cjthomas.org : under the wire

I’ve been debating for some time whether to get one of  Amazon’s Kindle devices - I love the concept, but have held back because this is Version One, and it’s just plain ugly.

Any first-hand experience out there?

Rumor is that our good friend Dallas Wayne is working hard in the studio recording a new album. Well, it’s more than rumor - I hear that it’s getting pretty darn close to being done. That’s really cool - although Dallas hasn’t had a new release since Koch Records imploded, I’m still one of his biggest fans.

Wouldn’t it be cool if Dallas were to host one night during at Chattahippie?

And maybe perform?

Palo Duro is going to return to SxSW again this year with our Unofficial SxSW showcase at Waterloo Icehouse (right next door to Waterloo Records). We’re still working on the final lineup/performer list, but Dallas will be joining us to sit and play a spell, which will be great. Buzz Cason and Tommy Alverson will also be joining him in a songwriters’ round, and we expect a few bands to join the party and keep Waterloo rocking well into the night.

I’m really excited about the progress being made on the Chattahippie Music Festival - the public enthusiasm has been great, and many of the details are falling into place.  We are close to announcing our marketing partners, and several bands/performers have been booked.

I can’t wait to announce the next round of details!

There’s nothing like gloom & doom to start your New Year out right. The news is filled with tidy gifts of depression, ranging from the stock market meltdown, driven by the prospect of a U.S.-led recession, to the continued demise (death?) of the music business - poor Warner Music won the dubious distinction of being the #5 worst stock in the WORLD on Thursday, plummeting another 8.61% on (unexpected?) news that the music business isn’t all that great these days.

Every media source in the world is citing another 9.5% decline in album sales for 2007, vs the 1.2% decline we saw in 2006 (that’s a factor of 8 for those of us who like numbers). Ouch.

But within stress and depair lies opportunity for those able to spot it. I can’t claim to possess unusual insight into the future of music, but a few things do stand out. Live events had a great year, especially if are fans of aging rockers. Digital downloads zoomed up, on a percentage basis, but nowhere near enough to balance the lost revenues from CDs; it’s a great business if you can record and promote for free, and don’t need to sleep or eat much. And wear free t-shirts.

Fortunately, I’m grateful to be working with some of the finest musicians around who have worked for a decade (on average) to establish their careers, build a fan base and form enough relationships to carry them through this rough period. It’s going to be tough for the next generation of artists — is there any hope? — but these things have a way of working themselves out over time. I don’t see my label signing any new, unexposed or emerging artists anytime soon but we are planning some great releases from within our current roster. It will be interesting to see how the market responds as compared to their previous sales levels.

The one bright spot in my world is the formation of Palo Duro Presents, a live entertainment company. We have been active in several festivals, music cruises and other live events over the past several years, and frankly they have been both fun and very successful. You can’t steal live music, and the digital download just doesn’t replace the experience of personally being immersed in a festival environment. It’s a unique product that can’t be duplicated, and also happens to be one of the only growth categories in the business.

Our first produced event will be the Chattahippie Music Festival (www.chattahippie.com) to be held in September, 2008 on a 50+ acre riverfront venue outside of Chattanooga, TN. It’s a terrific location, and we’re busy slotting nearly three dozen acts for the 3-day weekend of great Americana music. I love outdoor events, and spending a weekend near the water listening to terrific bands is going to rock my world - I can’t wait.

The irony here? The major label system is over; without CDs to sell through Mega-Mart at a million units/month, the big machine is busted and music has returned to it’s hippie origins — grassroots, indie movements and fan festivals. Come rediscover where it all started, and be involved in the next generation of music. Peace, Love & Music.

Interesting article this morning:

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was interviewed on NPR today, and in that interview a caller asked the Commissioner a question about the proposed merger between Sirius and XM. In his answers, Adelstein indicated that a DOJ decision may be coming soon, and that an FCC decision may come in the first quarter of next year. One has to ask this question though… if the DOJ were to rule against the merger, why would the FCC need to make a decision? Did Johnny let the cat out of the DOJ bag on a positive merger decision? How will investors react to an FCC decision delayed until Q1 if the DOJ approves soon as indicated by Adelstein?

Full transcript here

One of my favorite bands, Eleven Hundred Springs, has just finished up their next release: Country Jam.  We’re working on the artwork and scheduling now, but the timing looks good for a Spring, 2008 release.

(A sneak preview of the cover art)

Now there is a newswire headline that caught my eye, and the article itself is fairly interesting:

U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation to undo a 50-year-old exemption that lets big radio companies like Clear Channel Communications Inc and CBS Corp air songs without paying record labels or performers any royalties.

For decades, the $20 billion radio broadcasting industry has paid royalties to songwriters and music publishers for the underlying rights to the songs played on the air, but have been excused from paying royalties to artists or labels for when their sound recordings were used.

It was a long-held view within the music industry that radio airplay was a critical and necessary marketing expense.

But with music sales in a protracted decline and with new types of broadcasters, like satellite and Web radio operators, being forced to pay performance royalties, the music industry has begun pushing for compensation from terrestrial radio.

