SF Music Tech: Followups
I have slowly been going through my live updated notes from yesterday’s seventh SF Music Tech Summit. Follow-ups are posted as they roll in. Please join the conversation. One thing I do enjoy about updating live is that multiple people are able to expand on ideas presented at the event both during and after the event itself. The best conferences continue past the last hour and generate as many or more ideas as they do business.
SoundCloud Introduces Record Button
SoundCloud introduced a new feature on their iPhone app; the Record button. Artists can easily interact with fans and other artists with the click of an obvious button in their app. SoundCloud widgets capture the recordings in real time. As bands and artists post sound or music recordings, fans can comment on the social stream or right on the widget itself. SoundCloud provides bands with new creative tools. They make compelling suggestions for using the Record button, too; including interviewing your own fans in short spurts, asking fans to fill in claps, or just inviting fans to be part of your new track. I’ll totally clap for you, so let me know if you try it.
Ontario Bans Ticket Reselling
It’s called the Ticket Speculation Amendment Act, and it makes selling or distributing tickets to a related re-seller illegal in Ontario. If convicted, a company can be fined up to $50,000 whereas individuals may only have to pay a fine of up to $5,000. Read more about Ontario’s Ticket Speculation Amendment Act and Ticketmaster’s reaction.
Spotify Launch Still A Mystery, Price Is Not – Sorta
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek was interviewed by Peter Kafka at the D: Dive Into Mobile tech conference earlier today, once again referring to licensing deals as the only setback for Spotify’s launch in the United States.
“It just takes time” he said, even though cloud competitors like non-interactive Pandora and On Demand competitors like Rdio and Mog have inked deals with PROs and labels, respectively. The same labels missing from Spotify’s US catalog are available via other on demand streaming services. While the hold up is due to major label objections to freemium models, Spotify offers an on-demand ad free service the cost of which he said will be $10 per month (the same as other on-demand streaming services). Even though all the objections seem to be over freemium, On Demand streaming pays artists a fraction of a penny per stream, which isn’t very much either. Over time, if listeners play music over and over, the $10 a month you pay for on demand streaming could yield a new revenue stream for artists & labels, in addition to royalty checks from Performance Royalty Organizations. So, do you stream music you like (or don’t like) over and over at on-demand services such as Mog or Rdio? I do.
Fake Bob Lefsetz didn’t make me laugh this week. If you know of any humorous music industry twitter accounts, let me know: corey@sfappeal
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