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Loathing, Litigating & Legislating; Adventures in Piracy & Final Thoughts about 2013 New Music Seminar

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This will be my last RECAPTURE-OF-MY-TWEETS post for now – that is, the last RECAPTURE of the 2013 New Music Seminar.  The over-arching theme – that the rapid growth of  technology is a fact of life that those in the music and entertainment industry must confront – continued.  The creators of audio and visual have always benefitted from new technology especially after they loathed, litigated and legislated against it.

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1.  3 Trends in Digital Music – Social networks, BitTorrent trends, What drives sales? #nms13

(Trends in digital music were examined from these three (3) perspectives:  Social networks, BitTorrent trends and What Drives Sales.  Fortunately at this event in New York City, accounts of BitTorrent usage were dispassionate and objective unlike in the past, in cities that were not named, “New York,” when speaker after speaker merely railed about the evils of the Internet, technology and BitTorrents.  Surprisingly, railing against the Internet, technology and BitTorrents is still expected and favored  in some circles.)

2.  Percentages FB 58, Twitter 35.5, YouTube 5.4. Most online fans – USA, UK, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia. #nms13

(The three most common means of finding music online were Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and in those percentages:  58%, 35.5% and 5.4%.  The five countries with the largest number of music fans were the USA, UK, Brazil, Canada and Indonesia.  Of course, the social media services and amount and location of online fans is extremely fluid and results will change soon.)

3.  Fans who follow online vs fans who listen online #nms13

(Fans who follow artists online are more passionate than those who are online merely to listen.  The term, “super fan,” is used to describe the former.  Artists prefer superfans as superfans are superspenders.)

4.  BitTorrent trends – more and increasing. Huge growth in movies, film, TV, then Adult (yes, that stuff) #nms13

(That term, “adult,” means something other than a person who is 18 or 21 years of age.  Adult entertainment is more visual than audible.  Adult entertainment is more widespread and of more financial value than the audible/music I prefer.  Again, dispassionate dialog about the facts of Internet usage continued.)

5.  BitTorrent is increasing more in underdeveloped countries. Fastest growth – Brazil. Fastest shrinking – USA #nms13

(Getting intellectual property (IP) for free is extremely common in poor countries and countries that are moving out of poverty and developing a middle class.  The United States was a nation that violated IP laws and agreements dating from the time we were The Colonies, in the same manner as other developing countries do so in 2013.  Accusing developing countries of “piracy” is not new.  Economic conditions of developing nations contribute to lax copyright, patent and trademark enforcement.)

(Someone at #nms13 defined piracy – I regret that I do not remember who said this or exactly how it was said – as the name for practices that have not yet been monetized.  My first adventures in piracy came from using a reel-to-reel tape recorder, then progressed to the lethal videocassette tape recorder (VCR), then to my M A S S I V E L Y large dual cassette boombox tape recorder (this was a Weapon of Mass Destruction that somehow the music industry survived) then my incredibly powerful Apple Macintosh 512K computer with its drive that could read singe-sided floppy-disks that could store an enormous (400K) amount of data (on the one side of the disk that could function) and best of all its ability to copy digit “0” and digit “1” (a computer does “COPY” function best), to better and smaller (and larger) gadgets.

(A great amount of “piracy” becomes “business.”  Technology threatens business as usual until it becomes business as usual.)

6.  Greatest reason for growth in BitTorrent? Fewer legal options available. (Remember Napster?) #nms13

(The importance of legal options cannot be underestimated.  Millions have and will continue to pay for services that are “free” IF the pay services have value and are easy to use.  The best example is bottled water in a country that has significant infrastructure that can deliver water – the United States and every 1st and 2nd world nation, for example.  Water will always be free yet millions pay millions of dollars to buy “free” water.  Millions feel, obviously, that is it worth paying for the convenience and added value of bottled water.)

7.  SoundCloud is fastest growing (more than FB, TW, etc as place to hear music) #nms13

(SoundCloud is extremely popular because it fulfills an important need and does so with such simplicity and clarity.)

8.  Search, file sharing, Global LastFM plays are three most frequent uses of Internet internationally. #nms13

9.  Conclusions: Collecting fans does not necessarily convert to sales. Some BitTorrent users are good customers. #nms13

10.  “I heard myself on the radio and quit singing. My producers were the worst in world.” David Kahne (great dry humor) #nms13

AND THEN CAME THIS important BREAKING NEWS (again relayed by my tweets):

11.  Just filed to ESPN: The Patriots are signing QB Tim Tebow and expect him to be in minicamp tomorrow

12.  I was in Manhattan when Iran kidnapped our diplomats & now in Manhattan wearing a Red Sox polo shirt when Patriots sign Tebow. One’s tragic.

(I meant to leave that silly thought that one of these events is “tragic,” dangling, not quite like a dangling participle but dangling nonetheless.  I looked forward to friends’ and readers’ in-put and put-in they did.  Tim Tebow news seems to be bigger, more important and impactful than even Kardashian news.  But as a Boston sports fan, I knew that this non-important story would rock the sports world and give a great hype boost to the coming NFL season, as if the NFL ever needs more hype.)

