Remembering Frankie Knuckles, Godfather of House Music

This morning, we woke up to the news that the Godfather of House Music, Frankie Knuckles, passed away last night. Knuckles is largely credited with nurturing and promoting the Chicago house sound throughout the 80′s and beyond… Wait, let’s stop there. House music. Why do they even call it that?

Well one story goes like this. When he left New York for Chicago in the late 70′s, Frankie had a residency at a club called The Warehouse. He played at The Warehouse until 1982. During  his tenure, his style and selection as a DJ in the post-disco era was unrivaled and groundbreaking. When The Warehouse closed in ’83, he began playing at another spot, the Power Plant, and the crowds who came to The Warehouse followed suit. Meanwhile, enterprising club owners across the Windy City were looking to fill their own dance floors and one such owner put up a sign in front his establishment: WE PLAY HOUSE MUSIC. Frankie was driving with a friend when he saw this sign. House Music? “You know, that’s the kind of music you play down at the Warehouse!”

When your style as a DJ lends itself to the naming of a genre, you’re a legend. When your productions influence an entire generation of producers, you’re a pioneer. And when you manage to do both during your time on this earth, you’re Frankie Knuckles. House music lost its Godfather last night, but he leaves us with countless tracks to celebrate his life.

Adjust Your Strategy According to the Latest Global Trends

As music continues to shape and color my daily life, what I’m most impressed with is the music industry’s ability to take on the changes and challenges that come its way head on. It makes me proud to work in music, and seeing the innovation and determination that have spawned from the incessant industry developments (and the knowledge at the same time that new developments and twists inevitably lie ahead) inspires me in ways beyond just my professional life.

In that vein, it’s important to look back and review the events of the past year, so there’s always a great buzz in the air when the IFPI Digital Music Report makes its appearance towards the end of Q1 each year. This year’s report is, as always, chock-full of great information, including stats and figures paired with special reports to contextualize the numbers. After combing through it with my orange highlighter, here are the key takeaways of the state of digital music in 2013.

GIVE ME THE NUMBERS

Overall recorded music revenues grew in Europe and Latin America, stabilized in the United States and experienced a sharp 16.7% decline in Japan, bringing global revenues down 3.9% to an estimated US$15 billion.

Not including Japan, global music revenues were only down 0.1%.

Digital revenues worldwide grew by 4.3% in 2013 to US$5.9 billion.

Digital now accounts for 39% of total industry global revenues.

Revenues from music subscription services grew by 51.3%, exceeding US$1 billion:

• Subscription and ad-supported streaming services now account for 27% of global digital revenues
• The number of paying subscribers to subscription services increased by 40% to 28 million
• Revenues from ad-supported streaming services increased by 17.6%, with a large focus on music videos

Digital downloads experienced a slight decline of 2.1%:

• Still a key revenue stream, downloads account for 67% of global digital revenues
• The album format is still coveted, and digital album sales remain on an upward curve

Performance rights income more than doubled in 2013, reaching US$1.1 billion globally, an estimated 19% rise. Our Collections services can help you tap into some of that. If you’re interested in signing up, reach out to your client rep!

Synchronization income declined by 3.4%, now accounting for 2.1% of total industry revenue. Our dedicated Sync Licensing team is constantly on the lookout for great opportunities, and we’d love to include more of your music in our pitches to supervisors. Interested? Let your client rep know.

While still on the decline, physical music sales continue to keep a majority share in many major markets, accounting for 51.4% of all global revenues (down from 56.1% in 2012).

Vinyl sales, though still niche, have increased substantially in the US (up 32% in 2013) and in the UK (up 101%!). Record Store Day‘s around the corner, people!

While the industry did experience some decline, it’s encouraging to see digital revenues growing overall, with streaming continuing to establish itself as a viable source of income. The report dives deeper into the impressive growth of the Scandinavian markets, all a few years ahead of the rest of the world in terms of streaming. It’s worth a read, particularly the special report on Sweden, a country which grew from US$144.8 million to US$194.2 million in just three years, with an increased share of digital going from 8% to a whopping 70%, of which subscription services account for 94%. Whew!

… Continue Reading

Freeloader Friday: Pyrrhon, Fan Modine, Mark E, The Crookes, I Divide, Wovenhand, Fanfarlo, Sweet Apple & Weekend

Well, Freeloaders, looks like spring’s not quite as ready to make her grand entrance as I’d hoped for last week. Did I jinx us? It certainly feels like it here in our NY office. But it is Friday, and you can find some solace in that.

