Aaliyah, Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Michael--The Post Humous Fame Phenomenon

Just yesterday, August 25th, marked the 10 year anniversary of R&B Artist and Actress Aaliyah, who was killed in a plane crash after finishing a shoot for single "Rock the Boat" out at Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands. The plane had been over its maximum takeoff weight. To commemorate her death, Rolling Stone reissued an article released the year of her death. Her albums and singles sailed up the Billboard charts. Even Pitchfork posted a remix of Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody" done by Glasgow producer Hudson Mohawke.

A little over a month ago on July 23rd, soulfully tragic singer Amy Winehouse's death made headlines worldwide, leaving millions speculating that drugs might have been involved. The singer's 2007 album "Back to Black", featuring the hit "Rehab" won the UK Singer 2008 Grammys for Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album and Record of the Year. Her life was plagued by a terrible struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, a controversial marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil, and mental health issues--all of which were reflected in her music. Sadly, many feel that she got too big too quickly and could never again have achieved the success of "Black to Black" even had she managed to fight her demons. SHe joined the "27 Club", along with Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and others. Following her death, record sales went up and yesterday she reached the top of the charts once again in the UK. The MTV VMAs plan to honor her with a special performance at this sunday's award show.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when there are tragic celebrity deaths, post-humous sales kick in and headlines are made. When the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, passed away it was an international tragedy, with his music playing in every store, nightly news specials, a televised funeral and "This Is It", a movie featuring footage of performance material that would have been included in his upcoming and final tour. His death was talked about for months in summer 2009 and afterward as his album sales resurged and MTV even returned to its old format to screen his most famous music videos.

Countless examples of reissues, promotional DVDs, and other memorabilia surrounding music celebrity deaths can be found. Today, Rolling Stone reports on the 20th Anniversary Reissue of Nirvana's 'Nevermind', which of course helps to immortalize the late Kurt Cobain and his contributions to the birth of '90s Grunge Rock.

I can't say that I'm not part of the post-humous phenomenon. I quickly Youtube'd Aaliyah's video for "Rock the Boat" to get a glimpse at the artist's final moments. I perused the net for Winehouse's final live appearance at the iTunes Festival in London and bought "Back to Black" on vinyl. The King of Pop was with me on my iPod every day I commuted from New Jersey to New York in summer 2008, and I feel an interesting melancholy every time I play "Human Nature".

There is something sadly fascinating about revisiting an artist's music if they are gone too soon. What makes musicians so unique is that they have the ability to create and be a part of something that can immortalize them forever. While the media definitely takes advantage of celebrity deaths to sell and resell products, it is worthwhile to revisit the music of those who have passed on. Whenever I put on a track by an artist, it's a piece of themselves that they left behind for us to hear and remember them by. It becomes an elegy of sorts, that can be experienced again in a new and deeply profound way.

A Brief Reflection on MTV and the VMAs.

One of the top stories on Billboard this week revolves around MTV's decision to have no host at the Video Music Awards (VMAs) this
year. Whether or not this was a "decision" or simply a "plan b" is not clear, but regardless it is somewhat puzzling.

For weeks around NY, I have seen cabs pass with ads depicting Lady Gaga (@ladygaga), Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars), and Beyonce , plugging the VMAs. In the past, I have highly anticipated the event and followed the Nominees religiously. However, in recent years, with MTV's increasingly non-musically oriented programming I have felt increasingly distanced from the network as a whole.

Frequently, my mother has romanticized the launch of MTV in 1981, when she was in college and Music Videos were something new, exciting and daring for youth. Following its premier with "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, MTV aired videos from Pat Benatar, The Human League, Devo and others in its early days. Later, of course, MTV broke the "color barrier" by airing videos from Donna Summer, Rick James, and of course Michael Jackson.

Eventually, of course, music videos were not as new and exciting or successful as they once were. With the success of The Real World and Road Rules at the turn of the millennium, MTV increasingly turned to alternate programming, moving away from its original VJ model. Today, of course, there is an influx of non-music related programming that has basically taken over the station and completely changed its original mission.

