Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 91

Top-Earning American Idols 2012

see photosMichael Becker/FOX

Click for full photo gallery: The 10 Top-Earning American Idols of 2012

American Idol first aired on June 11, 2002—when Scotty McCreery was eight years old. Now 19, he’s nearly two years removed from winning the show, and he’s already living up to its lofty title.

After receiving a $250,000 record deal as part of his Idol victory package, McCreery smashed expectations with his debut album, Clear As Day, which sold over 1 million copies. The teenager quickly took adva...

Apple’s iTunes Is Quietly Losing Some Of Its Luster

Apple's late cofounder, Steve Jobs, conquered the music industry. But for iTunes, the future now looks more cloudy.

Disappointing earnings news took a bite out of Apple‘s stock price Wednesday–shares of the world’s biggest company fell 11% in late trading yesterday, and they’re down againtoday.

Though sales rose 18% to $54.5billion in the last quarter of 2012,Wall Street analysts seized on the company’s weaker-than-expected growth in sales of iPhones, which totaled 47.8 million units, less than...

How To Make A Living In The Modern Music Business

see photosAP

Click for full photo gallery: 12 Music Jobs That Can Pay Six Figures

Buoyed by selling a chunk of his eponymous headphone line, Dr. Dre pulled in $110 million last year. His earnings were easily the most of any rapper, rocker or pop star in the world—and, according to a recent report released by Berklee College of Music, about 2,000 times what the average musician earned in 2012.

Dr. Dre made the bulk of his money on headphones, but he also raps, produces and plays the occasional co...

Will Lip-Gate Hurt Beyonce’s Brand? Of Course Not.

[image error]

Beyonce: Star-spangled scammer? Doesn't matter.

After looking at this morning’s news headlines, one might have thought Beyoncé was the musical equivalent of Lance Armstrong. The tabloids in New York reported that she lip-synced the national anthem at Barack Obama‘s inauguration, with the Postlabeling the performance “Sham-elot” and the Daily Newsdeclaring Jay-Z‘s wife the “Star-Spangled Scammer,” both on their front page.

It seems likely that Beyoncé did indeed lip-sync the anthem. According to...

Why Focusing On Digital Sales Won’t Save HMV

HMV: The music is about to stop.

Among the landmarks of my adolescence, HMV stands tall. I remember walking down to the store on 86th and Lexington to buy Americana by The Offspring the day it came out–November 17th, 1998–as well as the sensation of crinkling cellophane and the strangely delicious smell of freshly-printed liner notes.That store was replaced with a Best Buy years ago, and nowit seems that HMV itself is headed the way of the CD.

The British retailer announced yesterday that it ha...

Justin Timberlake And Jay-Z: A New Model For A New Music Industry

Justin Timberlake, with suit & tie.

Early this morning, just seconds after the clock struck midnight, hordes of Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z fans all around the world put on a suit and tie.

Though both stars boast their own clothing lines, last night’s activities weren’t the result of a new formal sleepwear collaboration. The duo did, however, debut something else: a new song literally titled “Suit & Tie.”The track features production by Timbaland, who crafted the sound behind Timberlake’s last...

Destiny’s Child’s Old New Album, Bruno Mars’ Spotify Record And Other Music News

Destiny's Child: Big news, old music.

It’s been quite a week for new music announcements. David Bowie shocked the establishment with “Where Are We Now?” and word of a new album in March; Justin Timberlake launched an elaborate tease video indicating he’s set to do the same; and, to perhaps the most fanfare of all, Destiny’s Child revealed they’d be releasing a new album for the first time in eight years.

But before you start blasting “Say My Name” on repeat, take a step back and read the fine p...

Whitney Houston, EDM, Vinyl: Inside The Music Stats of 2012

see photos

Click for full photo gallery: The World's Highest-Paid DJs

Last week the Nielsen Company and Billboard released their annual year-end report on music sales. And for industry watchers, it was seven pages of pure statistical deliciousness.

The boldface highlights have already been trumpeted. As measured by Nielsen SoundScan, overall music sales reached an another all-time high, with unit sales increasing 3.1% over last year. Overall album sales dipped 4.4%, from 331 million in 2011 to 3...

From Justin Bieber To Michael Jackson: My Top Stories of 2012

Turn the television or head to your favorite web site this time of year and you’ll likely be bombarded with “Best of 2012″ lists. Allow me to add to the din.Below, you’ll find links to some of my most significant stories of the past year here at Forbes.

Highlights include a cover story on Justin Bieber’s budding career as a venture capitalist, a feature on the rise of Skrillex and EDM, a postdetailing my encounter with Jay-Z (in which the rapper tells me the book I wrote about him was “horribl...

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Perhaps To A Court Near You

Santa Claus: Making a contract, checking it twice. Or more.

Christmas is nigh–and as usual, it’s bringing heaps of songwriting royalties for the owners of songs like “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”

That jolly ditty, written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie in 1934, has been recorded by artists from Bing Crosby to Justin Bieber and continues to garner considerable airplay.Last week three different versions of the song (recordings by Bruce Springsteen, Michael Bublé and the Jackson 5)...