Recording

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Editors' Picks
Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ)

The recording industry, for the purposes of this spotlight, includes publishers, copyright holders, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, of prerecorded cassette singles, CD singles, vinyl LPs/EPs, cassettes, CDs, super audio CD (SACD), DVD audio, digital music files (mp3), and DVD/VHS music videos. All musical genres, including rock, pop, rap/hip-hop, R&B, classical, jazz, Christian/gospel, indi, country, soundtracks, and new age are represented here. The scope of the spotlight also extends to the songwriters, lyricists, bands, and other music-related artists, whose work generates the majority of the revenue for the industry. Also included are managers of artists, live musical performances, and music video broadcasts.

Do you know what a rackjobber is? How about the difference between a release data and a ship date? The Recording Industry Association of America's A to Z glossary of terms and definitions will help answer these and other questions, regarding music industry jargon.

A good place to start your research of the worldwide recording industry is on the Web site of theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an international organization representing record producers and distributors in more than 70 countries. The association is based in London and has offices in Brussels, Hong Kong, Miami, and Moscow. The site provides music sales data, broken down by region, a 20-page downloadable report, regarding online music, IFPI's quarterly newsletter, detailed piracy and copyright info, information about the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), and a nice list of international industry organizations.

Next, have a look at the Web site of IRMA - The International Recording Media Association. The group represents the manufacturers of compact discs and other recordable media, as well as copyright holders and distributors. The 'News and Statistics' link is where you'll want to go first. Click on the 'Industry Statistics' link to find worldwide replication figures for CD and DVD audio, covering the current year as well as the past two years. Similar data is available as a pie chart, broken down by region. Also look for details pertaining to IRMA's anti-piracy initiative, IRMA press releases, and full-text speeches from IRMA's president. The International Music Managers' Forum (IMMF), headquartered in the United Kingdom, is an umbrella organization, representing music managers' associations in 12 countries. The home page contains links to all national associations. The site also includes industry news, IMMF press releases, and a variety of policy and legal documents.

RIAA, or the Recording Industry Association of America is the voice of the U.S. recording industry. Members include the likes of A&M Records, Arista, Sony Music, and EMI. The Research & Data area contains most of the meaty content. You'll find mid-year as well as year-end manufacturers' unit shipments and values for the years 1990 to the present. This includes all genres and all formats (e.g., CD, CD single, cassette, cassette single, LP, vinyl, music video, etc.). Also look for year-end reports for the Latin music market, covering the years 1997 to the present, consumer purchasing trend reports for the past 6 years, and demographic reports, targeting specific segments of the population (e.g., Hispanic market). Additional highlights of the site include current RIAA press releases, federal, state, international, and digital music copyright details, and anti-piracy information.

The National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) represents retailers, wholesalers, and distributors of prerecorded music in the United States. Click on the ‘Research & Statistics' link to access consumer profile reports, offering sales data, by genre, for the past 10 years, courtesy of RIAA. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) is home to the Grammy awards, which honors the best recording artists across all genres of music. There's a good industry news section here, with news blurbs, on everything from global industry receipts to M&A happenings. Other highlights include free full-text articles from Grammy magazine, media contacts, producer and engineer-specific info, and details regarding the Latin Recording Academy. The National Association of Record Industry Professionals (NARIP) is a U.S. organization designed specifically for record company executives. Click on the 'News' link to access feature articles, interviews with top industry members, and a 'who's on the move in the record biz' section, containing the names of executives who have recently been hired or promoted. An industry job bank is provided as well.

Organizations and musicians in the world of country music look to the Country Music Association (CMA). Members include individuals in more than 40 countries. Click on the ‘Marketing' link to find some good industry data. You'll find several editions of the association's annual industry overview. Each report contains charts and graphs, representing album sales, top grossing concerts, radio and television demographics, and more. The Jazz Alliance International (JAI), based in New York City, is a relatively young organization, promoting jazz music in the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world. Click on the ‘Research' link to find demographic information with respect to the age, gender, ethnicity, education, household income, and computer use of the jazz consumer. The Gospel Music Association (GMA) is a U.S.-based organization, founded in 1964, serving the Christian music industry. The site includes some good industry facts and figures in a 6-page pdf file. You'll find total Christian album sales for a 5 year period, top sales markets, top selling artists, touring figures, and consumer demographics.

