Free Music Service Launched Today in China
In an effort to monetize an un-monetized music market in China, Google launched a music service available only in China today. The main objective is to draw Internet users from "China's Google," Baidu to, well, Google. With an effective deal between Top100.cn and over 140 labels, including the four majors (for now), EMI, Warner, Sony and Universal, Chinese can…
How to Effectively Demonstrate Putzhood
Mohandas Gandhi once said, “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” Gandhi certainly was an optimist. As a 24-year-old law student originally from Long Island now living in Austin, Texas, I feel uniquely qualified to address my generation’s pessimism. What…
Op-Ed: All Industries Run in Cycles
Everyone is so worried about the state of the music industry and it just continues to bother me. I am young, but I know this: Everything works in cycles. Everything. Music tastes, the state of the economy, housing markets, exchange rates, skinny jeans… Some of these cycles are longer than others, but they are cycles regardless. Business…
Ticketmaster President Speaks Up About Phish and TicketsNow
In an exclusive interview with Ticketmaster North America President, David Butler, Hidden Track journalist Luke Sacks explores the Phish presale mishap, TicketsNow, how they battle scalpers and the passionate following of Phish. In Short: The presale was the total fault of human error at Ticketmaster for which an "I'm sorry" in the form of a $50 gift certificate…
FCC Open Call On Tech Agenda
A couple years ago, a thing called Legislation 2.0 was getting a lot of attention as Senators and Representatives began asking for the input of bloggers in writing legislation regarding the national broadband strategy. It was a bit of an experiment, but the theory was basically, "Hey, we have the Internet and there are some…
Woodstock 2009?
The 40th Anniversary of 1969's Woodstock Festival is this year. As celebration, Woodstock founder Michael Lang is trying to plan a free, green festival. Lang was reported at a SXSW panel saying, "We want to have as small a carbon footprint as we can and use as many green techniqes as we can." The ideas are…
SXSW is Taking Over the World (in a good way)
The whole world is at SXSW this week. Seriously. Increasingly renowned for its ability to break new artists and serve as a music business networking Mecca, artists and industry professionals from all over the world trying to make a name for themselves have spent the dough to make the trek- some all the way across…
Beatles Might Release Digitally, Again
Though this is news we have heard before, George Harrison's son, Dhani Harrison, is pushing toward an Internet music store devoted wholly to the Beatles. Harrison points out in the article by guardian.co.uk that, "We're losing money every day." The executors of the Beatles' music estate and UK record label Apple are considering a deal…
Legislature Empowering Artists and Radio Stations
Just this morning, Future of Music Coalition gave an update on the Local Community Radio Act of 2009, which would allow 100-watt, non commercial FM stations (Low Powered FM) broadcasting to more niche markets. As described by FofMC, LPFM could encourage school, church and nonprofit radio stations while providing an outlet for local artists. The implications of…
My Morning Jacket Release Only in Independent Record Stores
My Morning Jacket has always been a friend to HeadCount. In 2008 we registered voters at dozens of their shows. Front man Jim James did a Public Service Announcement supporting voter registration. They gave us the original demo to the song "Gideon" for streaming on our download page (it's still there), and each band member…