About Me
- Adam Deutsch
- Musician, J.D., Blogger, Lover of Technology, and Obsessed with the evolution of the music business in the digital age. There's always a better way.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Cloud, I'd Like to Listen to......
Happy New Year!
After blogging break the site is back up and running strong into the new year. To get up to date with the year 2011 the first article is all about bringing your music collection wherever you are.
Behold, "M-Spot" the must have android application of the moment. Forget chords, forget upload times and slowing down your phone or tablet by saving too much data on the hard-drive. Mspot is a free service that allows you to store up to 2gigabytes of music that can be accessed from any device. To listen, all you need is an internet connection.
M-Spot means the freedom to have only those songs on your phone that are essentials, the desert island tracks you cannot live without. For those rare situations when you have no wireless network or 3G/4G connection, having tunes on the hard-drive is still important. However, for the 90% of the time when you have some way of connecting to the internet all those other tunes can be at your finger tips.
I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to listen to Parliament Funkadelic's "Handcuffs" or an obscure Frank Zappa tune that can't be found on youtube and definitely hasn't earned space on my phone's tiny hard-drive. Alas, there are 2 free gigs of cloud space at my fingertips where the music can be saved.
This program is far superior than "G-Tunes," a solid application that allows one to stream music to their phone when on the same wireless network as a computer. This is good when you are home, or at the office. But with the M-Spot cloud, you are covered with access everywhere the internet roams.
To install the program go to www.mspot.com install the program on your computer to go through a very easy process to select what files will be uploaded to the cloud. Step 2, install the program on your phone as an app. Step 3, grove to the tunes wherever they lead you.
After blogging break the site is back up and running strong into the new year. To get up to date with the year 2011 the first article is all about bringing your music collection wherever you are.
Behold, "M-Spot" the must have android application of the moment. Forget chords, forget upload times and slowing down your phone or tablet by saving too much data on the hard-drive. Mspot is a free service that allows you to store up to 2gigabytes of music that can be accessed from any device. To listen, all you need is an internet connection.
M-Spot means the freedom to have only those songs on your phone that are essentials, the desert island tracks you cannot live without. For those rare situations when you have no wireless network or 3G/4G connection, having tunes on the hard-drive is still important. However, for the 90% of the time when you have some way of connecting to the internet all those other tunes can be at your finger tips.
I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to listen to Parliament Funkadelic's "Handcuffs" or an obscure Frank Zappa tune that can't be found on youtube and definitely hasn't earned space on my phone's tiny hard-drive. Alas, there are 2 free gigs of cloud space at my fingertips where the music can be saved.
This program is far superior than "G-Tunes," a solid application that allows one to stream music to their phone when on the same wireless network as a computer. This is good when you are home, or at the office. But with the M-Spot cloud, you are covered with access everywhere the internet roams.
To install the program go to www.mspot.com install the program on your computer to go through a very easy process to select what files will be uploaded to the cloud. Step 2, install the program on your phone as an app. Step 3, grove to the tunes wherever they lead you.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Taylor Swift Sued by First Manager
It takes a village to raise a child, and when that child becomes a Grammy award winning artist worth millions of dollars, those who helped develop the child often come seeking a monetary contribution for their efforts. To protect minors from being taken advantage of by managers in the entertainment industry, several states have instituted safe-harbor laws. Dan Dymtrow has brought the most recent high profile litigation alleging breach of contract by an under age celebrity and seeking to recover millions of dollars from country-pop crossover sensation Taylor Swift.
Back in 2004, Dymtrow entered into a management contract with then 14 year old Taylor Swift. During much of the following year, Dymtrow worked to develop Taylor's career as he played a pivotal role in her record contract with Big Machine Records. Prior to signing on the dotted line of her recording contract, Swift backed out of the management deal. Now Dymtrow has returned to seek the 5-10% commission on all of Swift's earnings that he would have earned had the contract not been breached.
Herein lies the problem. Under New York law, which governs the contract, a minor can void any management contract at will unless it has been reviewed and approved by a judicial court. Dymtrow and Swift never had the contract subject to judicial review, so there exists great limitations to Dymtrow's ability to recover. There may however be a loophole as he asserts a theory of unjust enrichment.
