A musician’s view of his major record label

The Smashing Pumpkins leader sounds off on his label lawsuit and the state of the record industry… and he’s not happy…
Makes you want to take a good hard look at why you would want to be with a major label… there are certainly good reasons for it… but do they apply to you ? More [...]

Get to know where your fans are !

Looks like a useful tool to find out how your popularity is growing… provided, of course, that you’ve got video clips or live performances of your work…
YouTube Releases Video Analytics Tool
Users of the popular video-sharing Website YouTube now have a set of analytics tools which allow them to see who is watching a video and [...]

Selling your music on your website

Jonathan Coulton sells his music over the internet and he does it well.
The news section keeps things current, the forum allows interaction, there are helpful comments in a friendly tone, there’s RSS, and various payment options, including what to do if you’ve already pirated the music. Well done!

Easy for the majors

It’s always been pretty obvious that linking up with hard drives and other music devices (phones, mp3 players, pda, …) would make a lot of sense, and easy money to boot. But what are the chances if you’re an indie label with ten artists to market ? Will you be able to get a piece [...]

Smashing Pumpkins are indies

The band Smashing Pumpkins has been fighting for years with its former music label to buy back its own music catalogue, to no avail. But that’s only spurring the band members to market its music the new way, and enjoying it at the same time.
Exclusive: Corgan Speaks Out On Pumpkins Suit
That won’t stop the band [...]

Webcasting or broadcasting concerts for more exposure

Multimedia Brought Music Fest To Millions — Courant.com
Bob Boilen, host of “All Songs Considered,” said broadcasting, or webcasting, concerts tends to spur, not dampen, interest in music, live or otherwise.”There are a lot of people who want to see those shows who can’t,” Boilen said, because of limited tour schedules and available tickets, [...]

Royalties for musicians on mySpace?

Excerpt for an article from the excellent musician Billy Bragg.
Food for thought… though no ready solutions at the moment…
The Royalty Scam – New York Times
The huge social networking sites that seek to use music as free content are as much to blame for the malaise currently affecting the industry as the music lover who downloads [...]

Alternative ways of selling your music

1,700 Bands, Rocking as the CD Industry Reels – New York Times
Musicians make the trek even though discovering a local band from another town or another country is just a few clicks away. That spread of information opens new career paths, from tours stoked by blog buzz to recognition for a song tucked into [...]

Musicians using the Internet

1,700 Bands, Rocking as the CD Industry Reels – New York Times
Major labels used to help create stars through promotion and publicity, but their role has been shrinking. Multimillion-selling musicians who have fulfilled their major-label contracts — Radiohead, the Eagles, Nine Inch Nails — are deserting those companies, choosing to be free agents rather [...]

Lou Reed on record labels

1,700 Bands, Rocking as the CD Industry Reels – New York Times
South by Southwest has insisted, ever since it started in 1987 as a gathering for independent and regional musicians, that major-label contracts have never been a musician’s only chance. Musicians who have had contracts are lucky if they recoup their advances through [...]