Marty Fan Label

[Trees]

Marty answered my question martycasey.proboards62.com/index.cgi?board=answeredquestions&action=display&thread=1172189120

I am interested in finding out more on this subject Plus if there are people interested in getting involved with the project.

I have no idea of where this Poll will take us yet at least it's being put out here to find out how "We" as "Fans" can have a "Label"

Please post any comments on the subject here. Open to anything that would be of help.

[HY]

I asked Marty the same question back in December - I just found his answer back then.

I always shout out what is in my head. I researched the idea and discussed it with industry people and I am continuing to do research. The way I see it, the fans do more work than the labels these days. Independent is a strong way to go if you aren't the #1 priority at the label. Jessica Simpson was the priority at Epic but the hasen't popped yet. I think the fans should reap the rewards if they do the work. People say it can never happen but that is exactly the reason I continue to research the idea.

I am still involved with Epic as long as they show good faith twords the next record. Otherwise I will look to start something inovative in these changing times of the music industry.

I have tried to do research, but just don't have the time to concentrate on it. Would love to see whatever information you come up with. Glad to see I'm not the only one interested in this topic!

Lyn

[Trees]

Thanks HY, I receive the Digital Music News - Snapshot daily. digitalmusicnews.com and your right about this subject matter being overwhelming at times Sometime I don't even have time to peruse the whole page. This just goes to show ya "So Much Music So Little Time" eh?

Well now if with everyone helping with the research we'll all be able to help Marty figure it out.

I thought I heard him mention "Fan Label" in a interview or on one of his blogs. ;D

Thanks for posting your answer from Marty.

[Stiletto]

trees said:

Thanks HY, I receive the Digital Music News - Snapshot daily. digitalmusicnews.com and your right about this subject matter being overwhelming at times Sometime I don't even have time to peruse the whole page. This just goes to show ya "So Much Music So Little Time" eh?

Well now if with everyone helping with the research we'll all be able to help Marty figure it out. [img src="lovehammersecards.com/MCorg/smilies/headbang.gif"]

[/IMG]

I thought I heard him mention "Fan Label" in a interview or on one of his blogs. ;D

Thanks for posting your answer from Marty.


[/quote]

Digital Music News is definitely a good daily read.........it keeps you as up to date as you can be on alot of industry related matter. Alot easier than searching things out for yourself.

I get it daily and sometimes I even have time to read it.........lol

[bostongirl]

I am all for doing research on this. No harm in becoming educated. I think the one thing that folks need to clearly understand is that it would very much be like buying stock. You buy shares and have no say or visibility into decisions or day to day activities. And like the stock market, do not invest unless you can afford to lose it. It would be a very high risk investment. Not that the band isn't sensational. It is just a really fickle industry. The best does not always win.

Having said all that, then I think we should move forward and gather info. Trees - any thoght on how to organize the work?

Boston

[rockfan]

This would be an interesting research project. I like these kinds of challenges and love doing research. Let me get passed the IRS tax deadline and other "projects" like the songs for the LH's (you know what I'm talking about Boston, lol).

[rachael]

Count me in ~ Anything for Marty Casey!

[starcrossed]

Great idea. I hope that this project works out. A fan label would be interesting. Maybe, this will send a message to larger industry labels. It is not about the money, it is about helping the talent!

[Trees]

Thanks everyone for your positive comments. I'll post the link Marty, spoke of in his reply to me.... along with any pertinent links I come across.

I hope everyone will do the same.

[Trees]

Daily Snapshot: March 26, 2007

Pump Audio, Snocap Broker Client-Sharing Arrangement

Hudson Valley, NY-based Pump Audio, a provider of independent music to a variety of content creators, has recently signed a client-sharing pact with Snocap. The deal, first announced on Friday, allows newly-signed Snocap artists to easily license their content through the Pump Audio system. That broadens exposure for the artists considerably, and opens the window to a broad number of licensing opportunities across film, television, advertising and the internet. "They can sell their music directly to fans on the internet using Snocap, while tapping into the growing demand from content creators for music that can be legally used in productions on TV and the web," said Steve Ellis, founder and CEO of Pump Audio. For Snocap, the deal follows a recent coming out with MySpace, and the beginning of a new wave of direct-to-fan ecommerce opportunities. It also follows a number of other new partnerships for Snocap, including those with Imeem and Reverb Nation.

