What needs to DIE in 2014

1. To be banished from our world is D I Y.  If you're Doing it yourself you're ALONE. and it takes a Team to make it in entertainment and life. 
2. Only digital for the win.   Since there are currently only four digital distributors the choke point has been reached and the biggest just raised the bar on who gets to come out via their platform. So unless your song can prove it going to do tens of thousand of dollars in sales via proven sales - NO digital for you in 2014.
3. Don't forget the merger of the year ANEC & SDID (IMHO  not enough people are talking about it) we're now seeing the ramification unfolding and the face of physical distribution just changed a great deal. Again, like #2  everyone that thought they had an Indie distro deal needs to get ready for a reality check. 
4. And,  if you're not joining Digital and Physical distribution strategies using a Clicks to Bricks mindset you're not in the game. Repeat this until it sinks in.  Distribution is Everything
5. Yet at the end of the day the one reality is that we are all beholden to is the fans, consumers, enthusiast of entertainment and learning to adjust to them is the Future of Entertainment Today. 

Beyonce was a one time stunt get over it.

Before this Beyonce ordeal gets out of hand,  this is the 1st (and probably the last) successful stunt release. There are only a handful of artists that are internationally known by a single name who have the ability/ego to even attempt this...so while people are talking about it as a major stunt, others will try this approach. The problem with that route is there is more to doing a digital only release than what meets the eye.

 I put up one of the first digital distribution outlets on the internet starting as ~Altavoz moving to Altavoz.com in May of 1995.

There's a shrinking number of people that have been on the Internetwork let alone attempting to be a digital distributor longer than I have had the privilege to.  

The one thing that most don't know is that itunes in the USA doesn't fully represent what the rest of the world can purchase.  To attempt to have your music distributed worldwide, you have to have a relationship with the various territories of iTunes. On top of that hurdle, each of the iTunes territories has a different criteria for releasing a song.  To do this, you either need to get to the distributor of that artists digital content (definitely under a contract) or bypass them. Again, only internationally recognized single named artists are heffed up enough to try this route, but the fools will follow.

There is one fickle thing about our business that drives people crazy, and that is we have a quirky reporting system. This system definitely ain't perfect, however, the success of this system is ultimately for the 99.1 percent of recording artists who are selling digital and physical copies of their releases. Despite what all of my older friends want to believe physical outsells digital 2 to 1. The success of this release just got a bit rougher for said internationally known artist as the number one retailer of music said...

"Talk to the Hand Queen B." AKA, we ain't carrying it.  

Now that she just snubbed the entire ecosystem of music stores and every partner channels (save the one that sells music to sell hardware) the final year end count is still out; so calling this a success based on her past sales, we'll all have to wait to see....

PS

Don't take my word on why music matter ~ watch this guy in a fancy suit say it.

Ave wage of US worker 27k. The average working musicians is way better.

According to berklee.edu nice chart over here we can see that we are not only talking about more than comparable wages ~working with the Music in the equation.

The VALUE doesn't stop here, since presumably these endeavors are producing some kind of output in the biz sometimes music is Magic or not so much;   However! each time it's Intellectual Property and the mere act of is (if you've been reading by blog) just raised the whole GPD of the USA by upwards of 3 percent.


So, as the demand for American music is growing (Ad Hoc - since music is something that everyone on the planet and perhaps others experience. Ergo Hoc  in case you didn't know it there are more customers every day.  Proctor Hoc more people to make more music. DUH [homersimpson voice])

I'm not sure why I would have to pitch USMADEMUSIC to US leadership however I do and under the current Administration we are on track to become a NET Importer of Music into the USA.   Again, let me let this sink in we will have more CD's shipped into the USA then we ship out.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE THE BIGGEST RECORDING STARS and we're becoming a net IMPORTER come back for that blog too.  

So while I'm sure all the tech incubator are full on powerpoint and fluff blogs the WORLD revolves around music and thanks to our lack of leadership USMADEMUSIC is only 10 percent of it.   Again let this SINK in.

