Bombtune

China Yields To WTO On Entertainment Goods

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The WTO cracked open China today with the passing of a law which bars China from restricting Western music and films. It also opens up China to ringtones and digital music.

This is huge for foreign firms.

I never completely understood why the West couldn't inundate China with its goods.  China simply chose to block Western entertainment goods to which no Western nation could appeal. 

Until now. 

Finally we can set up legitimate businesses in China that produce profit.  No more pirate material.

 

Forward Motion - Best of 2009

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Here is my Best of 2009 track listing.

I don't think you can abandon one form of music so I mostly connect the dots between broken beats, dubstep, wonky and dance. But also included are some hip-hop, rock, drum n bass, grime, reggae, and classical tracks.

Track Listing
Sebastien Tellier - L'amour Et La Violence by Floating Points
Floating Points - Vacuum
vvv - Hidden Places
Blue Daisy - Fall
Alix Perez - Forsaken
Calibre - Reach You Everywhere
Electric Wire Hustle - Burn
Fat Freddy's Drop - Pull the Catch
Jack Penate - Tonight's Today
Kan Kick - The Revelations of Sadness
Flying Lotus - auntie's lock W Life force
Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of the Birds
Mark Pritchard - Heavy As Stone
Julien Dyne - Conglomerates
Hudson Mohawke - Fuse
Breakage - Hard
dBridge - Creatures of Habit
Joy Orbison - Hyph Mango
Miike Snow - Animal (Mark Ronson remix)
John Robinson - The Author
Souleance - Manana

2010 might be time for the industry to face the music and dance

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Subscriptions have always struggled with retention – mainly because music isn’t designed to be consumed in millions of tracks.

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Music isn't designed to be consumed in millions of tracks because music is hit-driven and people don't know how to sample unless they've heard it on the radio or through peers first.

This is one more reason why the long tail is a canard. 80% of sales are hit-driven, the remaining 20% come from the tail, the non-popular.

Pundits say Spotify will change the game because it's download/streaming mixed model offers all you can eat music service. This again assumes that people will know what they want to sample. And they won't sample unless they hear it somewhere else first.

Avatar Is Like The iPhone Of Movies

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Like the iPhone in the mobile world, this movie disrupts an entire industry.

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First the Internet disrupts, then the iPhone, and now the movie Avatar. Disruption is about innovation which distracts users to adopt completely new habits, of understanding and expectation.

Facebook is also the king of disruption. I even checked my status in between this post. But what it shows is that music also has a bit to play in this game.

Music also disrupts, it takes your mind off the banal and puts it in a satiated place, far from your active duties.

Music is the original disruptor. Just ask Bach.

Music And Football – The Ability To Unite

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Music is universal, it’s a language, it crosses borders and still translates, it transcends the power of the spoken word, it’s alive and relevant and like the power of football, music unites.

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As I prepare for the Arsenal-Hull match today I remember just last week I was watching Arsenal-Liverpool at the famous soccer bar Nevada Smith's in NYC.

The Arsenal fans pervaded the bar with chants, chants unfamiliar to me but instantly uniting.

Music is a form of a unity. And football is just one way to express it.  

Sino Music

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The question remains as to when we'll see an influx of Chinese music.

China has the unique opportunity to recast Western forms of music such as hip-hop and grime and perform its own Sinospin.

Just wait until the Chinese open up to music and create it using cheap instruments.

The bedroom musician is taking over.

How do you think China will embrace music in the 21st century? Let me know your thoughts.

RIAA Proclaims "Great Music" As Savior

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The RIAA posted the top 5 reasons the record industry will get it back together. The fifth reason is "great music."

I think great music has been overshadowed by mediocre bands.  The whole Indie scene sounds the same:  kids who bang on electronic keyboards, scream, and hit drum snares like it's the new dance.

The downturn in great music is a result of cheap production.  Music is so easy to create, market, and distribute free in the Internet era.  As a result, the floodgates are open to bedroom musicians and a lot more music than we asked to shift through.

Of course, within all this music ubiquity are some artist gems.  I think Dangermouse's success is a product of the Internet.  There's just no way his Beatles/Jay Z album spreads without the ease of point, click, and listen.  Consequently, he was able to make a record with Ceelo. Gnarles Barkely is one of a kind.

Far too many bands are popular these days and the music is really shoddy.  It was hard to get a record deal in the past because the band had to be legitimately good.  I think we have to strike a balance between quality and the overwhelming burst of musicians. 

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Developing Content in Developing Countries

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There used to be little if any music content creation in developing countries.

But this is changing because music creation is cheap and distribution is easy.

A decade ago there wasn't an outlet for localized music production. However, the Internet and penetration of small Internet connected devices is making music not only accessible but marketable.

The confluence of technology and music culture is enabling musicians in India and China to express themselves.

With developing countries adding music content in heaps, the world is hearing more unique sounds. And netizens are becoming more receptive to the sounds of globalization.

Technology narrows the digital and music creation divide.

Are you finding it easier to create and promote your music online? Please share your thoughts.

NBC Exports Hulu Model to India

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NBC Universal is setting up an online sports channel in India much like Hulu.

With this move NBC establishes a precedent for the record industry to follow. And that is the labels should help emerging economies like India toward an MTVesque video online service.

Step 1 is to localize the music videos, keep it all about Indian content. India is full of musicians like the US but lacks a legitmiate sales model, an iTunes or Amazon for example.  Meanwhile, the movie business or Bollywood is bigger than Hollywood.

Step 2 is reaching out to the Indian masses, which will have the largest middle class in the world in less than two decades. This class will spend its disposable income on entertainment. This to me is the main reason the entertainment industries should plant the seeds guide creative and online distribution India right now.

Step 3 is making sure the Indian content broadcasts in the US and Britain where many of the diaspora live. Some sites like desihits.com are filling that void.  The combination of Indian music with Western music creates a new cross cultural art that will only become more intertwined in a globalized world.

NBC is making all the right moves to get in the India game immediately and help the country develop a viable online model for its music videos so Indian artists get paid.

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iTunes Invades Mexico

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iTunes is now available in Mexico making it the 77th country to host the store.

iTunes is available in 39% of the world. But if you scan through the various country stores you'll notice that not all of them sell music. The China and Vietnam stores for example sell apps. And any music-related item is in app format. Meanwhile, Mexico and Western Europe all have music stores.

iTunes merely reflects the physical marketplace. There are no CD shops in China. The Chinese skipped the CD or pirated it and went straight to mobile and portable devices. Mobile app mostly games dominate the Chinese store.

However, Japan is iTunesless. Japan was inundated post WW2 with Western culture and established it's own viable music business. It comes as a shock that a nation with a trained music culture, particularly one that is willing to buy, is barred from iTunes access.

I'm equally surprised it took 6 years for the labels to agree to distribution to Mexico, a next door neighbor and one that is flooded with American music.

The Mexico store not only serves Mexico's interest but those expatriates residing in the United States but looking for culture closer to home. The Internet flattens distribution and makes all localized consumption possible.

There is money to be made outside the Western world. With a rising middle class in India and China, a store with vast amounts of music like iTunes could explode and get ever bigger once iTunes becomes a streaming service instead of a micropayment service.

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