The Music Row Show and the “Do it Yourself” Artist

I really enjoyed being on The Music Row Show on 1510 WLAC last evening with Scott Southworth.  I love their motto, “two guys fumbling their way through the music business, so you don’t have to!” 

If you didn’t catch the show (you should be able to download the podcasts from their website in a few days), Scott and I had a very enjoyable discussion about the future of the music industry and the idea of the “do it yourself” generation of musicians, artists and songwriters which has become my focus and mantra of late.  I believe that with today’s technological advances – the iPod/MP3 player, ProTools, Macbooks, the Internet etc. – entertainers have the ability to do it themselves in ways never before possible.  The days when you absolutely needed to record deal to reach the fans is absolutely behind us.  As I said on the show, I do not believe that major labels are a thing of the past.  They have provided us with great music for years and will continue to play a vital, although probably modified, role in the development of new talent.  My point is simply that the alternate pathways are becoming more and more fruitful and plentiful.

During the show I brought up some ideas along these lines that I had read and heard about which involved some not-so-famous musicians/artists who have done just that - found a way to connect with their fans in unique ways and give them a reason to shell out some money for their product.  This idea is not unique to me, it grew out of an analysis of the Nine Inch Nails experimentsby Michael Masnick, who is the editor of the Techdirt blog and gave the keynote address from the 2009 Digital Summit, which you view here.

After Masnick gave a shorter version of this talk at Midem, people complained that Trent Reznick was a product of the record industry and, therefore, the experiment would not necessarily work with independent artists.  So, for thie keynote in Nashville, Masnick added in two examples of independent artists who were sucessfully selling product without the add of the marketing machines:

The first was Josh Freese.  Mr. Freese had a rather significant following of fans and found a very creative and unique way to generate sells of his new album “Since 1972”  from that fan base.  For some laughs, click on the link above and look at the variety of offerings.  A few of my favorite offering is the $50 level which, among other things, buys you a “thank you” phone call from Freese.  The $2,500 level buys you not only an autographed copy of the CD, but a drum lesson from Mr. Freese, a trip to the Hollywood Wax Museum with a member of the Vandals or DEVO, a signed DW snare drum and three items from his closet!  He sold two of these packages!  The $10,000 package includes the autographed CD and Snare Drum, but also includes a day with Freese at Club 33 and Disneyland, after which you get to drive away in his late-model Volvo (you have to drop him back home first)!  No takers on that one yet.

The second is the artist whose name I could not for the life of me remember last night during the radio program, but is Jill Sobule.  When she wanted to record an independent album entitled “California Years” back in 2008, she established the website www.jillsnextrecord.com in order to raise the money necessary to produce the record.  On the website, she offered varying levels of support, from the “Pewter” $50 level, which buys you a “thank you” on the CD liner, all the way up to the $10,000 “Weapons-Grade Plutonium Level” which buys you the right to sing on the album and play cowbell (Good guess Scott!).  Other interesting ideas are the $2,500 Emerald level, which gives your “executive producer” credit on the album or the $5,000 Diamond level which bought you a “house concert” from Jill and the right to charge admission!  She actually sold 2 and 3 of these levels respectively.  Ms. Souble had originally budgeted $75,000 for production and distribution and eventually raised all of that and them some.  For a full tally of the more than $88,000 she raised through this effort, here is her “tote board.”

Masnik’s point in the keynote address, and the model he derived from Trent Resnick’s NIN experiment, is that you must “Connect with the Fans” (or CwF) and give them a “Reason to Buy” (or RtB).  Thus, the equation is CwF+RtB = $$$$$.  This is the point I made on the radio program last evening – artists need to determine who their fan base is and find a way to connect.  Through that effort, the goal is to create an e-mail database of those fans so that you have a way to communicate with them (whether it be by e-mail blast, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or whatever).  Once you’ve connected, the second step is to find a creative incentive that gives them a reason to buy.   As readers of my blog will remember, I’ve been preaching this stuff for years.  Stay tuned for more ideas!

Technorati Tags: Do it Yourself,Musicians,Artists,Major Labels,Entertainment Lawyer,Music Lawyer

In Memory of Barry Beckett – 1943-2009

Barry Beckett, renowned Nashville producer and longtime musician, passed away last evening, further dampening, in conjunction with heavy downpours, the opening day of the 2009 CMA Music Festival.

Beckett was a fellow Aquarian, born February 4, 1943 in Birmingham, Alabama.  He was a noted keyboardist and musician, perhaps best known as a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section which created the “Muscle Shoals Sound” as part of the recording sessions produced by Rick Hall in the Fame Recording Studio.   

Beckett can be heard on various hits from the famous Stax Records (e.g., the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There”) as well as playing keyboards on my favorite Paul Simon tune,  the 1973 pop hit "Kodachrome."   As a A&R rep for Warner Nashville in themid 80’s and later as a producer, Beckett touched the careers of many notable artists, including Hank Williams, Jr., John Prine, Mary MacGregor, Alabama, Kenny Chesney, Bob Dylan (“Slow Train Coming”), Neal McCoy,  Glen Frey, Bob Seger, Delbert McClinton, Joan Baez, Dire Straits, Joe Cocker, Lorrie Morgan, Confederate Railroad, Phish.  A partial discography can be found here and here.

He was inducted into the Alabama Musicians’ Hall of Fame in 1995.  Among other things, Barry enjoyed building model railroad track layouts when not producing hit records.  He, and the music he continued to produce, will be severely missed in the Music Row community and well beyond.

Technorati Tags: Barry Beckett,Nashville,Producer,Bob Dylan,Paul Simon,Kodachrome,Kenny Chesney,Confederate Railroad

The Business Phone that Could (have)

Once upon a time, there was a shinny new device called the iPhone that tried to climb up the mammoth hill that is the sole domain of the business smartphone.  “I think I can, I think I can,” said the iPhone, and it tried and it tried, but alas, it could only make it up about half way, and then it sputtered and. . . .   The end of this story cannot be written.

Obviously, you probably figured out by now that I have fallen victim to the allure driven by the site of all of my business associates who were sporting shiny black and white, Zen-like devices with colorful icons.  Yes, I bought an iPhone.  And while this article may be a bit off topic for my music business oriented blog, anyone who knows me knows that I am a techie through and through and enjoy new gadgets and technologies more than most.  Many of my friends call me the guru for good reason.  So, here goes.

As a long time fan of Palm, you might wonder why I did not wait for the premier of the Palm Pre.  The simple reason is that Sprint service does not reach to my residential area.  That was also the reason that, in recent years, I migrated to Windows Mobile, which I grew to love almost as much as the Palm OS.  However, finally I was convinced to switch to the dark side and try it with Apple.

My relationship with my iPhone is what I describe as a “love hate” relationship.  Yes, there are many many things I really love about the iPhone.  I love the way it feels in your hand, almost like a smooth pebble plucked from a lake in the mountains of Japan.  As I said in the story above, very “Zen-like.”  After all, that is the Apple way isn’t it?

At first I thought the soft keyboard would drive me crazy.  Surprisingly, I’m getting used to it and pretty efficient, although I still maintain that a hardware keyboard is much more efficient – something the Palm Pre does beautifully. 

