bananastasi
- Wed, Aug 4, 2010, 9:09 P
Weekly Band E-Mail #139.0 NEWS August 5th, 2010
WEEKLY BAND E-MAIL #139.0 August 5th, 2010
By BRIAN ANASTASI bananastasi@comcast.net
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The building that houses the Route 63 Roadhouse in Millers Falls has been sold. Until the sale is transferred over to the new owner, Carol Cameron and Jamie Snyder will be re-opening it next Tuesday, August 10th, and running it pretty much as they have been running it for the last five years. It had been thought that the Drunk Stuntmen's show on Saturday, June 26th may have been the last show ever at The Roadhouse, since the building had been up for sale for quite some time. In fact, everybody who was involved with The Roadhouse, whether they were staff, bands who had played there, or regular customers, gathered together in front of the sign on Sunday, June 27th for a picture which appeared in The Greenfield Recorder on Thursday, July 1st.
Carol Cameron said "We have been closed for the month of July, with lots of painting and deep cleaning going on, so the bar will be nice and ready to reopen. We are happy to say that the new prospective owner is a wonderful person and a perfect fit for the Roadhouse."
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The Newbury Comics location at 50 Main Street in Amherst will be moving across the river to the former YES Computers building at 38 Pleasant Street in Northampton. It is expected that the Amherst store will stay in business through the end of August. The State Legislature has decided to suspend the 6.25% sales tax on Saturday, August 14th and Sunday, August 15th, which will help reduce the amount of stock that will have to be moved to the new location. The Amherst store is the only place west of Worcester where you can get copies of The Boston Phoenix and The Weekly Dig every week. Owner and CEO Mike Dreese said in his annual letter to subscribers back in March that he is considering opening a location in midtown Manhattan.
The transformation that turned Newbury Street in Boston's Back Bay into a trendy shopping district for young people probably began in the 1970s with the opening of the original Newbury Comics. Newbury Comics was founded in 1978 by two MIT students, John Brusger and Mike Dreese on lower Newbury Street (near Mass. Ave.), where the original store still stands today. Aimee Mann of 'Til Tuesday fame was a cashier at the flagship store through 1982. Directly across the street was the famed Newbury Sound, where Boston bands such as the Cars recorded early hits. Musicians such as Peter Wolf and Ric Ocasek were street regulars of this bygone era.
Although it started out selling only comics, it soon started selling vinyl albums and cassettes and eventually compact disks. To compete in today's music environment, Newbury Comics locations are also selling sports paraphenalia, used video games, and other novelties.
Newbury Comics is now a chain of 28 stores in four states whose business (despite the name) is primarily the sale of CDs. In a classic case of "what goes around comes around" (otherwise known as "if you hold on to something long enough, it will eventually come back into style), Newbury Comics is now stocking 28-gram vinyl albums.
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Platterpus Records has moved to 74 Cottage Street in Easthampton. The store did a brisk business in Westfield for 25 years, and then moved to the Hampshire Mall in Hadley three years ago, but had to close that store on March 31st. Owner Dave Witthaus says the new store is "like a record store used to be," with tons of vinyl, incense, t-shirts, posters, and used CDs. Just log ino your Facebook account and search for Platterpus, Too for info on what is in stock, hours, and phone number.
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This comes from Boston Band Crush:
Union Square in Somerville will definitely be hopping this Saturday afternoon, August 7th, as both Precinct and P.A.'s Lounge will be hosting Deep Heaven Now, a throwback to the ambient/psych festivals of the 1990's. $10 gets you access to both venues all day long, and set times have been set with a minimum of overlap, so with a little determination you'll be able to catch just about every act.
As if that wasn't enough to get people excited about Somerville this weekend, it's also time for the Rock 'n Roll Yard Sale. Flip through tons of records, music memorabilia, vintage apparel and more.
