Archive for February, 2009

Touring Still a Money Machine

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Even with the music industry struggling and the economy in tatters, live tours still seem to be a cash cow.

Just another indication that live music is a critical component of the music industry’s future.

Top 100 Albums

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Great listening material for anyone

Ten Things to Avoid in Music Creation

Monday, February 16th, 2009

People always tell you what to do. But its just as important to be aware of the pitfalls. This great piece discusses 10 things you should try to avoid in the creative process.

Naturally, some of these things are unavoidable. Nevertheless, being aware of them will help you realize why you are not getting results. With time, these tips will help you develop into a more complete musician.

Google the Music Mafia

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

This is some pretty weird stuff.

Quite frankly, this is really too bad. Music writers are a great opportunity for artists to get free publicity. They should be trying to work out a revenue-sharing agreement, rather than shutting these things down incessantly.

Landon Smith

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

This guy is really good – in the style of Jason Mraz or Jack Johnson. Definitely check out “shakin,” although all his songs are at least pretty good.

http://www.purevolume.com/landonsmithmusic

The Auto-Tune Debate

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Auto-Tune has always been a controversial topic. This studio software plugin auto-corrects a singer’s voice to make them sound  precise, almost to a fault. Bands such as “The Killers” use these vocal processing techniques ubiquitously.

Supporters argue that it has helped mediocre singers with great songs develop their music for the mainstream. Critics claim that it has taken the humanity out of singing.

I honestly don’t see the problem with it. If people enjoy the product, why complain? Auto-Tune is simply changing the frequency of a waveform. How is it any different from an amp, which changes the amplitude of a sound wave? I’ve never seen anyone complain about the use of an amp before.

Thoughts?

Grammys 2009

Monday, February 9th, 2009

http://www.prefixmag.com/news/grammy-winners-2009/25819/

Eminem’s Bio

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Interesting article

Latest Music Lawsuits

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Why does the music business think that lawsuits are the solution to everything? Techcrunch reports on a couple of recent music lawsuits.

Evidently songbeat, a music streaming and downloading service based out of Germany, is getting sued by the major record labels. Does this seriously surprise anyone? Did Songbeat expect to simply waltz by and except no one to notice, when every single one of their competitors is facing numerous lawsuits?

I also find it funny that Universal Music, one of the biggest proponents of these lawsuits, is now in violation of copyright infringements. Talk about irony.

Classic Albums

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Here’s an article on some of the truly classic albums.

Amen!