Some look at Summer as a time to mow the lawn, sip on lemonade, swing gently in a hammock and listen to the play by play of the local nine working their way through a lengthy season. Others look at it as a time to be seductively crushed by sweaty slabs of booty boppin’ funk, rock, hip-hop and more. If you’re of the latter half then you’d probably be down for braving the hot summer sun and the teeming, unwashed crowds to boogie down to the sounds of some the plethora of diverse music festivals popping up around the country this summer. Here’s Hey! Nielsen’s rundown of the biggest and baddest of the summer music festival behemoths.
We were feeling pretty good about hitting 100,000K members this week until we learned from our friends at Billboard that 97.5 Million votes were cast for last night’s American Idol finale, won by David Cook. The former bartender from Missouri captured 56% of the votes… almost exactly the same percentage predicted in a recent poll of Hey! Nielsen members who went for Cook 57% to 43% over his competition, 17-year-old David Archuleta.
In the month leading up to the finals, the buzz on Cook (tracked by Nielsen Online’s BlogPulse) was consistently edging out Archuleta’s — and then spiked last night for the finale, accounting for nearly .5% of all blog posts tracked by Nielsen.
After the announcement that he had won, Cook, despite claiming he was at a loss for words, was able to tell host Ryan Seacrest: “I am absolutely at a loss for words.” Bravo.
A giant social network and two of the largest online music retailers had some big news recently. Three of the four major record labels, Sony-BMG, Warner Bros., Universal (EMI is not on board, yet), have teamed up with MySpace to launch a music site later this year. With millions of built-in users, this alliance could be a major force in the download space.
In the current download market, newcomer AmazonMP3 claimed that in just six short months, it had become the #2 online music retailer behind iTunes, who with their estimated 80% share of the digital market, apparently just eclipsed WalMart as the #1 music retailer, period. Some possible reasons for Amazon’s growth is that their download catalog features no DRM (Digital Rights Management - meaning no copying, sharing, or fingerprinting strings attached) and the bulk of their a la carte songs are 10 cents cheaper than Apple’s, who have just a portion of their catalog available (at a premium) with no DRM. In the middle of all of this is another online retailer, eMusic, who sell only DRM-free music from independent artists. eMusic recently disputed the claims in the USA Today article regarding Amazon’s #2 position, long held by eMusic.
update: Billboard provided me with this bit of info: Year to date digital music sales are up 28.7% in 2008.
Take Our Member Quick Poll On Music Purchasing
According the cash register, Tom Petty. After the game, Petty (who is also the voice of “Lucky” on King Of The Hill) topped the catalog chart for Billboard by steadily moving up, achieving a nearly 200% bump in sales. Both his “Greatest Hits” and his “Anthology” collection raked up huge sales on the digital side. More than a third of all Petty tracks were sold online. The song “Free Fallin’” which Petty performed at the halftime show on Super Bowl Sunday sold 63,000 copies via the web, 300% jump! Perhaps that’s why coach Belichick left the field early, he wanted to go download “Running Down A Dream.”
Believe it or not, we actually do read every post here at Hey! Nielsen. Call it “quality control” if you will, but some of these posts really make our day. That’s why we created a special place to periodically share our favorites in case you missed them (instead of just IMing them back and forth internally in the H!N office while giggling to ourselves) and to give our members some much needed props.
Check out today’s Sweet Post: Linkin Park Grandma by walkerlojj100
Keep up the great posting, commenting, and reacting! Leave a comment on this blog with the link any notable posts you’ve come across that you think should be given a Sweet Post Award. Remember, like Santa and the IRS, we’re always watching.
Now you can keep track of any opinion or topic that you want with our new Alerts tool! Check the “Alert Me” box on the object or opinion pages of your favorite topics or posts and you’ll be emailed or messaged whenever there’s activity. (Note: Your preferences must be set to receive emails, private messages, or both in order to receive alerts. Click here to change them.)
This art vs. commerce debate isn’t just resigned to the on-going writer’s strike; it’s happening all over. As a warm and fuzzy holiday gift, Radiohead (the most blogged about musical act of 2007 not involved in a drug scandal, custody battle, or underage sex tape) was engaged in a public war of words with its ex-label EMI over the re-negotiations of their recording contract. For motives still unclear, a spokesperson for EMI recently said “Radiohead were demanding an extraordinary amount of money and we did not believe that our other artists should have to subsidize their gains.” To which Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke replied with some choice words suggesting that EMI’s pants were, in fact, on fire. More on this story here. Much of the debate was on how much control the band had over its present and past material and how it was used… sounds similar to the writer’s strike. Note to young bands… if you don’t want your song used for a hemorrhoid ad, own the rights to your master recordings.
