The biggest music distributor in Atlantic Canada is winding down its traditional business because of declining sales. Landwash Distribution of St. John’s is recalling thousands of CDs, tapes, books, DVDs and videos from hundreds of stores across Canada and returning them to artists. Landwash, started 13 years ago, represents more than 100 Newfoundland, Labrador and Maritime artists, including The Fables and Kevin Collins. Landwash owner Charlotte Story said company revenues were down 35 per cent last year, and 2008 looks even worse. “I can’t get the sales up. They just keep going down and down and down, and the sales are dying. And the writing is on the wall,” she said. Billy Sutton of The Fables said he doesn’t know where he’ll find another distributor to get his CDs to other parts of the country. “Landwash, from what I know, was the only game in town that was getting out to other places in the country,” he said. “And now that doesn’t exist, so I have to find other distribution.” Kevin Collins was just weeks away from distributing his CD Just Call My Name when Landwash told him the project was off. Collins said previous distributors Tidemark and Duckworth Distribution also bailed on their artists and ceased to exist. “And a lot of artists in Newfoundland and Labrador I’m sure are going to feel a greater impact. It just makes things tougher and tougher all the time,” Collins said. “The independent artists in Atlantic Canada, — it’s all on their shoulders, and when something like this happens, it’s a major blow to them.” - CBC Arts Posted on Friday, May 2, 2008

Last week when I posted about this free compilation I failed to note Toyota’s involvement.
Smart move on their part. Just giving credit where due and suggesting you take a listen with their embedded player in this post (if you have not yet downloaded it) - which much to my surprise does not include any Toyota branding….

“Partnering up with brands to release great new music in interesting ways, be it with a compilation like this, providing the soundtrack for a product release, or using our depth of catalog to provide the ambience for a film, a whole series worth of television, or video game is something we not only are willing, but are quite excited to do.” - Ghostly Director of Publishing and Licensing, Jeremy Peters

Via Ten Music and Ad Age

Continue reading for the widget - had to hide it to stop the autoplay (more…)

I will not even waste my time linking to countless examples old DRM screwing consumers in countless ways - they are out there, this is the latest example. DRM does nothing for consumers and fans of music.

Copying the following from Listening Post because they have lots of good points I will highlight:

Microsoft Passes Buck to MSN Music Buyers on DRM Snafu
If you bought tunes from MSN Music, it may soon suck to be you.

Microsoft’s DRM-laden tracks allowed limited portability, but owners who upgraded their computers or operating systems still needed to reauthorize their already purchased music with MSN’s DRM servers in order to transfer it to approved devices. Now, because the Redmond brainiacs can’t (or won’t) manage that mess, those servers are going dark. And guess who’s going to pay for the portability?

That’s right, you. Last week, Microsoft announced it was deactivating its validation servers because the whole process was just too complex, which is somewhat humorous coming from a company with a mission statement claiming it wants to help businesses and people realize their full potential. Evidently, that lofty goal does not include following through with technological solutions Microsoft creates.

“Microsoft is asking its customers to spend more time, labor, and money to make degraded copies of music that was purchased in good faith,” Electronic Frontier Foundation executive director Shari Steele complained in an open letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer outlining ways the company could right its wrong. (Yeah, right.) “This outcome was easily foreseeable from the moment Microsoft chose to wrap MSN Music files in DRM. Microsoft customers should not have to pay for Microsoft’s bad business decisions.”

Too bad they will. If MSN Music fans want to transfer music they paid for to another computer or different device, they’re going to have to buy it all over again — or download it. And labels wonder why the wired world turns to P2P. It’s enough to make a music fan go crazy, like Steve Ballmer does in the video above. Crazy is as crazy does.

