SoundCloud's New Subscription Service

Will artist stick it out with  SoundCloud once a fee is established to upload content?. Recently it has been reported by  Hannah Karp, publisher at www.online.wsj.com    that “ SoundCloud plans to launch the subscription  in the first half of next year, said SoundCloud chief executive Alexander Ljung.” Accordingly, this strategy will not only impact the business to customer model, this will also  impact the business-to-business model. In other words, music content providers will also become impacted by  this decision. It is stated “ musicians and djs who want to upload songs, mixes, and mashups onto SoundCloud in significant volume pay a monthly fee.”(WallStreetJournal, 2014)  Granted SoundCloud has always offered content producers  payment plan, now they are pushing it more. Prior to their  licensing deal with Warner Music Group,  SoundCloud offered publishers  the option to  upload free, utilize the “On SoundCloud Pro Unlimited” service, or the “On SoundCloud Pro” service” (SoundCloud, 2014). On Sound Cloud Pro provides content publishers extend upload time,  additional stats including plays by country, and pin tracks and play list to the  top of your profile with Spotlight, for $6 a month or $55 a year. On the  other hand, “On SoundCloud Pro Unlimited”   offers content providers unlimited uploads, city to city tracking, website and app analytical reports  for a cost of $15 a month or $135 a month.  As stated before although  these offers have been available,   the  fact that  it will no longer be free for artist to  upload their music causes conflict

Today, SoundCloud has become the format of how people receive artist music. Due to the fact that  mp3 files appear to take up too much space in some audiences  emails. Therefore the question appears will artist be able to  afford to release music once this new fee is established. On top of this ,  the music industry is raising the barriers of entry for independent   to break into the industry. Purely it can be seen through pricing.  By Warner Music Group buying into Sound Cloud it becomes a competition.

References:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/warner-music-group-nears-deal-to-license-music-to-soundcloud-1415127425

https://soundcloud.com/pro

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/aloe-blacc-pay-songwriters/

Taylor Swift Pulls Her Catalog from Spotify

Just recently 24-year-old pop star Taylor Swift pulled her entire catalog from Spotify.  Spotify is a digital music streaming service that provides listeners with millions of songs at their fingertips. Despite the fact that, fans enjoy Spotifiy’s services, artist is not happy.  Taylor Swift has vocally voiced her opinion in numerous interviews. Taylor Swift is convinced that music-streaming services don’t value her art. (Business Insider, 2014) At the same time, Taylor Swift is certain that Spotify could hurt music sales. Her argument that Spotify could hurt music sales is supported by the fact that artist are not even making half of what they could make from an album sale.  Retail sites such as iTunes offer artist albums for $9.99, while Spotify provides artist a payment of $.007 per stream. Essentially, this proves that this model undervalues the artist worth. Even more importantly it’s showing the direction of where the music industry is heading. As consumers demand for digital streaming services increase it makes it more difficult for artist to make a profit from their works. Granted the IFPI views the digital download model as a  “ key revenue stream”, digital downloads are declining. In the last year the IFPI stated “ Revenues from downloads globally fell slightly by 2.1 percent in value, the decline being offset by increases in streaming and subscription revenue”. Obviously it is clear that the streaming and subscription model is here to stay. Nevertheless in today’s mixed economy of revenue streams Taylor Swift should be able to find a solution to her problem with Spotify.

At the same time Taylor Swift should also confront Universal Music Group about the financial terms of her royalties. Granted Spotify may have made a payment to her label the head of the label takes a proportion as well due to their overhead costs.  

Interview With Sound Engineer and Video Director Cory Gales About Negotiating

   Interview With Cory Gales About Negotiating

Having being the lead sound engineer at Emmy Award winning studio YA Momz House and hip-hop and rib radio station WAMO, working behind the scenes of countless projects, Cory Gales is the perfect guy to ask about negotiations. Everyday he negotiates with artist and clients seeking to purchase ad space on the radio station.  Not to mention, he is also a musician himself.  With that said Cory Gales has had the opportunity to see the entertainment industry from a number of perspectives.   Yet, even though he is very talented he understands that it is important to know how to negotiate in order to succeed.

With this in mind he has granted me the opportunity to explore his viewpoints on negotiating. Overall Cory Gale’s views negotiating as a chess game. In further detail, he believes that each move is crucial. Therefore it is important to know what you are negotiating for and use strategies to win negotiations. In addition he also mentioned that power played an important role in how we negotiate. In other words know your worth and stand your ground.  As can be seen in his viewpoint Cory Gales would describe himself as a hard negotiator.  Therefore he tends to negotiate on positional bargaining. Therefore, in most cases there is no flexibility.  However it does depend on the relationship you have with a person because this can lead to flexibility and allowing yourself to build mutual benefits.  Provided that he is a hard negotiator I followed by asking him “ Are people who are hard negotiators also speaking from there ego”. His response was   “ 90% of the people in negotiation hold onto their egos.” He also stated “ Amongst the average people no one wants to be stepped on”. From there he continued to state that   “ Its all a game, however you have to have standards while playing”. 

