OK, kids, it’s time to climb back into the Terrordome for another round of music biz news and cheeky analysis with yours truly. When you’ve observed this stuff for any stretch of time, you start to notice patterns, the most persistent being that the whole thing is fucked.
But let’s not be overly cynical. After all, music brings joy to the world. Joy, and sometimes even chlamydia.
- Want to sell music in this wacky new marketplace? Come up with an elaborate plan
This post talks about how no one is making any money off recorded music (duh), but also suggests that the cure for this is to get out of the album/single mindset and go broadly (but strategically) conceptual. While I don’t disagree with the basic premise here, it’s a bit vague, and requires a skill set many musicians simply don’t have. I’m a musician myself, and I’ve increasingly looked for clever ways to leverage my brand (just threw up in my mouth) across my digital assets (oops, I did it again). And it’s worked really well! I’ve heard plenty of hucksters selling new strategies for musicians, and a lot of what they say boils down to “be interesting.” Unfortunately, a lot of artists that are really great at making music happen to be as dull as doornobs. On the other hand, Lady GaGa is “interesting,” but do I want to listen to her music? Negative.
- Cloud music gets better sounding
And it’s made by Dolby! No, not Thomas Dolby. Although he did blind us with. . . science! This is a “High Efficiency AAC audio codec (part of the MPEG-4 standard) that “offers high quality audio at low bit rates,” and is “designed specifically to ensure no detectable deterioration in sound quality for music on bandwidth-constrained applications.” Maybe it’ll go some way to solving the “digital music sounds like ass” problem we talked about in the comments of my last post. Or not.
- Abbey Road Studios almost put up for sale; rescued by “historic landmark” protection
EMI owns Abbey Road Studios. EMI is hemorrhaging cash. Hence the “for sale” sign. Well, there’s not gonna be any foreclosures on the horizon, ’cause the British Government has bestowed historic status upon the Fab Four’s track-laying HQ. The Grade II classification doesn’t prohibit changes to the building but requires that “care must be taken to ensure that any alterations with respect to its character and interest are fully considered.” Which means it won’t be a Ben & Jerry’s like the corner of Haight and Ashbury. Still, I’d love to taste a cone called “Revolution Number Lime.”
- Google pulls music blogs; scribes to leave moms’ basements for first time in decade
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is the gift that keeps on giving. Because of this legislation, Google is required to take down sites using its Blogger architecture that are in violation of copyright law, lest the search giant be liable for infringement. I don’t disagree with the basic premise that if you’re doing illegal stuff, you should be stopped from doing more of it, but everybody and their hipster brother knows that blogs are a major marketing/promotions engine for today’s music. As a semi-retired music writer who is still deluged with MP3s from labels who hope I’ll post their stuff, I find it a bit disingenuous that these notices of suspected infringement are sent at the same time the labels are pestering people to post tracks without negotiating licenses like they require for every other non-broadcast use. I’m just sayin.’
- Mommy, what’s a fair use?
Well, my dear, fair use is a part of copyright law that recognizes that there are certain, limited conditions within which a copyrighted work can be used without requiring permission from rightsholders for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research” without being considered unlawful. Does everyone’s favorite mashup master Girl Talk qualify for this exception? He seems to think so. The law, on the other hand, might not.
And that’s all you get. See you next time inside the Terrordome!
Casey Rae-Hunter is a musician, producer, writer and music/media/tech/policy wonk in Washington, DC. This post does not necessarily reflect the views of his employer. You can harass Casey at his site, The Contrarian.
Ghostly International, one of my favorite below the radar labels of the last handful of years has been quietly putting out incredible albums by artists like The School of Seven Bells, Lusine, and Tadd Mullinix. Their artists range is style from slightly left of center indie-rock, to the far corners of minimal electronica and experimental composition, but regardless of what genres GA’s artists are pulling from, they seem to maintain a very high level of quality and that unique Ghostly International character.
GA just released a great list compiling their favorites of the decade for no other reason than just to share what they like – and well, you know how much we like a good list. And this is one of the best. I mean, any best of list that contains Bonnie Prince Billy, Farben, Tim Hecker and Broadcast on the same page is basically a contender for best list ever.
This month sees the reissuing of the Buzzcocks’ first three albums in comprehensive two-disc sets from Mute Records. Even though I’ve yet to hear the quality of their mastering, I’m going to call this good news on faith. All three albums are wonderful. The Buzzcocks legacy may be dwarfed by some of their peers like The Clash or The Sex Pistols, but their output is as good as anything in the 70’s British Punk canon.
Another Music in a Different Kitchen, their debut, is also their third best. This is only in light of the excellence of the subsequent albums and is not to say Another Music isn’t worthy of your time. Tracks like “Fast Cars” and “Autonomy” are among the band’s greatest. This is a brisk and consistent collection of quality punk songs.
