Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Van Halen - "Light at the end of the tunnel"?

Posted today at melodicrock.com

VAN HALEN - POSSIBLE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?:
It's been a while since I reached out to one of my best sources of Van
Halen info over the years, but it had to be done. And I got the
information I was hoping for - independent confirmation from a long
time source I trust that Van Halen are indeed working towards finishing
recording of a long awaited new studio album with David Lee Roth, set
for release sometime in the first half of 2011. A single is slated for
release before the end of this year, but exact timing still remains
very much up in the air. I'm told the relationship between Eddie and
Dave remains as complex as ever, but there is a definite desire to get
a new record completed.

We've heard similar before, so I remain skeptical. Still, fingers crossed. If nothing else, Eddie might be interested in touring to drum up interest in his guitar gear line.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Some of WOXY Survives

No, not the station, unfortunately. WOXY.com is still off the air, maybe for good. But one of the things that made WOXY so valuable to me and countless others was all the great new music it brought to our attention.
To that end, here's a little ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak situation. Mike Taylor, the Program Director of WOXY.com and a DJ from WOXY's FM days going way back now has his own blog. Check it out:

http://thisisthebigbeat.blogspot.com/


He's hit the ground running already with some great new music recommendations. So, even if we can't hear the best new music on WOXY right now, at least we've still got Mike pointing us in the right direction.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Will Major Labels be Extinct by Year's End?

That's what Radiohead's Thom Yorke thinks:

http://blogs.chron.com/celebritybuzz/2010/06/radiohead_frontman_music_indus.html

I've been saying for a long time I think the big labels are irrelevant in today's "do it yourself" music market. I mean, why do you need them?

To pay for expensive recording studios? Nope. Artists can record their own material affordably these days.

The expense of producing CD's? Really? Does anybody even press CD's any more? I don't think I've walked into a "record store" and bought a CD in the last five years. Even for gifts, I send people electronic gift certificates to iTunes or Amazon.

To handle distribution? Hardly. Anybody can distribute his own material on the two biggest online markets, Amazon.com and iTunes, through services like TuneCore.

Here's the relevant portion of the article:

In an interview for a new high school textbook called The Rax Active Citizen Toolkit, which aims to inspire youngsters to become more politically literate, Yorke claims the music industry is on the verge of a major crisis and could collapse completely within "months".

He says, "It will be only a matter of time - months rather than years - before the music business establishment completely folds. (It will be) no great loss to the world."


Do I believe the labels and record companies will be out of business by Christmas? No, but I do think their time is short, and I blame them for their own demise, for refusing to see and adapt to the changing market. And now arguably, it's too late. They're headed straight for the iceberg.
They're sinking, that much is certain. The only question is how long they've got.

Bets, anyone?