ProHipHop: Hip Hop Business: Hypebot Industry News

In addition to regular news and commentary, October 20-26th Hypebot will explore marketing guru Seth Godin's new book "Tribes" and how artists and the music industry can benefit from his theories.

MidemNet Adds Speakers, Seeks Biz Showcase Submissons

ReverbNation Adds Digital Distribution, Songvest

Survey: The Top Software Used To Make Music

SanDisk released the new slotMusic microSD cards and player.
Commentary: Do we really need these tiny things?

A new digital music survey offers signs of hope for the industry.

Why Hasn't Apple's iTunes Gone DRM Free?

Warner Music Group Sale: 5 Years Later

AC/DC Speaks Out On iTunes & Wal-Mart

MySpace MyAds Targets Indie Music

The iTunes album vs. single debate: Stop Comparing Apples & Oranges

Commentary: Indies & MySpace: Like Unfulfilling Sex

Videos:
Hands On Nokia's Comes With Music
Rhapsody VP Smith On The Digital Music Business

Limewire Legit: Free CMJ Compilation & Subscriptions

Can you hear me now? iPods Cause Ear Damage

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on October 19, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hypebot: Wall St., Comics Biz, Free, Radiohead, Online Distribution & More Music Industry News

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Wall Street's Pain Felt Down On Music Street

Two great guest essays:
What The Comics Business Can Teach Music
You Give Free A Bad Name

Radiohead's "In Rainbows" One Year Later:
Part 1 - A New Era In Monetizing Music: The Artist's Era
Part 2 - The Future Revealed

Several artist and label services companies announced expanded offerings:
ReverbNation Gets $3M To Expand Music Services
ArtistData Expands Free Music Data Synch Service
Nimbit Added Integrated Downloads Cards

In distribution:
IODA Announced 5 European Deals
The Orchard Expanded its' TVT's Brick & Mortar Division
Didiom Will Bring 2M CD Baby Tracks To Mobile

Spotify Launches In EU With All Four Majors, Merlin & More

A new consumer study showed that iTunes Stayed Strong As Amazon & Rhapsody Gained.

YouTube Has Added Amazon & iTunes Download Sales

EMI Is Launching Its Own Download Site before Christmas.

Nokia's Comes With Music Comes With Restrictions

Poll: Will Nokia's Comes With Music Be A Hit?

Help Rewrite Hypebot's Most Popular Post:
100 Free & Affordable High & Low Tech Music Promotion Tips

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on October 12, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Comes With Music, Sound Exchange, David Pakman, Kid Rock & More Music Industry News

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Nokia officially launched its Comes With Music service with all four major labels and some indies. A few, like 7Digital's Ben Drury called the service "fatally flawed".

The US Congress passed a bill empowering Sound Exchange to negotiate digital performance royalties which paves the way for a settlement with net broadcasters.

After a week of public bickering including a threatened shutdown of iTunes, the Copyright Royalty Board left mechanical rates largely unchanged.

CEO David Pakman is leaving eMusic. Is the indie subscription service in a slump?

More indie record labels spoke out against MySpace Music, but they continue to use the site as a promotional vehicle.

Kid Rock finally went digital via Rhapsody.

Walmart ends WMA support 10/9

Guest Post: Consumer or Music Lover: You Decide

Are big changes ahead for Zune?

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on October 5, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Muxtape, MixTube, Fan Polls, MySpace Music, SD Cards, Music Industry News

Music industry news from Hypebot:

The Muxtape Story: Lies, Labels, Lawyers & Rebirth

MixTube Picks Up Where Muxtape Left Off

Fan engagement: What If You Took A Poll Of Your Fans?

The big story last week was the launch of MySpace Music with all four major labels aboard. Here are details and commentary.

Some members of the independent music community cried foul including Merlin ("unhealthy and dangerous") Koch ("a cold embrace") and A2IM ("disappointed") because they have not been offered a similar equity position as the major labels. There's even anti-trust talk.

But Greg Scholl from leading digital distributor The Orchard disagreed and in an exclusive interview with Hypebot shared why he signed the deal.

