Concerts to Go

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Concerts To GoOn the upswing—bands selling recordings of their live concerts on their web sites.  Fans get what they want, bands get a big chunk of a new revenue source, as well as a great tool for convincing fans to go out and see the band live.  Using off-the-shelf tools, a concert can be recorded, a light bit of production done, and the end result available for purchase and download the next day.  And the price is often right, too—Phish’s New Years Eve concert this year was available the morning of January 2nd, for $11.95.  And no stinkin’ DRM in sight. Offer something to people that they want, and you’ll be amazed at what they’re willing to pay for (Techdirt) -----...


Over One Million Dis-ServedApparently AOL customers are “leaving in droves”:http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0306/04/technology-183596.htm—over 1 million defections since late last year.  Of course, at a run rate of 2 million a year, they still have 13 years left in them, but still… Apparently it’s hard to peddle a slow, largely proprietary service for twice the price of other dialup and 2/3 the price of broadband these days. Things are tough all over, eh? (via “techdirt”:http://www.techdirt.com/) -----...


Pearl Jam goes ‘net onlyI'll skip all of the easy cliches that come to mind, and simply offer a brief hope that this is a sign of things to come. A major band has finally left a major record label for online distribution. Pearl Jam has fulfilled their contract with their label, and has decided to pursue an Internet-only strategy rather than renew or sign with another label. It turns out that they've been quite successfully selling live albums online for a year or two now, and see no reason not to continue on in that fashion, rather than re-mortgage their future profits on another label deal. It's anyone's guess how many other major artists are in a financial position that would allow them...


The Way The Music DiedIf you haven't already seen this week's Frontline documentary, "The Way The Music Died", you can stream it directly from their web site. (Thanks Harry for the head's up) It's interesting. They did spend a few minutes beating on the tired old spin of how much sales are down due to downloading (despite recent numbers that show the opposite), but they spent a lot more time on how the industry itself has killed the product, strangling innovation and continuing to try to stuff the channel full of the same old tired, cookie-cutter music. One thing they didn't talk about is how little of the CD sales revenue (if sales occur at all) actually gets into the pocket of the artist....


The Dead - Fast LearnersOkay, my faith has been somewhat restored in The Dead -- apparently they're a lot faster learners than most of the record labels -- After the Grateful Dead angered some of its biggest fans by asking a nonprofit Web site to halt the free downloading of its concert recordings, the psychedelic jam band changed its mind Wednesday. Internet Archive, a site that catalogues content on Web sites, reposted recordings of Grateful Dead concerts for download after the surviving members of the band decided to make them available again. Band spokesman Dennis McNally said the group was swayed by the backlash from fans, who for decades have freely taped and traded the band's live performances. "The Grateful Dead remains as it...