The next question I asked him focused on the idea that the other party will not play. In other words the second party will not negotiate with you instead they are playing hardball.  To speak on the subject he stated “ Is it worth your time. Nothing is more important than my time.”  Although this may be true there are other ways to look at the scenario. For example I explained to him that it might be useful to look at other peoples interest get them to play.  However he stated  “sure that’s one option but is it worth doing”.  At that moment I thought anything worth having is worth fighting for so yes.  If we can uncover the other person’s position instead of attacking it we can find out what they want.  As a result once we find out what the other party wants we can get them to play.

After talking about people engaging in hardball, we took the time to discuss preparing for negotiations. Cory Gales told me while preparing for negotiations he reviews company’s backgrounds and 10k forms and also asks around about them.  In addition he also reviews their Internet presence to see what they are involved in as of today. He believes its better to come to the table prepared than empty handed. At the same time states that its great to make offers based on hard facts and data. Therefore he as well believed that using objective criteria is valuable while negotiating.  Or else your offers will be unreasonable and prospects wont take the other party serious.

Finally we discussed people losing their tempers during negotiations. His views were “70% of people who lose their tempers during negotiations are just putting up a smoke screen. The guy with a cooler head will always win”. As a matter of fact his is true.  People who lose their tempers during negotiations are blinded by their rage. Therefore they miss great opportunities right in front of them. At the same time they embarrass themselves. Therefore the other party should allow the upset party to blow off steam and not attack the person back. In doing so this allows each party to work separate of their personal problems. In addition this may also make a better working relationship because no each party knows how the other party feels about them.

Major Record Labels and SoundCloud

Bloomberg's website has announced that Soundcloud is negotiating deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group to avoid being sued for copyright violations. In the event of this negotiation each record label will acquire " roughly 3 percent to 5 percent stake" in Soundcloud. Consequently, this negotiation will empower major record labels to interfere with Soundcloud's operations. The worst part of this negotiation is that this negotiation can potentially interrupt indepent artist online distribution.  As an illustration of such interruptions, Universal Music Group has recently pulled an artist track without   requesting to pull the artist track (Techdirt.com). Granted Universal Music Group only pulled down one song, it is important that independent artist recognize the power major labels now have over SoundCloud. Essentially this negotiation grants major labels the ability to raise the barriers of entry into the music industry. This tactic was already strategically put into place using Youtube.  Forbes explained on June 18th how you tube has begun to block some independent artist who didn't agree to the terms of the paid subscription service.  Youtube's new service stopped independent artist from being paid on Youtube.  As a result independent artist ability to generate revenue from Youtube was cut off.  In the end independent artist are going to have to become more self reliant if they want to continue to be competitive in the music industry.

 In order remain competitive it is crucial that independent artist create their own websites to stream their own music. This is crucial because they will have control of their website and no one else will be able to take down their projects. In addition artist will be able to lower competition. In other words the artist will be the only artist on their website. Even more important independent artist will be able to give their fans a home to come to whenever searching for their music. 

Schools Vs Creativity

Guest speaker  Ken Robinson    address an interesting point relating   our  educational system  with our level of creativity.  He claims that    schools are “educating people out of their creative capacity.  To demonstrate this idea he indicated that  the education system is structured to create more college professors.  For one thing, It is noticeable that not all schools are teaching students humanities in the same fashion they are being taught math.  Outside  the  arts, creative thinking is also stigmatized as he states.   The educational system punishes students for making mistakes instead  of granting students an opportunity  fix their wrongs.  In the future this leads to  how companies operate. In further details companies dismiss creativity causing them  to never  become original. 

 To put this topic into  perspective  this  is happening at my  undergrad college Clarion University. Clarion University is attempting to  drop its music department .   Chieflly speaking , this is a clear perspective that  creative arts  are placed at the bottom of the educational hierarchy.   With the intention to save money we are losing the value of creativity.   Even though the educational system  does not care for education, Ken Robinson  believes that creativity is equal to  academic education.

Similar to Ken Robinson’s view I also share the same view. As a high school student I attended a school for the  creative and performing arts known as “CAPA”. Different from other school creativity  was  as important  or more important  than academic education. At the school half the day was committed to academics and the other half of the day was  committed to art. At this school students were taught  their talent  just as they would have been taught math or reading.  As result students were allowed to grow into  their creative side instead of being forced to bury it.  After graduating I grew to appreciate the school therefore I share the same views as  Ken Robinson.

How Do I Get My Music Heard!

