Facebook Now Twice as Big as MySpace?

I knew MySpace was losing people to Facebook left and right, but the latest report from comScore really took me by surprise. According to the latest report, Facebook now registers TWICE as many unique visitors than MySpace.

See http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/01/facebook-twice-as-big-as-myspace.html

Wow, it sure didn't take Facebook long to overcome MySpace. MySpace feels like a sinking ship.

I know that I, personally, have more or less abandoned MySpace for Facebook. Yes, I still approve "friend requests" on MySpace, and I still reply to friend requests with my web site, music, and mailing list signup information, but that's about all I do on MySpace now.

On the other hand, I spend time every day on Facebook. It's hip, it's fun, and people are just much more talkative. Bottom line. I like Facebook more. I feel more connected with the people I care about... and people who REALLY care about what I'm up too.

In comparison to Facebook, MySpace feels slow, bulky, ad-swamped and just, well, cluttered. My desk is cluttered enough. Don't need to see it on my computer screen, too.

Anyone else jumped ship at MySpace? Your thoughts?

David Nevue
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue
http://www.myspace.com/davidnevue (if it matters)

CD Baby: Coming to Life Again...

You know, when Disc Makers took over the helm at CD Baby, I have to admit I was somewhat nervous about the change. CD Baby was such a fantastic "little" independent music store, and there was a sense that, in a way, CD Baby belonged to the musicians who sold their music there.

I feared that Disc Makers takeover would change all that. That CD Baby would transform into something more "corporate"-ish. That it would lose the sense of belonging to the artists. That it would be "used" as a prop by Disc Makers for the purpose of soliciting more manufacturing business from independent artists.

I am happy to say I was wrong.

One of the first things Disc Makers did was change the look and feel of the CD Baby web site. I never really felt it needed changed, but once it happened, I realized how static the old look had seemed. The new look is stylish, current and happening. There is a definitely "cool factor" with the new design that surpassed what was there before. The new design, to me, made it vastly more appealing to just browse and discover new music.

So even with just the design change, Disc Makers had begun to win me over.

And then I received an email from CD Baby today talking about all the new changes in the works. I am excited. Really excited.

CD Baby is reinventing itself, and doing so in a major way to the benefit of its artists.

Here's an excerpt from the email that came from CD Baby today...

"...We've made progress, and there's a lot of work left to do. We intend to introduce new features for artists to make it easier to work with CD Baby, like an uploader so you can just upload your new music instead of having to send in a CD. We also want to introduce single song downloads, merch, and download cards. And we plan to add some exciting features to the album pages to create a more rewarding shopping experience for our customers. Many of these improvements involve significant programming, and will be rolled out around mid-2009. They're all geared to helping you sell more music, and making sure you get more value from your CD Baby membership."

The ability to sell merch? single downloads? Fantastic!

I am pleased, very pleased, because it seems that CD Baby development is moving again, and quickly too. CD Baby feels "alive" again. I never realized how static it had become until now.

Thank you, Disc Makers. You have taken something already great and made it even better. I can't wait to see what you do in 2009 and 2010.

David Nevue
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue
http://www.davidnevue.com

Big Growth, Big Questions: Facebook Hits 150 Million

From Digital Music News...

"Facebook now has 150 million active users, up 10 million since last month, according to information recently shared by Mark Zuckerberg. Of that figure, half are checking the site daily. "This includes people in every continent - even Antarctica," Zuckerberg blogged. In total, Zuckerberg boasted penetration across 170 countries, in 35 different languages.

The figure, if accurate, represents a continued climb past MySpace, at least on a global basis. By mid-2008, Facebook had surpassed MySpace, according to comScore, though MySpace still retained a strong lead within the United States.

The growth is certainly impressive, though nagging revenue issues remain - especially as the advertising sector softens. Just recently, eMarketer estimated year-2008 advertising revenues for Facebook at $210 million, up 45 percent from 2007. But Facebook was hoping for a much higher total, and eMarketer is dialing down its advertising forecasts for the social networking sector.

Other analysts are also predicting trouble ahead. That includes Norwest Venture Capital Partners principal Tim Chang. "Microsoft isn't likely to renew its search-advertising contract — at least not at the same rate — and Facebook makes a significant amount of money from that deal," Chang recently told paidContent at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. "Imagine if you lost $300 million worth of revenue — how would you make it up?"

