Music Business Journal | Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music
Music Business Journal
Volume 5, Issue 9
TV Award Shows
A Young Producer’s Experience
By Javier Samayoa
Producing an event is like preparing
a multi-course meal. You have to plan ahead
by purchasing all the ingredients, acquiring the
right tools and allowing enough time for each
course so that you can relax and enjoy the experience with your guests. In the end, the goal is
to make all the hours of work spent in preparation invisible, so that guests can truly savor the
results.
Berklee Canta en Español
In October 2009,
I produced a music award
show in Spanish that was
broadcast twice, garnering
two million TV viewers
across Latin America and
Spain. Here is my story.
By my junior
year at Berklee, I had already been involved in several projects as co-leader of
the Latin American Music
& Business Association
(LAMBA). It quickly became apparent to me how
well respected Berklee’s
name was in the Latin music industry, and through
several projects I was introduced to valuable contacts.
I also learned that Berklee
was planning to extend beyond the U.S. by 2012 in its
partnership with the SGAE
(Sociedad General de Autores y Escritores) for
a major venture in Spain called Berklee Valencia.
With this in mind, and having always
wanted to do a concert geared towards the Latin
community, I created “Berklee Canta en Español” (Berklee Sings in Spanish). Originally we
held a concert in the Berklee Performance Center featuring Berklee’s most talented Latin singer-songwriters performing their original songs
in Spanish in a live concert setting before an
May 2010
www.thembj.org
audience and a panel of non-Berklee judges.
Special guest Aleks Syntek, Latin America’s
own version of Elton John, was to close the
concert. The competing singer-songwriters
were chosen through an internal contest, with
the only prerequisites being that applicants
should be either Berklee students or alumni
and that their songs had to be completely
original and written in Spanish. We managed
to obtain interest from Televisa, the biggest
Hispanic TV network in the world, more
specifically its popular
music channel, Telehit. A
crew from Mexico City
was slated to record the
contest in its final concert setting, and, through
purchased airtime, the
show was to air in sixty
countries.
Unfortunately,
the winds shifted and the
economy fell into a crisis. With increasing costs
coupled with budgets
cuts, the show was twice
postponed. We struggled
to reschedule the dates
given the complicated
schedules of the judges
and the special guest.
After
going
back and forth a lot, and
keeping in mind the applicants’ need for early
decisions, we decided to close our first contest by choosing the best five songs, and immediately awarded cash prizes. This allowed
us to receive quick feedback from the participants. Moreover, after much deliberation, one
of us had proposed that the show be moved to
Mexico--an obvious location given that the
content was entirely in Spanish and the show
was geared towards a Latin audience. Now,
we could start focusing exclusively on the
Mexico show.
(Continued on Page 3)
Mission Statement
The Music Business Journal, published
at the Berklee College of Music, is a student publication that serves as a forum for
intellectual discussion and research into the
various aspects of the music business. The
goal is to inform and educate aspiring music
professionals, connect them with the industry, and raise the academic level and interest
inside and outside the Berklee Community.
Inside This Issue
Über Marketing
p. 6 and p. 13
Britain’s New Lockdown Law
p. 5
Mobile Music in Japan
p. 10
Best Festival Ever
p. 8
Green Tours
p. 12
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Editor’s Note
Spring is here, just in time for this latest issue of the MBJ. It is my distinct pleasure to introduce you to our current crop of articles.
Our cover chronicles a dramatic story. Berklee alumn Javier Samayoa recounts the challenges
of producing and running large-scale TV Award shows. The theme of the article, on music and
TV, extends beyond the Latin market in which Samayoa operates. Recently, we have added more
interviews to our offerings, and in this issue we decided to cover music marketing afresh by
focusing on two practitioners: Mike King of Berkleemusic, who has just relased his own book,
and Steven Day of Skagg Family records in Nashville. We are grateful to Amy Mantis and Mia
Verdoorn for their contributions to a topic that is at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
In the April edition we discussed global touring from the perspective of a manager, Live Nation’s Gerry Barad. Here we look at the live music scene at the street view level, and focus on
two well know festivals: Lollapalooza in the US and the global World Music Day. Our own prolific staff writer Silvina Moreno contributed the first article, and Moanna Avvenenti the second.
Minden Jones, in the meantime, reminds us that tours tend to be environmentally unfriendly and
that there is a new business for ‘green music’-- a point made, coincidentally, in the last edition of
Billboard! Kerry Fee profiles Adva Mobile in the US and, focusing abroad, we publish an essay
on the Japanese mobile music market by Jason Chang and another by Ben Hong underlying the
significance for Europe and the US of the new Digital Economy Act of 2010, passed two weeks
ago in Britain.
As my Berklee career comes to an end this May, I am grateful to the students, alumni, and
faculty who put in all the hard-won hours it takes to make this publication run and continue to
grow in new directions. Each of you have made my time working with the MBJ a privilege. I
would also encourage any reader to submit their own piece, for as the discourse widens, we can
only improve.
Table of Contents
Business Articles
TV Award Shows.......................................1
Michael King Interview..............................6
Lollapalooza..............................................8
World Music Day......................................9
Mobile Music in Japan...........................10
Green Music............................................12
Steven Day and Internet Marketing.......13
Law Section
Britain’s Digital Economy Act...................8
MBJ Editorial
Mission Statement......................................1
Editor’s Note..............................................2
Upcoming Topics.................................... 16
Sponsorship
Berklee Media......................................... 15
Be sure to check out or new website at thembj.org if you haven’t yet, where you can always
download the latest issue or use our database for all your music business researching needs. You
can also find us on Facebook so if you like what you see, become a fan! Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Benson
Management
Editor-in-Chief............................................................................................................................................................ .Michael Benson
Webmaster..................................................................................................................................................................Itay Shahar Rahat
Finance...................................................................................................................................................................... Dr. Peter Alhadeff
Layout Editor................................................................................................................................................................... Ryan Driscoll
Faculty Advisor......................................................................................................................................................... Dr. Peter Alhadeff
Contributors
Editor’s Note................................................................................................................................................................ Michael Benson
Business Articles.............................................................................Javier Samayoa, Amy Mantis, Silvina Moreno, Moana Avvenenti
Business Articles.............................................................................................. Jason Chang, Minden Jones, Mia Verdoon, Kerry Fee
Law Section.............................................................................................................................................................................Ben Hong
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May 2010
Music Business Journal
Volume 5, Issue 9
Business Articles
TV Award Shows (cont.)
This happened during my senior
year. On graduation, and after enjoying some
time with my family, I began traveling more
than ever between Boston, New York, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Guatemala.
Countless emails, phone calls,
meetings, and price quotes later, my airline
miles were great than ever and inversely proportional to my sleep hours. I was also hired
as an intern at Sony in New York—and yet
somehow managed to find time to continue
producing “Berklee Canta en Español”,
which demanded constant travel to Mexico. I
felt like a cultural chameleon.
I then found out that Televisa was
coordinating a massive concert in Guadalajara, so I quickly flew there with the sole purpose of chasing artists down backstage to get
them to record short promos for the show. Not
a single artist I approached said no.
After some time we were able to secure the dates to record and produce the show
at the Lunario of Mexico’s National Auditorium, considered one of the world’s most
prestigious auditoriums. Meanwhile, we invited several renowned artists who were also
Berklee alumni to be awarded special recognition and perform during the show. Things
became tricky. We were dealing with talent
for a TV show, and many hidden agendas
and self-interests came to the fore. Egos collided. This especially showed up in the planning of the scheduling and the communication stalls—leading to difficult negotiations.
Later, I found out that this was normal for a
show that included artists, sponsors, producers, directors, and light designers.
By August 2009, I had completed
my time at Sony and Berklee. I immediately
left for Mexico to fully commit to the project.
Preparations were becoming more complex
and we were running up against the clock.
Also, in the midst of sealing business deals
left and right, we began to lose focus on securing artist appearances.
As time ran out, the pressure continued to rise. Every element, big or small, is
critical for success. But I was awestruck by
how differently I had pictured the event a year
before, and how I had underestimated the vast
amount of minute details to be considered.
Moving forward, I raised the pressure on participants, seeking to close individual deals-including the venue, the sponsoring hotel, the
TV Network, the artist, and the equipment on
stage.
