Category
Two Hits iTunes
Hurricane Alley's new album, Category Two, is now
available at iTunes (US/Canada, EU, UK, Australia and Mexico).
After you release a record album, you're
really down to a few simple choices. You can perform the songs,
promote and sell the record, maybe make a video to go with a
couple of the tunes. Talking about it seems the least intelligent
way to get people to connect with it.
But this one has a
story. Album
Sales Fall Below 1991 Levels
August 23, 2010 -- According to Nielsen/SoundScan,
the week ending August 15 was the first time since they started
keeping track in 1991 that less
than 5 million albums were sold. While this comes as no great surprise,
what I find interesting is the general logic that tries to explain
it. (More...)
The
Transformation of the Music Industry in the 21st Century
August, 18, 2010 -- I've been really thinking
about what I could offer to give all the college researchers something
new to chew on when school kicks back in. So I dug back into those
stats and numbers again.
What I found is that you can study all the available numbers,
digest all the data, chew up all those reports and spit them back
out again, but you still won't know a damned thing about what's
really going on in the music business. NAB,
RIAA Try to Force Radio into iPods
August 18, 2010 -- "Radio broadcasters and
music labels are seeking to legally mandate FM radio reception
as a feature
in all consumer mobile
devices in an effort to expand the market for radio." Why the
hell would the RIAA want to do that? (More...)
Creativity
and Cash Flow
August 13, 2010 -- I've had a web site since
about 1998. Lately, I'm getting approached to monetize the site
by isolating some content off behind a pay wall. Am I the only
one in the country that finds this idea disgusting? I guess I see
the greater question to be: How did everyone manage to forget the
original purpose of the internet? (More...)
Social Networking
August 12, 2010 -- Found a page of social networking
stats in an e-mail. No link source, but I thought I'd share it
anyway. (More...
What
the "Bleep" Do We Know?
August 6, 2010 -- I'm not a big movie person,
so I am shocked to find myself reviewing a second film in a week.
But this one can change your life. Forever. I do not say this lightly.
(More...)
The Long and Winding Road
July 22, 2010 -- (new
date due to a rewrite of the intro) I spent almost the entire
month of June unexpectedly out of town and away from the Internet. However,
being off-line for so long was a disconnected break that I needed
and didn't even know
it.
Went on a cross-country trip which took
me to New Orleans, Westport, CT, New York City, Toledo, OH, Chicago,
then
back to
New Orleans
before heading
home. Lots of interesting things to talk about.
It took longer to write than
it took to happen, but I had so much to tell.
(Last
modified -- August 12, 2010 -- 12:05
a.m.)
Ghetto Physics
July 31, 2010 -- As the cosmos continues its mission
to point me to a wiser direction in life, this afternoon I was
lucky enough to catch an advance screening of Ghetto
Physics -- Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up.
(More...)
Random Notes
July 29, 2010 -- Got an e-mail from Derek Sivers
yesterday, the founder and former owner of CDBaby. He sold CDBaby
two years ago, but this is the first time I read the story of why
he sold it and what happened to the money from the sale.
-- I've taken down all the links to buy CDs from this site (or
at least I think I have). Doing the retail sales tax paperwork
was more trouble than the one or two sales a year were worth. We
were selling a number of CDs at live shows, but since out guitarist
is on the East coast for an undetermined amount of time, I'm just
not going to make any more physical copies, other than for friends.
But sales are picking up through iTunes, so it all works out. Physical
CDs of Hurricane Alley's "Category One" are available
through Amazon On-Demand.
-- Working on an update to the infamous "RIAA
Statistics Don't Add Up to Piracy" story from 2002,
still the most popular page on the site. Have a few charts and
graphs to build yet, and am still pulling together the data.
This time, we're going to bring Canada's sales into the conversation,
thanks to Loyal Reader Kent Clark, who provided some interesting
data from the Great White North.
