MUSIC NEWS - To celebrate Warner Bros. Records' 50^th anniversary, the label will release Covered: A Revolution In Sound; an eclectic compilation CD that features such contemporary WBR artists as The Used, Mastodon, The Black Keys, Against Me!, Missy Higgins, and James Otto performing new versions of classic songs from WBR artists, including Madonna, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Joni Mitchell, Talking Heads, and Black Sabbath.

Each contemporary artist chose the songs themselvers from Warner Bros. Records' catalog. Highlights include The Flaming Lips performing Madonna's "Borderline," Disturbed on Faith No More's "Midlife Crisis," The Used covering Talking Heads "Burning Down The House," The Black Keys taking on Captain Beefheart's "Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles," and actor/comedian Adam Sandler giving his rendition of Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane" (check out the video below of Sandler performing the tune on Late Night with David Letterman). 

Covered: A Revolution in Sound will be available both digitally and in CD form exclusively from Amazon.com, beginning March 10^th, for two weeks (oreder your copy here) . The digital version will be available from all other online shoppes beginning March 24^th and the CD will be in stores on April 7^th. Sandler's "Like a Hurricane" is available now for purchase on iTunes.

"Going through Warner Bros. Records' back catalog of music and picking a favorite song wasn't easy," says Missy Higgins. "There have been so many classics over the years, and it was particularly intimidating to attempt to cover a song that was so perfect in its original form. For that reason, I chose one with a real '80s sound so that I could make it my 'folky' own. It's funny how the meaning of a song can change suddenly with its musical interpretation."

"We were really excited to be asked to record a song for the Warner Bros. Records' 50th anniversary compilation album," says The Used's Quinn Allman. "We were in the studio working on our own album and one day in September we decided on the spot to do "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads. We liked the natural energy of the song so we kept it pretty simple and just had fun with it."

Track-list for Covered: A Revolution In Sound is as follows:

Adam Sandler performing Neil Young's LIKE A HURRICANE on Late Night with David Letterman -

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Rollo & Grady Interview // Gerd Leonhard - Los Angeles Music Blog - Good read. Here are some of the best snippets:

R&G: Can the labels regain the trust of “people formerly known as consumers?” Gerd: They may not be able to, and this is the Number One problem. I think it’s a very tough road. The only chance they have – and that goes for everyone, not just the majors, but also the indies – is to drastically open up, put their cards on the table and start doing business like everybody else. This means being transparent, sharing, putting deals on the table and making them public. They need to create real value rather than pretend to do so.

R&G: You’ve talked about how the record industry should adopt Twitter. Can you elaborate? Gerd: Twitter is a mechanism of micro communication, like RSS feeds. Therefore, it becomes something that is completely owned by the people who are doing it, rather than by the people who are making or receiving it. It’s a completely viable mechanism that is cost-neutral, at least to us. It becomes a very powerful mechanism for peer response and viral connections. That is the principle of what music is all about. It’s word of mouth, connecting, forwarding and sharing. A musical version of Twitter would be a goldmine. It already exists to some degree in blip.fm, but the music industry should use that mechanism to broadcast directly to fans. They’re starting to do that, but the problem is that many music companies perceive their primary mission as gatekeeper for the artists rather than getting the music out. That is a big problem today, when you’re in an economy where everybody wants a snack before buying a sandwich.

R&G: What other technologies do you think are necessary for the do-it-yourself artists and managers of the new music world?  Gerd: Widgets and syndication have made YouTube the world’s leader in video. 60% of videos are not played on YouTube.com but on blogs and other people’s sites. Music has completely overlooked that very powerful tool. That is this whole idea of syndication – getting people to transmit music to each other and then reaping the attention on the other end.

R&G: Are you saying they need to recognize any revenue stream they can generate from their content? Sell CDs, subscriptions, etc.? Gerd: The flat rate is the next CD. Its simple mathematics. If you charge or indirectly earn one dollar from each user of a network, that dollar can be ad-supported. It can be supported by bundling, so the user won’t feel it, so to speak. If you look at the total number of people who are active on digital networks, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 ½ billion people, they’re not all going to pay a dollar because they’re in different countries. But the money that comes in from such a flat rate is humongous.

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You should always stick to your guns, right? Well, not necessarily. Plenty of companies have rethought their business model or approach – and you can argue that this kind of flexibility is increasingly important, given the current economic climate. Here’s five music firms that changed something important – their business model, for example, or their user interface.

We7

UK-based We7 has always focused on ad-supported music, but the format changed pretty drastically in October last year. Originally, the company tacked audio ads onto music downloads. However, its new model is a more standard streaming music service with adverts in between the songs. They claim they’re not abandoning ad-supported downloads – it’s just that they thought the market wasn’t quite ready for them yet. Since then, We7 has focused on promoting its streaming service, revamping its site in the process.

