There And Back started out as a one post blog about how Disco and its subsequent demise opened the door for major label execs to replace artists who had creative freedom, with look alike, sound alike prefab clones who were so desperate to become stars that they would sign away all of their publishing and performance rights.
In part VII, I talked about how the prosperity of the mid 1990s lead to the merging and acquiring that has ultimately reduced the once seven major recording companies down to just the three we have today. But wait there's more.
Here in the first two decades of the 21st century, the music industry has discovered what would appears to be the ultimate star making vehicle. The reality talent show has risen to such prominence that its former contestants and winners are continually wining or at least being nominated for Grammys.
Shows like American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, and X Factor are tailor made for the major recording companies to accomplish their objectives. First they want to produce artists with name recognition and what they believe is star power. Second, they want to maintain the look and sound of said artists. These two objectives help major labels keep the bulk of profits that these artists make and are the same ones that lead to the demise of Disco.
So far, the music buying public has been very receptive to the shows that produce these stars. But, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who can recount the scores of artists who have appeared on these shows, received much notoriety for about a year or more after their appearance and then consequently, disappeared. One has to ask, is this really the way to bring great talent to light?
If you like reality TV, these shows offer everything from celebrity judges, to action, adventure, comedy, suspense, and of course, plenty of drama. In my opinion, the idea appears to be whether the contestant can do what they are told or should I say, perform what they are told. Those who manage to take songs previously made a hit by another artist to a level that satisfies the celebrity judges, and the shows producers, win the big recording contract. They also win loads of pressure to prove themselves worthy of what they've won.
As a DIY artist, I consider myself to a consummate industry outsider. I have no ax to grind. But as a music lover and consumer, it is disconcerting to find yourself once again digging through your oldies for a song or in many cases in search of a song that should be on the radio but isn't. You know, not an oldie, but something that you just can't find.
On January 17th sales of recorded music were reported to have reached a new low. While the three major record companies are so diversified that this might not represent a problem for them, maybe the thought of an even deeper loss of revenue from recorded music, as a result of the growth of streaming, would make them rethink their marketing scheme.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Don't Yawn
On January 22nd, 2014 scientists announced that water has been found on the dwarf planet, Ceres. Ceres is the largest object within the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. The water was discovered by a team at the European Space Space Agency using the Herschel Space Telescope.
Hershel's infrared telescope has discovered plumes of water vapor rising from the surface of Ceres. This is the first time that water has been discovered on an object in the asteroid belt. Ceres is considered to be an embryonic or proto planet with a diameter of 590 miles and is about the size of Texas.
The question that scientists are trying to answer is, what is causing the water to be released? Some believe that surface ice is being melted by the sun which turns it to a gas that is released into space. Others think that some energy may still exist inside Ceres, causing low pressure geysers that release the water as a vapor instead of a liquid.
These and other questions may be answered in the near future when the Dawn mission arrives in the vicinity of Ceres. Dawn is an ion propelled spacecraft launched in 2007 on a mission to explore the asteroid belt. Dawn should rendezvous with Ceres in the spring of 2015 after a visit with the asteroid belt's second largest object, Vesta. At that time Dawn will map the surface geology and chemistry of Ceres with high resolution cameras, which may help to reveal the source of the out gassing.
It is already known that Ceres has an atmosphere and a surface of ice. It is also believed that Ceres could possibly contain more fresh water than the Earth.
Hershel's infrared telescope has discovered plumes of water vapor rising from the surface of Ceres. This is the first time that water has been discovered on an object in the asteroid belt. Ceres is considered to be an embryonic or proto planet with a diameter of 590 miles and is about the size of Texas.
The question that scientists are trying to answer is, what is causing the water to be released? Some believe that surface ice is being melted by the sun which turns it to a gas that is released into space. Others think that some energy may still exist inside Ceres, causing low pressure geysers that release the water as a vapor instead of a liquid.
These and other questions may be answered in the near future when the Dawn mission arrives in the vicinity of Ceres. Dawn is an ion propelled spacecraft launched in 2007 on a mission to explore the asteroid belt. Dawn should rendezvous with Ceres in the spring of 2015 after a visit with the asteroid belt's second largest object, Vesta. At that time Dawn will map the surface geology and chemistry of Ceres with high resolution cameras, which may help to reveal the source of the out gassing.
It is already known that Ceres has an atmosphere and a surface of ice. It is also believed that Ceres could possibly contain more fresh water than the Earth.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Broader Band
On January 11th 2013, CNET announced that fiber optic broadband is on the rise. According to new statistics recently released by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), fiber optic broadband usage rose 13.9% in the months from June 2012 to June 2013.
