Christmas Spirit

No better way to celebrate the selling season than a little bit of Christmas caroling...

Quebec Country & Western

I have a soft spot for Annie Blanchard. I love the purity of her voice and the touch of "country & western" in his music.

Here is the her doing a cover for Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make it Through the Night":



And I love her rendition of Longfellow's poem "Evangeline" which recounts the epic story of the ethnic cleansing of the French colonists from Acadia by the British in the 1750s. It is a heart-breaking story and her singing does it full justice with the drama and sorrow in her voice:



Here is a song, Sur l'autre rive, from her latest album which has a wonderful "country & western" feel to it:



And here's one, Marcher vers le nord, with a wonderful video in which she collaborates with Laurence Jalbert:



I find it amazing how rich and wonderful the world of culture is outside the narrow confines of "popular culture" as defined by the big media interests and their stable of "stars".

Here is Annie Blanchar's web site. This text nicely summarizes her music:

La chanteuse s’est inspirée de son expérience de vie de tournée, avec tout ce que cela suppose de difficultés liées à la solitude et à l’éloignement.

Sur un rythme up tempo qui n’est pas sans rappeler la chanteuse Sheryl Crow à qui elle voue un immense respect, Annie Blanchard reste fidèle à ses racines, à sa culture, à cette couleur country qui lui sied si bien.

America: Singing the Woes of the AAA Downgrade

I was always told that it was important to keep your spirit up in the hardest of times. Here's a song for my cousins south of the border feeling blue about the downgrade by S&P ratings agency of US federal credit from AAA to only AA+:



I guess the unemployed in the US can take up the honourable tradition of musicals, folk singing, tap dancing, and pan-handling. The wonderful thing about economics is they understand the value of these new industries. If $1 goes into one pan-handlers bucket and he turns and immediately deposits in the begging bucket of the next door pan-handler, and he in turn does the same with their neighbor, then the economy can revive.

If you can get the "velocity" of that money up near the speed of light, then that $1 can quickly circulate among all the unemployed, not just once, but thousands of times a day and you will suddenly have a thriving economy where the previously unemployed are now making over a thousand dollars a day busking on the street. With 25 million unemployed, that mean $25 billion in daily income and $10 TRILLION annually of new national income for the US via the unemployed now fully occupied in the "entertainment" industry.

That means the US would be instantly back on its feet and happy. No food, no lodging, but a lot of previously unemployed people shucking and jiving as fast as they can to keep that one dollar going from bucket to bucket. A truly "lively" economy.

A Little New York Centric History

I've been to NY city once 45 years ago for roughly 18 hours spent mostly sleeping in a car parked on the street in the middle of the night, so this will will have to pass for my "best tour so far" of that city...



Notice the bits about crooks, pirates, and wheeler-dealers. Not my kind of town.

During my short visit many years ago, I remember insulting "my host" when shown his home in a brownstone building with bars and locks everywhere. I insulted him when I comments "so this is what the slums of New York look like". I was then lectured about how brownstones were upscale and not slums. Needless to say, I was not invited to shelter overnight in his domicile, but pointed to the streets where I bedded down.

By the way... if you want a little nostalgia, here is a wonderful article with embedded videos that show the evolution of the song "Try a Little Tenderness" (and here is the Wikipedia article). The article is a lot more fun because you can listen to the recordings that show how this song went from saccharin to soulful to camp.

Science Through Song

Nothing like a nice song to make science more "accessible". From a blog at Smithsonian.com, a song about the Cambrian explosion:



Nothing deep about the song. You aren't going to learn anything surprising. But the melody is good and the performance is nicely done. I love the slide guitar.

... And I love the touch where they throw in the Canadian national anthem with a bit of "Oh Canada"! This national anthem isn't completely extraneous. The most famous example of Cambrian fossils is in Canada with the Burgess Shale.

Music from the Bottom Up

From Playing for Change:



Here are the words behind Playing for Change:

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.

And here is the Wikipedia statement:

Playing for Change is a multimedia music project created by the American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson with his Timeless Media Group, that seeks to bring together musicians from around the world. Playing For Change also created a separate non-profit organization called the Playing For Change Foundation which builds music schools for children around the world.

Here is Bob Marley's "One Love":



And here is the classic Ben E. King song "Stand By Me":



Finally, John Lennon's "Imagine":

Canada is Becoming a Police State for the Recording Industry

Here is a bit from an excellent post by Michael Geist:

Canadians currently pay levies on blank CDs (and cassettes) and now the Canadian Private Copying Collective (the front for the RIAA in Canada), which collects the private copying revenues, would like to establish a new levy on blank memory cards used in a wide range of devices such as smartphones and digital cameras.

