Horizons Management

Syd launches Hotels & Highways!

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:22:00 -0600

Congratulations to Syd for the launch of his new band (with friends of Horizons and fellow Co-Op-ers Patrick Thomas and Lisa Piccirillo)! Visit the new homepage and support their Kickstarter campaign.

Announcing Taylor Carson's "Defending The Name"

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:45:28 -0500

Horizons Management is proud to announce the release of Taylor Carson’s long-awaited new record “Defending The Name” on September 14, 2010.

We will be joining Taylor and the band on the road for cd release celebrations in New York at Rockwood Music Hall (9/9), in Boston at Johnny D’s (9/10) and in DC at IOTA (9/11)!

This project has been in development for over two years and we are thrilled to have walked that road with Taylor Carson.

New Single from Taylor Carson!

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:52:12 -0600

Horizons Management is excited to announce the release of the first single from Taylor Carson’s new album, Defending The Name. ”Someone To Love” is inspired by a true story of love and loss.

Pick it up here.

Day Of Light documentary premieres in Hollywood!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:31:00 -0600

Horizons is helping organize a Red Carpet event at the Artivist Film Festival around Love Light & Melody’s groundbreaking documentary film, Day Of Light. The film will premier at the legendary Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California and will be followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew and a concert with Braddigan in the courtyard! Info

Adam Ezra to open for Robert Randolph!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:00 -0600

Horizons announces that booking client Adam Ezra will share the stage with Robert Randolph & the Family Band at the Belly Up in Aspen, Colorado on December 12! Not in Colorado? Check out Adam Ezra Group’s CD Release show at The Paradise in Boston on January 23, 2010.

Who's That Pack plans winter reunion tour

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:00 -0600

Horizons Management artist Syd reunites with supergroup Who’s That Pack bandmates Tim Blane, Chad Perrone, Patrick Thomas and Todd Martin for east coast dates in February 2010. Dates in Boston and New York City have been announced, more coming soon. Info

Horizons joins Journey Of Hope at Red Rocks

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:00 -0600

Horizons Management joins HomeVibe Presents and Pennies For Peace to produce the Journey Of Hope concert event. Featuring Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Greg Mortensen and creating awareness for global service NGOs, the event drew 6000 people from all over the country to the infamous Red Rocks Amphitheater in September 2009.

Industry Digest #5

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:32:06 -0500

Well, not sure where to start this after last nights tremendous loss of talent and the King of the Pop music era. he was a man who helped shape what pop music was, what being a superstar artist was. He also showed us what it was to be an artist who used their music as a platform promoting causes near and dear to their heart.

Other than the loss of a pop icon, there were quite a few articles going around that peaked my interest but out of all of the articles there were two that I think were really important especially this first one.

If you haven’t been paying attention or didn’t know anything about this, there is currently a bill that is in Congress called the Performance Rights Act. Ther Performance Rights Act is basically a revision to what has been long standing as giving artists performance royalties for their music being played over the air on the radio. Though the article I read is about why this Act is a bad thing, of the many reasons 2 stood out, #2 states how this will harm independent artists and will lead to the long standing issue that was a problem with radio to begin with, Payola.

This will inevitably lead to a problem with half the radio stations not being able to pay the royalties, or if they can will lead to one song/per hour with the rest surrounded by commercials. Is that what it would come to? Radio that is only commercials or talk radio with a song or two every hour or so. Ugh its already bad enough as it is, that is if you even listen to the radio anymore, what with XM, Sirius Radio that seriously cuts down on the commericals, supposedly.

The other article I found was posted on Twitter by Martin Atkins and I found it a very significant/interesting read. This article was about a band, who yes, is signed to a major label, was able to make $19,000 via twitter. This was through a mixture of Twitter Auctions, Selling a T-shirt developed in a Friday night hang out session on Twitter, and through a Twitter Donation-Only Gig. This is a very interesting model that might be an idea to look at for future marketing as it could lead to as they call it a “virtual flash mob”. Could be interesting to see how this would be used .

Thats all I have for now will try to post more of the interesting articles I found over the weekend!

Hilger

5 Reasons Why the Performance Rights Act is a Bad Idea

Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by refe in MUSIC INDUSTRY

For those who aren’t familiar with the Performance Rights Act, it is a bill that was introduced in February that would require radio stations to pay performance royalties in addition to fees they already pay to songwriters. The RIAA, along with a few big names such as Billy Corgan (pictured), is pushing this bill under the pretense that it benefits the artists and that the industry needs it to survive.

The problem is that their claims simply are not true. The Performance Rights Act would have potentially disastrous consequences across the music business, and I’ve put together a quick list that explains why.

1. The Performance Rights Act would cripple local radio

The PRA is basically a new tax on radio stations that would be paid directly to the recording industry. This fee is already being paid by Internet, satellite and cable radio stations, and has caused the untimely demise of more than one service providor since it went into effect in 2002. What makes congress think that local radio stations will be able to avoid the same fate?

Jesse Walker of ReasonOnline also pointed out recently that the fees themselves aren’t the only costs that this bill would impose on radio stations:

“The record labels are completely out of touch as to how college radio stations operate,” Warren Kozireski, president of College Broadcasters Inc., recently complained on his organization’s website. “The extensive record keeping requirements that will be required by the Copyright Royalty Board alone will add hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to the true cost of a performance fee.” It’s relatively easy to do that book-keeping if you have a narrow playlist and rarely deviate from it, as is the case with most large commercial radio stations. But if you have a library of thousands of albums and 45s, many of which were never reissued on CD, and if you allow your DJs to choose which ones they play—or even to bring in still more music from their personal collections of rare soul or jazz or bluegrass or electronica obscurities—then tracking the data suddenly becomes a full-time job.

