Jazz Odyssey

Syd Schwartz’s Blog (aka a freeform jazz exploration in front of a festival crowd)

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Entries from November 2005

MySpace: MTV for the Net Generation

November 29th, 2005 · No Comments

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Here’s a fantastic article from Wired discussing the explosive popularity and effectiveness of MySpace. From a label perspective, getting a feature at MySpace carries weight–its the kind of exposure that resonates through the industry as well as the […]

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Tags: Music (Business) · Online Music Marketing

File Sharing Through Gmail

November 28th, 2005 · No Comments

BetaNews reports on a new web-based service that repurposes the 2 gig of storage per user offered by Google for their Gmail account can be repurposed as a file exchange mechanism. The service is called G2G Exchange and it is a looooong way from ready for primetime. It is complicated (particularly […]

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Tags: Music (Business) · Music Software

San Francisco Chronicle Says CDs Are Dead

November 28th, 2005 · 1 Comment

According to this article in today’s San Francicso Chronicle, the CD format is gasping for breath:
With sleek iPods rapidly becoming the hi-fi system of choice, satellite radio offering hundreds of specialty stations, and the Internet overflowing with all kinds of free and cheap legal digital music, suddenly the thought of owning an awkward polycarbonate plastic-coated […]

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Tags: Music (Business)

In the Court of the Crimson Torrent

November 23rd, 2005 · 1 Comment

Speaking of Bit Torrent….
King Crimson fans rejoice…the ever innovative Robert Fripp has launched the new DGM website which features a download service of audio concerts from his archives. Live recordings of King Crimson from 1971 up through 2000 as well as solo Fripp Soundscape performances and various Crimson offshoot projects are available at $9.95 […]

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Tags: Music (Business)

Bit Torrent Creator Looks Good for the Cameras

November 23rd, 2005 · No Comments

Bram Cohen (creator of the Bit Torrent protocol) and the Motion Picture Association of America held a news conference announcing an that the search engine Bram was building into Bit Torrent would not link to unauthorized movie content.
Some users of Bit Torrent were quick to dismiss this agreement as virtually meaningless–Bram did not agree to […]

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Tags: Music (Business)

The Tale of the Tape

November 21st, 2005 · No Comments

This just in from Techtree:
The research note on the Gartner site says that what makes the Sony BMG incident even more unfortunate, is that the DRM technology can be defeated easily. The user can simply apply a fingernail-sized piece of opaque tape to the outer edge of the disc, rendering session 2 - which contains […]

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Tags: Music (Business)

Hooray for Trey

November 17th, 2005 · No Comments

Brett Gladstone brings us a great article that contains a well-done interview with former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio. In discussing everything from the drug use that ultimately torpedoed the Phish juggernaut to the difficulties in dealing with the fan backlash the followed Trey’s announcement that Phish was no more, Trey has finally come clean.
By […]

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Tags: Phish

Sony Recalls Copy Protected CDs

November 16th, 2005 · No Comments

From today’s New York Times:
The global music giant Sony BMG yesterday announced plans to recall millions of CD’s by at least 20 artists - from the crooners Celine Dion and Neil Diamond to the country-rock act Van Zant - because they contain copy restriction software that poses risks to the computers of consumers.
The move, more […]

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Tags: Music (Business)

Sony Goes Anti Anti Piracy (at least temporarily)

November 11th, 2005 · No Comments

From AP:
Stung by continuing criticism, the world’s second-largest music label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, promised Friday to temporarily suspend making music CDs with antipiracy technology that can leave computers vulnerable to hackers.
So lots of folks jumped all over the big, bad record label when the news broke the other day about the Sony/BMG anti-piracy software […]

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Tags: Music (Business)

The Danger Digital Experiment

November 7th, 2005 · No Comments

Here’s a link to a terrific article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the band Harvey Danger and their attempt to make music on their own terms. Harvey Danger’s late 90s hit “Flagpole Sitta” put them on the map and drove their debut release gold, but the story after that is all too familiar–a […]

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Tags: Music (Business)