The Practice Room

musicFIRST

This is news to me: A coalition of artists called musicFIRST is asserting that performers in the United States have digital performance rights when their music is played on satellite radio, internet radio and cable services, but NOT when it is broadcast via AM or FM radio. I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but that surprises me, and it seems ridiculous. Needless to say, musicFIRST is trying to change the status quo.

More tidbits from musicFIRST’s FAQs:

- “… a January 2007 study conducted by the University of Texas at Dallas stated that ‘Radio play does not have the positive impact on record sales normally attributed to it. Instead, it appears to have an economically important negative impact, implying that overall radio listening is more of a substitute for the purchase of sound recordings than it is a complement.’”

- “Currently, when American music is played in foreign countries, they withhold royalties to protest the fact that United States radio stations do not honor a performance right for foreign artists.”

Among musicFIRSTs’s Founding Artists are Aimee Mann, BB King, Brian Wilson, Don Henley, Dr. Dre, Dr. John, Jimmy Buffet, Keb’ Mo’, Pete Seeger, Placido Domingo, will.i.am, and, apparently in a naked attempt to add some heft to that list of musical lightweights, The Pussycat Dolls.

[TJH]

More on internet radio

Here’s another note from Tim Westergren of Pandora regarding the on-going mess in internet radio regulation:

Hi, it's Tim again,

I wanted to thank you again for your extraordinary support in the fight to save Internet radio and Pandora. Thanks to the overwhelming number of calls you made, letters you faxed, and emails you sent, the Internet Radio Equality Act is fast gaining momentum in the House of Representatives (74 sponsors and growing). It's nothing short of remarkable for this to happen in such a brief period of time - almost unprecedented.   

On Friday, May 11th, a Senate version of the bill was introduced by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sam Brownback (R-KS): www.savenetradio.org/071510-wyden.pdf. This is a promising development, but we need your help again. I know we're asking a lot, but the stakes couldn't be higher and the fight is not over.   

Please call the offices of your Senators and ask them to co-sponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act, S. 1353.

Visit www.savenetradio.org to keep up on our fight to save Internet radio. There are some powerful testimonials there from musicians who have found their audience through Internet radio.   

We are deeply moved by your support. Thank you. 

[TJH]

No more Internet Radio?

We’ve mentioned Pandora before in The Practice Room. Here’s a request from Pandora founder Tim Westergren:

…The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora.  The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays, and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all.  Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.

In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters.  I hope that you will consider joining us. 

Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541

Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better. 

Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception.  As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians.  The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential. 

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.

-Tim Westergren

[TJH]

Finetune - Be Your Own Radio Jockey

Finetune is a pretty cool music listening program, or, to use current jargon, a "social music application." If you're familiar with Pandora, the "Music Genome Project" that serves you music based on your preferences, you get a good idea of how Finetune works. You can listen to Peter's playlist by clicking the "finetune playlists and stations" link on the upper right-hand side of this blog.

Here are the pros and cons in a nutshell:

A Note on Michael Brecker's Death

A great loss for the Jazz world and the world of music. Michael Brecker was definitely one of the greats in Jazz and beyond. His unique sound, his brilliant technique and his sheer endless improvisational capacity are proof of his greatness. He was often criticized for being a "cold, technical player" by people who unfortunately don't have the ears to hear the complexity of his playing, but who cares about feeble-minded reactionaries?

Michael Brecker has played on countless records has put out many of his own, as Steps Ahead or as Michael Brecker. I'm not going to indulge in creating a hitlist or a compilation of M.B.'s works- I'm sure there are lots of Web sites dedicated to him. However, I would like to recommend one particular recording, or tune I should say, where he blows off a solo that pretty much demonstrates the range of a tenor sax and Brecker's long breath and his ability to build an ever evolving, complex musical thought in an improvisation. You can find it on Frank Zappa's "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" Vol. 6 (VI), on a tune called "Black Napkins" on the 2nd disc. Check it out!

Peter

Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls was a big hit at the Golden Globes awards last night. Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy won for supporting roles, and the picture won best musical or comedy. Of course, they didn’t ask me, but all I can say is it must have been a real bad year for musicals and comedies. Hudson and Murphy were good, but I would have given the film the ‘longest movie of the year’ award and that’s it.

[TJH]

Fun with words at the AMAs

A few randomly selected lyrics from the American Music Awards:

1. So go ahead and get gone and call up that chick

And see if she is home.

Oops, I bet ya thought that I didn’t know.

What did you think I was putting you out for?

Because you was untrue

Rolling her around in the car I bought you.

Baby, you dropped them keys

Hurry up before your taxi leaves.

2. Oh, you don’t mean nothing at all to me

No, you don’t mean nothing at all to me

Do you got what it takes to set me free?

Oh you could mean everything to me.

3. There’s a world outside every darkened door

Where the blues won’t haunt you anymore

Where the brave are free and lovers soar

Come ride with me to the distant shore.

We won’t hesitate

To break down the garden gate

There’s not much time left today.

<><><><>

Is it just me? These are the best we've got?

[TJH]

Country Music Awards

Lots of familiar faces hit the stage at the Country Music Awards last night. Brooks & Dunn, as hosts, performers, and award-winners, were everywhere. Vince Gill was back again, singing and presenting. Long-time country favorites Jon Bon Jovi (what?) and Richie Sambora (what?) were there, and you can’t seem to have a country awards show without Rascal Flatts these days. (I still don’t get Rascal Flatts.)

Songwriter Craig Wiseman did it again; “Believe,” a song he wrote with Ronnie Dunn, won Song of the Year.  His tune “Live Like You Were Dying” won the same award in 2004. “The Good Stuff,” written with Jim Collins in 2002, was picked as song of the year by Billboard, ASCAP, and the Academy of Country Music. Country music is more song-driven than any other form of popular music, and Wiseman has the golden touch.

Still on the Song of the Year subject -

The Saints Are Coming - U2 and Green Day

Remember Monday Night Football at the Superdome? Well here's U2 and Green Day's video response to what happened during Hurricane Katrina. If we could only get everyone who watched this on YouTube to pick up an instrument and start playing! Peace through music!

Justin Timberlake: Future Sex/Love Sounds

Reporting back for duty: I'm taking my regular stab at current hits on i-Tunes. As of this writing, it is Halloween day 2006, and the song I'm about to review was released about a month and a half ago, so please forgive my being behind the times.