(I was on the steps of the legendary Biltmore Hotel in Manhattan on Sunday, November 4, 1979 when I read on the front page of the New York TImes that a mob in Iran had overrun our embassy and taken 53 of our citizens hostage.  That was the beginning of a 444-day long odyssey and an event that made life more complicated and dangerous for our citizens who would ever travel to the Middle East, then and now.  Yes, this was a bigger event than a professional football team signing a 3rd-string born again Christian quarterback.)

And now, BACK TO #nms13 :

13.  Points from this session: 1) Producer has to tell the artist s/he is great. 2) producer must be a psychiatrist #nms13

14.  Producer’s most troublesome distractions? Artist’s manager, artist’s record label. #nms13

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For my next post, I want to turn to this short article a friend posted on Facebook:  The 30 Harshest Musician-on-Musician Insults in History as I believe the article missed the greatest, most effective and significant insults, and I am leaving aside even greater vitriol that has taken place in Classical music/art music.

 

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Why Would An Artist Re-Record Portions Of Her/His Own Music?

 

A conversation was begun on Facebook among my friends recently.  It does not seem to still be on Facebook but as I recall, the question was posed  – why do artists re-record music?  Another friend wanted to know my take on this question.  I found it to be something which I had not given much thought but was fascinated as to the reasons why one re-records a work.

This questions brings up many more questions.  Why ask about “re-recording” and not “re-composing?”  Is one much different from the other?  Is there a continuum between re-recording being closely related or not at all related to re-composing?  I want to delve more into “why does someone re-record,” than “why does someone re-compose,” but the two are usually in play simultaneously.

As a composer, I have occasionally revisited works I have written.  Sometimes I want a listener to be able to perceive that a “new” musical idea or entire work is the re-creating of an earlier musical idea or complete work of mine – other times, I have wanted to “hide” the source, i.e., to make any connection un-preceivable.  I hope to give examples of this later and in fun detail.

I want to briefly explore the different means, causes and reasons why music is re-recorded.  As always, I welcome readers’ input.  So far, I have been able to identify more than one dozen reasons to re-record music.  This might be tantamount to saying, “more than one dozen categories of re-recorded music.”  I’m not ready to shout out, “Here is the definitive list of how, why, what, where and when music is re-recorded.”  For now, this is just a beginning and an interesting pursuit into an area of creativity and originality.

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A common reason to re-record music is because a composer/songwriter wants to quote music s/he created earlier and place it in new music.  The composer/songwriter wants to re-purpose one of his/her earlier musical expressions from an earlier composition/song.  It can be more than the creator/artist having run short of ideas to express.  It can be that re-recording the music and placing it in a new context can give new meaning to the earlier expression, and that expression can function as part of a new “work of authorship,” to quote the phrase found in the Copyright Law of the United States of America.

The first examples that came to my mind in pop music were Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Carry On with its substantive quote of Buffalo Springfield’s Questions.  I was a huge fan of Buffalo Springfield and its principal members – Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and Richie Furay, as well as their projects after Buffalo Springfield broke up –

Stephen Stills formed Crosby, Stills & Nash;

Neil Young was a solo artist, then member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young until he resumed his solo career;

Richie Furay formed Poco.

(Young aperiodically returns to Crosby, Stills & Nash in a fashion less predictable than the return of cicadas.)

“Questions” is a Stephen Stills composition on Side 2 of Buffalo Springfield’s 3rd and final album, Last Time Around (1968).  Notice that Neil Young is placed on the right side of the “cracked” album cover looking to the right, while the rest of the band is together on the left side looking in the same direction (left).  This seems to be an unsubtle depiction of Neil Young as the member most likely responsible for breaking up Buffalo Springfield.

From 0.26-1.13 of  Questions, Stephen Stills sings:

“With the questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see, come on lover talk to me, when I was on my own chasing you down, what was it made you run trying to get around, the questions of a thousand dreams what you do and what you see, come on lover talk to me”

And at 1.45-2.16, the song’s final phrases are sung:

“Now that we’ve found each other, where do we go now, I’d like to know what you’re thinking, answer me slowly now, the questions of a thousand dreams what you do and what you see, come on lover talk to me, yeah!”

Stills would use these lyrics but with different music two years later in Carry On, the first song on Déjà Vu (1970), the first Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album (this was the second album featuring CS & N – this time Neil Young was added to the group).

From 2.58-3.13 of Carry On, Stephen Stills sings:

“Are the questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see, lover can you talk to me?”

And at 3.27-3.57, the song’s final phrases are sung:

“Girl when I was on my own chasing you down, what was it made you run trying your best just to get around the questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see, lover can you talk to me?”

There is strong similarity between the two as the lyrics have been, for the most part, copied and re-recorded.  The differences between the music of both songs are significant.

