March 26, 2009

Crupnick said he doubted a 30-cent price increase would prevent iTunes customers from buying a hot new release from artists like Kelly Clarkson, Flo Rida or Lady Gaga. He noted that offering a discounted second track packaged with a premium priced song from the same artist could boost sales.

But here's an idea for a twist to the variable strategy, one that might be better for all involved parties -- labels, artists, iTunes, and consumers -- than a simple price increase for all new material:

Allow variable pricing for individual songs based on purchase order. That is, charge more for the first track a customer downloads from an album, but then charge that customer less for additional downloads from that same album.

If, as far as the major labels are concerned, the "cherry picking" of individual songs is the evil downside to online digital sales, then, in exchange for a higher profits on the first song or two purchased, they might be persuaded to accept lower profits on further purchases from that album, along with a different pricing structure for older albums.

March 23, 2009

60 Quarterly -- 60 downloads for $19.99

100 Quarterly -- 100 downloads for $24.99

March 11, 2009

March 09, 2009

March 06, 2009

March 05, 2009

March 04, 2009

Launching off a sonorous, rubbery guitar line that, melodically, echoes the hook from the Kinks' "David Watts," "Keep It To Yourself" has the big-drums/big-chords bash and concise melodicism of some Nuggets-era -- um -- nugget, with a welcome helping of shoegaze drone. The song itself is pithy and unadorned, but the presentation is cool, full-bodied, and impeccably controlled -- not a note or sound is out of place.

Taking nothing away from David Harrell's understated, slightly processed vocals, I think his guitars are the stars here, presenting alternately as zipped-up-tight rhythm, circular synth-like lead lines, and droney dissonance. When the three sounds combine in the second half of the song, we definitely arrive in one of those "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" places. It can't be easy to make something this basically simple sound so fulfilling; it if were, everyone would do it.

March 03, 2009

Q: File sharing and music piracy have sparked some interesting debates in the last decade as "leaked" material is shared all over the web. What, if any, solution do you deem plausible for the current state of the music industry?

A. It is my view that Congress should enact a compulsory or voluntary collective license to 1) legalize (at least noncommercial) file sharing and 2) compensate artists for any harm such sharing is estimated to cause. The second part of this would secure the objectives of copyright -- money to artists. The first part would end the "war" we’re now waging against our kids.

March 02, 2009

Ingestion of the CD Baby catalog into the Spotify system has already begun and is expected to be completed by April, 2009.

- Physical distribution to bricks and mortar goes away. No distributor with nationwide reach will want to take a chance on an unknown act. Artists will realize the futility of physical distribution through traditional channels, and stop aspiring/hoping/dreaming of a distro deal.

- CD sales direct to fans at gigs will continue to be a major revenue generator for independent artists for years to come. Catching a fan when they've just experienced a great show is still a strong sales driver, and will always be.

- The main nationwide CD distribution opportunity for independents will be online. A couple of megastores like Amazon will thrive, as will niche players like CD Baby (100% independent), and other stores in certain narrow verticals (specific genres or interests).