Amazon Entra No Live Music Começando Com Blondie Em Londres

Amazon moves into UK live music starting with Blondie London gig

US digital giant to expand music strategy with Prime Live Events, in latest move to attract subscribers

Amazon is moving into the live music business in the UK, running and promoting its own gigs starting with Blondie later this month.

Amazon, which started selling tickets for shows, gigs and events for the first time two years ago, is once again using the UK to expand its music strategy with the launch of a new business called Prime Live Events.

The US digital giant is using live gigs, which industry body UK Music says are worth about £1bn a year to the economy, as the latest sweetener to attract customers to its Amazon Prime subscription service.

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The company is putting on gigs featuring major artists in smaller, intimate locations for subscribers, who pay £79 a year or £7.99 a month for services including online video and one-hour and same-day delivery of a wide range of products.

First up is Blondie, who will be playing at the Round Chapel in Hackney, London, on 23 May, in a gig taking place 40 years to the week since the US band first played in the UK in Bournemouth. 

“We are excited to be performing at the first Prime Live Event marking 40 years since our first gig in the UK,” said Blondie’s lead singer, Debbie Harry. “The Round Chapel is an intimately warm and beautiful room allowing our fans to get up close and personal.” 

Blondie will be followed by Alison Moyet on 12 June, also at the 750-capacity Round Chapel, which will include a pre-gig Q&A session; Texas will play on 16 June at the Porchester Hall and Katie Melua will play in 25 and 26 July at Cadogan Hall.

Each event will also be shown exclusively on Prime Video, Amazon’s international film and TV service, globally.

For Amazon, it is the latest initiative to try and make its subscription service as appealing as possible to existing customers and attract new subscribers.

Amazon’s most high-profile move to boost its appeal was to launch its own video service, competing against Netflix and traditional broadcasters, as part of its Prime subscription service.

The company, which is estimated to spend more than $3bn on film and TV content annually, has invested huge sums in shows including The Grand Tour, the motoring show from ex-Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, and critically acclaimed fare such as Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle and the freshly launched American Gods.

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Other content available through the subscription service, which at £7.99 a month costs the same as Netflix which offers just TV and film, includes 2m songs and one free Kindle book a month.

Amazon is secretive about the numbers of Amazon Prime members, and therefore whether its huge investment in extra services is paying off, but analysts at Ampere estimate that there are about 5 million Amazon Prime subscribers in the UK. It is thought to have almost 4 million users of its video service.

Globally, IHS Markit estimates that Amazon has 75 million to 80 million subscribers to Prime, with almost 50 million of those in its home market the US, with perhaps 30 million using its video service.

“The expectation is that video is driving the overall Prime subscription base,” said Tom Morrod, analyst at IHS Markit, who expects Amazon to hit 40 million video users by the end of 2017.

Earlier this year Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, was named in Billboard magazine’s top 100 list of the most powerful people in the music industry, driven by the potential for Alexa, its voice-operated “personal assistant”.

Last year, Amazon UK ran pilots of its new live gig strategy featuring Robbie Williams and John Legend.

Entrevista De Jack White Para CBS Sobre Third Man Records

Jack White Takes 'CBS This Morning' Inside Third Man Records: Watch

Jack White’s Third Man Records just released Forever And Then Some, the debut solo album from White’s touring fiddler Lillie Mae.

And before she performed on CBS This Morning’s "Saturday Sessions", White welcomed co-anchor Anthony Mason into his Third Man empire for an interview and a tour of the label’s Nashville and Detroit facilities. Watch him discuss his love of vinyl and the history of Third Man below.

Record Store Day 2017 - Estes Foram Os Albums E Singes Mais Vendidos

These Are the Top-Selling Albums & Singles of Record Store Day 2017, As Vinyl Album Sales Surge 213%

The 10th installment of Record Store Day (April 22) continued to drive big sales of music at independent retailers, according to Nielsen Music. The company reports that in the tracking week ending April 27, album sales at indie stores increased 194 percent compared to the previous week -- the largest weekly gain in the retail sector in the history of Record Store Day.

The annual indie music retailer celebration traditionally offers a robust slate of exclusive and limited-edition vinyl albums and singles, generally only found at indie stores (and in limited quantities). Thus, it’s no surprise to see that vinyl album sales grew 213 percent to 547,000 sold (across all retailers, not just indies). That’s the biggest non-Christmas season week for vinyl albums since Nielsen began electronically tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991.

Specifically, at indie retailers, there were 409,000 vinyl albums sold in the week ending April 27 (up 484 percent).

