After a brief scuffle with a cold, I'm finally back on the scene and bring great news for music artists and others alike. It appears that recent cross-industry activity has, once again, ruled in favor of new and independent artists. People, Amazon awaits you.
Since the downfall of record label success started half a decade ago, more and more major and local musicians, songwriters, and recording artists have found it more convenient to go independent with their entertainment goals. It's no shock that artists don't get paid much through record sales by the conventional method of an album release, but as a handful of major labels and a slew of independent labels realize they need to follow the money, new options are abound.
In response, Amazon has opened up its own digital music store supposedly to combat iTunes music store in order to grab a larger share of the market and sell more of its assortment of mp3 players. Currently, all of iTunes music is specifically formatted for the iPod and is all protected material provided by Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions. Amazon looks to evade the suppressive hold of DRM by selling unrestricted digital music compatible with multiple devices like your Zune or cell phone for a lower price as the battle for net supremacy rages on.
So, what could that mean for you? Well, with Sony BMG and Warner Music Group being avid DRM abiding labels, there is a significant void in the new AmazonMP3 digital music marketplace and more room for you. More exposure, more sales, more success is the potential outcome. In an attempt to source great options for my artists, I have found so many different services to promote and sell our music. This will most certainly be one of them.
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The Battle Rages...
Doin' the Numbers
Yes, it's me again, and the numbers are officially in. The infamous bout between hip hop icons Kanye West and 50 Cent has been squared away by the final count. After many on location and studio interviews, standard and late show performances, and even surprise guest appearances, the two stars have managed to grab the attention of the world and bring what you may call a "corny coincidence" to the music industry; they brought the experience to the fans, and in return, the fans bought it. With sales of 1.1+million units sold worldwide, West defeats Cent by a near 232,000 units, but they both win in this event.
To me it seemed like simple genius and intuitive awareness. If you didn't know, from my side of the tracks, downloading was never a ploy to completely dodge the purchase of albums, just bad ones. Think about it. It's no coincidence, however, that the highly sold are also the highly downloaded. After all, I was apart of the original mp3 machine. When Napster first started, I was in high school, buying albums like a regular kid and burning mix Cd's for myself and my friends (and clients) alike. But one thing that stands in every entrepreneurs line of sight was standing right in mines and in the sight of Napster co-creator, Shawn Fanning of Northeastern University; he found the pain.
Finding the pain is essential to embarking on a true entrepreneurial endeavor, whether it's real pain, like waking up early in the a.m, or a perceived pain, like not having an iPod. Back then I wondered, "why should I pay $18.29 for an item that didn't suit my needs?" And I boldly opposed supporting albums with two great singles and a track listing of straight garbage. Once you break that plastic packaging, there's no return like the CD player you played it in. Others like me used the Internet to survey the artists and pick and choose who we will support and who we wouldn't, meaning even though Jay-Z would be on my friends hard drive, we both had the premium packaging to go with it because we loved to know who did what and keep the items as a collection. One things for sure, we're not pack rats, so the garbage gets tossed, this time without our money with it.
The marketing ploy used to grab listeners back out of the slump of low expectations was a fine example of how many people still support the artists despite the downloads, and the attitudes of 50 and Kanye resembled that when they stated on Sept. 11th to download it, buy it, whatever, just get it, on BET's 106 and Park. So for all of you new age artists out there getting hip to worldwide platforms and digital distribution, don't be scared, just be true to your craft and the people will follow. In the city, getting your records bootlegged was a sure sign the demand was high, just create the type of experience people want to be apart of. The pain in the industry right now is bad music. Make good music and get clever about it. Go ahead, switch your style up, and if they hate then let'em hate and watch the numbers pile up.
- JP
Happy Birthday, USA Today
I began this morning like so many Mondays: filing a story (the challenging Portuguese one--a gratifying accomplishment) and searching for more freelance work. At times I feel I am always applying for jobs, but when you're a "things-happen-when-you-least-expect-them" kind of person like I am, it makes sense to always have your eyes open for new opportunities.
With this interest in new opportunities in mind, I am beginning my first Spanish class tomorrow at an extension school in my town. I studied Latin for around 7 years (and believe me that was great fun), but I have an increasing interest in learning a language that is more applicable in everyday life. There is a huge demand today for multilingual journalists and while I may never learn Farsi or Chinese, I hope that learning Spanish will make me a more well-rounded person. Exciting stuff.
In other news... USA Today celebrated its 25th anniversary on Saturday! The New York Times wrote an interesting story on the paper's history that is worth checking out. Times writer Richard Pérez-Peña argues that "USA Today’s graphic approach, its relatively young audience and its habit of encouraging reader feedback presaged some aspects of the Internet." This is a generous claim given the flack USA Today typically garners, but I generally agree with him. Thoughts?
On the topic of feedback, I was thrilled to see that my blogs had a couple of comments! I hope that, over time, even more people will feel comfortable voicing their constructive criticism. I love hearing from other aspiring journalists.