For the most part, on the positive side, I really love the web browsing experience.  The websites that actually work (more on this later) come up beautifully and quickly.  And, as a tech person, I really like the fact that there are scores of programmers writting countless applications for the iPhone.  For the most part, the marketing is true, “there is an app for that.”  That’s sort of where the “hate” part of the relationship begins, in that shaded area between the “for the most part” and the remaining part of 100%!  That’s the part that keeps the iPhone from being a full-fledged business phone.

Recently, Apple has been pushing the idea that the iPhone is the ideal phone for business.  There are several flaws with the iPhone which, until remedied, will prevent its widespread infiltration into the lockhold that BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile have on that sector of the market. 

So, what I’d like to address in this article is not the scores of more obvious deficiencies that have already been pointed out in the blogs and articles – no native voice dial, lack of full support for Bluetooth, no memory expansion, no cut and paste, no MMS, intolerable battery life, etc. – but the less obvious and definitely serious deficiencies that relate more specifically to a business person’s daily use of a smartphone.

First and foremost, and this has certainly been recognized by others, is  the lack of support for Javascript and Flash plug-ins in the built-in Safari browser.  If your websites relies on either of these, as my www.musicattorney.biz does, then what the iPhone visitor will see is a blue Lego-style brick with a question mark in the middle  (see the illustration).  What the hell is that?  Unforgiveable, that’s what it is.  There’s no other word for it.  And all simply because Apple doesn’t like to play nice with its competitors, particularly Adobe.  Shame on you Jobs.

Secondly, and this has always been one of my major beefs with Apple, the proprietary, i.e. closed, operating system.  Apple’s SDK, as one developer put it, “has more restrictions than Guantanamo.”  Developers require a certain level of integration with the OS in order to develop business-class applications to work around the inherent deficiencies in the native iPhone software.  But no – Apple is too proprietary for that.  This needs to change and quickly.

One perfect example of this is the calendar.  For some unknown reason, there is NO WEEK VIEW in the calendar.  No week view?  I don’t know about most business people, but for me, the week view is the “go-to” view of choice.  Yes, I know, there is a “list” view on the iPhone, but it’s not nearly the same thing.  To witness the difference for yourself, download the iPhone version of an old Windows Mobile classic, Pocket Informant and look at the week view in that software.  Ah, problem solved you might be thinking.  Just use the App!  Not so quickly:  Pocket Informant ONLY syncs with a Google calendar account.  Why, you ask?  That’s right, because Apple will not allow the programmers to access the base-level calendar on the iPhone and therefore the information in the iPhone’s calendar CANNOT be displayed in beautiful week view of Pocket Informant.  Yes, the week view is sort of a sore spot for me.  But is iconic, if you’ll allow me the pun, of the fallacy of the proprietary restraints Apple places on programmers.  There is absolutely no excuse.

While we’re on the subject of little annoyances, what’s up with dialing the damn iPhone?  There is no quick way to get to the dial pad.  Duh!!!  It is, first and foremost, supposed to be A PHONE.  Give us a quick way to access the dial pad!  When you press the pretty green telephone icon, you land on whatever segment of the program you happened to be on when you last opened it, whether it be voicemail or recent contacts.  You MIGHT get lucky and land on the dial pad.  But there’s a one in four shot that you have to press yet another icon to get to the dial pad to, dare I say it, actually make a phone call.   IT’S A PHONE!!!!

Since we’re on the subject, looking up contacts is probably a breeze for some MP3 stealing teenager with 25-50 contacts in their address book.  When they swipe their pimple-popping finger down the list I’m sure it flows beautifully for them.  I, on the other hand, like many other business people, have close to 2000 contacts in my database: not the same  “weeeee” experience with the finger-scrolling thingy!  There is simply no good way, on the native applications, to search for a contact and quickly dial them.  Fortunately, in this instance, there are several app for that developed by people who recognized this deficiency.

Now, getting back to the primary focus of the article, the third annoyance that prevents the iPhone from being a major contender in the business market is the lack of multitasking.  That’s right, multitasking.  The Palm Pre recognizes and addresses this need beautifully, as does the Blackberry Storm.  Both have methods by which you can easily and quickly switch between open programs seamlessly.  Not the iPhone.  With the iPhone, you must always return to the home screen in order to open a program (if you’re lucky enough to find it on the home screen). 

The home screen is designed, once again, for the casual and, dare I say it, younger user.  Each program is represented by a cute, colorful icon with neatly rounded edges.  Did I say cute?  The icon concept works great if you have only a few applications, but if you start to actually utilize the “there’s an app for that” concept and download more than a few pages worth of applications, you soon find that it’s difficult to locate the app you’re look for in any given moment (As an aside, you’ll also find that you are limited to the number of applications you install on the iPhone – nine screens of 16 +4, i.e., 148 applications!).  Apple has some smart programmers, why not throw in some “categories” or “tabs” or some intelligent organizational method to use in sorting and filing the icons in manageable clusters?!  But no, that’s a little to complex for an Apple, I suppose – there’s absolutely NO file or icon management whatsoever.   

While we’re on the subject of wish lists and multitasking, why not allow me to have a “back” button that returns me to my previous program.  But no, if I want to look up someone’s phone number or address to include in a calendar event, for example, I have to hit the home key, thereby exiting the calendar, go find the contacts icon, press it, scroll through scores of contacts until I find the right one, then select that contact, memorize the information, exit the contacts program, find the calendar icon, press the calendar icon – OH MY FREEEEEKING *#*#*#!!!!!!  Isn’t Apple supposed to be the king of simplicity?  Somebody surely missed the boat on this one didn’t they?  It IS a simple concept – multitasking.  Apple didn’t get it.  Multitasking is one of the things that all successful business people have in common.

So, you might be wondering, if I am doing all this complaining, why do I still have and use the iPhone.  Well, actually as I said, there are many apps that do service many of my needs – an many that work around some of these issues.  For example, I utilize Freshbooks for invoicing with its iPhone app, I use SugarSync for file backup and access it with its iPhone app, I use Jott for dictating quick notes to myself and clients and it has a neat iPhone app, I use eReader for my literary needs, Transactions to get myself paid, Pandora to listen to music, Upvise for my shopping list needs, ReQall for my localized to do list, MyCast for weather, and My Banking online, etc. etc. You get the picture.  There are still many programs that fill many of my business needs. 

Oh, don’t get me wrong:  I could do ALL of these things on my old Samsung Blackjack with Windows Mobile.  But certainly the iPhone is, after all, the most recent iconic symbol of high technology and that is, after all, why I ultimately ended up with the iPhone.  And it does perform beautifully.

   I just hope that Apple has their act together enough to realize that their market is expanding, and in order to expand fully into the business sector, it might have to let go of some of its old methods of doing things.  Let the programmers in.  Let them design fixes to these flaws.  Let them develop an app for that!  Until then, in my opinion, the Blackberry Storms and Samsung Jacks of the world will continue to have a foothold in that precious business market that every smartphone desires to dominate.  Until then, Apple, repeat after me:  “I think I can, I think I can . . . .”

