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The Grammys -- A Total Pass For Me
February 13, 2015
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Not that most of you might actually care why I didn't watch the Grammys, I still thought I'd offer the following:
The Top 10 Reasons I Didn't Watch The Grammys
#10. "The Walking Dead" new season premier
#9. Miley Cyrus had her clothes ON
#8. Madonna dancing around at 57 years old is REALLY a candidate for 'Dancing With The Has-Been Stars'
#7. NARAS is a non-profit organization that pays Neil Portnow $1 million a year in salary. (NARAS members should be outraged)
#6. Commercials, commercials, commercials
#5. A host of alternatives available instead of watching "the genius" Kanye West
#4. All the completely unnecessary performances like Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani, "My Heart Is Open" ("The song wasn't much of a hit. Neither Adam Levine nor his duet partner, Gwen Stefani, have the kind of huge voices that kill at awards shows. So why, exactly, did these two perform that song?" -- from Vulture.com)
#3. How can I watch a show that once gave an award to Milli Vanilli for 'Best New Artist' and ever take it seriously?
#2. Prince was there and didn't perform?
And the #1 reason I didn't watch the Grammys…
#1. The show is BORINGOf course, Kanye West had to make an ass of himself (as usual) and he ranted backstage about Beck winning the Album Of The Year over Beyonce, saying "Beck needs to respect artistry, he should've given his award to Beyoncé. I just know that the Grammys, if they want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain't gonna play with them no more," he said. "We tired of it. When you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and slapping people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music — you're disrespectful to inspiration."
Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson has posted an open letter to Kanye, who she called a "complete tw*t," on her Facebook page. She wrote, "Dear Kanye West, It is YOU who is so busy disrespecting artistry. You disrespect your own remarkable talents and more importantly you disrespect the talent, hard work and tenacity of all artists when you go so rudely and savagely after such an accomplished and humble artist like BECK. You make yourself look small and petty and spoilt. In attempting to reduce the importance of one great talent over another, you make a mockery of all musicians and music from every genre, including your own. Grow up and stop throwing your toys around. You are making yourself look like a complete twat. Ps.I am pretty certain Beyonce doesn't need you fighting any battles on her account. Seems like she's got everything covered perfectly well on her own."
Other than Shirley's saying Kanye has "remarkabvle talents" (we'll see if his songs are still played and being talked about decades from now), I think she summed it up nicely.
Another year, another Grammy show. Who won last year; do you remember?
Of course we don't. We remember great SONGS and great PERFORMANCES.
Yes, occasional the Grammys give us great performances.
But you can watch them all on YouTube instead of watching the show.
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 2
THE MUSIC LICENSING SHAKE-UP BY U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICEThere is a big shake-up coming indeed and if adopted, these proposals will impact record labels, music publishers, producers, royalty collection groups, terrestrial and satellite radio, and music streaming services.
In a 245-page report issued on Thursday, the U.S. Copyright Office is throwing its weight behind what would be the most radical changes to how music is licensed in nearly a half-century. Read the article
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 3
WTF? MAJOR LABELS ARE KEEPING NEARLY ALL THE MONEY THEY GET FROM SPOTIFY AND STIFFING ARTISTS?From Techdirt comes news that will certainly anger almost all artists.
And, it appears, there's a decent reason why those labels haven't been eager to be transparent: because they're keeping most of the money.
AND...Pandora 'Needs' Lower Royalty Rates, But Will Pay Execs $122 Million In Stock This Year
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 4
READ ALL OF BOB DYLAN'S MUSICARES PERSON OF THE YEAR SPEECHThe Los Angeles Times has posted all of Bob Dylan's speech as he accepted his MusiCare Person Of The Year award.
The Times' Randall Roberts writes in the article, "Bob Dylan was honored by MusiCares, the charity organization that aids musicians in need, at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday night. After performances by artists including Tom Jones, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young, Beck, Jackson Browne and others, Dylan himself took a rare opportunity in the spotlight to deliver a 30-plus-minute acceptance speech.
Expansive, funny and insightful, Dylan didn't pull any punches, calling out songwriters who had criticized his work while indicting Nashville and commercial Country music."
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 5
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROPOSED NET NEUTRALITYCNET's Marguerite Reardon explains the ins and outs of the FCC's plan to regulate the Internet and why it's such a high-stakes proposition. Read more
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 6
"A TIPPING POINT?" DUH!"We may be at a proverbial tipping point," says Blair Westlake, a former chairman of Universal Television and former Microsoft vice-president who oversaw licensing of movies and TV shows for its Xbox gaming console.