I don’t know why significant sections of  Questions were reused.  I just loved the fact that when I bought Déjà Vu on that cold, snowy night, and began to play side 1 on my parents’ stereo, stumbling upon this very familiar Stephen Stills song within a new Stephen Stills song was really exciting.  I felt I was on to a cool secret.  Next, I told my parents of my excitement and started to call friends to tell them as well.  And I called them that winter night using a rotary dial telephone on our kitchen wall.  I wasn’t old enough to have my driver’s license so I couldn’t bring the album to their house.  They’d have to buy their own or wait to see me on the weekend or call local radio stations and beg.  Ah, those old days.  🙂

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In the next few weeks, I want to explore other artists who have re-recorded (and re-composed) portions of their own songs.  For this, I emphasize re-recording portions of songs/compositions as opposed to re-recording the entire work or song.  Artists I’ll explore who have re-recorded sections of their earlier works will include The Beach Boys – some of their unreleased songs as well.

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Preying On Songwriters, My Winter Vacation & Re-Gifting

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I’ve been gone from this space (my blog) for way too long, so long that readers have scolded me and told me to get back to writing.  Wow – that was very nice to hear.  I didn’t want to be gone this long but there were substantive reasons for being out of cyberspace.

For one, I decided “at the 11th hour,” to leave the lovely Wingaersheek Beach and drive south to be with friends in Nashville for Christmas.  That, I did after a fun stop in New Jersey.  I left on the afternoon of December 23.  I ended up spending more than a month in Nashville, so long that I actually found a house I wanted to buy, put an offer on it the first day it was for sale, and took ownership of it 30 days later!  The Dwelling caught my eye on January 6, I made an offer January 6, and officially owned it on February 6.  It’s a much more involved, fun, foolish and complicated story than that but I can tell you more when I see you.  (By “you,” I mean any interested reader.)

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And now to get back to music and an issue about which I care deeply.  Songwriters.  Not composers, in this instance, but songwriters.  (Not all songwriters – just songwriters who have been taken advantage of, with or without a preposition at the end of a sentence.)

I was reminded again recently how songwriters have so many things going against them.

The public is never pleading  –  “PLEASE let me hear from songwriters.”  No.  The public wants songs and doesn’t care about the nameless person behind the song.

The public loves stuff for free.  Why pay songwriters?  Aren’t they rich?  Don’t they write songs because they “receive” these songs (for free)?  (From God?)  (They are “gifted,” so they didn’t have to work – they simply received a pre-formed, pre-packaged “gift” and gave that “gift” to those who wanted it.  (These “gifted” songwriters, perhaps, were like the unsophisticated, uncouth Giver who simply Re-Gifts at Christmas time.)

Record labels do not want to pay songwriters.

Recording artists do not want to pay songwriters.

Radio (AM/FM as well as Internet) does not want to pay songwriters.

Sometimes publishers don’t want to pay songwriters.

Some famous recording artists have refused to record songs by songwriters unless the recording artist can be (dishonestly) listed as a songwriter and receive royalties as if s/he had written the song.

But I want to begin to discuss a different problem from those.  Several of the problems above get a lot of publicity and are well-known.  I want to get to a very serious problem that gets almost no publicity.  In fact, this problem is usually shrouded in mystery.  Sometimes the mystery – the “secret” – even has legal protection mixed in – “sign this confidentiality agreement if you know what’s good for you.  If you ever want to happy hour in this town again, you’ll do as I say, sign here and beg me, ‘THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?'”

It can be very difficult for songwriters.  As Morris Levy once said,

“You want royalties, GO TO ENGLAND.”

H E R E    I S     T H E     P R O B L E M     A S     I    S E E     I T 

Sometimes the songwriter’s team members are playing for a different team, or perhaps playing a different sport.  What I mean can be illustrated in a situation like this involving Songwriter(s) A and Songwriter(s) B.

Songwriter A’s publisher and/or attorney receive(s) a letter from songwriter B’s publisher and/or lawyer telling Songwriter A that her/his new song has ripped off or infringed or copied or stolen Songwriter B’s song.  Publisher A/Attorney A informs Songwriter A that we better fix this.  The way to fix this?  Songwriter A simply and quickly needs to fork over half of A’s copyright and future royalties on his/her song, and make sure that Songwriter B’s name appears everywhere that Songwriter A’s name appears on this song.  All future royalties will be split between A and B.

Or another sharing scheme could be worked out.  If not 50/50, perhaps 55/45, 60/40, 65/35, 75/25, etc., and the larger percentages could be assigned to Songwriter B.  Songwriter A might not only lose a lot now and for generations of nameless/faceless descendants (copyright is nearly eternal in length), but Songwriter A might get marked as an easy mark for others to attack in the future.

Why should this happen?  Can someone simply assert that you, the Songwriter, have stolen someone else’s music?  Does the fact that someone alleges theft make it a theft?  Are you guilty because someone with more (A)  power, (B) influence or (C) money (A, B, C, A+B,  A+C, B+C, A+B+C) asserts so?  Does that more powerful person have any alternate and/or better ideas?  Has that more powerful person investigated other solutions?  What can you, the Songwriter, do?  Do you admit to the “facts” with which you have been confronted?  Is there a loved one, friend or family member who can help? Do you need emotional help?  Do you need financial help?  Do you need legal help?  Do you need MUSICAL help?  Or do you need every kind of help just mentioned?

