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THE STANDARD'S
B E A T S H E E T
The Latest Digital Music News - and It's Free
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For more on digital music, visit
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Tuesday, March 6, 2001
TOP STORY:
* Through Being Cool
Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh weighs in on the state of digital music.
NET NOISE:
* David.Weekly.org
BEATS:
* Napster Again, Naturally
* Courtney Love Takes Another Swing at the Record Industry
DOT DOT DOT:
* Orrin Hatch's Hearing ... Tonos CEO Exits, Again ... Top Songs of
the Century
SOUND OFF:
* This week's question: Should recording artists form a union? Why or
why not?
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TOP STORY
~~~~~~~~~
Through Being Cool
Two decades after hitting the music scene, Devo front man Mark
Mothersbaugh weighs in on the major labels and the state of digital
music.
By Julene Snyder
WEST HOLLYWOOD - Smack in the midst of the hipster-heaven portion of
Sunset Boulevard, not far from the Viper Room and just a short walk
away from the Whiskey A Go-Go, is a round building so screamingly puke
green, it transcends its own hideousness. This magnificent blight on
the block is Mutato Muzika, the place where Mark Mothersbaugh - front
man of the seminal new-wave band Devo - spends his days recording and
producing music, making art and keeping "devolution" (the notion that
humans are progressing in a backward fashion) on track.
There's a prescience to Devo's theory that resonates when you look at
today's music industry. Prefabricated pop tarts a la Britney Spears,
the Backstreet Boys and Destiny's Child are all but guaranteed stardom
via massive marketing efforts. Devo predicted this state of affairs
decades ago and, implausibly, managed to reach a wide audience in the
early 1980s when being the "original nerd band" was anything but cool.
Technology didn't have much to do with music back when Devo hit the
scene in 1978, but the self-described "spud-boys" have always been
ahead of their time and were among the first musicians to rely heavily
on electronics. Although Devo hasn't played together regularly since
the 1996 Lollapalooza tour, Mothersbaugh still works closely with two
members of the group, his brother, Bob Mothersbaugh (guitar, vocals),
and Bob Casale (guitar, vocals), scoring music for the "Rugrats" TV
show and feature films, as well as writing music for dozens of
commercials and projects like Showtime's upcoming "Chris Isaak Show."
So it seems only fitting to check in with Mothersbaugh, patron saint
of the geeks, to get his take on the state of the digital music scene
today. He's collaborated with other musicians via the Internet for
quite some time, working on projects like the restoration of old
"Popeye" cartoons, but he admits that virtual teamwork isn't "as
exotic sounding as it was four or five years ago." That particular
collaborative effort came about because Mothersbaugh couldn't afford
the talent pool in Hollywood, so he used the Web to look for musicians
in places like Iowa and Michigan. "They were more than delighted to
work on music projects, and they ended up making more money than they
were in their day job at 7-Eleven," he says.
Now that technology allows musicians to work more independently of
music industry hubs like L.A. and Manhattan, Mothersbaugh says he'd
like to be free to make music and art from anywhere on the globe. One
can certainly understand why he might want to sequester himself from
the some aspects of the music business; he's bitter about the time he
spent in the major-label trenches. He says the music business is "hard
and nasty," and for the most part, he's done with it. "It's absurd,
it's wasteful, it's childish, and it makes you feel bad as an artist,"
he says. "You get treated like you're an adolescent. People are making
big decisions about your life for you, and they shouldn't be. They
throw money around and waste your money and lie to you about it."
While he doesn't have much use for the current major-label setup - and
has particular contempt for MTV, which he calls "the Home Shopping
Network for record companies" - Mothersbaugh isn't an advocate of
Napster-like file-sharing either. "What's ironic is that Napster, for
the first time, has put record companies and artists on the same side
of the fence," he says. "Somebody who's starving in Bakersfield
(Calif.) is willing to do anything to get their music heard. When I
first started out, I made cassettes and gave them to anybody who would
listen to them. We were desperate. But record companies should have
protected the artists, but with MTV they didn't. Now with Napster,
they're on the same side of the fence, so all of a sudden they're
outraged by what's going on."
