A Clip from Last Sunday Night!

Booking Interviews for 2010!

I've planned out my final shows for 2009 and am looking forward to 2010. I would love to get back to doing musician interviews so if you (or someone you know) is an independent musician, who would love the exposure, please shoot me an email. Please keep in mind that this interview would have to be done over Skype, or I would need a number to call via Skype to bring you on. If I need to call you, I have no problem footing the bill, as it only costs me something like 2 cents a minute and for a great musician interview, it's well worth it to me.

Also, anyone who was on the show over the course of the last year, is also invited back to the show, we had some awesome interviews with you guys and would love to see what you've been up to since we last talked and introduce you to our larger audience on blogtv.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be doing what might be called a "best of" format. This coming Sunday I'll be replaying my interview with Rob Mazurek, who is known on blogtv as Desperminator.

We've had a phenomenal year doing Indie Spotlight Live and I'd like to take the time to thank the musicians, my listeners/viewers, and Deb from Unsigned Musicians (if it wasn't for you the show wouldn't even exist) I've had a ton of fun doing the show, and I'm really looking forward to what the next year brings.

Take care everyone, and if I don't get a chance to talk to ya beforehand, happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, happy non-denominational holiday and Happy New Year!

A Clip from Last Night

Here is a clip from last nights broadcast, including an intro to our Ike Turner tribute as well as some upcoming plans for the show for the rest of 2009.

Indie Spotlight Live Updates!

Having a blast at the show, thought I'd drop in here and toss out a few updates....

Lately on Saturday nights I've been doing an unscheduled show, usually at 11 pm which was the time slot for Deb's Unleashed show, which is on hiatus.

I don't do it every Saturday night, so your best bet would be to subscribe and you'll (or at least you should) get a notification when the show airs.

The Sunday show is still running full speed ahead at 9 pm (eastern US) every Sunday night, and here is what's going to be happening the next couple of weeks. This coming Sunday I'm planning on doing a "normal" show, and the Sunday after that, through the end of the year will be a "Best Of" format where I'll be replaying clips from some of the shows that aired when we were on blogtalkradio.

After the new year I plan to get back to doing musician interviews, talking about the industry, and going full steam ahead with promoting some awesome independent artists, two of which that I know will be releasing CD's in 2010.

So there are some exciting days ahead, I want to thank everyone for the support and if I don't get the opportunity again I also want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!

~Jack

Been Busy

While I've been going full speed ahead with the show, unfortunately I can't say the same about the blog. As I've been actively promoting this blog during my show obviously I haven't forgotten about it.

Just not enough hours in the day.

I will get back to actively blogging very soon.

Indie Spotlight Live Returned to the Airwaves Last Sunday

Really had fun at the show this week.

If I had to define the last couple of shows, the words meandering, lost, poorly planned would come to mind.

Fortunately this week we were able to get back on track.

We had the honor of having Australian musician Lisa J. Aston in our chatroom this week. Phenomenal musician, and one classy lady. We had a candid discussion about the music industry, it's interesting how different things are outside of the U.S. with the industry, and sadly, many things are the same.

As Lisa pointed out, when she was tied to a label she really wasn't going anywhere, when she went Indie, the sky was the limit.

Here is a link to her myspace page check out her music, you won't be disappointed, that I promise you.

We also talked about the case in Scotland about the clerk who was almost fined by a performance rights agency for copyright infringement because they were singing a song to them self while working.

I'm not kidding, the article is here and the word overkill comes to mind. I agree that songwriters should be paid for commercial uses of their music, but at the same time I think that common sense should prevail.

Special thanks to my friend Deb from the Unsigned Musicians show for sending me that article, as well as one of Lisa J. Aston's songs to play on the show.

Also, as I mentioned on the show, I am running out of room on my blogtv account for videos so over the next couple of days I will be moving them to my youtube channel, and deleting them off of my blogtv page to make room so I can record more videos.

We're back in action, every Sunday night at 9 p.m. (eastern U.S. time) and hope you folks will join us!

p.s. I almost forgot, happy 2nd birthday to the Unsigned Musicians show, on the internet that's almost an eternity ;)

"Currently There is No Schedule for the Show"

Well, there isn't. Lately my life has been really hectic so while I've still been able to continue on with my show at it's normal time, I can't say over the next couple of weeks that will continue to be the case.

One thing I really appreciate is my regular listeners/viewers who've put up with my half assed thrown together at the last minute shows. Recently on my program I spoke about "getting back to basics" and getting back to the original purpose of the show, which is to spotlight independent music.

Well, I know I've played enough of it on the show (since I really had nothing to talk about anyway) to at least get back to that part of it, now I need to do the rest.

I also know that's not really going to happen over the next couple of weeks, honestly it might be mid November before I really get back into it.

And I haven't scheduled shows because I know I might miss a Sunday or two before it's all over and my life returns to (at least semi) normal.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Getting Back to Basics

I'll be posting this video on my youtube channel which is http://www.youtube.com/user/IndieSpotlightLive as well (cool videos from past interviews there, check it out) about some of the things going on with the show, and some upcoming things.


Getting Back to Basics - Broadcast your self LIVE

Bill O'Reilly Makes an Ass of Himself

Ok, well he did years ago anyway. Funniest thing I've seen on youtube in a while.

Enjoy!

Jim Jeffrey's New CD is Out and Other Stuff

First, if you missed the show last Sunday, answer this question in the comments section....

For the guys, would you prefer a woman who burns her bra, or never shaves her pits?

For the ladies, would you rather arm wrestle, or mud wrestle?

In a nutshell, on top of playing some fresh music from Big Bad Sun, that was the gist of Sunday's show, more goofing off than anything. Not a bad thing I guess, with that being said I guess I should try and find some time to do some show planning. Stay tuned.

Ok, on to more important things...

After my goof-fest on my show Sunday night I headed over to Jim Jeffrey's show which is usually on after mine on Sunday nights on blogtv.

While I was there he let everyone know that his new website is up (jimjeffreymusic.com), and his new CD is out. You can just follow the link from his website to order and download it.

Jim is typical of many of the indie artists that I've gotten to know over the past year. He has nothing to do with any labels, ect. instead utilizing the internet to promote his music. He did all the work on the album, all the editing, the vocals, and the guitarwork, himself.

The music is phenomenal, I don't think I've heard anything quite like it. From the honesty in the title track "So Cold", through the raw emotion in "My Friend", the heart touching tribute to his daughter in "Sky" the talent of Jim Jeffery is obvious to anyone listening.

The CD is available at Digstation (link here)

Jim Jeffery's website

Jim Jeffery's youtube channel

Also, Jim does do free guitar lessons on Blogtv, from 7-8 (eastern time) on Sundays, you can check them out on his blogtv page as well as his regular show at midnight (right after mine) on blogtv.

Remembering 9-11-01

Do you remember where you were, and what you were doing at about 9 am (eastern time) on September 11, 2001?

I awoke to the news on my alarm clock radio, at the time they thought it was a horrible accident. I turned on the t.v. in time to watch the second plane hit. I sat glued to the t.v. and the internet, in shock.

So much has happened since, we've gone to war in Afghanistan and routed the Taliban, we still haven't gotten Bin Laden, who even today is still public enemy #1.

We've gone into a quagmire in Iraq, but by some accounts at least, are starting to turn the tide there as well.

We toppled Saddam, the new Iraqi government tried, convicted, and hung him, and while he praised the terrorists he had nothing to do with 9/11.

We did all that and still haven't gotten Bin Laden.

Conspiracy theories have been formulated about 9/11, I don't believe most of them. I don't believe that the World Trade Center was destroyed by explosives, it was destroyed by airplanes flown by terrorists. Any of the conspiracy theories I've heard about the Twin Towers being leveled by our own government have been proven wrong, and explained to me in ways that make much more sense than any conspiracy theory I've ever heard.

I love the one about us launching one of our own missiles into the Pentagon. One, eyewitnesses were on I-395 heading into D.C. and saw the plane fly over and two, yes the hole looks small, almost like a missile made it, but um, the Pentagon is very large, it covers 4 zip codes so when you take all that into consideration I call it swing and miss strike two for the conspiracy theorists.

The only one that might be even remotely plausible, is that the Air Force might have shot down Flight 93 over Pennsylvania. That might have happened. They knew the plane had been hi-jacked, had no way of knowing that the passengers fought back, and didn't know where that plane was headed. Not that this takes away from the bravery of the passengers who stood up to the terrorists, nor could it convince me of any conspiracy in regards to our government.

In the eight years since the attacks of 9/11 we've forgotten so much....

We've forgotten about the fear, and anger we felt that day. We've forgotten about the intense national pride we felt on that day. We've forgotten about the firefighters and rescue workers chanting U.S.A., U.S.A. over and over again and how in awe of their dedication we were. We've forgotten how much kinder, and how much closer we were to our fellow citizens. We've forgotten the members of Congress standing together singing God Bless America?

We've forgotten about those who lost loved ones on that day.

Today, I wonder if we've forgotten about 9/11 altogether?

The clip of that Congressmen calling Obama a liar has gotten more coverage today than any 9/11 tribute in the regular media.

Is it just the popular media deciding what is considered news, have we forgotten 9/11, or just chosen not to remember?

Did you talk to anyone about 9/11 today? Did you even mention it was 9/11?

Did anyone else?



Have we forgotten?

Where I've Been, and Other Stuff

Since it's been forever and a day since I've really made my presence on the internet known (outside of the farming games on Facebook) I guess now is a good a time as any to update everyone on what I've been up to.

Last week (and last minute for that matter) the wife and I went on a road trip, picking up her nephew in Michigan, then heading to Tennessee via Kentucky. She drove an hour in while in Michigan, an hour while in Ohio, and she was kind enough to pull the car in her parents driveway.

I did the rest of the driving. 36 hours on the road, 'nuff said. And yes while I drove through Kentucky, and listened to Pete Berwicks "Busted in Kentucky" while driving through Kentucky, I can't say that I myself got busted in Kentucky...lol

After we visited with her folks for a couple of days SHE drove us home! I spent the weekend with the kid, showed him the sites around here and DC and all that so needless to say I've been pretty busy and just haven't been around at all.

This week I'll be getting back into my prime internet form. I'm really looking forward to getting back on blogtv and chatting up all my buds and finding out what I missed.

Also, I'm declaring war on Myspace again, just because I can. Regular readers of this blog might remember when Pete Berwick was censored for using his album cover as his profile picture, Myspace said it was offensive and 13 year olds might see it.



I had it posted as my main one for a while, never got in trouble for it. Pete put it back up on his, so I took it off of mine.

Now, I have a new one I'm going to post. Hard to say that a 13 year old might be offended by Turtles Humping, since a 13 year old took the picture.

Eat this Myspace!



Indie Spotlight Live returns this Sunday at 9 pm (eastern) I hope to have a guest scheduled over the next couple of weeks, stay tuned!

Beware a Wolf in Sheeps Clothing

We had a caller on our old blogtalkradio show back in March who claimed to be a supporter of Indie artists, hated the way the industry treats independents, agreed with everything Deb and I had to say, ect. ect. ect.

Turns out the guy was full of it, and this Sunday night we're going to call him out.

Show starts at 9 pm (eastern), especially if you are a musician you don't want to miss this one.

Indie Spotlight Live

Hope to see ya there.

Freedom Fest 2009 a Huge Success!

We had 24 hours of non-stop original music and conversation about freeing the "evil weed".

Look, Marijuana should be legal, at the very least for medical purposes, and we found no shortage of musicians who felt the same way. We were entertained by some of the greatest guys on blogtv, as well as some other music by folks who couldn't make the event but wanted to lend their support to the cause. After weeks of preparation, and some last minute glitches the show went off pretty much without a hitch.

We kicked the show off at noon on Saturday, August 1st with Deb from the Unsigned Musicians show playing some of the best of the best of the independent artists out there. I took over shortly thereafter since we are better able to Skype on my computer than we are on hers, and from there I was able to bring her back on. We shared a great deal of great information about Marijuana legalization, and what people can do to get involved at the local level to make it happen.

At about 4:20 in the afternoon I handed the reins off to Jamie Gray who played some of his original music and shared his views on Freeing the Weed, an informative and awesome performance.

After Jamie played for a couple of hours, we had the incomparable Jody Parker (known as Dreaminglad on youtube and blogtv) and played an awesome set. I can see why so many people flock to his show on Tuesday nights over on blogtv, awesome music!

Jody actually cut his set short so that we could check out the music of Stealurface1976. His name is Jesse, and he played some awesome music, follow the link and check out his youtube channel.

DarwinTomorrow came on and played some of the most awesome blues I have ever heard. I think if there is anyone out there who has totally nailed that blues slide sound it's him. Check out his show (just follow the link above) and tell me if I'm wrong.

If you've never heard the Native American flute, or a Didgeridoo played live then you've got to check out the guy we had next. Every Monday night Didgerod soothes us with some of the most soothing sounds while he talks about the gifts that mother Earth gives us, which does include Marijuana. He was kind enough to come on the show and had a friend of his come on and play as well. Words alone can't describe how powerful that performance was.


Jim Jeffrey was also on the show after Didgerod, wowing and amazing us with his music. He is working on a CD, due out by the end of this year. On top of rocking our socks off with his original music he also does free guitar lessons every Sunday at 4 p.m. (pacific time) as well as his show at 9 p.m (again pacific time) which is right after my own show on blogtv.

Uprightashley also came on and performed for us. As I listened to her I had to wonder why I hadn't heard her play and sing before. She literally took my breath away.

Aemissary (Angela) and I had a discussion about the issues surrounding the legalization of Marijuana after Ashley played. We really had an interesting and engaging discussion with some of the folks in the chatroom which I thought was quite impressive considering that it was almost 5 a.m. (eastern time) and I was personally surprised that we even had folks awake, much less coherent and able to carry on an intelligent conversation. I have to say that I was really quite impressed.

Jamie Gray came back on and played another set, followed by another set by Darwin, and we closed the show up with myself, Deb, and Angela talking about the issues, the show, and we dropped a few helpful links for folks who would like to learn more about why we should legalize Marijuana, and what they can do at the local level to make it happen.

Of course I can't forget my good friend Rob Mazurek who put together a bunch of videos for the event. I can't describe how awesome it is to play his music, and he really took me by surprise with some of the music he played. He's usually a pretty hard rocking guy (and his tribute to Jimi was a testament to that) so I was taken aback and pleasantly surprised with Drifting off to Dreamland. He's a hell of a guy, and he really keeps our chatrooms going on blogtv. You just never know what he's going to say next.

Marijuana Policy Project

Safe Access Now

Drugsense.org

And how to contact your representative, votesmart.org.

Get involved folks, otherwise it's never going to happen.

Freedom Fest Happening Now!

Join us over on blogtv for Freedom Fest 2009!

Original music, and a ton of information about Marijuana legalization!

Unleashed Again!

Freedom Fest Tommorrow!

Join us starting at noon (est) for Freedom Fest 2009!

The place, blogtv
The channel, www.blogtv.com/People/UnleashedAgain

24 hours of great music, awesome people, and a chance to learn more about what YOU can do in the fight to legalize Marijuana!

Again, show starts at noon, and this will be a 24 hour event!

Please join us!!

JD Steagall on Indie Spotlight last Sunday

We had a great time on the show last night. JD Steagall from JD and the Cherokee Boys was on the show. It was so nice talking with him again. The last time we had him on was on our old blogtalkradio show so it was nice to catch up with him and see what he's been up to.

He's been super busy (always nice to hear that from a musician in this economy) playing gigs and working on the new CD which should be out sometime next year.

Clips from the interview are on my blogtv homepage, as well as my youtube channel.

Indie Spotlight youtube channel

Indie Spotlight Live blogtv page

Don't forget Freedom Fest is August 1st, will post more details later!

JD Steagall Returns to Indie Spotlight Tonight!

Just a reminder, show starts at 9 p.m. (eastern) on blogtv!

Click here to go straight to the show, hope to see ya there!

JD Steagall Returns to Indie Spotlight this Sunday!

Ahh, at long last we're having JD from JD Steagall and the Cherokee Boys Blues Band back on the show this coming Sunday, July 26th, at 9 p.m. (eastern). We last had him on our old blogtalkradio show back in April, and it was a blast. I can't wait to have him back on, find out what the latest news is with the band, latest music, and of course his thoughts on the Music Mafia.

It was a fun show the last time we had him on, and I know this on will be as well.

Indie Spotlight Live

Find me on Twitter

I finally broke down and made a twitter account. Tweet (gawd I hate saying this) me!

Here.

Freedom Fest, August 1, 2009

We will be having a 24 hour non stop music event on blogtv starting at 12 noon (eastern) on Saturday August 1. Original music, information about marijuana legalization and more! The last one we did was an overwhelming success and I'd love to have you guys join us.

www.blogtv.com/people/unleashedagain

Update on ASCAP's claim regarding cell phone ringtones, and other stuff...