2. The PRA hurts independent artists

I’ve heard some supporters of this bill touting that the independent artists have the most to gain. This is because the money would go to performers and copyright owners, which in the case of independent artists are the same thing. Therefore, the PRA would provide a potentially significant revenue stream for the artist. Right?

In a perfect world, maybe. But in this world playlists at major stations are chosen by advertising dollars, not DJs. Adding an additional fee for every song played will only make stations even more unwilling to take risks on unproven acts. Independent acts have a hard enough time getting on major stations – they don’t need another hurtle.

3. Payola

Payola, for those who don’t know, is an illegal but very common industry practice where agents of the record labels bribe radio stations to broadcast their music. As Mike Masnick of Techdirt puts it:

The most damning argument against the recording industry’s demand for money here is the fact that, for decades, the industry has (illegally) had the money go in the other direction. The system of payola has shown, quite clearly, how much the recording industry values airtime, in that it’s willing to pay radio stations to play its music.

So, can anyone explain why it’s illegal for record labels to pay radio stations to play music, but it’s okay for Congress to force radio stations to pay the record labels for playing their music? It defies common sense.

In other words, the RIAA values the promotional benefits of radio airtime so much that it’s willing to break the law and pay out large amounts of cash to get it, yet it now wants the radio stations to start paying them for the privelidge of providing this benefit. Make sense? Didn’t think so.

4. The bill is based on misinformation

According to a recent press release by the musicFIRST Coalition - a lobby group created to push for the PRA – Radio should pay performance royalties because it is the only platform that currently does not. They accuse brodcasters of believing that “AM and FM music radio stations should continue to get special treatment, that AM and FM music radio stations do not have to play by the rules, and that AM and FM music radio stations should enjoy a competitive advantage over other music platforms.”

The problem is that they are ignoring the fact that they were the ones who created this disparity. When the other platforms such as online streaming were required to pay performance royalties it had everything to do with controlling the reproduction of digital music – a problem not shared by terrestrial radio. As Jesse Walker points out, the industry’s argument “hinged on the idea that digital broadcasting is different from conventional broadcasting. Forteen years later, as it attempts to impose a performance fee on AM and FM broadcasters as well, the industry now wants to claim the channels are equivalent after all.”

5. The PRA doesn’t benefit musicians as much as the RIAA claims

I already talked about the ways that independent musicians would be hurt by the PRA, but what about bigger acts? The problem here is that the royalties would be paid to performers and copyright owners, which in most cases are the major record labels.

After the label takes its cut, there remains the issue of whether or not the rest of the fee will ever reach the artist. To quote Walker:

The Web radio experience is instructive. The institution that distributes performance fees to artists is SoundExchange, an organization that spun off from the Recording Industry Association of America in 2003. In 2007, the Houston Press noted that the group was apparently unable to locate about 25 percent of the performers on whose behalf it was allegedly acting. After perusing the list of lost musicians, the Press’s John Nova Lomax reported that “in less than five minutes of Googling, I found the official Web sites and/or MySpace pages of Fito Olivares, Goudie, Mark May, the Hollisters and Los Skarnales. What’s more, highly visible people like Cam’ron (fresh off a highly-publicized appearance on 60 Minutes), Fat Joe and Danzig are on the ‘lost’ list too.”‘

Conclusion

I want artists to have the ability to make a good living creating music, but this is not the bill to make that happen. The Performance Rights Act amounts to little more than a last ditch manuever by a flailing industry. What do you think? Does the bill make sense, or will it cause more harm than good?

Amanda Palmer Made $19K In 10 Hours On Twitter

Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls and solo fame is definitely a self-promoter. But what sets her apart and makes her efforts effective is that she seemingly does it effortlessly. By letting the world into her life via blog posts, Twitter, web casts, etc and doing it with playful and rebellious tone, she has made herself worth paying attention to and supporting. The music’s not half bad either.

Palmer has been very vocal about wanting out of her label deal with Warner Music Group’s Roadrunner, and why shouldn’t she since she’s her own marketing juggernaut and has even figured out how to make money doing it. Here, from her blog, is how she made $19,000 in 10 hours by connecting with her fans on Twitter.

UPDATE: Video of Amanda on the Friday Freaks phenomenon.

From: Amanda Palmer
Subject: twitter power, or “how an indie musician can make $19,000 in 10 hours using twitter”

this story has just been blowing people’s minds so i figures i should write it down.

