Music Industry Gear, Software and Fashion

Social Fashion!?

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 01:02:00 +0000

Should Social media and fashion ever be used in the same sentence together? Well now the way the world is going it would be a taboo not to hear those word together in a sentence. According to Stacey Bendet of Alice +Olivia “ Fashion is like storytelling, and social media is another way to tell the story.” Having a presence on many social media platforms in now key to have a successful business in any type of business. According to Ari Goldberg, CEO of Stylecaster “Brand that do not engage in using social media will not be here in ten year to talk about it!” he also stated that “In old media, content is king, but in new media, conversation is king.”

They key to having successful social fashion is not being pushy and trying to sell to people. It has to be on a more intimate level and make people feel a certain way when they see a particular item they like. Brands and retailers have to understand the difference between awareness and Return On Investment (ROI). Social media in any industry is great to have it allows the company to get more personal with the people that’s buying their products. It gives the immediate contrastive criticism.

With all this talk about how social fashion is good for retailers and brands, it would be nice to see what social platforms they use. This also would be a great idea to promote your product or service. Out of all the mainstream social platforms Instagram was stated as designers personal favorite. It’s simple, and straightforward and gets right to the point, with just taking a picture and letting to people comment and or like the picture and track how many of the follower like it. Brands and retailers night use Instgram to test new designs showing concept ideas. Another mainstream social platform is Tumblr. Tumblr is a blogger site that has around 140 million users that post 600 times a second.

Additional Links:

Fashion Disruption

Logic Pro 9 Vs. Pro Tools 10

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 02:33:00 +0000

Their will always be a debate about which is the better DAW Logic Vs. Pro Tools. Some people love to mix and Logic and others love to mix in the industry standard Pro Tools. If you think about it they both do the same and the end product is the same. If you were to listen to a song or a beat on the radio or even in studio headphones could you tell if the beat was mixed down in Logic or Pro Tools? Could you tell if the song was mixed in Logic or Pro Tools?

Both Pro Tools and Logic can be used to compose, record, edit, and mix. Pro Tools is known mainly for adding the beginning touches to a song better known mixing. Then it goes to get mastered which is a whole different process and DAW. Logic is more on the artist/ creative side while Pro Tools is on the engineer/technical side.

As for the tech Specs in Pro Tools you can record high-resolution audio up to 32-bit/192kHz and experience exceptionally low latency. Logic has a resolution of 64-bit. Logic on has a total of 64 busses while PT has 256 busses, Logic has 102 software instruments and PT only has 64. With PT you only get 160 Aux channel strips and with Logic you get 255 Aux channels.

Pro Tools is also known for contributing to work in the audio postproduction industry and video editing. When working on Postproduction it is best to work in Pro Tools HD. On Pro Tools HD you can mix in stereo or surround sound basically mono up to 7.1 surround sound.

In conclusion when it comes down to picking which DAW you want it all depends on what you are trying to do and how much you want to spend. Logic runs on Intel Mac and allows you to connect to any audio interface. Now when it comes to Pro Tools you have can now take your session with you wherever you go and mix with out carry an AVID interface along with you. All you simply need is and Ilok, and if you recording you can use any interface you like. Pro Tools 10 would run you $ 699.00 USD and Logic 9 would run you $199.99 USD

The Value of a Business Plan Pt2

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 03:11:00 +0000

After doing extensive research on expert views of the importance of a business plan when starting a business there are a few things I personally would incorporate into my own business plan. First things first I would make sure the most important section are very detailed and well though out. I would have to make sure all my information is accurate and easy to understand with the appropriate references.

Based on Dr. Steven’s view on the business plans’ Financial summary I decided to get more in depth and through. I did this be getting the most accurate information when it came to monthly staff budgets, how much benefits was going to be provided to them. Next I made changes to the monthly sales and budget. Potential investors want to see how much they will earn back in interest for the money that was originally given to you. Investors want to know that your business will be successful and have a decent budget and gain a huge return on the after tax dollars. Finally I made changes to my start up cost. This portion is very important and should be very accurate and well thought through.