As Howard Knopf notes, the CPCC has just filed for the following levy:

50¢ for each electronic memory card with 1 gigabyte of memory or less, $1.00 for each electronic memory card with more than one gigabyte of memory but less than 8 gigabytes of memory, and $3.00 for each electronic memory card with 8 gigabytes of memory or more

The financial impact of the levy would be significant. A 2GB SD card currently sells for about $6.00 and this would add an additional dollar or almost 15% to the cost. Given that the levy would remain static (or even increase) but the costs of SD cards are dropping by roughly 30% annually, the percentage of levy in the overall cost would likely gradually increase over time. Moreover, music plays a small role in the use of memory cards. A recent report indicates that digital cameras are the primary market for SD cards with smartphones the second biggest (and fastest growing) market. Music is a small part of the equation, yet the CPCC is demanding payment for every memory card sold in Canada regardless of its intended or actual use.

The Americans in 1776 had a revolution over "taxation without representation". But in 2011 we have "taxation on intention". This industry front, CPCC, somehow sniffs the air and "discovers" a consumer's intention and taxes that intention whether or not the consumer even had, has, or will ever have that intention. I might as well tax everybody in Ottawa $100/year because I "perceive" that they intend to camp in my front yard whether they know it or not.

What happened to the good old days when you were taxed to enforce "property rights" based on the actual use of the property. Since when have government become a police state to enforce "property rights" defined by industry and based on no actual use of real property just the supposition that there might be a use by someone, sometime, somewhere.

The problem in Canada is that the industry is more than eager to "collect royalties" and these "taxes" on behalf of the artists, but somehow this money never makes it to the artists' hands. From an article in the Toronto Star:

In 2008, the estate of American jazz great Chet Baker launched the suit claiming the labels — EMI Music Canada Inc., Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., Universal Music Canada Inc. and Warner Music Canada Co. — had not paid the proper royalties for music on the industry's so-called pending list.

The hundreds of thousands of works on that list were released before royalties were arranged, with the expectation that the paperwork and payments would eventually follow.

At the time the statement of claim was filed, the plaintiffs alleged more than 300,000 titles were on the pending list with $50 million in unpaid royalties outstanding.

From an article by Michael Oliveira of The Canadian Press:

As of March 31, 2010, Universal owed almost $16.4 million in outstanding payments for music recordings and $5.5 million in video royalties for releases prior to Dec. 31, 2009. Sony owed almost $13.6 million in music royalties and $3.7 million in video royalties; EMG owed almost $8.1 million in music royalties; and Warner owed almost $5.5 million for music royalties and $2.1 million for video royalties.

So... in Canada you have the best of all possible worlds. You get to turn the state into your own private Mafia extortioners, you get to collect monies for "intended use" or actual use, and then you never give the money to the people on whose behalf you supposedly collected the money!

Something to Visually Delight and Soothe

This is just plain pretty and delightfully relaxing...



As I watch it I puzzle over the combo of light and stars. It has to be some kind of superposition. You don't get that much star movement while light lingers on the horizon.

So while half my brain is delighted and trying to relax, the other half is confronted with a puzzle that is irresolvable and frustrating. Argh!

It is "Back to the Drawing Board" for the Music Industry?

The life blood of the music industry is to come up with schemes to get listeners to buy the same old music in yet one more "new format". But as this graphic shows, that old "magic" isn't working like it used to. Can it be that the consumer is jaded with shelling out more money to keep buying the same song in the "latest" format?

Click to Enlarge

They need a new gizmo for the jaded. Maybe 3D for the ears? Instead of stereo, give the listeners Sensu-3D-Double-Dipped Sound?

A Little Night Music

I ran across this just as I'm closing shop for the day. It is a glorious rendition of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Enjoy!

Singing All the Way to the Poorhouse

Merle Hazard is back with another "hit". A rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's "Feeling Groovy" updated to capture the Great Recession...



Nothing quite as sweet as singing one's way to the poorhouse...

Who Says There is No Such Thing as a One Man Band?

Here's the counter-example:


I'm now expecting to see a sudden burgeoning of one-person "glee clubs" releasing their latest hits on YouTube.

A Flash Mob Christmas

This looks like a wonderful event to have been at...



On Nov.13 2010 unsuspecting shoppers got a big surprise while enjoying their lunch at the Seaway Mall in Welland, Ontario, Canada. Over 100 participants from the Chorus Niagara created this awesome Christmas flash mob with a rousing version of Handel's Messiah.

The State of the Music Industry

Despite all the moaning and wailing by record industry executives, the music industry is alive and well and artists are making more money than ever before. So what is going on? Here's the story from one of the new vendors of music, Tunecore:

music purchases are up over 50% from 2006 to 2009

and

The financial food chain of the music industry used to be as follows. A distributor sells a CD to a retail store for a wholesale price (let's say $10). The retail store marks the CD up to $16.98 and make $6.98. The distributor takes a “distribution fee” of 20% of the wholesale price (in this case $2) and passes the remaining $8 back to the label.