There are several U.S. artists' rights organizations with a presence on the Web. ASCAP is the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. The performing rights organization has been in existence for more than 90 years and focuses on licensing issues and distributing royalties to musical artists in all genres �$(H �(Brock, country, R&B, rap, Latin, film and television music, folk, jazz, and classical, to name just a few. Look for free full-text articles from ASCAP's Playback Magazine as well as genre-specific portals, containing industry news, market information, artist spotlights, events' and awards' details, and workshop and seminar information.

SESAC is the second oldest performing rights' group in the United States. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London, the 70+-year old organization provides licenses for the work of such notables as Garth Brooks, Eric Clapton, U2, Luciano Pavaratti, and Mariah Carey. The site provides access to the full-text of SESAC's quarterly publication - Focus Magazine. The Songwriters Guild of America won't dazzle you with their site, the content or the aesthetics, but the organization, with a history of more than 70 years, is responsible for drafting the first copyright legislation, which protected composers against unscrupulous publishers. The site does provide some legislative details as well as contact information for the Guild's regional offices.

The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) represents the other side of the coin - music publishers. The organization, which has been in existence for more than 90 years, has a membership of more than 800 U.S. publishers. The highlight of the site is an archive of international surveys of music publishing revenues. Each comprehensive report is packed with statistical data, including revenues, broken down by region, total revenue, by type of income (e.g., reproduction, interest investment, and performance-based income), leading countries, and developing markets. The site also offers current as well as archived editions of News & Views �$(H a�(Bn NMPA quarterly newsletter.

The Harry Fox Agency was established by the NMPA more than 75 years ago to act as a clearinghouse for the licensing of musical copyrights. The site includes current as well as archived editions of an HFA newsletter. HFA also sponsors Songfile, whereby individuals or businesses can obtain a ‘mechanical' license for 2500 or less recordings. The site includes a database of songs, which can be searched via keyword. A credit card allows users to purchase the rights to a song.

BMI distributes royalties to more than 300,000 American songwriters, composers, and publishers, whose works are used on radio, broadcast and cable television, Internet, and live and recorded performances. David Bowie, B.B. King, Eminem, Eric Clapton, and The Eagles are among BMI's many famous members. Full-text features, from BMI's publication, MusicWorld, are available free of charge. A stories' archive, which allows users to browse by artist name, is available as well. Also look for current industry news, and online agreements for businesses (e.g., radio stations, health clubs, retail stores, sporting arenas, and restaurants) interested in using BMI's portfolio of copyrighted music. The site also includes links to BMI genre-specific portals (e.g., BMI Classical).

SoundExchange serves artists and sound recording copyright owners (SRCO) by collecting and distributing royalties for digital transmissions of their property via cable, satellite, and the Web. The site offers current as well as archived editions of the group's newsletter �$(H N�(BewsExchange, a 'licensing 101' feature, and specific information, regarding the collection of royalties, for artists, agents, producers, copyright owners, and service providers.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) is the voice of Canada's music makers as well as companies that manufacture and promote recording media merchandise. The site has an excellent statistics section, which is updated on a monthly basis. Look for tabular data on the number of units shipped and the net value of sales for music videos (VHS and DVD), singles, cassettes, CDs, and albums. Monthly and year-to-date figures are available. Other statistical highlights include employment estimates from 1994, for various sub-sectors within the industry (e.g., independent labels, major labels, manufacturers, etc.), yearly comparisons of the number of companies within the industry (Canadian and foreign), the number of new artist releases, sales, and total revenues, broken down by genre.

The Brazilian Association of Record Producers (ABPD) is another good choice if you're looking for industry statistics. Click on the small U.S. flag, to the right of the page, to access the English version. The group represents record companies throughout Brazil and is affiliated with IFPI, mentioned above. Click on the ‘Market Statistics' link to find world sales, by region, as well as the world's top 10 markets, and country specific reports, detailing the recording industry's outlook for each territory.

There are many British organizations representing various groups within the music industry. Two of the most authoritative are the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Association of Professional Recording Artists (APRS). BPI, representing British record companies, has the better of the two sites. The statistics area includes surveys, containing sales, by type of music, for the past 4 years. Each report contains tabular data with respect to album sales, by type of music, for the past 9 years, pop and rock album sales, by sub-genre, singles sales, by type of music, and the share of each genre's sales accounted for by key artists. BPI members have access to additional statistical data, including quarterly sales reports, classical music revenues, and buyer behavior analyses. The APRS represents recording studios, post-production houses, providers of music education, audio engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, and consultants. The site includes a membership directory, containing address, phone, fax, e-mail, and url for each entry.

The British Association of Record Dealers (BARD) represents the retail/wholesale side of the recording industry in the UK. The information & statistics section offers data collected by BPI, some of which is not accessible to non-members. Look for the number of shops selling recorded music, broken down by type (e.g., supermarket, specialist chains, multiples, etc.) as well as employment data, including full-time and part-time workers in each type of shop. The Official UK Charts Company, formerly known as the Chart Information Network (CIN), was established by BPI and BARD to compile and monitor the most popular music of the day. The site provides access to the top selling albums, by year, as well as million selling singles, dating back to 1955, the number of top selling records, by country of origin and by decade, and the top selling singles, by year.

The UK equivalent of the Grammy awards is the BRIT Awards, sponsored by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The site includes a list of winners, dating back to 1977, as well as archived press releases.

Two separate and distinct UK musical rights' groups, the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS), together, make up the MCPS-PRS Alliance. MCPS collects and distributes royalties to composers, songwriters, authors, arrangers, and copyright holders of music. The MCPS site has a good section on the rules governing disputes and duplicate claims. Also look for a guide to MCPS royalties, a ‘how to' section on becoming a member, as a writer or as a publisher, and a list of libraries, offering production music. Production music is specifically written for inclusion in audio and audio visual productions, such as advertisements, broadcast programs, and film and video productions. The PRS is responsible for collecting fees for live performances of musical works. The site includes legal and other information with respect to using music on Web sites.

The Music Publishers Association (MPA) is the UK equivalent of the National Music Publishers' Association of the U.S. Look for full-text articles from an MPA quarterly publication �$(H M�(BCM. The British Academy looks into the affairs of Britain's composers and songwriters. News headlines are updated weekly. Phonographic Performance Ltd. grants licenses, for the use of sound recordings in the UK, to broadcasters. The site contains some industry data in the form of two annual reports. Look for the top 20 most used tracks, as well as license fee income and distributable revenue for 2 of the last 4 years.

The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) has some excellent charts' data, which is provided free of charge. Look for the top 20 singles, top 20 albums, and the top 10 music videos for 3 of the past 4 years. You'll also find the top 50 singles, the top 75 individual artist albums, the top 25 compilation albums, and the top 10 music DVDs for the most current week.

Asia Pacific has a few good association sites of note in the recording arena. Aria, the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA), represents record companies, including the likes of Sony, A&R, and EMI. Click on the News & Information link to find Australian record sales figures. Highlights include wholesale and retail sales of sound recordings and music videos, broken down by format (vinyl singles, CD singles, cassettes, SACD, DVD albums, etc.). The site also includes some detailed statistical data, issued by IFPI.

ARPA, the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited, works in unison with AMCOS, the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited. ARPA looks after the performing rights and AMCOS the reproduction rights of composers, songwriters, and publishers in Australia and New Zealand. The two distinct organizations share the same Web site, which offers a award lists section.

The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand Inc (RIANZ) represents artists, producers, and distributors of recorded music. The market statistics section contains total per capita sales, world ranking, format-specific sales, growth percentage, and repertoire origin data for the past 6 years. All data was collected, once again, by IFPI. There's also a good news area here as well as charting data for albums, music compilations, and DVDs.

The voice of the recorded music industry throughout Japan is led by RIAJ, the Recording Industry Association of Japan. This site contains some of the best industry data that you'll find on any site, devoted to the recorded music industry. Highlights include monthly production figures (current up to 2 months), broken down by format type, total audio recordings (including a bar chart), a breakdown, by country, of imports and exports of audio discs, and the production of ‘million sellers' over a 14-year period. Click on the ‘list of all data' link for an index of statistical information on the site. Also look for a good set of links to other Japanese record and music industry sites.

You won't be overwhelmed with the amount of information, pertaining to the recording industry, on the various government sites, however; if you dig around enough you may be surprised at what you find. The U.S. Census site contains some historical figures from the 1997 Census. You'll find the total number of retail establishments, broken down by NAICS code, in the U.S., total sales, annual payroll, and total paid employees for prerecorded tape, compact disc, and record stores. Similar data is available for musical groups and artists. Look for state-by-state comparisons as well. More recent data, taken from the 2002 Census, is available in spreadsheet format. All industries are represented here; so you'll need to perform a ‘Ctrl F' for ‘compact disc' or ‘musical group' in order to avoid scrolling down through other industries. Next, have a look at the Census' foreign trade statistics area, where you'll find U.S. exports and imports (in thousands of dollars) to and from all countries for the past 5 years. Click on any of the countries and perform a ‘Ctrl F' search for records, tapes, or discs. Additional U.S. import data can be found, once again, on the Census site. Data, covering the most recent year, within two months' time, includes a country-by-country breakdown of U.S. imports of prerecorded CDs, tapes, and records.

The U.S. Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (OTEA) contains some excellent industry trend tables, broken down by NAICS codes. The table for prerecorded CD, tape, and record producing contains 1997 through 2001 data for product shipments, total employment, number of production workers, capital expenditures, and import and export values. The National Endowments for the Arts offers a variety of publications, mostly of a statistical nature, on everything from artist labor force, by state, to demographic characteristics of arts attendance.

The Department of Canadian Heritage is the United States' neighbor to the North's agency for the arts. The publications' section of the site contains a 53-page pdf report entitled, ‘Music Distribution in Canada'. The report, dated 2003, offers detailed statistical information regarding music distribution and music retail in Canada, international distribution, and how the dot.com era is changing the industry. Another good report entitled, ‘Evaluation of the Sound Recording Development Program' offers extensive industry statistics and info. Highlights include Canadian sales trends, over a 12-year period, global demand for sound recordings, over a 9-year period, and the share of sales and production of albums with Canadian content or companies under Canadian and foreign control. Also check out the Canada Music Fund - a government-sponsored program, which supports the sound recording industry by providing production, distribution, and marketing assistance. There's a good overview of the Canadian sound recording industry here, offering a variety of statistical details.

Eurostat, the official site of the European Union, contains this 133-pagepdf report entitled, ‘European Business: Facts & Figures �$(H C�(Bonsumer Goods & Media. Look for a concise snapshot of the music recording industry in the EU, beginning on page 125. The annually-issued report is dated 2004. Europa's music section is also worthy of a look. You'll find council resolutions and policy information with respect to composing and disseminating music and music professionals.

The UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) contains some basic industry facts and figures, regarding exports and growth barriers facing small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the industry. For a more detailed report on SMEs and the music industry, check out the department's ‘Banking on a hit' report, published in 2001. National Statistics �$(H t�(Bhe official statistical agency of Great Britain �$(H i�(Bs the place to go for comprehensive retail sales data. Sales of CDs, LPs, cassettes, and singles, from 1971 to 2001, are available for download in xls format. Also look for music sales by age and other social trends. The report, dated 2002, presents a bar chart along with a table, representing UK album and singles' sales, broken down by age group (e.g., 12-19, 20-29, 30-39, etc.).

One Japanese governmental site worthy of a look is the Japan External Trade Association (JETRO). JETRO's Web site contains a good market information section with detailed industry reports. Some of the reports are available in full-text, while others are only available in outline form. The Audio/Video Software report falls into the latter, and includes a 3-page outline offering statistics on Japanese imports, production and shipments for CDs, analog format records and video software products. The report is dated 2003 and is available for download as a pdf file.

There are an endless amount of fanzines, published on the Web, by devotees of various musical artists or genres. Then there are authoritative music industry publications, offering chart (e.g., top 20 albums) information, news, artist bios, and the like. The latter of these will be included in this section devoted to industry trade publications.

Billboard magazine has been the industry standard for more than 50 years, offering more than 40 different rankings of the top songs, albums, compilations, and tours, across all musical genres. The magazine is published weekly, in print, and updated daily on the Web. Much of the meaty content here is for paying subscribers only, however, daily industry news stories are free of charge. Billboard.Biz does contain free headlines with respect to business and finance, digital, legal and management, touring and venues, DVD/video, and retailing and marketing. Most of Billboard's charts are available here as well, however, the full list of certain rankings (e.g., top 200 albums) are available to subscribers only. Year-end chart information, for the previous year, is available in full. Other free content includes album reviews, feature stories on artists, a tour search database, classified ads, an industry calendar of events, and industry awards' details.

Pollstar is the voice of the worldwide live concert industry. The weekly trade magazine contains tour schedules, ticket sales data, industry directories, and concert news. News stories are updated daily on the Web and are provided free of charge. Also free are tour schedules, for individual performers, the current top 50 Pollstar acts, updated every Friday, concert photos, and an online ticket marketplace.

Radio & Records (R&R) is published, in print, 51 times per year. The paper is recognized for its music airplay (radio) data as well as for its coverage of business and marketing news within the music and radio industries. Data, for R&R's charts, is collected from more than 1000 of the leading radio stations in the United States, across more than 10 musical genres. The site includes music news, updated twice daily, current charts' data, for all genres, industry transactions, mergers, and acquisitions, and R&R's searchable directory of companies, programs and services. Users can browse a subject directory or search by name of business. Entries include address, phone, fax, url, and the names of top executives.

Two publications, Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, generally associated with the movie business, both provide music industry news on their respective Web sites. Variety.com does not offer free full-text articles, but rather blurbs of industry news, concert reviews, columns, and special reports. There is a good categorized list of links, to music industry sites, available free of charge. The Hollywood reporter provides free full-text breaking news stories, columns, reviews, the weekly top 10 albums, courtesy of Soundscan, and several other top lists, including the top movie soundtracks, provided by Billboard magazine.

There are several genre-specific publications, targeted to fans and industry professionals alike. Rolling Stone, the flagship pop music journal, and Spin are two of the industry's most well known, although both cater more to the fan than to the executive. Rolling Stone is issued twice per month, in print, and news stories are updated daily on the Web. Rolling Stone, a Wenner Media publication, has partnered with RealNetworks, a digital music provider, whereby RealNetworks now maintains the Rollingstone.com Web site. The agreement allows the music software firm to sell music via RealNetworks RealPlayer media player. The site also provides access to rankings of the top albums, songs, and artists, according to Realnetworks, The Record Store. Spin magazine has a reputation for being a bit edgier than its more famous counterpart, Rolling Stone. The magazine is published monthly and has a base circulation of more than 500,000. The site includes full-text features from the most current edition as well as online exclusives, an artist photo gallery, album reviews, and an article archive dating back 1 year.

Music Row magazine caters to the Nashville music scene. Targeted to professionals in the country music industry, the monthly trade journal is distributed, in print, 12 times per year. The Web site offers free full-text features, from the most current edition, as well as charting data, updated weekly, album reviews, and an industry events' calendar. A searchable article archive is available as well.

Gramophone is an 80+-year old magazine, focusing on classical music. The online version offers industry news, a searchable directory of recommended recordings, current as well as past Gramophone award winners, a searchable directory of UK-based distribution companies and labels, obituaries of classical artists, and free access to the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, searchable by keyword.

