Musicadium Blog

This week, the iTunes store is featuring a countdown to 10 Billion songs sold globally. What a phenomonal amount to have sold in the 9 years since it’s release in January 2001 (in the US).

I read an article at Digital Music News that also discusses this - apparently, the largest jump in volume purchased has been in the past 12 months or so, (doubling the previous year’s growth rate) from 6 Billion to 10 Billion. Which is amazing to see and shows a real shift in people’s perception and adoption of legal digital music downloading.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 most-downloaded songs - an interesting list to say the least.  It seems to say two things about the iTunes store:

1. Black Eyed Peas, “I Gotta Feeling”
2. Lady GaGa, “Poker Face”
3. Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow”
4. Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours”
5. Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”
6. Lady Gaga & Colby O’Donis, “Just Dance”
7. Flo Rida, “Low feat. T-Pain”
8. Taylor Swift, “Love Story”
9. Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
10. Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”

It seems that 1) Major Label marketing dollars are still, for the moment, driving the superstars to the top of the charts, and 2) the market on iTunes seems to be a market of younger people, predominantly with a penchant for dance/hip hop/R&B made very recently.  Expand the list out the the top 25 and you could probably surmise that the only other type of music this market likes is soft rock/ballads ala The Fray.  It seems that this list, by the very nature of how long these tracks have been for sale, could be superceded very quickly by the “hottest new thing.” One wonders, does this reflect the rest of the industry?

One would think that there would have been representation in the list from heritage acts or acts at least more than than 5 years old.  The only act with music released pre-2000 in the top 25 (never mind the top 10) is Journey.  Which is odd, looking at it without the benefit of knowing a little bit of pop culture - the Journey song in question has recently benefited from being covered by the cast of Glee, which firms up the young market discussed earlier.  Obviously, The Beatles aren’t on iTunes, so they were never going to win this race, but I really would have thought Michael Jackson if no-one else would have made this list.  Perhaps the King of Pop has not pervaded Gen Y, even despite amazing amounts of downloads after his death (R.I.P.).

It also shows a dominance of the U.S. Market on the rest of the world’s music market - only 1 artist, Coldplay, being from outside the U.S. territory.  No Australian artists made the cut (not even AC/DC!), one would have to surmise that this would be due to the fact that population-wise, Australian acts don’t quite have the mass audience of the U.S. or other territories - however, by that rationale, even with a Chinese iTunes store, and the largest population in the world, not 1 Chinese artist makes a dent or, it would seem, ever make it.

This week, the iTunes team are giving away $10,000 USD credit on the iTunes store for the person who makes the 10 Billionth download in their store.  It is currently at 9,910,346,099 - So keep an eye on that!

FROM STEPHEN BARTLETT PRODUCTIONS

No one can deny that the industry is changing. As a young artist, there are more opportunities available to you now than ever before– but more competition and obstacles as well! Getting time off work and paying for recording can be hard, and sometimes a new idea you have AFTER recording can be your best….. and its another year or more before you can save up to lay down the idea!

Some artists benefit from recording a track at a time and releasing it to their fans (including Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins!). Of course we still love EPs and Albums and think they are essential in an artist’s career, but maybe your fan base are demanding single tracks or you come up with that perfect radio song that just needs to be recorded. If that path sounds like you, Stephen Bartlett Productions has the perfect solution.

If you’re recording one track at a time with us in 2010, we give you the opportunity to save by recording your forth song absolutely free. That’s right, record three tracks with us at different times over the course of the year, and we’ll do the forth at no charge.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
-Free studio time! Your forth track free represents a massive 25% discount on your studio booking. You don’t need to book a full album to work with one of Brisbane’s most respected producers.
-Not only do you save on recording costs, but recording your work spread out over the year gives you the opportunity to develop as a band. It allows you to create and innovate from song to song, giving you a better, fresher product as you release songs into the marketplace. It also gives you a greater chance at standing out from the pack, all the while building a catalogue that can be used for single sales, packaged together as collection or used as the perfect lead-in to an album or EP release.
-No more stress when you write your best song as soon as you finished recording!
-It spreads the cost and time out, making it easier for artists who still work or study, rather than demanding a few weeks straight focused on the recording.
-It also allows you to spend your entire time in the studio focused on the song at hand rather than diverting the energy between songs, ensuring the best outcome and least stress.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR US?

The Track 4 Free program allows us to work with you over a longer period of time. Your recordings will improve as your act is working longer and we have the opportunity to assist in that growth rather than simply working with you for a few weeks and waving goodbye. Our discount reflects the respect we have for working with quality artists over the long term.

