Why Major Music Labels Still MatterDespite the trend toward DIY and digital releases, old-guard record labels still have some advantages that their newer counterparts don’t.
Grizzly Bear: Indie-Rock Royalty of 2012The lead singer lives in a 450-square-foot apartment. Some band members don’t even have health insurance. Is rock stardom any way to make a living?
Meet Qtrax, Digital Music’s Latest Non-Threat to iTunesMaking its online debut today is Qtrax, a free, ad-supported, peer-to-peer service with a song catalog to rival Apple’s iTunes. Too bad it’s terrible in almost every way!
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Year-end Report: Record Labels Not Doing So Well2007 was truly another bang-up year for the failing music industry, with album sales down an impressive 15.3 percent from the record business’ already-pretty-crappy 2006.
apropos of nothing
Music-Business Meltdown! Ultragrrrl Out of a Job!On Friday, there were some pretty big layoffs at Island/Def Jam records which apparently included executives Greg Thompson, Paul Pontius, Rob Stevenson, and everyone at Sarah “Ultragrrrl” Lewitinn’s emo sub-label Stolen Transmission (meaning she no longer gets to hang out with Jay-Z and she’ll have to update the address she was using to solicit free shit in the mail).