12/6/07 San Francisco, CA
Surprise Me Mr. Davis w/ Sensations
@ The Independent
more info + tickets here
“The rebirth of the New Orleans music scene has lifted the spirits of a city that has fallen on hard times. Leading the charge, bands like Rotary Downs have been touring to packed houses in Louisiana and around the country. Their sound is a good mix of soulful NOLA jazz rhythms, modern guitar and inspired lyrics.” – Thomas Green, CurrentTV
the interstitial moment between art ingestion & reactive output lends itself as fertile ground to the implementation of social action. Every holiday season, multiple compilations raising money for social cause are released to raise money and awareness for the right to be human. Sew the internet into a web of tools available to take social action, and the average person with a computer and internet connection can experience the art of giving in the most efficient manner possible. What does all this mean?
There’s genocide in the Sudan right now. geno-fucking-cide.
and people no different than me are fleeing from imminent torture and death.
I want to help, because i have to. my pesonal experience with music renders a belief system in which the sound of music comprises the human contribution to the sound of earth. And since i can’t get to Darfur to help contribute to humanity……i looked for the musical compilation of the holiday season which accomplishes the task at hand.
I pre ordered Causes1. Not Shocking. but valuable. and quite beautiful….Spoon, Death Cab For Cutie, Bright Eyes, Thievery Corporation, Animal Collective…..exclusive material and 100% goes to Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam America.
exclusive pre release mp3 from Causes 1 (for download)
Bright Eyes – Coat Check Dream Song (Exclusive Live Version) [mp3]
Tracklist and Press Release:
* Animal Collective – Safer (Exclusive Live Version)
* The Black Keys – Stay All Night (Exclusive Chulahoma Session)
* Bloc Party – Rhododendrons
* Bright Eyes – Coat Check Dream Song (Exclusive Live Version) [mp3]
* Cornelius – Wataridori 2 (Exclusive Version)
* David Sylvian – Late Night Shopping (Exclusive Chris Vrenna Remix)
* Death Cab For Cutie – World Shut Your Mouth (Rare Julian Cope Cover)
* The (International) Noise Conspiracy – Washington Bullets
* The Cure – The Walk (Exclusive Live Version)
* The Shins – Turn On Me (Exclusive Clint Mansell Remix)
* Spoon – Rhthm & Soul (Exclusive Middle Version)
* Teargas & Plateglass – One Day Across the Valley
* Thievery Corporation – The Passing Stars feat. Pam Bricker
* Travis – Gimme Some Truth (Exclusive John Lennon Cover)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On November 27….
Waxploitation will launch its inaugural Causes album series with Causes 1 which includes exclusive and rare tracks donated by Animal Collective, The Black Keys, Bloc Party, Bright Eyes, Cornelius, The Cure, David Sylvian, Death Cab for Cutie, (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Shins remixed by Clint Mansell, Spoon, Teargas & Plateglass, Thievery Corporation and Travis.
One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to three non-profit organizations: Doctors Without Borders (www.doctorswithoutborders.org), Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) and Oxfam America (www.oxfamamerica.org).
The album will be available digitally on iTunes for only 90 days beginning on November 27th. “We’ve made a conscious decision to create a sense of urgency – to mirror what is a dire situation in Darfur. It’s not just a symbolic gesture,” says Waxploitation’s founder Jeff Antebi. “These non-profits need help there now.”
Waxploitation will also be pressing a limited edition CD which can be pre-ordered by signing up at waxploitation.com
Although estimates of the number of people killed by the conflict in Darfur vary widely from 200,000 to 400,000, what is certain is that more than 2 million people have fled their homes because of the fighting, and 4 million are now in need of humanitarian assistance—making this one of the worst crises in the world today.”
Technorati Tags: Causes1, waxploitation, Bright Eyes, free mp3, oxfam, Oxfam America, doctors without borders, darfur, HumanRights, toolshed, Social Cause, NotShocking
Maybe you’ve seen my tweets – i’m flying all over the country witnessing the northern hemisphere’s foray into autumn and doing a ton of business. Wearing my business socks. It sounds fun, and it is, but it is all with purpose and I am thankful that at this point in my life purpose and pleasure have joined forces to become a career.