Labels, Publishers & Internet Broadcasters Agreed On Mechanical Royalties

Amazon MP3 Went Mobile With Google's Android Cell Phone

SanDisk & Major Labels Introduce SD Card Format

Guest post: We Are The Curator, The Light and The Frame

An interview with Tunecore's Jeff Price [Part 3].

WMG's Bronfman Buys $28.5M House. Marci Gets 214K Stock Options

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on September 28, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: MySpace Music, Best Buy + Napster, Tunecore's Jeff Price, Bandcamp, iLike & More

Music industry news from Hypebot:

MySpace Music is set to launch next week. Here is an update and rumors of an antitrust lawsuit brought by indie labels who feel they are being left out.

Best Buy To Acquire Napster. Plus thoughts on what it means.

ASCAP Seeks $'s For 30 Second Song Clips

A Conversation with Tunecore's Jeff Price:
Part 1 & Part 2.

UK Gets The MP3: 7Digital, Amazon & MySpace

Yahoo! Search Adds Rhapsody Full Song Playback

Bandcamp Offers Free Indie Download & Viral Tools

iLike Opens Platform & Partners With Top Sites

WMG Re-Shuffles Executive Deck. Cohen A Winner. Here's their new organizational chart.

7Digital Upgrades. Promises US Expansion.

Labels & Studios Mull DRM Comeback

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on September 21, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hypebot: MySpace Music, Amazon & Indies, Indie D.I.Y & Mobile, Seth Godin, Industry News

Music industry news from Hypebot:

MySpace Music is launching soon - perhaps as soon as Monday - will we like what we see? We do know that thanks to Amazon the launch will include indies.

Amazon Offers Indies Free Download Distribution

Nominate Top Indie D.I.Y. Info Sites

Indie Mobile:
Thumbplay Open Enables Indie Mobile Sales
Cutting Tune Enables Make Your Own Ringtones

Radar Connects Artists With Budget Video Producers

Band Metrics To Measure Popularity

Seth Godin meets music:
The Fall Of Communization And The Rise Of The Music Fan

Hypebot's Bruce Houghton Joins MidemNet Board

Can Payola Save Internet Radio?

Apple Refreshes iPods And iTunes Adds "Genius"

Sony Ericsson Follows "Comes With Music" Lead

EMI And Warner Music Group Partner For Asia

Popkomm Digital Music Innovator Nominees Chosen

Zune Upgrades Wireless, Adds FM Tagging

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on September 14, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Charles Hamilton, R.E.M. Web Campaign, Lower Drinking Age?, Richard Nash, Interactive Album Covers +

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Charles Hamilton tours blogs instead of clubs in support of his Interscope release.

Warner Brothers Tech VP Ethan Kaplan shares a behind the scenes look at his unique multi-site web campaign for the new R.E.M. release.
Read Part 1 & 2.

The debate about the music industry supporting lowering the drinking age to 18 is spreading.

Richard Nash is the new Urban Senior Vice President at EMI.

Apple is set to launch a new interactive album cover application. Are labels giving up too much control again?

Podcasts are growing slowly.

Nokia's "Comes With Music" will debut in the UK.

7Digital adds mp3's from Universal. Amazon UK should be next with a September launch rumored.

The new Smashing Pumpkins single will debut on the Guitar Hero game.

AOL is set to relaunch the Shoutcast internet radio guide.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on September 7, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Industry Ebooks, Shockhound & TuneCore, Live Stub, Pandora & Muxtape?, Limewire & More

Music industry news from Hypebot:

The top 5 free music industry ebooks.

Hot Topic's Shockhound partners with TuneCore to offer indie music for sale.

Are album only releases an answer to industry woes?

Free secondary ticketing site Live Stub grabs funding.

Jim Kempler named new COO of EMI A&R.

BMI collections up 7.2% to $901 million.

Hypebot's Artist Dish Podcast #3:
Will Pandora and Muxtape survive?

Limewire's P2P store doubled in size with the addition of product from The Orchard.