In my next post, I will expand on scenarios like the above and pose much better resolutions.  Shortly after that, I’ll name names.  I will discuss a specific situation, explain why it was completely WRONG, and explain why I know much better ways of handling similar situations.  As always, I welcome your input.  If you are a songwriter who has been so bereaved, please tell your story here.

ANNUIT COEPTIS for now

 

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Jonathan Coulton, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Glee and Whose Baby Got Back?

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I heard about the Jonathan Coulton v. Glee thing all day yesterday, last night and this morning.  As usual the Hollywood Reporter account is the best.  Coulton took Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back and transformed it into a much different composition. Coulton’s radical revision is in the same league of radical revision as The Residents’ The King And Eye in which they (The Residents) wildly re-imagined famous Elvis Presley songs.  Here is one of the tamer re-imagines – The Residents’ version of Don’t Be Cruel.  (I use the word, “re-imagine,” so as to heap praise upon this practice which goes far beyond the normal, reserved arranging one often hears in popular music.  Earth, Wind & Fire’s take on The Beatles’ Got To Get You Into My Life is another example but not as wildly reimagined as those by The Residents or Coulton.)

I have very strong opinions on all of the above, as well as the U. S. Copyright Act that allows some good things to take place but at the same time fails to protect or even recognize other “authors,” such as Coulton.  (Coulton might not be an author of Baby Got Back despite the superb job of authorship he lavished on Baby Got Back.)

There has been so much talk on the Inter-Tubes about the injustice done by The Fox TV series, Glee, to Jonathan Coulton.  Here is what Coulton thinks.

Here is a version found on YouTube of Coulton’s Baby Got Back.  Here is a Glee version of Baby Got Back.  Jonathan Coulton has substituted a “quack” for the F-word in the original Sir Mix-A-Lot.  It is heard at 2.40 into the song.  At the 2.40 mark of Glee, one hears_____?  Are the tempos of Coulton and Glee identical?  Did elements of the Coulton master recording find their way into the master recording of Glee?

This post is unstable, i.e., dynamic, and will be altered one or more times very soon.

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How I Hear It – Beethoven & Van Halen

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My Nashville trip has been eventful and much longer than expected.  My one week has turned into three.  I need to get back north and as tempting as it is, I won’t quote or paraphrase Paul McCartney and “Get Back.”

When I was learning classical music, and classical music theory (known to many as simply, “music theory”), what helped was comparing classical music to what I knew much better and made more sense to me, namely, rock music or pop music.  The more I learned about music and different styles of music, the more I explored and then compared classical with those other styles  –  first soul/Motown, then jazz, folk, blues, country, world music (although I had been hearing that earlier without knowing I was hearing world music) and eventually hip hop, trip hop, acid jazz and anything else with or without a name.

When I listen to music, it usually reminds me of other music.  When I first heard Van Halen When It’s Love, it reminded me of the opening of the first movement of Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 (as well as a few other rock and country songs).  That is because they share the same somewhat unusual (for rock and pop) chord progression.  There are four (4) chords heard clearly in both, although in Van Halen, the chord progression is heard twelve (12) times, whereas in Beethoven, it is heard only three (3) times.  This chord progression is based on four (4) bass notes from the major scale – the 1st pitch followed by the 5th, followed by the 3rd, followed by the 4th:  1   5   3   4.  Three of these four bass notes are the roots of the chords:  1    5    and 4.  The “3” is the 3rd of the “I chord.”  This chord, therefore, does not have its root as the lowest sounding note in the chord.  It is an “inverted” chord, and there are are far fewer inverted chords in rock and popular music than in classical music.  The somewhat-unusual-for-rock chord progression is  I   V   I6   IV  (pronounced, “One.  Five.  One six.  Four.”)

Van Halen  –  When It’s Love

That     I   V   I6   IV   progression is heard four (4) times at the opening and eight (8) times near the ending of When It’s Love:

I N S T R U M E N T A L     A T      O P E N I N G:

0.00 – 0.09

0.10 – 0.18

0.19 – 0.28

0.29 – 0.38

N E A R    T H E     E N D    O F     T H E    S O N G:

4.02 – 4.10

4.11 – 4.20

4.21 – 4.30

4.31 – 4.39

4.40 – 4.49

4.50 – 4.59

5.00 – 5.08

5.09 – 5.19

 

The majority of Classical music is not as repetitive, in terms of a singular repeated chord progression, as popular and/or country music.  But the    I   V   I6   IV   progression is heard at the outset of the first movement of Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4.