Japan leads all developed nations with a 68.5% penetration of fiber optic links. South Korea runs a close second, followed by Sweden in third place. The US is in 14th place with 7.7%. The fastest growth of new connections is taking place in Mexico with growth in the UK coming in second.
While the US lags behind other nations in fiber optic growth, it leads in the number of broadband connections. These connections are via copper wire and can't match the properties of fiber optic cable. Fiber optics can reach longer distances and can achieve data transmission rates of 100 megabits to 1 gigabit per second. However, copper is very convenient and in most cases when it comes to installing new connections, it's already in place. For that reason the growth in the use of fiber optic cable remains slow.
Most homes today don't necessarily need 1 Gbps broadband speed, but new uses such as streaming audio and streaming video could be carried out with greater efficiency, without any need for buffering. I think that data transfer rates could also be used for downloading content, such as music and movies that are compressed at a higher bit rate, to improve audio and/or video quality.
Or, if the transfer rates are high enough, the content might even be downloaded in it original file format. Imagine buying an CD or DVD and having it on your computer in a matter of minutes, for playback just as if you bought it from a brick and mortar store.
Japan leads all developed nations with a 68.5% penetration of fiber optic links. South Korea runs a close second, followed by Sweden in third place. The US is in 14th place with 7.7%. The fastest growth of new connections is taking place in Mexico with growth in the UK coming in second.
While the US lags behind other nations in fiber optic growth, it leads in the number of broadband connections. These connections are via copper wire and can't match the properties of fiber optic cable. Fiber optics can reach longer distances and can achieve data transmission rates of 100 megabits to 1 gigabit per second. However, copper is very convenient and in most cases when it comes to installing new connections, it's already in place. For that reason the growth in the use of fiber optic cable remains slow.
Most homes today don't necessarily need 1 Gbps broadband speed, but new uses such as streaming audio and streaming video could be carried out with greater efficiency, without any need for buffering. I think that data transfer rates could also be used for downloading content, such as music and movies that are compressed at a higher bit rate, to improve audio and/or video quality.
Or, if the transfer rates are high enough, the content might even be downloaded in it original file format. Imagine buying an CD or DVD and having it on your computer in a matter of minutes, for playback just as if you bought it from a brick and mortar store.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Up And Down And Back And Forth
On January 3, 2014, Billboard, with SoundScan, reported that the sale of digital music had fallen for the first time since the iTunes store opened in 2003. I've been keeping an eye open for an analysis of what this might mean, but at this writing, the news is still very fresh. I'm sure that many will come forward to give reason for why this happened, as time goes on.
According to SoundScan, digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 units, while digital album sales fell 0.01% from 117.7 billion units to 117.6 billion units. The numbers may not seem to reveal much on the surface, but I'm sure that opponents of streaming may think that they have something to worry about.
Rolling Stone Magazine believes that the reason for the decline is that Adele's album "21" finally dropped of the charts. Adele's album sold 5.8 million copies in 2011 and 5.2 million copies in 2012. In 2013, only one album sold more than one million copies and that was Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, which sold 2.4 million copies. A hand full of other artists that include, Eminem, Luke Bryan, Imagine Dragon, and Bruno Mars all had a million or slightly more in sales. Clearly, popular music has not had many multi-million album selling artists in a number of years.
Of course, the most obvious reason, or at least the one that will most likely get the blame, is streaming. The big three recording companies, Universal, Sony, and Warner, have all made deals with streaming media sites. While digital sales have slipped, some industry insiders feel that any lost profits have been and will continue to be offset by revenue earned from streaming. Streaming may indeed be the reason why overall album sales fell by 8%, with the CD representing 57% of the market and digital downloads representing 41%.
My personal outsider's opinion is that, yes, YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, and iTunes Radio have garnered a great deal of the music consumers attention. The money that comes from streaming is through the use of paid ads placed on the sites. While the notion of streaming was to bring an end to piracy by offering a free alternative, the increase of handheld and mobile devices has given potential music buyers a chance to lighten the strain on their cash flow. I also think that choosing to purchase a mobile device might also make it more difficult to come up with the resources to buy their favorite music, so they use those devices to stream it.
Music is a luxury, and of course, the amount of disposable cash that potential music buyers may have is not what it was in the late 1990s. The economy is booming, but millions are still either under employed or out of work altogether. When major corporations begin bringing people back to the work force, the growth in household wealth will rise as well. Then, luxuries like music can climb higher on a consumer's list of spending priorities.