Hypebot readers introduce themselves and network.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on August 31, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Bandwidth 2008, Brands + Music, Indie Affiliate Marketing, CD Baby & Rightsflow, OurStage + More

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Laurence Trifon covers Bandwidth 2008.

An interview with Ko Kawishima of Brands + Music.

Affiliate advertising comes to indie music.

Does the music industry need to support a lower drinking age?

Ringback revenue is rising.

Commentary: Is Music 2.0 At A Crossroads?

New rumors surface of an iTunes subscription music service.

China blocks iTunes over pro-Tibet release.

Pandora may be forced to shut down.

All four major labels withdrew from the IFPI in Hong Kong.

BRIEFLY:
Warner Music Partners With MusicMakesFriends
CD Baby Pacts With RightsFlow For Artist Services
RoyaltyShare Buys Broad St. Digital's Rightsrouter
OurStage Adds More Indie Gig Opportunities
Oh Wouldn't It Be Nice? Brian Wilson + USAToday
Topspin Delivers David Byrne/Brian Eno Exclusive Album

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on August 24, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot on Honeymoon: Back Soon

We won't have our weekly music industry news for a couple of weeks because Hypebot's Bruce Houghton just got married.

Congratulations, Bruce!

Posted by Clyde on August 10, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: ColumbiaRecords.com Ad Prank, WaWaWa, Asthmatic Kitty, RAWRIP, True Anthem & More

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Hypebot's commentary about ads on ColumbiaRecords.com inspired a prank that placed an anti-label ad on the site. As the week progressed it spread across the net and a label insider shared his reaction.

Sony BMG lost $42 million last quarter.

Reports have Dell prepping a new MP3 player and the company points towards a broader strategy.

IODA, R2G Launch Chinese Download Site WaWaWa

Real Networks reported revenue up 12% but music didn't help much despite their new deal with MTV.

A new ArtistDish podcast features discussion of Terry McBride's 25 cent per track proposal and download audio quality.

Indie label Asthmatic Kitty to use "Pay The Buck$ His Due" pricing model.

RAWRIP pays artists 100% of sales.

Commentary: XM and Sirius have merged. Does it matter?

TrueAnthem raised $2M for a new music widget.

Executive Shuffle:
Rob Stephenson to head Virgin US
Michael Piibe upped to Global Head Of Business Development at EMI
Scott Francis is now President of Warner/Chappell Music
WMG SVP Dan Pelson leaves for uPlayMe

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on August 3, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Artist Advice, Artist Services, iLike Grows, eMusic Upgrades, Yahoo Music Folds & More

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Artist Profile: Matt Nathanson - Success Takes Time

Four Pillars Of The Band & Fan Relationship

Hypebot's series on Artist Services Sites:
1) Inside Sonicbids - EPK's & Opportunities
2) Nimbit - Commerce & Data Capture

iLike hits 30 million users and adds major features.

eMusic upgrades site and disses its competitors.

Universal Music posts a slightly down 2nd quarter but fares better than other major label groups.

UK ISPs and labels make a deal to warn users who share unauthorized files. But there are already cracks in the coalition.

Mobile Revenues Offer A Bright Spot

Napster is a possible takeover target.

Yahoo Music is closing and not supporting tracks bought on the service.

SHORT TAKES:
Paul Westerberg releases a 49 min.song for 49 cents
The Pretenders Go 2.0 for new release
MySpace Adds Eventful Data Sharing and OpenID
Mercury Prize 2008 Nominees
Songness tests a song's hit potential
LA Times pink slips many muisc writers

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on July 27, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Millenials, Indie Music Lies, Last.fm, Tunecore's Billboard Chart, Google & Radiohead, MTV's Soundtrack, Nintendo's Wii Music & More

Music industry news from Hypebot:

From Music Tank's Millennials conference:
Terry McBride Speaks
His Instant New Artist Promo Plan

5 Lies Indie Musicians Tell Themselves

Last.fm is now offering indie acts a royalty:
A look at behind the scenes reasons and ramifications and a poll to share what you think of the new plan.