The performance rights agency, know as ASCAP (also known on the show as ASCRAP) is claiming that when cell phones using popular songs for a ringtone go off in public that it constitutes a public performance of that song and therefore they are owed a royalty.

I'm not making this shit up.

From the EFF's website;

July 2nd, 2009
ASCAP Makes Outlandish Copyright Claims on Cell Phone Ringtones
EFF Argues Phones Ringing in Public Do Not Violate Copyright Law

New York - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged a federal court Wednesday to reject bogus copyright claims in a ringtone royalty battle that could raise costs for consumers, jeopardize consumer rights, and curtail new technological innovation.

Millions of Americans have bought musical ringtones, often clips from favorite popular songs, for their mobile phones. Mobile phone carriers pay royalties to song owners for the right to sell these snippets to their customers. But as part of a ploy to squeeze more money out of the mobile phone companies, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) has told a federal court that each time a phone rings in a public place, the phone user has violated copyright law. Therefore, ASCAP argues, phone carriers must pay additional royalties or face legal liability for contributing to what they claim is cell phone users' copyright infringement. In an amicus brief filed Wednesday, EFF points out that copyright law does not reach public performances "without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage" -- clearly the case with cell phone ringtones. If phone users are not infringing copyright law, then mobile phone service providers are not contributing to any infringement.

"This is an outlandish argument from ASCAP," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Are the millions of people who have bought ringtones breaking the law if they forget to silence their phones in a restaurant? Under this reasoning from ASCAP, it would be a copyright violation for you to play your car radio with the window down!"

ASCAP has responded by saying that it does not plan to charge mobile phone users, just mobile phone service providers. But if ASCAP prevails, consumers could find themselves targeted by other copyright owners for "public performances." Worse, these wrongheaded legal claims cast a shadow over innovators who are building gadgets that help consumers get the most from their copyright privileges.

"Because it is legal for consumers to play music in public, it's also legal for my mobile phone carrier to sell me a ringtone and a phone to do it," said von Lohmann. "Otherwise it would be illegal to sell all kinds of technologies that help us enjoy our fair use, first sale, and other copyright privileges."

Isn't this some bullshit?

Oh yeah, speaking of bullshit, last night on the show we talked about the case about the woman who got arrested for saying "bullshit". I'm not making this up either, article here. This really is bullshit! What about freedom of speech? Slowly but surely our rights are being whittled away. Coincidentally this led into a discussion about the case in Texas where the 72 year old great grandmother got tasered (do you spell it tazor, taser, tazer?)(screw it) and was that excessive force? We had a very interesting discussion in the chatroom about all this it was lively to say the least.

Great show, if you missed it we are on every Sunday night at 9 pm (est) come check us out!

Happy 4th Everyone

Check out this video, from my good friend Rob Mazurek. Undoubtedly one of the best renditions of the Star Spangled Banner I've ever heard.

Happy Independence day everyone, stay safe!!

Independance Day Video

Talking about MJ and goofing off

Last Sunday we spent time talking about Michael Jackson. As I pointed out on the show 2 weeks ago he was demonized in the popular media. He was called a pervert, child molester, freak, unfit for society, among other things.

Now, all of a sudden since he passed away the popular media has almost canonized him.

WTF???? What a bunch of hypocrites.

(for the record we didn't pull any punches, while we did give him credit for his contribution to music, we can't deny that the man had his issues)

Later in the show my wife made a cameo appearance and decided to give me a makeover.



In other news I did update the links on here, as well as on blogtv homepage. Check 'em out!

Oh yeah, my new YouTube page is IndieSpotlightLive if you want to check out some video from the show.

If You Missed Spotlight Last Sunday...

...then you missed one heck of a show.

Deb from the Unsigned Musicians show was able to join me as co-host this week. It was nice having her back on the show. To kill some time and wait for the regular viewers to start shuffling in we talked about the PETA idiots freaking out because Obama killed a fly instead of trapping it humanely and letting it go free outdoors. Deb offered her opinion on PETA (on top of supporting unsigned artists she is also an animal rights activist) and confirmed everything I ever thought of them. Sorry if you support PETA all I can say is go do some reseach on who they really are. PETA does things that honestly send a shiver down my spine.

Anyway....

We also had SmokingToad on the Skype call. Deb is looking to do another 24 hour show about legalizing Marijuana. Toad was able to offer some input into the Free the Weed issue, along with some folks in chat. It was an interesting conversation and I'll have more information about the show when we figure out when it's gonna be.

Then we talked about the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case, the disqusting judgement that was entered against her ($1.92 million dollars) and what it means to the indie artists and those of us who play independent music on the internet, as well as confirming that the RIAA really isn't a nice group of people. We also talked about ASCAP wanting to charge cell phone companies royaties for ringtones, their argument being that when a phone rings in public it's a public performance of a song. Rediculous isn't it?

Then, the fun surprise of the evening, Pete Berwick showed up in my chatroom while we were talking about all this crap, and offered his own opinion of it, which if anyone knows Pete knows that he has no real love for the "music industry hacks". We were able to have Pete on the show, which was nice, it's always a treat when he's able to stop in.

We closed out the show with a live performance from Jamie Gray. After we talked to Pete, we wanted to show him how easy it is to invite someone to "co-host" come on a show and play. Jamie was in rare form, and played an outstanding set (coincidently if anyones interested, he does have a show on blogtv, Thursday nights at 10 (eastern time) check him out.

Like I said, it was a great show, I know I had a blast!

Funny Obama Clip from JibJab

I'll blog about last nights show later (and if you missed it, you suck it was a great show) but in the meantime check this out. I laughed my ass off when I saw it this morning.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Getting Back Down to Business

Ok, now that we've gotten the bugs worked out over on blogtv, I'm getting back into actual show planning. Here are some of the things we're going to talk about tomorrow.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset lost her case. Again. This time, this particular jury decided on a worse penalty than the last one. Now she has to pay the RIAA (also known on this page as the music mafia) $1.92 million dollars. Works out to hundreds of thousands of dollars per song.

Hmm, what is the 8th amendment to the constitution? Some crazy thing about excessive fines and penalties?

Ah here it is.....

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Ok, so this isn't excessive? Got it.

Also found something interesting on the EFF's website, ASCAP wants cell phone companies to start paying royalties for ringtones. No, I'm not making this up.

All this and more, tomorrow night at 9 (eastern) over on blogtv!

Been a while, time to catch up....

Between getting the show set up the way I like it on blogtv, and some other stuff going on I guess I should post some updates.

The new show is going well, I don't miss blogtalkradio at all. I think we've worked out most of the bugs on blogtv and I'm ready to quit goofing off and start getting back to doing some real shows again.

Yeah I said that a few weeks ago, I know I know.

We've already had our first guest, it was kind of a surprise when Pete Berwick popped into my chat. I have to tip my hat off to Deb from Unsigned Musicians who often helps me out as a co-host for coming up with a quick solution. When we co-host on blogtv, we use Skype to keep in real time, and Pete does not have Skype. Deb called in on Skype, and put Pete on a speakerphone. It came out good considering how last minute it was and I have to tip my hat to Deb for thinking it up.

I'm starting to see some familiar faces in my chat during the show, people who had to deal with the technical problems on btr and said fuck it, are starting to show up on blogtv. It's a nice feeling to see some old friends that I haven't seen on the internet in a while.

Now we need to start talking music, the industry, and I would really like to start having musician interviews again. Pete was last minute, the interview was really good as it always is when he's on. I did record some segments, you can find them on my showpage over on blogtv and as you can hear we had a ton of fun on that show.

Overall I have to say that the switch to blogtv is going well. Like I said before we've worked most of the bugs out, it's coming together really well. If there are any Indie musicians out there who would like to come on the show and talk about their music, and anything in between hit me up. Right now I know I can have you on via Skype, but I am working on having people on the phone as well. I would love to have some fresh talent on the show.

I'm also going to be working on having some of our past guests back on, I'd like to catch up with some of these folks and I think the crowd on our new show would really enjoy getting to know them. I know I'd enjoy it.

Finally, here's the skinny with the latest myspace bullshit. Pete Berwick had this picture as his profile pic on his myspace page. It's the cover off of his latest album.



Myspace took it down because they said it was offensive and violated their Terms of Use. He sent them a very pointed, and yet professional letter asking why, and never got an answer.