The milestone also tilts the music picture somewhat, especially after the arrival of MySpace Music. Facebook has music, most notably through application iLike, though Zuckerberg and company are pondering the possibility of a homegrown music initiative. But bands have been on MySpace for years, and "not on MySpace" means "not in existence," even for the smallest groups."

2008 Music Sales: Up, Down, All Around...

Nielsen SoundScan just released the sales numbers for 2008.

Here's the low down:

Overall sales hit RECORD HIGHS for 2008... that is when you define sales as "units", a digital track being a "unit." Overall, Nielsen's annual year-end music industry report shows that combined sales of albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks increased 10.5% over 2007.

For digital sales, it was the best year yet. Tracks posted a 27% gain to more than a billion units sold in 2008, and digital albums grew 32% to 65.8 million units, both new highs.

But the record highs in digital music sales didn't make up financially for the decline in PHYSICAL album sales. Combined sales of albums on CD, cassette and vinyl were down 18% from 2007. When you add in the boost from digital album sales, album sales in total were down 14%.

So while digital sales are hitting record highs in terms of "units", it's still a net loss financially.

However, sales of vinyl reached 1.88 million in 2008, a near-90 percent gain over 2007.

Numbers from:
http://tinyurl.com/a2n8lg
http://tinyurl.com/72oyrj
http://tinyurl.com/9h2nwt

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue
http://www.davidnevue.com

The Music Business 2008: The Year in Review...

Paul Resnikoff, publisher of Digital Music News, sums up the year that was 2008 in the music business....

Survived 2008 okay? The year proved difficult for an already-disrupted industry, though "accelerated transition" could be the best description of current forces at work. As in previous years, consumers continued their shift towards digital formats, and free continued to beat paid. But a widespread economic downturn appears to be intensifying a long-running disruption.

The complete article has been posted at http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/pr_2008.htm

Major Labels Ending Lawsuits Against Individuals.... Now What?

Just posted a new article/commentary by Paul Resnikoff of Digital Music News at http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/pr_labelsendlawsuits.htm .

A good analysis of the recent announcement by the RIAA that they would no longer be bringing lawsuits against people sharing music on the Internet. They are taking a different approach to the problem, by working with ISPs to limit the account usage of copyright infringers.

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

The CD Goes into Steep Decline...

This morning, a new article posted at Digital Music News quoted Nielsen Soundscan as stating that the forth quarter of 2008 is "shaping up to be the worst decline in the history of the CD" in terms of sales. "In response, Wal-Mart has been driving the price of CDs southward, often below $5, and shrinking shelf-space aggressively. 'We suspect other retailers will follow Wal-Mart's lead and reduce CD floorspace significantly in 2009, as the format loses interest with consumers and ceases to be a traffic driver on 'new release' Tuesdays,' research analyst Richard Greenfield stated.

Overall, CD sales are down about 20 percent from just a year ago.

You can read the full article at http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/112608fourth . Good reading. Sign up for their newsletter while you're there. It's terrific.

I still think there is a place for the CD. There are a lot of folks of my generation (born in the 60's) and earlier who will never buy an iPod and who really aren't into the whole "digital music download" thing. If there's an album out there we really do want, we'll buy the CD. The problem is, there aren't that many albums we really want that we don't already have. Everything we were interested in "owning" we purchased years ago. And one of the things about getting older is that while we still enjoy listening to music, owning it just isn't as important anymore. The music we listen to doesn't "define our life" like it did when we were kids.

So my generation still enjoys CDs, we just buy less of them... a LOT less of them.

Remember getting those offers from "Columbia House" in the mail where you could get 13 CDs for a penny if you agreed to buy just five in the next year? That whole concept seems like a joke today. And you know... I haven't seen one of those offers in my mailbox in a really, really long time. Hmmm.....

Frankly, I don't know what I'd do if someone handed me a stack of CDs like that. I'd never listen to them. Tell me I could have any 13 CDs I wanted from a stack of 1000 and I'd walk away. It's not worth my time to even look. Why? Because I'm listening to music online now. Between Internet Radio, Pandora, and my Rhapsody subscription, I'm set for life. I can listen to whatever I want, whenever I want. No physical CD necessary.

Yea, I still buy CDs... maybe one a year. Maybe two. Three would be a lot. But 10 years ago? I probably bought two or three a month.