1. FRIDAY NIGHT LOSERS T-SHIRT, $11,000
about a month ago, i was at home on a friday night (loser that i often am when i’m not touring, i almost never go out) and was, of course, on my mac, shifting between emails, links and occasionally doing some dishes and packing for a trip the next day. just a usual friday-night-rock-star-multi-tasking extravaganza.

i twitter whenever i’m online, i love the way it gives me a direct line of communication with my fans and friends. i had already seen the power of twitter while touring…

using twitter i’d gathered crowds of sometimes 200 fans with a DAY’S notice to come out and meet me in public spaces (parks, mostly) where i would play ukulele, sign, hug, take pictures, eat cake, and generally hang out and connect. this was especially helpful in the cities where we’d been unable to book all-ages gigs and there were crushed teenagers who were really grateful to have a shot at connecting with me & the community of amanda/dolls fans.

i’d also been using twitter to organize ACTUAL last-minute gigs…i twittered a secret gig in LA one morning and about 350 folks showed up 5 hours later at a warehouse space….i played piano, filmed by current.tv, and then (different camera crew) did an interview with afterellen.com.
the important thing to understand here is that the fans were never part of the plan..,i basically just INVITED my fans to a press day, the press didnt’ plan it…i did.
i was going to be playing in an empty room and doing q&a with afterellen on a coach with only the camera watching.
it was like….why not tell people and do this in a warehouse instead of a hotel lobby or a blank studio? so i did.

it cost me almost nothing. the fans were psyched.

but back to the bigger, cooler story….

so there i am, alone on friday night and i make a joke on twitter (which goes out to whichever of my 30,000 followers are online):

“i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, motherfucker.”
9:15 PM May 15th from web

one thing led to another, and the next thing you know there were thousands of us and we’d become the #1 topic trend on twitter.
zoe keating described it as a “virtual flash mob”.

the way twitter works (if you don’t have it) is that certain topics can include a hashtag (#) and if a gazillion people start making posts that include that hashtag, the topic will zoom up the charts of what people are currently discussing. it’s a cool feature.

so anyway, there we were, virtually hanging out on twitter on a friday night. very pleased with ourselves for being such a large group, and cracking jokes.

how do you “hang out” on the internet? well, we collectively came up with a list of things that the government should do for us (free government-issued sweatpants, pizza and ponies, no tax on coffee), AND created a t-shirt.
thank god my web guy sean was awake and being a loser with me on friday night because he throw up the webpage WHILE we were having our twitter party and people started ordering the shirts - that i designed in SHARPIE in realtime) and a slogan that someone suggested: “DON’T STAND UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT’S WRONG”. neil gaiman and wil wheaton joined our party. the fdnas felt super-special.

by the end of the night, we’d sold 200 shirts off the quickie site (paypal only) that sean had set up.
i blogged the whole story the next day and in total, in the matter of a few days, we sold over 400 shirts, for $25/ea.

we ended up grossing OVER $11,000 on the shirts.
my assistant beth had the shirts printed up ASAP and mailed them from her apartment.

total made on twitter in two hours = $11,000.
total made from my huge-ass ben-folds produced-major-label solo album this year = $0

2. WEBCAST AUCTION, $6000

a few nights after that, i blogged and twittered, announcing a “webcast auction” from my apartment.
it went from 6 pm - 9 pm, my assitant beth sat at my side and kept her eyes on incoming bids and twitter feed.
while we hocked weird goods, i sang songs and answered questions from fans. we wore kimonos and drank wine. it was a blast.

people on twitter who were tuned in re-tweeted to other fans. the word spread that it was a fun place to be and watch.
we had, at peak, about 2000 people watching the webcast.

at the suggestion of a fan early in the webcastm anyone could, on demand, send us $20 via paypal and we would chew,
sign and mail them a postcard. we sold about 70, and we read all those names at the end of the webcast and thanked those
people for supporting us. here’s how the sales broke down:

all the items were signed by moi and hand-packed by beth and kayla.
the items and highest bidders were as follows:
hilary, ukulele used on the european tour: $640
jake, “guitar hero” plastic guitar controller used in album promo shoot: $250
lary b, copy neo2 magazine, plus two post-war trade slap-bracelets & a crime-photo set: $230
devi, glass dildo, with subtley-sordid backstory: $560
liz b., “hipsters ruin everything” t-shirt, made by blake (get your very own here!!!!): $155.55
shannon m., my bill bryson book, a short history of neary everything: $280
nikki, huge metal “the establishment” sign, used at rothbury festival for the circus tent i curated: $450
j.r., purple velvet “A” dress used in the dresden dolls coin-operated boy video shoot: $400
jessie & alan: who killed amanda palmer vinyl: $100
nikki: wine bottle, auctioned BY REQUEST!!! $320
shannon w., torn-to-shit vintage stockings used in the who killed amanda palmer/ michael pope video series: $200
jodi,
school-note-book break-up letter, written to amanda from jonas woolverton in 7th grade (i still haven’t emailed him about that….): $250
daryl, ANOTHER wine bottle, by request, that we had LYING AROUND: $320

and…………..

reto emailed, having barely missed the wine bottle, and asked us to send him “something funny” for $129.99. we sent a heath ledger statuette.

total made on twitter in 3 hours, including the postcards, was over $6000.
again, total made on my major-label solo album this year: $0

3. TWITTER DONATION-ONLY GIG, $1800
a few days later, i twittered a guest-list only event in a recording studio in boston, to take place a week later.
the gig lasted about 5 hours, all told, with soundcheck and signing. i took mostly requests and we had a grand old time.
first come, first served. the first 200 people to ask got in, for free. i asked for donations and made about $2200 in cash.
i gave $400 back to the studio for the space and the help. we sold some weird merch. i think we should call it an even 2k.

total made at last-minute secret twitter gig, in about 5 hours = $2000
major-label record blah blah blah = $0

…..and for fun, and to thank my fans for being awesome, i’ve been doing some twitter perfomance art, including answering their questions by magic-markering my body until it’s covered, and displaying time-lapse make-up application advice….but that’s another story.

