Filed under: News, RIAA, IFPI, BPI

I'm always enlightened when Glenn Coolfer grabs his calculator and starts making sense of the sales figures Billboard and Nielsen throw around. Often you find that when Coolfer works over the numbers he gleans insight that no one else is spouting.

This week is no different. While the nay-sayers are forecasting the demise of the music business (once again), Coolfer shows us that optimisim may be the better track, "Last week, digital track sales totaled over 21 million, a 29% drop from the previous week but still 61% higher than the same week in 2006. That 29% drop was an improvement over last year's 33% decline. In other words, sales are higher and are not dropping off the holiday peak as quickly as last year."

He's talking about the same week in which the Dreamgirls Soundtrack was the best thing going, which slipped into the top spot while only moving 66k copies. Its the same week Paul Resnikoff used to declare, "Album sales continue to drop year after year, and chart-topping releases are losing their sales potency. [...] the continued declines are generating anxiety among investors."

Patience and prudence Grasshopper. I say 2007 will end up a banner year, and the year we'll all look back on as the point when a solid transition was made from physical to digital. No doubt, it'll be a bit painful for some. Transition is never comfortable, nor should it be expected to be.

See also:
US Album sales slow during 07's first week
Fergie pops digital sales record, fails to credit humps

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Filed under: News, RIAA, IFPI, BPI, Music

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Filed under: News, RIAA, IFPI, BPI, Napster, eMusic, iTunes, Rhapsody, Zune Marketplace, Yahoo! Music

Jupiter Research has done some prognosticatin' and come to the conclusion that digital sales are going to keep on growing. In fact, if predictions hold true, digital sales will grow at a compounded rate of 16% per year, to a total of 2.5 billion dollars, or just over 22% of total US consumer spending on music.

Glenn Coolfer astutely observes, "Before you do any math, read a blog post about the survey by Jupiter analyst David Card. He explains something the press release does not: Jupiter did not count ringtone sales as digital revenues. He wrote, "Digital music sales will total 22 percent of US consumer music spending in 2011, and ring tones another 12 percent." Combined with download spending, the adjusted digital figure is actually 34%. That leaves the CD with about 66% of the market."

Subscription services are forecast to keep growing as well, with a staggering 32% compounded growth rate in just that category alone. Napster must be salivating but, frankly I don't see it. Unless some major shift comes along and changes the subscription landscape, or the Major labels relent to an eMusic style model, I just don't see how 32% growth in subscriptions is remotely possible.

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Filed under: General, DRM, RIAA, IFPI, BPI

"The CD as it stands is dead", that's what Alain Levy of EMI told a packed room at London School of Business in October (Lomax's article says different but, we checked). John Nova Lomax of Houston Press is taking the time to eulogize it, examine why it's dying and take a cursory look at where the format is heading.

Lomax writes, "Looking back over the past 45 years, it is now plain that the move from vinyl to CD was not the bold step forward we were told it would be. CDs were not scratch-proof (as the labels had us believe early on), nor was the sound an improvement on vinyl -- indeed, most audiophiles argue that their sound is inferior. Jewel cases were ridiculously brittle -- they were rendered useless by a drop of four feet or so -- and they were hard to open, as were the huge and idiotic long-boxes CDs were packaged in well into the 1990s. Their visual appeal was almost always minimal and yet they took up what now seems like a lot of shelf space."

The truth is the CD, due to its fragility, has become a disposable item. One hipster quips in Lomax's article that she treats her music burned to CD with the same dismissive regard as she would treat any disposable lighter. As a culture, we're plenty fed up with disposable items which are sold to us as a "semi-durable" good. We know we'll be back to replace it far to early, and we feel ripped off when we find ourselves back in line again, holding a package full of the same empty promises we bought last time.

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Filed under: News, DRM, Microsoft, RIAA, BPI

A video look at the Digital Music highlights from the first week of 2007. Featuring music from The Blackhorse Remix Project featuring Musetta.

There's also a YouTube version.

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Filed under: News, BPI

Having followed the digital music scene for years, I think I can say without any disclaimer that if you're looking for the most evil among the RIAA, BPI and IFPI, you really can't go wrong with the Brits. I thought I'd seen everything, from copyright extension lobbying, asking for tax credits for A&R costs, crazy attacks on ISPs to demands that British police spend more time fighting P2P and less time fighting crime. This story, however, really shows the level to which Peter Jamieson and his flying monkeys crew will stoop.

