Expert Blogging!

Music is always changing. Some people are on top of the trends. The BrooklynVegan is one of the blogs that stays on top of important events in music. The blog is centered around the New York music scene but anyone wanting to learn about knew music can enjoy it. The team posts a variety of different subjects that include music, free shows and tour dates.
BrooklynVegan posts about new artists to listen to in NYC. The posts include bios, opinions and links to music. The blog also tells you about upcoming shows for the artist. It's very informative.
The blog also reviews and informs about free shows and festivals in the area. A recent festival they blogged about got cancelled due to rain. The reason for the cancellation is thoroughly explained to readers of the blog.
Last, the site blogs about all the tour dates of the featured artists. They give their opinion about the show and let other people comment too. In this way, it is a very interactive site. The owners even get involved by talking to the readers through the comments.
This blog is very up-to-date to with all the latest trends. It is a great blog to follow if you want to be on top of the trends as well!

http://www.brooklynvegan.com

CDs Following in Cassettes Footsteps

Throughout the years technology has drastically changed the way people listened to music. At one point in time people could only listen music on the radio. Then vinyl came out along with the player. 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs were to follow. But now they are in the digital form of MP3s. This change not only affects consumers but it also affects businesses.
Retailers such as Best Buy, have drastically downsized their selection of music. I went to purchase a CD the day the album was released and they did not have it. They didn’t even have the artist listed on the shelves. Places like Wal-Mart are lowering the prices of all CDs. They not only have a five-dollar movie bin but five-dollar CD bin as well. They will do anything to get the consumers to buy the products.
The switch to online sales can also leave businesses confused. They still have to pay the record companies all the rights and royalties for every album they sell. The business needs to watch and record the sales of the digital media. Complications begin to arise when tracks are sold separately. The company has to make sure that everyone gets their share of the profit.
The process of sales reporting can be complex with all the different packaging models of the digital music. But by automating the system it will make the process go a lot smoother. It will also benefit the retailers and record labels. There is a program that can list the transactions using product, date and price that the item is sold. This system can better ensure that everyone gets the royalties.
The technology is growing to help more people use digital media as their main source of entertainment. This is making the physical CDs become obsolete. Will they ever really go away?

Your Opinion is needed!

Warped Tour Mobile App!

Summer, the time to relax, chill out and go to Warped Tour! The Vans Warped Tour is one of the biggest, largest travelling festivals and has been on the road since 1994. Every summer, sixty bands come together to make the festival a success. If you have ever been to Warped Tour you know how hectic it can be getting the times for the bands you want to see. I normally just take a picture on my camera of the inflatable so that I always have it with me. Last year Warped Tour introduced an application on the mobile markets and this year they brought it back! It is better than ever! The application is a helpful device and your guide to Warped Tour this summer.

One of the features of the application is news and updates. This is helpful because it allows fans to stay on up-to-date on all news about the tour. This also gives you links to the twitter page so you can stay on track with all the news happening the day of your show! The feature also gives  fans links to related sites such as Alternative Press and Buzznet.

Another part of the application is the Extra’s. There is a survival guide that tells you the DO’s and DON’Ts of Warped Tour. For example, it tells you to wear lightweight, light colored clothing and comfortable sneakers rather than layers or flip-flops. The section gives the 101 on the venue and what you can bring into it. The coolest part of the section is the camera. It allows you to take a picture of you and your friends while it automatically adds the logo to photo. It’s a neat way to remember the day!

The coolest part of the application is the ‘My Set List’ feature. This allows you to add the bands you want to see at the show. It also lets you add the time they are playing and what stage. It even lets you put the location and time of the meet and greet! Also, the feature lets you set an alarm so you do not miss your favorite bands!

The Vans Warped Tour is connecting with fans through the advances in technology. With the help of the application, fans will be able to enjoy their time at Warped Tour and not miss out on their favorite performers or the chance to meet them! 

Non-Traditional Approach

You are an artist and you want to get your music to your fans. Do you want to choose the more traditional route - the record label and physical distribution of CDs, or perhaps a nontraditional more innovative approach? Although numerous contemporary artists have made a name for themselves through online popularity and social media sites, generally, artists still dream of the traditional record deal. They have many opportunities with a record company. Other artists take a more modern approach with the use of the Internet and social media sites.  One band named Panic! At The Disco never played a live show before they got signed to a record label. They posted songs to their MySpace page. There are different websites available that allow a band to upload the their music and not going through the hassle of signing pages in a contract. One website is called cdBaby. They are an independent music site, that allows bands to upload albums to the site for fans to download. For just a minimum cut, the artist can upload their works and share them with the fans.

The nontraditional approach to distribution is extremely beneficial to artists because they are able to get their music out to more fans for a cheaper cost. The artist can send their album to cdBaby or a similar site. The website will take the album and distribute it on to the online database where more people will be able to access it around the world.

The artists on these sites are not looking for a lot of fame. They just want their music to be heard. If it is picked up along the way then so be it! Many opportunities open up for the artists as their fan base grows. Who knows they could be the next Panic! At The Disco! 