Based on Mrs. Cockerton view on the business plan making sure there is a need for your service or product in a growing market. I changed this part of my business plan because I wanted to make sure that my target market I was going was an actual growing market so I made adjustments and got more detailed with the demographics, psychographics. I also looked into my competition, looked at my current customer base, and analyze my product and service.

I personally think that the sections that are the most important to the investor reading the plan are the executive summary, and the financials. These sections matter the most because they will tell an investor everything about you company and the financials will determine if the investors will make more or not. In the in what it all comes down to is “Will this make the investor gain more passive money”

Below you can find a few links to help you out when trying to write a business plan.

Links:

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/how-to-write-an-executive-summary.html

http://www.resourcenation.com/blog/the-5-most-important-things-your-business-plan-should-contain-that-investors-want-to-read-about/367/

The Value of a Business Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:01:00 +0000

Here’s a look into some expert views on the value of business plans. Business plans are very important when trying to obtain funding for your new or existing company or even trying to set long term needs for the company. A business plan is very detailed and it will cover all aspects of a business from market to operations and personnel. According to Rhonda Abrams “Successful Business Plan” when investors or readers are evaluating a business plan they usually spend five minutes reading it. In those five minutes they look at these sections 1.Executive Summary, 2.Financials, 3.Management Section, 4.Exit Plan and/or Terms of the Deal.

The first expert is Gedeon, Dr. Steven, he is and expert on business plans writer and reviewer. He is a professor in Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the Ted Roger School of Management. He has founded or led over a dozen private, public, venture capital and non-profit organizations. He has also published over 100 articles, reports and patents, and delivered over 40 public speaking engagements and on-line videos on personal leadership, motivation, entrepreneurship and teaching.

Mr. Steven believes that the most important part of a business plan is the Executive Summary, the qualifications of the management team and the Financials. The Executive summary is basically where you sum up all that you propose and bring all your thoughts and planning. The financials is also a big part that will either attract or repel investors.

Next expert is Andrea Cockerton; she is an independent pitch expert and advisor in the United Kingdom. She is the founder of Mudhut Consulting, that works with entrepreneurs of start-ups and more established SME’s on pitching for business critical investment or deals. She is also the co-founder of Brick Hnadbag a company that provides self-defense training for women.

Mrs. Cockerton believes that there are three key essentials to a successful business plan. The first is targeting a growing market with a need for your service or product. Second is having a successful team that is talented and able to execute the business plan. Last is making sure your product or service is ground breaking. She feels that having these things will reassure that you receive financing for your business.

Reference

http://www.ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool/bm/faculty_staff/bios/gedeon.html

http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/2012/07/steven-gedeon.html

http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/2012/08/andrea-cockerton-angelo-meneguzzi.html

http://www.thenextwomen.com/2008/12/27/expert-interview-13-questions-on-funding-pitching-part-1

The Music Industry Meets The Digital Side

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 07:01:00 +0000

No one can deny that over the past ten years there has been a huge in the way people listen, buy, or illegally download music from their favorite artist or band. With the world switching gears and now doing everything digitally, the music industry is just now adapting to the new change.

With the growing number of consumers searching for the latest music and the record companies not giving them what they want consumers would soon turn to peer-to-peer sharing. In a nutshell illegal downloading is what was and still is putting a hurting on the music industry.

There are many advantages that can come from digital music. Some of them are being able to take your music with you anywhere you go. Also being able to have your music on different devices such as ipods, smart phones, mp3 players, PC’s, Ipads, and Mac’s. Another plus is consumers don’t have to buy the whole album just to listen the only one or two songs they like from that album; they can buy the single instead.

According to the Nielsen and Billboard report digital music sales made 50.3% of music sales in 2011. Showing that physical sales declined by 5% and digital sales increased by 8.4%. Fast forward to 2011 to present the record companies are now starting to grasp their fingers around this beast they called The Digital Landscape.