So please feel free to contact us with any questions or to book in with your choice of producers, Stephen Bartlett or Michael Hardgrave.
Bookings- Stephen Green bookings@stephenbartlettproduction.com +61 (0) 412 321 368
www.stephenbartlettproduction.com

- Track 4 Free is only available on single track sessions booked after January 1, 2010
- You must register with SBP that you wish your session to be tallied for Track4Free when you book your session
- Your free track must be booked subject to studio availability
- Your free track session must not be longer than the average time taken on each of your first three track sessions
- Track 4 Free is only available on full priced sessions. Discounted sessions will not count towards your tally of sessions.
- Track 4 Free is only available on sessions produced by Stephen Bartlett or Michael Hardgrave

Peer Group and General Pants to launch ‘Major Label’

Peer Group Media, Australia’s leading brand entertainment agency, today announce their appointment with General Pants Co. The partnership will give birth to Major Label, a pioneering ’singles only’ record label wholly owned by General Pants Co. where the artist maintains ownership of copyright, has full creative control and receives 100% of the royalties through the sales of music through digital retail stores.

The concept behind Major Label is for the 700 strong General Pants Co. staff to act as talent scouts and publicists for the label. The staff will seek out the next hot Australian acts and submit them to the music blog housed on the General Pants Co. website. Jethro Lyons, brand manager, General Pants Co. said: “Major Label is about discovering up and coming hot new Australian acts and throwing them a lifeline.”

Each month three acts will be chosen and their single released through Major Label. The singles will be available for streaming on the General Pants Co. website and available to purchase through selected online retailers.

Adam Zammit, CEO of Peer Group Media said: “Major Label is the first of its kind in Australia and Peer Group Media are delighted to be involved in the creation and delivery of the campaign. Our proven expertise in creating engaging projects within the entertainment industry makes us a perfect fit for this campaign and we are looking forward to delivering really strong results.”

Peer Group Media will be responsible for managing the overall campaign, creative, PR and artist liaison. The initiative launches on 1st March 2010.

Musicadium is proud to be associated with Major Label and Peer Group Media and General Pants in distributing the artists discovered to digital outlets the world over.

Yesterday, Hundreds of Thousands of Australians tuned into Triple J to count down the Hottest 100 tracks of 2009.

news.com.au dissected the countdown and come up with the following interesting facts:

• 50 of the Hottest 100 artists were from indie labels, 44 from major record labels and 6 were unsigned.
• Only 27 of the Hottest 100 songs featured in the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart
• 36 of the songs were from Australian artists, 29 from the UK, 23 from the United States.
• Mumford & Sons Hottest 100 #1 song, Little Lion Man, featured at just #87 on the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart
• Not one of the Top 40 songs on the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart featured on Triple J’s list.
• The first to make the cut was Hilltop Hoods Chase That Feeling, at #3 on the Hottest 100, #42 on the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart
• Florence and the Machine and Muse charted the most number of times in Triple J’s Hottest 100, with 4 each, Temper Trap and Flight of The Conchords notched up 3
• Lisa Mitchell was the first Idol artist to ever feature in the Hottest 100 annual poll, charting at #7 with Coin Laundry

Some fun Musicadium-related Facts about the Hottest 100

• One of the 6 unsigned acts, Musicadium Artist Seth Sentry was one of them!
• 12 of the tracks in the 100 were by Artists who Musicadium has distributed (though not necessarily the tracks featured in the hottest 100) - Lisa Mitchell, The Temper Trap, Seth Sentry, Sarah Blasko, The Hilltop Hoods, Philadelphia Grand Jury, The Middle East and Washington.
• Flying in the face of the Hottest 100 of all Time poll, half of those 12 tracks were by female artists or contained female artists on vocals.
• Seth Sentry was one of a number of artists in the 100 who were Unearthed artists

Jules, Flawless and Arno collectively form the Gold Coast original reggae funksters known as Anarchist Duck, and have just released their EP Propaganda to the world through iTunes. Musicadium Intern Julia “Ju-ju Bean” Bridger caught up with Flawless between the band’s antics which include; rescuing baby ducks from train tracks, “funk”-ing the system and drinking herbal teas, to find out what being a “Duck” is all about.

The name Anarchist Duck is pretty attention-grabbing and describes your political slant pretty well - but why a duck?

Ducks are amazing creatures and we stared at two holes in the wall that we turned into a duck when we first started jamming. I guess there’s a double entendre for the literary minded also, in that if you question the laws in society, you better duck. Anarchy to us is about the absence of control, not about the absence of respect and probably isn’t intended with the typical connotations. We are all about harmony, community and psychic time travel.

Your style has been described as a mix of Rage Against The Machine, Bob Marley and The Red Hot Chili Peppers among others. That’s quite a mixture, how do you manage to come up with such an eclectic sound?

