- It looks like Universal is officially getting nervous over Amy Winehouse. Take note that her album ‘Back To Black’ paid for a lot of salaries, it went 5x platinum in the UK and double platinum in the United States. Brian Rose the commercial director for Universal Records recently confronted Winehouse over the future of her music career. The fact is, the label is losing momentum with one of its biggest artists and there is no plans for new music.
- Speaking of Universal, apparently there were hushed layoffs. A reader told Silicon Alley Insider: Major layoffs at Universal Music Group on Friday. People from every department were axed (there were a few departments spared, it seems, though). From what I can tell, most of the major imprints were hit (IDJ, Universal Records). It seems that they are trying hard to keep the layoffs out of the press.
- Listen up musicians – some claim the rock n roll legend Buddy Holly changed the music industry – creatively and legally. During that time (1958) music was exciting and Holly experimented with musical styles creating his own sound. “But what made him really remarkable was that a young musician in, say Liverpool, England, could sit on the edge of his bed with his guitar, listen to Buddy Holly’s recordings and figure out what he was doing.” Also, artists before Holly rarely produced their own records and usually would turn their business over to recording professionals. Holly insisted that he produce his own music and had a shrewd understanding that the more legal control he had, the more artistic freedom he would get.
- Twitter is about to raise new VC funding with a $250 million valuation? Techcrunch says so.
- A tiny self-governing island called Isle of Man located in the Irish Sea has a new idea for the music industry. It may be worth evaluating since they brought us the Bee Gees. “Under a proposal announced this month, the 80,000 people who live on the Isle of Man would be able to download unlimited amounts of music – perhaps even from notorious peer-to-peer pirate sites. To make this possible, broadband subscribers would have to pay a nominal fee of as little as £1, or $1.37, a month to their Internet service providers.” The money collected by the Internet providers would be sent to a special agency that would distribute the proceeds to the copyright owners, including the record labels and music publishers. What do you think?
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