Music Vault Releases 13,000 Concert Videos On YouTube

Many artists and companies are reluctant to release their video products on YouTube, thinking that they won't make enough money to make it worthwhile. That can't be said for Music Vault though, as the company has just released 13,000 videos of concert footage feature some of the biggest names in concert history.

The company has spent the last two years prepping the files from some classic shows and venues, which include Bill Graham Presents, The King Biscuit Flower Hour, Woodstock and Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, as well as indie websites like Daytrotter and Paste Magazine. Included are 2,000 hours of some of the music greats, including Bob Dylan, The Who, James Brown, The Allman Brothers (including the legendary Live At The Fillmore East) and Bruce Springsteen, but also includes contemporary artists like St. Vincent and Fleet Foxes.

Music Vault, owned and managed by Wolfgang's Vault, has also created several playlists that include "Best of the Vault," "Face Melting Solos," and "Legends of the Fillmore East." There's also a number of channels dedicated to artists like The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Santana, Jazz and Blues.

Music Vault is a great example of how a music company can incorporate a YouTube multi-channel network into their business plan. It's definitely worth checking out, but I warn you, get ready to go down a rabbit hole for at least a couple of hours. It's very addicting.

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The Pros And Cons Of Giving Your Music Away

Artists and bands want to be paid for their art, and rightfully so, but to rely solely on music sales in our Music 4.0 world can be shortsighted. Here's a video from my Lynda.com course called Selling Music: MP3s, CDs And Streams that outlines the two categories of products that an artist has sell, and why not worrying if your fans pay for your music or not can sometimes be the way to greater revenue.


If you'd like to check out the Selling Music: MP3s, CDs And Streams in its entirety or any of my other Lynda.com video courses, here's a free 7 day pass with unlimited access to the entire Lynda catalog.

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Will The Album Go The Way Of The VHS Tape?

Another Soundscan report is in and once again, album sales in the United States have slipped, this time from 235 million to 227 million compared to the same period last year. This is actually nothing new, since the format has been in a major decline since 2000, when sales were at an all-time high of 785 million.

Just to be clear, 227 million of anything is still a lot of units, and it should be noted that these are only the sales that can be counted. With so much of an artist’s income coming through DIY methods these days, there are millions of CD and vinyl sales made on artist websites and at gigs that go unreported.

That said, its clear that the trend in music is away from the album format, even when its digital, as streaming becomes the norm for music consumption everywhere. It wasn’t always that way, though, as there was a lot of reasons why the big 10 inch caught on in the first place.

A Case For Albums

One of the things that albums in vinyl record form required of the listener was an increased attention span longer than what was needed for a single, at least for the length of one side of the record, or about 20 to 25 minutes. This time limit was imposed by the limitations of the vinyl itself, as a longer running time would result in increased noise and a lower output because of the shallower grooves that were required in order to fit them into the same vinyl area. 

The one thing this did do, however, was divide the album into an easily consumable block of time; one that was long enough to get a sense of what the artist was trying to say. It was also a way of discovering songs that appealed to the public ear on a level that might not have been anticipated by either the artist or the record label. So many of the classic hits we’ve come to know and love through the years fall into this category, like Marvin Gaye’s version of “Heard It Through The Grapevine,” Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” and Eric Clapton’s (actually Derek and the Dominos) “Layla,” just to name a few. Plus, the artist was able to make a statement with the album as a whole, as evidenced by the big hits of day like The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral, and Greenday’s American Idiot. Read more on Forbes.

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Songkick Now A Viable Ticket Alternative

Social concert and ticketing app Songkick recently announced that it passed the 10 million user per month mark who have purchased $100 million in tickets via the app since 2007. The service is growing rapidly and expects to sell another $100 this year alone.

Songkick has diversified its partnerships to YouTube, Google, BBC, Spotify, Vevo and other music related sites, which may account for its recent growth. The London-based company also reports that 60% of its traffic comes from mobile devices, and half of its users are in the United States.

This is an increasingly competitive section of the business, especially with band-oriented sites like ReverbNation, BadsInTown and Bandpage offering show listings, but the company not only offers personalized concert tracking, but retail and aftermarket sales, which makes it different from most other services.

The site lists more than 100,000 upcoming shows and over 1 million artists. The app is available for both iOS and Android, and provides a Facebook app as well.

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How Much Does Your Favorite Artist Cost?

Kid Rock goes for $200k to $300k

Let's say that you're wealthy and about to throw a big birthday shindig and want want to hire your favorite artist or band. If money was no object, how much would it cost?

An interesting article on priceonomics.com lays out the retail prices of artists in most genres and price categories. The lists are really long, so go to the site to find your favorite artist, but here's a sampling.


