Blue Sky On Mars

Somehow, I missed Newsweek’s Looking Grim at the Grammys article. The article highlights how grim things look for the music business right now, using the Album of the Year winner “O Brother Where Art Thou” as a counter balance to the pop fluff on the radio. Purely commercial offerings don’t have as much sway with people who are musicians themselves, which is why O Brother and India.Arie made an impact on the Grammys despite the lack of radio play.

Newsweek’s Steven Levy writes about the SSSCA hearings in the Senate, and how some would have you believe that millions of online song swappers are criminals. Technically, that’s true… but if enough registered voters decide that they’re fed up with the way current copyright laws are written and enforced, the laws can be changed.
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The NY Times reports on the increase in people recording their own CDs. This article indirectly highlights one big thing that the major labels do: filtering and promotion. The advent of inexpensive, high quality multitrack recording and Internet-based distribution has dramatically reduced the cost of entry into “professional” music.
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Since I started this blog last June, I’ve been mostly covering technology and software. Lately, a few things have been coming together in my mind and I think there will start being more coverage of music here. Which is not to say I’ll be neglecting technology… Technology is a big part of my day.