Sign Up for the Newsletter
July 26, 2010 -- Even though he's my closest friend,
I can't talk about Carl (Hurricane Alley's guitarist) publicly
any longer because the company he works for has a shit-fit every
time I do. Also, I've been "working the crowd" at Facebook
lately, but I just don't have enough time to write everyone (some
of whom I lost contact with decades ago) the same basic "what
I've been up to" letter over and over.
Due to little things like this, I've started a slightly irregular
newsletter that's a tiny bit more intimate than the website. If
you'd like to be on the receiving end, write to me (wizard AT azoz.com).
All the cool people are doing it.
ASCAP's War on Content Creators
July 25, 2010 -- I'm an ASCAP member. Last week,
in one of their regular e-mails, came some ridiculous drivel from
Paul Williams, as he promotes a fight against Creative Commons,
EFF, Public Knowledge and anyone else opposed to the current copyright
regime. (More...)
Sound Strike Boycotts Arizona
July 22, 2010 -- Yesterday,
Rage Against the Machine and other artists stepped up to promote
an organization called "Sound Strike," the purpose
of which is to encourage other acts to boycott performing in
Arizona due to our racist anti-immigration law. Could be a coincidence,
but Elton John postponed a Tucson concert last night due to "food
poisoning."
Normally, the idea of not performing in Arizona
would be a problem, since that's where I live and I would like
to perform once in a while. However, with Carl in Connecticut,
we don't have a lot of gigs lined up right now, I'm still re-working
the next album anyway and, to use my favorite derogatory phrase
from the 70's, the law does blow dead bears.
So, even from where I sit, which is close
enough to Mexico (within 25 miles) that the most visible law
enforcement is the Border Patrol, the Sound Strike is something
that the state deserves. Of course, to really hurt the conservative
faction, they're gonna have to get the country stars to sign
up for this, too.
But the Mariachi bands ought to get a free
pass on this one.
Upgrading....
July 20, 2010 -- I'm
a Mac user, but I've avoided using OSX on a regular basis until
now. I've got an OSX laptop, but I really have only used it for
visiting websites that my OS 9 browser can't get into. This has
more to do with my ProTools set-up than anything else, which
is running fine on a 1998 beige G3.
This month, I've been working on a software
project which requires OSX, so I've spent a lot of time using
21st century software for a change. So much time, in fact, that
I've decided to move all of my real work over to OSX, including
this website.
So if things get strange in the next couple
of days, it's just because I'm adjusting to new software.
Dear America -- WAKE THE FUCK UP!
July 16, 2010 -- A
friend of mine sent me an e-mail yesterday of an opinion piece
from what appears to be a Fox News commentator. It provides
a stunningly accurate picture of everything that's wrong with
this country right now. Or maybe "example" is the
right word. Whether you're Republican or Democrat, this deserves
a read (Warning: adult language). (More...)
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
July 13, 2010 -- If
you agree with me that the RIAA has its head up its ass, you're
gonna love this one. In 2008, the RIAA spent more than $16 million
on legal fees (attorneys). All of this legal muscle helped them
extort, er, collect a grand total of $391,000 from the evil college
students that still listen to RIAA music.
The best part is that this was a much
higher return on investment than 2007 or 2006. Ray
Beckerman at Recording Industry vs the People has all the
numbers.
With that kind of money, you'd think
they could afford to go find some talent. Maybe someone that
can sing without Autotune or resorting to lip-syncing at live
shows.
Catching Up on the News
July 9, 2010 -- Okay,
I've had an Internet connection for a week now, finally caught
up with my e-mail, made a good start on the
story of my cross-country trip, but I haven't talked about news yet. The four
most significant topics I've seen so far are Sony v. Tenenbaum,
Viacom v YouTube, the FBI's retarded approach to copyright,
and ASCAP's new insane plan. More...
Cause and Effect
June 6, 2010 -- As
much as the MPAA whines about "piracy," the movie industry
has been having record box office revenues for the past few years
-- even as the practice of downloading films has increased.
This week, a film company sued
2,000 people for downloading a movie. Movie box-office receipts
dropped by 24 percent from the comparable weekend last year,
according
to the New York Times. Coincidence?
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