And, not to beat a dead horse, but, the sound of the market place has continued to become more of a "disposable," quality. By this I mean that, a song with a trendy or quirky nature or has questionable lyrics gets a great deal of attention. The record company that released the song hypes both the record and the artist until it goes to number one on the charts. Months after the height of it's popularity, no one remembers the song or the artist. The more often this happens the more likely it is that music buyers will become disinterested in future releases and may decide that it's less costly just to listen to a song, rather then buy it and then have it become irrelevant.
This is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
According to SoundScan, digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 units, while digital album sales fell 0.01% from 117.7 billion units to 117.6 billion units. The numbers may not seem to reveal much on the surface, but I'm sure that opponents of streaming may think that they have something to worry about.
Rolling Stone Magazine believes that the reason for the decline is that Adele's album "21" finally dropped of the charts. Adele's album sold 5.8 million copies in 2011 and 5.2 million copies in 2012. In 2013, only one album sold more than one million copies and that was Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, which sold 2.4 million copies. A hand full of other artists that include, Eminem, Luke Bryan, Imagine Dragon, and Bruno Mars all had a million or slightly more in sales. Clearly, popular music has not had many multi-million album selling artists in a number of years.
Of course, the most obvious reason, or at least the one that will most likely get the blame, is streaming. The big three recording companies, Universal, Sony, and Warner, have all made deals with streaming media sites. While digital sales have slipped, some industry insiders feel that any lost profits have been and will continue to be offset by revenue earned from streaming. Streaming may indeed be the reason why overall album sales fell by 8%, with the CD representing 57% of the market and digital downloads representing 41%.
My personal outsider's opinion is that, yes, YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, and iTunes Radio have garnered a great deal of the music consumers attention. The money that comes from streaming is through the use of paid ads placed on the sites. While the notion of streaming was to bring an end to piracy by offering a free alternative, the increase of handheld and mobile devices has given potential music buyers a chance to lighten the strain on their cash flow. I also think that choosing to purchase a mobile device might also make it more difficult to come up with the resources to buy their favorite music, so they use those devices to stream it.
Music is a luxury, and of course, the amount of disposable cash that potential music buyers may have is not what it was in the late 1990s. The economy is booming, but millions are still either under employed or out of work altogether. When major corporations begin bringing people back to the work force, the growth in household wealth will rise as well. Then, luxuries like music can climb higher on a consumer's list of spending priorities.
And, not to beat a dead horse, but, the sound of the market place has continued to become more of a "disposable," quality. By this I mean that, a song with a trendy or quirky nature or has questionable lyrics gets a great deal of attention. The record company that released the song hypes both the record and the artist until it goes to number one on the charts. Months after the height of it's popularity, no one remembers the song or the artist. The more often this happens the more likely it is that music buyers will become disinterested in future releases and may decide that it's less costly just to listen to a song, rather then buy it and then have it become irrelevant.
This is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
The Drones Of Fortune
On December 2nd, 2013, Amazon.com announced that it was testing unmanned drones as a means of delivering its packages. The goal would be to get packages to their customers within 30 minutes or less. The service would be called Prime Air and Amazon.com hopes to have it up and running in about 4 years.
On December 30th, 2013, the FAA announced that it would allow drone testing by six sites that include universities and state agencies across the country. The plan is to target everything from federal certification of the safety of the drones to the reliability of air to ground communications, and verifying of new low cost sensors that are designed to prevent mid air collisions.
The idea, going forward, is to have unmanned aircraft flying commercially in the US by 2015. Meanwhile, the sites that were chosen are expected to attract economic development. The Unmanned Vehicle Systems International projects that the industry will create 100,000 jobs and generate $82 billion in the decade after the aircraft are allowed to fly.
The above sounds good for Amazon.com. However, it might be a good idea for UPS and FedEx to begin getting their fleet ready, as it appears that the future of package delivery is about to make a dramatic shift.
On December 30th, 2013, the FAA announced that it would allow drone testing by six sites that include universities and state agencies across the country. The plan is to target everything from federal certification of the safety of the drones to the reliability of air to ground communications, and verifying of new low cost sensors that are designed to prevent mid air collisions.
The idea, going forward, is to have unmanned aircraft flying commercially in the US by 2015. Meanwhile, the sites that were chosen are expected to attract economic development. The Unmanned Vehicle Systems International projects that the industry will create 100,000 jobs and generate $82 billion in the decade after the aircraft are allowed to fly.
The above sounds good for Amazon.com. However, it might be a good idea for UPS and FedEx to begin getting their fleet ready, as it appears that the future of package delivery is about to make a dramatic shift.
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