I found a fantastic resource for digitally mobile music fans - Fina. Have you heard of it? They have a super selection of DRM-FREE tunes for download as high quality 320kbps mp3s. They’re run by Thrill Jockey and feature music on Constellation, Badman, Arts + Crafts, Sonic Youth Records, Fat Cat, Editions Mego, Hometapes, No Quarter, Rune Grammofon, Smalltown Supertown and Superjazz, Ersatz Audio, Miamsah, Mosz and Duplex Planet and so many more! ([More →])

Now I know that ASCAP is a crooked business. This is just proof…

They say that music is a matter of taste and that not everyone will agree with who wins the awards or who sells the most albums and nonesuch. I agree. I don’t tend to like the music that gets a lot of mainstream attention, so I’m accustomed to being disappointed that the same watered down music gets more money and recognition each year while super-creative and conscious musicians continue the struggle to gain audience. ASCAP is one of those companies that creates these situations and enforces that they remain in place. Usually I dismiss ASCAP entirely, until they back a band that is both super-creative and unable to be watered down. Yeah Yeah Yeahs being a fantastic example. Other times, ASCAP enters my radar because of how horribly narrow-minded they are. This is one of those latter times. ([More →])

Yesterday I reported about Clear Channel’s latest crime involving independent musicians and the payola agreement. In a nutshell, the FCC decided that it was unlawful for Clear Channel to use a pay-per-play structure that ensured the Big Record Companies would get plenty of airtime while independent and local music would be economically excluded. After a bit of research, I can see why the people at Future Of Music and various independent musicians/independent record labels are furious with the outcome of this agreement. ([More →])

Anyone paying attention to the situation with independent music on terrestrial radio will recall that the FCC was investigating Clear Channel over payola issues. Not long ago, they reached an agreement that included the broadcast of 8,400 half-hour blocks of independent music on all of Clear Channel’s commercial radio stations. ([More →])

Launching your artwork into the world can be a whirlwind of manic activity, especially when it’s your first time. Mr. J Medeiros is not new to releasing albums, he’s put out 3 albums as a member of the Procussions. But putting a solo work out into the world is a whole new game. ([More →])

The CompactDisc turned 25 today! On this day 25 years ago, it was Abba’s new album The Visitors that made music history by becoming the first album published on this new compact format. It was the smallest album available at the time…

It marked a revolutionary time in the music industry. In addition to the scheming CEOs with dollar signs in their eyes and futures, pirates and thieves also quickly figured out the benefits of such a pocketable disc!

A fan-built video to “The Visitors” from Abba’s albu of the same name:

You can also click over to iVi’s MOG to watch the Reuters report about the 25th Birthday of the CD featuring lots of great factory shots reminiscent of Mr. Roger’s educational visits to production facilities:
25th Year Of The CD - DJ iVi’s MOG

Abba have recently taken over a century-old customs warehouse just south of central Stockholm. They have plans to build an ABBA museum within. The century old doors will sigh pleasantly as they are opened to the public in Spring 2009.

Check the ABBAsite for more details…

SaveNetRadio.org has declared a Day of Silence for internet radio broadcast on Tuesday June 26th. The stations that participate will give listeners only a taste of what it will be like after July 15th if the increased royalty rate is upheld. Stations that go silent will likely include Pandora, Live 365, Yahoo LAUNCHcast, and MTV Online, and NPR member stations. These stations, plus others like AccuRadio, Radioio, Digitally Imported, Rhapsody and many more would be seriously impacted by retroactive royalty increases equal to 50-300% of the station’s current revenue income. In Rhapsody, Pandora and Live365’s cases, the increase would also penalize their multiple channels platform, causing rate increases equal to more than 1000% of their current revenue. 1000%! According to the RAIN (Radio And Internet Newsletter):

Webcasters will be alerting their listeners that “silence” is what Internet radio may sound like on or shortly after July 15th, the day on which 17 months’ worth of retroactive royalty increase payments are due to the SoundExchange collection organization under the terms of a recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision.

Read more about the situation on the RAIN website and check out SaveNetRadio.org for more options of what you - the listener, the musician, the dj, the webcaster - can do to help.

Look at the left sidebar here at HearingTest for 2 links for contacting your Senators and Representatives in Congress. The lins are under the title act!

EMI has licensed its entire digital catalog to Amazon.com according to Reuters. Amazon, currently the #1 online retailer of CDs worldwide, will launch a digital music store later in 2007 that will sell DRM-free music. While the Beatles’ music is not included in the DRM-free deal, all of Paul McCartney’s solo work will be released in both digital and physical formats by EMI.
Read more at Reuters.
And for additional *exclusive* information about this deal, see what hypebot has to say….

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