Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 100

Record Store Day: A Brief Financial History

Record Store Day: Tables are turning.

Five years ago, things weren’t looking so good for vinyl records. Annual sales of LPs in the U.S. had dipped below 1 million for the first time in a decade, and record giant Tower had just gone out of business. Independent stores were likely next.

Michael Kurtz, a longtime music producer and technician, was sitting around with a bunch of record store owners trying to brainstorm ideas to reverse that trend when Chris Brown of Bull Moose Music suggested dedic...

How Pomplamoose Got Lucky With Apple’s iTunes

Pomplamoose: Getting lucky with iTunes.

This story appears in the May 7, 2012 issue of Forbes Magazine, on newsstands now.

While most indie acts use a distributor like INgrooves, a plucky few have launched successful careers without a middleman—including Jack Conte, 27, and Nataly Dawn, 25, of Pom­pla­moose in Sonoma, Calif.

The duo gained Internet fame by covering songs originally recorded by ­Be­yoncé and Lady Gaga, playing all the instruments and singing all vocals themselves. In 2010 employe...

INgrooves: Proof You Can Make Money On Music, Even If You’re Not Apple

Label Maker: INgrooves' Robb McDaniels.

This story appears in the May 7, 2012 issue of Forbes Magazine, on newsstands now.

It’s nearly noon at the Hotel San José, and music executives are still stumbling through the courtyard, casualties of the previous night’s festivities. The entire industry has descended upon Austin, Tex. for a week of schmoozing and boozing at South By Southwest.

Robb McDaniels, 37-year-old founder and CEO of digital music ­distributor ­INgrooves, is in slightly ­better sh...

Dick Clark, Music Industry Trailblazer, Dead At Age 82

Dick Clark, music industry visionary.

The music industry lost one of its most influential members today when Dick Clark passed away at age 82.Clark’s agent issued a statement saying the venerable host died of a “massive heart attack.”

Clark is best known for launching the shows “American Bandstand” and “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” Along the way, he changed how the world discovered and consumed music.

Launched in 1952, “Bandstand” introduced generations of listeners to Top 40 music and the artists b...

The Forbes Five: Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists 2012

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Click for full photo gallery: Hip-Hop's Wealthiest Artists 2012

Back in 2007, Jay-Z, Diddy and 50 Cent released “I Get Money (The Forbes 1-2-3 Billionaire Remix).” The song was a celebration of the artists’ inclusion atop the first-ever Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, now an annual package on the genre’s top-earning artists.It seems fitting that those same three artists find themselves in an even more exclusive group—the Forbes Five, a short list of hip-hop’s wealthiest moguls.

Inde...

Forbes Five Vs. Hip-Hop Cash Kings: What’s The Difference?

see photosBorbay 2011

Click for full photo gallery: Seven Hip-Hop Cash Kings On Canvas

Five years ago FORBES released its first-ever Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, and a slew of lyrical mentions followed. In 2007, Jay-Z, Diddy and 50 Cent released “I Get Money (The Forbes 1-2-3 Billion Dollar Remix).” Akon followed with“Forbes Cash King” in 2009; the following year, Bruno Mars and Travie McCoy released “Billionaire.”According toRapGenius.com, the name “Forbes” has now shown up in 39 different songs.

M...

Jay-Z And Kanye West’s Maybach Tax Deduction

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Click for full photo gallery: Hip-Hop Cash Kings 2007-2011

Ever dream of ripping the roof off an ultra-luxury sedan and cruising around with a bunch of models and Aziz Ansari? Apparently Jay-Z and Kanye West did—and when you’re among hip-hop’s richest artists, it’s not only an attainable dream, but one that can lop six figures off your tax bill.

Last year the Watch the Throne rappers took a blowtorch to a 2004 Maybach 57S, which retails for over $350,000, as part of th...

Iridium Rising: After Losing Patron Saint, A Jazz Club Diversifies

New York's Iridium, longtime home of Les Paul.

It’s a typical Monday night at New York’s Iridium jazz club, and without a visual of the stage, one might assume a Simon & Garfunkel reunion is taking place. Though the strains of “Sounds of Silence” emanate from the stage, Paul and Art are nowhere to be found—just multi-instrumentalist Stanley Jordan, who happens to be singing while playing guitar and piano at the same time.

Jordan is a master of one-handed guitar play (achieved by tapping forcefu...

David Banner Samples Kickstarter For New Album

David Banner: Kickstarting the hip-hop business model.

David Banner isn't the sort of person who checks his cell phone at dinner. The Mississippi-born rapper-actor-producer makes a point of being a true Southern gentleman; he'll tell you that two of his top priorities are honesty and punctuality.

But tonight at a West Village cafe, he just can't contain himself. He tilts the screen of his iPhone in my direction to reveal a series of PayPal notifications—increments of $2, $5, $20—all headed...

Back On Track: How Train Went From Hiatus To Hits

Train at the 2011 Grammy Awards.

When a band takes an "indefinite hiatus," it's usually the same as a couple taking a "break" from a romantic relationship–a way of slowly, and perhaps less painfully, winding down a union.

But sometimes, things work out. That's been the case for Train, which went on hiatus from 2006-2009, only to come roaring back with the hit "Hey Soul Sister." Now on the road again and grossing nearly $200,000 per city, the band is set to release another new album...