with new sources of global revenue and exposure in the digital media world.

In BMI’s 2009 Annual Review, television remained the largest revenue source with a total of 46% between cable, satellite, and broadcast television. Next in line was radio with 36%, General Licensing with 16%, and New Media with 2%. It is clear that with the downfall of the record industry, artists must aggressively shift toward licensing deals in the media for substantial income and not to mention, survival. In a report from CNN, former head of Yahoo Music said “The CD is still disappearing and nothing is replacing it in its entirety as a revenue generator yet however, digital licensing revenue had reached toward $100 billion in 2009, and we expect it to grow even further in the next couple of years.”

Ultimate Exposure will expose new artists to opportunities in the visual media world while also providing them with the opportunity to work with an already established and pre-approved music library. The target is television, advertising, and film. Not only is Ultimate Exposure opening doors for artists but it’s making the process to find break out music easier for our clients. Donna Ross-Jones, president of Transition Music Corporation said “The old model of music exposure and distribution is over and these are exciting times for new artist. Music featured in the TMC library will continue to be hand-chosen from all genres with a focus on quality recordings – not big names – that are innovative, unique and reflect current music trends. Each month, a particular artist or song from Ultimate Exposure will be featured on TMC’s website (transitionmusic.com) and blog (http://transitionmusiccorp.blogspot.com) instantly exposing them to the decision makers in licensing.”

Transition Music Corporation is a LA based music company established in 1989. TMC provides music for visual media; film, TV, commercials, games, and the internet. TMC currently provides weekly music for more than 21 series and 6 channels. TMC services include- music supervision, custom music and music clearance. For more information contact: Anais Plasketes 323.860.7074

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These days ticket prices are continuing to skyrocket and fewer and fewer people are going to shows, or are able to go to shows as frequently as they have in the past. I remember in college, about seven years ago, going to concerts every weekend. Even multiple concerts in one weekend! It was an amazing experience to see a favorite band or listen to new music at one of the best venues in downtown Chicago. The Metro played host to local bands, nationally known bands, etc. All at reasonable prices – even the big guns. Nowadays it costs a hundred plus dollars for a pair of tickets to see a concert. It seems only the monster acts are going on tour these days, and the lesser known are far too unknown to create a draw. Even some of the big timers are having a hard time selling out, and as a result have cancelled shows and even whole tours. When will the music industry get it right and start thinking differently on how to make music and break new artists. There’s too much crap out there now, and so few chances to make an impact. For those artists who have made that impact, for example Lady Gaga, how long will they continue to hold our attention? These artists can only keep shocking us for so long. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Lady Gaga fan – but does she and other artists in the same boat have the sustainability?

According to Rolling Stone,

“This summer has brought one disaster after another for the concert industry with acts from U2 to Christina Aguilera canceling shows expected to rake in big bucks. Not everybody is bombing though: Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and the Carole King/James Taylor double bill are selling out everywhere and grossing around $1.3 million a night. Here’s a look at some of the surprising hits and misses:

• Billboard Boxscore reports that Spandau Ballet,Tears for Fears and Jack Jones grossed $1,509,660 over two nights in Sydney, Australia. Who knew that Aussies were willing to shell out big bucks to hear “True” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” again?

• Pearl Jam usually sell out every venue they play, but their May 13th show in Bristow, Virginia, only moved 13,706 out of 23,385 available tickets according to Pollstar. Shows that same month in Noblesville, Indiana, Kansas City and Cleveland all sold out, though, and the Bristow show still grossed $717,175. The poor showing is more likely a result of fans’ unwillingness to sit on a lawn and shell out big bucks for parking and drinks.

• Julian Casablancas will have a huge payday when the Strokes reunite this month for a European tour, but his solo tour has had its struggles. According to Pollstar, he just sold 49 percent of the house when he played the Houston House of Blues on April 12th.

