MUSIC NEWS- Great insight from Yobie Benjamin at SFGate recently on the state of the music and media industry. He points out another sign that "old media" continues to die out, with Universal Music Group and its's new management cutting its ties to MTV and MTV.com. With Universal being home to most every big star in the music biz today; including @LadyGaga (who has an amazing 5,533,535 Twitter followers), @KanyeWest (new to the Twitter world, but with 630,819 followers), Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. MTV may have made Madonna a star, but Twitter gives @JustinBieber 4,472,413 fans that follow everything he tweets. So instead of putting its content on MTV.com, Universal will show its music videos exclusively online at vevo.com (Uni division, #3 measured video site). The big change will occur after the MTV Video Music Awards on September 21.
Back in the day, music managers and agents were forced to negotiate and sometimes beg MTV for slots in order get videos aired when they launched and promoted new artists. No more, MTV faced with competition for content accepts much more readilly. It sure seams the major labels don't care about "old media". For Universal and its artists, being exclusively on-line is plenty sufficient to announce, grow and sustain an artist.
But now, in the new media marketplace, an artist's needs a Twitter presence more than a Myspace page. Not that long ago, maybe 3/4 years, a good Myspace page was a must for any new or established band. Today it's about how many Twitter followers and Facebook friends an artist can gather, and how credible the act remains in the Social Networks. The shift from Myspace-required to Myspace-what's-that? makes the media, and content control, migration more apparent as both the music and technology worlds change. As artists continue to connect directly with their audience thru technology, social networking and new media, the major (or even indie labels) become less vital. Especially considering many bands can sell more limited edition t-shirts from a tweet announcement than from a CD (remember them?) !
More @ sfgate.com
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