52media - Utilizing technology to change Music, business and Life

The Best/Worst things about owning an Indie Label

2011-06-05T01:35:00.001-07:00

Finally reading R.S.'s "Alt Rock-A-Rama" (1996), which is a collection of short stories, essays, lists, etc., written by some of the coolest people in the business at that time.

Here's a great list by Jill Kalish and Steve Pilon - Jill & Keith live in Atlanta and run Long Play Records, which has released albums by the likes of the Big Fish Ensemble, the Opal Foxx Quartet and Smoke.

The Best/Worst things about owning an Indie Label

-You get lots of FREE records -BUT- they're NEVER the one's you want

- People are interested in what you do for a living and ask you lots of questions about it -BUT- the next time you see them the ask "What is the name of that record STORE you work at again?"

- Once in awhile one of your records starts to sell pretty well -BUT- then your distributor goes out of business and you STILL manage to end up losing money.

- Beer is tax deductible -BUT- only only IF you remember to get a receipt.

- Its pretty much your job to make fun of major labels -BUT- well, there's really no downside to that one.

- You can work in your underwear if you want to -BUT- there's really no downside to that one either.

- People always ask your advice on what new records to buy -BUT- they go out and buy Smashing Pumpkins and Tori Amos ANYWAY!!!

- You feel confident that your records are the absolute best records being released anywhere by anybody -BUT- everyone just buys Smashing Pumpkins and Tori Amos ANYWAY!!!

-END-

Best Bands/Concerts of the 1980s

2011-05-29T11:48:00.001-07:00

BEST MAJORS:

1) Replacements - RE: their 3 records "Let it Be", "Tim" and "Pleased to meet Me"...I don't think there has been as good a trilogy by any band before/after - got to see them on their "Don't Tell a Soul" and last tour (too bad it was after Bobby got fired and Chris quit) for "All shook Down" at Bogarts/Cincy where we heckled the Goo Goo Dolls so bad that their fat bass player stopped playing mid-song and got into a shouting match with us. Who woulda thunk that they would strike it rich by basically stealing the 'Mats' sound and hitting the top 10 billboard. On that last tour, the 'Mats were polished and incredible. I then saw PW at least 10 times solo in the 90s with an even BETTER Band and once in the 00s playing by himself (he was brilliant!!!) at the WFPK show with Sonic Youth and that guy from the Velvet Underground...one of my top 3 songwriters/performers of all time.

2) R.E.M. - much like the 'Mats, their 3 record + E.P. were a pretty amazing run - "Chronic Town", "Murmur", "Reckoning" and "Fables of the Reconstruction", the band was mysterious and haunting when they 1st started YET the jammed hard (Folk Punk?). I saw them in Miami Oh on their "Life's rich Pageant" tour which was amazing but I missed them at their peak, would've liked to see them in their heyday of playing dive bars VS an arena w/ 10 K other fans. The next day, I went to a record store to see if they had the Connells' new record "Boyland Heights" and they didn't -BUT- they GAVE me a promotional cassette copy of it for FREE because nobody there knew who they were...I was in heaven that trip.

3) U2 - saw them on their "Joshua Tree" tour - closest thing to a revival through a rock band with 20+ K people at Kiel auditorium in STL. I saw the Connells the next night at Blueberry Hill, see more below. Best 2 day rock experience of my life!!!

4) OZZY Osbourne/Blizzard of Oz - My 1st concert when I was 12 years old in '82. I got to see Randy Rhodes 2 weeks before the helicopter accident that took his brilliance from us. He is by far my favorite guitarist to ever live. This show actually had to be rescheduled because OO had bitten the head off a bat a month earlier. I won an autographed copy of the "Diary of a Madman" L.P. from K-SHE 95 that week.

BEST INDIES:

1) Camper Van Beethoven - what a fun live band, I saw them 5 times throughout this region on their "Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart" and "Key Lime Pie" tours. One of the most exceptional/underrated guitarists of the 80s, as well as the rest of the group. I got to see Jonathan Seagull twice before he left the band and really fell for his replacement, she was pretty in an Indie chick way and very talented. IMO. def. very inventive stoner rock from a small surf town in California.

2) The Connells - the polarity of seeing U2 the night before and then seeing and hanging out w/ the Connells just blew my 20 year old mind. It was the 1st time I saw them and I actually had a beer with Mike Connell and we sparked up a friendship that lasted 6 years. His down to earth attitude made me realize that maybe I could do music myself. I kept in touch with him through the U.S.P.S. for several years and sent him tapes of my originals. He was very encouraging and I basically was on their guest list any time they made it to Louisville, Cincy and St. Louis. I've seen them at least 30 times over the years. Did anyone here see them when they played UK during their "Ring" tour? That was actually one of my favorite shows and 1st time I partied at UK.

BEST LOCALS

1) Love Jones
2) Paul K and the Prayers
3) Crain
4) Kinghorse
5) Peter Searcey/Big Wheel (wish I could've seen Squirrel Bait, unfortunately they broke up before I moved to Kentucky)
6) Hula Hoop
7) the Julia Set
8) Bush League
9) The Belligerents - Louisville's answer to the 'Mats

Starbucks

2011-05-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of this all day since I first saw this photo this morning.

I was 9 years old back in the late 70s and I loved the BSG TV show and watched it religiously while it was on. Star Wars had come just out a few years earlier and I couldn't get enough of that movie, its comic books and anything else that I could get my hands on regarding it.

Several years ago I heard about the BSG series update and watched the 1st couple of movies and I fell in love all over again with the stories and esp. the characters, even though they were sooooooo different IE a Hispanic Adama and a female Starbuck. WTF?

While it wasn't nearly the same as it was in my youth and was a HUGE departure...it was on a much larger scale and had better story telling and actually combined scifi, action, humor and most incredibly...politics and socio-economics onto an adult level and made this kid story into a brilliant weekly series which kept me on the edge of my seat.

Well this photo just juxtaposed both of my world's and IMO is one of my favorites ever.

God bless Starbucks.

Australian Music

2011-05-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

IMO OZ is a cool as hell place I wanna go visit for a few months/years and get into the music scene someday. Some of my favorite 90s bands are from around those parts :

Garageland
The Go-Betweens

As are several other great/and/or/popular artists such as - Hunters & Collectors, The Church, Hoodoo Gurus ("What's my Scene" was a classic song back in the day), Men at Work (who didn't like them better than the Police?), the Divinyls, Mental As Anything, AC/DC (Fn classic), Dead Can Dance, INXS, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Midnight Oil (as good as u2 IMO) + Little River Band, Air Supply, Bee Gees, Kylie Minogue, Olivia Newton-John...+ there are many many more esp. from the 50s/60s!!!

There's also a great documentary on the Indie label which initially signed Garageland:

LINK: Flying Nun Heavenly Pop Hits Documentary - Part 1

Dance Gavin Dance/Katy Perry?

2011-05-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

I got a little flack on a message board recently...

>52media, Dance Gavin Dance followed by Katy Perry? I am literally cringing.

I know. I'm too GD honest sometimes and that pisses me off!!! I recently helped a friend move his computer repair/cafe business to another location this past week and the only station that we could get there while we painted was our local top 40/pop station...and after probably 60 listens to that damned song...IMO, that KP song F.L.O.B.W. just rocks IMO. While pop is supposed to be fluff, I like it because she's in a class by herself and does things differently while maintaining the general 'standards'.

For your better understanding on how my mind works...regarding music - I recently brought a CDR with Billy Bragg & Wilco's 2 records that they released called "Mermaid Ave" on a road trip and for the life of me I couldn't remember who's lyrics they wrote the music from until we got home and I WiKi'd it!!!!

-BUT- we heard this crappy song on the radio called "Fat Boy" from a mid 90s band from Australia and I immediately KNEW that it was Silver Chair....WTF?????

If I could change things...I would've immediately been able to tell everyone that the records were written from lyrics that Woody Guthrie's widow had given Billy and the boys from Wilco and I NEVER would have heard that other ISH.

Link: Billy Bragg - Ingrid Bergman

Billy Corgan

2011-05-22T19:35:00.001-07:00

Billy Corgan was a genius (for a VERY short period of time in his songwriting career) and though his music had a very short 'shelf-life"...when he was on...he was absolutely brilliant!!!

He took advantage of the HUGE vacancy that Kurt left us and delivered great music, period.

Now, comparing Nirvana to the Smashing Pumpks, you can't!!!

Cobain changed the industry for the better...period. Its a HUGE milestone despite what you think of his guitar playing (IMO sloppy as hell yet perfect in its passion, intimacy and tone) and that can't ever be taken away from his legacy.

There would be no Billy G. if it wasn't for Cobain opening the door which REM, the Replacements, et al. helped him barge into....

Manchester Orchestra

2011-05-22T19:31:00.001-07:00

Now this new band Manchester Orchestra I just heard for the 1st time yesterday reminds me of Mars Volta and more specifically, of ATDI. There's something about their high sonic sounds when they are going at it full bore then how they pull it all back and go melodic, its something beautiful IMO and I haven't heard since. I can't wait to see this band live soon.

I don't know if you agree or even hear what I'm talking about, but I haven't heard a new band with this kind of potential in a long time.

Link: Manchester Orchestra- Shake It Out

You?

MORE thoughts on Nirvana

2011-05-22T19:29:00.001-07:00

Meh...there is nothing wrong with anyone's opinion when it comes to their taste in music or any other creative endeavor IMO. Nobody is right or wrong here. That's why the Grammy wards are usually horribly off-base each year...rem. Jethro Tull winning "Best Metal" group? 'Nuff said.

I was looking more into the social impact that Nirvana had on each of us and the industry as a whole. They sold 10+ million records back in '91/'92 and literally changed the industry, IMO for the better.

Today, we have Nickelback topping the charts due to the release of "Nevermind" and I thought that enough is enough and that we needed another major upheaval to keep our interests.

While AIC was probably the most interesting and creative band, esp. their harmonies and musicianship during that time, their sales and impact didn't have anywhere near the influence that Nirvana did -OR- even now!

What's next?

Who's going to change the industry?

Is it even possible now with CDs on the decline and digital distribution making the industry less about sales and more about 'connections'?

RE: Katy Perry

2011-05-22T19:28:00.001-07:00

>>>Katy Perry would actually be pretty phenomenal just behind a mic with an acoustic band. her rendition of "Hackensack" is pretty amazing. She would go completely unnoticed, though. Still, don't mind some of her pop stuff.

Her version of "Hackensack" is where I noticed her and though she deviated way off course, I STILL like like her style.

Who wouldn't go after that type of FU money in her position?

U2 did it. REM did it. Hell, even Nirvana did it (to bring this discussion back to the Original Topic).

When placed in that position, would you rather sell 10s of millions or a few 100,000?

The answer is clear...

The Gaslight Anthem

2011-05-22T19:26:00.001-07:00

I just listened to a few tracks from the Gaslight Anthem. Pretty good. Springsteen-ish with a punk/Replacements edge.

I really like the lyrics in this tune.

Link: The Gaslight Anthem

The Story of Kings of Leon

2011-05-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Just read about this in RS. Not a big fan, yet sometimes seeing their story helps.Looking forward to seeing it.

Link: Talihina Sky - The Story of Kings of Leon

Thoughts on the Beatles

2011-05-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

The Beatles literally came out of nowhere and took over the world. No other group took advantage of the times such as they did. They came at the exact perfect moment (the US was still getting over JFK's assassination), they wrote their own music (not many performers did that at the time) and as you said, they were foreign in their accents, speech and upbeat music.

Its hard for me to understand how anyone with any taste for good music at all can say that they do not like or even appreciate the music that the Beatles delivered.

From their early days, which sounds simple yet their writing esp. their chord progressions changed popular music for the better IMO and were filled w/ minors on 7s, etc., that songwriters are STILL using these techniques today. Now don't even get me started on their psychedelic and late period classic rock periods. Man they were incredible!!!

IMO, I think John Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band" record can be historically linked to punk rock and even further to Kurt Cobain's raw, primal, honest and intense recordings.

Katy Perry's Rider

2011-05-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Saw this yesterday. Riders are negotiable for 99.9% of the artists out there. They are a pain in the ass for ALL promoters.

I've gone through rider discussions myself...basically saying "here is what we got" and buying out sections which we don't want to comply with/spend the time on, for a couple of hundred dollars, etc...

