Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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.

Monday, February 23, 2009

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.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Watch Wife Swap on Friday!

At 8 o'clock (eastern time) ABC will re-broadcast the version of "Wife Swap" with Pete Berwick.

From the ABC website....

A wife who has sacrificed her own dreams to her husband's swaps with a woman with nine children who runs her house with an iron hand.


Should be a good show.


Then, after the show, head on over to a special edition of Indie Music Spotlight where we will be joined by our good friend Pete Berwick to talk about Wife Swap, his upcoming album, and all the things in between!

Deb wanted to call this show "The Pete Berwick Barbecue".....lol

Hmmm, might be something to that.

Anyway, show starts at 9 p.m. (est) right after Wife Swap airs, so be sure to tune in, this will be an awesome show!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Last Sunday's Show...

This week it was just Deb and I, which was still alot of fun. We sat and talked about the artists we've already interviewed, basically recapped the last 4 weeks of shows, and talked our usual trash about the music industry.

Before I go any further, I want you to check out this video. In Deb's words....

"Many teenagers amuse themselves by vandalizing vacant homes and breaking into cars. The teen in this video has taken unacceptable behavior to a whole new level. She is clearly a threat to society."



Look at this gal. Now they are going after 15 year old girls for singing "Winter Wonderland" and posting it on YouTube? WTF?!!??

The music industry seems to be on some kind of suicide run, and is bent on self destruction, at least in my opinion. This is just one of the things we talked about.

Today I was over on the EFF's website, and found a neat article here about this same issue.



From the article....

"This is what it's come to. Teenagers singing "Winter Wonderland" being censored off YouTube.

Fair use has always been at risk on YouTube, thanks to abusive DMCA takedown notices sent by copyright owners (sometimes carelessly, sometimes not). But in the past several weeks, two things have made things much worse for those who want to sing a song, post an a capella tribute, or set machinima to music.

First, it appears that more and more copyright owners are using YouTube's automated copyright filtering system (known as the Content ID system), which tests all videos looking for a "match" with "fingerprints" provided by copyright owners.

Second, thanks to a recent spat between YouTube and Warner Music Group, YouTube's Content ID tool is now being used to censor lots and lots of videos (previously, Warner just silently shared in the advertising revenue for the videos that included a "match" to its music).

EFF, along with many other public interest groups, have repeatedly expressed our concerns to both copyright owners and YouTube about the dangers of automated filtering systems like the Content ID system. These systems are still primitive and unable to distinguish a tranformative remix from copyright infringement. So unless they leave lots of breathing room for remixed content, these filters end up sideswiping lots of fair uses.

And that's exactly what has happened these past few weeks. And while today it's Warner Music, as more copyright owners start using the Content ID tool, it'll only get worse. Soon it may be off limits to remix anything with snippets of our shared mass media culture -- music, TV, movies, jingles, commercials. That would be a sad irony -- copyright being used to stifle an exciting new wellspring of creativity, rather than encourage it."




Be sure to check out the show, it's in the player.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Music Artist Chris Blake on Indie Music Spotlight Last Night

First of all, I have to say that I'm really enjoying this series of shows. It was really nice having Deb back this week as I had a conversation with Chris Blake.

Chris has had a ton of positive reviews on his music, and rightfully so. I do have to say that I found him to be a really modest guy, and really easy to talk to. He reminded me of some of the other independent artists that we've interviewed, folks like you and me who put their pants on one leg at a time, he just happens to be one of these great musical artists who put out great music and doesn't realize his own talent.

It was a really fun show, I really had a blast doing this interview. Although I have to say that it really turned into a conversation which to me are the best shows. I like it as a host to not have to be firing off questions and have a Q and A session, a discussion is always so much better.

A really insightful discussion it was, Chris didn't have some of the same views on the music industry as some of our previous guests did which was an interesting change of pace for me. I mean after talking to JC Martin, and Pete Berwick who all but want to just stand in front of the majors and give them a one fingered salute talking to someone who isn't really inclined to do that (although he did say he went through that period) was really a change but I couldn't help but agree with some of the things Chris said about myspace (it's free why complain) and the majors (they have the business model and know how to succeed) and while I have to see his point on the majors at the same time business models have to evolve, they have to change and realize that the times have changed, and that there are some really awesome artists who should be heard.

Lets face it, go and listen to Chris's music on Myspace and wonder why the hell we don't hear this on the radio. Instead we hear whatever "mega media whores" thinks we might want to hear, never mind what we really might want to hear.

I'm sorry, but given the music I hear on mainstream music right now, I think that the "whores" are missing the mark.

Just my opinion though, check out the show, right now I think it's one of our best shows that we've done on the "Indie Music Spotlight" series so far. Chris Blake was really insightful on some of his thoughts on the music industry, but I have to say that he really needs to give his own music more credit.

His stuff is really awesome (the definition of awesome to me being something that leaves you in awe and wonder) and I hope that he that might be able to take that and outsiders look at his music and realize it.

There is no shortage of great music on the internet, and he's right up there with the best of the best.