Author

Joe Taylor Jr.

Meanwhile, in the members area…

Even though you can peek at what’s going on in our personal music mentoring program by checking out the stripe in our sidebar, it’s always good for me to bring you up to speed on a few discussions among our…

Three Degrees of Rap

Nature reports that, despite bloodshed and intense public rivalry, pretty much every professional rapper is connected to every other professional rapper by three degrees of separation. In fact, if you are Snoop Dogg, you are actually caught in a vortex…

Guitar Lessons via Podcast

The folks at iPlay Music have a new video podcast that teaches you how to play the guitar! If you get a shiny new video iPod in your stocking this year, this can be a great way to pick up…

Arctic Monkeys: Not Invented Here?

There’s a term in the tech world called “not invented here syndrome” which refers to companies that refuse to get on board a new trend or idea simply because they didn’t think of it. Radio and music television in America…

Independent Musicians Help Brands Get Established

Bob Mould, Thievery Corporation, and other great folks are profiled in this WaPo profile of musicians that are making more money from licensing works for film and television. Agencies love the friction-free process of getting a deal cut without twelve…

Their “Lousy” Year Could Bring Great Things for You

In the trade rags, I see column after column about “lousy” ticket sales and “lousy” CD sales. “Lousy” is right, if you’re used to selling out arenas every night and going triple platinum in three weeks on the charts. As…

Running your record label like a bakery…

SvN explores Ian MacKaye’s concept of running a record label like a bakery — focus on the love of a good product and a steady stream of happy customers. (In the comments, folks also chat about Fugazi’s stern stage announcements…)…

Baby Steps on Podcast Music Licensing

Britain’s Association for Independent Music is launching a less expensive mechanical license arrangement for “bedroom” podcasters that opens up access to a small number of current tracks. The biggest problem for podcasters that want to play music is the licensing…