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bmusic Newsletter No.247 December 4th - December 10th 2006 There are a couple of anniversaries coming up this week, one of which will be mourned, the other both mourned and celebrated at the same time by musicians and, in particular I suspect, guitarists. Those are the murder of Dimebag Darrell Abbott two years ago on stage in Ohio and the, what would have been, 50th birthday of the long gone but never forgotten Randy Rhoads. If you don't already, think of these two blokes and give them a nod as you knock out some tunes this week, they were both influential in completely different times in music history and both continue to be. Randy Rhoads has influenced guitarists young and old, many who were never even born when Randy was tragically killed, for two decades now. No doubt Dimebag Darrell will also continue to inspire and influence for many years to come also. Interesting tidbit to come from Warner Music's profit report a day or so ago. The company turned around a US$30 million loss last year to post a US$12 million profit this year. Oh, but they earned US$13 million in litigation after taking Kazaa to the cleaners. So = US$1 million loss. Still counts as a turnaround at the end of the day, and that was in light of revenue also being down around 5.5%, reportedly due to a weaker release schedule. So how does a record company turn around a loss like that whilst revenue is down by quite a chunk? How? Digital sales of music nearly doubled to US$104 million both in online downloads and mobile music sales and now accounts for 12.2 percent of total revenue. That's how! Much easier to reap a profit from digital downloads I would think. The money maker for record companies but also the biggest possible threat to their own futures as more and more bands decide to ditch the majors and sell their own digital stuff. After all, there are still archaic contracts in place and, indeed, being written that charge the artists "packaging fees" for digital downloads just as though they were hard copy CDs. Continue that sort of caper or not passing on the profits of digital downloads accordingly to artists and the majors will find themselves with no one to sign! Is the weaker release schedule Warner managed last year an early sign of their struggle to sign quality artists under the terms the majors would like? And when they do get artists, is radio and music television losing it's long held ability to influence the buying habits of the music listening population, or are MySpace and file sharing communities et al who have been nibbling away at their influence for the last little while starting to take bigger bites? In the UK the picture is starting to become very clear, with the BBC long being the dominant promotion force for music there. A medium which has selectively promoted material there for as long as most can remember. This appears to have hurt, with a label mentality there heavily reliant on the BBC and far too slow to adapt to the new mediums of promotion and distribution. A study was recently commissioned by the Economic Research Council in the UK. Written by music technology expert Andrew Ian Dodge, and a published author, blogger and rock musician it examines what has gone south in the UK industry's ability to be at the top of the game as they once were. Former Radio 1 producer Jo-Anne Nadler wrote the paper's foreword. Dodge writes: "Choice for consumers to access music and for bands to promote and produce their wares continues at an impressive rate. The music business continues to stare at the oncoming future like a deer in headlamps." Every week brings something new, extremely fast moving and fascinating times to come no doubt. Special mention for our rock journo mate Joe Matera who is looking for a kick a$$ versatile vocalist - with guitar playing abilities - to front his popular acoustic duo Radio City. Currently Radio City is fronted by vocalist and guitarist Ash Naylor from Aussie rock-pop recording outfit Even. Due to Even's heavily booked schedule for 2007, Ash will be taking a break for a while from Radio City to concentrate on his Even duties. Because of this Joe is looking for a worthy replacement. Radio City plays covers from artists as varied as The Stones, REM, Crowded House and Pink Floyd to David Bowie, T-Rex, J.J.Cale and John Cougar. If you know the type of playlist Gold FM Melbourne play, then you'll have an idea as to the type of material Radio City play. You would need to be Melbourne or surrounds based, have live experience, transport, be 25+ and willing to gig regularly. If you think you've got the goods to fill Ash's shoes, then please email Joe to apply or for further details." A new Where Are They Now? this week, readers might be surprised at what this bloke's been up to since the days of radio saturation of his one and only worldwide dominating hit. Regulars including Feature Article, The Week Ahead in Music History, Featured Artist and more are all inside Issue 247 of the bmusic Newsletter. Links in the Table of contents below will launch your browser, so you'll need to be online to view the newsletter. If you are unable to receive html format e-mails then copy and paste the following link into your browser's address bar to view the newsletter: http://www.bmusic.com.au/links/whatsnew/newsletters/archives/newsno247.html Thanks to everyone for reading, we'll see you next week! TABLE OF CONTENTS (You will need to be online to use the Table of Contents to jump through sections) Events Births Deaths |
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - BILLY RAY CYRUS
FEATURED PRODUCT - DIGIDESIGN® MBOX® 2 MINI
FEATURED ARTIST - ELECTRIC MARY
THE WEEK AHEAD IN MUSIC
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