Here is a list of the times bands will be playing in the two venues:
Precinct
2pm Quilt
3pm Chatham Rise
4pm Broken River Prophet
5pm Kuuluuko
6pm Young Adults
7pm Marie Stella
8pm Static of the Gods
9pm Roh Delikat
10pm Sound Pool
11pm Asteroid#4
12midnight 28 Degrees Taurus
P.A.'s Lounge
3:30pm Joe Turner and the 7 Levels
4:30pm Night Fruit
5:30pm Telltale
6:30pm The Vandelles
7:30pm The Hush Now
8:30pm MMOSS
9:30pm Bob Trimble's Flying Spiders
10:30pm Abunai!
11:30pm Doomstar!
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This is the weekend of the huge Transmission Fest hardcore and metal festival, at both the Palladium in Worcester and the Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT. The shows are at the Palladium downstairs on both Friday, August 6th and Saturday, August 7th. Doors for both shows are 1pm, with the shows starting at 1:30pm. Tickets on Friday are either $25 for one day or $45 for both days. Tickets on Saturday are $20. Tickets are available at FYE locations, online at http://www.tickets.com or at the door. The complete schedule is in this week's Weekly Band E-Mail LISTINGS edition.
Scott and Lee Ogre will be having a post-Transmission show at the Waterfront Tavern in Holyoke on Sunday, August 8th. Performing will be With Words, Kid Liberty, We Are Defiance, In the Direction of the Sun, and Shouting Fire at a Funeral. Doors are at 6:30pm, and the show begins at 7pm. Tickets are $10 in advance from any of the bands, or $12 at the door. This is an ALL AGES show.
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The Naukabout, the third annual Festival of Cape Cod, returns to the Barnstable County Fairgrounds in East Falmouth this Saturday, August 7th, from 12noon to 10pm.. Multi-Grammy award winner Bela Fleck, world class Indian percussionist Zakir Hussain and contemporary bassist Edgar Meyer will perform as a trio to headline the 2010 Naukabout Festival. Tickets are $30 the day of the show at the gate. Children under 12 will be admitted free.
A portion of the event proceeds from the 2010 festival will benefit the Fresh Air Fund, an independent non-profit that provides inner-city children in need the joy of a summer vacation with volunteer host families and at Fund camps, creating unforgettable memories and fresh possibilities. Naukabout will also be hosting a raffle at the festival for the Fresh Air Fund which will include an Epiphone Hummingbird Acoustic Guitar, as well as an overnight package at The Whiteny’s Inn at Black Mountain, a one-year supply of Honest Tea, and more.
The Barnstable County Fairgrounds is located at 1220 Nathan Ellis Highway, Route 151, in East Falmouth 02536. For more complete information, go to http://www.naukabout.com Here is the schedule of performances:
Main Stage
1pm Black Marmot
2:20pm Adam Ezra Group
3:30pm Barefoot Truth
5:30pm Ryan Montbleau Band
7:30pm Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer
Side Stage
12noon Boombasnap (local band that won in Sonicbids voting)
1:50pm Jeff Conley Band
3:15pm Lily Scott with Varlet
4:45pm Jon Benninghof
6:50pm Will Dailey and the Rivals
Here is a video of Boombasnap performing at the Lost Dog in Orleans on December 12th:
(warning: this video contains flash photography)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0WdQY-ID5s
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Surfside Live is the name of a series of concerts and fireworks displays that will be happening right on Salisbury Beach for the next Saturday nights. The shows begin at 7:30pm, and the fireworks begin at 10pm. All shows are free and open to the public. Here is the schedule of shows:
Saturday, August 7th Evan Goodrow Band
Saturday, August 14th Entrain
Saturday, August 21st Adam Ezra Group
Saturday, August 28th Bonerama
Saturday, September 4th Beatlejuice
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The Life is Good Festival will be happening at Prowse Farm in Canton on Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th. There will be more than 20 acts, including Ben Harper and Relentless7, Jason Mraz, Ziggy Marley, Guster, Ozomatli, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dr. Dog, OK Go!, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. According to Callanan and Klein Communications, "this one-of-a-kind festival is designed to spread good vibes through music while raising more than $1 million for kids who are facing life-threatening challenges." Two local bands will also be chosen to take the stage.
