If you are new to web design, maybe you are thinking: “Why do I have to limit to that small set of fonts?  I have a large collection of nice fonts in my computer.”  As seasoned web designers already know, browsers can use only the fonts installed in the same computer, so it means that every visitor of your web page needs to have all the fonts you want to use installed in his/her computer.  Different people will have different fonts installed, thus the need for a standard set of fonts.

The list
First, a few introductory notes:

• The names in grey are the generic family of each font.
• In some cases the Mac equivalent is the same font, since Mac OS X also includes some of the fonts shipped with Windows.
• The notes at the bottom contains specific information about some of the fonts.

1 Georgia and Trebuchet MS are bundled with Windows 2000/XP and they are also included in the IE font pack (and bundled with other MS applications), so they are quite common in Windows 98 systems.

2 Symbolic fonts are only displayed in Internet Explorer, in other browsers a font substitute is used instead (although the Symbol font does work in Opera and the Webdings works in Safari).

3 Book Antiqua is almost exactly the same font that Palatino Linotype, Palatino Linotype is included in Windows 2000/XP while Book Antiqua was bundled with Windows 98.

4 These fonts are not TrueType fonts but bitmap fonts, so they won’t look well when using some font sizes (they are designed for 8, 10, 12, 14, 18 and 24 point sizes at 96 DPI).

5 These fonts work in Safari but only when using the normal font style, and not with bold or italic styles. Comic Sans MS works in bold but not in italic. Other Mac browsers seems to emulate properly the styles not provided by the font (thanks to Christian Fecteau for the tip).

6 These fonts are present in Mac OS X only if Classic is installed.

The author, who appears to be anonymous with no noticeable credit given anywhere on the site, first gives us this little gem:

“If AC/DC’s Black Ice performs, it could have serious long-term consequences for the pre-eminent position of iTunes as a music retailer.”

This is a stretch of the imagination.  iTunes has pushed 5 billion tracks since 2003, without the help of many top selling artists or must have albums.  The impact of AC/DC’s new album on the service will be negligible.

The article continues:

“Because iTunes steadfastly refuses to “lock” any album..”

False.  iTunes has consistently made deals with movie studios and other entities to lock soundtracks.  These deals seem to fluctuate with certain albums locking then unlocking, but you can see a current example for yourself by examining the album: Deadwood - Music from the HBO Original Series or the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack.  If the author had bothered to do minimal research they would have discovered the same.  However, this isn’t the most glaring error.  The author then goes on to state:

“Though the Beatles’ back catalogue is still not available on iTunes, this will be the first time in the music store’s short history that it will be deprived of a major current release.”

WRONG!  The Eagles Long Road Out Of Eden, one of last year’s most anticipated and biggest selling albums, was sold as a Walmart exclusive and denied iTunes placement.   There have been further examples from this year including Kid Rock’s Rock’n'Roll Jesus.

The article meanders on with another one of these

“The release of Black Ice will be a major blow for iTunes’ claim to be the world’s biggest music retailer..”

Which we’ve already covered, but then we learn

“a more significant threat to the company takes place when the mobile phone company Nokia begin to sell their new “Comes With Music” phone in UK stores.”

Instead of rehashing why this is an ignorant, pandering comment, I’ll leave it to the good folks at ArsTechnica who walked through Nokia’s service in a recent column.

So there you have it - another ridiculous article from the Telegraph lacking any true substance and packed with hyperbole and blatantly wrong information..  The lesson here?  We could all stand to be a lot pickier about what we read each day, and a lot more critical.  The time of hype and spin is over for the music industry - anyone who wants to succeed needs to cut through to the meat of the issues and make good, intelligent decisions based on the data.

Links
The Telegraph Article
Nokia’s Comes With Music won’t worry Apple… yet

While it likely won’t go down in any history books of authority, and many will laugh at even the thought of it, today something monumental happened.  MTV has canceled it’s long running program Total Request Live, better known as TRL.

