It’s survey time!

Click Here to take survey

Every Nun Needs a Synthi

Baconnaise!

YouTube vs. the PRS

Can’t find your favourite pop videos on YouTube? That could be because of a row that’s erupted between Google and the performing Rights Society. YouTube’s licensing and royalties system has been called into question by the PRS, and until the two parties agree terms, videos by artists on EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony, amongst others, have been pulled.

“We value the creativity of musicians and song writers and have worked hard with rights-holders to generate significant online revenue for them and to respect copyright,” said Google in a statement.

“But PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our license than before. The costs are simply prohibitive for us – under PRS’s proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback.”

PRS said in a statement that it is “outraged on behalf of consumers and songwriters that Google has chosen to close down access to music videos on YouTube in the UK”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/mar/09/digital-music-and-audio-youtube

Edit: It’s hotting up now, looks like MySpace will be next to be hit. This row has already taken Pandora out. I wonder how it’ll affect commercial radio stations…..?

Van slams the Beatles

From The Times March 4th:

The Beatles? Not up there with the greats, according to Van Morrison at any rate. “You measure things in terms of The Beatles,” the grumpy one tells readers of The New Yorker. “We don’t think music started there. The Beatles were peripheral. If you had more knowledge about music, it didn’t really mean anything. To me, it was meaningless.” If only the Fab Four had recorded a duet with Sir Cliff, as Van did, they might be remembered.

RIP David Williams

It saddened me to hear of the death of David Williams, session guitarist par excellence. Rumour has it that it was Williams that conjoured up the fabulous riff for Billie Jean, and Quincy Jones built up the arrangement around it. The overused phrase “He wasn’t in the pocket, he was the pocket” seems apt.

Sadder still were the events surrounding his death. A New York Post article quotes a family friend, who said “Williams collapsed and was taken to Sentara Hospital in Hampton, Va. where he slipped into a coma last week. While he lay dying in ICU, his family was urged to “pull the plug because he had no medical insurance,” a family friend said. “The hospital was trying to force them to pull the plug. This man was a Vietnam veteran and gave his life to music and still had no benefits.”

Hopefully Michael Jackson’s 50 night O2 arena residency is a benefit for Williams’ children. Somehow, I doubt it.

Amp Heaven

abyssoft

Anyone with multiple Macs (especially you musos!)might find the software produced by Abyssoft very handy on a day to day basis.

Teleport lets you control several Macs from one machine, and even move or copy files between them over the network.

Soundfly sends audio wirelessly from one machine to another, using your network and Soundflower technology.

Best of all ITS FREE! Might be an idea to make a donation though, or a Karma may run over your dogma.