Thursday, June 27, 2013

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 

Blake Morgan - Huffington Post 

Pink Floyd - USA Today
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.

IT'S EAST COAST/WEST COAST FOR SONGWRITER SEAN HAYES THIS FALL

Sean Hayes – has been laying low this year, writing songs for a new album but he and his band will hit the road for a run of dates just released today.  The Blank Tapes will support.

SeanHayesMusic.com has the details
    
 Saturday 8/3 Petaluma, CA   Petaluma Music Festival 
 Saturday 9/14 Coloma, CA   American River Festival 
 Sunday 9/15 St. Helena, CA   Long Meadow Ranch 
 Tuesday 9/17 Ashland, OR    TBA 
 Wednesday 9/18 Portland, OR   Doug Fir 
 Thursday 9/19 Seattle, WA    Tractor 
 Friday 9/20 Bellingham, WA    Wild Buffalo 
 Saturday 9/21 Walla Walla, WA   Gesa Power House 
 Wednesday 9/25 New York, NY   Le Poisson Rouge 
 Thursday 9/26 Providence, RI   Columbus Theatre 
 Friday 9/27 Burlington, VT   Signal Kitchen 
 Saturday 9/28 Boston, MA   Middle East Upstairs 
 Sunday 9/29 Philadelphia, PA   Johnny Brenda's 
 Monday 9/30 Washington D.C.   IOTA 
 Wednesday 10/2 Atlanta, GA   Eddie's Attic 
 Thursday 10/3 Athens, GA   The World Famous 
 Friday 10/4 Southern Pines, NC   Sunrise Theater 
 Saturday 10/5 Asheville, NC    The Grey Eagle 
 Thursday 10/10 Santa Ana, CA   Constellation Room 
 Friday 10/11 San Diego, CA    The Griffin 
 Saturday 10/12 Santa Barbara, CA    SOhO 
 Saturday 10/19 Santa Cruz, CA    Don Quixote's 
 Friday 11/8 San Francisco, CA     The Independent 
 Saturday 11/9 San Francisco, CA    The Independent

Monday, June 24, 2013

"True Maverick" (eMusic) Ironing Board Sam, Jazz Fest & Night Train TV Alum To Release Hard-Hitting New Soul & Funk Album Featuring Special Guests The Memphis Horns

Double Bang, the new album from Ironing Board Sam, emphasizes that this artist has not only come back, but he’ll be around for a long time. The new two-CD album will be released July 9 by Music Maker Relief Foundation in partnership with Dixiefrog Records. Double Bang features 12 new tracks written/recorded by Ironing Board Sam during the past two years, recorded by Ardie Dean in Alabama and featuring backup by the Memphis Horns. The album also includes Sam’s first album on the Music Maker label, Going Up, and singles Sam released on various labels in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sam’s most recent album, Ninth Wonder of the World of Music, was released in 2012, also on the Music Maker label. eMusic said, "'Ninth Wonder' is a superb album for anyone interested in hearing a true maverick at work.... Here’s the most entertaining eight tracks and nearly 22 minutes of blues-based music likely to be released this year, and it should leave you longing for more."

Offbeat Magazine described Ironing Board Sam's 'The Ninth Wonder of the World of Music' as "a gem" in a profile last year.

Read the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s account of Sam’s illustrious career here.

In 2012 Sam was named “Comeback Artist of the Year” by Living Blues Magazine, made a triumphant return to a packed tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 2013 Sam performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Australia, and will be traveling for gigs all over the USA. At age 72, Sam feels like his career is finally where he wants it to be. “This album is the culmination of my lifelong quest. Fifty years of work towards my artistic vision has finally been achieved,” he said.

Tim Duffy, founder of Music Maker Relief Foundation, says, “Sam has had a truly remarkable journey through life. I have been a personal fan of his since seeing his tour bus on the streets of Asheville in 1981, but Sam has been amazing audiences throughout the South since the 1950s. He was featured on the first African-American televised music revue, The Night Train. Jimi Hendrix backed him up on the Chitlin’ Circuit in the 1960s. He has a place as an important figure in the history of Blues, largely unrecognized until now. With this album he is cementing his place as one of the most talented and hard working R&B artists out there. This album is truly a masterpiece that Sam has created and needs to share with the world.”

