Music Business - JCHMusic

Mock ( “How’s The Opera Doing” Post)

05.13.2011

I keep getting asked how the opera is going. Actually, I’m getting asked less and less because interested parties are sick of waiting. But Detroit proceeds apace. What strains credibility is the lack of audio samples. And that, Dear Reader, is the point of this post. JUST ME AND THIS LI’L OL’ GUITAR There is this myth and legend—which used to be true—that songwriters sat down in a room with their geetar and the producer and performer say, “Now that’s a song! Sign that boy up!” But that ended decades ago. But I, in all my naivete, still feeling twenty [...]

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If I Wanna Punch Glenn Beck In The Nose, Does That Mean The Terrorists Win?

10.7.2010

Culture, Music Business

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6 I just read an article about this guy Reinhold Mack. Here’s a guy who produced or engineered over 100 million records and you’ve likely [...]

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Slow…

09.4.2010

Music Business, Web Site

Life is getting slower. At least on the vast Interweb. And I blame those diabolical Swedes. Now every few years we go through these cycles of ‘reach’ vs. ‘grasp’. For a while, ‘hardware’ rules. Life is zippy. Pundits bitch about how our computers are ‘under-utilised’ and bemoan the ‘boredom’ of software. Then we go through a phase where there’s all this new, trés cool software which leaves our various devices gasping; and us waiting. Sadly, we’re going through one of the latter phases now.

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Back To The Museum

06.10.2010

Detroit, Music Appreciation, Music Business, Songs

So how is the opera thing going? Not bad. Not bad. Glad you asked. Actually, the thing fairly well writes itself. It’s an odd thing, but it’s clear I wanted to write something about Detroit; that Detroit is the big catalyst of my entire life, since I got here. The real issues are always two: Is it turning into just a series of songs? Why the fuck didn’t I pay more attention in orchestration class? The first issue doesn’t concern me now so much. I’ve moved along far enough where basically everything is developing out of the same four themes [...]

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Putting The Anal Back In Analog

04.3.2010

Music Appreciation, Music Business

Sorry I’ve been out of the loop. I’ve had an ongoing battle with pneumonia and bronchitis that hasn’t let up since Christmas. I played the absolute worst recording session of my life a couple of weeks ago, with a guy who does a type of music unique to himself (in the Seattle area anyway.) It’s so unique in fact that, were I to mention even the genre to you, I would unmask myself before him and thereby ruin our relationship. (How’s that for some bush league, soap opera cloak and dagger!) But he’s about the nicest guy I can imagine [...]

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Cloud Cuckoo Land

01.12.2010

Culture, Marketing, Music Business, Piracy

…with apologies to Aristophanes. As I previously stated, I’m pretty sure that piracy will soon be a thing of the past. And that’s because the concept of ‘ownership’ will soon be a thing of the past. People will no longer need to steal music because they will get it all from ‘the cloud’. They will give up ownership in order to pay for convenience. The question for me is how will artists get paid when this happens, because it sure as shit ain’t part of the business model now. There is also this whole fantasy world which is finally being [...]

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Irish Court Rocks My Anti-Piracy World

01.10.2010

Copyright, Culture, Music Business, Piracy

I have wondered aloud about the futility of fighting software piracy. Certainly, I’ve given up on any personal relief (ie. within the next 5-10 years.) But the recent ’3 Strikes’ ruling by the Irish High Court, has given me a possible new way to think about the issue that does offer some glimmer of hope. I call it… The Anti-Smoking Campaign People don’t smoke nearly as much anymore—well, at least in ‘the west’. Like our use of fossil fuels we’ve pretty much had our fun and realised that there’s a price to pay. So most people don’t smoke anymore; or [...]

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I Have A Confession

12.30.2009

Copyright, Music Business, Piracy

Confession? Get it? Catholic joke. I was recently screamed at about my selective ethics. About intellectual property no less! For years I have been a subscriber to NetFlix. Love it. Sometimes, I can’t watch the videos when they send ‘em to me—I’m out of town or whatever. So I rip ‘em. Yep I do. And then, perhaps a month later, I watch ‘em. But then I toss ‘em. This is bad, if for no other reason that I’m contributing to the toxic waste problem. But more to the point, it’s also a violation of federal law that states that no [...]

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