Major Warner Reshuffling Actually Makes Sense

It was reported last week that Warner Music Group was restructuring following the departure of their former music chief Lyor Cohen. Usually these types of reorganizations are more about consolidating power into new fiefdoms for the remaining or incoming executives, but this one actually seems to make sense.

According to an article in CMU:

Under the new structure, Warner in the US will have three divisions, frontline recorded music, publishing and catalogue, and label and artist services. The first division will consist of Warner’s record labels, principally Atlantic, Warner Bros and Warner Nashville, and will handle current talent and new releases. The second division will replace the Warner/Chappell publishing company, and also include catalogue marketing and the major’s catalogue label Rhino. The third division will bring together distribution operations and those Warner units working outside records and publishing. 

The second of the new divisions is the most interesting, with the major allying the marketing of its sound recording catalogue with its music publishing operations. 

A couple of things here are interesting. First is that Warner/Chappell is being replaced, which is hard to believe, since it's such a powerhouse brand. OK, brand aside, the fact that they're now combining publishing with catalog is huge, since they're now thinking more in terms of licensing, rather than sales. Licensing can be a much more profitable way to do business, since the overhead is far lower and manufacturing costs are essentially nil because the licensor does it all.

Many have predicted that this would be the business model for the next generation major label. Now it seems that we'll get to see the prototype in action and can evaluate whether those predictions are really valid.

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Apple's Music Streaming Pulled At The Last Minute, Twice

There has been a lot of speculation about Apple's new streaming service over the last year, but it appears to be much closer than you think. Apparently Apple was all set to make the announcement in September during the iPhone 5 introduction, but it was pulled due to a last-minute snag.

The word is that publisher Sony/ATV caused Apple to pull the plug at the last minute because it could not agree on the per-song rights fee. Considering that Sony/ATV administers 2 million copyrights, including those by everyone from Taylor Swift and One Direction to the Beach Boys and Beatles, the company supposedly push for a higher rate, and Apple had to wait until things could get ironed out as a result.

That was bad enough, but it happened again in October when Apple introduced its iPad Mini, when once again, Sony/ATV refused to sign off on a deal.

It's been said that the iPad Mini is an especially good fit into Apple's long-term strategy of being a media controller, so the streaming music announcement would've fit nicely with that, but once again it was not to be. Look for this to be resolved soon, but Sony/ATV looks like it's driving a hard bargain, which hopefully will be good for its songwriters.

In the meantime, Pandora's stock is taking a beating and it's execs are selling off their shares. Everyone sees the writing on the wall as the 800 pound gorilla prepares to enter the market.

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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.

Customize Your YouTube Channel Background

YouTube is changing a lot lately in that it's allowing the user to customize features that were previously frozen. We'll look at some of these new possibilities in upcoming posts, but today we'll feature on how to customize your YouTube channel's background image.

It's pretty easy actually.

1. Go to your YouTube channel page and click "My Channel."

2. Click the "Settings" button on the main channel page.

3. Upload a background image.

Couldn't be easier, right? Well, you have to remember that the image is going to be used in a unique way, so it's best to remember the following before you hit the upload button:

• You're a lot better off with a wide panoramic shot instead of a close-up because of how the image is going to be distributed across the page. You probably won't see much of the following because.........

• The center of your picture will be obscured by the meat of the channel, so a picture with content on the sides will usually work out better.

• In order to have the image tile properly, use one that's at least 970 pixels wide.

• Use a larger image that fills the page rather than a smaller one that tiles the background. Tiling usually looks pretty cheesy and unprofessional.

That's all there is to it. Go customize away!

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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.

Cutting-Edge Social Media Measurement Tools

Social media measurement tools have reached a new level of sophistication beyond what many ever conceived would happen. While not a total panacea, these new tools are just another part of what's required to understand where you stand in todays social media strata. Here's an excerpt from Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age that covers some of these next-level services.
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"As social media becomes more sophisticated, so does the measurement tool requirements to determine both your impact and branding possibilities. Three new methods of analyzing social media data have shown a lot of promise, but it might be a bit too early in the learning curve to completely trust the data. Still, it's good to know about what's on the horizon.