WMG (Warner Music Group) gets 25% of its recorded music digital revenue from streaming companies such as MOG, Pandora, Spotify, Ticketfly and a few more. The four major labels also started to invest more in radio, ticketing and artist services. In order to make even more money and encourage consumers to buy albums and not singles, record companies started to add bonuses such as booklets with photos, liner notes and videos on iTunes if you purchase the album. Apple also raised the cost of singles and lowered the cost of catalog albums.

As the social media and technology continue to change it is clear that the music industry will be a few steps behind but they will indeed pull through and continue to be a multi-billion dollar industry.

Press Kit and Distribution

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:18:00 +0000

There are many ways to get your material out there. When it comes to up and coming artist and bands or even established artist the most successful way to get your music out there is a press kit. A press kit is like a news flash of the current even you or your band has been involved in. It also acts as a bio of you or your band and the accomplishments you have made. They will help secure different venues you want to perform at. To have a successful Press Kit you have to have good and very informative background information. You have to include what type of genre of music it is that you make as well as a picture of the artist or band. Think of the press kit as a business card that you want all A&R’s to see. Make sure to include any and all booking information with proper contacts so anyone inquiring to book the band wouldn’t have any problems booking them. Don’t forget to include demos of all your latest work, song list, reviews, and a gig sheet. The press kit envelope should be as appealing as the press kit itself. Keep in mind when writing a press kit you need to write it in third person. Something else to think about when trying to make it big in the music industry is the different distribution choice to choose from. You want to go with a company that is the most cost effective but at the same time you want a company that is well known. When looking for music distributors you want them to distribute either singles or albums to all the major online music stores. The major music store would include iTunes, Amazon Mp3, Myspace and many others. Also you want to keep all the rights to your music, and get 100% of the royalties. There are two major sites up and coming artist should check out Tunecore and Cd Baby.

So You Need An Agent?

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 18:07:00 +0000

Now days there are so many people trying to make it to the music industry, but don’t know how to get there or who to reach out to for help. To have that extra push you need getting an agent would help out a lot. Having a successful agent could open so many doors for an artist or band. They would be helping the talent book different venues and make that there are people there from labels that could possible help with getting the talent signed. To go about finding the perfect agent shouldn’t be that hard. There are so many sources you can use. The most common source would first be word of mouth. Using word of mouth should be pretty accurate because you can tell form the success of the other artist or band that informed you of the agent. You also wouldn’t ask someone who you don’t trust their opinion. The next source you can use would be using industry related directories. Those can be found by using the Internet and finding industry related magazines. The last and final way to find an agent to help boost your career would be jus doing advanced research on the Internet. Next thing you should know when seeking an agent is knowing what kind of terms you want your contract to be on. Before signing anything discuss the length of the contract starting off two years should be good because that way you can judge how much success or non success the agent has gave you. The job details and functions need to be outlined; the artist should have a good understanding of what is to be expected from the agent. If expectations aren’t met then this would result in breach of contract on the agent’s behalf and that would lead to termination of the contract. Lastly make sure that the agent really cares about you and your movement and make sure that want what’s in your best interest.

Entertainment Legal Liabilities

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 20:46:00 +0000

When owning a recording studio there are many different legal liability issues that could occur. The first legal issue that could occur would be intellectual property. Trademarks and copyrights could be infringed unknowingly weather it be a simple symbol or color pattern to abut 20 seconds of someone else’s already copyrighted music. Trademarks are usually words, symbols slogans basically things that are used to identify the source of origin with products or services. Copyright protection usually covers literary and artistic expression. Which usually goes under books, music, paintings plays, movies and many more. In order to avoid anything from happening such as any legal trouble one should always take preventative actions. Some things that can be done is making sure that the music you are recording is not someone else’s and if it is you are not taking a substantial amount of their work. If you want to take a substantial amount of the previously recorded song you should ask for permission to use it from the rightful owner. More than likely they would be willing to agree but would want either a down payment or a certain percentage of the earnings from the song. Copyright infringement could be a very long and messy process to deal with when on either sides of the table. When dealing with trademarks the only time it would be ok to use is if you have permission from a competitor to use either that competitor’s logo or colors or something to indicate that it is them in a competitive commercial. Just as Charmin tissue does with Scott tissue. Attached you will find the following links helpful and useful when trying to understand exactly what is an intellectual property. You would also learn more in depth how to actually go about protecting your copyright with your copyright code.

