Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – The Angels

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

I’m sure you’ve all heard their song “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Fave Again”. If you haven’t the live version of the song has the following words;

Am I Ever Gonna See Your Fave Again
No way, get fucked, fuck off

It came out in 1977, but it really became it’s own beast in the 80s and when it appeared on their live album “Live Line” released in 1987, it’s legendary status within Australia was certified and it re-entered the charts.

Their earlier albums had production from Young and Vanda. The same dudes who worked with AC/DC and the same dudes from The Easybeats and of course George Young is the older brother of Angus and Malcolm.

After the success of “Live Line”, the Australian market was primed for a new album.

“Beyond Salvation” was released in Australia in early June 1990 and reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

The first single “Let the Night Roll On” came out six months prior to the album’s eventual release.

The second single “Dogs Are Talking” had tracks from young bands who would be touring in the support slots as the B Sides. What a brilliant idea to promote other acts. That’s how I came across Baby Animals.

The U.S. version of the album, released under the name “The Angels From Angel City” (seriously I never understood why US label reps would do that to Aussie bands), featured a vastly different track listing.

It’s made up of 4 songs from this album, “Dogs Are Talking”, “Rhythm Rude Girl”, “Let the Night Roll On” (the only 3 songs to also appear on the Australian edition), and “Junk City” (Australian single B-side to “Let the Night Roll On”).

And re-recordings of 5 classic Angels songs, “City Out of Control” (Night Attack, 1981), “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” (The Angels, 1977), “I Ain’t the One” (Face to Face, 1978), “Who Rings The Bell” (The Angels’ Greatest, 1980), and “Can’t Shake It” (No Exit, 1979).

But the album that survives today is the Aussie edition.

But the album divided the fan base.

Lyrically they switched to writing about loose women and the rock and roll spirit, which was a far cry from their more political/social consciousness and punk style lyrics from earlier albums.

For me, they filled the void in between AC/DC albums.

And if you want to hear rock in the vein of AC/DC then check out “Let The Night Roll On”, “Back Street Pick Up” and “Dogs Are Talking”.

“Rhythm Rude Girl” still has that pub rock spirit but it’s a bit more mature musically within the blues. There is this bass and drum groove in the song with some slide guitar licks. Its excellent.

The band still does the rounds these days with Dave Gleeson from The Screaming Jets on vocals after Doc Neeson passed away in 2014.

Check em out.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

2000 – Part 12

Wow, 12 posts on the Year 2000. And one more to come after this.

Sammy Hagar – Ten 13

I was just listening to his “Lockdown 2020” album released with “The Circle”. Cant say I’m a fan. It’s not the album I wanted to hear from him.

Then again, how can you not listen to a record featuring Sammy Hagar?

Check out “Let Sally Drive”. The riffs, the vocal melodies and that Acca Dacca vibe.

Then “Serious JuJu” kicks off with a Tool like vibe/feel in the riffs and the variety between the songs is intoxicating.

“All politicians speak in jive, they lie to keep the lie alive”

It’s not just the politicians these days. A lot of people are trying to get ahead by putting down others.

“The Message” is one of those slower type rockers. Think of “Right Now”. It still rocks as hard as it rolls.

“Little Bit More” has Sammy showing all those Alt Rockers how it’s really done.

“Protection” is “Humans Being”, with a bit more soul and boogie instead of the fast paced rocker that Van Halen delivered. And Sammy is singing about how we all need “protection from the system”.

Check it out.

U2 – All You Can’t Leave Behind

It was the perfect time for a comeback and they delivered.

“Beautiful Day” is classic U2. Musically, they had returned to the well of rock, after dabbling in electronica, techno and dance synths previously. It came out in Australia, just after the Olympics finished and it was a beautiful time.

I know a lot of us sang it as “it’s a beautiful day when you got bills to pay”, smiling and laughing while we sung it.

“Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” sounds like one of those soul blues rock tunes that hangs around for a while. It’s slower in tempo, almost ballad like, but it still rocks for me.