Katy Perry though, is currently on a whole 'nother level, its insane IMO.

You probably have comply with all of this without any negotiations to get her to agree to show.

Check this ish out...

Link: Read more HERE

the most important songs in my entire life !!!!

2011-05-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hank Williams "Hey good Lookin'" - I remember singing this one as a kid, the melody and hook definitely helped me get interested in songwriting
The Carter Family "Wildwood Flower" - a simple classic, nothing better

Buddy Holly - "True Love Ways"- hearing this song just makes me feel happy, safe and gets me longing for the 'good ole days' whatever that means

John Lennon "Love" - simple...perfect...close 2nd "Woman"

The Replacements "Swingin' Party" - Shelli and my song, takes us back to the days/years when we were 1st together

Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - "God Give Me Strength" - when these 2 great songwriters came together - something larger than the 2 of them clicked on this song.
R.E.M. "Good Advices" - the bridge of this knocks me over...been attempting to write a song this good since I 1st heard it.

Red House Painters "Katy Song" - there's something about this band that when feeling down, listening to them somehow makes me feel better

The Smiths "I Know It's Over" - a perfect combination hitting their stride and writing the perfect song which IMO defined the band

Music Memories from the Past

2011-04-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes hearing a particular song will send you back to a particular moment in your life, right?

Here's one of mine:

When I was in 4th grade at a very particular Catholic school in St. Louis MO, we had a home work assignment which we had to either start -OR- end a finished sentence.

I.E.

_____________ at the playground.
Johnny went to the _______________..

One of the options was:

________________ in a car.

My answer...after listening to a ton of Beatles was:

HE BLEW HIS MIND OUT...in a car.?

My 4th grade teacher at that time called my parents after reading my answer, (remember this was at a Catholic school and she was obviously NOT a Beatles fan), and asked them to ask me why I answered this particular question in this particular way.

I told them it was because it was a line from a Beatles song that I was listening to at that time. My parents backed me up there and everything ultimately turned out fine.

I didn't know what the big deal was about at the time, didn't really know what the line meant other than it was from a Beatles song and that it sounded COOL.

The fact that my folks backed me up at that time (and didn't send me to counseling,)really made a great impression on me, even today, that I would remember this 33+ years later!

Does hearing a song today send you back to another time?

Let's hear your story...!

(the Beatles - Day in the Life)

My New Obsession

2011-02-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

I have woken up dreaming about this stuff the past couple days, with many reasons! Kroger Caramel Candy Crunch Ice Cream is IMO the best "spot hitter" when it comes to store bought sweats. I've gone through almost 2 cartons this past week and actually bought 2 more this morning, right before the game.

Vanilla ice cream mixed w/ bits of crumbled Baby Ruth bars and a ton of caramel.

WARNING: be careful, you may 'throw' a crown -OR- even break a tooth off if you aren't cautious with this stuff.

IMO at $2.00 a carton, on sale today at Kroger, it doesn't get any better.

Artist Spotlight: Jenny and Johnny

2011-01-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows Jenny, yet who is this Johnny character? Well, it seems they've been living together the entire decade and wrote a batch of fine songs! Their new debut record sounded pretty good after 1st listen, there's one tune which was the stand-out called "Really Very Small" with a great line "See you on the way Up (all the way down) - See you on the way Down - (all the way up) ". While my 1st impression, it didn't really hit the spot as much as some of Rilo Kiley's best, I look forward to getting into this record and will report back...Tom-

Speaking of Rilo Kiley, here's the one that made me fallin love with Jenny almost immediately.

Here's a review of their record from August:

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Album review: Jenny & Johnny's 'I'm Having Fun Now'

August 30, 2010 |

The heterosexual working couple may be replacing the band of brothers as the primary unit of the 21st century rock group. In Arcade Fire, Sleigh Bells and the Dirty Projectors, a balanced blend of male and female sensibilities creates the kind of buzz once caused by all the boy energy of classic rock. Relatively balanced, that is: In most groups built around such units, the man remains the primary creative force (at least on the surface). As in most workplaces, in pop music women have made significant but limited gains.
Jenny & Johnny represent a different situation. In this couple, the woman is the powerhouse and the man, though forceful in his own ways, rises to her challenges. Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice have been creatively and romantically involved for half a decade; the lady, one of indie's most successful thinking beauties, is the bigger star. Maybe that's why this project, though lighthearted, has some of the prickliness of a real day-to-day relationship. The title may be "I'm Having Fun Now," but there's room for wisecracks, bitterness and worry amid the lovey-dovey stuff.
"I'm Having Fun Now" distinguishes itself from Lewis and Rice's solo efforts, or hers with band-on-hiatus Rilo Kiley, by going for a very specific tone. The fuzzy but bright production by the duo, with help from old friends Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) and Pierre de Reeder (Rilo Kiley), has been compared to classic AM radio fare but is really closer to the jangle pop of the 1980s -- bands like the Three O'Clock and Opal in L.A., Let's Active out of North Carolina, and the Chills from New Zealand. It's prettier than what today's shoegaze revivalists do, but still a little jarring and tart.
Merging voices and exchanging lines, Lewis and Rice don't duet so much as banter. Some, like "Switchblade," are directed at the kinds of shifty characters a musical couple might encounter in Hollywood. Others tackle the relationship theme in language that's highly literate and never over-sugared.
What other pop couple would dream of being together forever in a New Yorker cartoon? That's just how urbane and aware Lewis and Rice can be, working out their power dynamic with the "record" switch on.
-- Ann Powers
Three and a half stars (Out of four)
source

Your Best Dining/Food Experience Ever

2011-01-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

I have had so many great meals over just the past 10-12 years. Here a couple of my top picks:

1) Churrascaria Plataforma (Brazilian Buffet) - 49th St. (NYC) - the same co-worker I shared that terrible turbulent plane ride from Orlando to Nashville could not shut up about how we should eat at this place when we went up there to work the December 2001 Streaming Media expo and train a new hire. He was absolutely correct in doing so IMO. What started out as just a plain ole buffet turned into the most incredible meat-lover's paradise, once things got started. Their waiters started serving every known, tender as hell, cuts of beef off of sabers right at your table. I swear, I ate until I literally could not go any further -OR- move at all. Sin of Gluttony rating: 10 out of 10.

2) a local Cuban restaurant in Miami, right off the strip - I just had their Paella dish, (shrimp, scallops and chorizo sausage) combined together on a bed of rice to absolute spicy perfection. It just hit the spot for me that day. I was a bit hung over after a week of tough 15+ hour days at the corporate office in 2004 and a hard-drinking drive from Orlando to Miami for our deserved weekend off (no-driving for me that night). The flavors just kicked my @$$. Obviously the combination of these incredible Cuban flavors and the spiciness of it all just worked perfectly for me that day. I have to give this restaurant’s Carne Asado a close second for “Spot Hitting” that weekend.

3) a local Indian restaurant in San Francisco - I was there meeting with vulture capitalists for possible seed money during the end days of the dotcom craze in early January 2000. A friend and fellow MP3 artist who I was staying with took me there for my first Indian meal ever. While the flavors were all familiar to me, the combination of them were completely foreign and just kicked my @$$ once again. I remember going nuts for their "DAL" which was basically a rice and chicken dish with all of these amazing spices which made it incredible. I must have had 5 bowls of that stuff alone. Everything was as if I were tasting it for the first time, and I was. From the 1st course to the desserts.. AMAZING. BTW If you are a passionate food-eater I def. recommend targeting San Francisco someday!

4) New Orleans House (Louisville RIP) & Jeff Ruby's @ Belterra - 2 more Sin of Gluttony experiences - the most amazing seafood buffet I have ever eaten INLAND and a feast of seafood and the most tender fillets I have ever tasted respectfully. Definitely a tie due to the fact they actually sliced their crab legs perfectly in half at both places. The simplest of things make all the difference sometimes.

5) Other than a good medium rare cut of prime rib, t-bone or fillet mignon, I really enjoy the classic Italian dish of veal Parmesan. I keep this for very special occasions every few years or so and haven’t had a bad dish from any of the chains -YET- the best come from the mom and pop Italian restaurants that you can find in any major city -OR- even small towns such as Kingsport’s - Guisseppe’s - www.giuseppesitalianrestaurant.com

My father always asks me "Do you eat to live -OR- do you live to eat?"

Well, do ya?

My Scariest Airplane Experience

2010-12-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

July 2001, flight from Orlando to Nashville, heavy rain, the most horrid turbulence I've ever gone through. The plane probably fell 100s if not, 1000s of feet in a split second several times during our trip. People, drinks and baggage thrown all over the place. Children were crying, people were praying out loud and a feeling of "THIS IS IT" was in my gut.

The whole time my co-worker, JasonD was speaking at the top of his voice "It'll be OK, we're going to get through this, we're all going to be alright". Over and over next to me.

When we finally made it out safe and sound back on the ground, I told him that I thought it was very cool how he said all of those things to help calm everyone down. He said "To hell with everyone else, I was doing that for me" which to today -STILL- cracks me up.

I now have a couple of drinks prior to flying.

Dad Life

2010-12-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

An hysterical rap song about "Dad Life". Practically every line cracks me up. There's an obvious Kentucky slant to it as well: one of the 'rappers is wearing a UK golf hat & at the 1:40 mark another 'rapper does the John Wall...CLASSIC!

COTM - Dad Life

www.youtube.com

New Topic of Discussion: Worst Bands EVER!!!

2010-11-27T16:57:00.000-08:00

What popular song or band drives you nuts by how bad they are and you can't believe that one person much less millions helped them become even a one hit wonder?

I'll start. For me, it was the Spin Doctors "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong".

IMO horrible song, horrible music, horrid singing and the most dreadful lyrics ever contained in a hit song.

IMO rock music isn't meant to be spiteful and to use the media to wish illwill towards another person as this song suggests. Rock stars DO NOT address anyone's faults to millions of people just out of spite and expect to sell millions of records or sellout concert halls. How did this band pass through? What were people thinking?

Yeah, Randy Newman had a huge hit with the equally mean "Short People" yet IT WAS A NOVELTY SONG PEOPLE! He didn't write it because of spite, it was funny and it also had a pretty great hook and melody.

What's yours? Why?

Great Louisville Hardcore bands 3.0: Crain

2010-11-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

The first time I saw Crain was as inspiring to me as the 1st time I saw the Clash on the Tom Snyder television show as a 9 year old back in the late 70s. Their intensity and their power was/is awe inspiring. Things got incredibly intense during their gigs and the crowd helped to intensify things exponentially. This is what made this band so fun to This kind of intensity STILL thrives within me though its been tempered over the years. Hears why:

Great Louisville Hardcore bands 2.0: Kinghorse

2010-11-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

Actually, I don't really give a rat's a$$ if there's any interest here, this band was Louisville's punk "Bon Scott led AC/DC" to Squirrel Bait's "pre-Nirvana Nirvana". I listened to their record incessantly while I was sculpting. I believe their music heavily influenced the pieces I created.

Here's one of them:

Their lead singer, a great artist himself has an incredible piece which is actuallu going to be up for sale soon.

I love how his has TOTAL command of his colors. If you are interested in purchasing it, I guess you can contact me.

Anyway...

Sean was the bouncer/doorman at the long ago defunct Tewligans*. His nickname was "Rat". He wasn't that tall or menacing -BUT- nobody ever messed with him.

Hears why:

*To me, music hasn't been the same since that place closed its doors. RIP.

Dave Grohl compliments Louisville Punk Rock band, Squirrel Bait!!!

2010-11-26T17:19:00.000-08:00

Dave Grohl in a recent Rolling Stone, slightly paraphrased:

"I played "Sun God" by Squirrel Bait recently for [Foo Fighters drummer] Taylor Hawkins. He said, “Wow, was Kurt really into this band? Goddamn if this doesn’t sound like Nirvana.” - Actually Taylor, it was the other way around."

For any Louisvillian into punk/hardcore, this is a huge testament on how incredible the scene was back in the 80s/90s. I had just moved there in 1987 and everyone I jammed with constantly talked about Squirrel Bait, they were huge in the town's eyes.

Too bad its taken 20+ years for them to get any national exposure like this. I'll post a bunch of the bands that have come out of the scene if anyone is interested.

LENNONYC: 11/22/10 9 PM - Don't Miss IT! (PBS)

2010-11-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

Can't wait to see this. Comes on after Kentucky's first games in the Maui Invitation this Monday. What an action packed evening huh?