IMHO more music is needed here and around the world we do nothing to support meeting this demand. And, all of the jobs and educational investment to day has gotten us this.

The "raw" average wage, computed as net compensation divided by the number of wage earners, is $6,529,097,960,690.75 divided by 153,632,290, or $42,498.21. Based on data in the table below, about 67.1 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the $42,498.21 raw average wage. By definition, 50 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the median wage, which is estimated to be $27,519.10 for 2012.  http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2012

Again, Leaders are pouring money hand over fist into Job training however it doesn't include  STEAM. Proof is in the budget that Washington and your home towns put out and there's very little is for the Arts.  I've blogged about this...see here;  However, I'ma gonna do another one on it because there is more so... come back for that blog too.  

I'd love to hear from someone in the US as to why we're not beating drums and talking about building upon USMADEMUSIC. Since  the average wage is better and it comes with groupies (that go out and spend money.  I know we can do better, we deserve better and frankly the world needs USMADEMUSIC.

THINK about this Amerika it will keep to the politicians out of defining who we are as a nation overseas and that mostly tasseless and valueless Major Record Label music (aka part of a Multinational Corporation ) ya know they've haliburtonized the US Record Biz!

Let's face I'd rater have Doyle Wolf Gang Von FrankenStein then Joe WolfGang Biden reppin me in China. come back for that blog too 

Altavoz his throwing it's A into STEAM and so should you.

 So STEM is great STEAM is better and since it integrates Science & Technology plus Engineering & Arts with Math.

Hence the name.


Just taking a look at this blog you'll notice that I'm pretty PRO USMADEMUSIC and we're just not going to have music or any Arts with out education being a foundation where our future (KIDS) are introduced to it.

Here's a fact.

Students who study art are 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and 3 times more likely to be awarded for school attendance. 

Here's another.

• The US used to supply 80 percent of the Worlds Music today we supply 10 percent 

One last fact. 

• There are more people born every day and every single one of them needs art. 

Having first been introduced to STEAM via the Recording Academy Grammy on the Hill events I realized that for my company to survive let alone the US's place in the world of culture and economics to remain relevant we have to do something about it. 

And @AltavozDistroCo we're not waiting until 2014 we talking it this year.   I'll be making an announcement at the Washington DC Random Hacks of Kindness Dec 7th about a new program that we'll be helping to convey to school, community leaders and economist so stay TUNNED.........

1. http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-arts-education

Great to see innovation leading to charting sales from new artists and companies

It's great to see tangible evidence of how the use of technology and help a young artists, a new label and distributor make an impact in one of the most competitive industries in the world the US Entertainment market.    So getting on the Billboard charts is not just a symbolic achievement it's something tied to cold sales numbers. And, Quinn Sullivan's record label SuperStarRecords was able to make this happen because Altavoz their distributor, my company, recognized that offering Soundcan data collection to them on the road playing gigs would enable those sales at shows to start filter into the Digital and Physical retail sales.  The ability of small companies to offer back end services like this are a real part of why the Major Record Label/Distributor is breaking down.

Introduction to Altavoz

Incase anyone wanted to know what I did during the day and often into the nite...

Cities are reconnecting the dots and getting back to supporting music as part of community and technology.

So any readers of this blog know full well that I don't think we're doing enough to support USMadeMusic and the over simplification of it down to only being a service is a disservice to artists, music companies and our economy.  

Now I have to say that I'm please to blog about two cities that are turning their backs on the music is dead myth (hint VC and various leaders Local/State/Fed in Washington think it is)  and embracing what I and many others have been saying: Namely, Music and Technology are birds of a feather and now there's two more conferences with them together.  (sorry couldn't resist)

So who are the cities and what's the conferences?

The 1st one that came across my radar was one happening in San Jose aka Silicon Valley and it's called C2SV here's the Facebook link

And, for the looks of it this conference is going to be a very good mix of music and Tech and certainly an indication to other want-to-be tech capitals that they need to step up their inclusion of music and what it thinks makes up the economy.

