Monday, December 28, 2009

Blu-Ray

You can get a player for ninety nine bucks.

Check out Wednesday's article in the "Wall Street Journal": "Dreaming Of a Blu Christmas" (behind a pay wall, unfortunately, but you might find it via Google, Rupert Murdoch is so concerned with making bucks that he doesn't see he's heading straight towards irrelevancy).

It looked like Blu-ray was gonna fail. Because it was just too expensive and the Internet was going to deliver movies.

But just like the public refrained from buying CD players at first, waiting for digital audio tape to break through, people now realize Net delivery of movies is years off, and the disc may survive.

Actually, it's way more complicated than that. Many people are popping for $150 Blu-ray players, because of their Internet capabilities. Yup, you can get Netflix via your Blu-ray player. But not everything.

You see the movie companies are crippling Internet delivery the same way the record companies crippled DAT. It's just a finger in the dike, but rather than debate the flick fold, let's look at the music possibilities.

There's no longer a reason to buy a conventional DVD player. Blu-ray population is going to grow exponentially. Now that laser prices have dropped, which is why Blu-ray player prices have taken a dive, it's only a matter of time until Blu-ray enters the computer field. Soon it'll be de rigueur to get a laptop with Blu-ray built in.

Is the music business gonna fuck this up one more time?

I can't get over the Tom Petty Blu-ray disc, the one in his new live compilation. It sounds ASTOUNDINGLY good. Truly equivalent to the master tapes. Do you think people wouldn't want to hear the master tapes of their favorite albums?

That was the promise of CD. But it was a joke.

But now we've got a second bite at the apple.

Forget multi-channel. It failed twice. It's too complicated and people don't need it. Just go stereo, in Blu-ray.

Of course, it's gonna start slow. Just like CDs and Internet delivery of music. But it could grow.

Assuming the prices are cheap.

Yup, ten bucks for a Blu-ray disc.

Blu-ray player sales only took off when decks dropped from their $999 price upon introduction three and a half years ago to the dirt cheap prices of today.

Do I think discs are the future?

No.

But how much is it really going to cost to enter this market. If the labels can play with vinyl, they can do this.

Forget Jimmy Iovine trying to sell files in some newfangled way via Best Buy.

We want the highest quality today.

This is how you bring back sound. How you get people to invest in good speakers. You get closer to the music.

I was listening to "Tangled Up In Blue" on my iPod today. And I thought how I had an SACD at home. But I don't have an SACD player, almost no one does. But I've got a Blu-ray player, it's in the PS3. And when prices drop just a bit more, I can install a Blu-ray drive in my Mac Pro. And listen to the true master tapes via my Aux speakers.

I can't wait.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Too Much Joy !!!

Image representing TweetDeck as depicted in Cr...Image via CrunchBase

I was forwarded this link earlier today, and I believe you may find it interesting how Warners handles digital royalties on bands no longer on their roster.

http://www.toomuchjoy.com/?p=1397

_____________________________________

I didn't read this e-mail until 8 PM.

And I immediately tweeted about it.

There are two kinds of people. Those who use Twitter and those who don't.

Please don't fall into the second category.

This ain't no MySpace, this ain't no Facebook, this is information, plain and simple.

Forget the hype, that it's those without lives listening to the minutiae of others. Sure, there are those who update their whereabouts on a regular basis. And those who think Twitter is purely for hype. Hell, I've now learned that Ian Rogers is not a discerning listener. Makes me wonder about Topspin. He's constantly tweeting that the music of every act the company works with is good. That's utter hogwash. Especially when the tunes are outside his normal flavor field.

Yes, you can learn a lot reading between the lines.

But you can also gain a ton of information.

First and foremost, you must make Twitter comprehensible.

Use Tweetdeck: http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/

When it asks to install Adobe Air, just say yes. Adobe Air powers all the hip new software, like the New York Times Reader: https://timesreader.nytimes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TimesReader?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001 (It's free if you're a print subscriber.) The Reader is much faster than your browser. And more comprehensible.

And that's what Tweetdeck is all about, comprehension. It makes Twitter understandable, listing the tweets of those you follow, those that reference to you... There are a lot of "hidden" tricks in the app. Like click on someone's name, and a column appears delineating all their details. Play around.

