Author Archives: robert duffy

While the whole world masturbated over the release of the Apple Music store a few weeks back (did you buy stock in Kleenex?), I’ve remained skeptical. Why wasn’t anyone writing anything negative? Surely this thing isn’t perfect, is it?

Enter Mark Morford of SFGate.com:

Damn but how I’d love to believe that a nice hefty portion of the 99 cents I just dropped in the wonderfully simple and elegant and it’s-about-goddamn-time Apple iTunes Music Store for Bj?rk’s glorious “Bachelorette” is going straight into Bj?rk herownself’s orange fur-lined pocket. You know?

Instead of where I know my money is really going, which is straight toward some Universal records exec’s Range Rover payments, with the remainder right into the vault inside Steve Jobs’ gold-trimmed bedchamber. And most likely not a single dime to the artist who wrote and recorded and sang the actual music. (full story)

The store is a step in the right direction, but unlike Neo, I’m not sure that it’s The One.

Another article about the Apple music store that will surely upset Apple Addicts:

Apple negotiated some great licenses from the record labels, and there’s genius in that. Others tried and failed to get similar rights, so Apple CEO Steve Jobs deserves to gloat a little. But in the end, iTunes Music Store is just a music fulfillment service. It has done little or nothing to change the ways people explore and learn about the music that they eventually buy, and that’s a disappointment. (full story)

So, how do you feel about the Apple store? Tell us, chap.

Time for you to check out the RIAA Radar! What is this? Why should you care? Read on, sucka:

The RIAA Radar is a tool that music consumers can use to easily and instantly distinguish whether an album was released by a member of the Recording Industry Association of America. Just as people can currently find out where some products come from and who made them (Is this banana organic? Does this milk contain GMOs? Were these clothes made in a sweatshop?), it is important to have that knowledge for as many consumer goods as possible. Knowledge is power, and knowing where the product came from can (and should) influence what you buy.

Here’s what I learned: Beck is a member of the RIAA but Gillian Welch isn’t.

Here are the parts that hurt me the most:

The mass merchandisers now account for 34 percent of all music sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and music executives say Wal-Mart, the largest, accounts for about 20 percent of a hit’s sales on its own. That allows the chains to set the rules.

…

Wal-Mart refuses to sell any albums with parental warning stickers, including most hip-hop releases. Eminem’s albums, for example, are not sold at Wal-Mart. Many artists and labels, however, re-record special, cleaned-up editions of their albums for Wal-Mart’s shelves, deleting obscenities or changing lyrics.

….

Wal-Mart sells an edited, R-rated version of the racy film, “Y Tu Mam? Tambi?n,” not the full, unrated theatrical release. Although it does not sell Eminem’s music, it does sell the DVD of his movie “8 Mile,” but with a cleaned-up version of an extra music video included. (full story)

Scrub scrub scrub! Clean out the filth!

[link found via rocktober]

According to the powers of the internet, one of the connections that keep the internet together is busted in Columbus OH (where our hosting is). So things are slow today. They expect it to be fixed soon. Other sites hosted out of Columbus OH are probably slow, too.

I wonder if a tree fell on the connection.

So you’re a struggling local band and you finally earn enough money to buy a van for out of town gigs. This is a photo of something you probably don’t even think will happen to it.

Mother Nature is an evil bitch.

Audrey from Melody Nelson has interviewed the Stills on Earlash. Learn about them before your friends do.

That’s how the headline reads over on Launch.

Did you catch that? Let me type it out again: Ludacris Prepping Clothing Line To Help Fight Racism.

Say what?

Ludacris plans to make a difference with C.P. Time, to create social change and fight racism. “Definitely working on a clothing line, called ‘C.P. Time,’ man that’s great,” Ludacris said. “You know you always hear c.p. time, people say ‘colored people time.’ In this sense, I mean everyone of color, even white is a color, you know what I mean? It’s kind of like a clothing line trying to just end racial discrimination.”

Newsflash: I am going to end world hunger next Tuesday by playing “Enter the Matrix” on Playstation 2 for about seven hours straight.

We knew it was gonna happen:

Pearl Jam has quietly confirmed reports that it’s no longer on Epic Records. In the Q&A section of the latest Pearl Jam Rumour Pit, the band’s official online newsletter, the question “Have Pearl Jam left their record company yet?” is answered by a simple “Yes.” Neither the band’s management nor Epic–Pearl Jam’s home since its debut album in 1991–are making official comments on the matter. (full story)

This is huge news. At the stage where Pearl Jam is in their career, they really don’t need a major label behind them. They don’t do videos, they don’t do aggressive radio campaigns. They could go to a smaller label, they could go on their own, whatever. Their choices are endless. Big news. Discuss.

My dear friend Ken Gould has just put up the beginnings of his website, found here. There’s not much to it yet, but you can download an MP3 from his forthcoming album, “Miles from Mariana.” Please, make with the clicky.