TOTAL MADE THIS MONTH USING TWITTER = $19,000
TOTAL MADE FROM 30,000 RECORD SALES = ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

turn on, tune in, get dropped!!!!!

love,
amanda fucking palmer
http://www.amandapalmer.net
http://www.dresdendolls.com

The Ever Evolving Industry

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:16:51 -0500

Mike has had a pretty crazy week and is looking at an even crazier weekend, so I’m taking the helm and writing this week’s Industry Digest for him. I want to do something a little different this week.

The music industry is constantly changing and evolving. With advances in technology, people will always find more ways to get music, some ways illegally. According to the Music Think Tank: Everyone Ruining the Industry blog:

A federal jury found Jammie Thomas-Rasset guilty of illegal file-sharing and fined the 32-year-old mother of four $1.92 million, the AP reports. She was found to have violated the copyrights on 24 songs and each carried an $80,000 penalty. This was the second trial of Thomas-Rasset, after an error in jury instructions in 2007 prompted a retrial. Of more than 30,000 similar cases, most settled out of court for about $3,500; Thomas-Rasset’s is the first such case to go to trial.

We’ve all done it, download songs illegally. It started with Napster. Then programs such as Kazaa, Morpheus and Limewire came on the scene. As an independent artist management company, we’ve always embraced new technology and file sharing, but on the other hand we need people to support us. If we gave away all our music, we’d have to get day jobs. True, we’re offering Taylor Carson’s full catalogue for free at http://friendsandfamily.taylorcarson.com, but sites like this and services like NoiseTrade give us the option to benefit from file sharing. We can’t put a price on gaining more fans and growing our fan base. The thing about NoiseTrade and the Friends and Family site is that you can get the music for free, but you have to tell people about it. With NoiseTrade, you have to tell 5 people to get the music for free and with the FAF site, there is no link to it anywhere, so to get the music, someone has to tell you about the site and then, hopefully, in turn, you’ll tell somebody else, and the chain continues.

In recent years, music has gone from being a service to a business. Back in the “olden days:” music was something to entertain people, now it is about making money. An artists makes music to make a living. Here at Horizons Management, we’re trying to find that middle ground, where the artist can have a career and make money, but we also want to bring music back to a service that entertains people. Music brings people of all races, ages, and ethnicities together. It has the power to bring smiles out on even the rainiest of days. There must be an agreement between the artist and the audience that says, the artist is there to entertain, but the audience must also support that artist so he can continue to do what he does. Music is something this world can’t survive without, so we must find a way to support artists so that they can keep making the soundtrack to our lives.

The link to the new story: http://www.prefixmag.com/news/illegal-file-sharing-leads-to-192-million-fine/29813/

-Joe

Twitter exchange from 10AM this morning

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:20:18 -0500

Me: Pretty sure Pres. Obama has landed in Chicago. 4 large, identical helicopters just flew past my classroom window.
James: Nah, that was me. I don't know if you know this but, I'm kind of a big deal.
Me: Damn dude where'd you get the deal on the heli's? And when do I get one? Is that a bonus for working @horizonsmgmt?
Joe: Do I get a helicopter? I want one too!
James: We should rename the company to helicopter management.

Are Downloads Really Killing the Music Industry? Or is it something else?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:03:26 -0500

About an hour or so after posting the last digest I came across this great article care of the Guardian.co.uk, that describes a reasearch study done to find out what is behind this shrinking market the Music Industry has and the claims that downloaders and file-sharers are to blame.

Britians Minister of Intellectual Property, David Lammy, says that evey download equates to millions of pounds lost and business/jobs lost. The article goes on to discuss the file-sharers, the fact that they have a finite amount of money to spend and that even if you stopped the ability to download music illegally would those same people go out and spend the money to purchase a CD?

Well in the past, yes, many of those who downloaded music illegally would eventually purchase it, but as of today, with video games costing upwards of $50-60 a game and Blu-Ray movies costing anywhere from $15-30 per movie the music industry is hard pressed inbetween the two. And then why go to a store and purchase a CD for $14 when you can get it online on iTunes or Amazon for $.99/song or $9.99 for the whole album. If the industry wants to start making money again, selling records, CD’s, or digital music, the industry needs to find a way to compromise and on top of that legislation needs to be put in place so that singer-songwriters and publishers can make money off of the residuals of Games/Movies/TV/etc.

Not only that but as I stated in Digest 4 about Guitar Hero:Metallica/Van Halen and the Beatles Rock Band, the music industry needs to start cross promotion, working with video games, movies, and TV more: Which is why the legislation needs to be passed that songwriters, composers, artists, etc. will be paid for everytime that movie is sold in DVD, be it sales or rentals. The artists and management need to start bringing this idea around full circle so that way we can perpetuate an ideal relationship between all forms of entertainment be they audio, visual, or both.

What are your thoughts?

Hilger

The Guardian UK

Are Downloads really killing the Music Industry? Or is it Something Else?

The music industry does like to insist that filesharing - aka illegal downloading - is killing the industry: that every one of the millions of music files downloaded each day counts as a “lost” sale, which if only it could somehow have been prevented would put stunning amounts of money into impoverished artists’ hands. And, of course, music industry bosses’ wallets. But we won’t mention that.

Take the story that appeared in this paper last week:

At least 7 million people in Britain use illegal downloads, costing the economy billions of pounds and thousands of jobs, according to a report.

Shared content on one network was worth about £12bn a year according to the research commissioned by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property.

David Lammy, minister for intellectual property, said: “Illegal downloading robs our economy of millions of pounds every year and seriously damages business and innovation throughout the UK. “It is something that needs tackling, and we are serious about doing so.”