Record companies, there's a big part of your declining market.

The kids are aren't buying CDs because their going completely digital, buying downloads, putting them on their iPods, trading with their friends.

The mature generation isn't buying CDs because we already own pretty much everything we ever wanted. And when we do listen to "new" music, we get it online.

I probably buy more CDs as gifts for others than I buy for myself. Oh wait, that was LAST year! I didn't buy a single CD as a gift for anyone this year.

No one wanted one.

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

Satellite Radio is Dead...

I know I keep harping on this subject. Not sure why, except that it fascinates me.

Great article by Mike Elgin posted at
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/features/article.php/3786146
that echoes my post on this topic from just a couple days ago.

Check it out if you're interested.

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

Just Released: 2009, 10th Edition of the Indie Bible...10% off

Just released the 10th edition of the Indie Bible by David Wimble.

Available at http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/indiecontactbible.htm

Now priced at a 10% discount....

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

A Declaration: Music is My Freedom of Choice...

The bleeding at Sirius XM continues... down to .16 cents a share. An all-time low for the company.

Here's the thing... we don't really need to Satellite radio anymore. As "plugged-in" as people are these days, we tune into whatever we want whenever we want without the commercials. We can listen to our own song selections, anytime. We don't need to be "force fed" our music. We are no longer cattle being led to the musical trough. A music listening experience is not a one-way event anymore. It's interactive. We choose/make our own "radio."

Granted, I sometimes enjoy popping on the 80's channel and going down memory lane, hearing tunes I hadn't thought about for a very long time. Even so, a good third of the songs I hear on the cookie cutter channels are obscure tunes that I could care less about.

If only I had a "skip" button on Sirius XM like I do with Pandora. Oh, Pandora, how I love thee.

Here's what I see happening... within the next five years our cities are going to become even more wired. The time will come, and is already coming, where you can go anywhere and be wired into the Internet - even so far as to be wired in your car as you're on the road driving from city to city. Pretty soon, high-speed wireless will be as common as cell phone reception, maybe even more common.

And then we'll be able to tune into our favorite Internet radio stations, be they Live365, Pandora, or the custom playlists we created on MySpace or Facebook anytime we want. Or we'll plug in our iPods, or Zune, or whatever.

Here's the problem for Sirius XM - while it got into the Satellite radio game on time, it charged more than people were willing to pay for a subscription... and people aren't willing to pay very much... which is why the model has failed. People don't want to pay for music they don't entirely control. If subscribers are going to pay for music, they want it entirely, 100% on their own terms.

Music is no longer passive, it's active, changing, exciting, moving, aggressive... and we, the people, are in control. Music is one of the few things we truly have freedom of choice over as individuals. We listen to what we want, when we want, and how often we want.

Music is anarchy. And it is love. And it is passion. And our choice of music makes us feel like there is at least one thing in this crazy world that we can control.

And right now, I want to listen to "Grace Under Pressure" by Rush.

So there.

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue
http://www.myspace.com/davidnevue

The Corporate Music Industry is Shrinking...

Lots of stories out today about music biz organizations really struggling financially.

I blogged a couple days ago about Sirius XM being over 1 billion dollars in debt and struggling to stay afloat. One of it's (minor) competitors WorldSpace has filed for bankruptcy and has been delisted by Nasdaq. See http://tinyurl.com/68fwea for info on that.

eMusic just laid off more people - 10% of it's staff - to try to strengthen it's financial situation in this economic downturn. See http://tinyurl.com/6zjy4d.

And quarterly losses have widened significantly for SonyBMG, who lost 57 MILLION this last quarter! Earlier this week, EMI posted a 1.2 billion loss for the year. Holy smoke. See http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/102908sony for details on that.

Which all goes to show why it's good to be indepedent. Who needs a record company. Seriously. Do it yourself! You might want to review my recent post on making a living doing just music at http://musicbizacademy.blogspot.com/2008/08/making-living-from-just-your-music.html

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

Will Sirius XM Survive?

A billion dollars in debt and shares trading at lower than .30 cents. Will Sirius survive?

From Digital Music News...

"After a long, painful merger approval process, Sirius Satellite Radio finally joined forces with XM Satellite Radio this summer. The marriage was largely motivated by difficult finances, as both companies were swimming in baths of debt.

