Friday, December 15, 2006

death of music carrers

Ahmet Ertegun dies at 83. you may have never heard of him... I know I never did even while rubbing shoulders with record execs back when my band was getting its cock fluffed by the dirty hands of the major record industry. He was the founder of Atlantic Records and, he might have been a huge asshole shyster like the rest of them but one thing is obvious. The artists he's accredited to helping over the years are names that stuck around. Names that didn't fade into the bargain bins at the record store after a poor 1st weeks sales on a second record. or get dropped because the 1st radio release didn't hit the top 5.
"He was one of the first recording executives to sell music by black artists to white youngsters looking for something exciting in the conformist Eisenhower era of the 1950s, and in so doing, he helped pioneer rock'n'roll."
This guy is, from what i can tell what was good about the record industry back in the good ol' days. Now that he's dead i think that the days when an honest music artist could have a lasting and successful career based on a 4th or 5th albums success are dead with him.

i didnt know who the hell you were, but Ahmet Ertegun, you'll be missed not just by me but these kids I'm sure as well..

the Drifters, Led Zeppelin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Cream, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, AC/DC, the Bee Gees, Bette Midler, the Allman Brothers Band, the Three Tenors and more.

more on that here.

hey assholes, people want unprotected music

from daily placebo. yeah because I'm lazy and i don't think i could write it any better.

Good for you Emusic. They've sold 100,000,000 DRM free songs online. I'd call that sticking it to all those music executives that say you can't make money without DRM...
Emusic is now the second most popular online music source behind the iTunes music store, and they've done it with independent labels. ..
That's right, they're selling less "popular" music and doing it better because their users don't feel shackled and criminalized. I know because I'm one of them. Hell, I feel like upgrading my account just to stick it to the music industry a little more.


Thursday, December 07, 2006

a new way to rip off artists!

RIAA moves to reduce artist royalty payments
Sometimes you just have to ask yourself if the RIAA could display more greed or avarice without actually hiring Satan as its general counsel. The Hypebot points to an article in Radio and Records which reads, "During the period when piracy was devastating the record industry, the RIAA argues, profits for publishers rose as revenue generated from ringtones and other innovative services grew. Record industry executives said there was nothing strange about seeking a rate change that would pay less to the people who write the music."


this text stolen from Digital Music Weblog (full article)

All i have to say is, boycott the major music industry. greedy fucking bastards!

Monday, August 07, 2006

stupid booking requisites

While this isnt a major music industry issue, its something that needs to be said to up and coming bands and most of all club owners, bookers and promoters.

As I was browsing the web for local venues for my new band to play and I came across a pretty cool looking place in town. I clicked on its booking page link and it had a list of "Ground Rules" for playing there. Rules are fine, I'm ok with rules. Most are common sense but some of this places conditions rubbed me the wrong way. After being in a sought after band in this scene for a number of years, working out way up the ladder and paying our dues one thing always pissed us off and really, made no sense. The "you must draw 50 people on a weeknight" rule. Its an understandable rule considering the venue would like to have paying customers and its in a bands best interest to have a crowd to play to. But where I have issue is expecting opening acts to have a following. Ideally, especially in venues with a larger capacity, the shows should be built around a headlining act that can guarantee a good draw, followed by opening and support acts with respectively smaller drawing power. In this situation it gives the lesser-known acts a chance to play to a crowd that is comprised of people other than their girlfriends and coworkers.

With opening acts that can draw 50+ people, 30+ people will go home after seeing the band they came to see. It sucks but its inevitable. I would also like to point out that if a local band gets to the point they can draw 50 people on a weeknight its safe to say that this band is able to draw well enough on a weekend and wouldnt need to play a weeknight gig.

With that being said, my band probably can't draw 50 people. Especially on a weeknight. But it would be rad to have the chance to open for a band that can pack the house and maybe make some new fans in the process.

Another one of thier "ground rules" was "EACH BAND IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HEAVY PROMOTION. We mean posters, flyers, mailing lists, etc. Do not think that just because you are booked here you’re going to have an awesome show." Rightly so. Any band should take the initiative to promote themselves and its naive to think otherwise. But its also in the venue's interest to advertise thier business. Its understandable to hope, and encourage the bands to promote the show but to put all responsibility on, yes I'm saying it, musicians - is also being naive. Not to mention lazy.

They also encourage bands to make friends with other bands and develop a repor with similar sounding bands. Now, this isnt entirely a bad thing. Its always good to have a good working relationship with other bands but what tends to happen is you get bookers putting together a show of 4-5 bands that although, meet the 50 people criteria, they all happen to be friends and have share the same 50 fans. You end up with an excited promoter hoping the math will work out in their favor.

I'm sure there are more outlandish requirments from clubs. And there are eager young bands that will work hard to meet them. This only betters the band. As for the club, they will continue to exclusively book local bands, never get a National headliner and eventually turn into a strip club or porno theater.

long live rock n roll.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Warner Brothers "under the radar" with Tom Petty, Johnny Cash

"Major label Warner Brother Records appears to be podcasting traditionally copyrighted music, from well-known artists, Under the Radar.

Murmurs and whispers around the podosphere have hinted that Bands Under the Radar, described as "a music podcast featuring unsigned bands and indie artists," is not "indie" at all, but is in fact a podcast being quietly produced and distributed by Warner Brothers Records.

The podcast features music from "indie bands", such as Tom Petty, Chris Isaak, Kasey Chambers, Better Than Ezra, Mark Knopfler, Johnny Cash, Loleatta Holloway & Muse - all Warner Brothers artists..."

read more

when Majors discover new original acts they shouldnt try to water them down and "spoon feed" them to the masses. they should let them be who they were when the AR rep signed them, let them develop and build a career around touring and grassroots promotion. word of mouth promo gets you way more cred than being dressed up in rented clothes and put on a pedastal with a "like me, please" sign around your neck. then these labels wont have to pretend they are indie or down with the peeps. because they really will be. they think if you dump piles of money into an artist that you've made shitty by design they will sell records. but its the other way around.. spend less, let the world think they discovered them and you will have an artist with a lasting career. this way you can let the people decide what is good or not. people get sick of anything they hear on the radio 30 times a day.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

artists getting ripped off still...

with the new trend of getting your music from services like itunes, the record companies dont have to spend as much money on packaging, storage and distribution to get that music to you. Since it costs them virtually nothing to sell you this music, you'd think they could share the wealth with the artists that actually create the product they are selling. WRONG. Wierd Al of all people pointed out in an article that he makes less off of online downloads.

rad.

Wierd Al article


Allman Bros and Cheap Trick sue over download royalties(good stuff in there)

compounding this is, now its even harder to get a CD without it being copy protected and potentially getting a virus, or not even work in your CD. here's a little disclaimer from Amazon
This CD is copy protected. If that is of concern to you, do not purchase. On the back cover is a warning that this CD may not play in some CD players, DVD players, and computers. It also states that if it doesn't play you're screwed as you won't be issued a refund. If that is of concern to you, do not purchase.
you cant beat pirates/hackers at thier own game, thats what they do. you put up a wall they will climb it, you make the wall higher they will get longer rope, you put barbed wire on it and they'll dig under it.

piracy isnt a problem thats gonna get solved this way, this only hurts the average music lover (and appearantly the artist) by making it harder for them to enjoy the product they purchased.

this is only a bandaid. the RIAA needs to get off thier ass and really figure out how to beat Piracy on a root level. IMO all they really need to do is lower prices and stop being greedy SOB's

oreilly media story about protected CDs

this is just more reason to support indie labels and bands. the music is better anyway.