A 128k AAC file is the equivalent of a 196k mp3

Ask any manufacturer or retailer what you need to succeed in business and they will tell you price, quality and availability (customer service helps too which is the last hope for the high street, so why are British shops so rubbish at it?). Amazon scored three out of three for me so my bargain bin search has just moved online.

Insurance companies won’t insure further stock to be delivered to EUK on financial uncertainty grounds. At the moment, EUK is paying up front for all the stock it can afford to buy in. Obviously, the priority is on major record label releases i.e. the big sellers. Let’s not forget that as we enter what the industry dub’s Q4 (4th quarter of the year, the most single important time for the music industry due to the holiday gift market) is also important for EUK and the administrators. I have heard from various reliable sources that Zavvi isn’t looking too healthy at the moment. but it can all really change.

A tweet conversation I had with Pete Ashton (twitter.com/peteashton) last night was great because he pointed out his perception of Zavvi as a “bonbin”, a place for 3 for £20 cd’s (now lower). But the “bobbin” market is really important to record sales this time of year because albums are dropping in price faster, new releases such as Kings of Leon can be found there, and even though its a new release and doing well in the chart, you can get it cheap along with other cd’s that would make good gifts for other people “Oh they wanted that cd”.

I had a conversation today with an independent retailer today who said business was better than ever, so the long tail in terms of different music (more people going into independent record stores and coming across music apart from Girls Aloud), which is brilliant (because the majors, and retailers, in a sense have ruined the retail shopping experience for many due to paying for promotional space).

So yes, on some levels, the longtail market is going to do well but in other ways, it’s going to be damaged (EUK prioritizing major releases over indies).

The outcome from administration might be a buy-out or refinancing; the administrators would only wind up a company as a last resort because, inevitably, selling off the tangible assets of a company will realise less value to pay the creditors than keeping the company trading.

D’oh.

why should we listen to endless rehashings and re-inventions of artists who’s careers have played themselves out, or who were one hit wonders in the first place, just b/c the industry has had a stranglehold on radio and media and retail outlets.

it’ll be excitting to see how this unfolds. probably 1000 indy artists could support themselves on what madonna or britney make in a year.