GravityLab Media Video Blog » Music Industry Related

Pacific Northwest bands at the Experience Music Project in Seattle

admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:47:09 +0000

The Lonely Forest, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head and The Oregon Donor are Pacific Northwest pop bands finding new fans across the country. The groups are getting recording contracts, touring widely and generating buzz in the pages of pop music magazines like Spin. Part of their success comes from their prize winning performances at Sound Off. Sponsored by Seattle’s Experience Music Project, the Sound Off competition is a battle of Pacific Northwest bands made up of musicians 21 years old and younger.

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Live performance from Tom Morello, lead guitarist from Rage Against the Machine

admin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:46:52 +0000

Tom Morello, lead guitarist for Rage Against the Machine performing “Midnight in the City of Destruction” from his new solo album “The Fabled City” at the Wall Street Journal … of all places.

Click here to watch (Flash Video)

Artists getting hosed by digital media delivery of their music

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:18:56 +0000

From KCRW’s On the Beat – Last month, the legendary rock band, the Allman Brothers, filed a lawsuit for $13 million against Universal Music. The Allman Brothers contend that Universal has been shorting the band their full compensation for the sale of their music on outlets like iTunes. The Allman Brothers are hoping to make their case an example for other recording artists with similar contracts. Cheap Trick has already filed suit, and many in the business are watching to see how these lawsuits will finally play out.

Innovations in the marketplace require contractual clarity, for the fairness of all involved. But before the 1970′s, no one was thinking about their digital future. Who could have imagined new distribution pipelines, created by third parties who would parse out a digital song file and sell it at the click of a mouse.

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The major music labels should be worried

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:28:01 +0000

One of the great things about the music business right now is that the door is wide open for talent with vision, particularly if they already have a fan base. Celia Hirschman with On the Beat for KCRW discusses how innovative musicians are bypassing the traditional model of music distribution to reach their listeners.

Click here to listen (mp3)

The Future of Hip Hop

admin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:43:12 +0000

For years, DJs and MCs fended off declarations of hip hop’s demise with innovative beats and chart-busting albums. But these days, hip hop is stuck in a deep funk. From WNYC‘s Soundcheck, we look at hip hop’s soul-searching journey into the future.

Listen to the whole show (Real Player required)

The record industry and our desire to be entertained

admin — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:08:03 +0000

The record industry decline actually began the day the Sony Walkman was released.

Up until the Walkman’s innovation, people shared the experience of music. They bought records and played them for their friends. But once they had a portable player, with earphones firmly nestled in their ears, sharing music was no longer important. And by the time downloading was introduced, listening on your own was well established.

Let’s face facts. Americans want to be entertained. The average American family is watching American Idol, Hannah Montana, and buying Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto. The record business is being given a real run for its money. Those shiny music discs are just no competition for what is considered entertainment these days.

Many in the business are trying to solve this difficult problem. But to solve it, you need to understand what the problem really is.

From KCRW‘s On The Beat, find out why the music business needs to adjust to meet the market rather than hoping the market will come and meet them.

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Paradigm shift for radio broadcast medium

admin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:00:39 +0000

This panel discussion took place at the RSA regarding the future of radio.

The UChannel, Princeton’s eclectic education video blog, has a great summary:

Radio as a medium of culture and information is about to undertake a paradigm shift. It’s not that radio needs a new story, it has one already. The question is how are we going to adapt to it?

Future radio offers radical new ways of engagement. The opportunities offered by high speed connectivity between portable handheld devices, the wide take up of wi-fi internet broadband, the nascent vitality of social networking sites and the inevitable process of human viral networking will increasingly define the future radio landscape.

Future radio will be a multi-media, downloadable, time-switchable, podcastable, portable, interactive, international and consumer-led process.

Are we ready for it? Can we afford it? Can we afford not to afford it? Do we have to let go of all we hold dear? And how do we ensure that a remarkable radio heritage is not lost in the process?

Listen to the panel discussion (MP3)

Independent Electronic Music on the Net

jd — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:54:36 +0000

The internet puts control back in the hands of the people. For solo artist Modcam, the internet has become the primary means of distributing his music worldwide. His latest creation is a mixture of ambient, glitch, and dub sounds, titled “Six Minute City“. Creating everything on his own was the most satisfying aspect of creating the album. Realizing that the music industry is shifting towards a more independent-friendly environment, Modcam decided to pursue his own musical career without being signed to a label. Instead, he created his own net label, Spectral Onyx Records, where all of his music is on display for free downloads and for purchase, at www.spectralonyx.com.

Happy Birthday Bob Marley

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:51:27 +0000

Bob Marley’s music has never died and his influence on reggae musicians continues. Jamaica’s 2nd most favorite export would have been 60 on 02/06/2008.

In his heydey, some hard core fans and Jamaicans felt Bob had sold out with his new western influenced style, hanging out with Mick Jagger and living in the United Kingdom.

American reggae star Shaggy compares himself with Bob Marley, and said that you have to dilute the music to go mainstream but your core audience should never ignore you.

Listen to the documentary (Real Player or Quicktime required)

Live Paul McCartney performance

admin — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:34:37 +0000

The streaming audio features a broadcast of the former Beatles’ recent live gig at Amoeba Records on the radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic. Sir Paul McCartney also talks with Nic Harcourt at LA’s KCRW.

Listen to the show:

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Jay Z Interview: How Sean Carter went from rags to riches

admin — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:10:31 +0000

How do you go from a hustler to CEO? Jay Z’s bankrolled an estimated $320 million fortune in 10 years.
Finance guru, Alvin Hall speaks to Jigga about his success as an entrepreneur and CEO of Def Jam.

1Xtra tells the story of how the Jay Z went from rags to riches. Is he proof that rappers make great entrepreneurs?

Click here to listen to the Interview (Real Player required)

Grateful Dead Symphony Orchestra

admin — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:06:04 +0000

When the Grateful Dead’s 30-year run ended with the death of guitarist-composer Jerry Garcia, the band had morphed into one of the world’s most popular concert tour attractions. Now they’ve made it to the concert hall. Lee Johnson, the composer behind “Dead Symphony No. 6: An Orchestral Tribute to the Grateful Dead” joins us to talk about the long strange trip.

Listen to the interview with Lee Johnson (mp3)