Music Biz Academy Digest - Issue #25 - December 24th, 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, subscribers to the December 24th edition of the Music
Biz Academy Digest!


IT'S ALL THE RAGE....
Well, there's no 'rage' to speak of this issue. Just the peace
and joy of the holidays. I wish you all a very, Merry Christmas.
Below you'll find our bi-weekly collection of news, reviews, and
articles.

David Nevue
Editor, The Music Biz Digest
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.mp3.com/davidnevue


SUPPORT YOUR HOST!
MusicBizAcademy.com is brought to you by your host, David Nevue,
pianist (http://www.mp3.com/davidnevue), and author of 'How to
Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet'
(http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/htpromotemusic.htm).

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THE INDIE 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
Bible. This fantastic new musicians 'black book' contains pages
filled with contacts with publications and radio programmers all
over the world. These are people who actively look for music to
review! Download or Hard Copy Version Available for $24.95!


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Latest Additions To The Academy
http://musicbizacademy.com/articles/
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HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRESS KIT
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/presskits.htm
A few tips by 'Music is Your Business' author Christopher Knab.


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Recent Additions/Updates to the Musician's Directory....
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/directory
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BANDWEAR.COM
http://makeit.bandwear.com/
Bandwear.com specializes in creating unique merchandise and
specialty items for not only the music industry as a whole, but
for independent musicians as well. Using your own artwork, you
can creat shirts, caps, stickers, posters...just about anything.
If you don't have your own design, their staff can help you with
art design and logos. Once your product is created, Bandwear can
provide you with a custom link so you can sell your product from
your own web site.


GROOVE HOUSE RECORDS CD DUPLICATION
http://www.groovehouse.com/
Groove House Records is your source for premium quality CD
duplication, CD replication, CD-ROM duplication, traditional and
alternative CD packaging, Digipaks, cassette duplication,
posters, postcards, and T-shirts. Their sole mission: produce the
very best digital audio recordings while keeping competitive
prices. You'll recognise the names of many of their past clients:
Jackson Browne, Buck-O-Nine, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Sonic
Foundry, Peter Tork and others. Nicely designed site with easy
access to pricing, specs and resources.


THE MUSIC YELLOW PAGES
http://www.musicyellowpages.com
With a new design and improved interface, the Music Yellow Pages
continues to be one of our favorite resources to use when just
searching for general information on the music business. Whether
that be entertainment lawyers, or music trades and accessories,
MYP is a comprehensive, easy to use A-Z index listing of just
about everything. Find all the information you want fast, without
wading through the excess you might find at other web sites.


TAXI
http://www.taxi.com/
TAXI has been around forever (well, since 1992), helping unsigned
bands, artists and songwriters get their demos to A&R people at
major record labels, publishers, and into film and TV projects.
TAXI has over 6,000 members, and works with over 400 major
companies including Arista, Atlantic, Capitol, Columbia, Disney,
Dreamworks SKG, EMI, Epic, MCA, RCA, Universal, Virgin, Warner
Brothers and many others. TAXI has dozens of listings, updated
twice a month. See one you think your music is right for, and for
a very small fee ($5), TAXI will review your material, and then
if they think it appropriate forward your music on to the
appropriate contact. Either way, they will provide you with
written feedback. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better
song-pitching service, especially at this price.


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Contests & Competitions
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101 ONLINE MUSIC PR SOURCES - FREE TO TWO WINNERS EVERY MONTH
http://www.bob-baker.com/buzz/onlinepr.html
Bob Baker is giving away copies of his new music publicity
resource. "Some professionals hide their secrets, but not Bob,"
says Jeffrey P. Fisher, author of Ruthless Self-Promotion in the
Music Industry. Fisher is referring to Bob Baker's "Online Music
PR Hot List," a new downloadable book that reveals 101 places to
submit press releases, get reviewed, uncover PR connections and
promote your music on the Internet. Every month, Baker will give
away two copies of this new online music PR directory.


NATIONAL 'INDIE BAND SEARCH 2002'
http://www.indiebandsearch.com/
ModMusic Records is proud to announce the Indie Band Search 2002.
The Indie Band Search is a national contest that gives
independent musicians, artists, songwriters, and bands a chance
to be heard by entertainment industry professionals and compete
for prizes worth over $10,000. *Deadline for entries is February
14, 2002.


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Articles From Around The Net....
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MUSIC INDUSTRY OFF TUNE
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/2001-12-19-edtwof2.htm
After each skirmish in the war over online music, the entire
music industry seems more bent on taking a long walk off a short
pier. Customers? Who needs 'em? The latest sign of executive
dementia is the industry's work to strip paying customers of the
right to copy music they purchase. Today if you buy a CD, you can
make a copy for your car, or record MP3s of each track for your
computer or portable player. All of this is legal, enshrined in
law as "fair use." The music industry would like that to change.


STUDY: MUSIC LABELS CONTINUE TO IGNORE CONSUMERS' NEEDS
http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=30596
Watson-Research's latest digital entertainment survey reveals
that the post-Napster era of online music is still baffling to
the Big Five music labels. In its understandable drive to
monetize the huge consumer interest shown in Napster-like,
free-music download sites, RealNetworks has launched its RealOne
Service. The consumer feedback that we have received in our
recent survey suggests that merely renting music is likely to be
as successful a marketing strategy as DIVX was for Circuit City -
fine on paper, but nobody came.


2002: A MAKE OR BREAK YEAR FOR CD COPY-PROTECTION
http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=4949
As CDs begin their dip in sales and lawyers expand their legal
fights to the 'sons of Napster', record labels have been busy
developing ways to protect what is perhaps the largest loophole
in achieving an end-to-end secure music delivery system: the CD.


