Concord Music Group, whose beginnings started as a small jazz label from Concord, CA in 1972 is now an indie record label powerhouse with 160 employees and boasting over  $100 million dollars of revenue per year. Thier success can be attributed to two strong elements in Concord’s business plan, targeting an older audience and focusing on building a catalog with career artists.

Concord focuses on the adult audience which will be more inclined to pay for a CD and interested in timeless music rather than hottest pop sensation. In the article from the New York Times it says,  ” According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, people 50 and older buy 16 percent of all albums and singles but buy 28 percent of all the physical music sold”. This is beneficial to Concord who relies on album sales for a good portion of its revenue.

The company’s strength also comes from its past catalog. Whereas a major label will have only a few of the artists that will make a majority of the money for the company, Concords gets strong steady sales throughout its catalog. By focusing on career artists and  “timeless and authentic” music , dedicated music lovers that want to learn more about the artist will be more inclined to buy an album and hopefully the rest of that artists catalog rather than a single. Concord has recently acquired Rounder Records and signed a distribution deal for Paul McCartney Post-Beatles catalog this April . Strong acquisitions and dealslike these and 2004’s acquisition of Fantasy Records (included the Stax Records Catalog) have given the Catalog a diversified and strong catalog which doesn’t rely on current short-term tastes but time tested ones. This shows to be successful as the company is reporting growing digital album sales rather than singles.

By focusing on these two strengths Concord has been able to thrive in a harsh business climate where labels a folding everyday especially independents. A focus on quality music and long term music sales rather than quantity and short term music sales has given the company an advantage against the major labels. Concord’s approach should be looked at because it creates a sustainable business and revenue model rather than a erratic one with large up and down swings in revenue over a short period of time.

Check out the article here

It first began with a college-grad by the name of Alex Rude who had enough spare time on his hands after graduation to create an iPhone APP for the Van’s Warped Tour. After being approved by Apple to sell the APP in the iTune’s store, the Warped Tour crew quickly found Rude and hired him (rather than suing for using the Warped trademark) and now has him working on APP’s for the tour’s brother and sister tours, the Mayham Fest and Country Throwdown. Rude’s Warped APP has been downloaded by over 30,000 users, showing that fans are looking for a more organized, convienent way to enjoy their favorite summer festivals.

The use of multi-media applications within music festivals is becoming a new outlet for festival organizers to connect with fans. Beyond the schedule aspect of the apps there are facebook pages, twitter updates, and accessible interactive band bios all integrated into the digital portitions of summer music festivals. Attending a concert today goes much further than arriving, watching the performance, and leaving. Photo contests are a vibratant part of the post-marketing strategies of monsters like Lollapalooza and Bonaroo. New media is changing traditional concert promotions.

For further reading check out http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6470CO20100508

Well looky at what we have here. Our former professor David Lewis David T. Lewis has contributed a new web exclusive on Alternative Press, outlining his 5 steps for music industry success. His trademark wit and excellent advice is inherent throughout, so take a look at the article.

That is, if you can get your eyes off the subtle 5-oclock-shadow, the perfectly angled military cap, and those driven eyes (looking the other direction). I’m sure I’ve seen this press photo somewhere before… well anyways, check out the full article here.

In the midst of a search for Chicago’s hottest new emcee, AEMMP Records will be hosting its first ever Hip-Hop showcase. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 5^th, from 9PM – 1AM at the popular Wicker Park Club, Subterranean. AEMMP hopes to use the showcase to feature and support several rising Chicago artists including Rockie Fresh, Big Homie Doe, Darnell Williams, and JDP. AEMMP is also proud to have DJ RTC from Rubyhornet.com on turntables for the night. The show is accessible and affordable at only $7 for those who are 17+

So come support AEMMP Hip-Hop!

Click here to order tickets.

This is a theory that I firmly believe in.  As a producer/emcee/songwriter myself, I constantly have melodies in my head and you can often find me singing around my apartment.  For rappers, lyrics come easy.  Rappers like Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z, and Lil Wayne are known for coming up with whole songs without writing anything down.  So you combine the skill of coming up with melodies and to improvise lyrics off the cuff, you have the right combination needed to write good songs.