LENNONYC: Preview Excerpt | American Masters

www.pbs.org

Watch a clip from the AMERICAN MASTERS: LENNONYC, a new film that takes an intimate look at the time Lennon, Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, spent living in New York City during the 1970s. The film premieres nationally Monday, November 22 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings).

Glad to see you go go go...goodbye!

2010-11-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

1975. Queen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Elton John topped the charts. Then, this incredible blaring dirty music blasted out of my brothers room and Punk Rock music was born. My life was forever changed and the Ramones were to blame. Combining 3 chords (OK, sometimes 4), incredible pop sensibilities of a great 1950's tune, mixed with the harshest shreds and loudest distortion that I'd ever heard.

God Bless The Ramones...Gabba Gabba Hey!!!

My favorite "Driving" song

2010-11-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

My all time favorite driving song is by a NC band from the late 80s called the Connells.

I couldn't find it on youtube but Rhapsody has is streamed off their site at the link below. 12th song from the top.

While not that heavy, the music just goes great with driving extremely fast, it just continues to build and build, and is perfect especially while driving in a Porsche 928 which I recommend highly.

I had the pleasure of picking one up back in 1997 for my girl's uncle in Dayton Ohio. The ride back to Louisville and the music I had planned/brought with me was just perfect. I ended the trip with Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" as I pulled into his driveway and the sun was setting. I stuck my head out of the sunroof and yelled "She's home boss" to him.

I will never forget that day for as long as I live.

Link: http://www.rhapsody.com/the-connells

2010-11-19T18:02:00.000-08:00

check out these tossers. They just signed a pilot deal w/ IFC. We were so ahead of our time 20 years ag0 with Dominic's Goodtime Emporium.

Rhett&Link: Internetainment

rhettandlink.com

52sightings

2010-10-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Over the years I have spotted the #52 everywhere. Here is a list that I put together back in 1999 at my old Indie music promotions and video streaming/webcasting web site 52media:

52SIGHTINGS

THE OBVIOUS YET UNEXPLAINABLE:

52 cards in a deck.
52 weeks in a year.

@ THE MOVIES:

Star Wars episode IV- 52 is seen twice in Luke's binoculars when he is searching for R2D2.

THX 1138- Its in Robert D's prison #. Is George Lucas a 52head?

At First Site- Val K. says there are "52 lamp posts on this street!"

You've Got Mail- Tom Hank's user name is Sterling52 or something, they go off on a tangent and say 52this & 52that when trying to figure out the who's, what's and where's about Meg R's Cyber pal.

Urban Safari- The delivery boy asks for "$152 bucks in cash NO credit this time!"

The Firm- 52 is seen on a license plate.

My Giant- Billy C's giant eats $152 bucks worth of hot dogs at a street vendor.

U Turn- Sean Penn's bus leaves at 7:52 PM, if only he would've made it!

52 Card Pick Up- 'Nuff said!

Meet Joe Black- Mention of a Baseball player from the year "1952"

Can't Hardly Wait- The girl that played the Clarrissa character wants to get all "522" seniors to sign her yearbook.

An Officer and a Gentleman- The recruit that hung himself mentions that "She's the best a$$ in 52 states". Very cool seeing it's a mistake and all. there's only 49 states man! :)

American Gigolo- Hey Richard Geer must be a 52head also! His character mentions an antique's quoted price as "between $4800 and $5200".

US Marshals- The time is 3:52 on the surveillance camera.

Jackie Brown- The time is 3:52.

Tommy Boy- TB yells "525, that's it"! Referring to the street address.

White Men Can't Jump- 52 is seen in a license plate.

Rudy- Football player's #, I bet 52 is in a lot of sports movies!

Exit to Eden- Mention of a 52 year old woman.

The Blair Witch Project- The time is 4:52.

True Believer- The #52 is seen in a James Woods client mugshot photo.

Jerry Macguire- Number of Basketball player in poster in his office.

Tin Cup- On sign that says "last chance to hit golf balls for 520 miles".

The Sirens- Elle McPherson movie, in license plate.

Notting Hill- 52's in there somewhere, I just forget where.

Varsity Blues- 52 is in a player's number.

Mr. Mom- In the obstacle course race at Martin Mull's home, racers #5 and #2 trip up our hero, Michael Keaton.

EDTV- 52's in there, I just forget where.

Blue Chips- Shaq scored a 520 on his SAT score.

3Men and a Baby- written on building wall that Ted Danson is constructing. That ghost kid still freaks me out!

The year my voice Broke- In License plate. Indie film.

Romey and Michelle's High School Reunion- In a license plate.

The Matrix- 52 IS the Matrix:) It's in all the numbers flying by about 52,000,000,000,000 times, I counted!

In model Paulina Okasik's 1st movie- She lives in Apt. #52. Anyone remember the title? What's up with supermodels and 52?

TV SHOWS/MOVIES

Saturday Night Live- In a skit of Howard Stern attempting to become New York's Governor, in the bus number.

MacGyver- In the casino episode, in a taxi's license plate.

Pirates of Silicon Valley- Apple programmer was "up for 52 hours"

SONGS

"It's Everything, It's 52" by LIVER
"Area 52" by Subsonic Headdub
"#52" by caitlin roscoe project
"J.S.Bach Weihnachts Oratorium Teil V #52" by The Wolfschlugen Orchestra

BANDS

The B-52s
Energy 52
Brother 52

MUSIC TRIVIA

How much did Nirvaan pay for the production of their first record? $552 bucks!

ALBUMS

Rock File 52 (various artists)
52nd street (Billy Joel)

COMMERCIALS

Toyota Camry 2000 circa 1999

BOOKS

52 Invitations to Grrreat Sex
Boeing B-52 : Stratofortress
52 Masterpieces For Violin & Piano In The First Position
BASIC-52 Programming

SYMBOLS

Group 52 (courtesy of symbols.com)

CLUBS/ORGANIZATIONS

52 Plus Joker- (Card collecters)
Troop 52- (Boys scouts)

NASA MISSIONS

Mission STS 52

These are just some examples, anyone else know of any others?

Email us at towilmusic at gmail and we'll add them to our site.

copyright June 5 1999 52nd stream press/2010 towilpress

YouTube’s Live Streaming Platform Launches

2010-09-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.rocketboom.com

This is a very interesting development to me so I thought I'd post and see what my favorite rag tag bunch O' highly talented online friends thought about it. If I haven't wished you a happy Thanksgiving already, well Happy Freaking Thanksgiving you all!!!

# # # # # # # # #

By Eliot Van Buskirk
September 13, 2010 |
12:49 pm

Google’s YouTube began testing live video streams on Monday, starting with four partners: Howcast, Next New Networks, Rocketboom and Young Hollywood. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

This live streaming alpha test — an extension of YouTube’s previous live streaming efforts that will run throughout Monday and Tuesday — marks, for internet-accustomed viewers, a return to pre-TiVo television guides that required you to tune in at a certain time in order to watch a particular show.

Broadcasters need only a computer, an internet connection and webcam or USB/Firewire-connected digital video camera to participate, technically speaking. However, during this week’s test, only the four launch partners’ shows will be included. “Eventually, depending on how the launch works, we’ll roll out the [live streaming] platform for all partners,” YouTube spokesman Chris Dale told Wired.com. But already, the potential for a live, two-way video platform is clear.

“According to industry research from ComScore, over the past year, viewers watching live-streaming content grew nearly 650 percent to 1.4 billion minutes,” said HowCast CEO and co-founder Jason Liebman in a statement, whose company will broadcast live tutorials using the platform. “Clearly viewers are growing more comfortable with and interested in live content broadcasts.”

This time around, the ‘tube will watch you too.

The biggest difference between the traditional television and Google’s offering (aside from the fact that the video travels over the internet rather than over a dedicated cable or satellite connection) is that viewers can point the camera at themselves, to appear on the video page in a live video comments section, according to YouTube. They can also have their say in a scrolling chat feed on the right side of the screen, which only appears during the live broadcast.

On one side of the equation, this gives broadcasters on a shoestring budget the same ability to broadcast live that the big news networks have.

But the other side — allowing viewers to interact live via webcam and chat in the same browser where they’re watching a show, rather than commenting on the web on one device while watching television on another — is perhaps more important breakthrough. It allows users to suggest story ideas, prod a live host into asking an interviewee a follow-up question, call out inaccurate facts, and otherwise enhance a broadcast with their opinions, all in real time.

When all of this happens through a Google TV set-top box — possibly with a connected webcam — the possibilities could explode. Google revealed last week that Chrome-powered Google TV set-top boxes, televisions and Blu-Ray players will go on sale this fall, with Android apps to be added in 2011, so we shouldn’t have to wait long until we can watch — and comment on — live YouTube streams on our big-screen televisions.

We noticed some video hiccups during the first program to appear on this new platform, RocketBoom. But the accompanying audio was never interrupted, adding continuity even when the video’s framerate dropped. Some viewers commented that they too had minor issues with the stream, possibly related to bandwidth issues. In addition, RocketBoom’s show didn’t have any live video comments, so it’s too early to say how those will perform.

This is a test. This is only a test. Had this been an actual launch of YouTube’s live streaming platform, more programming would presumably be available. For now, here’s the schedule indicating what’s on, and when — just like in the olden days:

Follow us for disruptive tech news: Eliot Van Buskirk and Epicenter on Twitter.

source

More on RocketBoom.com

2010-09-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.rocketboom.com

Its very exciting to see developments like this and the companies who are taking advantage of them. Its also funny how these types of online features are only now becoming revolutionary and newsworthy. When we did our 52media Indie artist showcase back in 1999, all of this was possible and we made use of them all.

IMO its too bad that the bottom fell out of the tech sector back in 2004. I am imagining what if we could have continued building what all of us little guys had built. Why NOW? Why is Google just NOW telling people about how great new media can be when 11 years ago it was all possible?

Anyway, this is exciting news and gets my creativity flo'n once again.

They mention RocketBoom who just recently signed a 7-figure deal with Sony TV. I found their "Know your Meme" show and watched a few hours of it today and was thoroughly entertained.

This is the way new media needs to look. Their onscreen talent and personalities are extremely likable, their topics are 100% spot on and most importantly, their production is beautiful and genuine.

That right there is a winning combination.

Joan Jett & Friends

2010-07-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Not only is she one of Rock's late 70's Queen's of scream and a punk rock icon, she sure has a way w/ people IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZRznZ50JU0&feature=player_embedded
We just watched this depressing flick, she can act as well! Here she is live with the songwriter of the MOVIE'S title song, the BOSS!

With my all time favorite indie songwriter, Paul Westerberg, singing a standard from the, what? 1940's??? Sure doesn't sound like it here.

Joan helping indie sexpot Peaches, that's one of the coolest things about her in my personal OP, she's sold 10's of millions of records yet has� never placed herself on a high horse and does not forget exactly what its like for upandcomers. This is a fantastic tune IMO!

Wow, this isn't a tune -YET- here she is in 1977, with ex mgr of the Runaways, Kim Fowley, Paul Weller of the Jam, Bill Graham and some other dude who makes sense to the convo, on one of my favorite shows from the late 70s, Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow Show. I remember sneaking out of bed as an 8 year old when my folks were asleep to see this show just to watch the music, the talk didn't interest me at all. I 1st saw the Clash LIVE on this show and was blown away. Great times.�

With the Runaways on their 1st hit "Cherry Bomb" which put them on the map before they burnt to the ground, great historical footage from Japan from the era where they were as big as the Beatles for a few years.

My boy Cosmo (1997-2009)

2009-08-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

We had to put Cosmo down yesterday after 13 years. His breathing limited him to being able to sleep for no more than a minute and then he would wake up gasping for air. 5 years ago he was diagnosed with this nasty cancer in his nasal cavity. He had 3 arthroscopic surgeries to clear it out and it worked for about 8 months to 1.5 years each time.

Cosmo's vet/surgeon, Doctor Dave (what a great guy) said that most dogs do not even make it through the 1st surgery, especially the anesthesia, yet my boy Cosmo made it through 3 of them. He's our miracle dog!

Cosmo had the biggest, the best and the most incredible personality and the sweetest disposition of any dog that we have ever met or owned. People were drawn to him immediately and he was not shy. Everyone fell in love with him at first site. I feel as if we just lost a child here and I have cried more over the past 48 hours over him than my entire life combined.

