On the Beat
On the Beat
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Each week, industry veteran Celia Hirschman considers the changes and trends happening in the music business. An independent consultant for the music business, she founded the marketing consulting company Downtown Marketing and also runs the UK-based record label One Little Indian in North America. She works with artists such as Bjork, The Twilight Singers, Lloyd Cole, Daniel Agust, Polly Paulusma, and many others, and has served in senior management at Palm Pictures, Mercury Records and A&M Records.
Photo credit: Marc Goldstein
RECENT SHOWS
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson was an artist who transcended fame and stardom and sat firmly in the realm of an icon. It’s possible we may never see a star of his proportions again. After an announcement of Jackson’s death, the Internet exploded. Twitter feeds doubled, Facebook status updates tripled, and the LA Times website, one of the first to break the story, nearly caved from the activity...
Jammie Thomas and Bruce Springsteen
The case brought against Jammie Thomas for illegally downloading 24 songs came to a close last Thursday. Thomas was found guilty for willfully violating the copyrights of the songs she downloaded and ordered to pay the RIAA a whopping $1.9 million in damages...
Bopaboo, Jammie Thomas and the Persian Bay
Great ideas are built on thinking differently. There's a new website called Bopaboo that hopes to solve the record business' current woes. The site allows users to take their unwanted electronic music files, and sell them as used MP3's for a cheaper-than-retail price. Sellers can upload their unwanted songs in a closed community, set the price, and wait for buyers to come knocking like eBay. Bopaboo would offer record labels a percentage of the transaction, small as it may be. The idea has possibilities, but is fraught with legal and ethical issues...
Pirates and Pirates
This week, the Pirate Party won 7.1 percent of the Swedish vote. The Pirate Party is a young, technically savvy political group who now occupy one of the eighteen seats Sweden holds in the European Parliament. One of their main platforms is the revision to copyright law and the decriminalization of Internet file sharing, or illegal downloading..
EMusic and Live Nation
The record business has long been criticized for its lack of adaptation to the changing music market. At first the excuse was somewhat understandable. We had a model that was working for decades before the Internet pulled the rug out from under. We fought hard, stupidly hard to maintain the old way of doing business. This week, Sony Music has finally given us a good example of how the business is starting to change...
Napster, Choruss and Leaky Pipes
If you were to re-tell the history of the music industry, you would have to divide it into two parts: Everything that happened before Napster, and everything that's happened since. Napster introduced the idea of free content on the web, and blurred the lines between “sharing” and “stealing”. The shift delivered a massive blow to the tried-and-true methods of the record industry....
Auto-Tune and Melodyne
American Idol has already run eight seasons. Since its debut in 2002, watching non-singers belting out of tune has become an amusing addiction. When Karaoke was introduced in the 80's from Japan, it revealed an inner fascination with the amateur, flaws and all. But since that time, something has been happening in professional recording studios that is a curious counterpart to our obsession with amateurism: that is perfection, specifically, pitch perfection...
Anvil; MusicTech Summit
Rooting for the underdog can be an awesome experience. But when the road continually eludes positive results, frustration and pity can eclipse any enthusiasm. Rock and roll is fraught with hard luck stories about near misses. Many hardworking artists never see financial success. This is the heartbreaking theme of the new documentary Anvil, The Story of Anvil...
Censorship
Legacy Player:
It's been a busy week for Trent Reznor, the mastermind of rock band Nine Inch Nails. In the midst of touring North American amphitheaters, word came back that Apple Computer had censored the bands' most recent free IPhone application update for their album called The Downward Spiral...
Frank Zappa: Man of the Year
Legacy Player:
Most record executives attribute the demise of the record business to 1999, when digital maverick Shawn Fanning opened his peer-to-peer music site, Napster. From that moment on, the record labels thought they were at war with the consumer...
Righting the 'Copywrongs'
Legacy Player:
Courtroom decisions dominate the news this week underscoring the potential legal opportunities copyright attorneys are facing. To those graduating college this May, think about taking your LSAT's...
Arts and the Stimulus Package
Legacy Player:
As the financial recession deepens, government and non-profit organizations alike have been forced to weed out the expendable from the essential. Sadly, music and the arts usually take the biggest hit. But to help boost investment, President Obama has allocated $50 million in his recent stimulus package to the creative community...
The Music Business Trial of the Year
Legacy Player:
I can imagine that when Joel Tenenbaum downloaded seven songs from a file sharing service, he didn't think it would be a big deal. He probably didn't think allowing that service to share his seven songs with others was a big deal either. And I'm certain he didn't think he'd end up in the middle of a high-profile copyright lawsuit. He was wrong. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is suing Tenenbaum for punitive damages. If the court finds willful infringement of copyright, they could award the RIAA up to $150,000 per track...
Mellencamp, The Allman Brothers and Top Spin
Legacy Player:
Singer, songwriter, musician and activist John Mellencamp has written an interesting commentary in The Huffington Post about the decline of the American record business. He makes the point that in the past, artistry and recognition were elements built up from the street; musicians created a strong local following, often in their own towns, which in turn, became the basis for their growing popularity. Local labels recognized the local talent and the media followed the interest brewing in their own markets, to build a lasting foundation for bands' growing careers...
Azoff and Corgan
Legacy Player:
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins has been laying down his guitar, putting on a suit and Mr. Smithing it over in Washington. Last week he testified before the House Judiciary Committee in support of royalty payments for radio airplay. It's a commendable effort as commercial radio has been selling advertising on the backs of musicians for decades...
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Host
Celia Hirschman
Celia Hirschman covers the music industry with an experienced eye and a provocative perspective.
Schedule
Live
Tapes & Transcripts
Click the Full Details link to view the complete transcript. Tapes are not available.
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