Superstar Level at $1 million+
Bruce Springsteen
Madonna
James Taylor (didn't realize he was in this price range)
Bon Jovi
Justin Bieber
Justin Timberlake
Taylor Swift
Dave Mathews Band

$750+
Adele
Lady Gaga
Coldplay
Rhianna

$500+
Black Eyed Peas
Foo Fighters
Pink
Rascal Flatts

$100k+
Blake Shelton
Avicii
Alicia Keys
50 Cent

$50k+
Adam Lambert
Bare Naked Ladies
Colbie Calliet
Lana del Ray

$30k to $50k
Ben Folds
Cheap Trick
Joan Jett
Trombone Shorty

$20k to $30k
Aloe Black (this is probably higher now since the hits keep coming)
George Clinton
Los Lobos
Macy Gray

$10k to $20k
Candlebox
Fuel
The Crystal Method
Vanessa Carlton

$1k to $10k
Bo Brice
Dave Mathews Tribute Band
Kings X
The Bodeans

There are hundreds more listed that you can check out on priceonomics.com. Remember that these are retail prices, with the actual booking price sometimes much less than what's indicated, depending upon the situation.

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How Teens And Young Adults Stay Up To Date With Music

Here's an interesting infographic from Edison Research that looks at how 12 to 24 year olds keep up to date with music. The dynamics have shift from a year ago, but not all that much.

As you can see, YouTube is the primary way that kids learn about new music, followed by Pandora and word-of-mouth from friends and family. Radio is still a big source of music, and to a lessor degree, so is Facebook and iTunes.

What's surprising is how low both Spotify and Music Blogs are in the process. We've all been led to believe that they both have much more influence than they apparently have.

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Which Part Of Your Website Is A Gig Magnet?

If you're an artist or band, hopefully you have a website. If you do, you're probably wondering if it actually helps you to get gigs. By itself, a good artist website can be a good introduction to any promoters checking you out, but there's one section that's more important than all others that's usually overlooked by more artists - the booking section.

Here's an excerpt from the artist website chapter of my Social Media Promotion For Musicians book that covers the essential parts of the booking section of a website that gives it that extra punch to make it a gig magnet.

"If you’re generating some buzz in your local scene, make sure that if an agent or promoter does check out your band that you have pertinent information available on your website for them. Create a “Bookings,” “Book Me,” or “Book My Band” section on your website, which can be similar to an online press kit, but instead includes specific additions like: 

• Statistics about the number of newsletter subscribers, Facebook fans and Twitter followers you have. Remember that your social media presence is now taken into consideration by most bookers and promoters, as it’s a vital part of their marketing too.

• Average attendance for your shows. Are you regularly selling out 50 ,100, or 500-seat venues? Make sure to include it.

• The markets and venues that you play in.

• A photo gallery with lots of quality live photos, including any that include crowds in packed venues.

• Good quality live videos meaning good video quality, good audio quality, packed rooms, and minimal audience talking. Audience sing-a-longs are always worth including as well.

• A stage plot of how your gear is normally set up.

• A typical set list, if you’re a cover band.

• Quotes from the media that mention your live show.

• Quotes from venue bookers.

• Quotes from fans about your live shows.

Other than that, you should always blog and tweet about your live shows, which we’ll discuss in Chapters 7 and 8. Post about the turnout, the crowd reaction, and post plenty of pics and live video whenever you can. All of this will help create the impression that you’re a hard-working band that takes their live shows seriously."

You can read additional excerpts from Social Media Promotion For Musician (and receive a free chapter too) and my other books on the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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The Songza Feature That Google Couldn’t Resist

In a deal rumored for weeks, Google has finally acquired the music streaming service Songza for a reported $15 million. There appears to be no immediate plans to change the service, according to a post on the Songza site, except to “make it faster, smarter, and even more fun to use.”

But what’s the real reason behind the acquisition? Certainly Google has the cash to buy either Pandora or Spotify, market leaders in the radio-like non-interactive and on-demand categories of the music streaming market. The fact is that even though both of those services have the largest user bases in the sector, they actually bring little value in terms of what Google needs. The company’s Music Play All Access service doesn’t have the kind of subscriber numbers it wants, but that could be just a matter of time, considering that YouTube (which it owns) is the number one online source for music discovery and access already. And the company already has a large catalog of licensed songs, so a purchase with that in mind is redundant.

What Songza specializes in is music curation, a feature that Beats Music used as its primary lure in its purchase by Apple. While Google may be the king of the algorithm, it’s been proven time and again that computer generated playlists can’t come close to the musical taste of human. It’s been reported that Pandora’s Music Genome Project, which many contend is the heart of the service, is already 10 years in the making. Google has the resources to bump that timeline up, but the way the streaming market is heading, time is of the essence. Google needs a similar feature right now. Read more on Forbes.

