Music Industry

If you're over a certain age, then you probably remember purchasing music way differently than you do now.

Remember going to your local music store? If you were like most music lovers, going to a cool mom and pop shop to buy vinyl, a cassette tape or a CD was just as enjoyable as listening to the music at home.

Then before you knew it, everything changed. Vinyl became more of a collector's item than anything else; cassette tapes died an abrupt death, and CDs hung on for dear life competing with digital downloads and streaming sites.

Down but not out

But according to Nielsen, CDs are hanging on quite well, because people are still buying them.

In 2012, 193 million CDs were sold compared with 118 MP3 albums, which may be surprising to some. And according to market researchers, The NPD Group, CD sales have increased for the second year in a row -- making a 2% sales jump.

Russ Crupnick, the senior vice president of industry analysis at NPD, said CDs are still a go-to for some music lovers and for some casual music listeners too.

He says many consumers feel they're getting more bang for their buck with a CD purchase, compared to buying an MP3. "CDs are the gift that keeps giving, which proves that even in an increasingly digital age, consumers will respond to quality content and strong perceived value, even if it comes in a physical package," Crupnick said.

"The CD still has a powerful attraction for both older, mainstream consumers who listen in their cars, as well as to super fans who enjoy owning the package and assortment of songs from their favorite artists," he added.

In addition, The NPD Group says CDs are being made a lot better today than years past and many consumers feel the overall quality of the sound is better on a CD than on an MP3.

Help from streaming media

Another thing that's keeping CD sales going is all the streaming sites that are now available.

Experts say sites like Spotify, Pandora and MOG give people the chance to check music out for free, and if they like what they hear, many consumers will buy the physical copy since they already know what to expect.

This wasn't possible in the 90s, when buying a CD was like taking a shot in the dark. Sure, you heard samples of an album through radio singles, or you might have listened to a CD at an in-store listening station. But outside that, you really weren't sure if the entire CD was good.

Another thing that's drawing people to purchase a CD is the current state of music, say experts. Crupnick believes today's pop music is better than it was just a few years ago.

"The quality of pop music has been better recently, from Adele to Lady Gaga to Katy Perry to Susan Boyle, and people are responding to that, he explained." And 10 years after the advent of Apple's iTunes, far more people buy CDs than downloads."

Customer service

Apparently, online stores like Amazon are catering to those folks who still like CDs, as the company has recently added a feature called AutoRip. 

Right after you purchase a CD, Amazon sends you the MP3 version of the album so you get both versions for the price of one. And it's not just the new albums that you can AutoRip, you can use the feature for any album made from 1998 on.

Those who prefer to keep things modern and just buy the MP3 version of an album, might be better off purchasing the CD.

For example, legendary Hip-Hop group Outkast's CD "Aquemini" CD goes for $8.79 and you get the MP3 version for free. But if you only buy a digital copy you pay about $10, so from a price standpoint, you get much more with a CD purchase.

Amazon added the AutoRip feature to vinyl purchases too.

Back to the future

When it comes to vinyl, some may believe only a small portion of consumers are still buying it, but that's not the case, says the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

In April of 2013, IFPI announced there were $177 million in vinyl sales in 2012, an 18% jump from the year before. And that's the highest level of vinyl sales have been since 1997.

White Stripes front man Jack White scored the most vinyl sales in 2012, with his solo album "Blunderbuss." In all, he sold 34,000 copies.

And why are so many people buying vinyl these days?

Nick Catalano, the owner of Beatnick -- a throwback record store in Montreal -- says people come to his store to buy vinyl because they want the real thing, not a modernistic watered down version of an album.

"We're like the curators of a museum," said Catalano about his store. "Why would you want a print of Picasso when you can get the real deal? It's the same thing with records."

In addition, Catalano says that a good portion of his customers will ask about a certain album, and then go online to check it out. If they like it, they come back to his store and purchase it, which is a popular way people are buying music these days.

So if you thought CDs and vinyl had died a final death, think again. And if you feel you're an alien because you're still interested in physical albums, you clearly aren't alone.

And lastly, digital downloads don't provide the cool artwork or liner notes that most music lovers enjoy taking in, which is another reason people are still buying CDs and vinyl in relatively large numbers.

Even with all of the technology we have at our disposal today, the earth still holds its fair share of mysteries. Like how come water can't be duplicated? Or how high does the sky really go?

Another earthly mystery — although more solvable — is how do mom-and-pop stores survive in today's world of big store chains and giant franchises?

This question always plagues me whenever I see a small storefront window in the midst of large shopping centers with their brightly lit windows and multitudes of people. It's baffling to me. How do they stay in business?

Take record stores for example. Between the double whammy of the Internet and big-box retailers, mom-and-pop record stores have pretty much spun their last. 

Not so long ago going to a brick-and-mortar store to thumb through rows of vinyl, cassettes and CDs was a joyful part of the music listening experience. Today consumers seek out music with the expectation that it should not only be received immediately but also for free, or close to it.

Newly-released music is treated almost as if it's disposable, which has even made large retail stores suffer. I mean think about it, when was the last time you went to Best-Buy to purchase a CD? It's probably been a while, which shows that all stores — big and small — are suffering in this particular area.

But somehow not all mom-and-pops are hurting, which brings me back to my point of being amazed whenever I see one wedged between two chain stores. I always think it's beautifully defiant.

