tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-108802422011-12-28T14:07:47.427-05:00<i>"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson</i>Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1149240444635582362006-06-02T05:25:00.000-04:002006-06-02T05:35:38.636-04:00

I just finished reading coverage of a debate on whether the RIAA should sue its own customers that was held a while ago at the University of Pittsburgh. Arguing in favor of continued lawsuits was Geoffrey L. Beauchamp, Pennsylvania state counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America. His opinion as a legal representative of the record industry -- the tired old line 'filesharing is the

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1140474529561201412006-02-20T17:28:00.000-05:002006-02-20T17:57:18.740-05:00

The old adage, "It's not what you know, but who you know" ought to be embroidered on the inside of every musician's eyelids. In an ideal world, a musician's raw talent would be enough to attract the attention of the masses. Unfortunately, this is ever less the case in the digital age. The media and the marketplace are over-saturated with sonic product and the record industry is hell-bent on

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1140196732533899802006-02-17T12:06:00.000-05:002006-02-17T12:19:15.130-05:00

I hold the unpopular opinion that despite its current exponential growth, MySpace is nearing the peak of a bell curve that will eventually dip down into obsolescence. Once Intermix (MySpace's parent company) was bought out by mega-media conglomerate News Corp (aka Fox), I felt content in knowing my opinion was becoming fact.After reading this Wall Street Journal article, I believe we're now

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1139507501312628162006-02-09T12:51:00.000-05:002006-02-09T12:52:20.250-05:00

Maybe FOX's American Idol isn't the harbinger of cultural doom that most rational people believe it to be. Splashed across the Drudge Report today was a headline proclaiming, "'Idol' amateurs beat 'Grammy' pros in ratings". The story is accompanied by two photos: an American Idol contestant singing soulfully into a water bottle, and a sneering, dirt-old Madonna standing in front of the Grammy/CBS

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1132175067751964892005-11-16T15:59:00.000-05:002005-11-16T16:09:51.113-05:00

"What is noise to the old order is harmony to the new." - Jacques Attali, Noise: The Political Economy of MusicACKNOWLEDGING ARTIST TYPESIn the world of music, there are six types of Artists, each characterized by the particular music community they are a part of: Amateur, Aspiring, DIY, Independent, Professional and Star.Every Artist starts as an amateur. The dictionary definition of an amateur

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1130407364064251492005-10-27T06:01:00.000-04:002005-10-29T15:18:44.733-04:00

In speaking to an audience of musicians, it's important to be realistic. They're dreamers. This is a fact exploited by the majority of popular literature and media for musicians. Looking back at my music-themed bookshelf, I see way too much "How to Be a Rock Star" fantasizing and not enough reality. The more mundane (but supposedly indispensable) "Everything You Need to Know About Whatever" books

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1128971602741701362005-10-10T15:12:00.000-04:002005-10-10T15:35:02.693-04:00

Today I found a great blog via the The Association of Music Writers and Photographers (AMWP) newsletter. This BeatnikPad post titled "Cool musicians who blog" was an eye-opening look at the fiercely creative minds of some truly visionary artists.I was hooked the moment I entered David Byrne's online journal and read the following conclusion to a post on the philosophical implications of Japanese

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1128377341990311392005-10-03T18:01:00.000-04:002005-10-03T18:09:36.786-04:00

By now I'm sure you're used to seeing a blog go black for a month here and there, and mine was no exception. I've been working on some exciting projects related to the future of the music industry. I'm still following all the major developments -- you can check out my bookmarks here to view articles of note.I have also started work on a short book / website which will be along the lines of a '

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1124872011095437132005-08-24T04:23:00.000-04:002005-08-24T04:28:55.440-04:00

There's still plenty of good music to listen to, but pretty much everyone can agree that music, in the general sense, is in a sort of crisis. The harbingers are everywhere: the RIAA suing its own customers by the thousands, payola is rampant and monoculture overwhelms radio and television. Turn on American Idol to see what I'm talking about. Most of the music the modern world now hears is less

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1122677307776263302005-07-29T18:44:00.000-04:002005-07-29T18:49:28.976-04:00

