Is this really true... Take a break you deserve it.

It's Friday yeah!     Lighten up!  Chill out!!!! Don't take yourself so serious

A group of 15-year old guys discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Dairy Queen next to the Ocean View restaurant because they only had $6.00 between them and Jannie Johnson, that cute girl in Social Studies, lives on that street and they might see her and they can ride their bikes there.

Ten years later, the group of 25-year-old guys discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the beer was cheap, they had free snacks, the band was good, there was no cover and there were lots of cute girls.

Ten years later, at 35 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the booze was good, it was right near the gym and if they went late enough, there wouldn’t be too many whiny little kids.

Ten years later, at 45 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the martinis were big, and the waitresses had nice boobs and wore tight pants.

Ten years later, at 55 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the prices were reasonable, the wine list was good and fish is good for your cholesterol.

Ten years later, at 65 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the lighting was good and they have an early bird special.

Ten years later, at 75 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the food was not too spicy, and the restaurant was handicapped accessible.

Ten years later, at 85 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. It was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they had never been there before.

HOW DO WE TAKE BACK THE MUSIC BUSINESS

Here is an excerpt from my new book coming out soon:

One of the most frequently recurring questions is, are the major record labels going away, probably not.  Ask yourself these questions; should the majors go away, will they be of value in the future, should they continue to have the power they have always had, is there a way for us to all exist in the same space in a benefit to benefit Co – existence?

 There are lots of newbies as well as old-bies who would say, get the gallows ready, and hang them all.  Let’s take a look at that way of thinking through our new glasses.  A world of no competition would be called a monopoly. Monopolies breed greed, greed breeds bondage, bondage robs you of your freedom, while lack of freedom steals your creativity.  Do you see where I’m going with this?  The labels had their day and a grand old day it was.  From a nostalgic kind of hate love romance point of view, I hope to see them around for a long time.  They are going through a change that is propagated by demand, a forced recovery from bad habits.  They will have to change, or they will truly go the way of the dinosaur.  The new paradigm for this industry must be: the pie is big enough for us all.  If we could all rally around the idea, the design, that if the music business would work together to serve the art of music, it’s artist, as well as the fans, then the pie would be bigger and sweeter for all of us.  Have you heard the acronym for EGO – EDGING GOD OUT? Here’s a new one for you ECO – EDGING CENTER OUT. ECO/ ECOLOGY – The natural balance of the music business has become contaminated with the unnatural balance from the EGO system, and has evolved into an egocentric, selfish, self-centered driven industry.

The questions we need to ask here are, how do we put the ART back into Art, take the EGO out of ECO and balance things out?  While this altruistic view reeks of idealism, there is plenty of room for improvement, and a definite need to bring things back to the center.  We do that simply by beginning with one person at a time.  There are no theories needed here, you can put Darwin back to sleep.

Music partner Co-alignments needed/mobile websites

AMP is in the process of migrating all its services to a massive association membership platform.  Due to the size of this undertaking we are going to be looking for partners to join with us in this new and exciting premier professional association.

If you have an interest being apart of a progressive organization hit us back. This is not an employment opportunity.  We are looking for professional Co -- Alignments.

One of our service offerings is mobile websites. For a very limited time, and limited amount of people we are going to offer a basic mobile website for the price of $ 150 dollars.  This is an unprecedented offering.  Get yours while they last.  To see an example of our work at AMP, go to Riley Music, on your phone.  Riley is an Artist on Elton John's Rocket Music label.  Whether you desire a site or not you need to check this incredible talent out.  Hit me back at gradyshuman@gmail.com

This is an edit from earlier.  Just to be clear.  We absolutely are not looking for money.  We are looking for Organizations, Companies, individuals that may have educational or products that we can Co-- align with.  Those with an interest in serving the music community as a whole.  Thanks and sorry for any confusion.

1. Google has a separate index for mobile content.

Not only do they have a separate index for mobile content, but also it is fairly empty. Your site will pop up at the top of the heap.

2. Your regular website is not going to cut it.

There is a fundamental design difference between a regular website and a mobile website.

