Singer/songwriter/producer The Dream can now add label executive to his title, as he been named Vice President of Island Def Jam Music Group.

From AllHipHop.com:

The Dream, born Terius Nash, made the announcement today (August 27) via his official Twitter page.

“I wanna thank everyone at Island Records/DefJam for their faith in me and making me Executive Vice President of Island Records,” The Dream said in a statement on his Twitter page. “Thank you to my team..my manager Mark Stewart & my attorney Aaron Rosenberg for getting this 1st step of a goal accomplished.”

Read more at AllHipHop.com

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Radiohead’s Thom Yorke … ‘I can’t bear the idea of doing an album again’. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/ Reuters

Radiohead have no plans to release another album, Thom Yorke has revealed. Long-playing records, it seems, have “just become a real drag”.

Yorke’s comments emerge just days after his band released a download-only single, in tribute to first world war veteran Harry Patch. This model of instantly available singles and quick EPs is the way that Radiohead now wish to proceed, Yorke told the Believer magazine.

“None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again,” he said. “Not straight off … It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us.”

The problem isn’t the format – “obviously, there’s still something great about the album,” Yorke said – but with the scale and consistency of vision that is required. “In Rainbows was a particular aesthetic and I can’t bear the idea of doing that again. Not that it’s not good, I just can’t … bear … that.”

Yorke is already considering recording an EP of orchestral works. “[Radiohead member] Jonny [Greenwood] and I have talked about sitting down and writing songs for orchestra … and then doing a live take of it and that’s it – finished.” Previously, Radiohead’s album-lead focus made Yorke reluctant to undertake projects like this. “You think, ‘Do you want to do a whole record like that? Or do you just want to get stuck into it for a bit and see how it feels?’”

The switch to short-form releases will be a change for Radiohead, who have long been one of the most steadfast advocates of the album format. Previously, the band’s downloads were only available as complete albums. This approach initially made them spurn the industry-leading iTunes Music Store service, which insists on selling albums as individual tracks.

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$200 iTunes Gift Certificates are selling for less than $3 in China now that a group of local hackers has circumvented Apple’s algorithm for creating the digital vouchers and built their own gift certificate generators.

According to Outdustry, which describes itself as a music industry consultancy specializing in the Chinese music business, sellers on China’s largest consumer-to-consumer online shopping site are marketing these illegitimate vouchers directly to customers.

“Choose one seller whose Taobao IM is online, talk to him a little bit, purchase his product and pay money to Taobao’s online payment system, Alipay, which supports most banks in China,” the report says. “All the seller actually sells is the gift voucher code which they send you directly through Taobao’s IM software. You can then redeem the card in your iTunes account.”

The consultancy adds that legitimate digital music download sites are few in China, as a free mp3 search is dominant. The $200 cards are going for just 18RMB ($2.60) at the site.

“We make more money as the amount of customer is growing rapidly,” said the owner of the Taobao shop contacted for Outdustry’s story. He also acknowledged having paid the hackers an undisclosed sum for use of their iTunes Gift Certificate generators. “The hackers are based in China, but I don’t know if they do the same thing in eBay,” he said.

This screenshot, translated via Google, shows 77,593 codes available for purchase.

According to the owner, the business started half a year ago. Apple has not commented, but it would come as no surprise if the company alters its algorithms in an attempt to prevent the practice.

Meanwhile, Apple is still negotiating with Chinese carriers to bring the iPhone to China, but progress has been slow.

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The music video is enjoying a newfound renaissance, thanks largely to YouTube.  Once upon a time, music videos were played on MTV, VH1, and BET, and that was that.  Now, music fans are calling the shots online, and the music video is arguably bigger than ever before in its history.

But how many views are we talking here?  Universal Music Group is the most viewed channel in the history of YouTube, with 3.4 billion views on a stock of more than 9,200 clips.  Sony Music and Hollywood Records own the second and third-place slots, respectively, and ChrisBrownTV, JonasBrothersMusic, RCARecords, and even michaeljackson are not far behind.

Suddenly, the brouhaha between Warner Music Group and YouTube makes more sense.  People love music, and even a diversified site like YouTube draws serious traffic from music-related clips.  But take a look at MySpace Music, and something interesting emerges.  Because it turns out that listening levels on MySpace Music eclipse comparable viewing levels on YouTube, often by a factor of 7-to-1 or greater.

The discovery was offered by exclusive data partner BigChampagne, who recently ran some numbers for Digital Music News.  Just last week, the top song on YouTube was Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” generating more than 5 million views over seven days.  But every day during the week, the top song on MySpace (Gaga’s “Just Dance”) generated more than 5 million listens.  Essentially, the same volume, in one day instead of one week.

A broader look reveals another wide gap, albeit on a varied group of tracks.  The top ten songs on YouTube totaled nearly 24.5 million daily views last week. But on Monday alone, the top ten songs on MySpace generated roughly 13.4 million listens.

The difference is glaring, and critical knowledge for those crafting online marketing strategies.  Still, the comparison does raise apples-to-oranges problems.  MySpace Music features audio streams, and YouTube offers video clips - different formats with different rules of engagement.  Moreover, each site offers different usage rules and experiences, also critical aspects of the analysis.

Perhaps most importantly, YouTube videos require a direct request, and YouTube does not string videos together.  MySpace, on the other hand, fires up a song based on page load - whether an artist profile or personal profile page.  That means lots of involuntary listens, with songs often strung together into a short playlist before an ad stops the action.  In the case of YouTube, a more hands-on, voluntary commitment is required.

But if the game is “impressions, impressions, impressions,” then MySpace wins, hands down.  Even if those impressions are less meaningful, non-visual, and ultimately less engaging.

Report by publisher Paul Resnikoff./Digital Music News

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We can complain that a salary cut at the top can save multiple jobs at the bottom.