The contestants began to arrive
a few days before the show, and everything
seemed to be running along quite smoothly
as we began rehearsals. But, recalling that
the great manager Bill Graham had famously
said, “something must be wrong if there are
no problems”, I was becoming concerned.
My instinct was right. Days before
the show was to open, I had intense meetings
with the concert production crew, the director,
the artists’ management, and the venue. There
had been issues. First, two artists needed to
cancel because of other conflicts. Then, Lunario’s neighboring venue, where we were
going to do the dress rehearsal and the sound
check, abruptly shut us off. Finally, Lunario
itself gave us no more 24 hours to build the
stage, do the show, and leave.
On the morning of October 7, as
we prepared a press conference and an award
ceremony for Berklee alumni and other special guests at a Mexico City hotel, things
looked bad. All I could muster was to look
relaxed, and so hide the fact that the night
before I had suffered a near nervous breakdown. With national and international media present, and amidst the camera flashes, I
managed to stay calm and speak. Thankfully,
the awards to Berkle alumni and other guests
proceeded without a hitch, and we honored
Alexander Acha, Tommy Torres, Mane de la
Parra, Benny Ibarra, and Rodrigo Davila of
the rock group Motel.
After the morning ceremony, I had
lunch with the three judges to discuss the key
points of what they would be judging later
that night. However, chaos had ensued in
the meantime without me finding out about
it until it was too late. The contestants had
not yet done a sound check, despite the show
being imminent. In the event, there was only
enough time to set up the house band and
get the lights and stage ready--so the contestants were sent back to their rooms to prepare. Thus was unsatisfactory, of course, and
fraught with anxiety for the participants.
In the red carpet area, I was
amazed that everyone except us was on time.
We couldn’t let anybody in for nearly an hour
because of the delay in the setup.
The rock group Motel opened the
show, which was great--with the caveat that
they were supposed to close the show instead (thankfully, we could edit that later).
Yet, once things started rolling I began feeling better. Truly, I was finally able to taste
the product of more than a year’s work. It’s
a short-lived sensation, however, because as
executive producer you’re supposed to continue to put out fires. Despite my efforts the
flames kept spreading, fueled by the friction
between the concert producers, on the one
hand, and the director and his TV crew on
the other. Soon the main room began literally
May 2010
(Continued on Page 5)
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Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Law Section
Britain’s Digital Economy Act
By Ben Hong
On April 9th, the British Parliament
announced its approval of the highly debated
Digital Economy Act. It was first mentioned in
the Queen’s Speech to the British legislature in
November 2009, and royal consent followed
three weeks ago, on April 8th 2010. The law
goes into effect in June.
The purpose of the DEA is “to ensure a communication infrastructure that [fits]
the digital age.(1)” Along with several provisions that include the regulation of television and radio stations, the DEA seeks to
enforce stricter measures and penalties on
online copyright infringers. It proposes a
method similar to a graduated response:
notifications on potential infringers are forwarded by the ISPs to the Office of Communications or Ofcom, accountable to Parliament; Ofcom can then take ‘technical
measures’ to disconnect the offending ISP
accounts temporarily.
The British music industry is a
key global player, and an acknowledged
leader, in the field of commercial music. Thus, the passage of the DEA Bill is
significant. It sets an example of a strong
anti-piracy effort to the international community. Feargal Starkey, the head of UK
Music, an umbrella organization representing the collective interests of the UK’s
commercial music industry, welcomed the
DEA, and insisted that this legislation will
“spur action” and expose more legitimate
ways for people to purchase music. John
Kennedy, Chairman of the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry
(IFPI) , thought that, for Britain, the DEA
was the final step towards “a world-class
creative industry. (2)” This is because ISPs
are finally co-operating with the labels and the
UK government is providing a supportive legal framework to deal with music piracy.
However, the DEA also faces growing opposition and even public outrage. One
of the British ISPs, TalkTalk, says they “will
refuse to [disconnect the users’ account] due
to alleged copyright infringement(3).” TalkTalk
claims that the passage of the legislation was
in haste, and that the provisions included in the
bill needed further debate and testing.
The Internet also came alive, and
more than 20,000 tweets and letters were sent
to the UK government. The concern was that
4 www.thembj.org
the music industry would restrict much freedom in the Internet by having its say on which
accounts to suspend(4). Some anticipate that
users who were not involved in online piracy
could be falsely victimized.
Upon the passage of the DEA, several issues will need to be dealt with. One of
them is the use of free Wi-Fi services in coffee
shops, restaurants, public libraries, universities
and colleges. The government does not exempt
any of the institutions that provide open WiFi(5). Enforcing a possible suspension not only
affects the infringers but the Wi-Fi business
as well. As there will be ambiguity deciding
whether users or service providers are accountable for the alleged abuses, many small businesses will be discouraged from using open
access--which hurts sellers all around at a time
of recession, and not just the WiFi providers.
The general population still considers the passage of the bill as a seemingly
despotic effort of the music industry to recover from its long-standing crisis. However,
lawmaking and law policing are two different
things. As the bill comes into effect, we might
witness yet an encouraging spike in sales or
more investments in the music sector. Yet,
there is no guarantee that this will happen.
In the meantime, the industry appears to be
failing at persuading and educating the public
that the new legislation is worth the cost.
However, a graduated response
system in Sweden and South Korea is a positive precedent for the British authorities (see
TheMBJ article by Beam Hong, ‘National
Power and Music Sellers: The Case of
Sweden and South Korea’, Feb. 2010).
Britain has now become another example
of a nation where labels have succeeded
in acquiring the support of the ISPs (all
except for TalkTalk).
The question for us is what would
be the next logical step for the United
States to take, especially considering the
rapidly changing legal environment in
the world, where ISPS are co-operating
with the labels and their national governments. Here, the industry has still not
been able to make much of a dent on the
ISPs or the government—at least as far
as an absolutely novel piece of legislation is concerned (for more information,
see The MBJ article by Michael Benson,
‘ISPs and Music in the US’, Feb. 2010).
But the pressure to conform to international standards is growing. Worldwide,
nations are in the process of drafting the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(ACTA), which also deals with online piracy and copyrights. The United States is
one of the participating countries (along
with EU, Japan, Australia, Canada, and
many others), but sovereignty concerns
over national law will initially take precedence over any new international legislation,
possibly delaying results. Nevertheless, if the
United States aspires to remain a world-class
music industry, with all the legal protections
afforded to it elsewhere, now is the time to
strongly consider the revision and the reinterpretation of our copyright legislation.
Sources
(1) Queen’s Speech – Digital Economy Billhttp://www.
number10.gov.uk/other/2009/11/queens- speech-digitaleconomy-bill-21348. Nov.18.2009
(2) Music Industry Welcomes Digital Economy Act. http://
newsblog.thecmuwebsite.com/post/Music-industry-welcomes-Digital-Economy-Act.aspx. Apr.9.2010
(3) Doctorow, C. UK ISP TalkTalk Will Not Obey Digital
Economy Bill Disconnection Orders. http://boingboing.
net/2010/04/08/uk-isp-talktalk-will.html. Apr.8.2010
(4) The British Backlash in Numbers: 1 Vote, 24,545
Tweets; 20,000 Letters… http://www.digitalmusicnews.
com/stories/040910economyanti
(5) Wi-Fi ‘Outlawed’ by Digital Economy Bill.
Feb.26.2010.
May 2010
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
Latin GRAMMY Awards 2009 (cont.)
heating up because the lights were too intense
and the air conditioning couldn’t keep up.
Nevertheless, in spite of all these
mishaps--and after all the performances and
repeats and some funny dialogue between the
MCs that went on forever before they opened
up the winning envelope--we crowned the
winner. In the end, in spite of all our difficulties, the crowd went wild.
Four hours later we were
shutting the cameras off with a sigh
of relief. Somehow I had pulled it
off. Then, after countless hours of
video editing, the show was completed.
The entire project was,
with hindsight, immensely rewarding for me. I had learned a lot about
TV award shows, including legal
contracts, lighting and design, camera angles, and, of course, the management of talent. And, of course,
the show travelled into the homes
of many Latin American and Spanish families who would never know the effort
involved.