Both Snocap and Pump Audio represent innovative selling opportunities for artists, ones that move far beyond limited traditional outlets like physical retail. Throughout a ground-shattering digital disruption, labels have been under pressure to diversify beyond recorded mediums, though disintermediation is now pushing that capability down to the artist level. That means direct licensing deals with advertisers, technology companies, and a closer link to consumers, as well as a shift away from the once-critical recording contract. Still, the proliferation of options has left artists groping to figure out meaningful awareness and sales strategies, something that was evident at the recent South-by-Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas. While opportunities like Pump Audio are innovative and revenue growing, a large number of artists are still figuring out the basics, including how to get positioned on the iTunes Store. That spells opportunity for those that want to guide
digital strategies, and promises a continued flurry of new entrants over the next few years.

Permalink: www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/032507pump

This talks to me about a Fan Label. Being able to figure out the basics... bringing it to the roots level of Fans supporting their artist. As Star said "It is not about the money, it is about helping the talent!"

[Trees]

Daily Snapshot: April 6, 2007

Email-Based Music Marketing Firm Grabs Korova, V2, Independiente Deals

UK-based viral music marketing firm eListeningPost has recently grabbed Warner-distributed label Korova as a client, according to information disclosed Thursday. Korova, a Liverpool-based label, will tap into the email-based eListeningPost distribution concept along with V2 and Independiente. eListeningPost uses email distribution lists to spread its ePreview concept, an approach that allows potential fans to play songs five times for free. If not purchased, the DRM-protected tracks expire, though users can easily share the trials with an unlimited amount of friends. Korova will use that system to virally distribute a video from Japanese artist Cornelius from the recently-released album, Sensuous.

Other artists in the mix include Travis, The Rakes, Bebel Gilberto, and Duke Special. For Travis, eListeningPost will also populate the fresh single "Eyes Wide Open" onto music-focused destinations Last.fm, PlayLouder and Drowned in Sound. Like other eListeningPost tracks, those promotional downloads can be sampled for five times, and distributed virally. Elsewhere, eListeningPost announced a partnership with New York-based online advertising firm 24/7 Real Media, a company that will help to incorporate pre-roll advertising into the viral downloads. eListeningPost indicated that it would share 60 percent of advertising revenues, and 100 percent of download revenues, to labels and artists. Various setup and monthly maintenance charges do apply.

Story by news analyst Alexandra Osorio.

Fan Label website + email address book = Fan Label

[HY]

Great information, Trees! I'm still waiting for my Daily Snapshot to start. I'll see what other kinds of information I can dig up.

[HY]

This looks like it might be a really great article to read, but you need to be a member of IEEE to access it. If anyone here is a member or knows a member, maybe they can download the pdf version of the entire article.

ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1385598&isnumber=30166

The Move to Artist-Led Online Music Distribution: Explaining Structural Changes in the Digital Music Market
Bockstedt, J. Kauffman, R.J. Riggins, F.J.
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN;This paper appears in: System Sciences, 2005. HICSS '05. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on
Publication Date: 03-06 Jan. 2005
On page(s): 180a- 180a
ISSN: 1530-1605
ISBN: 0-7695-2268-8
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/HICSS.2005.608
Posted online: 2005-01-24 09:11:32.0
Abstract
We propose a model for understanding the transformation of the market structure in the recorded music industry value chain due to new forms of digital distribution. It takes into account the traditional music industry's value chain and distribution network, and the product characteristics of digital music as they relate to consumer value creation. We showcase changes in market structure from various perspectives of the players in the music industry value chain. With this as background, we then present propositions that highlight forces at work in market transformation and how each player's role in the digital music industry value chain is likely to change. We note the new tensions that arise around intellectual property rights for digital music with market structure changes. We support the propositions with illustrative mini-cases.

