Lady Gaga 0, Fan 1

Lady Gaga and/or  her management appealed to the National Arbitration Forum.  Her claim was that ladygaga.org, which was started by a fan, was a trademark infringement.  The owner of the site claimed that she was not gaining any profit from the site and using it solely to promote Lady Gaga. 

This is where it gets tricky for an artist who fiercely wants to protect his/her image.  Is it worth alienating a fan who is clearly a superfan?  The website states on the homepage that it's an unofficial site. 

For someone as popular and in the public eye as Lady Gaga, she would have to think situations like this would be sprouting up all over. This fan was smart enough to register ladygaga.org.  In checking other domains, .net is another unofficial website, .info redirects to a dance website.  It's surprising that Gaga didn't register every domain configuration and redirect them all to her official website. 

The official verdict according to the Hollywood Reporter: 
Three panelists at the National Arbitration Forum ruled that Lady Gaga had failed to show that respondent lacked legitimate interest in the disputed domain name.

Fan 1, Gaga 0

Losers Take All

In a Six Degrees of Separation moment, I have a few connections to the movie Losers Take All.  It's based on a story by Ed Bradin and Roger Rawlings.  I've know Ed for years. Our first encounter may have been my first day of college.  His sister and I were college roommates.  I had never met her prior to going to Fordham.   While I was out of the room on that first day, Kerri moved in.  You can always judge someone by their music collection and apparently Eddy, who was there to drop off his sister at college, approved of my mine.  There was plenty of Ramones, Blondie, Beach Boys and  Elvis Costello. 

Ed joined us at Fordham two years later and he and Roger formed the band the Altar Boys.  This movie is based on their story.

In another degree of separation, the film director, Alex Steyermark is one of the best music supervisors I know.  He has such a connection between film and music.  It makes sense that two of his directorial stints have been music related.  The other film being Prey For Rock & Roll. 

The movie was seen at the Woodstock Film Festival this past Friday and hopefully it will be at a theater near you very soon.

Movie Trivia:  Billy Kay who plays one of the band members was the baby in the movie 3 Men And A Baby.  

Two Lead Singers Are Better Than One

The Jayhawks @ The Greene Space

Two lead singers, singing each song simultaneously is a rarity in music.  The first groups that come to mind were duos in the 1960’s.  Do duos count?  Chad and Jeremy and Peter and Gordon.  The Smothers Brothers also sang together, but took solos.  Squeeze has a few songs that Glen and Chris took leads together such as Take Me I’m Yours.  I don’t remember ever seeing a whole show where two lead singers sang every song in the set. 

Monday night’s Jayhawks performance at the Greene Space had me mesmerized.  Gary Louris and Mark Olson sounded like one.  It wasn’t that they weren’t harmonizing or singing different notes at times, while singing the same lyrics.  It just struck me that they sounded like a single unit.  The drummer, Tim O’Reagan and keyboard player, Karen Grotberg both contributed background vocals. Bassist Marc Perlman did not. 

The intimate show was recorded for a future broadcast for Soundcheck airing on Sept 30^th.  They opened the show with She Walks in So Many Ways.  I’ve been hearing the track on WEHM and love it.  It’s from the new album Mockingbird Time which is out this week.  Jayhawks and Mockingbirds are a good combo.  The album is the first full-length studio album featuring Gary and Mark (founding members of the group) since the wonderful 1995 release, Tomorrow the Green Grass. The duo wrote all the songs on the album. 

When asked about the writing process, Gary said it was just the two of them.  Band members add to the recording, but the two are the writers.  Both Gary and Mark said they still write a whole album with a theme, the way they always have.  Mockingbird follows a biographical journey of the band and their lives.  They still spend time on sequencing, even in this age of pick and choose tracks. 

Closer To Your Side brought thoughts of those duos: Peter and Gordon and Chad and Jeremy. The writing is more mature, but it follows in the tradition of great hooks and melodies.

Mark played acoustic guitar and Gary electric.  Both have a great sound to their playing.  The night would not have been complete without the “hit” (or nuggets as Gary referred to their more familiar songs) Blue.  It’s a classic.  One of my favorite covers of all time is their version of Bad Time.  They did not perform it, which was to be expected in 50 minute set.

It’s great to have Mark, Gary and their songwriting back.

Of Note:

Rolling Stone is streaming the new record.  

Major Labels Still Using Payola The Same Old Way

TechDirt alerted me to a post by the former president of Rykodisc, George Howard on TuneCore's blog.  As George points out, radio is the last stronghold for the major labels, meaning it's the last place they have some "control".   Getting most records on the radio involves lots of money, hiring "consultants" and being a part of the good old boys network, which still exists and has not been cracked in over 50 years.

In my experience the route to getting a song played on radio has not changed in many years.  It started in the late 80's and was in full swing by the 90's.  George explains the process:

Getting a song “added” to a station’s playlist to get a certain number of plays per week involves a rather byzantine process that brings in various parties, called independent promoters (“indies”).  These “indies” are first paid by the label.  It’s important to note that the money the indies receive isn’t necessarily compensation paid directly to them for getting Program Directors to get a song played.  Rather, they work more like an intermediary to pass the label’s money to the radio station. These indies, with the money paid to them from the labels, pay the radio station money for various listener give-aways, bumper stickers and so on. To top it off,  these very same indies are often also paid a second time by the stations themselves as a consultant to advise the stations on what songs they should play.

This is essentially why very few indie artists are heard on any format other than college radio (there are consultants for that format also).  They have a better chance of being struck by lightening than hearing themselves on Top 40 radio.  The majors have the most money and are tied in to the good old boys network.  If indies have the money, they don't belong to the network.