Immediately, you ask “why is this important?”  TRL represented the height of late 90s “old media promotion strategy” where a hip, youth-oriented program is created and quickly deployed to reach critical viewer mass.  That program is then exploited by any major entertainment player to promote their latest release, and kids flock to the store or theater that week to buy it.  Advertisers fill in the gaps by pumping their teen products into the commercial breaks and PRESTO!…everyone makes money.  It was all too easy…so much so that copycat programs popped up everywhere, stealing the same format and production values.

Every entertainment “big shot” took those millions of young eyeballs for granted - assumed they would always be there, all focused on the same singular promotional vehicle.  No longer.

As we mark the fall of the last remnant of this once mighty strategy, it is truly fascinating to consider how much has changed.  The 12-25 demographic has since become a group forged in the fires of abundant choice and daily technological evolutions.  Instead of “one network to rule them all,” they are “all with networks from which to rule.”  In order to market to this group, you have to go to them.  They will not come to you.  Let me repeat that, they will NOT COME TO YOU.  There isn’t a network sticky enough to re-acquire the ratings TRL once boasted.  However, should you reach them, there’s little guarantee your message will even matter.  Simply being “mainstream” or “#1 on the charts” or a “fresh new brand” doesn’t have the pull it once had.

This is the business world we now live in, and as today’s teens become tomorrow’s baby boomer - their consumer habits WON’T go away.  Brand strategists and marketers HAVE to pick up their game in order to compete.  This means having a profile on every social network in existence, ceating campaigns that are experiences - not messages, and conducting focus groups on a weekly basis to see what kids find important and interesting.  It means actively using the sames tools they use, to understand their world through THEIR eyes.  Armed with this information you stand a fighting chance.

So celebrate the fall of TRL, but take a moment to truly appreciate what has taken its place.  The world is now a LOT more complicated.

This is a MAJOR win for Live Nation as they have now stolen Ticketmaster’s #2 client.  Earlier this year, Live Nation announced they would be ending their OWN client relationship with TM, taking all of that inventory of out TM’s system as well.  However, to truly appreciate the game changing nature of this move, you have to consider what TM has become.

When a company is allowed to exist as a near-monopoly for so many years, they become lazy, uninspired and reliant on a singular revenue stream.  Ticketmaster clearly fits the bill on all 3.  What’s worse for TM is that the “consumer at large” absolutely hates them.  Faced with no clear alternative in the market for so many years, concert fans begrudgingly paid the service fees to get their ticket.  TM’s internal mgt team not only hasn’t cared, but doesn’t even consider the ticket buyer as their customer!  To TM the venue and artist manager are customer and the ticket buyer be damned.  Case in point - TM will bend to the will of any manager who wants to pad their net revenue per ticket, but by RAISING the service fee.  TM will then provide that money as a kickback to the mgr.

Contrast that model to Live Nation, who’s main source of revenue is NOT service fees, but a blend of multiple revenue sources.  These are revenue sources where the fan actively participates and appreciates the business entities involved.  Coupled with exclusive ticketing rights for big name artists, LN has set a solid base from which to operate and actually REACT to consumer sentiment or changing trends.  They have also existed outside of a corporate umbrella, an uncomfortable situation for Ticketmaster who now finds itself  spun off from Barry Diller’s IAC.

Predictably, there will be those within the TM ecosystem who will tell you today’s announcement doesn’t hurt TM in the long run - that TM’s business is much bigger than just one client.  However, TM CEO Sean Moriarty was quick with his retort, “SMG lacks authority to make a deal on behalf of the municipally owned venues it runs because it is generally required to award services based on competitive bids.  We will continue to compete on an individual basis for all venues seeking ticketing services.”  Note to readers: Moriarty’s shotgun press releases always come from a place of panic.  Read between the lines and you see just how upset he is.

And so the great “Ticket Wars” wage on.  As we near the start of 2009, the world will be watching to see if and when Live Nation’s own ticketing platform takes off.  Until then, give LN their moment.  Today was the day the mighty Death Star was weakened.

Wall Street Journal Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122108892557921303.html

From ticketing and touring to production and distribution the “powers that be” in the recorded music industry are teetering on implosion.

