Ray Beckerman has posted the most definitive guide to the RIAA’s practice of scaring the wits out of consumers with copyright infringement lawsuits. At the crux of the strategy is the realization that many of the “John Does” in each…
Category
Editorial
Taylor Hicks’ Uphill Battle
Analysts are already calling Taylor Hicks’ post-Idol career an uphill battle. Will the folks that phoned in to see him win actually plunk $17.98 for a Taylor Hicks record? Two things going on here: 1. Record company expectations are too…
What does your mailing list mean if it’s not local?
About once a week, folks will ask me about another new service that’s supposed to “get your music heard.” And some folks will try these services out and report that they got a hundred new people on their mailing lists,…
Create.
David comes to the aid of Delta in an earlier post (at least someone’s getting some good service from them), but brings up a bigger issue. If you believe that something sucks going in, it probably will suck for you.…
Public Radio Not Dictated by the Public
Have you noticed lately that no matter what station you tune your radio to, you just keep hearing the same songs over and over again? There is a great and looming danger that America is losing any appreciation for quality…
What’s your four minute mile?
Curt’s thinking about the ways that we impose limits on ourselves, using the “four minute mile” barrier as a great example of how humans are capable of talking themselves out of great achievements. I meet musicians all the time that…
A digital divide
I remember the days of record players. Then there were cassette tapes, and then CDs. And now, it seems, everything has gone digital. Has everyone gone digital, too? When you download songs off of the Internet, do you tend to…
Musicians MUST Overcome Cocooning
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has new figures that should send a chill down the spine of folks that want to start making more money as working musicians. 22% of Americans’ “entertainment budget” now goes to cable and satellite TV,…
More on the online music debate
First, there was Napster. Then, there were lawsuits. What’s your take on the downloading debate? Should there be anti-piracy software on CDs to prevent people from burning CDs more than a certain number of times? Some people think that such…
Lou Pearlman Has Visited Glamour Shots
Not only does today’s news of a Pearlman-backed, American version of the esteemed BBC series Top of the Pops raise some eyebrows at Fark, but the story contains one of the most questionable headshots of a recording industry executive ever.…
CDBaby + Best Buy
Weeks are flying by so fast around here, and I realize I hadn’t even weighed in on the CDBaby/BestBuy.com mashup. Basically, if you go wayyyy down here into the cellar of their site, there’s a “Browse CDBaby” button and a…
Is the iPod hurting music sales?
Why? Why do industry experts insist on coming off as crotchety old hillbillies, sitting on the porch, talking about how “in my day, we didn’t have no dadgum eye pods. We had heavy laminate discs you had to spin around…