I remember waking up in the mornings after we first got him (and for many years after) with him on my chest licking my face as if he was trying to say "wake up Daddy, its a new day let's go have some fun". And boy did we. Cosmo loved riding in the car and going for walks. I can see him now strutting up to the car with that big fuzzy tail wagging a mile a minute.

I first noticed that his breathing had gotten to the point that I could tell that the cancer was back at about 4AM Wednesday morning but it didn't get to the point until the next day that I was prepared to take him in.

That afternoon, left work for a long lunch and cried all the way home. For some reason we didn't take him in and I took the rest of the day off from work.

We took him on a ride, took the camera with us and had the best day with him. He actually looked/sounded like he was better that day. Shelle Belle says that he did that for us, so that we would have one of the best days of my life to remember him. And it was! We bought him his favorite: an ice cream from McDonald's. I took tons of photos and videos of him and while not being mentally ready to watch them today, I KNOW they are awesome!

We miss him so much and this thread is for my boy, Cosmo.

he's such a cool little dog...

Regards,

52media UPDATE: We're not back, just still here!

2009-07-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to many folks at the Artist Area Bulletin Board, my online family of some of today's most talented, innovative and outspoken Indie artists spread throughout the world, I decided to continue on with the ole bastard, 52media and had a friend keep our domain active and get this blog out of mothballs.

That friend, Barry Z, owns www.1usa.com and you can check out his Indie ISP (one of the few that are left) by clicking on www.52media.com in appreciation of him "being there" for me during these tough economic times.

I've been posting online since 1991 and LLC'd 52nd stream media, unltd. in 1999 here in Kentucky. I gave my ex-lawyer like 49% of it for about $40 work and gas money for going to the state capital and registering it for me. Fortunately, he's a lawyer and an asshole like all lawyers are, so he gave me back the company 4 years ago after the smell of potential money wore off for him. Back in 2004 I placed 52 in mothballs due to economics of our primary focus, streaming media, just got out of hand and I could not afford to continue with my dwindling savings, yet 52 is still hanging out and doesn't owe anything to anybody, which in this economy is a good start, I guess.

Well, this past week I was speaking with the CEO of company and he was telling us about a 10 MB fiber connection that he just installed at their office. This got my wheels spinning and I asked him if he would like a dedicated ShoutCast radio station filled with some of today's finest unsigned artists which promoted his company and their unique and affordable rural high speed Internet solutions 24/7 utilizing the bandwidth that he was already paying for and he said YES!

While nothing is set in stone yet, this gives me hope that someday soon the old bastard, 52, might get a new life!

I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks for listening.

Regards,

Thomas-
52nd stream media, unltd.
Louisville Kentucky
My music Blog
My damn music
five2media at yahoo.com

AABB A&R Spotlight: Paul Heaton

2009-07-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

First posted @: www.artistareabb.com

Mr. Heaton is one of those songwriters/performiong artists, like Elvis Costello, that I call Country Artists and get lambasted for it. IMO true country discusses real life written by real people its that simple. That's where both of these artist's lyrics and philosophies mirror the country greats, so unlike today's county stars, its obvious to me, just not too many people agree with me, yet...

Paul's written some of my top 20 songs, one in particular just hits the spot for me cruising 70+ MPH in my new vehicle:

The Beautiful South - Prettiest Eyes

What a beautiful, classy and wonderful pop country song huh? The sentiments just hit the spot for this 40 year old. Paul's been a staple of the English music scene since the 80's and deservingly so! I'm blown away that he's never had success here in the US and this is my tribute to one of the world's finest songwriters alive. He's released 2 solo records this decade that I just found out about because US media sucks. His latest has many elements of his first band, so any old fans will love it like I did, after first listen. Enjoy..

Regards,
Thomas William-
Founder
52nd stream media, unltd.
www.52media.com
502.263.9879

�� #�� #
Paul Heaton Cross Eyed Rambler Review
BBC Review
"Intelligent, humorous and adult but ultimately quintessentially English."

Chris Jones 2008-07-07

Finally throwing in the hat with the Beautiful South in 2007 has seen Paul Heaton really have a proper think about a solo career it seems. Whereas his previous album under the Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman) alias suffered from a lack of focus (and too many producers) Cross Eyed Rambler has no such problems. The album can only be described as displaying Heaton in rude health. Following the faintly creepy 78 crackle of the title track opener, I Do bursts out of the traps like a band led by someone half his age. Maybe he's finally getting sick of all these Northern whelps stealing the thunder he raised back in the good old real days of indie.

Sure, there''s a hint of nostalgia fitting to his increasing years (the a capella days of The Housemartins gets a little reprise on the chorus of The Pub), but overall the new band (and it is a band, called The Sound Of Paul Heaton) of Tom Chapman, Brian Edwards and Steve Trafford makes Cross Eyed Rambler a boisterous bag of real rock. It may not be the 'new direction' that many have talked of - it's still jaunty enough to avoid any full-on Stooges comparisons here - but it's certainly ballsier than we had any right to expect.

There was always a touch of young fogyism to Heaton's work. Here it's given full throat on the loping Everything Is Everything. A suitably grumpy coda to a fine record. Elsewhere, subject-wise, Heaton's not straying from the things close to his spiritual heart. Small town attitudes (A Good Old Fashioned Town), political leftism (God Bless Texas) and love in the REAL world (The Ring From Your Hand), but buoyed up by such irrepressible grooves it's all very palatable. Not only does it signal a proper fighting chance for a solo career for 46-year-old Heaton, but it's also good news for those who found The Beautiful South's material a little too sweet and soft round the edges. And while there's even room for a south-of-the-border twang and torch on Deckchair Collapsed, in the end this is local music for local people: Intelligent, humorous and adult but ultimately quintessentially English. And all the better for it too.

source

My rant on Restless Leg Syndrome

2006-12-19T18:07:00.000-08:00

My rant on RLS. I am so wanting to get another digital video camera soon.

52media Vlog vers. 1.1: Restless Leg Syndrome

www.youtube.com

Great insight on the new medical cure for Restless Leg Syndrome tell all of your friends about it...Flo

Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium"

2006-10-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

"28 songs and it doesn't suck. The Red Hot Chili Peppers come full circle with a mammoth double disk". rolling stone

I agree completely. The Red Hots seemed to have pigeon-holed themselves as the godfathers of the extremely boring rap-rock movement of early 00's, think LimkB, 'nuff said, and this was an important record for them after 2 really fine efforts on more traditional pop - rock: californication and by the way.

With Stadium Arcadium, they distanced themselves from the 'alternative' pack in a magnanomous way and I've recently heard radio DJ's call them 'classic rock' because this record incorporates more Hendricks as usual, but it also has moments of Sabbath and dare I say it the Bee Gees. This IS also their third decade together as a band so I do agree, 'classic' is a perfect word for the record.

While I think the individual members are very talented in their own rights, their x-factor is John Frusciante, a student of music history and a genuine songwriter of immense simplicity.

That in itself is where most artists lose it. The one that comes to mind is yngwie malmsteen. His schtick is to play faster than any other artist out there and his music sounds stale, over anaylized and forced because of it.

John Frusciante takes his sweet time to build each song with the simplest of melodies and he knows his way around dynamics. Sometimes its just a 3 note lick to accentuate the vocals or bass while other times he can blister you ears with his knowlege of theory in a Randy Rhoads kind of way. Regardless, this kid knows where to place his notes and as Mozart did over 200 years ago, he places them in the perfect spot.

Talked to a CSR outta India Today

2006-10-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

I called to pay our car bill by phone tonight and while we were waiting for our approval (their computers were down) we got to talking to our CSR. She was from Mumbia India.

We traded recipes, she gave us her favorite Dal and we gave her our Soup Beans and Cornbread and somehow we got got to the subject of what we make for a living

She told us that she makes 18,000 rubee's a month and she only gets paid once a month. Thanks to our friends @ finance.yahoo.com/ we found out that...

Currency Conversion Results
Symbol Indian Rupee Exchange Rate U.S. Dollar
INRUSD=X 18000 Oct 27 398.31823

That's a little more than our car payment...Flo

Downtown Mumbai

Current mood: shocked
Category: Travel and Places

NetFlix Wishlist Suggestions

2006-10-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

We thought of some more movies we would like to suggest to help build your NetFlix wish lists tonight.

1) Sweet Dreams www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...id=1018371

2) Blue Sky www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...362686_0_0

3) King Kong www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...022392_1_0

Note: OK, we're on a Jessica Lange kick, she's awesome, sue us

4) Reversal of Fortune www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...d=60004511

5) Dead Ringers www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...331020_0_0

Note: OK, we're on a Jeremy Irons kick as well, he's so perfect at playing bizarre / funny roles, well worth your time

6) League of their own www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...eid=691124

Note: Excellent true story, great directing and Madonna actually acts in it, kinda.

7) Miami Blues www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...d=60030307

Note: one of the funniest comedies ever

8) Regarding Henry www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...d=60029917

Note: Harrison became one of our favorite actors with this role

9) White Palace www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...id=1119306

Note: a very entertaining relationship movie set in St Louis MO of all places

10) Chaplin: The Movie www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...416273_0_0

Note: excellent bio on one of the first stars of stage and screen (wow I sound a little like Ebert here...haha)

11) Murderball www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...d=70021128

Note: Sundance award winning documentary on an eXtreme quadriplegic sport, looks inspiring

12) Dracula www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...kid=147042

Note: one of our childhood favorites, excellent movie – weird eyes

13) Flirting with Disaster www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...232706_0_0

Note: Stiller is Stellar in this one with an incredible ensemble cast

14) Nashville www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...985693_0_0

15) Gosford Park www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...d=60021796

16) The Player www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...456666_0_0

17) McCabe & Mrs. Miller www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...999491_0_0

Note: Robert Altman, the king of all star casts and social / political commentaries

18) Red Dawn www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...eid=896678

Note: Another great ensemble cast from the 80's kinda like the Breakfast Club but with guns

19) Taps www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...882572_0_0

Note: Penn and Hutton basically started out their incredible careers with this one

20) Drug Store Cowboy www.netflix.com/MovieDisp...eid=462211

Note: Another ensemble cast in a dirty yet entertaining look at the life of junkies

We hope these look interesting to you. Let us know what ya think….Flo

endnote: these movies are not our top 20 movies in no way shape or form, while they are terrific, they represent movies that we would like to see or haven't seen in a while and would like to view ASAP. Our top 20 will be posted shortly if there is enough interest.

Found it: X Marks Spot for Jimmy Buffett?

2006-10-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

Found it.....

Quote: Memo to Parrotheads: Cheeseburgers in paradise, no problem; drugs in France, well, that's another story...

Jimmy Buffett was briefly detained this week for allegedly having 100 tabs of Ecstasy in his luggage during a trip to the French Riviera.

Per French media reports, the "Margaritaville" mastermind's private jet landed at Toulon-Hyeres International Airport for the start of a vacation in the posh resort town of Saint-Tropez.

But instead of finding his lost shaker of salt, customs officials turned up what they claimed were illicit drugs. Airport officials were quoted in local reports saying the 59-year-old Buffett had more 100 tabs of Ecstasy with him.

He was not arrested, however. Instead, he paid about a $400 fine and was allowed to continue on his way.

Buffett's publicist did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday. But in a brief interview with the New York Post, the rep disputed French newspaper accounts, saying customs officials had found only 20 pills and claimed it was medicine prescribed by a physician. The spokeswoman did not disclose what the pills were nor did she elaborate on why the entertainer was forced to pay a fine.

The Grammy winner's latest disc, the country-flavored Take the Weather with You, hits stores next Tuesday.

source: yahoo news

Jimmy Buffet Busted for Ecstasy???

2006-10-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

I heard it through the grapevine he got busted, couldn't find the story but found his reply to what happened, it's pretty funny all these geezers getting busted lately (see Willie Nelson some pot and mushrooms a few weeks ago), do you believe Jimmie's vitamin excuse'???

=================================

What happened? A message from Jimmy Buffett...
POSTED OCTOBER 6, 2006

I have tried over the years, to live below the radar when it comes to the "celebrity" thing. I see what I do as just a job, a really fun job that has opened the world, its people and places. However, I seem to still have a way of causing commotion now and then.