Music sales continue to drastically decline, and ~40% of internet traffic is P2P.  The most profitable artists market to small niches, have low overhead, and cater to the direct needs of their followers.  This is the antithesis of the methodology of major music industry players.  They do it their way, get a huge marketing engine behind them, and hope to ram it down your throat with shelf space, promotions, and advertising.  Are they really thinking exclusives or better placement in “big box” retail spaces is going to solve the problem?

…The graph says you haven’t moved the dial…. Not this year, and certainly not in the last 5…

Of course, the Titanic can’t turn on a dime and getting the major labels on the same page is about as easy as turning back the hands of time.

As “propped up dinosaurs” and mega country bundles continue to rule the shed’s at $100 a ticket, the industry must prepare for the future… The current average age for concert-goers is approaching 50.  I mean, how many times can we keep rolling these folks out and charging exorbitant prices.  What’s the saturation point?  What happens when they retire?  Who are we cultivating as new major touring artists of the future?  Who is the BREAKOUT artist of 2008?

Could it be that major labels and concert promoters are one big catastrophe away from a financial tailspin from which they can’t pull out?  Multimillion dollar rights deals aren’t yet bonafide, and a few more years of hits to the bottom line of these mammoth companies can’t please investors… these companies aren’t Google of the early 00’s, shareholders need to see returns and a BLACK number at the bottom of financial statements.

I’ll end my rant, perhaps it’s my penchant to fight against authority, or my disdain for the huge organizations, red tape, and aristocracy, but I can’t help but see an opportunity for smaller organizations.

Find the cracks in the mold and exploit them, maximize your piece of the pie by looking where others aren’t.

Case in point:

I’m a new superfan of a band called Low vs. Diamond. They played ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ last week and just plain knocked me out. (This is why God invented TIVO, by the way.) They have a decidedly English vibe about them a la The Verve and/or The Kooks, but hail from the good ole US of A.

But to my point- I became a fan, wanted to learn and hear more, and made the mistake of visiting their official website to do so.

The first thing on the page is a banner promoting, not my new favorite band, but Epic Records. Clearly, they want me to click on the dropdown lists of artists I DIDN’T just come here to learn more about. Next is a link to “Videos.” “Low vs. Diamond videos?” you may ask. No. It’s a link to the “Videos” page on MyPlay.com, where Bow Wow, Daughtry and Alicia Keys are currently making an appearance, but not even a mention of the band I’m here to see.

Wait! There’s more!

Next up is a link to “Shop.” And you guessed it… It’s a link to the MyPlay store, where Michelle Williams is front and center. John Mayer, Neil Diamond and Billy Joel all make the list… and again, the band that sent me here is no where to be found.

Get the point? There are also links to contests, newsletters and an invitation to surf the web courtesy of Google. They make money on those searches, by the way. Sending visitors to ‘not this site’ is a very profitable business for young artists, I’m sure.

All of this and I haven’t even made it 5 centimeters down the page.

I won’t speak to the design aesthetic of the site as those things tend to be more about personal taste than “right vs. wrong.” I will note, however, that the links in the middle of the page that display news, tour dates, bio, etc, are not the same links, with the same headings, as those that appear at the bottom of the page. Those links take you back over to “MyPlay,” where the band’s bio reads, “… iTunes offers fans an opportunity to purchase the band’s upcoming self-titled album months before its release this summer.”

10 brownie points to the person that can spot what’s wrong with that statement. (Hint: the band has already released their album, summer isn’t months from now, and biographies shouldn’t contain date-relative statements if they aren’t going to be updated frequently. Obviously it’s been at least “months” since this version was posted.)

And as if all of this weren’t enough to convince labels to get their heads out of their arses, the band’s site contains banner advertising, which I guarantee doesn’t earn them enough money to justify the dilution of their brand. Kenny Chesney literally takes more screen space on their Dates page than the promo of their own album up top. (Screen shot below.) I can’t make this stuff up, folks. It’s such an insult to the artist’s own brand it should go without saying, but it doesn’t help Epic, either. How much do you think they spent on the market research that led them to believe that Low vs. Diamond fans had any interest whatsoever in Bow Wow, Alicia Keys or Kenny Chesney? I’m guessing they spent zero dollars on that research, but did pay a high six figure salary to the marketing executive that thought this label-wide strategy was a good idea.

