Why Lorde is the demarcation of the new generational divide.

So for every generation there's time when what you thought was the coolest thing ever and how the adults where just so uncool. They didn't get it.   Well here's the point I want everyone to come to terms that Lourde and her 4 Grammys nods and 3 wins ain't a fluke.

When Lorde was 13, A&R scout Scott Maclachlan signed her to Universal 

Now the universality of her music is something that so many do understand and if  Craig Campbell can cover of it and make it sound that good and rack up over 77k hits I have to ask  how many songs can be song by singers from across a spectrum without it being magical.

And, Guess what a 17 year old that can do it is the coolest thing in the world and everyone that don't get it, can just go ahead and pull out their AARP card and look for something on Circuit City.


PS, how to survive not being cool,  just keep quiet about your love of Nelson - the group.
PSS So stop saying when you were young music was better -- it wasn't.

UPDATE:  From Billboard -- Grammys Garner Record Social Mentions In 2014, Lorde Most Discussed on Twitter

The Future of Entertainment Today is Bright in 2014

So here's a year look back at investment in entertainmet stocks as charted by http://www.profitquotes.com/ and if you had invested in entertainment like many of us did it should have shown a health return.   Now sure every project don't make it out of the studio, or the label falls apart or the product wasn't in any stores boo hoo.....

Everyone faces these same odd and yet their record sales and yours' don't and all of these other stocks did well and that is for reason.  People have to be entertained.  END OF STORY.....

(artists --   Not saying it's not a problem I am saying that selling a happy story is more fun to do. So let's focus in 2014 -If the partners, promoters and management you're in business with isn't reaching for the stars by grinding in the streets and Cloud everyday then dust em off and move along, )

So what is the Future of Entertainment Today and going to move the needle in 2014.  Real Bricks and Clicks solution serving a global audience giving them high quality entertainment however they want it when they say I'm Buying This..... make it happen.

There's more than AmandaP out there and we're just a kickstarter campaign away from discovering the next million dollar AltaArtists 

PS here Medical Suppliers and it's clear that entertainment is better than this.

What to know why Digital Music sales decreased in 2013. Check your kids phones.

According to Nielsen SoundScan.digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 billion units while digital album sales fell 0.1% to 117.6 million units from the previous year’s total of 117.7 million, as reported by Ed Christman in Billboard recent bulletin .

Digital Music Sales Decrease For First Time in 2013

I'll let that sink in for all of your digital only philosophers.  Ed further reported that the vinyl is now
2% of album sales in the U.S; digital albums comprise 40.6% and the CD is 57.2% and cassettes and DVDs 0.2%.

So the Music Biz ain't at 50/50 yet and for anyone that understand MATH physical is 60 percent of the Market.  Yet just about every new label formed since the advent of what ever that company was called thinks way too much about digital only strategy as the future while forgetting about today.  Let's be clear about the strength of CD still.  Next time you're inline at Starbucks or Whole foods, 7-11 or any service station driving down the road. Just look around.  All of them have CD within eye shot of the Cash registers.

Thus solving the riddle of why CD players are still in most Automobiles

I'll also directly respond to Ed's question is streaming taking from Digital Sales. when we look at our statements from #AltaArtists from the various services the streaming payouts are in the 10s of dollars sometimes only cents. Yet the companies are now worth billions?  Yes there is something very wrong here in Digital Denmark.  BTW why wouldn't anyone expect that to be the case.

Think of it this way. If you're not married to the idea that quality is better than rapidly you'll already jumped the sound shark and now it's about getting it NOW.  So you can log in to iTunes, what the pwd? do I have money, is my credit card working? Really I have to use my Mom's account?  Or you can steam it. Often for free, with ads, unless it's bittorrent/etc and no ones the wisers.

Now lets' be clear there was a winner in 2013 and that was the streaming services that yanked the wallet out from under iTunes. So what is the industry going to do about it.   I know at my company we're going to be making a very strong statement in 2014 about the Future of Entertainment Today and I hope that others are going to start to take a Clicks to Bricks Distribution Strategy in 2014.

BTW these same kids streaming are the ones buying Vinyl, Cassettes and yes CD's.  They're a fickle bunch and since they don't understand themselves it's gonna be harder to for us to understand them. However the one thing that remains supreme is Entertainment needs to cater to the AltaFans and they want it Digital and Physical.

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