Music Biz Academy Digest - Issue #13 - June 16th 2001
An update from http://www.musicbizacademy.com.

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THE MUSIC BIZ ACADEMY
http://www.musicbizacademy.com

FEATURING:
Musician's Online Directory:
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/directory

The Academy (Articles and Tips)
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles

The Bookstore
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore

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WELCOME....
Welcome to the June 16th edition of the Music Biz Academy digest!
It's been somewhat of a quiet two weeks, at least in comparison
to some of the mind rocking events of the last two or three
months. There have been some major look and feel changes over at
MP3.com and this week they introduced a new subscription service
for listeners. I must admit I admire MP3.com's creativity of late
- I don't think I would have ever thought of so many ways to
solicit money from my web site visitors. All I can say is after
all this, I hope MP3.com is able to stick around for awhile and
continue to provide an outlet for independent musicians.

Also just in, RCA has announce a new audio file format - mp3PRO
and it's creating quite a buzz. Higher quality MP3 files, smaller
file size. Looks like a brighter future for MP3 audio is just
around the corner. Now, if only the format can survive against
Microsoft's competing sound format, forced on Windows XP buyers
this fall. Details on mp3PRO at
http://www.msnbc.com/news/587854.asp


MUSIC BUSINESS SEMINAR: MAKING MONEY WITH YOUR MUSIC
What else? Oh yes, we're sponsoring a new Music Business course
by Christopher Knab. This 8 week long summer school course starts
July 16th, from 7-10 pm in Seattle, Washington. The comprehensive
course includes 24 classroom hours of information designed to
empower any musician, band, or music industry aspirant who wants
to learn what it takes to prepare, protect, promote, distribute,
and sell independent music. The Instructor, Christopher Knab, has
over 30 years of hands on experience with Independent music,
ranging from record label ownership (415/Columbia Records) to
music retailing, and radio station management. Details at
http://www.knab.com/workshops.cfm


WEB TOOLS FOR YOUR ONLINE MUSIC BUSINESS
Brand new to the newsletter! Web tools for your online music
business. These are just things I run into now and then worth
passing on to other struggling musicians. See the new section
below.


SUPPORT YOUR HOST!
MusicBizAcademy.com is free, the articles and directory are free,
but please show your support by trying out our music and support
the work of you host, David Nevue: http://www.mp3.com/davidnevue


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Latest Additions To The Academy
http://musicbizacademy.com/articles/
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DO YOU REALLY NEED TO INVEST IN YOUR OWN BARCODE?
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/musicbusiness/barcode.htm
Musicians like to spend money on equipment: new instruments, new
amps, or some new digital device they think will make music
making easier for them. Musicians do not like to spend money on
anything to do with protecting, promoting, or selling their
music. What about the Barcode?


INSTRUMENTAL GUITARIST RIDES MP3.COM TO SUCCESS
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/musicpromotion/mp3success.htm
Last month I received a great letter from MP3 artist Guy
Thibault, AKA 'Little Bastard.' He shared his story with me, and
now I pass it on to you. For those of you struggling on MP3.com,
be encouraged. There's still room for more success stories at
MP3.com.


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Recent Additions/Updates to the Musician's Directory....
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/directory
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BANDNAME.COM
http://www.bandname.com/
Bandname.com, 'The Worldwide Band Name Registry' is much more
than that. It's an information hub containing data on thousands
of resources of interest to independent musicians. You'll find
databases for booking agents, venues, publishers, management and
a great selection of articles on the business as well.


HARMONY CENTRAL
http://harmony-central.com/
After many years on the net, Harmony Central is still one of the
web's most visited music resources. HC features endless supply of
information relating to musical instruments, software and related
technology. Every musician will find info of interest here. With
tons of product reviews from users, bulletin boards, music news,
features, and classified ads, and guitar tablature, HC has
something for everyone.


JINGLE UNIVERSITY
http://www.jingleuniversity.com/
Ever thought about writing those catchy jingles used in TV and
radio ads to make some extra cash? Ben Freedman, seller of over
4,000 jingles worldwide (and 35 years in the business), tells you
how to get started in his Jingle University course. You'll learn
about the four different kinds of jingle companies; commercial
jingles, radio ID jingles, production music and promo
music/effects. You'll learn everything you need to know about
negotiating and closing sales and licenses, networking, recording
a good jingle, and lots more.


RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
http://www.riaa.com
The RIAA represents the trade organization whose member companies
create and/or manufacturer 90% of all sound recordings in the
United States. Why is this of use to you, the indie musician?
Because although a few independents view the RIAA as the 'enemy'
representing big money and big business, they do in fact provide
a wealth of information on what's happening in the industry. The
RIAA site is regularly updated with information on new
technologies, copyright law, freedom of speech, licensing,
royalties, market data and more. Hanging out at the RIAA site you
defintely get a different perspective - the business perspective
- and that's a perspective you ought to know.


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Articles From Around The Net....
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FRUSTRATED WITH THE MUSIC BIZ??? GOOD!
http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=3812
"No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction, whatever at any
time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed
unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the
others"- Martha Graham.
Article by Carla Hall.


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Web Tools For Your Online Music Business
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I've ran across a number of great web resources of late. I
thought I'd share them with you:


REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN @ GODADDY.COM
$8.95 per year for domain name registration. The cheapest I've
seen yet. http://www.godaddy.com.


SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TUTORIALS
Here's a fantastic, step by step article on optimizing your site
for the search engines called 'Search Engine Optimization -
FREE!'
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/01/23/index1a.html?tw=e-business

And check out SPIDER FOOD at http://spider-food.net/ This is
probably one of the best, most comprehensive guides to preparing
a web site for search engine registration I've seen. Don't miss
it.