In the 90s and for much of this decade a rapper that attempted to seriously sing was considered “soft.”  In urban music culture singing was associated with R&B not hip-hop.  However, the new breed of rappers have embraced a more melodic approach to their lyrics.  Led by megastar newcomers Drake and KiD CuDi, the modern day emcee can be heard using melodic raps throughout entire songs, or better yet singing entire R&B like songs. Some say that this style of rap isn’t real hip-hop, and some say it’s hip-hop evolving.

I think T-Pain’s harsh use of the auto-tune plug-in inspired the increased popularity of this type of rap style.  Dayton, Ohio native, Roger Troutman, originated the vocoder auto-tune style, however T-Pain popularized it again for the millennial generation.  Soon after T-Pain’s string of hits and his debut album entitled Rappa Ternt Sanga, many artists wanted to use his sound in hopes of duplicating his success.  This resulted in many of the songs found on the Billboard charts containing vocals with auto-tune.  Lil Wayne is often credited as the first rapper to commercially use auto-tune.  His song “Lollipop” featured auto-tune throughout the whole song, and eventually became Lil Wayne’s first #1 hit of his career.  Kanye West eventually gravitated to the auto-tune plug in, and created a whole album (808 and Heartbreaks) singing in auto-tune.

Although many rappers still recruit an R&B stud to croon out a hook for their next hit, many rappers have cut their expenses and are taking on the singing duties themselves.  Some still use auto-tune, however, some are starting to forgo the auto-tune and rely on their own singing ability, or maybe not singing ability, but their ability to hold a note.  This style has opened up many creative lanes for emcees to jump into, and it has encouraged emcees to do less of “traditional rapping” if you will.  But whose to say that this is a good or bad thing for hip hop when we’re seeing hip hop reach heights that music critics never would of imagined at the beginning of its era.  I don’t mind the new melodic style of rap as much as I mind the content of the music being produced by these artists.  Some have meaningful songs about real issues or songs that are just cleverly written, and some just fail to add any originality to their content.

I feel like we’ll see this trend continue on and grow in popularity.  I can also see this style evolving into a sub-genre of hip-hop.  This could potentially help the genre maintain its relevance in the industry.  However, critics may say that it is no longer hip-hop and has crossed over too much to have any association.  How do you think this style will evolve?

Mp3storeguide.com wants you to own the music that you buy.

You may or may not be aware that when purchasing a digital download of an Mp3 there is a good chance you are buying a DRM, digital rights management, protected track. This means that although you paying for the music, the distributor is limiting how you use your music, from the number of times you can burn the track, to how many computers can house it.

So next time you want to download an mp3, instead of heading straight to iTunes, check out The Mp3 Store Guide. Their site gives you the tools to find DRM free downloads of your favorite music in one simple search.

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

Okay, maybe that’s not the best analogy but it seems to be the trend in music today. No sense in actually (gasp) purchasing music when you can simply download a free torrent online in minutes, right? Regardless of your personal stance on pirating music, it’s easy to argue that it is doing a whole lot of damage to the industry and that artists that we all know and love.

Guvera, a new music streaming and download service, has a unique platform to try and change that. They seem to understand that people today just aren’t buying as much music as the used to, so they are finding someone else to buy it for you! Yep, you heard me right, Guvera is “free but paid for” music streaming and downloads. What the website provides is as a tool that matches advertisers with the consumers most receptive to their messages. The advertisers pay for the music they know their consumers are listening to, and both parties benefit.

I joined the website myself to get a taste of the action, unfortunately the service has not officially launched yet but, by registering now I received “pre-launch access” and got a chance to preview the channels and get a feel for the format of the site. The set up is pretty darn smart (if you ask me). Initially after setting up an account, you do a few required interested surveys, simple check box deals with a few options (favorite music, movies, sports, holidays, countries, that sort of thing). This I’m assuming is how they know which brands to target to you. Once you have completed your interests, all that’s left to do is search! Simply type in a song name, or an artist and Guvera returns a list of advertiser-sponsored channels that provide the matching tracks. After selecting a channel, you are free to stream or download the  music paid for by that brand.

It’s a unique business model. I find it effective in the sense that it is giving music consumers what they may be taking other wise, free music, except that this content is now actually being paid for by someone else. Advertisers need to know and reach their demographic, this seems like a productive way too support an industry that is lacking in many areas while doing just that.

Try out Guvera for yourself  and let us know what you think!