In Toulon, we arrived at the private terminal to leave and were moving through security, when my captain informed me that we were being ramp checked by French customs and some plainclothes guys. This is nothing new but what was strange was that the search was being conducted as we were leaving - not as we were arriving. No big deal - I thought. I found my bag and opened it up and they went right for a little pouch which contained my prescription medicines which was sitting on top of my clothes, not the most secretive part of my bag. I don't know about you, but at a few months away from turning sixty, I carry a few prescriptions, including a B vitamin supplement, called Foltx.

Well, that's the one that deflated the party balloon for when they examined them you could see a heart on the pill. "Ecstasy," they said. I have never taken it and couldn't tell you the difference between a hit of ecstasy and Excedrin PM. My vices these days consist of boat drinks, beer, wine and the occasional hot fudge sundae. I hadn't even opened the bottle, because my secretary had made a mistake and had sent the wrong prescription. I don't use Foltx any more.

I knew Foltx was a vitamin supplement not a love drug. I paid the fine, gathered my bags and my friends and as soon as they opened that door, I walked, rather rapidly towards my plane and flew out.

In Toulon, the stern faced authorities couldn't take the truth as the simple answer to a few simple questions, trying to turn vitamins into ecstasy. In these days and times, the truth sadly gets lost in the gossip at an alarming rate.

In the end, I will just chalk it up as being something that will happen if you have an adventurous soul and live a nomad life. I will, as my old hero Mark Twain put it, be "lighting out into the territory". The great old humorist Lord Richard Buckley used to say in one of his routines that humor is the absence of terror and that terror is the absence of humor. It seems there are too many people in the world intent on building fences, not bridges between cultures and fueling misinformation with heightened suspicions and senseless interrogations. I never was, nor do I ever intend to answer to or become one of those people. I will take my cue from Lord Buckley and keep on singing and laughing. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

- Jimmy Buffett
Over the Atlantic and on the way home

margaritaville.com/JB_statement.php

Sweet French Pop

2006-10-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just found 2 french pop bands that remind me of Lennon and McCartney respectively. Enjoy...Flo

reXen
Listen to "Waiting for An Answer"
www.myspace.com/rexen

The Gostins
Listen to "Alright"
www.myspace.com/gostins

Frank Zappa Rules

2006-10-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

I just noticed this weekend that a Zappa plays Zappa show is in town, his family and invited guests (Vai, etc.) are touring playing the old standards, gawd I wish I could see that!!!

I first heard him in the late 70's and as a kid 'got' his sense of humor immediately. The musicianship on his albums was both incredible and quirky. What a personality. He worked with John Lennon on 1/2 an album, that is cool as hell in my book. I bought his girl's "Valley Girl" 45 in fact, bought that song as well as "Yellow Snow" and "King Tutt" (Steve Martin) at the same time. I recorded an original song in the early 90's with a Zappa Freak band called the Naked Entrepreneurs called "Waiting for the Bus" I should dig out for you all sometime.

Gawd I miss singles....Flo

eBay Address

2006-10-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

If interested the for my first eBay Auction goto:

eBay: Day One Update

2006-10-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

I told a friend about my entry into the eBay world and he said that he's opening a store in a week or two and he'll give me a better deal than QuikDrop, I'll let you know how it goes.

Is it a way to make a little off junk in your home or are can you start dealing in the stuff after a few succeses and make a business out of this? Like any business, if you do your due dilligence, it may payoff in the long run.

Myself, I'm just getting rid of junk my mother saved for me from my childhood that's been in my attic for 6 years and I have a lot of it, she's a packrat. We're in a 'less is more' stage these days plus we need the extra income pretty bad. I just started Sunday at this so who knows how its going to turn out, I'm am positive we'll going to make something off of the hours of research I've put into it over the last 3 weeks, so anything will be great, if its worth me pursuing it as a side-gig, the jury is still out...Flo

Well I'm Ebaying

2006-10-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

For starters its a...

LOT OF VINTAGE STAR WARS FIGURES w/ WEAPONS 70's NR! but hey, ya gotta start somewhere right??

The Kentucky Congressional Race is Heating Up

2006-09-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Let the mud slinging commence. It's worse and more interesting to me for one of Louisville's congressional seats: Anne Northup (8 year incumbant) versus John Yarmuth (local publisher of the LEO - louisville eccentric observer)

He accuses her and Bush of 'failing the country'.

She blasts back with a possible Federal Election Commission investigation and an entire website.

www.theyarmuthrecord.com/

Unfortunate for him he has 20+ years of editorials for...

Ending Social Security
Doubling the Payroll Tax (taxes suck, I'm for a Nat'l sales tax myself)
Taxing SUV's & Pickup Trucks (which are built in Kentucky, this one's gonna kill him)
Taking "Under God" Out of the Pledge of Allegiance (whatever)
On Lowering the Drinking Age (ahhh NO)
On Legalizing Marijuana (this actually is a non-issue to me, this state can sure use the revenue and taxes from this)
On the National Rifle Association /Gun Control
On Gay Marriage (non issue to me, people who are commited should be able to marry and enjoy the advantages)
On Abortion
On Burning the American Flag (while I'm for free speach I'm equally for respect)
On Louisville's South End
On Prescription Drug Plan
On the Death Penalty
On Art and Religion
On Serving in Elected Office and Observations About Himself

I vote on records, Anne has done incredible things for the state, I'm keeping her...Flo

I saw an SUV flip over this morning.

2006-09-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

At 9;45AM this morning I took a different route to the office up Interstate 71 North towards Cincy. As soon as I merged off of 264 East, all I saw was a white SUV flipping over in the Southbound lane as hundreds of sheds of Semi parts flew all over the place. The SUV came to a stop as I passed and I noticed the driver was awake, she didn't look hurt, yet looking dazed, obviously.

I immediately called 911 and several minutes later as I entered 265 West, I saw two police squad cars, lights blaring, heading towards the wreck. This was something I've never seen live before and I was shaking as I called my Belle to her the story.

Here's the report from Wave 3 News

SUV Hits Tractor-Trailer On I-71

Sep 21, 2006 12:54 PM

(LOUISVILLE) -- The cable barriers installed along Interstate 71 in eastern Jefferson County appear to be working. They're credited with stopping a median crossover crash Thursday morning.

It happened just north of the Watterson Expressway exchange in the southbound lanes of I-71. We're told a woman driving an SUV looked down for a moment, and came up quickly behind a tractor-trailer.

She swerved, but hit the semi before overturning, stopping at the barrier installation.

LMPD Officer Greg Kellerman says the barriers did their job. "Obviously, they saved the SUV from crossing over. Most of the impact was in the southbound lanes, but it did prevent her from going over into the opposing lanes."

The driver of the car suffered minor cuts on her arms and face. She was wearing a seat belt and police say it kept her from sustaining more serious injuries.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was not hurt.

MySpace Rulez

2006-09-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

www.NewArtistRadio.net

I've been working the whole MySpace scene hardcore this week & can't believe the response we're getting for tAC's song "Damn it, Elvis" in Europe, it's a big ego boost, so thanks you all.

So, tonight I meet a like minded group, www.NewArtistRadio.net , which has set their sights on iptv like 52media has had since 1998, (see Harvest Showcase webcast @ google video and our failed but awesome satellite ipmulticasting project "DigitalXmedia" all those years ago, etc.).

Anyway, I'm getting motivated once again, which is what its all about, which is also very scarry because this internet bullshit has cost us so much $$$ keeping 52media sustained,

once I thought I was out they drag me back in,

Anyway, its connections like this that keeps me going, more later...Flo

OK, so I'm stewing here

2006-08-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

After 5 weeks without my alienware Area51 laptop, when they said it would only take 3 weeks, and I get a call this morning. Seeing they are out of the video card that came with the laptop they are going to upgrade me to this....
---------------------------------------------------------------------
eVGA nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express Video Card with SLI Ready, DVI, VGA, HDTV, TV-Out, DirectX 9.0, OpenGL 2.0: 512-P2-N570-AX (Retail) / 512-P2-N570-BX (OEM) (Powered by nVidia)
Features:
The new flagship NVIDIA GeForce 7900 graphics processing units (GPUs) are designed for extreme HD gaming and deliver ultra-realistic gaming experiences and unparalleled image quality at resolutions of up to 2560x1600.

Need a break from gaming? The GeForce 7900 GPU also delivers smooth, high-definition video playback and crisp picture quality thanks to its advanced NVIDIA PureVideo technology.

If you are searching for an extreme HD gaming and video experience on the PC, look no further than a GeForce 7900 GPU.
--------------------------------------------------------------
512MB512MB512MB512MB512MB512MB512MB!!!

Plus a new motherboard!!!!

Hoorah!!!!

I love alienware, even though their Customerservice sucks....Flo

All American Barrel "O" Fun

2006-08-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

A friend got a great write-up in today's newspaper.

Barrel shaped for fun Ice-cream, burger stand is on a roll

By Scheri Smith The Courier-Journal

When Mark Beam saw a vacant, barrel-shaped building on Dixie Highway more than 12 years ago, he heard opportunity knocking.

Beam, then 43, had just been laid off from two factory jobs and was looking for a new career. The barrel building, which had wheels and had been used as a mobile barbecue restaurant, sparked an idea. "I just wanted something unique," he said.

Beam turned that old building into the Barrel of Fun ice-cream and burger stand. The red-and-white striped barrel, which is 12 feet high and 10 feet in diameter sits like a beacon at Cooper Chapel Road and Smyrna Parkway.

Beam has modified the barrel over the years, removing the wheels and building a kitchen and covered pavilion on the back. Today there are picnic tables too -- but no indoor seating.

The stand has become a community hangout and a favorite of children and adults, alike, said Tonie Beam, Mark Beam's mother.

Tonie Beam, 75, who lives on Eastern Parkway, works at the Barrel daily. She retired 12 years ago from the Planning Commission, where she was a draftsman, and said she wanted to help her son.

"I just do this and it keeps me off the streets," she said, laughing. "It's fun meeting all the people. It's kind of like your neighborhood bar."

But the big difference is the Barrel is a great place for ice cream, she said.

Besides soft-serve and regular ice creams, the Barrel also features burgers and hot dogs. Most items on the menu range from $1.35 to $3.95. The Barrel is open from April to October.

For Michele Kelien, 39, the Barrel has been a weekly pleasure since it opened. Kelien, who owns a trophy shop and lives in Hollow Creek, said she eats there two or three times a week.

"Their burgers are the best burgers in the world," she asserted. "The prices are unreal," and the location adds to its popularity, she said.

It's within walking distance of some neighborhoods, she said. "I see a lot of the same people there."

There are many repeat customers, Mark Beam said, but the Barrel also draws people from out of town.

Tonie Beam said the business has repeat customers from Chicago who come to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby.

The operation is a family business. Beam's two children, wife, niece and sister-in-law also work the stand. He also hires neighborhood youngsters. Five began working in high school. Three of those have continued working through college.

David Holloway, 42, who lives near the Barrel, stopped by last week to enjoy a hot dog for lunch. A civil engineer originally from Florida, Holloway said he was introduced to the Barrel by his wife.

"It's homey, and the Barrel's neat," he said. "It's all-American."

Lake Cumberland

2006-08-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going stir Crazy here on the mainland!

Get me some lake now!!!!

3 Degrees of separation

2006-08-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

Flo+one Kentucky mom+one Kentucky kid=Mel Gibson:)

We just watched ET tonight and couldn't believe our eyes, one of the people they interviewed at Moonshadows, the nightclub Mel was at before he got arrested, was a great kid from Kentucky who we've known for over 14 years.

After a quick call to his mom, we found out he's the one who took all the pictures at the nightclub and he now lives in Malibu, obviously.

She said that he was paid over $10,000 by a papparazzi the night of the incident for the pics.

Small world huh?

Saturday at 4:05pm we lost our little Abbey girl.

2006-07-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately she didn't get any better from Friday night and took a turn for the worse on Saturday. We didn't want to see her suffer. Thanks for everyone's happy thoughts and support.

2006-07-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

Floyd Landis' heroic journey in this year's Tour De Franc reminds me of a story from 19 years ago...

In high school I wanted to make this select soccer team called Bellotti Sports United. They were sponsored by an Italian soccer shoe and wore La Coq Sportif uniforms and played the best soccer I had ever seen. They had just won the state title the previous year.

I joined the cross country team to get in better shape and the crazy coach made us run up a MOUNTAIN!!!!

