Tag Archives: Business

November 6-7, NYC. GEMS is a pretty big conference for indie entertainment and media types for a reasonable price (about $100 in advance). Here’s what they have to say about themselves: The Entertainment Business as we once knew of it, is over. Radio is hardly playing new music. The studios …

Duh. We’ve only been saying this for 2+ years: reduce the price of digital music and they will come. The online music downoad services are competing with free – no matter how many people the RIAA sues, free is not going to go away. BUT there are real COSTS to …

The City of Memphis will honor the great producer, bandleader, musician, and 73-year resident of Memphis, Willie Mitchell, by changing the name of Lauderdale Street between McLemore Avenue and South Parkway to Willie Mitchell Boulevard On Monday, September 20, 2004. Though such figures as Atlantic Records mogul Jerry Wexler and …

This ruling is foolish, counterproductive, counterintuitive, and shows an egregious lack of understanding of what sampling actually IS: A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that rap artists should pay for every musical sample included in their work — even minor, unrecognizable snippets of music. Lower courts had already ruled that …

Well, sort of. The band Matchbook Romance is looking for a guitarist, but dude, you have to go to Poughkeepsie, NY. Remember the classic line from The French Connection? “Did you ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?” The scoop: Epitaph’s breakout band MATCHBOOK ROMANCE is seeking a new guitar player …

Warner Brothers Records is the only major label that hasn’t got around to discovering Blogcritics – can’t be bothered I guess, which would indicate to me a high level of cluelessness. While I admire WB’s efforts to integrate themselves into the Byzantine world of blogs – but not yet Blogcritics, …

Although one of the biggest players is leaving the scene, the jam band model of steady touring, long and varied shows, and encouraging fan community is now a viable alternative to the label-dependent radio and CDs model that has become a victim of the changing market of media consolidation, file …

The deed is done: The new company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, will rival Vivendi’s Universal Music Group for market share. Sony BMG, which will be headquartered in New York, instantly becomes home to a stable of hit-makers, including Britney Spears, OutKast, Aerosmith and Travis Tritt. The company also now controls …

Peter Gabriel, who co-founded UK online music distributor On Demand Distribution (OD2), which was sold to U.S. company Loudeye in June for $38.6m, talks with CNN on the future of the music biz, digital distribution of music, and stuff: Anderson: What motivated you, a successful, musician and artist in your …

The European Union gave the green light without reservation, US approval expected within days: The proposed marriage will leave four industry majors with about 80% of the world music market. “The merger was approved without conditions,” said a spokesman for the German media group. The EU said initial concerns that …