Just 1.5 days ago i was in DC … for the Future of Music Coalition Summit in Washington, DC. As usual, had the chance to pow wow with friends old and new in the music industry. Day one was focused mostly on copyright, and many of the Staff Counsels who i lobbied with Soma FM & BAGeL Radio in july were sitting on panels. It was fascinating to fall witness to the changes, or lack thereof, in their opinions since our visit. In addition i met the attorneys for Sound Exchange who had a good laugh with me and said “Oh so YOU’RE the reason that press release went out…”
i nodded. smiled. we exchanged cards.
At the summit, I sat on two panels, back to back. Social Networking & Blogging and Podcasting.
The Social Networking panel was standing room only, which was a surprise as it was up against the keynote of the morning (which was a bummer, although all the panels are available via webcast and podcast on the future of music website). I was thrilled to teach a packed room of labels about RSS, and the value of releasing themselves from risk aversion and trusting their fans. When asked what to do with “psycho fans” i had a simple answer. Hire them. It was a successful panel, and i enjoyed letting musicians and label folk alike know that iLike is NOT the only music app on facebook. I rattled off about 50 more and encouraged them all to utilize the longtail of social networks to compliment their embrace of the longtail in a digital retail marketplace. I’m considering putting together a 2 hour seminar on the matter. It was an incredibly successful panel. Perhaps the most successful panel i’ve been involved with….ever. And yes, i did teach them what RSS stands for. We are in a bubble on our interweb, and i feel the call of duty to bring my music industry cohorts into the fold. Education is the name of the game. some marketing companies will take the money before they teach you. I just can’t bring myself to do that at this time. If we want to affect the Future of Music, we will have to rethink our strategy of education of artists and managers (and labels) and stop treating them as if they are just clueless internet neanderthals who just don’t “get it.” we can still help them “get it” without expecting them to know it as well as we Geek Marketers know it….If i give away my tricks, well, then more artists make more money. And i’ve lived a good life. Passion, Purpose, Pleasure – what more could i ask for in a career. I hope to dodge working for the big 4 labels (soon big 3…) and remain with the independent culture of which i’ve been a part for 10 yrs, and the independent new media culture that i hold so dear.
Which is why it’s just really fraking cool to go straight from the Future of Music Summit in DC straight to Boulder, CO for the innovative “RockMe” thanks to me.dium. yes, i have been consulting with Me.dium about their interest in music since late June, and yes i’m excited about it. but don’t accuse me of spam. because Me.dium stepped up to the plate and took a risk, and connected me to one of the most willing risk takers i’ve yet to meet in terms of bands i’ve worked with: Rose Hill Drive’s Jake Sproul, who has been involved since Week 1, back in July. Jake is tirelessly promoting the event to his fans (new and old), using the Me.dium browser plugin daily, released World Premier Rose Hill Drive content on monday (video of the band opening for The Who in Pompeii), and is set to do an extremely innovative 4 camera stream of the Rose Hill Drive show on Saturday 9/22 at the Fox Theatre, which will broadcast on the RockMe website.
You can surf the web with Jake in Me.dium by clicking right here.
And thanks to Jake, i am, for the first time, a Technical Producer – I have been acting as the Technical Producer for the 4 camera stream (powered by ustream of course, thanks ustream!!!!) and am now armed with an entirely new arsenal of information that i can use to help, teach and greatly enhance the discoverability of independent bands around the world. The Future of Music is vast because it caters to those who are willing to take risks, who know that when a fan ingests content on the web, and has a chance to connect with a band they like (or just discovered) their entire experience changes from tangible to meaningful. While buy clicks may not always be the result, the exposure and chance to connect is more valuable than any click through rate quoted by an overpriced online ad agency.
Dear Jake, thanks for your hard work and leading the way for others. This is just the start. The interweb, the google, the maps…it’s all very new for the music industry and those of us who are hybrids of music business and technology nuance are longing for more musicians like you to embrace the concept of future and move beyond the past. xo, corey
If you are learning about me.dium’s event RockMe for the fist time, there is more information on the RockMe website as well as at RoseHillDrive.com.
