We Have Moved

Hi,

We have moved this blog to www.kudosdistribution.co.uk

Come and visit our new home !.

This blog (at least the one at this address) is not long for this world....

Cheers !

Japanese Translations & iTunes Pre-Orders

Increasing Japanese Support

In addition to our supply of Japanese translations to iTunes, we're happy to reveal two further avenues for translations. Napster's freshly launched delivery spec contains support for Japanese translations of artist and title metadata (at track and album level) allowing Napster Japan users to search for (and, more importantly, find) your releases in their native languages and character sets. Additionally, the DDEX metadata format - touted as the future standard for all metadata - can deliver translations for search and display purposes. All opted-in releases will be delivered with translations going forward, and if you selected to translate any of your previous releases they will automatically be redelivered to Napster and all DDEX compliant stores with translations added.

Automatic Pre-orders
We are now automatically setting up preorders on all releases sent to iTunes. Preorders can boost sales and help to bump up your first week figures, increasing your chances of charting (both on the iTunes store and in the official charts). However due to iTunes guidelines, we can only set up preorders on products with standard or premium track pricing and a bundle price of less than standard (ie. Budget or Mid-price). If you would like your release to be available on preorder et iTunes, make sure you lower the bundle price accordingly.

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Kudos Records proudly presents PLAYDIO

Playdio service to launch in early June, with opening shows by Phill Jupitas & Phil Wilding,  Peter Curran, Mark Webster, Dom Servini, TALC.  More presenters to be confirmed shortly.

Occasionally, the solution to a problem addresses issues and provides features you weren't even considering. That's what we've found with Playdio.

The problem we were addressing was how to create podcast-type content with fully licenced music. There have been a number of initiatives in the podcasting community over the past few years trying to tackle this very issue including attempts at blanket podcast agreements, or very specific one off waivers.  These solutions are very limiting and cumbersome, and in the case of blanket licensing agreements they are also unfair to artists, as the distribution of licensing income usually relies on download and repertoire estimates.

Of course, regardless of the licensing mechanism, the overriding issue for a podcaster or programme maker is this: how do you compensate a licence holder for exploiting their work if the medium you are working in doesn't even provide the programme maker with an earning mechanism?

By hosting radio shows in a streaming music environment, we immediately solve the primary issues of licensing and earning. All the music is fully licenced AND there is an earning mechanism for the show's producer. Bingo!

However, the real beauty is the monetisation method.. The adverts and subscriptions are completely remote from the program itself.  This "indirectness" frees the programme maker to create the radio show he or she wants, without ever having to consider the whims or motives of a sponsor.  It is one of the few examples of an advertising funded model where advertising pays the piper, but doesn't call the tune.

The other, almost incidental feature, is the control the consumer has over the show, and the additional richness of the listening experience. Listeners to a Playdio show can accurately navigate forward and back through the playlist, but perhaps more importantly, they can move "sideways", navigating through an artist's complete catalogue, adding tracks to their own playlist, and buying MP3s direct from the client as they go. Playdio shows are an ideal avenue into music discovery.

Playdio, as an idea, isn't revolutionary. It's simple... almost obvious.  We certainly wouldn't claim to have invented anything.  In fact, the best we can say about Playdio is that we've dreamt up a novel chassis to sit on some very clever wheels. We plan to open the showroom in early June.

Stay tuned...

Pimp your Amazon listing - Part 2

At the tail end of last year, we posted a guide to pimping your release's Amazon listing.

Amazon have now launched new tools for labels to create individual Artist stores, complete with photos, official biogs and custom banners.  For example, here is Amazon's Radiohead store

Fancy creating your own Artist stores ?  Its very easy.  Email your Kudos label manager, and we will organise a pre-authorised user name and password so you can access this feature.


More and more of our digital partners are requesting general Artist and label information, including press photos and biogs.  We have built a new area on the portal specifically for you to provide this information.  Please take the time to visit and complete to ensure your Artists are best presented.

Twestival.fm - Raise Money for a Good Cause & get some Free Promo.

We are always keen on a bit of free promo, and if it helps a good cause, then all the better !

Twestival FM is a global Twitter-based campaign that aims to raise $10,000 by asking artists to donate a track which can be either streamed and/or downloaded.   It's part of a bigger event called Twestival (the Twitter festival) that happens on 25th March and ran last year in over 200 cities, raising over $250,000. 

It's very easy to get involved. Twestival will get a lot of media attention, and are kicking off a PR campaign next week (w/c 15th March 2010). All you need is some good music, a Twitter account with lots of followers, and ten minutes. You get to promote your music via the Twestival.fm site and Twitter. Fans are asked to make a voluntary donation if they like what they hear. You can choose to make the track available for download or just make it for streaming. If you can use any track you already have live on SoundCloud, but it would be more effective promo to use some current material, perhaps a bonus track from a forthcoming album release.

100% of the proceeds go to Concern Worldwide, a charity that Twestival chose to support this year because of the amazing work that they do bringing education to the world's poorest children.

Go to http://twestival-fm.com and click 'Upload a track!'  All very painless and straight forward.

Spotify and other Streaming Services

This month we have finally been able to include Spotify sales in our monthly accounting. Initially, the data we received from Spotify did not provide sufficient detail to account to labels on a per track basis. Once the accounting was functional, we had another problem to overcome; the sheer enormity of data, with reports for recent months coming in at over 60,000 line item transactions!. Now that we have successfully designed and tested a workable reporting profile, Spotify accounting will be routine.

