Eminem's Die Hard Fans

Last year during the show I discussed an article about how Eminem's new album was supposed to save the music industry. I had recorded the segment and posted it on YouTube. This has without a doubt become my most hated video on YouTube.

I still stand behind my original statement, which is that the industry wouldn't need "saving" if they put out music people actually wanted to buy. Granted, Eminem is popular, but I hardly call him original. I still say that it will be the indies, utilizing the power of the internet, that will bring the industry back, albeit in a new way.



---------------------------------------------------------

Show notes;

We are getting into the time of year where life at work gets crazy. This year I've taken a different assignment which means life will be even crazier than usual. As I said during the show last week I plan to try to continue the weekly broadcast, but I have a feeling that life at work will interrupt this earlier this year than usual.

Musicians Together

Recently I found out about a website called Musicians Together. It's a really cool site for independent musicians to upload videos, and get to meet other musicians and fans as well. It's free, very well run, and there are alot of really great people over there, so I hope you guys will check it out.

Here is why, in my opinion, great sites like MT are important. As regular visitors to this blog (as well as the weekly show on blogtv) know, the major music industry has been steadily getting it's hooks into the websites that independents have traditionally used to self promote, network and get their music out. One great example is Myspace. Once upon a time that was THE site to be on if you were a musician. Since 4 of the major record labels bought into it, this is no longer the case, the site has completely turned it's back to the musicians that help build it. Now, it's just a big advertisement for the artists the major labels think we should be listening to, and the indies are shoved in the back somewhere. In fact they've become such a narcissistic, self important piece of crap website that myspace isn't even useful as a social networking site anymore. I was on there recently and can plainly see why people are leaving in droves, the site is almost impossible to navigate. Not only that, user generated content (such as bulletins and updates) are even pushed aside for whatever the majors flavor of the week is. In fact I still haven't figured out where they moved the bulletins to!

YouTube is another great example of a site that has, at least in my opinion, turned it's back to the musicians that helped build it. Since they downgraded the "music" category making it harder to find independent musicians and the music. Because the content on YT is more diversified I don't expect them to have the same downfall Myspam (oops I mean myspace) did, however from talking to some of the musicians I've found out that the view counts on their videos are way down from what they used to be.

This is whats great about Musicians Together, it's a site created by a musician, for musicians. There isn't a bunch of "white noise", it's picking up where other sites have left off. You don't have to look for the latest video from your favorite musician, it's right there.

Musicians Together is a young site, they are just starting out, but if the history of how some of these other sites is any indicator, I think they will be huge.

And I don't expect that they'll go the route of the other sites mentioned here and sell out.

Check them out, create an account, make a few friends and be a part of something pretty awesome, you won't regret it!


http://musicianstogether.com/

Videos

Over the course of the show I do sometimes hit the record button and record a segment, usually my weekly updates, along with anything else that I talk about that I might want to share and elaborate on later, interviews and other discussions.

Over the course of the following week I then upload and post on the youtube channel that I created for the show at http://www.youtube.com/user/IndieSpotlightLive so if there are videos that you might be looking for on my blogtv page that aren't there anymore there is a good chance that they are on the youtube channel so check it out!

Booking Musician Interviews Now!

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 for an interview over the last couple of years, 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 (as opposed to the old blogtalkradio channel)

I would also like to extend a special invite to all the musicians who have come by and played at our music events, I think it would be really great for our viewers/listeners to get to know you folks better as well!

Also, I know I mention it during the show, but I don't think I've ever mentioned it in a blog, but I do have a standing invitation for musicians who have been at our events, or have played live on the show before to come on and play a set. I don't always remember to ask, invite or offer so if there is a night that you guys and gals are feeling musical just ask, I would love to bring you on and entertain us!

Weekly Update

First I addressed some of the things that took place during and after the previous show. I could type it all out here but I'm a lazy little bitch so here's the video...lol



Fucking haters....lol

Anyway hop on to the youtube channel for the show and check out some of the other videos I recorded last Sunday.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Show notes;

May or may not be a show this Sunday. Haven't scheduled one and haven't decided. I think I might take a week off.

Deb and I are putting together another event. Starts at 12 noon August 21st on the UnleashedAgain channel. If you are a musician who has gotten an invite please get in touch with us, the time slots are filling up REALLY FAST.

Thats it for now have a great weekend!

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.

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.