Fast-forward a few months, and a serious debt overhang threatens to submerge the freshly-merged Sirius XM Radio. The company is staring down at least $1 billion in short term refinancing obligations, a situation that comes against a bone-dry lending terrain. That situation, coupled with a serious financial downturn, has pushed shares of SIRI below 30-cents in recent trading.

It has also raised questions on whether Sirius can survive the financial storm."

More at http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/102608sirius

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

Sivers Sold CD Baby for 22 Million

Hey readers. I've been touring most of the fall, which is why I haven't been posting here too much. Will continue touring through November. After which, I'll get a bit of a break. At least, theoretically.

Anyway, for those interested.... Derek Sivers solo CD Baby for 22 million... but he didn't see the dime of the money, instead having the funds put directly into a trust that will go to musicians when he passes away...

Here's the text of the post where this is reported on Digital Music News....

"Derek Sivers earned $22 million from the sale of CD Baby, according to an interview surfacing Thursday. Sivers sold the company to Disc Makers in early August after a seven-month closing process. "I knew that was about the right price," Sivers disclosed to Venture Voice. "We actually didn't bicker or negotiate over the price one bit, I just set a price and they said okay."

According to Sivers, CD Baby pulled annual, top-line revenues of roughly $100 million at the beginning of this year, a fourfold increase over a three-year period. The company employed 85 people at that point, though Sivers rarely visited the office. "I really started letting go in 2002," Sivers shared.

The acquisition sounds like a windfall, though Sivers actually channeled the money into a charitable trust. Sivers is now drawing interest from his Independent Musician's Charitable Trust, though the principal goes to artist-related causes when Sivers passes away. Currently, Sivers is investing his efforts in Muckwork, a company that aims to offer an "army of assistants" to musicians struggling to promote and distribute themselves. "

And for more details on the trust, which is interesting, see
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/10/derek-sivers-so.html

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

MySpace Music: So, How Does it Look?

Paul Resnikoff of Digital Music News just posted his first impressions of the new "MySpace Music" platform....

As Paul is a contributor to Music Biz Academy, I've posted his comments at
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/pr_myspacemusic.htm

For starters...

"If music started and ended on the internet, then MySpace Music would be the end-all, be-all solution. Of course, music is enjoyed everywhere - on iPods, mobile devices, CD-Rs, automobiles, and laptops, and music fans demand transferability between different environments. They have also grown accustomed to free acquisition - and for some younger fans, music has always been free. That makes the MySpace Music proposition a bit incongruent with current listening and acquisition habits, though the concept still breaks some ground."

Read the rest at http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/pr_myspacemusic.htm

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.myspace.com/davidnevue
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet
http://www.promoteyourmusic.com

Disc Makers Already Making Improvements to CD Baby...

The new "Buy" links CD Baby has created for artists to link from their web site to CD Baby are very much improved. Very cool looking....

Check out the new link maker at http://cdbaby.com/link

And for the latest post on the new changes, see
http://cdbaby.org/stories/08/09/23/3000816.html

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.myspace.com/davidnevue
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

--

How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet
http://www.promoteyourmusic.com

MySpace Music Goes Live; All Majors On Board

From Digital Music News at www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/092408myspace

MySpace Music is now opening its eyes to the world, the beginning of an aggressive experiment by labels, artists, and the social network. The early-morning launch includes participation from all four majors, including EMI Music, an eleventh-hour partner. As expected, those majors will carry an equity stake in a joint venture structure, and receive payout percentages on related advertising and purchases. The independent collection is far less complete, at least at launch. The Orchard is among the early participants, though discussions with other groups remain ongoing. More at www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/092408myspace

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

MySpace.com Launches New Service Thursday...

From http://tinyurl.com/4aswfg

"News Corp’s MySpace launches a new online music service on Thursday, aiming to loosen Apple’s grip on the US music industry and challenge all other online rivals. The service, MySpace Music, also aims to come to the aid of a music industry reeling from the continued slide in CD sales. MySpace Music is viewed by the music industry as an alternative to prior partnerships, most notably, its pact with Apple’s Steve Jobs. Label chiefs have long grumbled that Apple’s iTunes service is primarily designed to funnel profits back to Apple’s iPod and iPhone devices at the expense of the music industry. But so far, no contenders have managed to dent iTunes.

