Last week, while I wasn’t looking, Derek Sivers and the CDBaby crew crossed the threshold of $10 Millon in checks cut to working musicians. Woo!

Another broadcasting legened signed off today. John Peel is another of that breed of disc jockey who took an almost pathological interest in making sure new music got represented on the airwaves. We can only pray to hear the likes of him again.

We’ve blogged before about the fact that record stores are lousy places to sell records, and how Starbucks is toying with ideas to change that. The next phase of their rollout is about to hit Seattle and Austin, in addition to the pilot store in Santa Monica.

Looks like legal crusader Eliot Spitzer has the RIAA back in his sights… this time he’s investigating the practice of greasing station playlist through indie promoters. Feels a little late, though. Because we’re moving to the practice of infomercial-style ads on radio anyway, how long will it be before bought-and-sold playlist slots are simply disclosed [...]

I’m not necessarily opposed to either lip-synching on television, or using tracks. There are legit reasons to do both, although sometimes a lazy artist will use this technique to coast. What concerns me about the Saturday Night Live incident is that Ashlee shows us that she is not in charge of her own actions. A [...]