The Center For Music and Arts Entrepuenership

Social media is literally taking over the way the world functions and communicates, and is continuing to expand each and every minute of every day. It's a scary thought... isn't it? With a society built on the innovations of technology, it is more important than ever to utilize what it has to offer - but this can create a gray area.  

Mark Muligan, a digital music market analyst, blogs about current music industry issues that create the painful, on-going journey towards a better industry. Keep updated on recent news in the industry by subscribing to his blog linked below: http://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com

The New Orleans city council president Jackie Clarkson has recently proposed an ordinance that will not allow anyone under the age of 21 to enter a bar. If this ordinance is passed, not only will local venues suffer, many of which are also bars, but so will the young local musicians in the city of New Orleans. With a booming music scene funneling out of the colleges in New Orleans, it will make it harder for them to book shows and bring in crowds. Venues will also be hurt by this new ordinance because half of their business will be depleted. If you are interested in learning more or getting your voice heard on the matter, there will be a public hearing on Thursday March 1st in the city council chambers. Read more at: http://www.wwltv.com/news/NO-Council-considers-increasing-minimum-age-to-enter-a-bar-140518743.html

 SoundCloud, one of the largest music sharing platforms, has recently begun to strictly monitor copyright breaches by their users. They have been receiving an overwhelming amount of copyright claims from lawyers representing major record labels and have been forced to take down many user uploaded tracks. With a majority of the users uploading DJ'ed tracks and electronic mixes, sampling is prevalent. Many loyal users of SoundCloud are  disappointed by the recent restrictions on what they can upload to the website. Driscoll, a Berlin DJ, stated that the “difficulties that SoundCloud are going under at the moment is mainly because, as always, there's an older generation at that the major record labels who don't understand how people consume music anymore.” The internet has created an entirely new world of music sharing from artists to their fans. Heck, artists are giving away their music for virtually nothing now-a-days because they want to and openly choose to do so. For many independent artists, it's an honor to see someone using their material and posting it out to the public. If that means possibly gaining a few more fans, then it's a win-win situation. That free download or quick listen to a mix of your song on SoundCloud could lead to future interest in your product and what you have to offer. You just gained another fan to be a part of your story. With recent attempts to stop piracy and copyright infringment, like SOPA for example, independent artists are speaking out louder than ever. The internet has forever changed the music business. To read more about the recent update to Soundcloud's copyright policy, check out the link below: http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,14767254,00.html

In the wake of Whitney Houston's sad and unexpected death, her music sales have skyrocketed. After her death was announced, one of her albums earned the top spot on Amazon.com for album sales. Houston's music has always been incredibly successful, selling 170 million albums throughout her entire career, her death brings this number even higher. While the world mourns the loss of an incredible talent she is remembered through her music. read more.

"Do you think of your music as a product or as a service?", asks Mark Doyon from musicthinktank.com. Doyon claims that Spotify is selling the performance, the service, of the music. Instead of focusing on how the music is produced, the sound is what is focused on more in the service. Instead of stocking the shelves in stores of CD's where people can only see, not hear, Spotify is letting people hear the music, and if they like it enough, "they can-and will-buy it." read more.  

Merchandise is an essential part of a band's income. Because it is so important, bands are starting to create stores in the areas they are going on tour. Many people say that this is a trend, and will soon be out of "style" but many of the current pop-up stores are turning into actual stores where bands can sell their merchandise on a daily basis. The newest band to utilize this new form of revenue is Odd Future. The band has set up shop in Los Angeles while they will be performing there. For more information on these pop-up stores, read here.

A new piece of legislation circulating Congress at the moment will try and curtail music and media shared on the internet. It initially tries to crack down on illegally owned music. In theory, this bill is good for artists who don't make money on illegally shared music. It is not so good for those new artists who try and get their music out to the public. read more.

EMI, one of the world's leading music companies, has just been sold in to Sony for $2.2 billion and Universal for $1.9 billion. Now there are only three major record labels left, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. Read More.

In an article by David Rose from knowthemusicbiz.com, the affects of spotify on less famous indie bands are discussed. Rose outlines many points that will benefit these indie bands from discoverability to monetization, spotify will help these bands. Read more.