Here’s a good idea. Musicians for Music 2.0 is a Kickstarter campaign around the idea of launching a (non-profit?) organization that secures $100,000 donations from 12 artists, who they dub “guardian angels”, and awarding those monies to start-up ventures in music discovery websites and technologies. I like the premise. Musicians donating money to help shape the make up of the music industry in the future, and a organization deciding who and what deserves the injection of capital. Head to the Kickstarter page to help fund the $1000 goal, and maybe we’ll see this thing realized on a bigger level!

via Hypebot

As AEMMP’s resident Red Sox fan, I just had to comment on this. Dr Dre was interviewed by Heidi Watney (my girlfriend) before the Red Sox home-opener Sunday night. The L.A.-based rapper/producer/visionary was in the Bay State to promote his new headphones (cleverly dubbed “Beats by Dr. Dre”) along with producer/industry ass-kicker Jimmy Iovine. The dynamic duo also dropped some knowledge about what appears to be Dre’s first single off of the upcoming Detox, apparently titled “Under Pressure” (featuring Jay-z!!).  While this whole video was an uncomfortable plug for $395.00 headphones, I gotta say I found the whole thing hilarious, and, even a little exciting. Details about the Chinese Democracy of hip-hop, Heidi Watney making Iovine squirm, and Dre in a Red Sox jersey…something for everyone!

I’ll take that (and a win) over Obama throwing out the first pitch in the wrong team’s hat any day.

So the iPad is officially loose on the streets today and the internet is overrun with videos, posts and tweets reviewing the device, ripping it open, licking it, recommending apps (Scrabble looks dope), and generally saturating the blogosphere with iPad mania.  Naturally, the nerd contingent here at AEMMP is following suit.  I’m going to break down my top 3 game changing apps for musicians, listeners and the music industry, culled from weeks of pathetically meticulous starring and compiling of every scrap of iPad audio news from the past month.

1.  The iPhone offered a variety of fun toy instruments, from mini-guitars to flutes, but the iPad’s substantial surface area makes it a legitimate option for useable instruments.  MooCow’s PianistPro is a feature packed keyboard with enough size to actually be playable.

Watch some video of the PianistPro in action.

If only there was some sort of wireless MIDI protocol so I could use it to program software on my laptop, oh wait…

2. Hexler’s TouchOSC apps have been seeing a lot of play on the iPhone, but are set to blow up upon porting to the iPad.  I know a lot of DJs and producers (myself included) who were ready to buy an iPad for this purpose alone.  OSC, or Open Sound Control, is an up and coming protocol that makes MIDI look like wiring up patch cables on a Moog.  Capable of wireless transmission of simultaneous multitouch data inputs, OSC is the future of getting music machines to play nice with one another.

Previously, JazzMutant’s Lemur was one of the few devices to implement the new protocol, offering a create-your-own touch screen controller heaven.  Orginally priced at $4,000 (now down to $1500 presumably in anticipation of the iPad) this beautiful piece of gear was out of the average DJ’s price range.  When the TouchOSC app came out for iPhone, mimicking the Lemur’s functionality, it was great, but you’d be hard pressed to DJ a whole set from your phone.  So naturally, my first thought upon the official announcement of the iPad and its price point was “$500 Lemur?  This is going to take over the scene.”

As cool as these instruments and controllers are though, the biggest change the iPad will bring is in how people will listen to, and interact with, music on the device, blurring the line between consumers and producers.

3. RjDj is site that promotes and creates products for “reactive music”.  Their apps for the iPhone and Touch allow listeners to use the accelerometer, touch screen, microphone or any other input to affect the output of their music and create their own remixes.  The basic idea is, instead of just a pre recorded song, bands (big name artists like Air are already on board) create organized sound sets with different mixes, instruments and effects mapped to different physical inputs.  Don’t like the horn on the chorus?  Blow on the microphone to make  your own riff.  Want to add a tambourine? Shake that iPhone up and it’s there.  You get the picture.

The artists control the options and shape the parameters to keep you from making an atonal distaster, but you’re free to play in their playground however you want.  While it’s a cool service, the iPhone app, like many others, is a little toy-ish.  On the iPad, a free app called RjDj Voyager (pictured above) allows deep parameter control that really let’s the consumer create something unique and become a producer themselves.  Once people get used to controlling their music, they may never be able to go back to just listening again.

Check out RjDj Voyager in action here.