As 2011 is drawing to a close, we thought we’d find out a little more about what kind of music listening preferences our members have used over the last 12 months.

There are now more ways to consume music than ever before, making the murky waters of the music industry even more treacherous for musicians, songwriters and performers, not to mention agents, managers and the like. Please consider taking our short poll and sharing some of your recent habits of consuming music in 2011. After you click submit you can see the results. Simply hit the back button on your browser to vote in another topic and see more results.

by Lee Jarvis.

Recently, I attended the 2011 Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, CA at Golden Gate Park.  For those of you who are unaware of Outside Lands, I suggest you dig yourself out from under your rock and join the rest of the mustache sporting, marijuana indulging, barefoot dancing, cut-off jean shorts wearing, Hipsters that make this one of the most exciting festivals each year.

Ok, maybe I was a little harsh on you…especially considering that personally, I only fit into two of those categories (I’ll let you decide which two)…but this is definitely a life experience like none other, regardless of your views on that kind of debauchery.

The bill for the 3 day extravaganza included performances by Muse, Arcade Fire, 2 back to back sets by Phish, The Black Keys, The Shins (added last minute), The Decemberists, and the list goes on…..

This was my first Outside Lands experience, and the show did not disappoint.  On top of having an INCREDIBLE line up of phenomenal musical acts and allowing me an opportunity to be front row for Arcade Fire, Muse, The Black Keys, and The Tune-Yards, the festival maintained a tremendous sense of community by giving everyone a true taste of San Francisco.

Most of my afternoons began by heading to the wine tasting tent titled “Wine Lands” which was filled with over 30 different area vineyards for attendees to sample. There were also a plethora of local restaurants scattered about the festival grounds that had set up vendor stands allowing us to sample the local Nor-Cal fare with everything from local organic ice cream and smores, to fried macaroni and cheese.

Staying true to remaining a very “Northern Californian” event, there were ample opportunities to “recycle for points” where you could win camping gear and even a ticket to next year’s festival, as well as specific areas to learn about the benefits of alternative energy, gardening workshops, refillable water stations, and one of the music stages was powered entirely by solar energy.

On top of the ample options of things to do at the festival, everyone in the crowd was there to have a great time and enjoy themselves which set the tone for the weekend.  On Friday evening my girlfriend and I even met a random group of local San Franciscans attending the festival who later invited us back to their home that evening for late night food and drinks.

My biggest complaint of the festival was that space was fairly limited considering the size of the crowd.  But, despite my impending claustrophobia, I had an amazing weekend and would recommend this festival to just about anyone who likes good music, good food and wine, and good people.

See you there in 2012!

-Drew

Best Band: The Black Keys

Best Winery: Drew

Best Restaurant: Andalu

Some of my shots:

(that's Linda)

SXSW is a whirlwind ten days of music, film, and interactive buzz, with conferences, live events, street parties, guerrilla marketing campaigns and networking events. We headed down for the music portion of the 2011 festival, and managed to see and support some great artists and businesses, new and old. From the Red Bull DJ App launch party with Felix Da Housecat, to the Topspin and Berklee events, to Martin Atkins’ party:smart and more, Austin created a lasting impression, and ignited a desire to delve deeper into the ever-changing music business at a grass roots level, as well as a spark to already start planning for SXSW 2012.

Wondering what it would be like to cram all of the above into a one and a half minute audio-visual overload? Something like this…

by Lee Jarvis.

Chicago house music staple 5 Magazine have just celebrated their 5th anniversary, and not only did they hold a fantastic event for Boom Boom Room at Green Dolphin, but they embarked on an epic project of live video and interview footage with 40 of the greatest DJs and Producers in the Chicago electronic music scene.

Spanning the last wave of disco and early house years with Farley Jackmaster Funk and Steve Silk Hurley, the acid house and hip-house eras, DJ legend Justin Long, Grammy-Award winning Frankie Knuckles, into the techno of Green Velvet, the new school funk of South Of Roosevelt, and the fidget of bass-bin destroyers Santiago & Bushido. In addition to the video footage, each of the producers has offered a track from their catalogue for free download.

As a bonus, there is also a short film shot by John Pappas on the subject of 5 Magazine’s Five Year Anniversary, with Czarina Mirani, Rees Urban and a cast of Chicago’s Househeads, including Byrd Bardot, Chitown Ronnie, David Sabat, Christopher Banks and many more.

5 Years of 5 Magazine from Czarina Mirani on Vimeo.

I think it is a wonderful idea that 5 Magazine put all this together to celebrate, and the idea of sharing information, video and music among the Chicago community is one of the things that makes the Chicago music scene a great place. Presenting some of the great names of the past, present and future, and creating a package for worldwide fans of Chicago-based music to enjoy for free is a humble and noble thing to do, and an extension of the education and exposure that the magazine delivers on a regular basis. Check out the official ‘The Project’ website and pass on to people you know in the worldwide house music community.

Lee Jarvis.

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

I’ve always liked Apple. They may not have invented digital music, or the portable digital player, but they fine-tuned them and distributed them to mass markets to perfection. More music is being heard by more people in more places than ever before, and for that, we should be grateful. (Figuring out how to strategize and monetize these new markets is a different matter.)

It seems that iTunes has ruled the mp3 generation, but times and trends are moving ever faster, and there’s now a whole new generation of consumers that may never even own an mp3. Streaming is big business these days. Enter Lala, one of several successful (read: popular but not entirely profitable (yet?)) online music streaming services that has established itself with the non-owning and mobile music markets. Being able to listen to music through a web browser is something that gives music fans greater freedom, and access to their collection from any computer, smart phone or other mobile device, and is something that Apple lacks within iTunes.