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The David Wax Museum has a Tuesday night residency at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge for the month of August. The band played at the Newport Folk Festival last Sunday, August 1st. To hear their entire set, and to hear NPR's full coverage of this year's Newport Folk Festival, go to: http://n.pr/blXmOL
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"The Marvelous Toy," the classic children's song written fifty years ago by folk legend Tom Paxton, is now available as a digital children's book mobile app for the iPhone and iPad. "The Marvelous Toy" is one of the first songs published by legendary indie Cherry Lane Music Publishing (part of BMG). Created by MobiStories, the app cleverly combines the music and lyrics of Paxton's classic song with Steve Cox's stunning illustrations from the hardcover book released by Imagine Publishing.
Designed to delight readers and non-readers alike, MobiStories creates an entirely new way for children to experience Paxton's tale of a mysterious and marvelous toy that a father gives to his son and eventually gets passed on to the next generation. Cox's magical and mystical artwork literally bursts into life accompanied by hilarious visual and sound effects, all at the touch of a finger. Even the song has been given a lighthearted, twenty-first century makeover. Kids will connect with Paxton's words and memorable, uplifting music; they will delight as their simple touch makes pets and people talk, lights shine, and objects move.
Richard Stumpf, Senior VP, Creative Services/A&R Marketing for Cherry Lane, said "We're thrilled with 'The Marvelous Toy' app and its potential for introducing new generations to the song. Given the fact that Tom Paxton was the first writer signed to Cherry Lane, this app has a truly historic resonance for the company."
Tom Paxton adds "'The Marvelous Toy' celebrates a child's sense of wonder and imagination. MobiStories cleverly marries my music and lyrics with Steve Cox's spectacular artwork. Add the wow factor of technology and a new generation of kids can experience the story's magic in an entirely new way."
Tom Paxton will be at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington on Friday, August 27th and Saturday, August 28th.
Tom Paxton may have written "The Marvelous Toy," but Peter, Paul and Mary brought it to much larger audiences by making it a part of their thousands of performances.
Here is a video of Peter, Paul and Mary performing "The Marvelous Toy":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYefZkOMB0
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Here is a fascinating story about the rapidly-changing music business from fast.company.com posted on Tuesday, July 20th:
"More people are engaged with music than ever before," said Tom Silverman, founder of Tommy Boy Records and the New Music Seminar. "It's a hockey stick going up; it's an incredible opportunity that so far has eluded us." Silverman was speaking this morning at the New Music Seminar in New York City, where he and Eric Garland, CEO of Big Champagne, gave a State of the Music Industry address. Even if you aren't a player in the industry and only an avid music listener, the figures that Silverman and Garland culled will surely surprise you. Here are a few of their key findings.
Of the some 100,000 albums released last year, 17,000 of them sold only 1 copy; more than 81,000 albums sold under 100 copies. In fact, just 1,300 albums sold over 10,000 copies, an astonishing figure given that these numbers combine physical and digital album sales. And for physical sales alone? According to Garland, only 2% of new albums on Soundscan sold over 5,000 copies -- that's a skydiver's plummet from the golden era of the music industry. This chart shows you how much the industry has changed:
"The music business historically has been built around albums," explained Silverman. "This album-centrism is like saying the sun revolves around the Earth. We don't listen to albums now; we listen to collections of songs."
Of course, the reason for significant single-growth and slowed-album sales is due in part to iTunes hawking every song as a single for 99 cents. "Historically, the price of an album was five times greater than a single," said Silverman, who believes setting the price at a tenth of an album's cost was a mistake and that even $1.29 is too low. "It should've been a $1.99, and then we would've seen higher digital album sales because it would've been a bigger discount for buying an album." But both Silverman and Garland agreed that this is changing, citing the fact that about 14% of all of Universal Music's digital sales are for iTunes "Complete My Albums," a program where you receive credit for having already purchased the single, but have the option to upgrade and purchase the full album. This suggests the $9.99 price-tag is becoming approachable for consumers.