It's like seeing an older person at a music concert full of twenty-something’s. It's like two people from completely different cultures finding common ground or even falling in love despite social norms.

It's a way of small family-owned businesses saying, "Hey, we're still here and we're providing a type of service you big guys can't."

Some mom-and-pop stores have learned through the years that a certain number of consumers just won't deviate from the way they use to purchase things. This has helped many independent store owners stay competitive, especially in the area of music sales. Others have harnessed the Internet to turn their brick-and-mortar store into a real community that exists both offline and on.

Digital hurts and helps

Although both retail chains and the Internet have hurt mom-and-pop stores, Johnson Lee, owner of  Joe's Record Paradise, a D.C.- area store, says successful stores are using the web to their advantage as a way to bring their niche consumers together for proper advertising and community-building.

“At this point digital is big for us, i.e. Facebook, emails, lists, groups. You go on the Internet you find jazz vinyl lovers [for example], where all they do all day is talk about is 1950s jazz,” says Lee.

“If you can get into that, and say, hey guys we got lots of that, then promoting has become a little bit easier. You used to have to pay a newspaper to print something for you and now you can sort of get around that a little bit,” he explains.

One of the most spectacular examples of using digital media to sell older forms of music and entertainment is Amoeba, the California stores that have expanded beyond the mom-and-pop category but are still essentially local retailers surviving in a category that's supposed to be obsolete.

Amoeba operates stores in Hollywood, Berkeley and San Francisco and sells nearly every conceivable kind of music and movies "from the top 40 to the best in underground rock and hip-hop, soul, electronica, new and classic jazz, world music, roots music and experimental music," as the stores' website proclaims.  Amoeba sells and buys mostly vinyl LPs, CDs and DVDs, both new and used, but it also stocks turntables and other gear, sells downloads of some recordings and sponsors all kinds of in-store and around-town activities.

"We're more than just a record store-- we're a 21st century music outlet, a website, a popular live performance venue, and together with our customers we're a meeting place for California's most colorful community of progressive and creative minds," Amoeba says. 

My colleague Truman Lewis, an Amoeba fan, says that Amoeba is "what Borders Books was trying to be -- a community gathering place that attracts a wide range of consumers looking for a shopping experience and social outing that amounts to a little more than sitting in front of a computer screen." 

Besides buying and selling records, CDs and DVDs, you see live performances, listen to poetry readings, go to a cookbook party, meet recording artists and even register to vote. 

At the Amoeba store on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, you also have a shot at running into some of the actors and artists whose work you admire -- not to mention bumping into actors and artists whose work you may admire a few years from now. The place is routinely packed right up until its 11 p.m. closing time each night.    

Niche market

“It's a niche market that really never went away," said Johnson Lee. “A lot of people thought vinyl died when it just hibernated for a bit. There was always the core group of people that would never switch to a different format because they're addicted to vinyl.

“They love the sound, the feel of it, the artwork,” and the liner notes he said. “Big business corporate guys, they don't want small businesses around because it challenges their supremacy.”

Lee also said that mom-and-pop's survival sometimes depends on consumer trends returning from the past and younger generations being exposed to the buying ways of yesteryear.

“For at least ten years kids thought that's all there was, [digital music]” he says. “I've got young kids now and you turn on Nickelodeon and there will be a waffle commercial and the kid is DJ'ing a waffle, so the kids are being indoctrinated again to the vinyl side of things, which may be an industry move after all.

“At least the industry is somewhat supporting this move because you can't download vinyl, he adds. “If they [the music industry] print a vinyl record, they actually get to sell it instead of having the new Britney Spears album get spread to the millions of teenage girls that have Dropbox.”

Lee notes there is practically a universe of content that has not yet made it into digital form, and perhaps never will. 

“There's so much music from the 50, 60s, 70s, 80s, that never made it to CD,” says Lee. “So you come in here and you spend two or three hours, you're going to find 150 new artists that you never heard of that may interest you and lead you to other bands that they were in.”

Original form 

Lee also says people of the older generations are bringing their kids and grandkids into mom-and-pop stores not only to introduce them to products of the past, but also to introduce them to the way things were bought in previous times. “It's a cultural point to come and check out American soul,” he says.

Lee took over the music shop, located in Silver Spring, Md. from his father Joe back in 2008, and the 36-year old says the family-owned business actually started in Los Angeles on Hollywood Boulevard, under the name Platypus Records.

After Lee's parents wanted to settle down in a more residential area, they decided to return to Joe's childhood stomping ground within the Washington, D.C., area.

Despite taking over the store around the time the current recession hit, Lee says he's been able to expand his location twice over and at the moment the store is in good financial standing.

What advice does Lee have for people starting small businesses in today's risky business climate?

“You just have to be smart, work hard, make good decisions and hopefully you'll survive, he says. “No one here is getting rich, but it’s a tradeoff. If you've got enough luck you'll make it.”

Many of us tend to dream.

I'm not talking about the kind where you're flying above earth during your deepest part of slumber; I'm talking about the type of dream that usually occurs in the middle of the day, with your eyes wide open, while you’re in the middle of doing some unwanted task or job.

And a good portion of those dreamers imagine themselves jumping around a stage in a packed arena, or accepting that gold statue of a phonograph at the Grammys.