It hurt and the only thing I said to my self running 8 miles up that F*&$@eR was...

"I'm going to make team Bellotti I'm going to make team Bellotti I'm going to make team Bellotti I'm going to make team Bellotti I'm going to make team Bellotti I'm going to make team Bellotti I'm going to make team Bellotti I'm going to make team Bellotti"

I made it up that damned mountain and later that year I made the team. I believe its a balance between the mind convincing the body to do something. Or as Morrissey says "Does the mind rule the body or the body rule the mind, I don't know"???:)

Here is a replica of what the Italian World Cup Champs wore this year, ours were all blue but very similiar. Very expensive but last forever, I still wear some of the shirts today.

Abbey Road

2006-07-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

Our 12 year old pekingnese, Abbey Road, is at the emergency care center tonight. Her kidneys failured this morning and Xrays found stones. I'm more tore up about this than anything and thought I'd ask you all for some good thoughts thrown her way.

Here's a great pic of her and her brother and sister a few years ago.

Abster Babster is the calico one in the back yawning.

She's the best dog ever and a fighter. We hope to get some good news here in awhile from an ultrasound.

Fingers Crossed...Flo

Fire @ Lee's Ford Marina this morning

2006-07-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

I took some video -

At 1:30am we heard and felt a big boom. I thought it was someone jumping on top of our boat's Fly Bridge, that�s how close it sounded, my bil thought it was another renter trying to park their HB close by. We saw smoke and ran outside. That is when I took the video. You'll see a jet-ski in total flames moving towards the dock. 2 HB owners moved their boats after that, one, right in front of the Gas Dock and the other in front of the Over Night slips. At about 1:45am the first responders came with a vengeance and cut the first burning boat loose and dragged it away from the dock with a small fishing boat. At 2:30 am it looked like they had a handle on the situation so we went to sleep. This morning they said 5 boats were destroyed and many more were damaged

So many people helped out and the entire situation was handled as best as possible. I spoke to the one owner who moved to the Over Night and he said that as soon as he heard the 'explosion' as he called it; he knew a propane tank had gone off.

This morning there was a lot of debris and soot floating around A dock and two of the hulls of the boats that were destroyed were dragged to the Launch Ramp where they were still smoldering after 4 hours when I left to go to work at about 7:40am...Flo

MMJ on Letterman TONIGHT

2006-06-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

My Morning Jacket will be appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday, June 8th. They will be joined by Keith Lockhart and members of The Boston Pops Orchestra.

This phenominally heavy rocking band AND '99 Harvest Webcast Alumni are making another run of TV promotions tonight for their latest record titled "Z". Check them out and tell me why we shouldn't be proud as hell of our Kentucky brothers.

Pic I took in '04 from one of their incredible live performances...Flo

E-mail to netflixsettlementsucks.com

2006-05-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

I just received another legal letter from NetFlix yesterday regarding the class action suit.

I attempted to sign up for the settlement today but they make you remember either your username, e-mail address OR credit card number that you used 7 years ago. If you can’t you are out of luck as far as I can tell.

I bet less than 20% of the former members will be able to do this.

We need another objection fast.

Thoughts on American Inventor

2006-05-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

We just watched an interview with the winner after watching every episode this season. I have to admit its my favorite reality show. The pure passion and creativity of the finalists just blew me away while affecting me emotionally as well. The winner deserved it even though the kid with the bike was my favorite.

To me it has more to do with the the inventor and not the actual invention.

What do you all think?

I'm actually thinking of going to the Chicago auditions. Should I?

The Numbers: Can Indie Labels Really Make Money Through Downloads? Part 1

2006-04-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

The Numbers: Can Indie Labels Really Make Money Through Downloads? Part 1

by Spencer Critchley

So far, many of the arguments on emerging music business models seem to me to be based on speculation and assertions. So I thought I’d sit down and do some actual math. I based it on two scenarios for a moderately successful indie album: physical CD sales vs. iTunes downloads.

It’s scary.

Let’s assume the following:

* 12 songs on the album
* very low recording budget of $10,000 (major label budgets are well into six figures)
* artist royalty rate of 12%, producer royalty of 3%
* mechanical royalties (which go to songwriters and publishers) are 8.5 cents per song, the statutory rate
* 40,000 CDs pressed, 30,000 sold (a good sell-through)*

First, the CD scenario. These figures are partly based on an article in the Aug, 2005 issue of Nashville’s Music Row magazine (subscription required), which, BTW, has excellent technology coverage.
CD: Label’s Gross Revenues Per Copy
Wholesale Price 9.50
Recording (0.33)
Mechanical royalties (1.02)
Artist royalties (1.14)
Producer royalties (0.29)
Postage (0.10)
Distribution Fee (1.80)
Positioning Fee (1.00)
Manufacturing (0.80)
Returns postage (0.03)
Refurbishing (0.05)
GROSS REVENUES $2.95

So if there are only 25% returns from stores, the label makes $2.95 per CD, or $88,400.00 on net sales of 30,000 CDs.

Unfortunately, that figure is before promotional and other expenses, such as radio promotion, publicity, advertising, etc. In the mainstream record business, achieving sales of 30,000 units could easily require a promotion budget of $100,000 to $300,000. Let’s assume the label is aiming for the mainstream and spends $100,000:
CD: Label’s Net Revenues, 30,000 Sold
Sales revenue 88,400.00
Promotion, etc (100,000.00)
NET ($11,600.00)

A loss of $11,600. It would be worse if we included overhead, if more albums were returned, or if the recording budget were higher–and even with a recording budget of $0, the label would still be in the hole. You can see why record company people say over and over that it’s a hit-driven business. Non-hits don’t make money.

If our label is an alternative indie, it obviously can’t afford to risk six figures to earn revenues like these–the break-even promotion budget on this project would have been $88,400. Alternative indies have to find ways to run very, very lean, such as relying on lots of touring by the artist, good will with influential press, and street teams of fans to spread word of mouth. Even so, it looks like a business to be in for love, not money**.

*You may object that the assumption of sales of 30,000 is unfairly low. Actually, it’s hard to achieve sales like that. Most alternative indie albums are lucky to hit 5,000 to 10,000 copies sold, and there are untold numbers that never break 1,000.

**Harvard Business Review sells an informative case study (PDF) on Nashville-based Compass Records, which covers Compass’ success at becoming viable, followed by its struggle to grow.

The Numbers: Can Indie Labels Really Make Money Through Downloads? Part 2

2006-04-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

The Numbers: Can Indie Labels Really Make Money Through Downloads? Part 2

by Spencer Critchley

Related link: www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8788

In Part 1 we looked at the revenues and costs of a moderately successful indie album release, and saw how hard it is for a record company to make money selling CDs. The promise of digital downloading is that it offers dramatically more efficient distribution. But a look at a comparison scenario using iTunes shows that the label may end up worse off.

In our first scenario, the label lost $11,600 (before overhead) on sales of 30,000 CDs, based on a low end mainstream marketing budget. For an indie, 30,000 units sold is an achievement. But it would still need to sell a few more thousand to break even, and wouldn’t earn serious money unless it had a hit (especially since more marketing will be required to drive more sales). Alternative indies make do with lower marketing budgets, and try to compensate with heavy touring and other tactics.

Now we’ll run a comparable project through iTunes. My numbers here are based in part on an article at musicbizacademy.com by entertainment lawyer Diana LaPolt:
iTunes Scenario: Label’s Gross Revenues Per Album1
Wholesale Price2 6.44
Recording (0.33)
Mechanical royalties (1.02)
Artist royalties3 (1.00)
Producer royalties3 (0.25)
Postage (0.00)
Distribution Fee (0.00)
Positioning Fee (0.00)
Manufacturing (0.00)
Returns postage (0.00)
Refurbishing (0.00)
GROSS REVENUES $3.83

Wow, looking good so far! The label makes $3.83 per album as opposed to $2.95, even with a wholesale price of $6.44 instead of $9.50. It looks like we’re seeing the magic of zeroing out all the manufacturing, shipping and handling associated with physical product (and last I heard, Apple doesn’t charge for favorable positioning).

Now let’s factor in the marketing expenses (radio promotion, publicity, advertising, etc) and estimate the take from sales of 30,000 albums–with, of course, no returns:
iTunes: Label’s Net Revenues, 30,000 Albums Sold
Sales revenue 114,805.00
Promotion, etc (100,000.00)
NET $14,805.00

A profit! $14,805 to put towards rent and salaries.

Except… There’s a new factor with downloading: Digital delivery unbundles the album format, allowing the purchaser to buy only the songs he or she wants. How often do people buy an entire album on iTunes? I don’t know, but on average they buy some fraction of total number of the songs.

Let’s see what happens if our 12-song album sells an average of six songs to each customer, which actually seems optimistic to me, at 64 cents wholesale (based on iTunes’ 99 cent/song retail price):
iTunes: Label’s Net Revenues, Avg. Customer Buys 6 Songs1
Sales revenue 72,943.00
Promotion, etc (100,000.00)
NET ($27,057.00)

Oh oh.

This is why record companies want you to buy albums. From the consumer’s point of view, it stinks to buy a whole album if you only end up liking a few songs. But from the label’s point of view, selling singles is a lousy business.

And of course it gets worse if people buy fewer songs from the album. At an average of three songs per album, the label loses $72,022. At one song, they lose $87,843.

Again, they will make a profit on a hit, but labels have similar up-front investments for dogs and for hits. The rule of thumb in the traditional record industry is that you’re doing well if one out of ten of your artists sells enough to pay for the other nine who lose you money. You can see why artists’ royalty rates work out to be roughly 10 cents on the dollar–the other 90 cents is paying for the other nine albums.

From the artist’s point of view: Your advance is recouped at the royalty rate. So if your record earns $1,000, your debt to the label goes down by only $100. It’s kind of an owing-your-soul-to-the-company-store thing. Producer Steve Albini runs those numbers in “The Problem With Music” at negativland.com. See also Moses Avalon’s Confessions Of A Record Producer.

1. After a challenge from teejay (see below) I’ve corrected some of these figures.

2. A typical album retails for $9.90 on iTunes, a single is 99 cents, and Apple takes 35%.

3. Artist and producer royalties are based on 130% of the wholesale price. As in the CD scenario, I’m assuming a 12% royalty for the artist and 3% for the producer.

Next time: According to the Long Tail hypothesis, good filters are critical to making downloading work as a business. We’ll look at the value those filters will have to add.

The Numbers: Can Indie Labels Really Make Money Through Downloads? Part 3

2006-04-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

The Numbers: Can Indie Labels Really Make Money Through Downloads? Part 3

by Spencer Critchley

Related link: www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8816

In Part 1 of this series I looked at how hard it is for an indie label to make money selling CDs. Part 2 was about how it can be even harder with iTunes. In this part, I talk about where all the money went, and about what new models, such as those based on the Long Tail, will have to be worth.

First of all, where’d the money go? As I mentioned in Part 2, even though iTunes eliminates a lot of a label’s expenses related to physical distribution, it may yield the label less money. That’s partly because iTunes, like other download services, unbundles the album format, allowing customers to buy individual songs. That’s great for customers, but given that the up front marketing costs to launch a new project are roughly equal for an album or a 99 cent single, it’s big trouble for labels.

In response to Part 2, teejay argued that because singles are so much cheaper than albums, people will buy more singles, and the increased volume will help make up for the lower price. I agree that more people are likely to buy a single, but I’m not convinced yet that the increase will be in the hundreds per cent, which is what would be needed to replace physical album sales (physical singles sales have become close to negligible). And given that cheaper digital production and distribution are leading to an explosion of new product, I’d expect the benefit from increased singles sales to be diluted by the availability of more releases, except in the case of big hits.

But there’s more to it than just unbundling. Comparing the numbers in Part 1 & 2 for CD sales vs. iTunes sales, I notice that the wholesale album price has gone down just over three dollars, from $9.50 to about $6.44 (depending on the retail price1). That might seem logical, given the savings realized by dropping physical distribution:
Postage (0.10)
Distribution Fee (1.80)
Positioning Fee (1.00)
Manufacturing (0.80)
Returns postage (0.03)
Refurbishing (0.05)
TOTAL GROSS SAVINGS (3.78)
“Gross” savings because digital distribution is not cost-free.

