From the blog of Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail: "At a speech last week I was asked a question that has come up every day since the Radiohead (and Madonna, NIN, Prince, etc., etc.) announcement: What's going to happen to the music industry?

"To which I answered 'Which music industry?' You don't mean just the one that sells CDs, do you? Because it's a big mistake to equate the major labels and their plastic disc business with the industry as a whole. Indeed, when you stand back and look at all of music, things don't look so bad at all.

"Indeed, it appears that every single part of the music industry except the sale of compact discs is up.

* Concerts and merchandise: UP (+4%)
* Digital tracks: UP (+46%)
* Ringtones: UP (+86% last year, but probably just single-digit percent this year)
* Licensing for commercials, TV shows, movies and videogames: UP (Warner Music saw licensing grow by about $20 million over the past year)
* Even vinyl singles (think DJs): UP (more than doubled in the UK)
* And, if you include the iPod in the music industry, as I'd argue a fair-minded analysis would: UP, UP, UP! (+31% this year)

"Only CDs are down (-18%). They're around 60% of the industry not including the MP3 players, but just around 25% if you do include them.

"So the problem with the music labels is not that music is an industry in decline, but that they have a too-narrow view of what business they're in...

"I think most music will soon be free, as artists give away the product as marketing for their performances and licensing...

"And for those who say that this avenue is only available to artists at the head of the curve, such as Madonna and Radiohead... The many thousands of bands who fall below the radar of the hit-driven majors... have nothing to lose by letting their music go free, nothing to lose but the prospect of becoming indentured to companies stuck in last century's model of monetizing music."

Read this entry from Chris Anderson's blog, also called The Long Tail, here.

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BY DAN McSWAIN
Broadcast software maker RCS is working with Nokia to further develop the Visual Radio product for radio listeners and mobile device users.

Visual Radio enables mobile device users to receive FM radio broadcasts with synchronized interactive graphical content. The Visual Radio platform displays information on artists, upcoming concert dates and other music-related topics on the phone while simultaneously playing live FM broadcasts.

The new enhanced version has an eye on synched advertising, allowing radio stations to transmit visual advertisements at the same time listeners hear the spots on radio.

RCS also announced that the RadioShow software behind the new product will be available for use across multiple digital platforms including HD Radio, Internet radio, DAB Digital Radio, and others.

From Wired's Listening Post blog: "Another entrant to the field of personalized music streaming, Jango allows you to create a station in seconds, using an artist name. 

"Entering one artist name brings up a list of related artists, which you can then add to your station...

"Once your station is playing, you can rate songs to continue customizing your stations, or you can rate more songs quickly in a big list...  Below  the playback window, you see a rotating cast of other Jango users who listen to similar music, along with the song one of their stations is playing;...

"In the current constellation of social media sites, Jango sits somewhere in the Pandora/Last.FM area, with a generous helping of Facebook.  When the site launches (scheduled for November 12), those sites could face new competition..."

Read the entire post at the Listening Post blog.

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