Well, up to a point, minister. Ben Goldacre took apart the rather dodgy calculations behind the claims on Saturday.

But it left me wondering. Why does the music industry persist in saying that every download is a lost sale? If you even think about it, it can’t be true. People - even downloaders - only have a finite amount of money. In times gone by, sure, they would have been buying vinyl albums. But if you stopped them downloading, would they troop out to the shops and buy those songs?

I don’t think so. I suspect they’re doing something different. I think they’re spending the money on something else.

What else, I mused, might they be buying? Hmm… young.. like the entertainment industry… ah, how about computer games and DVDs? Thus began a hunt for the figures for UK sales of games and of DVDs and of music to see if there was any consistent relationship between them. And since this was about filesharing, it seemed sensible to analyse it since 1999 - when Napster started and blew up the CD business model.

(It’s surprising how hard it was to find these statistics. You’d think someone like ELSPA, the European Leisure Software Publishers’ Association, would have them. Nope: instead initially I had to track them via press releases. The BPI, representing British record labels, said that it didn’t have numbers going back before 2004, which seemed a bit 1984-ish to me; it turns out the BPI doesn’t like to release those figures because it changed the methodology for recording sales in 2004, effectively reducing the number. At least DVD data are easily obtained from the British Video Association and the UK Film Council. Thank you.)

The first clue of where all those downloaders are really spending their money came in searching for games statistics: year after year ELSPA had hailed “a record year”. In fact if you look at the graph above, you’ll see that games spend has risen dramatically - from £1.18bn in 1999 to £4.03bn in 2008.

Meanwhile music spending (allowing for that * of adjustment in 2004 onwards) has gone from £1.94bn to £1.31bn.

DVD sales and rentals, meanwhile, have nearly doubled, from a total of £1.286bn in 1999 to £2.56bn in 2008.

If we assume that there’s roughly the same amount of discretionary spending available (which, even allowing for the credit bubble, should be roughly true; most of the credit went into houses), then it’s clear who the culprit is: the games industry. By 2009, the amount spent in games and music is almost exactly the same as 1999 (though note that the music industry changed its methods from 2004).

Yes, downloaders aren’t spending money on the music industry, and in that way they are hurting it. But I’d argue that the true volume of “lost” sales is nowhere near the claims made. Assume that music couldn’t be copied (as many games can’t). I don’t think that the volume of music sales would equate to all those downloads. At best, it would be £600m larger.

But the reality is that nowadays, one can choose between a game costing £40 that will last weeks, or a £10 CD with two great tracks and eight dud ones. I think a lot of people are choosing the game - and downloading the two tracks. That’s real discretion in spending. It’s hurting the music industry, sure. But let’s not cloud the argument with false claims about downloads.

Industry Digest #4 Latest and Greatest from Around the Web

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:36:00 -0500

This week finds us a week post-E3 and the tail end of this weeks Apple WWDC event. Lots of news coming out of both campus but only some of it pertaining to the music industry. Trent Reznor leaves the social network scene because of a few rotten apples and Derek Sivers shows us that in order to get help from the industry, you have to show your worth.

As I mentioned in my earlier posts a lot of industry related news came from last weeks Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in LA, with Last.Fm brokering a deal with Microsoft and Activision and Harmonix are making their rounds with new iterations of Rock Band with the Beatles Rock Band (Due 9.9.09, same day as the release of their remastered albums). Green Day announced that they will be releasing new tracks from their latest album Breakdown. Activision has already spearheaded the “single” band game, having already produced Guitar Hero: Metallica and now working on Guitar Hero: Van Halen, not only are they working on those but also on a new Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 5.

I keep coming back to The Beatles Rock Band for a few reasons, the main one being that The Beatles have not licensed their music out to ANYONE, not even to iTunes, yet they jump right on the bandwagon of Rock Band, the most popular, Party/Rythm Game for the Xbox 360 and PS3. So you better believe that the Beatles will see residuals everytime that game is purchased, or when new tracks are available and paid for and downloaded. This is the new market for music, with placement in games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, or even licensed out for games like Grand Theft Auto, Fallout 3, or Madden Football, these are the new forms in which artists can capitalize and make a profit on. If the Music Industry isn’t profitable find something that is.

Yahoo announced this week that they are launching a free Yahoo Music app for the iPhone. It will provide 150 Yahoo Music streaming stations along with 100 stations from CBS Radio. And that isn’t the only thing CBS is doing, announced this week as well is that the founders of Last.Fm are resigning. After acquiring Last.Fm two years ago, CBS is finally taking over the reigns. Many are curious to see how long it will last, as Last.Fm just grew to 37.3 Million users, which is estimated to grow now since the deal which was brokered between Last.FM and Microsoft to allow users of the Xbox 360 to set up their own accounts, stations, and pages.

And of course my favorite blogger, Derek Sivers, posted an interesting blog on showing success before asking for help. He discusses how he came across a paper on a collegeues desk at Warner/Chappell Music Publishing that listed the cash advances for the songwriters who submitted songs. One girl, whos work was always in on time, every week, in the right format, always picked up by famous artists because she had great songs, her advance was $15,000. The other guy, who was habitually late, submitted songs on reel-to-reel, his songs were horrbile, and only because he was in an 80s Band with a famous artists and had a 1/16th writing credit on an album that sold 20 million copies. His advance, $500,000. What this says is that you have to make your own success before getting the help you need.