I know some of you are pretty bummed (maybe outraged is more fitting?) about these first days of spring not living up to expectation. If that’s the case, perhaps a good dose of Pyrrhon’s Deathcore-frenzied Metal album will help ease the pain. If you’re looking for something with a more soothing guitar-Pop vibe, try out Fan Modine’s album stream. It’s a completely different end of the music-genre spectrum, but the Chamber-Pop Rock should be just as good a remedy.

But the goods don’t stop there! You might want to get your power-duty speakers out for these next few: Mark E’s latest Dance-happy trance track or The Crookes’ charming, Smiths-like Rock ‘n’ Roller of a ballad. There’s also I Divide‘s anthemic Punk-Pop, and Wovenhand’s countrified, growling Alt-Rock track — a riotous call to arms that sounds like it comes straight from a scene out of True Detective.

Now to send you off properly, we’ve got a handful of pretty enticing music videos. First up, Fanfarlo’s stop-motion fueled premiere, composed of sci-fi and psychedelic-kitsch paper cut-outs. Next, catch Sweet Apple’s video to watch friendships that span from coast to coast by way of paper airplanes. But the biggest shout-out to warm weather’s approach comes from Weekend. Their Grunge-Goth works surprisingly perfectly against the blue-skied and sunny-hazed beach backdrops.

So have a toast tonight to Friday, and the coming of spring — it’s not too much longer, folks!

Pyrrhon: Full album stream via Pitchfork Advance
The Mother of Virtues out April 1 on Relapse Records

Fan Modine: Full album stream via PopMatters
Cause Célèbre out April 1 on Lost Colony Music

Mark E: “Being Hiding” track premiere via Boiler Room
Product of Industry out April 29 on Ghostly International

The Crookes: “Marcy” track premiere via NoiseTrade
Soapbox out April 14 on Fierce Panda

I Divide: “I’m Not Leaving” track premiere via Kerrang
Last One Standing out April 14 on Dstry Everything

Wovenhand: “Hiss” track premiere via Stereogum
Refractory Obdurate out April 29 on Deathwish Inc.

Fanfarlo: “Cell Song” video premiere via VEVO
Let’s Go Extinct out now on Blue Horizon

Sweet Apple: “Wish You Could Stay (A Little Longer)” video premiere via Esquire
The Golden Age of Glitter out April 8 on Tee Pee Records

Weekend: “It’s Alright” video premiere via The Fader
Jinx out now on Slumberland Records

Welcome, Joanna!

Introducing Joanna Noyes, Director, Interactive Marketing

I am very excited to be joining the Interactive Marketing team at The Orchard! If you are wondering where I came from here is a bit about me…

I started out on the label side of things at a joint venture with Island/Def Jam. Upon leaving I partnered up with an industry veteran and launched For The Win! Media. I ran digital marketing/PR campaigns working with Ellie Goulding, Coca Cola, Cut Copy, etc. A few years later, we rebranded the company and became Zero To Sixty, where I was the managing partner and had the pleasure of working with La Roux, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and Samsung. Most recently, I was consulting for labels, managers, as well as artists directly on social media strategy and digital marketing.

On the personal side, along with being a music lover I am also a dog lover. So much so that I run an Instagram account for my french bulldog. If you are so inclined, follow @georgethefrenchbully for adorableness.

Exploring iPluggers: How Artists Get Airplay

For our latest Marketplace case study, we invited the folks at iPluggers to share some success stories from their users. From Latin to Pop, Electronic to Classical, these artists have all seen great results with the service. Read up below, and be sure to check iPluggers out in The Orchard Marketplace. Find out more about them, including special pricing for The Orchard’s clients, on their One-Sheet.

iPluggers is a digital plugging platform, servicing over 30,000 radio stations worldwide. Artists and labels have successfully used iPluggers to get airplay in countries all over the world, further strengthening their fanbase.

We have asked a few artists to share their stories with us.

Bongomatik
Genre: Latin / Pop / Jazz
Background: JJA Jazz Awards nominee

We choose iPluggers for our radio promotion due to its enormous reach and network: iPluggers spreads our music to radio stations we could have never reached by ourselves.

Before we started looking into digital radio promotion, we hired a traditional radio promoter which would promote our single to radio stations in The Netherlands. Costs were approx. €2500. Although we gained some airplay from his activities, we found that with traditional radio promotion, getting insight in the results is not always that easy.

When we started working with iPluggers, the costs of radio promotion of a single is about 10% of what we’d normally pay, we have direct insight in the results and we reach radio stations worldwide instead of being limited to our own country.

We would recommend that artists who have the resources to pay for traditional radio promotion do both traditional and digital radio promotion. Every band or record label should consider using iPluggers for their (digital) radio promotion: they just do what they promise to do and the communication with them is extremely smooth.

In addition to radio promotion, we make active use of our social media networks like Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, we also send our album for reviews to the press (both online and printed music media).

… Continue Reading