Last month we were all very excited when the guys at Spotify told us they had submitted their iPhone app to Apple and gave us a sneak peek [video after the jump]. Well yesterday, news broke out that the app has been approved and is ready to hit the App Store.
There were concerns that Apple may discard the Spotify app as it might lure music fans away from iTunes, but CEO Daniel Ek assured everyone that they had a good relationship with Apple; “We’ve a great relationship with Apple, think the iPhone is awesome and absolutely expect them to approve the app in the next few weeks.” He said.
As we’ve discussed before, the mobile app will only be available to premium users who pay €10 a month.
Now that the iPhone app has been passed Spotify can crack on with its launch in the U.S..
Spotify has almost doubled in value since a year ago, the Swedish company is now valued at €170 million ($250 million).
The companies – Motive Force and LiveUniverse – both operate web sites which allow users to read and search for song lyrics from thousands of songs. Both companies also use many “web 2.0″ features to allow users to access the lyric database in Facebook, iTunes, and other third-party applications.
A look at one of the complaints reveals that the Publishers’ Association is alleging, among other things, copyright infringement on the basis of unauthorized public display – one of the few times this particular exclusive right is relevant to musicians. The Association also alleges this infringement is not innocent: both companies, they claim, earn significant revenue from advertising, soliciting donations, and driving traffic to their other ventures.
Billboard reports that NMPA President David Israelite has been leading the NMPA in an effort over the last three years to protect songwriters’ lyrics by contacting hundreds of unauthorized lyric sites providing them opportunities to properly license their content or risk a lawsuit. Says Israelite, “Music fans are the biggest losers when licensed businesses, like LyricFind, Gracenote and TuneWiki can’t survive and prosper because unlicensed, illegal businesses are allowed to thumb their noses at the law.”
GrindEFX has been running for just over 3 months now, and I’ve noticed that we haven’t talked much at all about books you should have in your collection. So here is the first installment of our book recommendation series.
Don Passman’s “All You Need to Know About the Music Business” is arguably the most well-known and praised book on the music business. Now in its 6th edition, the book has been universally regarded as the definitive, essential guide to the music industry for over 15 years.
In the book Donald Passman, who is considered one of the best entertainment lawyers in the U.S. with clientele such as Janet Jackson, Quincy Jones, R.E.M., and Tina Turner, covers everything from copyright and publishing to songwriter deals and how to pick a manager. I’m not going to write a review per se because there are a thousand and one of them out there written by people more qualified than myself, here are some you may recognise:
ASCAP, BMI, SOCAN, PRS, LOL, OMG, WTF. Welcome to the world of Performance Rights Organizations, or PRO’s. Why do we have them, what do they do, and why is it important for musicians to know all this?
Recall from our discussion of copyright that one of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder is the right to publicly perform her work. The performance of music has always played a large role in the public’s engagement with music. Before recording technology came along, public performance income for musicians was simple – get on stage, play, and get paid. Now however, songwriters and musicians can have their recordings publicly performed without having to physically be there. As a result, the licensing of public performances has become very important to musicians and serves as a major revenue stream for them.
I’m not entirely sure what people mean when they refer to “music 2.0.” I’m not entirely sure they know what it means either. Perhaps it’s just a buzzword – a way to trick people into thinking Twitter is exciting and useful.
I’m only kidding. “Music 2.0″ is a nebulous concept, but at its simplest, it embodies concepts that enable musicians and bands at all levels to reach new fans and connect with existing fans in a post-record label, post-filesharing, social networking, digital world. The term derives from Web 2.0 - ”the second generation of web development… that facilitates information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration.”
Perhaps the reason nobody can pin down exactly what Music 2.0 means is that nobody can pin down exactly how musicians can find success in this type of world – this “music commerce frontier” as some have described it. Not the major record labels, not the “experts” of music 2.0, and definately not the musicians themselves. The good news is that whatever Music 2.0 means, it is clear that at its core is innovation. All the individuals and groups mention above are using innovation – thinking outside the box – to find success, and until someone comes up with a bulletproof plan for finding success through music 2.0, all musicians can do is learn from the successes and failures of others.
