Kobalt: How Data Saved Music

[Ian Townsend]

This may be of interest to some here, particularly artists and songwriters.

Very interesting and very readable article in the May 2015 issue of Wired magazine about Kobalt, a digital royalties collection service. The owner predicts, if all record companies worked the same way, the music industries present income could double....and it's all about not punishing the consumer and offering financial transparency (and very useful data) to artists.

Here's the on-line version of the article: "How Data Saved Music"

[Ronnies-Pockets]

This may be of interest to some here, particularly artists and songwriters.

Very interesting and very readable article in the May 2015 issue of Wired magazine about Kobalt, a digital royalties collection service. The owner predicts, if all record companies worked the same way, the music industries present income could double....and it's all about not punishing the consumer and offering financial transparency (and very useful data) to artists.

Here's the on-line version of the article: "How Data Saved Music"

"Ahdritz says all this is not because the labels and publishers are devious -- it's because they are inept"


Yeah right

[Ian Townsend]

"Ahdritz says all this is not because the labels and publishers are devious -- it's because they are inept"


Yeah right

Fair to say Steve Albini, in this classic 90s rant, is in broad agreement with you. The figures and circumstances for signed, 'successful' bands, summarised at the end of the full article were food for thought for anyone thinking about a career as a musician, at least under the old recording industry model.

"Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says “Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke”. And he does of course."

[Shere Khan]

Fair to say Steve Albini, in this classic 90s rant, is in broad agreement with you. The figures and circumstances for signed, 'successful' bands, summarised at the end of the full article were food for thought for anyone thinking about a career as a musician, at least under the old recording industry model.

"Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says “Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke”. And he does of course."

"It's a shit business" I recognize what he's saying there. My son's group signed with Three Six Zero in 2013 which is part of Jay Zed's Roc Nation empire. The first thing they did was told them they couldn't release the record they'd just recorded in the US. They needed to write new, different, material and work with a producer suggested by 360. Did that. They didn't like it. "we need to do that again but with more input from the producer and less from you". "We need to gig". No, you mustn't gig at the moment. "We need to print more of our book, it's sold out and people want to buy it". No, don't print more of your book now. "We need to get more merchandise out there". We will negotiate a new merchandise contract and we'll take 20%. After 6 months of not being allowed to gig, recording songs which were rejected, being told they couldn't release their CD they decided to cut and run. All they'd got from 360 was a new merch deal and they were left owing them £6000 on the merch commission. It's total crap. Oh yeah, the only other thing they got was to be verified on Twitter.

[Ian Townsend]

"It's a shit business" I recognize what he's saying there. My son's group signed with Three Six Zero in 2013 which is part of Jay Zed's Roc Nation empire. The first thing they did was told them they couldn't release the record they'd just recorded in the US. They needed to write new, different, material and work with a producer suggested by 360. Did that. They didn't like it. "we need to do that again but with more input from the producer and less from you". "We need to gig". No, you mustn't gig at the moment. "We need to print more of our book, it's sold out and people want to buy it". No, don't print more of your book now. "We need to get more merchandise out there". We will negotiate a new merchandise contract and we'll take 20%. After 6 months of not being allowed to gig, recording songs which were rejected, being told they couldn't release their CD they decided to cut and run. All they'd got from 360 was a new merch deal and they were left owing them £6000 on the merch commission. It's total crap. Oh yeah, the only other thing they got was to be verified on Twitter.

Good to see the old dog recording industry has not learned any new tricks in the 21st century, just new twists on the old ones. So sorry for your son. I hope he keeps going and finds a more independent route to maintain his enthusiasm for writing and performing.

[SirSlim]

the only other thing they got was to be verified on Twitter.

Sounds painful.