“Elevation” continues the knockouts and “Walk On” makes it four from four. “Kite” at track 5 and its melancholic mood captures me. Five from five.

And this album was a high peak for the band.

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” went to number one in 32 countries and won seven Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album.

Bono kept on saying in interviews how U2 was “re-applying for the job of ‘biggest band in the world'” with this album. And in my view they succeeded.

Oasis – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

It still did good business in Australia, coming in at number 6 on the ARIA charts.

But hindsight is a wonderful thing for Noel Gallagher, who didn’t want to make the album as he was devoid of inspiration, and had no reason or desire to make music, but Liam kept pushing him to write as the band needed a new album to go on tour.

And for an album which Noel sees as uninspired, I think it’s pretty good.

“Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is” has this “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheep” riff and a “Roadhouse Blues” vocal line, which connected with audiences. It’s one of my favourites from the album. “Go Let It Out” wouldn’t be out of place on earlier Oasis album.

“Gas Panic!” is an underrated gem, exotic and progressive in feel and atmospherics. At almost 7 minutes long, its anti-pop.

“Where Did It All Go Wrong?” could have crossed over onto the country rock charts. Hell, I will even call it Southern Rock. “I Can See A Liar” starts off with an AC/DC style riff before it moves into the psychedelic rock from The Beatles.

The album closes with the six minute and thirty seconds “Roll It Over”, another melancholic track which percolates slowly. Make sure you stick around for when the guitar solo starts and the gospel singers kick in. It’s worth it.

The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina/The Machines of God

All albums that came after “Siamese Dream” and “Mellon Collie” would be compared to those albums instead of standing on their own. Regardless, the album still did good business in Australia and most major music markets. But poor business when compared to the other albums.

“The Everlasting Gaze” is a bloody good song. Listen to that intro riff, which re-appears in the verses and don’t tell me it’s not metal.

“Stand Inside Your Love” is different, more Brit Pop like The Cure and “Heavy Metal Machine” has this massive blues rock groove, all fuzzed up and heavy as lead.

“Glass And The Ghost Children” feels like a Neil Young song, when he went electric and all fuzzed up and experimented. “This Time” is one of their signature ballads. “Blue Skies Bring Tears” percolates at a slow tempo.

Overall, “Machina” at that point in time was the second lowest-selling Pumpkins album. Their label made sure they told them the same. Maybe it was the reason why they broke up.

Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, who returned to the band for this album, said it was like watching your kid get straight A’s for ten years, and suddenly flunk out of school. Billy Corgan, said the album wasn’t heavy enough or alternative enough to compete with Korn and Limp Bizkit, plus it was a concept story which nobody understood.

But their viewpoints are based on sales, not art.

For “Machina”, Billy Corgan delivered a piece of musical theatre, that is still waiting for the massive double album reissue in the way it was always meant to be.

Queens Of The Stone Age – Rated R

As soon as the bass groove starts of for “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer”, I was hooked. Of course a certain Dave Grohl used that same pattern for the Foo Fighters.

“Better Living Through Chemistry” feels like a cut from “The Tea Party”. And I like it. Make sure you check out the riff in the middle of the song. “Tension Head” is another that has a riff that gets me to pick up the guitar. “I Think I Lost My Headache” is a lost cut from Black Sabbath.

Porcupine Tree – Voyage 34

Only four songs are on the album. Each one at least 10 minutes or more. Phase 1 kicks it off and Phase 4 ends it. You can guess the song titles of the other two songs.

And after the spoken intro which mentions participants eating sugar cubes laced with LSD, the Pink Floyd inspired single note echo riff kicks off. And the themes of experimenting on humans while they consume drugs continues. It’s not the album I wanted from em at this point in time, but I am a fan of the courage Steve Wilson had to experiment and push boundaries.

Catherine Wheel – Wishville

“Sparks Are Gonna Fly” has this wah wah tremolo riff to kick it off, before it explodes without any effects. Its blues rock and its foot stomping. “What We Want To Believe In” has a fuzz wah drenched intro lead to kick off the song, and I like.