http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/intellectual-property-law/id388454392

Industry Liabilities

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 16:16:00 +0000

There are so many legal controversies going on nowadays, we do after all live in a sue friendly world. This month we will be going over the legal side of things in the entertainment industry. To start off the first controversy is about the whole Chris Brown and Drake scuffle that left about eight people injured and a few people hospitalized. Among the many people injured was Chris brown himself and Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs. Tony Parker is now filing a $20 million lawsuit against the New York Club W.I.P. for a scratched cornea he suffered doing the fight between the two celebrities. I think this could have been avoided and there was really no need to start throwing bottles in the first place. I also feel that $20 million is a bit excessive.

The second legal controversy is about the Grammy award winning singer Lauryn Hill. The former Fugees singer will be facing three years in prison due to tax charges. From 2005-2007 she had reportedly earned $1.8 million and failed to file tax returns. Most celebrities get so caught up in the hype of making all that money they forget to pay their dues when its time and then they end up in situations like this. If she would have paid the money like she was supposed to then I feel she would be free and would still had some money left over from her successful days.

The last and final controversy I want to discuss is one that happened back in 2009. Joe Satriani Sues Coldplay for plagiarism for the song “Viva La Vida”. The lawsuit was for coldplay allegedly taking substantial original portions of his 2004 song “If I could fly” in their 2008 hit “Viv La Vida”. Although it is clear and you can hear samples of his songs and riffs in theirs the case got dismissed upon stipulation. I think all this could have been avoided even if Coldplay didn’t know they took some of his original work when it came to their attention the could have offered him some money from the earnings of the song.

Why is Apple So Successful???

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:08:00 +0000

What is the reason Apple, Inc is doing so well with its latest products? The answer is having good product management. Steve Jobs was a very smart man and did a good job of running Apple Inc. He and his team had a great skill of strategic visioning and planning. From the Product Manager’s Field Guide there are five product management assets that if followed would lead to a successful product. The first asset is to “Drive business results.” In order for this asset to work one must not only oversee the product and make sure there is a successful launch but and offer great customer satisfaction. The second asset is “deliver results through people.” Product managers need to learn how to get positive results through other people. Word of mouth can make or break your product. The third is “ensure market-driven direction.” As a product manager you have to know what the customers want and understand their existing and future needs. Next is “guide product fit and function.” This is where product managers listen to customers concerns and opinions and use this to create a great product. Finally there is “manage multiple priorities.” This asset just bacsically states that as a product manager you must have the ability to multi task. Out of these product management assets three of them is what made Apple, Inc so successful with the releases of the Ipod, Iphone and its four generations, and the Ipad. Ensure Market driven direction, guide fit and function and drive business results. Apple does a great job of releasing things when the technology and timing is right. If the products were released before its time then it would fail. Steve Jobs was great at know what people wanted and when they were ready to accept it. In an interview he stated "It's really hard to design products by the focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know that they want until you show it to them." Business Week May 25 1998

The Road to Success:Artist Management

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:24:00 +0000

More than likely the road to success for most artists today involves an artist manager. Most artists don’t know where to start on the road to become a star. Here are a few examples of poor artist management and good artist management. To start off with the bad Creedendnce Clearwater Revival had a lack of good management. The manager of the bad was the lead singer John Fogerty. To have a band member, as a manager is a bad thing then it becomes overwhelming and the artist is wearing to many hats. It would have been good for the band if he had taking some courses in business. He led the band to their demise because of his poor decisions. He wanted things to go his way and his way only. They didn’t have a good deal with the record label they were under called Fantasy Records. Causing them to lose all they’re well earned money in some offshore tax shelter, and get lower royalty rates. Next is a good example of how a no name artist can become a star with proper management. A well-known Rap artist by the name of Wale is the perfect example. After he had a few successful mixtapes and singles under his belt that was getting radio play he got signed to a well know Dj by the name of Mark Ronson to Allido Records. In 2009 Wale signed to Roc Nation Management with Madonna, Rihanna, The Ting Tings, Ester Dean and many more. He would later sign a deal to join Rick Ross’s Maybach Music Group in 2011. With a great management team to back him up he released a very successful album late 2011 called “Ambition”. Now Wale is featured on a lot of artist songs and has more a demand for his songs and shows. Having a good manager who knows the right people and what is best for the artist is the key to being the next big superstar. For all you upcoming artist and managers I recommend reading a great and informative book called "This Business of Artist Management" By: Xavier M. Frasconga, Jr. and H. Lee Hetherington.

