A VC - Latest Comments in Smart Move

Re: Smart Move

Web Design — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:38:08 -0000

you must have had a fun time... and a very economical deal on the music.. no doubt a good move

Re: Smart Move

Michael Christoff — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:03:58 -0000

i'd be much more impressed by ticketmaster if they stopped charging such absurd fees

Re: Smart Move

fredwilson — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:16:08 -0000

Did I say iphone instead of ipod? Must have been a freudian slip because I still use an ipod for music. But I did get an iphone 3g last tuesday. I've yet to use it but I got it because we are actively investing in the iphone platform and I can't comfortably invest in service I don't actively use

Re: Smart Move

sarah_s — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:00:31 -0000

tilly & the wall's label make their albums available for free download (in their entirety) on their website -- the new one isn't up yet but the other ones are.

Re: Smart Move

jaredstill — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:53:53 -0000

Fred,

Wait...what? When did you get an iPhone? Did you get a 2.0? I thought you took back the one you got from the wife & kids.

Btw, I love my iPhone. But as I explain to people it's because my usage is much like yours that you profiled a few weeks back (text, email, iPod, contacts/calendar)...however, the simplicity of the phone U/I and the ear bud headphones have me actually placing/taking a few more calls than normal!

Take care

Re: Smart Move

fredwilson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:52:05 -0000

I love the bowery ballroom so that's my first choice when people want to go
see live music with me

So I went to boweryballroom.com and saw that tilly was playing and then went
to hypem to check them out

Re: Smart Move

fredwilson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:38:08 -0000

They are a lot of fun in concert

Re: Smart Move

fredwilson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:38:07 -0000

Wow. Thanks.

Re: Smart Move

fredwilson — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:31:10 -0000

i did

in less than 24 hours, i heard of the band, i got into them, got some songs on my ipod, and then saw them live

that's awesome

Re: Smart Move

kidmercury — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:25:14 -0000

you should have all music downloads free, not just 8 of them, and they shouldnt be coming from a crappy company like apple, but rather from a music broadcaster (like yourself) or from the artist directly (though i think many artists will become music broadcasters to maximize the attention they get from their audience). in sum, it won't be a proper new economy world until we get a lot more stuff for free. but we'll get there sooner or later.

Re: Smart Move

kenberger — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:07:02 -0000

I have long been in both awe and disgust over the monopolistic stranglehold that TM seems to still hold over the industry. Tough to think of a web-based company more ripe for disruption by a new competitor than they. And yet I can't resist paying their egregious fees for convenience.

Eric's new company is more than capable of powering part of such a disruptor and many others, and def the guy to pull it off!

Re: Smart Move

G-man — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:18:26 -0000

Fred,
I may have missed this, but are you now using an iPhone? And is it the 3G version? Has your view on the iPhone changed over time?

Re: Smart Move

hud — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:04:59 -0000

I'd recommend getting there in time for Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. saw him in June at Southpaw opening up for Deer Tick and he was great. listen/dload at RcrdLbl: http://bit.ly/MBAR

like most i have nothing positive to say for TicketMaster: after years of outrageously high convenience charges and aggro biz practices, there is only hatred. and then when i have little choice but to use it, i'm given two 'free' songs on iTunes? it doesn't ameliorate the situation and only increases my severe distaste for Ticketmaster, to put it mildly.

Re: Smart Move

fredwilson — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:57:09 -0000

I love ben kweller and his music. Different strokes for different folks I guess

Re: Smart Move

Harry David — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:31:46 -0000

Why the hell buy at Ticketmaster when there are fee-free tickets at the box office? Sounds a bit pointless to me.

Tilly is alright, personally I enjoyed the guitarist's side project (Flowers Forever) at Lightspeed Champion more.

Ben Kweller is a talentless bore who plays off of bad pop rock stereotypes. Both the music and lyrics are horrible and don't step out of his crappy comfort zone.

I try to avoid Bowery events as much as possible and go to the smaller, independent venues. Their takeover is making me sick.

Re: Smart Move

pedalpete — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:30:03 -0000

I think you left out one thing in this post Fred. How did you find out that Tilly and the Wall where playing in NYC? Where you familiar with the band already?
As I have a start-up in alpha (www.hearwhere.com) which connects music fans with live music anywhere in the world and plays tracks of the artists, I'm curious as to what tool you use to discover and decide what shows to see.
The Hype Machine is a great tool as well - in no way am I taking anything away from them, but I don't see how you would really use it to find live music, so I assume that is not what you where insinuating.

Re: Smart Move

markslater — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:24:18 -0000

i absolutely despise them as well. and no i don't believe the music industry has meta morphed yet. while progress has been made on discovery, consumption is still confused, and ticket master has replaced the labels in controlling the only meaningful revenue opportunity for an artist by monopolizing the distribution.

Re: Smart Move

ToddC — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:26:42 -0000

I despise Ticketmaster. Money is in live music, I just wish it wasn't in non refundable service charges for such an automated process. Hopefully the breakup of Ticketmaster and LiveNation might shake things up a bit.

Re: Smart Move

Ian Bell — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:58:47 -0000

What you've illustrated (and this is obvious for some) is that the entire game has turned. The commodity of recorded music exists to promote ticketed events. Used to be the other way round. Lazy old hacks like Metallica want to sit on their ass for years and buy Ferraris with the proceeds from a few weeks' work without supporting the sale in any way. Jason Schwartzman has his own band, and when you buy the CD he includes a unique polaroid that he personally took somewhere on tour or at his home. The music business favours the hard working, once again.

Re: Smart Move

Jeff — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:59:52 -0000

Hard to say those iTunes tracks were free. How much were service charges on each ticket?

Re: Smart Move

nickdavis — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:42:40 -0000

Fred, I must say that you made an absolutely perfect choice. Tilly is so unique, their songs so catchy, and their three sirens so mesmerising.

Tilly is probably my favorite band right now. If you want to get into a full album, start with Bottoms of Barrels.

-Nick

Re: Smart Move

A3Munier — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:14:26 -0000

hi fred, this might interest you. free music download by kings of leonhttp://www.thevine.com....

Re: Smart Move

gregorylent — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:48:17 -0000

you are like your wife! (when you go to a foreign country, it is helpful to plan ahead. :-))

man, i love to be blown away by newness. nothing like a new band (or a new city) discovered fresh and live.

but i digress from your subject matter, which, i guess is that ticketmaster is not entirely evil

have a great time

Re: Smart Move

BillSeitz — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:27:27 -0000

With those $15 service charges, I think TicketMaster can afford it.

Re: Smart Move

Farhan Lalji — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:59:36 -0000

Like people have been saying the money is in the tours and merchandise, so give the music away, expose more people to the artists and get them to spend on higher quality, priced goods. Hopefully, we'll see more of this kind of behaviour.