Music Industry News

Band Rewards Fans for Burning Their CD and Giving It Away

Source: HypeBot
May 30, 2009

It's no secret that there is promotional power in giving away music, but just slapping a FREE banner on a web site doesn't cut it anymore. Free is everywhere. But what if the free music was on a CD given fan to fan with no strings attached? That could get pretty expensive...unless the fans do it for you. Free fan created CD's os exactly what indie band Chester French is encouraging fans to do with a ...

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Nigerian Authorities Shut Down Femi Kuti's Club the Shrine

Source: JamBase
May 30, 2009

Nigerian Authorities Shut Down Femi Kuti's Club The Shrine

Femi Kuti On the eve of Femi Kuti's tour, which begins in NYC next week, Nigerian authorities have just shut down his Africa Shrine club, much as they often did to Femi's father Fela.

The Kutis say the shut-down is retaliation for the criticism Femi has launched, in posters all over Lagos, calling for the return of electricity in his impoverished neighborhood and inciting his neighbors to revolt against the ever-deteriorating ...

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Bill Mays and Red Mitchell

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
May 30, 2009

Bill Mays and Red Mitchell constituted one of the great piano-bass duos of the 1980s. Musicians and dedicated listeners still talk about their gigs at Bradley's in New York's Greenwich Village. Their album Two of a Mind has been out of print for years, although it shows up from time to time on web sites including this one, at prices ranging from high to heart-stopping. In 1982, Mays and Mitchell made two programs that ran on KCET, the Los Angeles ...

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Phil Spector Sentenced 19 Years to Life for Murder

Source: Michael Ricci
May 29, 2009

In a quiet end to the six-year-old case, the legendary music producer is told that he will not be eligible for parole until 2028, when he would be 88.

Phil Spector stared straight ahead. It was the appointed hour for the legendary music producer's six-year murder case to come to a close and the courtroom was packed with reporters, fans and detractors eager to hear his sentence. But he did not look at the judge, take notes or whisper to ...

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Late Ellington

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
May 29, 2009

There is little question that the 1940-41 edition of the Duke Ellington orchestra, the so-called Blanton-Webster band, was Ellington's finest. Legions of Ellington lovers have listened to it so often that they can sing along with its arrangements and the solos by Webster, Ray Nance, Johnny Hodges, Ellington and the other members.

Still, I've always had a soft spot for the band Ellington took on the worldwide road in the 1960s until shortly before he died in 1974. The musicianship ...

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Jazz This Week: "Jazz Cavalcade" with Kirk Whalum, Chicago Afrobeat Project, Javier Mendoza, Cornet Chop Suey, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
May 29, 2009

From African and Latin rhythms to traditional jazz and swing to a free concert featuring a well-known smooth jazz saxophonist, here's a look at what's going on over the next few days with jazz and creative music in St. Louis.The polyrhythmic portion of the weekend gets underway on Friday night, when the Chicago Afrobeat Project performs at The Gramophone. The CAB can include from seven to 14 musicians, and draws on influences such as juju, highlife, American funk, ...

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Indie Labels Experience a Major Renaissance Amidst the Upheaval

Source: HypeBot
May 27, 2009

With upheaval comes opportunity; and ongoing problems within the recorded music industry has also led to a revival within independent label sector. While not without their own challenges, indie record labels appear to be experiencing a renaissance, thanks in part to new technologies and media that did not exist 5 years ago. Their nimbleness and a fan-like eye for emerging talent is being rewarded by a cadre of fans who continue to demand and support quality music.

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Happy Birthday Miles and Dylan

Source: JamBase
May 26, 2009

TWO BIGGIES WITH BIRTHS WORTH CELEBRATING

Bob Dylan turned 68 yesterday, and if he were still with us Miles Davis would be 83-years-old tomorrow. In many, many respects this pair represents two archetypal trajectories for musicians, their work offering myriad, ever-shifting lessons about life and how to shape it into notes. As such, we wanted to take a collective pause to savor a few morsels from their careers and offer our heartfelt thanks for what they've done for music as ...

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