According to Garland, industry folks today are obsessed with "FFF numbers" -- that is, an artist's friends, fans, and followers. "It's a race, but to what end?" he wondered. Garland showed through a series of charts how Twitter and especially Facebook are ballooning in popularity for artists like Lady Gaga, while once popular MySpace's numbers are stymied.
However, Garland points out that Facebook recently forced most users into converting their profile favorites into "fan" data, which arbitrarily inflated the social network's numbers. For example, Garland tells the story of how when Susan Boyle's performance first blew up, a friend of his added the YouTube star to his Facebook profile. When Facebook imported this data though, he instantly became a "fan" of Susan Boyle. "[He] had no interest in it -- [he] liked her for like 30 seconds, once!" Garland relates. "It doesn't really indicate any consumer activity -- it's automated," added Silverman.
Garland's story serves as an indicator of just how difficult it is to figure out the influence of an artist through his or her FFF number. After all, even if Lady Gaga starts losing friends on MySpace, that's less of an indication of her popularity, and more a sign of MySpace's falling use.
Interestingly, it wasn't Apple that Garland viewed as the most important name in music, even though the company's iPods, iPhones, and iTunes indicate otherwise. "YouTube is increasingly the category killer," argued Garland. "When people ask me what is the biggest name in music in my opinion, they want me to say Apple. I usually answer: YouTube."
Garland told audiences that if you actually look to where people are listening to music -- not even just looking at videos -- consumers are turning more and more to YouTube, which he calls the "largest catalog of on-demand music on the Internet." If only Google could make this service profitable, right?
Garland and Silverman pointed out that Pandora is now the most popular Internet radio service, with a 52% market share, close to 60 million registered users, and more than 1 billion stations.
And in a sign of just how much the Web has impacted music, Silverman told the crowd that Pandora now represents 1.7% of all radio listening--really a shocking figure to think about. Obviously, traditional music media is going away. But is the music industry ready for the change?
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Information for the Weekly Band E-Mail is taken directly from venue,
band, and musician web sites, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace pages,
as well as blogs, posters, flyers, and e-mails..
Brian Anastasi assumes no responsibility for errors on these sources.
By BRIAN ANASTASI bananastasi@comcast.net
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The building that houses the Route 63 Roadhouse in Millers Falls has been sold. Until the sale is transferred over to the new owner, Carol Cameron and Jamie Snyder will be re-opening it next Tuesday, August 10th, and running it pretty much as they have been running it for the last five years. It had been thought that the Drunk Stuntmen's show on Saturday, June 26th may have been the last show ever at The Roadhouse, since the building had been up for sale for quite some time. In fact, everybody who was involved with The Roadhouse, whether they were staff, bands who had played there, or regular customers, gathered together in front of the sign on Sunday, June 27th for a picture which appeared in The Greenfield Recorder on Thursday, July 1st.
Carol Cameron said "We have been closed for the month of July, with lots of painting and deep cleaning going on, so the bar will be nice and ready to reopen. We are happy to say that the new prospective owner is a wonderful person and a perfect fit for the Roadhouse."
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The Newbury Comics location at 50 Main Street in Amherst will be moving across the river to the former YES Computers building at 38 Pleasant Street in Northampton. It is expected that the Amherst store will stay in business through the end of August. The State Legislature has decided to suspend the 6.25% sales tax on Saturday, August 14th and Sunday, August 15th, which will help reduce the amount of stock that will have to be moved to the new location. The Amherst store is the only place west of Worcester where you can get copies of The Boston Phoenix and The Weekly Dig every week. Owner and CEO Mike Dreese said in his annual letter to subscribers back in March that he is considering opening a location in midtown Manhattan.
The transformation that turned Newbury Street in Boston's Back Bay into a trendy shopping district for young people probably began in the 1970s with the opening of the original Newbury Comics. Newbury Comics was founded in 1978 by two MIT students, John Brusger and Mike Dreese on lower Newbury Street (near Mass. Ave.), where the original store still stands today. Aimee Mann of 'Til Tuesday fame was a cashier at the flagship store through 1982. Directly across the street was the famed Newbury Sound, where Boston bands such as the Cars recorded early hits. Musicians such as Peter Wolf and Ric Ocasek were street regulars of this bygone era.
