 CD
Baby Goes Digital,
MP3.com Goes Quietly,
RIAA
Goes Guns Blazin'
Article by David Nevue
- The
Music Biz Academy
July 2003
Back to Internet Music Promotion 101
I
have some big, big news for
my fellow independent musicians.
CD Baby announced over the weekend
that members can now submit
their music for inclusion Apple's
iTunes Music Store. That means
you'll be able to sell, and
make royalties from digital
downloads of your music to anyone
who has access to iTunes.
If
you haven't heard about iTunes
(time to wake up), it represents
the biggest consumer leap to
digital music in years. The
launch of the iTunes store was
an event of *huge* magnitude,
resulting in the sale of millions
of songs at .99 cents each -
and that's just on the Mac platform.
iTunes is soon coming to a Windows
PC near you.
IPOD,
ITUNES PUT APPLE AT CORE OF
MUSIC INDUSTRY
At
any rate, I'm so impressed by
what CD Baby has been doing
for indie artists. Derek Sivers,
CD Baby founder (and a musician
himself) has represented us
all very well. And it doesn't
stop there. When you sign up
for CD Baby's digital distribution
service, you're music is automatically
considered for inclusion in
Listen.com's Rhapsody service
as well as any other digital
music distribution opportunity
that comes along. CD Baby's
charge for setting you up for
digital distribution is a one-time
fee of $40 per CD. They then
keep only 9% and pay you 91%
of all income from your music.
Derek
has asked me, in announcing
this, to make clear that Apple
reserves the right *not* to
include certain CD titles in
the iTunes store. It's unclear
exactly what that means, but
very probably it's just Apple's
way of having an 'out' if, for
any reason, they feel they need
to refuse someone.
Are
you a member of CD Baby? If
not, you're missing out. Sign
up for CD Baby here or,
if you want to read more about
CD Baby, visit the Music Biz
Academy hosting
directory for musicians
for my just updated review.
By
the way, I met with Derek at
CD Baby HQ last week and we
plan on putting together a music
business seminar for folks in
the Oregon/Washington area.
I'll keep you posted.
In
other news...
While
CD Baby's stock is rising, MP3.com's
is dropping rapidly. You might
recall my somewhat recent article
'Is
MP3.com on its Last Leg'.
Well, that 'last leg' is starting
to cramp up.
Vivendi
Universal has closed the European
arm of MP3.com, and will 'go
silent' on August 8th. The 'U.S.'
arm of MP3.com is still alive
and kicking, but Vivendi's looking
for a buyer.
If
you're a regular reader to this
column, you know what a big
fan of MP3.com I am. With over
1.5 million song plays, I've
been able to use MP3.com to
sell a lot of CDs and send floods
of traffic to my 'official'
artist web site. If MP3.com
goes down, I know I, for one,
will very much miss it.
I
am hoping, truly, that someone
will pick up MP3.com and bring
it back to what it initially
set out to be - a comfortable,
cozy home for independent artists
everywhere to share their music.
VIVENDI
CUTS LOSSES WITH MP3.COM
OK,
there's plenty of other stuff
you should know. The RIAA's
launched their campaign to sue
hundreds of individuals for
illegally swapping music online.
I don't have much to say on
this topic other than if you're
downloading music illegally,
it's time to pause and consider
the possible ramifications.
There are plenty of ways you
can get all the music you want
at an affordable price using
legal means (such as iTunes
& Rhapsody). You can no
longer say "I didn't know."
RIAA
ISSUES 871 SUBPOENAS AGAINST
MUSIC TRADERS
RIAA
'SHOCK AND AWE' MOVES TO ISPS
LEGAL
LOSS OPENS UNIVERSITY NETWORKS
TO MUSIC INDUSTRY
BILL
WOULD PUT INTERNET SONG SWAPPERS
IN JAIL
ARE
YOU IN RIAA'S CROSS HAIRS?
Also
in the news, Roxio is going
to spend $20 Million to relaunch
Napster as a legal online music
service. Be watching for that:
ROXIO
TO SPEND $20 MILLION ON NAPSTER
RELAUNCH
Billboard
Magazine has started charting
Internet music downloads:
BILLBOARD
TO CHART INTERNET MUSIC DOWNLOADS
And
a group representing small webcasters
is threatening to sue the RIAA
on Antitrust grounds:
WEBCASTERS
THREATEN TO SUE RIAA
And
here's my list of 'way cool
articles' for this month.
First, check out how recording
artist Liz Phair intends to
turn her major label situation
to do her advantage. To quote
"If this record goes, I
can do things on my own. But
if this record doesn't go, then
Capitol will drop me because
of the amount of money they've
spent on it, and I can go to
an indie."
PHAIR
PLAY: LIZ INDULGES IN THE MAJOR
LABEL GAME
And
don't miss this amazingly creative
promo campaign for solo artist
Rachel Farris that's going to
net her exposure to over 3 million
people...
BIG3
RECORDS LAUNCHES SINGER/SONGWRITER
ON LIDROCK
Gibson
will be the first to introduce
a digital guitar.....
GIBSON
DARES TO MAKE ELECTRIC GUITARS
DIGITAL
And
finally,
HOW
LABELS AND ARTISTS DIVVY UP
YOUR MP3 DOLLAR
Phew!
That was a lot.
By
the way, don't miss my new article,
'A Better, Braver World for
Independent Musicians.' If you'd
like to use it on your own web
site, just ask.
A
BETTER, BRAVER WORLD FOR INDEPENDENT
MUSICIANS
-----
David Nevue
is the founder of The
Music Biz Academy. He is also a professional pianist,
recording artist, full-time Internet musician, and author of the book, "How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet."
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