More at http://tinyurl.com/4aswfg

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue
http://www.myspace.com/davidnevue

What MySpace Music Means to Amazon.com

Hey everyone,

It's been 2-3 weeks since I've posted here.... but I've been on concert tour. When I'm on tour, much of my time is spent on the road playing concerts and just trying to keep up with the "must-do" daily business stuff. Don't get as much "free time" to post newsworthy stuff here. I'm sure you know how it is, music biz minded readers that you are.

But here's a little article that came across my desk this last week that I wanted to share with you. As you may know (or perhaps you don't), MySpace is about to start streaming entire catalogs of music from SonyBMG, Univeral and Warner Music. And when people hear music they like on MySpace, they'll be able to create playlists, share them, and go right to Amazon.com to purchase the tracks for personal use.

Amazon.com is hoping to start cutting into a bit of iTunes digital music dominance.

Here's the article: What the MySpace Deal Means for Amazon.com. Also found at http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/12/technology/amazon.fortune/index.htm

See also MySpace Music Seeks to Amplify Listening Experience at http://tinyurl.com/4nmojd

Happy reading!

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.myspace.com/davidnevue
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

--

How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet
http://www.promoteyourmusic.com

Must Pandora Die?

Kurt Hanson of RAIN (The Radio and Internet Newsletter) posted a GREAT Blog today about the current webcasting royalty situation that is forcing Pandora radio to seriously consider pulling the plug.

Kurt suggests that if Pandora does fold as a result of the new webcasting royalty rates, it will be the "tipping point" that either (and I quote) "(1) triggers a consumer backlash against the RIAA, which, if expressed in the form of a boycott, as some bloggers have proposed, could cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars in record sales, (2) leads to belated reasonable negotiations from SoundExchange, and/or (3) spurs Congress to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act."

Perhaps the loss of Pandora Radio (loved by millions) would be the very thing that would finally bring about some real significant action and resolution to the issue. But I hope, I truly hope, Pandora doesn't become a casualty of this.

Read Kurt's blog at http://textpattern.kurthanson.com/kurtsblog/465/must-pandora-die .

And also don't miss the follow up blog at http://tinyurl.com/5fkpps .

Why should YOU care about this? Because Pandora is giving significant radio exposure to thousands of unsigned artists. I know that I, personally, have sold a bunch of CDs as a result of having my music played on Pandora Radio.

If we lose Pandora, I would suggest that it is a worse tragedy than when we lost the original MP3.com to Vivendi Universal back in 2001. I've sold far more CDs from exposure on Pandora Radio than I ever did back in the days of Michael Robertson's MP3.com. Why? Because, for the most part, the people who paid the most attention to Mp3.com were the very musicians who were promoting themselves on it. In contrast, Pandora's audience is comprised of everyday people who just simply love discovering new music.

Mp3.com was populated mostly by musicians and music promoters.
Pandora is populated by music lovers and music buyers.

Anyway, read Kurt's comments.... and while you're there, subscribe to the RAIN newsletter. It's a great way to stay informed on what's happening with the radio industry.

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.mp3.com/davidnevue
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue

Music Industry Internet Radio Smackdown...

In response to my last post, "Pandora Ponders Pulling the Plug," a reader asked me whether the corporate music industry was using the new, high-priced webcasting royalty rates to deliberately kill off Internet radio.

My answer was... it sure seems that way. If the Copyright Royalty Board sets royalty rates so high that only corporate controlled companies with millions of dollars in the bank can afford to pay those royalties, then smaller, independent webcasters (like Pandora) either have to shut down or risk being sued. Most will shut down. And that will mean the only webcasters out there playing music will be those the music industry WANTS to leave intact.

Sounds like conspiracy-theory craziness? Yea, maybe a bit, but I'm not the only one who sees it that way. Just saw the new article at Pollstar today called "Internet Radio's Royalty Misery."

To quote the article...

"...There's also the underlying suspicion, first voiced last year when the CRB announced the new rates, that the music industry does not want to see Internet radio thrive. Or that it doesn't want to see as many players as the field contains, and that a smaller, more robust Internet radio industry would be more to the record labels' liking.... A 'thinning of the Internet radio herd' could result in more major-label music being streamed over the remaining Internet stations to the detriment of artists on independent labels."

Aha.

Read the article in its entirety at http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=11028

And then do your part to Save Internet Radio at SaveNetRadio.org.

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.davidnevue.com
http://www.myspace.com/davidnevue
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue