Ashley Parker Angel

Warner Music still to sign a deal with YouTube

Warner Music Group, the world’s third largest music company, is still in talks with video sharing site YouTube to license its artists’ music videos even after all its major rivals have renewed their deals.

EMI Music, the smallest of the big four music labels, quietly renewed its deal with YouTube in February after Sony Music Entertainment and ahead of Vivendi’s Universal Music Group. Universal Music renewed its deal with YouTube and announced a wider plan to partner with YouTube to create a stand-alone music video website called Vevo. The site is expected to be launched later this year.

Warner Music, which ironically was the first major music company to sign a deal with YouTube, is now the lone hold-out from renewing its partnership with the hugely popular website.

Videos from Warner artists like Madonna and Green Day were yanked off YouTube last December after both sides were unable to agree on financial terms for the licensing rights.

Two people familiar with the talks between Warner Music and YouTube said while talks are still ongoing no imminent announcements are expected.

As chief executive of the only publicly traded major music company, Warner Music’s Edgar Bronfman is keen to improve terms of his previous deal with YouTube. He is also faced with a particularly difficult music market which has seen tumbling CD sales and slowing digital music growth.

YouTube has been facing calls from various facets of the music industry in the last year all demanding an increase in licensing fees. This spring it was forced to block all music videos to British users after it was unable to reach a rights deal with the main UK songwriters’ collection society.

The video site, which is owned by search giant Google Inc, has more than 100 million visitors every month in the United States alone and is just as popular in many other countries. Music industry insiders acknowledge that YouTube is now catching up with radio and music television as one of the most important music discovery tools for fans.

YouTube has been under pressure from Google investors who are keen for the website to start making a meaningful contribution to its parent’s bottom line.

The company has started to counter analysts’ estimates that YouTube is losing millions of dollars a year by streaming tens of millions of videos for free everyday.

On Monday YouTube public relations executives posted a blog claiming to be “myth-busters” about the site, including that only 3-5 percent of the videos on YouTube are monetized through advertising. The post described that statistic as “old and wrong.”

“Monetized views have more than tripled in the past year, as we’re adding partner content very quickly and doing a better job of promoting their videos across the site,” the post said.

Google executives said last week that YouTube is on the path to profitability in the near future.

Stress Management Techniques to Help Deal With Being Too Busy

If you are like most people, you find yourself in a mad dash from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. People these days are busier than ever before and this adds a lot of stress. But there are ways to reduce the stress of being busy by managing your day and life a little better.

First of all, you have to realize that it’s okay to say no. Many people will over schedule themselves because they feel guilty about saying no when someone asks something of them. They may feel that by saying no, they will disappoint others, but the only person they end up disappointing is himself or herself, because there is no time left to do what they want to do.

Many people lose site of the most important priorities. They over schedule themselves so much to please others, or commit to doing so many things for others that they overlook their own needs. How many times have you been so busy that you skipped lunch? Do you make time to exercise? Sit down and make two lists. One is a list of priorities and what is most important to you. Now make a list of everything that you do in a day. Compare the two lists. Do they match up? If not, you need to make some changes. Remember to always make time for yourself.

Here are six ways that you can manage your stress:

1) Manage your money wisely. Many people are working long hours and sometimes two jobs to make ends meet. Take a long, hard, look at your financial situation. Are there things that you could cut back on to ease the financial stress you are under? Learn to manage your money more efficiently. If you get your financial life under control, your stress level will go down a bit and you may be able to cut back on your hours at work.

2) Stay organized at home and at the office. Looking for lost items or documents is a huge time waster. Not to mention the stress you feel each night when you come home to a cluttered, disorganized home.

3) Take your vitamins. This can help relieve stress, especially the B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. In addition, vitamins can help fight the damage that is being done to your body by stress.

4) Listen to music. Music has proven physical and mental health benefits. It can go a long way in relieving stress. Listen to your favorite music on your commute to and from work and while at work if allowed.

5) Practice breathing exercises. This is something that can be done anywhere and is a great way of releasing tension and lowering your stress level.

6) Develop a positive attitude. For a lot of people this is one of the hardest things they will ever do. It’s a fact that people with a positive attitude have less health problems, less stress and more luck in life.

These ideas may not help you become less busy, but they will help you to deal with it all.

Remember, you are the most important person in your life. Take care of yourself. Learn how to deal with the stress of being too busy.

No Business Mind,no Record Deal

By Daniel Medeiros…

The life of a professional musician has all the allure of a million dollars and a one-way ticket to being famous. Is it worth it? Heck, yes! But the only way to becoming a professional musician (and by “musician,” we mean singers and bands, not professional flautists) is to land a record deal. Whether you’re aiming for a mainstream or an indie share of the pie, you need that label to get heard.

Wait, but it’s tough to get signed to a label, right? True. And while there are many changes happening in the music industry right now (especially on the technological side), there is still no better way to make money as a musician than by having an established record label market your music. So how do you sell your soul to the corporate devil? It’s rather tricky, but we’ll walk you through the steps. (And don’t worry, it won’t involve an evening with RIAA President Hilary Rosen, a bottle of tequila, and a Barry White album.)

Unless you’re the next Beatles, there are a thousand other bands like you – so make yourself stand out from the rest by being professional from the beginning…No one will want to sign you unless you’re going to make them money. As such, you and your band must be confident, experienced, dedicated, and have it together (in other words, you must look like you will bring in money).

I have the assumption that you do not have a manager and that you are trying to get signed on your own. If you do have a manager, let the poor guy or gal do his/her job and you just stay out of the way. Otherwise, you need us bad.

http://www.reverbnation.com/jazzalikes

Find More Music Business Articles