On a mobile phone, there is a very limited amount of screen space. If you have ever had to side scroll to view something on a website, you realize how much of an inconvenience it is. This is magnified on a mobile device. Even with the ability to turn the device lengthwise, the resolution is still extremely small.

You need to make it as convenient for your searchers as possible.

T3. 1/5 of Americans access the mobile web each day.

This percentage is increasing every year. If you’re not representing yourself on the mobile web, your competition surely will take up the opportunity.

4. Mobile web will overtake the desktop within 5 years.

Not only will the mobile web inevitably overtake the desktop, but also usage and adoption is growing at a much faster rate than the desktop did. An article in the New york Times quoted that 76% of searchers will be using a mobile device within the next 5 years

In the future, the vast majority of visitors to your website will be on a mobile device.

5. $1.6 billion purchased from mobile devices in 2009.

This is likely the most exciting and sought after information about the mobile web. If millions of people are using the mobile web, but they are not buying anything, most commercial websites would not bother establishing a mobile presence.

As you can see, purchasing from mobile devices is already in the billions.

Studies show that buyers do not have as much confidence in purchasing from a mobile device as they do from their PCs, but both comfort levels and the amount being spent is increasing.

Users went through the same hesitation when the Internet was just becoming popular, and now most people do not hesitate when buying something online from their PC.

You can rest assure that the same thing will happen with the mobile web.

6. 93% of U.S. adults own a cell phone.

Not all cell phones have Internet access capabilities, but that is currently the trend. Smart phones are not the only ones with access to the web. Standard phones are coming out with Qwerty keywords and website browsers seemingly every single month.

It is safe to say that in the near future, all phones will have some form of online access, whether it is being used or not.

7. 5% of the top 500 online retailers have a mobile website/iPhone app.

I was rather surprised by how low this number is. But then again, this means great things for the rest of us who are not in the top 500 online retailers.

I am willing to bet that one of the biggest reasons that you’re not ranking as high as you would like is because your competitors are doing a better job than you are in some shape or form.

Which means that if you’re reading this, chances are fairly high that you are already a step ahead of your competition.

8. Mobile advertising spending will surpass $6.5 billion in 2012.

Ad spend is a great indicator for the current status of an industry. If someone is willing to spend their hard earned money putting their products in front of users on the mobile web, you can assume there is a pretty good reason for it.

Furthermore, if they continue to spend more year after year, that indicates that the previous years investment paid off. And that is exactly how mobile advertising is trending across the board.

9. Users average 13 hours online per week, up from 7 in 2002.

As online usage increases regardless of the device used, accessibility is going to be the next lever to increase online usage.

A desktop or laptop used to be the only way to access the Internet, but now with Internet enabled mobile phones the Internet has truly become mobile. It is now simply a matter of service availability from your mobile phone network provider such as AT&T and Verizon.

10. There are an estimated 2 billion cell phones worldwide.

Not only are there a lot of cell phones worldwide, but they seem to outlast their owners and are passed down to another owner. There are great recycling and refurbishing programs that use old cell phones as emergency dialers or resell them at discounted rates.

As you can see, the mobile web is clearly trending up and has a lot of room to grow. If the mobile web were a stock, now would be the time to buy. It is the closest thing to a sure bet as you can get.

WRESTLING WITH THE MUSIC GIANTS

Here is an excerpt from my new book coming out soon!

Chapter 4

WRESTLING WITH THE GIANTS

You're 160 pounds, and you're in the ring with a 480 pound sumo wrestler; what you gonna do?  He’s thrown you to the mat, and getting ready to pounce on you, and turn you into a pancake; what you gonna do?  All you can do at this point is get some syrup, because you're lunch.  Sometimes that’s just the way it feels when you’re tackling the monster competition that’s out there.   Those days are gone.  The Sumo is beginning to look like an underweight hog on slaughter day.

In this chapter we’re going to focus on changing our paradigm on the way we think about our competition.  What if I were to tell you there is no competition?  You would probably say, he’s lost his last marble; and that may, or may not be true.  The reality is, there is plenty of healthy competition out there; you just have to change the way you view it; and that’s exactly what we plan on helping you do.  We are going to give you a new pair of glasses to view your competition through.