Tunecore gets its own Billboard chart.

Hypebot debuts as part of the new ArtistDish podcast series.

Commentary: The truth about music press releases.

Google and Radiohead team for new video.

MTV launches Soundtrack to feature artists with music on the network's shows.

Nintendo unveils Wii Music.

After major cutbacks EMI turned a profit last quarter.

European commission has approved EU wide music licensing.

QUICK HITS:
TuneUp solves music metadata mess
AimeStreet debuts downloads for charity
imeem scores U2 re-issue pre-release
Hypebot adds a special mobile phone stream
NoiseTrade widget enables Radiohead style promo
GigMaven opened a gig marketplace

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on July 20, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Last.fm vs Merlin, Meebo, ReverbNation, Topspin, 7Digital & More

My apologies for failing to post this earlier. I'm still getting back in gear.

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Last.fm starts paying indie artists but trade group Merlin sent a warning to its 12K members not to sign on.

Meebo brings chat rooms, IM and advertising to artist web sites.

Competition between sites designed to help artists is heating up:
ReverbNation now serves 200,000 artists.
Topspin grabbed series B funding from Foundry.

The Orchard has taken control of bankrupt TVT Records.

Years later the Sony BMG merger continues to be disputed in EU courts

EMI named Elio Leoni-Sceti, a former EU household products manufacturing exec its new CEO. Poll: What do you think of EMI's choice?

Did you know that 80% of people ignore professional music reviews and a whole lot of people listen to music via their TV's?

Going DRM free sent UK download store 7Digital's sales soaring.

Will "Free Love" (the love of free downloads) Shape Music's Future?

Distributors News:
The Orchard signs with Myxer ringtones and INgrooves adds some strong new labels.

Music Tank sponsors Meet The Millennials with Terry McBride this week in London.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on July 14, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Live Nation Nabs Shakira, Good Managers?, UK Revenue Streams, SoundCloud & More

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Shakira signs a 360 deal with Live Nation. Rumor: Nickleback may be next.

Rhapsody goes all MP3 with a $50M ad campaign.

Warners signs on with Nokia's Comes With Music service.

Where Have All The Good Manager's Gone?

Revenue streams tipping to digital and mobile for UK labels.

NARM calls for common digital and retail release dates.

Book: The Pirate's Dilemma. Many important innovations have morphed from borrowed beginnings.

US Copyright Office finally adds online registration.

Some out-of-print Frank Zappa catalog gets digital release 7/8.

EMI will distribute Welk's Vanguard and Sugar Hill.

VIDEO: Bono's new music subscription service to benefit (RED) AIDS charity.

SoundCloud offers free track delivery. Grab one of 200 beta invites.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on July 5, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Music Marketing, Starbucks, Topspin, eMusic, Facebook vs MySpace, EMI, P2P, RealNetworks

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Top 10 Indie Music Marketing Tools

What is Yahoo's Ian Rogers Up To Now? Topspin.

Starbucks is dropping most music from stores.

A Critique Of eMusic's Payments To Labels and How The Company Can Save Its Soul...And Help Indie Music.

Facebook Passes MySpace Worldwide

News this week from EMI: A former Proctor & Gamble exec may be EMI's new CEO, the promised massive layoffs have begun and Coldplay had a big first week.

UK may have legal P2P by the end of '08.

RealNetworks reorganized its structure.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on June 28, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: TVT/Orchard, EMI, Live Nation, QTrax, Future of Music, Tunecore, Social Networking, Amnesty International, IODA, Polls

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Bankrupt TVT was bought by The Orchard.

A Look Inside The New EMI. It's ain't pretty.

Amazon Lowered Prices & eMusic Raised Them

Join a test of Hypebot's Collective Intelligence. Rate Qbox and win!

Michael Cohl is out at Live Nation. Look for fewer big 360 deals.

Ad supported QTrax has a rocky relaunch and very little major label product.

"Chant" Goes #1 Classical with a digital release.

The Future Of Music Coalition called for new payola and localization probes.

TuneCore opened a platform for digital aggregators.

