The future of the music industry just may lie in video games. Harmonix announces today the RockBand Network, a signifiant advancement in the distribution and sale of digital music.

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In the ongoing saga of dumb entertainment companies doing dumb things online, Universal Music Group has a new page on it’s website for a new Eminem single they are promoting. There is a link on this page leading to a YouTube video which has been banned by Universal Music for unauthorized copyright. Talk about getting caught in your own bear trap. This has obviously become an embarrassment as the page as of now (11:02am) gives a message of Access Denied.

What good does this do anybody? Now I can’t hear the new song, watch the new video and get excited about telling my friends and buying it. Now I’m just angry because the music industry is yet again messing with me, the consumer. If Universal Music was smart, they would release this video in a high quality format and encourage music fans to put it on their blogs and embed it into their social network profiles. Further, Universal Music should have an affiliate program wherein if I place one of these videos on my blog and someone clicks through and buys a single or an album I get a small payment.

To the music industry I say, please read a book for me. It’s called the Cluetrain Manifesto. After that please take a look at The Long Tail. And by the way, dear reader, if you have not yet read these books, I highly suggest you do.

First it was YouTube vs. Viacom in a battle that is still going to this day. Now Warner Music enters the ring, insisting that any music from Warner artists be muted from YouTube clips or, in any cases, the clips have been removed altogether. This includes informal performances by kids on their personal keyboards. Even humming the wrong tune could get you in trouble these days. As far as I know I can still think about a Warners artist while recording a video on YouTube

As you would expect, unless you are Warners which I guess just doesn’t know or doesn’t care, there has been a huge outcry and many videos produced in protest. Maybe I missed it, but contiually alienating and pissing off your customers is something I didn’t get in any of my college business classes. YouTube has indicated in the past that it would like to do deals with major content providors to clear up these copyright issues, but the old media dons hold out for unreasonable demands.

It continues to shock me how the music industry contiues to self mutilate itself trying to enforce it’s antiquated business model. They killed Napster and thought they had won, but it was never about Napster. It’s so much bigger than that. For better or for worse it’s a new connected world order. The old rules don’t apply. Obama just got elected President; greed is out. Again I quote Princess Leia from Star Wars addressing Governor Tarkin. “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”

April 19 is “Record Store Day” but it just reminds me of real record stores from my past which barely exist today. Here is the source article for my thoughts. I also mention the move High Fidelity.

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All the major record labels are now offering non-DRM music, but they are using Amazon.com not iTunes as their platform. What does it mean for Apple?

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There’s alot of new action going on in the digital music sphere. News lately that Wall Mart will begin selling DRM-free music online and MTV will join up with Real Networks to crate a new service. MTV’s Urge has been a Microsoft partnership up until now and Real has had Rhapsody. It probably makes sense as Microsoft is likely more committed to it’s Zune Marketplace at this point and Real could use the young hip audience MTV can bring.

All of this is being spurred on by EMI and Universal. EMI already sells DRM-free tracks through iTunes and is now expanding to other services. Universal, on the other hand, is beginning to experiment with DRM-free music but has spurned iTunes. The major problem these new services will face, however, is that none of them will work as seamlessly with the iPod as iTunes will. That pure ease of use should give Apple the overall advantage, so long as the iPod remains the dominant digital music player.

Technorati Tags: mtv, WallMart, scoble, urge

Call it a little to little a little too late. Led Zeppelin will release a new greatest hits album in November and the big news is that the tracks will be available for digital download. This marks the first time the legendary band has made it stuff available online. No word on if iTunes will be included.

It’s fine and all, but do we really need another greatest hits album? And why not the entire catalog? Zeppelin, along with some other prominent classic rock bands, have been mysteriously absent from the new digital music world. It makes no sense to me as the classic acts have to be finding it harder and harder to get relevant radio play these days. Sure, there are some classic rock stations still around, but 90% of that audience has already purchased everything they’re likely to buy already. These bands need to introduce their music to a whole new generation, a generation that lives online. The number one traditional music seller in the US is now Wall Mart. How many Led Zeppelin albums do you think you’ll find at Wall Mart today? The best chance classic bands have to sell new music in online. So where are they?

Another classic band also not found online is AC/DC. They recently announced something equally as puzzling, an exclusive deal with Verizon to sell their music digitally. In bypassing iTunes, they reject the number three overall music seller in the country. Verizon isn’t even the number one cell phone provider. I’m sure they signed a better deal with Verizon than they would have gotten from iTunes, but only because Verizon is desperate to show some flash in the face of the iPhone. Is anyone really going to sign up for Verizon so they can buy some AC/DC?

I hate to see legendary bands cut themselves off at the feet and miss the chance to pass on a great tradition of classic music onto another generation. If they screw around too much and wait to long, however, no one may care by the time they figure it out.

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Elton John went on a rant against the Internet. He says people aren’t going outside and meeting others because they are staying inside and blogging. He also complains about the quality of art and music being created. Somehow the Internet is to blame for it all. Elton wonders what would happen if we shut down the Internet for five years, thinking an explosion of better art and creativity will erupt. The fact that the entire Elton John catalog is coming out on iTunes soon, well I guess nobody’s perfect.

The fact is the Internet is actually a fantastic enabler of contact with a whole new range of people you might never have known before. There is a group of Orange County podcasters I meetup with every month, in person, that I would have never known without technology and the Internet. Every year, I see hundreds more at the Podcast Expo. Hundreds of bloggers, those guys who never go outside, get together at PodCamp many times a year all over the country. This is just in the technical sphere which I reside in. Via meetup.com, thousands of other groups have formed and meet online and in person for a wide range of reasons. Elton John has now become, the Madman Across the Water.

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I’m a Beatles fan and would love to buy yet another copy of my favorite Beatles music from itunes, but I’m sick of the rumors and stories. The latest is of a Yellow Submarine iPod with the entire Beatles catalog. Great, fine, wonderful, make it so already. The Beatles have dragged their feet getting into CD and now drag their feet getting on to digital distribution. It ain’t rocket science guys. And what about some of the other big time classic rock acts. Led Zeppelin? The early stuff from Aerosmith? None of this makes any sense to me as Wall Mart and Best Buy are the leaders in CD sales and I don’t think you’re going to find much Zeppelin there. The best chance to sell music for older acts anymore is digitally, but they are nowhere to be found.

Technorati Tags: Beatles, iTunes, iPod

In a high stakes game of chicken, Universal Music Group, the largest music corporation in the world notifyed Apple it will not renew its yearly contract to sell music on iTunes. Universal will sell music “at will”. There are many interesting quotes from this article.

But if Apple were to decide not to carry Universal’s recordings, the music company would likely sustain a serious blow: sales of digital music through iTunes and other sources accounted for more than 15 percent of Universal’s worldwide revenue in the first quarter, or more than $200 million. (Vivendi does not break out revenue from Apple alone).

Some industry observers have cautioned against taking on Mr. Jobs directly. “When your customers are iPod addicts, who are you striking back against?,” said Ken Hertz, an entertainment lawyer who represents artists like Beyoncé and the Black Eyed Peas.

Seems to me that Universal shouldn’t mess with Apple. Both companies would suffer damange if Universal started pulling songs, but I’m not sure it would be mutual assured distruction. Consumers love Apple right now and most think the music industry sucks. The music industry is desparate to get on better negotiating terms with Apple, but packing up your toys and going home isn’t the right way to go.