Radiohead, of course, opted out of EMI’s offer, and infamously released their latest ‘In Rainbows’ over the internet earlier this year. The band’s decision to charge fans whatever they felt like paying for the album was more PR stunt than business plan, but their strength of brand and populist campaign has made the album a modest success. For people who still enjoy biting off the plastic with their teeth and removing security stickers, the record is now available in the US in compact disc format (on ATO, an artist-friendly label co-founded by Dave Matthews).
Do you think this battle between creative control and corporate control will result in better choices for you in the end? Can only older, established artists like Radiohead and others (Paul McCartney, Eagles, Joni Mitchell) who have left the big-label system wage this war? (Oh, and check this Jay Z story). Leave your comments here or start a new opinion on any of the artists our main site using the links above.
Daytrotter is not your typical music “blog,” but typical isn’t what Daytrotter is about anyway, so it’s members aren’t worried about what you call it. Run by a group of passionate and creative writers, illustrators, and recording enthusiasts based in Rock Island, IL, this collective has quickly become one of the more influential music sites on the web thanks to their ability to attract amazing underground and independent acts into their studios for their “Daytrotter Sessions.” Daytrotter’s Sean Moeller (pictured left.. um, below, not the horse) was kind enough to answer a few questions about the site after being dubbed Best Music Blog by Hey! Nielsen members.
How and why did you start Daytrotter?
SM: Well, it was a quick sort of thing. We got the idea, rounded up one other troop besides myself and went to action. Bought ourselves a little domain with a made up name and then invited Catfish Haven and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin in to record with us. We were green and just hoped we could make something worthwhile that wouldn’t just be wallpaper or a wall flower, but would actually throw a little bit of originality out there onto the endless glowing pages of the Internet machine.
How do you deal with the issue of posting MP3s? What is your policy or agreement with labels, if any?
We don’t have any issues. Basically, we do everything with a gentleman’s handshake. We don’t have bands or labels sign anything. They retain all rights to their songs and it keeps everything friendly. We’re their servants in a way. Daytrotter exists to help these great artists make money doing the things that they do best. If there are ways that we can help them, we’re going to do that and the bands and labels appreciate that and I think they appreciate us. It’s a win-win situation for everyone and in the music industry/world, those situations are rare.
How did the “Sessions” come about?
The sessions were the glue. They’re just one of the things that I hope makes us interesting, but I’d never lie. They’re what make us the most interesting. I wasn’t going to start doing something like this without being unique and yeah, it’s a hard thing to pull off, but it’s been worth the effort. We just wanted to be special and memorable. These four-song sets are also long enough and short enough to give listeners a perfect impression of a band.
How is your point of view different that of some of the more well-known music sites or more established blogs?
I don’t really know how to answer that objectively. My point of view is just to be meaningful and not a part of throw-away culture. There’s too much of that out there. We really just want to help bands exist instead of feeling the pressure to cave and get a real job after two records and five US tours. I don’t like great band fatalities. We are passionate about something in a way that extends well beyond fandom. We’re in the appreciation business, but I want Daytrotter to be legendary — not just part of a roll call — and I think if we can be that, we’re going to help a lot of bands exist and keep on making terrific music.
What do you know about your readers?
We know that we have a lot of diehards who would go to the mattresses for us. They seem to be swell, upstanding people. They’re young for the most part. They’re mostly dudes and we’re trying to change both of those aspects to make it even out a little more. We want some more ladies and we want some more baby boomers on our site. I feel that Daytrotter is a very non-discriminatory little haven. If you’re 18 and checking out Vampire Weekend or 45 and checking out Vampire Weekend, you shouldn’t feel excluded. I just think the music that we put up on the site multiple times a week should be all-inclusive. I think everyone should know who Blitzen Trapper and Mac Lethal are, not just the kids.
What are your five favorite music sites/blogs?
I love Said The Gramophone, La Blogotheque, Gorilla Vs. Bear, Catbirdseat and a bunch of others are tied for fifth.
What do you want to be when you grow up / Where will your site be five years from now?
This is what I want to do and I’m doing it. I’m not all that young (29) and I think I’ve created my dream job. The site hopefully will be as on the tips of tongues as easily and omnipresently as Pitchfork’s. We’ve got some exciting things up our sleeves for 2008 that I can’t talk about them just yet. It’s going to be sick. Get ready.
What were some of the first albums that you bought? Do people buy albums? Do they still call them albums?