Technology Laws

What is our world coming to? Social media is taking over our everyday lives. More people today are using social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter on a daily basis, now than ever before. Even from a business standpoint, more companies are referring to social media outlets to advertise their products and increase brand awareness. Since more people are using it, there is a greater need for media law. Some companies, however, are stepping over the boundaries and acting illegally. In the next three podcasts we will discuss the latest terms in the media world.

The first podcast talks about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1988, DMCA and how companies are dealing with this act. The act was passed by President Clinton and has five components. The act combines online copyright infringement liability limitation, computer maintenance competition assurance and other miscellaneous provisions including webcasting and sound recording. The panelists discuss various lawsuits that they were involved in or have knowledge of in reference to DMCA issues.

The next podcast talks about how social media can be used as evidence in court cases. One of the examples given is about a sexual harassment case in the work place. In the past, workplace sexual harassment cases typically were based on ‘he said she said’ evidence. With today’s technology, however, conversations can be permanently recorded, and therefore are a possible source of evidence. Consider text messages. Conversations through text message are extremely popular today. These messages though can be viewed by anyone. The iPhone’s messages can actually be photocopied the texts and enlarged to use at trial. This source of concrete, detailed evidence eliminates the ‘he said she said’ and provides the trial with actual facts. Unfortunately, most people are not considering the permanence of electronic writing. Once something is written online or through text message even if it deleted it still sits on some server. It is important to be careful what a person says through text because it can be brought up and used against you in trail.

The last podcast talks about infringement, specifically those involving websites and uploading content to websites without gaining permission. There are many people who do upload content to their websites only to later be asked by the content’s original owner to take the information down. One of the questions asked during the podcast dealt with a website that allowed people to upload their favorite magazines to a website. This was a huge infringement problem that needed to be addressed. These people obviously did not get the permission to upload the content page by page so a number of them are being asked to take the information down.

All three podcast gave great information about dealing with law and digital media. The information is given so that people can learn and grow from the experiences. The concepts discussed in these podcasts, can each be applied to anyone’s business that looks to grow with the new technology of the future as well as the laws that accompany it.

Podcasts:

Standford University. Legal Frontiers in Blogging, Social Networks and the Internet (2010). Retrieved on May 24^th 2011 from http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-frontiers-in-blogging/id385575960?i=85422280

Law in the Information Age. Social Media as Evidence. Retrieved on May 14, 2011 from http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/social-media-as-evidence-new/id389258452?i=86453867

Legal Frontiers in Digital Media (2009). Retrieved on May 14, 2011 from http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/is-medium-more-than-messenger/id384241284?i=85096531

Intellectual Property

In a world that technology is changing faster than the seasons, there are items that are overlooked. Lines are blurred and things become unclear. Some of those items boundaries are tested include intellectual property. There are different types of IP: copyright, trademarks, trade secrets and patents. All of these legal forms have specific laws and the music industry has many cases that deal with them.

One case that is current is between Viacom and YouTube. Viacom is suing YouTube over copyright policies. It comes down to what type of system is put in place to prevent the violations. Viacom states that YouTube should have prevented this and taken measures to protect the copyright by installing software filters. If these precautions were taken then the lawsuit would not be in dispute. There should have been filter software put in place since copyright infringement started to have negative affect on companies. Emailing the user who uploaded the content is another way that Viacom wants to put an end to the infringement. But that only goes so far and who will check to see if people actually take down the content? While uploading videos of my own, even for some classes, I can’t use the music that I would like to use. No audio will play from the video because it has been disabled. YouTube is taking into consideration the copyright laws. Viacom brings up good points but YouTube may win this argument because they are already in the process of putting in filters for music content, they must be working on video filters as well.

Another case involves the music artist Ke$ha. She is suing a watchstrap company called “TikTok” because the name is too similar to her popular 2009 single, “TiK ToK.” Ke$ha’s lawyers want the company to hand over its entire stock. The artist was not financially stable until the song hit No. 1. If she can prove that consumers associate her and the product then she will most likely win the case. I can see where Ke$ha is coming from when suing the company. The song made her career and defines who she is. I associate “TiKToK” with her. I hope that she wins this case. She deserves a little bit more financial stability.

The last case talks about the future of the music industry. Rethink Music Conference was held a few days ago. Leaders in the music industry from record labels, copyright offices, recording studios, venture capital firms were some of the areas that were represented at the conference. At the event different issues were discussed about the future of the music industry. One of the issues was about the way fans received the music. Some artists are not focusing on how fans receive the music but the music itself. When you work on making good music then the fans will follow. Another issue was the talk about empowered artists and if a record label was necessary. Record labels provide a lot of help to the artists. They have many connections, so they will not be completely going away. However more artists are using social media spread their music and connect with fans. They are turning down label deals to become more authentic and close with fans. Facebook and other media sites are becoming a hubb for fans to share their musical interests with friends. What better way to find out about a band than the recommendation of someone you know? 

This is just the beginning of conferences and discussions about the future of music. As the music world turns digital, there different rights and laws that are emerging from the advances in technology. They will all have a great impact on the entertainment business in a way.