Ultimate-Guitar Were Not So F-cked After All

We’re only ten years into the 21st century and already the music industry has been exposed to countless considerable changes (alliteration, anyone?). With a drastic increase in file sharing and with more harsh laws being imposed than ever before, many companies have either become severely crippled or have completely shut down.

But not all music companies crashed and burned to the ground as some like Napster, Spiralfrog, and LimeWire have. A few have not only survived the changes, but continue to thrive.

We here at Ultimate-Guitar are pleased to announce that we have been considered one of those successful entities, being named one of the “not-so-f*cked” groups on a list created by Digital Music News.

The list, which can be found below, recognizes the top 100 companies that weren’t completely screwed over by all the changes in the music industry. Ultimate-Guitar, at #98, shared the list with Apple, Spotify, Pandora, and many other groups that could very well be the face of the future.

I guess it’s nice to know that the face of future isn’t f*cked, huh?

“UG users will be proud to know that according to Digital Music News we are #98 on the list of least f*cked companies. We here at UG have been really trying not to f*ck up,” says UG’s zappp, “We have seen a steady decrease in acts of ineptness by our employees in the last year, and we hope to become even less f*cked next year.”

So, UG, you can all sleep easy tonight knowing that Ultimate-Guitar isn’t as f*cked up as you may have thought it was (although to be fair, these guys probably haven’t visited The Pit). And if we keep it up, who knows… in the future we may not even be f*cked at all!

01. Apple
02. Apple Corps.
03. Spotify
04. Pandora
05. BMG Rights Management
06. Frontline Management Group
07. Universal Music Group
08. Google Music
09. YouTube
10. Facebook

11. Kanye West
12. EMI Music Publishing
13. BigChampagne
14. Sirius XM Radio
15. Topspin
16. Clear Channel Radio
17. Android
18. MTV Networks
19. Twitter
20. ReverbNation

21. Anonymous
22. Berklee College of Music
23. Rightsflow
24. CD Baby
25. Music Reports, Inc.
26. Smule
27. Sonicbids
28. Pitchfork
29. The Hype Machine
30. Fuse

31. Vevo
32. CBS Radio
33. Disney Music Group
34. Avid Technology (Pro Tools)
35. Rovi
36. TuneCore
37. Amoeba Music
38. The Agency Group
39. Antares Audio Technologies (maker of Autotune)
40. Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA)

41. Creative Commons
42. Trent Reznor
43. Sonos
44. David Shapiro Lewit & Hayes
45. The Copyleft
46. SXSW
47. Merlin
48. Domino Records
49. Goldenvoice/AEG Live
50. Coachella

51. The Michael Jackson Estate
52. Bonnaroo
53. Arcade Fire
54. TDC's Play (Denmark)
55. Festival Republic (Reading & Leeds Festivals)
56. The Metropolitan Opera
57. Howard Stern
58. Amazon MP3
59. Metric
60. KCRW

61. Big Machine Records
62. Sony/ATV Music Publishing
63. Electronic Frontier Foundation
64. UStream
65. Ford (see #4)
66. Concord Music Group
67. Naxos
68. Taylor Swift
69. INgrooves (see #7)
70. Music Hack Day

71. The PROs: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC…
72. [Insert Torrent Tracker Here]
73. Rapidshare
74. Radiohead
75. iBiquity
76. Snoop Dogg
77. Touchtunes
78. Chop Shop Music Supervision
79. Bob Lefsetz
80. Soundcloud

81. New Orleans
82. Weezer
83. Gathering of the Juggalos
84. ISPs
85. Gibson Guitar
86. Musician's Friend
87. NPR Music
88. Getty Images (Pump Audio)
89. Outside Lands
90. Gene Simmons

91. Glee
92. AT&T
93. Music Choice
94. ClickandBuy
95. Gracenote
96. RoyaltyShare
97. Music Mastermind

98. Ultimate Guitar Tabs Archive

99. Sennheiser

Oh, and of course…
100. The Consumer

By Ryan B.
Ultimate-Guitar.Com © 2010

Comments

[cargath]

This list is a joke, right? I mean, MTV? Universal? YouTube? GENE SIMMONS? On a list of companies _not_ ****ed up by the music industry?

[The Spoon]

If UG made this list this year, I wouldn't be surprised to see it gone...all the pop up ads and biased articles lately have been getting on my nerves.

[The Spoon]

Argh, i actually read the article. It has nothing to do with the wuality of the site. Nevermind, lol.

[clearfin]

It should all be music related (excluding media)that would be alot better.

[K!!LsWiTcH]

cargath wrote:

This list is a joke, right? I mean, MTV? Universal? YouTube? GENE SIMMONS? On a list of companies _not_ ****ed up by the music industry?

no its companies that are not ****ed as in wont die

[TocarLaGuitarra]

Hahaha MySpace isn't on this list! They are so F***ed

[cargath]

K!!LsWiTcH wrote:

cargath wrote:

This list is a joke, right? I mean, MTV? Universal? YouTube? GENE SIMMONS? On a list of companies _not_ ****ed up by the music industry?

no its companies that are not ****ed as in wont die

So it's props to UG for not being dead i guess?
Still don't think MTV, Universal or Gene Simmons should be on there. They ARE music industry. But whatever.

[belavista man]

Michael Jackson Estate lol...

[new_age_reject]

Ultimate Guitar is only 1 behind Sennheiser? Surely Scullkandy don't have that much weight on the market!?

[WishfulShredder]

TocarLaGuitarra wrote:

Hahaha MySpace isn't on this list! They are so F***ed

well, sortof but not really: they still are the biggest artist page website on the net, and their deal to link your account with your facebook account was quite ingenious. Plus, Rupert Murdoch doesn't give a ****, he OWNS the majority of the world's media.

