Archive for the ‘labels’ Category

Making Money in Music: a Poll and a Crowdstorm

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

I've created a twitter poll (something I should be doing more regularly) asking a question of central importance to this blog, to my life, my creative pursuits, and something that's been on everybody's mind since the dawn of music (when wazzat?): how should musicians get paid? If I haven't given ...

The end of free music?

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Last.fm (aka CBS) has finally thrown in the towel on free music. Well, I'm not going with them. It's not that Last.fm sucks; they still offer a great service, one that *might* be worth the subscription fee, even. But for those of us who are trying to give music away ...

A Spectre Is Haunting Marillion

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

This? Oh yeah, we already did that. & it's true what they say - Reverbnation rules the internets!

P2P in Canada

Friday, October 5th, 2007

I was interviewed this morning for Global National on the subject of P2P lawsuits by the RIAA. Every time there's some sensational story to be mined, the television media seem to jump. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I tried to stay focused on the Canadian angle, making the points that ...

RIP Tony Wilson

Friday, August 10th, 2007

Tony Wilson is dead. For those who don't know, Wilson was the notorious owner of the legendary Factory Records and Haçienda Club in Manchester, UK. As dramatized in the 2000s film 24 Hour Party People, Wilson was also responsible for launching the highly influential Joy Division/New Order constellation, as well ...

AOIR 8 Vancouver, 50 Parties, etc. (Oct. 2007)

Thursday, August 9th, 2007

Heya. I am presenting in a panel at AOIR this year (the title of my presentation/paper is "The Technical Micropolitics of the Online Music Industry, 1997-2007", abstract here). For those of you who've followed my blog, you'll know something of what to expect, except that I'll be strictly framing up ...

On Last.fm and royalty payments

Monday, July 23rd, 2007

Clear Channel didn't get away with it, and now Last.fm is taking heat for not paying out royalties to independent artists. Last.fm, recently purchased by CBS, is now heating up indie music business blogs with this policy, even though it's been in place since the company started. Why so, asks the ...

FMC, A2IM force Clear Channel to pay royalties to independent musicians

Friday, July 20th, 2007

There's some great news in Future of Music Coalition's latest newsletter about Clear Channel's treatment of independent musicians. In just ten short days of campaigning (including blogging, negotiating with the radio giant directly, and filing a Request for a Declaratory Ruling at the FCC) the organization (with help from A2IM) ...

20 Years of Scratch Records

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

There's a pretty good yarn in last Wednesday's Vancouver Courier about Scratch Records, an independent music institution in Vancouver for 20 years now. For those of us old enough to recall Scratch's origins as the-little-indie-store-that-could below street level in Gastown, it's great, and inspiring to see this label/shop/distributor steadfastly navigating ...

Last.fm, CBS and the future of music

Friday, June 1st, 2007

OK, I was going to take a lot of time and write a measured and considered manifesto, but in the spirit of the impulsivity, that, according to my friend Jason, haunts, and characterizes the blogosphere, I've decided to have a little blurt and then go enjoy the blistering West Coast ...