Beethoven  –  Piano Concerto No. 4, Mvt. I

S O L O    P I A N O:

0.42 – 0.48

O R C H E S T R A    (without piano):

1.00 – 1.08

P I A N O     &    O R C H E S T R A:

11.43 – 11.51

Do these sections from Van Halen and Beethoven sound similar?  They are identical in terms of harmony and bass melody, and chord progression.  This intrigues me but probably very few other people, and I was even warned not to write this post.  Oh well.  I did.  I will not write posts like this often but I love the idea of parallels between music that at the surface should have little in common and I believe that hearing these parallels leads to a better understanding and appreciation of music.  I intentionally avoided explaining the elementary music theory and music theory terms and nouns above because I do not think an understanding of music theory is necessary to hear these specific parallels between Beethoven and Van Halen, and the education/explanation would take too long for a single post.

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Here is the full orchestral score of Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58.  Thrillingly to me and sadly to some, the printed musical scores Beethoven composed can be copied for free, i.e., they are in the public domain – one does not need to ask the copyright owner permission to use this music because the copyright term has ended.  No one gets paid when one downloads the scores to these excellent compositions.

One of my favorite and most used music website is IMSLP – the Petrucci Music Library.  It should be the first place one visits to study and download music.  (I intentionally left out some details in that last sentence.)

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Laugh, Wince & Wonder Why – Eduard Khil, Eric Idle, Barbara Boxer & Paula Abdul

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I couldn’t bring myself to do one of those thoughtful, retrospective, introspective pieces about what took place in 2012  –  who died and the value of what they left behind, etc.  I like to read, view and hear those introspective, retrospective thoughtful year-end pieces but didn’t want to write my own. I thought, instead, to quickly find five (5) of my saved YouTube videos to view today, only one of which would be apropos to 2012.  The five (5) of these as a totality epitomize my day thus far.

The cloudy sky of the cover is as vague and indefinite as my December 31, 2012 and view of 2012.  The colors of the photo do not seem real  –  the place, time of season and day also seem as untrue and uncertain.

As for the following five (5) videos  –  they make me laugh, wince and wonder why.  I hope you’ll like them too and try to make them comport to your New Year’s Eve’s desire(s).  Only the first video, featuring Eduard Khil, is appropriate as a reminder of people who died in 2012 and left behind a legacy.  In the large list of great people who died this year  –

George McGovern, Daniel Inouye, Dave Brubeck, Ravi Shankar, Adam Yauch, Etta James, Robin Gibb, Jack Klugman, Andy Griffith, Sally Ride, Nora Ephron, Phyllis Diller and more  –

I never saw the name of Eduard Khil.  That is one of the reasons I had to include Mr. Khil here.  And as we like to say in Cambridge, “Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой.”

Now, to the uplifting audio and visual.

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This is the famous Eduard Khil performance which became one of the greatest Internet memes in 2009.  He seemed so happy by the success of this video  –  to me, Eduard and the video were quite heartwarming:

Eduard Khil  –  “I Am Glad, ‘Cause I’m Finally Returning Back Home”

This might be the story of Sonseed.  This is one of those famous-for-the-wrong-reason bands and memes.  Get down with your bad white-boy authentic reggae Christian self:

Sonseed  –  Jesus Is A Friend Of Mine

One can never get enough of The Rutles, a great, pre-Spinal Tap rockumentary.  I love the issues of parody, satire and copyright infringement that float throughout “The Rutles.”  The witticisms get even better when one studies the entire film and especially the cameo appearances in the film by particular Beatles, Rolling Stones and others:

The Rutles  –  I Must Be In Love

Barbara Boxer is deadly serious in this video. Paula Abdul is not.  Congratulations to the creator of this mashup:

Barbara Boxer & Paula Abdul duet  –  How About A Lot Of You Coming In?

“Always looks on the bright side of life.”  This is one of the most renowned happy endings to a mass crucifixion:

Eric Idle  –  Bright Side Of Life

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Just the audio and visual:

Eduard Khil  –  “I Am Glad, ‘Cause I’m Finally Returning Back Home”

Sonseed  –  Jesus Is A Friend Of Mine

The Rutles  –  I Must Be In Love

Barbara Boxer & Paula Abdul duet  –  How About A Lot Of You Coming In?

Eric Idle  –  Bright Side Of Life

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Wishing you a great 2013!

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The Russian Monster Fill, Bath Bombs, Tervis, Twitter + the letter “B”

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Having fun here in Nashville.  Fun party two nights ago with great friends and one of my best friends who also doubles as one of the music legends in Nashville and the USA.  If you missed that last link, here it is again.  Listen to Bill Pursell Rachmaninov Marty Robbins.  I just used “Rachmaninov” as a powerful and intrusive verb to describe what Bill does to Marty Robbins’s straightforward 3-chord country song, “Take Me Back To Tulsa” (by means of his sextuplet laced Russian monster fill).

Started out the morning at a coffee shop – the Frothy Monkey.  Then to do some business and the business for a friend.  That was fun as it took us inside the magnificent Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville, one of the best halls acoustically anywhere.  (I had the great opportunity to hear Peter Serkin perform Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, and a few weeks later at Schermerhorn –  Schermerhorn is a much better venue).  We made an embarrassing 7-8 minute video, starting onstage and then progressing/regressing through some backstage fancy rooms.  Fancy fancy.  I should link or upload the video to this blog but not if good sense and adequate judgment prevails.

