A Billboard staff report, Cannes
McGuinness: “Good afternoon and thank you for giving me this opportunity. I don’t make many speeches and this is an important and imposing occasion for me. What I’m trying do here today is identify a course of action that will benefit all: artists, labels, writers and publishers.
I have been managing the best-known of my clients, U2, for exactly 30 years. Sure we’ve made mistakes along the way but the lineup hasn’t changed in 31 years. They are as ambitious and hardworking as ever, and each time they make a record and tour, it’s better than the last time. They are doing their best work now. During that time the music business has been through many changes.
At the beginning U2’s live appearances were loss-making and tour support from our record label was essential for us to tour and that paid off for the label as U2’s records went to No.1 in nearly every international territory starting in the mid ’80s and I’m happy to say that continues to the present day. They have sold about 150 million records to date and the last album went to No.1 in 27 territories.
Illegal Sharing Is Not Caring: A Swedish prosecutor filed charges against the popular Internet file-sharing site The Pirate Bay which users can share films, music and other copyright material.
The Material Girl: According to E! Online, Madonna was paid $10 million to appear in a new advertising campaign for Sunsilk hair-care products that will premiere during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl. The material girl also banked $72 million between June 2006 and June 2007, according to Forbes. Watch the commercial here.
The Signs of a New Era: MTV’s Kurt Loder discusses the delusions of celebrity culture, the coming collapse of mainstream media outlets, and the rising tide of free expression that can’t be stopped in the article titled
“Dinosaur Media DeathWatch“.
Recommended Listening: Check out the track Losing You by Camera Cant Lie.
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A New Circus Comes To Town: The creators of Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman, John Reese and CAA’s Darryl Eaton have announced plans for a new hard rock festival named ‘Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival’. Kevin Lyman added: “It was very important to us to create an atmosphere that allows career advancement for new artists, and this partnership ensures artist development opportunities for a multitude of new artists for a reasonable price for fans”.
Fox News’ Roger Friedman discusses the current state of the CD and Radio: ‘The end of the physical CD is just moments away. Last week, according to hitsdailydouble.com, CD sales totaled just over 400,000 copies for the top 10. The best-selling CD was the soundtrack to “Juno,” with 65,000 copies. Alicia Keys was second, with 59,000. The lowest-selling CD on the top 50 was Kanye West’s “Graduation,” with about 12,000.’
Radio programmers think they know what they’re doing, but they’ve simply forced listeners away. I’ve spent a lot of time in the car this month. Stations I’ve listened to in both New York and Los Angeles have been horrendous. The funny thing is, I’ve left the car in the evening, returned the next afternoon and heard the exact same songs. I’ve come to guess that programmers think listeners are just stupid.
I won’t tell you which stations did this, but it was embarrassing. Each time, I simply turned either to Sirius or to the in-dash CD player. I doubt I’m alone. ( Fox News)
The Future of Rock Radio: Idolator has posted a column entitled
‘Is Rock Radio Slowly Going Post-Modern?‘ that discusses the recent state of alt-rock radio stations flipping formats and what it might mean for the future of the Alternative and Active Rock formats.
New Music, Artist Updates and Recommended Listening:
A Verse Unsung will be performing SXSW and the dates can be found on their myspace. If you are a fan of Rise Against and Bad Religion then check these guys out.
Check out the track Hollow Pointe Escape by New Jersey post punk rockers Missiles And Markers.
Crash Parallel who draws comparisons to artists such as Coldplay, The Fray, David Gray and Counting Crows have signed to Sony/BMG. The frontman Tim Edwards has a damn good voice, check out the track ‘World We Know‘.
Keynote Speech: U2 manager, Paul McGuinness wants to end illegal music downloads and urges internet service providers and governments to toughen up their policies.
In a keynote speech spoken at the MIDEM music conference McGuinness said it was time for artists to stand up against what he called the “shoddy, careless and downright dishonest way they have been treated in the digital age.”
“There’s a lot of money in the music business, but it has stopped coming to the artists,” McGuinness said, though he agreed that U2 long ago determined that it “would be pathetic to be great artists but not be great at business.”
Read the rest of his passionate speech where he blames record labels that “through lack of foresight and planning allowed a range of industries to arise that let people steal music”…..
“We Are Not Idiots”: The new digital start up, Qtrax offers a free 25 million song catalogue and claimed to have deals in place with all four major labels. Wired Mag says the Time Online UK tracked down the CEO of Qtrax where he offered a response to the recent press.
“We are not idiots,” he said. “We wouldn’t have launched the service in front of the whole music industry unless we had secured its backing. We feel we have been unfairly crucified because a competitor tried to damage us. Everyone is very upset.”
Read more here….
The Signs of a New Era: We urge you to read the WSJ column entitled
‘Beyond The Album‘ that urges musicians to experiment on their own.
Digital Christian Music: EMI who is the leading distributor of Christian music and DVDs, is hoping for some divine intervention for the struggling genre’s sales according The NY Post. EMI plans to develop 500 new digital Christian music storefronts.
New Music and Recommended Listening:
The Midnight Academy – Sacramento, California. Think Queens of the Stone Age and My Bloody Valentine. The first track on their myspace, ‘The Epidemic‘ lays down an opening riff reminiscent of Interpol. (contact the band)
Next Show Dates:
Jan 28, The Old Ironsides-Sacramento, California
Feb 1st,The Upstairs – Inside Country Club Lanes, Citrus Heights, CA
Vivendi Chief says music biz gloom and doom exaggerated: Speaking at the Midem conference, Jean-Bernard Levy says the music industry is going through a huge transition. He said there would still be a market for physical products including the CD and the future always depends on discovering great talent.
Record Labels Abandon Legal File Sharing Site: Music fans around the globe faced confusion today as the new digital upstart Qtrax, announced they would be able to download unlimited, free songs without breaking the law. Qtrax claimed it housed 30 million free songs that are compatible with portable music devices including the iPod, but record labels have denied they had granted permission to share the songs. The gamble is that fans will put up with advertising around the Qtrax website’s jukebox in return for free music. Still, Qtrax faces some big obstacles including licensing and song/device portability.
Addictive As Heroin: The NY Times says the autobiographies from GNR guitarist Slash and “The Heroin Diaries,†by the Mötley Crüe bass player and songwriter Nikki Sixx make good reading. That’s not surprising. I couldn’t put down Motley Crue’s ‘The Dirt’.
Valley Mag: 95 percent of music downloads are illegal. The RIAA says illegal music downloads outnumbered legal ones 20 to 1 in 2007.
The Big Payday: Warner Music CEO, Edgar Bronfman Jr, received a compensation package in fiscal 2007 valued at $3.4 million. He also received a salary of $1 million along with $2,419,855 in dividends paid on restricted stock.
New Music:
One Star Story – Springfield, Missouri. This female fronted quartet could fall between The Cranberries and Garbage if the tracks weren’t so passive. Their new record titled “The Empty Room EP†will be released in March on Transatlantic Records. Check out the track So Long. (contact the band)
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