“All Of That” is a favourite. So is “Idle Life”. They are both slower tempo, ballad like.

Spiritual Beggars – Ad Asra

The retro looking cover and band name graphic was good enough to get me interested. Like QOTSA and other acts that brought back the heavy rock from the 70’s, Spiritual Beggars did it Euro style.

And Michael Amott on guitars and founder of the band after he left Carcass, is a true guitar hero when it comes to riffs and leads.

If the name sounds familiar, he also founded Arch Enemy and if you read his interviews he talks very highly of his influences like Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Tipton, Adrian Smith, Tony Iommi, Frank Marino, Michael Schenker, Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, and Uli Jon Roth.

Opener “Left Brain Ambassadors” is a heavy blues rock tune.

“Wonderful World” has a verse which drips Sabbath and a Chorus that comes from Swedish pop and a solo section which is brilliant.

The outro solo section in “Sedated” needs to be heard, if you haven’t heard it already.

“Angel Of Betrayal” is your typical 70’s Hard Rock tunes, more like Blue Oyster Cult.

And there isn’t a bad song on the album.

There are the fast riffs (“Save Your Soul” comes to mind as I type this), the melodic riffs (“Per Aspera Ad Astra”) and the slower heavier than lead riffs (“Until the Morning” comes to mind, which has an acoustic opening and then a big heavy riff that reminds me of Sabbath. The vocals are distorted and perfect.)

And for a closer, check out “Mantra” is it plods along acoustically with an eerie keyboard before it explodes like “Stairway To Heaven” explodes.

Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes – Live at the Greek

Chris Robinson said he “didn’t have fun doing it”, but regardless of what he thinks, the team up of Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes is brilliant. And Robinson actually does a wonderful job on the vocals. Even though he didn’t have fun doing it.

It’s a shame that contractual issues stopped a lot of The Black Crowes songs from being released officially, so what we get are a lot of Led Zep classics and some standard blues songs.

“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” is still a favourite for me.

Check it out.

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Copyright, My Stories, Stupidity

Takedowns – Copyright Style

It’s all happening in Australia.

Our government wants companies like Google and Facebook to pay news creators for having their articles appear in search results or when they are shared on a social media feed.

Google is negotiating with them while Facebook said “fuck you” and blocked or restricted all news content on the platform.

The thing is, these news outlets have never adapted to the changing marketplace that the World Wide Web brings.

They put content behind paywalls and it’s not working as good as the news content providers hoped it would do. Physical sales are down.

They have articles on the site with a lot of ads running on the side. Most of the article’s that generate money from ads are click bait stories and not the proper well researched long form articles.

So if you’re a serious journalist, there is a very high chance that your well written story that takes 15 minutes to read will be ignored because click bait short stories end up rising to the top.

And it’s all in the name of copyright.

Copyright allows the news creators to say to Google or Facebook that these companies are using copyrighted material without permission or proper compensation on their services.

And if you are in doubt as to how much power copyright has, look no further than the Beverley Hills Police Officers.

The officers are playing copyrighted music at each arrest and stop, so if they are filmed and that video is shared, they are using copyrights take down tool to remove the videos on copyright grounds.

Remember that the intention of copyright is to give the creator a short term monopoly on their art so they could make money from it.

And then once that term expired, the art enters the public domain so future generations can use it to create.

Add enforcement to it.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Crooks Continued

The “playing live” income stream is non-existent at the moment. But it’s not just artists who are losing out.

Venues also make money by having live music and collection agencies also make money by charging venues a license fee which allows the venues to have live music.

But the collection agencies feel they should be making more money in a pandemic from live performances.

PRS is an organisation in the UK which collects and distributes artists’ royalties. And they thought it was a great idea (a lot of sarcasm here) to introduce a new fee for livestreams because “hey how could they miss out and not get a slice of the pie”.