Technorati Tags: iPhone,deficiencies,Windows Mobile,Blackberry

The Business Phone that Could (have)

Once upon a time, there was a shinny new device called the iPhone that tried to climb up the mammoth hill that is the sole domain of the business smartphone.  “I think I can, I think I can,” said the iPhone, and it tried and it tried, but alas, it could only make it up about half way, and then it sputtered and. . . .   The end of this story cannot be written.

Obviously, you probably figured out by now that I have fallen victim to the allure driven by the site all of my business associates who were sporting shiny black and white, Zen-like devices which colorful icons.  Yes, I bought an iPhone.  And while this article may be a bit off topic for my music business oriented blog, anyone who knows me knows that I am a techie through and through and enjoy new gadgets and technologies more than most.  Many of my friends call me the guru for good reason.  So, here goes.

As a long time fan of Palm, you might wonder why I did not wait for the premier of the Palm Pre.  The simple reason is that Sprint service does not reach to my residential area.  That was also the reason that, in recent years, I migrated to Windows Mobile, which I grew to love almost as much as the Palm OS.  However, finally I was convinced to switch to the dark side and try it with Apple.

My relationship with my iPhone is what I describe as a “love hate” relationship.  Yes, there are many many things I really love about the iPhone.  I love the way it feels in your hand, almost like a smooth pebble plucked from a lake in the mountains of Japan.  As I said in the story above, very “Zen-like.”  After all, that is the Apple way isn’t it?

At first I thought the soft keyboard would drive me crazy.  Surprisingly, I’m getting used to it and pretty efficient, although I still maintain that a hardware keyboard is much more efficient – something the Palm Pre does beautifully. 

For the most part, on the positive side, I really love the web browsing experience.  The websites that actually work (more on this later) come up beautifully and quickly.  And, as a tech person, I really like the fact that there are scores of programmers written countless applications for the iPhone.  For the most part, the marketing is true, “there is an app for that.”  That’s sort of where the “hate” part of the relationship begins, in that area between the “for the most part” and the remaining part of 100%!

Recently, Apple has been pushing the idea that the iPhone is the ideal phone for business.  There are several flaws with the iPhone which, until remedied, will prevent its widespread infiltration into the lockhold that BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile have on that sector of the market. 

So, what I’d like to address in this article is not the scores of more obvious deficiencies that have already been pointed out in the blogs and articles – no native voice dial, lack of full support for Bluetooth, no memory expansion, no cut and paste, no MMS, etc. – but the less obvious and definitely serious deficiencies that relate more specifically to a business person’s daily use of a smartphone.

First and foremost, and this has certainly be recognized by others, is  the lack of support for Javascript and Flash plug-ins in the built-in Safari browser.  If your websites relies on either of these, and my www.musicattorney.biz does, then what the iPhone visitor will see is a blue Lego-style brick with a question mark in the middle.  See the illustration.  What the hell is that?  Unforgiveable.  There’s no other word for it.  And all simple because Apple doesn’t like to play nice with its competitors, particularly Adobe.

Secondly, and this has always been one of my major beefs with Apple, the proprietary, i.e. closed, operating system.  Apple’s SDK, as one developer put it, “has more restrictions than Guantanamo.”  Developers require a certain level of integration with the OS in order to develop business-class applications to work around the inherent deficiencies in the native software.  One perfect example of this is the calendar.  For some unknown reason, there is NO WEEK VIEW in the calendar.  No week view.  I don’t know about most business people, but for me, the week view is the go-to view.  Yes, I know, there is a “list” view – not the same thing.  To witness the difference for yourself, download the iPhone version of Pocket Informant and look at the week view.  Ah, problem solved you might think.  Just use the App.  Not so quick.  Pocket Informant only syncs with Google calendar.  Why, you ask?  That’s right, because Apple will not allow them to access the base-level calendar on the iPhone and therefore the information in the iPhone’s calendar CANNOT be displayed in beautiful week view of Pocket Informant.  Yes, the week view is a touchy subject for me.

While we’re on the subject of little annoyances, what’s up with dialing the damn iPhone?  There is no quick way to get to the dial pad.  Duh!@!!  It is, first and foremost, supposed to be a phone.  Give a quick way to access my dial pad.  When you press the pretty green telephone icon, you land on whatever button you happened to be on when you opened the program before, whether it be the voicemail or recent contacts.  You MIGHT get lucky and land on the dial pad.  But there’s a one in four shot that you have to press yet another icon to get to the dial pad to, dare I say it, actually make a phone call. 

Since we’re on the subject, looking up contacts is probably a breeze for someone with 25-50 contacts in their address book.  You swipe down the list and it flows beautifully.  I, like many other business people, have close to 2000 contacts in my database.  Not such a “weeeee” experience with the scrolling thing!  There is simply no good way, on the native applications, to search for a contact and quickly dial them.  Fortunately, in this instance, there is an app for that.

Now, getting back to the primary focus, the third annoyance that restricts the iPhone from being a major contender in the business market is the lack of multi-tasking.  That’s right, multi-tasking.  The Palm Pre recognizes and addresses this need beautifully, as does the Blackberry Storm.  With the iPhone, you must always return to the icon screen, which is, again, designed for the casual user.  The icon concept works great if you have only a few applications, but if you start to actually utilize the “there’s an app for that” concept, you quickly find that it’s difficult to find the app you’re look for.  You also will find, by the way, that you are limited to the number of applications you install on the iPhone – nine screens +4 only!  Apple has some smart programmers, why not throw in some “categories” or “tabs” or some intelligent organizational method!  No file or icon management whatsoever.  I don’t ask for much. 

While we’re on the wish list, why not allow me to have a “back” button, to return to my previous program.  But no, if I want to look up someone’s phone number or address to include in a calendar event, I have to hit the home key, thereby exiting the calendar, go find the contacts icon, press it, scroll through scores of contacts until I find the right one, then select that contact, memorize the information, exit the contacts program, find the calendar icon, press the calendar icon – OH MY FREEEEEKING *#*#*#!!!!!!  Isn’t Apple supposed to be the king of simplicity?  Somebody surely missed the boat on this one didn’t they?  It is a simple concept – multitasking.  Apple didn’t get it.

So, you might be wondering, why do I still have and use the iPhone.  Well, actually as I said there are many apps that do service many of my needs.  I utilize Freshbooks for invoicing, SugarSync for file backup and access, Jott for quick notes to myself, Google for directions, eReader for my literary needs, Transactions to get myself paid, Pandora to listen to music, Upvise for my shopping list needs, ReQall for my localized to do list, MyCast for weather, Banking online, etc. etc. You get the picture. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I could do ALL of these things on my old Samsung Blackjack with Windows Mobile.  But certainly the iPhone is, after all, the most recent iconic symbol of high technology.   I just hope that Apple has their act together enough to realize that their market is expanding, and in order to expand fully into the business sector, it might have to let go of some of its old methods of doing things.  Let the programmers in.  Let them design fixes to these flaws.  Let them develop an app for that!  Until then, in my opinion, the Blackberry Storms and Samsung Jacks of the world will continue to have a foothold in that precious business market that every smartphone desires to dominate.  Until then, Apple, repeat after me:  “I think I can, I think I can . . . .”