C2SV is Silicon Valley’s showcase for technology and music. We're activating #dwntwnSJ for four days in September — more than a dozen venues, 70+ performers and a gathering of some of the smartest people in technology.

The other recent addition to the whole music and tech thingy is Boston and it's Boston TechJam
which is described as:  

"the block party for Boston-area companies, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and students taking place on Thursday, October 3, today announced finalists for its live "Startup Pitch Heard 'Round the World" contest for startups, entrepreneurs, and student teams to test their company pitches and ideas. >>>"The bands picked for the first annual Boston TechJam are tight, diverse and are going to rock the Innovation District like never before. The level of musical talent working within the innovation economy here in Boston is unparalleled and I'm honored to be a part of showcasing it to the greater Boston community. All the bands performing have at least one member working at a local tech company," said Ben Maitland-Lewis, CEO, Presskit.to and Music Director for the Boston TechJam. "Narrowing the selection to just five live acts was extremely difficult based on the amount of submissions we got, but it illustrated how rockin' the Boston tech scene really is and I look forward to many more TechJams to come!"   Click for more info.

So adding San Jose, Boston to Toronto and of course Austin - some of us are old enough to have gone to SXSW when tech was the afterthought instead of music gotta love that wheel of karma, shows me that we are now after almost two decades starting to get a handle on what is the cart and what is the horse when it comes to TechTainment.   Which of course readers of this blog will rightfully concluded that I believe it's the music first and then the shinny new technology.

BTW I love how both of these events are focused on the independent artists (Buy Indie Support Locals ) that are part of the community and it shows that being on a Major Record labels is not the end all be all theres life yet in music.

PS.   An announcement will be forth coming about a mini DCTECHTAIMENT event.

Music increases US GDP and some still debating if it's a viable industry?

Gotta give a huge shout out to Glenn Peoples and  +Billboard for putting out this article about something that I've been saying for years.  Music has value. 

To me music has always been the why not the how.  Something along the lines being the medium.. well without the intent to communicate there is no need for a medium.  And! it now seems that the  U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) agrees with me on this and decided to give the US Gross Domestic Product a 3% boost and a HUGE win for those of us in the music world. 


Or in Glenn's words 

"TAKEAWAY: The music industry has always punched above it's weight in profile, but didn't always have the influence that matters. this GDP shift could help fix that disconnect. 

According to Bloomberg's Peter Coy   this rise of the Intangible economy is for real and a couple of quotes from his article got my attention: 

"The effect of the revision will be immediate. Measured GDP will get a one-time boost of about 2.7 percent when the government starts counting R&D and artistic creation as investments. (New Mexico and Maryland will get the biggest lifts.) The future growth rate will probably be fractionally higher, too. With R&D treated as an investment, measured economic growth from 1959 to 2007 would have been 3.39 percent annually instead of 3.32 percent, the BEA estimates." 

 "If all forms of intangible investment were officially recorded, they would exceed investment in bricks, mortar, and machines, according to estimates by economists Carol Corrado of the Conference Board and Charles Hulten of the University of Maryland."   Link 

The Rise of the Intangible Economy: U.S. GDP Counts R&D, Artistic Creation

It also seems that the Secretary Pritzker, from the Commerce Department is getting in on the act too by touring Music making facility and promoting USMADEMUSIC  on the Sec's blog.  which also points this fact out. 
"In fact, entertainment, literary and artistic originals contributed $74 billion to the U.S. economy last year, according to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis."








So will these new “intellectual property products.” ( which is a now how cost of new music and other artistic endeavors are to be categorized) bring in the investors that are seeking sustainable returns like the double digits one I' recently blogged about as well as those that want to be part of something more. IMHO music has always been more than most of us can put a handle on and this new way of our economist looking at it helps others start to see the more too.

Terrance and I Capital Hill~ Grammy On the Hill 2013

  

Canada declares a Musician Trade War.

So image my surprise as I skimming my Facebook Timeline and noticed this posting from the Independent Music Awards.