Imeem

Another Music 2.0 service that’s adapted with the times is Imeem. Users had been able to upload as many songs as they liked to the service for no cost, but last month that changed. Imeem now charges $29.99 a year if you want to upload up to 1,000 songs and 100 videos, and $100 if you want a higher limit of 20,000 songs and 500 videos. A spokesperson explained: “We will continue to experiment with new monetisation opportunities if they add to the user experience.” Which is a nice way of saying ‘We need to make more money, and advertising sure ain’t providing it…”

Pandora

Pandora has always been an ad-supported online radio service, but those ads have been banner ads. That changed last month, when the company started serving audio adverts in its music streams. Pandora clearly feels a bit sensitive about the launch – on the company’s official Twitter feed, they said “So you know, we did not take on audio ads lightly. We try to be extremely respectful of your listening experience, & promise to be prudent”. The message showed the problem of this kind of move – a service like Spotify can launch with audio ads from the start and have no problems, but a service like Pandora, which hasn’t had them for its early years, faces consumer unrest when it does introduce them.

Lala

Lala started life as a free streaming music site, which planned to make its money through selling CDs to users, who’d be so excited about the digital music that they’d want to own the physical product. So much for that. In May last year, the company changed tack, with a new business model that involved charging users $0.10 for unlimited streams of a track, and then giving them the option to purchase it as a download (knocking the ten cents off the price if they’d already paid to stream it). Users could also synchronise their existing music library with the site for free streaming of those tracks.

Napster

Okay, so there’s one very obvious change that Napster has gone through – from illegal P2P tool to legal subscription service. But more recently, there’s also been a shift from being a client-based service accessed through a desktop PC application, to a web-based service accessible from any computer. US users got this option back in October 2007, but UK users had to wait until, ahem, this January to get it. With cloud-based music about to be all the rage, it’s a sensible direction to be going in.

Muxtape

The original Muxtape site was a playlisting tool that let people upload any music they wanted in virtual mixtapes for others to listen to. The RIAA stamped it out, so it came back as the same technology, but focused on artists using it to promote their own music. It’s a powerful example of the way even services that fall foul of the music industry can change their business models to try and work within it. Whether the new Muxtape is successful remains to be seen, of course.

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 It is impossible to isolate the history of black people in this country to a single expression but since we deal with music, we are going to go with what we know.

 The history of the American recording industry is largely (if not completely) influenced by the African-American experience. This spans so many styles and eras that it would difficult to dive into them all. So what we did was create The Black History Collection in the Zune Marketplace to celebrate the contributions and commemorate the struggles of so many African–Americans. The collection starts off with early 20th century gospel and blues, moves through  jazz and R&B and continues on through hip hop and electronic. It’s nothing fancy – just great songs by great artists.

Some of my personal favorites include:

Robert Johnson – Ramblin’ On My Mind
This is raw, uncut blues at its finest – Mississippi Delta style. The legend of Robert Johnson has inspired many artists, from jazz to hip hop. It’s long been rumored that Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his amazing guitar style.

Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit
The most prolific jazz singer of all time, Billie Holiday’s signature tune Strange Fruit chronicles the lynching epidemic that took place in the Jim Crow southern states. This the single most powerful tune that deals with black’s struggles for equality.

Stevie Wonder – My Cherie Amour
A flagship R&B tune dealing with the universal idea of love. No other type of music has been able to capture the feeling of love quite like R&B and the Stevie Wonder did it far better than most.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 – The Message
The single most important hip hop track – ever. Grandmaster Flash, Melli Mel and crew changed the landscape of hip hop from party music to serious social commentary – CNN for the ghetto.

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 It's that time again....this week, we've got some special "guests" in this blog post - a few of the Zune MVPs! MVPs are folks from the community who help to spread the Zune word by blogging, forums, and other public activity. They rock! Let's see if their music does, too!

NSILMike is listening to a playlist that includes O.A.R., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cat Stevens, U2, Santana and Collective Soul. He says he's listening to this list for two reasons:"1)  I'm old enough to have heard the older ones when they were owners of 'recent' hits...  2)  My college age kids intro'd me to O.A.R."

Tromboneforhire recently started a series of blog posts called Jazz 101 on his blog - Inside the Circle. So he says, "Well right now, because of my Jazz 101 thing, I've re-discovered my passion for the music of J.J. Johnson, specifically his albums "Quintergy" and "The Brass Orchestra" (J.J. was the reason I studied trombone). Outside of the jazz realm, I've had my ear on "Oceanlab" from Above & Beyond. I'm totally digging that record from top to bottom."

Indmusic adds, "I've really been into Beastie Boys lately. I've also been coming out of a (month long) Candlebox craze. Their new album is really good. I'm also really into the new Scott Weiland album. He does a really great cover of David Bowie's "Fame" on his new album."

