Bridge and More

17/04/2014

Interesting Read: "... means that curation and programming will become the key differentiation points. Not in the sense of ‘here are three artists we think you’ll like based on your prior listening’ but real programming of the type that has helped radio remain the single most widespread music consumption platform throughout the digital onslaught."
http://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/why-2014-will-be-the-year-of-taking-digital-content-into-the-home/

2014 is shaping up to be the year that the chasm that separates consumers digital content experiences and their home entertainment is bridged. Amazon, Apple and Google have all embarked on a quest...

31/03/2014

"Overall internet-derived sales - including home delivery, digital download and streaming and other access services - accounted for a clear majorityof the £5.3bn entertainment market in 2013, according to ERA figures, with a 60% share of sales. The remaining 40% of revenue was generated by physical stores."
http://www.eraltd.org/news/era-news/streaming-and-access-services-scoop-a-quarter-of-the-entertainment-market.aspx

rather than sales of products like discs and downloads accounted for a quarter of the entertainment market in 2013, according to new figures revealed in the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) Yearbook published today.

27/10/2012

b&m's Ralf comments a recent blog entry from Mark Mulligan:
Interesting insights as often from Mark Mulligan. He keeps hammering out his DISC mantra ("This means leveraging the principles of DISC (Dynamic, Interactive, Social, Curated) to create a new breed of album experiences."), but i don't follow him here, the core of music experience remains listening and watching (when it comes to live and YouTube). Not many musical artists will be willing and able to create "DISC product" and not many fans will necessarily want it. That of course doesn't mean that the communicative and commercial power of YouTube, Facebook, Google, amazon, iTunes and the web at large won't continue to rise.
http://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/what-are-an-artists-metrics-for-success-in-the-digital-age/

Last night I was fortunate enough to be on stage with Talking Head David Byrne and legendary DJ Dave Haslam at the Royal Northern College of Music discussing Byrne’s latest book ‘How Music Works’. ...

07/08/2012

Interesting thoughts from dear colleague Steve Redmond:
"Their biggest concern is that the deal represents a massive distraction and potentially huge diversion of resources at a time when the recorded music business is facing the toughest of times.
In the first half of 2012 the UK music market as measured by ERA declined by 10.5% in volume. In the core CD albums market, sales were down by nearly 25%.
It is no exaggeration to say that music's very existence in retail stores is in jeopardy."
http://www.eraltd.org/news/redmond-blog.aspx

31/05/2012

INTL: BMG breaks through one million copyrights barrier in less than four years

31/05/2012

Very interesting, 55,5% of recorded music revenues in the UK come from digital services. In Germany, according to recent numbers from German ifpi for 2011, that market share stands at only 16,6%, http://www.musikindustrie.de/politik_einzelansicht0/back/110/news/digitale-musikverkaeufe-legen-zweistellig-zu/.
Why is that so? Missed opportunities? How big could the German music market be?
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storycode=1049759

Digital services accounted for 55.5% of UK record industry revenues in Q1 2012, as income from subscription streaming platforms doubled (up 93%) to just under £9 million.

22/05/2012

German supermarket giant Aldi went all British in their UK stores last Sunday. That's a nice Bridge and More.
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/offers_week21Sunday12.htm

10/05/2012

Oh you funny world of PR battles. Hot on the heels of the UK announcement and previous news of an official UK music streaming chart follows the Media Control announcement of a similar chart for the German music market. Billed as "the first of its kind in Europe". Er, well, no discussions at this point whether the UK is a part of Europe or not. Please.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/10/spotify-streaming-services-chart
http://www.musikmarkt.de/Aktuell/News/News/media-control-startet-europaweit-erste-Streaming-Charts-mit-Video

Official weekly chart to rank plays on platforms including We7, Napster, Deezer, Zune and ChartsNow. By John Plunkett

04/05/2012

Celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in style. Have a look where she has been in the past 60 years, select the countries where you have been too and tell your social network friends about it. A great BBC feature and tool. May be we Germans could set up the same for "our" pope?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17826107

Find out where the most well-travelled monarch in history has visited - and match your travels to Her Majesty's, then share the result on Twitter and Facebook.

02/05/2012

Steve and Ralf from bridge&more meet friend and business partner Carlos from Restaurant Carlos and Dos Ron GmbH in Cologne. Looks like we had a fun night.

19/04/2012

Part one of EMI deal done?
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storycode=1049221

The consortium lead by Sony/ATV will been given the European Commission’s permission to buy EMI Publishing for £1.4bn later today, according to reports in The Independent and Financial Times.

18/04/2012

Great concept for Germany, too?
"...performances of live amplified music to audiences of less than 200 people between the hours of 8am-11pm will no longer require local authority permission."
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storycode=1049182

The Live Music Act will officially come into effect on October 1 2012, it has been confirmed - and the UK music industry is hosting a party at Westminster today to celebrate.