Pretty unanimous support, all against Microsoft, on this one across the board:
EFF Scolds Microsoft for Leaving MSN Music Fans Out in the Cold - Compiler

The Electronic Frontier Foundation thinks Microsoft ought to do more for the MSN Music customers who were recently, and rather abruptly, cast out the door. Although the EFF stops short of threatening legal action, in an open letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer the EFF says that Microsoft needs to issue a public apology, provide refunds or replacement music files and launch a “substantial” publicity campaign to make sure its customers know their options.

The controversy stems from Microsoft’s recent decision to shut down the authorization servers that work with the DRM music files purchased through MSN Music. By doing so, all the music that customer’s legally purchased through the MSN Music store will be trapped on a single computer.

Microsoft’s Final ‘Up Yours’ To Those Who Bought Into Its DRM Story - TechDirt

And from Hypebot:
I’ll let the evil corporate giant do the talking:

“As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers. You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play.”

In simple terms, if you get a new computer next year; all the tunes you bought from MSN Music won’t play in it. “We will no longer be able to support…” sounds like “screw the consumer” to me.

There’s more out there but you get the point……

TORONTO and NEW YORK, April 29, 2008. eMusic (www.emusic.com) the world’s largest retailer of independent music launches its award-winning service in Canada today. With 33,000 of the world’s top independent labels and major audio books publishers, eMusic is unrivalled in catering to adults interested in entertainment outside the commercial mainstream.

…

eMusic offers 50 free bonus music downloads and one free audio book download at sign-up. Its subscription pricing provides music lovers with an inexpensive, low-risk way to discover great new music for as low as 37 cents per track. Canadian monthly pricing plans are as follows:

Music

• eMusic Basic - 30 downloads $11.99
• eMusic Plus - 50 downloads $17.99
• eMusic Premium - 75 downloads $23.99

Audio books

• 1 audio book - $11.99
• 2 audio books - $22.99

Social Media News Release
Outside not even realizing the service was unavailable to Canadians [or forgetting if I did know], the most interesting part of this announcement to me was eMusic’s use of a social media press release format [in addition to a traditional press release]

To me social media focused news releases make so much more sense when posting online I can not understand why all companies have not embraced their use. Evidently there is some resistance from within the industry regarding their use. Check out The Social Press Release: Multimedia, Two-Way, Direct to the Public by Mark Glaser on Mediashift - it is a great primer and contains links to issues related to such releases as well as additional resources for making use of them yourself.

I hope by the end of the summer to have a Social media news release template developed for all future such releases related to the label and any of my other ventures.

If you are interested in finding out more about social media press releases, visit Shift Communications - the company that first introduced the Social Media News Release where you will find plenty of resources:

• PR 2.0 Essentials Guide
• “Social Media Press Release” Version 1.0 template
• “Social Media Press Release” Version 1.5 template
• Shift’s Delicious links related to SMNRs

EDIT: I guess you could access eMusic from Canada already:

eMusic Takes DRM-Free Independence Into Canada

eMusic officially launched itself in Canada this week, a move that brings the action to independent music fans up north. According to an eMusic representative, a small number of Canadians already access the US-based service, though the launch raises the regional profile considerably.

The company carries a catalog of roughly 3.5 million tracks from 33,000 independent labels and audiobook publishers, a number that includes a subset of several thousand songs from Canadian artists. The Canadian launch is focusing on that regional content, a decision that will undoubtedly play well with local audiences.

Additionally, the entrance could boost paid downloads in the region, which are far lower - by total revenue percentage and absolute quantity - than United States levels. eMusic has sold more than 200 million music downloads since November 2003. Via Digital Music News

Derek Sivers is the founder and CEO of CD BABY which is a popular choice for indie artists to get their music out to the masses. I was skeptical, as I always am of anything new, when I first learned of CDBABY but I have always tried to experiment with how I got my music to people and figured what the hell. Since launching my album with CDBABY a year ago I have actually gotten paid, a few times so my skeptisism was quickly replaced with excitement.

I have since grown to become a fan of Derek’s blog and his insight into the music business. He gives away a tonne of great info on www.cdbaby.net and I recommend all artists take some time to read the advice portion of the website.