As the Vice article states;

Livestreams with a revenue below £250 will need to pay a flat rate of £22.50 for this licence, which doubles to £45 for revenues between £251 and £500. This means that for those hosting an online event with a revenue of £250 or less, a minimum of 9 percent will go to PRS.

So do you reckon the independent artists are happy about this cash grab from PRS.

And what makes it worse, artists need to wait at best, six months before they receive any royalties less admin fee from these collection agencies.

And the new tax is basically a punishment to the grassroots artists who would have a small turnover.

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Music, Stupidity

Stupid

On one of the email’s I subscribe to “Stream N Destroy”, it mentioned that Morgan Wallen was the most streamed artist last week (Feb 5 2021 – Feb 11 2021), with 92.3M steams. To compare, Queen was mentioned as the most streamed artist from rock bands and they had 12.1M streams in total.

So I went to Spotify to check him out and it’s country. It’s a double album and a quite a few songs sounded cool, so I added them to my 2021 playlist. I checked out some reviews and it was all negative.

This morning I was over at Vice, which is becoming my go to site for news on a lot of different subjects and there is Morgan Wallen again.

But the article isn’t signing his praises. Instead a drunk and staggering Wallen was caught on video calling a drunk friend, the n-word.

Wallen went into damage control and apologised.

But it was too late.

His label suspended him, his songs were removed from some platforms like iHeart Radio and if any of his songs appeared on official playlists on Spotify or Apple Music, well, they got removed from those playlists as well. And in the space of a few days, he was also removed from being the most streamed artist.

Which goes to show how quickly you can fall, regardless of how long it took to rise to the top of the pile. He appeared on “The Voice” but he didn’t win. A lot of people in the industry didn’t believe he would make it. He did make it and is doing his best to prove the critics right.

And I don’t get it.

He’s obviously mates with a black person, he’s gone out drinking with him and they both got pretty smashed. I guess it’s all a charade.

Wallen might play country music, but his lifestyle is decadent. He’s been arrested for public intoxication before and got into trouble for breaking COVID-19 protocols and making out with coeds. But the Country music promotion machine was behind him, and they used his boozing, hard parting ways to push him as the next big star.

As the Vice article states, there are a lot of other country artists who are of different colour and deserve the same promotional push that Wallen got, but they seem to be bypassed in favour of a white skinned artist.

Maybe the lyrics to “Outlaw” from his new album act as a foretelling.

“I never thought I’d get caught
Yeah, at least that’s what I thought”

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Crooks

There’s always crooks in the music business woods and they are finding creative ways to steal.

Judas Priest posted a message recently about a fake “Glen Tipton Foundation” account doing the rounds and asking people to donate. Metal fans (like most music fans) are loyal so they give. I’m not sure how many fans have given monies to this fake foundation but it’s not surprising that the crooks are targeting artists.

Because if this artist loyalty didn’t exist, platforms like Kickstarter, Pledge and Indiegogo who allow fans to fund their favourite artists would also not exist nor would they make any money in the process from their percentage cut. And even then, these platforms take a long time to make the payments they gathered to the artists. So for all their good intentions as enablers, these platforms also act like crooks, keeping money which is not theirs for a longer term to earn more money from it.

Even the platforms that allow you to upload music to digital providers, keep your royalty payments for at least three to six months before clearing them for payment. The collection agencies are also the same.

And it doesn’t end there.

The record labels always want a deal which favours them more than the artist.

An 80/20 royalty deal is normally the case, which means that 80% goes to the label and 20% to the artist. This deal is also seen as “artist friendly”. But before any royalty is paid back to the artist, all of the advances given to the artist, plus recording costs and marketing costs need to be recouped back by the label.

And the way the monies are recouped by the label is via the royalty split.

For example, let’s just say that the artist is given a $60K advance, $20K recording budget and a $20K marketing budget. All up these payments totals $100K. All of these monies need to be paid back to the label.

So if the artist makes $100K in their first week sales, the label makes a profit of $80K which they bank, and the $20K the artist makes, also goes to the record label to pay back the $100K in loans given. So at this point in time the artist has only paid back $20K of their $100K loan.

