Reinventing the Deal
Clint Black shows off his new baby, Equity Records.
News
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State 7
As our outside-the-U.S. readers surely know, it’s not just tough to get bookings these days, it’s nearly impossible to get into the country to play gigs.
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Indie Hall of Fame DOA?
Toronto’s Vit Wagner wonders if the creation of an Indie Music Hall of Fame is a cop-out. Do we risk marginalizing independent music even further by institutionalizing it?
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Fringe Composers Going Indie
Clarke Bustard chronicles the progression of independent, “art” composers as they move from niche labels at the majors to controlling their own destinies as independents.
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Philly’s Indie Labels Exposed
Great coverage in last week’s Philadelphia Weekly of the exploding independent label scene in and around Philly.
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Alan Mann Tribute
Alan Mann is one of those artists you know through the work of the artists he influenced, and a pile of those artists are about to celebrate the anniversary of his birth in his hometown.
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A Song Shark Bites the Dust
97 Radio closes its doors.
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Have We The Devil To Thank?
Perhaps Wal-Mart spreads evil across the land? Perhaps they’re just a clever, seemingly invincible, business juggernaut? Whichever side you find yourself on, you’ll have them to thank for pushing CD list prices below ten dollars. (Which, again, may be a…
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Square One
A campus newspaper from Seattle reminds us that every big name band started out in some local club somewhere…
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“And the Indie Queen took over.”
The first of many articles to describe, on the eve of her new release, what’s up with Ani Difranco.
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Indie Retail Survives and Thrives
Whether it’s our own Schoolkids Records here in Athens, or other indie retail success stories, there’s lots of proof now that a tightly focused, fun independent record store can survive the same dismal market that caused the mighty Tower Records…
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Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda…
Peter Gabriel’s latest project aims to make digital distribution transparent. [ via Clark Howard ]
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Tower Crumbling
Tower Records files bankruptcy this week. I’m not sure why, given the hefty markup they’re putting on my book!
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Indie 103.1 fm
I dunno how the heck I missed this one. Some folks told me about it a few weeks ago, and I didn’t think I wanted to believe that a Clear Channel skunk works project actually had merit… Indie 103.1 is…
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Soul Searching at Sony Nashville
Chris Lewis from Nashville’s City Paper elicits one of the most compelling and honest interviews with a sitting label president I have read. John Grady, president of Sony Music Nashville, comments openly about the havoc that consolidation has wrought on…
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Independently Classical
One of the compelling threads bubbling up from MIDEM: Major labels have become so obsessed with “classical crossover” (think Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, et al) that they are abandoning traditional classical releases and throwing their budget to these pop-style recording…
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Gnutella Developer Justin Frankel in Rolling Stone
Essential reading… “When Hail to the Thief leaked on the Internet,” Frankel says, “I was like, ‘Right on!’ But I still bought the CD. I think it’s wrong to download music and never give anything to the artist. But if…
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Sometimes, a Niche Audience is a Small Audience…
Wondering what Jason (from Jason & the Scorchers) and Dan Zanes (the Del Fuegos) have been up to? They’re making solid independent records for children, that parents can enjoy, too…
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No Dopes In Dope
Another example of a band that got burned by a major label, lived to tell the tale, and do better now that they’re on their own.
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Vital Mailing List Info
Double-check your e-mail list this month — if you have anyone on the list that hasn’t specifically opted in, get ’em off! (It’s why we asked our newsletter readers to verify/update their info in January). Read this essential article from…
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Fitehouse v. RIAA = Free Publicity!
The band Fitehouse combines their stand against the RIAA with a cleverly executed guerilla marketing ploy to get some column inches. This is a really good example of what Dave Hooper likes to call time-release press kits — the initial…
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File Swapping: You Get What You Measure
This keeps coming up. The major labels are falling over each other to release P.R. claiming that the RIAA’s lawsuits are working — that file swapping is down. Trouble is, file swapping’s not down — it’s just moving to networks…
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Match Point for File Sharing
Like a volley at Wimbledon, here’s another report that shows file sharing really is UP… P.S.: I swear I’m going to bed after this. Too much news today to pass up all these mini-posts!
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Sonnyboo
Here’s a team that’s developing an open-source solution to film placement…
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Sanctuary Records
Great news from our friends at Sanctuary in the UK, who report a profit in a year when so many other music companies lost their shirts. (I’m looking at you, Antonio.)