Apple may well be looking at using the Lala team and functionality to enter into the streaming market, and with the way they have revolutionized similar parts of the music industry, who knows what may be in store.

One thing I hope Apple does figure out, is if they are paying $17m or $80m+ for Lala assets. Either way, it is a lot of money for a service that has et to find a profitable business model. Moving from CD-swapping to a (comparative to Pandora and Spotify) complicated streaming system has proved difficult, and investor Warner Music wrote down $11 million of the original $20 million it put down.

Lala had recently struck deals with both Google and Facebook, hoping to widen it’s user base with new search traffic and gift options. Apparently Google was also looking at acquiring Lala, and having narrowly missed out they may try and pursue other deals in the near future. Finding a way to tie it’s music search division in with either a download or freemium/ ad-funded streaming service seems inevitable, and well within Google’s scope. In fact, there have been several similar deals in recent months. Imeem was bought by Myspace, whom also previously acquired iLike.

Although Apple’s future movements may not be yet announced, I am certain they will continue to push the digital music industry forward (and outwards) with their services and reach new listeners across the globe.

Lee Jarvis.

To Play All the tracks in full, click here:

Music Jobs Team playlist 001: US Office December 2009 (Compiled by Lee Jarvis)

Enjoy!

The Music Jobs Team.

Hypebot recently reported that Spotify paid Lady Gaga just $167 For 1M Plays:
Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” was one of the most popular tracks for 5 months on Spotify; being played more than 1 million times. But according to reports this weekend, the Swedish Performing Rights Society only paid her $167. If true, it confirms other complaints from other artists like those of Swedish musican Magnus Uggla who pulled his music off Spotify declaring, “I’d prefer to be raped by Pirate Bay than played on Spotify”.

When an artist starts out with earning no income from their music, they are quite happy to give it away for the exposure it may create. Obviously it is easier for a small band to offer a free mp3 and say “we may have lost a potential $1000 in order to gain some new fans”, than it would be for Universal to do it with a Lady Gaga single and consider losing (potentially) a lot more.

However, the idea of exposure still remains. Streaming can be a way for people to try out new artists without committing to a $15 album (of which, Universal made many, many terrible ones). There are already reports saying that streaming is drawing consumers away from P2P sites, and with the Pirate Bay trial and Joel Tenebaum ruling gaining so much press this year, some users will be scared off using such sites in the future. The Pandoras, Spotifys and LastFMs of the new music industry are an essential part of artist promotion in my opinion, and so I would consider pulling your music away from them is a foolish move.

As there is no way to measure the direct income derived from a person who streams two tracks, then goes to buy them from iTunes, and then pays $40 to see the artist in concert, it can be hard to judge.

I would stick my neck out and say that it helps though.

We’d love to hear your response on this – comments around the Music Jobs office range from outrage at the royalty rates for artists to “that’s about $166 too much”! Feel free to comment below.

Lee Jarvis

As well as from appearing on your profile, recently added mp3s are also featured on our front page and all the key US Music Jobs site pages – if you contribute regularly you are more likely to attract attention and earn new fans.

The members I have featured below are all fine examples of the value of keeping your profile up to date – adding mp3s, photos, videos, press cuttings and more will make your profile easy to search and attractive to other users and employers to read. Regularly adding info and media means that I am more likely to find you in our network – next time it could be your music shared here and across the US Music Jobs online profiles!

US Music Jobs member: Silvia Pratesi

Recommended Listening: You can do the impossible (Musical Theatre)
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US Music Jobs member: John Runowicz

Recommended Listening: Running From The Blues (Blues)
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US Music Jobs member: Lucy Blanco

Recommended Listening: Bye Bye Blackbird (Jazz)
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US Music Jobs member: Gene Townsel

Recommended Listening: Chrissy/From Album (Pop)
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US Music Jobs member: Paul Mills

Recommended Listening: The Painter (Contemporary)
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US Music Jobs member: Daniel Tortoledo

Recommended Listening: Throughout These Years (Pop)
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US Music Jobs member: Ulysses Salett

Recommended Listening: Come on Home (Contemporary)
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US Music Jobs member: Kremena Lyutskanova

Recommended Listening: Beauty Girl (Classical)
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If you would like to be featured in future US Music Jobs blog posts, then update your profile regularly and leave a message on my profile wall (another feature that you should use for networking – look out for a future blog post!)

Lee Jarvis.

MTV and Harmonix are to launch the Rock Band Network later this year. The Rock Band Network is a platform that will allow bands to upload their music for review by the Rock Band game creators, and possibly available as part of the game’s store, tapping into the wealth of publicity and revenue created for musicians by the Rock Band brand.

The system was devised in part to help expand the content available to the gamers, something which the limited staff was struggling to find the time to provide. And so recording artists will have the opportunity to add to the 700 tracks already part of the program by taking the stems from their original masters and creating MIDI tracks for each instrument, before sharing it with the Rock Band Network community.

Here is a short video from the people over at Joystiq, explaining the idea and the process.

There’s also a lot more detail at Billboard if you want to get into the bones of it all.

So, exciting times! Yet more ways for independent artists, studios, labels, bands, managers and many more music professionals to create their own successes, and find work in the music industry. Best of luck!

Lee Jarvis.