[HY]

Couple more links that are of interest.

www.darrenherman.com/tag/record_labels
(see 2nd article - though first has some relevance, also).

www.darrenherman.com/2006/08/22/a-band-that-is-20/

09/12 2006
Music Distribution & Sales

There are a lot of naysayers around the music industry who are saying that giving away music for free does not help out the artists who are being distributed.� Last night, this new ecosystem of distribution and sales worked perfectly.

On Facebook, I registered for the Apple group as I’m a loyal Apple fan and I’ve been given the ability to download the iTunes/Facebook compilations.� I downloaded Compilation #3 not knowing most of the artists and I really dug Rocky Votolato, Mew, Boy Kill Boy, Mae, and The Go! Team.� I have since begun purchasing their albums directly off of iTunes.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened to me but digital distribution is transforming the way that I find and purchase music.� Facebook/iTunes recommended these artists to me and had I not joined the Apple group, I probably would never have heard about any of these artists until one or two of them had broke thru the clutter and been played on Z100 or 104.3 here in Manhattan.

There are many cooks in the kitchen regarding digital distribution but I’d like to focus on the music recommendation part of the web.� Haystack Media, Inc., a Manhattan based community tastesharing company is in private beta currently and looks to launch in Q3/Q4.� There are a handful of other players in the market right now but which will survive and what will they need to do?�

[HY]

Another site - this one seems like it might be fan-based, or something similar.

www.haystack.com/

[Trees]

Thanks HY for the information.


EMI Pushes DRM-Free Initiative Further, Offers Band Content

EMI pushed its DRM-free initiative one step further on Thursday by offering unprotected content from the band The Good, The Bad & The Queen. Apple will push the larger EMI catalog in May, though the band is now offering its catalog as MP3s on its website, thegoodthebadandthequeen.com. Consistent with the rest of the EMI offering, the group is positioning its self-titled album in a higher bitrate, in this case 320kbps. Fans can grab singles for 99 pence each, or purchase a discounted album bundle. The group is the brainchild of Damon Albarn of both Blur and Gorillaz fame. Albarn played two tracks from the album at an EMI press conference on Monday, also attended by Steve Jobs. Meanwhile, iTunes is also offering a special EP from the band, Live from Soho, recorded in New York last month. The iTunes tracks are being sold in the unprotected version of the AAC format, the codec of choice for Apple.

This article is where I start thinking "We" the fans need to be the brain children!!!

[Trees]

These are the CONFERENCES that are happening now.

NAB
April 14 - April 19
Las Vegas, NV

ASCAP "I Create Music" Expo
April 19 - April 21
Los Angeles, CA

Musexpo 2007
April 29 - May 2
Los Angeles, CA

Digital NARM
May 1 - May 2
Chicago, IL

NewMusicWest 2007
May 2 - May 6
Vancouver, Canada

More conferences at www.digitalmusicnews.com/events

Sorry, the one in Vancouver I won't be able to attend yet would really like to because of what Marty said about Sarah McLaughlin record label.

She's lives in Vancouver and this is where her records are distributed from. This all speculation on my part yet as you all know there is lots of music here in BC along with Alberta and Toronto... not to take away from the other provinces

[Trees]

Daily Snapshot: April 9, 2007


Industry Assesses MySpace Selling Power, Early Data Trickles In

Music remains an important part of the MySpace experience, and millions of bands have pages on the destination. For artists, that means greater connectivity with fans, an inexpensive mechanism for promotion, and a better feedback loop on creative projects. But is MySpace a place to sell music effectively? The question is now more than academic, thanks to number of aggressive initiatives. The first comes from Snocap, which is now ramping its embedded, MyStores music ecommerce program, one that allows artists to sell MP3s directly from their profiles. The concept opens an entirely new sales channel for artists, though early-stage numbers appear low. One case study comes from up-and-coming teenage diva Chantelle Paige, an early adopter of the Snocap program. In a discussion with Digital Music News on Friday, Chantelle manager Gabi Kochlani of GK Entertainment noted that sales were "very low" on Snocap, despite a front door feature on MySpace.