Have a great week, everyone!
Freelance Livin'
I was up at 6:30 this morning to attend an 8 am contributing writer meeting at the local, independent newspaper in the town just north of where I live. The commute to their office was no cake-walk, but finding work outside the city has proven to be a far more fruitful venture than my efforts within Boston. The staff met with the head bankers at the local Portuguese Credit Union. Being somewhat ignorant on the subject of Portuguese Credit Unions I dutifully took notes and struggled to follow the action like a first grader might while watching the State of the Union Address. And now my Editor has asked me to write a story about our meeting. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
Despite the occasional, overwhelming *yikes* moment (such as the one I described above), freelance work suits me. My primary work right now is as a Production Intern with an emerging media group that produces "smart reality" television shows. This is my first experience with television work, aside from completing a semester-long fellowship my liberal arts college offered in documentary film. My hope is that through television work I'll become a more well-rounded journalist who can produce a variety of stories in different mediums. I've become awfully fond of news sites like newyorktimes.com and slate.com (one of my favorites) that are developing television channels on which their contributors can "perform" their written work. Slate's channel, Slate V, strikes me as being particularly adept at this. A portion of Dear Prudence, Slate's advice column, is recited each week with clever cartoons acting out the selected conundrum, while the Slate Explainer offers more traditional video content, pairing the author's narration of the article with photos and video clips. Even The Onion has its own (very clever) video site.
I hope you have time to enjoy some online video this weekend...when you're not outside enjoying the last few warm days of summer. In the meantime I'll be inside researching Portuguese Credit Unions :)
Link 2 Link
So, it's a rainy Saturday afternoon and I'm feeling like it's the perfect chance to be a productive little earthling, for at least an hour or so. After all, I've got some free time and I know someone's either invited me to an exciting, exclusive event on Facebook or some sizzling hot model-type left a comment on my Myspace page, right? Admittedly, I go from trying to confirm my PayPal account for my artists' next underfunded project, to finding out I can sell my cell phone on Facebook's marketplace, to clicking "home" and seeing Danielle is no longer in a relationship, to poking Danielle and her oddly gorgeous friend, to reading Chuck Norris facts in a new application, to...wait; didn't I say "productive" little earthling?
Wherever you may be, if you feel like I have felt then you know that even after experiencing a refreshing blast of get-to-it energy, somehow you find yourself link hopping from one tangent to the next. You said you would check your email and respond to that web designer who said she could build your band website for cheap-grad student couch change prices, but that "new message" from SellAllYourMusicandMakeAKilling.com just-burglarizes your attention and has you clicking from link to link until you find yourself knee deep in some really cool tangent at least two hours later. If you can ID-fy with what I'm saying then you're probably a link hopper. If not, then you're probably lying. In fact, you probably hopped over to this blog while looking for an internship.
What I'm saying is, link hopping isn't substandard or looked down upon, but it can be a show stopper. I can recall countless times when I said I would only be on the net to look for shows, venues, and CD duplication services for an upcoming project only to land myself at YouTube watching R.Kelly's 53rd chapter of Trapped in the Closet. When I finally come to, the next day that is, my email has 117 in the inbox, my 20 item To-Do list has one thing checked off (the least important at the top of course), and that I forgot to call a handful of people by 6:30p.
Furthermore, the idea is that link hopping can place a sizable burden on your entertainment biz advances just as it can for your scholastic objectives, that is, if you let it. Consequently, the same way that club hopping can leave you with a sandy wallet, you can get burned if not careful. On the other hand, there's no doubt that the tangent path is the more exciting one, which is mostly how we find the best sites and services. I prefer it just as much as you, but we can't let it get in the way of our daily tasks.
I know there's a thousand emails from artist network sites and some overseas bank that holds 30 million euros for you from your long lost relative, but that's just it. Get through the bulk so that it won't feel like things aren't moving forward. Get that logo done so you can throw it on your 2-week order merch in time for the next show. 'Cuz if you're like me, you hate to know you missed a golden opportunity just for a chance to "win a brand new iPod after filling out this survey!"
Oh, and for those who don't know what "poking" is, get facebook already, and waste your free time like the rest of us, loon.
"Link 2 Link, B4 U Can Blink"
- Jason P.
The Gospel According to Amy
One of my high school teachers once attempted to dissuade me from pursuing a career in journalism because, as he said, "the only time anyone will notice you is when they're mad at you." It is true that good journalists often incense their audiences. The Bush administration's antagonism toward the entire Al Jazeera network is well documented and being a journalist in Russia today is no task for the faint of heart. What is so threatening about a journalist?
I begin my blog with you today to explore this idea, among others. We young writers, producers, directors, and voices represent a new generation of journalists--and, as such, our responsibility is great. We will not make as much money as many of our college classmates. We may not hold jobs that, to others, seem prestigious. We may even make a few people mad. But we, a community of journalists supporting one another, are powerful.
I am no expert in the field, but perhaps by sharing my successes and failures with you I will help in your journey.