A band signed to a major label could expect to earn a band royalty rate of $1.40 - $1.70 per full length CD sold. This band royalty was paid through to the artist if they had “recouped” the band royalty fronted to them by the label (i.e. an “advance”) - most do not recoup.

Compare this to self-distribution to iTunes though TuneCore: an artist makes $7 for each album sold at $9.99 and $0.70 for each song sold at $0.99. By selling just two songs on iTunes for $1.98, the artist makes the same amount of money as if a $16.98 full length CD was bought. An artist sells one digital album for $9.99 and makes 500% more than a signed band. The price may have dropped for the music consumer but with self-distribution the artist makes more money.

The reality is:

• More musicians are making money off their music now then at any point in history.


• The cost of buying music has gotten lower but the amount of money going into the artist's pocket has increased.


• There are more people listening, sharing, buying, monetizing, stealing and engaging with music than at any other point in history.


• There are more ways for an artist to get heard, become famous and make a living off their music now than at any point in the history of this planet.


• Technology has made it possible for any artist to get distribution, to get discovered, to pursue his/her dreams with no company or person out there making the editorial decision that they are not allowed “in”.


• The majority of music now being created and distributed is happening outside of the “traditional” system.

and

...why then are we left with the impression that music sales and revenue are down? The simple answer is album sales and overall gross revenue from music sales (CD and downloads) are down. The increase in music purchases comes from the people buying individual songs. The decrease in revenue comes from a $0.99 song costing less than a $16.98 physical album as well as fewer purchases of physical CDs.

The impact of this is fascinating.

• First, music fans are buying more music from a wider spectrum of artists.


• Second, despite the cost going down to purchase music, the net revenue for a self-distributing artist is up as compared to what an artist traditionally earned via a label.


• Third, the entire financial model of the labels (well, at least post 1960) was built around selling a full-length physical album. Due to this, it is the record label (and those artists signed to them) that net less money off the sale of the music.

There is more fascinating material in this article. Go read the whole thing.

Singing from the Atheist Hymnal

This is fun...

Music

My brother e-mailed telling me he as excited listening to Medieval Babes. They have a sound that comes across as a mix between Enya and medieval chants. Here is the song "My Lady Sleeps":



And the song "Kilmeny":


I find the sound pleasant enough, but...


I like my music with an edge. I enjoy Gina Villalobos who has what I consider a classic "modern" American western country sound. Here's her song "What I'd Give" with a video background of her 2005 UK tour:



Here's a video of Gina Villalobos "behind the scenes" talking about making her song "Days on Their Side":



Here's the Gina Villalobos "MySpace" page. She's limited everything to 30 second clips. For example they have this "official plug" for the song "Days on There Side":




... and if you want to listen to truly "classic American" music, here is Johnny Cash and the Carter Sisters singing gospel "Were You There When They Cruicified My Lord?":




... and if you want a taste of Canada, here's a very nice Quebec singer, Annie Blanchard, with the classic American song "Help Me Make it through the Night", or as she sings it "Aide-moi à passer la nuit":



And here is "Sur l'autre Rive":



Here she is singing the classic "Évangéline" (better audio here but no video, only a slide show with the words so you can sing along):



Here is her MySpace page.

Soft Spot for Katie Melua

I've had a soft spot in my heart for Katie Melua for years.



Here's a post I did back in April 2008.

I must confess... I'm an old fuddy duddy who likes to hear the lyrics and like the lyrics to be interesting.



I like the thoughful ballads. I'm not big on her attempts to go glitzy mainstream. She needs to keep it simple and thoughtful.

Here's her MySpace page. I'm not big on her "The Flood" song. Over-produced, hokey attempt as "seriousness". She needs to keep it simple.

An Elemental Lesson Set to Music

Just for fun...

Be on the Winning Team!

Yes! Bet against the American Dream!



Nothing like a good old fashioned American Musical to lead you singing and dancing off to financial ruin. It is the American Way!

Yes... bless those bonuses and those Wall Street bankers for showing everybody a great time, a singing & dancing entertainment as they demolish the economy!

Unlicensed Enjoyment of Copyright Material

Watch these criminal flaunt copyright law blatantly, right out in the open, how shameless!



Where are the Thought Police when you need them? Why aren't these flaunters of the law arrested and thrown in the slammer? How dare they show signs of enjoyment! The owners of the Lennon/McCartney copyright must be rolling in their graves. How dare this chance to collect pennies, dimes, and dollars be passed up by a mob freely ignoring the rights of property to collect a tax on every enjoyment?

This reminds me of other criminal outbreaks that threaten the fibre of society and the decent respect for copyright and order:



For context on my rant, refer to this posting.