Technorati Tags: iPhone,deficiencies,Windows Mobile,Blackberry

My Appearances on WSM Radio

For the last several weeks, I have enjoyed being a guest host on Malcolm West’s live radio program, Race Night.  It’s a weekly show that airs on WSM 650 AM from 7-9 p.m CST.  The show is broadcasted into over 37 states and, as Malcolm quips, two outhouses!  It reaches over 150,000 listeners. 

The show is very unique:  it consists primarily of Malcolm’s commentary and responses to callers regarding the evening’s NASCAR race.  However, interspersed in the NASCAR theme are musical elements, including special featured guests who are prominent songwriters, entertainers and music industry veterans.   I was introduced to the show by my good friend and banker, Lisa Harless of Regions Bank.

Malcolm asked that I participate in the music industry portion of the evening to give an entertainment attorney’s perspective.  I’ve had the pleasure of participating in live interviews with Malcolm’s musical guests Jessica Miller, Buffalo Rome, Harold Bradley, Ray Walker and Karen Staley.  That’s Malcolm on the right in the photograph, together with Ray Walker, myself, and Kevin Anderson, the engineer and producer.

I can’t wait to see who will be on next week!  Join me and Malcolm for a fun evening of family entertainment next Sunday evening!

Technorati Tags: Entertainment Law,Music Lawyer,Radio,Malcolm West,NASCAR

HR 848 passes committee

Rep. John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee brought the Performance Rights Act (HR 848) up for markup this morning. 

HR 848 created no small amount of disagreement among radio broadcasters, minority broadcasters, trade unions and civil rights groups.  However, a group  of minority artists, including Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, Dionne Farris and Jon Secada, recently sent a letter indicating support for Rep. Conyers and this legislation.  The letters stated in part: 

As minority artists, we support a strong and vibrant local radio industry. We know that minority broadcasters play a vital role in our communities. And we support efforts to create accommodations in the legislation for small, minority-owned stations. But the creation of a fair performance right cannot be delayed further. We have already waited far too long. “Not now” is not an acceptable answer.

To address the concerns of minority broadcasters, Conyers offered the following amendments at today’s markup:

Affordable payment for small, rural, nonprofit, minority, religious and educational broadcasters

· Any station that makes less than $100,000 annually will pay only $500 annually for unlimited use of music

· Any station that makes less than $500,000 but more than $100,000 annually will pay only $2500 (half of the amount in introduced bill) annually for unlimited use of music

· Any station that makes less than $1,250,000 but more than $500,000 annually will pay only $5000 (the amount in introduced bill) annually for unlimited use of music

Relief for current economic situation

· No payment for 2 years by any station that makes less than $5,000,000 annually

· No payment for 1 year by any station that makes more than $5,000,000 annually

Parity for all radio services

· Establishes a “placeholder” standard to determine a fair rate for all radio services that will encourage negotiations between the stakeholders

Cannot hurt local communities

· Assures that this legislation cannot affect broadcasters public interest obligations to serve the local community

Assures consideration of relevant evidence

· Evidence relevant to small, noncommercial, minority, and religious broadcasters and religious and minority royalty recipients must be considered by the Copyright Royalty Judges

Other minority and civil rights groups that sent letters expressing support for the act included the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the A. Phillip Randolph Institute.

The executive director of the musicFIRST Coalition, Jennifer Bendall, supported the committee’s decision:

“We applaud Chairman Conyers and Committee members for their work on the Performance Rights Act and for supporting artists, musicians and rights holders in their fight for fair compensation when their music is used by AM and FM radio stations.

The Performance Rights Act will bring fairness to artists, musicians and rights holders and one that’s fair to radio and its counterparts. It also includes accommodations for small and minority-owned broadcasters. musicFIRST looks forward to the next chapter and to Congress to ensure that U.S. artists and musicians receive the performance right they deserve.”

Now that HR 848 has cleared the committee, it will be brought in front of the entire House for debate and vote. 

Technorati Tags: Performance Rights Act,Legislation,Radio Broadcasters,PROs,music industry Events

New website focuses on promotion of musicians

I was recently contacted by John Dargan, a Florida-based computer programmer who is also the webmaster for a new music-related web site called www.Nurturemusic.biz.  The concept of the site is simple, and somewhat unique:  it is a “slide show” of publicity photographs of various musicians, artists, bands and related music industry professionals.  Dargan finds musicians to be fascinating people, so he founded the site this past March with a goal of providing a marketing avenue for talented musicians allowing them to attract a wider audience.  So far, the site has engendered  an enthusiastic response from both the musicians and their fans.

To obtain the content, Dargan scours MySpace and other websites looking for musicians, artists and bands that have both great publicity photos and an apparent talent for music.  Dargan works hard to ferret out the best photos and the most promising musicians.

“It’s a tremendously fun hobby,” Dargan says.

A viewer arriving at the website is greeted simply with a photograph framed on the top with the site’s logo, a navigation bar, and the name of the artist, and on the bottom with various links and information related to the artist.  In the navigation bar, the user can move from photo to photo in the slideshow or learn more about the artists by clicking on one of the links or directly on the displayed image, which is generally hyperlinked to the musician’s website, MySpace page or the CDBaby location offering the musician’s CD for sale. In this way, Dragan hopes to drive web traffic to the commercial sites of the musicians.

In addition to providing free publicity to the musicians, the site provides credit to the professional photographers who took created some of the images as well as a hyperlink to the photographer’s website. Dargan makes an effort to contact each professional photographers not only to seek permission, but to ask them to comment on the the photo session, asking them to describe how they decided upon the location of the shot, the best angle, or any incident associated with the session that a reader might find of interest.

The goal is to enhance the viewer’s understanding and enjoyment of the photography and to provide a more intimate glimpse into the life of the photographer and the musician. Dargan’s approach to the website is drawn from the concept of “high-tech, high-touch,” a book by John Naisbitt, which introduces the concept that technology can help bring us closer as a community.

All of Dargan’s discover efforts seem to focus on quality.  For example, he searches for photographs in which the faces are clearly visible, i.e. not hidden behind microphones or musical instruments.

I prefer eyes that are visible, not closed, nor looking away. The expression on the face provides an insight into each person's personality.

Dargan was surprise to find that a number of the photographs he chose were taken not by professional photographers, but by the artists and musicians themselves.

The key emphasis in the search for music is also on quality elements.  Dargan searches extraordinary talent and musical express. He listens for lyrics that are not only original, but have qualities and characteristics that are touching, heartfelt, plausible or engaging. 

In contrast, Dargan avoids photographs that contain disturbing elements, such as blood, or music that contains “excessive screaming or cursing.”

The music should engage the listener right away. The execution of the music should be crisp and should indicate a high level of musical skill. The quality of the instruments should be high. The vocals should be compelling and dynamic

Dargan says. 