Secrets to having a Successful Fashion Boutique

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 21 May 2012 01:24:00 +0000

There are many secrets to having a successful fashion boutique. The first thing is that the prices have to be reasonable. The prices should always be reasonable but set at the right price so you not only break even but you make a profit from it. If you have items set at an attractive price then you would reach your target market and more. People love to wear with the celebrities are wearing. Nine times out of ten the public can’t afford it or it is not accessible. By realizing that people care about accessibility and price you can then separate people from the problem. You also have to put into consideration the location of the business. If you put the business in the right spot then you will gain your target audience. Hopefully you won’t have any other competitors in the area. In order for any business to be successful you have to invest in marketing. Then you have to purchase the right inventory for the boutique. Finally hire the right staff. Make sure you are hiring people that know a lot about fashion. It would be a plus for them to already be in the industry. Now that you know the basics to starting a successful fashion boutique now you need to know how to properly negotiate with customers. When it comes to fashion and local boutiques even though you have a set price people are going to try to negotiate the price with you. Out of the five core concerns from Roger Fisher’s book Beyond Reason you can consider using status. When applying status to a negation with a customer you have to realize that hey feel they are of certain status and you should respect them and treat them as such. Another thing you should do is invent options for mutual gain. If you become successful at this then you and you customers will be happy.

How long will Dance music last?

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:17:00 +0000

As you all know every artist is now trying to come out with dance music to appeal to the mainstream crowd. Most people think it is as phase and it will soon die down. Many artists have their main genre the came out with then they do a few pop/dance songs. For example Rihanna has a song named we Found Love it is a very up-tempo song with a lot of synthesizers in it as well. Rihanna main genre is R&B but all artists are doing what it takes to sell records and going mainstream. Another example is Chris Brown Turn Up the Music and Nicki Minaj “Starships”. Most people are saying that Nicki Minaj is a sell out and she should just stick with rapping. A couple of years ago reggae was the mainstream music that everybody was listening to and wanted to have in their mp3 players and radios. Only after about a year it died down and most artist were consider one hit wonders. What most artists are doing today is ver smart and its a skill you need to have in order to make money in the music industry as well as make a living and last in it. Today's artist have to make opportunity costs, which is the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Basically, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action. The use their skills an make all type of genre music their original genre and do a little pop/dance just to get the crowd to buy their music. Country is stated to be the most profitable genre in the music industry right now then Rock n Roll and after it would make sense to say Dance/pop. Dance and Pop is a genre that all crowds like no matter what the race is and it is something everyone can dance to. Pop is also well known and in demand around the world.

Is Givenchy's fame craze over?

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:41:00 +0000

Compared to all the other blogs this one will gear more towards the fashion side of things. There is a huge craze going on with all the celebrities about a specific clothing line called Givenchy. They are a French based clothing line that has all departments covered when it comes to fashion such as jewelry, shoes, handbags, perfume, cologne and cosmetics. In today's fashion you will see almost every celebrity wearing this particular brand. Hubert De Givenchy is the creator of the Givenchy brand. He was born into wealth and had a great passion for fashion. In his past he has worked with some of the top designers of today such as Christian Dior Lucien Lelong and many more. In 1952 he opened the House of Givenchy. He gained popularity but helping Hollywood movie stars. In 1988 he sold his business to Moet Hennessey- Louis Vuitton due to finical reasons. There clothing style is very unique and different from all the others. In 1993 the company achieved a total sales worth of $176 million. Now you can only imagine what it is making today in sales. The spring/Summer collection just dropped and all the fashionable celebrities are all over it. The Givenchy Birds of Paradise Gabardine Blazer is one of the new clothing from this season’s line has a price tag of $4,350. Most of the hip-hop rappers and singers are seen wearing the clothes. The material looks so simple but yet unique at the same time. The question of the day is why do they set the prices so high with crew neck t-shirts running for $785? The next question is will Givenchy stay popular or is their time almost over with? One would think if they made the prices more reasonable and the availability better the company’s income form sales revenue would sky rocket.