So it seems that Canada wants to put up economic hurdles for non Canadian musicians  here's the revenant information from @Calgaryherald

The regulations require that any venue with a primary business other than music but which also books bands or performers must now pay an application fee of $275 per musician and those travelling with the band (tour manager, sound person, guitar tech, etc.) when it applies for a Labour Market Opinion, or LMO, to allow those outside workers to perform and work in their establishment. That’s also in addition to an extra $150 for each approved musician and crew member’s work permit.

Prior to the changes, the fee was simply $150 per band member, maxing out at $450, and that was a one-time fee for them to simply enter the country, which allowed venue owners across Canada to share the nominal cost or book them separately at no extra charge 

exemptions, which, on a musical level, includes “musicians in a band performing several tour dates in Canada” and “musicians and buskers coming to Canada to perform in festivals,” with the one major caveat being that they “must not perform in bars and restaurants.

Let's be clear this is a direct shot aimed at Touring Musicians' that know playing in bars and clubs in Canada bring in fans and help to sell US MADE MUSIC in Canada.

So what once was a 1 time max expense of $450 bucks for each tour party is now $275/person/tour party so it don't take a math wiz to see that this is going to hurt particularly US based musicians since they share a border with Canada.

I hope the US Trade Ambassador  Michael Froman and those that represent US based musicians let alone members of Congress ( https://smallbusiness.house.gov/openmic/default.aspx ) take a look into this matter.  We as a nation are being bushwhacked, hallibutonized and out maneuvered in the area of music and I have to say from the President on down US MADE MUSIC is not a priority. And I look forward to be proven wrong since it seems that the US is not even showing up at the knife fight let alone bringing a knife -- if you know what I mean.

End part 1. 

Love sells and it's done so for 4000 years.

Some 4000 years ago in Sumeria, to appease the goddess of Love Inanna the King would marriage a votary of her to ensure fertility of the soil and wombs in the land. A love song was arranged for one such ceremony by King Shu-Sin for his bride.   And it goes like this....

		Bridegroom, dear to my heart, Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet, Lion, dear to my heart, Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you, Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber, You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you, Lion, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.

		Bridegroom, let me caress you, My precious caress is more savory than honey, In the bedchamber, honey filled, Let us enjoy your goodly beauty, Lion, let me caress you, My precious caress is more savory than honey.

		Bridegroom, you have taken your pleasure of me, Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies, My father, he will give you gifts.

		Your spirit, I know where to cheer your spirit, Bridegroom, sleep in our house until dawn, Your heart, I know where to gladden your heart, Lion, sleep in our house until dawn.

		You, because you love me, Give me pray of your caresses, My lord god, my lord protector, My Shu-Sin who gladdens Enlil's heart, Give me pray of your caresses.

History Begins at Sumer, pg 246. Samuel Noah Kramer. 

Music has been used to show the desire we have towards something and the stronger the magnetization of desire as expressed by words the bigger the Rewards.

As evidenced by the top singles of all time have a lot to do with love of the planet, person and holiday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles

Just a simple search of the intertubes show the prevalence of Loved based songs and in 2009 the Guardian's announced on it's website 

The Beatles track She Loves You has been revealed to be the biggest ever selling of the group's hits released in the UK.

Now this to me seems like an investment opportunity made in heaven since financiers love to make money and musicians love those that can afford to hire them which it seems we've been compelled for eons to make sweet love to love songs.

And not so shocking to those of us that have watched this areas for a while.  As we have often seen the desire to own part of this love song industry by creating alternative markets knows now bounds so when I saw on ThirtySomething Investor this article. I had to smile. C

Whether you’re looking to diversify your portfolio or investing for the first time, few people think of buying music royalties, but could music royalties be a perfect contemporary investment?

Owning music royalties is no longer the exclusive club it used to be. Buying and selling music royalties is now easier than ever with the help of TheRoyaltyExchange.com. Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing founder and director, Sean Peace. Known for being a technology entrepreneur, Sean is also the founder of SongVest.com.