For more information on the show,
please visit www.berklee.edu/berkleecanta,
and http://www.berklee.edu/news/889/october-7-berklee-canta-en-espa-ol-finalists-per
Latin GRAMMYS 10th Anniversary
Just days after the “Berklee Canta
en Español”, I was named Associate Producer
for the 10th Anniversary of the Latin Grammys in Las Vegas. I flew to Miami immediately, where the Latin Recording Academy
offices were located. This was an entirely
different meal to cook, but the kitchen now
included an office, a boss and a desk (I previously I had none).
My job was to assist in the production of two special Latin Grammy events,
“The Person of the Year Award” and “The
Special Awards Ceremony”. The former was
in honor of Latin superstar Juan Gabriel, and
the latter for veteran artists and personalities
who helped shape the Latin music industry
throughout the decades.
Like Mexico, I would be preparing
for events that only last a couple hours but
would be seen by millions the world over. By
May 2010
then I knew that most of the hard and intense
work tended to be tightly concentrated into
the last few weeks.
In Las Vegas, I had to become a
jack-of-all-trades, driving people and supplies around and coordinating transportation,
preparing documents for guests, dealing with
the hotels, and tackling routine assignments
day and night. Despite going on little sleep,
precise multitasking is critical to mind all the
details at all times. Communication is critical,
as words often play an important role. This
is especially important when you are dealing with talent. You are at the lower end of
the totem pole, running errands and being the
messenger, but at the same time knowing that
the quality of your work as associate producer
will impact the way things turn out (I will
admit to making my share of mistakes, but
thankfully those who know better admonished
me while giving me a chance to learn).
With only a few minutes left till
show time, I had to disguise my tiredeness.
The “Special Awards Ceremony ” came first.
A special reception followed. In fact, the fruits
of working these types of events are that they
bring together so many influential people, and
you eventually get to socialize and learn from
them in one-to-one conversations. Some are
witty, some are stylish, some are troublesome
and some act out their own star status-- yet all
are from different backgrounds and engaging
in their own right. The ceremony turned out to
be beautiful, and went without hardly a hitch.
The “Person of the Year Award”, to
Juan Gabriel, came later. There were about a
thousand invited guests at this event, and some
in this industry crowd were already aware that
its preparation has taken a toll on the produc-
ers. Juan Gabriel’s band alone consisted of
more than 30 musicians from Mexico and
California. On top of that, there were several
singers and celebrities to pay tribute to Juan
Gabriel--with their entourages. Regardless,
with great talent comes a great show, and
Juan Gabriel literally had everybody dancing
in their chairs and atop the tables by the end
of the night. It was a wonderful celebration
of music.
Last came the “10th Annual Latin Grammys”. I could
barely imagine beforehand what
the extravagant stage would be
like by show time. My job was
to aid special guests and artists
on the main floor while running
errands backstage. At this point,
the show was mainly being run by
the TV network Univision and its
army of personnel.
Things went wild when
Juan Gabriel, just named “Person
of The Year 2010”, came on-stage
to perform. The public knew it
was the closing numbers, and he played on
to a rapturous audience—but quadrupled the
allotted TV time! The stage manager tried
several times to get him to leave the stage to
no avail, and the chaos was registered live on
international TV.
For more information on the show, please
visit http://www.latingrammy.com .
In “Berklee Canta En Español” I
was my own boss, taking decisions as Executive Producer that impacted the core and the
course of the project. At the Latin Grammys
I collaborated in a supportive capacity. Yet,
I always relied on a team of people. My advice is to surround yourself with those who
are better than you and who can teach you.
There is always someone willing to give you
a chance.
As a producer you will have to pay
attention to detail, show persistence, and
brainstorm pitfalls ahead of time. Good time
management and organizational skills will
always be key, so that if plan A doesn’t work,
plans B or C can. Above all, be prepared to
learn, listen to others, be on a budget, and to
experiment and take the initiative—and always get out of the way if you are not needed.
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Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business articles
A 20/20 Marketing Vision
An Interview with Michael King
By Amy Mantis
Michael King recently authored Music Marketing: Press, Promotion, Distribution, and
Retail (Berklee Press, 2009). He is Berkleemusic’s Associate Director of Marketing
and co-created, with Ramal Ranasinghe, the
course ‘Online Music Marketing With Topspin’.
MBJ: Please tell us about your history and
what attracted you to music
marketing.
tory. Record labels had been headed pretty
much down after 1999-2000 and my last
three years at Ryko had been rough! We
were working under an old business model
that was no longer effective. We tried to push
the envelope as best we could, but generating income from selling CDs was no longer
as feasible.
MK: I’ve been a music fan forever. Back
in the day, I had about five thousand CDs.
Right out of school, I got an internship with
Rykodisc, which at the time was a large independent label in Salem, MA. I became
their college radio rep. My first project was
Medeski, Martin, and Wood’s CD Shackman, which in 1997 went to Number One on
CMJ (College Music Journal; see www.cmj.
com).
I then worked in the radio department at
Rykodisc. Chris Blackwell bought Ryko,
and I moved to NYC for a little bit. I became
a product manager. I oversaw products from
start to finish. You’re basically presented
with a master and you have to work with
every department in the label: retail, radio,
press, and online. I was positioning my artists, working daily with the managers, and
essentially acting as the point-person in the
label-manager exchange.
We’d also have weekly marketing meetings. At the time, 2000-03, SoundScan was
a big deal. We’d look at SoundScan and say,
“all right what’s happening per market?”
and “what can we do to support that spike
in Portland?” We’d talk about doing an instore performance if the artist was touring
there, or about getting more radio play. It all
came down to helping drive sales. Actually, I
woke up and all my thoughts were about the
artist. It was a similar a mindset to that of a
manager: what could I do for him/her given
my resources?
6
Then, Warner Brothers bought Rykodisc and
I ended up coming to Berkleemusic. I was
very interested in working for a company that
educated people, and had an upward trajec-
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of foundational marketing techniques and best
practices. That being said, I wrote the online
Topspin course and the book works with that
seamlessly.
MBJ: One of the things I really enjoyed was
the “Insider Tip” sections.
MK: Thanks! There’s a lot of theoretical
stuff floating around, but what I’m trying
to say is “this is REAL data; this has REALLY happened.” The Internet has been
a positive thing for many musicians, but
there are many other common sense things
you can do outside it. Besides, it is often
hard to tell what is true or not online. The
book gives tips that I’ve encountered and
learned from, and gives a practical and
tested approach to marketing music. You
will also find the same angle in the Topspin course and other Berkleemusic offerings. For the educator in me there is
nothing more thrilling than to talk to the
students that have taken these courses and
to witness their growth and professionalism.
AM: One often hears of a big band
doing a marketing campaign that a
smaller group cannot afford, but your
book has a down to earth quality for the
startup artist.
AM: Can we talk about your book and
its connection to Topspin? You appear to
convey in literary form much of its cutting
edge marketing platform.
MK: It’s interesting that you say that because I look at it in another way. Topspin
is a very effective online tool meant for direct-to-fan sales. It helps you expand your
market in that medium. In that regard, it is
excellent. The book is a little different and
I think it works well together with the Topspin platform. It has much more detail on
the physical side of marketing. You’re right
in looking at Topspin as a kind of philosophy for online growth. But Topspin is not
particularly focused on what you should be
doing with your press campaign or how you
can optimize the marketing opportunities of
your tour. The book really focuses on a lot
MK: Completely. Take, for example, a book
that I really love, Donald Passman’s All You
Need To Know About The Music Business. It is
a fantastic text and a well-written and valuable
resource, often referred as the music industry’s
bible. I remember that the CFO at Ryko had it
on his desk, and the work obviously catered
to people involved in every stage of the business. However, Passman is broader in scope
than mine and less conversational. My book
is more focused. If you want to learn how to
market yourself from start to finish and come
out with a tangible marketing plan, my book is
for you. The work is directed to fill a need in
that important niche.
The Internet, for example, has been great in so
many different ways, but it’s made marketing
harder. MySpace is a good example of this.
There are five million bands on MySpace—so
May 2010
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
how do you differentiate yourself from others? The answer is through effective marketing. If you’ve got fantastic music (that
is where it starts), and you have a dedicated
group of followers but need to reach out to
more people, perhaps because you have a
sense that your own community is growing
before you even market yourself—that is
when you need more marketing to really get
the second phase going. It’s more important
now than it ever has been because there’s so
much competition.