Love Bites, my favorite Buzzcocks record, came out six months later. The band didn’t revolutionize their approach with this album, but they sure refined it. The music on Love Bites is fantastic and the lyrics are inspired, anti-love tirades. One of the catalysts for the punk rock movement was the need for an antidote to the glutenous, over-wrought popular music of the time. The way Love Bites subverts the cliched sentiments of conventional pop music is delightful and just a bit devilish.
The Buzzcocks third album (which would be followed by an extended hiatus and irregular appearances of forgettable albums) was A Different Kind of Tension, released a mere year and a half after their debut. A Different Kind of Tension, though a bit uneven, finds the Buzzcocks in an ambitious and exploratory mood. Tracks like “Paradise” and “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life” wouldn’t be out of place on either of the previous albums, but others, like the deceptively sweet “You Say You Don’t Love Me” and the sprawling, album-highlight “I Believe,” push the boundaries of the band’s sound in exciting directions.
These two-disc sets retail at $16.97, which is a heck of a price. Anyone with the slightest interest in punk owes it to his or herself to look into these seminal albums.
You may be wondering to yourself… Dam-funk? Nite Jewel? Who the hell are these two? Well, fair enough, they’re not exactly household names, both play in the shadowy areas on the outer edges of modern hiphop, funk, pop, and Indie-electronica, and have only lately (thanks to fast rising star of the whole Chill Wave / Glo-Fi genre) had the opportunity to bring their distinctly L.A. Sound to a larger audience. Now XLR8R magazine got a chance to sit down with both artists together for a day while they hung out and recorded together.
Definitely for fans of DIY beats & Cheese synths.
I’ve been having this recurring day-dream lately. It’s the first warm day of the year, the sun is beaming down on me as I cruise around on my purdy blue bicycle. The birds are chirping away on telephone wires like I’m in some sort of suburban snow white student film. I don’t have to worry about riding my bike home drunk and every night out is observed by fireflies. Then my feet lose feeling and I remember that I’m waiting for the bus and spring is teasingly out of reach.
Laura Veirs grew up in Colorado, and I have a feeling she is as intimate with summerlust fantasies as I am. Her latest album, released on her own boutique label Raven Marching Band Records, is a loving sentiment towards warmer days. The mix of oddly tuned nylon guitar, banjo and piano is as sweet and brightly mellow as the strain of peaches Veirs named the album and title track after.
If you caught Veirs opening for The Decemberists this past fall, you already know that she gives an excellent performance. Be sure to catch her this time around this Friday the 12th at Higher Ground.
And people, pick this up for your folky special friend for Valentine’s Day and reap the benefits like a bountiful summer garden.
Toro y Moi is the lo-fi project of Chaz Bundick. Back in 2009 Toro y Moi released a 7” comprised of an A side: Blessa and B side: 109. Each song represents a full-length album Carpark intends to release in 2010, his first full-length album Causers of This featuring Blessa was just released yesterday. Toro y Moi toured this fall with Islands, played the Brooklyn Bowl and recently shared a bill with Washed Out, Neon Indian and Tickley Feather. On Feb 4 he starts a massive tour that spans all the way to April 24th and includes dates at SXSW as well as a show here at Monkey House in Winooski on March 28th. For a visual and musical example check out the video below, followed by a few clips from an interview with Toro y Moi I did back in the fall.
Ginevra Shay – So, do you live in…Columbia South Carolina? Is that what you said? Is that where you’re living now?
Toro y Moi – Yeah I live there now, too. Uhm, pretty small town. Not much going on, except the university.
GS – Nice. So, tell me a little bit about the name of your music project and how it came about.
TYM – Uhm, Well toro and moi is, uhm when it first started didn’t have much of a deep connection, and I made it up when I was a kid, when I was like 15. I don’t know what I was thinking then so. It’s just kind of random, but there’s the coincidence in there that it’s a double ethnicity name and I’m half Pilipino and half Black so they kind of, I don’t know, it kind of represents me as two things. I like that. Never thought of it though. Yeah it just means the bull in me. Toro is Spanish for bull and moi is French for me.
GS – What instruments did you start off playing?
TYM – Uhhhh, when I was like 8, I started playing piano. I was forced and I really didn’t want to! I mean, my mom offered it. She’s like, “Hey, you want to take piano?” and I was like, “Ok, I’ll give it a try.” And then I haaaated it. Then I was stilled forced to take piano lessons and forced to practice. I guess, I don’t know… (pause) That’s pretty uhm, standard in Asian households. I mean, like, you have to do an extra curricular activity. Uhm, so I did that and I hated it. So I quit that. Then my mom was like, “Well you have to do something.” So, I picked up guitar when I was in 4th grade and I loved it. I quit practice though, my mom made me take lessons for a year and I hated it -- but I still kept playing afterwards. Uhm, so, piano and guitar first then I sort of taught myself drums and bass. Pretty similar to guitar. That’s all you need.
