Thursday, February 20, 2014

Music And Games Make Friends Again

Steam Music logo image
Music and games - what a great combination. Or that’s what seemed to be the case during the Guitar Hero/Rock Band days of a few years ago. At it’s peak, artists, bands, labels and songwriters saw an unexpected and, for a time, significant income stream that promised to hold up a flagging music industry for a little while, only to have it go the way most that trends do and die almost overnight. After a short fling with gaming, music had struck out.

But gaming insiders knew that the recent experience was only the tip of the iceberg and that music would someday experience a boom in gaming again, only in a different form. As Thom Kozik, then Vice-President of Online Gaming at Atari (and now COO of the Omnia Media multi channel network) forecasted in the second edition of my book Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age:
“There was a model that showed up in a few games about a decade ago where the player was offered an option on the music. Because the licensing models were what they were at the time, that didn’t work as well as hoped. Now all these decisions about taste that you can express in an online game puts the control in the consumer’s hands instead of the game studio or publisher. We’ll see the return of the “choose your own soundtrack” model, with direct, immediate payment by the consumer at the time they hit play.”
That prediction looks like it may have come to pass thanks to the recent announcement of a new service by Valve Software called Steam Music, which allows gamers to listen to songs from their digital libraries on their computer while playing a game. Read more on Forbes.
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You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A Look At Today's Digital Music Consumer

Today's digital music consumer looks a lot like yesterday's digital music consumer, according to a recent report by industry pundit Mark Mulligan's MIDiA Consulting. The infographic below points out a number interesting issues:
  • Even after 10 years of paid digital music distribution, people still consume most of their music from radio and CD.
  • Already, more people consume music from streaming sources than downloads.
  • Music subscription is a force in the music business, but still only has 4% penetration.
The study goes on to show that 55% of digital music buyers and 45% of subscribers still purchase CDs monthly.

The study illustrates that the more things change, the more they stay the same. New technologies have made an impact on the music business and will always continue to do so, but the old technologies don't fade away as quickly as we might think.

Check out the entire report on the Music Industry Blog.

Digital Music Consumers image
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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Last.fm Now Powered By YouTube

last.fm image
In what may be the first of more such alliances, digital music site Last.fm recently launched a radio service powered by YouTube streaming. What makes this significant though, is that it may be a way around the service paying music licensing, since the streams are being generated via YouTube.

Last.fm was one of the first digital services to provide personalized streams, and was growing along with the rest of the digital music space until purchased by CBS in 2007 (where have we heard that before?). Since then it has struggled for attention as both new and old competitors have moved ahead in public visibility.

The struggling service withdrew from most world markets last year except for the US, the UK and Germany in order to control licensing costs. The new deal with YouTube may make it possible to expand back into the markets it left without paying royalties, or at least that's the hope.

This could set a precedent that could prove to be quite unfavorable to artists, bands, songwriters, publishers and labels, and will no doubt be scrutinized by legal departments everywhere.
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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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.

Monday, February 17, 2014

3 Keys To YouTube Video SEO

YouTube logo image
When it comes to YouTube, you won't find a better vehicle online today for getting both your music and your message out there. Teens love it, and get most of their online music there, and it's the second most important engine for music discovery after radio. Still, most artists, bands and musicians don't know some of the keys in taking the greatest advantage of the network.

The YouTube chapter of my Social Media Promotion For Musicians book goes into great detail on the subject of YouTube channel and video SEO (as well as monetizing your videos so they become a new income stream), but we can break it down to 3 key points.

1. Title your videos properly. A haphazard video title is one that doesn't get searched. If it's a music video, be sure to include the name of the song and the name of the artist or band in the title. In fact, always include the name of the artist whenever possible. If it's a cover song, include the name of the original artist who did the song as well.

2. Don't skimp on the description. The more you add in the description, the more likely your video will come up during a search. Be sure to include the names of all the people in the video (as well as the director and producer) and what the video is about in detail. Also remember to include a link to your website at the end so people can get more information if they're interested.

3. Include the proper tags. The tags are important so make sure to spend enough time selecting them. Be sure that your name is one of them, as well as the mood of the song (if that's what you're posting), since many people search for "sad song" or "happy song." Not including a mood tag robs you of an important search element.

Follow these 3 simple rules and you'll find your video viewership will grow substantially as more people are able to find your videos when they search.

To read excerpts about YouTube and other social media from the Social Media Promotion For Musicians book, go to the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com

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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Look Into The Music Business Crystal Ball

I've been interviewed a lot recently for publications and podcasts all over the world, and the latest one is on Music Business Facts, where Rodney Holder was kind enough to ask me to appear. Here's an excerpt from that interview (the full interview is on the site now) that looks into the crystal ball to show what I think the music business will be like in our near future.


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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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.

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