It is not only important for your career. to understand the marketplace. but it is a must! Our goal at AMP (ASSOCIATION OF MUSIC PROFESSIONALS) , is to help you realize your goal, and knowing your business is your business. Don't be the guy with the dear in the headlight look. You want to be successful? It's yours for the taking! So take it! Get to work! Learn your business! Help someone else!
This series will begin with an overview of the vehicles available to distribute your products. This is a blog not an exhaustive list.
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Advertisement-based service
Advertisement-based services offer music free of charge to the consumer, while funding is derived from advertisement. The model is widespread as seen by the success of AOL Music, Yahoo! Musicand YouTube (multimedia provider). Many of these services are internet radio stations, as they offer continuous streaming music, while others are not continuously streaming. Many of these services offer multimedia or additional services. For example, MySpace(owned by Fox Interactive Media) offers social-networking as its flagship service. comScore reports the top 10 in internet radio viewership in the United States:
Unique Visitors (000) | |||
---|---|---|---|
July '07 | July '08 | % Change | |
Total Internet: Total Audience | 180,078 | 189,134 | 5 |
AOL Music | 15,284 | 23,884 | 56 |
Yahoo! Music | 23,075 | 18,725 | -19 |
Clear Channel Online | 10,697 | 9,394 | -12 |
Pandora Radio | 2,551 | 4,834 | 89 |
Interactive One | 512 | 3,515 | 587 |
CBS Radio | 3,469 | 3,240 | -7 |
NPR.ORG | 1,717 | 2,538 | 48 |
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation | 1,373 | 1,885 | 37 |
Batanga.com | 1,239 | 1,810 | 46 |
Disney Music | 1,721 | 1,598 | -7 |
Other sector players:
See also List of Internet stations
YouTube (owned by Google Inc.) is the premier site for finding music videos for both independent bands and mainstream bands that have released their music on CD or digitally, while also being useful for finding rare songs.[29] YouTube is a multimedia provider, so it is difficult to say how much entertainment it has provided to music consumers, however it did provide about one-third of all 11 billion online video views in the US in the month of April 2008.[30]
The site is also testing three new landing pages dedicated to the popular categories of news, movies, and music. Each page will be populated with the most popular content on the site related to that category.[31] Some have even hailed YouTube as being the "digital successor to MTV"[32] as they seem to be positioning themselves in that manner. Currently, they have mixed relations with labels as evidenced by their icy relationship with Warner Music Group[33] but more optimistic relationship with Universal Music.[34]
MySpace (owned by Fox Interactive Media) is also a key player and Rolling Stone reports that it hosts more than 70 million users monthly and that “visitors to the site can hear both Bob Dylan’s or The White Stripes' entire catalogue”. Unlike many services, MySpace has been successful in making copyright deals with the RIAA's "Big Four", which is Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, Universal Musicand EMI,[35] in September 2008. In January 2009, MySpace made partnerships with the following independent labels: Nettwerk, INgrooves, Iris Distribution, RoyaltyShare, and Wind-up Entertainment.[36] In March 2009, CNET News reported that there are more than 5 million bands with music on the streaming-and-discovery music service, and more than 100 million playlists have been created.[37]
Pandora Internet Radio is distinctive from both YouTube and MySpace in that it offers consumers continuously streaming media rather than non-continuous music, which makes it highly similar toterrestrial radio or television. However, it can be contrasted with radio in that it offers music recommendation. YouTube is similar to Pandora in that it also offers recommendation, but is distinct in that content is user-generated.
A new type of service that has also become popular is sites that allow consumers to pay what they wish or pay by advertising on social networking sites. Sites like Noisetrade.com and comeandlive.com are examples of sites that sponsor artists and allow users to download music in exchange for advertising for the artist. Music is essentially free to users essentially costing only the time it takes to post information about the artist downloaded on facebook, Twitter, or email. Another example was the release of the most recent Radiohead album In Rainbows in which users could download the album and name their own price. The idea of pay-what-you-want music consumption is new, but catching on with users and growing.
We look forward to part 2 of this series! Please leave a comment. Tell us what you would like to hear. We will do our best to accommodate you. Thanks J.Grady
We look forward to part 2 of this series! Please leave a comment. Tell us what you would like to hear. We will do our best to accommodate you. Thanks J.Grady