From a letter to musicians promoting a joint seminar by Own It and The BPI, "You want audience adoration, respect from your peers and the music industry and the chance to keep your name and music in the public psyche for years to come. However, success in the music industry comes from a series of partnerships between musicians and industry. Such partnerships most likely involve a musician exchanging their intellectual property rights for the expertise that enables them to distribute and sell their music whether on or off line." (emphasis added)

Whoa, hold the phone guys. Signing away intellectual property rights isn't such a bright idea for a young musician, and certainly not so smart given the radical changes to the music business which are happening almost daily. Frankly, in 15 years time, the BPI/RIAA/IFPI may well be reduced to second tier players. Jon Newton of P2Pnet equates this practice to Droit de seigner, the middle ages tradition which allowed the lord of an estate the right to "first night" with any virgins in that estate.

Still, if you're in London and interested in hearing some rather shaky advice about how to manage your future music career, the seminar is free and starts promptly at 6pm on Jan 30th.

[via P2Pnet]

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Filed under: News, RIAA, IFPI, BPI, eMusic, iTunes

It's the democratization of the music business, and it's becoming a trend to large to ignore. The LA Times reports on artists who've given up (or never wanted) a major label deal, and are instead finding success online.

"It's nice to have the deep pockets and clout of a major record company. [...] Nonetheless, the Web is turning into a viable alternative with which bands can develop a following and earn some money while still pursuing fame and fortune. Such popular groups as Britain's Arctic Monkeys used the Web extensively before getting a break. Indeed, music companies are embracing the Internet as a convenient way to scout new talent."

What's more, artists with online followings have a whole lot more negotiation clout when they do sit-down to discuss a deal. Making it in music is hard, and the internet hasn't changed that. What it has done, is serve to create a much more even (although still rather slanted) playing field in which the indie artist has a real fighting chance, something they definitely didn't have just 15 years ago. With music blogs playing the part that radio stations once did (and no sign of radio recovering from its glut of self serving poppycock), could we really be that far from taking the major label system and turning it on its ear?

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Filed under: News, RIAA, IFPI, BPI

This week we told you the US Trade Representative is calling for AllofMp3's head on a pike. The flipside to that argument has surfaced, and it appears AllofMp3 has lawyered up, and retained the counsel of John Kheit, an IP attorney for Chadbourne & Parke in New York.

Ars Technica spoke with Kheit and has this gem of a quote, "AllofMP3 is legal, and it's not going anywhere," adding, "Legality is not decided by a legislative branch or an executive branch. It's decided by a court"

The question is, which court and under what jurisdiction? AllofMp3's legal grounds are fragile at best, and as useless as nipples on a boar at worst in my humble -- non-lawyer who took some pre-law undergrad courses and decided law wasn't for me -- opinion. However, Kheit is a smart guy, who holds a degree in Computer Science as well as an M.B.A and (obviously, as a practicing attorney) a J.D., he must understand something that I fail to see. I'm not sure in which court, or on what legal standing Kheit is planning to defend his client --AllofMp3 parent company Media Services -- but, I for one can't wait to hear his argument.

[via Ars Technica]

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Filed under: News, RIAA, IFPI, BPI

It's back again. The seemingly never-ending speculation about AllofMp3 and its entanglement with Russia's desire to join the World Trade Organization. This time there's some evidence of the validity of those claims, and a little bit of light shed on when AllofMp3 might be gone for good.

A document released by the US trade representative to Russia clearly spells out that AllofMp3 has been and still remains a concern for US trade officials, and lays out a time-line within which Russia is expected to act against the rouge music download site.

According to PC Magazine, "Russia said it would [...] act by June 1, 2007 to take action and prevent rights societies from taking action without consent of the rights holders themselves; AllofMP3.com claims it holds licenses from the Russian Licensing Societies, including the Federation of Rights Holders for Collective Management of Copyright with Respect to the Use of Musical Works in Interactive Regime (FAIR) and the Russian Organization on Collective Management of Rights of Authors and Other Right Holders in Multimedia, Digital Networks & Visual Arts (ROMS)."

We've heard claims like this before. Frankly, it's a little disconcerting that VISA seems to have more control over international piracy rings than the Russian authorities. We first declared AllofMp3 to be a walking dead-man back in February of 2005. Almost two years on it remains the Energizer Bunny of international piracy, selling tunes for pennies and allegedly forwarding payments to the Russian ROMS royalty overseers, who've been uncooperative with the record labels and have no authority to grant the licenses on which AllofMp3 bases its legal standing.

So, now you have it on good authority, AllofMp3 will be no more as of 6/1/2007. We swear. Kinda. Well, most likely. We think.

[via PC Mag]

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