Source: unknown UPDATE: We’re quite humbled that our little note to our friends about moving has sparked a lot of discussion and coverage of that discussion. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has written a response for the Boston Globe! I also … Read More
So far, Sophia and I have run two modest Kickstarter campaigns – both successful – for our films TEN (stats on TEN) and MAGNETIC (I never wrote up my analysis, but Kicktraq summary of stats). In preparing for these campaigns, we spent a very … Read More
Check out my little piece in Performer on why I think Kickstarter is in danger because of confusing policies and ideas about project-based crowdfunding. This is a short piece and presents a brief set of ideas meant to open up … Read More
This came out last month and I totally forgot to post it. Cameron Keiber (of Midriff Records and musical fame) and Richard Bouchard (formerly of Boston Band Crush now of TTs booking & Indie Rock Ranger presents fame) have started … Read More
Sophia Cacciola 2012 Best Female Vocalist Today, the Boston Phoenix announced that it would be shutting down, effective essentially immediately (Official statement by publisher Stephen M. Mindich). There are countless reasons that this is devastating news, but let … Read More
We’re now officially past the halfway point on the Kickstarter campaign for TEN. As I try and process my thoughts on this adventure, I figured it might be nice to share them in case they are useful to others considering … Read More
Courtesy of local music scene satirist Richard Douche-ard. Used withouthis damn permission. Try and stop me! To free or not to free?I’ve been having a series of conversations on Facebook (1 – 2) about various components of the value of … Read More
The TIME article, “Want to Be a Rock Star? You’ll Need $100,000” has been making the rounds recently and repeatedly infuriating me. Why? Well, it’s both horrific in its accuracy and its inaccuracy. The problem is, these stupid kids in … Read More
This has been picked up over on Music Think Tank, so head over there! To Eleven has a nice follow-up post discussing some of these ideas as does Rhythm Hub. Earbits also opened discussion on the topic. There was also an older … Read More
I wrote a bit about my points of discussion when I spoke on the panel Local Media and Culture: What Does It All Mean for the Music Scene? at the The National Conference for Media Reform last month. I actually … Read More
This morning, I am speaking on the panel, Local Media and Culture: What Does It All Mean for the Music Scene? (http://conference.freepress.net/session/505/local-media-and-culture-what-does-it-all-mean-music-scene) I am specifically on the panel to discuss how local media can be used to build up a … Read More
So, your band is in the running to open for the Davy Jones Massacre or play the side stage at Superdooperpaloopa. You just need to get the most votes and this coveted experience will be yours! I say you shouldn’t … Read More
I am delighted to say that this article has been picked up by Music Think Tank: http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/microfunding-is-the-future-of-labels-but-kickstarter-is-the.htmlKickstarter/MicrofundingBy now we’ve all at least heard about Kickstarter. Many of us have helped to fund projects. I’ve supported 5 or 6 myself. The best … Read More
I am very pleased to say that a slightly streamlined version of this is up over at Music Think Tank and another published in Performer. Photo by Kelly Davidson I am quite honored to have been asked to participate on the … Read More
I am not an expert analyst consultant new media web 2.0 guru monkey VC master, but I can see the obvious. Myspace started to bomb out because it was completely useless as a social networking tool. My band, The Motion … Read More
I am always studying how the wise and successful bands carry out their PR campaigns, particularly who they hire and what their angles and strategies are. I hope to write more extensively about this and other music business topics right … Read More
As we rock out here in the land of The Motion Sick, we come across a lot of different services and websites that help us in our quest to take over the world. In an attempt to share the wealth, … Read More
An article in the New York Times today notes that Apple is set to drop DRM (digital rights management) on music purchased through the iTunes music store from (initially, via the story) 3 of the 4 major record labels, Sony, … Read More
I came across this list of the top earning tours of 2008. I noticed something interesting. All of these artists either have been around for ever and ever or (usually and) they have target audiences comprised of older folks (the … Read More
