indie labels

Why buy music when you can stream it?

I guess it's safe to assume Adele and Coldplay are making decent livings in the music business, but I wanted to talk with an average band to see how they were doing. What sort of income did they see from Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube, vs. selling CDs or downloads? So I chatted with Phil Metzler, from Just Off Turner, and he was willing to share some income numbers. The band has been featured on soundtracks on shows from ABC, MTV, E!, and Oxygen; they've toured the U.S., Europe, Brazil, Australia, and the U.K.

They made three … Read more

Apple's tough iTunes note meant for indie labels

Apple's letter to music labels about the company's adoption of 90-second song samples sounded brash and uncompromising, reminiscent of how the company once seemed to negotiate with the music industry.

Apple wrote in e-mails to an undisclosed number of music industry executives--made public on Tuesday--that it would soon offer longer samples for songs that are at least two-and-a-half minutes in length. For shorter songs, iTunes would continue to offer 30-second previews, the company wrote. CNET broke the news in August that Apple planned to offer longer samples.

What raised eyebrows about Apple's note was that … Read more

MySpace Music signs IODA, but where's Merlin?

Correction: The headline of this story incorrectly identified IODA as a label.

MySpace Music has signed a deal that will bring independent music artists to the site. And boy does Rupert Murdoch's upstart music service want to ballyhoo this announcement.

IODA, a company that aggregates and distributes digital music for indie artists, said Wednesday that it has agreed to supply more than a 1 million tracks to MySpace Music. Terms of the deal were not released.

In the month since MySpace Music launched, the indie community has bashed the service for not offering the same kind of favorable terms … Read more

Sub Pop offering direct MP3 sales

As a vinyl collector, I've always held Sub Pop in high regard. Not only does the iconic Seattle-based label release a lot of LPs, it doesn't charge an arm and a leg for them--I've bought some records from Sub Pop bands for the same price or less than the CD costs.

Last week, Sub Pop began selling MP3 downloads, and its catalog has rapidly expanded, now encompassing more than 200 full-length albums. The price is $9.90 and the format is 192kbps MP3, meaning they can be played on any application or device, unlike downloads from iTunes … Read more