However there are also those people who don't daydream at all all, they simply plug in their headphones while they're working, or crank up the speaker nob to escape their day-to-day drudgery through music.

Democracy in action

Now there's a new website that serves both the aspiring musician and the music listener, and it's called Hypetree.

What's cool about this site is that it allows the Internet community to vote on independent music, which can grow a song's popularity and buzz among consumers.

The website has something it calls the “battle player” which allows users to vote on two songs, and whichever tune receives the most votes, it goes up in both score and chart rating, giving the independent artist more exposure.

Hypetree also provides the artist with statistical information about which song is being listened to the most and which is garnering the heaviest online buzz.

Musicians using the site also fill out a profile page which lists their social networks, their personal websites and other background info. The company is what Myspace should have evolved into quite some time ago.

For some reason Myspace chose not to focus on how popular its site used to be among independent artists.

Hypetree seemingly does a good job of catering to up and coming bands by allowing them to post three songs for free, and only charging a fee — not exceeding 99 cents — to upload each song afterward.

Yes, MySpace is free for artists, but the site provides no detailed statistical data and more importantly, it lost its cool factor a long time ago. And what's a musician without a little cool factor in their midst?

Artists can also sell their music through Hypetree as the site uses PayPal to accept payments.

Casual listeners welcome

Hypetree is also for the casual music listener, especially those who had their fill of traditional radio. The site allows users to create their own radio station, which is made up of songs the user selects.

As the listener chooses which song they prefer in the battle player challenge, Hypetree saves that song for you, while suggesting other music based on your preferences. You also have the ability to select a song as a favorite that eventually will be saved to your personal playlist.

There's also no charge for accessing songs and users can listen to and rate a tune without signing up or becoming a member of the site. But if you want the ability to rate and save a tune you'll need to sign up, but there's still no charge.

Hypetree appears to be better than, say, Pandora because it allows you to personally choose the songs your radio station consists of. It's especially different for independent musicians compared to sites like Spotify where artists  have a harder time getting their music posted.

No red tape

Independent artists that want to get on Spotify usually have to go through a digital distribution company like Ditto Music or Tunecore, but on Hypetree there is no red tape to contend with and offering your music to the public is pretty fast and painless.

The company also says it will abstain from working with a large amount of advertisers in order to keep the site free, and avoid its users having to deal with intrusive pop-ups.

Although there have been other sites that help independent artists, Hypetree seems to be using this particular niche to its fullest advantage.

Today, the Internet and advancements in home recording studios have increased the number of independent artists from as recently as 15 years ago.

In previous times, an independent artist or band had to possess a substantial amount of money to pay for necessities like studio costs, marketing and printing up CDs. Today, most of these things are low-cost or free, which has increased the number of people making and offering music to the public.

It's safe to say there are a good number of indy artists today that wouldn't have taken the musician’s leap if costs weren't so dramatically reduced by technology.

Community radio

And for the music listener, Hypetree further pushes the current trend of community radio and consumers using their taste and purchasing power to determine which songs should be getting recognized and heard.

The site says it will not turn away any song based on the company's musical taste or personal preference, and will only reject something if it has poor sound quality or violates one of the company's rules. If a song is rejected, it can still be appealed by the user.

Beatles fans were no doubt thrilled a few years back when Apple -- the record label, not the electronics company -- released the Beatles' remastered studio albums on CD.

Then a year later the albums were made available for digital download through iTunes. But for many old school Beatles fans, it probably just wasn't the same.

Not to worry, the record label is rectifying that with the November 12 release of the entire collection on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl. Not only will you hear them the same way you did when you brought them home from the record store -- remember those? -- but all 14 albums will come with replicated artwork, including the poster in The Beatles (The White Album), the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band's cutouts, and special inner bags for some of the titles.

Boxed set available

The albums will be sold individually as well as in a limited edition boxed set.

The titles include The Beatles' 12 original UK albums, first released between 1963 and 1970, the US-originated Magical Mystery Tour, now part of the group's core catalog, and Past Masters, Volumes One & Two, featuring non-album A-sides and B-sides, EP tracks and rarities.

Since it was recorded, The Beatles' music has been heard on a variety of formats -- from cumbersome reel-to-reel tapes and eight-track cartridges to invisible computer files. For many music fans -- including some born long after albums had mostly disappeared -- there is a certain romance to listening to music on vinyl.

More than a piece of cardboard

Then there is the cardboard sleeve containing the vinyl disk. For many, it added to the whole music experience. Rather than a merely functional object to protect the disc, it was elevated to a stylish accessory.

With the advent of the cassette tape in the seventies and the compact disc in the 1980s, album artwork was reduced in size and importance, losing much of its charm.