But only if you've got a lot of RAM and a fairly new computer.

As for competing products... Start with Tweetdeck. Power users have favorites, but I don't want to overwhelm you.

So, I got this e-mail about the Too Much Joy royalty statement and upon reading it immediately tweeted about it.

And then my Tweetdeck notifications went berserk. People were retweeting my tweet.

In other words, the word was spreading.

How fast and how far?

To the point wherein minutes, the Webpage referenced was inaccessible, a data error showed up if you got anything at all.

Sure, this illustrates that if you've got information to purvey, be sure to have enough horsepower to get it out there.

But more importantly, that interesting information spreads like wildfire. Instantly. And far.

How far?

I've only got a fraction of my regular e-mail list following me on Twitter. I don't want to overload your inbox, especially with just raw information. So I tweeted as opposed to e-mailed.

It wasn't until the middle of the next day that I got a single e-mail about this Too Much Joy post. In other words, those relying on nineties technology, which e-mail is, were a step behind.

Notice, "Hits" didn't write about it. It seems that they've buried the hatchet with Lyor/Warner and don't want to piss anybody off.

The aforementioned "New York Times" doesn't think this is a big enough story and has no infrastructure anyway. They've got Ben Sisario writing about the music business and..? Meanwhile, if something is written on one of their blogs...NO ONE READS THEIR BLOGS!

But if you're a musician, if you're a dedicated follower of music, this Too Much Joy post was pure gold. Proof that the major labels' business paradigm is theft. Plain and simple.

Tim Quirk just wants what is owed to him. A statement.

Warner can't even deliver that. And when the company does, it's inaccurate.

Furthermore, Tim reveals the fallacy of recoupment. It's not dollar for dollar, but based on your royalty rate. So, you might still be underwater, but your company can be rolling in dough!

Believe me, you can automate these processes. You can deliver accurate royalty statements on time. But the major labels don't want to. Apple has a history of everything I've purchased. But somehow the label can't find this info. It's just data. Computing power and the Internet can put this at your fingertips.

What happens first? Do the labels enter the twenty first century or do musicians avoid them?

We already have our answer. It's the latter. Major labels sign few artists, and screw them in the process. If they can't account to you on digital sales, raw data, do you really trust them with other revenue streams in your 360 deal?

The labels are old school. And everybody knows it.

Except maybe the mainstream press. Which is just as ancient in its thinking as the labels.

I was frustrated, I thought this story had no legs. But then I read this "Billboard" article: http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ib78b45167c2724124247727de2177597 (and why can't "Billboard" render properly in Safari, since Macs are the platform of choice for musicians) interviewing Mr. Quirk.

The story was picked up by the "Village Voice" blog, "Daily Swarm", "Hypebot", me and the "Onion AV" blog. And if you don't know the power of the "Onion AV", you probably run a major label.

The word got out. Not via the mainstream. Those who needed to know saw it. So, unlike straight news stories that have no traction because someone shortly thereafter gets kidnapped or killed, the target audience read and digested Tim Quirk's story.

How you gonna convince people not to steal when you're stealing yourself?

The record industry never pondered that question.

You could have been there first. You could have seen the story on Twitter. As opposed to being the last to know.

What do you not know?

That's what's killing the major labels, what they don't know.

And we live in an information society. And your so-called enemy, the public, now has access to all kinds of data. Great info finds its audience. Great music finds its audience also. Ever think that the reason few new acts break is because the music's not good enough?

I know, that's heresy. Stone me.

But if you hear something good you tell everybody you know.

Via social media. Via Twitter.



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Thursday, December 3, 2009

COPYRIGHTS & WRONGS...A Guide to protecting your music....6

Created with inkscape; Recreated in IllustratorImage via Wikipedia

The legal duration of a copyright has changed over the past century. Calculations for copyrights registered before 1978 are confusing, so I'll focus on the present here. Copyrights registered after January 1, 1978, last the life of the composer plus 70 years. The composer can pass a copyuright along to his or her heirs or will it to a third party. Subsequent owners can do the same.