AM: So how do you connect with fans?
MK: I was just at SXSW, and you see Broken
Social Scene play, and you just want to put
down your guitar forever because those guys
are so good at what they do. But they’ve been
doing it for years. It’s practice and repetition,
and it’s the same with marketing. Nobody
starts with a massive fan-base. And the best
base you can have is the fan-base you’ve collected organically.
These are the people with whom you have
established a permission-base rapport; and
who have allowed you to connect with them
directly through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or
other. It takes time to build that connection,
but over time it pays back compound interest.
For example, say you have put out a record
or an EP. Now, you’re acquiring new fans;
you’re giving them things. As Mike Masnick,
of Techdirt, said, “you connect with fans and
give them a reason to buy.” It’s much cheaper
to market to existing fans than to find new
ones, and this is an excellent way to acquire
new fans. Then for record two, as you’ve
acquired these fans, you can market to them
directly. Continue this acquisition campaign,
and your group will be bigger for record two
and record three. There is a right way to go
about building up a fan-base and communicating with it.
AM: What more could you tell us about
your marketing philosophy?
MK: In the book, I try to present an integrated approach to marketing . This is a large focus of the book. Let me give you an example
about physical marketing, although it also extends online. About two weeks ago, a student
approached me and said, “My band is trying
to build up visibility in San Francisco and
should we do a radio campaign?” To answer
this question, the band has to think about a
few things first. Are they going to be touring
in San Francisco? Can they pop in at a ra-
May 2010
dio station and do an acoustic set? And what
is happening at retail? Do they have records
in the store? Nothing works in a vacuum. If
somebody hears their music, are they going to
be able to buy it on Amazon? Are they going
to be able to buy at the band’s website? Is
it on iTunes? Is it in all the places it should
be? You want people to take action, but if
the band doesn’t have their record out and
are not touring, the radio campaign could be
pointless and needlessly expensive.
I would add that, while it is possible for artists to do a radio campaign on their own, it
can be a pain—and I’ve done it. It takes a
ton of time to send out packages and make
phone calls (and, especially, to follow up
with college kids). Even if you do it yourself, it’s still costly. You have to make the
product, and pay for the shipping and for the
envelopes. If you partner with an indie label, then it’s even more expensive because
you have to pay them for their time. So it’s
not like “let’s get the record on the radio and
then things will start happening”. You need
the integrated approach suggested in the
book when you consider a marketing plan.
AM: Is the goal to be effective by being
omnipresent?
MK: Truly, yes. I look at Metric as a really
good example. They put their record out
eighteen months ago. If you look at their
website and Facebook, Metric targets their
fans with different content along the way.
Release day comes, and they have a list
of special things to do. Release date goes,
and they’re touring and working on another
stage of their campaign. It is always carefully timed. Their manager, Matt Drouin, is one
of the smartest guys I’ve ever met. He has
put together an incredible team, including
partners like the indie PR company Sneak
Attack.
Find
us
online
at
www.
thembj.
org
Every band should have a fifth member that
is into technology--or a sharp manager that
not only has connections, but is also is diligent, somewhat tech savvy, and willing to
find new outlets for the music. Right now,
management and technological skills overlap. Technology is just as important to the
business as knowing who actually books
the Middle East club (a well known Boston
venue). Business worlds are colliding, and
music may be at the very centre of this new,
aptly named, collision culture.
www.thembj.org 7
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
Lollapalooza: An Appreciation
By Silvina Moreno
When I first arrived in Chicago in
the summer of 2008, I knew it would be a
musical experience unlike any other. I was a
second semester student at Berklee soaking
music like a sponge. But now, I ended up far
exceeding my expectations and living the
ultimate rock and roll event. Over the next
three days, I watched bands like Radiohead,
Battles, Explosions in the Sky, John Butler
Trio, Brazilian Girls, Wilco, Gogol Bordello, MGMT, Rage Against the Machine, and
Nine Inch Nails. I was in Lollapalooza.
Lollapalooza is the world-known
music festival that brings the best contemporary bands in genres like alternative, classic and heavy rock, pop, electronic music,
reggae, hip hop, and punk. Lollapalooza has
especially exposed alternative rock groups
like Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hole, The
Strokes, Green Day and Depeche Mode.
Thousands of fans come to watch from all
around the globe. In addition, dance and
comedy performances at Lollapalooza provide a meeting space for non-profit organizations and political groups.
History
Perry Farrell, the flamboyant front
man of Jane’s Addiction, launched Lollapalooza in 1991 inspired by Bill Graham,
the iconic concert promoter. Farrell, along
with Ted Gardener, Marc Geiger, and Don
Muller, originally thought of a farewell tour
for Jane’s Addiction. Unlike other music
festivals which were one-time events held
in one venue (such as Woodstock, A Gathering of the Tribes, or the US Festival), Lollapalooza became a touring festival that traveled across the United States and Canada.
It was originally meant for a new breed of
bands emerging in the West Coast scene and
the first stellar cast included, in addition to
Jane’s addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Henry
Rollins Band, Siouxsie & the Banshees,
Living Colour, Fishbone, Violent Femmes,
Ice-T’s Body Count and Butthole Surfers.
The Lollapalooza name refers to “something
outside of its kind or excellent,” and comes
from a Three Stooges short (1).
Another key concept behind the
original Lollapalooza was the inclusion of
non-musical acts. Performers like the Jim
8 www.thembj.org
Rose Circus Side Show (an alternative freak
show) and the Shaolin monks stretched the
boundaries of traditional rock culture. There
was a tent for display of art pieces, virtual reality games, and information tables for political and environmental non-profit groups promoting a counter-culture with more political
activism (2).
In 1992, as grunge took over rock,
Lollapalooza 2 became huge. The Mainstage
lineup was made up of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and, at the last show of the tour, Temple
of the Dog--a grunge supergroup featuring
Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron, and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Stone
Gossard and Jeff Ament. That would have
been enough to ensure 2’s place in history.
But many still say that it was the best Lollapalooza ever because it also featured Red Hot
Chili Peppers, Ice Cube, Ministry, Jesus And
Mary Chain and Lush(3).
the declining popularity of alternative rock.
In 2003 Lollapalooza was brought
back when Farrell reunited Jane’s Addiction.
Even though bands like Audioslave and Incubus were playing, high-ticket prices kept
people away from the festival. The 2004 edition was eventually cancelled for this reason
as well.
Farrell then partnered with Capital
Sports & Entertainment (now C3 Presents) to
produce Lollapalooza. CSE, Farrell and the
William Morris Agency—along with Charles
Attal Presents—resurrected Lollapalooza as a
two-day destination festival in 2005 in Grant
Park, Chicago, Illinois, with an even greater
variety of acts than the touring festival. This
version included seventy acts on five stages.
The festival was generally successful, attracting over 65,000 attendees, despite a 104-degree heat wave.
The explosion of alternative rock
in the early 1990s propelled Lollapalooza
forward; the 1992 and 1993 festivals leaned
heavily on grunge and alternative acts, and
usually featured an additional rap artist. Punk
rock standbys like mosh pits and crowd surfing became part of the canon of the concerts.
Both years saw increases in the participatory nature of the event, with the inclusion
of booths for open-microphone readings and
oratory, television-smashing pits, and tattooing and piercing parlors. After 1991, the festival included a second stage (and, in 1996, a
third stage) for up-and-coming bands or local
acts. Grunge band Nirvana was scheduled to
headline the festival in 1994, but the band officially pulled out of the festival on April 7,
1994 due to Kurt Cobain’s death. The Smashing Pumpkins used some time from their performances on the tour to let Courtney Love,
Cobain’s widow, talk about his death.
Lollapalooza returned to Chicago
in 2006, and in October of that year, the Chicago Park District and Capital Sports & Entertainment agreed to a five-year, $5 million
deal, keeping Lollapalooza at Grant Park in
Chicago until 2011. Lollapalooza ran from
August 3-5 in 2007, August 1-3 in 2008, and
August 7-9 in 2009. After the successful 2008
festival, another deal was signed to keep Lollapalooza in Chicago through 2018.