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YouTube Announces Yet More New Creator Features

About a month ago I posted about some of the new creator features that YouTube was working on. The company officially announced those features and more at the VidCon conference over the weekend. While the features aren't yet launched, you should see them very soon.

Here's the list of features, directly from YouTube's own press release.

• YouTube Creator Studio: Did you know that after Rebecca Black uploaded “Friday,” she went on a school trip, not knowing for several days the video was going viral? To help you manage your videos on the go, the new YouTube Creator Studio app lets you see analytics, manage your videos and more. The app is available now on Android and launching on iOS in coming weeks and you’ll see some redesign of the Creator Studio on desktop too.

• Audio Library, now with sound effects: You’ve used the hundreds of free songs in the Audio Library on millions of your videos. But until now, you’ve had to go through extreme lengths to make your own zombie screams and fighter plane sounds. To make your lives easier and videos better, from today you now have thousands of royalty-free sound effects at your disposal. We’ve also added more tracks to the Audio Library.

• 60 (yeah, six-zero) frames per second: Your video game footage with crazy high frame rates will soon look as awesome on YouTube as it does when you’re playing, when we launch support for 48 and even 60 frames per second in the coming months. Take a look at some preview videos on the YT Creator Channel. Make sure you’re watching in HD!

• Fan Funding: Your fans aren’t just watching your videos, they’re also helping support your channel through services like KickStarter, IndieGogo, Patreon and more. We’ll be adding another option for you, where fans will be able to contribute money to support your channel at any time, for any reason. 

• Creator Credits: Collaboration is a key to great videos on YouTube. You’re already giving your collaborators shout outs in your video descriptions. But what if those text-based shout outs were tags that let viewers click through to their channels, or let you search for a collaborator based on their work and location? That’s our vision for Creator Credits, stay tuned for more. 

• Subtitles contributed from fans: More than a billion people watch YouTube each month, but not all of them speak the same language and some are deaf or hard of hearing. Automatic speech recognition and automatic translation on YouTube can help, but your fans can do an even better job. In the coming months, your fans will be able to submit translations in any language based on the subtitles or captions you’ve created, helping you reach even more viewers. You can try this out now on Barely Political, Fine Art-Tips, Got Talent Global and Unicoos. 

• Info Cards: Annotations are useful, but not as ridiculously good looking as say, Blue Steel. In the near future, you’ll see our new interactive information cards with a clean look, which you’ll beable to program once to work across desktop, phones and tablets.

• SiriusXM & YouTube: We love supporting artists, and so do our friends at SiriusXM. That’s why we teamed up to launch “The YouTube 15,” a weekly show on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 hosted by Jenna Marbles and featuring the biggest names and rising stars in music from YouTube. 

• More ways to playlist: Along with playlists analytics we recently added to analytics, expect to see more ways to create playlists, so that all the time you spend building them translates into easier discovery for viewers and better results for you.

While there's no exact timetable for the launch of these features, YouTube say's they will be available "in the coming months."

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T-Mobile Jumps Ahead Of The Music Curve, And No One Noticed

Thanks to the latest Net Neutrality ruling by the FCC in May, the companies that control the digital pipes can that we all use now can begin to charge content providers for providing their customers with higher speed pipelines. 

AT&T’s new Sponsored Data Service is a good example, where content distributors pay for the privilege of their customers having no data restrictions so they’re able to consume more product without having their speed capped or charged extra. Of course, in the end this means that the end user will ultimately be penalized, since they’ll either have their data service throttled down by their provider if they breach their data limit, or charged a higher price by a music service to cover the cost of the sponsored service.

Last week T-Mobile launched their Music Freedom service that flies in the face of that idea though, as it provides no data limit for consumers accessing a number of major streaming services, including Pandora, iHeart Radio, iTunes Radio, Spotify, Slacker and Milk Music. This means that a T-Mobile subscriber can listen to an unlimited amount of music from these services without the fear of going over a monthly data limit.

Of interest is the fact that a number of music services weren’t included, at least in the initial announcement, the largest being Google Play All Access. This could ultimately be a distinct disadvantage for services not in the plan (especially smaller services without the deep pockets to make them competitive), but it’s not entirely clear if any of the services left out will be added as time goes on.

Studies have found that as much as 77% of all music streaming is done via smartphones, so it’s possible that whatever service provider offers the best mobile music deal will also get the most subscribers in the end. That’s why T-Mobile is out ahead of the curve with Music Freedom, while its competitors seem to look at the music part of their offerings as just another feature. Read more on Forbes.

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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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