I recently stumbled upon Derek’s blog and found this awesome post so I thought I’d share it. The reason this all rings so true to me right now is partly due to the fact that I have recently taken part in the Cape Breton International Drum Festival. It was really inspiring to see world class drummers (seriously famous drummers if you know about drummers) coaching younger people and driving the point home that to “make it” they have to perfect their skills. If bands focused on getting good first instead of getting gigs/recording/money they would get further in the business of music.

borrowed from: http://sivers.org/pigs-sharks

I spoke at a conference last weekend, where a woman in the audience was SO mad about piracy that she was physically shaking, red in the face, tears in her eyes, fuming spitting livid, asking how we can stop this rampant piracy.

I didn’t answer her concern well, but I said “More people are killed by pigs than sharks each year, but because shark attacks are more newsworthy, they seem more prevalent. Piracy gets all the attention, but I don’t think most of you in this room have lost more than $30 to piracy.” (I got a big “Booo” from the audience for this.) “Obscurity is your real enemy. Fight obscurity until you’re a household name, then piracy will be more of a problem than obscurity. Until then, worry about pigs, not sharks.”

The woman got so furious about this that she screamed at me with tears in her eyes, “I HATE YOUR POINT OF VIEW, BUDDY!” (and some other angry things I forget.) From her point of view, piracy was Enemy #1 and anybody ignoring this massive threat was hurting us all.

Driving away from the event, of course I figured out what I wish I would have said in that moment:

The thing separating us from where we are and where we need to be is not piracy.

It’s always something more internal, whether writing, communicating, producing, networking, promoting, or taking a wildly different approach to marketing.

Putting so much attention and energy into fighting piracy (as if, when solved, you’ll suddenly start selling 10 times more) - is misguided effort, distracting you from what you really need to be improving.

That’s the real reason I often tell musicians not to worry about piracy. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist. But energy spent worrying about it is energy better spent working on what you know you really need to do.

When EMI was purchased by private equity firm Terra Firma I had high hopes. Here was a major player coming under control of folks with no ties to the music industry or to the ways things had be done - here was a chance to reinvent things from the top [majors] down. Alas nothing radical is likely to be tried.

In early April a glimmer of hope returned in my eyes when they hired former Google Chief Information officer Douglas Merrill, now president of the digital group at EMI, who had the following to say in an interview with C|Net - Will former Google exec help save the music industry?:

I’m passionate about data. For example, there’s a set of data that shows that file sharing is actually good for artists. Not bad for artists. So maybe we shouldn’t be stopping it all the time. I don’t know…I am generally speaking (against suing fans). Obviously, there is piracy that is quite destructive but again I think the data shows that in some cases file sharing might be okay. What we need to do is understand when is it good, when it is not good…Suing fans doesn’t feel like a winning strategy.

But he clearly has his work cut out for him as the Consumerist notes under the heading Bad Company,
EMI Says You Can’t Store Your Music Files Online. Now maybe he is the one to help remedy this situation but….

Today, MP3tunes’ CEO Michael Robertson sent out an email to all users of the online music backup and place-shifting service MP3tunes.com, asking them to help publicize EMI’s ridiculous and ignorant lawsuit against the company. EMI believes that consumers aren’t allowed to store their music files online, and that MP3tunes is violating copyright law by providing a backup service. (And we’re not using a euphemism here—it really is a backup/place-shifting service and not a file sharing site in disguise.)

“Court Ruling Denies EMI Access to Millions of Personal MP3 Files” [Michael Robertson]

Much is at stake — if you don’t have the right to store your own music online then you won’t have the right to store ebooks, videos and other digital products as well. The notion of ownership in the 21st century will evaporate. The idea of ownership is important to me and I want to make sure I have that right and my kids do too. - Michael Robertson

EMI: backing up music files online is illegal - Boing Boing
How EMI Wants To Steal Your Music - Medialoper

EMI has other issues to deal with as well:
EMI restructuring faces contractual obstacles - Reuters UK
Hands’ EMI bill could rise £170m - FT UK

Comment from idolator

I love when it’s the big company that gets screwed by the contract rather than the artists always being screwed. Doesn’t happen near often enough.