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See CBC 3
I sure as heck didn’t know what Radio CBC 3 was until I saw this report from a Toronto paper. What a delightfully subversive use of tax dollars — the state-funded CBC has a Skunk Works building new web and…
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Cheese and Crackers!
The Cracker Barrel restaurant chain has launched an indie music label! Another example of alternative distribution methods opening up opportunities for independent musicians. And excuses to overindulge at breakfast.
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Kindercore Lawsuit Gets Ugly, Expensive
In our little town of Athens, this has been big news. The folks that started Kindercore Records let themselves get bought out a little while back, and things apparently went downhill from there. The out-of-town money guys released a statement…
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Back to School
I caught this compelling article from a Montana newspaper that chronicles the adventures of indie musician David Walburn. Not only has he distilled some of his more exciting life experiences into song, he has actually supported himself by converting his…
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Donna’Shore
I got to spend a weekend in Atlantic City during my recent travels (thanks to Lori’s cousins, who presented a nice hotel stay as our anniversary gift!), and still find it remarkable how much great talent is hanging around down…
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$50 recording session = UK #1 Hit
Another case of good soundtrack placement trumping all… Gary Jules recorded a cover of a Tears for Fears song in a pal’s basement. It slides into an indie film that doesn’t become a hit until its DVD release. Two years…
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Weed
Here’s another one of those ideas that might be too clever for its own good, but sounds great on paper. Let me know your experiences, good/bad…
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iTunes Alternatives
As the number of online music stores grows, carving out their own niches may get tougher.
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Citizen MacIsaac
Ashley MacIsaac talks about the tough life of touring as an indie (making $1,500 per gig but paying $1,700 in expenses) and why he feels he can do better by going into politics…
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And the winner is…
Bronfman, by a few BILLION noses.
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The Art of Abundance In Action
Jive-O-Matic‘s curious press release caught my eye this morning. By donating half of their digital sales to charities that work with music in the schools, this band (and their “management company” — which may or may not be the same…
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MP3.com is Dead. Long Live MP3.com.
CNET has just purchased “most of the assets” of MP3.com, which effectively means the site as we know it will cease on December 2nd. What CNET has in store is anyone’s guess, but if it mimics the evolution of their…
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Two Thousand Benjamins
Our friend Carla Hall writes a letter to CDBaby’s Derek Sivers.
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StarFarm
The folks at StarFarm are actually doing what we originally intended to do with this domain — glad to see someone’s taking a shot at an indie alternative to Columbia House.
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Keller’s Cellar
Singer/songwriter Keller Williams has launched a new, syndicated radio show on an eclectic lineup of indie-friendly stations. He promises he’ll only play his own stuff during bumps (which is the same promise we made when I was producing Todd’s show),…
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Profile: David Nevue
Mark Kirby from MusicDish has put together a great profile of DIY pioneer David Nevue. In addition to being an accomplished musician, David was one of the first to figure out how to use the internet successfully to grow his…
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Self-Release or Self-Abuse?
The Telegraph covers the trend of DIY pop stars in the UK.
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Farewell, Elliott
We’re so very sorry you thought this was the only way. Thank you for what you gave of yourself while you were here. [ Elliott Smith, dead at 34. ]
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From Packing Boxes to Packing Venues
An excellent profile in the New York Times about the day-to-day life of an emerging artist. Do you see yourself in any of these scenes?
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Corporate Patronage
Continuting our patronage discussion, expect to see non-label companies use the infrastructure of retail and radio distribution to promote their products by aligning with indie buzz bands. This used to be the domain of the “special products” divisions at the…
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Parlez-vous Pink Slip?
1,350 jobs gone at Universal.
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Indie MMMbop Club
In case you missed it, Forbes checks out the numbers behind Hanson’s move to indie-dom.
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The History of the Disc
In all the hoopla around pricing for CD’s versus digital downloads, it’s important to remember that paying for recordings is a practice that’s only been around for a blip of history. Patronage is what fueled much of music’s development in…
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Unto Them Was Born A Street Team
David Hooper, co-author of “How I Make $100K a Year…”, made an excellent point in his newsletter today, that you could look at the Twelve Disciples as the Original Street Team. In case you missed it: while I’m on the…
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Don’t Leave Home Without It
Frank Black visits his own fan forum, and nobody believes him.