Who Killed The Creativity And Imagination?

In a generation that is hooked on video games, cells phones and laptops, it’s no wonder why we lack the creativity and the imagination of other generations. It starts from the time of being an infant to early childhood. The toys children play with leave nothing for the imagination to pick up on. Toys nowadays not only talk; they interact with children as well. Don’t get me wrong; I think this is great for children to build communication skills, however I believe that other toys should allow children to be creative and use their imagination. Creativity, imagination, and common sense are all skills that are becoming rare and hard to find.

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Spotify: The Music Industry’s Life Support?

Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, does not believe that Spotify is out for anyone, but themselves. On Grammy night Portnow took to the stage to aim shots at music streaming services for making less-than lucrative deals with artists and musicians. Neil Portnow said, “Isn’t a song worth more then a penny?”

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Get Your Tickets?

Adele and Bruce Springsteen are ready to take on the ticket hubs. Back in December, Springsteen’s concert tickets were already for sale on secondary market sites like StubHub, before they even went on sale to the public. These tickets were marked up five to ten times face value. Devoted fans are being shut out from seeing their favorite musicians and bands. Adele’s North American tour sold out in the matter of minutes. The concert industry must find a way to level the playing field.

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Jason K Ventura’s Music Industry Predictions For 2016

The streaming business model will change across the board. The new models will have fairground for artists and labels alike.

Due to royalty rates and a rebellion of artists, streaming services will be forced to put limitations on music catalogs.

With prices at an all time low and stagnant music sales, touring will continue to be a cash cow for the music industry. Yet again, touring will be the bread winner this year.

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Pandora’s Box

Pandora’s CEO Brian McAndrews was featured in an article in Business Insider. McAndrews conjugates a story about a music industry executive that spoke to an undergraduate class of students at one of the top universities in the country. He never mentioned who the executive was or what university; to me the story was just that, a story.

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Where Does The Music Industry Stand?

Now that the last month of the year is upon us, I’m reflecting on the status of the music industry. In 2015 we as an industry have not made much progress in the terms of growth in sales or the development of new technology. The music industry has a hard time knowing the power of its brand. Labels have too many flops and not enough hits, releasing based on volume instead of quality.

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Fair Play Fair Pay

2015 brought us many new technologies, but still our licensing system is clearly failing us. There is nothing protecting artists from digital, satellite, and AM/FM play. There is nothing set in place in the US to fairly compensate artists and musicians regarding fair play fair pay. The laws that pertain to royalty payments are unreliable and unfair. These laws need to be reevaluated. Terrestrial radio does not pay anything to artists and musicians, while cable and satellite were grandfathered in paying below the free market. Digital services, especially Pandora, have argued that music recorded prior to February 15, 1972 does not have to be legally paid. How is this fair to artists and musicians?

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Ian Rogers Beats It

The news of Ian Rogers’ departure from Beats 1 flooded the Internet on Friday August 28, 2015. After Financial Times broke the news of Rogers parting from Apple. This came as a surprise to many music industry insiders. Rogers has been said to be detrimental to the development and the future success of Beats 1.

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It's Time To Rethink Everything

As many of you who normally read my blog post know that I do not support the music-streaming model that is currently being used. I believe that streaming in the current business model is not sustainable revenue for the music industry. To date there hasn’t been any music streaming service that has yet made a profit. It’s easy math here, the record labels and artists spend big time dollars to produce, market, and distribute music. In turn they receive pennies to the dollar, this seems like a no brainer. No wonder why music-streaming services have not made a dollar.

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Spotify Now or Never

In recent news Spotify has partnered up in a steamy business relationship with Starbucks. The deal makes Spotify the sole supplier of music to all 7,000 Starbuck stores. Baristas will be creating music playlists, using Spotify’s Premium membership in early fall. Starbucks reward members will have access to music on Spotify and have a huge influence on what is played in the stores. Reward members will also be able to use their star rewards as currency just like a virtual jukebox, for subscribing to Spotify’s Premium membership.

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American Idol Signing Off

After fifteen seasons American Idol is finally signing off. Sad you say? No, I am happy as can be. I have never liked the American Idol format of contestants with minute talent, being transformed into an over night music success. On air talent was selected by music background and skill. In later seasons the guesswork was taken out, leaving less work for the judges. Contestant Clay Aiken admitted to this happening after his American Idol appearance.

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Does the Music Industry Hear New Music Through The Grape Vine?

Fifteen minutes, I mean six-seconds of fame is the new way into the music industry. Move over YouTube, Vine is the place to be. These looped six-second videos prove you don’t need a three-minute song or to be found by A&R staff. Here are a few Vine artists that paved the way.

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The Second Coming

The resurrection of vinyl surprisingly started November 2013. The resurrection was powered by the release of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and classic rock reissued vinyl sales. Sales exploded that November according to Amoeba’s general manager, Rick Sanchez. Sanchez said, “It’s just continued since – it’s substantial, a really heavy spike, having a record in your hand is just way cooler than having a file in your iPod.” Around that time total sales soared 51% to 9.2 million. Vinyl now comprises 67% of total physical album sales.

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The Music Industry Says Farewell to Freemium

Maybe Rob Wells doesn’t really get the idea of cannibalism. I don’t agree with him on this, because streaming has hurt the one-track sales and the buying habits of the consumer. We see that in a reflection of the dropping sales in the iTunes marketplace and other content providers that have dwindling sales. In the November 2013 MIT Sloan Management Review, Wells explains that he does a lot through charts to get people on his side and a lot of the senior staff at the label seem to be less tech savvy, so it is hard to convince and persuade the senior level staff. Well used the example that he had to introduce senior level executives to Snapchat and Vine. He could tell if they were interested if they were engaged in the conversation, if not they would ignore him all together. This seems very frustrating, time consuming, and ineffective.

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