Dargan has also been surprised by the number of extremely talented teenagers that he discovered in the plethora of musicians on MySpace and YouTube. While he generally he avoids direct contact with minors for obvious reasons, Dargan was particularly impressed with one young country singer named William Michael Morgan, so he contacted the boy’s father and obtained permission to feature William on the website.

Other examples of the talent featured on the website are

• David Bradley, a singer/songwriter who is also an oil engineer.  Bradley wrote some of his songs while stationed in the forests of Siberia and on an oil rig in the middle of the Caspian Sea.
• Colin O'Donohoe, an outstanding composer, conductor and musician who has developed hauntingly beautiful music involving wonderful instruments from the Far East.

Dargan is also sells “slots” in the slide show to attorneys and other industry professionals who specialize in the music industry.  Dargan chuckles at the thought of money trickling in from these professionals, particularly  attorneys, as Dargan, a patent-holder who has been involved in patent litigation, has sent tens of thousands of dollars to attorneys.  “Getting even a small amount of income from attorneys seems only fair to me,” he chides.

Dargan received a Bachelors degree from American University in interdisciplinary studies, and a Masters degree from Washington University in St. Louis, in Technology and Human Affairs. Dargan has one expired patent and one pending patent, both related to Touch-Tone interaction with computers, such as with text messaging. Dargan can be reached at nurturemusic@yahoo.com.

Technorati Tags: musicians,artists,entertainment,entertainers,music law,entertainment lawyer,music lawyer,entertainment attorney

Law on the “ROAD”

Starting in June, the author of this blog, Law on the Row  - 20-year entertainment attorney veteran Barry Neil Shrum - will be taking the show on the road!  On June 5, 2009, Mr. Shrum will conduct the first of a series of national seminars called MBA, Music Business Academy. 

Mr. Shrum initiated this series of seminars to address a perceived need in the industry: that a growing number of artists, entertainers and songwriters who might benefit from the expertise of an entertainment attorney, could not afford to retain an attorney and get the help they need due to upfront fees and retainers.  To this end, the mission statement for MBA is “music business education for the do-it-yourself generation!”  This unique series of one-day sessions will provide the upcoming and established mid-tier artist, musician, songwriter and other music industry professionals with a cost-effective method of obtaining an essential legal foundation for day-to-day music industry survival. 

The goal of the seminar is to create a sense of being in the client chair, Mr. Shrum will unravel the essential provisions of various industry-specific agreements  - bringing clarity to the legalese and identifying red flags in the “small print.”  Some specific agreements covered in the MBA session are:

*    the exclusive recording agreement (and the new 360 deal)
*    the exclusive songwriting agreement
*    the personal management agreement

For the do-it-yourself generation, Mr. Shrum will also explain the details and implications of guerilla marketing on the web.  He will explore the typical iTunes deal as well as other online distribution issues relevant to today’s guerilla marketers.

When asked about the seminar, Riq Lazarus, of Lazarus Management Group, said:

"Barry Shrum gets it!  The music business is undergoing radical change.  It is absolutely essential that today's artists have an understanding of the legal issues facing them in this new era of "do-it-yourself" broadcasting.  And because he has the heart of a teacher, Barry's immense knowledge and experience enables him to empower you with the understanding you need to protect your creations."

It is Mr. Shrum’s goal that attendees walk away from the seminar with a functional understanding of basic copyright, trademark and contract law — a virtual “MBA” in the music business!  Attendees will also receive specialized written materials as a continuing reference and valuable resource and are given the opportunity to purchase reduced rate legal services from Mr. Shrum.

The date of June 5, 2009 has been set for Chattanooga – the day before the Riverbend Festival - and plans are in the works for seminars in Denver, Colorado and Charlotte, West Virginia.   Other cities under consideration are Austin, Texas, Baltimore, Maryland, Boston, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Georgia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  To see if your city is being considered, or to vote for your city, take the online poll.

General information about the seminars can be found here.  A detailed agenda of the Chattanooga seminar can be found at the event website:  www.musicbusinessacademy.info

 

Register Now! online event registration by RegOnline

Technorati Tags: Music Business,Seminar,Music Law,Music Publishing Contracts,Exclusive Songwriting Agreement,Exclusive Recording Agreement,Record Contract,Personal Management Agreement,Music Industry

Taxation of digital downloads

By guest author, Cory Greenwell, Esquire*

“The customer is always right” has long been a mantra of the business world. Over the last ten years, consumers within the entertainment and software industries have begun to demand instant access to products off all types. Products such as the Apple iPod®, Sony PSP® and the Amazon Kindle® among countless similar products have created an ever-increasing demand for instant access to media content. As a result, the increase of digital distribution of media content has grown, with iTunes alone accounting for more than $5 billion dollars in the US and the industry continues to grow. As a direct result of the increase in volume of the digital distribution of media content, the distribution of physical media, such as compact discs that are customarily subject to sales tax fell sharply in 2007. The paradigm shift has resulted in a major sector of the entertainment industry acquiring virtually tax-free status or consumers.

In the 1992 landmark decision in Quill v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992), the court found that states cannot require out-of-state retailers to collect taxes from customers who live in states where the retailer does not have a related physical presence or “substantial nexus”. The basis for the decision was to give a “safe harbor” for businesses wishing to avoid the burdens of complying with the numerous state tax laws by transacting business online.

Seventeen states, including Tennessee, have updated their tax code and now impose a tax on digital downloads. The legality regarding the taxation of digital media appears to have been resolved in favor of taxation. After Quill, the responsibility rests on the individual consumer to report the transaction on their annual tax return and pay the appropriate amount of sales tax. Some reports indicate that nationwide state and local governments will have lost more than $500,000,000 in uncollected taxes by 2011.

The court in Quill recognized the importance of the emerging e-commerce sector and declared that alternative means to require retailers to collect sales tax, namely that 1) Congress may require retailers to collect sales tax or 2) States may require retailers to collect taxes provided that Congress has provided a mechanism by which to reduce the burden of retailers to comply with the tax laws of the several states.

Since the Quill decision, twenty-two states including Tennessee have joined together under the “Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement” to create a uniform tax code to reduce the burden of complying with the law of the several states. Among other things, the SSTA have created uniform rules regarding digital media. The National Conference of State Legislatures has called for Congress in its next session to review the Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act (H.R. 3396) which gives those states that have complied with the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement the authority to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax for online purchases.

Rather than waiting on Congressional action, New York has attempted to circumvent the requirement of a physical location within the state by interpreting their law to include any “affiliate”. In the case of Amazon, affiliates include anyone who advertises on the website. This interpretation, if adopted by the several states, would negate the benefit of the safe harbor by exposing the online retailer to liability throughout the nation.

In conclusion, as the law presently stands, states may tax digital media, however it cannot require out of state retailers to collect taxes. If Congress adopts the legislation proposed by the members of the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement as anticipated, the Quill case no longer prevents states from requiring retailers to collect sales tax.

*Jonathan “Cory” Greenwell is an intellectual property lawyer who practices in Louisville, Kentucky at the firm of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald.  Cory is the co-founder of the website Backseat SandBar and was featured on the WFPK 91.9 feature, “Off the Record.”

