Label:Life

Everything old is new again—and it makes no difference if it is a 2-year-old dance-floor hit or a decades-old jazz classic.

Indeed, record labels have discovered that yesterday’s catalog can be today’s gold mine—particularly when it is remixed, reconstructed and repackaged.

In recent weeks, a handful of remix collections have hit shelves. They include “Mayfield: Remixed—The Curtis Mayfield Collection” on Rhino, Ananda Project’s “Relight” on Nite Grooves/King Street Sounds and Everything But the Girl’s “Adapt or Die—Ten Years of Remixes” on Blanco y Negro/Sire/Atlantic.

With each remix project, labels use both well-known and under-the-radar producers and DJs to recast catalog material. It is a concept that, when done well and with much care and respect, results in healthy CD sales. [more @ www.reuters.ca]

The independent music revolution is coming at a time when technology allows unsigned and independent label artists to obtain widespread distribution without the help of a major record label or distributor.

The internet and broadband connections make it possible for a band to develop a large fan base, sell CDs and market their music as digital downloads. But a brand new development has arrived which takes distribution even further. It’s called “podcasting” and it’s could change the way music is marketed and broadcast on the internet. [more @ www.namct.com]

This week’s Pick Of The Week is the astounding new album from Detroit’s Jeremy Ellis entitled ‘Lotus Blooms’ which was released last month on California’s ever brilliant Ubiquity Records.

Now, Jeremy Ellis has been described as ‘Detroit’s broken beat Stevie Wonder’. Comparisons to Stevie Wonder are not to be bandied about willy nilly but I’d say it’s fair in this case. Jeremy Ellis can sing. I mean, he can really sing and he plays keys like a demon, even dropping a little Mozart (I think!) piano interlude on this album just to make the point.

‘Lotus Blooms’ is a class album from start to finish and labeling it ‘broken beat’ simply doesn’t do it justice. It encompasses deep latin rhythms (Jeremy moved to Puerto Rico to study up for this album), jazz, funk and Detroit soul and techno with consumate ease, creating a really natural sounding fusion that nods to the past and sounds fresh at the same time.

Do yourself a favour and go and buy this album if you are into forward looking ‘black’ music of any description, you won’t be disappointed. Check out some samples from the album HERE.

UK consumers are the biggest music buyers in the world, according to new figures released on Tuesday by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

But global sales of recorded music were flat in 2004, with growing sales in DVD music videos offset by online and physical piracy in major markets.

The UK music industry recorded an overall 3% increase in volume sales, mostly due to its robust albums market. [more @ www.bbc.co.uk]

The Australian music industry, fronted by the ARIA (similar to the RIAA) reported significant declines in music sales in 2004. According to a report released last week by the ARIA, “overall wholesale recorded music sales (including albums, singles and DVDs) were down almost 4% by volume to 63.1 million units and the overall value fell by 6% to $607 million.”

It is a similar story told by other music trade organizations, such as the BPI or RIAA. However, what the ARIA’s analysis fails to include, according to published music industry commentator and Sydney University of Technology student Alex Malik, is the ARIA released 1,574 fewer albums, singles and DVDs in 2004 compared to 2003. [more @ www.slyck.com]

Lawyers began their final arguments today in a landmark music piracy case against global file-sharing giant Kazaa.

A group of Australian record labels is suing the makers of Kazaa, Sharman Networks Ltd, and the company’s directors in the Federal Court in Sydney for copyright infringements by the network’s estimated 100 million members worldwide.

Record industry lawyers claim Kazaa users download up to three billion files each month, freely exchanging songs, music and television programmes without paying royalties to the copyright owners. [more @ www.scotsman.com]

Scotland’s thriving music scene deserves official backing in the form of a dedicated agency, MSPs have urged.

The call came at Holyrood’s first ever debate on pop, rock and indie music.

Pauline McNeill, head of the cross-party group on contemporary music, wants a dedicated enterprise agency similar to that in Wales.

The debate took place as 10 Scots acts, including Biffy Clyro and Idlewild, played the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas.
[more @ www.bbc.co.uk]

This was the year the South by Southwest Music Conference tail started wagging its music industry dog.

For years, the annual gathering of musicians, music industry execs and press reflected the fortunes of the music industry – from gold rush to ghost town. But with the music industry’s continued downsizing and South by Southwest’s increasingly impressive track record for buzz-building, the conference has grown bigger than ever, with an estimated 15,000 converging on Austin to see as many of the 1,300 showcasing acts as they could between Wednesday and last night. [more @ www.newsday.com]

Snocap, a provider of digital licensing and copyright management for the digital music arena, has announced several agreements with independent record labels.

The latest deals include Absolutely Kosher Records, Artemis Records/Sheridan Square Entertainment, Gammon Records and TVT Records.

Also announced was an agreement with Independent Online Distribution Alliance, an aggregator of independent label content, which will bring more than 75,000 tracks from 500 independent labels to Snocap. [more @ www.newsfactor.com]

While major labels and operators debate who has the brand equity to sell mobile music, a few clever companies are quietly bringing technology to market that will ultimately allow artists to thumb their noses at the lot.

To hear the mobile operators tell it, sheer size is a prerequisite condition to marketing ringtones, downloads and related music services to the masses—at least that was the message at a recent industry gathering of mobile and entertainment executives. There, Guy Laurence, Vodafone’s consumer marketing director, argued operators (specifically Vodafone) have the clout to market content successfully: “We’re so big that when we turn it on, we really turn it on.” What content owner can claim the same?

The music labels weren’t amused. “What really frightened me as a music person was hearing Vodafone really taking ownership of music retailing,” commented Richard Huntingford, chief executive of the Chrysalis Group. “What do Vodafone know about selling music?” [more @ www.thefeature.com]