Instead, the traffic shifted towards the iTunes Store, a more well-worn avenue for downloading music. "iTunes is part of pop culture these days," Kochlani said. "People already have their credit card on iTunes, it's just a matter of convenience," said Kochlani, who also pointed to a consumer "comfort zone" on iTunes. Whisper numbers on other artists also suggest modest uptake, though data could not be confirmed with Snocap, which declined to offer sales information. "I just don't think people are going to MySpace to buy stuff," one industry insider opined to Digital Music News last week. "People don't go to MySpace to buy," another close to the platform flatly stated.

But even directing MySpace crowds towards iTunes remains an uncertain model. One example comes from Tila Tequila, a MySpace celebrity who experienced somewhat lukewarm iTunes sales despite a heavy promotional effort. The artist, who boasts 1.7 million friends, crossed 20,000 iTunes downloads during her first two weeks, according to figures supplied by Robb McDaniels of INgrooves, part of the Tequila digital team. That could be an imperfect test, especially given the difficulty that many celebrities experience crossing over into music. And from a larger vantage point, larger conclusions are foolish this early in the game, though continued experimentation will help to build a stronger data set over the coming months.

Permalink: www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/040807myspace

Experimentation is going to help. Anyone up for brain storming ideas???

[Trees]

Dang!!! Oh Marty! Did you find the article

[Trees]

Lyor Cohen seems to support what we're talking about She doesn't mention Fan Label, yet I think she is making the statement of "Change in the Marketing Channels"


Lyor Cohen Challenges Established A&R, Marketing Channels

Record executives are constantly searching for new artists, and great talent is the blood of any successful label. The scouting craft, known as A&R (short for the somewhat antiquated Artists & Reportoire), seems more like wizardly and guesswork than a calculated science. Yet a number of scouting superstars have helped to define the business, fueled by a talented ear and a passion for music. The discovery game continues to evolve, but are established A&R vehicles now growing crusty? According to Lyor Cohen, chief executive of US Recorded Music for Warner Music Group, the old systems are simply starting to decay. "With an established artist-discovery network that is at risk of collapsing under its own weight, we need to revitalize and reinvent the system once again," Cohen penned in a recent Forbes opinion piece. The top executive, a key shaper of the rap genre, pointed to a system driven by a narrow clique of insiders. "Finding artists is usually done through a network of
lawyers, artist managers and other insiders," he said, while noting that the system had "mostly evolved into a ritualized mating dance performed by a tiny number of players in a highly restricted network."

That may have made sense in the cash-rich 90s, though Cohen argued for a change not only in discovery networks, but also in promotional ones as well. "When people upgraded their vinyl albums and cassette tapes to the new [CD] format, the labels got used to easy cash, signed more artists and hired thousands of people," Cohen asserted. "But that just increased the pressure to sell more CDs." It also created a label culture that revolved around heavy-selling, commercialized artists, and not longer-term acts, according to Cohen. "The A&R guys feel compelled to sign bands that resemble junk food," he said. "Their music goes down easily but doesn't offer any lasting satisfaction."

The solution, according to Cohen, is a discovery and marketing system that is more grassroots, and embraces newer technologies. "With the online and wireless worlds rapidly replacing CDs, our challenge now is to adapt and extend established promotional networks to exploit new technologies to the fullest," Cohen penned. But regardless of the technological leap, Cohen urged executives to experience prospective acts live. "As much as technology transforms the world, as powerful as all these peer-to-peer or social networks are becoming, the most important network is still composed of real, live people dealing with one another face-to-face," Cohen wrote.

Permalink: www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/042207cohen