When one thinks of independent music companies like Concord Music Group, the first things that come to mind are not Ray Charles, Paul McCartney’s solo catalogue, and Starbucks. All of these things, however, are among Concord’s key components, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing independent music companies in the world.
Concord Music Group started in 2004, when longstanding labels Concord Records and Fantasy Records merged, and they welcomed Telarc Records into the fold the following year. Concord, Fantasy, and Telarc all possessed extensive back catologues that had some history, in that history lay the seeds of an interesting business strategy. [click to continue…]
Apparently every 20 years Germans need to listen to music made by a cheesy and massively successful American actor. Following in the footsteps of David Hasselhoff, actor-turned-musician Kevin Costner’s debut, Turn It On, is soaring up the charts in Germany and the rest of Europe. Costner has climbed into the top 20 on the European charts following an eight county European tour, including sixteen dates in Deutschland. Costner’s music is decidedly country, whereas Hasselhoff’s is, well, whatever genre this is. Check out Costner and Modern West on Myspace (yes, they’re on Myspace) to see what’s hot in Germany. [click to continue…]
A mix of satire, analysis, sadness and hope, I Need That Record has been screened at half a dozen film festivals since its 2008 premiere. In it, the film’s director, Brendan Toller, asks everybody from Glenn Branca to Thurston Moore to Legs McNeil to Noam Chomsky for a prognosis, and their answers are the perfect complement to Record Store Day’s message. [click to continue…]
Digital media has been all the rage for quite some time now (recent declines notwithstanding). But because of the nature of digital media, there has been little to stop musical file pirates from freely sailing in abundant digital waters: CDs and DVDs, the dominant physical storage spaces of the last two decades, are easily ripped. Blu-Rays are tougher nuts to crack, but as a newer technology, they represent a smaller portion of the market.
According to a press release, “CDSA’s Content Protection and Security Standards program helps organizations to establish, implement, monitor, maintain and improve entertainment media and content security management processes and better protect intellectual property and related assets.”
The Kingston drive, about which very little is known, is the first product ever made to meet the CDSA’s standards. And, as CDSA’s Linda Dyson explains, these are some serious standards we’re talking about here. [click to continue…]
Just like reel-to-reel, 8-tracks, and cassettes before them, the compact disc seems to be headed to the junk pile (we’ll leave out records for the moment due to vinyl’s current resurgence). At least that’s what App store GetJar hinted at when they recently announced that mobile app sales could exceed $17.5 billion within the next three [...]
Apparently every 20 years Germans need to listen to music made by a cheesy and massively successful American actor. Following in the footsteps of David Hasselhoff, actor-turned-musician Kevin Costner’s debut, Turn It On, is 
Digital media has been all the rage for quite some time now (
