Ke$ha, a Los Angeles based singer, moved 610,069 downloads of her first single “Tik Tok” in a week placing her at the number 2 spot for one week downloads ever with Flo Rida’s “Right Round” at number one in one week sales (with Ke$ha as an uncredited singer). That number is remarkably similar to the number of times New Moon was illegally downloaded online during it’s first week of release (610,000). That number pales in comparison to the first week illegal downloads for Avatar which came close to one million illegal downloads.
Illegal online downloads during the theater run doesn’t appear to have much of an impact on the box office numbers, the challenge for the movie industry comes when the films are released to DVD/Blu-Ray. With Netflix and other cost effective (or illegal and free) options for watching movies, it’s become harder and harder to sell DVD/Blu-Ray discs. According to the Wall Street Journal, 2009 was the first year since 2002 that ticket sales out did DVD/Blu-Ray sales, challenging the existing business model of the movie industry. The music industry faced a similar challenge with the appearance of digital downloads but they were able to recover from the disaster that Napster could have been after a little resistance. The did lead to the near death of the compact disc.
The movie industry isn’t quite there. With new release digital movie downloads costing up to the monthly membership at Netflix (and I mean the good membership with 3 movies at a time), what is the movie industry to do in 2010 to turn that around? SmartMoney recently released a list of things not to buy in 2010 and along with newspaper subscriptions, new college text books and CDs was DVDs. Perhaps it’s time the industry lower the cost of a digital download and move the home release date closer to the theatrical release date. This will allow for two money making opportunities for the industry and allow for the movie watcher to choose the type of experience they want and trump the massive amount of illegal downloads. Of course, with Avatar passing $1 billion dollars at the box office, the need for change is not as immediate but as the quality and availability of downloads become a bit easier for the non-techie, that may shift quickly.
We did survive the death of the VHS, I think we can make it through the next shift.
Sprite may be looking to join music artists with iPhone users for the creation of the next big hit. A new app called ZoozBeat features tracks from various artists such as Dallas Austin, all of which can be remixed by app users for a unique beat. The ZoozBeat mobile app turns iPhone users into music producers, with the iPhone as your mobile music studio.
What do users get out of it? The fun of making beats based on exclusive content from well-known artists. Users can then upload the music and share it with the world. Artists get the chance to hear their own creations from new perspectives, tapping into the power of the crowd towards this end.
The app itself works by shaking, tapping or tilting their iPhones. The music gets remixed according to your motions, adding a bit of dynamic fun to the ZoozBeat iPhone app. You can download new beats, learn more about the artist that initially created the beat, and edit music to your own personal tastes.
It seems unlikely that the participating artists would want to seek the aid of iPhone users for the purpose of creating new beats. Even if this was the case, the ZoozBeat iPhone app acts as a mini mobile portal for the artist. Creating content for a mobile app like this increases visibility and finds new ways in which to explore the music industry.
The other interesting aspect of the ZoozBeat app is that it utilizes some of the iPhone device’s best aspects, appealing to a wide user base. For the purpose of marketing an artist, combining the iPhone and its capabilities as a device makes for great access to consumers. What the consumers do from there is up to them.
Even as the music industry struggles to find a way to regain its days of glory, the new economies of mobile and web apps introduce new opportunities for it to do so. What remains to be seen is how much the music industry will have to rely on associated branding in order to do so.
Sprite gets to reap the benefits of associated branding by powering the ZoozBeat app, using music as a universal marketing message to reach out to consumers. Artists, on the other hand, rely on brands like Sprite for a certain amount of distribution and access to a wide range of consumers. It’s an interesting play, and it’s one that has been gaining steam in the web and mobile app realms.
Time will tell if such apps have any lasting power, with combined strategies seeking similar ends. The cooperative efforts towards reaching a single goal means that partnerships could continue to be successfully forged, with a necessary focus on the end consumer to help carry the marketing message to their friends. ZoozBeat in particular is an interesting way to promote music, its popular artists, and the engagement of users.
This week (tomorrow) is the San Francisco Music Tech conference which is a must attend event for anyone that loves music and/or technology. The event brings together entrepreneurs, developers, musicians, investors, and service providers for a full day to talk about how the music industry is evolving and how technology is playing a role in that evolution.
