Business News Roundup: 5-6-2007

Each week, SphereMagazine.com reports the biggest business moves in the media industry.

- Further proof that the music industry is moving away from the standard major label model, Koch Records, once thought of as the “graveyard” for artists past their prime, has created a new outlet for independent, yet still commercially viable labels. Koch Label Services, acting as a go-between for artists’ labels and Koch distribution, is the newly formed division of the Koch family, which will allow labels access to the Koch distribution company while still giving them some semblance of creative independence. Ten years from now, when every hip-hop single on the radio is released by an indie label, just remember that this is where the movement started. Why pay some overpaid Def Jam exec to mismanage your release and miss your audience when you can create your own publicity and pay half the price to distribute?

- Earlier this week, the Copyright Royalty Board decided to push back any decision regarding a royalty increase for web radio, giving …

Internet Killed The Studio Star

The question every single creative artist today needs to be asking themselves is simple: Who needs a publicist today when we have YouTube? Why pay hundreds, even up to thousands, of dollars to pay for publicity, photo shoots, sound recordings, make-up, transportation, and everything else that goes into making a star when you can simply record yourself on your home video camera and upload the video on the Internet? It seems like YouTube is putting out more stars than Jive Records! Take, for example, Esmee, an up and coming star from The Dutch Netherlands. Singing is her passion, but instead of trying to sign with a record label, she picked up a webcam and put her self-recorded songs on YouTube. Literally within months, her songs had over 11 million plays and were receiving world-wide recognition.

In the music industry, singles that sell 500,000 copies go gold; 1,000,000 go Platinum; and 2,000,000 go multi-platinum. With over 11 million plays, Esmee would technically have achieved diamond status had her songs been on …