Ironing Board Sam has also been the focus this year of a documentary film, Tenth, by filmmaker Tom Ciaburri. Ciaburri used the crowd-funding site Kickstarter to fund finishing the film and releasing it at festivals nationwide. Tom describes Sam’s music as, “Sam beams positivity that comes out in his music – he is an amazingly talented musician who is only getting better with time. “ Tenth is now funded and will be completed in the coming year.

The Sydney Morning Herald said of Sam’s recent tour in Australia with the Music Maker Blues Revue, “Ironing Board Sam, 73 years young, sang like his pants were on fire and attacked his keyboard as if it had sinned.”

Double Bang will be officially released on July 9th, and can be purchased at the Music Maker Store.

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About Music Maker Relief Foundation:

Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. is a tax exempt, public charity under IRS code 501(c)3. Music Maker aims to keep our Southern culture vital by directly supporting senior (over 55) American roots musicians in need, expanding their professional careers, and providing with basic life needs so they can focus on their art. Music Maker also assists Next Generation (under 55) artists in the development of their professional careers. Since the organization’s founding in 1994, Music Maker has assisted hundreds of musicians who represent the traditions of Blues, Gospel, Old-Time String Band, Jazz and more. Music Maker’s programs ensure the talents of these cultural treasures are accessible so that our rich musical heritage can be shared with the world and preserved for future generations.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The Windish Agency has signed John Murry

I'm excited to announce The Windish Agency has signed John Murry!

Bay Area (by way of Tupelo, Mississippi) songwriter and noisemaker John Murry released his debut record entitled "The Graceless Age" on Evangeline Records in May 2013 to wisespread critical acclaim. The record contains startlingly beautiful contemplations on his troubled, drug-riddled past and familial redemption, melding sonic influences as disparate as Neil Young and Spacemen 3.

The Guardian's four star review claims "The Graceless Age is extraordinary, a profound and moving meditation – the kind of album that answers questions you didn't realise you were asking. Musically, it's hardly unfamiliar – weeping Americana, backed with fuzzes of electric guitar and organ that slide in and out of focus, discomfiting and discombobulating – but expertly done. Lyrically, though, it's remarkable: brutal, frank and beautiful." NPR called his music "alluring, emotional, and infectious."

Live, Murry sets an emotive mood through his baritone vocals, fuzzed out Telecasters, and exposed lyrical subjects. This is an artist who puts his entire being into a live set, physically and emotionally spent at its conclusion; so too are the hushed crowds.

Stream John's new album here.

"Southern Sky" music video.

Monday, June 17, 2013

John Murry "Southern Sky" music video


KINGSLEY FLOOD'S "AWESOME" (NY TIMES) VIDEO "SUN GONNA LEMME SHINE" BREAKS 10,000 VIEWS AS NEWPORT FOLK FEST DAY ANNOUNCED & DAYTROTTER SESSION POSTS

The "awesome" (New York Times) music video for breakout band Kingsley Flood's "Sun Gonna Lemme Shine," inspired in part by a NY Times Magazine cover story, has passed 10,000 views as Newport Folk Festival confirmed that the band would play Friday, July 26.



Meanwhile, Huffington Post asked KF's singer Naseem Khuri for an essay about the video entitled "Why We Made a Video About a Boy in a Dress." Khuri writes, "While most of our recent album, Battles, does not focus on boys wearing dresses per se, it does look at choice. Through the eyes of people who have done all the right things and still fall behind, it questions what choices they have to stay above water. Do they have to sell out? Throw elbows?":

The band's Daytrotter session posted last month.

The Boston Globe said of a recent sold out show, "Triumphant... magnetic... Singer Naseem Khuri didn't just play acoustic guitar; he beat it into submission. He rendered two acoustic guitars unusable by the time the band hit its encore run... Yet even within the torrent of energy Kingsley Flood puts out live, the band distinguishes itself with richly textured songs."