There has been much debate recently about Spotify, in particular whether or not it is a viable proposition for labels. Revenue income per stream is indeed tiny, coming in at meagre fractions of pennies.

An encouraging start.
Having managed your expectations on Spotify's turnover, the positive story here is that Spotify is already, from a standing start, one of our top digital accounts in terms of gross revenue. Viewed quarterly, their revenue growth is currently exponential, with gross turnover for PE September 2009 up 124% compared PE June 2009. This is a considerable achievement for a service that is still in Beta, only live in a handful of territories (United Kingdom, Finland, France, Norway, Spain and Sweden), and who, to date, has spent less than £5,000 on marketing.

We need to re-frame how we evaluate these new streaming services. We seem to be still stuck in a per unit mindset, whereas in the digital world, where there are no fixed costs per unit, it's all about gross turnover.

The Streaming Backlash
There have even been a few labels who have asked us about withhold content from subscription and streaming services, such as Spotify and Napster, or to hold off and deliver content months after the release date in order to protect a la carte sales.

Personally I think this is misguided. Ever since the launch of "the original Napster", our industry has struggled to come to terms with the new business landscapes that have arisen from changing technologies. Collectively, we strangled the original Napster, rather than embracing it's technical merits and creating a workable retail model. Today, the general consensus (even at the BPI) is that this was a mistake. We have been on the back foot ever since.

Recent statistics show no firm evidence of Spotify cannibalising sales from established a-la-carte services. This has also been bourne out from our experience. However there is some evidence to show that it is curbing the habits of illegal downloaders.

The Changing allegiance of Technology
In a way, whether or not streaming services will eat into a la carte sales is a moot point, as in reality we have lost the ability to determine which business model will succeed.. As much as we may wish to preserve the status quo, the consumer will eventually get the services they want, as long as there is the technology available to deliver it. Apple understands this, hence their recent purchase of La La.

Historically, technology was developed by The Producer, and served The Producer.
Today it is often developed by The Consumer to serve only The Consumer.

Any technology we, as producers, create for the consumer must meet the challenge of providing the consumer with the services they want at the prices they are prepared to pay. If we fail at this challenge, the consumer can now simply vote with their feet and circumvent our supply chain, or even create a completely new supply chain. We can try to close this path through legal action, or by cutting an errant consumer's net access, but eventually technology will always find ways around our roadblocks. I honestly believe there will be no technical solution to our malaise because technology no longer works for us. Our eventual salvation will only come from basic economics. We need to provide the best service at prices that represent true value to the consumer.

Early Days
Spotify is still an immature service, and has yet to build a reputation as a successful advertising platform. Anyone who has used the free service knows that there is currently only a very small handful of relatively minor brands advertising. The income pool is therefore very small. This is bound to increase as the service becomes more popular and reaches a wider audience. More importantly, once more advertising kicks in, there will be a greater incentive for consumers to migrate to the premium offering.

The key to success will be migration to premium. The good news is that the incentive to upgrade is pretty compelling. Premium subscriptions rose 104% in October, following the launch if the Iphone app. I would encourage any or you who own an Iphone, Android phone, or Simbian based mobile to try Spotify's premium service for a month (There is no minimum contract. You wont get tied in). It isn't perfect (playlists take too long to load), but it is certainly very impressive, with its ability to stream smoothly over a 3G mobile connection and it' s off line playback of up to 3,333 tracks. Also, the 320 bitrate files sound fantastic over a home system.

The Dilemma
Of course services will only gain popularity and reach viability if it's content is up to scratch. A hamstrung streaming service will be an unsuccessful streaming service. Withholding content and delaying releases will ultimately drive the consumer elsewhere, (and unfortunately I don’t think it will be to Itunes !).

Tip of the Iceberg
According to IFPI figures, 95% of downloads earn our industry NOTHING. The key to our future is moving that 95% of transactions over to legal services. Once migration is complete there is scope to see how we can extract maximum value from the market. First of all, we need a market.

We have a good precedent for this migration from free to premium with television. Penetration of pay for TV in the UK now stands at over 50% of households and is still rising. There is still a free service available, but the consumer has shown a willingness to pay for additional choice.

So what about A La Carte ?
None of the above should be viewed as Kudos coming out strong in favour of either subscription or add funded models above all others. We still believe that a la carte offers the consumer a great product, which importantly deals with current preferences to "own" music. Ultimately it is for the consumer to decide which model they prefer. All we can do is ensure they have a genuine choice, and that legal services which reward the artist have inherent advantages over their illegal counterparts.

If premium streaming services see a similar level of penetration as pay tv, with the rest of consumers using either add based service (our "terrestrial tv") or a la carte (out "BT Vision"), we will all be laughing.

Killing in the Name of... ??.

Andrew Collins ,and most other commentators are right.  The current #ratm4xmas Twitter campaign is madness, as either way, the ultimate winner is Sony BMG. 

Of course, there is an alternative !  

#apples4xmas !
the healthier alternative !

Here is an Itunes Link

Here is a 7 Digital Link

Here is an Amazon link

Here is the Play.com link

We even have some tasty 7"s left...
or, treat yourself to the album

Buzzin About 

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