MySpace Revolving Door

February 27th, 2010

The appointment of Own Van Natta to CEO of MySpace was supposed to solidify the online music site as a key promotional partner with the big 4 record companies. One is left to ponder MySpace’s future with the sudden replacement of Van Natta with not one but two co-presidents: former product manager Jason Hirschhorn and [...]

Filled Under: Who's In Charge Now

Grammys Drive Chart Activity: Viewers Are Consumers

February 26th, 2010

The 25.8 million viewers who pushed the 52nd airing of the Grammys into Nielsen nirvana are influencing the charts as consumers:
Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now” is #1 for 2nd week: title track performed at Grammys.
Lil Wayne, “Rebirth” debuts at #2: LW was a Grammy performer.
Nick Jonas, “Who I Am” enters at #3: Grammy presenter.
Susan Boyle, [...]

Filled Under: Chart Darts

Don’t Look to the DNA for an Answer

February 25th, 2010

I confess. I am a diehard vinyl fan. What the almost three decades old compact disc gave us in terms of convenience came at the cost of a loss in fidelity (as well as artwork). The CD was also marketed as scratch free which, based upon the drum machine-like skipping sound I’ve experienced many times, [...]

Filled Under: Music Formats

Abbey Road Studios Declared Historic Building Today

February 23rd, 2010

The legendary cultural landmark that has attracted fans from around the world, the Beatles’ Abbey Road Studios were officially declared a historic building today.
Originally a 9-bedroom Georgian townhouse built in the 1830’s, the building was later converted to apartments. Gramophone Company bought the building in 1931 and converted the structure into recording studios. The Gramophone [...]

Filled Under: Abbey Road Studios

EMI Keeps Abbey Road Studios & Genesis Goes to Hall of Fame

February 23rd, 2010

In spite of its internal problems, EMI is not selling The Beatles legendary Abbey Road Studios…at least not right now.  Last year it did receive a 30 million pounds offer but the struggling industry giant held on to it. However, don’t take this as a sign that EMI is okay financially. Far from it. The [...]

Filled Under: Abbey Road Studios

March 2010 Issue of Fast Company Kudos Music Biz

February 21st, 2010

How cool is this: in its March 2010 issue, Fast Company recognized “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies,” including 1o in the music biz:
1. Spotify – “the dominant source for free, legal, anytime, anywhere music.”
2. Apple Corps – for a band that broke up 40 years ago it’s more than cool that the band’s label [...]

Filled Under: Fast