DAVID LOWERY TO SPEAK AT AMERICANA MUSIC CONFERENCE IN NASHVILLE, TN

LA TIMES AND PANDO DAILY RUN INTERVIEWS WITH OUTSPOKEN ARTIST RIGHTS ADVOCATE ABOUT COMPULSORY USE

The Americana Music Association has announced the David Lowery – lead singer of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven and University of Georgia economics and music business professor – will offer insights on timely legislative issues debated and host the American Bar Association’s Symposium on Entertainment. The Conference will be headquartered out of the Sheraton Nashville Downtown hotel September 18-22.

LA Times has called Lowery "a vocal advocate for artists trying to make a living in music while CD sales crumble and fledgling online services try to build an audience," continuing, "David Lowery has a modest proposal to help his fellow musicians in the digital age: force Pandora and other online music services to negotiate for the right to play songs." Read the entire LA Times feature.

Meanwhile, Lowery broke down his earnings as a songwriter from Pandora for Pando Daily.

Read Lowery's uncensored thoughts on the music business at the Trichordist blog.

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN PRINCIPLES BOTH SPEAK OUT AGAINST PANDORA IN BLOGS POSTS THAT HAVE SEEN CLOSE TO 1 MILLION VIEWS

DAVID LOWERY: "MY SONG GOT PLAYED ON PANDORA 1 MILLION TIMES AND ALL I GOT [AS SONGWRITER] WAS $16.89"

FORMER PANDORA EMPLOYEE JONATHAN SEGEL, ALSO OF CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN: "I WORKED THERE FOR THREE YEARS [AND] HERE'S THE TRUTH: THEY ARE TRYING TO LOWER THE RATES"

This week, David Lowery – leader of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven and University of Georgia economics and music business professor – has posted two blog posts about Pandora that have gone viral, seeing almost 1 million views on the Trichorist blog. The first details his payment as cowriter of Cracker's "Low" for over a million plays as $16.89 and Pandora's current efforts to reduce that rate. He posts his royalty statement and shows that for far fewer plays, SIRIUS XM paid him $181 for "Low" while terrestrial (AM/FM) radio paid him $1,522.

Meanwhile, Camper Van Beethoven band-mate and former Pandora employee Jonathan Segel posted to his own blog. He notes, " I worked there for 3 years. I saw the intent change massively when it went public… Here’s the truth: they are trying to lower the rates."

In the process, they advance the greater debate about songwriter rights and earnings. David and Jonathan are not alone as witnessed by public statements by other songwriters including Ellen Shipley's statement of accounting in Digital Music News, Blake Morgan's email exchange with Tim Westergren in the Huffington Post and Pink Floyd's OpEd in USA Today. 

Ellen Shipley - Digitial Music News 

My Song Was Played 3.1 Million Times on Pandora. My Check Was $39...

Blake Morgan - Huffington Post 

Tim Westergren Emails Underscore Tension Between Pandora, Artists 

Pink Floyd - USA Today

Pink Floyd: Pandora's Internet radio royalty ripoff

Another Lowery blog entry about Pandora hiring a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist has also been attracting attention.

CNBC asked Lowery to appear (his segment begins at 2:17 at this link) to discuss his royalties from Pandora.

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN MARKS THE BAND'S 30TH ANNIVERSARY WITH 10TH ALBUM 'LA COSTA PERDIDA' (429 RECORDS / JAN. 22)

BILLBOARD.COM TALKS BEACH BOYS & BIG SUR WITH THE BAND

CVB ENLISTS FUTUREBIRDS FOR HARMONIES ON NEW TRACK "NORTHERN CALIFORNIA GIRLS": (POSTABLE LYRICVIDEO)

Next year, Camper Van Beethoven will be celebrating both 30^th anniversary of their 1983 first concert and the release of their tenth album 'La Costa Perdida' (429 Records / January 22). The influential band and founders of the indie rock genre enlisted "spectacular" (HearYa) band Futurebirds to add harmony vocals on the first single "Northern California Girls." Here is a postable lyric video.

Meanwhile, Billboard.com ran a feature on CVB, for which David Lowery told the story of how the band began to write 'La Costa Perdida' together after it had to postpone a Big Sur show by a week due to weather. He also talks about the influence of the Beach Boys on 'La Costa Perdida.'

CVB's David Lowery says, "I love Futurebirds. They are from Athens, where we were mixing the record. Some of them were in studio next door working on an album."

Thomas Johnson of Futurebirds said, "We were honored to have a part on an album by a band as historic and influential as Camper. We'll never forget it. David is one of those special musicians who is just as good at engineering and producing as he is at songwriting, and it was really cool to get to conspire with someone that talented and accomplished."