The top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl album during the week was Grateful Dead’s P.N.E. Garden Auditorium… (see Top RSD Exclusive Albums chart, below). It was followed by The Doors’ Live at the Matrix and The Black Angels’ Deathsong at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

Record Store Day exclusives are not limited to vinyl albums, as there were a bevy of vinyl singles that were issued for the event. The top three sellers, according to Nielsen (see Top RSD Exclusive Singles chart, below), were U2’s “Red Hill Mining Town,” The Beatles’ “Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever” and Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive.”

Fast facts on Record Store Day 2017 sales & the top-selling RSD-exclusive titles: 

- Vinyl album sales grew 213 percent in the week ending April 27, rising to 547,000 sold. That’s the biggest week for vinyl album sales outside of the Christmas season since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991.

- Total album sales at indie retailers rose 193 percent (to 649,000), while vinyl album sales at indies grew 484 percent (to 409,000). Both increases are the largest weekly gains for the respective formats in the retail sector in Record Store Day’s 10-year history.

- In the week ending April 27, independent record stores’ overall album sales grew 1.4 percent as compared to the week ending April 21, 2016 (reflecting last year’s RSD on April 16, 2016). Sales grew from 640,000 to 649,000. In terms of just vinyl album sales, the format grew 3.8 percent -- rising from 383,000 to 409,000.

- The 649,000 albums sold at indie record stores during the week was the highest non-Christmas season sales week for the retail sector since 2006.

- Independent stores represented 31 percent of the total industry’s physical album sales for the week -- the sector’s highest weekly share ever -- up from 27 percent during RSD week of 2016. Prior to RSD 2017, indie record stores had accounted for 14 percent of all physical album sales in 2017.

- Vinyl 12” singles sales grew 4,350 percent to 89,000 for the week -- compared to just 2,000 in the week previous. Of the 89,000 vinyl 12-inch singles sold, nearly all of them (88,000) were sold at indie stores.

Top RSD Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores
Rank	Artist	Title
1	Grateful Dead	P.N.E. Garden Auditorium…
2	The Doors	Live at the Matrix
3	The Black Angels	Deathsong
4	Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit	Live From Welcome to 1979 (EP)
5	The Cure	Greatest Hits
6	Santana	Woodstock: Saturday August 16, 1969
7	Stevie Nicks	Rarities
8	The Cure	Greatest Hits Acoustic
9	Rush	Cygnus X-1 (EP)
10	Various Artists	Really Rock 'Em Right: Sun Records…
11	David Bowie	Bowie: Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74)
12	Vangelis	Blade Runner (Soundtrack)
13	Fleetwood Mac	Alternate Mirage
14	David Bowie	Bowpromo
15	Dave Matthews Band	Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95
16	Drive-By Truckers	Electric Lady Sessions
17	Elton John	11/17/70
18	The Head and the Heart	Stinson Beach Sessions
19	Sia	Spotify Sessions (EP)
20	Alice in Chains	Get Born 93/99 (EP)
Source: Nielsen Music, for the week ending April 27, 2017.

Top RSD Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores
Rank	Artist	Title
1	U2	Red Hill Mining Town (2017 Mix)
2	Beatles	Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever
3	Pink Floyd	Interstellar Overdrive
4	Pearl Jam	State of Love and Trust
5	The Smiths	The Boy with the Thorn in his Side
6	John Williams	Main Title - Star Wars: A New Hope
7	Jimmy Page & Black Crowes	Misty Mountain Hop (Live at Jones Beach)
8	Prince	Little Red Corvette/1999
9	Patti Smith	Hey Joe
10	Prince	Partyman
11	Def Leppard	Ride Into the Sun (The Def Leppard EP)
12	The Lumineers	Angela (Song Seeds)
13	Jane's Addiction	Been Caught Stealing
14	Sharon Jones/E.L. Fields Gospel Wonders	Heaven Bound
15	Deee-Lite	Groove Is In the Heart
16	Frank Zappa	Rollo
17	The War on Drugs	Thinking of a Place
18	Spoon	Hot Thoughts
19	Prince	Sign 'O' the Times
20	Against Me!	Stabitha Christie
Source: Nielsen Music, for the week ending April 27, 2017.

Warner Music Group Extende O Acordo Com O YouTube

Warner Music Group Extends Deal With YouTube

Renews deal without hope of 'free-market' negotiation. 

Warner Music Group has extended its recorded music and publishing deals with YouTube, according to  the video platform and a memo from WMG CEO Stephen Cooper obtained by Billboard.