Electronica artist Moldover has come up with a very unique concept for his new CD. Not only has he built his own custom circuit board for his album artwork, but the CD itself is a musical instrument. Awesome! Yet another example of an indie musician using his head and giving fans a reason to buy.
You can listen to Moldover’s album for free on his website.
In this video Chris Anderson, author of Free: The Future of a Radical Price, is talking about free business models for news websites. Though a lot of what he talks about can be related to the music business, there was one thing he said in particular that I think a lot of musicians should think about.
Use free to reach a mass audience, and use paid to monetize the people who value it most.
Rumours have been flying around all week but Myspace made it official yesterday (August 19th), it has bought the online music sharing service iLike for a reported $20 million.
“The iLike acquisition advances our relentless pursuit of innovation and the need to create new distributed social experiences in music and beyond,” said Owen Van Natta, Chief Executive Officer of MySpace. “We are deeply committed to bringing world class talent into all areas of the company and this acquisition demonstrates our focus on this objective.”
The obvious question we’re all asking is why Facebook didn’t pursue the company, with iLike being an integral part of the music experience on Facebook one would assume its services were of much more value to them than to Myspace, which has Myspace Music. Over 10 million Facebook users use iLike every month. According to TechCrunch Facebook did indeed put in an offer for the company, as well as Amazon.
First of all, I must apologize for my absence from the site in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been incredibly busy elsewhere and any time I got to put into the site was mostly taken up by “behind-the-scenes work”, hence the lack of activity on my part.
Back to business though and one story that’s been generating a frenzy this month is the new digital album format being developed by the major record labels and Apple (separately). Since rumours have been flying around for a few weeks now you’ve probably read or heard about it somewhere, I just wanted to play catch up though for those that haven’t heard and drop my 2 cents.
A brief overview; Apple announced they were working on a secret project which was given the name “Cocktail”. The idea behind Cocktail is a single file download that would include songs, videos, artwork, lyrics and liner notes for an album. This new format would presumably work very nicely alongside their iPod line and the new Tablet rumoured to be released later this year. Apple apparently reached out to the majors (Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI) for a partnership, however the majors decided instead to team up and develop their own competing format – CMX – which would, again presumably, require its own supporting player.
Bob Dylan isn’t one to bite his tongue and in the past he has shared his antipathy for digital music. His latest outburst is directed at online streaming sites and last week he ordered sites such as Spotify and we7 to remove his music from their catalogues.
Dylan apparently has issues with the way in which music is consumed and shared in this new digital era. The sites were contacted by representatives for the singer/songwriter’s record company, Sony, and were asked to prove they have the rights to stream his music. Consequently; Dylan’s 30+ album catalogue has been removed from streaming services until an agreement is reached.
Clive Gardiner, we7’s digital music SVP, said: “We took it off the site a few days ago. Spotify would have had the same instruction. But it may be a short listing and it may come back again.
“There are some artists that will take umbrage at this from time to time. We expect this sort of thing, especially with streaming, and it not being fully understood where it sits yet. “
Last month we were all very excited when the guys at Spotify told us they had submitted their iPhone app to Apple and gave us a sneak peek [video after the jump]. Well yesterday, news broke out that the app has been approved and is ready to hit the App Store.
The 
ASCAP, BMI, SOCAN, PRS, LOL, OMG, WTF. Welcome to the world of 
I’m not entirely sure what people mean when they refer to “music 2.0.” I’m not entirely sure they know what it means either. Perhaps it’s just a buzzword – a way to trick people into thinking 
, is talking about free business models for news websites. Though a lot of what he talks about can be related to the music business, there was one thing he said in particular that I think a lot of musicians should think about.
Rumours have been flying around 
First of all, I must apologize for my absence from the site in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been incredibly busy elsewhere and any time I got to put into the site was mostly taken up by “behind-the-scenes work”, hence the lack of activity on my part.
Bob Dylan isn’t one to bite his tongue and in the past he has shared his 
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