I’m probably not doing myself any favors by railing on a company affiliated with my past and potentially future clients, but this stupidity MUST be stopped for the sake of these artists and their fans. Why bother having an “official” site at all if you’re just going to spam it up, neglect it and insult the people visiting?

And to think… they truly believe that “copyright infringement” is the reason artists have a harder time making a living in today’s world than they did just a decade ago… but that’s another can of worms.

Visit Pinky’s latest venture: http://musicmarketing.ning.com

While this was certainly an “oops” moment for O’Reilly, it served as a powerful lesson in just how far viral marketing, mashups and online culture have come. There are several interesting nuggets to take away from this:

1. Something can only be viral if it’s shocking, funny or in this case both. I’ve been irked for a while at companies and brands who seem to think ANYTHING can lend itself to “viral distribution” - as if merely calling content “viral” makes it so. As a result, there have been countless failures, and there will likely be more. What few understand is that a true “viral” moment occurs when you, the consumer, are so intrigued by a piece of content that you immediately email or IM 5+ friends telling them about it. The ONLY kinds of content which apply to this psychology are media that are truly shocking/violent or truly funny to you the user. And in the rare case you can have both, it’s golden. More than anything the O’Reilly video proves this point as it was circulated to every video portal and had 10 million + views within the first 3 days. After only 2 weeks it reached total saturation.

2. Content adaptation or “mashups” come with the territory. Remember when Saturday Night Live used to be in tune with our cultural conscience? When the show dabbled more in relevant parody and was THE cool, hip place to find it. These days mashups have taken that role, and engage the under-25 crowd. Only 5 days after the O’Reilly video leaked, the folks at BarelyPolitical.com released their update on the original, brilliantly taking the same footage and adding reactions from the “producer. ” If SNL was still relevant, Lorne Michaels would have beaten them to the punch - debuting something similar on the SNL website then airing it on that Saturday’s show.

The very same day, Stephen Colbert aired his own parody of the video which was fortunately different than the BarelyPolitical version.

Youtube is also filled with other mashups, parodies and remixes of the original video, which have gone on to generate millions of hits themselves. Further proof that the orignial video was TRULY viral.

3. The time frame to capitalize on viral media is SHORT! The response time to this video was already incredibly fast, but if you want to be TRULY hip and “in the now” you’ve gotta monetize the hype and viral before it fades. The guys at BustedTees did just that and in 6 days from the release of the video were pre-selling these T-Shirts. Think about how perfect their timing was - the early adopters who had already discovered the video were ripe to be sold something, and new/casual viewers were just finding out what all the buzz was about. If BustedTees had waited a day longer, they would have missed out on being in the HEAT of the moment, and likely several hundred sales.

Remember when “Vote For Pedro” shirts were all the rage, and then several months later a bunch of sad wanna-bes started wearing them, long after the fad had faded? Well, that was 2005 and today the time frame would be cut down to 3 weeks. You’ve got to be THAT FAST if you want to capitalize on cultural fads, internet hype and viral marketing. Free tools and services today give anyone the chance to join the fun and make some fans or money off of these experiences.

On a final note…
Wouldn’t it be truly something if Bill O’Reilly actually created this video on purpose…….as a way to generate viral traffic? Obviously he didn’t, but just pause for a moment and consider if he had. Watching the original video, it’s almost as if the angry pauses he takes were created on purpose, to allow for mashups and parodies. Lisa Nova is already doing exactly that!

And “We’ll Do It Live” is a classic one-liner that lends itself to all kinds of products……it’s even a brand onto itself! So again I ask, wouldn’t it be truly something if O’Reilly was smart enough to manufacture this whole thing on purpose, as a way of keeping his brand relevant and hip? He didn’t…….surely. But then again, he was the first one to sell “Don’t Taze Me Bro” bumper stickers.