Thats all for now, articles are linked and below. Also added Comment (via Disqus) section so feel free to leave your thoughts and opinons!

Hilger

Rolling Stone

Green Day Brings new Breakdown Songs to Rock Band

Green Day Bring New “Breakdown” Tracks To “Rock Band”

6/12/09, 12:25 pm EST

Photo: Lauren/WireImage

Green Day and Rock Band are teaming up to bring a trio of tracks off the band’s latest album, the four-star 21st Century Breakdown to the video game. Breakdown’s first single “Know Your Enemy,” plus “21 Guns” and “East Jesus Nowhere” will all be featured in a Rock Band DLC pack being released on July 7th, Rock Band makers MTV Games and Harmonix announced.

“Rock Band is a really cool way for fans of all ages to experience our music,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said in a press release that also hints at a future collaboration between the Bay Area punks and the game: “Additional Green Day songs and projects will be announced at a later date.”

Green Day is the latest band to join forces with one of the industry’s biggest video games as the two leaders — Rock Band and Guitar Hero — vie for blockbuster names and exclusives. Activision has already struck a deal with Van Halen for a Guitar Hero game that won’t feature Mike Anthony or Sammy Hagar, and also joined forces with Eminem and Jay-Z for the upcoming DJ Hero. Rock Band, meanwhile, nabbed the Fab Four for September 9th’s The Beatles: Rock Band.

The three songs mark the first time Green Day tunes have been playable in the Rock Band series. The Breakdown trio told the story behind the making of 21st Century Breakdown in a recent Rolling Stone cover story. For photos and interviews from that issue, check out our Green Day hub.

Digital Media Wire

Yahoo Music Debuts Free application on iPhone

Yahoo! Music iPhone App Powered by CBS RADIO

Posted by warmer, June 11, 2009 at 1:13 am, in YMusicBlog General.

We’re proud to announce that you can now get all of your favorite radio stations through a free app for the Apple® iPhone™ and iPod Touch. The amazing team at CBS RADIO crammed a lot of great features into the Yahoo! Music app so that you will never be without your favorite music when you’re on the go. Here are just a few of the great features included:

Browse through 20+ genres
Skip up to six songs an hour
Browse stations by genre or find local stations ‘near you’ utilizing GPS
Share stations with friends
Browse your listening history or recently played stations
Buy albums/songs via iTunes
Listen to 1010WINS, KROQ, WFAN and more than a hundred other CBS RADIO stations in addition to Yahoo! Music’s 150 music stations
Add presets for instant access to your favorite stations

We’re extremely excited about the new Yahoo! Music iPhone App and think you will be too. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, download the app from iTunes now.

For more information about the new Yahoo! Music App powered by CBS RADIO, click here.

Stay tuned for more great products and features coming from Yahoo! Music and our friends at CBS RADIO.

Dave Warmerdam
Yahoo! Music

Digital Media Wire (Last.Fm Blog)

Last.FM Founders Resign, Hand Reigns over to CBS Corp.

Founders of CBS-Owned Web Music Service Last.fm Resign

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 10, 2009 - 10:57am.

London - The three founders of London-based social music discovery service Last.fm, which was acquired two years ago by CBS (NYSE: CBS) for $280 million, announced on Wednesday in a blog post that they are stepping down from the company.

“After two years running Last.fm within CBS we feel the time is right to begin the process of handing over the reins,” reads the blog post from Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel and Richard Jones.

“This is the latest stage in a long journey for us founders, which began in a living room in East London in 2002, and took us to the headquarters of one of the biggest media companies in the world.”

Stiksel and Miller told PaidContent that CBS Interactive Music president David Goodman will serve as interim general manager at Last.fm while a replacement is sought.

The trio noted that Last.fm’s user base has more than doubled over the past year, to 37.3 million monthly unique visitors.

Derek Sivers Blog

Show Success Before Asking For Help

Show success before asking for help

from Derek Sivers by Derek

From 1990 to 1992 I ran the New York archives at Warner/Chappell Music Publishing.

(The music publishing business gives a cash advance to a songwriter in return for owning half the income generated from their songs. The publisher is betting that the songs will earn at least that much, whether recorded by a famous artist or the songwriter themselves.)

One day, as I walked by someone’s desk, I noticed she had accidently left out the balance sheet showing every songwriter signed to the New York office, their cash advance, and how much they had earned. I quickly took it to the Xerox machine, made a copy, and put it back.

That night, reading it on the subway home, I learned a great lesson by looking at a huge difference between two songwriters:

There was one writer who was wonderful – a publisher’s dream. Her songs were great and easy to pitch to famous artists. She turned in a new song every week, professional and well-recorded. She was signed to Warner/Chappell because one of the managers there heard her and believed in her, even though she hadn’t had any success yet. Her advance: $15,000.

The other writer was horrible. His songs were really bad metal that’d make Spinal Tap cringe. Poorly recorded, terribly performed, sent late, and on reel-to-reel tape that nobody used anymore. (I always had to dust off the reel-to-reel machine twice a year when his new demos would arrive.) But in the 80s he’d been in a band with a major rock star, and had 1/16th of a songwriting credit on one song that was on a record that sold over 20 million copies. His advance: $500,000.

The lesson I never forgot:

You have to make your own success first, before you ask the industry for help.

You have to show that you’re going to be successful with-or-without their help. Show that you have momentum, and if they want to accelerate it or amplify it they can, but it will cost them to ride your coat-tails.