For those of you needing shirts printed and are concerned with the use of chemicals in standard shirt inks and solvents, I´ve quit working with Plasticol inks a while ago due to the harsh chemicals used in both the inks themselves and the cleanup.

These inks are incredibly toxic to both make and print with.

I´m now printing with an ink called Permaset which is an Australian company using 100% water based inks with equal quality as its harsh alternative. I´m now set up for printing up to 4 colours on fabric with perfect registration.

I´ve also stopped printing on any clothing that is not produced in North America. Although these shirts end up costing a bit more they´re made with fair wage standards and more locally produced than alternative cheaper companies.

if you´re interested in having clothing printed by a conscious printer contact me. if you´d like to read more about the inks themselves go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbxgvrxysyA

for cd cases I´m now printing exclusively with stumptown printers cases which are 100% recycled materials and technolithe papers which are also 100% recycled(post consumer and pre-consumer recycled)

email daygristle at hotmail dot com for quotes and inquiries

View some of his poster design work at GigPosters.com

As part of the Searchlight survey Radio3 has been holding over the past few weeks they have narrowed it down to the final five:

Back Alley Music – Charlottetown, PEI
Backstreet Records – Saint John, NB
Meow Records – Prince George, BC
Sound Connection – Edmonton, AB
Taz Records – Halifax, NS

Go vote on the Radio3 site

“In this digital era of music, it is a very real possibility that the indie record store may go the way of the dodo,” said CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence in a statement. “We want to shine a light on all the great stores across the country that are making a go of it, in the spirit of independent rock ’n’ roll, and surviving against the odds.”

- Via Exclaim

And from Taz Records:

As well, Sat, Apr.19th is Record Store Day and we figured it would be best to celebrate this the way a record store should…lots of local artists playing the music you love at a place where you can buy it!

Sat, Apr.19th
Taz Records
1pm / Free

With:
Old Man Luedecke
Tanya Davis
Laura Merrimen
Save September
Rumoured to be Alive
le skiv

OK - I agree this number is more than some bands will ever sell let alone in one week - but if the idea of developing a plan with such an “ambitious” goal is too much for you to consider you may not be cut out for where things are going in this industry.

The number one debut scanning CD nationally in Canada is the new REM and it only scanned 9000 units to make #1 on the national chart.

With seven new releases entering the chart in the top 10, sales are down 23% over the same week last year (when five albums each sold over 10,000 copies) and down 9% year-to-date over 2007.

R.E.M.’s Accelerate debuts at #1 on the Top Current Albums chart, their first #1 album in the SoundScan era, topping the #2 peak of 1998’s Up.

Theory Of A Deadman’s Scars And Souvenirs enters at #2, their best ever chart peak, surpassing the #4 entry of their debut album in 2002.

Other debuts in the top 30 include Karkwa at #5, Moby #6, In Flames #7, the soundtrack for the Rolling Stones’ concert film Shine A Light at #9, Van Morrison #10, George Strait #13 and Gnarls Barkley #21.

Big movers include Feist 19-12, Sylvain Cossette 63-23, Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack 107-30 and Ima 67-49.

I would love to know how many sales it took to hit even 30th position, or what about the top 10? If 900 is for the top spot if can’t be that many.

There is a marketing plan goal for a hyped band with a new release coming out: 9000 sales in the first week. Even if you only do half that I can’t imagine that not getting you in the top 30. Thinking cap time: What would have to go into such a well orchestrated plan to even potentially make that happen?

And in Exclaim
The new issue of Exclaim also has an article on dwindling album sales and their affects on the industry’s ability to award Gold records.