JazzTimes provides daily news, concert reviews, a weekly updated list of new and reissue releases, global jazz events' listings, artist bios, and a nice list of jazz-related links.

Topix.net, which publishes industry news portals for more than 100 industrial sectors, offersMusic Industry News, covering all musical genres. Articles are updated daily and include cross-references to related stories. World News Network is home to a variety of news portals, including Musik Fm. The site includes music industry headlines, lead paragraphs and links to full-text stories, culled from various news organizations on the Web. Hip-hop, soul, reggae, jazz, pop, blues, rock, country, and folk are all represented here. TheMusic Industry News Network features current business, tech, label, video, and radio news as well as career announcements (i.e., executive hirings), new music releases, band news, Web music events, and top headlines for Latin and urban music.

Music Business Canada is sponsored by the Canadian Independent Record Production Association (CIRPA). The site includes current industry news stories and four primers (music industry, copyright, technology, international marketing), on how the music business in Canada works. The international marketing primer contains some excellent country-specific information for 10 of the largest markets in the world.

Music Tank is a UK-based business initiative of the University of Westminster and 14 British music industry organizations, including BPI, the Music Publishers Association, the Music Producers Guild, and the Music Managers Forum. Check out the industry facts and figures section here for a lengthy list of links to industry market research and statistics, as well as an annotated list of industry organizations.

With the advent of digital music and the Internet, copyright has become the hot topic in and around the industry. Aside from the many organizations, mentioned above, which provide distribution rights for artists and publishers, there are several global institutions and national government agencies, which are concerned with music copyright issues, across international borders. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) is a U.S. �$(H b�(Based coalition, consisting of six trade organizations, which seeks to protect U.S. copyrighted material. The scope of the organization extends beyond the music industry, but there is some good information to be found here. The statistics section provides regional information with respect to losses due to copyright piracy. Each pdf report contains an entry for records and music. There are also country-specific reports as well as a special report on global copyright protection and enforcement.

The United Nations' UNESCO Cultural Center devotes an entire section of their site to the issue of copyright. Look for a collection of national copyright laws as well as a copyright bulletin, and the official text of the Universal Copyright Convention, held in Geneva in 1952.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an agency of the United Nations, with 180 member countries, responsible for administering various international treaties, regarding intellectual property protection. The site provides a list of national copyright offices, which includes urls, and several downloadable copyright-related publications.

The U.S. Copyright Office Web site offers a copyright ‘101,' a ‘how to' guide, complete with downloadable registration forms, on registering sound recordings, the full text of copyright laws , and various digital performance rights' downloads. Additional reports and studies include annual reports, detailing, in the appendices and tables sections, the total published and unpublished sound recording registrations.

An interesting study, commissioned by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, discusses the impact of digital music file sharing and CD sales. The full text of the study, which is not in line with the current view, held by the recording industry, can be found on the UNC site.

Any music industry pathfinder would be incomplete without mentioning the two premiere music video broadcasting channels - MTV and VH1. MTV's presence on the Web includes more than 20 international sites, from Brazil to the UK. Each site contains unique content and is available in the native country's language (e.g., the Polish site is not available in English). Navigation to these portals is available through MTV International. Look for industry news headlines, free full-text stories, artist tour dates, and chart data with respect to the top 20 videos, the top 20 bands, and the top 20 video streams. There are also links to MTV genre-specific portals for indie, hip hop, pop, rock, and soul/R&B. VH1 also provides industry news, chart data, tour dates, and artist bios and news.

Finally, one music industry trade show, devoted entirely to the international music market, worth mentioning is MIDEM, sponsored by Reed Exhibitions, and held annually in Cannes, France. Attendees include labels, managers, record companies, agents, importers/exporters, promoters, producers, retailers, venture capitalists, CD/DVD manufacturers, wireless companies, and industry bodies. The site includes a searchable database of show participants and exhibitors, as well as MIDEM press releases, and detailed information with respect to attending the next MIDEM show.