the REPORT Issue 317 | 17 April 2013 The disruptors The music business has traditionally feared disruption, only wanting changes that it itself has introduced. Digital has ended all that and, since Napster in 1999, outsiders have disrupted pretty much every part of the business – some with good intentions, others with less altruistic ambitions. That disruption is reaching a head of steam in 2013 so we pick the 40 things that are currently pulling the music business inside out, turning it upside down and preparing it for the future. DISRUPTORS: 40 THINGS CHANGING MUSIC FOREVER the REPORT | 17 April 2013 | Page 2 Contents: Backplane PAGE 3 David Lowery PAGE 7 BUBBLING UNDER… Bandcamp PAGE 3 Matt Mason PAGE 7 Absolute Radio Alibaba Len Blavatnik PAGE 3 Messaging apps PAGE 8 BandPage / J Sider Bristol musicologists PAGE 3 Martin Mills PAGE 8 Bob Pittman (iHeartRadio) CASH Music Troy Carter / Scooter Braun PAGE 3 Moshi Monsters PAGE 8 Daniel Glass Chirpify PAGE 4 Muve Music PAGE 8 David Bowie Elias Roman (Songza) Chromatik / Tonara PAGE 4 Pitchfork PAGE 8 EvntLive Eddy Cue PAGE 4 Amanda Palmer / Alex Day PAGE 9 Facebook News Feed Ime Archibong (Facebook) Drip.fm PAGE 4 PledgeMusic PAGE 9 INDmusic Earache Records PAGE 5 Pulselocker PAGE 9 MusicQubed MusiXMatch The Echo Nest PAGE 5 Red Bull Amplifier PAGE 9 Oleg Fomenko / Bloom.fm Jamal Edwards PAGE 5 Rdio / Vdio PAGE 10 Samsung StageIt Fame House PAGE 5 Ian Rogers PAGE 10 Tencent – QQ Ford PAGE 5 Scandinavia PAGE 11 Tumblr TuneIn Groovy PAGE 6 Songkick Detour PAGE 11 Vkontakte Hackers PAGE 6 Sonos PAGE 12 X5 Music Xbox Music Indian streaming services PAGE 6 Soundrop PAGE 12 Jelli PAGE 6 Tomahawk PAGE 12 WHO HAVE WE MISSED? Obviously we can’t cover every disruptor, but if The Kleek PAGE 7 Twitter PAGE 12 you feel there are ones we have missed, send in Label services PAGE 7 UKF PAGE 12 your suggestions (and reasons why) and we will publish the best on the Music Ally website. DISRUPTORS: 40 THINGS CHANGING MUSIC FOREVER the REPORT | 17 April 2013 | Page 3 Disruptors: 40 things changing music forever Backplane role for other users. This move towards giving bands and consumers an emotional The social media platform has a major Troy Carter / Scooter Braun investment (more than a commercial one) endorser and investor in Lady Gaga and in the platform is where it really has the We can see eyes rolling at the headline on approach. And not just rival managers, as has also managed to sign up Guns N’ potential to create a new type of retail. this one. Of course Troy Carter and Scooter Braun’s post as entrepreneur-in-residence Roses. Gaga’s Little Monsters site opened Braun are innovative and disruptive at Universal Music Group shows. “I basically publicly in July 2012 and by August she had individuals. When you’re managing Lady Len Blavatnik connected people with the big-dog record attracted half a million fans to it. She still Gaga and Justin Bieber, you’ve got the clout label so they could have a real, open, honest has a presence on Facebook and Twitter (of The Russian billionaire is building up quite the and the cash to be as disruptive as you dialogue,” he told Billboard this month. course), but Backplane is something she portfolio in music. In 2011, he bought Warner like, whether it’s investing in technology can control and own (especially in regard to Music Group, adding Parlophone to its labels startups or giving Björk a run for her money Braun is the first manager we know of to with album-as-app ambitions. run his own startup incubator – Silent Labs data and analytics) in a way that she (and the earlier this year. But where it gets more – while Carter was one of the first major other artists she is hoping to attract to sign interesting is in what he is doing with digital. Still, in an era when music managers managers to throw his weight behind up) can’t on the other social media giants. It His company Access Industries is now a major are increasingly aware of the need to be streaming music services, appearing on- has just launched its new smartphone app investor in Deezer and it has also taken a hands-on when it comes to social media stage at Facebook’s f8 conference to say at the start of April and, with mobile-first in stake in Daisy, the imminent streaming music and digital opportunities, Carter and Braun “What we’re looking to do is not just about mind, this could prove a weakening of the service from Beats that arose out of the ashes remain inspirations to many for their selling the CD or the digital file. It’s how many Zuckerberg stranglehold on social music. of MOG. Add into this the fact that Warner people can we get the music to. How