The speaker lineup this year is also quite impressive, here are just a few of the folks that are going to be in attendance:
As you can see it’s going to be quite an eclectic event with a lot of interesting discussions. I’m really interested in the back story behind a lot of the companies such as Pandora and Blip.fm so hopefully I’ll get time to chat with both Tom and Jeff. We can see that the music business is greatly evolving. With the evolution of sites such as Youtube, Blip.fm, Pandora, and Imeem; the indy artists now have a chance at stardom. We are also seeing a huge difference in how musicians are interacting with their fans, many of them are actively engaging on sites such as twitter interacting and building relationships with people that love their music. None of these things were possible even a few years ago. Legal is also a hot topic in the music business as more and more people are starting to download their music for free on the web. These are just a few of the interesting topics that are sure to be covered.
On Saturday, I had the fortune of attending and being back stage at the Bridge School Benefit Concert in Mountain View, CA. Before jumping into the concert, I want to share a bit more about the Bridge School and the impact that this benefit has on the students.
The annual concert, now in it’s 23rd year, is the primary source of funding for the Bridge School. The school was founded in 1986 and opened to students in 1987 and my brother, Peter Schlegel, was a member of the inaugural class. Founded by Pegi Young and Jim Forderer, the school was created to meet the needs of kids with severe speech and physical impairments. A group that is marginalized more often than not, the focus on these kids prepares them to lead fulfilling lives.
The concert itself was an amazing musical experience. This year, the show featured Neil Young, No Doubt, Chris Martin (of Coldplay), Jimmy Buffet, Sheryl Crow, Monsters of Folk, Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother and Gavin Rossdale. Adam Sandler is scheduled to perform in place of Jimmy Buffet during the Sunday show. What’s unique about this benefit is that the artists all perform acoustic sets.
No Doubt was by far my favorite performer of the day. Students from the school are seated on the stage behind the artists, which presents a challenge for the musicians, performing for both the kids and the audience at Shoreline Amphitheater. Gwen Stefani and her band were the most successful with that by singing to both the kids and the audience throughout the set. Chris Martin was also amazing. As a solo performer, singing Coldplay songs, he had the unique challenge of using just his voice and a piano to woo the 20,000 or so people in the audience. He did it beautifully and was joined by a violin-playing friend of his after the first song. He was funny, making jokes about his bad choice in hat (which had a “where’s Waldo?” feel) and sharing an incredible musical performance.
Earlier in the evening, Jimmy Buffet took the stage with his happy island music and all had a good time dancing to songs like “Margaritaville”. Sheryl Crow shared an emotional set featuring a lullaby she composed for her son. Monsters of Folk and Fleet Foxes were new bands to me but both impressed the crowd, making the most of the acoustic sets. I was a little late so I missed Wolfmother and Gavin Rossdale but I heard good reviews from the people around me.
This is the one show I look forward to every year. The tickets seem a little pricey but you always get your money worth and it’s all for a good cause. I realize that this post has absolutely nothing to do with social media but is an event that I want to share with the community, especially bay area based people who may be interested in attending next year.
Ouch! Watching this video of Guitar Hero featuring Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain singing along to Bon Jovi really, really hurts my soul and its got Cobain’s widow Courtney Love in an uproar too. The Guardian has much more on the story including the Twitter rant Love went on after Everett True posted this video on YouTube.
I have some fond memories of the first time I saw Nirvana at Iguana’s in Tijuana in the fall of 1991 back when the band just started to gain traction with the album Nevermind. I personally preferred Nirvana’s debut album Bleach but the album and the band were a big factor in the incredible musical revolution of the late-1980s and early-1990s.
After watching this horrendous video, I’m heading straight over to Pandora and cleanse my battered ears with some great Seattle Sub Pop sounds. Afghan Whigs, Tad or Mudhoney anyone?
Illegal online downloads during the theater run doesn’t appear to have much of an impact on the box office numbers, the challenge for the movie industry comes when the films are released to DVD/Blu-Ray. With Netflix and other cost effective (or illegal and free) options for watching movies, it’s become harder and harder to sell DVD/Blu-Ray discs. According to the Wall Street Journal, 2009 was the first year since 2002 that ticket sales out did DVD/Blu-Ray sales, challenging the existing business model of the movie industry. The music industry faced a similar challenge with the appearance of digital downloads but they were able to recover from the disaster that Napster could have been after a little resistance. The did lead to the near death of the compact disc.
Sprite may be looking to join music artists with iPhone users for the creation of the next big hit. A new app called 
The concert itself was an amazing musical experience. This year, the show featured Neil Young, No Doubt, Chris Martin (of Coldplay), Jimmy Buffet, Sheryl Crow, Monsters of Folk, Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother and Gavin Rossdale. Adam Sandler is scheduled to perform in place of Jimmy Buffet during the Sunday show. What’s unique about this benefit is that the artists all perform acoustic sets.