Maybe that's why vinyl LPs have not, as predicted, been discarded. Below is a list of the Beatles albums included in the collection. Some albums were released in the U.S. under different names:

• Please Please Me "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" are presented in mono (North American LP debut in stereo)
• With The Beatles (North American LP debut in stereo)
• A Hard Day's Night (North American LP debut in stereo)
• Beatles For Sale (North American LP debut in stereo)
• Help! Features George Martin's 1986 stereo remix
• Rubber Soul Features George Martin's 1986 stereo remix
• Revolver
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Packaging includes replica psychedelic inner sleeve, cardboard cutout sheet and additional insert
• Magical Mystery Tour Packaging includes 24-page color book
• The Beatles (double album) Packaging includes double-sided photo montage/lyric sheet and 4 solo color photos
• Yellow Submarine "Only A Northern Song" is presented in mono. Additional insert includes original American liner notes.
• Abbey Road
• Let It Be
• Past Masters (double album) "Love Me Do" (original single version), "She Loves You," "I'll Get You," and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" are presented in mono. Packaging, notes and photographic content is based on the 2009 CD release.

If you're a musician who's been putting videos and performances up on YouTube, and you feel like you're not getting anywhere, there might be a little help in store for you.

Music executive Russell Simmons, who introduced the world to acts like Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J has teamed up with Steve Rifkind, who founded Loud Records back in the 90s, to create a record label that searches for acts on YouTube.

The duo, along with Brian Robbins, a TV and film producer and star of the 80s sitcom "Head of the Class," says the label -- called All Def Music -- will be the first of its kind.

We are, "the first major label-affiliated music company created specifically to sign, develop and promote artists on YouTube," said the group.

A new outlet

All Def Music, which will be under the Universal Music Group (UMG) umbrella, will also develop and promote artist through YouTube. The founders say they want to tap into the vast array of artists who have used the popular video site to get their name out.

"The exponential growth of Internet-based video has created a powerful new outlet for music and music-based content, and the launch of All Def Music is a part of our broader strategy to partner with some of the most experienced entrepreneurs in media and technology to identify future stars and develop powerful content on the world's fastest growing media platform," said the CEO of UMG, Lucian Grainge.

In the last decade or so, the path for musicians to be discovered has changed dramatically. Once, the game plan for most artists was to hone their craft, create a series of demo CDs and then go to every record label, hoping their music wouldn't end up in the demo-junk-drawer.

But once surfing the Internet became synonymous with searching for new music, places like YouTube became the new radio of sorts, not to mention a place where artists could provide visuals for their music.

The landscape changes

In the beginning, the marriage between independent musicians and sites like YouTube was a fruitful one, because both parties in the union gained a lot of attention.

Unknown artists could instantly promote their music on the site and YouTube benefited as well, because more and more consumers turned to the video site to discover up and coming musicians.

But then, that particular avenue became saturated and once a few musicians were actually discovered through YouTube, the flood gates opened to the point where posting a video on the site was the same as blindly mailing a demo CD to a record label.

Breaking new ground

However, that didn't stop people from posting content to YouTube and it didn't stop record executives from going to the site to look for new talent. But this is the first time a major label is using digital media as its main source to build its roster. 

Simmons, who has been a fixture in urban music since the early 80s, with his Def Jam label, says he still looks at YouTube as new territory to conquer, although it's been in full swing for quite some time. 

He compares the relative newness of YouTube to the newness of rap music back in the 80s, when he was trying to get the genre recognized on mainstream levels.

"I look forward to working with the extraordinary talent from the vastly creative YouTube ecosystem in the same way I've worked with musicians, poets, comedians and designers all my life," said Simmons. "This is the most exciting new terrain for me, to move talent across media platforms."

All Def Music will be coupled with All Def Digital Management, launched earlier this year, which develops and promotes new shows, comedians and poets, as well as other acts.

A new management approach

Simmons says although the Internet is a great place for artists to promote their material, there's really no organization to it and he really wants to change that.

"In terms of just taking artists and broadening them across different media, I think that there's no one really there managing them properly," said Simmons. "I just think there's a hole in the market."

The announcement of All Def Music will most likely delight many independent artists, especially the ones who feel like they might be creating and posting videos on YouTube in vain.

But a word of caution for those who think their chances of being discovered on the video site just became a whole lot easier.

If record industry history repeats itself, All Def Music will look for artists with the most YouTube popularity instead of the best music, so they'll have to do a lot more than post a good song to be discovered need thousands -- if not millions -- of hits to even get noticed by folks like Simmons and Rifkind.

Musicians should also take the whole artist-development-thing with a grain of salt as well, because labels don't develop artists anymore. They simply latch on to an already successful person who already has a loyal fan base. But Rifkind says All Def Music will be different and the label will actually nurture talent. 

"Tapping into YouTube's fertile creative platform, we intend to identify, develop and nurture music's next generation of superstar talent," he said.

Independent artists shouldn't hold their breath because All Def Music will probably be just like any other record label. It'll only want to work with people who already have some kind of fame or popularity.

Last week both the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission (EC) approved Universal Music Groups (UMG) takeover of EMI, making UMG even bigger giants in the music industry, now owning the catalogues of mega acts like the Beatles and Pink Floyd.

In the buyout that went for a cool $1.9 billion, UMG had to let go of some of its own major acts like Coldplay and the Gorillas, which was a stipulation  European regulators set in place to better ensure fair competition.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of UMG Lucian Grainge, was obviously thrilled at the closing of the deal, as he believes it will better allow his company to provide a much-needed jolt into the current music industry.

“It will enable us to continue to invest in more music, to create investment opportunities for the entire Universal group,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview. “It will give us the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs in different genres and it will give us a cushion through this crucial crossover period as we hurtle toward a primarily digital business.”

