CDs are not the centerpiece of the music business plan anymore - touring is.

Smash Mouth birthday card. Do you write a song for commercial reasons or artistic reasons?

In an article in the New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones, focused some attention on how “independent” Arcade Fire actually is. Frere-Jones tells us that Arcade Fire owns its master recordings, but those recordings are licensed to Merge Records for the many functions a band cannot do on its own. The band has a manager, too, as [...]

SXSW 2011 will mark the 25th edition of an event that draws over 30,000 creative professionals from around the world to Austin each March. Born in a time before the web, email, or smart phones, SXSW history bridges the analog and digital eras. As wireless communication has connected people with the entire planet from their [...]

Video: Sage Lewis on the Dying Music Industry

Many bands are using Facebook today to communicate with their fans and build a following.  Some bands use Facebook to announce and invite fans to their shows and others conduct contests to attract “fans.” How are you using Facebook to promote your band and how is it working? Here are a couple of interesting posts [...]

As reported in Rolling Stone, the L.A. power-pop foursome OK Go scored another big hit with its video “This Too Shall Pass.”  As of March 1st, the video drew 6.4 million views on YouTube in a week.  The six-figure production costs were arranged by the band and underwritten by State Farm Insurance Company.  Although sales [...]