Although it started out selling only comics, it soon started selling vinyl albums and cassettes and eventually compact disks. To compete in today's music environment, Newbury Comics locations are also selling sports paraphenalia, used video games, and other novelties.
Newbury Comics is now a chain of 28 stores in four states whose business (despite the name) is primarily the sale of CDs. In a classic case of "what goes around comes around" (otherwise known as "if you hold on to something long enough, it will eventually come back into style), Newbury Comics is now stocking 28-gram vinyl albums.
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Platterpus Records has moved to 74 Cottage Street in Easthampton. The store did a brisk business in Westfield for 25 years, and then moved to the Hampshire Mall in Hadley three years ago, but had to close that store on March 31st. Owner Dave Witthaus says the new store is "like a record store used to be," with tons of vinyl, incense, t-shirts, posters, and used CDs. Just log ino your Facebook account and search for Platterpus, Too for info on what is in stock, hours, and phone number.
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This comes from Boston Band Crush:
Union Square in Somerville will definitely be hopping this Saturday afternoon, August 7th, as both Precinct and P.A.'s Lounge will be hosting Deep Heaven Now, a throwback to the ambient/psych festivals of the 1990's. $10 gets you access to both venues all day long, and set times have been set with a minimum of overlap, so with a little determination you'll be able to catch just about every act.
As if that wasn't enough to get people excited about Somerville this weekend, it's also time for the Rock 'n Roll Yard Sale. Flip through tons of records, music memorabilia, vintage apparel and more.
Here is a list of the times bands will be playing in the two venues:
Precinct
2pm Quilt
3pm Chatham Rise
4pm Broken River Prophet
5pm Kuuluuko
6pm Young Adults
7pm Marie Stella
8pm Static of the Gods
9pm Roh Delikat
10pm Sound Pool
11pm Asteroid#4
12midnight 28 Degrees Taurus
P.A.'s Lounge
3:30pm Joe Turner and the 7 Levels
4:30pm Night Fruit
5:30pm Telltale
6:30pm The Vandelles
7:30pm The Hush Now
8:30pm MMOSS
9:30pm Bob Trimble's Flying Spiders
10:30pm Abunai!
11:30pm Doomstar!
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This is the weekend of the huge Transmission Fest hardcore and metal festival, at both the Palladium in Worcester and the Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT. The shows are at the Palladium downstairs on both Friday, August 6th and Saturday, August 7th. Doors for both shows are 1pm, with the shows starting at 1:30pm. Tickets on Friday are either $25 for one day or $45 for both days. Tickets on Saturday are $20. Tickets are available at FYE locations, online at http://www.tickets.com or at the door. The complete schedule is in this week's Weekly Band E-Mail LISTINGS edition.
Scott and Lee Ogre will be having a post-Transmission show at the Waterfront Tavern in Holyoke on Sunday, August 8th. Performing will be With Words, Kid Liberty, We Are Defiance, In the Direction of the Sun, and Shouting Fire at a Funeral. Doors are at 6:30pm, and the show begins at 7pm. Tickets are $10 in advance from any of the bands, or $12 at the door. This is an ALL AGES show.
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The Naukabout, the third annual Festival of Cape Cod, returns to the Barnstable County Fairgrounds in East Falmouth this Saturday, August 7th, from 12noon to 10pm.. Multi-Grammy award winner Bela Fleck, world class Indian percussionist Zakir Hussain and contemporary bassist Edgar Meyer will perform as a trio to headline the 2010 Naukabout Festival. Tickets are $30 the day of the show at the gate. Children under 12 will be admitted free.
A portion of the event proceeds from the 2010 festival will benefit the Fresh Air Fund, an independent non-profit that provides inner-city children in need the joy of a summer vacation with volunteer host families and at Fund camps, creating unforgettable memories and fresh possibilities. Naukabout will also be hosting a raffle at the festival for the Fresh Air Fund which will include an Epiphone Hummingbird Acoustic Guitar, as well as an overnight package at The Whiteny’s Inn at Black Mountain, a one-year supply of Honest Tea, and more.