In 1996, many fans saw the addition
of Metallica as going against the practice of
featuring “non-mainstream” artists. Efforts
were made to keep the festival relevant-including more eclectic acts such as country superstar Waylon Jennings and a heavier
emphasis on electronica groups like The
Prodigy. By 1997, however, the Lollapalooza
concept had run out of steam and sponsorships. In 1998, failed efforts to find a suitable
headliner resulted in the festival’s cancellation. This cancellation reflected, to be sure,
Lollapalooza Today
Since the rebirth of the festival
more than seventy bands have made the trip
to Chicago every year. 2006 featured Panic
at the Disco, Queens of the Stone Age and
Ween. 2007 featured Pearl Jam, Daft Punk
and Muse. Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, and Kayne West headlined the festival
in 2008. In 2009 the show featured Tool, Depeche Mode, Jane’s Addiction and the Beastie
Boys.
Lollapalooza 2010 has a very exciting lineup that in my opinion will bring many
new types of fans to the table. Lollapalooza
has expanded to pop, reggae, electronic and
dance music in addition to alternative rock.
This year it will be featuring Soundgarden,
Green Day and Lady Gaga as headliners and
there will be an amazing followi up lineup
including Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Phoenix, Social Distortion, MGMT, Jimmy
May 2010
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Artcles
Cliff, Hot Chip, The Black Keys, The National, Spoon, Devo, Cypress Hill, Erykah
Badu, Grizzly Bear, Gogol Bordello, Matt
& Kim, Switchfoot and the Latin band Los
Amigos Invisibles, among many others (see
http://www.lollapalooza.com).
In my personal experience, Lollapalooza really has been an unforgettable adventure and I wish I could return every year.
The price of the tickets is fairly reasonable
given the amount of talent on display. In addition to this, Chicago is a beautiful city with
a very positive energy that should be visited
by every music fan. It is a perfect excuse to
see an exciting place and experience amazing
music.
Looking Back
The three days of the festival went
by so fast in 2008 that it was a bit overwhelming. Imagine rocking out from 10AM
until 12AM under the blazing sun for much
of the time and being surrounded by thousands of people, feeling like the temperature
was well over 100. The blasting music keeps
your adrenaline going. I must admit that, in
the excitement of the overall experience, I
did almost faint once, although the spirit of
joy was so contagious that it lifted me up almost immediately.
I encourage the reader not to miss
out on Lollapalooza. Check the lineup at
the website this year, and if you cannot attend, keep it in mind for next. You get to see
your favorite bands and discover many new
groups you may never have heard of, which
gives you more appreciation for other genres.
Besides, you also get to have a great time
with your friends and meet people from all
around the world who join to celebrate the
existence of music.
Lollapalooza marked my experience in the USA and at Berklee forever (I
come from Argentina). Music has the capacity to moves us, and it really matters at
Lollapalooza. Lollapalooza, like music, can
make us happy, make us look forward with
anticipation to the next day, and, quite literally, get us to travel, like I did to Boston.
Sources:
(1) Michael Fox “The History of Lollapalooza”; see http://
www.helium.com/items/1515096-history-of-lollapalooza ;
no date given (probably 2007).
(2) Grimes, Taylor and Longton, Jeff. “Lollapalooza History Timeline” Billboard. 2007.
(3) Larry Nager, “A history of Lollapalooza”, The Enquirer, July 13th 2003.
May 2010
Making Music For Music’s Sake
In France and the Rest of the World
By Moana Avvenenti
In the current economy, people
have to choose where to spend their money
and seem to be affording recorded music less
and less. There is a need for new and nontraditional markets.
More than 30 years ago, while
working at the national French radio station
France Musique, the American musician Joel
Cohen proposed to have music celebrations
on both the summer and winter solstices, respectively, the longest day and the longest
night of the year. The French Minister of Culture accepted only half of his proposal, and
on June 21, 1982, at the summer solstice, the
first ‘Fete de la Musique’ was born(1).
An objective of the French Ministry
of Culture was to give access to people of all
social backgrounds, and include all genres of
music. Anybody could perform, even if they
were not professional musicians. The festival
has since become known in English as the
‘World Music Day’, and is celebrated in 110
countries and more than 340 cities all over
the world. All cities agree to abide, by a common charter, that this is an absolutely free
event. The statistics are staggering: in total,
there are more than 18, 000 concerts around
the planet each year, showcasing more than 5
million musicians, to an audience of about 10
million people (2).
In France, the June 21st music
celebration is known to 97% of the population, one in ten people have participated
at least once playing music, and 79% have
watched(1). The reason why it is so important
there is that government supports it, organizes it and maintains its security; in the rest of
the world, it depends entirely on the willingness and the funds of the local organizations
and associations, obviously not as powerful
as a government ministry.
Europe is already famous for the
number of summer music festivals, and for its
public support of culture. In France, culture
is accessible and offered, even to people with
no interest—a good example of this is the
quota to play 35% of French music imposed
on all French radio stations since 1986(3)! By
comparison, cultural programs are the first
to be cut in schools in the US and elsewhere
when there is any hint of an economic prob-
lem (the French government is also protecting
its language, but in America there is no need
to be defensive about English).
There is more. The ‘Fete de la Musique’ promotes businesses and tourism, so
the financial goal is not completely absent,
even thought the festival is for free. Authorizations are given to local businesses to stay
open late and sell alcohol to be consumed
indoors and out. Certain streets are closed to
traffic, especially quiet ones with normally
few visitors. This gives their businesses a
chance to be known. Many other live events
are used to attract tourism to a city. Music
schools and event organizers get known and
France can project a multicultural and inclusive picture to the rest of the world.
From a musician’s perspective, the
day is special. It gives an opportunity for
unknown and untested bands to be seen and
heard. It also gives a jolt of stage experience
to beginners, since everybody is welcome.
Music schools get a chance to have some of
their students performing on the same stage
as bigger artists, while club owners go there
to find future bands to hire. It put me in contact with the Office of Art and Culture of my
own island, Saint-Martin in the Caribbean.
The name of the ‘Fete de la Musique’ is a homophone of ‘Faites de la Musique’. This translates to ‘Make Music’,
which is how the festival is also known in
many English-speaking countries. If you
were around last summer, you probably
heard of the ‘Make Music Cambridge’ on
June 21st, where 150 local bands performed
in 24 designated street-performance locations around Harvard Square (4). This year’s
theme is women in music, to acknowledge
women who made their way into an activity
from which they were excluded(5). We hope
you’ll find original ways to celebrate World
Music Day this June 21st, 2010, whether it’s
in Cambridge, in France, or anywhere else!
Sources:
(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAte_de_la_Musique
(2)http://www.infoconcert.com/festival/fete-de-la-musique-2010-1980/concerts.html
(3)http://www.csa.fr/infos/controle/radio_quotas_accueil.
php
(4)http://www.fetedelamusique.culture.fr/
(5)http://boston.going.com/event-616615;Make_Music_
Cambridge
www.thembj.org 9
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
The Cutting Edge of Mobile Music
By Jason Chang
Japan has always been known for
its forward thinking in electronic gadgets.
Most notably, Japanese cell phones always
catch the attention of electronics enthusiasts
from around the world. This is certainly understandable as by the time camera phones
were initially being offered to the rest of the
world, many Japanese were already watching television on their cell phones. Keitai
Denwas, the Japanese translation of portable
phones (aka keitai), have become fully integrated into the everyday life of the Japanese,
both young and old.
To continue this trend, keitai companies are doing everything they can to transform the cell phone into an all-encompassing
device. For some time now, these companies
have partnered up with the Japanese subway
lines to use the keitai itself as a subway pass,
allowing users to bypass train ticket lines.
Other recent developments have allowed
keitais to substitute as credit or debit cards,
where the user can simply swipe the device
at the end of a checkout line to purchase
anything from groceries to plane tickets.
Some vending machines are now accepting
keitais as a valid means of financial transactions. The most current development allows the phone’s camera to scan and decode
information within special barcodes, called
QR barcodes. QR barcodes essentially store
information in the form of square shapes as
opposed to traditional barcodes.