For the artist to pay back the label the original $100K loan, they will need to generate $500K in sales.

And from the $500K sales, the record label has banked $400K as pure profit, and the artist has repaid the $100K loan.

And now, the artist can start earning a split of all future sales made from this point on. But the labels will add video shoot costs, photo costs, car hires, plane tickets, consultant fees, lawyer frees and everything else to the bill, to ensure the artist stays in a state of debt, so that the label could keep banking the 100%.

Let’s not forget that the artist themselves will also have an entourage of people waiting on advances and payments, like managers, accountants, lawyers.

Crooks everywhere.

P.S.
Here is a pretty cool article about these kind of record deals from the recent UK Government inquiry into the music business.

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Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – February 7 to February 12

4 Years Ago (2017)

Nothing was posted for a second week as i was still enjoying my Summer break and procrastinating about what to write about and if I should write.

And on February 10, Rag’N’Bone Man released the excellent “Human”. A mixture of soul, blues and a rock attitude, it quickly became a favorite.

8 Years Ago (2013)

Vito Bratta was on my mind as I was unboxing a lot of my Guitar World issues, which I hadn’t seen for a long time due to my house moves.

On the Guitar forum sites I was visiting at the time, there wasn’t much info on his gear and set up, and I had the info in a Guitar World article, so here it is.

Bullet For My Valentine also released their excellent Metal and Rock album known as “Temper Temper”.

40 Years Ago (1981)

Rush release “Moving Pictures”.

This was my entry into Rush and committing me to fandom, forever.

43 Years Ago (1978)

Van Halen release their debut album.

Enough said.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault and Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – Cog

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

Cog is one of my favourite Australian bands.

A band I was in used to play on the same bill as these guys between 2002 and 2005 when they used to hit my hometown.

It’s hard to explain their style, as it’s a mixture of so many different styles. But they have a mood and a groove in each song that takes me places.

For a three piece band, they sound like a five piece band. Their use of the fuzz and digital delay pedals to enhance their distorted or clean tone sound is reminiscent of Neil Young and U2. Some songs have hard rock in them, others a progressive groove, like Deftones and Tool.

Wikipedia mentions that the band’s music is influenced by Tool, Isis (the instrumental band), Nina Simone, Bob Marley, Leftfield, Deftones and Helmet.

Guitarist and eventual vocalist Flynn Gower and drummer Lucius Borich went to Bondi High School together. Around 1996, Gower formed a five-piece metal band called “The Hanging Tree” and Borich formed an alternative sounding band called “Juice”.

By 1998, they ended up forming a new band together and to round out the band for the live shows, Flynn recruited his brother Luke.

They did a residency at a Sydney venue, with no vocalist, asking people in attendance to send them demo’s. Eventually Flynn trained his voice to become the singer as the candidates weren’t that good.

These guys toured and man, they toured hard. They hit every corner of Australia and every inland place that would have them.

The “Just Visiting” EP’s were meant to be a single album but released as two separate EP’s. The single album was released in 2008.

“Just Visiting Part One” was released in February 2002 and “Just Visiting Part Two” was released in October that same year. The guys signed the copy of “Part One” at one of the gigs we played.

“Bondi” starts off with an off time bass riff and a guitar riff which acts as a counterpoint. And it’s a perfect way to start off their recording career, writing about their hometown.

“1010011010.0” starts off with a conversation about “big brother” and what’s in “room 101”, which is alluded as the “worst thing in the world”.

And in case you are wondering what’s going on with the song title, well, it’s the computer binary code for “666”.

“Pseudo” has a clean tone arpeggio style riff, an offbeat drum groove and an exotic vocal melody. “Stretch” has this fuzzed out digital delay riff which I like. The vocal melody is unique, early Muse/Radiohead style. And progressive.

From about 2.20, “The Truth and Other Lies” goes into overdrive, with a jazzy like bassline and the 3 minute mark the most fuzziest and heaviest riff comes in.