I buy tons and tons of albums and that’s exactly what I call them. The first records that I bought were by P.M. Dawn and Boyz II Men. They were great, great records and I need to hunt them down.
What was your favorite live show this year / ever?
This year, it was probably Dr. Dog and Black Keys in St. Louis or Vampire Weekend here in Rock Island at the pizza parlor. Ever, I still have a fondness for the Spacehog show I saw in Peoria. I think it just came at the right time, though I’ve been forever changed by the first show I ever saw — The Meat Puppets opening for Primus. Without that night and those two bands, Daytrotter wouldn’t exist.
If you could add a category to a music awards show, what would it be and who would win it?
No awards show is capable of doing anything for me because even something like a people’s choice award is not being given by people like me. I can’t think of anything. Awards don’t matter. The only award ever worth a damn is best album of the year. It’s what everyone should strive to do.
What’s the next great band everyone should know about?
I’ve got 500: The Deadly Syndrome, Grand Ole Party, The Dodos, Luke Temple, Harlem Shakes, The Subjects, Delta Spirit, Richard Swift, We Barbarians, Plain White Ts, The Teeth and Golden Boots.
More than 1,200 votes were cast for the 99 nominated music blogs (and they say this generation doesn’t vote). Today, after double checking our butterfly ballots, hanging chads, etc., we’re happy to announce the winners as voted on by the members of Hey! Nielsen.
First Place: Daytrotter | interview
Second Place: Rock Sellout | interview
Honorable Mention:
BBQ Chicken Robot
Adam’s World
The World Forgot
Look for interviews and more on these sites next week!
Rounding out the top 20 are more dazzling blogs, who played a major part in not only building up a great music community here on Hey! Nielsen, but also expanding their audience and influence as well. Of course, another big thank you to our friends at Billboard.com and their blog Jaded Insider.
The Best of the Rest in alphabetical order
(this way, everyone can curse the fact that they came in 6th!)
- Arjan Writes
- Brooklyn Vegan
- Confessions of a Music Addict
- Gorilla Vs. Bear
- I Am Fuel, You Are Friends
- Milk Milk Lemonade
- Music Is Art
- Music Ramen
- My Old KY Blog
- Salad Days Music
- The Music Slut
- The Rap Up
- The Sky Report
- The Yellow Stereo
- T-Sides
These contests and events are leading up to something bigger over the next month or so. We’ll be launching some new content sections featuring news, charts, and links to many of the music, tv, and entertainment blogs we’ve featured in the past. Stay tuned.
The 50th annual Grammy nominations were announced this morning in LA and six-time Grammy award winner Kanye West is leading this year’s group with eight nominations. The Recording Academy also gave a big “yes, yes, yes” to Amy Winehouse, presenting her with six Grammy nods including one in each of The Big Four categories (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist). Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and T-Pain are also nominated for five awards each.
Whether your motto is “Grammys-schmammys” or you sit mesmerized in front of the television like I do hoping for either a surprise win or a wardrobe malfunction, let us know what you think of the nominees by clicking on the links below. Also, be sure to check out our friends at The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard.com, and all of the blogs on our music blog list to see what the pros are saying.
Record of the Year
Irreplaceable - Beyonce
The Pretender - Foo Fighters
Umbrella - Rihanna, featuring Jay-Z
What Goes Around … Comes Around - Justin Timberlake
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
Album of the Year
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - Foo Fighters
These Days - Vince Gill
River: The Joni Letters - Herbie Hancock
Graduation - Kanye West
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Song of the Year
Before He Cheats - Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins (Carrie Underwood)
Hey There Delilah - Tom Higgenson (Plain White T’s)
Like a Star - Corinne Bailey Rae
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
Umbrella - Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius “The-Dream” Nash, Christopher Stewart (Rihanna, featuring Jay-Z)
Best New Artist
Feist
Ledisi
Paramore
Taylor Swift
Amy Winehouse
For the complete list of nominees, click here.
We’re in the last few days of our first-ever, glad-we-did-it, been-lots-of-fun Music Blog Contest and the votes (nearly 1000 of them) are pouring in. We’ve been enjoying checking in on all 99 of the entrants and have been turned on to a lot of new music just in the last few weeks (and we’re kinda music nerds to begin with so that’s saying something).
We continue to invite you to check out all the entries and cast your vote by rating your favorites! (you have to be a member to vote, but it’s free and you could also win $1,000 this month by taking part of another little reindeer game we’re playing this month!) As for the Music Blog Contest, you have until Dec. 12 to make your voice heard. After the contest is over, we’ll have interviews with the winners and check in with our neighbors downstairs at Billboard’s Jaded Insider.
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