If you don’t do this, then even in the best-case scenario, where someone at the company really believes in you, you’ll have no negotiating leverage, and will get the worst deal possible.

If you’re just starting out, don’t ask the industry for help yet. Make something happen by yourself first, so you have a success story to tell and momentum to show.

Horizons Management Background

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:23:00 -0500

Over the past year James, Ky, Taylor, Syd, Mike and myself have put together a little family called Horizons Management. A little background… I met James Kenly in 2006 when he was managing Braddigan. In January of 2008 James started to manage Taylor Carson and Syd. Since then he worked on putting together an indie artist management company with TAC and Syd as its first two active artists. He called this company Horizons Management. Last summer James officially announced Horizons with its first official hire, Ky Winborn. Ky became the point man for Horizons while James was getting married. Ky has stayed on as day-to-day operations man for Taylor and Syd. Mike Hilger also met James while he was managing Brad. Mike has recently become Horizons first official intern. Over the years, I have stuck by James and have watched Horizons grow from an idea to a full fledged company. I guess I’ve always been an unofficial intern for Horizons doing PR and promo for the artists. Over the past few months we’ve gotten close as a team and as a family. James, Ky, Taylor, Syd, Mike and I make up the Horizons Team and we keep our finger on the pulse of the indie music scene.

The Horizons website is not complete yet, but you can see what we’ve got up at http://www.horizonsmanagement.com.

We like to keep it intimate and we’re trying to stay afloat on this sea we call the music industry. We won’t stop until we reach the horizon!

-Joe

Oh where have you been, my blue eyed son?

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:37:33 -0500

From Taylor Carson:

I haven’t written anything in a while in terms of blogging, so here I go. Music has been swallowing me lately and the new songs have completely consumed most of my thoughts. These songs are really important to me. These thoughts have definitely been inside of me before, but as I am getting a little more comfortable with the writer that I am, my thoughts towards writing are undeniable. If you haven’t heard, which most of you probably haven’t, I have written a cd about the history of my family. The cd tells stories that span 90 years of love, loss and happiness. Most importantly, this cd is about honor and truth.

My father is from Georgia and my birth mother is from Alabama. It was crazy times for both of them growing up, neither one came from normal backgrounds and that screams through on these tracks. I grew up with an amazing step-mother from NJ (God’s country) and my Georgia boy of a father. I was a PAIN IN THE ASS of a kid, but I am happy to say that I have learned so much and am so thankful for all of the decisions I have made. A lot were not so good, but some were pretty bad ass.

Music is my therapy, a lot of people see therapists to talk about their families. I meet with my guitar, a notepad and pen. There’s love in my life, there’s loss in my life. Most importantly, there’s fire in my life that makes me create. We’re going to release this cd “Defending the Name” in March of next year and that thrills me to death. I am however scared as hell of what is to come after that cd. I want the next one to be better — completely normal, I’ve been here before. Thanks for being here, thanks for being along for the ride. Thanks for making me tap the brakes and for making me put on my seatbelt. It’s in all of our hands, we just need to pass it along.

~tac

Update to Kotaku Story on Last.FM/Microsoft Deal

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:44:00 -0500

As I mentioned in our first blog, Kotaku had an update article about the addition of Last.FM to Xbox Live for free for the Gold (Paying) users. They say it will function just like the web version of Last.FM, but in addition, you can “party up” with your friends and listen to tracks together, which I think is a new/interesting way to share music with your friends and introduce them to bands they have not heard of.

Most of this information was kind of swept under the rug as Microsoft had many new and innovative things to announce last Monday at E3, and many journalists kind of skipped passed it as they were treated instantly to the first look into Beatles Rock Band (more on this later) with a suprise visit from not only Olivia and Dahni Harrison and Yoko Ono, but Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Kotaku mentions that users will be able to start their own Last.Fm page on their Xbox 360 with their own playlists and tracks, be able to share these with friends, and even recommend tracks/artists.

For me this still goes back to the idea of WILL THE ARTIST/PRO (Publishers) get a cut of what Microsoft charges ($50/Year) per play? Or will it continue on the soul basis of how Last.FM already runs on the web?

They also state that a rough date of Fall of 2009 will be when we see this available to 360 users. Should be interesting to see if this may be beneficial or profitable for artists.

Hilger

Great video from Martin Atkins of Invisible Records (Chicago,...

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:24:00 -0500

Great video from Martin Atkins of Invisible Records (Chicago, IL) and former drummer from Public Image Ltd, Pigface, and teacher at Columbia College Chicago, discussing the Music Industry in Birmingham, UK.

A little explanation and some of last weeks latest news.

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:36:00 -0500

Welcome to the first itieration of the Horizons Management Blog. As it says in the title lets explain a little bit shall we. This idea stemmed from an inter-“office” related e-mail in which I was tasked with putting together a list of the best stories in the Industry pertaining to us, the independents.

After doing three or so digests of the best articles, it was decided we should toss a blog up on Tumblr. Being all for getting our name and this kind of news out to everyone to see and read, as I was once heard, “It takes an oil tanker 7 miles to make a left turn. But in this industry you need to be a speed boat.” And this is something I firmly believe in with this ever changing industry we call the Music Biz.

I thought the quote by Hunter Thompson gives us a great look at the old business model that we have been plagued with, the sinking ship model so to speak.

So lets kick this into gear and get right into it! I hope you all enjoy it!

