I think we all know that Trent Reznor has done some very cool things for his fans on his own, without a label. Here is a video case study from midem that consolidates all of his efforts into one presentation. What I find most mind boggling is the amount of money he’s made from these efforts. And he isn’t getting a percentage of this, all of the revenue goes straight to him. I’m really not a fan of Trent or NIN, but this is impressive and he’s done an amazing job at turning the industry’s business model upside-down.
Social networking giant Facebook overtook Google's search engine page this week to become the most visited website in the U.S. According to research from web statistics firm Hitwise, Facebook edged google out by .4 percent, after almost tripling in unique visitors from the past year.
Facebook, which first launched to the public in 2004, has become the defacto standard for social networking and has added music and games and enhanced content features. Google has taken steps to counter Facebook by offering a social networking feature for their Gmail service called Buzz that lets users share media such as videos and photos. Google has indicated that they are considering making the Buzz feature a stand-alone service, Bloomberg reported. - via CelebrityAccess
Global mobile apps will be worth $17.5 billion by 2012, according to an independent report commissioned by app store GetJar. Mobile app downloads across all types of handset are also expected to increase from over 7 billion downloads in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012 - a year on year growth rate of 92%.
This would mean that the value of apps sold would be greater than the projected $13.83 billion value of CDs sold in 2012.
A new tongue in British cheek video commissioned by ISP Talk Talk uses bad 80's pop to take on the more questionable arguments against file sharing. "Home Taping Is Killing Music" is part of a broader campaign Don'tDisconnect.us lobbying against proposed British laws that would have ISP's act as internet police shutting off and even prosecuting offenders.
The purposefully untalented clones of Madonna, George Michaels and Adam Ant singing and dancing to a cheesy soundtrack are reasons enough to watch this video. But be sure to hang in until near the end where we're reminded of all of the other at risk industries ( i.e."Home sleeping is killing hotels").
It's no secret that the economy is struggling just about everywhere and that governments at all levels are attempting to do something about it. At least two states, Michigan and Louisiana, have extended their efforts to include musicians and the music industry by offering tax credits.
A little known clause in a Michigan law designed to attract filmmakers to the state extends 42% tax credits to those producing records within its borders. But these credits don't apply to every project. The minimum which must be spent for the project to be eligible is $50,000. That's far below most indie projects and some are calling for the threshold to be lowered. Others are reportedly going to wrap video production into the budget to reach the needed total.
Recording budgets in Louisiana can be much smaller to qualify for that state's giveback, but the tax credit is smaller as well. Projects in Louisiana, which is being actively promoted by the sates Office of Entertainment Industry Development, can total as little as $15,000 which will return a credit of 15 - 25%.