Technorati Tags: Taxation,Digital Downloads,MP3,music law,entertaiment law

Politico’s interview with Corgan following his testimony before Judiciary Committee on HR 848

As a follow up to my previous post on the subject, the radio widget above should play Politico’s interview with Smashing Pumpkin’s founder and frontman Billy Corgan following his testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee in support of HR 848, the Performance Rights Act.

Corgan testified on Capitol Hill on behalf of the musicFIRST Coalition yesterday.  Corgan testified that the current sytems is “hurting the music business” because of radio stations’ failure to compensate musicians for performing their music.

My readers know my thoughts on this subject.  While I agree with Corgan’s overall sentiment, I stand by my emphasis yesterday that the legislation as it is written may be drafted in favor of the record labels more so than the performing artists. 

HR 848 should have a provision that provides for direct payment of royalties to the artists who performed on the sound recording and which specifically does NOT rely on the record labels to distribute these royalties “in accordance with the terms of the artist’s contract.”  (See my previous post).  This kind of language contained in the House version of the legislation at Section 6 only assures that the record labels would receive all the performance royalties and that performing artists would have to overcome numerous obstacles to ever see any of the additional income, inevitably leading to more disputes with the record label.   The current artists agreements with record labels simply do not contain provisions addressing payment of these types of royalties and, even if they did, the artists who have unrecouped balances on their ledger sheets would never see a dime. 

My proposal is that the current system for collection and distribution of performance royalties for musical compositions be utilized.  Specifically, why not allow BMI, SESAC and ASCAP to collect and distribute the performance royalties for sound recording copyrights on behalf of member artists, allowing these organizations to pay 50% of the income directly to the artists (the original owners of the sound recordings) and 50% to the record labels (the assignee owners of the sound recordings).  This structure is identical to the distribution of performance royalties for owners of the musical composition copyright.  It’s a systems that has functioned well since the turn of the 20th century and it is a systems that, overall, works fairly well. 

In general, members of the performance rights organizations have fewer royalty disputes with these entities over  than artists do with record labels, since these entities, for the most part, do not function as profit generators.  There is no doubt that this idea has some flaws as well, but in comparing the alternative, it seems to me that this would benefit the artists and musicians much more than giving the money to the record labels.

Technorati Tags: Billy Corgan,Smashing Pumpkins,HR 848,Legislation,Music Industry,Music Law,Entertainment Industry,Entertainment Lawyer

Judiciary Committee holds hearings on HR 848, the “Performance Rights Act”

The House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on H.R. 848 (this year’s version of HR 4789) tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.  Although the Committee’s website does not identify any witnesses at this time, I am informed by musicFIRST that Smashing Pumpkins’ founder Billy Corgan and Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the RIAA will be speaking on their behalf at the hearing.

H.R. 848 was introduced to the 111th Congress by Rep. John Conyers on February 4, 2009 then referred to committee on the same day.  It was co-sponsored by Tennessee representative, Marsha Blackburn.  If passed, HR 848 would amend The Copyright Act (specifically Title 17) to provide “parity in radio performance rights” under the Copyright Act.  In other words, the Bill would grant a performance rights in sound recordings performed over terrestrial broadcasts (i.e., traditional radio broadcasts, not satellite).   S. 379 is the Senate’s complimentary bill, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy.

The act has certain provisions to accommodate concerns by the broadcast industry, such as the provision which establishes a flat annual fee in lieu of payment of royalties for individual terrestrial broadcast stations with gross revenues of less than $1.25 million and for non-commercial, public broadcast stations; the provision which grants an exemption from royalty payments for broadcasts of religious services and for incidental uses of musical sound recordings; and the provision which grants terrestrial broadcast stations that make limited feature uses of sound recordings the option to obtain per program licenses. 

The Act specifically states that it will not adversely affect the public performance rights or royalties payable to songwriters or copyright owners of musical works.   In particular, the Act prohibits taking into account the rates established by the Copyright Royalty Judges in any proceeding to reduce or adversely affect the license fees payable for public performances by terrestrial broadcast stations. Requires that such license fees for the public performance of musical works be independent of license fees paid for the public performance of sound recordings.

The full text of the bill can be found at govtrack.us.

One provision I found interesting was Section 6, (1)(A), regarding payment of certain royalties, that states, in full:

A featured recording artist who performs on a sound recording that has been licensed for public performance by means of a digital audio transmission shall be entitled to receive payments from the copyright owner of the sound recording in accordance with the terms of the artist's contract.

Emphasis added.  This last clause intrigues me.  What I find interesting about it is that under the current structure, the record labels own most, if not all, of the commercial sound recording masters, i.e., they are the “copyright owner of the sound recording.”  This clause entitles the “featured recording artist,” e.g., Madonna, Michael Jackson, etc., to receive payments from the owner “in accordance with the terms of the artist’s contract.” 

In most artists’ contracts, payments are based on a percentage of the gross revenues from sales of physical units – current artist contracts do not have provision for payment of performance royalties on the sound recording.  It would seem that under the Act as written, there is silence as to what happens in this instance where these specific payments of performance royalties are not addressed in the artist’s contract.  One possible remedy would be for the legislators to draft language that would apply, such as what they have done with regard to the “non-featured artists in subsection (B) of the same Section 6.   This Section 6 is not found in the Senate’s version of the legislation.

All of this makes me curious about what will happen to performance royalties that are paid under this Act to the owners of the sound recording copyrights, i.e. the record labels if there is no language in the artists’ recording agreements to specify as to what percentage the artist is entitled?  One thing is certain:  an artist who is not recouped under his artist recording agreement will never see any of these performance royalties under such time as his balance is recouped.

One proposal you might suggest to your representatives is that they consider a payment structure similar to that of the current performance rights organizations that collect and pay performance royalties for musical compositions, wherein one half of the royalties go directly to the songwriter and the other half directly to the publisher.  If this were the case under the new Act, half of the royalty payments would filter directly to the artist and the other half would go to the record labels.  If there truly is a concern about the recording artists not getting paid for his or her performances, this is the only method that would assure this happens.

If you are a recording artist whose performances are being playing on local FM and AM radios, you should investigate the impact this legislation will have on you.  Call you Senators and Representatives and ask them to keep you updated.

Technorati Tags: legislation,HR 848,performance rights act,2009,111th Congress,record labels,music industry,entertainment industry,recording contracts,entertainment law,music law,music lawyer

Randy Owens receives “Artist Humanitarian Award”

Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. today announced that country legend Randy Owens was the recipient of this year’s Artist Humanitarian Award. 

Together with his cousins Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry, Owens was the front man for the one of the best selling country acts of all time, Alabama.  The band, which peaked in the 80’s, racked up over thirty No. 1’s on Billboard’s Country Singles Charts, with memorable hits such as “Love in the First Degree,” “Feels So Right,” “Close Enough to Perfect” and “Take Me Down.”  They also sang backup vocals on Lionel Richie’s 1987 single “Deep River Woman,” which peaked at No. 10.  The group has won two Grammy Awards for "Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal" in 1982 for Mountain Music and in 1983 for The Closer You Get.

