After a ten year run, Williamsburg BK's Black Betty is closing. Home to delicious Middle Eastern eats and a wide range of musical acts, the venue will certainly be missed by locals and tourists alike. The final date of death will be June 15th 2009. Apparently, their lease ended and someone else snagged it when it was offered for more cash. Most of the remaining spots for live music have been filled by bands and DJ's who want to get in one more time before this unique venue closes for good. We'll never look at humus the same again. We save you the trouble of going to a million websites and just tell you what garbage is worth skimming over.
- Stream the new Wilco right now!
- Camel loses first Rolling Stone indie rock ad case...
- Bonnaroo Reveals Festival Schedule
- The Sweedes want their money from The Pirate Bay like their name was ODB
- Finally, we scored Katy Perry's digits! Let's hope those recent n00dz were really her!
- Performance rights act passes the house
- Weezer to tour with Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy
Since CD sales and iTunes downloads are only the measure of what people are buying and don't take into account what people are actually listening to, they have very little cultural relevance in our modern streaming world. What really matters is what people are listening to across the social networks of the web. Obviously, obsolete dinosaurs like Billboard haven't gotten on board to track these kinds of stats yet. There is one site who has taken on this task, WikiChart. They have sorted though all of the social networks including Facebook, iMeem, MySpace, Hype Machine, You Tube, etc. and assembled the data into two charts a Rock and a Pop chart. For a real look into what is going on in the musical zeitgeist today check out the WikiChart.
Today Alternative Press, takes a look at a question many bands ponder before hitting the road, is it really worth taking a trailer? AP posed this question to the members of Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Photo Atlas, Fireworks, and Damiera. Dave Raymond of Damiera states:"During 2007-'08, the biggest drain on Damiera's tour budget was a 7x14-foot trailer. Since selling it, our gas mileage has nearly doubled, while highway tolls have been cut in half by eliminating two axles. These are significant numbers when touring on a limited budget. The cost and maintenance of a trailer could be enough to drive your band into debt."More at Alternative Press.
We save you the trouble of going to a million websites and just tell you what garbage is worth skimming over.
- World renowned
chomo, errshort eyes, performer Michal Jackson's rehearsals move forward - T.I. speaks out against gun violence... he really doesn't want to go to jail He has seen Rick Ross's man tits and they are scary.
- iLike really likes music, not as much as your friends like posting hourly countdowns to the lost finale on Facebook
- Gonzales attempts longest concert of all time
- Kanye throw a pissy fit, and this is supposed to be news???? Well it is against Twitter, this makes him the new Keith Olberman
- Congress to pretend to care about the music industry today
- Apple doesn't heart BitTorrent
- Jack White Mayoral adviser
- Jiwa gets in bed with the Major Labels
- 3 Strikes in France in full effect
- Rolling Stone ruins Twitter for Dave Matthews.
- Ticketmasters profits fall and I subsequently believe in karma
- Lindsay Lohan
gets her house robbedis a huge slob - Bono Writes Bad, Vaguely Racist Poem About Elvis
- Paul Rodgers leaves Queen
- Alanis Morissette now starring on Weeds... Isn't that ironic?
Have you seen Arc Attack's amazing live show featuring a synth known as "The Singing Tesla Coil" that spits lightening? Well it is right above in that video there, stupid! Well now you can play this wonderful synth in an online animated soundboard. This will keep you distracted from doing what your supposed to do for at least 5 minutes.!
We save you the trouble of going to a million websites and just tell you what garbage is worth skimming over.
- Sony sues EMI, we suggest a battle to the death.
- David Gahan rushed to hospital, this time let's hope it's not that whole suffocation masterbation stuff again.
- Ohhhhhhh Lady GaGa we look forward to the day you are the Vanilla Ice of the next decade!
Seth Godin is one of the most popular bloggers/thinkers on the Internet. He runs a blog that gives many insightful thoughts on life, marketing and the music business. There are many lessons he teaches in his books and blogs that are valuable to your band's thinking and ability to navigate the music business. After the jump we will give you a quick summary of a few of these ideas and how you can apply them to your band's existence.
