Bum Rush Update

Bum Rush the Charts: Results and Implications.
A lot of you were probably expecting me to write about the Bum Rush results sooner. Like the Apple TV, I wanted to take a step back and read some of the interpretations or our little “Podcaster Power” movement before reporting in.

For those of you that haven’t kept up with it, “Bum Rush” was started by a group of podcasters that felt strongly that independent music was being ignored by mainstream record companies. Their idea was to have everyone in the podosphere buy one track (“Mine Again” by Black Lab) on a single day via the iTunes music store. Their hope was to move the song up the iTunes charts.

I am happy to report that it worked! “Mine Again” reached number 11 on the iTunes charts and BROKE INTO THE US CHARTS at 99 as well as many other world wide rock charts. This is a huge feat for a band that does not have the influence of a major record company behind them.

I have read several blogs have questioned that this tactic was a little more than a “puff piece” that really doesn’t mean anything. They point out that together we have the power to pull something of this scale off together for one song, but we are not strong enough to motivate or move many different songs.

This may be true, but there has to be a way to bring independent/podsafe artists into the mainstream. I think Adam Curry’s recent inspirational idea of a “Podsafe Idol” contest is just one of the ways that people are going to embrace podsafe music.

Adam’s idea (in its basic form) is to use Podshow’s connections with Apple to work on a joint effort. There would be a Podshow produced podcast where various independent artists are featured. These artists would compete weekly. People would vote by purchasing the song. This seems to make a lot more sense than just wasting your money on a useless text message (you hear me “American Idol”). The podsafe music vote would be accomplished by purchasing the track on iTunes (DRM’ed) and then Podshow would offer the same tune as a free and clear MP3 to the purchaser. Apple would create a “Podsafe” chart that would track the most popular podsafe artists and then the winner would be determined from there.

That whole DRM issue seemed to be the biggest sticking point. With Monday’s announcement that Apple and EMI are going to be selling high quality DRM-free music next month, I think that this program could be very big. Podshow wouldn’t have to provide the mp3 version and concentrate on what it does best, creating high quality podcasts. Apple will get the extra traffic and money from the deal. If they were a selfless company they would give the proceeds back the the artists, but I would guess that’s not going to happen.

This is all speculation at this point, but I wouldn’t discount something like this happening. VC money in Silicon Valley comes with a lot of connections. I really believe that the connections are what make a company successful, not necessarily the money.

If anything, it’s a start. Let’s hope that very soon DRM will be gone and independent artists like Black Lab can be at the top of the Billboard and iTunes charts along with established “big media” artists.

(edited by drsue for spelling only)