Social Networking By The Numbers

Join Amnesty Int'ls Small Places Tour

IODA has new deals with Telifonica, Demon and Ace for distribution.

POLLS:
Who Holds The Power In Music 2.0?
What Do you Think Of The MySpace Redesign?

QUICK HITS: iTunes Soars Past 5 Billion downloads, ReverbNation adds Twitter support, Gydget expands reach with MySpace and festivals, Universal Pictures Adds 2 Music Execs, RoyaltyShare Names Durberry VP, Last.fm added videos from Universal

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on June 21, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Pirate Arrested, Nappy Boy Digital, Metallica, Merlin, Capital Execs, BMG, Universal

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Major pre-release pirate is arrested.

T-Pain launches his Nappy Boy Digital label.

Metallica apologized to blogs blaming management.

Indie trade group Merlin posts some impressive numbers.

Jason Flom follows Lee Trink out of the Capital Executive Suite plus commentary.

Neither exec will be replaced. Can it work? Take our poll.

Text of a leaked EMI internal memo on the changes.

BMG is close to closing a $1.2-$1.5 sale to Sony.

French service has unlimited downloads for a flat fee. Why can't they do this everywhere?

Universal lost a lawsuit to stop re-sale of promos.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on June 15, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Artists on the Industry, Qbox, FanDoodle, ArtistData, TuneCore, Last.fm, ConcertAttack, News Briefs

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb on free music, 360 deals, AmieSt, her new album and more.

Are high fuel prices affecting touring acts? Michelle Shocked speaks out.

Qbox indexes music on the social web.

FanDoodle pays fans to sell indie music.

ArtistData free service eases web update time crunch.

Flat fee digital distributor Tunecore cut some fees.

Last.fm spreads to other major sites.

ConcertAttack is a live music social network.

Asia will be 40% of world music market by 2011.

Wal-Mart supplier Handleman is exiting the music business.

Chinese and international music companies urge an ad boycott of Baidu.

BRIEFS: IODA Spain Launches
Barack Obama's Victory Soundtrack
Major labels sue Spanish P2P's
EMI Ups Sexton to EVP Worldwide Licensing
This Week's CIMS Indie Chart
Amazon.com was down 3 hours Friday

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on June 8, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Label Branding & Niches, American Idol, Music Intelligence, Winning Fans, ASCAP & Nimbit, Gydget

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Can The Music Industry Save Itself?
Part 3. Build Label Brands
Part 4. Chase The Niches

An insider gives his take on label branding.

EMI considers sale of recording division and HQ move to LA.

LaLa adds 10 cent song streams backed by $20 million from WMG.

American Idol totally dominates the US charts. Is this the day the music died?

Study ranks US 8th in music intelligence

Is Sony BMG hurting the music industry with a demand to sell mp3's via the agency model?

Winning Fans: Metallica vs. N.I.N.

UMG will sell direct to mobile consumers via Qualcomm's BrandXtend

Should perforning rights societies take equity vs. cash from startups?

ASCAP partners with Nimbit for artists services.

Gydget gets free band widgets right.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on June 1, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hypebot: Can The Industry Save Itself?, EMI, Napster, AOL Blogs, Brian Wilson, Tom Waits

Music industry news from Hypebot:

Can The Music Industry Save Itself?
Part I - Intro
Part II - Off With Their Heads
More next week.

Bank sets tough new goals for EMI.

Napster went all mp3 with 6M tracks from all 4 majors and many indies. Hypebot has an exclusive interview with Napster COO Christopher Allen. Later in the week the company reported a rise in quarterly revenue despite slow subscription growth.

"A Band With A Plan" takes a fresh approach to the fan financing model.

Music 1.0 Scorecoard: Major label stats.

AOL added two new niche music sites.

Beach Boy Brian Wilson returns to Capital EMI.

VIDEO: Napster's COO on pricing, piracy and the new mp3 store.
Tom Wait's fake press conference.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

Posted by Clyde on May 25, 2008 in Hypebot Industry News | Permalink | Comments (0)