The Barnstable County Fairgrounds is located at 1220 Nathan Ellis Highway, Route 151, in East Falmouth 02536. For more complete information, go to http://www.naukabout.com Here is the schedule of performances:
Main Stage
1pm Black Marmot
2:20pm Adam Ezra Group
3:30pm Barefoot Truth
5:30pm Ryan Montbleau Band
7:30pm Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer
Side Stage
12noon Boombasnap (local band that won in Sonicbids voting)
1:50pm Jeff Conley Band
3:15pm Lily Scott with Varlet
4:45pm Jon Benninghof
6:50pm Will Dailey and the Rivals
Here is a video of Boombasnap performing at the Lost Dog in Orleans on December 12th:
(warning: this video contains flash photography)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0WdQY-ID5s
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Surfside Live is the name of a series of concerts and fireworks displays that will be happening right on Salisbury Beach for the next Saturday nights. The shows begin at 7:30pm, and the fireworks begin at 10pm. All shows are free and open to the public. Here is the schedule of shows:
Saturday, August 7th Evan Goodrow Band
Saturday, August 14th Entrain
Saturday, August 21st Adam Ezra Group
Saturday, August 28th Bonerama
Saturday, September 4th Beatlejuice
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The Life is Good Festival will be happening at Prowse Farm in Canton on Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th. There will be more than 20 acts, including Ben Harper and Relentless7, Jason Mraz, Ziggy Marley, Guster, Ozomatli, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dr. Dog, OK Go!, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. According to Callanan and Klein Communications, "this one-of-a-kind festival is designed to spread good vibes through music while raising more than $1 million for kids who are facing life-threatening challenges." Two local bands will also be chosen to take the stage.
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The David Wax Museum has a Tuesday night residency at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge for the month of August. The band played at the Newport Folk Festival last Sunday, August 1st. To hear their entire set, and to hear NPR's full coverage of this year's Newport Folk Festival, go to: http://n.pr/blXmOL
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"The Marvelous Toy," the classic children's song written fifty years ago by folk legend Tom Paxton, is now available as a digital children's book mobile app for the iPhone and iPad. "The Marvelous Toy" is one of the first songs published by legendary indie Cherry Lane Music Publishing (part of BMG). Created by MobiStories, the app cleverly combines the music and lyrics of Paxton's classic song with Steve Cox's stunning illustrations from the hardcover book released by Imagine Publishing.
Designed to delight readers and non-readers alike, MobiStories creates an entirely new way for children to experience Paxton's tale of a mysterious and marvelous toy that a father gives to his son and eventually gets passed on to the next generation. Cox's magical and mystical artwork literally bursts into life accompanied by hilarious visual and sound effects, all at the touch of a finger. Even the song has been given a lighthearted, twenty-first century makeover. Kids will connect with Paxton's words and memorable, uplifting music; they will delight as their simple touch makes pets and people talk, lights shine, and objects move.
Richard Stumpf, Senior VP, Creative Services/A&R Marketing for Cherry Lane, said "We're thrilled with 'The Marvelous Toy' app and its potential for introducing new generations to the song. Given the fact that Tom Paxton was the first writer signed to Cherry Lane, this app has a truly historic resonance for the company."
Tom Paxton adds "'The Marvelous Toy' celebrates a child's sense of wonder and imagination. MobiStories cleverly marries my music and lyrics with Steve Cox's spectacular artwork. Add the wow factor of technology and a new generation of kids can experience the story's magic in an entirely new way."
Tom Paxton will be at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington on Friday, August 27th and Saturday, August 28th.
Tom Paxton may have written "The Marvelous Toy," but Peter, Paul and Mary brought it to much larger audiences by making it a part of their thousands of performances.