EnzoTen has kudos and a recommendation for me! "Very nice on the Deadmau5 Jessica - that's a killer album. There is a mixed version that keeps the day flowing a bit better. Also on the electronic side I have been listening to Aphrodite - "A Break In Reality" and the slightly more old school "Aftershock." Somewhere you profile said you need more drum and bass in your life... that might do the trick."

Solar257 says, "Recently, I discovered Mark Ronson's first album "Here Comes the Fuzz." I love all of it. I decided to take a look at M.I.A.'s album "Kala." The original version of 'Paper Planes' could definitely be remixed with T.I.'s 'Swagga Like Us.' I also saw a few tracks on NSILMike's Zune Card that reminded of an album I hadn't heard in a while; the Verve Remixed series. Does anyone else pull tracks off of their friend's Zune cards? I love the flow of the first half of Q-Tips 'Move' and the entirety of 'Stranded in Your Love' by Sharon Jones. Changing aural gears a bit, two tracks on Sparkadia's debut album, "Postcards," that are catchy are 'Morning Light' and 'Connected.' Speaking of debut albums CSS's debut album "Cansei De Ser Sexy" is a complete win all the way through."

As for the Zune Insiders, Justin (The Social) is listening to The Lonely Island - a band consisting of Andy Sandberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone of SNL. "I can't stop listening and laughing to the ironic genius of the album they just dropped this week: Incredibad. It's a collection of their best SNL music videos and some really great new songs, including I'm On a Boat featuring none other than T-PAIN!"

Matt - Skipdeez - is going back a year with "Day & Nite" by Kid Cudi. "The song is simple but extremely catchy. If Kid Cudi sounds familiar, you may recognize him for his work he did on Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak album on the track “Welcome to Heartbreak”. Download it and you’ll be hooked!"

Candice (Bliss16) says, "I have the song ‘Bum Like You’ by Robyn on repeat. She is one of my fav breakout artists from 2008 and this song is the highlight of her album, but all the other songs are great too!"

As for me...I found some new Toby Emerson tracks on a compilation disc that I really like, and I'm listening to my bro EnzoTen and discovering Aphrodite. And there's some new Chris Lake in the Marketplace too - the newer stuff I've found is more chill, great to listen to while I'm at work.

OK, that's it! Post what you're listening to in the comments!

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I'm incredibly surprised by all the criticism and doomsday predictions concerning Live Nation Entertainment, the company that would be created by the proposed Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger. Everybody has an opinion, music critics are now prescient business analysts, and almost all of them are wrong. If there are problems with the merger, they stem from a vertical integration that may limit competition and fail to receive the blessings of the Department of Justice (which has already said it will launch an investigation).

As for complaining about higher ticket prices, those arguments are filled with holes. Ticket prices probably won't change any more than they would have in the absence of a merger. (Everybody knows why ticket prices are increasing. If people agreed not to illegally download MP3s and buy albums instead of tracks, ticket prices would probably go down. Fat chance, right?) Maybe the face values will change (both up and down) but actual ticket prices paid by the final ticketholder are not likely to change. Ticketmaster owns secondary ticketing company TicketsNow. What is to prevent Live Nation Entertainment from putting more tickets on its own secondary ticketing system and making more money? Unsold inventory, that's what. And that would be a disaster given the amount of revenue the company makes from ticket-related sources such as parking, food, drinks, merchandise and products bundled with ticket sales (fan club memberships, music, etc). The marketplace holds checks and balances that will keep a fair percentage of tickets at lower prices.

Some would agree that dynamic pricing -- which would capture the maximum amount of value the market places on the tickets -- would be a good thing for ticketing. Prices vary with demand. Low demand means lower price. High demand means a higher price. (That's already the case. The most in-demand concerts tend to cost the most. Want a cheap concert? There are plenty of small clubs that charge $10 to see a good touring band.)

In fact, the existing secondary market -- online sellers, ticket brokers, scalpers on the street, people on Craigslist -- already creates something of a dynamic pricing system. Buyers have an inventory that sells either above or below face value (usually above). The difference is who collects the demand in excess of face value. Currently, much of that extra value is distributed throughout the marketplace. Post-merger, Live Nation Entertainment stands to realize more of that extra value. The end results are pretty much the same, but critics don't want one company, Live Nation Entertainment, to make all that money. They want the company to sell tickets at face value and let others -- other companies, private citizens -- capture the amount above face value that some people place on tickets.

Yet at the same time, people have for years lived with the exact same pricing system in the airline industry. People fly during the holidays when rates go up, they take vacations in the higher-priced summer months and they find bargains throughout the year. Airlines collect all that revenue -- the cheap ticket, the moderately expensive ticket and the extremely expensive first-class ticket. Is it fair that nobody on the plane paid the same price, or that some paid three times as much as the person in the next seat? It doesn't matter.

