Part II of our roundup of gear, guitar and music blogs. We read ‘em, so you don’t have to. Design Workshop blog features some beautiful luthier work including a $28,000 one-of-a-kind. Carl Verhayen’s blog, and The Guitar Channel for prog rock fans. Read more…
Browsing December, 2011
0 Myxer Social Radio gets press (guess it launched already)
My Matt Schofield Myxer music room
Myxer is a mobile content and technology startup mostly known for free mobile downloads such as ringtones. A few months ago, they launched a free music radio player with tight Facebook integration called Myxer Social Radio. Got some press today from Billboard.biz. I’d heard of it through friends who know the founder, but did not realize this product has launched. Interesting to see how they fit in versus, as Billboard notes, Spotify, Pandora and Last.FM, each of those occupying slightly different segments.
Upon trial, I created a music “room” for my fave blues guitarist, Matt Schofield, it found his music which Spotify did not. Other Myxer users can listen in here. J’Approve!
0 Sharing Music Services Emerging on Mobile Platform
Met some entrepreneurs the other week, they were looking to launch a sharing and music player app based on a successful Android app they launched that is garnering users and downloads. We were talking about how it might be hard to grab the play list from someone’s mobile iTunes. This article from Hypebot leads me to believe this has been solved to some degree (though without the player, obviously).
Screen shot of SoundShare app
“SoundShare is free iOS app that helps music fans share what they’re listening to. Once you launch SoundShare, you can set it to keep track of every song you listen to in the iPod app on your iPhone/iPod Touch. These songs are shared with your SoundShare network. Founder Matt Abras describes the app as “something like what Ping should have been or Instagram meets music.” In fact, the app borrowed a lot of design inspiration from Instagram.”
Screen shot of SoundTracking app
The author is an entrepreneur and creator of two websites offering website creation and social updating services, OneSheet and ArtistData, goes on to mention one other service on the iOs platform, Soundtracking, which associates pictures or locations with your playlist. With Spotify invading your Facebook timeline, expect numerous social sharing services to pop up.
Interested? Soundshare and Soundtracking are free in the app store.
0 Coldplay’s New Record: 500,000 iTunes Downloads
Billboard breaks news on Coldplay’s digital strategy paying off for them with a new iTunes record, 500,000 downloads in one week. Sweet. Their strategy, according to this reporter is stage-managed to drive physical and digital sales:
Coldplay's digital strategy pays off with sales of new release.
“Coldplay’s decision to bypass subscription services appears to be part of a purpose-driven approach to digital marketing. Rather than using free audio and video streams in the hope they will lead to album sales, the band is more forcefully encouraging listeners to purchase downloads or CDs. And by keeping the album away from on-demand services, Coldplay is ensuring fans will buy (or find other ways to obtain the music) rather than listen for free.”
(Full article here.) This makes sense to my ears, and in the case of a huge band like Coldplay seems to be rather an easy decision. Now if you are an unknown artist or band, I can see Spotify and other streaming services and possibly one way to get noticed. Can we think of any smaller acts that have similar digital strategies?
0 Pete Townshend: iTunes is a Digital Vampire
Here’s an interesting read. Legendary Who bassist Pete Townshend gave the inaugural BBC 6 Music John Peel Lecture just the other day and called iTunes a “digital vampire.” It’s an interesting lecture to read (The Guardian kindly posted it here), and Mr. Townshend has distinct opinions:
“Now is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of FaceBook and Twitter, it can’t provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire Northern Rock for its enormous commission?”
Thus the eye-catching headline used all over the web and here too (well, it worked, yes?).
Is iTunes a Digital Vampire?
PT takes iTunes to task for not acting more like a label and offering A&R and marketing services to musicians selected by Apple. Certainly, it’s tempting to take Apple to task, but as others have pointed out, iTunes is a retailer, and hard to see how the old school record stores are very different in this case. Here are two good reaction pieces to Townshend’s screed:
The Guardian’s response points out that the iTunes 30% commission is no different than music retailers, and that some streaming servies, such as Grooveshark are worse for copyright; and…
Mark Mulligan at Music Industry Blog points out the retailer comparison and some other good points, here.
My feelings are less specific and pointed, I’ve expanded my music library intensely since the advent of iTunes, and personally, pay for all music I own. Really. So, no, iTunes is no digital vampire, but it is a challenging world for musicians and artists despite that fact.
Interested to hear or read other viewpoints.