New Album by James Blake Leaked on Torrent Sites. The Artist Says He Doesn’t Care

April 9, 2013 by Yonah · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Downloads, Entertainment Industry

In a recent statement James Blake said that he is not concerned with those who download his music without his permission. While the English singer-songwriter seemed comfortable on the issue of filesharing, the future of music industry as it is today for him looks rather gloomy.

While the artist’s album ‘Overgrown’ had its official release yesterday, it had already ‘debuted’ on some torrent sites like KickAss Torrents last week. If you download the album for free and you like it, you can visit Blake’s official website and buy it (actually pre-order it for now).

In an interview with The Guardian, Blake emphasized how easy is for anyone willing to download an album for free to do so:

“Why wouldn’t you [download ‘Overgrown’ for free]? My label (Universal) is hoping that on 8th April you’ll do the right thing and click the ‘Buy’ button. You should see what they’re doing online just to get people to look at the ‘Buy’ button. I’m starting not to care, to be honest.”

With regard to the industry, things don’t look too bright in his opinion: “Things are changing. The ship (music industry) isn’t just going down. There are people trapped inside, bashing on the windows trying to get out.”

Along with the release of his latest album James Blake launches a mini-tour in the UK, London being his first stop today.For those who want to see him live, you can check the tour dates and buy tickets here.

Tags: music downloads, music industry, p2p leaks

U.S. Fans of Sandi Thom Get Her Album As Free Download Thanks to Publicists’ Mistake

April 2, 2013 by Yonah · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Downloads, Entertainment Industry

Scottish singer Sandi Thom has recently made her fans happy without even knowing it – a press release appearing on several U.S. news blogs inadvertently offered a link to a free download of her latest album.

The error was traced back to the publicists of the star whose hit “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)” made her very popular shortly in both Europe and U.S. Apparently, they forgot to specify to the reporters and bloggers on their email blast that the download link that had been provided was only meant for news and review purposes. Hence, the announcement for the North American release of “Flesh and Blood”, the artist’s new album, in all the articles it featured came with an unexpected bonus.

Sandi was prompt to tweet her comment upon learning about the blunder her publicists made and it wasn’t a desperate comment either:

“Blooper with press release! Prteam forgot to remove link to album for Free! Everyone from Fox news, Yahoo printed it!

“Thousands of U.S fans downloaded it for free!! Yikes!! But at the same time – Cool!!”

“Flesh and Blood” saw its European release back in September.

Tags: digital music, free downloads, music industry

YouTube Plans Streaming Service

March 7, 2013 by Yonah · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Digital Media, Mobile Phones, P2P technology, Entertainment Industry

The rumor has it that YouTube is taking a leap of faith by shaking hands with several major music studios in order to launch a music streaming service.

According to a report by Fortune, Google’s YouTube is planning on launching a music streaming service this year. However, YouTube’s mission is not going to be an easy one, especially with services like Spotify, SoundCloud and Vevo being its strongest competitors. Also to remember is the fact that Apple is supposedly working on launching a similar streaming service.

Nonetheless, artists and rightholders are nothing but happy with the news. This is also a sign that the music industry is taking baby steps into accepting a digital era that helps with distribution, but complaints about insufficient royalties are still expressed by the industry.

However, YouTube and Apple alone could be enough to boost the music industry’s financial power. On that note, Spotify is finding itself on a difficult position as the service could be facing higher bills once YouTube and Apple join the market.

How will this affect the market share altogether remains to be seen, but until then we can only hope that YouTube (and Apple) is up to the task.

Stay tuned!

Tags: Apple, digital music, music industry, streaming service, YouTube

Music Sounds Better With… More Cash In The Industry’s Pocket

February 28, 2013 by Yonah · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Digital Media, Mobile Phones, P2P technology, Entertainment Industry

The music industry was the first to feel the various effects of a digital era, and as time passed, their pockets grew thinner and thinner. After more than a decade of losing money to this arch “enemy”, the industry is finally coming around with an increase of 0,3% in their revenues. Not much, but could this mean an unexpected recovery?