• Even in Indianapolis, nobody wants to see George W. Bush. He spoke at Canseco Fieldhouse and according to Pollstar he just sold 28 percent of 8,442 tickets — which was pretty much his approval rating by the time he left office in 2009.

• You’d think there would be at least 200 people in the Washington, DC area willing to pay to hear a live version of “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” but according to Pollstar, the Crash Test Dummies only sold 132 out of 200 tickets for their show at the Jammin’ Java in Vienna, Virginia.”

What are your thoughts on the state of touring musicians and concert prices?

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So, it seems that Apple spent a ton of money on Lala only to close it down 5 months later.

This past weekend, Lala users received a notification email and this notice was posted on the music streaming website. Current users will be able to use the service until May 31st, after which any credits or balances will be transferred to the iTunes store. They also announce to Lala members that “In appreciation of your support, you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple’s iTunes Store.” This will also be the last chance to hear our Music Jobs Lala playlist, ‘Rockin into 2010‘, so go check it out now.

I have no doubt that Apple will use some of the Lala technology to create an iTunes streaming service – music ‘in the cloud’ is where it’s at these days. While no official announcement has been made from Apple in this respect, reports and predictions have been flying around since the buyout, and the computer/music giant have their finger on the pulse enough to recognise the trends that have occurred in recent times.

It is a shame that another quality streaming service has to go (Imeem shut their doors after the Myspace acquisition), but hopefully there will be something good come of all this, rather than the usual bullish business moves and subsequent dumbing down of a great service.

Lee Jarvis.

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Chicago-based indie rockers OK Go caused a sensation with the video for their 2006 song “Here It Goes Again”. The video featured a choreographed treadmill dance routine, and reached nearly 50 million views on Youtube, and inspired scores of remakes. The band became the perfect example of viral marketing in the new music industry.

So, any follow-up would be a tough task, and would need to be a pretty impressive video. “This Too Shall Pass” premiered yesterday, and has received some great reviews so far. The latest project collaborated with Syyn Labs on a two-story Rube Goldberg machine. The machine, constructed in a warehouse in Echo Park, keeps perfect time with the band’s latest single “This Too Shall Pass,” thrashing TV sets, dropping pianos, launching paper airplanes, blasting paint, and much more in spectacular synchronicity with the song. Check it out here at US Music Jobs.

What do you think of the video? Do you see it being another hit for the band? How relevant are music videos in the internet age? This will definitely inspire a further music video post from me, and I would like to hear your views.

Lee Jarvis.

To celebrate the video release, OK Go will be taking part in a concert fundraiser for LACMA Muse. Friday, March 5, 2010, LACMA West Penthouse, 8 pm–12 am. More info here.

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I’m a fan of Berkleemusic, the online school of the esteemed Berklee College of Music, and often read many of the great blogs from David Kusek, Mike King and co.

Berklee recently launched their Winter 2010 term with two new music marketing courses available; Online Music Marketing with Topspin (co-authored by King and Topspin’s Shamal Ranasinghe), and Online Music Marketing: Campaign Strategies, Social Media, and Digital Distribution.

Having studied several of their courses, I know that the Berkleemusic system is a good one, and these new courses have inspired me to sign up again next term.

In the fast-moving, ever-evolving new music industry, I see digital marketing strategies being of huge importance. Artists need to do as much groundwork as possible themselves, and when they cannot, know the correct people and resources to help. Being efficient at selling your music online, and building your fan base with social networking communities is critical for bands and musicians looking to make a living from their music and music-related activities.

Here, Mike King explains some of the Online Music Marketing course details and how you can use analytics to drive your career decisions.

Also worth mentioning is the course textbook, which is a great read even if you aren’t studying at Berkleemusic. Music Marketing: Press, Promotion, Distribution, and Retail is also written by King, and you can sample a free chapter here…

If anyone is taking the course this term, please let me know how you are getting on. If you are signed up for Spring 2010, I may well see you there!

Lee Jarvis

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