So, I put that evil, satanic pic as my main profile picture on myspace. Mostly because I want to support Pete but I also just felt like being an asshole and what better place than one that is run by a bunch of 'em. Lets face facts, since Tom Anderson sold out Myspace has been ruled by the media whores that bought into it, which includes the music industry majors. It does not surprise me that they might find a reason to stifle the little guy for coming up with some great music, and oh yeah he might have an album cover that might be a great idea that they should have thought of but didn't because they were too busy looking at TITS!

It's bullshit. Offensive my ass, you know what I find offensive? How about Miley Cyrus, Miss Hannah Montana herself showing some skin on the front page of Myspace? She's under 18, could that be considered child porn? Yeah I like to look at a young piece of ass but shouldn't it be a legal piece of ass? Beside that do I really want to look at a no talent wannabe musician when I log in?

But I digress.....

So Pete's crotch shot wearing handcuffs is offensive, 13 year olds might see it, but Miley, or whoever the blonde flavor of the week might be, is not offensive? Give me a fucking break.

So, it's been a week, the Myspace police hasn't caught it on my profile yet (although they might after I post this blog over there) and not one person has told me why that album cover might be offensive. So, I'm leaving it up until myspambullshit, oops I mean Myspace pulls it down. I don't see how Pete's picture can be considered offensive.

Sorry about the rant, well, not really....lol

Anyway, the blogtv show is going well, we're on every Sunday night at 9 p.m. (eastern) and I hope to be scheduling some musician interviews soon!

Well except for no talent big titty Barbie wanna-be's you won't be hearing them on the show.

Ever.

A Clip from My Conversation with Pete Berwick

I'll post more about what's going on with the myspace shit tomorrow.

In the meantime chill out and enjoy this clip from my blogtv show with Pete Berwick talking about the inspiration behind the song "Busted in Kentucky".

Comment on Yesterday's Post Regarding Pete Berwick

I had copied and pasted yesterdays blog on Myspace. My good friend Rob Mazurek made a very good comment on it, and I wanted to share it as well as my response for the benefit of those who read my blogs on here.

Nothing offence about Pete's picture that I can see here Jack,pair of handcuffs..-so what ? . I've seen women on myspace post almost completely nude shots of themselves and never get them yanked from their pages (then again who would complain... I guess thats a bad example...lol) Seriously though, Pete's picture here is completely harmless- I think you may be onto somthing Jack, it's not the pictures at all-but the music that the major labels find to be a threat to their existance-so yeah,they nit-pick away at the indie guys for creating music just as good (and in some cases better-then some of their major artists)

What I find sad and pathetic is...the world of music is digitalized now,downloads are the norm as opposed to buying CD's- the market is huge for everyone to make a buck, there's no need for childlike greed on anyones part. I wont mention any major label artists names here but if certain female artists can make half-naked videos and sell music based on "Sex" and have their videos freely posted on myspace for the world to see (including impressionable 13 year old girls) , than Pete's pic is very harmless compared to that !! , Ive also seen womens websites with pics depicting/suggesting bondage- so the handcuffs obviously cannot be the "Real issue" here.

- Just my Two Cents people.

Posted by Rob Mazurek on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 6:13 AM

I think he hit the nail right on the head. Reposting my response here for the benefit of my blogger readers.

Rob I think you make a very good point. We've all seen some pretty suggestive pictures here on Myspace, generally from legit users of the site. As the world of music has become more digitized social networking sites like Myspace are the perfect tool for independent musicians to promote themselves, get their work heard and do all this without being with a major label. The majors meanwhile want to promote THEIR people, and the music that THEY think people should be listening to, never mind that there are a lot of people who have gotten tired of the cookie-cutter crap that the majors keep churning out. Keeping in mind that the major recording studios (or the companies that own THEM) have bought up the majority of the radio stations here in the states, they control who gets heard, its not like it was before where a locally owned station would give the "little guy" airplay.

So, with all this in mind, the only real avenues that the independents have are live shows, and the internet. The internet is a powerful tool as we all know. Independents have used and embraced Myspace because of the potential to promote yourself to thousands (some cases tens of thousands) of people, and create a fan base. All this being done without any help from the majors whatsoever and I really think that this is where the problem lies. The major labels continue to insist that musicians NEED THEM. Well, no, you don't. I really think that because of this the majors feel threatened, and pull below the belt crap like this.

When you consider that the 4 major labels all have bought stakes into Myspace, it's easy to read between the lines and see what's really going on.

Just thought I'd share the conversation for the benefit of my blogger readers.

Myspace Threatens Pete Berwick with Account Deletion!!

First of all, does anyone find anything offensive about this album cover? Obviously it's Pete's new album, Just Another Day in Hell.

Some asshole over at Myspace seems to think that this is offensive, believe it or not. Pete had it posted as his main profile pic, and Myspam, oops I mean myspace pulled it down, and sent him an email threatening him with an account deletion if he continues to "post pictures that are violating Myspaces' terms of use"

Isn't this some bullshit?

Seems Myspace continues to go after independent musicians, first they wouldn't let Black Angel upload music for 3 weeks because they posted a copyrighted song, that believe it or not was an original Black Angel song.

Now they are harassing Pete Berwick. Could it be that maybe these Indie guys create and perform music that is much better than the Majors Flavor Of The Week? It's interesting that we get almost naked pictures of Carrie Underwood on the front page of Myspace, and yet an unsigned artist can't have a profile picture of himself wearing handcuffs.

Oh shit, thats right I forgot, Myspace is partly owned by the Music Mafia, silly me.

With 2 blogtv Shows Under My Belt...

I guess it's time to quit screwing around and start doing show planning again. I think tonight went really well, although we had some issues with Skype (the one thing that actually worked last week..lol)

The crowd over on blogtv, is awesome. When I got to my show there were people already waiting for me which was totally awesome. We got off to a nice start just chilling out, then Deb came on (once we got skype working) and we ranted about the music industry. As it's a new show with a new crowd we decided to talk about some of the things about podcasting, playing music over the internet, and some things about the Music Mafia that our viewers had never heard about. People were shocked at some of the wonderful things the industry has done to innocent people, especially some of the shit that the RIAA has pulled.

We had a great time, and it's only the beginning of a new era for Indie Spotlight!

Great music I found on Magnatune.com!

Check out the site, alot of great music over there. I actually had the Founder/CEO on my blogtalkradio show back in March, really cool guy!




Prospects by Chris Juergensen

Time Well Spent

Well last night we did our first show over on blogtv. Most of the time was spent tweaking the video and sound. My setups a bit tricky as I had to adjust the settings on my computer, then tweak them on the adobe player on blogtv.


Then I had to adjust them on the computer again, I learned alot about how sound plays out over the internet, especially when we went to play music.

The part I thought was going to be a complete klusterfuck was the Skype call, which is how Deb is going to co-host the show with me.

Once we got the sound setting right on that one, it worked just fine....

Go figure.

I imagine given the time spent this week just tweaking sound, it's going to be a little rough over there the next couple of weeks, but I'll still take it over the bullshit we had to deal with on blogtalkradio any day.

I did post a recording we did over there last night, it's the blog post right below this one. Overall it went well, I see where it's going to be alot of fun.

Take a look!

Here is a test recording we did during the show tonight, take a look!


First Show - Broadcast your self LIVE

Join Us This Sunday at Our New Home!

Indie Music Spotlight is now Indie Spotlight but that's not the only change, starting this Sunday at 9 pm (eastern) we begin our new show over on blogtv!

Joining blogtv is real easy, just follow this link it only takes seconds to register!

Then, follow this link to my new showpage! Should be a ton of fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Tomorrow....

Tomorrow will be our final broadcast on blogtalkradio. Starting May 17th we will be moving over to blogtv.

Please join us at 9 pm (eastern) tomorrow (May 10th) as we replay some of our favorite moments from some of the musician interviews we've done over on btr.

Then, reset your bookmarks to http://www.blogtv.com/People/riskybusiness04 to our new home on blogtv.

See ya there!

Show Updates

Anyone who's been listening to our show over on blogtalkradio is aware of some of the issues we've been having conducting the show. Over the last couple of weeks some of these issues have gotten progressively worse.

