On the Beat (Music Talk)
- Next available on KCRW 89.9 Santa Monica, CA in 2 days 23 hours 10 minutes
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- Host: Celia Hirschman
- KCRW presents a new weekly commentary about the music industry with analysis by Celia Hirschman, President of Downtown Marketing, a music consulting firm in New York City.
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- Genres: Music Talk, Commentary
- Location: Santa Monica, CA
- Language: English
Last updated 724 days ago
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The Definition of Insanity
Wed, Aug 20
The record industry is engaged in a cycle of self-destruction. Decades ago the business was robust, but now it struggles to remain relevant. Much has changed in the last fifty years and the timeline tells an interesting tale...
News Collage of the Week
Wed, Aug 6
Litigation is becoming the modus operandi for rock and rollers. In the old days, problems were discreetly solved with quiet negotiations. But when the internet came along, a band suddenly had direct access to their own fanbase...
A Week of Wackiness
Wed, Jul 30
This week, the record industry once again proves that there's no business like show business. With monopolies running the show, things are getting very entertaining...
Artist Nation
Wed, Jul 16
Last week, rock band Nickelback inked a $100 million, ten-year deal with record label newcomer Artist Nation. Nickelback is now the fourth major talent to sign to the new label, which is a division of the concert promoter, Live Nation...
It's a New Dawn
Wed, Jul 2
This week, there was a flurry of announcements in the digital music space. The most interesting came from the nonprofit organization RED. RED, founded by U2's frontman 'Bono and Company,' is building a service to deliver three exclusives downloads to consumers each week, for a modest fee of $5 a month. Half of the money will go to the RED Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa, and the other half will go to the artists and record label...
Lil' Wayne and Coldplay
Wed, Jun 25
Last week, New Orleans rapper Lil' Wayne, blew away the competition for the biggest selling album. His new CD, Tha Carter III, debuted at #1, selling over a million copies. These kinds of sales figures are rare, especially in the backdrop of rising fuel prices...
Worldly Change
Wed, Jun 11
Legendary rock band, Journey, released their new three-disc set this week, exclusively at Wal-Mart. No major label was involved in the deal and the band will receive a much greater percentage of the profits than normally distributed...
Teaching Our Children Their Roots
Wed, Jun 4
We live in a country filled with diverse cultural traditions that often go unnoticed. Last weekend, I experienced what impact music can have on the youth, when the youth is engaged. I attended a fundraising event, in support of Los Cenzontles, which mean the mockingbirds in Spanish.
Music Appreciation 102
Wed, May 28
Let's face facts. Americans want to be entertained. The average American family is watching American IdolHannah Montana, and buying Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto. The record business is being given a real run for its money. Those shiny music discs are just no competition for what is considered entertainment these days...
Merlin the Magician
Wed, May 21
The record business is a highly misunderstood industry, filled with imbalanced perspectives that play out in heartbreaking realism. One common misconception is that major label artists must have great talent. Not true. Just look at the pop charts. They are littered with reasonably mediocre talent...
Unintended Consequences
Wed, May 14
Gnarls Barkley had to rush-release their new album, to avoid having it leaked on the web. In fact, so did The Racounteurs. And EMI invited some of their biggest retail customers to a Coldplay listening-party, but confiscated all the Blackberrys and cellphones before the guests were allowed in the room...
State of the Marketplace '08
Wed, May 7
This week, music retailers joined together in San Francisco for the 50th annual trade conference, to discuss the state of their record business...
Games People Play
Wed, Apr 30
Here we are, one day after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. One more day where millions will rationalize killing, humiliating and degrading people, as a legitimate form of entertainment...
Time to Organize Recording Artists
Wed, Apr 23
This week, an independent study of Internet users published in the New York Times, found that only 42% paid for their music --- either by buying a CD, or buying a download. The other 58% of the American population engaged in peer-to-peer downloading, or burning tracks from others CD---s, or ripping tracks from their friends computers. Those options offer no financial compensation for the musicians--- work...
