Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (86350)	8/24/2000 12:50:47 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

I forgot about them- I like Crosby Stills Nash and Young a LOT- Teach your children, Guinnevere and Wooden Ships, are my favorites. I also like Jackson Browne, MArk Knopfler and Cat Stevens- but they never seemed like Rock-and I LOVE Bob Marley

To: Neocon who wrote (86350)	8/27/2000 6:38:54 PM
From: Ron	Respond to of 108807

Interesting article on napster and the big music/big radio monopolies: The RIAA lawyers never mention this in court: One of Big Music's chief fears is Napster's unfettered distribution of music by unsigned artists, and start-up labels. This turns traditional music sales and broadcasting patterns inside out. Napster has been a major booster of unsigned artists as well as start-up labels since its inception. A typical example is this promotional announcement from a recent Napster server site : " We are happy to introduce you to Elwood, an exciting new artist on the Palm Pictures label. Elwood, born in North Carolina, was an engineer at New York's Greene Street recording facility in SoHo... Rolling Stone gave a rave review to his debut album on Palm, "The Parlance of Our Time," calling it "a persuasive mix of hip-hop, rock, melodic pop and folk." Elwood's first single, "Sundown," is playing on MTV and radio stations nationwide. Now, the folks at Palm's digital arm sputnik7.com are making the single "Sundown" publicly available for the first time by sharing it through the Napster community." In addition, countless unsigned bands upload their songs onto Napster to be sampled by music fans worldwide. They hope this will boost turnout at live shows, a primary profit center for most unsigned bands. Most bands also sell CD's at such performances. Members of Snake Oil Medicine Show, (http://www.snakeoilmedicineshow.com/) a regional band with a strong following in the southeastern U.S., were pleased to see their tune "Cajun Lipbalm" from their album "High Speed Highway Parade " downloaded by web surfers from New Zealand to Germany to California through Napster. Snake Oil Medicine Show plays a unique blend of jazz, funk, bluegrass and rock that is not easily categorized. This is seldom greeted favorably by major labels or commercial radio stations. Big Music normally requires simplified labels for marketing and music research. Napster also threatens commercial conglomerate-owned radio stations, which rely on a small community of consultants to define their formats and develop playlists. This is often accomplished by gathering members of demographic groups into high school auditoriums after-hours and playing hooks from a limited repertoire of pre-selected playlists. For example, a consultant for an Adult Contemporary format station might select a group of housewives, aged 21 to 39 to listen to music samples and vote on their favorites. This has led to a narrowing of music playlists and the complaint by many public interest groups that claim commercial radio has fallen prey to "McDonald's syndrome": You can order whatever you like, as long as it is a burger and fries. The musical burgers and fries happen to be produced by a handful of large music companies that form primary support for the RIAA. The group program director for a string of Adult-Contemporary format radio stations in the upper Midwest, (who wished to remain unnamed) estimated consultants such as Coleman affect as much as 80% of the music now played on commercial radio. Dissatisfaction with cookie-cutter programming provided by radio station chains has also led to an upsurge of pirate "micro-radio stations". The FCC has also decided to allow the licensing of low-power radio stations nationwide. But Napster and similar programs such as Gnutella( gnutella.wego.com and The Free Network Project (http://freenet.sourceforge.net/) are opening the flood gates for distribution of music completely outside the Big Music axis. Given that large corporations now control major labels and most radio stations in the U.S., a very large ox has been gored, and is fighting for its life. This aspect of the RIAA's (http://www.riaa.org/) problem with Napster (http://www.napster.com/) is not often publicized. Emphasis by Big Media of Big Music and Big Radio's tight control of the average citizen's access to tunes is not likely anytime soon. Such coverage might tip the scale in the ultimate court of public opinion. Related Links: The Committee On Democratic Communications nlgcdc.org Memorandum of Law on behalf of Steal This Radio: nlgcdc.org Americans for Radio Diversity radiodiversity.com FCC Investigating Whether Nation's Largest Radio Chains are skirting Payola Laws: tennessean.com Wired Magazine: June, 2000 Radio Active: wired.com