Owen co-founded Country Cares for St. Jude Kids® in 1989 after meeting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital founder Danny Thomas the year before.  To date, Country Cares has raised more than $345 million to fund research in the fight against childhood cancer.  Earlier this year, more than 800 members of the country music industry gathered at the annual seminar in Memphis to celebrate 20 years of support for the children of St. Jude.  In 2008, Broken Bow Records released the Grammy Award-winner's debut solo album, One On One, and HarperOne published his memoir, titled "Born Country." 

Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. leads the music industry in recognizing the humanitarian achievements of country artists.  In 1990, CRB instituted the Artist Humanitarian Award, which was first presented during the CRS-21.  Past honorees include Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Garth Brooks, Charlie Daniels and Kenny Rogers.  For a complete list of past winners, click here.

Last year's recipient, Clay Walker, presented Owen with the award Wednesday morning during the award ceremonies in the Convention Center. 

The Radio Humanitarian Awards for 2009 went to 97.3 WGH, Norfolk-Virginia (Large Market), 107.7 WIVK, Knoxville, Tennessee (Medium Market) and 93.3 WFLS, Fredericksburg, Virginia (Small Market).  The CRB Radio Humanitarian Awards are presented to full-time country radio stations for their efforts to improve the quality of life for communities they serve. 

This year's Tom Rivers Humanitarian Award was given to CBS Minneapolis VP Market Manager Mick Anselmo, Sr.  During his tenure at KEEY-FM, Anselmo organized and created a radiothon which has helped raise more than $12 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  His partnership with Sharing and Caring Hands of Minneapolis during a run of Garth Brooks concerts in 1998 set a Minneapolis-St. Paul food drive record.  The former Clear Channel radio executive also created Project Northern Lights, an effort that collected calling cards for troops stationed in Baghdad.

The intent of the Tom Rivers Humanitarian Award, given at the discretion of the Country Radio Broadcasters Board of Directors, is to recognize an individual in the Country Radio industry who has displayed a magnanimous spirit of caring and generosity in service to their community.  The award is given when the board feels an individual, through outstanding service, warrants the recognition. 

Congratulations to Randy and the other winners.

Technorati Tags: CRS-40,Country Radio Seminar,Artist Humanitarian Award,Randy Owen,Teddy Gentry,Alabama,Jeff Cook,Country Music Hall of Fame,Country Music,Nashville

Oscar-nominated short film “I Met the Walrus”

As a Beatles fan, I thought I’d share this interesting little film, which animates an interview which Jerry Levitan conducted with John Lennon in 1969 when Levitan was only 14.

 

Just to give a little historical perspective, 1969 was the year that Abby Road was released, the Beatles performed together for the last time, and was the year that Lennon and Yono conducted their famous “Bed-In” in Montreal Quebec.  A lot happened in 1969:  it was a time when the space race was in full force, with Russia and the U.S. leap-frogging each other into the great frontier, culminating in the U.S. landing the first man on the moon, Apollo 11, with Neil Armstrong’s famous “one small step for mankind”  proclamation.  The Cold War with Russia was at a boiling point.  It was a tumultuous time:  Nixon was president, the Vietnam war was in full force, the draft lottery was held for the first time since WWII, and Nixon proclaim the “Nixon Doctrine” that he expected Asian allies to be responsible for their own military defense.  Antiwar demonstrations were at their peak, so much so that Nixon asks for the “silent majority” to join in solidarity in support of the troops.  Some events that changed our lives forever that year include: a little Arkansas corporation called Wal-mart is formed, the first GAP store opens in San Francisco, the AIDS virus first spread to the US, the first automatic teller machine was installed in the US in Rockville Centre, New York and the first ARPANET link, the ancestor of the Internet, was established.  Culturally, Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuts in the UK, Sesame Street premieres,  and the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in Superbowl III.  Notable births that year included Brett Favre, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Matthew McConaughey, and Jennifer Lopez.  Notable deaths include Dwight D. Eisenhower, King Saud (Saudi Arabia), Judy Garland, Boris Karloff and Rocky Marciano.

Levitan was producer for I Met the Walrus.  In 2007, he hired Josh Raskin to direct and animate the short film on behalf of his production company.  It was illustrated by James Braithwaite, who Levitan described as “brilliant.”  It has won numerous awards, including the Best Animated Short awards from the American Film Institute, the Middle East International Film Festival, the Manhattan Short Film Festival, the Cleveland Film Festival, RiverRun International Film Festival and the Coup de Coeur award from the Regard-Saguenay International Sort Film Festival.  It was nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) in 2008 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Jerry Levitan informs me that he written a book by the same, I Met the Walrus, which comes out in May under the Harper Collins imprint.  You can find out more about Mr. Levitan at www.sir-jerry.com. 

Thanks to my good friend Gray for turning me on to this film and thanks to Jerry Levitan for the kind words about my humble blog!

See these related links:

Film company website.

Read more about the film here.

Technorati Tags: John Lennon,I am the walrus,entertainment,music,Beatles,Jerry Levitan

Oscar-nominated short film “I Met the Walrus”

As a Beatles fan, I thought I’d share this interesting little film, which animates an interview which Jerry Levitan conducted with John Lennon in 1969 when Levitan was only 14. 

Just to give a little historical perspective, 1969 was the year that Abby Road was released, the Beatles performed together for the last time, and was the year that Lennon and Yono conducted their famous “Bed-In” in Montreal Quebec.  A lot happened in 1969:  it was a time when the space race was in full force, with Russia and the U.S. leap-frogging each other into the great frontier, culminating in the U.S. landing the first man on the moon, Apollo 11, with Neil Armstrong’s famous “one small step for mankind”  proclamation.  The Cold War with Russia was at a boiling point.  It was a tumultuous time:  Nixon was president, the Vietnam war was in full force, the draft lottery was held for the first time since WWII, and Nixon proclaim the “Nixon Doctrine” that he expected Asian allies to be responsible for their own military defense.  Antiwar demonstrations were at their peak, so much so that Nixon asks for the “silent majority” to join in solidarity in support of the troops.  Some events that changed our lives forever that year include: a little Arkansas corporation called Wal-mart is formed, the first GAP store opens in San Francisco, the AIDS virus first spread to the US, the first automatic teller machine was installed in the US in Rockville Centre, New York and the first ARPANET link, the ancestor of the Internet, was established.  Culturally, Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuts in the UK, Sesame Street premieres, and the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in Superbowl III.  Notable births that year included Brett Favre, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Matthew McConaughey, and Jennifer Lopez.  Notable deaths include Dwight D. Eisenhower, King Saud (Saudi Arabia), Judy Garland, Boris Karloff and Rocky Marciano.

Levitan produced the I Met the Walrus.  In 2007, he hired Josh Raskin to direct and animate the short film.  It was illustrated by James Braithwaite, who Levitan described as “brilliant.”  It has won numerous awards, including the Best Animated Short awards from the American Film Institute, the Middle East International Film Festival, the Manhattan Short Film Festival, the Cleveland Film Festival, RiverRun International Film Festival and the Coup de Coeur award from the Regard-Saguenay International Sort Film Festival.  It was nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) in 2008 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Jerry Levitan informs me that he written a book by the same, I Met teh Walrus, which comes out in May under the Harper Collins imprint.  You can find out more about Mr. Levitan at www.sir-jerry.com. 