GS – What instruments do you use now to make music?
TYM – I use all of those. Uhm, The piano, drums, guitar, bass, and uh samples. Sampling other songs and stuff.
GS – What inspires you to make music?
TYM – Uhhhhhm, I don’t know. I usually want to make a song whenever, I don’t feel right or I feel like something isn’t right. The majority of the songs I make are pretty negative content wise and lyric wise. I don’t know. I think that’s for me…(pause) I mean, because nothing’s ever perfect. So, I feel like if I ever made a happy song its not 100% accurate of how I’m feeling (laughs). I mean, things are going well and stuff, but you know there’s problems -- girls, or family, or life decisions.
GS – I used the song 109 for the mix. Could you tell me about that?
TYM – Yeah. That song, well I call it 109 because its from History 109. I took this class in school called History 109 which is the study of Latin American History and I failed it the first time! I really needed that class to graduate, like literally to graduate I just needed my cultural history. And so, I tried literally my hardest. I went to the tutor sessions, did all the extra credit, did everything. I was trying to be the TA and teachers pet and the professor still failed me. In my mind I felt like, failing a student who tried that hard is just not fair. Especially when she knows that it’s just a requirement. I majored in graphic design, not fucking history. Just because I didn’t you know, understand who invaded who first…(laughs)
GS – Yeah.
TYM – Yeah. I pretty much like all of my songs to be true. I mean, I even name-drop the people, like Mr. Jackson. That’s my TA.
GS – (laughs)
TYM – So the first thing I say, I’m addressing the song to him. The funny thing is, when I retook the class, the next teacher who was way cooler, and a younger kind of teacher or professor was already a fan of my music. (laughs) So one night he was drunk at this bar, Colombia is really small, he was drunk at this bar and we were all hanging out, and he was like,
“That song, 109, is that about History 109?”
“Yeah”
“It’s not about me is it?”
“No, no, no, no! Its about Ramon, it’s about Ramon Jackson!”
“Ohhh, fuck him!”
(laughter)
And it was just so funny to hear a professor say, “Fuck him” about a TA but he was just joking though.
GS – (laughs) That’s awesome. So, uhm, let’s see…I also heard “Supposed to Do.” Is that one of your earlier songs? It seems like it was and that there’s been this huge shift.
TYM – Uhh, yeah that was like, (sigh) I was like really getting into, trying to get into, some garagey rock type stuff. I never really finished that sort of phase. The second album for 2010 is going to be more like guitar based like that. That’s uhm, that was just, I don’t know, just about how you’re supposed to just go with things. It’s about having a shitty job and not having a girlfriend and you’re supposed to just go with that.
(laughter)
TYM – You know, things aren’t going to be perfect. So just keep going on. That’s about as vague as I usually get is when I have songs that are so universal like that. A lot of the songs are pretty personal who ever is listening knows what I’m talking about, I feel bad playing those songs in front of my friends. (laughs)
GS – Do you listen to music frequently? If so, what do you listen to?
TYM – Ahhh, that’s funny. Yesterday I drove from New York to North Carolina in complete silence. Just ‘cause uhm, I wanted to sort of meditate. But this morning I was downloading some really good like, funky stuff from the 70’s. These sound tracks. They had some really good bongo rolls and drum break sound stuff. Whenever I listen to music I listen for stuff that I could possibly sample. But that’s not the main intention of finding it. I really like Arthur Russell a lot. He’s such a huge influence of my song writing right now. I’ve been into this jazz artist recently called JJ Johnson, he’s this trombonist from the 40’s. Really good stuff. I really like it because it reminds me of New York, kind of like really dirty. Pretty much reminds me of the movie Taxi Driver. Which is why I love it. It just sounds so depressing that I can hear Robert DeNiro talking over it.
Thanks for reading, pick up the album, it’s amazing and come check out Toro y Moi at The Monkey on March 28th.
Hello, and welcome to the inaugural edition of The Terrordome, in which yours truly will give you the rundown on the latest music business developments (and a little color commentary).
Paying attention to this stuff is actually part of my job, but if the CIA is letting their guys moonlight, why can’t I?
So here are some hot off-the-tubes headlines with a brief explanation about why you should care (or not).
- Is Streaming the Future of Music?