Here is a video of Peter, Paul and Mary performing "The Marvelous Toy":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYefZkOMB0
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Here is a fascinating story about the rapidly-changing music business from fast.company.com posted on Tuesday, July 20th:
"More people are engaged with music than ever before," said Tom Silverman, founder of Tommy Boy Records and the New Music Seminar. "It's a hockey stick going up; it's an incredible opportunity that so far has eluded us." Silverman was speaking this morning at the New Music Seminar in New York City, where he and Eric Garland, CEO of Big Champagne, gave a State of the Music Industry address. Even if you aren't a player in the industry and only an avid music listener, the figures that Silverman and Garland culled will surely surprise you. Here are a few of their key findings.
Of the some 100,000 albums released last year, 17,000 of them sold only 1 copy; more than 81,000 albums sold under 100 copies. In fact, just 1,300 albums sold over 10,000 copies, an astonishing figure given that these numbers combine physical and digital album sales. And for physical sales alone? According to Garland, only 2% of new albums on Soundscan sold over 5,000 copies -- that's a skydiver's plummet from the golden era of the music industry. This chart shows you how much the industry has changed:
"The music business historically has been built around albums," explained Silverman. "This album-centrism is like saying the sun revolves around the Earth. We don't listen to albums now; we listen to collections of songs."
Of course, the reason for significant single-growth and slowed-album sales is due in part to iTunes hawking every song as a single for 99 cents. "Historically, the price of an album was five times greater than a single," said Silverman, who believes setting the price at a tenth of an album's cost was a mistake and that even $1.29 is too low. "It should've been a $1.99, and then we would've seen higher digital album sales because it would've been a bigger discount for buying an album." But both Silverman and Garland agreed that this is changing, citing the fact that about 14% of all of Universal Music's digital sales are for iTunes "Complete My Albums," a program where you receive credit for having already purchased the single, but have the option to upgrade and purchase the full album. This suggests the $9.99 price-tag is becoming approachable for consumers.
According to Garland, industry folks today are obsessed with "FFF numbers" -- that is, an artist's friends, fans, and followers. "It's a race, but to what end?" he wondered. Garland showed through a series of charts how Twitter and especially Facebook are ballooning in popularity for artists like Lady Gaga, while once popular MySpace's numbers are stymied.
However, Garland points out that Facebook recently forced most users into converting their profile favorites into "fan" data, which arbitrarily inflated the social network's numbers. For example, Garland tells the story of how when Susan Boyle's performance first blew up, a friend of his added the YouTube star to his Facebook profile. When Facebook imported this data though, he instantly became a "fan" of Susan Boyle. "[He] had no interest in it -- [he] liked her for like 30 seconds, once!" Garland relates. "It doesn't really indicate any consumer activity -- it's automated," added Silverman.
Garland's story serves as an indicator of just how difficult it is to figure out the influence of an artist through his or her FFF number. After all, even if Lady Gaga starts losing friends on MySpace, that's less of an indication of her popularity, and more a sign of MySpace's falling use.
Interestingly, it wasn't Apple that Garland viewed as the most important name in music, even though the company's iPods, iPhones, and iTunes indicate otherwise. "YouTube is increasingly the category killer," argued Garland. "When people ask me what is the biggest name in music in my opinion, they want me to say Apple. I usually answer: YouTube."
Garland told audiences that if you actually look to where people are listening to music -- not even just looking at videos -- consumers are turning more and more to YouTube, which he calls the "largest catalog of on-demand music on the Internet." If only Google could make this service profitable, right?
Garland and Silverman pointed out that Pandora is now the most popular Internet radio service, with a 52% market share, close to 60 million registered users, and more than 1 billion stations.
And in a sign of just how much the Web has impacted music, Silverman told the crowd that Pandora now represents 1.7% of all radio listening--really a shocking figure to think about. Obviously, traditional music media is going away. But is the music industry ready for the change?
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Information for the Weekly Band E-Mail is taken directly from venue,
band, and musician web sites, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace pages,
as well as blogs, posters, flyers, and e-mails..
Brian Anastasi assumes no responsibility for errors on these sources.