While the memo didn't go into the exact terms of the deal, it did say that following "months of tough negotiations" the music corporation has come to terms with YouTube for both its Warner Music record labels and Warner/Chappell music publishing divisions.

The memo said WMG was able to secure "the best possible deals under very difficult circumstances" and that term for the deal is shorter so to allow for "more options in the future."

At the same time the memo expressed frustration with YouTube, deriding the Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and its "safe-harbor" provisions which allow digital services leeway in hosting and taking down unlicensed content.

Cooper wrote: "There’s no getting around the fact that, even if YouTube doesn’t have licenses, our music will still be available but not monetized at all," he wrote. "Under those circumstances, there can be no free-market ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ negotiation."

Neither of Warner's major competitors, Universal Music Group or Sony Music Entertainment, have reached new deals with YouTube and are still operating on a month-to-month basis, sources say.

YouTube said in a statement that it was "pleased" to have renewed the deal, which it said paves the way for it to expand its YouTube Red subscription service overseas, and noted the platform paid the music industry more than $1 billion between December 2015 and December 2016.

News of the deal was disappointing to some music-industry executives, many of whom have been concerned about the declining rates YouTube pays when calculated on a per-stream basis. Record labels and artists have been lobbying lawmakers in Washington to reform the copyright law that protects sites such as YouTube from liability when their users upload content without permission from rights holders. That protection has given YouTube more leverage in licensing negotiations, label executives say.

According to the IFPI's latest Global Music Business Report 2017, user-uploaded video streaming services operating under safe harbor legislation returned $553 million to rights holders in 2016 from a global audience of over 900 million users. The disparity between that return and the $3.9 billion that rights holders received globally from streaming services in the same 12 month period is enormous-- especially considering that streaming has far lower user base of around 200 million.

The memo said these latest negotiations were "proof positive of the acute need to clarify ‘safe harbor’ provisions under US and EU copyright legislation. That’s the only way to conclusively close the gap between the revenue YouTube generates and what songwriters, artists, publishers and labels make in return."

The deal is the first struck with a major label since Lyor Cohen, the former CEO and president of recorded music at Warner Music Group, was named YouTube's head of global music last September. But Cohen hasn't been leading the licensing negotiations, sources say. Instead he is focused on helping record labels and artists use YouTube more effectively as a marketing tool.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Músicas de Fleetwood Mac, ELO... E David Hasselhoff?

Inside 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' Music: Fleetwood Mac, ELO... and David Hasselhoff?

Music plays a starring role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2., as it did with its predecessor. Ahead of the sequel’s May 5 release, music supervisor Tyler Batesbreaks down writer-director James Gunn’s orbit of influences for the soundtrack, from Fleetwood Mac to... David Hasselhoff?

Family

Like Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Bates lost his mother, who “was the No. 1 proponent of my dream to become a musician,” when he was a teen. That loss inspired “Dad,” a sweeping theme on which Bates’ 15-year-old daughter Lola plays piano.

Father & Son

The Cat Stevens 1970 hit plays during a tear-jerking sequence. “Even though I’d worked on the music, I was very emotional [when the song played] at the premiere,” says Bates.

Vintage Tech

Microsoft’s short-lived answer to the iPod, the Zune (2006-2011), makes a cameo in Vol. 2, while Star-Lord’s Walkman from the first movie -- a gift from his departed mother -- once again gets a featured role.

Awesome Mixes 

Two decades ago, Bates’ now-wife made him two cassettes “labeled, I swear to God, Awesome Mix Volume 1 and Awesome Mix Volume 2,” he says. The first soundtrack, titled Awesome Mix Vol. 1, has sold 1.8 million copies since 2014, according to Nielsen Music.

The 1970s

The Feel Good Decade once again powers the franchise, with ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” and Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” featured. “The depth and the craft of songwriting from the ‘70s is the best it ever was in pop music,” says Bates.

The Chain

The Fleetwood Mac 1977 classic is used multiple times in Vol. 2; Bates notes it has long influenced his own work. “It’s my favorite song on the soundtrack,” he says.

The Hoff

The actor and German pop-music sensation plays small but key roles in the movie and on its soundtrack -- he handles vocals on “Guardians Inferno.” Says Bates: “David seems like he’s enjoying every day of his life.”

Meco

Gunn wanted a disco-fied Guardians theme -- akin to Meco’s 1977 version of the Star Wars theme -- and though Bates wasn’t familiar with the producer’s work, he says that he synthesized “the cheese factor” and knocked out the music in a day.

Higher Power

Although Bates says that Gunn is “not a religious person,” the director has expressed interest in Hindu mythology and wanted to explore its deeper meanings within the character of Ego.

