Sign of the Times

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Sign
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Times

2006 2007

December 2008

Napster shook things up in 1999 and music delivery models on the Web are still in flux to this day. Here are some recent developments -

	[n.b.- Apple bought LaLa.com and shut it down at the end of May 2010] downward pressure on 99-cent pricing continues with LaLa's 10 cent offering. Listen to any song on the site for 30 seconds once for free (from the 4 major and 170,000 independent labels). If you want to listen to it again, pay 10 cents to stream it as many times as you like or 89 cents for a download.
	Qtrax claims to be "the world's first free and legal peer-to-peer music service." So far, it has licensed the official catalogs of EMI and Universal Music Group for U.S. distribution, plus that of UMG's international label with respect to Europe, Asia/Pacific, South America and Africa. The goal is audacious: free, legal downloads from a combined catalog three times larger than iTunes, exportable to mobile devices.
	the labels are still mixed up. Justin Oullette, the organizer of star-crossed Muxtape walked away from licensing negotiations with the majors, but not before marketing departments trying to get their latest acts on the home page called him from labels that were formally outraged by what he was attempting. The organizer turned his attention to launching a service for indie and unsigned acts.
	music goes interactive with Musinaut's MXP4 format which allows users to mix and match beats, harmonic changes, and other elements artists load into a single track. Listeners can even overlay other genres (e.g., reggae) depending on their mood.

October 2008

Move over, Starbucks. More ordinary companies are getting into the act. Pepsi's Mountain Dew brand has started Green Label Sound to offer free exclusive download singles from Cool Kids, Matt & Kim, and other artists. Cover art uses the Mountain Dew color scheme (lots of green). Nike engaged Kanye West to release a song about Nike shoes. Bacardi signed Groove Armada. Red Bull is reportedly starting a music studio to produce its own artists. Tag Records, a new label formed by the body spray company, is now home to the rapper Q. Meanwhile, across the pond in the UK, Nectar credit card holders can use their loyalty points to choose from more than one million songs in Nectar's download music store. Artist exclusives are planned. 'Let a hundred flowers bloom' as Chairman Mao used to say.

September 2008

Virtual Musician Wins Recording Contract - A Nashville blues artist has won what is believed to be the first-ever recording contract awarded to a performer in Second Life. Von Johin's weekly shows have made him a legend in there. Scouts from Reality Entertainment went looking for new talent in the virtual world and Johin was the first signed.

May 2008

According to the NPD MusicWatch survey, the Apple iTunes Store overtook Wal-Mart as the largest music retailer in the U.S. in January-February 2008. Quite a feat for something that's only been around for five years. Other industry sources peg Apple's market share at 19 percent, Wal-Mart (in-store plus online) at 15 percent, and another big box chain, Best Buy, at 13 percent.

April 2008

Icelandic singer Bjork chanted "Tibet" several times during the song 'Declare Independence' at her first - some say her last - concert in mainland China in early March. Add this incident to others marring the run-up to the 2008 Summer Olympics, which China had hoped would mark its grand entry onto the world stage. Later in March, there were fatalities as China moved to quell revolts in Tibet and pro-Tibetan protesters were arrested at the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony in Greece.

February 2008

'Musicogenic epilepsy' - who knew? Canadian Stacey Gayle collapsed at a barbecue after hearing the music of Jamaican hip-hop artist Sean Paul. She was suffering ten seizures a day despite medication and had to quit her church choir and her job at a bank. She remembered a previous seizure involving Paul's music and went back to her doctors. She played Paul's song 'Temperature' for them on her iPod and three seizures quickly followed. In the first of two brain surgeries at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, doctors inserted more than 100 electrodes in the brain to identify which parts were firing her seizures. The electrodes were later removed along with the suspect brain tissue. The operations were facilitated by the latest in image guidance techniques and an operating microscope. Gayle has reportedly been seizure-free since then.

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