Understand a Ted Talk: The Power of Power of the Pentatonic Scale

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:44:00 +0000

For the Ted Talk I decided to go with a man by the name of Bobby McFerrin. In his Ted Talk he was using the audience to demonstrate the power of the brain with the Pentatonic scale in music. The Pentatonic Scale is made of two scales the Major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scale. The major scale consist of the 1^st, 2nd, 3^rd, 5^th, and 6^th notes of a major scale. The Minor Scale consist of the same five notes of a Major pentatonic scales but it’s Tonic. Bobby is known as the world’s best-known vocal innovators and improvisers according to TED.COM. His credits are well known and have sold more than 20 million copies. For example Don’t Worry Be Happy, and collabs with yo-yo ma, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, The Vienna Philharmonic, and many more. His inspired the audience by including them and not just telling them about how our brains are weird when it comes to the Pentatonic Scale, but also showing them. He shows them by making them sing along as he moved around the stage. He overcame the diversity by not singling anyone out. He first built trust with the audience by first showing them what he was doing by first standing in a spot and humming a note from the scale. Then he moved to the left and it was perceived as him moving up on the pentatonic scale so the note would get higher in pitch. Then when he moved to the right it was perceived that he was going down on the scale so his pitch would get lower. Then once he explained it to the audience and as he moved left to right he allowed them to hum the scale as he sung a melody. Bobby definitely gave the audience a deeper understanding of how our brains function and allow us to finish a pentatonic scale.

Recording Industry Association of America

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:48:00 +0000

As you all know that the Recording Industry Association of America. RIAA is a trade organization that helps promote the creative and financial problems of the major music companies. The RIAA helps protect intellectual property and the First Amendment rights of artist and music labels. According to the RIAA its members create, manufacture, and distribute about 85 percent of all the legit-recorded music that is produced and sold in the United States. The RIAA is the organization that hands out the certificates for Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum and Diamond Sales. The RIAA collect and compiles information on both shipment and buying trends of the recorded music in the United States.

The RIAA main goal is to help the major labels artist the acknowledgment and money they deserve. On of the ways they do that is by keeping track of intellectual property. Intellectual property is basically creations of the mind, such as artistic works, symbols, inventions, literary works, names, images, and designs that are used in commerce. They also pursue in filling suits against people who participate in peer-to-peer file sharing. They are basically the major record labels backbone and helps out with the things the labels don’t usually have time for or won’t do.

The RIAA is very important to the music industry without them it wouldn’t be any say so when it comes to illegally downloading music. They play a big role in the artist or producers would not have a voice. In a sense the RIAA acts like a lawyer the help go after the people who refuse to pay for individual songs or albums. The association also in a sense helps award the artist on their accomplishments with their record sales, by giving them certificates for the number units they sold on the album. They provide people to access two years shipment data for free. They recently created a new shipment subscription service the gives an interactive database where users can view, compare, and export historical year-end U.S. shipment stats that can date all the way back to 1973.

