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Hilly Krystal (1932-2007)
Hilly Kristal, the founder of legendary New York punk club CBGB,
died yesterday due to complications from lung cancer. He was 75 years
old. Kristal founded the club in 1973, primarily to showcase bluegrass
and country artists. But it quickly became a breeding ground for
experimental rock and punk music (Blondie, the Talking Heads,
Television, Patti Smith, the Ramones…).
Kristal was born in
Manhattan in 1932. Soon after his family relocated to Hightstown, New
Jersey and he began to study music at a young age. He eventually
entered the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia then moved to New
York, spending the '50s and '60s performing in various bands.
According
to Billboard.com, a private memorial will be held first, with a public
tribute to follow at a date to be announced. Rest in peace.
Wed Aug 29 2007 · Posted in Daily on littleradio.com
All of MP3.com founder Denis Kvasov aquitted!
When we last spoke about the closure of All of MP3.com the website's former owner was being sued by Russian prosecutors. Yesterday, Denis Kvasov was aquitted from all charges, somthing the IFPI doesn't like. According to Reuters,
judge Yekaterina Sharapova stated, "The prosecution did not succeed in
presenting persuasive evidence of his involvement in infringing
copyright law." The judge also offered some advice to the prosecution,
"This is an unusual case, and prosecutors have to be careful in
collecting evidence in connection with intellectual rights violations,
I want to draw particular attention to the sloppy job done by
prosecutors in collecting and analyzing the facts."
Kvasov isn't completely off the hook, according to a recent article from the Moscow Times: "We are extremely disappointed that the court failed to convict Denis Kvasov today and expect the prosecutor to appeal," Jo Oliver,
IFPI vice president commented. "MediaServices operates in clear
violation of Russia's law and we expect this unfortunate decision will
soon be reversed. This ruling in no way affects the illegality of
allofmp3.com and similar services that reproduce and make available
music without the consent of the artists, composers and record
producers that created it."
The IFPI is obviously planning on appealing the decision. Maybe this time they'll sharpen their pencils and reserach skills.
Thu Aug 16 2007 · Posted in Daily on littleradio.com
Limewire to open DRM-free download store
I saw this on Coolfer earlier this morning. It's not such a shocker that Lime Wire, where everyone and their Mom goes for free music, is trying to get in the game with a DRM-free download site. I'm more curious to see if any company can really make a profit when our iTunes-iPod culture is so dominate. Here's the official press release, but read below for some immediate details:
"Songs in the LimeWire Store will be sold in the universally compatible MP3 format. Customers will be able to buy songs and albums "a la carte" or as part of monthly subscription plans.
The first partners in the new digital channel are IRIS Distribution and Nettwerk Productions. These companies have signed deals with Lime Wire to provide music from their extensive catalogs."
Tue Aug 14 2007 · Posted in Daily on littleradio.com
Tony Wilson 1950-2007
Tony Wilson, the enigmatic and ultra-confident man you may have seen in the excellent film 24 Hour Party People, has died from complications due to kidney cancer today.
According to reports from the BBC, he had been struggling with the disease for over a year and had one of his kidneys removed this past January. Wilson was also undergoing chemotherapy and drug treatment, which became very expensive for the iconic label owner.
After starting out as a television reporter in the 1970s, Wilson formed the highly influential Factory Records after discovering punk rock. Factory is best known for releasing amazing records by Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and A Certain Ratio. The label went under in 1992 and the infamous Hacienda shut down in 1997.
Phil Saxe, who used to work at Factory
Records with Wilson, told the BBC: "Part of me, part of Manchester,
part of modern British music has died tonight. Tony was a genius,
basically. He was a visionary in that he helped bands, who otherwise
wouldn't have made it, who were a bit out of the ordinary."
"He helped them realise their dreams and through that probably realised himself to be Mr Manchester".
R.I.P. Tony Wilson
Fri Aug 10 2007 · Posted in Daily on littleradio.com
Sound Exchange comes first, music second
Executives at SoundExchange don't exchange anything, other than handfuls of cash to people who help them get more of it. The fine folks who brought us digital-music royalty collections and months of stressful, sleepless nights, have been caught lobbying to MusicFirst Coalition.
MusicFirst is basically a front that represents the special interests of the major labels. A federal appeals court handed them some justice because they were caught lobbying to levy performance royalties on terrestrial radio stations. These people are horrible human beings.
Of course lobbying is not allowed for a company like SoundExchange. Their nonprofit status prohibits them from spending money on anything other than the "administering and settling of disputes from the collection, distribution and calculation of royalties."
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