He stops and looks out the window at the tourists walking by. He says
that every once in a while, a Devo fan knocks on the door. If they're
lucky and he's in the mood, Mothersbaugh will take them on a tour of
Mutato Muzika. "For the most part, they're really sweet," he says
fondly. "I don't think we had that many dangerous fans; we had a lot
of intelligent fans. We had a lot of people who said they studied
science, studied genetics, because of Devo. And that's pretty cool."
He smiles, then continues. "So long as they're not creating some scary
kind of superfood."
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NET NOISE
~~~~~~~~~
David.Weekly.org
I've never met David Weekly, but I like him anyway. The sometime
hacker, outspoken digital-music advocate and founder of the MP3 Audio
Consortium is always getting hit up by reporters to put in his two
cents for techie articles, and he was a finalist for last year's
"Sexiest Geek Alive" contest before dropping out due to a conflict
with finals. He's a programmer whose name means "Beloved, God is with
us every week," and his Web site is fun to browse, even if you're
technically challenged. Weekly keeps followers posted on what he's up
to via an update section that offers a glimpse into the life of a
young, enthusiastic technology buff. His most recent update shows he's
been doing some soul-searching ("Europe made me realize that
technology wasn't imposing itself on me: I desired it. I had been the
one chasing it all the time; my whole life in fact. I knew I wanted to
code again.") and bemoaning of the limits of technology ("We got 1.1
megabit SDSL access, but it took a month, so for four weeks I was
sitting at home, working on the Internet over a dialup connection.
Ack. It was rough.") Weekly, a recent Stanford University graduate,
provides details of his love affair with MP3 files, along with the
code for programs he's written, chapters from a book he's writing
about MP3 online, dozens of essays on everything from Linux to
feminism to SDMI and even some poetry. I particularly liked this bit
of his poem, "Feel": "And I spend my days as a fool, / the blind
leading the blind. / an antichrist for the new world order / another
hypocrite in cyberspace."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BEATS
~~~~~
The Whip Comes Down for Napster
Late Monday night, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued an
injunction against Napster that goes into effect immediately, forcing
the file-swapping service to eliminate all copyrighted sound
recordings from its system. The order puts the burden on the music
companies seeking to block songs from the service, requiring them to
provide Napster with lists of songs to block. Plaintiffs must provide:
"(A) the title of the work; (B) the name of the featured recording
artist performing the work ('artist name'); (C) the name(s) of one or
more files available on the Napster system containing such work; and
(D) a certification that plaintiffs own or control the rights
allegedly infringed." Once Napster "receives reasonable knowledge"
that specific files contain copyrighted sound recordings, the company
has three business days to block the files from the index. As of this
writing, it appears to be business as usual at the file-swapping site,
which is up and running with the usual glut of songs available for
download from artists ranging from Neil Diamond to Metallica to Hole,
although things may look quite different any day now.
Read more at
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,22657,00.html?nl=bts
Courtney Love Takes Another Swing at the Record Industry
Last week, Courtney Love filed a cross-complaint against Universal
Music Group for violating a California labor law that allows contracts
between creative artists and entertainment companies to be terminated
after seven years, according to a lengthy press release e-mailed to
journalists. In it, Love compares recording artists to indentured
servants and blames record companies and the Recording Industry
Association of America, saying that the latter has "made sure that
recording artists have no union and are not represented in any way,
shape or form in Congress or state legislatures." She announced plans
to start a recording artists' guild to remedy the situation. Another
press release that went out simultaneously from Love's camp announced
that she is hooking up with Epitaph Records, which will "fund Courtney
Love's writing so she can begin work on her next record without
interference from Universal Music." Love says that Universal has
"threatened me many times that unless I agree to their terms, no
record of mine or of Nirvana's will ever see the light of day."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DOT DOT DOT
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sen. Orrin Hatch's Hearing ... Tonos CEO Exits, Again ... Top Songs of
the Century
Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, notified members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee on Monday of his intent to hold an April 3 hearing entitled
"Online Entertainment & Copyright Law: Coming Soon to a Digital Device
Near You." Witnesses have yet to be selected. ... Tonos Entertainment
- self-described as the "online music insider's network founded by
Oscar/Grammy winning lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, Grammy winning
producer/composer David Foster and Grammy winning
singer-songwriter/producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds" - announced on
Friday that President and CEO Matt Farber has resigned but will
"remain in place until a suitable replacement is named." Farber, who
was previously COO of iCast and executive vice president of MTV
Networks Online, said his "strong desire to move back to his hometown
of New York" was the main reason for resigning after about 15 months
with the company. His CEO predecessor, Steve Hansen, left the company
after a few months. ... The National Education Association and the
RIAA announced that they'll unveil the "Top 365 Songs of the Century"
this Wednesday at the Library of Congress. A nationwide balloting
process produced the list, a joint education project of the NEA and
RIAA. Scholastic will develop a related free curriculum to help
teachers address "the evolution of music from a social, cultural and
technological perspective." The oversized 48-page ballot is not only a
nicely designed publication, it's also a nifty way to figure out what
songs are essential to - nudge nudge, wink wink - your collection,
even if those 48 pages, weirdly, don't seem to have a "punk" category
anywhere.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SOUND OFF
~~~~~~~~~
This week's question: Should recording artists form a union? Why or
why not?