“Moshiach” has been their set opener from time to time and it’s a great song to get the amps cranking and the PA firing.

Those opening lyrical lines of “I’ve been waiting and watching and it won’t be long” are instantly recognizable and singable.

“Paris Texas” has a repeating vocal melody of “We’re all going to die”. It sounds unsettling singing it out loud at a concert, but its effective. And that bass riff, just rumbles along, as the song percolates until it explodes at the half way mark. This one is very Tool like.

“The New Normal” came out in 2005, produced by Sylvia Massy and recorded in Weed, California.

The sound is massive.

“Real Life” kicks off the album and it runs through a range of different emotions and moods. From about the 3 minute mark, the song moves into a clean tone groove, which percolates and builds until it explodes again for the last minute of the 6 minute song.

“Anarchy OK” is up next and you get a feel for the lyrical themes on this album by looking at the titles and the pictures in the CD booklet.

“Silence” tells us there is so much violence in the silence. “The Spine” has a musical feel and inspiration from “Bondi”.

“Run” starts off with a synth riff before the arpeggios kick in. It’s a different Cog, still progressive in how they structure the songs, and memorable.

After 90 seconds of ambient noise, the 10 minute song and serious Meatloaf challenger for the longest song title, “The Doors (Now And Then My Life Feels Like It’s Going Nowhere)” kicks into motion with a digital delayed riff as its centrepiece. Just before the 5 minute mark it goes into overdrive.

And the album ends with another 10 minute song called “Naming The Elephant”. A clean tone single note riff starts the song off, which keeps repeating. Then the drums come in, it builds and builds and builds until it quietens down again.

The last 3 minutes with the “so long, I’ve been waiting” vocal line needs to be heard.

Two massive songs to bookend the album.

“Sharing Space” came out in 2008, again produced by Sylvia Massy. This one went Gold in Australia. A masterpiece for me. It starts off with “No Other Way”, one of my favourite songs from Cog. At 10 minutes long, it doesn’t get boring or repetitive.

Once you hear the addictive vocal melody of “Are You Interested” it will never leave you mind.

“Yes their making lists of people interested in this, anyone who speaks their mind is labelled anarchist”

The democratic Governments have more power to spy on their own citizens than ever before. And our leaders keep telling us to trust them because they are the good guys while they do what all the totalitarian regimes do. Collect data.

And the album closes with “Problem Reaction Solution”, another 10 minutes monster and the lyrical message of “working our whole lives to pay for a cage we never really own”.

In December 2010, Cog played what many had believed to be their last show in Sydney. I think the lack of traction in overseas markets and the transition to relationships and parenthood, played a part.

But the story doesn’t end.

In late January 2016, the official Cog Facebook page was updated after a three year hiatus. And the unseen and rare photos kept on coming. Then the single, “The Middle” was released in 2018, their first new music in ten years. Since then, they have released two more singles titled “Altered States” and “Drawn Together” and in 2019, they toured again and did what they do best.

Smash the live arena to bits.

If you haven’t, crank em.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Treating Fans Like Shit

Copyright Again

I love Copyright.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving forever. Many years after the creators death, people who created nothing are still making money from it. And now we have investment firms buying the rights to songs from creators for large sums. And suddenly there is a new emperor in town when it comes time to discuss copyright terms at a political level.

One thing I know about hedge funds and investment firms; they don’t like to lose and they don’t like to give away what they have.

Bob Rock sold his shares in the Metallica “Black” album to Hipgnosis Song Fund, an investment firm, founded by Merk Mercuriadis a former label head, joining people like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Shakira, One Republic, Dee Snider and many others.

Music today, is like real estate, generating money on a consistent basis. Streaming has shown how much money can be generated if you own the rights to the songs.

Previously an album would be released, if it didn’t sell, it would be removed from shelves and replaced by something else and eventually deleted from production. Well today, nothing is deleted and storage space is infinite. Suddenly every song is available again. Well almost every song. But you know what I mean.

