Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Money Shot: Elvis Costello Biting The Hand That Feeds (Again), Pumpkins Now A Singles Band & Does Billy Bragg Want To Put A Meter On Internet?

Today's headlines...

The Royalty Scam (NY Times)
MS: What’s at stake here is more than just the morality of the market. The huge social networking sites that seek to use music as free content are as much to blame for the malaise currently affecting the industry as the music lover who downloads songs for free. Both the corporations and the kids, it seems, want the use of our music without having to pay for it.

The claim that sites such as MySpace and Bebo are doing us a favor by promoting our work is disingenuous. Radio stations also promote our work, but they pay us a royalty that recognizes our contribution to their business. Why should that not apply to the Internet, too?



New Costello Album: Vinyl, Digital, No CD
(Billboard)
MS: Elvis Costello's next solo studio album, curiously dubbed "Momofuku," will arrive April 22 via Lost Highway. For the time being, the set will be released only on vinyl, with a digital download code included in the package.


Smashing Pumpkins Entering the Studio to Plot Their Next Move (Spinner)
MS: "I think what we'll do is start releasing songs," Chamberlin continues. "The record or CD format places too many limitations on your piece of art. People just don't buy records anymore. Anyone under the age of 24 just buys songs. It's just in our best interest to release blocks of songs. And I think what we'll do – not to let the cat out of the bag too much – is to create the framework where we can release a number of songs and maybe create a title. We can gather three or four songs, but it will all flow up to a larger body of work. But to call it record in the traditional sense would be anachronistic."


Listen to Musical Justice

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