But have a look at this line-up of figures:
Gross distribution savings 3.78
Reduction in wholesale price to labels (9.50 - 6.44) 3.06
Apple’s gross margin (9.90 - 6.44)1 3.46

Steve Jobs showed the record companies a way to reduce their expenses and convinced them to give almost all the savings to him.2 There IS a reality distortion field! One begins to see why EMI and some other labels have begun arguing that Apple should raise its iTunes prices.

So that’s where the money went. For now, anyway, it looks as if labels have lost the advantage gained from increased distribution efficiency. So is there a way left for labels, in particular the indies, to make money? As Philipp and dannyo_152_redux have pointed out, reduced marketing expenses could be another route to profit.

This is also the promise of Wired editor Chris Anderson’s Long Tail model. Anderson says that in the digital economy hits will serve as entrees to similar non-hits that are further down the long tail of the sales curve. And he highlights the importance of filters, such as recommendations from trusted experts.

This kind of marketing can be close to free. But what’s it worth? And how much value does it have to make up? As I mentioned in Part 1, marketing expenses for indie albums that are attempting to compete in the mainstream are in the range of $100,000 to $300,000. Alternative indies can’t spend that much cash, so they do things like have their artists play lots of shows. But I’d guess that if you account for time and work, the investment is similar. I hope new forms of marketing can have comparable impact for less money, but I haven’t seen convincing details yet of how that will work. I’ll repeat what I said a little while ago in a post called “Beware Of Risk-Free Business Models”:

So far in business history, there’s been a requirement that risk and reward roughly balance… Many of the alternative models I’ve seen seem to be based on the assumption that merit is enough: people will hear good music and recommend it to their friends, who will want to buy it. But it’s at that point that the model appears to go risk-free… [the] marketing investment is the risk in the risk-reward equation. In particular, it’s the “impresario fee” for finding an artist that is extraordinary in some way and then doing all the things that have to be done to, in effect, modulate pop culture with the image and sound of this artist.

If there’s little or no risk behind a product, why will anyone want to pay for it? So far there have in fact been few money-making acts to emerge from the net, and there have by now been many attempts. It may be that the era of hit recordings is ending, as David Bowie3 and others have argued. Until now, only hits have made profits; the hope for the new models is that increased efficiencies will make non-hits profitable. But in order to make that work these models will have to overcome some powerful forces pulling in opposing directions–in particular, the conversion of music into a commodity whose unit value is approaching zero.

1. iTunes’ retail prices vary.

2. Apple is believed to make little direct net profit from music sales, but the value in iPod sales is huge. The money saved by switching to digital distribution will vary widely depending on the particular model. Running iTunes is apparently quite expensive, while P2P networks can spread expenses so thin they pretty much disappear.

3. ‘’Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity… So it’s like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.'’–New York Times, June 9, 2002.

The CMCFund is Working!

2006-03-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

[b]TOTAL COLLECTED: $95.48
AVERAGE COLLECTED: $19.08[/b]

[quote]I've listened to your music and have greatly enjoyed it over the past couple years. I look forward to hearing more from you soon. I'm sure its going to inspire you to create some damn good music out of this fiasco. Keep up the good work. moontrains ($10.00)[/quote]

[quote]To further the Intergalactic circulation of CMC's music, here's my $10 spot. sogax ($10.00)[/quote]

Come on people give until it hurts

If you are one of the other 3 who have given, please send a little blurb so we can post it.

Thanks in advance...Flo

CMC Fund: The 1999 MP3.com Rolling Stone AD Fiasco Revisited

2006-03-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

CMCFund PayPal E-mail Address

I was just asked by a good friend for some help ($$).

More on that later.

In late 1998 I was hanging out at the old MP3.com Message Board when they were indie before their IPO and before they soldout to Vivendi, chatting with some pretty brilliant artists who spanned the globe. At this time there were less than 1000 pioneering artists utilizing digital distribution through the 'net. More on them later.

I had an idea to place a full page ad in Rolling Stone for one of the artists that I couldn't understand wasn't signed to a large label. His name is The Crack Emcee (www.myspace.com/thecrackemcee).

I called the President/CEO of MP3.com at the time and convinced him that I could raise enough support from the less than 1000 pioneering artists that were using his site to promote their indie music to pay for 50% of the Rolling Stone bill.

He told me that he would pay the other half.

I got to work. In less than 1 week we had over $6,000.00 in support from the indie artists and were on our way to placing the ad.

At that point people started to question why The Crack Emcee deserved to be the only artist featured in the ad and over the next several days the entire 'project' fell apart. The President/CEO of MP3.com's ADD didn't help too much either - haha.

Anyway back to my friend's request.

I don't have the amount he needs so I thought I would reach out to every music community out there to see if we could put together a similiar project not to promote his music but to save him from losing his apartment, his instruments and his recording equipment because his wife left him while taking all of their savings in the process.

He's really in a tight spot and this is the time where all good inie artists should come to the aid of their fellow indie artists.

If you were there back in 1998 and feel the same regret of not seeing that Rolling Stone AD to the end, here is your chance to do something about it.

CMCFund PayPal E-mail Address

I'm sure he would appreciate if you can give whatever you can to this effort. If donating is out of the question, please contact me at the same e-mail address and let me know how you can help. Anything you can do will be appreciated.

Karma is a blast you all.

Sincerely,

Flo
52media.com

A creative use of Digital Distribution

2006-03-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

Multimedia & Death Cab Fans - CLICK HERE

I just found out that Death Cab is releasing 12 videos for each song off the band's major label debut "PLANS." Every song off of Plans will be shot by a different director and released one by one through [b]Digital Distribution[/b] over the next several months on their website.

This project gives a lot of merit to their decision to sign with a major label in the first place, um...budget, as well as show how digital distribution is increasing the the channels artists have to promote their records ....Flo

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The unprecedented collection came about as the brainchild of otaku-house, the production company owned and run by childhood friends Nick Harmer, bassist for Death Cab for Cutie, and video director Aaron Stewart-Ahn. They saw the opportunity to enlist a variety of talented young artists to each make a short film set to a Death Cab song, without the constraints of the traditional music video -- no arbitrary performance footage, the band themselves would not appear in the films. Though the budgets would be small, there would be no creative limits placed upon the filmmakers' imaginations. The ultimate goal was to create a series of small films that worked together as both individual pieces of art and as a unified whole.

Stewart-Ahn and the band compiled a list of directors, including superstars, up-and-coming new talents, and even a graphic novelist who had never had his work animated before. "We named the project 'DIRECTIONS,'" says Stewart-Ahn, "because it's a pun on 'PLANS,' obviously, but ultimately because we feel this project is about unique directorial visions more than anything else. We wanted to create a situation where that would be the emphasis, and I feel the list of directors alone proves that."

Among the filmmakers contributing to "DIRECTIONS" are Lance Bangs, famed for his work alongside Spike Jonze, as well as his videos for such artists as R.E.M. and Green Day; P.R. Brown, who has directed videos for Billy Corgan, Matisyahu and Motley Crue; Ace Norton, a stop-frame animation maestro; acclaimed graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown ("Clumsy"); the Cincinnati-based motion design collective, Lightborne; longtime Death Cab photographer Autumn de Wilde; writer/director Rob Schrab, the mind behind the legendary never-aired Jack Black pilot, "Heat Vision and Jack," and co-founder of the Channel 101 website; acclaimed music video directors Laurent Briet and Monkmus, as well as Stewart-Ahn himself, following up his critically hailed video debut, the Decemberists' "16 Military Wives."

"Each interpretation is phenomenal and our hats go off to everyone involved," says Death Cab's Ben Gibbard. "It's our hope that this project serves as a model to both labels and bands as a way to grant the directors the type and amount of freedom we've enjoyed in the creation of the music itself."

"We have truly been blessed to have met so many creative and energetic artists over the years of being a band," says Harmer. "It just seemed so appropriate to build a project that so many artists that we admire could be a part of and it's so inspiring to stand back and watch them work."

"It's thrilling to have so many enthusiastic artists involved," comments guitarist Chris Walla, "and better still that they're such a varied bunch: Some are heroes; some are exceptionally talented friends; some are brilliant people none of us had heard of. I don't know of any projects quite like this one, and it's a testament to Atlantic's commitment to our artistic vision (and partial lunacy) that they've gotten behind us completely to ensure that it happens."

"They're all so good," concludes drummer Jason McGerr. "The first rough cut I saw blew my expectations out of the water. To read about someone else's interpretation of your song simply isn't enough. To be given an opportunity to see it through their eyes is astonishing."

Multimedia & Death Cab Fans - CLICK HERE

2006-03-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

MTV2 of all places turned us on to this throw back to 70's hard rock, wolfmother from down under. For some reason their use of fuzzy guitars, organs and passionate tenor vocals just hit the sweet spot this weekend. Enjoy. We did..Flo

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http://www.wolfmother.com People unite for the Wolfies have returned from the canyons of L.A with a fusion of freaked out jamming, delicate melodies and gallant rock riffage that shall be known collectively as Wolfmother. Myles Heskett, Chris Ross and Andrew Stockdale are the key holders to the future of all things Wolf . Together they write all their songs while contributing drums, bass/keyboards and guitar/vocals respectively. In their lives before Wolfmother, Myles worked in graphics, Chris in things digital and Andrew was a photographer so they all shared a passion for creative expression. After years of jamming in anonymity they finally stepped out in public during early 2004, playing shows and signing to Modular Recordings. Later that year the trio released an independent EP that caused ink to be spilled and fans to be won. Then after 6 months of nonstop Australian and overseas touring it was time to start creating a vast album with a deceptively simple title. Their partner in this conception was producer D. Sardy; catalyst for the likes of Dandy Warhols, Oasis, Autolux, Jet and Helmet. Chris, Andrew and Myles decamped to L.A. in May, 2005 and rented an abandoned Hollywood recording studio called Cherokee for their rehearsal space. In its heyday Cherokee hosted sessions like Pink Floyd's "The Wall" but most of its equipment has since been sold or stolen. Even so, from this barren place came lush things as freeform jams evolved into fully formed songs. The themes of the album also took shape in the City Of Angels; a city that thrives on chaos presenting many lyrical possibilities to Andrew Stockdale. The complexities of living in the metropolis also helped shape the escapist imagery of Wolfmother... simple philosophies for complex times. After six weeks of focused creativity at Cherokee - and many fish tacos - the band finally began recording at legendary studio, Sound City. As a result 'Wolfmother' was incubated in the same room as albums like 'Nevermind' and 'Rumours'. After just two weeks in that cavernous space the band had captured the inspired live performances which would form the backbone of their debut album. They then spent another month elsewhere in L.A. adding the little touches that help make 'Wolfmother' such a sprawling beast. And in their downtime they became Champions of every pinball machine in the valley. Throughout this process Myles, Andrew and Chris remained committed to retaining the raw, emotive punch of their live performances. Everything was directed toward capturing "the perfect feeling" rather than "faultless performance". The result is a record on which reckless abandon and glorious imperfections underpin the most evocative moments. As their studio time came to an end the band filmed some videos in the same patch of California desert which featured in the original Star Trek before venturing forth for more live shows. The New York Times gushed about their gig downtown and the NME said kind words about their UK trip. Then they came home to hear "Minds Eye" on the radio ushering in the forthcoming Wolfmother album. The disc comes wrapped in some fine art by illustration icon Frank Frazetta. The images are timeless and impossible to ignore - like the music itself - and it all lands in Australia on October 30. At that time Wolfmother will embark on a month long Australian tour. It will be followed by December appearances at the Homebake, Rockit, Meredith and Falls Festivals. 2006 will see the band taking their music to people around the rest of their world. Please experience Wolfmother [link=http://www.wolfmother.com/2005.html]http://www.wolfmother.com/2005.html[/link]

Lords of Dogtown - Revolution In The Streets

2006-02-24T19:07:00.000-08:00

Anyone seen it yet?

Jay, Stacy and Tony are my new (anti) heroes.