Remember there are two types of copyrights in music.

One for the songwriter of the song, which is known as “publishing” and the other for the sound recording, the final track which ends up on albums and streaming services.

For example, a songwriter like Steve Harris, will own this copyright or he might lease it to a publishing company for a limited term in exchange for a large up-front payment. The publisher will make their money back by collecting and keeping the royalties it collects on behalf of the artist.

The sound recording should always be owned by the artist/band who recorded the song, but in most cases, it’s the label who has it, because they paid the money to get the artist/band into the studio to record their songs and they will also own it for a larger time frame. And they will also collect royalties on this for an even longer time, still claiming they the artist hasn’t recouped.

In this Pitchfork article, it mentions that “Hipgnosis calculates that it will own the songs in its catalog for an average of 101 years before losing copyright protection.”

101 years.

God damn. That’s a long time.

So Bob Dylan’s songs released in the 60’s will be under copyright all up for about 160 years.

Think about that.

And even then, there is always a politician looking for a large hand out to write and introduce laws to keep copyright forever.

Meanwhile artists still can’t get their copyrights back from the labels, even though the law states they can.

Dwight Yoakam is another artist suing his label, this time its Warner Music, because they refuse to accept or acknowledge that copyright law allows the artist to reclaim their works after 35 years.

And if you are not aware, Universal and Sony are also in the courts because of the same thing; not allowing artists to reclaim their rights.

And the world just keeps creating money out of thin air, as Tik Tok now has a licensing arrangement with Universal Music Group, along with Sony, which it announced in November. So here is another revenue stream for the major labels.

How much of it gets filtered back to the artists?

Probably none.

That’s why they are selling their rights for a large upfront payment. Take the money and run.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

What Are You Willing To Do?

I saw a quote in reference to Tom Brady and his seven Super Bowls.

“If you want to be average, then just do average work. But if you want to be great, you got to do what the rest aren’t willing to do”.

I’m not sure which coach said it.

I am presuming they are talking from an effort and practice point of view. But after reading a lot on self-development in the last six years, is it really about doing something what the rest aren’t willing to do.

So much more goes into development than just doing more in practice. In the early years, the early maturers and those born at the start of the birth year are identified as “elite” only to be replaced by others once all the growing has finished.

But self-development is a billion dollar industry and the industry needs to keep the profits coming in, so the same message keeps coming out about mindsets, grit, deliberate practice, 10,000 hours, mental toughness, talent codes, culture codes and what not.

Applying that quote to music, I am sure there are a lot of artists who did things that others weren’t willing to do (from a practice point of view) and are still unknown. Hell, YouTube has shown me so many talented artists each day and by tomorrow they are forgotten, replaced by someone else.

“Black Sabbath” was a horror show to the establishment back in the days and the anti-heroes to the “flowers in your hair” hippie movement and the sugar sweet pop charts. Other artists would have existed at that time who put in a lot of hard work to be excellent musicians, but it was Sabbath and Purple and Zeppelin and Rolling Stones and ELP and The Doors and Yes and Pink Floyd and Kiss that kept on rising.

Maybe that bit of extra was the drinking and the drugs.

In 1981, there were a lot of musicians who were far better/superior than the Motley Crue guys, but hey, Motley Crue made it and the other artists didn’t. Maybe because the Crue had the gimmick of “the outcasts standing against society” plus they used the pentagram to its full effect with the “Satanic Panic” in full swing in the U.S and they had the words of the youth in their lyrics. Who didn’t want to take their fists to break down the walls and get on the prowl tonight.

This process of “artists with lesser technical ability” making it over “artists of higher technical ability” kept on repeating in cycles.

I guess it’s not all about technical ability and how good you play your instruments. It’s about those soft skills, the experiences and the ability to write songs with a message that is understood.

Because even these artists who do make it and reach the lofty heights of commercial stardom, struggle to write songs with the same message, as their ivory tower glasses are unable to see that far.

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