Music Industry News

Live Nation Rocks the Music Industry

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2008

Michael Rapino, CEO of the Clear Channel spinoff, may just have this whole file-sharing, iTunes-listening, MySpace-Internet-era music thing all figured out.

The music business may be in turmoil, but Rapino couldn't be happier. He is the CEO of Live Nation, a two-year-old spinoff of Clear Channel that generated $4.4 billion in revenue in the past 12 months by running concert tours - more than any other outfit in the world - and owns venues large and small, like the House ...

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Hollywood's Professional Drum Shop

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2008

The Professional Drum Shop was founded in 1959 by Bob Yeager with Chuck Molinari in an effort to provide the professional drummer with a place to get needed equipment repairs and shopping convenience.

Yeager had been repairing fellow drummers equipment on the road for years. With their encouragement and financial support, he decided the time was right to get off the road and open the “Shop".

Drawing on his years of playing experience with more than 200 different bands, and ...

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Is It Tatum Or...?

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
June 21, 2008

In the 1970s, Red Garland told me about the pianists who influenced him when he was learning. He mentioned Nat Cole, James P. Johnson, Luckey Roberts, Teddy Wilson and Bud Powell. Then he said,

Tatum, of course was the master. He was Mr. Piano. The first time I heard a Tatum record--I think it was “Tiger Rag"--I thought it was at least three pianists.

Garland was far from the only listener who was convinced that Art Tatum's 1933 ...

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Clear Channel Spins off into Live Nation

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2008

Live Nation Takes Over Clear Channel's Concerts

Lawrence Lepore, executive director of the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, first heard that the sale of Clear Channel's concert division had gone through when he called the company's New England headquarters. The receptionist told him he had reached a company called Live Nation. Lepore, whose venue booked 15 of the 19 shows it held last year through Clear Channel Entertainment, was confused. ”I thought I got the wrong number." He didn't. San ...

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Mike Luba: Ticketmaster Drop Dead

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2008

String Cheese to Ticketmaster: Drop Dead!

“We did not want a lawsuit. This is a last-ditch effort. We felt we were up against the wall, and the future of the band was in danger.... People are sick and tired of Ticketmaster." String Cheese Incident manager Mike Luba says the inability to get a suitable allotment of tickets due to recent Ticketmaster clampdowns is primarily why the band is not touring Southern California this year. The Boulder band headlined UCSD's RIMAC ...

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Clearly Channeling a Lot of Crap

Source: All About Jazz
June 20, 2008

From Boston comes a story that is sounding a little familiar. For 34 years, Bill Trowbridge was a sign hanger, one of those guys who puts up billboards.

Five years ago, the media conglomerate Clear Channel bought the company and tried to make a profitable business more profitable. They offered buyouts that cut the 48 employees in Local 391 of the sign workers in half. But that wasn't enough. Last March, Clear Channel told the remaining workers that they were ...

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Clear Channel Values Size Scale over Quality

Source: All About Jazz
June 20, 2008

Clearly, Something is Wrong Here Corporation values size, scale over quality

Clear Channel Exhibitions values stagecraft; the replication of the Sistine Chapel ceiling embodies this approach.

The Vatican has been keenly aware of the promotional value of art for centuries. There would be no Sistine Chapel ceiling without this point of view. Clear Channel Entertainment, a 900-pound gorilla in the American concert, radio and billboard industries based in San Antonio, Texas, clearly believes exhibitions are part of its ...

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Banjo's Live!

Source: All About Jazz
June 20, 2008

The Banjo is quietly making a comeback in various musical genres, from Folk to African to Jazz. It's Alive!

Wildwood Banjo Co. has been quietly building banjos since 1972. We believe that building a great banjo is the best form of advertising. We depend on people telling people about our instruments.

Wildwood Banjos are hand made from the finest woods and hardware available, offer a range of models in both open-back and bluegrass banjos from the simplicity of the Minstrel ...

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