"Little by little, consumers can start to cobble together their own viewing option." Read the whole story
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BETWEEN THE GROOVES
GOING EVEN MORE MOBILE:
New research suggests that the mobile myopia of 18- to-34-year-olds is clearly cutting into their time with other media channels. Rather than multitasking, however, millennials appear to be spending significantly less time with their TV and computers. Read the whole storyIF U WATCHED THE GRAMMYS:
Mashable reports "Apple released a new iPad ad during the Grammys on Sunday, showing how the tablet can be used to create music." The ad was completely filmed on an iPad: Read moreAPPLE WILL GROW:
Tim Cook doesn't buy the idea that Apple has grown too large to maintain its strong growth rate -- or what some on Wall Street refer to as the law of large numbers. "We don't believe in such laws as laws of large numbers," Cook said this week at a Goldman Sachs conference. "It's just sort of an old dogma." As Bloomberg Business week notes: "Concern about Apple's earnings growth hitting the runner's wall has dogged the company for years." Read the whole story----------------------------
THE 'A-SIDE' - THE BONUS TRACKSApple Byte: The latest on Apple's Beats Music service (video)
Super Bowl Music Placements Generate Record Revenues
David Spade Talks Kanye West: It's 'Virtually Impossible' to Like Him
6 Pop Culture Mysteries That Were Solved by Fans
6 Creepy Details That Were Almost in Classic Disney Movies
Rolling Stones Heading Back on Tour This Year
'SNL' Documentary to Open Tribeca Film Festival
Onkyo Launches Hi-Res Music Download Store In US, UK, Germany
Adobe's Kickbox: The Kit To Launch Your Next Big Idea
SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 System review
Beats Pill XL Bluetooth speaker review
Short News Items ...
GRAMMY RATINGS LOW:
The Grammy Awards broadcast hit a six-year low with 25.3 million viewers.
GRAMMY WINNERS:
Here's a list of all the winners at TheWrap.
GRAMMY-LESS:
Patti Smith, Bjork, Snoop Dogg, and many other surprising names, has ever won a Grammy. Read More.
LIVE VAN HALEN:
Van Halen are finally releasing a live album with David Lee Roth at the helm. 'Tokyo Dome Live In Concert', taped June 21st, 2013 at a show in Japan, will be released on March 31st. It will be available as two CDs, a four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl and via digital outlets.
ZEP STILL FLYING:
A previously unreleased version of the 1975 Led Zeppelin single "Trampled Under Foot" is now streaming online. Titled "Brandy and Coke" in its working form, the song will be featured on deluxe editions of the upcoming reissue of 'Physical Graffiti.' Read More.
GAGA ON OSCARS:
Lady Gaga announced she'll be performing at the 2015 Oscars, which means the countdown to figuring out what the heck she'll wear begins now.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN:
Bob Dylan will be hitting the road in April for a month of shows supporting his new album, 'Shadows in the Night.'
STONES ROLLING:
Look for the Rolling Stones to hit North America again this year, according to guitarist Ronnie Wood.
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THE ONION (www.theonion.com) STORY OF THE WEEK:
Teen Crafting Marketable Persona In Garage Hoping To One Day Win Grammy
MODESTO, CA—Saying he is willing to do all the hard work necessary to succeed in the music business, local teenager and aspiring recording artist Morgan Reyes told reporters Sunday that he is in his garage every day crafting a widely marketable persona in hopes of one day winning a Grammy Award.
"It's always been my dream to win a Grammy, and I know that if I just put in the hours and tailor myself into a charismatic pop star with broad cross-market allure, I can make it happen," said Reyes. Read the rest and laugh
The Music Industry Past, Present & Future, And The Internet I answer questions on EconTalk
I did an interview about the industry and the Internet at EconTalk with host Russ Roberts. Russ is also a professor of economics at George Mason University, blogs at Cafe Hayek, and has written three novels that teach economics. He's also the co-creator of the Keynes-Hayek rap video. (And if your understanding of the economic meltdown that occurred needs to be enlightened, this video will do it)
In the interview we talk about the evolution of the music industry, the impact of the digital revolution, and I give my reasons for believing in the virtues and potential of the Internet in enhancing the music industry. I point out, as I have many times here in the newsletter, that the internet allows numerous artists to make money from their music and it can enhance revenues from live performances by expanding an artist's base. We also discuss the challenges facing record companies and I suggest that the full potential of the Internet as a distribution channel has yet to be fully exploited. There's a lot of ground covered, but based on the comments already posted of those who have tuned in, they've enjoyed it.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Smart Marketing Consulting Services
Smart Marketing Consulting Services has been in business sixteen years, and consults clients in the music, entertainment, attraction, media, and technology industry on branding, marketing, online exploitation, maximizing new media, and more.
"And the beat goes on, the beat goes on ... drums keep poundin' rhythm to the brain."
"Work is life, you know, and without it, there's nothing but fear and insecurity." -- John Lennon
"When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people becomes an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk: culture-death is a clear possibility." -- Neil Postman
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