All Eyes On imeem: imeem is a social media service where users interact with each other by watching, posting, and sharing content including blogs, photos, audio, and video. Although KOAR can’t verify these figures, according to analysts more than 19 million people now share their music on imeem. According to Business Week the imeem experiment is being closely watched as a potential new ad-supported model. Caldwell notes that music companies have never made money from advertising. Instead music companies make their songs available free on radio stations, MTV, and MySpace as a way to promote vinyl and CD sales. The thought here is that by making music available in compelling new ways, imeem could potentially intrigue members of the Napster generation away from unsanctioned piracy sites. “We think the opportunity for real revenue growth is for ad-supported music,” Caldwell says. “It can be as big as the download business, and Apple doesn’t have a stranglehold.” Imeem has cut licensing deals with three of the four major labels. The labels don’t make their money off the music, but by getting a cut of the advertising that imeem drums up for the site. Imeem CEO Dalton Caldwell says that roughly half of its revenue goes back to the content owners, on a pro rata basis. The more times a label’s songs are played, the more they get paid.

The Trent Rant: Josh Homme gave a piece of his mind last week, now its Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor who bashes the Grammys.

Trent wrote this on his blog:

While the music industry is doing everything they possibly can to go out of business, can we all make sure to rid ourselves of the Grammys, too? Out of touch old men jacking each other off.
ENOUGH!
Have a nice day

We get it Trent. People back in the day watched the Grammys to get an idea of what other people thought was popular. We hope Trent harnesses his anger and gives us another song like “Head Like A Hole” or “Piggy”.

Pot Dreams: Mr. Hufford said that he and Bryce Edge, Radiohead’s other manager, had come up with the pay-what-you-want plan during a stoned philosophical conversation about the value of music. They had initially proposed releasing only the download and the deluxe box, but the band overruled them, noting that many of its fans are neither downloaders nor elite collectors. Hufford also says regarding the ‘pay what you want plan’, “This was a solution to a series of issues,” Mr. Hufford added. “I doubt it would work the same way ever again.”

Mover Over iTunes: Amazon has long dominated online CD sales and analysts believe that Amazon MP3 is off to a fast start. “I won’t be surprised at all if Amazon has 20% market share (of the download business) by the end of 2008,” says Paul Verna, a music analyst with eMarketer. Some believe the advantages of Amazon including selling popular tracks for 89¢, rather than 99¢ in the basic MP3 format will cut into iTunes market share.

Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy is Seeking Talent: Wentz writes on his blog that he is looking to sign a new band:

hey you… yeah you. i realize that you know about great bands that i have never heard of waaaay before i hear them. we want to sign a new band and we need your help. if you know of someone great post about em (save the posts about oasis and motion city soundtrack- theyre great but already signed. know what i mean?).

Yeah, Pete, we know what you mean. NIN is out of a deal, go call Trent.

Blog Nominations: Nominees have been listed for Hypebot’s First Annual Music Blog Awards. Go support you’re favorite Blog.

Lasly, Fueled By Ramen has signed Los Angeles indie act Phantom Planet. Check out the track California – it has a Counting Crows vibe.

Check out the new track Chasing Satellites from the Canadian indie rock act Hello Operator. From the very first notes, you can hear The Cars influence, but they hit another dimension with their escapist pop jangle tempered by a moody new-wave pulse. Much Music and Much Loud are playing the video for Chasing Satellites and several Canadian radio stations have featured the song and are going for adds in January. They were called a “newsmaker” in Macleans magazine, and listed as “one of 12 bands to watch out for” by Canoe.ca after their Canadian Music Week performance. They toured Canada with Hilary Duff, and have shared stages with Switchfoot, Simple Plan, Mobile, Hedley, Neverending White Lights, and Immaculate Machine. Also, check out the track 55 Regrets which came off their last EP and was always a KOAR favorite.

I don’t know if this interview with Josh Homme is a rage or a rant but this is a must read. In this no-holds barred interview Hommes talks about his disgust with Interscope Records:

‘Fuck the labels man, they suck. The last thing they’re stripping down is their own expense accounts and shit. I mean, Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records takes a private jet or rides first class to tell a band they don’t get tour support.

I THINK OF INTERSCOPE AND ALL THESE LABELS AS THE BIGGEST FUCKING IDIOTS ON THE PLANET. And print that in capitals, because they can’t do anything to me. That’s the difference. The reason is because finally, for once, the fact that this is just their job and this is my life does a flip flop on them because they can’t stop me from being me and from playing, but they can lose their jobs and have to fucking work at Shakey’s pizza like they should’ve all along. I’m really sad for the days of the glorified groupie with the fucking hundred thousand dollar expense accounts. They’d drop bunches of bands before they would ever cut their expense accounts.

Lovely! read the full rage here..

Facebook Apologizes for Spying: Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Facebook apologized to the site’s users for the controversial new advertising feature which tracks the actions of its members when they use other sites around the Internet. Let’s hope this program is suspended soon.

Capitol v. Thomas trial not unconstitutional: A single 30 year old mother Jammie Thomas who spent hours stealing music (1,702 songs) recently said the damages handed down by the jury were unconstitutionally excessive. The Department of Justice said the $222,000 damage award is NOT unconstitutionally excessive and that Thomas’ motion ignores the fact that statutory damages are given in place of actual damages. I suggest Jammie finds a job, begin a series of weight watchers meetings, and starts supporting her favorite artists.

Holiday Layoffs: The NY Post has a column today titled ‘SONY HUMBUG’ LABEL CUTS JOBS IN WAKE OF WEAK MUSIC SALES. Universal are anticipating cuts within Universal’s Interscope/Geffen/A&M division, headed by Jimmy Iovin.

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This is a classic example how YouTube can breed new opportunities. The moral of the story is ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. The Journey guitar player Neil Schon took matters into his own hands and found what he was looking for by sifting through videos on YouTube.

In his own words:

“I was frustrated about not having a singer, so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours… After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, ‘he can’t be that good.’ But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn’t sound synthetic and he’s not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter.”

Watch the video that caught Neil’s eye.

The Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) has released a new proposal to charge Canadian Internet and wireless users $5 per month to compensate for losses due to file sharing.

The new right would make it legal to share music on peer-to-peer networks. In return, the SAC is proposing a license fee of $5.00 per Internet subscription per month.

The songwriters claim that this approach would legalize peer-to-peer file sharing, while generating new revenue (420 Million) for creators and the music industry. Songwriting and publishing associations have an opposing critical view, pointing out that many of those they represent only write music and do not perform live. (Billboard)

This proposal may look good on paper but what about the Canadians who don’t file share? Other Canadians should not pay for the crimes committed by thieves. Regardless, the governments must maintain property rights for artists even though others want to vote them away. We need legislation to protect artists and the structure of entire creative industries.

CD Sales…

Josh Groban Noel 538k
Eagles Long Road 312k
Alicia Keys As I Am 257k
Celine Dion Taking Chances 92k
Carrie Underwood Carnival Ride 89k
The Killers Sawdust 20k
Paramore Riot! 18k
Avenged Sevenfold Self Titled 12k
Finger Eleven Them Vs. You 12k