business
Emotional Attachment To Music
Terry McBride—CEO of Nettwerk—talks here about imagination. He argues that with music, context trumps content because music creates emotional bookmarks in our mind. Simply, the song is an emotion. These emotional bookmarks are significant because they enable us to travel backwards in our memories to when we experienced the music. Consumers are in control of the music industry, and access rules.
Censorship and Media In An Expanding Internet Population—Do You Feel Censored On The ‘Net?
Blocking sites = blocking progress. I’m American. It’s hard to imagine über-restricted Internet surfing. In the U.S. internet censorship does exist in workplaces, libraries, and schools but U.S. censorship is minimal compared to Chinese censorship. Censored sites in China include wikipedia.org, amnesty.org, nasa.gov, digg.com, bbc.co.uk, cnn.com, guardian.co.uk, facebook.com, flickr.com, tumblr.com, wordpress.com, youtube.com, and—WTF—even disney.com is censored.
Music Consumption in a 180°—Terry McBride Interviews.
The interviews below featuring Terry McBride—CEO of Nettwerk—offer terrific insight to the digital era of music. Terry points out that the ways in which we consume music are changing rapidly—largely due to smartphones—and that the “emotional glue” between fans and musicians is the essence of music business.
Musicians—Money Is Not Motivation
Musicians (artists) are driven by a fundamental need to create. Music is their art and their expression. Even in a world without money there would be music, and arguably there would be even more music (and other art) than there is today. In his 2009 TED talk, Daniel Pink makes a strong case relating the science of motivation to creativity and business.
Musicians, Brands, Endorsements, and Partnerships (Part 2)
The internet has leveled the playing field. It has proven that content is king, and that those who work hard at delivering content can build a following. Artists have channels with live streaming video content and direct connection with their fans through mobile applications. The same opportunities exist for everyone, and they’re almost all free. You may think that endorsements and partnerships are only for megastars—but I don’t.
Music Dopeness and Bands as Brands (Part 1)
So you consider music as your profession? Then whether you like it or not, your band is your brand. You may think you are defined by your style and sound, but nowadays your are ultimately defined by your fans and their perception of you. When you look in the social-media mirror your public face should be a reflection of your private face.
Numbers. Fame. Adaptation. An Impromptu Debate on Business in a Music Industry Changed by The Internet.
Last Friday I got into a discussion with James Marshall (@infinitestylez) about issues facing musicians in the current state of the industry. I had tweeted two links and James replied stating, “The internet is destroyin’ industries we all love.” It sparked a bit of a debate at first—my stance is that the internet is changing the music business for the better—but we found some common ground along the way.
Music in The Virtual Realm
We are on the brink of an online music collaboration explosion in the years to come. Eric Steuer at Wired Magazine wrote an important article, Group Effort: Solo Musicians Band Together on Collaboration Web Sites, covering 10 of today’s top virtual jam session sites. The possibilities are infinite—it’s only 2009, and virtual technology is developing at warp speed.