Once the keitai has scanned the
barcode, it offers a number of options, the
most basic of which is to learn more about
the product. Users also have the option to
buy the product, and have it shipped to their
home. These QR barcodes can essentially be
placed anywhere, though they are currently
most popular on posters, magazines, business
cards, and public transportation advertisements. Overall, Japanese cell phones often
have far more complex and rich features than
what are utilized in most other nations, and
they have become a staple part of the modern
Japanese lifestyle.
Among all the features that the
keitai offers, one of the most popular uses is
as a mobile music player. Japan is the second
largest global music market after the US, and
the nation has heavily impacted the mobile
music industry and the growth of mobile music. Polyphonic ringtones were pioneered in
Japan through NTT DoCoMo’s I-Mode, and
10 www.thembj.org
today, mobile music in Japan represents an
annual billion-dollar market. Mobile phone
music downloads saturate Japan’s online music market and have overtaken the traditional
CD-ROM market. The shift from CD-ROM
sales to mobile phone music sales is occurring
rapidly in Japan’s recorded music market, and
has become a promising segment that is compensating for the decline of other areas in the
market.
Japan has three major mobile network operators: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI “Au”,
and SoftBank Mobile, all of which launched
their first mobile Internet services in 1999.
Since then, they have been in heavy competition against each other. One of the most
popular uses for mobile music downloader’s
is to be able to receive incoming calls through
the sound of real music song files, a service
known as Chaku-uta ring songs. Chaku-uta is
a ring-tone download service that was started
on KDDI Corp.’s Au brand cell phones in December 2002. Less than a year after its initial
launch, in November 2003, it passed the mark
of over 44 million downloads. The service has
demonstrated drastic growth, making it worth
a ¥10 billion market just in its first year.
There are some major distinctions
between the groups of companies competing for mobile music downloads. The first
segment includes providers of Chaku-mero
ringtones. The majority of these companies’
income is generated through the sales of
MIDI-like instrumental renditions of popular
songs. The MIDI files that make up Chakumero ringtones are much more compact than
the information required for Chaku-uta ringtones. A company selling a MIDI-like version of a song needs to acquire the publishing
rights for the song, which are easily obtained
by anyone through the Japanese Society for
Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers
(JASRAC). Over the past decade, this service
has become outdated and has rapidly been replaced by the second, more popular group of
ringtone companies: Chaku-uta.
The record companies were the
first to create Chaku-uta ringtone services.
When Chaku-uta was initially released, it was
an audio clip of only 20-60 seconds from a
song, always in mp3 quality. However, users
today can download songs in their full length
to set as their “Chaku-uta” ringtone. The first
Chaku-uta service was started in December
2002 by Label Mobile, which started as a joint
venture between five Japanese record labels,
and has expanded to include eleven major labels as shareholders. A Chaku-uta file is relatively easy to create. However, in order to
make the file available for sale, it is necessary
to acquire the master rights from the record
labels.
The cost per song ranges anywhere
between ¥50 to ¥100 ($0.56 to $1.12 at ¥89 to
the dollar). Since Chaku-uta is MP3 quality, it
requires more hard disk space, which makes
downloading them only practical on third or
later generation cell phones that are equipped
with high-speed, high-volume data transfer
technology. Universal Music Japan’s Takashi
Kimoto (Managing director of sales), says the
release of master ringtones has helped maximize physical product sales: “We tend to release ‘Chaku-uta’ one or two months before
the physical release for test-marketing and
use the market’s response to judge the song’s
hit potential in physical form.” Conversely,
“ring songs” have also stimulated demand for
CD rentals, facilitating consumers to sample
a song before deciding to purchase the CD.
In 2003, a total amount of ¥180 billion was
spent for mobile premium content, 50% of
which was music-related business. This is a
significant amount compared to the declining
CD-ROM industry in Japan, which has an estimated value of ¥400 billion.
Chaku-uta ringtones can be downloaded either directly from a mobile users
phone, or from the Internet. One of the most
popular and well-known places to download
Chaku-uta from the Internet is directly from
the Label Mobile websites. In 2004, an estimated 150 million Chaku-uta ringtones were
downloaded from these websites. This is a
significant statistic to consider, because at the
time only 15 million phones were capable of
downloading and using Chaku-uta ringtones.
Today, however, Chaku-uta ringtones and
mp3’s can be used interchangeably and are
negatively affecting both industries. In an
effort to salvage what they can, these companies are moving away from a per song business model to a new method which involves
charging for access.
Though Japan is working on its own
distribution methods, other countries have
also stepped up in the competition to find the
next big thing. In 2008, Nokia launched its
(Continued on Page 14)
May 2010
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
Emerging Business Models: Adva Mobile
By Kerry Fee
A phone is perhaps the most personal item a person owns. In many instances,
it is more valuable than your purse, wallet or
keys, and there are very few people who go
anywhere without it. Mobile phones are fascinating because they can be personalized, and
people continue to spend money customizing,
buying and replacing ring tones, wallpapers,
and a variety of other features. A customer
will pay for something that conveys his/her
social identity, and more often than not that
involves a music purchase; hence the tremendous opportunity for the music industry.
or free model, allows the company to subsidize artists who are looking to build their fan
base at no cost. The company generates a profit when an artist does. “We are enablers, and
tool kit providers,” says CEO Jack Kelly. Adva
Mobile can also measure the effectiveness of a
promotional campaign or the extent of the engagement of fans with the artist. Closer access,
of course, may mean different things to artists,
so a variety of approaches are considered. For
example, if an artist has a pet cause that is very
important to her, the platform may encourage
her fans to donate to that cause.
Today’s music industry is producing
new business models. There is more information about music, and ways to obtain it, than
ever before. The Internet and mobile devices
are staples in this exchange. And it is the job
of companies, artists and promoters within the
industry to best take advantage of the emerging opportunities in these mediums. They are
shaping our future.
Music discovery on mobile does not
seem to be on the horizon quite yet. Rather,
once music is found, mobile takes exposure
to a new level, because the communication
path between the fan and artist is two-way and
direct—and more personal than TV, radio, or
even the Internet. Plus, mobile taps into busy
lifestyles. Adva Mobil calculates that there are
about three million artists on the web looking
for a career in music. This number seems rather high for the US. However, if mobile phone
usage here eventually follows patterns currently seen in Japan (see Jason Chang’s, “The
Cutting Edge of Mobile Music”, in this issue
of TheMBJ), business should thrive.
I had to opportunity to sit down with
Adva Mobile’s CEO, Jack Kelly, to discuss
his company and, more generally, the mobile
music market. Mobile technology is rapidly
becoming an operational platform for many
businesses, and this is especially true for the
music business. There are multiple uses and
benefits for mobile technology in all areas of
the industry, including live music and touring,
the management of fan clubs, and the sale of
merchandise and recorded music.
Adva Mobile is a marketing service
that provides a software platform that enables
music artists and businesses to create closer
relations with their audience through mobile
fan clubs. The service, which is free to join for
artists, provides mobile messaging, a presence
with mobile Internet pages, mobile commerce
and network sharing, and web marketing.
It provides artists and businesses with selfservice tools for the text messaging and rich
media experiences that build fan loyalty. Adva
Mobile launched in 2009, but so far over 650
artists of all genres have signed up.
Revenues are derived from the sale
of mobile web development and marketing
services, subscriptions, e-commerce sales, and
mobile phone advertisement. They charge a
commission for each item sold-- tickets, merchandise, or recordings. Its reduced-version,
May 2010
Contributions
welcome!
Please write to
[email protected]
Mobile music services are also creating more opportunity for record labels and
promoters. When Adva Mobile entices a multitude of artists into their net, labels and promoters win. For them, mobile technology is
very cost effective and time saving— as well
as being strategically important in breaking
new artists and gaining a foothold in new markets.
On the other hand, artists have already used mobile services in a variety of
ways. Some bands have held auctions, contests and giveaways, or asked for funding help
from their fans. Indeed, having a good mobile
projection is becoming an important element
in any Do-It-Yourself marketing strategy. It is
easy to see that, with much more than a billion
cell phones in the US (the figure in circulation
is 4 billion!), there are so many touch-points
for video recall, messaging, mobile IVR campaigns (mechanical voice recordings), and, of
course, purchases.
www.thembj.org
11
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
The Greening of the Music Industry
By Minden Jones
Escalating greenhouse gases and
worrisome climate changes are causing more
people and businesses from around the world
to address old and shortsighted practices that
are environmentally wasteful. For the music
business, the focus is on superfluous carbon
emissions and staggering energy uses, especially in artist touring, audience travel, venue
management, and recorded music sales.