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Last night I learned about bath bombs and Tervis shakers.  The bath bombs excited my excessively girly girly friend, while the Tervis shaker we found at Bed, Bath & Beyond in mall-infested Williamson County, was a Patriots shaker.  I’ll now be able to make my Irish versions of caipirinhas here in Middle Tennessee using my new New England Patriots Tervis shaker.

Back to these are a few of my favorite Twitter things.  When the dog bites, when the bee stings.  I’m still stuck on that Mary Poppins’ song.  This time  – the letter “B.”

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Dr. E. Michael Harrington

www.emichaelmusic.com

emh2625@gmail.com

Resources:

Twitter:

My Favorite Twitter Accounts:   The letter “B”

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BBC6MusicNews

Good tweets but I’d rather they get more stiff, uptight and British.  Must BBC6 Music News like “gossip?”  Huh?  “Your music news fix, including exclusive interviews with all the big names, the latest gig news, behind the scenes insights, festival updates and gossip.”

bbosker

Insightful technology writer for Huffington Post.  I’m on her Vibrate My iPhone 5 Now list and always look forward to her articles.  And she had the wisdom to interview me once.

beatallica

Beatallica started as a concept – “what if Metallica were a Beatles cover band?”  That was brilliant and so was the manifestation of what Beatallica does  –  a brilliant parody/mashup of both groups but performed live.  I became good friends with Beatallica in my role as their expert witness.

berkmancenter

“The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University – exploring cyberspace, sharing in its study, and helping to pioneer its development.”  What’s not to love about that mission statement?

bethanysimpson

Bethany Simpson is “LA Media Director with equal interest in creativity and logic.”  And she follows me on Twitter and is a joy to read.

BigChampagne

They count, quantize and know what’s what and who’s who on P2P networks.

biggayicecream

Big Gay Ice Cream is how to

1. run an ice cream truck (trust me – I spent 3 summers as an ice cream man)

2. do gourmet ice cream

3. travel to great neighborhoods in Manhattan (what isn’t a great neighborhood in Manhattan?)

4. interact with the public by means of Twitter

5. be gay

Billboardbiz

If you have that music/music industry affliction, you have to pay some attention to Billboard and its Twitter accounts.  Damn shame when that happens.  : )

Billboarddotcom

I’ll write it again:  If you have that music/music industry affliction, you have to pay some attention to Billboard and its Twitter accounts.  Damn shame when that happens.  : )

Billboardglenn

The 3rd time is the charm:  If you have that music/music industry affliction, you have to pay some attention to Billboard and its Twitter accounts.  Damn shame when that happens.  : )

BoingBoing

Boing Boing is wicked cool –  always featuring things you didn’t know you’d love to know.  Today’s top two (2) headlines:  “Porcupine Bites Skier” and “Malls Are Dying.”  (I’m sorry to hear about the skier, but I hope the mall story is true.)

BostonSymphony

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is the world’s best orchestra.  Calm down you Chicago and Berlin types.  You’re great too but….  Where was it I grew up?  Chicago?  Berlin?  No, Cambridge and Framingham.  The Boston Symphony Orchestra was our hometown team.  Ergo, we win.

BradPaisley

Brad Paisley is an extremely-talented songwriter, guitarist, musician (usually different than the other nouns I’ve provided in this sentence), singer, lyricist.  And he does Twitter very well.  Exceedingly well.  (I’d guess that this is the first time in my www.emichaelmusic.com world that I’ve used the word, “exceedingly.”)

brewster_kahle

From his Twitter account:  “Digital Librarian.”  Kahle is just a digital librarian in the same way that Gonzalo Rubalcaba is just a pianist.   http://openlibrary.org    http://brewster.kahle.org  

BrightTALK

“Webinars and video for professionals and their communities.”  I especially like them because I was one of their one-hour webinars.  (E. Michael Harrington at BrightTALK, June 9, 2009)

businessinsider

“The latest business news and analysis.”  Business Insider is always a great read.  Even if you have no interest in business, you will enjoy BusinessInsider.

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As always, I welcome your feedback on best Twitter accounts, as well as recommendations/suggestions for music, tech, law, communication and business ideas.

 

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Do these parts of Alicia Keys’ “Girl On Fire” remind you of another song?

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It’s close to Christmas Day and my plans are not yet finalized.  I don’t know where I’ll be come 12/25/2012.  But for now, the sun is breaking through (a rare event recently) and I’ve got a few things to finish this morning.

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Blog-wise, I am proceeding out of order.  I should have written the intended follow-up post – the proper one in the sequence – instead of this as I’ve got much more to write about Shuman v. Sony.  But I’ll delay that a bit as I want to do this quicker-to-write post.