In another instance of music marketing genius for Burger King (think subservientchickent.com, the greasy-meat-slinging corporation has launched Coq Roq, a band-slash-marketing campaign that takes square aim at youth demographic, which is increasingly tuning out marketing and advertising as a whole.You absolutely have to see the site for yourself. It's basically a straight rip-off of Slipknot in

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1122306137393906492005-07-25T11:40:00.000-04:002005-07-25T15:37:08.396-04:00

Just finished reading 1UP.com's "Gaming Rhapsody", a great ode to video game music. As a huge video game music fan (I own the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack on 3-disc Japanese import and I've been listening non-stop to Stemage, the metal Metroid soundtrack cover band), it got me thinking about the blurred line between video game music and so-called 'real music'.'Real music' has been featured in

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1121844523077873082005-07-20T03:27:00.000-04:002005-07-20T04:04:26.206-04:00

I saw Mastodon on Monday night at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY, performing with Rob Zombie. Not being the biggest Zombie fan, I basically shelled out $38 bucks just to see Mastodon, who I believe lead the resurgence of commercially viable but utterly brutal niche metal with bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and Lamb of God.I had the opportunity to speak briefly with [insanely talented] Mastodon

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1121802538286147052005-07-19T15:43:00.000-04:002005-10-26T03:19:12.606-04:00

How much is America's largest online convergence of youth culture worth? To Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., (parent company of the Fox media empire) the figure is around $580 million. MySpace's parent company, Intermix, will acquire the remaining shares of MySpace that they didn't own. Then News Corp. makes its purchase, and now MySpace will be part of Fox Interactive Media.All the press I've

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1121716276944126672005-07-18T15:50:00.000-04:002005-07-18T15:51:16.946-04:00

Simple equation: GarageBand + GarageBand.com = new independent music industry.Though in the end these two like-named brands may not dominate the independent music industry, they both represent the current cutting edge of a new era of artistic freedom. Those who are worried about how artists will receive income from these services are missing the point. These services are a means to an end; they

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1109113663346058782005-02-22T18:01:00.000-05:002005-02-22T18:07:43.350-05:00

When there's billions of dollars on the line, large media corporations will stop at nothing to eliminate threats to their business models, no matter what the cost to our culture. Modern media thrives on technological innovation, and yet the past few years have seen an increasingly large effort to stifle innovation by trade organizations (RIAA, MPAA) and the media conglomerates they represent.

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1108977478250902062005-02-21T04:15:00.000-05:002005-02-21T04:19:51.816-05:00

This observant Orlando Sentinel article concerns a recurring topic which has always piqued my interest: the use of classical music in public spaces to deter loiterers and reduce the presence of criminals, hooligans and punks.Piped-in classical music can be found everywhere from parking lots to the London Underground, put there as a low-cost solution to deterring shady characters from hanging

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1108804504754473912005-02-19T02:13:00.000-05:002005-02-19T10:33:45.106-05:00

Kids these days: all the sex and drugs and illegal downloading of music! The 14-24 demographic is full of jobless student slackers with no financial reponsibilities past cable bills and maybe a college loan. They spend all their money on CDs, video games, DVDs -- superfluous entertainment products manufactured by the culture industry. They only pay attention to what they think is 'cool', but it's

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1108699935008861552005-02-17T23:10:00.000-05:002005-02-17T23:12:15.016-05:00

Yesterday I pointed out the massive holes in Napster to Go's approach at digital music distribution. One of these flaws is the awkward selection of portable devices available to use with the service. These Windows-only machines, protected by Microsoft's Janus technology, are designed to ensure digital rights integrity. Even the iPod, popular though it may be, it is far from a standard technology.

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880242.post-1108591332881176572005-02-16T20:00:00.000-05:002005-02-16T17:02:12.886-05:00

Much ado over the recently introduced Napster To Go service, the first large-scale roll out of a subscription-based business model for the music industry. After the spectacle of a multi-million dollar marketing campaign focused on exuding a sense of superiority to Apple's iTunes and iPod, the dust has settled and we are beginning to see this service for what it really is.First came this press

Zac Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06012033695694374151noreply@blogger.com0