File this one under too good not to mention.

If you don’t already read Digital Music News, you should.  This is the brainchild of Industry pundit Paul Resnikoff.  Established in 2004 (I think) this is one of the places I go for my up-to-date music industry info…  Today’s post (excerpted below) is just a taste of the daily fodder.  Also featured daily is a Job Board for all of those looking for a gig.  Overall a pretty great resource and a good excuse to re-post the following:

The 10 Most Disastrous Music Industry Deals

(1) Terra Firma’s acquisition of EMI, $4.7 billion (2007)

Even Guy Hands admits he made a colossal mistake on this one.  One of the last super-leveraged buyouts before the bust, EMI has now become a $4.7 billion-plus toxic mess for Terra Firma.

(2) CBS’ acquisition of Last.fm, $280 million (2007)

Scrobbling is… [Read More]

Hugh Laurie will be releasing a New Orleans blues album produced by Joe Henry. Many viewers of House M.D. may recall him playing piano and guitar, and occasionally singing. As of today, the released photos on his Facebook page only feature the self-taught musician with a piano.

Laurie had this to say:

I am drunk with excitement at this opportunity. I know the history of actors making music is a checkered one, but I promise no one will get hurt. I am particularly thrilled to be working with Joe Henry, who has produced some of my favorite records of all time, and I can’t wait to get started.

Laurie’s musical jump from acting is not a publicity stunt. He’s been playing and even writing music throughout his life. He is also a member in the “Band From TV” charity. He even played for Meat Loaf’s new album, you… [Read More]

CBS Launch of Radio.com

Radio.com is combining the power of 600+ “real” radio stations along with Last.fm’s scrobbling in an attempt to become the online source of radio. Google shows 3,350,000 searches per month for “radio”, meaning CBS now has one of the most valuable domains on the web. But, Radio.com will have a lot of competition to deal with (Pandora and Grooveshark). What can CBS offer that is different?

The slick user interface, sections for news and sports, along with links to AOL & Yahoo stations are the main selling points of Radio.com. It seems as if they’re trying to give terrestrial radio a live-podcast feel. My first encounters with the service were basically nonstop advertisements for 3 minutes. Fortunately, mute still works.

But once the ads are over, a nice cover-flow appearance of what you’re listening to is displayed above relevant information to the station… [Read More]

After being sued by the RIAA, Limewire wants to relaunch its brand as another streaming service that aims to directly compete with Spotify. The service will sync with iTunes and mobile devices all to the cloud. The launch looks like it will be near the end of the year.

But this is all hypothetical, really. Limewire is using this as a defense to remain open for a bit longer. The outcome of the first lawsuit doesn’t look like the company can even exist with infringement costs of $1 billion floating around along with an asset freeze. After this RIAA case is over, Limewire is just beginning with another lawsuit filed by 8 music publishing companies.

In general it looks like there is no end in sight for the legal problems facing cloud services. Google hasn’t made a lot of ground with their cloud based music endeavor, Apple can’t get a… [Read More]

Well everyone,

It was announced this week that Ellen would be the new American Idol judge replacing Paula Abdul.  No matter how you feel about Paula, it is hard to even infer that Ellen has 1/10th the musical prowess of her predecessor.  This coupled with the news I just received of Ellen’s utter disrespect for music and the makers of music through her show’s refusal to pay royalties on the music “featured” on her show tells me that she no more belongs on AI than I do as the King of England.

According to Digital Music News, All four majors have now filed suit demanding that royalties be paid.  The show’s producers have denied royalties to the copyright owners because they “did not roll that way.”   This pathetic disregard for music, music makers, and copyright law proves to me that she has no place anywhere near this… [Read More]