Tool, widget, product, puppet, whatever you want to call it Lily Allen is the most recent high-profile pawn installed into public power by EMI and the RIAA-minded marketeers. I’m not sure yet if I should pity or revile her because time will reveal if she was just another Bush the 43rd-type marionette strung up and [...]
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A couple of weeks ago I’d commented on ASCAP going after AT&T in attempts to slap an additional performance fee on ringtone downloads that already remit higher than average rates to songwriters and publishers in comparison to full song purchases. More recently I’ve been hearing from colleagues and small business employees that ASCAP is [...]
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News broke recently that MySpace has made its move to focus on something else since losing the so-called social networking war to Facebook. Chief executive Owen Van Natta states “MySpace won’t just be focusing on music as its attraction but on all creative areas. He doesn’t want the company to be backed into one corner…” [...]
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In a flurry of news blurbs that I’d come across, I was excited to hear the potential of a few inventions that will be shaping how music is circulated. Referencing an essay I had written (to be posted in due time) that outlines how music could be more efficiently served I am now witnessing some [...]
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Amidst the hope of opportunity for independent musicians and a returning pay model for music via ISP-record label partnerships, I’m not surprised some perishing dinosaurs are still clinging on to their lobbying tactics. I am a songwriter and publisher, and I appreciate what certain people at my affiliated organizations (at ASCAP and BMI) have done [...]
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EMI CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti released the following statement that had me lit:
I passionately believe that if we listen to our consumers, this gap will become our opportunity. I very much look forward to hearing the views of creative industry leaders at the cabinet forum and, of course, those of government who have [...]
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Every time I read up on music news, I get a little paranoid because it seems like as soon as a new platform has been created to help promote the little guy online it gets old and hackneyed fast!
As social media tools for musicians, look how quickly MySpace went up then down. Twitter looks to [...]
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At a time when the Virgin Megastore has closed up shop on their last two remaining outlets, the parent company’s UK telco and cable TV arm, Virgin Media, has recently announced a partnership with Universal Music to offer unlimited MP3 downloads on a subscription basis at approximately £10-15 per month. There are deep implications for [...]
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I want to share with you some good news for the arts amidst the gloom in the news. Last week the National Endowment For The Arts (NEA) received an initial $15 million increase in the House subcommittee for fiscal year 2010. This increase brings the agency’s current budget up from $155 million to $170 million! [...]
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