Indie Band Survival Guide

Wanted to repost this informative gem for all of you audio and new media addicts out there. Shamelessly swiped from the Fun Anymore blog, which is the home of all things Evo Terra:

If you are serious about new media, I highly recommend this book, The Indie Band Survival Guide.

No, you don’t have to be a musician in an independent band. Yes, it was written with them in mind, but there are a huge numbers of takeaways.

Props to the boys at Beatnik Turtle for craning out an enlightening and enjoyable book that cuts through the bullshit and tells you — specifically — what it takes to navigate the waters of independent media production.

The section on copyright is fascinating. This book gives it all the weight the topic deserves, but explains it simple enough to allow anyone to grok the concepts. Kudos to them for carrying the conversation over to Creative Commons licensing as well.

Podcasters: you need this book.

Video producers: you need this book.

Vloggers and Bloggers: you need this book, too.

Get it.


It's on the list- thanks for the info, Evo!
~Dani

And now a message from the RIAA

Via Christopher Penn via Steve at Wicked Good: An LA Times article today discussed the Recording Industry ASSociation of America's new way to squeeze every single penny possible out of those who love to bring music to listeners. The RIAA is now seeking royalties from broadcast radio stations. From the Times article (requires free registration):

"For years, stations have paid royalties to composers and publishers when they played their songs. But they enjoy a federal exemption when paying the performers and record labels because, they argue, the airplay sells music.

Now, the Recording Industry Assn. of America and several artists' groups are getting ready to push Congress to repeal the exemption, a move that could generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually in new royalties.

Mary Wilson, who with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard formed the original Supremes, said the exemption was unfair and forced older musicians to continue touring to pay their bills.

"After so many years of not being compensated, it would be nice now at this late date to at least start," the 63-year-old Las Vegas resident said in Milwaukee, where she was performing at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino. "They've gotten 50-some years of free play. Now maybe it's time to pay up." "

Um... they still have to work to pay their bills.... okay....

Excuse me, Ms. Wilson? If I could have a moment to speak with you, and Lars, and other starving musicians like you? Thanks.

Come closer. OK, are you paying attention, cause I'm going to say this once, and in language I know you will understand.

You're dumb.

OK, go off to your concert now, I know you will most likely have to raise ticket prices if this falls through. After all, you've got bills to pay, right? And I know it completely sucks to have to keep working in order to pay those bills, caught in your dead end job doing something you can't stand.

Oh wait- why is it you are artists again?

Like Chris Penn put in his blog post- go ahead. It can only help podcasting and podsafe musicians.

Who knew the Onion spoke truth?

Capitol Steps giving us the lighter side of politics

It has been awhile since I've listened to the awesome songs by these
Senate staffers, but I just spent a good 15 minutes catching up and laughing hysterically! They are a live troop in DC who perform and sing covers of all sorts of tunes. With their own current political spin, of course. ;-)

A few of my faves: A Leader Like Barack (tune of Leader of the Pack), Good Morning, Starbucks (tune of Good Morning Starshine), and Bomb Iran (tune of Barbara Ann- minus John McCain's spin).

EU price probe into Apple iTunes

Just an article I found I thought would be of interest to the musicians who read:

iTunes is the market leader in downloaded music

The EU has launched an inquiry into what Apple's online music store iTunes charges users across Europe, accusing it of restricting customer choice.

Brussels believes agreements between Apple and record companies violate EU laws by preventing users in one country buying music from a site elsewhere.

The move follows a complaint by UK body Which? that British users have to pay more to download songs than others.

Apple said it wanted to offer a single European service but faced obstacles.

Different pricing

The Commission's move is unrelated to an agreement, announced on Monday, between iTunes and EMI to make the latter's music available online without piracy protection.

Brussels has written to Apple and a number of unnamed record companies to notify them of their objections to the way music is sold, the first step in formal proceedings.

We were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us -Apple

Media reports speculated that it had contacted each of the "big four" record companies - EMI, Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal Music.

The Commission said Apple established customers' country of residence through their credit card details and only allowed people to buy tracks from the website for that country.

"Consumers can only buy music from the iTunes online stores in their country of residence and are therefore restricted in their choice of where to buy music," said EU competition spokesman Jonathan Todd.

ITUNES PRICING PER DOWNLOAD UK: 79p Denmark: 72p Germany: 66p France: 66p Belgium: 66p

Research by Which? in 2005 found that UK users paid 79p (1.16 euros) to download a song, compared with 66p (99 euro cents) in France and Germany.

Apple said it had always wanted to offer a fully pan-European service, but was restricted by the demands of its music partners.

"We were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us," it said in a statement.

'Restricting competition'

The companies targeted by Brussels have two months in which to respond to the charges.

Which? welcomed the investigation, saying the benefits of the European single market should be available to music lovers in all member states.

"This investigation proves that iTunes is overcharging its UK customers, who are paying substantially more for their music," said Alena Kozakova, its principal economist.

"The announcement means that companies can no longer hide behind intellectual property rights to restrict competition for consumers."

Dance To The Music

Oh Holy Crap, Daryl of The Poddog Show decided to play the damn music tag game going on over on Twitter, and it was only a matter of time before I got my ass dragged into it. (Well, I guess he didn't have a choice. Just like I don't have a choice. Internet drones that we are.)

So I'm supposed to list 7 tunes I'm currently liking (damn why can't they be podcasts? Maybe I'll start my own tag game. It's not like I have anything else to do.):

1. "I Would Love" - Lee Coulter
2. "My Eyes" -Uncle Seth
3. "Good Love" - TNile
4. "You Won't See Me Cry" - Whitney Steele
5. "Pinocchio" - Haven James
6. "Overrated" -Jak Paris
7. "Remember" -Bad Dog No Biscuit

Kay, now you're supposed to link to everyone in the chain: Ajay, Eban Crawford, and AndyCast.

And I tag: Jeff, Shannon, Dave, and Mikey.

Don't spoil it people- I picked you because I bet you have some good tunes you're listening to right now!