(All articles mentioned are at the bottom if you care to read the full articles yourself)

First off, from the Daily Swarm, more artists sound off against the Radiohead/Nine Inch Nails business model (pay-what-you-want) of releasing their new albums. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth spoke out against the new business model stating that “it was a great community project, but it wasn’t catered for their musician brothers and sisters.” Many touring bands can sustain themselves by touring and continually feeding their large fan base, but for smaller, indie bands, its not that easy. The article then equates Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails to a Wal-Martesque business model keeping the mom and pops away.

Second article I thought was an interesting read was from Derek Sivers blog with the title “Some People Like to Pay. So Let Them”. Basically a discussion on how he use to get bootleg copies of MS Office, Photoshop, etc. and how he enjoys paying for them now. He pays for SoudCloud, Pandora, and more types of software and websites that help further his musical work, then he mentions that Radiohead offered InRainbows for free and 40% of the people paid for it. its this whole idea of perpetuating a standard, if more people like this keep continuing the idea of paying for things, especially music, will hopefully get those who think they deserve it for free, get the idea, and begin to pay for their music.

Lastly, from the gaming blog Kotaku, a small notice from this weeks E3 (Electronic Enternainment Expo) mentions that Microsoft and Last.fm have brokered a deal, in which Last.fm will be available to their paid users to live stream music on to their Xbox 360 systems. Should be interesting to see how this works out and if artists will be paid per listen/stream of their song over Xbox Live.

Also I have been tracking the ARG (Alternative Reality Game) that Derek Webb has been using to promote his new album, Stockholm Syndrome. He has been using thumb drives placed across the US, spanning from Tennasee, Texas, California, South and North Carolina, and Washington to deliver the content of the new album. They are directing community members to coffee shops, venues, and record stores to attain pieces of the album. I will be continuing to follow this and see how exactly they are putting this all together (Community-wise and Promotion-wise) as it is extremely interesting and “new-ish” way to distribute/promote an album.

Stay Tuned for more in the coming week(s)

Hilger

The Daily Swarm
Radiohead Model Hurts Musicians

Sonic Youth’s Gordon: Radiohead Model Hurt Musicians

Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon has spoken out on Radiohead’s “pay-what-you-want” for In Rainbows release and her opinion on the influential scheme kind of echoes Robert Smith’s rant from a few months back.

“[Radiohead] did a marketing ploy by themselves and then got someone else to put it out,” Gordon told The Guardian’s David Peschek. “It seemed really community-oriented, but it wasn’t catered towards their musician brothers and sisters, who don’t sell as many records as them. It makes everyone else look bad for not offering their music for whatever. It was a good marketing ploy and I wish I’d thought of it! But we’re not in that position either. We might not have been able to put out a record for another couple of years if we’d done it ourselves: it’s a lot of work. And it takes away from the actual making music.”

This issue has come up from Robert Smith and others before, including Paul McCartney: Bands that fill arenas are able to sustain themselves entirely by feeding on their own fan base, but smaller bands often need to make more money to keeping going until they can have a big fan base of their own. Have bands like Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails become a Wal-Mart-esque force that drives away Mom and Pops?

Derek Sivers
Some People Like to Pay. Let Them.

Some people like to pay. Let them.

June 3rd, 2009

I like to pay for things.

For years, when I was broke, I’d use cracked/bootleg copies of expensive software programs like Photoshop, Office, and Windows. Now I’m glad to pay for them, even though I hardly use them.

For years, if I’d see an opportunity (say, for something to promote my music), but saw it cost money, I’d immediately lose interest. Now I’m glad to pay for services (like SoundCloud, for example) that are doing great work, even though I don’t use them much.

When musicians put me on the guest list at a venue, I pay anyway. I like to support the venue and the artist.

I pay Pandora $36 per year to have no advertising when I listen.

At Magnatune, people can pay as little as $5 to buy an album, but the average price paid is $9.82. (Many pay much much more, because they know it goes to the artist.)

Radiohead’s In Rainbows album was offered for free, but 40% of people chose to pay for it anyway.

And I always pay street performers.

The key moment is when I realized that all of these people charging a little money are not greedy, usually not rich, and are just trying to make a living doing something I admire and value.

It’s like donating money to your favorite politician or charity. You don’t have to, but it makes you happy.

So I do my part by paying for things often.

When designing your business, service, or product, even if you’re offering it for free, don’t forget that there are lots of people like me that like to pay! Appeal to this side of people, giving them a feel-good reason to pay.

Tell them what their payment will go to support. Show them how appreciated it is.

Some will feel good about paying. It will actually make them happy to give you money. Let them. Always offer this.

Kotaku

Last.FM Coming to Xbox Live

E3 2009

Last.FM Coming To Xbox Live

By Mike Fahey, 12:45 PM on Mon Jun 1 2009, 11,723 views (Edit post, Set to draft, Slurp)

Microsoft and Last.FM are making sweet, sweet music on the Xbox 360 this year, with the music listening and discovery service available free to Xbox Live Gold members.

A relative surprise delivered as part of Microsoft’s 2009 E3 press conference, popular music community service Last. FM will be available as a free download for Xbox Live Gold subscribers later this year, allowing them to browse and listen to music, discovering new artists based on their preferences. As McWhertor put it in our live blog of the press conference:

Having Last.fm on Xbox Live is something I didn’t know I wanted. Now I do. Good get.

My sentiments exactly. This is exactly the sort of thing I can turn on and fall asleep to, and if there’s one thing I need it’s more excuses to fall asleep in front of the television.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and..."

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:11:49 -0500

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

- Hunter Thompson