I say yes. Then again, I live in a Jetsons-style home with all of my media served digitally through specially-equipped speakers that also allow me to listen to massive catalogs of music, streamed in high-quality, on-demand – all for a nominal fee. (Like 12 bucks a month for basically all the records in the world). The only problems with schemes like this is that the payout to artists is still pretty damn low (I know because my music is on these services and there’s not even a major label taking a cut) and the licensing costs to the services themselves are prohibitive to sustainable business models. The entire concept would benefit tremendously from economics of scale — meaning, if more customers used streaming subscription sites, monthly fees would drop and artist payouts could conceivably increase. I got to live interview Dan Ek from Spotify (an incredibly popular “freemium” streaming service so far only available in Europe) at a major music conference last fall. He says there’s plenty of reason to think streaming is the future. Then again, he’s got a product to sell. All I know is that if Apple gets into this game, all the other companies might as well put up “closed for business” signs.
- Buzzword of the New Decade: Monetize
Back when I worked at Ye Olde Record Shop, I plenty got tired of hearing the words “where’s your jam section?” Well, now I’m tired of hearing “how can we monetize this?” This article is an inside-baseball account of Midem — an international music biz conference that seems to always include a lot of griping and crystal ball-gazing from industry heavyweights. Apparently, the theme this year was monetization. Some people think this means locking down the internet for the sole benefit of the major content providers and ISPs. Others (like me) believe in the idea that if you made licensing easier and kept the lanes open, we’d see a natural expansion of the legitimate digital music marketplace. None of this helps traditional retailers though. (Sorry, Crandall.)
- Ticketmaster and Live Nation Get Married
I’m not gonna get into what it means. The link above should help sort out all the Department of Justice hullaboo, though.
- Grandma Endures Wrongful ISP Piracy Suspension
Here we go again. The latest approach to unlawful filesharing by some in the content industry is to push ISPs (through Government mandates, if necessary) to adopt graduated response, or “three strikes” protocols. This means that if you’re suspected of infringing, your interwebs provider could cut your service after a few warnings (or none at all, in the above case). Currently, several European governments are in various stages of adoption, and there’s some rumbling about a US-led international copyright treaty that would make this a planetary remedy. Of course, there are a zillion questions that come up, from consumer recourse (what if you’re wrongly accused?) to the competitiveness of the broadband marketplace (like, is there even another ISP that you can go to?). Piracy is horrible and wrong, but I’m not sure our legal system is equipped to handle this. Stay tuned.
- Did You Watch the Grammys? Apparently, a Lot of People Did
A 35 percent spike in viewership is nothing to sneeze at for both the struggling networks and the struggling recording biz. Now we can sit back and watch as the entire industry touts Lady Gaga as the first superstar of the digital era. (Think about it: all the other massive acts snuck in either before or at the start of the Great Disruption.) So expect 360 degree deals to become the major label norm (if they aren’t already) and for the smaller and smaller number of new artists signed to sound like Cher singing over Ace of Base. Look, I’ve got nothing against Gaga — she’s got a cool art school/fashion project going on. Still, when the mainstream biz bets the farm on Taylor Swift’s pitchy live performances and Gaga’s costume changes, I get annoyed. But hey, you can’t argue with ratings. Unless your name is Jay Leno.
I could probably post more, but all of our heads would explode. See you next time inside The Terrordome!
Casey Rae-Hunter is a musician, producer, writer and music/media/tech/policy wonk in Washington, DC. This post does not necessarily reflect the views of his employer. You can harass Casey at his site, The Contrarian.
Let’s face it. Most of us know by now that our country, no, make that every country in the world is run by men of science. These men of science seem to have the most fun by creating all sorts of new ways of global destruction that not even Roland Emmerich could fathom, just ‘cuz they can. Now, we modern day folks put a great deal of faith in these men of science. We trust them to know what’s best for us, and to only use their death rays on bad dudes and terrorists. Just like how we trust God to send bad guys and terrorists to hell!
Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle is a tale that follows an everyman named John, who finds himself becoming a destined participant in a series of events regarding the faith we put in science and religion. While researching the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, John discovers the legacy of Dr. Hoenikker, the (fictional) co-creator of the atomic bond and a substance called ice-nine. Further investigation into ice-nine leads John to the Island of San Lorenzo, where the substance is in the possession of Hoenikker’s children. John learns more about the the peculiar island culture through a guide given to him by the newly appointed US ambassador. This guide glides over the local landmarks and institutions and devotes most of its information to the island’s peculiar history. This history revolves mostly around the tension between an aging and bloodthirsty dictator with a hook of death and the eccentric prophet of the religion of Bokonon with his books and kinky foot fetish ritual.
Cat’s Cradle is a testament to Vonnegut’s strong convictions towards humanism, free thought and skepticism of conventional religious beliefs. This is black comedy at its finest. If you still need a reason to pick this classic up, let it be to honor the legacy of Vonnegut’s brilliant and prolific career.
This one’s for you, Kurt.