We save you the trouble of going to a million websites and just tell you what garbage is worth skimming over.
- Is the paid download over?
- John Lennon in NYC on exhibition
- The Pirate Bay to fight fine by paying it????
- Polydor innovating the music industry with Eminem???
- How MySpace fits into free
- Sony boss admits the obvious that he messed up
- Aerosmith are a lottery prize?
- The Justice dept. may cock block Ticketmaster/LiveNation
- Cat Stevens Back in ughhhh Black?
- Tranny looking Goth Rockers Aiden rejected by Apple. Kinda like every girl they asked to the prom
Manhattan's 48th street music instruments store row is dying. Perhaps it is eBay, or maybe most musicians in NYC hate nothing more than going to that part of town, or maybe it's just the economy. It's old news that Manny's is on the way out, but the confirmation that its days are shortly numbered came via The New Yorker this week. Manny's is famous for having tons of amazing autographs of its famous clientele lining the walls. I can remember being very enamored by this wall when my father took me for a visit when I was an impressionable youth. The wall will now live on as Manny's Virtual Wall, which the employees are busy scanning while people don't buy instruments. At least the Internet will be able to archive this awesome collection of rock history.
We save you the trouble of going to a million websites and just tell you what garbage is worth skimming over.
- Rick-Rolled by... Rick??? Live, Karaoke style!
- April Album Sales Down 'Only' 9% reads kind of like I ONLY have herpes!
- R. Kelly is Looney Tunes
- The RIAA has no friends
- Some like it spiced: eBay adds MP3 store for Spain
- Nick Cannon
fires back at Eminemis deeply afraid of Eminem - Animal Collective set loose new Live Box Set!
- British Gov to fund band rehearsal rooms - now THAT is change we could believe in
- Woodstock 40th Anniversary Brooklyn show might actually happen - far out man!!!
Dave Kusek is Vice President at Berklee College of Music, and maintains a blog called Future Of Music. On Friday he posted an article from Kevin Kelly with some ideas about what to do since every one can get your music for free that wants it. For those of you looking to make money in the coming years on music, this has some essential ideas to keep in mind when trying to find your way through it.
Fleet Foxes blew up like an atom bomb this last year. One of the mind blowing parts of the band is the harmonies. There is a 3-4 part harmony on nearly every line on their recent S/T record. This can obviously be hard to pull off live, yet the band pulls it off almost perfectly. NPR recently interviewed them and they gave some great tips on how to achieve a great live sound. Check it out!
A man is above a valley in a hot air balloon, he sees another man on the ground and yells to him, "Hey! I am stuck up here in this balloon and don't know how to get down! Can you help me?" The man on the ground responds, "Well you either need to get to a high peak... like a hill, and jump off... or maybe wait for it deflate slowly." The man in the balloon then yells back "You must be a record label executive", The man on the ground looks puzzled. The man in the balloon says "You have nothing but very obvious knowledge that is of no use to me whatsoever and are trying to help, but really aren't offering me an answer." To this, the man on the ground replies, "You must be in a band, since you think you know everything and you now blame me for the stupid situation you got yourself into before I ever even met you!" I'll be here all week! Thank you!
LiveNation are at it again. Since they have to make sure they keep increasing their profits to satisfy their board members, they have to find new ways to screw you out of every dollar in your pocket. This time they plan to increase their cut on merch sales and beer prices! Isn't that nice how they get you into a show and then since you can't leave make sure they take you for every over priced dollar so they can have a vacation home in the Hamptons? I'm all for taking ideas on how to run this company out of business.