40%? No problem

The deal gave UMG ownership of 40 percent of the music industry, after the FTC voted 5-0 and said that approving the deal would not harm or threaten the level of competition within the music industry by any measure.

“Commission staff did not find sufficient evidence of head-to-head competition to conclude that the combination of Universal and EMI would substantially lessen competition, said Richard Feinstein, FTC’s bureau of competition director.

Critics of the merger disagree that music industry competition wouldn’t be threatened and say that it truly would negatively impact the consumer. And with now only three record labels in Sony, Warner Bros. and UMG controlling 90 percent of the industry, it could drive prices up for music buyers considerably.

Detractors also say the merger could harm the way digital music is licensed and distributed, which can also potentially damage the way consumers receive their tunes.

And now with UMG having the most power in the music industry, critics also say the deal could potentially allow the record label powerhouse to restructure digital music prices and impact how songs are able to be downloaded or shared.

Also, with one record label owning the lion’s share of the market place, it could  change the rules of  posting music to social networking pages and how we're able to use songs as ring tones.

Will streamers still be streaming?

Furthermore, music providers like Spotify, Jango, or Pandora could be forced to pay even costlier licensing fees, as all of these companies are currently agreeing to some hefty pricing to host the music they provide consumers.

The merger also gives fewer options for those subsidiary labels under UMG and those formerly under EMI, particularly in the way these smaller companies are able to sell and release music.

The deal also gives less wiggle room to independent and signed artists that want to negotiate or re-negotiate fair contractual terms. However the EC feels the provisions set in place will keep these potential occurences from ever happening.

“The Commission had concerns that the transaction, as initially notified, would have allowed Universal to significantly worsen the licensing terms it offers to digital platforms that sell music to consumers. To meet these concerns, Universal offered substantial commitments. In light of these commitments, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise completion concerns anymore,” it said.

The FTC gave no such stipulations and honored the merger as it was requested.

Opponents warn of negative impacts

Previously, ConsumerAffairs spoke to Jodie Griffin, an attorney for the watchdog group Public Knowledge based in Washington D.C, who is strongly opposed to the merger and feels it could harm the current way digital music is provided to the consumer.

And having fewer record labels compared to more of them, threatens to negatively impact both the music lover and the casual music consumer.

“This merger gives Universal increased incentive and ability to discriminate against digital music services that challenge their business models,” she said. “We think that the FTC should have done more to protect competition in the U.S.”

There used to be about 10,000 actual, over-the-air radio stations. It seemed like a lot. But, although as far as we know no one is counting, the number of virtual stations has surely left the old figure in the dust.

The latest is something called Slacker, which says that it has just launched "the world’s most complete music service for the Web, mobile devices and a range of automotive and consumer electronics platforms."

“Slacker is the most complete music service on earth, with 10 times the music of Pandora, expert-programmed stations Spotify can’t touch, and personalization that satellite services only dream of,” said Jim Cady, CEO, Slacker. “We’ve quietly built a scaleable business with more than a half-million paying subscribers and more than four million monthly average users.  2013 will be a blockbuster year for Slacker as we ramp up our marketing efforts and take the service to a broader audience.” 

Yeah, so ...

OK, so how does it differ from Pandora, Spotify, MOG and all the other streaming and on-demand music services? Well, we're not sure. It sounds pretty similar but to hear Slacker tell it, the world's never heard anything like this. 

"The new Slacker gives listeners anytime, anywhere access to millions of songs and hundreds of expert-programmed stations for free on any device.  Slacker also raises the bar for music discovery, highlighting stations, personalized picks and exclusive content from Slacker’s team of expert curators," the company enthused. 

Slacker, available at www.slacker.com, works from the web or you can  download the app for iOS, Android, Windows Phones and Blackberry devices.

Slacker claims to offer more than 13 million songs and offers customization tools that even extend to news, sports and talk from ABC and ESPN. It has more than 200 genre and specialty stations.

There is a free version of Slacker. A commercial-free version of Slacker Radio Plus is $3.99 a month. The Slacker Premium service includes on-demand listening and the ability to create custom playlists for $9.99 a month. 

Although it was founded back in 2006 as a satellite radio company, Slacker has been slumping along under the radar for quite awhile. It became a digital music service in 2010 and says it has doubled its business every year.  

Beats is launching a new music streaming service, Beats Music, in the U.S. “within the next few months,” President and COO Luke Wood said today.

Beats acquired the MOG streaming service for $14 million in July 2012 to help develop Beats Music, which Wood said will aim to be different by focusing on "a very specific idea,” namely, the curation of music.

“We’re talking about real depth of personalization and knowing who I am, who you are, what we’re listening to, what we like, what we’ve listened to before and then offering up music that is highly relevant to our taste profile,” said Wood.  “If you really love music, we want something that can go deep with you for a really long time. And that requires a perfect harmony between the algorithm and human curation. Between the man and the machine.”

Beats Music will be accessible from iOS, Android, and the Web. Windows 8 support will arrive after the initial launch, he said. He didn't say what will happen to MOG after Beats Music launches.

Many diehard music fans are addicted to MOG, which streams at 320 kbps, said to be the highest of the streaming services. It has a library of 16 million songs. 

Music lovers are getting a new way to access their favorite tunes online. Google is launching a new music service, to supplement its current music site that's associated with the Google Play digital media store.

