The Scene

MusicDetour.com’s commentary on music, performances, and the DC metro area music scene

For those of you interested in the state of the music industry, tune into Soul City Radio this Friday at 10pm for the last of four panels on independent music. Yours truly will be participating in the panel with Teisha Marie and Casey Rae-Hunter with host DeWayne Alston. It should be an interesting discussion on the implications that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has on music as a whole. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section of this post about the panel during and after the discussion. More details and the radio widget after the jump.

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From time to time I would like to use this space to theorize about the music industry. It would be great to get feedback from people interested in these ideas. This one is specifically trying to describe what P2P networks are. Leave your comments if you have anything to add.

In its infancy, the internet was nothing more than a few people with computers connected over some servers that allowed those people to gather information easier. Many of those first users (more…)

This is a melancholy week for Baltimore-area music fans, as two important sites are about to become memories:  the Glen Burnie Record & Tape Traders location and Friends bar in Fells Point.  Record & Tape Traders, as the name indicates, has been an important independent music retailer in Maryland for decades.  A few years ago they closed down several store locations in Annapolis, Rehobeth, Dundalk, and elsewhere.  After Sunday’s in-store wake, their only remaining store will be in Towson.

February also marks the final month for Friends in Fells.  Although not a live music venue, Friends has served as an important meeting place where Baltimore musicians have worked as deejays and bartenders while others have been regular customers, talking shop over beers.  Known for its late-night happy hour, Friends has made a great night-ender for folks who have spent their evening elsewhere, including live shows.  I’ll be saying goodbye on Wednesday the 24th, when DJ King Gilbert Partridge will host his final “No Rest For The Wicked” garage, etc., set while Matt Naas of The Expotentials pours drinks for one last time.  If you hear about the theft of Friends’ jukebox, loaded with the most amazing library of rock CDs imaginable, I will have had nothing to do with it.

Its great to see musicians doing real activism. Check-out this post by Johnny Kilroy: http://tenthmil.com/campaigns/arts/do_the_kings_of_leon_love_their_mountains.

Are you interested in the ability for the independent musician to take-on the Big Four record labels? Then check-out the up-coming panels on Soul City Radio. During the month of February, Soul City Radio will be bringing you a series of panel discussions. The panels will be discussing various issues pertinent to the independent music industry and the artists that make up it’s ranks. Keep your mind open in order to

Each week will bring you a different panel and a different discussion. The following is a list of topics and panelists: (more…)

Do people still listen to music? I raise this question rhetorically because I just read another article about how music industry profits have declined over the past decade. While I don’t expect much from CNN Money, the content of that article seems as irrelevant as ever and does not touch on any of the implications of what the RIAA is saying (maybe the RIAA shouldn’t have sued its consumers). In fact, the article just made me think: “so what?”. The article never mentions that the RIAA’s data is only about major (and their subsidiary) record label sales and it is only discussing revenue – how much profit are the Big Four Record Labels making? Is that more or less than what they made a decade ago?

Furthermore, the article makes me wonder about other reasons the RIAA’s revenue could be down and other ways people listen to music. It could be the case (more…)

It’s about time that someone finally addressed the constitutionality of the RIAA’s lawsuits. While it has been about a year since the RIAA quit pursuing individual file-sharers and successfully began pressuring internet service providers to end file-sharers’ internet service, but there are plenty of cases still in the courts. Part of the problem has been the willingness of those sued to “settle” for a couple thousand dollars instead of paying the 6-7 figures that juries have been rewarding the RIAA or spend the money that it takes to appeal (and possibly lose). That is until now, Jammie Thomas-Rasset was told that she had to pay 1.5million dollars for sharing 24 songs, the judge then lowered the amount that the jury rewarded the RIAA to $54k (because the judge that 1.5million was ridiculous and 54k was still harsh). (more…)

Whenever some new use of the internet to download music comes along, the Recording Industry Association of America tries to shut the action down through litigation . . . unless of course the action was created by iTunes. This time around Apple is interested in cloud computing where iTunes users can access their music database via streaming technology from anywhere there’s the internet. Users would upload their (legally purchased) music onto an Apple server and always have access to their music. Sounds good, only this idea is not new nor has the RIAA been approving of this structure in the past. (more…)

Last March I commented on the possibility of a merger between Live Nation and TicketMaster, a move that would combine the largest concert promoter with the largest ticketing company. Unfortunately, while the merger hasn’t happened, it is still under review and seems inevitable. What made me think of this was an email recently sent-out on the 9:30 Club email list (included below). In that email 9:30 Club makes its position very strong: the merger must be opposed because of the effects it would have on consumers – i.e. prices for concerts would go up. This is a perspective I share and feel that it warrants support; however, (more…)

It’s again “official” that file-sharers spend more money on music than people that do not file-share. The act of “illegally” downloading music does not preclude the purchase of music and in fact demonstrates the opposite. I’m not positive about the originality of the information found in the poll by Ipsos Mori, but it is another piece of evidence that suggests the ineptitude that music industry trade associations demonstrate by attacking their clientele. People who download music on file-sharing programs are also more likely to purchase music . . . okay, we’ve known that for a while. Something to add to that, regardless of whether they purchase more music, is the fact that people who listen to recorded music are more likely to go to a live show. They are more likely to participate in the culture around their favorite groups. They are more likely to spend more money on things music related. It is the people that are indifferent to music that the music industry should be trying to court and notice my use of the word “court”. The music industry should be cognizant of its actions against music consumers, they need to be careful of “biting the hand that feeds” them.