Music Industry News

Recording Studios Are Being Left Out of the Mix

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2009

Inexpensive software is shifting music-recording to the home. Industry experts estimate that up to half of the commercial studios in the L.A. area have closed or been sold to artists for private use. Some experts estimate that half of the L.A. area's commercial studios have closed or been sold to artists for private use.

Tom McCauley didn't plan on making house calls when he started in the music business.

As a recording engineer, McCauley made a good living working out ...

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What is Jazz, Anyway?

Source: Michael Ricci
October 12, 2009

What is “jazz,” exactly? I sure as hell don’t know. And neither, I would suggest, does anyone else.

Sure, everybody knows what they think jazz is, and which particular elements music has to contain to qualify as jazz — swing, the blues, improvisation, etc. But put to the test, it turns out the word is extremely subjective.

Read more of AAJ contributor and host of The Jazz Session Jason Crane's thoughts on the meaning of this much-discussed word:

What Is ...

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Avatar Studios Makes History Once Again: Hosts First Ever “Ask the Producers” Panel for Indie Artists

Source: All About Jazz
October 12, 2009

AVATAR STUDIOS is one of the most prestigious and legendary recording facilities in the world. On Monday evening, October 19, AVATAR STUDIOS will once again make history when it will host its first ever “Ask The Producers” panel featuring Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band, Peter Gabriel, XTC), Roy Hendrickson (Cheap Trick, Wilco & Feist, Jupiter One, Danielia Cotton) and Kevin Killen (Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, Paula Cole, Shakira). Billed as a Pre-CMJ Meet & Greet, AVATAR will open its ...

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Miles Davis Lived Here

Source: Michael Ricci
October 11, 2009

The 1983 Buff and Hensman contemporary on the west end of Malibu was a beachfront hangout for the jazz legend Miles Davis.

Ocean views and a bountiful flower and vegetable garden create a peaceful setting for this 1983 Buff and Hensman beachfront house at the west end of Malibu that once was home to jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis.

Conrad Buff III and Donald Hensman are credited with helping to define “ultra-cool" in contemporary-style homes during the 1950s and ...

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Producer Rob Cavallo's Thoughts on Saving the Music Biz: 'Why Don’T We Make It Be More Like Dickens?'

Source: Michael Ricci
October 9, 2009

This week, producer Rob Cavallo had a hand in delivering the Warner Music Group another top 10 album, as the third release from Paramore landed at No. 2 on the U.S. pop chart. The burgeoning rock act sold 175,000 copies of “Brand New Eyes,” according to Nielsen SoundScan, the latest in a series of high-charting albums that bear Cavallo’s stamp. The veteran producer/A&R executive signed Green Day to the major, and worked with the act on its late-career resurgence, 2004’s ...

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Nobody Cares About You, so Raise Your Baton

Source: HypeBot
October 8, 2009

The new music industry offers the opportunity for an artist to go it on their own without a record label, a manager, agent, publicity firm, merchandise company or publishing company. The same is true at startups - bootstrapinstead of buying your way in, use open source tools, virtual offices, online colloboration, Skype, Google tools and more.

But it's also a reality that trying to do everything can make you nuts. There are never enough hours in the day to tweet, ...

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Warner Music Group Names Producer Rob Cavallo Chief Creative Officer

Source: Michael Ricci
October 8, 2009

Warner Music Group, in a sign that the struggling recorded music company is seeking to bolster its ranks of artists, has tapped producer Rob Cavallo for the newly created position of chief creative officer.

In that role he will help develop acts across all of the Warner music labels including Atlantic, Asylum, Electra and Warner Bros. Cavallo, a multiple Grammy winner, has a strong track record with credits that include Green Day's “American Idiot," Kid Rock's “Rock N Roll Jesus" ...

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British Regulators Put Roadblock on Ticketmaster-LiveNation Merger

Source: Michael Ricci
October 8, 2009

Sorry old chum. Ticketmaster and Live Nation may have to divest assets in the United Kingdom in order to go ahead with their proposed merger, British regulators said today.

The country's Competition Commission, which investigates mergers for the British government, issued a provisional ruling that the merger of ticketing giant Ticketmaster and concert production company Live Nation could “severely inhibit" German ticketing company CTS Eventim AG. CTS signed a deal before the proposed merger was announced in February ...

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