hypebot

Singer Joan Baez Moves Into Tree To Save LA Community Garden

Folk legend Joan Baez and environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill have taken up residence in a tree in downtown LA to stop the destruction of a large community garden in one of the poorest sections of the city. Singer Ben Harper, Daryl Hannah, John Quigley, Tom Morello, Leonardo DiCaprio and others are also supporting the effort,

For the past three years, hundreds of families and supporters have been fighting to preserve the South Central Farm, thought to be the largest community farm in the United States. This poor community has also benefited by having access to fresh, healthy produce and the farm also provides access to many meso-american traditional plants that are used for medicinal purposes.

Todd Rundgren Tells Senate Committee Labels Are "Mindless Parasites"

"The behavior of the majors has been that of a mindless parasite, contributing nothing, yet trying to get its snout into the bloodstream of any new development. The knee-jerk justification is 'protection of artists', which would more accurately be represented as the interests of highly bankable artists still under contract. For every one of those, there are a hundred with a lifelong bad taste in their mouths over the way they were treated when sales began to lag." - Todd Rundgren @ U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on "Parity, Platforms and Protection: The Future of the Music Industry in the Digital Radio Revolution" (Velvet Rope)

A stream of the entire Senate session is available at rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e042606_music.rm (load into RealPlayer)

Senate Hears Testimony On Proposed Royalty Hikes

Representing opposing viewpoint record labels and new media companies testified before a U.S. Senate committee on today regarding new legislation that would force emerging music resellers such as satellite, cable, and Internet radio to pay more royalties to the music industry.  Digital and satellite outlets already pay rates greater than traditional broadcasters and argue that higher fees are unfair. (Red Herring and FMQB)

The Amateurs Beat The Pros As American Idol Gives Grammys Lowest Ratings Ever

15 million people watched the what is touted as "the music industry's best" during the Grammys from 8-9PM last week. Yet 29 million chose to watch lousy performances by amateurs on American Idol.  And if the present isn't sad enough; think about the future. Idol's lead among 18-to-49-year-olds was a whopping 97% in head-to-head competition. After Idol called it a night, the Grammys rebounded a bit, but still wound up with its smallest audience ever - 17 million viewers.

Think it's time for a change?

Study Shows Music Being Devalued. Does The Industry Care?

The easy availability of music via paid or free sources may be devaluing music for consumers a new study suggests.  "Getting access to music is so easy now," researcher Adrian North of the University of Leicester in the UK said recently according to Digital Music News. "But this tremendous supply has meant listening to music is no longer a pastime but has become more of a habit. People are taking music for granted." The study was based on a survey of 350 people across various occupations and age groups including some who regularly carried thousands of tracks with them.

But does this really mean that consumers value music less in their lives or just that they don't want to pay so much for it.  After all millions of iPods and other portables are being sold and an increasing number of people are carrying and enjoying music everywhere.  How much of the bonding experience is lost when no photos, lyrics or information are a part of the package?  How much can be blamed on labels trying to produce quick hits rather than nurturing talent?  How many more consumers were finally turned off by digital rights management schemes ranging from iTunes restrictive technologies to Sony's dreaded rootkit?

The technologies and methods exist for those in the industry to begin to "revalue" music, but thus far few in the industry seem willing to take the lead.

Music Publishers To Sue Lyric Search Sites Further Alienating Consumers

The music industry has found a new front in their ongoing campaign to upset consumers.  As if invasive digital rights management and lawsuits against individual downloaders weren't enough, The Music Publishers' Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies is going to start going after websites that offer song lyrics in 2006.

MPA president Lauren Keiser told the BBC that he wanted "site owners to be jailed". He does not just want to shut websites and impose fines, but rather if authorities can "throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective".

Consumers may understand why full copies of sheet music shouldn't be made available free on the net, just as they've always understood why selling bootleg CD's at flea markets isn't acceptable. But how will they react when they try to find a song they heard  on the radio by searching for key lyrics only to find that the information is locked behind closed doors or with an admission price attached?  And how many CD or download sales will then be lost because this point of discovery is now blurred?

Of course sheet music publishers don't care. They don't profit from CD or download sales.  But the songwriters who they represent should. 

For an interesting and opinionated overview of "fair rights" issue, read Michael Hiltzik's Golden State column in today's LA Times here.

