Could This Be The Beginning Of The End Of Google?

Google's most recent earnings report caused a 9% decrease in its stock price, which amounted to about $20 billion of the net worth of the company. Now in the crazy world of the stock market, just barely missing the earnings that the analysts expect can lead to negative fallout (in this case $3.95 billion in profit instead of $4.1 billion), so that's not the warning sign that Google might have peaked. In fact, instead of looking at earnings at all, we have to look into Google's core business: search.

Google makes a lot of money on search via advertising, as it's the go-to search engine for the majority of the planet. The problem is that, just like Facebook, it's having trouble making money with mobile. Google's advertisers just aren't willing to pay the same rates as they are on the desktop because the ads aren't as prominently displayed. Plus ads don't command as high a price as they do on a desktop. As mobile goes up, Google's influence wanes. Didn't we see this happen before with Yahoo?

So what might replace Google? How about Apple's Siri or some version of voice-activated search like it? Why type something into a search engine on your phone if you can just speak it? Siri already does a decent job, and hopefully it will only get better. The problem is that you won't be able to advertise on a voice-activated search engine either, so it doesn't help if Google gets into voice-activated search anyway. Of course, that's the major dilema. The industry is beginning to shift ever so subtly, but you have to begin to steer the ship now, and there's no sigh that's happening.

With technology moving so quickly, it's possible for a giant industry leader to become irrelevant very quickly. We've seen it with MySpace (once the #1 most visited site on the Internet) and Yahoo, and even with old-school industrial leaders like Kodak. We could see it again with Google, and it could happen before you know it.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Why The EMI Acquisition Will Be Bad For Universal

The Universal Music acquisition of EMI is finally complete and the weeping and gnashing of teeth has begun. For the last 6 months the employees of both companies have been walking on egg shells, not knowing if the ax would fall on them if and when the merger occurred. The ax finally dropped last week when 50 people were let go from Universal distribution and another 10 from Nashville, although most of those were EMI employees. Others were told up front that their positions would be eliminated within 120 days.

Universal purchased EMI more to gain market share than anything, but this already looks like it's backfiring. Here's why:

1. In order for the purchase to go through, Universal had to shed labels and publishing units in Europe. That meant that the market share boost wouldn't be as much as they originally thought, nor would the value of EMI be as high as a result.

2. Universal already had the largest market share already with over 30%. What reason was there to increase it other than ego or some obscure executive bonus? Sure Sony Music is strong, but more of that may be due to #3 below.

3. The EMI acquisition has taken up so much time and attention that the execs at Universal have taken their eye off the ball of selling music. This will continue to be a problem for another year at least.

If I was an artist on Universal or EMI right now I'd be worried. You don't know if any of your champions in A&R, sales, marketing will be let go, you don't have their full attention as they angle for new jobs as a fall-back, and the suits in the boardroom continue to play corporate structure games instead of their core business.

This is a perfect example of what happens when big business gets involved in what should be art.

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5 Ways To Take The Pulse Of Your Fans

Your core fans, or your "tribe," as uber-marketer Seth Godin calls them, crave your communication. But communication is a two-way street, and the artist must be just as willing to listen to his or her tribe as talk at them. This excerpt from the Music 3.0 Internet music guidebook shows 5 ways that you can check the pulse of the tribe to better understand what they want from you.

"The leader must constantly check the pulse of the tribe to hear what they’re feeling and thinking. This can be helpful in determining just what the tribe likes and dislikes about you and your music. Maybe there’s a direction that you briefly touched upon on your last record that drove the tribe wild, or maybe one that they hated? You might choose to follow your musical instincts instead of listening to tribal feedback, but at least you won’t be surprised by the resulting reaction.

Taking the tribe’s pulse also lifts the mood of the tribe since interaction with the leader is always appreciated and results in more participation. Showing your appreciation for their participation fosters even greater loyalty and participation and gets them invested emotionally and intellectually.

So how do you take the tribe’s pulse? You ask them questions or ask them to help you.

1) Ask them which piece of merch they prefer.

2) Ask them about the best venues in their area, why they like them and if they’d prefer to see you there.

3) Ask them what song they’d love to hear you cover.

4)Ask them who their favorite artists are (this answer is great for other elements of social marketing as mentioned in other sections of the book).

5) Ask them to judge the artwork on your next release, then when they respond, reward them. Give a free T-shirt to the first 10 responses. Send them a secret link to download a track only available to them. Give a personal shout out to some of the best responses.

All of the above makes them feel special and great about belonging, and keeps the interest in the tribe high."

To read additional excerpts from Music 3.0 and other books, go to the excerpt section at bobbyowsinski.com.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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Is Trent Reznor Selling Out?