many in Europe has an equity stake in Spotify and people can experience it?” Bandcamp it’s clear that Blavatnik is making a spread The two men’s Midas bet on a variety of digital services. It might In many ways Bandcamp is the realisation touch isn’t infallible – even strike some as a kind of VC schizophrenia, of what MySpace (by which we mean the the recommendation of but it could equally be seen as a need to have original MySpace) was trying to do almost a Bieber wasn’t enough a diverse and highly competitive streaming to make app startup decade ago. It has also taken the In Rainbows market to raise the stakes and accelerate the Stamped take off – but ‘pay what you like’ model and retooled it race into the mainstream. their truly disruptive effect for smaller acts instead of multi-platinum will be the next wave of global superstars. Add into this some of the Bristol musicologists tech-savvy managers elements of Topspin (allowing physical and following their example in digital to be sold side-by-side – but, again, Back in October 2011, we were taken aback by the year or two ahead. with a bias towards the grassroots) and you a feature called Mix Radio in the Nokia Music have a very potent combination. It has just app that shipped on its first Windows Phone added stronger discovery tools and, at the smartphones. Why? Because, without fanfare, won praise for its curated mixes of tracks. headlines, Nokia deserves credit for getting start of the year, moved to make the most of Nokia had made a Pandora-style personal That’s where the musicologists come in: in early. The challenge now is to sell more and its inherent community dynamics by letting radio app and launched it around the world. Nokia’s Bristol-based team of professional more smartphones so that more people can users of the site show what music they are Since then, Nokia Music has spawned a paid playlist creators. In 2013, where the idea hear the musicologists’ handiwork. buying so they can take on a recommender version – Nokia Music+ – while Mix Radio has of curated, contextual music is making DISRUPTORS: 40 THINGS CHANGING MUSIC FOREVER the REPORT | 17 April 2013 | Page 4 continued… Chirpify Chromatik / Tonara Drip.fm The phrase ‘Twitter-commerce’ makes a lot Many iPad music apps flatter to deceive: of people roll their eyes in buzzword-derived high on whizzy bells and whistles, lower on Subscription services don’t have to be exasperation, and often rightly so. Chirpify actual impact and revenues. But iPad (and generalist, selling themselves on how many deserves more consideration though. tablets more generally) have considerable millions of tracks are in the catalogue. They can be much narrower and, in a way, Surfacing in early 2012, the startup started potential to shake up the sheet music market. eMusic was the start of that – focusing on as a way for any brand (or band) to sell Chromatik and Tonara are two of the best just indie label content (although the major goods or content to their Twitter followers examples we’ve seen so far. Chromatik label deals that followed pulled the rug via tweets – as long as those followers were raised $1.1m of seed funding in May 2012 and from under that somewhat). also signed up to Chirpify and connected bagged a deal to be used by American Idol’s their PayPal accounts. It raised $1.3m in house band; Tonara, meanwhile, has been Drip.fm is the natural result of a move April 2012, rode the Amanda Palmer D2C selling scores to tablet-toting musicians since to super-sell to a niche – allowing artists bandwagon that August and then worked September 2011, raising $4m in August 2012. or labels to build subscriptions around existing webstore, with Drip users receiving with Green Day on a high-profile MTV VMAs Chromatik’s potential is for teaching music, themselves. It secured a nice coup in the discounts to buy physical products direct UK when it signed up Domino to be its from the label. offer. Expansion to Facebook and Instagram while recording and sharing musicians’ first significant label partner in the UK. has followed, putting Chirpify in a good sessions. Tonara adds an in-app store for Launching last summer, Domino Drip Not every label has the catalogue or the fan position to capitalise – if social commerce has scores. Both hint at more innovation to quickly attracted around 1,000 paying loyalty to be able to do this, but for those legs. The disruption isn’t just for traditional come in this app genre as well as new digital subscribers, all handing over $9.99 a month that do, Drip.fm offers a whole new twist music retailing, though: it’s for Twitter and income streams for publishers.