In fact, many major artists have
been called into question for their extravagance. Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet world
tour, for instance, began in August 2008.
Madonna flew a team of two hundred and fifty people to thirty-seven
venues in less than four months to
play forty-five dates. Environmental consultant John Buckley, of Carbon Footprint, calculated that the
energy used was equivalent to illuminating a one hundred watt bulb
for approximately four hundred
years. U2’s 2009 tour was even
worse. Helen Roberts, also with
Carbon Footprint, could say that
“the carbon footprint generated by
U2’s forty-four concerts this year
[was] equal to [the carbon the band
would have created] if it had travelled the thirty four million miles
from Earth to Mars in a passenger
plane.” The amount of energy used
in tours appears to be staggering.
An artist that has taken the initiative to reduce her environmental impact
(while seeking to influence others) is Bonnie
Raitt. Raitt has been a social activist since
the 1970s, always supporting environmental
protection. In 2002, Raitt and her manager,
Kathy Kane, launched Green Highway--a
traveling ecological display designed to educate fans about alternative energy and connect them with environmental issues. This
green touring model incorporated the use of
biodiesel fuel and carbon offsets and gave
rise to the nonprofit organization called Reverb.
Reverb is based in Portland,
Maine, and was founded in 2004 by Adam
Gardner of the band Guster and his environmentalist wife, Lauren Sullivan. Gardner
had grown tired of the negative environmental impact of his own tours(1). Sullivan
contacted Raitt, and Reverb was born with
the mission of providing “greening” and
educational services for touring, while also
engaging and encouraging ecological activ-
12 www.thembj.org
ism among music fans. The company is now
responsible for greening over 80 tours for artists such as Barenaked Ladies, Jack Johnson,
Avril Lavigne, Brandi Carlile, John Legend,
The Dave Matthews Band, and The Roots.
An important component of greening a tour is coordinating lower emission travel. When Reverb services a tour they can arrange fleets of biodiesel busses and trucks. An
EPA study in February 2010 concluded, for
example, that using soy oil fuel reduces greenhouse gases by 57% compared to fossil fuels.
Additionally, Reverb collaborates with Pickup
Pal so that fans can carpool to and from the
concert, cutting down significantly on traffic
and therefore emissions. Presently, Pickup Pal
claims that they have prevented 0.017 metric
tones of CO2 potential.
tured by the recorded music industry alone.
New manufacturers, such as Earthology Records in the UK, are beginning to use 100%
recycled/salvaged plastic jewel cases and vegetable inks. In contrast, most companies today
produce CDs and DVDs from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), a very toxic petrochemical that
releases harmful fumes into the atmosphere
(in Britain, just packaging and leaflets create 53K tons of CO2 emissions every year).
Utilizing soy-based inks for booklet printing,
as opposed to the petroleum-based inks that
most companies currently use, is also helping. Earthology Records has helped record
as well albums in its innovative and
eco-conscious studio. It was built
with recycled materials and uses wind
as the primary source of electricity.
Earthology has also supported artist
Jack Johnson, and his solar- powered
Mango Tree Studio in Hawaii.
The future of our planet may well
lie in the choices that we make regarding energy consumption, and these are
but just some examples. Naturally, the
way we make and consume music
needs to be carefully considered in
order to move towards a carbon free
future. It is reassuring that a handful
of artists and music companies are
taking meaningful steps to lessen their
carbon footprint. Whether more players in the music business are ready to
adapt remains to be seen. To reduce
our CO2 emissions substantially may require
more than a few good artists taking the lead.
Even so, musicians need to realize that they
may have an important voice in an ongoing
debate about the future health of our planet.
While greening tours does reduce
the carbon footprint, it does not eliminate the
release of harmful fumes into our atmosphere.
A study was conducted in 2007 to assess the
amount of greenhouse gases emitted annually
by the music industry in the UK(2). The study
showed 46% of these dangerous gases were
due to (i) audience travel, and (ii) artist-tour
buses and trucks--for a total of 250K metric
tons of CO2 emissions each year. Moreover,
the same study showed that another 27%, approximately 150K tones of C02, were due to
the energy consumed at the venue, including
the use of generators.
References:
Recorded music, of course, squanders precious resources, from start to finish.
The same UK study claims that approximately
138K tons of CO2 emissions are manufac-
http://www.earthology.net/
(1) http://www.reverb.org/index.php
(2) http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/5/1/014019/
fulltext?ejredirect=migration
Other Sources:
http://www.reverb.org/index.php
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/5/1/014019/
fulltext?ejredirect=migration
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/12/ukmusic-industry-carbon-footprint
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1048489/
Madonnas-carbon-tour-1-635-tons-pollution-stars-travels.
html
http://www.greenhighway.net/#about
http://www.pickuppal.com/pup/intro.html
May 2010
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
Grieving an Industry and Moving On
Steven Day of Skaggs Family Records
By Mia Verdoorn
Illegal digital downloads started
tearing the recorded music business apart after Napster, but the old model is not yet dead
or obsolete. In this essay, I will look back at
the history of the business and then look forward towards internet marketing. My source
will be, primarily, Steven Day, General
Manager of Skaggs Family Records. During my spring break, I visited Nashville and
was able to attend a BMI sponsored panel
where Day started by correlating the five
well-known stages of grief to the recorded
music business.
Stages of Grief
The first stage was denial itself.
This happened at the birth of Napster in
1999 an immediately after. In the second
stage, anger consumed the record industry,
and lawsuits were filed against part of its
customer base—seemingly to no avail, as
record sales dropped by approximately 52%
by 2009. Bargaining came next. For Day, a
good example is the Sound Exchange initiative, as for the first time a performance
right was recognized over master recordings
in the internet—and payable to the labels,
among others (Pandora, the internet radio
company, sees this as a production cost,
and has turned to using advertising spots
on their website to generate more income).
In the same vein, the Performance Royalty
Act is now being debated in Congress, and
if passed it would require terrestrial radio
stations and other broadcasting companies
to pay performance fees to the owners of the
masters of the songs being played (nevertheless, Day cautions that there is a limit to the
new charges the record industry can expect
to make without bankrupting payees).
The last two stages of grief, i.e.
depression and acceptance, were illustrated
next. An instance of the first was the current
drama experienced by a giant of the recording industry, EMI. The company, acquired
in 2007 on behalf of Terra Firma by Sungate
Securities, an English private equity group,
is still mired with problems. Sungate Securities has taken Citigroup to court, alleging
that the bank, which brokered the deal, misstated some points concerning the sell-off of
EMI, leading Terra Firma to think that there
May 2010
might have been another bidder. Thus, Terra
Firma’s claim states that they “paid a fraudulently inflated price”. On the other hand,
Day points out that acceptance of the loss of
the old music business order is now found
among many music veterans. Brian Eno, for
example, was recently quoted as saying that
“recorded music equals whale blubber; eventually something else will replace it”. This
view appears to be now industry-wide.
The Way Forward
For Day, the new business model
will be primarily built on three platforms:
Digital Distribution, Social Networking, and
Live Performances.
I. In terms of digital distribution,
the main concern on artists’ minds is how to
get their songs on the Internet. Some of the
top companies such as ReverbNation, CD
Baby, Nimbit.com, Entertane.com can provide everything for the artist (with some companies charging for it, and others who for a
free membership). Torrent sharing sites such
as BIT Torrent or BTjunkie are being used too
to upload and download data, and the more
one does of one, the more one can do of the
other and stay updated. A good example here
is the gaming giant Electronic Arts, which has
made all of its latest software updates available for users on Torrent sites. Internet radio
stations, such as the Pandora, lastFM, Shout
Cast and live365.com, are also gaining much
in popularity.
Some of the digital media distributors with interesting models such as Lala,
Spotify, GrooveShark and FreeALLmusic
typically charge an artist for their services.
They are able, however, to reach out to all
the major terrestrial broadcasting companies. This can be a great launching pad for
new artists. The power of video should not
be neglected either. A great example here is
the band “OK Go”, most known for its treadmill film - recorded in only one cut. The band
made another ingenious video in which a toy
truck with the “State Farm Insurance” logo on
the side is being driven by a front man of the
band. It so happens that State Farm Insurance
sponsored the video and aided the group in
creating an amazing and very technical video
at a fraction of the cost of a big budget production—and just as effective for a viral media buzz.