Today, allot of artist make great music.  Due to technology and the cost of studio equipment musicians can easily create a demo at home. However the question that keeps upcoming artist up at night is, how do we go about getting our music heard? I had an opportunity to ask rapper “Rev Run” from “Run DMC” this question while attending a meet and greet at Clarion University.  His advice was that an upcoming artist does not need a major record label deal today to get their music heard; the Internet is their deal.  Nevertheless every musician has posted a song online   with hopes that it would get heard.  Yet it ends up making its way to the online graveyard without even being heard. So, the question arises how can a musician get his or her music heard.

 A strategy needs to be developed where the artist is consistently working to build brand awareness and get publicized. In the music industry visibility is a key success factor. For hip-hop artist, a very effective way to build brand awareness is to reach out to blogs. Between blogs and mix tape djs, each tier provides an opportunity for artist to reach their target market.  At the same time blogs and mixtape dj already have their own audience. Therefore   this is an opportunity for the artists to get their music played, and   gains and retain fans.  In most cases mix tape djs   work hand in hand in with blogs.  For example if the dj host the artist mix tape or offer the artist a slot on a mix tape, there is a high chance that this mix tape (EP) will be distributed through different blogs and websites.  If   an artist is interested in taking this approach they should consider checking out XXL Top 100 Blog List. This list contains 100 of the top music blogs online.  However before sending your music to any of these blogs make sure that the blogs you submit to matches your style of music, and follow the blogs requirements.

Aside from blogs and dj's a very effective way for an artist to get their music heard is through online streaming.  Online music distribution company  “Cd Baby”, stated “ for independent artist getting music on Pandora can be a great way to build an audience without spending thousands on promotion and advertising.”   In other words, Pandora and other streaming sites offers independent artist an opportunity to get their music played.  The great thing about these streaming sites is, they can help their listeners discover new music. For example, if a rapper shares similarities to “Snoop Dog” and a subscriber listens to “Snoop Dog” allot the streaming site will   suggest the subscriber to listen to the independent rapper or even just play the independent artist music.  In short streaming sites are a very effective way for an artist to get their music heard and receive a royalty for each play.  In order land on different streaming sites I would consider an artist go through www.tunecore.com or visit the Pandora page.

Above all, the format that the music comes in can play a big factor in if a listener is going to listen to it or not. The best format to use today is a visual video. R&B singer Beyonce released her last album as a visual album with 17 visuals to it.  Although Beyonce is a major artist this shows how important videos have become today. Try to release a song with no visuals to it, then follow up and release the same song with a video to it. There is a drastic difference in consumer engagement. Today’s consumer’s attention span is less than the equivalence of a gold fish.  In other words people need an experience not just a song.  Therefore that visual interaction captures listener’s attention. However, whenever an artist post his or her video they should remember that tags and keywords are crucial.   At same time it is still crucial to build brand awareness and promote their music videos.

In conclusion whenever an artist is trying to get their music heard they should focus on getting their music exposure through different channels of distribution. At the same time they should place their music where people want their music.  Spamming listeners is not the best way to go about getting listeners to hear your music. And finally find creative ways to release your music and build brand awareness.

Selecting The Next Big Thing Based On Data

Is it really possible to select the next big artist solely based on data? On one hand, some will contend that numbers do not lie.  However on another hand, some will argue that raw undiscovered talent still exists today.  A company discussed in The Guardian's article  “ Music Analytics is helping the music industry see into the future” explains how they believe the music industry can determine which artist is the next big thing utilizing data.  The name of this company is Music Metric.  They are known as a “London based start up that offers tools to help those within the music industry understand consumer behavior and opinion.”

          As a company, Music Metric believes through the data they collect they can help record labels choose the next big artist.  To be more accurate Co Founder of Music Metric Gregory Mead states “ we were able to predict with 90% accuracy who would be number one three months in the future.” In essence this 90% prediction states that if any artist including upcoming artist do not appear on this radar, record labels will consider bypassing their potential. However Music Metric did state that “ Today almost any artist that comes to the attention of a music talent scout is going to be generating some buzz, They’ll have followers on Twitter, likes on Facebook, and maybe sales on band camp. “ Therefore by applying the information from social networks, and various other   platforms Music Metric determines who will be the next successful artist in the future.

            I agree, that Music Metric’s utilization of online data to discover artist makes it a valuable tool for the music industry, however I do not believe that only through data stats can we define the next big artists. One example that is relevant is the discovery of Kendrick Lamar. This year west coast hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar’s album M.A.A.D City contended for the 2014 GrammyAwards. However when Dr.Dre first discovered Kendrick Lamar he only had 300 fans. However, Kendrick Lamar still managed today to become the next big thing.  If Dr.Dre would have by passed the opportunity to work with Kendrick Lamar based on data, he may have missed out on an opportunity to work with the next big. In short, at a point talent cannot be denied. Therefore we still need human A&R’s, to help choose talent. I only say that because if A&R’s become algorithms, how will they feel music?  In addition how will an algorithm recognize star qualities and traits?