Trent Reznor has been an ongoing inspiration to DIY musicians everywhere, as he's written the blueprint for addressing your fans via social networks, tiered merchandising, unique marketing, and so much more (it's all illustrated in the Music 3.0 book). His announcement last week that he was going back to a major label raised some eyebrows, since signing to Sony Music is such a great departure from what he was all about for the last 3 or 4 years.

Now he recently announced on Facebook that he was collaborating with the horrendous Beats By Dre, the money play by Dre and Jimmy Iovine where they sell hi-priced yet inferior headphones to unsuspecting listeners in the name of "better sound quality." Here's his statement:

Some of you may have read that I have begun working with Beats By Dre. For the past year I have indeed been involved with Dre, Jimmy Iovine, Luke Wood, and the rest of the team on a number of very interesting projects that will start to emerge next year. I have been wanting to experiment and focus my energy and creativity in some different directions, and Beats has afforded me that very opportunity. The process has been challenging and fascinating and as much as I'd like to tell you about the things we've dreamed up... I just can't.Not yet...(I can tell you it's probably not what you're expecting!)

The Trent Reznor we know and love stands for principle and a "I'm doing it my way regardless what you think" attitude. Collaborating with Beats smacks of selling out for a payday. I guess he needs the money, but it's sure disappointing. TR was my shining example of the best of the DIY world. Time to find another hero.

If you really want to make a better sounding headphone look like Beats, here's how.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Weirdest Merch Ideas

While most bands think of just the traditional merch items like t-shirts (the perennial favorite), hats, patches and posters, some bands get really creative. Here are a few that are odd if not borderline weird.

AC/DC Wine

Cliff Richards Bingo Dabber 

One Direction Toothbrush and Toothpaste

Owl City Unisex Pajamas

Pixies Racing Jersey

I think my favorite is the Cliff Richards Bingo Dabber, but it sure does show the age of his fans. My question is, "Just how many of these were sold?" If anyone has the answer, let us know.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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How Social Users Listen

Recently Lab42 did a survey of music listeners to try to track their music listening and sharing habits via social media. Here's what they found:

Asked when they listened to music:

• 56% said while cooking
• 36% said at work
• 32% said when falling asleep
• 29% said while studying

• 45% said they listen to music at least 10 hours a week

• 70% pay to download music
• 60% download free music
• 13% don't download music

• 73% belonged to a social music site like Pandora or Spotify.

• 20% pay for a premium service on the social music site.

• 86% used the free version for 6 months before upgrading.

• 78% use the "private session" feature so people can't see their music selections.

• Yet 94% listened to a song because they saw a friend listening to it.

The survey just goes to show that slowly but surely, people are altering their listening patterns to streaming instead of downloads, although not as quickly as we're led to believe by the press.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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2012 Worldwide Digital Music Sales Up

After a couple of very flat years in digital sales that really had the music industry massively scared, it looks like 2012 will once again show an increase, perhaps even a substantial one. According to research analysts Strategy Analytics, 2012 should look like this when it ends:

• streaming revenues up 40% to $1.2 billion.
• downloads up about 8.5% to $4.3 billion.
• total digital music sales including mobile up 18% to $9.5 billion
• digital music increases to 39% of all music sales

The interesting thing is that there's still a lot of physical product being consumed, if digital is only 39% of the total music sales. If that holds true, that means that the total world-wide recorded music sales should come in at somewhere around $25 billion, which is a lot better than it's been for years.

On November 1st I'm going to be at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey to give the keynote address at the ATMM Conference. My theme for the talk is "The Music Industry Is NOT Dying." These figures illustrate the point completely.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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10 Great Music Marketing Ideas

Here's a post from a couple years back that bears repeating. It's about the 10 music marketing ideas from the marketing chapter of the Music 3.0 Internet Music guidebook. It’s easier to sell your music if you add extra value to it, so it helps to think outside the box when it comes to distributing your music. Thanks to Bruce Houghton of the great music blog Hypebot for numbers 7 through 10.
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"1) Develop a package - This could mean anything from a CD and a vinyl album, to a digital download and album with all alternative mixes, to a boxed set of CD’s or anything in-between (Trent Reznor’s Ghosts I-IV is a great example). The idea is to go beyond just the typical CD and digital offerings.

2) Sequential numbering - Numbering a physical product (for example; "#5 of 1000") gives it the feeling of exclusivity. The product becomes a special edition and a must-have for the true fan.

3) Tie it to merchandise - Offer a physical product that contains the code for a free download of your album. Mos Def was so successful with the T-shirt release of The Ecstatic that Billboard magazine even began counting it as a music release on their charts. Other artists have sold their music via codes on such items as golf balls, bandanas and even canned food!