II. Regarding social networking,
Day suggests taking the following key steps:
(i)Have a plan before using any of
the different social networking platforms, and
know what should be on what site. For example, an artist’s website can be seen as an
encyclopedia page for an artist’s fans to use in
order to find out anything they need to know
about that artist. The artist’s Facebook page
can then be seen as more of a daily journal entry, with picture postings to albums and anything in between. If the artist is Twittering,
then that can be seen as the notes that would
be passed during class with the “good stuff”
that is clear, concise, and very informative.
(ii)Respect your fans; never send
them Spam emails and don’t try to sell them
something whenever a new album is released-- the idea is for them to get to know the
artist so that they want to buy his/her products
out of their own free will.
(iii)Be accessible and prepared to
interact with any posting or gossip.
(iv)Be transparent, because the web
has a way of finding out anything and everything that might have happened about you
prior to becoming a celebrity.
One of the best examples of good
social networking is Ashton Kutcher. At the
recent People’s Choice awards, immediately
after being announced as “Best Web Celeb”,
Kutcher reached into his pocket, retrieved his
iPhone, held it up in the air facing himself and
started talking into the video camera. While
he was doing this, he was thanking his fans
for all their support and votes--and walking
up to the stage to accept the award! That specific video was uploaded on the UStream before he even left the building. Why did he do
this? He did it for the people who voted for
him and got him the award, and not for the
people sitting in the room. He felt obliged to
pay his respects to his fan base, not just his
peers.
III. The last of the three platforms of
a forward-looking business model involves,
for Day, live performance. The example of
Ellis Paul was given. This artist, originally
www.thembj.org
13
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
Mobile Music in Japan (cont.)
Grieving (cont.)
from Boston, started out on the music scene
about twenty years ago and took his show
on the road. He has released sixteen albums
and has over 150 concert dates per year. Last
year, he grossed $270,000 just from playing
any form of gig he could, whether it be in a
coffee house or at a major music festival. In
the past year, he managed to raise $100,000
from only 300 fans by constructing an immediate and personal relationship with them.
His game plan was to reach out to some of
his biggest fans to help raise money for him
to record his album, and then offer multiple
ways to “repay” them once the album was
released. Some of these repayments schemes
included fans receiving signed, dated, and
numbered copies of Ellis’ album before anyone else--even before it was made available
for download online. These fans were put
on special guest lists for events and performances, given limited and signed edition
versions of the EP that was played live, and,
finally, their names were printed in the cover
booklet of the album if they stood out as top
contributors. The album eventually went on
sale from his personal website and Facebook,
and then became available as free single
downloads from the online store (provided
that download codes were supplied from a
previous promotional event). To Ellis, it was
about establishing a lasting connection with
fans, not just gathering an e-mail list. He is
known, in fact, for staying behind for the fans
after every performance.
Steve Day ended with a provocative question. He asked everybody in the
room who had either uploaded on Facebook
or ever researched on Google if they would
use either service for a fee. Everybody in the
room answered “no”, even though a larger
sample might have led to a different conclusion. He then asked us why we as musicians
think that we can assume that people should
pay a price to listen to our music when so
much is available for free online. The music
industry, in fact, may still be stuck in an outdated revenue-generating mode. The solution, for day, lies in coming up with new inventive ways of marketing artists and bands
in such a way that the artist’s recorded music
is the smallest aspect of a much bigger picture. Only then will the spotlight shine again
on the music industry.
“Comes with Music Phone” in the United
Kingdom, allowing users to download an unlimited amount of music for one year with the
purchase of their phone. Consumers must use
a PC application to download songs from the
Nokia Music Store, which then allows them
to transfer the downloaded songs to their
phones. When the first year ends, users are
allowed to keep all downloaded tracks and
continue purchasing individual songs, or renew a one year unlimited downloading contract by upgrading to a different Comes With
Music phone. Despite this, “Comes with Music” has struggled to catch on. Sony Ericsson, in partnership with Omnifone, offers a
similar service called “Play Now”- available
only in Europe. The service allows a network
of mobile users to share, download, and recommend music at their own convenience.
Contracts for the subscription are 6-18 month
long, and new phones come pre-loaded with
1000 of the most currently popular songs.
Users are allowed to keep up to 300 of their
most played songs once the contract expires.
Advancements in mobile music
content and services are also creating a rise
in piracy that is becoming an increasing concern for this industry all over the world. The
RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of
Japan) has stated that the number illegally
downloaded mobile tracks have been on the
rise since 2005. The trade body estimated a
total of 407 million in 2008, an increase of 8
million since 2007, and 287 million in 2006.
An estimated 35% of mobile users in Japan
visit illegal websites to download mobile
content such as full ringtone tracks. 60% of
those users are between 16 to 19 years old.
In fact, the number of illegally downloaded
ringtone tracks currently exceeds the number
of legally downloaded tracks by 70 million
units.
In an effort to combat mobile music
piracy, the Japanese government has teamed
up with the RIAJ and some others to crack
down on the number of illegal mobile content downloads. They plan to do this through
the use of a new technology that detects and
disrupts illegal downloads as they occur. The
government’s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, in conjunction with local
operators and music industry representatives,
are responsible for this new campaign against
mobile piracy. As Japan’s Yomiuri, a daily
newspaper, reported in September 2009,
“When users download music files to their
cell phones, the song’s ID information will be
sent from the cell phone to a computer server,
which will check the information. The server
then judges whether the music file was distributed legitimately. If the file was copied illegally, a warning message will be sent on the
user’s cell phone(1)”.
When the warning is disregarded,
the system will take preventative measures to
either stop the downloads or render the music
unplayable. The use of this type of innovative
and rather aggressive technology is new to the
war against music piracy. The success of this
technology would definitely be a victory for
those in the business of recorded music, but
will almost certainly leave others upset. This
anti-piracy technology cannot be put into service until the next generation of phones are offered, but it could make Japan the first country
in the world to find an effective answer to illegal downloads. The Recording Industry Association of Japan, the Telecommunications
Carriers Association and other major players
in the Japanese music industry have been talking to each other, yet Japan has not released
any substantial information on the progress of
this technology since they introduced the idea
back in 2008. However, rumors are circulating
that the country may finally be able to implement the system by the end of 2010.
Sources:
(1) Quoted in http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/34276/Japan-cracking-down-on-mobile-music-piracy
Sources consulted:
(1) See http://www.indicare.org/tiki-read_article.
php?articleId=60 for a historical overview of Japan’s
mobile music industry.
(2)http://www.riaj.or.jp/release/2009/pr090916.html
(3)http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.
php?id=7679&sec=2&t=
(4)http://www.mccluremusic.com/article/Mobile_piracy_
remains_a_headache_for_Japanese_labels
(5)http://www.mccluremusic.com/article/CAMP_ramps_
up_fight_against_mobile_based_piracy_in_Japan
( 6 ) h t t p : / / w w w. a f t e r d a w n . c o m / n e w s / a r t i c l e .
cfm/2009/09/19/riaj_to_stop_mobile_music_piracy_in_japan
14 www.thembj.org
May 2010
Volume 5, Issue 9
Music Business Journal
Business Articles
Berklee College of Music
Music Business Journal
Volume 5, Issue 9
May 2010
www.thembj.org
Upcoming Topics
Some of the topics we will tackle in
next month’s issue of the Music Business
Journal:
• “Glee”- Better for Music than
“Idol”?
• Artist Migration From EMI
• Funding Music in a Growing
Economy
The Music Business Journal will be released
three times in the Fall, three times in the Spring,
and once in the Summer.
For more info, please contact any core
member of the editorial board. The journal’s
e-mail address is [email protected]. Also,
our website is www.thembj.org, where we have
not only our current issue (as well as all back
issues) available, but also, much more.
Visit the MBJ online!
To subscribe, please contact us
www.thembj.org
[email protected]
Music Business Journal
c/o Dr. Peter Alhadeff
1140 Boylston St. FB-359
Boston, MA 02215
MBJ
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Berklee College of Music