In a way, it comes as no surprise that there isn't even a host for this year's awards. The past few shows have become more notorious for spectacle (meat dresses and Taylor-Kanye incidents) than musically enjoyable in their own right. Furthermore, the lack of host is perhaps a greater metaphor for the human and personal element of music that has faded from our culture as a whole. With computers and digital downloads serving most of our musical purpose today, why not have pre-recorded or even computer generated announcements to introduce artists?

I will be tuning in as always, hopeful for the Britney Spears Tribute and performances by Gaga, Beyonce, Young the Giant and others to make the evening enjoyable.

"Few Niche Music Products Create Profitable Markets"

I came across this quote from Dave Haynes, VP of Business Development for Soundcloud, while reading Billboard.biz today. The article attempted to explain what makes a successful music app in today's over saturated market of developers looking to make "the next Pandora". It explained how despite the passionate efforts of techies, music nerds and "fanatics" most products simply fail because they are not developed with the intent that they will be used by casual fans.

These new and developing apps allow fans to scan their libraries, share their tastes, and report their "musical moments" for other fans to see. However, the article also reports that sometimes a product developed first by music fanatics and then applied to the mainstream can become successful. The article profiles Songkick's new tour tracking app which surpassed 100,000 downloads within the first two weeks along with Shazam and the newer app, Soundtracking--both being used to identify artists and track songs.

It occurred to me while reading that, of course, I fall into the music fanatic category (hell, I am writing a music blog reporting on relatively unknown artists as well as new and developing apps). And yet, which apps do I end up using? Mired in a music technology mess, with developers just looking for the next thing, even as a fanatic I often find that I use Pandora, Spotify and even peruse iTunes singles of the week to easily consume music. This leads me to believe that perhaps these programs are universally popular because they cover so much music and can function the same way for a lover of Top 40 Hits, and a hipster looking to listen to Pitchfork's top staff picks.

But where do apps start? How do the fanatics that develop them distance themselves from the fringe to understand what mainstream consumers want? While the digital realm is new and schools like NYU have even developed a Music Business Major with a concentration in Music Technology, the wave of the future will be the development of easy-to-use yet all-encompassing programs that can appeal to a wide variety of consumers.

Remind Me Again Why She's Not Signed?--The Rise of PledgeMusic, IndieGoGo, Kickstarter and Others

She has 26, 516 likes on facebook. She has a voice that sounds like a combination of Sara Bareilles, Norah Jones, and Sia with certain jazz sensibilities. She has Self-Released 3 Full-Length Albums, 2 EPs and a single cover version of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".

Lelia Broussard is an independent singer/songwriter from Los Angeles, who has managed to gain a following for herself completely independent of representation. She is currently in the process of raising funds from fans to finance her next album on PledgeMusic, one of the many sites that has recently helped artists be more successful in financing independent albums. Joining artists such as Rachael Yamagata, Tina Dico, and The Damnwells , Broussard is taking advantage of the fan base that she has built to help her continue to create, while reaching out to fans and providing them with perks for contributing. PledgeMusic is just one of a number of sites including IndieGoGo and Kickstarter that have created this opportunity for various musicians, filmmakers, artists and designers.

These DIY-spirited sites all take some cut of the money that is raised and many have different policies depending on whether target funding goals are met. IndieGoGo, for instance, takes a 4% cut of all funds raised if targets are met, and a 9% cut if they are not. On Kickstarter, beginning a project and joining is free, but it's an all or nothing formula, where no funding will be awarded should the funding goal not be met. Kickstarter charges a 5% fee and additional amazon fees of 3-5% are also charged. On PledgeMusic, a 15% flat fee is charged for every pledge once the target is met. Despite these fees, unrepresented or even signed artists looking to generate funding can look to these new websites for funding options.

Check out Lelia Broussard on:

bandcamp

iTunes

facebook

myspace

twitter

official site

Demos--Are Labels Listening?