KCRW's Celia Hirschman Criticizes FCC For Lack Action On Payola

Celia Hirschman's weekly commentary of the music industry "On The Beat" for LA's KCRW-FM featured a strong commentary on NY Attorney General Elliott Spitzer's major label payola probe, the effects that it will and won't have on radio, and how the FCC has so totally dropped the ball on this issue should be doing: "

"Elliot Spitzer is really doing the groundwork that the Federal Communications Commission should be doing. The FCC's role is to manage the licensing process and maintain the integrity of the US radio airwaves, free from corruption. Everyone who's been in the music business for more than a few minutes knows that there's payola in the commercial radio world."

Hirschman is an industry insider whose Downtown Marketing firm acts as consultants to CMJ, Bryan Adams manager Bruce Allen and others. 

You can read a transcript of the show or listen to it here. 

5 HYPEBOT QUESTIONS WITH EMUSIC'S DAVID PAKMAN ON THE SONY ROOTKIT CONTOVERSY

1) Is this a real problem or overblown media hype?

Well, at very least, more than 500,000 people's computers were affected. At worst, millions  were. So, I would consider that a real problem. This situation allows one to ask: "Is aggressive copy-protection worth it?"  Clearly, IP owners have the unilateral right to take steps to protect their content, provided those methods are within the bounds of the law.  (According to the Texas AG, this method appears not to have been.)  But is that always the best course of action?  In an industry whose sales are down more than 30% over the past four years, is it right to substantially limit consumer functionality protected by law in an attempt to stop piracy? 

2) Do you feel Sony BMG's response has been adequate? 

I think it has taken them a lot longer than it should have to realize the damage done to consumers by their efforts.  Now that they are realizing the extent of the damage and the problems with their approach, I think they are moving forward rapidly to right the wrongs.

3) If you we named the head of Sony BMG tomorrow what actions would you take to restore consumer and artist confidence?

I would reevaluate the whole "lock everything down" strategy.  I respect the need for content protections in the digital world.  But every one of the 50 CDs they shipped with copy protection STILL were available as unprotected MP3s on the file sharing networks.  All you need is one person to defeat the protection, and BANG!, those songs will be everywhere.  Given that is the case, why then inconvenience millions of consumers and prevent them from making legal copies in their home for personal use?  Better to focus on ADDING value to those consumers who buy your music rather than TAKING IT AWAY.

4) Is the controversy affecting the download sector in general and eMusic in particular?

We haven't seen any effect on eMusic's business as a result of this, except to say that customers appreciate, even more the fact that we sell music without restrictions in the universally compatible MP3 format.  There is an alternative, and only eMusic offers it.  In fact, we offer at least 14 of the 50 Sony artists whose CDs were shipped with this problem technology on eMusic - WITHOUT DRM and compatible with your iPod!

5) What lasting effect do you believe this will have on the music industry?

Hard to say, except that I am hopeful the major labels will consider the downsides of excessive measures to protect content.  Again, I don't argue with the need to do so, but when employed in this aggressive manner, where your best customers are LOSING something and the pirates still get what they way, seems to be a misguided policy.

BONUS QUESTION:  What are eMusic and parent company Dimensional working on that excites you the most. (Shameless hype is acceptable.)

eMusic is now the world's number TWO digital music service, selling more than 3M songs a month, and having sold more than 50M songs in the last 18 months. We are the best priced, most diverse, and richest service, super-serving customers who appreciate music beyond the commercial mainstream.  I am pretty excited about the advances we have made along the lines of music discovery and all of the great labels with whom we are fortunate enough to work.

Some Companies Ready To Ban Music CD's At Work As Sony Rookit Fears Spread

Those charged with guarding corporate computer security now increasingly view the music CD as a "major threat"  thanks to the Sony rootkit controversy.  Digital Music News reported that at a recent security industry gathering in Washington, DC, "attendees marveled at how technology has evolved something as innocuous as listening to records into a risk for corporate networks."

We're already hearing reports of a few companies planning bans on listening to CD's at work - certainly not something that is easily monitored.  Business sending the message to employees that "music CD's aren't safe any more" will have a chilling effect on the public's comfort with CD's and music purchases in general.  Now would seem the perfect time for labels already reeling from declining sales to restore public confidence by renouncing the use of all CD-based Digital Rights Management (DRM), but so far that seems unlikely.

Calls For Sony Boycott Grow

As the Sony rootkit controversy continues to grow so do the voices calling for a Sony boycott.  One Wired.com writer started the drum beat days ago and an online petition has grown to 4500 signatures.  The blogs are buzzing too, but nothing seems to capture the whole affair as this logo and blog .

See below for additional coverage.