It's priced at $9.99 a month after a free one-month introductory trial, about the same as other streaming services.

The new service, Google All Access, will differ from Google's current music store, as it will allow users to stream music to their MP3 players, smartphones, computers and so forth, just like Spotify, MOG, Pandora and other streaming services. 

Things have gotten a bit crowded in the world of online music stores, which is different from just a few years ago when people were still skeptical about paying for music online.

After downloading songs for free on sites like Napster and Limewire was halted for legal reasons, people were still used to either downloading songs for no cost or just streaming them. But as laws clamped down on illegal downloading, many people waved their white flags and just started paying for their music again.

24 million 

Since then Spotify has been the go-to site for music lovers, as the company currently has about 24 million users and 6 million of those users pay for extra features.

Just last month Spotify announced a collection of new tabs that adds a social component to the site and allows users to get recommendations on new music and new artists.

The site's new "follow tab" allows users to connect with their favorite artists and get an idea of what music that artist is listening to.

So if you're a Shakira fan let's say, you can get a basic idea of what music she's loving at the moment and get information on things like future album release dates or new songs that she's working on.

And even though the streaming site Grooveshark is still dealing with its fair share of legal battles against record companies, the company is still trying to spruce up its site.

Recently, Grooveshark announced the release of its "Broadcast" feature that allows you to send music to all of your friends and followers in one quick shot.

The feature does other things too.

Be a broadcaster

By selecting the "Start Broadcasting" option users can actually become a virtual DJ by putting together playlists, recording their voice in-between songs and being able send out those playlists to all of their followers.

Many critics and reviewers think that the-adding-your-voice-feature is extremely cool and separates Grooveshark from its competitors a bit.

Apparently, the company is aware that many music lovers want other people to listen to what they're listening to. And the broadcast feature allows them to do that quickly and easily.

And of course we can't talk about online music stores without mentioning Apple. 

The company just inked a deal with Universal Music Group to offer a free online radio service.

Although Apple is still waiting for Sony Music and Warner Music Group to jump onboard, it looks like the company's radio feature will eventually happen, but no word yet as to when.

However, Sony and Warner have signed deals with Google.  The record label giants will be a part of Google All Access.

Jim Cady, CEO of Slacker, which is another music site, believes that Google's new music service will be good but not perfect, since there's a chance you won't be able to access it on multiple devices.

"We expect that it's going to be platform-specific and focused on the Google ecosystem," said Cady in an interview with Mashable. 

"We're huge supporters of Netflix's belief in the power of ubiquity and we think it's incredibly important for consumers to have access to their music across a variety of platforms and devices, whether it's in the car, on their Sonos, Roku or iPhone."

In addition, Cady says the fact that more online music stores are popping up and existing stores are adding new features, only proves how much the industry of online music is growing.

"We've seen several new players enter the space recently and we believe the growth and competition only validates the industry that we're in," he said.

"While there's a lot of attention on on-demand listening, we're seeing our users spending the majority of their listening time with our curated radio experience, which is a major differentiating factor for Slacker."

Have you ever wondered what makes a song go viral? Why do some songs get passed around the Internet and some don't, especially when so many songs seem to have the same level of quality?

The online music distribution company Indigoboom.com answered this question.

According to research the company conducted, there are several things that can make a song go viral, but it starts with the listener having an emotional response.

"Music is most shareable when it provokes a strong emotional reaction," wrote the researchers. "The most commonly used emotional triggers are funny, sexy, random and shocking."

In addition, researchers said if a song sounds similar to one that's already been released, or if an artist uses a similar approach, the chances of that song going viral will dramatically decrease. 

Imaginative and creative

The researchers said there's a strong correlation between capturing people's imagination with a song, and that song being heavily shared. And once a particular concept, idea or sound seems to borrow from another song, most folks will become far less interested in it.

Fred Santarpia, co-founder of the video site Vevo, says if an independent musician wants his music to catch on, he'd better release a few videos and not just a bunch of songs.

And he says forget about trying to get your video on cable outlets like MTV and BET. You're better off going the Internet route.

"Distribution is going through a massive upheaval," he said in an interview with Mashable. "Cable TV is not the primary paradigm for the format. Rather, tens of millions of fans actively seek out and share their favorite music video online each month, and with the explosion of the video-enabled smartphone market, we at Vevo believe that music videos will go viral even faster than they do today, as more fans turn to the screen in their hand to discover new music."

How do you do it?

But how do you get your music video to go viral? Especially since there are practically just as many videos from independent artists as there are songs on the Internet.

Media consultant Eileen Winnick, told The New York Times that if you want your video to be heavily shared, it needs to convey to the viewer why he should be watching it. And if you can pull that off, you'll have a far better chance of your video and your song going viral.

"Your only concern should be how it's going to benefit who is watching," she said. "When you do that, you take the focus off yourself and put it into what you want to get across, which changes the way you communicate."

The folks at Indigoboom say music that's relatable to a particular memory or situation has a good chance to be highly shared. And even though a lot of music today is made in a cookie-cutter kind of way, quality is still of utter importance.

In other words, if you want your music video to have a lot of YouTube hits, the video just can't be great; the song has to be made well too. So make sure it reaches a certain level of excellence before you decide to shoot your visuals.