By listening to A LOT of music all the time and taking all our favourite parts and mixing them together. That mixture is kind of like the mixture of spices you might use for an amazing indian curry, you add the spices and when they blend a completely new flavour is created.

Your music definitely has a political activist sense about it, as people can probably guess from your name. What influences you to help create positive change?

People fighting for what they believe in and being open to what others believe, not being afraid to be different from the ‘norm’. People who can look beneath the facade of society and follow their intuition despite obstacles inspire me to do the same. The absolute beauty that lies within every person is the best inspiration along with nature in all its glory.

I’ve read that your style is like Parliament and you’re heavily influenced by George Clinton, which makes me think of the Mighty Boosh. Do you “got the funk”?

We got the funk, you gotta have the funk. We are perhaps more heavily influenced by the likes of Bjork, Ween, PJ Harvey, Ani diFranco, Rage Against the Machine and the Chili Peppers. The old funk stuff like the Meters, Tower of Power and there is also a strong Bob Marley and 10 ft Ganja plant influence, hence all our funky reggae.

On your MySpace, you say that one of your least favourite past-times is “being asked to play bad covers especially by drunk people who have never heard of burping and blowing it in the OTHER direction.” This quote leads me to two questions- What is the worst cover request you’ve had, and how many people have burped in your face when requesting one?

I guess it’s more that you’re playing your guts out to an audience and then someone asks you to play a cover and it’s like “Ok, I don’t really hear what you have to say, I want to hear something someone else has to say.” Usually we don’t even know the songs being requested and then we have to say no and feel bad. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve had a burp blown in my face and sometimes it’s by my own band members (or myself!)

You’re performing all the way down the East Coast of Australia in the coming months, what can people expect from your shows?

A worldly experience that blends beautiful harmonies with hard funk and reggae grooves, some rapping and a lot of laughs.

Check out “The Duck” on Facebook, Triple J’s Unearthed and their tour dates are all up on their MySpace

For the first time in the twenty-three year history of the ARIA Awards, music lovers will be able to purchase and download recordings of the live music performances from the Australian iTunes store.

The 2009 ARIA Awards playlist is available on iTunes now for pre-order and from Tuesday, 1 December, fans will be able to download individual songs. All proceeds from the sale of the live digital tracks will be donated to local charity, Youth beyond blue, the youth arm of beyond blue: the national depression initiative.

Australia’s leading digital music provider – iTunes, digital distributor - Musicadium, and ARIA have worked together to make this initiative a reality, with all partners donating their services in support of Youth beyond blue.

Artists confirmed to perform at the 2009 ARIA Awards include The Temper Trap, Sarah Blasko, Kate Miller-Heidke, Lisa Mitchell, Empire of The Sun, Ladyhawke, Hilltop Hoods, Jessica Mauboy and Keith Urban, alongside international special guest Robbie Williams.

The 2009 ARIA Awards will be telecast on the Nine Network from 8.30pm on the evening of Thursday, 26 November, followed by an encore screening on MTV on Friday, 27 November at 5.30pm.

Digital Music and Video Aggregator Musicadium has joined forces with digital delivery to Radio/Media service D-Star MPE to provide content to the tastemakers of Australian Music.

D-Star MPE is used by a wide variety of radio stations and music supervisors around Australia and the world, seeking new music to play on their station, as well as media, bloggers and TV representatives, all seeking the newest/hottest tunes to spin.

The addition of the D-Star MPE service to Musicadium only strengthens Musicadium’s position to promote and aid Musicians/artists to get their music heard.

Musicadium has created a number of packages that will benefit artists in their bid to get their art to those who have the power to play their music to potential fans.

Packages include Alternative radio, Commercial Radio, Community Radio, Country Radio TV/Synchronisation and various media sets.

So far, Musicadium has helped numerous artists, including Sally Seltmann (ex-New Buffalo) and previous UncharTED winners Here Come the Birds to deliver their new singles to Radio and is now making the service available to all.

Musicadium’s role is to provide new music to Australia’s broadcast community and it will be open to anyone, not just artists distributed to Musicadium.  Combinations of the packages or customisation can be negotiated by emailing info@musicadium.com.  Payment for the service is made via PayPal.

The service can be found at http://www.musicadium.com/dstar-mpe.

At just about every conference or industry forum we attend, invariably someone will ask about “What’s the next big thing in music? What’s the future of music? How will bands be making money in 5 years, 10 years?”

Invariably, the answer is “horses for courses.” Which is kind of vague and annoying for conference-goers because that rhetoric then gets bandied around a lot.  But when you think about it, is very open. Which is nice. Because it means that you, as an artist or artist manager, have options.  Where previously, there was but one definition of success.  You were signed to a major label, big advances, massive tours, mass-media campaigns and stadium shows and platinum records, all the while being disconnected with your fans.