We can look to Steve Jobs, who famously said during the dot come meltdown that Apple was going to innovate its way out of the crisis.

But what’s most fascinating to me is that record labels are not like Caterpillar, not like Chrysler, not like Home Depot.

No company’s going to rush in and steal Caterpillar’s business.  Caterpillar is tanking because of the slowdown in construction.
We can detail all the problems of Chrysler, but even Toyota is hurting.

And it takes so much money to ramp up in the auto and construction industries.  A kid in his dorm doesn’t undercut them with some all night programming sessions on his laptop.

But music is different.  It’s easy to make.  Can be expensive to market, but how good is the major label marketing when there’s no one working there anymore?  When they’ve gutted their touring and new media departments?

In other words, it’s incredibly shortsighted for record labels to be laying people off now.  Because they don’t have a monopoly on the marketplace.

One can outsource certain functions.  But you need a core team, familiar with all the ins and outs, that believes it belongs.

You need youth, who are not only in touch with trends, but have few expenses and are dedicated.

The fewer acts you sign, the more turf you cede to your opponents in the game, the independents.  Majors used to believe they could just skim the cream off the top, when an act got traction, they’d sign them.  But with sales so anemic and radio less consequential and the Internet delivering the ability to do it yourself, do you really need the big label?  Do you need to give up all that action for so little in return?

Now is when the future of the music business is being written.  Just like major media corporations like Viacom and Tribune could end up in different hands, when the dust clears, when the economy is healthy, expect completely different people to be in charge of music production.  Most likely the same young ‘uns above, who are willing to work for bupkes, all night.

There’s no stranglehold on creativity.  Not only artistic, but business too.  A great thought does not have to come in the package of a million dollar executive.  One can posit that the greatest thoughts, the best innovations, come from those unburdened by the so-called truth.  Successful entrepreneurs constantly state that if they knew what they did now, they never would have started.  That ignorance is truly bliss.

If you truly care about music, don’t lament the loss of your job at the major label.  It was just a matter of when, anyway.  Hopefully you’ve saved some of your salary, not blown it all on a big house and a German car lease.  Use your assets to build something.  Utilizing your expertise.  If you truly care about music, show us.  Don’t just bitch that you can’t suck at the tit anymore.

New bands and new companies are not burdened by the major label structure.  They’ve got little overhead, they can give it away for free to sell concert tickets, they’re not married to a political agenda.  Indies are nimble.  They might not have access to terrestrial radio, but is terrestrial radio the dominant format of the future?  Is ANYTHING the dominant format of the future?  By trying to hit homers are the majors ceding the landscape to those who know the value of a single?  And never forget, a bunch of singles will generate more runs than a solo homer.

Interesting times…

–
From Bob Lefsetz letter

Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
–

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Prior to last month, the agreement between YouTube and Warner Music allowed users to create videos which included the label’s content. When it was time for the two companies to discuss the renewal deal, however, it didn’t work out - meaning YouTube users no longer have access to Warner’s music library. As a result, users were now in a new boat. It’s quite different than your typical piracy cases, or even the recent case YouTube had with Viacom. Music that was previously allowed is no longer being allowed, and videos are being pulled because of it.

In 2007, YouTube and Viacom could not come to an agreement regarding a licensing deal. Viacom requested that YouTube remove all of its content. In that instance there was no prior agreement in place, so most individuals who had posted Viacom’s television shows or films had done so without prior authorization. In this instance YouTube users utilized Warner Music’s songs for two years with permission from the label. Now, with no prior warning videos that YouTube users made with Warner’s permission are being pulled.

More than likely a deal won’t be struck in the future between the two companies. What individuals should be aware of is that just because YouTube obtains rights to films, television shows and music on one day, that does not mean that these agreements are set in stone. Those deals don’t work in such a manner, and each YouTube poster should be aware of that when creating content.

By Samantha Rose Hunt

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The Virgin Megastore in Time Square (NYC) will be closing in April.  We saw this one coming with all the other closings…such a shame, it was a great store.  One I worked above for many years.

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Apple has cut deals that will finally enable iTunes to offer songs free of copy protection software from the three largest music labels, according to two sources close to the negotiations. In exchange, Apple has agreed to become more flexible on pricing, the sources said.

Under the terms of the deal, song prices will be broken down into three categories–older songs from the catalog, midline songs (newer songs that aren’t big hits), and current hits–said one of the sources. Apple has offered songs free of digital rights management protections from EMI for more than a year. But EMI accounts for less than 10 percent of music sold in the U.S.; these new deals will expand iTunes’ DRM-free library to include songs from the other three major labels (Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music).

Apple and the music labels have also apparently come to terms on over-the-air downloads, according to a source. That would allow iPhone owners to download songs to their mobile devices via cell networks and without the aid of Wi-Fi. Apple, which closed the deals last week, could announce the agreements as early as Tuesday at the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

DRM-free songs are something that many iTunes users have requested for some time. However, the celebration over their appearance at the country’s largest music retailer may be overshadowed by increased prices on some hit songs, which might be seen by some as an Apple surrender on pricing. Apple fans have long applauded the company for holding the line on pricing despite loud complaints from the major music labels.

The good news is that the price of catalog music is falling to 79 cents per song. The labels will get an opportunity to price some hit songs for more than 99 cents but eventually those songs will drop to 79 cents, according to one source.

Before iTunes users get too worked up, they should remember that song prices at iTunes haven’t increased in five years. According to the Consumer Price Index, a 99-cent song in 2002 would be worth $1.17 today.

Not only will new music downloads be free of copy-protection software, but Apple and the labels will begin removing DRM from music already available in the iTunes Store, the source said. However, it’s unclear what will happen to songs that have already been purchased.

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January 5, 2009

Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

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