Internet radio going silent

An interesting article on CNN.com a few days ago:
Today, Tuesday June 26 most Internet radio sites (like Pandora and Live365) , are going off the air in observance of a Day Of Silence - in protest of a new levy the government and the music labels are about to impose. An arbitration committee in Washington DC has drastically increased the licensing fees Internet radio sites must pay to stream songs, and the fees are retroactive for eighteen months. For small internet radio stations that will likely be the end.

In addition, it was decided that webcasters should cough up a minimum $500 "administrative fee" for every channel they broadcast online, resulting in Yahoo, Pandora, and RealNetworks (some of the biggest internet radio providers) having to spend $1.15 billion per year on the administrative fee alone.

Should licensing fees and royalties be paid? Absolutely. But not to the extent that the vehicles that serve the music to us, the consumers, are driven out of business. I hope that today's silence will speak, and if you want to know more or support the internet radio stations, you can do so by clicking here.

Esmee & Justin

A little bit of Dutch pride in today's post - Dutch YouTube star Esmee Denters (an 18 year old girl who started posting videos of herself singing current pop songs on YouTube last October and became an overnight sensation) has become the first artists signed to Tennman Records, Justin Timberlake's new record label. Her YouTube videos have received more than 20 million views in the past nine months, and she is now slated to open for some of Timberlake's European shows as well as an album release later this year.

And to think, this is a Dutch teenager that just for fun started singing into a karaoke machine in her bedroom and posted the results, again just for fun, on YouTube. Just one more sign of how much impact these new media can have in today's music world.

The big, wide, open market

According to digital media research firm Media-Screen, Internet users spend 54% of their time online searching for entertainment content. And considering how many internet users there are, and how much total time gets spent online......

Wow.

Two in the Garden

My band in its most complete set-up has 9 musicians. On average, it's at least 6. And I usually feel somewhat lost when I have less than 5. The White Stripes, a two-piece band, this summer is headlining at Madison Square Garden for the first time. Just Jack White & Meg White, guitar and drums. To me, that is amazing, and reason enough to want to go see the show.

My generation

The elderly rockers known as The Zimmers (the name comes from the Zimmer frame, the British term for a walker) entered the British Top 40 chart Monday at No. 26 with their guitar-smashing take on The Who's "My Generation." The group, whose average age is 78, was formed by Tim Samuels for a BBC documentary. Samuels said the band was intended to combat the victim status of the elderly.

"If you can judge a society by how well it treats its old people, we'd be in trouble," Samuels said. "I wanted to do something to help them fight back; something with a little bit of attitude and chutzpah." "My Generation" was recorded at the famous Abbey Road studios, and there's a great picture of group members crossing the street the way the Beatles did on their Abbey Road album cover. The single is now on iTunes and all proceeds to go charity.

Haven't seen this yet? You should: the song on YouTube and the band's MySpace.

Square pegs

This is so cool..... some of my absolute favorite writers.... all together - if this does not come close to the essence of music, I don't know what does. Check out the Square Peg Alliance.

From their own site: "The Square Peg Alliance is a group of singer/songwriters who really like each other. We have all been doing music on our own but have decided to join forces like the wonder twins - except there are 13 of us instead of 2. There is no guy in a suit putting all of us together. We really just believe in each other's art and want to support it.
We don't write music so we can be the next big thing (or if we do, it hasn't worked for us). We believe that there are folks out there who like music even if it isn't played every three minutes on the radio, even if it isn't on a big label, even if it isn't accompanied by a music video, even if the shows aren't flashy or even if the records don't go platinum (or gold, or silver, or aluminum foil, etc.).
That is why we are the Square Peg Alliance. Thirteen artists who might not fit perfectly into the traditional mold of the music business, but have found a home with each other."

Amen.

Sir Paul & the coffee shop

Paul McCartney's newest project, Memory almost full, is being released today - on the brandnew Starbucks "Hear Music" record label. In celebration Starbucks is playing the new CD all day long in its more than 10,000 stores in 29 countries. The album will be sold at most Starbucks stores worldwide, in all major music retailers, and on Apple Inc.'s iTunes online store, making it the first of McCartney's 21 solo albums to be released digitally.

I am writing this as I sit at a Richmond, VA, Starbucks, and so far I have heard about half the CD. Most people don't spend hours and hours in Starbucks - but for those of us who use it as our office away from home, it likely will become a bit monotonous today. It's enjoyable, but I doubt I would listen to it much if it wasn't Paul of the Beatles. It is, however, a great marketing stunt - great exposure both for McCartney and for Hear Music. For a good synopsis, read CNN's article about Memory almost full.