Makin' Bacon
Wed, Apr 9
The big news this week was that iTunes beat Wal-Mart as the #1 music retailer. It's pretty amazing, considering Wal-Mart is the largest employer in America and iTunes probably only has a few hundred people working in Cupertino. Welcome to the digital economy. Selling music direct to consumer with minimal labor costs is rapidly becoming the new face of retail. The number three retailer in music is Best Buy and number four is Amazon. Watch that number go up in the next few months...
The Major Labels SHOULD Be Worried!
Wed, Apr 2
One of the great things about the music business right now is that the door is wide open for talent with vision, particularly if they already have a fan base...
All You Can Eat
Wed, Mar 26
All You Can Eat
The Messenger: Eliot Spitzer
Wed, Mar 19
In October 2004, Elliot Spitzer, as the Attorney General for the State of New York, showed remarkable courage when issuing subpoenas to major record labels and broadcasters for engaging in payola...
Financing Your Future Career
Wed, Mar 12
The record label business continues to evolve or devolve, depending on how you view it. Thousands gather in Austin, Texas this week, for the annual South by Southwest music festival, to celebrate or bemoan their future fate. Meanwhile, new companies are hard at work, trying to reinvent the business we've known...
Greener Pastures Ahead.
Thu, Mar 6
Last week, I explored the damaging impact that CD's have on our environment. CD's must be recycled separately. Tossing them into the garbage creates toxic landfills.
The Greening of the Record Industry
Thu, Feb 28
Companies around the globe are increasing becoming accountable for the ecological impact of the products they produce. If you really want to live green, I'd suggest you buy digital downloads, not compact discs as a rule...
The Music Business, Gaming-Style
Thu, Feb 21
It may be a bitter pill to swallow, but record labels are finally waking up to the fact that lots of consumers are passing up the record-store experience for alternative ways to spend their money...
Grammys '08
Thu, Feb 14
The Grammy Awards telecast on Sunday night was billed as music's biggest night. It certainly wasn't. The show lacked much of the craftsmanship and brilliance of contemporary music and underscored just how out of touch the record industry remains. For its fiftieth-year celebration, the award show unapologetically focused on music from the distant past. Most of the presenters and performers were seniors, giving the show an almost geriatric feel...
I Wouldn't Steal
Thu, Jan 24
I'm glad I live in a country where free speech and debate are encouraged. Sometimes, these are the best ways to give perspective to issues that need addressing...
Taking Stock of Hubris
Thu, Jan 17
The economic problems surrounding the record industry have been devolving for the past eight years. In spite of this, none of the four major record-label conglomerates seemed willing to make significant changes in the way they ran their business. That is, until this week, when Terra Firma took the lead in a bold move that will separate EMI labels from the rest...
DRM Free Zone
Thu, Jan 10
A new day is coming for the digital record business and I can sum it up in two words. Real competition...
Innovation and the New Year
Thu, Jan 3
I had the occasion to visit Shanghai last month. It's one of the most culturally cosmopolitan cities in China with a population of 18 million...
News at the Top of the Hour; Recap of the Year's Events
Thu, Dec 20
2007 was certainly one of the more interesting years for the record industry. It will be long remembered as the first year major recording artists broke free from the structural business that bound them...
Change or Die
Thu, Dec 13
Music is a fast moving, trend-setting culture, but the majority of the businesses that manage that market have walked slowly along the road of change. Instead, they've chosen the tactic they don't really need to change. This attitude is not just prevalent at large record labels, but at the adjacent industries as well. Radio programmers, print publications, TV shows -- many of the related businesses who play a supporting role in an artist's career have not been able to shift. The result of...
The People Meter
Thu, Nov 29
The big news in the music industry this week came from Arbitron. Arbitron is the ratings service that measures the listening audience of commercial and non-commercial radio...
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