Teens Not Abandoning Facebook After All

It appears that all the noise about teens leaving Facebook for newer social networks are untrue. A new report from Forrester Research indicates that teen involvement with the platform is actually growing.

The study found that 80% of teens still use Facebook and are more active on the network than any other platform by far, and more than half of the respondents (all between 12 and 17) said they use it more than they did a year ago.

Here are some other points made clear by the study:

• YouTube had the highest adoption rate with teens at just over 80%
• Instagram is next with around 50%
• Google+ and Twitter were around 45%
• Snapchat is next with just under 40%
• WhatsApp, which was supposed to be the Facebook killer with teens, comes in last at 20%

While Facebook itself concedes that there has been a slight deep in teen usage, it appears that the platform is in no danger of losing that important demographic.

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Apple Removing Music Download Apps From Its App Store

There's something brewing in iTunes land as Apple has removed many of the popular music downloading apps from the iOS App Store, which also includes those from third-party file sharing sites. Users that search for "music download" in the App Store now get a message inviting them to try out iTunes Radio instead. Most apps for streaming music services that don't have a download feature are unaffected, although both Soundcloud and YouTube have also made the blacklist.

The speculation is that there may be an update of both the iTunes Store and App Store coming in preparation for the upcoming iOS 8 operating system, and that Apple wants to pump up its flagging download sales. The new App Store reportedly will employ a new search algorithm, app bundles, and improved discoverability.

But it's not only music apps that have suffered. The App Store has also removed apps that include social sharing and ad watching as well, plus many developers report that Apple has asked them to alter their apps to remove any trace of music downloading.

It looks like the Apple Police are on the march, although that's not always a negative. Both iTunes and the App Store have a low degree of malware as a result, especially compared to other platforms. Let's see how this plays out when iOS 8 launches.

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Who's The Most Powerful Player In The New Music Business?

The record label was once the most powerful entity in the music business, but that's no longer the case. In this excerpt from Music 4.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age, you'll find that there's a different position that exerts more control today.

"Managers of talent have always been powerful (especially with a big-selling act in the stable) and have, for the most part, stayed behind the scenes. After all, it’s the acts that should have the most attention. But as the music industry transitions into Music 4.0, managers are more powerful, and more needed, than ever. The reason is that the fortunes of the manager are directly tied to the act. If the act makes money, so does the manager; if the act tanks, the manager starves. As a result, the manager has to truly believe in the act and represent it with a passion. The manager’s singular vision must be to make that act successful. Any other member of the artist or group’s team, from producer to attorney to record label to publicist and so on, will not have his or her fortunes tied so directly to the artist’s success, and, as a result, his or her passion can’t be expected to ever be as high. With most service contractors that an artist employs, you can never be sure where their loyalty actually lies. Is it with the record label, distributor or promoter, or the artist? With a manager, the answer to that question should never be in doubt. 

So why has the manager’s role become more profound in Music 4.0? Because as the choices for the artist have expanded, so has the manager’s influence. In Music 1.0 through 2.5, the manager’s main focus was on dealing with the record label and getting the act booked. The label was the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and the manager was the keeper. With the record label’s influence now decreased to that of a chimpanzee, the manager has ascended to become the giant in the act’s life. As we’ll see in later chapters, there are far more possibilities for every aspect of the act, and that means far more decisions are required. 

An interesting trend is that management is now adapting to Music 4.0, bringing multiple talents in-house for instant access and attention by the artist. These talents include concert promotion, Internet promotion, dedicated social networking, the handling of street teams, and where it’s legal, even acting as a booking agent.

Not every artist is able to connect with forward-thinking management of this type, or even any kind of organized management, but that’s okay. Personal management is ineffective unless the manager is passionate about you, since passion can overcome inexperience. Passion is something that you can’t buy or contract—the manager has to truly believe in you or you’re wasting your time. And as the act gets bigger, it’s easier for a less powerful manager to plug into a larger management company and “four-wall,” or get the best of both worlds: the power of the larger management company with the attention of the smaller."

You can read additional excerpts from my Music 4.0 Internet Music Guidebook and my other books on the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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What Do We Listen To Every Day?

A new survey by Edison Research has determined that people in the US listen to over 4 hours of audio every day. It's pretty interesting how this is broken out.

• Broadcast radio gets the bulk of our attention, at 52.1%, or just over 2 hours a day. About 92% of Americans over the age of 12 listen to broadcast radio every day, according to Arbitron.

• The music that we already own, like digital music files and CDs, gets 20.3% of our listening time.

• Streaming music comes next with 11.6%. This doesn't seem that significant a number until you realize that 47 million Americans over the age of 12 listen to Internet radio every month, a figure that skews much higher to 75% of Americans between the ages of 12 and 24.

• SiriusXM gets 7.7%.

• Television music channels, podcasts and misc program make up the 8.4%.

This study just goes to show that radio, broadcast or online, is much more a part of our lives than we sometimes think.

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