E-mail your opinions to julene@well.com with "sound off" in the
subject line, and we'll print a selection of the responses in next
week's newsletter. Letters may be edited for clarity and length, so
keep them short and include your name and affiliation, if any.
Last week's question: Is the primary purpose of any record label -
major or independent - to make money?
The overall purpose of a label - or any business - is to maximize
profits. At the same time, the role of a company that peddles art
(yes, I know, it's often tough to call some music "art") is to use
some of those profits to nurture new and innovative acts, ideally so
some can become the next profit centers. Labels play the same type of
role as an art dealer. That is, turn people on to exciting and
entertaining music that may enrich their lives in that elusive way
that only art can. Major labels may choose to mix 80 percent acts with
high *potential* for profits with 20 percent "chancy" acts. Indie
labels, on the other hand, may prefer to sign 20 percent mainstream
style acts they feel may turn a profit, with 80 percent far-out bands
that'll never break 10,000 units. That's a decision that can only be
made by the label's founders .... or bean counters in some cases.
- Jason Ojalvo
Freelance consultant
The primary purpose of any business is to make a satisfactory profit
for its shareholders. Period. You don't make a satisfactory profit,
expect a shake-up. Artists are left up to their own devices - make a
profit, don't make a profit; that's their decision. But when it comes
to being a part of a label, artists are there to make a profit. Some
indie labels may claim they don't care about a profit. But when bill
collectors come around and they don't have the cash, they'll begin to
care. That is if they can stay in business long enough to care.
- J. Derek Reardon
Manager of interactive media and design
Kansas City Area Development Council
This is a good question, something independent and underground labels
have been struggling with since inception. How do you make enough
money to keep putting out records without hearing cries of 'sellout!'?
In my opinion, artists rely on labels to put out their records, pay
for studio time, etc. If you're a label that's concerned about putting
out more than three records, you've got to be concerned about making
money. The harsh reality, in the case of indies, is that making money
is really, really hard. It's a labor of love for most involved in the
scene.
- Michael Lupo
Indiepulse
"Any" record label? If you intend to be as broad as that, I'd cast the
"no" ballot. There are thousands of indie labels out there, some of
which make money, but a lot - I'd hazard a guess - that don't. ...
Some labels are more like art projects, or personal soapboxes, or
political statements. Whether they make money or not may not be of
consequence in relation to the larger goal. You also have to consider
labels that exist in order to benefit bands and artists in ways that
sometimes don't show up on the balance sheet. Maybe it's a band that
wants to self-release its records. Maybe they aren't actually seeing a
profit at the end of the year, but at least they are in control of
their production and distribution. And maybe, being totally illogical
in a financial sense, the band continues to put its own records out,
even if the label itself it not making money. Perhaps their retention
of control is something that's as valuable to the band as making
money. That said, I am all for indie labels making money. The more
activity that can support the independent network of bands, labels,
distributors, stores and clubs, the better. Plus, indie labels making
money means that indie bands and artists are being compensated for
their work as well - assuming that the label and bands have come to an
equitable agreement about profit sharing or royalty distribution.
- Kristin Thomson
Simple Machines Records
I think this "Boondocks" comic strip in the Washington Post sums it up
nicely: http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/bo/2001/02/22/index.html
- Devin Voorsanger
President
917 Interactive
STAFF
~~~~~
Written by Julene Snyder (julene@well.com).
Editor: Michele Keller (mkeller@thestandard.com).
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