Recently I wrote about ambulance chasers:

“I’ve known of “ambulance chasers,” (I’m not asserting Lowell is an ambulance chaser but “size matters” and Lowell’s video was at the top of my “ambulance chasers” search) with respect to music copyright infringement lawsuits  –  people who hear similarities between songs, and then contact interested parties with the hope that lawsuits will be filed and that they will receive money and/or acclaim.”  

I also wrote these few sentences which could very much excite an ambulance chaser/copyright troll:

“If someone wanted to sue Alicia Keys for her recording, “Girl On Fire”, there is a song by a potential plaintiff with much stronger similarities than, “Hey There Lonely Girl.”  It was a very big hit song that appeared in a very big 1980’s hit film.  Do you know of the song to which I refer?  Want to take a guess?  I’ll come back to that, and all of this Blogger Friedman/Shuman v. Sony stupidity, soon.”

There are six (6) places in “Girl On Fire” in which Alicia Keys sings, “Oh oh oh oh oh.”  Listen to the Alicia Keys  “Girl On Fire” and especially these six sections.

0.35     oh oh oh oh oh

1.39     oh oh oh oh oh

2.54     oh oh oh oh oh

3.04     oh oh oh oh oh

3.15     oh oh oh oh oh

3.25     oh oh oh oh oh

Do these five (5)-note melodic excerpts, that are heard six (6) times in “Girl On Fire,” remind you of another song?  As I mentioned, the song to which I am referring was a very big hit that appeared in a very big 1980’s hit film.  If you recognize the song, do you think there is a potential copyright problem?

I hope everyone has a nice Saturday and stays away from retail, or that you are able to do stressless surgical shopping strikes.

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Is Alicia Keys guilty of copyright infringement? A lawyer quotes a feebly written blog and files a foolish lawsuit

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I was told about an article from AcesShowBiz entitled, “Alicia Keys Gets Sued for ‘Girl On Fire,’ Debuts ‘Brand New Me’ Video.”  The article refers to a “write-up by Roger Friedman“, a blogger for Showbiz411.  Roger Friedman seems to proudly state that “Alicia Keys is a Girl in Trouble today,” because she has been sued for copyright infringement and that Friedman is partially to blame/credit for the lawsuit  –  “some of the suit is based on my reporting.”

The songs in question are:

Plaintiff’s song  –  Eddie Holman recording of  “Hey There Lonely Girl”

Defendant’s song  –  Alicia Keys recording of  “Girl On Fire”

I was startled to read that “some of the suit is based on my reporting” as I had never heard of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed because of the “reporting” of a blogger, and especially a blogger who demonstrates his incontrovertible ignorance of copyright law.

Friedman states, “Hopefully musicologists will be called in, etc. experts who can testify about Keys’s use of two lines from the chorus of ‘Hey There Lonely Girl’ in ‘Girl on Fire.'”

This is such a poorly conceived and written sentence.  First, is Friedman stating his hopes that musicologists “will be called in, etc.?”   As a musicologist who has testified in copyright infringement cases in U. S. federal courts for 20 years, I am extremely curious as to what Friedman means by “etc….”  As I try to understand, I think he might mean that we are called in and then comes other actions – the etcetra part.  Just what does the “etc.” of his sentence mean, and have I been “etc.-ing” these past 20 years or should I start “etc.-ing” now to make up for the times in which I did not etcetera?

Also, the normal practice is for both sides to employ at least one (1) expert.  Experts are not “called in” as if to investigate a crime scene.  Experts, optimally, are hired BEFORE the initiation of a federal copyright infringement lawsuit.  In this instance of Alicia Keys’ alleged infringement, if experts are hired, they might not agree with Blogger Friedman’s position that Alicia Keys “use[d] two lines” from the chorus of ‘Hey There Lonely Girl.”

Also from that same rich sentence, it seems that Blogger Friedman may not have learned that

the possessive of   —   Keys   —   is Keys’   —   not Keys’s

unless Blogger Friedman writes “Keys’s” because he pronounces “Keys’s” as KEE – ZIHZ, and not KEEZ.

But things soon get more feeble in his writing.  Blogger Friedman states that…

“Anyway, anyone who listens to “Girl on Fire” can hear Alicia sing “she’s a lonely girl/in a lonely world” about her burning subject. Why Keys or someone with her didn’t just clear this sample is beyond me. Keys is a sampling queen, with loads of history in this department.”

“…beyond me.”  What I claim is “beyond” Friedman is this particular subject matter – sampling and copyright law.  At this point, Friedman proves that he does not understand copyright with respect to music, or practices in the contemporary music industry.

Factually, Alicia Keys did NOT “sample” any part of the “Hey There Lonely Girl” sound recording.  Blogger Friedman does not know enough about copyright law to form, possess or articulate an opinion on the subject.  Yet he uses the word, “sampling” and falsely accuses Alicia Keys of “sampling.”

To reiterate  –  Friedman is factually incorrect.  Alicia Keys DID NOT sample the sound recording of “Hey There Lonely Girl.”

