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.
RECENT SHOWS
Artist Nation
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Last week, rock band Nickelback inked a $100 million, ten-year deal with record label newcomer Artist Nation. Nickelback is now the fourth major talent to sign to the new label, which is a division of the concert promoter, Live Nation...
It's a New Dawn
Legacy Player:
This week, there was a flurry of announcements in the digital music space. The most interesting came from the nonprofit organization RED. RED, founded by U2's frontman 'Bono and Company,' is building a service to deliver three exclusives downloads to consumers each week, for a modest fee of $5 a month. Half of the money will go to the RED Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa, and the other half will go to the artists and record label...
Lil' Wayne and Coldplay
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Last week, New Orleans rapper Lil' Wayne, blew away the competition for the biggest selling album. His new CD, Tha Carter III, debuted at #1, selling over a million copies. These kinds of sales figures are rare, especially in the backdrop of rising fuel prices...
Worldly Change
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Legendary rock band, Journey, released their new three-disc set this week, exclusively at Wal-Mart. No major label was involved in the deal and the band will receive a much greater percentage of the profits than normally distributed...
Teaching Our Children Their Roots
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We live in a country filled with diverse cultural traditions that often go unnoticed. Last weekend, I experienced what impact music can have on the youth, when the youth is engaged. I attended a fundraising event, in support of Los Cenzontles, which mean the mockingbirds in Spanish.
Music Appreciation 102
Legacy Player:
Let's face facts. Americans want to be entertained. The average American family is watching American IdolHannah Montana, and buying Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto. The record business is being given a real run for its money. Those shiny music discs are just no competition for what is considered entertainment these days...
Merlin the Magician
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The record business is a highly misunderstood industry, filled with imbalanced perspectives that play out in heartbreaking realism. One common misconception is that major label artists must have great talent. Not true. Just look at the pop charts. They are littered with reasonably mediocre talent...
Unintended Consequences
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Gnarls Barkley had to rush-release their new album, to avoid having it leaked on the web. In fact, so did The Racounteurs. And EMI invited some of their biggest retail customers to a Coldplay listening-party, but confiscated all the Blackberrys and cellphones before the guests were allowed in the room...
State of the Marketplace '08
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This week, music retailers joined together in San Francisco for the 50th annual trade conference, to discuss the state of their record business...
Games People Play
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Here we are, one day after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. One more day where millions will rationalize killing, humiliating and degrading people, as a legitimate form of entertainment...
Time to Organize Recording Artists
Legacy Player:
This week, an independent study of Internet users published in the New York Times, found that only 42% paid for their music – either by buying a CD, or buying a download. The other 58% of the American population engaged in peer-to-peer downloading, or burning tracks from others CD’s, or ripping tracks from their friends computers. Those options offer no financial compensation for the musicians’ work...
Makin' Bacon
Legacy Player:
The big news this week was that iTunes beat Wal-Mart as the #1 music retailer. It's pretty amazing, considering Wal-Mart is the largest employer in America and iTunes probably only has a few hundred people working in Cupertino. Welcome to the digital economy. Selling music direct to consumer with minimal labor costs is rapidly becoming the new face of retail. The number three retailer in music is Best Buy and number four is Amazon. Watch that number go up in the next few months...
The Major Labels SHOULD Be Worried!
Legacy Player:
One of the great things about the music business right now is that the door is wide open for talent with vision, particularly if they already have a fan base...
All You Can Eat
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Industries hit by sea changes in the marketplace take years to recover ground, and if the titans of that industry ignore the changing market, the result can be downright devastating...
The Messenger: Eliot Spitzer
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In October 2004, Elliot Spitzer, as the Attorney General for the State of New York, showed remarkable courage when issuing subpoenas to major record labels and broadcasters for engaging in payola...
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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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