Yep, it's that time! Another stupid eBay auction! This one is a Porsche 911 that rocket scientist Kirk Hammet lost in a bet with Metallica's manager. Here is the story as told in the item description:
"There is an interesting piece of Metallica history involving this car. "THE BET" In 1991 shortly before the release of the eponymous Metallica album (known as the Black Album) Kirk and Tour Manager Tony Smith were on a flight talking about the upcoming album release. Kirk mentioned that he was concerned that it might be a little to different for people to accept. Tony said not to be concerned and that it would probably sell 10 million copies. Kirk responded by saying that if it did sell 10 million copies that he would give Tony his new prized possession Porsche. For a couple of years this became the source of some good natured fun and teasing between the band members and Tony. A few years later, while the band was touring, the Black Album was certified as 10x platinum (10 million sold in the USA.) By this time the conversation about the Porsche had been mostly forgotten. However, at the end of one leg of the tour, Kirk gave Tony an envelope. Inside were the ownership documents and the keys to his Porsche 911 Carrera 4. It was a very special time for all those involved who new the meaning behind the gesture. This is how this car can now be offered for sale to you by Tony Smith.
Tony is also including to the lucky winner some priceless one of a kind Metallica treasures. Some of these items you will never see again. Some of the rarest Metallica memorabilia in the world. Kirk Hammett signed gas receipt, very rare signed 8X10 photo of Kirk, signed oil change receipt, signed auto dealer sheet, original warranty application with Kirk's extremely rare full business signature, a hard to find controversial photo of the band, a signed letter from Kirk to Tony including the history of this car, 6 guitar picks, 2 exclusive club show tickets from 1996, very exclusive!!! 2 tour itineraries, and there are 11 tour passes, working passes, after show passes, backstage passes, and meet and greet passes. these are extremely hard to come by and they are all garanteed authentic!!!
Tony Smith is very busy working on various projects. I am handling the sale of this vehicle for him. "
We save you the trouble of going to a million websites and just tell you what garbage is worth skimming over.
- The Death of the CD-Release Complex and I don't mean the psychiatric term for when bands take forever to put out their next record.
- Cobra Starship and Family Force 5 follow Forever The Sickest Kids lead and spam their way to the top of Twitter Trends
- New 33 1/3 Books coming soon!
- Cathedral to play John Lennon's 'anti-religious' "Imagine"!
- SHOCKER! T.I. Drops Rapper Alfamega after he snitches on him, you know how rappers are about snitches!
- Murder was NOT the case that they give him - Snoop freed from charges
- Amanda Palmer and the kids take on Neutral Milk Hotel with new musical
- ABBA songwriters to release new material (you, know, the way old friend do)
- Coldplay drummer admits influence of 12,000 other songs - can you say lawsuits?$?$?
- English Music Business gets a bailout. Obama doesn't support the musician troops!
WTF is this? BriTunes? A segment where Brian Williams interviews "indie" bands?! The super-square-extraordinaire and cardboard-like journalist actually tries to dig up some lesser known artists, get to know them and attempt to introduce them to a larger audience via MSNBC. Something doesn't seem right about this, but in this clip BW takes on Deer Tick, of all bands! We know you are all upset about being back at work. Team Musformation has decided that we will take it upon ourselves to cheer you up every Monday. Click the jump for some choice humor!
If you are not familar with The Economist, don't be ashamed. It is definitely some of the highest level of political/financial nerdery ever put to print. My girlfriend recieves a free subscription that we both stare at blankly whenever we attempt to figure out what in the hell they are talking about. Despite never really reading the articles, it makes us look smart to anyone who comes over and assumes we read it. Anyway, there is an awesome new debate on their website about the merits of copyright law. In this day and age where everyone is getting very excited about Open Source and Creative Commons, this debate so far has been very insightful as to where to go from here. For members of the music industry, this is a great read as you try to figure out how you would like to distribute your music in the future. Plus, if anyone sees you reading it you seem reallllllyyyy smart!
We save you the trouble of going to a million websites and just tell you what garbage is worth skimming over.
- Anal Cunt reunite, will be playing live shows including a performance of their hit song "Connor Clapton Committed Suicide Because His Father Sucks"
- Coldplay uses the defense, we outlined for them!
- EMI changes captains on the sinking ship
- Belle & Sebastians's Stuart Murdoch launches subscription service New Regina Spektor song!
- NSFW Rhianna n00dz!
By The BBC. Rest of the videos in the jump!
In this video you can see some of the awesome ways you can use Ableton as a super powerful looper tool. I have a feeling we are going to be seeing this on stage a lot more!
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