HIRE UP

If you are commissioned to create a musical work or recording, the rules are slightly different. Be sure to have the requirements of the job outlined before you start so thet there are no surprises later. If, say, an advertising agency hires you to write a jingle, the companyt will likely have you sign a work-for-hire agreement stating that it owns the exclusive rights to the work you create. However, some people, such as film producers, may let you keep all or part of your copyright, allowing you to exploit the work later and benefit from the licensing and performance income.

Get the terms in writing while you're negotiating your fees so you can charge accordingly. In the case of a work-for-hire, the copyright duration lasts 120 years from the works creation or 95 years from its publication, whichever ends first.


More tomorrow...the final publication of this series. Thanks for all the great emails.

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

More R&R Hall Of Fame Concert

Cover of "Give It Up"Cover of Give It Up

LOVE HAS NO PRIDE

A revelation.

Have you ever been left?

It hurts bad enough to go first, you're wracked with guilt. But when you're left behind, you're truly at loose ends. You were the last to know. Usually your beloved decided to move out, to dump you long before. They're over the emotional hump. You're just beginning.

How many times have I heard "Love Has No Pride"?

Written by Eric Kaz, I was first exposed on Bonnie Raitt's second album, "Give It Up". Twenty years later, Bonnie cut an album just as good, maybe even better, "Luck Of The Draw", but for a long time "Give It Up" was my favorite, and the best.

Although Chris Smither's "Love Me Like A Man" is usually cited as the album's centerpiece, the end of first side killer, I was more enamored of side two, which began with "Too Long At The Fair".

Now unavailable in its fast, vinyl version, the slowed-down digital take still haunts.

And then we're straight into Jackson's "Under The Falling Sky". A tear in a way the original is not. Then the oldie, "You Got To Know How". Then the unexpected blitz of "You Told Me Baby".

Only Bonnie can deliver this material. Intelligent, with an edge. We've got wimpy girls and slow-witted ones too. But women with a mind, who aren't afraid of speaking it...whew! That's the essence of Bonnie Raitt's appeal. She's your fantasy girlfriend.

And then comes "Love Has No Pride". The slow album closer. The wimpy radio song.

Until just now. When I saw Bonnie perform it with Crosby & Nash at Madison Square Garden. It was a little slower, and it was all about the message.

"But if you want me to beg, I'll fall down on my knees Asking for you to come back I'd be pleading for you to come back Begging for you to come back to me"

Yes, you eventually do sacrifice your pride. After long torturous nights, on both sides of the raging debate in your head. You swallow your pride, you're honest. You call them up and reveal your truth.

But it makes no difference. They're already gone.

This is a real story, one we almost all live eventually. Grasping...for air.

Sure, it's about the song. To create something so exquisite leaves the rest of us marveling. But it's more than the changes, more than the words. It's comes down to the delivery. World-weary, having plied the boards for four decades, Bonnie Raitt delivered "Love Has No Pride" in such a way that I both related and was creeped out, I try to keep those emotions buried.

It was the highlight of the first half of the show.


THE PRETENDER

"I'm going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim To the heart and the soul of the spender And believe in whatever may lie In those things that money can buy Thought true love could have been a contender Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender"

When these words poured out of the FM speaker in the fall of '76 the term "yuppie" had not yet been coined. Greed had not been legitimized. We were just emerging from the hangover from the sixties. Politics were taboo, but we were in a period of self-discovery.

Whilst Jackson was singing about human emotions, charlatans like Werner Erhard were selling personal development programs, insisting that they could wipe away a lifetime of hurt, a lifetime of bad deeds in a weekend. We wanted to be content, we wanted to be happy idiots.

We now are.

We live in a world of consumerism. People are not concerned with family life so much as what money can buy. And this goes for the religious zealots too. The "Atlantic" placed part of the blame for the economic crisis at the feet of the religious right. Telling their flock that they were entitled to a life of plenty.

Jackson delivered his number in an understated fashion. But when he reached the above lyrics he belted them out, over an audience of winners who overpaid to be up close to what once was.


GREAT BALLS OF FIRE

I keep my distance from Jerry Lee Lewis. I remember that exhaustive story in "Rolling Stone" wherein the suspicious deaths of those around him were delineated.

But years later, in the twilight of his life, delivering his rockin' original purely solo, the words stood out, they evidenced their truth.

"I'm real nervous, but it sure is fun"

Who hasn't been anxious about asking that girl to dance? Worried that the momentum built up in your head won't sustain.