Bye Bye Cd's...Hello Digital World

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:24:00 +0000

Will there eventually be no more physical CD’s to buy? Most likely the way things have been looking over the past few years the answer is yes. People are now turning to iTunes to buy their music. With this the sales for physical CD’s has drastically declined along with album sales. According to Rolling Stone Music digital music sales added up to 50.3 percent of all music sales in 2011. The Nielsen SoundScan Billboard report that’s released every year stated that digital sales were up by 8.4 percent from 2011 and physical album sales were down by 5 percent from last year. It was the first time digital sales beat physical copies. Adele reportedly sold 1,801,000 digital copies of her album 21. According to Rolling Stone Music Rock and alternative music genres total about 38 million digital downloads by users. While R&B is the third most popular genre for digital album downloads. With digital music being available to the public worldwide it puts a big hurting on the music industry. They music industry has pushed for iTunes to raise their prices so they could make a little bit more profit. So iTunes recently raised their prices on singles to $1.29 for more popular songs 99cents for less popular songs and 69cents for old non-popular songs. In other words they are going to make it impossible to find songs for 69cents. Most consumers only buy single nowadays, that also hurts record labels too. In all actuality the artist will probably never get to see any of the price increase. It is also unfair to the producers and songwriters. With the sale of digital singles and album’s you don’t get to see the producer credits for each song. Give it about another year or two it will be impossible to find your favorite artist physical CD.

Will Fashion save the Music Industry???

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:37:00 +0000

The Music industry is doing okay but it will never hit its prime again like it did back in late 90’s. Now in order for them to make money they are leaning towards fashion to save them. Fashion and music of all genres go hand and hand. For example Nicki Minaj is a very stylish woman when it comes to fashion, she even has her own nail polish line. Some might even call her and other big name recording artist fashion Icons. The fans might even want to dress like them because they inspire the fans so much. Since the sale of physical CD’s dropped record labels rely on the sales of merchandise to keep them afloat, if they don’t try to go crazy with the idea and overprice the merchandise. The use of Apples “iTunes” is really hurting the industry. Not only are people not buying physical CD’s anymore but they also are only buying singles instead of the whole album. Justin Bieber is a prime example they sell his name/brand on things such as toothbrushes, pillows, Barbie dolls, Christmas ornaments and many other things. Universal Music Group signed a deal with Tommy Hilfiger on May 26^th of 2011. UMG made it clear that they will not be partnering with the “Tommy Hilfiger” brand, but the deal was to create a rock-‘n’-roll-inspired clothing line for high-end boutiques and department stores. Their plan is to get with artist and bands to create ideas to have there branded merchandise that would be sold to stores. This wouldn’t be Universal’s first time experiencing with fashion. In 2007 they bought Bravado a United Kingdom merchandising company. Bravado reported sales in excess of $300million in 2010 and seen a 28% increase in sales in mid 2011. Music and Fashion will always go hand-in-hand just fashion week in New York. Whether the world is ready to start paying for it is a different story.

Adam A7x monitor v.s. JBL LSR 4328P

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:43:00 +0000

There are so many studio monitors out there to choose from when it comes to the mixing stage. How do you know which one is right for you and the genre of music you’re working with? Well I have two different monitors I like a lot from a personal opinion. The first pair is the Adam A7X Monitors. To me personally these monitors are not very bright but they are very clear for the highs and Mids. I would say these would be great for music geared toward rock and other genres that aren’t big on hearing a lot of the low end. A great spec on this particular brand of monitors is that it uses the ribbon technology. The ribbon tweeter uses a thin diaphragm that supports a planar coil. They are known for reproducing high frequencies. One of the many great specs that make this a great monitor is that it has the X-ART tweeter and advanced version of the ribbon tweeter. The X is just basically representing eXtended frequency response from flat all the way up to 50kHz. In the back of the monitor there is a ¼ unbalanced TRS jack connectors, there is also a balanced female XLR with a high gain (± 4dB). Finally each driver has its own specific amplifier. The 50W A/B amp is responsible for the X-ART tweeter. To this date these speakers have a total of four awards. Next monitor is the JBL LSR 4328P Studio Monitor. Theses monitors are great for RnB, Hip-Hop, Rap, and Dub Step. They are really for any genre that uses a lot of bass or low end in the songs. One of the great features about this particular monitor is that it can calibrate itself to whatever room your in that way it will sound good. There wont be any dead spaces due to all the low end getting trapped in the corners of your room. You would have nice sounding reflections. They are self powered so you don’t need an external amplifier. It has 150 watts of power for the woofer and 70 watts for the high Frequency transducer. The front panel meters show the output levels of the dBFS(decibels Full Scale) when measured at the mix position. Not only does it include a calibration microphone and mic clip but it also has a infrared wireless remote control and a LSR4300 Control Center Software. It has magnetically shielded transducers that minimize interference when used in close proximity to video monitors. Another great feature is the RMC (Room Control Correction) that provides electronic control of room modes. They have silk dome transducer with Elliptical Oblate Spheroidal Waveguide for precise pattern control. In conclusion I would personally lean toward the JBL monitors because the music I mix uses the bass a lot. Overall these are my top two monitors that I feel sound good there are many other name brands to choose from suck as Mackie, Tannoy, KRK Rokit, Focal, and Yamaha active or passive monitors.