It seems like every day on Myspace, we just get 50 requests from bands saying, “come listen to us” or “you’re friends with so and so, so we thought you’d like us” or “check out our new single.” My response … Read More
Team Love has decided to rotate a selection of free downloads of its albums and rarities in the Team Love Library: http://library.team-love.com/ It’s a great bunch of things available already. It looks like they are posting albums that have already … Read More
Music Think Tank is a great blog examining how the music industry is changing. I know I’ve been posting a lot of industry stuff lately, but it’s really what’s on my mind as we try to come to terms with … Read More
An interesting article about how the concept of “selling out” has changed in the last few years: Famous music/ad controversies: -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-The Motion Sick Blog – https://blog.mikeandsophia.com/
Pretty great free e-book on New Music Strategies for all you music makers: Definitely has some great points. -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-The Motion Sick Blog – https://blog.mikeandsophia.com/
now contains an amazing collection of music videos…damn! -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-The Motion Sick Blog – https://blog.mikeandsophia.com/
It looks like Reverbnation might be a quick solution to getting all of our content posted in many places easily. I am not 100% sold on it yet, but it seems pretty good. I really wish I could group songs … Read More
A great read by reporter Jed Gottlieb. The affairs of local Hardly Art (a label that I am quite fond of) act, Pretty & Nice are outlined a bit. They talk about the realities of the current music industry and … Read More
Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby and real indie music industry guru of sorts, wrote a neat little thing on how we anchor things to the monetary value that we first experience. http://sivers.org/uncomparable how did Starbucks successfully start charging $4 … Read More
Don’t Overestimate Free Part 2 – A follow-up to that previous post. Not as exciting this time, but a bit more… http://cameronmizell.blogspot.com/2008/10/dont-overestimate-free-part-2.html -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-The Motion Sick Blog – https://blog.mikeandsophia.com/
We use a variety of avenues in dealing with licensing songs. We’re working on setting up an interface on our own web site. Until then, we work with Taxi, Broadjam, Youlicense, Pump Audio, Sonicbids (though Sonicbids has very little publishing … Read More
As I think about new models in music and money (and whether there is even any reason to try to make music and get it out to people when the musiconomical climate is so bleak), I sometimes come across essays … Read More
Just to give you all some more insight into what the music business is like… ——– Hello, I am writing to inquire about my 2008 Q1 Royalties. Presumably, this reflects the period of 1/1/08 to 3/31/08. During that time, … Read More
Hypebot is now reporting that Myspace does plan to include indie music if it’s already on Amazon. I think the Amazon download thing is pretty rad. No DRM and it’s easy to download stuff without super crappo proprietary software (I’m … Read More
Ever since a long list of fiascos related to Myspace teaming up with Snocap (from personal experience, Snocap was terrible), the world has wondered if and how myspace would sell music. Hypebot has a little insider information today about their … Read More
http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/are-fan-funded-models-the-future-of-the-recorded-music-busin.html Really interesting article discussing fan-investment based music models. It’s quite an interesting idea. Essentially, fans invest a small amount of money into a band so that they can record their next album. When the album is recorded, the fans … Read More
An interesting article (rant?) called “Please Buy My Record: The Futility Of Flogging Music” points out a lot of the unpleasant realities that are all too familiar to us (and probably every other band at our level). That is, sales … Read More
Adam Ritchie from The Lights Out (who I promise to retroactively write an Ash Wednesday feature for, as they were part of Splash Wednesday – the week before I decided to write features on the bands), pointed me to a … Read More
While Mike reads the newspaper to find random industry-placed adverts, upon my morning flip of the paper found this interesting article about the new head of EMI… A music producer, like Rick Rubin? No, a financier named Guy Hands. Known … Read More
So, Paul McGuiness apparently has a problem with technology companies… It is not enough that the band he manages just happens to have made more money than probably every Indie band ever assembled; but he’s trying to milk every last … Read More