The Remix Phenomenon

I’ve noticed a trend popular with indie musicians recently. It is what I’d like to call “the remix phenomenon”. Remix albums have been around for quite some time, but I’ve been noticing this trend resurfacing lately. The way this works is a band will release an album, then they will have other artists remix tracks from that album, then they will release an album of remixes of that previous album. For example, Phoenix released Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix May 26th and less than five months later they released the remix collection on October 13th. This collection of remixes features artists including Passion Pit, Yacht, and Devendra Banhart. Bloc Party did this with their album Intimacy earlier this year and Kings of Leon is reportedly releasing a remix album to follow their latest Only By Night sometime in the near future. I can see some potential marketing benefits in doing a remix album. It gets people excited about the album again. What I mean is that it stirs up they hype again. Phoenix got a lot of attention with their Wolfgang album. After a few months, the storm settled, and the release of their remix album got people talking Phoenix again. Also, there is the benefit of expanding their fan base. The artists who remixed Phoenix’s songs weren’t just some Joe Blows, and therefore fans of say Devendra Banhart may not know Phoenix and may buy the album because of the Devendra remix. Both parties in this case have the opportunity of sharing their fan base.
Another example of a remix project is Chicago’s Hey Champ who just released a remix album of remixes they did other artist’s songs. This is the reverse of what Phoenix did but equally as beneficial for an artist that isn’t as widely known. I’m assuming that we will see more of these types of remix projects in the future because the music consumers are getting harder to please as time goes by, therefore exclusivities and rarities such as these remixes will be sought out by music lovers.

Erin Schwaba

Chicago Music

I found this pretty cool article through the Chicago Tribune that discussed Chicago artists and traveling. Songs are handpicked and played through Chicago terminals.

"A project dubbed Terminal Tunes puts music exclusively by Chicago-area artists, as well as artists on Chicago labels, on a continuous loop through the terminals at O'Hare and Midway airports."

The playlists are also put online so that if people hear a song they enjoy, they can go a step further and discover what the song actually was. I think this is a unique and cool idea, and something that can be done in other states and countries. I think it promotes music from Chicago in a great way, and help to flourish our large music scene. It also promotes the city. It also gives smaller local bands a chance to get some airplay.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-music-tracker-city-zonenov27,0,6104510.story

- Valerie South

Artists Making More Money

This article I found off of hypebot.com graphs out music industry revenue in London over the last few years since 2004. What is shocking is that in the state the music industry is in, artists are actually seeing an increase in profitability. Revenue from both live performance and recordings has gone up dramatically in the last five years. Not surprisingly the labels profits have diminished pretty rapidly, but as the last year shows it looks as if it is leveling off. Hopefully this is a sign that labels will be able to continue to stay afloat and that artists will finally be better compensated as a whole for their work.
The article can be found here: http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/11/as-music-industry-struggles-artist-income-grows.html
Steve Smith

Xbox Live Music

I found an article explaining Xbox Live's recent decision to integrate Zune, Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm into its platform. Users are now able to create playlists on Last.fm through their Xbox consoles. This opens up a slightly wider audience for bands, and also offers an opportunity to give users the unique experience of enjoying a particular song while playing a video game. Having the connection between a band's music and a separate form of enjoyment from a user is a good way to build loyalty in a fanbase.

The only thing that may be an issue is the fact that artists can be "featured" during a game without licensing their music to the game companies. Publishers may be wary of this new idea, but otherwise, this could open up many opportunities to creatively market music for gamers.


Article


-Bill Ross

Rihanna: Fiercely Introspective

I read an article written in the New York times today that discusses Rihanna's new Album "Rated R". For those who stay in tuned with music gossip (who doesn't these days), Rihanna went through a traumatic experience with her boyfriend at the time, Chris Brown. The perfect, young, hip hop couple's image was destroyed after Chris Brown violently turned on Rihanna. That event was followed by a brief, but not lasting, rekindling of their romance. "Rated R" is a reflection of Rihanna's feelings and emotions at that dark time in her life, and her feelings on how she feels as a person today. The album is much edgier, and it is clear that Rihanna has taken a step in a different direction when it comes to her image.

This brings me to the main point. Image. I think it is very important to remember how powerful of a marketing tool image is for a musician or band. Their image can define who they are. Just their look can send numerous messages to their audience. Rihanna started out as a young teen singing pop music. With her in shape body and exotic look, it was easy for her to be the sweet pop star who was breaking into american music. Now, several years after making her presence known, she has gone from sweet innocent pop star, to a fashion setter with attitude, to a edgier "badass" who isn't afraid to push musical boundaries based off her personal life. Stars like Rihanna have a strong following, and for the most part, very loyal fans. It is risky for someone in the spotlight to change their image, because there is always that risk of losing a group of fans, but there is also the possibility of reaching out to new ones. However, the reasoning behind the change is what can really make or break your fan base. Rihanna's story is well known, and most people saw her as a victim. Her change is more accepted than someone like Britney Spears. Rihanna is using her experiences as a reflection off her image, which is going to help her sell herself as well as her music to the public.

Lyndsie Klott

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/arts/music/25rihanna.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=music

iTunes Music Prices

iTunes may be lowering their prices according to an article I came across. A new service called "TunesPro" has launched, and it offers single songs for $0.19 and albums for as low as $2.00. With the current prices on iTunes, many hit songs are $1.29, that is over 2/3 the price of an entire album for TunesPro.

While this new service might make Apple investigate as to whether or not they need to modify their business structure in any way, I highly doubt it will result in more than a slight reduction in their prices. Their market share is not likely to dwindle in the digital downloads market. They already have a dedicated following from average music listeners, Apple fanboys (and girls), and other consumers.

Similar services like TunesPro seem to pop up ever few months and then fall apart quickly. It will be interesting to see how long they stay in business. To see what the level of quality is in their services that they offer will be another thing to watch as well.

- Derek Jenkins

Link

Live Nation & iTunes To Offer Concert Downloads

The article that I'll be discussing is about Live Nation making some of their concerts available for download on iTunes. It's described as a smart piece of brand extension & it debuted this past Tuesday. So far exclusive performances from OK Go, Jesse McCartney, Saving Abel, A Fine Frenzy, Duffy, Ziggy Marley & Plain White T's have been released this week, with more to follow.

Personally, I think this is a GREAT idea. This is something that I think should of been done quite some time ago. As a fan of live shows, I may use this feature to catch a preview of upcoming shows that are coming to my town or shows that aren't coming to my town or if I happen to miss a local show, hopefully it'll be there on iTunes for me to catch. I really see this being a success for both parties. Live Nation is really showing that they're on top of their game this year.

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/11/live-nation-itunes-to-offer-concert-downloads.html

-Marcus Hall