Thank you,

Asia Jones

Is the Music Business getting on it's feet again

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:58:00 +0000

Lately the Music industry has been suffering in sales due to peer-to-peer file sharing (illegal downloading), leaking albums, and many other factors. With technology steadily increasing and people finding more ways to leak music or get music for free the music industries sales were dropping drastically. According to money.cnn.com in 1999 the sales at the end of the year were around $14.6 billion now fast forward to 2009 they dropped to $6.3 billion. It also has been reported from the RIAA that from 2004 through 2009 roughly 30 billions songs were illegally downloaded, and only 37 percent of music was paid for. Now even though sales are not doing as well as the did years ago there was a little sign of hope. Since 2004 the overall music sales increased Nielsen SoundScan annual report stated that album sales ended up 1.4% to 330.57 million units from 326.15 million in 2010. Personally I think that the music industry needs to do away with the form of Cd's. Now everyone has gone digital. Most of the time people only like a few songs off the CD and only want to buy that certain song. Now the digital sales of single songs are going up even more by 8.5% to a record 1.27 billion, which is up from 1.17 billion last year. Even though it would be hard the music industry needs to find a way to crack down on how the artist albums are getting leaked. There was a big change on YouTube last year with copyright infringement. Now if you try to upload a song that you don’t have the rights to it gets taken off to avoid copyright infringement. I feel that there are still true die hard fans out there that will support and buy their favorite artists music. With all the new talent coming into the industry and that little jump of improvement I will be excited to see what the sales be at the start of next year.

Pro Tools 9 vs Pro Tools 10

noreply@blogger.com (Asia) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:35:00 +0000

Today I will be talking about the recent upgrade on Protools 9 to 10. Protools 9 was just released in February 2011 and Protools was released shortly after in October 2011. This was noted to be the shortest time between release dates for Avid. Before the 9.0 release the 8.0 version had been out for about three years. There are a few huge differences between the 9.0 and 10 version. In PT 9 the thing that separates 9 from other versions is that you don’t need an M-Box to run it. The only thing it requires to run is an ilok. An ilok is an USB hardware key that holds the authorization keys to the software. It also has a new playback engine as well as more MIDI and audio track. You also get more internal busses. Now with PT 10 the upgrades aren’t as major. It has to do more with perfecting the speed and the way the upgrades from 9 works. For example PT 10 is stated to have a 32-bit floating point. Basically it means that it is distortion proof. You can now also export your mixes directly to sound cloud in order to share your work with others. The speed level of mixing and editing has increased with clip gain and the ability to match and adjust gain levels and the pre-mixer. This new feature is more geared towards the post production industry, but can be used for the music industry as well. Also you can use multiple different audio formats in a session. Another new spec is that you can get the sound of a system 5 console EQ and dynamics with one simple plugin, which is the Avid Channel Strip. All in all PT 9.0 is a great version to have it requires less to run it and you can basically take PT with you anywhere and mix. If you like PT 9 but want all of the bells and whistles and just basically want it to run faster with better sounding quality go with PT 10.

Thanks

Asia Jones

Links:

http://archive.digidesign.com/support/ilok/

http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/docs/Whats_New_in_Pro_Tools_v90_69545.pdf

http://www.avid.com/US/products/Pro-Tools-Software

http://www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/protools10100-whats-new-in-pro-tools-10