I found out about ratatat through some random surfing. I dont know much about him, but hes a producer and remixer and I like his style!
But what really caught me were these videos on his site. They both have a very simple effect added to the exsiting clip, repurposing it into somethign startling, and bizarre.
I recognize the paul simon video, but not the first one.
And from his myspace, you findAudio Dregs, a record label and DIY music and art collective with a myspace page worth checking out!
When it came to the fork in the road for new media vs old, Neil Young went the new way, while keeping the music as good as ever! I cant believe I get to work on his projects, and in some small way, have helped him move into the new world. There’s an amazing guy named Jeff on the new media team who has a great relationship with Neil and has helped Neil use the internet. Now Neil does it all. It started a few years ago with blogging, and now it’s visual. Neil just shows up with new material, and we help him get the word out! Oh yeah – he’s also revolutionizing the auto industry! http://www.lincvolt.com/
This video and new album just showed up at WBR and we cant wait to get it out to you!
Neil Young – Fork In The Road
Part of my job is to make sure I distribute info on trends and the changing new media landscape to the rest of my company. Change is constant. You need to put the info, trends, and new thoughts in front of people EVERY DAY. As “New Media” has speed up it seems as soon as people in more traditional role get into a concept it shifts. A few years ago it felt like you had 3-6 months to get your head around a new trend or partner, but no more! Heres what I am sending today:
Time Magazine on future of Media
“ In other words, the media business needs to see that the shovel it got whacked with–the change in the way people communicate and the spreading of that power–is not necessarily a weapon or a means to make our graves. It’s just a tool. Time to start digging.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1869219,00.html
Here are some numbers that show how big the numbers are and how important the net is to the music biz or any artist!
http://www.thefuturebuzz.com/2009/01/12/social-media-web-20-internet-numbers-stats/
Mobile – good illustration of how powerful mobile is. Most music fans wont be this aggressive, but this is “engagement” gone crazy. Clearly the next horizon for music biz:
GIRL, 13, SENDS 14,528 TEXTS IN A MONTH
http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2009/01/022295.htm
A FUTURE LEANING LOOK AT SUBSCRIPTIONS AND ISP’S
Information Age: How the Music Industry Can Get Digital Satisfaction – WSJ.com
Mixed in with the year end spin on numbers, NIN is back as the poster child for free music. Lots of interesting stories about how the free NIN album was top of Amazon sales charts.
Digital Music news says “perhaps a more fine-tuned example of how free often leads to paid in the modern music business”.
Its so easy to go to this oversimplification on one example as the “new model” for the music biz. I wish it were as easy as free leading to paid! The NIN “free” model is not scaleable for most and lets not forget – they are Nine Inch Nails and the new record was GOOD! NIN’s music at one point was the most revolutionary sound to appear in years. That’s the model! Innovative music and great songs lead to “paid”.
See Digital Music news Story Here
Read my post on Free, and some great links to the debate over free music
File under 60% of all stats are correct 50% of the time.
Report: Overall U.S. Music Sales Up in ’08; Albums Down 8.5%
Americans bought more music in 2008 than ever before
2008 CD & Ringtone Sales Fall, Digital Growth Slows
The Numbers are in – Revenue Down
Some of the headlines look misleading, but then again, no one loves the music biz! Obvioulsy people are covering different things here – it seems those covering the “growth” are covering transactions, and those covering the drop are talking revenue.
Here is a good reference point to start the year and disucss new areas of growth:
Some raw data (from coolfer)
Album sales: down 15% to 430 million units
CD sales: down 20% to 362 units
Digital album sales: up 32% to 62.8 units
Track sales: up 27% to 1.07 billion units
LP sales: up 92% to 1.9 million units
Digital gains not making up for cd losses. LP growth small but exciting and an area that is bigger than indicated in units because of revenue.
In 2009 I’ll be working on some very cool things with a new d2c vinyl site. Check out becausesoundmatters.com to see the products WBR creates, and stay tuned for a complete re-launch of the site early this year.
As I’m cleaning up and getting ready to go back to work, I’m using Metacritics year end top lists and listening to 2008 one more time!
Metacritic seems to have it all in one place, their own reviews, and many top year end lists from other mags and sites!
METACRITIC.COM
Their year end best of lists also go all the back to 2001 which is fun to explore
A few other year end lists that make it easy:
Imeem 08 playlist (log in required – but worth creating an account once)
top 20 albums of ’08 at Bands Under The Radar
Kami has great taste and after hours on Metacritic, I still found a few new things on her list that were amazing!
Time to think about your goals and plans for 2009! Ease in with this powerful eclectic mix of new music from artists around the world (embedded Imeem player).