[jthm_guitarist]

The list must be a joke. A lot of them aren't even companies (anonymous, torrent tracker, and the the people)
and how does Apple take the #1 and #2?

[007dude]

jthm_guitarist wrote:

The list must be a joke. A lot of them aren't even companies (anonymous, torrent tracker, and the the people)
and how does Apple take the #1 and #2?

Apple number 1 is Apple; iPad, iPhone, Macs etc.

Apple number 2 is "a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by English rock band The Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate."; Beatles Rock Band, remastered Beatles album etc.

[ThatWouldBeJon]

does VEVO controlling YOUTUBE music videos ring a bell? they were definitely F***ed by the industry.

[StormLexer]

I've come to the realization that UG bitches about everything.

[kunkushin]

weird... is it a half funny joke or or a half serious article

[Zeppelin Addict]

first off... so what? why do we need a list to tell us whos f*cked or not?
the creators couldnt even include themselves on there.. not to mention there is little clarity in terms of reasoning for any of these being mentioned to begin with..

the majority listed are not even companies, and as far as the ones that are, a lot of em are only ruining the industry further.. case in point #39. the creators of auto-tune? are you F*CKING for real?

then theres those individuals who made this list... kanye west? trent reznor? taylor swift? snoop dogg??? gene simmons!?!?! needless to say the relevance to least f*cked companies goes out the window there but come on.. if you really have to at least pick some way less ****ed individuals in the industry more worthy of mention.

finally, whats the basis on which all of these 'entities' are 'least f*cked for'? is there some stat bank out there keeping daily tabs on how f*cked these 'entities' act? i didnt think so... its basically all opinion from some panel of self-titled 'experts' and is therefore completely pointless and irrelevant to everything in existence...

o and for the record #100, 'the consumer' is NOT a company and in fact is really polar opposite to any company, enterprise, conglomerate, business, out there.... just more failure i thought i should mention...

/rant

merry f*ckin christmas and a happy new year everyone!

[ali.guitarkid7]

Radiohead is on the list!

[nomsonbraynz]

#21. Anonymous?

[RiffsanBridges]

Lol, TDC's Play, the most ****ed up thing ever.

[gratefulduck]

i wish they explained these... unless its a joke, in which case, yea, thats kinda funny...

[ahiddenmexican]

kunkushin wrote:

weird... is it a half funny joke or or a half serious article

my thoughts exactly.. i'm leaning towards half-funny joke lol

[Knucklehead Dyl]

"we here at UG have been really trying not to **** up"

Hahahahaha

[Saksham_sam]

ali.guitarkid7 wrote:

Radiohead is on the list!

Yeah!!

[Mahabajaba]

42. Trent Reznor

I lol'd.

[Sid McCall]

Well then. I start my new job at one of the top 5 companies on this list in January. Glad to see I made the right choice!

[stryde41]

limewire already got ****ed tho.

[Hells.Mascot]

If you're not getting ****ed, you're doing the ****ing. There is a case for how every last one of the entities on that last is ****ing over the music industry, or at least putting the nail in the coffin of what we used to know as the music industry. It's changing, for better or for worse, and I'm taking part in it.

[mind_in_space]

Seeing Trent Reznor on this list made my day

[mysticguitar77]

Digital music is what screwed over the music industry. The record companies thought it would be a good idea to release this new form of releasing music with the rise of technology and computers, but they completely forgot that if you just put something out there, like an MP3 on the world wide web, people are going to try and cheat the system and obtain that MP3 file for free. And behold, mere weeks after they do this, all these file sharing sites starting popping up, Napster being the most notable.

Then, the record companies are like "oh shit! We made a big mistake!" and ever since they have been trying to correct their own mistake by taking down all these file sharing sites, but they never will get rid of it. Digital music, file sharing sites, torrents, all of that in a combined effort, have been "destroying" the music industry.

The record companies would like nothing more than to go back to the way it was before all this technology. Where you actually had to go out to a store and buy the CD or cassette. Most bands don't care if their music is being "stolen" by thousands on a daily basis because they don't make their big dough from music sales, the record company does. The band makes money from playing gigs, selling merchandise, appearing on TV, doing interviews, that type of thing.

It's the record companies own faults that the music industry is suffering. They are not making nearly as much money as they should be, and they know this and that's why they have the RIAA now (AKA Music Police) that go around shut down things like LimeWire and Napster. They think they are making headway in the music war, but they're not doing anything really. They shut down LimeWire, people will just find other ways of obtaining music, it's easy, just go to another one of the thousands of other file sharing sites.

The music industry is screwed and it's never going to heal.

I'm done ranting now.

[doive]

You're more ****ed than Taylor swift...
I hope this has nothing to do with the mind of UGers...

[saveme777]

Awww frostwire is not on the list. So they ARE f***ed up....

[Benguitar2]

hm. Cool.

[BornToRun]

nomsonbraynz wrote:

#21. Anonymous?

I think that refers to the group of hackers who support piratism and freedom of speech.

[pivert]

Come on! Vevo?! There are a lot of videos i can't watch on youtube because i live in Denmark..-.-

[FRACTUREDx2]

new_age_reject wrote:

Ultimate Guitar is only 1 behind Sennheiser? Surely Scullkandy don't have that much weight on the market!?

Uhhh...Sennheiser makes way more important stuff than just the slightly-above-average headphones.

[c4hya]

wow,,

[timfoley]

good to see weezer on there, they have redeemed themselves with hurley for the tragedy that was raditude.

[BeetusMaster]

I'm sure this is a joke. They wouldn't have half of the crap on the list if it was real.

[TextOnTheScreen]

100 is The Consumer? We all know the first one to get f*cked is always the consumer. Ba dum tsh!