Links:
Original Video
BarelyPolitical Mashup
Stephen Colbert Parody
Buy the T-shirt

We can all think back to some of our favorite album covers - album art and packaging that stuck with us and gave us an appreciation for the artist beyond just hearing the songs. (A good music video should do the same, but we’ll save that for another day). You know a good cover when you see one - iconic imagery, carefully crafted logo or nameplate, original illustrations or amazing photography. Yet somehow, lately, many of these components have been totally neglected. How did this happen?

A little history…
From the 50s to the mid 80s, Vinyl ruled and so did big album covers with lots of real estate to try new and interesting ideas. It was important to have a great cover and great photography because the thing was so big, it had to look good! Consumers also organized their albums based on these covers, so the packaging benefited the consumer as well as the label.

Then came the mid 80s and the popularity of CDs, and suddenly covers were a whole lot smaller. The more noticeable change, however, was that consumers were now taking CDs OUT of their cases and putting them in binders and organizers, never to use or care about the packaging again. Labels saw this behavior and decided they didn’t need to spend as much time or money on something a consumer wasn’t going to really care about in the long run. During the next 15 years, great packaging was still released, just not to the same degree as before.

Then came 1999 and Napster and digital music libraries with hundreds of thousands of songs, and album artwork became even less important to many music consumers. So labels and marketing people collectively decided to abandon any real quality in creating cover art and packaging.

Change, of course…
The pendulum of change has swung yet again, and this time it’s returned us to a place where cover art is important. New devices like the iPod Touch have given consumers reason to recognize an album cover, and use it for organizing their collections. Amazon, iTunes and countless digital stores have positioned music product in ways that ONLY display album covers. Most important of all, the sheer glut of product that’s released into the market every single day has created thousands of identical artists with the same sound and imaging. These artists have to not only compete amongst themselves for consumer attention, but also with video games, DVDs, Harry Potter books and everything else you can find at a Best Buy or Borders.

This competition means your product has to have the most compelling marketing message possible, because 9 times out of 10 folks are NOT going to have any familiarity with who you are or what you do. 9 times out of 10 the ONLY interaction they will ever have with your brand will be through your album cover. That’s an opportunity to leave an impression - one that could result in a sale or at the very least a curiosity that could grow over time and online.

Visit any big-box retailer and you’ll see just how important product imaging has become. “Drive-by” impulse buys are becoming the new core business, and if your product can’t move, it’s replaced with something that can. This is why Walmart continues to shrink its music section and has been placing certain albums at the checkout line.

Who’s the biggest offender?
Speaking of Walmart, walk into the dwindling music section of your local and you’re bound to be greeted by an entire row of abysmal CD covers in the Country section. Sure proof that most “creative directors” at Nashville record labels need to be fired. Their idea of packaging seems to include a busy afternoon of taking “generic artist photo” and slapping “generic crappy font” on top. No color correction or creativity required! They probably fired up ‘ole Microsoft Paint to accomplish this. (In case you think I’m exaggerating, take a peak at this.….from 2005!)

Our sources have even confirmed Mike Dungan (head of Capitol Nashville) has stated “cover art doesn’t matter…fans aren’t interested in this.” Clearly this is why Dungan ended up with covers that look like this, or this.

Country covers didn’t always used to be this way. There was a time when the same high caliber photography and creativity that led to so many great pop/rock covers also benefited country. Take Kenny Roger’s The Gambler album cover for example. It draws you in, creates a story and an atmosphere that compliments the music. And it SOLD you. Granted, Kenny had the help of a huge #1 single to push units, but had he not, this cover would have still served as a powerful marketing message and advertisement. The same goes for Restless Heart’s Big Dreams In A Small Town and Wheels covers. Joe Galante (Sony/BMG Nashville head) used to care about this sort of thing. He once employed a creative dept who toiled night and day, sometimes over holidays, to arrive at packaging that truly served the product and helped push sales. No longer.

Lighting the future
Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of every artist to look after the presentation of their product and brand. By understanding the importance of an album cover, you can move one more notch ahead of the competition and build stronger fan relationships. No one marketing piece can have such a widespread, or long lasting impact. Just ask Rob Thomas, who clearly left his last album in the hands of a Phil Collins fan.