blog
August 2007
I am not a believer in DRM, but that is not the subject of my post. I just needed to get that off of my chest...
Amazon announced in mid-May that it will provide DRM-free tracks on its site. As we can all imagine, a large portion of the tracks will be coming from EMI, which earlier announced its move to provide music without DRM restrictions. I'm not sure when Amazon plans to go live with its new storefront, but I suspect that they will likely integrate with Amie Street, into which it...
If you are playing a show at the Rockit Room (formerly the Last Day Saloon), or just happen to be on Clement Street in the Richmond, you gotta check out Giorgio's Pizzeria. I know that everyone has their favorite spot, but this joint has been around for decades and is absolutely amazing. Don't believe me? Try it yourself - the Giorgio's Special is one of the best combo pizzas I've ever had - sausage, salami, pepperoni, mushrooms - pure perfection. When I was a kid, I...
Maldroid had a great show last night at a rave here in SF. I had never been to the venue before - essentially it was a converted warehouse near Potrero Hill. There were three bands that played downstairs and there were DJs spinning upstairs - apparently the party went until 6AM... but I couldn't last that long. Maldroid went on at around 2AM and absolutely rocked the house. While there was much drunken bafoonery in the crowd, bottles flying around, and people wiping out and falling on...
Please wish Bill Bentley a happy birthday. Bill has been in the music industry as a media guru for many good years. He's worked with some of the biggest artists of all time including Neil Young, Green Day, Lou Reed, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits and many more. Plus, he's just a great guy!
So leave him a comment at http://www.fuzz.com/fan/BillBentley
Rock the Bells in SF was absolutely awesome. As usual, there were a bunch of Fuzz folk that were there: Arin, Abigail, Maureen, Mike, Regina, Chris, Jose, Ian, Nikki, Dana, and and I'm sure others that I missed. Apparently, there were over 50,000 people at the show that day. Pretty unbelievable. We had a great time in the cool night air that SF is so famous for. Oh and if you are wondering "Bombtrack" and the encore, "Killing in the Name" were off the hook. Well...
I'm going to be on a panel in a few days at the Bandwidth Conference in SF and I'm just beginning to collect my notes on business models that may work for labels (or some derivative model) in this rapidly changing industry. I'll apologize in advance as this post will be more of a stream of consciousness than an organized blog. If you have any comments or ideas, or simply think these ideas are idiotic, please let me know. I'd rather look like a knucklehead in cyber-space...
I just got the Second Season of LOST on DVD and I am completely hooked. It's like a drug and I can't stop watching this. This show is as addictive as 24... make it stop!
This is really sad, but true. A few months ago or so, Tower Records' primary store in SF, turned into Tower Parking. This was the store where I bought my first album many many years ago. I used to beg my mom to drive me to the store so I could spend hours going up and down the aisles to find that one album that none of my friends had purchased...
It's truly amazing how the proliferation of digital music has now propelled iTunes to being the third largest music retailer in the...
I had a chance to check out the Lovemakers show at the Victoria Theater on 16th Street for the SF Short Film Festival after-party. I must say that the venue was one of the weirdest venues to have a show. The acoustics were wacky and the theater was well, an old-school movie-house. I guess it was the perfect place for the film festival, but not a live show. There was literally a little booth in the center of the vestibule where a nice old lady was selling tickets - you know the kind with the...
Check it out...
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-08-08/music/feel-like-makin
Holy Shit! Pollstar just announced that the Police have crossed over $100 million in revenues from the first portion of their global tour. Based on the current number of shows, the band is AVERAGING $3.4 million per performance and they haven't even finished their tour! It is truly unbelievable considering that this is a band that hasn't been together for many many years. A few other data points of total concert revenues include the Rolling Stones at $162 million and U2 at $138.9M...
A few weeks ago, Tom Morello was in SF for his Nightwatchman project at the Sweedish American Hall upstairs from Cafe du Nord. It was the first time that I went to the venue and it seemed perfect for Tom's solo acoustic gig. Cameron O did a pretty cool blog already on the event (check out [url=http://www.fuzz.com/fan/cameronobscura/blog/PHOTOS-The-Nightwatch
Last week in NYC, I had the opportunity to meet with David Fricke, Senior Editor of Rolling Stone. The introduction was made via our very own Bill Bentley (thanks Bill!). David has been in the business for a "long time" as he put it, but still manages to catch live shows and enjoy the life of a rock journalist. It was truly an honor to meet him as David is a legend in the industry having done huge stories on Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, Metallica, and Pink Floyd to...
I thought I would share a few pictures from the Rock the Bells event on Randall's Island in NYC. I'm a horrible photographer, but I had such a great time and thought I'd share anyway. It was a sweltering HOT day with humidity at its peak. A bunch of us caught the ferry from 34th Street and headed up the East River to the event. There were thousands of folks at the stadium that were geared up to see some incredible acts including Public Enemy, the Roots, Wu-Tang Clan, and Mos...