Listeners either can't find the show, or get the player to open

You have to go through a minefield of pop up ads

Chatroom doesn't work like it should, or the latest wrinkle, yeah, you get into chat, but it's not the same chat the rest of us are in

Hosts keep losing their switchboard (which is our web based control panel for the show)

One of the "pop up ads" is actually a pop UNDER ad that tries to hi-jack your browser

Shows that continue to broadcast after the live stream ends are no longer archived


Either I or another host have brought these issues up in one of the blogtalkradio communities, or in my case to host support, and the answer is either "thank you for letting us know, we're working on it" or no response at all. I know I personally brought the pop up issue to host support well over a month or two ago, and yet the toxic ones that want to give you a virus are still there. I had this issue again while trying to host my show this week. If there had been a guest this week I would have been embarrassed.

I don't put in the time that I generally do for show preparation, promoting and broadcasting the show for my health. One or two things that happen every once in a while I could deal with, but this huge list of issues that happen nearly EVERY WEEK is something else altogether. Yes I know it's a free site, yes I know it's supported by advertising, yes I understand that there are occasionally going to be issues, but come on, every week when I do the show either my regular listeners have problems or I do?

Much of this started when they redesigned the site back in January. It used to be when something was broken on BTR they fixed it pretty fast so I just figured that I would wait, and ride it out until they did. They've been "working on it" for almost 5 months and there are still issues which makes me think that the sites become more about the advertisers and less about the hosts and listeners. I could even deal with that as long as the damn thing worked, but the fact of the matter is it doesn't, at least like it used to.

So, the show will be moving to a new network sometime during the month of May.

Deb, and Jody Parker (dreaminglad on blogtv) have been lobbying for me to take the show over to blogtv. I've been trying to decided between that, or nowlive. I've been playing with nowlive for a couple of weeks but haven't been able to get it to work quite like I want it to.

After our show on Sunday I went over to blogtv and played around with it for a couple of hours, and was able to get it to work with no problems, so at this point I think the choice is obvious. I have to put together a showpage over there, and Deb and I need to work out how we are going to do the co-host format, but shortly the new home for Indie Music Spotlight will be http://www.blogtv.com/People/riskybusiness04.

Details to be announced on our show on blogtalkradio very soon, and of course I'll post here when the change is made.

Just Another Day in Hell -- Pete Berwicks New CD is Available!

We talked about Petes new CD on the show last night, and I promised that I would post links on where you can hear the music, and buy the new CD.

Just Another Day in Hell, Pete Berwicks latest release and I think his best yet, is available right on his website which is peteberwick.net. The CD is $12 and shipping and handling is $1.80. How much did you spend on your last CD? Was the whole thing good from start to finish? Well I can honestly tell you that this one is! Just Another Day in Hell takes you on a journey. Pete told me that he didn't really just sit down and write an album..the stories are all true (all 18 tracks) and he wrote about em as they unfolded or after..thus the title..

"obviously a rough last couple years."

Yeah, a rough couple of years, but it makes one hell of an album.

If you want to hear some of the songs that are on the album, check out Pete's myspace page or over on garageband.

The man is a freaking musical genius. Go pick up your copy of Another Day in Hell, you won't regret it, that I promise you.

For Independent Musicians, How to Get Airplay on Internet Radio Shows...(reposted)

In case it got missed the first time.....


Here is the scenario....

While conducting her show either on blogtv or blogtalkradio, Deb will get a request from a musician asking if they'll play their music on her show................

I'll get an email from a musician asking to come onto the show.............

What is the criteria for us to play your music on our shows?

Lately, given the music industry's current model of lawsuits and intimidation for copyright infringement, and the fact that they could easily shake us down like they do public music venues that is a really good question.

Honestly, in many cases we would really like to, we really would. Unfortunately there are things as online radio hosts we need to consider, the main one being that we need to cover our own ass.

Many unsigned, independent musicians who play in bars, coffeehouses, nightclubs, and open mic nights know that the venues they play in have to pay licensing fees to the Performance Rights agencies, the big ones being BMI, or Ascap. Others could tell stories about some of their favorite venues not being able to play music anymore because they didn't have a license from one of the PRO's (Performance Rights Organizations) (also known as the music mafia) and those same venues have had to pay a sizable fine. Those fines could run into the thousands of dollars.

That's nothing compared to what internet broadcasters are supposed to pay if we play music. Ever heard of Sound Exchange? How about the RIAA? Oh, you've heard of the RIAA, well, Sound Exchange is basically the RIAA.

Ok, now that I've mentioned the RIAA, does the word lawsuit come to mind? Who filed the lawsuits on the file sharers? Who sued many of the wrong people including 12 year old girls, a homeless guy, and a dead woman among others?

The RIAA.

SoundExchange is the RIAA.

The RIAA, via SoundExchange want internet broadcasters who play music that belongs to their members in excess of $20,000 (U.S. dollars) to play that music. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of cash laying around to play music for a once a week show.

For that matter, while Deb primarily plays music on her shows, from what she's said, she doesn't have that kind of cash either.

Independent musicians, if you are with one of the members of the music mafia which include but not limited to the RIAA, BMI, The Harry Fox Agency or Ascap, your membership with one of these Performance Rights Societies will limit your airplay on internet radio because we can't afford the licensing fees, and don't want to run the risk of losing our homes, and everything we've worked for in our personal lives just because we played a song, never mind that you sent us the file and asked us to play it. I'm sorry, but even though you asked us to play it, if the music mafia were to come after us it wouldn't matter.

So since I mentioned all that, let me tell you independent guys and gals, who want your music played on independent music shows on the internet, the best possible ways to get airplay on internet radio.

1) If you are a member of one of the Performance Right Organizations, forget it, most of us who play music on the internet aren't willing, or able to pay for the licensing fees. I know that Deb would love to play your music on her show, and get you some exposure, and honestly I would too. We know, better than most people, how the industry totally screws over the independent artists. One of the ways that they got ya by the balls? Well, you are a member of one of the licensing agencies that have you by the balls, and broadcasters as well. We would love to give you exposure, we would love to give you airplay, but because we are 9 to 5 workday people, and while we are independent broadcasters, unfortunately we are not also independently wealthy. I can't be any more plain then that.

2) So, if you are a member of the Music Mob? Did you also license your music under Creative Commons? Well, guess what? Because you signed with them, even if you also license your music under Creative Commons, the agreement you signed with BMI, ASCAP, Harry Fox or whichever agency you signed with takes precedence over your Creative Commons license. In fact, according to the Creative Commons website, you can't use a Creative License at all.

I got this right off of the the Creative Commons Website so I know it's legit.

Oops, did that link take you somewhere else? Oh yeah I'm sorry, the link I posted is some of the crap those of us who broadcast on the internet have to deal with.

I wanted to give some of you folks who want your music on the internet, who thought this blog post was a bit long, something longer to read. Just a taste of the hell that responsible internet broadcasters have to deal with.

Since you have made it this far, I'll be nice and keep it simple.

As a result of the warranty disclaimer, before using a Creative Commons licensed work, you should satisfy yourself that the person has all the necessary rights to make the work available under a Creative Commons license. You should know that if you are wrong, you could be liable for copyright infringement based on your use of the work.

So, even if you license your music under Creative Commons, your original agreement under your licensing agency applies. In fact, if you have already signed your rights away with a member of the M.O.B. (Muthas of Broadcasting) you can't even license your music under Creative Commons.

Click the link and do your own homework, because responsible internet broadcasters are gonna do ours. Even if you license your music under Creative Commons, if you also are with one of the major licensing agencies, guess what? Your agreement with BMI, Ascap, ect will supersede your Creative Commons license, like I said before, Creative Commons doesn't even apply at all. You shouldn't even try to license your music under Creative Commons, it will only make legit internet broadcasters think that is O.K. to play your music. It might be O.K. with you, but it is not gonna be O.K. with the "music mafia", that I promise you.

So, simply put, if you feel that you have to be a member of one of the Performance Rights Organizations, or the Music Mafia, or the PRO's, you are going to have a problem getting played on internet radio shows that would like to play your music. If you skipped the above post hoping to see why, then you are gonna have to just scroll back up.

Sorry. You signed your name to the paperwork long before you knew of me.

3) If you really and truly want Deb to play your music on her show, then you are going to have to sign a waiver. The waiver basically states what she is going to do with your music (play it, nothing else) what her rights are (which is to play it on her show, again, nothing else)

If ya got this far, then I know what you are thinking, which is Holy Shit, what am I signing my name to? Well, I know that Deb understands that the Music Industry is so screwed up that you guys are afraid to sign your name to anything. All Deb is asking is your permission to play your music on her show. She's trying to cover her ass, and can you say you blame her?

They have found ways to screw you indie guys, well guess what, they've found way's to bend us over and get us too.