Rock and roll doesn't only speak to your genitalia, it also speaks to your head and heart.


LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH

In concert, the CSN show is pure nostalgia.

But strangely, their segment worked on HBO. Because of Stephen's playing.

Anybody can have technique. You can pull up prepubescents on YouTube who can hit all the notes, replicate famous solos, dazzle with their speed. But it's he who develops his own sound, that we hear and recognize instantly, that are truly Hall of Fame material.

Thirty nine years ago, Stephen Stills was the biggest act in the business. His solo album sat on the mantel of baby boomers throughout the land. Revisit it, you'll be stunned.

Stephen's worse for wear, but it's still him. Dig him now, he won't be around forever.


SUPERSTITION

It was written for Jeff Beck. Stevie delivered it to the guitar maestro and then had second thoughts, he decided to record it himself. "Superstition" was Stevie Wonder's breakthrough. All these years later, "Sunshine Of My Life" is the most famous track off "Talking Book", but it was "Superstition" that exploded Stevie Wonder, let him leave the "Little" appellation behind.

Sure, he'd put out "Music Of My Mind", had even toured with the Stones, but "Superwoman" got very limited airplay. But the clavinet underpinning of "Superstition" could not be denied. Stevie Wonder rode the track straight into the American mainstream, where he went on to deliver on the promise, releasing three more albums just as good as "Talking Book", and they don't get any better.

Meantime, Jeff Beck ultimately cut an abysmal, bottom-heavy take of "Superstition" with Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert and then went jazz-rock, and was forgotten by the hoi polloi.

Until last night.

I credit Harvey Goldsmith.

Beck's been great forever. Never lost a step. As hot today as he was in the Yardbirds, as he was when he worked with Rod Stewart. His fleet fingers are dancing over so many records. But only when Eric Clapton had to pull out of this Hall of Fame gig did Jeff Beck get his chance. I'm sure Harvey made it happen.

And boy did Jeff deliver.

Yup, almost four decades after Stevie Wonder retrieved his career-breaking hit, he called Jeff Beck on stage, to wail, to play along.

And boy did he. Wail.

This was not nostalgia. This was not quaint. When Beck worked out, it was positively 2009, positively alive. Live long enough, and maybe you get your due.


BRUCE

It's tough. He's become an institution. If you criticize him, you're Un-American. His followers have become like Palinistas, their man can do no wrong.

He worked really hard. But his voice was lacking... Maybe he'd done too many dates. He was great on "Pretty Woman" with John Fogerty, but he lacked the transcendence we've all seen him deliver in the past.

But the E Street Band? They killed!

Clarence nailed his sax solo. Roy tickled the ivories. And Max Weinberg evidenced restraint. He didn't call attention to himself, he just provided the underpinning.

"The rangers had a homecoming in Harlem late last night"

That's why we go to the show. To go home. To where we're understood, where we're our best selves.

I went to the Bottom Line on a sweltering June night back in '74, a year before "Born To Run" was released. "The Wild, the Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle" had become my favorite album. I had to see the man perform.

It wasn't difficult getting a ticket. But I got there two hours early, ate an overpriced salad in a plastic boat, just to be within mere feet of the stage. I could have sat in the very first row, but I left two empty chairs between me and the platform, I wanted to be far enough away to get pristine sound, to take it all in.

The stage was crowded with players. The songs on the albums came alive. But the moment of transcendence came deep into the set, on a brand new number, "Jungleland".

"The midnight gang's assembled and picked a rendezvous for the night They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign that brings this fair city light"

It used to be Esso. It had only been Exxon for a year or so. Standard Oil of New Jersey coming up with this non-word that they could brand their company with throughout the world.

You see Bruce Springsteen was new, he was ours. He didn't endure the war, he didn't grow up in poverty in some godforsaken gray city in England. He was a baby boomer. Born into the land of plenty, New Jersey.

What a complicated place, the Garden State. In places gorgeous, in others a dump. But it's got the beach. The land of romance.

Yes, Bruce Springsteen grew up in Asbury Park. Where money wasn't short, but support was.

Our parents had grown up hard. They knew how to provide, put food on the table, they just didn't know how to relate.