I will return to this shoddy journalism and the new lawsuit,

Earl Shuman v. Sony Music Entertainment et al

filed in the United States District Court Central District of California, December 10, 2012.  I have much more to write about Friedman’s writing and Shuman v. Sony.  But I want to pique the interest of anyone who might be reading this at this point today with a final thought.

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I’ve known of “ambulance chasers,” (I’m not asserting Lowell is an ambulance chaser but “size matters” and Lowell’s video was at the top of my “ambulance chasers” search) with respect to music copyright infringement lawsuits  –  people who hear similarities between songs, and then contact interested parties with the hope that lawsuits will be filed and that they will receive money and/or acclaim.  If someone wanted to sue Alicia Keys for her recording, “Girl Of Fire,” there is a song by a potential plaintiff with much stronger similarities than, “Hey There Lonely Girl.”  It was a very big hit song that appeared in a very big 1980’s hit film.  Do you know of the song to which I refer?  Want to take a guess?  I’ll come back to that, and all of this Blogger Friedman/Shuman v. Sony stupidity, soon.

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I Had Almost Given Up On You – This Chord Didn’t Want To Change (Part 1), 14-Style Bliss

 

file0001884539324It’s December 14, 2012.  Friday, the 14th.  Not Friday the 13th and not 12/12/12/ or 12-12-12.  But there is still some symmetry to today’s date:

12 – 14 – 12

But by that way of thinking – with the month as 12 and the year as 12 (not 2012) – there are 31 days of this nice symmetry, a fact I’ll ignore after this sentence ends.  Except to sarcastically say (write) that today is probably a great day to get married or give birth and I wish those people a lot of 14-style bliss.

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The title of this post, I Had Almost Given Up On You – This Chord Didn’t Want To Change, came to me a few minutes ago.  I was at a deposition once for the Expert from the opposing side.  She/He was talking too much (that’s always fun as too many words can get one in trouble – just look at the trouble I could cause myself  – the Expert who types/spouts/rants/posts too much!).  Back to our story….  In a very long ramble, the Expert went way beyond simply answering the question – she/he stated that it is unusual for a chord to last more than 8 measures/8 bars and that in one of her/his cases she/he looked “far and wide” for songs that featured chords this lengthy.

My immediate reaction was —-  do you listen to music?  There are a lot of songs, and famous songs, that stay on one chord for long times, more than 8-meaures even.  And there are great songs that have only one (1) chord.  (If a song has only one chord, it can be considered “chord-less.”  I’ve gotten into this before in other posts, so I’ll refrain from developing this discussion.)

Back at the deposition, these songs, that feature extended time on only one chord, came to my mind IMMEDIATELY that day.  And then many more songs came to mind.  This isn’t something for which a musicologist should need to search “far and wide.”

What follows are the songs that first came to my mind that feature significant static harmony.  What are your favorites?  (And let’s keep musical styles/worlds that do not have harmony, such as Indian classical music, out of the discussion as that could be considered, “cheating.”)

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One of the most famous songs that stays on one chord for a long time is the first and only song I know responsible for the name of a great band and a magazine.

Muddy Waters  –  Rollin’ Stone  (1st new chord occurs @ 2.05)

The Doors created one of those “must-know” ubiquitous guitar riffs with the opening of “Roadhouse Blues.” This guitar riff and song open the album, Morrison Hotel.  Morrison Hotel is the origin of the famous name, “Hard Rock Cafe.”

Doors  –  Roadhouse Blues  (1st new chord occurs @ 1.19)

One of Hendrix’ best known songs and longest recorded jams featured Steve Winwood on organ.  This is from Electric Ladyland.

Jimi Hendrix  –  Voodoo Chile  (1st new chord occurs @ 2.52)

A shorter blues, also from Hendrix’ Electric Ladyland.  This is the album where Hendrix demonstrated his great knowledge and love of the blues, and especially Chess Records blues.

Jimi Hendrix  –  Voodoo Child (Slight Return)  (1st new chord occurs @ 1.43)

Not a great Steppenwolf song, ironically, because it needed to change chords sooner.

Steppenwolf  –  Sookie, Sookie  (0.06-0.56 features only one chord)

Because it is Little Walter, the harmonica playing is superb, and the lyrics are either subtle or screaming at you, depending on your familiarity with blues.

Little Walter  –  Mellow Down Easy  (1st new chord occurs @ 1.20)

There are a lot of other songs that feature chords that last for more than 8 measures.  As one who is often CHORD-CENTRIC and has a bias towards thinking harmony before other aspects of music in my own composing, I think it’s a great idea to go to the other side.  To study music that is contrary to your thinking and preference.  This is also a great practice for life, in my opinion.  Do what is not normal, expected or comfortable and see where such an adventure will lead you. (That is a good topic for another post, or many other posts.)

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Again, the songs:

Muddy Waters  –  Rollin’ Stone

Doors  –  Roadhouse Blues

Jimi Hendrix  –  Voodoo Chile

Jimi Hendrix  –  Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Steppenwolf  –  Sookie, Sookie 

Little Walter  –  Mellow Down Easy