Enteraining Read on the Phish Reunion

This morning Matt B tipped me off to the Phish reunion in March at the Hampton Coliseum.  In clicking around (and of course, throwing my name in the hat for tickets) I came across the following hilarious post and response on a forum thread from JamBase (AKA "the world's leading source of live music and concert information")

Great Dead Show Podcast: KPON 89.5 FM in Columbia OH

Molly starting asking about good Grateful Dead podcasts the other day, so of course we started investigating and quickly determined there are a number of great GD podcasts out there. 

I am loving "The Dead Show On KPON" on KOPN 89.5 in Columbia MO

• Subscribe to this podcast via itunes,
• Check out the show's blog
• Check out the very cool feed using your google reader
• Please consider donating to this podcast - they deserve it. I think this podcast is a great idea to support, and a great resource to invest in.

If you already use podcasts, you probably already know what a neat way they are to listen to music you love, and discover more music you haven't heard.

If you dont use podcasts yet, a podcast is a free video or audio series — like a TV or radio show, that you can subscribe to in a number of ways.  A very easy way to subscribe to podcasts is using iTunes.  Using iTunes its easy to listen to podcasts (like Dead Shows) on your existing sound system - either on your computer or your iPod, etc.

To iearn more about podcasts and how to use them, start with the podcast wiki page.

Great World Of Sound : Must See Music Movie

Great World of Sound is something else. I highly recommend it.  From the movie's website:

“Great World of Sound” follows Martin (Pat Healy), as he applies for a job at a company training prospective “music producers”.  During training he pairs up with another new employee, Clarence (Kene Holliday), a middle aged man trying to change his career path. 

As record producers, the two travel to towns where the company has placed newspaper ads to find undiscovered musicians.  They are seeking talent for the record label- signing new artists and giving them a chance to let their music be heard… for a small fee. It’s going great at first, but soon Martin and Clarence begin to question whether the company is as virtuous as it promises to be in it’s promise to give people their dream.

This film evokes the image of the traveling salesman- a talent salesman- to address the increasing trend of people looking for a shortcut to fame. The film also examines the people who promise such an easy path- commenting that a “scam artist” rarely believes they are one, and that often the scam artist is being scammed himself.  Read More

Old Crow Medicine Show - "I Hear Them All"

Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans neighborhood, the scenes and images match the protest lyrics of the song. The band and various people from the neighborhood wait for a late bus. Once the driver arrives the goup of fellow travelers have bonded, have found common ground - shared humanity.

So while you sit and whistle Dixie with your money and your power.
I can hear the flowers a-growin in the rubble of the towers.
I hear leaders quit their lying
I hear babies quit their crying.
I hear soldiers quit their dying, one and all. (lyrics...)

The Evolution of the Mobile 'Sound System'

The Sound System Movement originated in the ghettos of kingston Jamaica, in the 1950s.

Sound engineers, DJs, and MCs filled trucks full of sound and lighting equipment and staged block parties, charging money for entrance, food and alcohol. The architects of the movement traveled frequently to the U.S., buying music to incorporate into their acts.  It offered a way for the poor, without access to radios or TV, to hear and enjoy popular music streaming out of the U.S.

Towards the end of the 1950s, fresh American music was increasing difficult to come by, so the producers of Sound System turned to local sounds. It started as an attempt to imitate American pop, but quickly turned into the definition of the Jamaican music scene.

Continue reading "The Evolution of the Mobile 'Sound System'"

Radiohead’s Genius?: Making Music Downloading Pay

From the New York Times
By Eduardo Porter

Could this be the dawn of a new business model for the music industry? Following Radiohead’s decision last month to let fans pay whatever they wanted to download their latest album “In Rainbows”, other artists, staid and crazy, are trying the same tactic.

Barbara Hendricks, the 56-year old soprano, is letting listeners decide the price of her new album, “Endless Pleasure,” in which she sings Henry Purcell and Georg Friedrich Haendel. Courtney Love, who is working on her second solo album, said she wants to try it too. “The kamikaze pilot in me wants to do the same damn thing,” she wrote on her blog. “I love risk, and almost everything I’ve done well has been because everyone said I was crazy to do it.”

Radiohead's approach is reminiscent of the street performer protocol which addresses how 'traditional forms of copyright and creative compensation will not work in the future, because of the ease of copying and distribution of digital information.'

They might be in for a nasty surprise. According to a study by Comscore, a market analysis firm, only 38 percent of those who downloaded “In Rainbows” in October paid anything for the album, and those who did only dished out $6, on average. Averaged across all downloads it amounted to $2.26 per copy.

Continue reading "Radiohead’s Genius?: Making Music Downloading Pay"