Here’s the article…

Brian Wallace is a social media consultant. He authors a blog at nowsourcing.com/blog.

With the economy showing no signs of bouncing back in 2009, consumers will inevitably be searching for channels of escapism, means to momentarily forget their everyday woes, financial and otherwise. Although most e-businesses are bracing for the worst, herein lies a tremendous opportunity for growth in the online entertainment industry.

Admittedly, the concept of a singular online entertainment industry is a bit overwhelming, for its segments are diverse and sprawling: websites ranging from e-production companies to video aggregators to web 2.0 entertainment news portals can all be classified under the industry’s umbrella. But despite the industry’s breadth, which is evolving at this very moment and in need of constant re-definition, there’s still a formula for success moving forward in a rocky economy.

April 24, 2008

Need Money for Your New Album?
Just saw this one come through as a comment to an earlier post…

i have a radio promotion  company   wit distribution  thats willing to give my company  75 percent of the retail price and take my single and promote it to the national chart radio stations i just need somebody to invest into my company

Not exactly sure if he’s talking about radio promotion company that is going to charge him 75% of the normal cost of promotion or, considering he mentions distribution, if there is some other kind of deal, where he’s able to keep 75% of the retail price of albums sold.  Either way, my point is this…

You can’t really expect somebody to invest money in your business if you’re not willing to invest your own money (or at le”

(Via Music Marketing [dot] com: Need Money for Your New Album?.)

However, how will new acts find their fans? Is social media going to be the answer or one step on the way? Here are 3 companies that have recieved funding. You might find them interesting.

(Via Techcrunch: Record Labels Strategically Invest $2.8M in MOG.)

(Via MySpace, Major Labels Join Forces for Online Music Store | Listening Post from Wired.com.)

Seth’s Blog: Music lessons: “”

(Via Seth’s Blog: Music lessons.)

(Via Digital Music Sales Up, but Industry Still Lagging.)

(Via Major Labels Allow P2P Sharing of Their Music on QTrax.)

Bebo has tons of users, an open developers platform, support for Facebook apps, and users that are apparently fairly responsive to the new apps. What more could this social network ask for? Well, in deepening its relationships with its users and branching out on more partnership opportunities in order to bring new options to its members, Bebo has teamed up with Music Nation to hold music contests in a new segment called Bebo OnStage.

This will work much like Music Nation’s main site, where users are ‘pitted’ against each other in head-2-head battles, letting the community choose the winner. In offering its service to Bebo, Music Nation gets wider exposure to a global audience, and Bebo gets a ready-made, socially involved tool for engaging users and making itself even more popular by helping an independent artist to launch their career.

For Bebo OnStage, this partnership brings about a wealth of new opportunities for the artists, as the joint effort between Bebo and Music Nation will result in grand prizes like a chance to perform at the SXSW conference next month, and a record deal with Original Signal/Epic Records. This particular contest is the one that’s kicking off Bebo OnStage, with voting beginning on February 11th.

Even with the previous partnerships Bebo has participated in, none have really established the social network as being on the same level as MySpace when it comes to transitioning individuals into a level of stardom. Taking such a focus on music could help Bebo grow in this area, especially as MySpace is ramping up its own efforts to offer original content across its multiple platforms, and has just unveiled its developer platform.

(Via Bebo Teams with Music Nation to Launch Artists’ Careers.)