4) Release a “double-sided” digital single - Rhino Record's digital releases celebrating 60 years of the 45 RPM single set a fine example for this format. For between $1.49 and $1.99, Rhino provided the original hit song, its B side (the flip side of the vinyl record) and the original artwork. You can do the same by providing two songs for price of one - an A and a B side.

5) Release on an old alternative format - We’ve seen some artists (The Decemberists Hazards of Love come to mind) release a vinyl-only physical product to great success. Cheap Trick did it on the old 8-track format from the 60’s, and some bands have even recently released on cassette tape. Releasing on a older format can be good as a publicity tool (as long as everyone else isn’t doing it) and who knows, maybe you can start a trend?

6) Release on a new alternative format - A new alternative format that’s getting some traction is flash memory, or the common USB memory stick. Once again, Trent Reznor met with great viral success by planting unmarked memory sticks in bathrooms at Nine Inch Nail’s concerts, and Sony even released the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller on the format. Everybody uses these things so you’re bound to get at least a look, which you can’t always say about other formats.

7) Three Sides - Offer a song in an early studio version, the final mix, and then captured live.

8) Radical Mixes - Offer two or three very different mixes of the same song, perhaps even done by the fans.

9) Two Sides of (Your City) - Two different bands each contribute a track to a series chronicling your local scene.

10) “Artist X” Introduces _____ - Add a track by your favorite new artist/band along with one of yours. This is similar to a gig trade-out with another band that many bands use as a way to play in new venues. The idea is that the band you feature will also feature you on their release as well."

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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It Pays To Have A Lawyer

Continuing on with the theme from yesterday about how important having a music attorney look over your agreements is, here's an excerpt from the Ken Scott memoir Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust that illustrates the point.

Ken relates a story of how the group Kansas lost millions of dollars from signing something without having it looked over, then compounded the mistake.
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"Another topic of conversation that came up during my time with Kansas is something that maybe should be talked about as a warning to new acts reading this book. Musicians signing record deals these days have a lot more knowledge about the business than they used to, but this story is still worth bringing up - just in case. Kerry (Livgren, the main songwriter of Kansas) and I were talking one day and he was telling me about when they signed their recording contract. It came up in the conversation that they had signed away their publishing, then he told me the story about how it actually happened. 

It seems that the band was playing at a small club in Georgia somewhere and the contract from Kirshner Records was delivered there for them to sign. As all bands who are signing their first record deal do, they wanted to immediately get their John Hancocks on there, lest it disappear and they be relegated to playing clubs forever. Every place that had a “Sign Here” clip, they signed. Finally they came to a bit at the back of the agreement that they hadn’t seen before that had all these clips on it, and they thought, “Oh, I guess we have to sign these as well,” and they all signed it and immediately sent everything back the next day. It turns out that the little bit at the end that they hadn’t seen before was all about their publishing.

I said to Kerry, “Did you go over it with an attorney?” 

“Of course not. We were in a club,” came his reply. 

“In which case, the contract is illegal,” I told him. 

“What do you mean?” he asked. 

“You’ll find in modern day contracts that there’s a clause that states that if you haven’t gone through it with an attorney, the contract means nothing.” 

“Yeah, come on. You’ve got to be joking.” 

“I’m deadly serious.”

“Well, you’re wrong. If that had been the case we would’ve been told about that ages ago,” he adamantly replied. 

“I can only tell you what I know,” I told him, not willing to argue. 

“I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.”

“Fine, but do me one favor. Next time you see your attorney, ask him about it,” I exclaimed. The subject was then dropped and we went back to work.

It turns out that a couple of days later the band had a big band meeting with their attorney on some other business. When they finally got to the studio, Kerry immediately came up to me and said, “I owe you an apology. I asked our attorney, and he said that you were absolutely correct. We could have gotten all of our publishing back.”

“Could” was the operative word here. It turns out that when the band became successful, they renegotiated their record deal using their attorney. Because they didn’t know about the law, they didn’t tell the lawyer about it, so he never acted on it. Since the attorney was now involved, they couldn’t go back on something from the previous contract. The wound up losing millions of dollars as a result.

This is one of the things that happens when people get into the business and have absolutely no idea what it’s all about. There are all of these legal loopholes that not many people know about, and they end up losing a lot of money because of it. On the other hand, there are those people that make money from those same loopholes as well."

As you can see, it should be mandatory for a musician to run any agreement by an attorney before signing. It could save you millions. You can read more excerpts from Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust and my other books at bobbyowsinski.com.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

5 Instances Where You Need A Music Attorney

As usual, CD Baby's DIY Musician blog has a lot of great info, this time on the 5 instances when you should hire a music attorney. You can read the entire article for yourself, but I'll paraphrase it here along with some of my own comments.

Let me say up front that although hiring your brother-in-law who does real estate law is better than not having an lawyer, a music attorney has specific expertise that pertains to the music business. He or she can easily spot when a deal is unfair or not exactly in your favor, so the extra hassle in seeking one out is worth it.