Thanks to my good friend Gray for turning me on to this film.

See these related links:

Film company website.

Read more about the film here.

Technorati Tags: John Lennon,I am the walrus,entertainment,music,Beatles

Music Row gears up for CRS

When big events like the Country Radio Seminar occur, Music Row begins to buzz with various activities and talk about the celebrities.  The Country Radio Seminar is an annual convention designed to educate and promote the exchange of ideas in the country music industry.  This year marks the event’s 40th anniversary and it promises to be another great year for attendance.

Among the buzz this year is Gerry House’s induction into the Countr y Music DJ Hall of Fame.  House is without a doubt one of the most well known country radio personalities of all time and has been honored many times during his long career as a spinner of vinyl (and now polycarbonate, or make that digits!).  He began that career in the small Tennessee town of Maryville at WBCR.  In 1975, he stared at WSIX-AM in Nashville then moved over to the FM side in the early '80s.  In 1985, he moved his show to the granddaddy of Country Music Radio, WSM and then to KLAC in Los Angeles.  Ultimately, as life often does, he came almost full circle returning to WSIX-FM.  In 2008, the Gerry House and the House Foundation morning show on WSIX won “Personality of the Year” awards from the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and Radio & Records.  House also received the National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Award and Leadership Music's Dale Franklin Award. Also an accomplished songwriter, House wrote "The Big One" (George Strait), "Little Rock" (Reba McEntire) and "On The Side Of Angels" (LeAnn Rimes).   House is joined by the induction Cleveland Ohio’s Chuck Collier, a 30-year veteran of country music radio.  On the programming side of the equation, Bob McKay and Moon Mullins are the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame inductees.   Merle Haggard will receive the Career Achievement Award and Shelia Shipley Biddy will be presented the President's Award.

The Country Music DJ and Radio Hall of Fame events unofficially mark the beginning of CRS each year.  The Hall of Fame Cocktail Party begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. The Dinner and Induction Ceremony follows at 6 p.m.   The remainder of scheduled events for CRS are as follows:

Wednesday, March 4

Wednesday's events kick off at 9 a.m. with the Opening Ceremonies and Award Presentation.  The keynote address, delivered by marketing expert Seth Godin, will follow at 10 a.m. in the Performance Hall, with the Motivational Speaker/Life Coach panel at 11:15 a.m.  This year's speaker will be former No. 1 country artist-turn motivational coach Sylvia Hutton.

New label Golden Music will sponsor Wednesday's luncheon, featuring performances by Benton Blount and Williams Riley.  The previously scheduled morning Artist Radio Taping Session (sponsored by SESAC) will now be combined with the afternoon A.R.T.S. panel.  As a result, the afternoon session will be extended by one hour (2:30 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.).

Performers at ASCAP's KCRS Live! will include artists and songwriters Jimmy Wayne, Kelley Lovelace, Ashley Gorley and Jonathan Singleton.  The popular Music City Jam^TM (7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. in the Performance Hall) will be hosted this year by Tim McGraw and sponsored by the Academy of Country Music. 

Additionally, two educational panels will be featured Wednesday afternoon: "Country Radio As Seen Through The PPM Lens," sponsored by Arbitron, and "Back to the Future: 1969-2049."

Thursday, March 5:

Designated as Music Industry Town Meeting Day, single day registration for Thursday's activities may be purchased on-site for $265.  The day's agenda includes the return of the Tech Track and Small Market Track panels.  Tech Track panels include "Spinning a Web" and "40 New Media Ideas."  Small Market panels include "Come Hell or High Water: Disaster Preparedness," "You're a PD, Now What?" and "Champagne Production on a Beer Budget."  Sixteen panels will be offered in all during the day between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Thursday's events begin at 9 a.m. with The Country Music Association revealing the results of its 2008 Country Music Consumer Segmentation Study, conducted by Leo Burnett Co. and Starcom MediaVest Group.  Sony Music Nashville's luncheon (noon - 1:50 p.m.) will feature performances by Miranda Lambert and Jake Owen.  At 4:10 p.m. Bobby Pinson, Pau l Overstreet, Josh Turner and Jamey Johnson will perform during WCRS Live! (sponsored by BMI and Country Aircheck).

Friday, March 6:
Friday is Radio Sales Day.  Single day registration, including entrance to the New Faces of Country Music Show®, is available for $370 on-site.  Friday's events will kick-off with the Managers' Breakfast at 8 a.m., followed by CRS-40's second research study, which will present findings from the Edison Research / CRB National Country P1 Study 2009 at 10 a.m. 

Panels during the day will focus on important topics that affect the Country Radio format, such as consumer habits, promotional and research ideas, voicetracking and tools to increase sales.  Prominent sales panels include "20 Ideas Even a PD Would Love," "PPM!  Selling the Country Format," "What's NTR Got To Do With It?" "Creative Closing" and "A Car Dealer Tells All About Advertising."  More than a dozen panels will be offered during Friday's activities.

Friday's luncheon, sponsored by Capitol Nashville, will feature performances from Darius Rucker and Little Big Town.  Also during lunch, Operation Troop Aid, a non-profit charity organization, will send 500 care packages from CRS-40 to deployed U.S. troops.  Packages will contain phone cards, MP3s, beef jerky, trail mix, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, cookies, candy, granola bars, toiletry items and thank you letters.  At 4:10 p.m., Barbara Mandrell will interview Kix Brooks during the Life of a Legend series.

One of Country Radio Seminar's most popular events, The New Faces of Country Music Show and Dinner (sponsored by R&R and CMA) starts at 6:30 p.m. with performances from Lady Antebellum, James Otto, Kellie Pickler, Chuck Wicks and The Zac Brown Band.  CRS-40 will then officially close with the unique 40th Anniversary Jam: A Musical Thanks to Radio, to be held at Cadillac Ranch and sponsored by DigitalRodeo.com.  Artists will cover their favorite radio hits from the last 40 years, featuring performances by Emerson Drive, Andy Griggs, Julianne Hough, Jamie O'Neal, James Otto, Blake Shelton, Jimmy Wayne, Chuck Wicks, Mark Wills and Darryl Worley, among others.

A new CRS documentary can be seen during the three-day seminar at the Renaissance and Hilton hotels in downtown Nashville.  The film, produced by Art Vuolo and titled WCRS-TV, chronicles various CRS highlights over the last 21 years.

CRS-40 will be held March 4-6, 2009 at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. 

About CRB:
Detailed seminar information and a full agenda can be found online at www.CRB.org.  On-site registration is still available for $699 and may be purchased at the Convention Center.  The Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.®, the event sponsor, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1969 to bring radio broadcasters from around the world together with the Country Music Industry to ensure vitality and promote growth in the Country Radio format. 

Technorati Tags: Music Row,Music Industry Events,Nashville,CRS-40,Country Radio Seminar,Country Radio Broadcasters,Julianne Hough,Miranda Lambert,Gerry House,Country Music Hall of Fame,Radio Hall of Fame,DJ Hall of Fame