The report was released on Tuesday by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, who said that the total revenue of the music industry has reached 16.5% billion, the first sign of an increasing income.

“It’s clear that 2012 saw the global recording industry moving onto the road to recovery,” Frances Moore, chief executive of the London-based federation, said.

“There’s a palpable buzz in the air that I haven’t felt for a long time.”

It’s been a tremendous struggle for the music industry to go head to head with a digital era that proved to be stronger, more reliable, and more accessible than anything music enthusiasts had seen before. However, starting with 2012 the unthinkable happened – digital sales, along with new sources of revenues brought more money into the industry’s pockets, a fortunate event that helped countering the continuing decline in CD sales.

“At the beginning of the digital revolution it was common to say that digital was killing music,” Edgar Berger (CEO of the International, Sony Music Entertainment) said.

But things have changed since then, and now Edgar Berger says that “digital is saving music”.

He is referring to digital services that support the music industry, and they include iTunes, subscription-based services such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Muve Music, and the likes of it. As a matter of fact, an increase in the number of subscribers to these services has been recorded, with 44% more users than last year.

The obvious success of subscribe-based services, has made giant companies like Apple and Google think; it’s very likely that the two are to introduce the same kind of services in the near future.

Royalties from musical performances and marketing models are also on the rise.

The improvement in revenues is not, however, felt in countries like China and Russia, where music piracy is still a major problem. Also, Great Britain could follow suit, especially since one of its prominent retail music chain went out of business (we’re referring to the HMV).

As for the United States, music sales had dropped in 2012, but, according to the British “Enders Analysis” research group this is going to change in 2013, with revenues rising from $5.32 billion to $5.35 billion.

Alice Enders, senior analyst at the research firm, is confident that the music industry will be rising from its ashes sooner than we think.

“If there is a lesson to take away, it is probably that the earlier you can embrace new business models and services, the better,” Paul Brindley, chief executive of Music Ally, said.

“Whether this is signaling a turnaround that will lead to inexorable growth, who knows? But it does at least signal a bottoming out, with room for growth.”

Well, if services like Spotify would reach the Eastern bloc (and not only), maybe Mr. Paul Brindley is right. Accessibility, a fair price, both online and offline purchasing, and embracing a digital era that’s obviously not trying to take the bread off creators’ mouth are things the industry should seriously consider.

Tags: digital music, downloads, music industry, riaa, UK, US

Spotify Blocked by House of Representatives Due to Its P2P Nature

February 12, 2013 by Yonah · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Entertainment Industry

While Spotify has become the most popular legitimate music streaming service endorsed by record labels and artists as well, The U.S. House of Representatives has banned the site from its member’s computers on the grounds that p2p security is still a major concern.

Apparently, this is what happens when old principles and laws apply to a new environment where technological development has embraced a new dimension, different and richer than the one lawmakers had in sight when ‘cooking’ up a certain legislature. Such a decision by The U.S. House of Representatives is based unpardonably on a rule going back to Napster times when p2p (peer-to-peer) was considered pure evil. The fight against malware and illegal file sharing, however, remains that poor excuse for banning all p2p technologies in times when these technologies play such a central role in peoples’ interaction and companies’ progress.

The Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) explained the blocking: ”To help protect House data, our IT policy generally prohibits the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies while operating within the secure network. While Spotify is currently not authorized, the CAO has and will continue to work with outside vendors to enable the popular services that improve member communication capabilities.”

We didn’t have to wait too long for the music service to comment the decision as expected: “It is a sad day when a few bureaucrats can block our nation’s leadership from enjoying free, secure access to over 20 million songs. Music is a common language that all political parties speak and should be used to bring the legislators of this great country together so they can solve the serious issues facing our nation.”

“We truly hope the House of Representatives will see the error of their ways and stop blocking Spotify so that all of America can benefit from their collective joy of music,” added Spotify.

Tags: legal, music industry, p2p, Spotify