This morning, I had the fortunate opportunity to be passed a demo by Alastair Ottesen, a self-described "disciple of classic pop and folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, John Lennon, and Elliott Smith." Indeed, his vocals were reminiscent of the late, great Elliott Smith and the recordings also showcased the artist's work on guitar, piano, harmonium and organ.

The 5-song EP was entitled "You Can No Longer Blame it On the Machines" and I thoroughly enjoyed it enough to visit the artist's official website and bandcamp pages to try and hear more or look into tour info to get a good idea about the artist. I soon found out that the first track off his latest EP, "Life is But a Dream" is up for free, and another self-titled album, released a year ago is also available for streaming and purchase.

Above is the cover art for the latest EP, which I was assigned to listen to. Ottesen is one of many Brooklyn-based musicians trying to get exposure. As I read the short cover sheet and listened to the Self-Released EP, I wondered about record labels and unsolicited demos. I have been on many label websites from JagJaguwar (Bon Iver, Women, Parts & Labor) to Sub Pop (Fleet Foxes, CSS, Band of Horses) to bigs like UMG and WMG.

Under FAQ's, both Universal and Warner simply say that they do not accept unsolicited demo material and that an artist must be recommended to one of their labels by a well-known lawyer, manager, producer, radio dj, etc. Whereas, Sub Pop says that although they don't listen to demos every day, bands are welcome to send them in. However, they do mention that it is extremely rare for a band to get signed on the strength of a demo alone. JagJaguwar states that they "do accept demos and do listen to everything [they] receive". They also leave specific instructions for digital submissions should a band decide to submit their music online instead of in physical form.

The process through which artists go from virtually unknown to managed and publicized, with licensing deals lined up certainly does not come with a road map for the artist nor the label. And now, with technology that makes it easier than ever before to share and play music, the industry is becoming increasingly interesting as a jungle of up and coming artists try to be heard.

Remind me again why she's not signed?

She has opened for Sara Bareilles, Colbie Caillat, Cary Brothers and even Katy Perry! She has been awarded the iTunes Single of the Week spot to put her in the public's eye. Her music has been featured in shows like One Tree Hill, Ghost Whisperer and 90210.

Singer/Songwriter Holly Conlan (@HollybackGirl) of Hollywood, California certainly has made her mark on the music scene. I first heard her when her single , "OK", which appeared on One Tree Hill came up featured on iTunes. Her success as an unsigned artist is a testament to her ability to license songs to highly visible television shows, and she is currently working on her third studio album.

Perhaps she has been successful because of her independence, but it's a wonder labels haven't picked up on this gem.

Check her out on:

twitter

facebook

myspace

official site

last.fm

Spotify---Giving iTunes a Run for its Money?

This past week billboard.biz announced that Spotify, the widely successful music service that took Europe by storm, has come to America at long last. With spotify, users will be able to search for any track, share music, and even use mobile devices and an offline mode if they become premium members.

Billboard is projecting that the market for music listening services as a whole will improve as a result of this new software. Although iTunes is probably still the most well-known program, competition will likely be healthy for the music service market as programs like Spotify and Rhapsody continue to compete for subscribers.

Just yesterday, I received an email telling me that my own Spotify account was ready. This morning, I eagerly logged in, started perusing the program, and began searching for artists and creating playlists. Like most programs nowadays, Spotify allows you to sync with facebook and share musical tastes a la Last.fm. It also syncs your iTunes library so that you can access all of your current music through Spotify.

Spotify bases a lot of music sharing around user-generated playlists, that can then be switched on and made public to other users. The one thing that I don't really enjoy are the advertisements that come up in the side bars which, unfortunately, can be characteristic of applications that require the internet. I do, however, love the fact that Spotify helps to advertise artists by playing little previews of their music and encouraging users to click to listen on Spotify. It's an informative way to discover new music.

As the software continues to develop and as it gains speed in the states, I look forward to hearing feedback about Spotify and discovering further innovations in the way that we experience music.