GRAPHICS DONE AT YOUR PRICE
Once you register (it's free) you put up a description of the
kind of artwork you want done - whether it's a web site, CD cover
art, or whatever. Then professional graphic artists bid for the
job. A great resource - you get the lowest rate possible and can
view the portfolios of artists bidding for the opportunity to
work for you. http://www.getagraphic.com/


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Featured Music Industry News
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
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MP3PRO: BETTER SOUND, SMALLER FILES
http://www.msnbc.com/news/587854.asp
MP3s are all the rage these days. Even so, the format is limited
by quality — at best MP3s approach the sound quality of CDs. Plus
when you lower the recording bit rate to fit more MP3 files in
your device, the worse the compression makes the music sound. But
RCA is setting out to change all that with mp3PRO.


SUCCESS OF CD PIRACY HITS MUSIC INDUSTRY
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,505927,00.html
Sales of pirate CDs in the UK have soared by a third over the
last year, with the black market now estimated to be worth £20m,
according to figures published yesterday. The increase was
reflected in a worldwide surge in the illegal industry which is
posing a threat to the future of recording companies, experts
said. Worldwide sales of pirate CDs rose by a quarter last year,
accounting for one in three sales. The underground business is
now thought to be worth £3bn.


MP3.COM SETS SIGHTS ON SUBSCRIPTIONS
http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-6261705-0.html?tag=a\
ts
MP3.com said Tuesday it has launched a new subscription service
in a move to raise money and reach profitability.
MP3.com's Premium Listener Service, or PluS Express, combines the
My.MP3.com online music-storage service with a player that
includes features such as the ability to burn songs to CDs,
transfer music to a portable device, view ad-free streaming and
browsing, manage a personal library, and stream up to 50 CDs per
year to an online account.


VITAMINIC ACQUIRES ITS FRENCH COMPETITOR FRANCEMP3
http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=23693
Vitaminic has signed the definitive agreement for the acquisition
of FranceMP3. The combined activities will strengthen Vitaminic
which has already achieved a leading position in the French
market.


LISTEN.COM MAKES ITS PEACE WITH THE MAJOR MUSIC LABELS
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27066,00.html
Following Napster's make-your-own-deal lead, online music
provider Listen.com bowed out of its lawsuit against a group of
record labels Monday and agreed to take down aspects of its
service.


GRACENOTE LAUNCHES DIGITAL MUSIC TRACKING SERVICE
http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=23534
Gracenote (formerly CDDB®), a content delivery platform
specializing in music recognition technology, today announced a
service that can track PC-based music listening habits, thereby
revealing the most popular albums on the Internet and what people
are listening to regionally.


INTERNET PAYS OFF FOR ARTISTS
http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=23460
MP3.com today announced the continuation of its Payback for
Playback or P4P (TM) program for June. The $1 million monthly pot
is available to eligible artists based in part upon the number of
listens their songs receive on the site. The top 10 artists in
the P4P (TM) program for May have cumulatively accrued more than
$40,000.


NAPSTER SIGNS ON TO SELL MAJOR LABELS' MUSIC
http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-6190220-0.html?tag=a\
ts
Napster has agreed to use a new music service being developed by
three major record labels in a legal version of the popular
file-swapping network, sources said Tuesday.
According to sources close to the deal, the agreement would
ultimately allow Napster to sell songs offered by MusicNet, a
company created by media software developer RealNetworks and
three major labels--AOL Time Warner's Warner Music Group, EMI
Recorded Music and Bertelsmann's BMG Entertainment.


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Recommended Resources
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HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC SUCCESSFULLY ON THE INTERNET
Spring 2001 Edition!
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/htpromotemusic.htm
If you want to sell your music on the net in any form, this book
will teach you how to design and market a web site that will SELL
YOUR MUSIC and bring in that extra income you need to boost and
financially support your music career! The author is currently
making over $4000 a month selling music related products and
advertising on the internet. 'How to Promote Your Music
Successfully on the Internet' shows you exactly how he did it,
step by step! Download Version Available!


THE MUSICIAN'S ATLAS - 2001 Edition
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/musiciansatlas.htm
Created by The Music Resource Group, this 368-page volume
provides access to over 15,000 music businesses and key industry
contacts in more than 25 categories. Current names, phone and fax
numbers, e-mail and website addresses, detailed submission
policies and the styles of music preferred is just some of the
information you'll find on every page of The Atlas.


THE INDIE CONTACT BIBLE
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/indiecontactbible.htm
Need to create some BUZZ about your music? Looking for reviewers?
Radio station contacts? Promotion services? Then grab The Indie
Contact Bible. This fantastic new musicians 'black book' contains
350 pages filled with contacts with publications and radio
programmers all over the world. These are people who actively
look for music to review! Download Version Available!


THE GUERRILLA MUSIC MARKETING HANDBOOK
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/guerrillamusic.htm
This guide to independent music success features over 175 ways to
thrive and prosper with your own band or record label. Download
Version Available!


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ALSO FROM MIDNIGHT RAIN PRODUCTIONS and RainMusic.com

If you like this newsletter, please do drop by our web sites to
see what we're doing.

THE FREE SHEET MUSIC GUIDE
http://www.freesheetmusicguide.com

THE SHEET MUSIC ADDICT
http://www.sheetmusicaddict.com

SOLO PIANO CD SAMPLER SHOWROOM
http://www.rainmusic.com/pianomusic/dnevue/sampler.htm

Thanks for your continued support of RainMusic.com and The Music
Biz Academy!


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ABOUT THE MUSIC BIZ ACADEMY
The Music Biz Academy is brought to you by Midnight Rain
Productions (http://www.rainmusic.com) . It is a resource
designed for musicians promoting or selling music on the
internet. Each week we feature news, articles, and reviews
related to the art of online music promotion and music related
product sales.

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