If you’d like to be my friend in me.dium (i like friends) just click here.
when i get back to SF on sunday, i’m definately getting a massage, and Jake – you should get one too – as should all the participants including the entire Me.dium community team who is ordering chinese food as i type this, and popping nodoz as if i don’t notice (i see you guys…)
Other Risk Takers involved in RockMe include:
Fiery Furnaces
Gosling
The Willowz
Jeffrey Lewis
as well as: Stanton Moore from Galactic, Halou, New Monsoon, Tom Conrad (CTO at Pandora), Rhapsody, Jambase & many others….
cheers to you all. a toast and adieu!
RoseHillDrive, me.dium, RockMe, crazywanda, Future Of Music, music
um.
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ha – it just got a little more evil. celeb death match time?
Posted in: Best of 2007 | Leave a comment »
the Compare app in facebook is an evil, evil app. i can’t choose. can you?
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photo by Rusty Hodge
On Monday July 30 – Tuesday July 31, 2007 I had the honor of travel to the city where i was born, with Ted Leibowitz (BAGeL Radio), Elise Nordling (Soma FM) & Rusty Hodge (Soma FM) with purpose and passion. Armed with packets of information and appointments both which were fully organized by my new friend and a woman for which i have much admiration, the amazing Elise Nordling. Prior to our visit Elise spent countless hours calling the offices of more than 100 congress members & staff members, senators, committee members and chiefs of counsel so that upon arrival, we were efficient, prepared, and most importantly: confident. Because of Elise’s tenacity, passion and experience we penetrated the epicenter of USA Government with concise information, leaving behind an impression with people ranging from Chief Counsels & Congressmen to the folks at Sound Exchange.
Upon arrival we attended one meeting together, and then broke into groups. I am not a small webcaster. I was along to help explain the choke hold on promotions of independent music resulting from the CRB ruling and how it affects more than the industry of webcasting, but also the independent music industry as a whole. Artists both independent and major label bound are on an even playing field in the webcasting environment. The market is normalized – therefore providing opportunity for art of all genre to be heard. Commerce ensues.
I watched Ted, Rusty and Elise explain to chief counsels and legislative assistants that while Sound Exchange is claiming to be offering a settlement to small webcasters, Soma FM & BAGeL Radio have not only not heard from SoundX, but they have yet to get a return a phone call. Even my cat knows that the lack of communication is not indicative of any notion or efforts toward settlement.
Small webcasters are now operating in a gray area. Congress wants Sound Exchange to offer a fair settlement. HR 2060 is flawed. And where do artists fit into all of this? the artist and their team are, by default, navigating a legal battle which may or may not prevent them from exposure to a willing audience of potential consumers, and the leading providers of this exposure are facing lengthy battles for the right to encourage a willing audience to purchase product from an artist. From the artist representative/ music marketing/ manager/ indie label perspective, this “gray area” teeming with dollar signs is a very uncomfortable sphere in which to involve product. The copyright owner makes more money from the exposure, but is forced to collect money (now retroactively even though it was already paid) from the purveyors of that very promotion which would otherwise enable them to sell more music for a longer period of time. In other words – the artist makes more money when these rates are normalized.
Small Webcasters WANT to pay artists. yes, even the listener supported stations WANT to pay and DO PAY NOW – but CAN’T pay when they are bankrupt. And after bankruptcy, ***there is no more money to be made at all!!! Come on, people!!!***
::sigh::
we also found ourselves explaining that while sound exchange is the only company to issue payments, they only actually have 20,000 artists on board. And yes, it’s obvious to you and me, but we explained that there are many more musical artists than a meager 20,000. We touched on issues of rights disputes, territory rights, indie label promotions (and how terrestrial radio is dead to us and THAT IS FINE with us, because we have the internets). And so on. And so forth.
Music industry education from indies is needed on the hill. And while multiple Representatives and Senators have gold and platinum records hanging on the wall, they are without extensive multi-perspective and reality driven knowledge about how the industry itself is successfully adjusting and will successfully adjust to the change in medium from sheet music, to vinyl, to cassette, to cd, to zeros and ones.