Know your audience

In addition, industry experts say it's important to know who your audience is if you're looking to go viral -- that trying to create a song or video that appeals to every single taste out there just won't work. 

It's important to determine who your audience is, what they may like or dislike and base your material on that, experts advise.

Stephen Murphy,  founder of Get Busy Media, said making a song, video or any product that you want to go viral is all about sparking curiosity, nothing more.

"Showcase your product in a surreal way by making a video that goes above and beyond your benefits," he said in a published interview. "The point of the video isn't to be realistic, but instead to create curiosity while highlighting your product or service."

Lastly, Indigoboom says if you want your song to be an Internet sensation, it's important to first put in the work. And if you're looking to simply jump in front of a camera and perform something you've created on the fly, it probably won't get much attention.

"Creative and unique ideas often require a great deal of effort to execute," the company wrote. "Do the work. Nothing good ever came from nothing."

Stockholders and CEOs may not like it when their businesses face competition, but consumers almost always benefit. So even if you're not a fan of Dr. Dre the hip-hop artist, you should be glad that Dr. Dre the businessman introduced Beats Music to the online streaming music streaming field.

Beats by Dre started out as a company offering physical merchandise, mostly headphones, earbuds and other personal audio paraphernalia. Only on Jan. 21 did Beats Music branch out into the more ethereal realm of selling online streaming music subscriptions.

Meanwhile, companies like Spotify are doing the exact opposite: as of Jan. 20, Spotify expanded its offerings beyond music streaming to offer T-shirts, vinyl records and other physical merchandise related to its various artists.

Unlike most online streaming services, Beats offers no ad-supported free-to-the-end-user option; a Beats subscription will cost you $9.95 per month. Spotify promptly responded by offering unlimited, free (though ad-supported) mobile streaming.

Genres

A word, here, about the various types of online streaming music options. Spotify and Beats let you play music on demand — they have songs available, you pick which ones you want to listen to, and when. Services like iTunes radio and Pandora have more in common with traditional non-satellite broadcast radio: you can choose from a variety of stations (“playlists”) dedicated to the genre of your choice – rock and roll; rhythm and blues; country/western, Top 40 – but you have no say over which specific songs a given station plays when you listen to it.

However, the iTunes radio and Pandora differ from traditional radio because the latter is not personalized – when you're listening to your local Top 40 station, for example, you hear the exact same songs as everyone else tuned in to that station at that time.

And, of course, even personalized on-demand services do more than merely play back the songs of your choice; they also have algorithms to suggest other forms of music you might like, based on your previous choices.

The various music services do share one problem more in common with old-school cable or broadcast TV networks rather than radio stations: in some cases, the works of various artists can only be had through a given company.

Going back to the traditional radio analogy: if you want to hear the latest song by your favorite Top 40 singer, her music is probably on the playlist of every Top 40 radio station in the country. But if you want to watch the latest episode of your favorite TV show, usually only one network has the right to air it — so if you don't get that network, you're out of luck.

When a USAToday tech blogger did a pros-and-cons rundown of current streaming services, for example, he noted that Spotify is the only platform offering on-demand streaming of Led Zeppelin's music library.

(This illustrates yet another way streaming radio differs from the old-fashioned variety: any rock fan old enough to remember pre-Internet radio knows that not only did every rock station in America keep the complete works of Zeppelin in its library; each one played Stairway to Heaven at least 40 times a day. It wasn't an FCC requirement or anything; they all just did it. Nobody knows why.)

Maybe it's a little embarassing for Apple, the company that pretty much invented legal online music downloads, to have to pony up $3 billion to buy its way back into the business, as Apple is doing with its purchase of Beats.

Some of the talking heads are saying the purchase will make Apple cool again -- whatever that means -- while others are saying the company acted out of desperation as it watched the likes of Pandora and Spotify take large bites out of iTunes day after day.

OK, fine, so it goes out and spends $3 billion on a headphone company that bought MOG, a failing music streaming service, and changed its name to Beats. Of course, it's also buying Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, who are officially cool and thereby good for Apple's brand.

And so?

But what, if anything, does all this commotion mean for music lovers? 

Well, assuming that iTunes remains more or less intact, it means they'll still be able to buy downloads of individual songs and entire albums. Of course, that's something you can also do at Amazon, Google Play Music and lots of other places.

In fact, at Amazon you can sometimes buy a physical CD and also get a download as well as the option of streaming it through Amazon's player. 

Perhaps Apple will offer some kind of bundle that combines iTunes and Beats that is a little more than the sum of its parts. It doesn't get a lot of attention but iTunes already has something iTunes Radio, which offers not just radio stations but streams of assorted musical genres. It's not quite clear how Beats differs from that except we're told it's cooler. Of course.

Trying to stay on top of things, I signed up for Beats when it displaced MOG, which was an excellent service with far better audio quality than its competitors. I was promised a few free months and a transfer of all my playlists, neither of which happened.

Beats so far has not even come close to figuring out what kind of music I like to listen to and bombards me with stuff that is wildly off-key. So maybe it's the coolest thing ever but then again, maybe not.

No gain, no pain 

So, except for those of us mourning the loss of MOG, it doesn't look like consumers lose anything in this deal, at least for the short term, and they will perhaps gain a few notes around the edges as new packages are assembled.