Here are the 5 instances where you really need an attorney from the music business:

1. Before you sign your band agreement. There are a lot of things that you need to hash out, including who owns the name, how any money is distributed, who owns the gear and recordings, how does a member get fired, and the grim stuff like what happens if a member dies or becomes incapacitated.

2. Before you sign with a publisher. A lot of smaller publishers like to have a lot of songwriters signed so their catalog looks bigger, but a music attorney can usually see through that and make sure that your getting what you deserve. Keep in mind that publishing agreements can be very complicated, so they really do require a pro.

3. Before signing with a manager. Managers love to say, "Let's do this without an attorney to save some money," but that's never a good idea. A bad manager deal can keep you paying him for years after you stop working together.

4. Before signing a record deal. It goes without saying that record deals are complicated and getting more so every year. While having an attorney may not get you a better deal if you're a baby band, you may get a few concessions that will be really helpful down the line that will more than make up the cost of your own attorney. Plus, even if you're getting screwed on some point, its at least good to know up front that it's happening.

5. Before signing a licensing deal for one of your songs. The reason why you want an attorney to look the agreement over is that if you're not careful, the song might be used in many more ways that you thought, all without paying you any additional money.

As you can see, it's very much worth while to have a music industry pro watch your back. As the old saying goes, "A pro is expensive, but an amateur costs a fortune."

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Trent Reznor Returns To The Big Label Fold

While we're constantly inundated with opinions that the major labels are on their last legs, that's simply not the case. Though we may yet see another step in the evolution of the majors soon, there's always going to be a place for at least a few of them. Case in point, the return to the major label fold by the poster boy for DIY, Trent Reznor.

Reznor described the reason for his newly minted agreement with Sony Music recently with David Byrne:

"In the last tour, we're playing Prague, we're walking around and playing that night at Prague.  But I see flyers up for Radiohead playing the same place we're playing, but six months from now.  And I walk into the record shop, and there isn't a section that says Nine Inch Nails.  And there's no kind of presence that we're even there.   

And I start to realize, the last few years all we've done... you know Mr. Twitter Bigshot with my bunch of followers right, but it's preaching to that choir of people that are important, but it's that camp.  The world's become so fragmented, you can tune into what you like, and a lot of things don't break though that, or cross over. 

And we're literally putting our records out on our own, and not using the labels.  And I don't know what the cool record shop in Prague is, and I don't know the good blog that comes out of there that I can give some attention to.  And I don't really want to do that, but there's a part of me that can't stop, so I get obsessed and I start thinking about marketing and I think, 'there's other people I can hire that can market this stuff, but no one else can write the songs I can write.' 

The great part of self-releasing has been controlling your own destiny.  Nobody having any approval.  Finishing a song at midnight and putting it out the next day.  Getting fans excited with no leak, because you have the only copy, and you uploaded it and you hit publish.  And wow, that's fun, it felt great particularly after a long career in the weirdness of labels. 

But to answer your question, it was to have a team of people that are better at that than I am, worldwide.  That felt like it was worth slicing the pie up, monetarily, but our main agenda of the moment was to make people aware of it in the right context versus a little more money we might or might not make.  And that's what it came down to, and so far, it's been pleasantly pleasant, actually having people that know what they're talking about and having a team, that's nice."

The above sounds more like Reznor was more tired of the DIY thing than anything else, and that's fair enough, but the fact of the matter is that the major labels are the only ones that have the infrastructure capable of either elevating an artist to, or maintaining superstardom. If an artist is going to break world-wide, that's still the way to go.

Now I don't want to come off as an apologist for the major labels because I'm far from it. I believe that until you're at a point in your career when you have some leverage, it's best to stay away from a label and do as much as you can yourself. Signing too early does an artist no good. But if you have a measure of success, that means that you can certainly be in a position for not only a better deal, but more attention from the label as well.

Not only that, after doing so much of the grunt work yourself, you're so much better at determining if the label is doing a good job or not, and helping them to do the best they can. It can be a win-win under the right circumstances.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Flyer Creation Made Easy

Let's face it, a lot of us are graphically challenged. Sometimes we can't even imagine what a graphic should look like, let alone create it. That's why a new service called Flyer Lizard can be so useful, as it allows you to quickly and easily create digital flyers and gig posters, then distribute them through social media or print them.

Flyer Lizard allows you to upload your own flyer if you only want to use their distribution services, but otherwise they have a nice image editor that makes it pretty easy to create your own professional-looking flyer right away. Then you can share it on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, among others. You can even add QR codes.

Flyer Lizard is free, but you do have to pay a small fee for most background images if you choose to use them. Check out the video below that explains it all.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.