So, in short, well I can't make it short and sweet, you really have to do your homework, just like we need to need to do ours.

If you want your music played, you have to jump through 50 hoops. If you are listed with one of the major licensing agency's, then I hope you are in really good shape, because you are gonna have to jump through a million hoops to even get us to play your music. We want to, we just can't without some paper to cover us.

As an internet broadcaster, we have to cover our ass as well, because of the industries current business model, we really are left with no choice.

We'd love to play ya, really we want to.


Make it possible for us. Don't sign it away to an industry that wants it for themselves.

Don't sign your music away to the music mafia.

Take a look at the Creative Commons website, and read the whole agreement.

The majority of us won't play ya otherwise. I'm sorry, but the industry won't let us play your music otherwise.

Better Late Than Never, We Had JD Steagall Last Sunday...

We had a great show last Sunday. Ever talk to someone, and within the first 5 minutes you felt like you were talking to your best friend? That's how I felt when I was talking to JD, what a great guy. Incredible musician, and one hell of a guy.

Check out his new band, the cherokee boys blues band over on Myspace, I love the new music, right up there with the music that JD did with Buster Chopz.

He was on his way to a gig at the world famous Blues Saloon in Oklahoma City, and while he was on the show he introduced his new bandmates, and he said he only had a half an hour to talk to us, but he stuck around for over an hour. He told me later that after he hung up, someone ran out to get him because his gig was about to start...lol

While he was on the show, we talked about his new band, some of his music, the industry, we played some of his music, and we had a blast doing this one.

Be sure to check it out, it's in the player. While overall we really did had a great show, JD didn't call in until we were about an hour into it, so maybe another way to listen to the interview would be to follow this link to the showpage, and under the player there is an option to open the show in your default player. Then fast forward to about 58 minutes into the show and you'll be there.

J.D. Steagall from Buster Chopz on Spotlight this Sunday!

Tonight we have J.D. Steagall from Buster Chopz. Buster Chopz is a 3 piece band, but sound much, much bigger, such an incredible sound. Played regularly on the Unsigned Musicians show (every Saturday night here on BTR at 11 p.m.) I've always really liked this band. When you listen to their music, it just draws you in, authentic and real, there just aren't enough words to describe what you hear, you just have to listen to it to understand. J.D. is much the same way so it should be a fun show!

Here is a link to some of their music, it's gonna blow you away, right here on myspace.

See ya this Sunday over on blogtalkradio, the page for the show is here so you can just follow the link and we'll see ya there!

Rob Mazurek on Indie Music Spotlight this Sunday!

We've been talking it up on the show for the last couple of weeks, and now the moment of truth is upon us...lol

Musician Rob Mazurek will be on the show this Sunday night, the party kicks off at 9 p.m. eastern time over on blogtalkradio.

Rob is always a hoot when he's in chat, so to have him on the show is going to be a total riot.

Here's a short bio;

I'm Rob Mazurek from Winnipeg,Manitoba,Canada. I've been a huge music fan since I was a little kid. Growing up I listened to Aerosmith,Zepplin and the stones. Started playing guitar at age 6, (well at that point it was more like just driving my family crazy with the guitar..until I started learning some basic chords.lol) I was always a popular kid at school- being about 6 feet tall back then (I'm 6'6" now) I was basically harassed by my friends and teachers to join the basketball team. (never really had a huge interest in sports back then-was more into music and girls..as you look at my friend list you can tell that some things never change huh ?..LOL) Anyway, I started playing guitar more heavily,took lessons to read music and learn scale patterns . (Up to that point I played by ear really) Had a Great teacher by the name of Andrew Wasson (He was a GIT Grad) He still runs his school Creative Guitar Studio out of Winnipeg here (see his link here at : www.creativegtrstudio.com ) Took lessons with Andy for a few years and would come out and occassionally check out his band here at the local clubs when he had some gigs to play. if you live in Winnipeg and want to learn to play guitar..I strongly urge you to check out Andy's school ! (He's a really great instructor and a fun guy to chat/hang out with) Growing up, I was hugely influenced by a large assortment of guitar legends, my two favorites though are Slash and Zakk Wylde. They both have very unique styles and great guitar tone. Aside from Music also took an interest in acting, having appeared in some films shot here over the years. but Music is really my main interest. (although I still consider some acting roles now and then - if the right offers happen to come my way,and I really like the film thats being shot) On a personal level, I'm a very laid back type of guy, friendly with everyone I meet and quite Down to earth. I dont take myself too seriously and make music for myself really..if others happen to like my music then that's great too ! , I'm not impressed by appearances and have never been a very materialistic person. I judge people on their actions and personality really. At least this is my formula for choosing my personal close friends anyway. Anyway,I hope you enjoy these brief tunes here and wish to thank you for your e-mails,friend requests/adds ,and sweet comments. !! I've got the best friends here at myspace ! ...Thanks guys ! , My song "Out For Blood" is commercially available on i-tunes,Rhapody,Amazon,and a host of other fine online music stores for purchase/download.

I stole that off his myspace page, which you can find right here which by the way, if you like pretty ladies his friends list is full of 'em...lol

Here's a link to the show, again it starts at 9 pm eastern time and we hope to see ya there.

Click here to go to showpage

For Independent Musicians, How to Get Airplay on Internet Radio Shows...

Here is the scenario....

While conducting her show either on blogtv or blogtalkradio, Deb will get a request from a musician asking if they'll play their music on her show................

I'll get an email from a musician asking to come onto the show.............

What is the criteria for us to play your music on our shows?

Lately, given the music industry's current model of lawsuits and intimidation for copyright infringement, and the fact that they could easily shake us down like they do public music venues that is a really good question.

Honestly, in many cases we would really like to, we really would. Unfortunately there are things as online radio hosts we need to consider, the main one being that we need to cover our own ass.

Many unsigned, independent musicians who play in bars, coffeehouses, nightclubs, and open mic nights know that the venues they play in have to pay licensing fees to the Performance Rights agencies, the big ones being BMI, or Ascap. Others could tell stories about some of their favorite venues not being able to play music anymore because they didn't have a license from one of the PRO's (Performance Rights Organizations) (also known as the music mafia) and those same venues have had to pay a sizable fine. Those fines could run into the thousands of dollars.

That's nothing compared to what internet broadcasters are supposed to pay if we play music. Ever heard of Sound Exchange? How about the RIAA? Oh, you've heard of the RIAA, well, Sound Exchange is basically the RIAA.

Ok, now that I've mentioned the RIAA, does the word lawsuit come to mind? Who filed the lawsuits on the file sharers? Who sued many of the wrong people including 12 year old girls, a homeless guy, and a dead woman among others?

The RIAA.

SoundExchange is the RIAA.

The RIAA, via SoundExchange want internet broadcasters who play music that belongs to their members in excess of $20,000 (U.S. dollars) to play that music. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of cash laying around to play music for a once a week show.

For that matter, while Deb primarily plays music on her shows, from what she's said, she doesn't have that kind of cash either.

Independent musicians, if you are with one of the members of the music mafia which include but not limited to the RIAA, BMI, The Harry Fox Agency or Ascap, your membership with one of these Performance Rights Societies will limit your airplay on internet radio because we can't afford the licensing fees, and don't want to run the risk of losing our homes, and everything we've worked for in our personal lives just because we played a song, never mind that you sent us the file and asked us to play it. I'm sorry, but even though you asked us to play it, if the music mafia were to come after us it wouldn't matter.

So since I mentioned all that, let me tell you independent guys and gals, who want your music played on independent music shows on the internet, the best possible ways to get airplay on internet radio.

1) If you are a member of one of the Performance Right Organizations, forget it, most of us who play music on the internet aren't willing, or able to pay for the licensing fees. I know that Deb would love to play your music on her show, and get you some exposure, and honestly I would too. We know, better than most people, how the industry totally screws over the independent artists. One of the ways that they got ya by the balls? Well, you are a member of one of the licensing agencies that have you by the balls, and broadcasters as well. We would love to give you exposure, we would love to give you airplay, but because we are 9 to 5 workday people, and while we are independent broadcasters, unfortunately we are not also independently wealthy. I can't be any more plain then that.

2) So, if you are a member of the Music Mob? Did you also license your music under Creative Commons? Well, guess what? Because you signed with them, even if you also license your music under Creative Commons, the agreement you signed with BMI, ASCAP, Harry Fox or whichever agency you signed with takes precedence over your Creative Commons license. In fact, according to the Creative Commons website, you can't use a Creative License at all.