Its' clear to me that something is happening since headlines like this are appearing on the blogs.

Music Royalty Funds Charm Wealthy Investors

AUGUST 20, 2013 • ANTHONY GRECO

Music may soothe the savage beast, but it also calms the wealthy fund investors who earn double-digit returns on the rights to some of the world's most famous melodies.

All of this conveys to me that what has remained unchanged in the 4000 years since the 1st love song was released is that content and distribution of it are the only things that haven't changed in the equation and I'll have more on this in a latter blog.

BTW I believe tonight this  #AltaArtists will be making an appearance on the VMA's with a HUGE announcement and I know that everyone in the #AltavozFamily wishes her the very best.






So please go by FYE and pick up #GoldenHeart and support the Independent artists in the world. 

Music capitalist to the rescue with blogs.

So I have to ask what does it means to local, national and world cultures and economies to be so naive about the nature and scope of Music on one hand! And, on the other be so totally immersed in it that music is beyond our imagination to live without.  Try thinking about not having music in your life without coming up with a Soundtrack 12 I dare ya.

Yet! here we are today and it's this state we are in that has lead to the blog, domain and personal moniker.  Music Capitalist.    I'll talk about my journey over the last 25 years and well into the future of the New Music Business and why it's important to all of us.

I'd like to start with something I was recently part of called Grammys on the Hill. At the start we where treated to a speech by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James H. Billington about the impact of music and I'm going to do my best to get a copy of it and post it here.  Trust me it was inspirational.

This was followed up by the Recording Academy's launching of a campaigned called  "American Music: Creation is Innovation" to help educate lawmakers on the impact that music has on our economy and what can be done in the us to help us revive our economy, culture and moxie. I quote from the announcement to then shine a light on the state of tech and that of entertainment.

"Innovation" is a popular Word in Washington these days. Everyone from Congress to the White House is eager to embrace innovation as the key to our nation's economic growth and prosperity, and every industry trade association is ready to claim that they have cornered the market on it. But We know that real innovation springs from creativity, and American music is our finest expression of that creativity. So sure we're  staring to see the tide slowing on the abandonment of US Made Music just take this quote from a Commerce Site.

Future industry growth is likely to be among companies outside the soon to be big three worldwide record companies – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group as the U.S. has a robust indie sector.  The indies struggle to export and prevent illegal file sharing and often rely on partnerships with the largest labels in global markets. US Commerce Department 

I  love however how it states the opportunity and impediments of promoting #USMADEMUSIC. Namely the lack of exporting.   This is something that I've been following for decades and have watched the US go from producing 80 percent of the World Music to now being on track to be a net importer of music and only supplying 12 percent to the rest of the growing world market.

So while the UK see's increase in music buying as does Germany too and I have to ask is this really a surprise and if we don't invest in US Made Music and work to export it how can the world consume it. 

Considering the recent bid for Universal Music Group and the Spurring of the offer to Sony to spin off it's entertainment division shows everyone that there is still a lot of life left in entertainment -- particularly music.

Recently I was very pleased to see  Ed Christman pointing out in Billboard article called "A New Day for Indie Distribution"  about the role of non Major distributors in which companies like ours Altavoz (mentioned in the article) are poised to make a difference in the music business.

BTW I have a couple of statements that I use and I would love to be able to put them to bed before sunsetting this blog.  The first is... We're entertaining our Economy to Death and Stopping the Haliburtonization of the US Entertainment Industry both of which we'll discuss here on Music Capitalist blog.

Also as a student of music and the business of it I'll be talking about where what and how things came about from the secret letter that changed the Rap game to how Mega Multi-Nationals are laughing all the way to the off shore banks and how come OWS never got bigger hopefully these subject and of course how to make money in music which is what I do is something that others can asprise to do as well.

PS Heck out this picture it's how we role Indie on the Hill with Big Heff and Bella Nae

For your ears ~ No Tears, video by Bella Nae https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67TziksmoUU