Here's a shot of my new acoustic pedalboard:

I'm loving the sound of this pedalboard!  The Tonebone PZ-Pre put the the final touch on the overall sound quality, but I think the Fishman Aura (Nylon String) and the Yamaha Magicstomp Acoustic are equally important to the tones I'm getting now.  And I have zero complaints about the Ernie Ball VP Jr. or the Korg DT-10 tuner.  Everything is working perfectly!

I can't say I agree with everything U2's manager Paul McGuinness says in this interview, but his comments sure garnered a lot of response.

Irving Azoff And The “De-Monetization” Of The Music Industry

I think a better title would have been: "Irving Azoff And The “De-Monetization” Of The Record Industry". Still it's a good article and Azoff made some interesting comments. Two that stick out to me are:

• "Recorded music is more a marketing tool than a revenue source"
• "Recorded music is down to less than 6% of major musical acts’ revenues."

The first comment I've heard many times before, but the second one is new to me. I have no way of knowing if his 6% number is correct or not, but even if he's under by 100%, recorded music is clearly not making up a very large percentage of "name" acts' income.

Mobile Music Keeps Humming As Music IndustryShrinks

I don't have a smart phone (yet!), so I can't really comment on the downloading of songs to your phone. Maybe it'll be the next big thing. Or maybe not. As the article states there are some real challenges to the music/smart phone market -- streaming (any song/any time) is just one of them.

The new Best Buy/Napster program and Danger Mouse's latest gimmick show just how quickly the value of recorded music has fallen.

Napster relaunching, again: $5 per month streaming plus five free downloads

Music industry 0-1 Illegal downloaders

My brother, Randy, just did a video (which I think looks great!) for his wife's hair salon. Here's some info about the Cinderella Hair Salon : "Cinderella Hair Salon is a TR (Thermal Reconditioning) salon located in the Annex of downtown Toronto. We specialize in Japanese Hair Straightening, aka TR, and have been doing TR for more than 10 years. We use only genuine Japanese Hair Straightening Systems such as STRAIGHT TIO and i_Style." If you'd like to contact the Cinderella Hair Salon for more …

Wow indeed!!

The Globe and Mail is doing a five part series called Download Decade. The series is focused on (oddly enough!) downloads -- everything from iTunes to P2P file sharing -- and includes some great audio interviews, graphics and video. I think the first part of the series is absolutely terrific!  I also like the new look of the Globe site -- very clear and easy to navigate. 

An interesting "behind the scenes" look at the making of stringed instruments in China.

Now this is a nice story!  And it shows the power of music and of one great teacher! 

Watch CBS Videos Online

That's not my title, but it sure seems to fit the situation the industry is in right now.  This video edit makes some great points and shows some opposing views.  But in the end, there's no answer put forth -- just more questions.

 

Labels dissatisfied with MySpace Music performance

"....With Apple dominating online music retail, MySpace Music is seen as a potential new opportunity to generate sales.

At the very least, MySpace Music's sluggish performance illustrates how difficult that task is. Music consumption on the Web has really come down to two horses: iTunes and illegal peer-to-peer sites."

Yes, but I think it's even simpler than that.  It basically comes down to the time/money balancing act. The less time one has, the more likely they are to gravitate to a paid service like iTunes.  The more time one has, the more likely they are to use P2P networks.  Maybe there's something in the middle -- say $0.50 per tune.  Then again, maybe the P2P users can never be enticed (at any price) to pay for downloads.

Some good points from Bob Lefsetz in this post. Are albums dead? Personally, for some artists I don't think the album is dead -- it's still a viable format. But, for the majority of the public I think the writing is on the wall. How many people actually sit in the sweet spot in front of a stereo and listen to an album from start to finish now-a-days.  I know I don't.  The vast majority of my own listening is to playlists that I've created or to music streamed over the web or cable.

Guitar market strikes a nostalgic chord

Even with prices slightly dropping, it looks like guitars are solid investment. "A Gibson Les Paul Standard that sold in 1958 for less than $300, including the guitar case, can now fetch $420,000 or more -- an average annual gain of 32% since 2000, according to vintage guitar price guides."  Not a bad return I'd say.  Hey, can anyone spare half a million so I can pick up a couple used guitars?

Coldplay to give away live CD at concerts

I think we're seeing a pattern emerge from name bands like Coldplay -- recorded music as a way to generate interest in a tour. I wonder how long before this type of thing filters down to indie artists like myself. Will all recorded music be free in the future? Yes, I know anyone can get just about anything on P2P networks right now, but I like to think there's still a belief that recorded music has value. Maybe I'm just being naive and the die has already been cast. The picture is becoming clearer to me though -- to make a go of it as an artist, you have to play live. A lot.