I got this right off of the the Creative Commons Website so I know it's legit.

Oops, did that link take you somewhere else? Oh yeah I'm sorry, the link I posted is some of the crap those of us who broadcast on the internet have to deal with.

I wanted to give some of you folks who want your music on the internet, who thought this blog post was a bit long, something longer to read. Just a taste of the hell that responsible internet broadcasters have to deal with.

Since you have made it this far, I'll be nice and keep it simple.

As a result of the warranty disclaimer, before using a Creative Commons licensed work, you should satisfy yourself that the person has all the necessary rights to make the work available under a Creative Commons license. You should know that if you are wrong, you could be liable for copyright infringement based on your use of the work.

So, even if you license your music under Creative Commons, your original agreement under your licensing agency applies. In fact, if you have already signed your rights away with a member of the M.O.B. (Muthas of Broadcasting) you can't even license your music under Creative Commons.

Click the link and do your own homework, because responsible internet broadcasters are gonna do ours. Even if you license your music under Creative Commons, if you also are with one of the major licensing agencies, guess what? Your agreement with BMI, Ascap, ect will supersede your Creative Commons license, like I said before, Creative Commons doesn't even apply at all. You shouldn't even try to license your music under Creative Commons, it will only make legit internet broadcasters think that is O.K. to play your music. It might be O.K. with you, but it is not gonna be O.K. with the "music mafia", that I promise you.

So, simply put, if you feel that you have to be a member of one of the Performance Rights Organizations, or the Music Mafia, or the PRO's, you are going to have a problem getting played on internet radio shows that would like to play your music. If you skipped the above post hoping to see why, then you are gonna have to just scroll back up.

Sorry. You signed your name to the paperwork long before you knew of me.

3) If you really and truly want Deb to play your music on her show, then you are going to have to sign a waiver. The waiver basically states what she is going to do with your music (play it, nothing else) what her rights are (which is to play it on her show, again, nothing else)

If ya got this far, then I know what you are thinking, which is Holy Shit, what am I signing my name to? Well, I know that Deb understands that the Music Industry is so screwed up that you guys are afraid to sign your name to anything. All Deb is asking is your permission to play your music on her show. She's trying to cover her ass, and can you say you blame her?

They have found ways to screw you indie guys, well guess what, they've found way's to bend us over and get us too.

So, in short, well I can't make it short and sweet, you really have to do your homework, just like we need to need to do ours.

If you want your music played, you have to jump through 50 hoops. If you are listed with one of the major licensing agency's, then I hope you are in really good shape, because you are gonna have to jump through a million hoops to even get us to play your music. We want to, we just can't without some paper to cover us.

As an internet broadcaster, we have to cover our ass as well, because of the industries current business model, we really are left with no choice.

We'd love to play ya, really we want to.


Make it possible for us. Don't sign it away to an industry that wants it for themselves.

Don't sign your music away to the music mafia.

Take a look at the Creative Commons website, and read the whole agreement.

The majority of us won't play ya otherwise. I'm sorry, but the industry won't let us play your music otherwise.

Ike Turner

When you see the post title, what is the first thought you have?

Be honest, do you think monster? Wife beater? Saw the movie "Whats Love Got to Do With It"?

Ever wonder what the other side of the story was?

You do know there are two sides to every story right?

Back when we interviewed JC Martin from Black Angel in January, one of the many things we touched on was his working relationship with Audrey Turner, who coincidentally was married to Ike Turner.

JC knew a different Ike Turner.

Ok, I'll just say it now, yes, he did beat Tina. Ike even admitted as much in his book "Taking Back My Name".


Forget the movie for a second.


In the words of JC Martin "Ike wasn't nearly as bad as people thought, and Tina wasn't as good as Oprah thought she was."

First, in reality, Ike was always buying his grand kids clothes, always having them at his ranch, when his kids got in trouble with drugs Ike was the one that got them off the street, got them into rehab, and cleaned up.

My favorite story is when Ike took his grandson Randy out, and got him a whole cowboy outfit. He bought him the 10 gallon hat, the vest, the cowboy shirt, the belt with the big cowboy buckle, the jeans, chaps, boots, the whole nine yards.

The next day Randy came out dressed in this outfit, and Ike came out wearing an identical outfit to go ride horses with his grandson.

On the other side, when Tina came to town one time, Ronnie (Ike and Tina's only son) was living in a two bedroom apartment, in fact the kids had to share a bed. Tina picked up Ronnie in a limo (Tina didn't like Ronnies wife) spent a bunch of money on him, gave him a bunch of cash, bought him a Lincoln Continental, didn't see her grandkids because she didn't like their mother.

Three days later Ronnie went to a recording session with Black Angel, he had blown the money on drugs, wrecked the Continental, ect.

So compare the two stories.

Ok, granted Ike was a different person when he was on drugs. In fact according to JC, Audrey left him when he got back on drugs about 3 to 6 months before he died. When he was on drugs he was a totally different guy. I understand that you can't blame the drugs, at the same time as Deb pointed out when we were talking about Ike last night, we've all seen people change when they get on drugs, or alcohol, lets be honest people do change when they are wrecked on drugs.

Here's an interesting point....

Right when Deb's show Unsigned Musicians went on the air, she had been talking to Audrey Turner about helping to launch the "Unleashed" show. The day after Deb talked to Audrey, Ike passed away.

Deb did a tribute show to Ike Turner (and does every year on December 12, the date Ike passed away) and made sure that the musicians she plays on the tribute show were ok with it, afterall Ike Turner is a controversial guy.

The response was overwhelming, people who knew Ike, had no problem with it.

We talked about Ike Turner at length this week. The show is in the archive, and if you are interested in hearing more about the real Ike Turner, listen to the show we did with JC Martin. I have it featured on my showpage on blogtalkradio right now, but if you can't find it, the original air date was January 11, 2009. The best way to listen to the part about Ike would be to download the show, open it in your own media player, and scroll down to the 2 hour mark.

As I said, none of us are perfect, go try walking on water.

Otherwise, be sure to get both sides of the story.



On another note, we are still working on the petition to President Obama, I'll be sure to post here when we have it ready.

We have to stop the Performance Rights Act folks.

Some Awesome Callers Last Sunday!

Really had a great time on the show last Sunday.

Deb and I started discussing the Performance Rights Act that is currently in committee in the United States Congress. As we discussed it seems that some very rich musicians like Sheryl Crow, and Dionne Warwick need more money and think that terrestrial radio stations should have to pay the same outrageous royalties that internet radio now pays, which is close to $20,000 a year, per station. So think of all the radio stations in the country, nice welfare for the music industry.

(holy shit, Dionne Warwick, who even listens to her anymore? I guess the psychic friends thing isn't working out for her anymore...)

Over the course of the conversation, we did have a couple of awesome guests in the chatroom one of which was kind enough to call in.

First and foremost, I have to give Be Heard, who was kind enough to call into the show. He's starting a website for Indie Artists, and people who support them. It's a really nicely done website, independentartistworld.com go there and check it out. Like I said it's still just getting started, but you won't be disappointed. Be Heard is a really great guy. He feels the same way that Deb and I do about the industry, and like us, wants to help out the indie artists, hence his site.

Coincidentally, he's also starting a show over on blogtalkradio, it's on at the same time as Debs show on Saturday unfortunately, but I will be checking out the archive, I think it's going to be awesome, he's a really cool guy.

Also hanging out in the chatroom, was Iradiomagazine. Their website is http://www.internetradiomagazine.com/, alot of great info there to. I was honored that they were in the chatroom, it was really unfortunate that they weren't able to call in, but hopefully they will be able to next time they drop in.

One of the things we were talking about is starting an online petition, for the Obama administration in regards to the Performance Rights Act. We should have this up very soon, in fact it's on my to do list for this week. I'll post another blog update when I have it up.

I think it would be very interesting to see how the man who said he was going to change the way things are done in Washington reacts. Will he bend the way of his buddies in the music industry who contributed a Quarter of a Million dollars to his presidential campaign, or will he be the candidate for change that he promised to be?

Are the independent artists out there about to get even more screwed over by our politicians, and the industry?

Stay tuned.........

Troy Castellano on Indie Music Spotlight last Sunday!

This was a really good show. It simply amazes me how we keep getting awesome guests and Troy was no exception. Amazing guest, amazing musician, we really had fun on this one.

First let me toss out some web links....

Troy's website is www.troycastellano.com/. While you are there be sure to sign up for his newsletter.