The unjust enrichment argument allows Dymtrow to argue that he is owed money for the work he performed on behalf of Swift before she voided the contract. If Dymtrow can prove as he claims, that he performed substantial work in bringing about Swift's initial negotiations with her record company, and that he introduced her to agents at CAA who later represented her in booking concerts, he may be able to recover substantial damages for the benefit Swift gained before dumping Dymtrow. If the allegations are true on the surface, that Dymtrow was paid only $10,000 by the Swift family, despite having negotiated the outline of Swifts final recording contract, he may in fact be able to prove that although Swift had a right to void the contract as a minor, Dymtrow is still owed funds for the work he performed under the contract.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
3 Sites for Musicians and Fans
Forget the label! In the music industry it is no longer necessary for an artist to contract with a record label in order to have their music sold or to finance touring. Recently, a bunch of new tools have popped up helping to connect musicians with financing, tour support, and publicity. Here are a few of the best sites to utilize:
1. Nimbit: Founded in 2002, Nimbit is on the front line of DIY music distribution and fan communication. By aggregating internet communications into one service, artists can keep in contact with their fans via facebook, email, twitter and other services through this one location. Nimbit can also facilitate album sales and provide detailed information about an artist’s fan base (demographic analysis, unique views, fan attributes ect.) Nimbit effectively acts as management for an artist, making it possible to cut out a middle man, directly communicate with and reach new fans. There are free and pay for upgrades, making this service a viable option for musicians of all success and ambition levels.
2. Better Than The Van: Touring can be incredibly costly for musicians lacking label financing support. A lack of funding does not need to be a barrier preventing musicians from having a safe warm place to stay when on the road. Better Than The Van is a free service that connects touring musicians with free places to stay when on tour. Music fans volunteer their homes to host fledgling artists. Testimonials are extremely positive and talk about the gratitude of both the fans and musicians. Artists no longer need to sleep in their vans under parking lot lights at Walmart. For fans, there is a great potential to host the next “Kings of Leon” at your home.
3. The Ultimate Chart: Until now, the popularity of a musician could only be determined by looking at the billboard chart or checking SoundScan data. These charts fail to reflect many ways in which people now consume music. The Ultimate Chart looks not only to physical and digital album sales, but also to website searches, links, music and video streams and references to artists online. By seeking to take into account all internet activity, The Ultimate Chart provides a more accurate comparison of the cultural importance of various musicians. Founded by internet data collectors Big Champaign, this service is poised to change the way influence and popularity is understood.
(Note: This article was featured on www.culturemob.com, a site providing local and national cultural insights)
1. Nimbit: Founded in 2002, Nimbit is on the front line of DIY music distribution and fan communication. By aggregating internet communications into one service, artists can keep in contact with their fans via facebook, email, twitter and other services through this one location. Nimbit can also facilitate album sales and provide detailed information about an artist’s fan base (demographic analysis, unique views, fan attributes ect.) Nimbit effectively acts as management for an artist, making it possible to cut out a middle man, directly communicate with and reach new fans. There are free and pay for upgrades, making this service a viable option for musicians of all success and ambition levels.
2. Better Than The Van: Touring can be incredibly costly for musicians lacking label financing support. A lack of funding does not need to be a barrier preventing musicians from having a safe warm place to stay when on the road. Better Than The Van is a free service that connects touring musicians with free places to stay when on tour. Music fans volunteer their homes to host fledgling artists. Testimonials are extremely positive and talk about the gratitude of both the fans and musicians. Artists no longer need to sleep in their vans under parking lot lights at Walmart. For fans, there is a great potential to host the next “Kings of Leon” at your home.
3. The Ultimate Chart: Until now, the popularity of a musician could only be determined by looking at the billboard chart or checking SoundScan data. These charts fail to reflect many ways in which people now consume music. The Ultimate Chart looks not only to physical and digital album sales, but also to website searches, links, music and video streams and references to artists online. By seeking to take into account all internet activity, The Ultimate Chart provides a more accurate comparison of the cultural importance of various musicians. Founded by internet data collectors Big Champaign, this service is poised to change the way influence and popularity is understood.