My Sweet Lord 

The director paired George Harrison’s 1970 homage to the Hindu god Krishna with the origin story of Ego, Star-Lord’s father, who is “essentially a god,” says Bates.

Como O Streaming De Música Está Crescendo: Dê Uma Olhada Na SongCast

How The Music Streaming Boom Is Growing: Outlook From SongCast

As the music streaming industry grows, one player is set to show it can overcome major hurdles to make it boom even faster. Distribution platform SongCast says it is making streaming easier for consumers while championing independent music, paying 100% royalties and avoiding clunky paywalls.

The company’s founder and chief executive Mike Wright is sure his model, with no subscription for consumers and no advertising, is the simplest and best way to grow.

His comments come as distribution companies try different methods to monetise the success of streaming kings and queens - from Justin Bieber to Drake, Ed Sheehan to Adele. 

Indie artists are also growing as streaming consolidates its position as the driver of music sales. It is now responsible for nearly 60% of all digital revenues, according to the Global Music Report released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

SongCast has recently launched its own app alongside its longer-standing distribution partnerships with iTunes, Pandora , Spotify, Apple AAPL +0.63% Music, Google GOOGL +0.36% Play, AmazonMP3, Rhapsody, eMusic and MediaNet.

SongCast

SongCast on a phone

Wright, speaking in an interview, points to the huge potential after ruling out any idea of a paywall for consumers: “That was a big challenge for me in resisting that model. Once you have put up a paywall, you follow with a sign-up form and that slows you down quite a bit.”

Wright also flags up the rise of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa. “We have seen a huge boom in their streaming because of that. It is evolving to the point where you can say what you want to hear and that song will be played.”

The industry has not yet said much about voice control revenues, but streams may well boom as users try it too with Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft ’s Cortana or Samsung’s developing Bixby.

Wright, 43, moved into technology after being lead guitarist in progressive band Sustain, whose hard rock was compared to Rush and Yes. Wright was initially rejected when he tried to get the group’s albums Through The Void and Breaking Free onto existing digital services. “They basically said ‘you have to go through a distributor, we just don’t work with independent artists ourselves.’ That left me in the position of becoming a distributor or label myself. I started aggressively seeking other artists. I approached iTunes a few months later with 50 bands. They accepted us, and it just snowballed from there, and now we have 20,000 artists.” Ohio-based SongCast has been going for about 10 years. “We have paid out approximately $24 million in artist royalties from music services such as Spotify and ITunes, with roughly a billion streams and more than 100 million downloads.”

There are of course other distribution services with different models, such as CD Baby and The Orchard, so why should artists go to SongCast to get material on the virtual shelves of Web stores?

Wright replies that with his platform, artists can be on major services within a few days. The first content and month is free. “I cannot see anyone else doing that.” As long the artist is paying a monthly fee of $9.99, there is no annual renewal fee on the album, whereas his competitors will charge both this and a percentage of sales. Therefore an artist can release some 10 products over a year for $120 as opposed to the $600 elsewhere.

SongCast is already working with some familiar names: soft rock band Player; Florida broadcaster Bubba The Love Sponge; and country-rock star Shooter Jennings, son of Waylon Jennings. SongCast may not have true household names yet on the roster, but it hopes to soon. Many of its tracks are by emerging acts looking to be signed to a conventional record company, though some are making enough to live off digital distribution alone.

In December 2016, SongCast added its own curated streaming app, which now boasts some 10,000 users who have streamed more than 300,000 songs. The listeners do not have to pay. They can also listen to artist interviews, check tour dates, send messages to artists and even vote to like or dislike tracks. Users will discover music not heard before, like Tinder for music, with algorithms suggesting something new on every tap of the app. Streaming services are increasingly linking with Internet radio and, in the case of SongCast, $7.99 a month gets a song into radio rotation.

SongCast

Mike Wright

As the industry grows, there will obviously be consolidations and changes both with distributors and platforms. In the last month, Spotify acquired the team behind block chain company Mediachain Labs, signed a licensing deal with Universal and another with indie labels via Merlin.

Wright is making no predictions. To the question of whether SongCast may be bought at some stage, he says he isn’t entertaining any offers: “maintaining integrity for independent artists is our priority, not just a sell-out to make a few bucks.” It would however consider partnering with any consumer brand that has a passion for independent music or possibly a mobile phone provider.

Competition within the wider distribution industry is potentially good news for both consumers and creators, because each distributor has different strengths. This distribution is certainly more lucrative for artists per click than the small returns from some of the sharing websites.