Here's his Myspace here, and he also has a ton of music on his youtube page.

We talked about his songwriting process, some of the things he's been up to lately and played some of his songs. It literally took my breath away, this music is totally amazing.

I don't remember ever seeing the chat room so packed. Deb and I thought it was amazing the amount of support he is getting, especially from his family. We almost had a riot at one point while I was waiting for some songs Troy sent me to upload and process. Thankfully the files processed pretty quickly (which surprised me considering some of the issues we've been having on blogtalk lately) and we were able to get the songs played before the live portion of the show ended.

Especially listen to the story behind the song Angelene after we played it, names changed to protect the guilty of course, and one of many light hearted moments we had during the show.

We did continue the show after the live stream ended, in fact we ran close to 3 hours, so the best way to enjoy this one would be to go to the actual showpage (click here) and listen from here. Blogtalkradio does have a "pop out" player that does seem to work, well most of the time anyway.

Having said how long the show was, I also have to say that 3 hours wasn't long enough to talk about the stuff we wanted to talk about.

Guess that means we'll have to have him on again, I'm looking forward to it!

Troy Castellano on Indie Music Spotlight this Sunday!

This coming Sunday, March 1st, we are going to have musician/songwriter Troy Castellano on the show.

You can check out his music at www.troycastellano.com/

From his bio on his website;

Hailing from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, the state of ever changing seasons, Troy Castellano is a rock-pop singer and songwriter who's music has been described as Bon Jovi met the Goo Goo Dolls, got on Daughtry's tour bus and jammed! Writing and performing music has always been one of the biggest passions in his life. It's those burning affections that continue to drive his lust for creating memorable music.

Troy's passion for music started one fateful X-mas when his parents bought him his first electric guitar. Coupled with another gift of music, Deep Purple's Machine Head album, Troy's musical fire was ignited with sparks from the soul. That fire has been a non-extinguishable flame that burns strong and bright today. Since those first sparks, Troy has felt that music is the most influential force in the world. As he says, “Music can be the healer, the peacemaker, the influencer, the agitator, and the fire starter. You name it, music has been there in all forms and emotion throughout the history of the world.

Throughout his music career Troy wrote, produced and recorded a full length CD with his regionally popular band the Troy Castellano Group (self titled 1999). The release received airplay on 5 Minnesota radio stations. In 2006 Troy engineered, produced and recorded a 6 song EP/CD called Reliability Test Lab with his current cover/original band, To The Core. A few tracks of Reliability Test Lab received airplay on local stations as well. The band also garnered the cover of the music magazine Stone Roller (March 2005 & March 2006).

In 2008 after a long break from writing Troy was booked at and played the infamous BB King's in Hollywood, CA. Troy's show was well received and the fire for creating was once again lit. Since then Troy has started to let a few of his recent demos slip out into public. One of those demos is a song named All Torn Up. The song won Broadjam.com's July 2008 song of the month for which he won some great music gear and was featured on Indies Top 10 a monthly radio show and podcast. Troy is also a featured artist on Nambagear.com.

At this point in time, Troy is making some changes in his life to allow more time to write and perform his music. Listen for new songs from Troy in the coming months!

His music is awesome, I'm really looking forward to having him on the show.

Of course, joining me once again as co-host will the best damn co-host on blogtalkradio, Deb from the Unsigned Musicians shows!

Show starts at 9 p.m. (eastern) and we're looking forward to having you join us.

What a Wild and Wacky Week!

We had a busy week on the show last week to say the least....lol

Deb and I did our usual Sunday show, cutting it to an hour because we were going to be right back on Friday with Pete Berwick, who's appearance on ABC's "Wife Swap" re-aired and because we wanted to catch Jody Parker's show over on blogtv.

Anyway, on to Friday's show. As our good friend Pete is portrayed on Wife Swap as some kind of mindless testosterone filled sexist pig, (never mind that he really isn't like that) we thought it was going to be the "Berwick Barbecue" and we would have throngs of pissed off, irate females calling in and Pete was ready for 'em!

Unfortunately, despite heavy promotion by myself, Deb, and Pete, we didn't have hardly any listener traffic for the show. I'm really not quite sure what happened, whether maybe it was because the show was on a Friday and I don't usually do shows on Friday, some kind of glitch on blogtalkradio that I was unaware of, or what but the stats for the show were pathetic. I think personally it would have been better if BTR had featured the show, I mean what the hell, I had a guy on the show who was just shown on NETWORK television and I would think that maybe the network I broadcast the show on would have bumped one of the hosts that they always feature and put this on, but unfortunately they didn't.

Not to take anything away from these other hosts, they do really great shows, and have always been gracious to me whenever I've wandered in, I just wonder why they are always featured irregardless of who one of the rest of us might be having on a show. I just think this is very strange, and it left kind of a bad taste in my mouth.

And yes, honestly, if I noticed that different shows were being featured on Friday, besides the ones that always are, then yes, I wouldn't feel this way. It's just that between the site redesign that isn't working, the technical glitches that had gone away that came back with said redesign, and the same hosts always being featured no matter what I'm really starting to wonder whether I want to continue broadcasting on blogtalk, or move the show.

(I am starting to investigate other broadcast sites, anybody know of any let me know)

So anyway, despite the low listener traffic, Friday's show was still a good one. Pete wasn't exactly happy about how he was portrayed on Wife Swap and let us know about it...lol

We also discussed his new album, why the music industry is totally screwed up, and even a taste of the old days when I did a political show, we also discussed politics.

It's a long show, but a good one, second on the player right now so check it out. Might be better to download this one and slap it on an i-pod/mp3 player. I would have to warn everyone that we did use some pretty strong language during this broadcast. (maybe better I wasn't featured...lol)

Then, this last Sunday we discussed the RIAA's latest go around with lawsuits. First, here's a newsflash, they haven't stopped with them despite media reports that they have.

One of the articles we talked about from elanso.com was about the Jammie Thomas case.

Here's a unique defense to a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit: Admit liability and challenge the law under which you're being sued.

That's what a Bronx woman did Monday in New York federal court (.pdf). Denise Barker is accused of file sharing eight songs on the Kazaa network in 2004. If found liable, she faces fines under the Copyright Act of $750 to $150,000 per song.

Barker's attorney, Ray Beckerman, admitted the woman file shared and challenged the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, the law under which the RIAA sued Barker and thousands of others. The fines the act authorizes for each download is unconstitutionally excessive and against U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Beckerman said.

Beckerman, who writes the Recording Industry vs The People blog, estimated its costs the industry $3.50 per download, meaning the penalties could exceed thousands of times the actual injury to the industry. Rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts say financial punishments exceeding a 9-to-1 ratio are unconstitutional.

"It's an ideal case to litigate the damages issue. She actually did make some copies through Kazaa," Beckerman said in a telephone interview.

The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 individuals for illegal file sharing. Most of the accused settle out of court for a few thousand dollars.

Only one case has gone to trial.

In that case, A Duluth, Minnesota jury last year ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $222,000 for file sharing 24 songs on Kazaa. She denied her guilt and challenged (.pdf) the constitutionality of the Copyright Act after she was found liable in October.

The Bush administration weighed-in, urging Judge Michael Davis to uphold the penalty.

A hearing in Thomas' case was set for Monday, where the arguments instead are expected to focus on the so-called "making available" argument.

The RIAA claims that file sharers are liable for infringement solely for making available copyrighted works of music on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Among the reasons the RIAA makes such an argument is because it's technologically impossible to know if a file sharer's music has been downloaded by somebody who has not been authorized to copy it.

The judge in the Thomas case is considering ordering a new trial. He's concerned that he erred when he instructed jurors in October that the "making available" argument amounted to unauthorized distribution.

Breaking it down, she's being fined over $9000 per song. If this isn't excessive fines and punishment and a violation of our 8th amendment rights I don't know what is.

Here is a link to, who I think is one of the hero's of this whole insane mess, Ray Beckerman's blog who is the attorney challenging this nonsense in court.

recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com

We also talked about Friday's show, as well as some of the other artists we've had on. Right now, as it's the most recent show (at least as I write this) it's at the top of the player so be sure to check it out as well.

This coming Sunday, we are going to have Troy Castellano, who is the lead guitar and vocalist from To The Core. Check out their website at http://www.tothecorerocks.com/index.html

Awesome band, awesome website, and I'm looking forward to having another incredible show this coming Sunday, at 9 p.m. (eastern time) over on blogtalkradio so be sure to check us out.