What the airlines know is exactly what Live Nation Entertainment knows and what many today are ignoring: You cannot maximize profits by raising all prices to all people all of the time. Perhaps Senator Schumer should ask the FTC to investigate why I have to pay so much to fly home to California in late December, or why it costs so much to buy a plane ticket the day before departure.

Not hardly. Senator Schumer understands very well that a flat-rate ticket price is inefficient and leaves unrealized value on the table. There is no reason to sell tickets based on ability to get in line first. Tickets, like other finite goods, should be priced according to willingness to pay. And Schumer has a lot of nerve to tell an entertainment company facing a recession that it must cede secondary ticketing revenue to others in the marketplace because it doesn't meet his definition of fairness.

The public, though vocal right now, has allowed this to happen. States have changed ticket scalping laws to allow for the new secondary market. No outcry. Sports teams now have official secondary ticketing partners. Again, no outcry. At the same time, blocks of concerts tickets are regularly obtained by artists and their managers. They are sold on the secondary market, and they are sold to fan club members (a segment in which both Live Nation and Ticketmaster operate). Again, no major outcry from the public even though many ticket buyers have long paid more than face value.

Competitors in the music industry may say they are merely sticking to anti-trust ideals and trying to protect consumers, but their criticism is the business equivalent of jealousy because Live Nation and Ticketmaster figured out a way to keep more of their tickets' value.

More valid criticism is pointed away from ticket prices and toward possible effects of vertical integration. There are concerns that Live Nation will have unfair influence over other venues (which do business with Ticketmaster) and artists (which want to play Live Nation venues). This is where the Department of Justice tends to get involved. It is concerned about competition.

People are fearing worse-case and, I believe, unlikely scenarios. If Live Nation Entertainment truly wants to stay away from antitrust regulators, if it desires to return value to its shareholders, it will happily make money from selling its ticketing services to its competitors. Better to keep its competitors close than to force them to act in competition (by, for example, creating their own competing ticketing system). The same argument applies for feared favoritism to Front Line artists. Nothing should make a company so happy as to generate ticketing and related revenues from artists managed by other companies. There aren't enough Front Line clients to support the concert industry. Live Nation Entertainment's success will be greatly determined by the successes of acts managed by others.

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Borders, which accounts for about 2% of the U.S. recorded music market, plans to dramatically reduce the number of CDs its stores will carry and seeks revised payment terms from vendors. As Billboard's Ed Christmas termed it, Borders is "threatening" to reduce inventories. Judging from the email that was forwarded to me that was written by someone on the conference call, and judging from the quotes Christman got from a Borders manager of corporate affairs, there is no threat. Borders is making the reductions.

According to the source, 97% of existing locations will reduce inventories by 70%. All stores will carry top new release and catalog titles, an inventory level that could be as low as 50 titles in about 200 stores. Borders is not seeking lower wholesale prices but wants revised payment terms. The retailer has floated the idea of receiving extra dating or moving to a consignment model. Extra dating is, in effect, a reduction in invoice price. A consignment model would help labels emphasize fast-moving, popular titles in order for them to receive payment as promptly as possible.

It would not surprise me if labels granted extended payment terms but got Borders to rein in a bit their reductions. It would be a small victory for a group of companies with very little leverage. Borders has been lowering emphasis on CDs since last year. The day was coming when the chain all but gave up on the format.

Not that Borders is key in developing artists, but there are dramatic implications in this planned reduction. Other major retailers will reduce CD inventories -- it's only a matter of time -- and reduce opportunities for new artists to gain a foothold at retail. Labels are going to find their chicken-and-egg situation get even worse: To break a new artist they need retail to carry the title, but retail will only carry popular titles. If not for the top-seller charts at Amazon.com and iTunes, who will know what to carry?

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I don’t know about you but I have an addiction to awards shows. Oscars, Tonys, Emmys, SAG’s, Nobels, ESPYs, Car & Driver Awards, pie-eating contests, the whole lot. Somebody (an ex, if you must know) suggested that I get this away around awards seasons because I crave an award myself. Come to think of it, I did kind of overreact when I got Employee Of The Week a few years back. Take it from me, you don’t want your emotions to get out of control at a nuclear plant.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there, but the 51st Grammys Feature Page is. Zune started monitoring the Grammy Awards when the nominees were announced in December, and we churned out a whole bunch of playlists featuring songs and artists that are up for the hardware this coming Sunday night. In addition to nominee playlists by genre, we have one enormous 51st Grammy Collection featuring ALL the non-classical nominees we could find in Zune Marketplace. You can also find albums from the nominees in one convenient spot, and a playlist of Zune Ignition artists who got Grammy love.

Also, after the awards are handed out on Feb. 8, we’ll get right to work on a collection of the winners. And then we promise not to obsess over the Grammys for at least a week. Enjoy! 

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