• Sentiment analysis is a process that tries to determine the attitude of a speaker or a writer with respect to the topic they're writing about. If you actually read a blog or posting, you can tell the writer's sentiment immediately, but this analysis method tries to define and measure it as points of data.

• Cluster analysis tries to analyze how certain words are gathering (or “clustering”) relative to a search topic. It finds the words that are mostly likely to be associated with your search word, which may provide unexpected insight into what’s being said about you and even predict sales before they happen.

• Semantic analysis is another measurement tool that strives to understand what words mean in context to one another. Once again, it's something that we do for ourselves as we read, but this tool puts a number to it.

All of these tools are trying to measure what we can immediately see for ourselves empirically by just wading into the social media pool. They put a number to something that we can feel.

New measurement platforms like Sysomos and Radian6 are said to be using these tools to provide a more precise look at how you or your brand integrates with the social world.

If you need data for a meeting, to sway an investor, or appease a boss, these tools are important. If you're a marketer on a very high level, you might find the data immediately useful. If you're a band or artist just trying to make the next sale, the next gig, or make it through the next day of social media management, you'll find them interesting as best and parlor tricks at worst. But while these tools may be cutting edge today, you never know if they'll be an essential part of your marketing toolbox tomorrow. Stay tuned."

To read additional excerpts from Music 3.0 and my other books, go to 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.

The 6 Top Earning Dead Musicians For 2012

Forbes recently posted an article about the top 6 earning dead musicians that I found interesting in a number of ways, particularly who was on the list and who was not. Let's look at them:

1. Michael Jackson - $145 million. A full year after he died, Michael has sold more than 8 million albums in the US, more than twice what runner-up Taylor Swift has done. His 50% stake in the Sony/ATV publishing catalog will continue to throw off cash pretty much forever, and his Cirque Due Soleil show already grossed $160 million on only the first leg of its tour. This number won't go down much in the near future.

2. Elvis Presley - $55 million. Believe it or not, the King's revenues were flat this year, yet he still continues to be a goldmine in the afterlife.

3. Bob Marley - $17. In death he's bigger than in life, at least revenue-wise, having sold more than 75 million records since 1992 alone. Now that the reggae king has added an energy drink and lifestyle company to his brands portfolio, expect this revenue to climb in the future.

4.  John Lennon - $12 million. The Beatles have sold more that 62 million albums in the US alone since 1992, and the Love Cirque Du Soleil show continues to be a big hit.

5. Richard Rogers - $6 million. Rogers and Hammerstein vast catalog of show tunes continue to be standards, and their publishing throws off cash accordingly.

6. George Harrison - $5.5 million. As with Lennon, GH still gets a cut of The Beatle empire as well as publishing from perennial favorites "Here Comes The Sun" and "Something."

What's interesting is who didn't make the list. Whitney Houston never wrote her songs so there's no publishing income, plus she never made back her last $40 million label advance, so no income there. Jimi Hendrix, Les Paul and Tupac Shakur all pulled in a bit more than $3 million, which somehow seems low. That said, it just goes to show that some celebrities can truly live forever, at least financially.

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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.

Peter Gabriel Crowdsources A New "Sledgehammer"

I'm not sure why crowdsourcing isn't used more. There are so many talented people in the world, and if they're a fan, they're willing to do almost anything to help an artist. Peter Gabriel, who has always tried to stay on the cutting edge, is now giving crowdsourcing a shot by asking his fans for help in remaking his big hit "Sledgehammer" for it's 25th anniversary and the reissue of the So album.

Like with most video and film crowdsourcing projects, he's asking the fan to just pick a single scene to animate, and the best will be picked from the entries by both Peter and the fans via posts on YouTube. The song will eventually be released in 3 different versions, and the winner of the best clip submission will receive a TDK wireless boombox autographed by Peter, while the runner-ups will receive posters (I think they're being a little light on the prizes myself).

"Sledgehammer" was one of the most played clips ever on MTV since 1986 when it came out, mostly because it was pretty cutting-edge for it's time. It should be interesting to see how creative the fans are this time around. Here's the original video below.

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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.

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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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 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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