(Note: This article was featured on www.culturemob.com, a site providing local and national cultural insights)
Pandora Founder Tim Westegren Talks at The Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit 2010
This past weekend I caught up with hero innovator, music geek and mere mortal Tim Westegren who is better known as the man behind Pandora internet radio. Since starting the internet based music genome project ten years ago, Pandora has changed the way people in the U.S.A. discover and listen to new music. Tim spoke at The Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit at Georgetown University on October 4, 2010 where he shed light on past struggles, current realities and future ambitions of Pandora.
By the end of 2010, Pandora is projected to have 100,000,000 registered users, making it the largest hub for streaming music in North America. Westegren spoke about the importance of mobile applications on the growth of Pandora, telling the audience that more than half of Pandora’s users are now registered through smart phones. In its infancy, Pandora’s use spiked during the hours of 9-5 demonstrating that use was primarily taking place on peoples desk-top computers at work. Today there is a much more fluid chart of usage around the clock as consumers broadcast Pandora from their phones through their car stereos and while walking around town.
Westegren seemed most excited about pipeline projects with Ford Motors, who will soon be installing car stereos that integrate Pandora via a factory installed Bluetooth device. The vehicle will detect a driver’s smart phone and scan for the Pandora application which will automatically be available as an option through the touch screen and voice activated stereo. According to Westegren, drivers will be able to get into their car and say “play Pandora Greenday station” and instantly music will begin to stream.
Pandora is known for adding unsigned independent artists to the music genome, and streaming them side by side with similar artists. I asked Westegren how Pandora filters through the thousands of solicitations to determine what will be included. It turns out that nearly 70% of all music obtained by Pandora is from unsigned artists. Of this, roughly 30% is added to music that streams across the internet. Westegren offered optimistic words to unsigned musicians, telling the crowed that “there are only two requirements to getting your music added to Pandora. First, your music must be available for purchase at Amazon’s music store. Second, your music must be really good.” Pandora includes links to purchase streamed music from both Amazon and iTunes, the requirement that music be sold online is merely a screening process to ensure that only musicians seriously pursuing a career in music will be included in the genome.
On the horizon there are new technological advances that suggest services like Pandora will continue to make it easier for musicians to distribute their music and connect with fans. This is great news for consumers seeking a user friendly free product, and the artists who necessitate listeners to make a living. Seldom does a free advertisement based product benefit all sides the way Westegren’s Pandora has managed to do.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
News from Future Of Music Policy Conference
visit: http://futureofmusic.org/events/future-music-policy-summit-2010
Free Room For The Band!
A band is a business. To be successful you need investment capital, music equipment, consumers, and distribution mechanisms. Traditionally, live performance is a key way for bands to reach fans and develop a following. Band's can easily perform in their home town or surrounding cities, but resource constraints often get in the way of touring beyond one's state lines. A new service, Better Than the Van, seeks to make touring more accessible by connecting bands with free places to stay when touring away from home.
Not only does the service save bands money, but it keeps them safe too. On their website, Better Than The Van offers war stories of artists having to sleep in Walmart parking lots having no bathrooms or heat. This program eliminates such risks and allows artists to get a good nights rest in secure locations, so they can do what they do best on stage. Similar services like "Couch Surfing" have existed for a quite some time, but this is the first service to specifically cater to start-up bands in infant stages. If you are willing to host, or are trying to put together a tour visit Better Than The Van.
At Winding Forward, we are always looking for grassroots programs to help bands. If you know of any, please give us a heads up.
Not only does the service save bands money, but it keeps them safe too. On their website, Better Than The Van offers war stories of artists having to sleep in Walmart parking lots having no bathrooms or heat. This program eliminates such risks and allows artists to get a good nights rest in secure locations, so they can do what they do best on stage. Similar services like "Couch Surfing" have existed for a quite some time, but this is the first service to specifically cater to start-up bands in infant stages. If you are willing to host, or are trying to put together a tour visit Better Than The Van.
At Winding Forward, we are always looking for grassroots programs to help bands. If you know of any, please give us a heads up.
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