Since the purchase of my new turntable, I'm becoming enamored the vinyl revolution. And what better place to be than in Cleveland, which boasts both a kick ass Record Store (Music Saves) and one of the few Record Presses in the country (Gotta Groove Records). Check it out below.
Gotta Groove Records - "Groove With Us" from Nick Cavalier on Vimeo.
Great Article! Link below...
Some Quotes:
"The bustling, 20,000-square-foot complex is home to 14 full-time employees. In addition to two recording suites, it houses a performance space for small concerts and rehearsals, as well as the offices of Reversed Image Unlimited, Seifert's record label and artist-development company. Under the same roof, he also operates a music-publishing firm and a post-production facility for film and television projects."
"Friends questioned his sanity. Yet where others saw folly, Seifert saw opportunity. The question I got the most was: 'Why are you building a studio at all, and if you're going to do it, why in Cleveland?' A lot of big studios in other cities are closing, but I think a lot of them are closing because they couldn't afford to have that much space in Los Angeles or New York City."
[Continued... Michael Seifert's Ante Up Audio recording studio lures big names to Cleveland and puts local talent on the map | Pop Music with John Soeder - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com ]
I know... I'm hard on major labels. Probably a bit too hard. Here's a more eloquently written piece from OK Go, explaining the stress dynamics of the industry through the example of embedding a YouTube Video. Serioulsly... it's good stuff.
This week we released a new album, and it’s our best yet. We also released a new video – the second for this record – for a song called This Too Shall Pass, and you can watch it here. We hope you'll like it and comment on it and pass the link along to your friends and do that wonderful thing that that you do when you’re fond of something, share it. We want you to stick it on your web page, post it on your wall, and embed it everywhere you can think of.
Unfortunately, as of now you can’t embed diddlycrap. And depending on where you are in the world, you might not even be able to watch it.
We’ve been flooded with complaints recently because our YouTube videos can't be embedded on websites, and in certain countries can't be seen at all. And we want you to know: we hear you, and we’re sorry. We wish there was something we could do. Believe us, we want you to pass our videos around more than you do, but, crazy as it may seem, it’s now far harder for bands to make videos accessible online than it was four years ago.
[continued at... Cleveland Bachelor: Celluloid Bachelor #48: OK Go "This Too Shall Pass"]
None of this really occured to me when I so easily posted the video.
More numbers on album sales, countering some of the doom and gloom from the industry. Click the link below for more graphs...
Digital albums, vinyl made a comeback in '09 while CDs slide
Physical CD sales continued their slide into oblivion in 2009, but online sales remained strong, even if not quite as strong as 2008. Nearly everything online was up and everything physical was down—except for vinyl, which continues to have a fierce following.By Jacqui Cheng | Last updated January 7, 2010 7:33 PM
2009 was a decently strong year for music—as long as you look at digital online sales and ignore the sinking ship that represents physical CDs. The US numbers are in from Nielsen SoundScan, and they are mostly a less-extreme version of the 2008 numbers, due in no small part to the struggling US economy. Still, the sales of physical media was way down while online media was way up, though vinyl enthusiasts are still bent on keeping their little niche alive—and are largely succeeding at it.
According to Nielsen's numbers for 2009, overall music sales were up a very modest 2.1 percent over 2008—this is a far cry from the 10.5 percent growth between 2007 and 2008, but growth nonetheless. When you split the numbers out, though, they are much more telling: music lovers bought nearly 1.16 billion digital tracks in 2009 (up 8.3 percent from 2008), and 76.4 million online digital albums (up 16.1 percent).
[From Digital albums, vinyl made a comeback in '09 while CDs slide]
If you've ever seen or heard Lucy Wainwright Roche, then you'll know why I'm re-posting this. I've seen her open for Dar Williams and she was amazing. I also have both her EP's and I'm looking forward to this full length album... She's a great artist with a wonderful voice and personality. And lucky for you, she's going to be the opener for the Girlyman show at the Beachland on Sunday, February 14th. So if you don't like giving money online, you can give it to her in person.
Donate to Lucy's Record!
Dear Friends, I'd like to thank you for the incredible support you have given me over the last three years. As you know, in June of 2006, I took a deep breath, left my teaching job in New York City, and set out on a challenging but amazing journey into the world of living as a touring musician. So far, this journey has taken me all over several countries, 45 states, and has found me in countless roadside hotels.
I have had many adventures in the past few years and I've gotten to work with so many amazing people from the Indigo Girls and Neko Case to Eddi Reader and Girlyman and, of course, members of my very own BIG family. Most importantly I've had the privilege of playing music in front of thousands of amazing people from all over the world. I am a very lucky person.
As many of you know, I currently have two 8 song EPs out in the world. This fall, I have taken huge step, and one I'm really excited about: I have gone back into the studio and am recording my first full length CD!
I have decided to make and release this new record independently and without the support of a record label. I feel that this is the right way for me to make the best record I can make and get it out to my fans as directly as is possible!
I'm reaching out to you to help me make this record a reality. I have a goal of raising enough money to pay for outstanding musicians, promotion, production and completion of my new record. Please donate what you can! Check out the donation levels - we've put together some things to give you in exchange for your generous support. I promise you I will put my whole heart and soul into this project.
[From Lucy Wainwright Roche]
More reason to be skeptical of the "Doom and Gloom" that the big labels are touting. Click the link below for the actual charts.
More Charts The Record Labels Don't Want You To See: Swedish Musicians Making More Money
from the artists-are-doing-better-than-ever dept
We've already discussed the research on the UK music industry that shows both that live revenue is more than making up the decline in recorded revenue and that musicians themselves are making more revenue than ever before. Some people have suggested that this is a UK-only phenomenon, but a worldwide study found the same thing as well. And, now it looks like the same is being found in Sweden as well -- home of The Pirate Bay, which we keep being told is destroying the industry. Swedish indie record label owner Martin sends in the news on data from the Swedish music industry, which looks quite similar to the UK data. First, it shows that while there was a tiny dip in overall revenue, it's back up to being close to it's high, mostly because of a big growth in live music:
Basically, recorded revenues dropped. Collections stayed about the same, but live grew. More importantly, though, is the second chart, which shows the revenue for actual musicians. And that's going in one direction: up.
And yet, The Pirate Bay is destroying the ability to make music, right? Funny that the numbers don't seem to support that at all. Basically, these charts are showing the same thing that those other studies have shown. More music is being created. There is greater "discovery" of new music. There are greater revenue opportunities for musicians, and the only part of the business that appears to be suffering is the part that involves selling plastic discs. Yes, that sucks if your business was based on selling plastic discs, but for those who can adapt and adjust, there is more money than ever before to be made. That sorta goes against the claims that "piracy" is somehow destroying the industry, doesn't it?
[From More Charts The Record Labels Don't Want You To See: Swedish Musicians Making More Money | Techdirt]
