Blog: Hypebot

By  Kyle Bylin ( @sidewinderfm ), founder and editor of sidewinder.fm , a music and tech think tank. Direct-to-fan marketing tools and services continue to hold a lot of promise. They enable artists to connect with their fan base and sell their products directly to them. But has the full potential of these tools and services been realized? Who is realizing it? What part of this potential has yet to be fulfilled? In this interview panel on direct-to-fan marketing, four influential executives in the music and tech industry weigh in on the potential of direct-to-fan. [...]

The Unsigned Guide's newly released "A Start-Up Guide" includes tips on "sending your demos out successfully, how to get your music & videos featured on blogs and the basics on music publishing and how you could be earning money from it." The three short articles in Part 1 of this free digital zine cover some solid basics and make for a quick interesting read. Part 1 of "A Start-Up Guide" with tips from The Unsigned Guide, Radar Music Videos and Sentric Music is available from The Unsigned Guide [...]

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm . I set out this morning to built a chart listing the various features of the major music subscription services: Rdio, Rhapsody, Spotify, and we assume the recently-launched Google Play Music All Access, although it remains to be seen whether it will succeed on the level of those standalone music services — or whether it will become an also-ran from a company whose main business is something else (like Microsoft XBox Live Music, Sony Music Unlimited, or “ MOG by Beats “). [...]

Are you looking to develop your own recording space, upgrade your current equipment, or simply want to get the most out of what you already have? Rajiv Agarwal outlines 10 helpful hints for maximizing the quality of your recordings on Music Think Tank . "There are no short cuts to experience and knowledge." ( Read On ) Related articles [...]

Soundhalo is a brand new service for taking live concert video recordings and transforming them into mixed single song videos for immediate sale. It's an interesting hybrid that's currently being offered as an Android app that allows purchases during the live show. DRM-free concert files are then available for viewing on any device. Sounds like a potential winner on impulse buys if Soundhalo can pull off some formidable challenges. Soundhalo launched in beta at a performance late last week by Alt-J . People reviewing the technology seem impressed. [...]

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm . Recently, CNET reported on an extension for Google’s Chrome web browser that let people scrape songs off of Spotify’s web player , for free, and save the music as MP3 files. This was obviously fairly problematic and possibly illegal, as far as browser extensions go, so Google hastily deleted the app from its Chrome app store in short order, and then Spotify closed the loophole . We did learn something from the brief saga of Downloadify [...]

MONDAY 5.20.2013 M usic Business News & Views From Around The Web CLICK HERE Updated Continuously Under Hypebot's More News Tab Above

David Hahn Explains Why The Internet Is A Bad Place To Discover Music Kyle Bylin Asks Can Pandora Find A Business Model That Works? Extremely Decent Video: A Comedic (And Sadly True) 'Real Life' Look At A Facebook Updates Upward Spiral Podcast #23: 10 Years of iTunes With Solveig Whittle [Part 2] Clyde Smith Maintains Music Leads The Way In Return To [...]

Prediction: Major Label Will Aquire DIY Distributor Music Crowdfunding: Sam Tsui Kickstarts Debut, Songkick Detour Expands, JOBS Act For Labels The Tools of Music Fan Engagement [Part 2]: Newsletters Direct-to-Fan The Early Beginnings of Direct-To-Fan: How Grateful Dead and Phish Made It Happen 3 Bottlenecks Holding Direct-To-Fan Marketing Back [...]

Cut Through the Noise: 3 Simple And Effective Ways for Musicians to Get Noticed Who Needs a Record Label? The Rise of the Musicpreneur (Part 3/3)

Does iTunes' Daft Punk Album Premier Demonstrate Its Marketing Strength? Infographic: How We Discover And Consume Music Music Sponsorships Top $1.28 Billion In 2013 With Murder For Hire Charges Looming, As I Lay Dying Cancels Tour Google Takes On Spotify & Pandora With New Streaming Music Service Kyle Bylin Releases Divergent Streams: Reflections [...]

Voting has begun for the O Music Awards with the opportunity to nominate wild card contenders for the Awards' cutting edge mix of categories. Open nominations continue through May 21st with a 24-hour livestreamed awards ceremony and party taking place June 19th. The O Music Awards offer a typically eclectic array of contenders. Some nominations still have room for nominees and you can vote for those through Tuesday using a complicated system of hashtags and hand gestures. You can log-in to vote using Facebook or Twitter and it [...]

By  Benji Rogers  ( @BenjiKRogers ) founder and CEO of the crowd-funding company PledgeMusic . Direct-to-fan tools can — when used to maximum effect — become the thinnest skin between the artist and fan. The full potential is possible and exists; but only a fraction of the artists and labels out there use it. There are no real problems of scale because each release campaign can and should be as unique and original as the music that drives it. The main challenges are simply that the platforms [...]

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm . When I broke the news (no, not this news ) about Slacker Radio back in 2007 after receiving an amazing reader tip (I wish I could tell that story), it was still called Broadband Instruments . Part of its plan was to buy up Ku band satellite bandwidth so that it could load up its hardware players with music without relying on WiFi, USB, or cellphone towers. Much has changed about [...]

By  Kyle Bylin ( @sidewinderfm ), founder and editor of sidewinder.fm , a music and tech think tank. I’ve always been skeptical of how music startups view music listeners. There have been many times where I’ve read a press release or heard an elevator pitch and narrowed my eyes. The suspension of reality can be astounding at times. Music startups seem to think that people have an infinite capacity to discover music and spread their love for artists. I understand that people are only trying to [...]

Music crowdfunding continues to work its way into the fabric of the music world. YouTube star Sam Tsui recently used Kickstarter to fund a debut album rather than signing with a label. Songkick Detour is expanding its concert crowdfunding borders. And the JOBS Act continues to suggest future possibilities for music companies such as record labels that are yet to be realized. Part of the promise of crowdfunding music that we're already seeing in practice is the shift in creative control based on funding sources. Many fans seem enthusiastic about supporting artists' work [...]

Heavy metal band As I Lay Dying has pulled out of their spot in the upcoming tour with Killswitch Engage, in the wake of As I Lay Dying's frontman being charged in an alleged murder for hire plot. As previously reported, police allege that frontman Tim Lambesis gave an undercover officer posing as a hitman $1,000, his wife address and the means to enter the home. He is currently in California's Vista Detention Facility, with bail set at $3 million dollars. A statement from the group, posted on their website reads, "In light of [...]

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm . You might have noticed that every music blog in the world and half of its tech blogs are linking to Daft Punk’s iTunes page right now. As one example, Gorilla vs. Bear’s post simply includes an image, a video, and the words: “It’s here. Listen now at iTunes .” If you make the jump from any of these non-critical, “listen to this thing right now”-style posts to iTunes, you can indeed stream all of the French electronic [...]

FRIDAY 5.17.2013 M usic Business News & Views From Around The Web CLICK HERE Updated Continuously Under Hypebot's More News Tab Above

This is the preface for  Divergent Streams , a collection of essays edited by Kyle Bylin ( @sidewinderfm ) and written by influential executives, startup founders, and thinkers in the music industry. Download a free copy of the e-book here . I wanted something to read. Something that challenged me. Something that engaged me. Something that forced me to sit down and consider the writer’s perspective. What I found instead were news stories about trivial developments, blog posts with big [...]