One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Great surfing, skateboarding, acting, soundtrack and directing....MUST SEE

It all started from an..
"Edgy documentary on skateboarding..., .....A close-up look at the birth of skate board culture in Southern California, Dogtown and Z-Boys has attitude to burn, just like the sport it documents. Directed by Stacy Peralta, one of the legends of the sport, it captures the punk rock spirit of skate boarding, and perfectly places it into context within the boundaries of time (the 1970s) and location (a neighbourhood between Santa Monica and Venice, California). Even if you are not a fan you'll be fascinated by the story, which is told using a combination of narration, stills, great vintage 1970s skate boarding footage and new interviews with all the key players. Sean Penn provides the narration, and adds a flair all of his own. The opposite of stodgy, Penn speaks to the audience not at them, sounding like someone sitting at a bar telling the tale. At one point in mid-sentence he coughs, pauses for a moment and then continues. It's this kind of approach that gives this movie its edge." Author: mrchaos33 from Toronto, Ontario 5 July 2003

KILLER

Heath Ledger was a terrific boozed up - drugged out hippie surfer / board manufacturer and small Dogtown bidness owner.

The entire young triple threat called the J-Boyz acted heads and shoulders above nearly all the adults in the movie BUT NOT including Rebecca Demorne (sp?).

Most of these new faces have only been in a handful of films like Emperor's Club with Kevin Kline (another great actor) and I'm going to follow their careers to see if they can ever match this film again.

AWESOME

I see this movie as a revolution on the streets.

PUN INTENDED and stolen.

Just like the punk music and new rock (bowie, acdc, etc) music that we were listening to at the time, this event pretty much helped shape the counter-culture that is alive and kicking and marketed to death today.

JUST as it was back than.

Whjat a wicked film.

Bands at the time and after: Iggy, T-Rex, Clash, Suicidal Tendancies and Honk added to the rallying cry & importance of this scene.

"We're gonna fight your brother...,...And raise HELL". Joe Srummer

I love that music man.

FUCKING A

Back in the 70's and STILL today people eat what they are fed from the media and this movie just killed me with their attitude and badassedness and anti-hero nonconformity. I wish there was a movie like this when I was 13 years old. I had "Pump up the Volume" which I believe did me OK, but this would have been a little more enlightening

Like it is NOW for me at age 37.

Sincerely,

Flo
www.52media.com
502.777.5252

Class Action Settlement/Software Update Notice

2006-02-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

Anyone who bought MMJ's "Z" on my recommendation can get $7.50 AND another album download!

[b]The RBB AARR - Making you money and getting you more music from Sony's Fuck-up:)[/b]
Enjoy....Flo

Class Action Settlement/Software Update Notice
***IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE/SOFTWARE UPDATE NOTICE***PLEASE READ*** (Please do not respond to this email. Responses will not be read.)

If You Bought, Received or Used a SONY BMG Music Entertainment CD Containing Either XCP or Media Max Content Protection Software, Your Rights May Be Affected By a Class Action Settlement, And You Should Download Updates For That Software.

What is this about?

A settlement has been proposed in a lawsuit brought against SONY BMG Music Entertainment, Inc., SunnComm International Inc., and First 4 Internet, Ltd. ("Defendants"). The lawsuit, In re SONY BMG CD Technologies Litigation, Case No. 1:05-cv-09575-NRB, is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and relates to XCP and MediaMax content protection software installed on certain SONY BMG music CDs.

The Settlement resolves claims that the Defendants manufactured and sold CDs containing XCP and MediaMax software without adequately disclosing the limitations the software imposes on the use of the CDs and the security vulnerabilities it creates. The Defendants have denied that they did anything wrong.

Who Is Included, And What Does The Settlement Provide?

The settlement provides relief for persons who bought, received or used SONY BMG CDs with either XCP or MediaMax software. Under the settlement, any person in possession of an XCP CD can exchange it for a replacement CD, an MP3 download of the same album, and either (a) cash payment of $7.50 and one (1) free album download from a list of 200 albums, or (b) three (3) free album downloads from that list.Purchasers of CDs containing MediaMax 5.0 software will receive a free MP3 download of the same album and one (1) additional free album download. Purchasers of CDs containing MediaMax 3.0 software will receive a free MP3 download of the same album.

The settlement also requires the Defendants to stop manufacturing SONY BMG CDs with XCP or MediaMax 3.0 and 5.0 software and, until 2008: (1) make available updates to fix all known security vulnerabilities caused by XCP and MediaMax software; (2) provide software programs to uninstall XCP and MediaMax software safely; (3) fix any future security vulnerabilities discovered in MediaMax and any other content protection software placed on SONY BMG CDs; (4) provide independent verification that personal information about users of SONY BMG CDs has not and will not be collected through XCP or MediaMax; (5) waive certain provisions of the end user license agreements for XCP and MediaMax software; and (6) ensure that any other content protection software will be clearly disclosed, independently tested and readily uninstalled.

At 9:15a.m. on May 22, 2006, the Court will hold a hearing at the United States District Court, Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, Courtroom 21A, New York, New York 10007-1312, to decide whether to approve the settlement and the class attorneys' fees and costs.

How Do I Participate In The Settlement?If you bought or received a SONY BMG Music CD containing XCP or MediaMax software and want to receive the relief you may be eligible for under the settlement, you must submit an online claim form at www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com, or mail a claim form to:

SONY BMG CD Technologies SettlementP.O. Box 1804, Faribault, MN 55021-1804
All claim forms must be submitted by December 31, 2006.

What Are My Other Options?

If you bought, received or used a SONY BMG Music CD containing XCP or MediaMax software, and you do not want to be legally bound by the settlement or receive a replacement CD, cash, free downloads or other relief, you must exclude yourself by May 1, 2006. If you do not exclude yourself, certain of your claims against the Defendants that were or could have been asserted in the lawsuit will be released, meaning you may not be able to sue the Defendants for those claims.To view the detailed legal Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement, Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Settlement Fairness Hearing and to download the software updates, visit www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com. You may obtain further information by contacting the claims administrator at the address above or by calling toll free 1-800-242-7610.

Songwriters object to C-J editorial

2005-12-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of us? Jerry Chestnut, James Dean Hicks, Ron Hellard, Lisa Palas, Alan Rhody, Norro Wilson or Kent Blazy? Probably not. We are all professional songwriters born in Kentucky who wrote hits such as: "I'm No Stranger to the Rain," "Jesus and Mama," "If Tomorrow Never Comes," "It's Been A Good Year for the Roses," and "The Most Beautiful Girl." Our songs have been recorded by artists ranging from Garth Brooks to Loretta Lynn to Aaron Neville. But like most songwriters, we have gone largely unnoticed.

We are responding to the Dec. 1 editorial headlined "Lewis honky-tonk tax cuts." The editorial implies that the "Songwriters Capital Gains Tax Equity Act" is some sort of special-interest legislation that is undeserved. Here are the facts and what every songwriter goes through:

Our profession's average annual income is below $5,000 per year. The federal government determines our maximum wage of 8.5 cents per song, per record, which we usually divide four ways with our co-writer and corporate music publisher to generally earn 2.175 cents every time a record is sold. We earn even less when a song is played on the radio and on top of all that, the federal government requires us to receive royalties immediately after collection. This means we earn virtually nothing for years, then on a successful song are thrust for one year into a tax bracket for rich people! No other authors in America are under these federal restrictions. They have the power to negotiate their incomes and in many instances average them through contracts for tax purposes!

Every day our work is being stolen -- 30 billion times in 2004 -- on the Internet. We have no company health insurance, pension or other benefits. Two-thirds of all American professional songwriters have lost their jobs in the last decade.

If you are one of the lucky few to write some hits, you can propose a joint-venture business partnership with a corporate music publisher. You will pay at least half of all the costs of getting your song ready to market. Demos run around $1,000 each, and if one out of 10 of those songs gets picked up by an artist, you're doing great, so you should demo a lot of them. Like some, you might want to lease your own office, build a studio in your home and hire someone to hit the streets to get those songs heard. You'll have to pay promotion costs to radio to get the song heard if one gets recorded.

After writing hundreds of songs and working for years to build your publishing company with your corporate partner, you each both decide to sell the business. Your corporate partner pays the capital gains tax rate of 15 percent. The songwriter-publisher will pay the top tax rate, somewhere north of 35 percent. Don't forget to add in 15 percent or more self-employment tax.

Rep. Ron Lewis thinks this is unfair. It is also important to note that nearly 10 percent of the entire Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, co-sponsored this important legislation -- not just one Kentucky congressman!

America's very first professional songwriter, Stephen Foster, who after visiting the commonwealth as a child wrote "My Old Kentucky Home," died, literally, with 39 cents in his pocket. These lawmakers know this is valid legislation that songwriters have deserved for decades. They just want to ensure that future Stephen Fosters are treated as well as corporations.

KENT BLAZY
Fayette County, Ky.

JERRY CHESNUT
Member, the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, Harlan County, Ky.

RON HELLARD
Woodford County, Ky.

JAMES DEAN HICKS
Nelson County, Ky.

LISA PALAS
Harrison County, Ky.

ALAN RHODY
Jefferson County, Ky.

NORRO WILSON
Allen County, Ky.

courier journal

2005-06-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Dirt Surfers - http://www.hitsession.com/ds/ - the Dirt Kahuna rulez!!!! A new spin on the classic sound from over 40+ years ago, done with a punk zeel and attitude.

2005-06-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Bob Gatewood - http://www.bobgatewoord.com - the sensation from the island, no not that island, the one somewhere off cleveland. over the many years of downloading and listening, downloading and listening X52, I've never heard a more well produced sound than his, I find myself singing his tunes months after I last listened to them and his song "Blades on the water" is probably one of my top 10 songs of ALL time.

2005-06-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

slackshop - http://slackshop.us - I've known BillyB since '91 when my band opened up for his former band, they're an alumni of 52's '99 Harvest webcast and he's a great songwriter and marketing whizz. His songs are constantly played on 40+ radio stations throughout the southeast. They stripped down many of their hits for this acoustic EP that they recently released which we're proud to release on 52media. I like their sound. I feel its very accessable, like DMB meets REM with a bit of Roger Waters weirdness thrown in for good measure.

2005-05-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Song Sample from The Drive, one day I'll figure out this blogger thing, duh hey Fred!!!

2005-05-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.thedrive.info/songs/thedrive_solitaire.mp3

2005-05-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.thedrive.info/

2005-05-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

For bands looking to promote their music via the Internet there is a band that they should look to for inspiration. Of all the bands I've met these 7 years there is only one name that comes to mind for doing this "online thing" right, The Drive!!!

2004-10-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here's our new logo designed by Gavin from The Gold Coast, Australia, you all like???

Lucky

2004-10-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

I met Lucky back in 1997 through my older brother, Jim, who lives in Jax Florida. It seems Lucky travels from his home in New Jersey all the way down to Florida and back promoting his independent music. Jeem saw him one night and couldn't shut up about Lucky's music. He sent me all of his CDs and tapes, (remember those?), and I agreed with him completely, I still do!

Well, when I started 52media, guess who I called first?

When Lucky said "Yeah, promote me online", I was convinced that we were on to something here. You see Lucky's music is the type of music I wish today's radio would play. I'd much more want to hear his 'real' music than all of the Top 40 combined!

I couldn't believe there were artists of this calibre that they major labels didn't already have signed.

After over 7 years of promoting bands online, I found out that there are 1000s of bands that derserve the recognition and exposure they aren't getting, so Lucky this is your day brother! Thanks for believing....Flo

Lucky
www.luckyweb.com/
MP3 - "Cooking For One"
tag:
Tom Waits meets Elvis Costello

First Post

2004-08-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

52media has been around since early 1997.

I was working for MTV Online as a local reporter, database & web site developer and thought that there had to be a better way to promote great bands other than the typical standards. You have to remember, back then, the world wide web consisted of millions of dial-up accounts with only graphics and words, no media what-so-ever.

I found the MP3 Technology after reading about it in Wired magazine, October 1998. I joined every MP3 site that I could find. Back then there was maybe 3 sites artists could go and promote their music.

I started promoting my original songs with a vengeance. In less than 1 month I went from a number in a database to an over-night Internet superstar. My home-brewed 4-track recordings were being downloaded by 1000s of folks a day. In a 7-day span I had over 15,000 people download my songs. I was on top of the world musically.

After about a month my attitude changed completely. I went from a serious "Shameless Self Promotor" to realizing there were better artists out there that deserved my help. Over the past 7 years, this new attitude has helped to create a community of over 10,000 like-minded musicians, artists and extreme personalities.

While my goals and asperations have changed all of these years, my heart and determination hasn't. I've met 1000s of incredible people located throughout the world, all interested in creating a new outlet for new music and art.

This little section of the 'Net is dedicated to them.

Thomas William
towilmusic at gmail