The Changing Defintion of "New Music" and How it is Being Discovered

With every song ever recorded over the past 100 years available for discovery and download on the net–even the definition of “new” music is changing. These days "new music" to someone’s ears doesn't have to mean "new release". It can mean any song a person hasn’t heard before, even if it was recorded 25 or 30 years ago. Thanks to the success of blockbuster video games like Guitar Hero- today’s teens have been introduced to the music of guitar gods old enough to be their grandparents, and become huge fans of the genre at the same time. Today at my sister in laws "40 something" birthday party -I spotted my sixteen year old niece wearing a Led Zeppelin T-Shirt (she by the way can shred that little plastic Guitar Hero Gibson SG like nobodies business. Jimmy Page would be proud). The Rolling Stones, The Who AC/DC and hordes of other dinosaur rock acts now have huge audiences that are truly cross generational. Alongside video games like Guitar Hero, online social networks are now where the true taste making is taking place and the networks driving these connected tastes in music will only continue to grow. This week on tweetj (think “twitter” for music lovers) the Top 5 trending artists are:
1.Nora Jones
2.Muse
3.The Who
4.Kanye West
5.Kings of Leon

Hmmmm....new radio format anyone?

Silver Bullet for Radio?

With the growing availability of multiple platforms to grab media from and the unlimited amount of content to access- mobilizing a mass audience with traditional media campaigns using a TV or outdoor campaign will become harder and harder to achieve. With shrinking ad revenues and fewer dollars available for marketing, finding those platforms that will provide the most accurate and immediate measurements of your audience will become key. Radio and television have gone from being one of the quickest ways for advertisers to build a brand, and introduce a new message to the consumer, to now just one of the many ways to get the message out. What is the silver bullet for radio going to be?

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GOOGLE Exits Radio

After three years, GOOGLE has decided to exit the broadcast radio business. Their Press release concluded with:

"We have always accepted the idea that if you take risks not all of them will pay off. Deciding to close products is never easy, but we will continue to focus on advertising products that provide measurability for advertisers and are relevant and useful for users, listeners and viewers".

Ouch! I think I felt a parting shot there...and it doesn't really surprise me. Radio seemed to be suspicious of GOOGLE's intentions right from the start and never really supported the plan.

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Kid Rock Extends His Brand

The music industry is barely recognizable to what it was a few short years ago. Artists are having to find new ways to promote themselves, grow the brand and extend the life of that brand amongst an ever changing fan base. Kid Rock has been extremely successful in navigating these tricky waters. He understands what evolving the brand is all about. His ability to make the leap from a successful rap metal career in the late 90's to the pop and country charts of today is evidence of that . Here the latest line extension of the Kid Rock brand. It comes in an aluminum can.

Detroit Company to create Kid Rock beer and almost 400 jobs

Can Shotgun Marriages Work?

David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard wrote a White Paper/Book a few years ago called the "Future of Music". Even though the book is a few years old it is still loaded with great observations and still valid points. One of the things that they suggested was that ISP's should add a small monthly fee to their current charges to in order to include digital music services. This fee would in turn get passed on the the rights holders. All in all it would amount to taxing the bandwidth used to deliver the music. This new "tax" would act as an insurance against online piracy. The record industry needs to form new meaningful new partnerships with those companies that are at the "point of access" for music- like the ISP's. What the record industry is proposing right now to the ISP's of the world-sounds more like the beginning's of a shotgun marriage, maybe it will bring the "ISP monthly tax" issue to their respective marriage counsellors for discussion.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=agXjCIONibps&refer=us

Satellite Radio Blues

Satellite radio is not going to go away anytime soon-but it is quite possible that it will go through some sort of re-birth. Here are some options for XM/Sirius that should "siriusly" be considered.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/if-sirius-xm-died-no-one-would-miss-it