I don’t think that there will ever be a culture of the super-mega-massive-superstar ever again. Career artists, sure, big shows and festival headliners, sure, but certainly they and their labels will need to be thinking innovatively and being ahead of the game to survive.  They will need to be connecting with fans as well and certainly not being inaccessible as before.  There may be big success for a time, but being ignorant of connecting with fans through live performance and technology could so very easily push them away.

Luckily, in this new environment, it kind of comes down to something that Seth Godin was talking about on his blog a few weeks ago - making decisions. There are endless options in terms of distribution of your music, touring, marketing, publishing & licensing, the whole gamut of industry options.  By being a decision maker, you set yourself goals and you define who you will be and what you will and won’t do in your career.  There is no one path anymore, so making decisions about how you feel about certain paths/options will take you on your own choose-your-own-adventure music industry tale.

You can literally decide what levels of success you wish to achieve and how you can create your success, whatever that is for you. That’s not to say that an artist should not understand the current models within the industry, but decide to work within them, around them or invent new ones.

You can decide how to record your music, you can do it yourself at home or you can record at a studio, you can choose to give it away on a disc or sell it at whatever price point you want, you can choose to give it away online or sell it in whatever stores you choose or a webstore of your own, you can choose to have merchandise or make merchandise and sell it in webstores who can print-on-demand at no cost to you,  you can set up your own digital label and distribute not only yourself, but other bands you like as well, using a digital aggregator like Musicadium. You can decide how much you spend on marketing, if any budget at all.  You can choose how to access your fans and the level of interaction you have with them.

There are literally as many answers to the question of “What the future for musicians and artists?” as there are people in the world.  It is open to interpretation.

The next big thing in Music? Could be you. Make the decision to make decisions.

Interested in playing a showcase gig at South by Southwest Music Festival to be held in Austin, Texas from 17-21 March 2010?

SXSW Music Festival showcases nearly 2,000 musical acts over 5 days on more than 80 stages in downtown Austin and is attended by labels, agents, managers, manufacturers, publishers, writers, bloggers, media giants and fans from all over the world. This year more than 30 Australian artists performed at SXSW.

The deadline for artist submissions for SXSW 2010 is 6 November 2009 . Please visit the SXSW website for more information regarding the festival and the submission process http://www.sxsw.com. All submissions are done through Sonicbids.

NOTE: Queensland, Australia artists - if you are successful with your application, get in contact with Trade Queensland as they can help with getting you to the conference.

Musicadium family member Roxy Burt aka Jane Doe has been very industrious of late, DJing at the latest Musicadium showcase and at various venues around Brisbane.  Her new endeavour is the combination of fashion, art, music and industry. Just check out the Press release for her event this Saturday October 17th at Brisbane’s X&Y Bar.

The recent explosion of club nights has been a gift and a curse to Brisbane, Australia. Beggars have been made choosers with the weekly tirade of events. What was once the highlight of your month now has to settle for a nonchalant “maybe attending” on Facebook.

glassghost, however, is one night you don’t want to miss. A jam-packed feast of disco delinquencies for you to sink your fangs into, the madness begins at X&Y Bar on Saturday the 17th of October. A product of the masterminds that brought you Turpentine and Pistol Whipped, the two have teamed up like crazed scientists to create the Frankenstein’s monster of all club nights. Cue flash of lightning!

Inheriting Turpentine’s lust for emerging fashion labels, glassghost is set to feature some of Brisbane’s newest and most exciting designers, while Pistol Whipped sews it all together with Brisbane’s freshest offerings- DJ’s Jane Doe, Aukistra and Frankie Trouble bringing their distinctive indie electro buzz.

The night takes on a life of its own through an electric live performance by The Cityscape Riot, playing tunes off their debut EP, Technodome Nights. Already a Triple J feature artist in November 2007, the band are a heady duo that sounds like a mutant Daft Punk fronted by Ian Curtis.

Adding extra industry value to the night, glassghost is backed by digital music aggregator, Musicadium, who will be present on the night to talk to musicians and labels in attendance about DIY, 100% royalty-return Digital Distribution of their music and/or video to iTunes and a host of other online outlets.

If that still hasn’t got your heart racing, there will be zines by Bats and Turpentine to pick up, as well as live art by Coco, Sarah Field and Rhiannon Mallet. Oh, and did we mention that entry is FREE? Phew, BREATH!

So get your good self along to X&Y Bar (Free Entry) on Saturday the 17th October for glassghost!

Sarah and a crack team of interns will be on hand to dispense advice on distribution, promotion and connection.

RSVP TO THE EVENT ON FACEBOOK!