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Featured Music Industry News
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
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CONCERTS RAISE MONEY FOR BATTLE AGAINST RECORD COMPANIES
http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/1348770p-1418333c.html
Elton John, No Doubt and the Eagles are among a group of
musicians who will perform at five benefit concerts the night
before the Grammy Awards telecast to raise money for a
legislative fight against the record industry. The Recording
Artists Coalition, a trade group representing more than 100
entertainers, has booked several sites in Los Angeles for the
Feb. 26 concerts. Money raised from the concerts will help fund
an offensive against the major record labels for allegedly
denying musicians a share of royalty earnings.


SONY, VIVENDI LAUNCH ONLINE MUSIC
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Online-Music.html?ex=1009429200&en\
=24d46ca71f6fef69&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER
A second online music service backed by major record labels plans
to launch Wednesday, allowing users to listen to and store tracks
from a broad catalogue of music. Pressplay, a joint venture of
Sony Music Entertainment and Vivendi's Universal Music Group,
said Tuesday its subscription-based Internet music service will
be limited to just a few thousand users until a full rollout
occurs in the New Year. Pressplay will offer a free 14-day trial
and four pricing plans ranging from $9.95 to $24.95 a month. The
basic plan allows customers to listen to 300 streamed tracks and
download 30 tracks. The top plan includes 1,000 streams, 100
downloads and the ability to ``burn'' 20 tracks onto a recordable
CD.


YAHOO! OPENS ITS LAUNCH ONLINE MUSIC SITE
http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-8212131-0.html?tag=ats
Yahoo! Inc. Monday opened its news music destination, Launch,
featuring 7,000 music videos, artists interviews and Internet
radio. The company, which acquired Launch last spring plans to
eventually enhance the service through its partnership with
Pressplay -- an online music joint venture between Vivendi
Universal's Universal Music and Sony Corp -- which should provide
access to a larger selection of songs, and offer the ability to
download or burn them into CDs.


UNIVERSAL TO RELEASE COPY-PROTECTED CDs IN U.S.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/cd121701.htm
The world's largest record company will be the first of the major
labels to release a copy-protected CD in the United States,
signaling a new chapter in the industry's efforts to stem music
piracy. Accoridng to Universal Music, all of its CDs will be
copy-protected by mid-2002. The other big labels are also
experimenting with various technologies. But they're waiting to
gauge reaction from consumers and retailers before introducing
such recordings in the United States.


CD BABY ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP WITH MP3.COM
http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=30748
CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com) announced today the details of its
distribution partnership with MP3.com (www.MP3.com). MP3.com has
chosen independent music retailer CD Baby to facilitate the
fulfillment and customer service backend for artists who wish to
sell their already existing CDs from their MP3.com artist pages.


NAPSTER, RIAA SPAR IN COURT
http://www.billboard.com/billboard/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1183\
713
A U.S. Court of Appeals in Pasadena, Calif., heard arguments from
Napster and the music industry on the methods of compliance
imposed in March on the file-sharing service, Billboard Bulletin
reports. Napster argued that the "zero tolerance" policy set by
Judge Marilyn Hall Patel could not be met based on the
limitations of a text-based filtering system. "Napster cannot
find every conceivable variance of a song," says lawyer Lawrence
Robbins, who argued that the music industry must supply Napster
with specific files it wants barred.


REALNETWORKS TO STAND BEHIND MPEG-4
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5100530,00.html?chkpt=zdnn_nbs_hl
RealNetworks on Monday said it will support MPEG-4, a new open
standard for digital video and audio in a surprise move that
could pave the way for greater interoperability in the
notoriously fragmented streaming media industry. Standards
advocates say MPEG-4 could offer interactive enhancements over
current formats and greatly simplify the way digital audio and
video is sent over the Internet--a process complicated by a
bitter rivalry between RealNetworks and Microsoft.


PRESSPLAY TO LAUNCH WITH CD BURNING FEATURE
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23305.html
Digital music company Pressplay has said it will allow users to
burn downloaded tracks onto CD in a bid to compete more
effectively with its rivals. You'd have thought Pressplay's
decision would be unlikely to please the music industry, but
since it’s a joint venture between Sony and Vivendi Universal, it
must have had their blessing at least. Pressplay also has a
licence to sell EMI's digital music catalogue.



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Recommended Resources
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HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC SUCCESSFULLY ON THE INTERNET
2002 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 for only $14.95!


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! The PDF version of this great book is now only
$29.95!


101 MUSIC BUSINESS CONTRACTS
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/101contracts.htm
Can’t afford a lawyer? That’s OK. We’re here to help, with 101
Industry Standard Contracts available for instant download, or on
CD, or printed in a binder just for you. All for less than what
you would pay an Entertainment Lawyer for 15 minutes worth of his
time.


THE MUSICIAN'S ATLAS - 2002 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. Available in
hard copy for only $24.95!


THE INDIE 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
Bible. This fantastic new musicians 'black book' contains pages
filled with contacts with publications and radio programmers all
over the world. These are people who actively look for music to
review! Download or Hard Copy Version Available for $24.95!


MUSIC IS YOUR BUSINESS
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/musiciyb.htm
Used as the official textbook for the Art Institute of Seattle's
Audio program, this invaluable book is filled with insights into
the music business and tactics for marketing your music. It
includes examples of industry marketing documents, a sample of an
artist bio and fact sheet, and checklists for starting your
career and running your own record label. Available in hard copy
for $24.95!


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ALSO FROM MIDNIGHT RAIN PRODUCTIONS

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

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

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

WHISPERINGS: SOLO PIANO RADIO
http://www.mp3.com/stations/whisperings

Thanks for your continued support of The Music Biz Academy!

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The Music Biz Academy Digest is brought to you by The Music
Biz Academy (http://www.musicbizacademy.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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