What about musicians? They are, after all, where the music comes from and, as a group, they regard streaming as something akin to the plague. Bloomberg today tells the tale of Zoe Keating, a cellist who made more than $70,000 last year on royalties from iTunes and other download services. That's money she uses to pay the mortgage and keep the lights on.

Pandora, Spotify and all the other streaming services paid her a total of $6,381 for the year. That's not enough to do much of anything.

The music industry as a whole is having the same experience. Revenues are falling steadily as download spending declines and streaming services fail to make up the difference.

Big-name artists are increasingly relying on concert tours to make up for declining CD and download sales. Lesser-known artists -- who, after all, make up the vast majority of the performing universe -- wind up playing in bars and on street corners, where unemployed ex-newspaper reporters may throw a few coins at them. 

One artist quoted by Bloomberg estimated that Pandora would have to play a track 312,000 times for him to make as much as a single CD sale. 

So this may wind up being the day Apple became cool again as well as the day the music died. 

Humans are always wondering what animals would say if they could talk. If chimps could talk, they might well say, "You call that music?"

Researchers from Emory University and elsewhere found that chimpanzees prefer silence to music from the West but apparently like to listen to the different rhythms of music from Africa and India, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

"Chimpanzees may perceive the strong, predictable rhythmic patterns [in Western music] as threatening, as chimpanzee dominance displays commonly incorporate repeated rhythmic sounds such as stomping, clapping and banging objects," said study coauthor Frans de Waal, PhD, of Emory University.

de Wall said that the researchers were not trying to act as music critics. 

"Our objective was not to find a preference for different cultures' music. We used cultural music from Africa, India and Japan to pinpoint specific acoustic properties," de Waal said.

"Past research has focused only on Western music and has not addressed the very different acoustic features of non-Western music. While nonhuman primates have previously indicated a preference among music choices, they have consistently chosen silence over the types of music previously tested," de Waal said.

Previous research has found that some nonhuman primates prefer slower tempos, but the current findings may be the first to show that they display a preference for particular rhythmic patterns, according to the study.

"Although Western music, such as pop, blues and classical, sound different to the casual listener, they all follow the same musical and acoustic patterns. Therefore, by testing only different Western music, previous research has essentially replicated itself," the authors wrote. The study was published in APA's Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition.

Study details

When African and Indian music was played near their large outdoor enclosures, the chimps spent significantly more time in areas where they could best hear the music. When Japanese music was played, they were more likely to be found in spots where it was more difficult or impossible to hear the music.

The African and Indian music in the experiment had extreme ratios of strong to weak beats, whereas the Japanese music had regular strong beats, which is also typical of Western music.

Sixteen adult chimps in two groups participated in the experiment at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University. Over 12 consecutive days for 40 minutes each morning, the groups were given the opportunity to listen to African, Indian or Japanese music playing on a portable stereo near their outdoor enclosure.

Another portable stereo not playing any music was located at a different spot near the enclosure to rule out behavior that might be associated with an object rather than the music. 

Rock music in the 60's and 70's was all about youth and rebellion and was the soundtrack of a generation. So it must come as a shock to Baby Boomers, and even younger fans, to learn that the legendary rock band The Who is observing its 50th anniversary this year.

Fiftieth anniversaries are what your grandparents celebrate, not your rock idols. But the surviving members of The Who are grandparents, or at least old enough to be. Roger Daltrey is 71. Pete Townshend is 70. But many fans consider their music timeless, not to mention ageless.

Radio programmer and one of the pioneers of the “classic rock” format, Gary Guthrie, says no rock group other than The Rolling Stones has endured generational hand-offs, from older fans to younger fans, like The Who.

Impact

“I might even go as far as saying that The Who made an impact on more genres and conceptual thinking with their punk'y ‘mod’ sound and what they did with 'Tommy' and 'Quadrophenia,'” Guthrie told ConsumerAffairs.

"Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" came after the band had earned worldwide fame. But to celebrate the 50th anniversary The Who is re-releasing its early work, when it was competing with dozens of other British groups invading America.

As part of the ongoing celebrations the band is releasing a series of 7-inch singles box sets containing work it produced while hopping from one record label to another. The first collection is "The Brunswick Singles 1965-66."

The follow-up is "The Reaction Singles 1966," a 4-part set of classic Who singles by labels Brunswick, Reaction, Track and Polydor. It contains five 7-inch singles from the Reaction label pressed on heavyweight vinyl with paper sleeves  and reproducing the period graphics front and back with die-cut center holes.

The singles come in a rigid lid-and-tray outer box that features a 7-inch sized color booklet with liner notes about each release by Who biographer Mark Blake.

Controversy

The period of time covered by the initial products are not without controversy. The rock music world was something of a Wild West environment during those years with performers routinely walking away from record labels in contract disputes. The Who was no exception.

During one such dispute The Who released a song called “Substitute,” which had to be recalled over a rights issue. After its second release was successfully challenged in court The Who released it a third time, eventually hitting number 5 on the British charts.

"The Reaction Singles 1966" collection includes “Substitute,” “Instant Party,” “Waltz For A Pig,” I’m A Boy,” “Ready Steady Who,” “Disguises,” “Circles,” “Batman,” Bucket T,” “Barbara Ann,” “Happy Jack” and “I’ve Been Away.”