At first glance, I think this is a very interesting development. XM Radio, a long-time supporter of our music, has been required to pay royalties on every spin from the start - and the checks we receive are reasonably good income. It’s not enough to justify a master recording, but multipled by 200 or 500 additional radio stations and it would go a long way towards artist development and renewed viability in the musicsphere.

And the fees do not appear to be a burden for XM or Sirius, although any additional expense for existing radio (or any business, for that matter) will certainly be felt by those closest to the action - and likely impact the smaller, and more supportive, stations where margins are thin already. Public radio will probably remain exempt, and I’m sure dozens of other details will emerge if the NAB doesn’t shoot it down with their DC gang first.

But frankly, I think the NAB deserves some grief; they played dirty in trying to block the Sirius/XM merger, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the two satellite firms aren’t “educating” our elected officials on the business discrepancies themselves as a form of retaliation against Big Radio. Good for them.

I’m not certain if I am for-or-against proposal at this point, but in general I like a level playing field with equal rules. And since “50-year old exemptions” tend to reek of deals struck in dark and smoky rooms, at first glance the review sounds long-overdue.

Update: I found another article on Take Country Back that goes into more depth regarding fee structures, etc. I should have known - they are great about keeping up with news like this. See also: Wired Digital Music News

I know that this is pretty serious stuff (these are really bad guys, no doubt), but doesn’t everyone have just a hint of admiration for the Escape from Alcatraz plot?

Two jail inmates used photos of bikini-clad women to hide holes they used to escape and left behind a thank-you note, signed with a smiley face, for a guard they claimed helped them, officials said Monday.

The jailbreak is reminiscent of one in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” in which the main character, an inmate, uses posters of women, including of a bikini-clad Raquel Welch, to conceal an escape tunnel he had been digging.

Espinosa and Blunt used at least two improvised tools — a thick metal wire like those used to bind chain link fences to poles, and a 10-pound steel water shut-off wheel — to remove cinderblocks from the wall, Romankow said.

The escape preparations appear to have been done relatively quickly. Each man was in his cell for only a few weeks, Romankow said. Investigators were trying to determine when the cells were last searched. It was the first escape since the jail opened in 1986.

The full article is everywhere, but the above excerpts are from Time.

There was a lot of great music released in ‘007, but some stood out more than others. This is my year-end recap of what I enjoyed the most. NOTE: this list excludes anything released on Palo Duro Records, which of course would be at the top of my list!

Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, It’s not Big It’s Large, may be the first and only CD I have actually purchased while standing in line at Starbucks. I’m not certain what that means, other than I am a fan and was excited to see this new release.

And thanks to Starbucks for doing what radio has forgotten - educating people that new music does exist, and we’re not stuck in the 80’s. Well, most of us.

This is a fine recording, filled with soul-stirring and just darn good songs. Buy it.

Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective is another band that you will not discover thanks to our mass media. A friend of mine, a paralegal in Austin, caught them live during the Austin City Limits Festival and I happen to speak with her the next day (fresh aglow with discovery). Amazon’s new MP3 store had just launched, so I took the opportunity to purchase Wátina online and test the new iTunes competitor all at once. It was cool - within 5 minutes, I was listening to the music of this relatively obscure artist/band.

First of all, digital technology can be a great thing — the odds of my actually finding this release at my local Wal-Mart are less than zero. What a shame; this is one of my favorite recordings in 2007. If you are into world beat rhythms, check this out - it’s really cool. You can stream portions of this album online, thanks to Amazon.

I’ve always been a fan of the boss, and Bruce Springsteen released two very-good projects this year. Live in Dublin is expectedly fun – some great remakes of old standards with a very cool twist. And his studio project, Magic, may become one of my all-time favorites. Double points for both the old and the new - a true Americana legend.

At least someone has the good taste to still create great music without signing to a mainstream country record label. Keep on rockin’.

Although Walt Wilkins produced this next recording, it technically is not released on Palo Duro - and thus qualifies for this list. Sam Baker‘s Pretty World is a raw, soulful collection of memories and poems from this Texas singer/songwriter.

Sam is completely unknown in the states, sadly, but Europe once again proves it’s intelligence by pushing Sam’s record to #1 on their charts. Well done, mates - you have great taste.

If you prefer an occassional quiet drink of a rare and expensive scotch every now and then, you will enjoy Baker’s music. It’s not for the party crowd.

Jimmy LaFave finally recorded a masterpiece with Cimarron Minifesto. I’m still not certain if it compares well to seeing Jimmy perform live, but it comes close.

I personally think it’s really cool when a recording doesn’t meet up to the live show; it’s difficult to capture the magic of a great performer on a piece of plastic, and when the recording sounds better than the real deal - well, it’s just cheap plastic.

Jimmy is the real deal, and this is still a great recording. Go see him live; you will appreciate it. And buy the CD after the show.

My final entry for #7 in ‘007 must go to Elizabeth Cook and her latest release, Balls. I am not at all a fan of Elizabeth’s previous recordings, and probably had a negative impression of her talent as a result. But Balls changed my mind, and now I’m a fan of this feisty gal.

She’s the real deal, and quite something to see live. I witnessed her stage banter during the AMA Awards Ceremony, where she transformed a sound glitch into a impromptu comedy act. Oh, and yes - she rocked the room once the problem was fixed. Impressive live, and this recording is worth a listen. Please do.