Bruce sang of this. Of hopes and dreams.

It's not about this song or that, it's about what he represented. Liberation from a society that said you had to go to the right school, had to look a certain way.

I find it ironic that the bankers who bought up the good seats at the Garden are such Boss fans. If they were made fun of in school, at least they got straight A's, so they could go to an Ivy League school, so they could rape and pillage as an adult. Bruce was a loser with a capital "L". Winning nowhere. And through hard work and belief in himself, he triumphed.

And he's been on an endless victory lap for decades.

Because he didn't foresee this. That little Bruce Springsteen could win, be a legend, rich in cash and adulation.

He married an actress. Went to psychotherapy. Got divorced. Remarried. Had a family. Went solo. Went folk. Reformed the band and has been trying to find the proper direction ever since.

But at least he's still alive, he's still kicking.

So many of the greats are no longer here. They used dope to get through. They were loved, but they couldn't fit in. On the surface they looked like kings, but inside they lived a life of pain.

The ending of "Jungleland" was a triumph. Of sheer power. Of a man who played by his own rules and won.

And that's rock and roll.


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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

COPYRIGHTS & WRONGS-A Guide to protecting your music....4

Logo of the United States Copyright Office, in...Image via Wikipedia

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Prolific songwriters and performers often worry about the cost of multiple registrations. At $45.00 a song, it definetely adds up. One option is to register music as a collection for one filing fee, using From PA (for musical compositions only) or Form SR (for compositions and their recordings, or recordings only). According to the Copyright Office, all the songs (and recordings, if applicable) in a collection must have the same copyright owner(s). Collections of songs don't have to be an entire album; they can be partial albums, suites, movements, or simply a gathering of your music.

Give your collection a title to appear in the Copyright Office's records. While you can also specify the individual titles within the collection, those will not appear in the Office's records unless you register them separately or submit a supplementary registration (Form CA).

Be sure to read the Office's circulars on musical compositions (Cir 50) and sound recordings (cir 56) for details. The easiest way to access forms or circulars is by visiting www.copyright.gov/register/performing.html for musical compositions, or www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html for sound recordings.

More tomorrow....

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Alternative "We Can't Make It Here"

YouTube, LLCImage via Wikipedia


Mmm...

Not exactly sure what's going on here. YouTube is doing maintenance and suddenly the links in my prior message are not working in Safari, but they're occasionally working in Firefox.

Ah, technology.

Anyway, try these links instead:

Acoustic YouTube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vN0--mHug

Alternative acoustic take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWRfBZY-ng

Official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0q3cW3x1s


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SONG OF THE DECADE

A Mellencamp painting titled "Hillbilly S...Image via Wikipedia


Yes, it's been ten years. And I'm not one for lists. But in magazines and newspapers decade-ending rankings have started to appear. Best movies, best TV shows and best songs. So I thought I'd weigh in.

"Some have maxed out all their credit cards Some are working two jobs and living in cars Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO See how far 5.15 an hour will go Take a part time job at one of your stores Bet you can't make it here anymore"

I've had a rough year. Financially.

After a disastrous nineties, I owe nothing. I live on a cash basis. I saved every damn cent I could, figuring it's hard to make a living on a freelance basis, and then the bottom fell out.

I'm not complaining. I've got my cash hoard. But it's depressing. Because almost everybody I know is broke, or close to it. I've even got a friend who put her stuff in storage and is bouncing from guest bedroom to guest bedroom, she just can't find a job.

They don't exist. Even if you want to work, you can't.

Your best bet is the network, those people you've known for decades. You can call and lean on them, if they still even have their jobs.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs is paying record bonuses and their Chairman Lloyd Blankfein says the firm is doing God's work. He must pray to a deity I've yet to encounter, one who wants to see the populace suffer. Used to be Wall Street helped build America, now traders just profit off exotic investment instruments. Meanwhile, if we didn't prop up AIG, the banks would be bankrupt and their employees would be just like us, without a job and with no prospects. Hell, did you see that story in the "New York Times" about ex Lehman Brothers employees? They can't work.

Not that I've got sympathy.

"Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils The billionaires get to pay less tax The working poor get to fall through the cracks Let 'em eat jellybeans, let 'em eat cake Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps If they can't make it here anymore"

By time you read this our President, Barack Obama, a man who ran on the mantra of hope, may be getting us deeper into Afghanistan. Isn't Al-Qaeda in Pakistan? And, if the Soviets couldn't win there, why should we? A country owned by China with disastrous financials (that's us, in case you didn't recognize your homeland).

And if you join the armed forces to serve your country, to pay your bills, you're entering the Hotel California. It seems you can never leave. You wish you were a rock star, high on dope, as you jumpily wait for people to attack you one more time. Coming home to a country that pays you lip service, but doesn't give a shit. If you come home at all. And if you do return, you're probably so traumatized you figure suicide is the best solution.

"In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains That's done closed down along with the school And the hospital and the swimming pool Dust devils dance in the noonday heat There's rats in the alley And trash in the street Gang graffiti on a boxcar door We can't make it here anymore"

Not only have they ditched music in schools, now they're closing the libraries. Guess everybody's got to sit in front of the TV, paying media giants to have crap shoved down their throats. Elvis Costello sang about vapid radio? Well, they killed radio and now have us anesthetized in front of the flat screen, selling us products we don't need, that we put on credit cards that charge 29%. As for holding back... Didn't they say it was American to shop, that we were entitled? If we sacrifice, maybe that means the future truly is bleak. So, we consume until we go bust.

I try to have hope. Can't say that I achieve this state every day.

But one thing that helps me get through is James McMurtry's "We Can't Make It Here". Not only my favorite song of the twenty first century, but my most played. With over 200 plays in my iTunes library on the computer I superseded in 2006, and over 100 more since.

Sure, the lyrics are poignant, they're poetry. But there's a hypnotic groove that hooks me, that makes me want to play the song again and again.

There's an authorized electric version, but I prefer the acoustic take. Which James used to give away for free on his site, but now you can hear as backing to a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vN0--mHug&feature=PlayList&p=8F9DB3A3A3F39061&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=21

You don't have to pay a scalper to see James McMurtry. He's gonna play in the bar in your hometown sometime next year. But the paper won't make a big deal, there won't be a buzz. But the paper is going extinct and we haven't yet made a complete transition from Kara DioGuardi crap to real music.

Is it only about the money? What happens when the money runs out? Then what? When no one listens to Top Forty, when no one wants to go to the show. When the old criteria die, it comes down to the music.

James McMurtry got a break at the beginning. He did a number of albums on Columbia, his first was produced by John Mellencamp. But when his deal was done he didn't give up and go to law school, he didn't get an MBA, he didn't don a suit and go straight, no he went indie, he kept writing, he kept playing.

And if that ain't twenty first century, I don't know what is.

In the next month, we're going to be deluged with statistics. Telling us who the winners were. People who provided fodder for the system, that you consumed, shat out and forgot.

But great art is unforgettable.

"We Can't Make It Here" is unforgettable. Just as powerful as "Eve Of Destruction", but sans camp, it doesn't slide off of you, it penetrates your core.

How did we get here?

To a country where there are winners and losers. And the winners feel entitled.

It's not only Wall Street, the music game is not much different.

The stars can't sell recordings anymore so they've jacked up the price of concert tickets to the point where the average attendee only goes to a show once a year. Isn't that like only having sex once a year? Aren't you entitled to more? Don't you want more?

Those left at the label complain that the audience is a bunch of thieves. Never mind the overpriced CDs they sold with only one good track for over a decade.

And the wannabes only want to know, which way to riches?

Every day they e-mail me...how can I make money?

If I had the answer to that, I'd be rich myself!

But I do it because I want to, it's my passion. That's why I write. And as long as people read, I'm going to proceed. It's fine with me that you're partaking for free, because first and foremost it's about communication, hell, it's about attention, and I've got yours, and believe me, nothing thrills me, nothing satisfies me more.

I may be a lone voice in the wilderness, I may be the only person who says this, but I truly believe James McMurtry's "We Can't Make It Here" is the best song of this nascent century. It doesn't only sound good, it's got something to say.

"We Can't Make It Here" lyrics: http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/we_cant_make_it_herelyrics.htm

Alternative acoustic take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWRfBZY-ng&feature=related

Official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0q3cW3x1s&feature=player_embedded#


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