Let’s first take a look at what you use to see when you were looking at this giant.  Here is a blog I posted on evolutionofasong.blogspot.com

Major record labels versus Independent

Posted by Grady Shuman

Record Label Share

Old Man, take a look at my life.

Let's digress for a moment.  Looking back at 2004, the global value of the record industry was 16.5 billion dollars.  Today it is 6.4 billion.   Were the labels on airplane mode, was their thinking on mute?  How did this happen?  I bet they know now what they wish they had seen then.  It's got to hurt.  The amazing thing is they still believe their own junk; or do they?  It's hard to tell.  They seem to continue to ride their dinosaurs. Oh well!

We at AMP believe their loss is our gain.  Who is "our"?  All of us independents! We are going to Rally together and become a major label, the likes of which no one has ever seen.  As we pool our network of information together, and unite to bring our music to the world, the dinosaur will become nothing more than a fossil and a distant memory.  Come join us at AMP, as we create this new business model.

Click on join to become a part of the AMP TEAM 

Comparison of Record Label Share within the Market between 2006 and 2008
	2006	2008
Universal	31.5	37.1
Sony	21.2	20.1
EMI	17.9	13.7
Warner	11.9	11.4
Ministry of Sound	2.2	3.6
Demon	1.2	1.7
Domino	1	0.4

Worldwide there are two different types of record labels majors and independents. There are only four majors: Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner Music, the majors operate worldwide in all/most territories. Independents operate in all different ways depending on their size, money (investible) and repertoire. Below is a detailed  analysis to show the difference between the to types of labels.

	Strength	Weakness	Opportunities	Threats
Major	Own distribution and publishing companies. Access to international distribution. Can influence radio play lists and provide a diverse range of genres. Business and musical. Able to add value to products and finance with no struggles	Unable to adapt as quickly as an interdependent. Declining sales result in low ones. Arrogance Lack of vision	Had the ability to take control of the online distribution industry. Lost. Identity in their position in the market. Living in the past. Not willing to change	The web Digital distribution Stuck in old school business model. Independents
Independent	Can adapt to changes in the industry quickly developing new business models to work well in the present industry. Flexible in decision-making.	Limited power to sign acts. Lack of resources. Need added value to make radio play lists. Less money to invest in acts and marketing. Distributed by the majors. Most indies cater for a certain genre or market.	Bands more inclined to sign to Indies as they allow artists to develop. Increase demand for music on behalf of the consumer.	A major often buys independents that dominate a market. The economic down turn and the state of the music industry is having an effect upon the birth of new and existing labels.

MUSIC SURVIVORS GUIDE

Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book. I would love to hear your comments.

CHAPTER 2

CHASING THE DREAM / WHAT IS THE MUSIC BUSINESS

What is the music business; OR ANOTHER QUESTION COULD BE ASKED, What was the music business?

In this chapter we are going to take a look at the past, the present, and the future of the music business.  This is the beginning of your Due Diligence - appropriate carefulness.  Have you ever been for a walk in the forest in the South, in the summertime?  As a child you are taught to cautiously watch every step you take, and keep a vigilant eye out for snakes.  There are snakes in the south that are very venomous and can cause you severe harm.  Welcome to the music business.

Our goal is to help protect you against these venomous varmints. Look at this book as a survival guide, and you will need a snakebite kit, or two along the way.  We will be providing you with the paramount information you will need to navigate this treacherous terrain.

Let’s begin with a little history of the proverbial sinking of the Titanic, or if you would record labels.

RECORD LABELS WHERE'S THE BEEF?

I often speak to professional groups as well as local craft associations.  I'm frequently asked, are the labels really hurting?  The answer is a definitive yes!  Going back to 2004 sales where approximately 36 to 40 billion globally, from 2009 to 2012 they have plummeted from 14.5 billion to 6.3 billion, and it's not going to get any better.

Here's the good news!  The money is still being spent, and your share is waiting, if you’re willing to do the work.  The Digital age is here!  The biggest reason the record labels have lost so much, simply put, is their arrogance. They got complacent, and thought the gravy train would never end. Well it did, and they’re paying dearly