What George didn't touch on was the cost to the artists.  All this promotion money/payola is recoupable by the artist.  It goes to their bottom line.  It explains why Vertical Horizon had a big hit with Everything You Want and got paid nothing in royalties from their record label.    When I was working with the band, the album had sold about 1.4 million units and the band hadn't seen a penny in royalties.  The flip side of this is you are so happy a label has gotten behind you and is pushing you, that you ignore it as the spread sheet numbers keeps adding up.  It did make them a profitable touring band and the songwriters got nice publishing checks.   As an artist you weigh the outcome.



Things are much different now than 15 years ago.  There are other ways to be heard than on the radio.  The good news for artists is they have access to all of them. 

A Sensible Musician

After reading the NY Times article on Nick Lowe, I'm beginning to believe he's one of a small breed: The Sensible Musician.  He embraces his age (early 60's).  He had a stroke of luck by having his song (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding covered on the Body Guard soundtrack.  The royalties allowed him to make music the way he wanted.  He didn't have to play the game.  He was financially sound.

Nick's latest The Old Magic came out yesterday.   The cover sports a woman who resembles Karen Carpenter. 









On the heels of Doris Day having a top 10 album hit in the UK this past week, my friend suggested Doris and Nick should record an album and call it Sense and Sensibility.  I think she's on to something. 

For your ears: 
Nick guest DJ's on All Songs Considered.

Happy Birthday Freddie!

Today would have been Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday.  The Google Doodle honors him.





I was lucky to see Queen at Nassau Coliseum during their Night At The Opera tour. He will always be one of the most charismatic front persons in music.  He was a great songwriter, singer and performer.  My friend Adrienne adored him. What's not to love?

Whose Convenience?

Why don't they just call it what it is?  It's a fee to purchase a ticket.  It's not convenient for me to spend an additional $2.95 per ticket.  WNYC's The Green Space is not the first venue to label it a "convenience charge". 

I just purchased two tickets to see the Jayhawks at the Green Space, which I'm excited about.  I haven't been there. I haven't see the Jayhawks in years.  I don't mind a $3 fee. It's definitely within reason, but I hate it being disguised.  Tell me what it is. 

That being said, there are still tickets available for the Sept 19th show and the "ticket fee" of $20 includes a glass of wine or beer:  very civil. 

Two Great Songwriting Duos Lose A Partner

Both Nick Ashford and Jerry Leiber passed away.  Both were part of two of the most successful songwriting duos of all time.

Nick along his wife Valerie Simpson had their own hit with Solid (As A Rock), but penned the following for other singers:

Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing
Ain't No Mountain High Enough (seeing a pattern here?)
I'm Every Woman



Jerry Leiber was one half of Leiber Stoller.  A few of the acts they wrote for were Elvis Presley, The Coasters, Ben E King and The Searchers.

Songs included:
Jailhouse Rock
Hound Dog
Love Potion No. 9
Stand By Me
Is That All There Is?

News Radio Kills the Radio Star

One of the last music format radio stations in New York has gone news.  101.9 went FM News over the weekend. The new call letters are WEMP-FM.  The NY Times reports it's a breezier version of the news. 

Passion At The Work Place

When there is excitement and passion in the workplace, people want to be there participating.  Eileen Gittins recognizes this.  She founded Blurb.  The company that started out as a self-publishing startup for mainly artists making their own art books.

It has grown because

1. They pay attention to details.
2. Give the customer the quality they expect.
3. Maybe this is the most important, as Gittins says "I just get energized by ideas and by people who are committed wholeheartedly to whatever it is they’re doing."  She says this goes for not only her employees but her customers as well.

I remember the days (that makes me sound old) when it was exciting to walk down the halls of a record company.  There was music everywhere. Posters hung on the walls.  Boxed vinyl was stacked all over the place creating a labyrinth in the offices.  Laminates hung on lanyards from bulletin boards.  People would accost me to listen to the latest  not-yet-released songs from Paul Westerberg.  It was fun, exciting and there was passion everywhere.

Fast forward to a story I remember hearing from Sony Music.  When Howard Stringer landed there in the late 90's, it was rumored that he asked Donnie Inner to turn down his music as it was too loud.  Can you imagine running a record company and being told to turn down the sole reason for the company:  music?  The corporate heads sucked out the passion.

Mashable has an interview with Gittens, which is worth the read.  She talks about growing her company.  The original business model:  Could we make money as a business on a book of one? Meaning if somebody made a book, and they only ever ordered one copy, could we have a viable business? And the reason why that was so important was that’s the opposite of traditional book publishing and creating apps. 

She's focused, smart and passionate.

Cherry Pie Singer Found Dead

Warrant's lead singer and writer of their hit Cherry Pie, Jani Lane was found dead in a Woodland Hills, California hotel room on Thursday.   According to the article in the New York Times, his manager said the death was alcohol related.  He was 47 years old. 

An interesting fact the article also pointed out:
Mr. Lane was born John Kennedy Oswald on Feb. 1, 1964 in Akron, Ohio. (His parents named him after President John F. Kennedy, undeterred by the fact that they shared the last name of the suspect in the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald.)

Guster + Will Forte + Air Supply

Need I say more?

Use Their Music Without Permission, blink-182 Is Rewarding You

It's part of a promotion for AT and T.  What a fun idea.  To promote blink-182's first single in 8 years, they searched YouTube.  Any video that used blink-182's music without permission was given consideration.  They took clips from the selected videos and made one for the single, Up All Night. They are calling it the fan montage.  It's a lot of fun. 

Embrace your fans.  How exciting is it for a fan to see themselves in a "real" blink-182 video? 

Happy Birthday MTV

MTV turned 30 today and it's quite a different channel than it was in the 80's. 

Dueling Journey's

A strange thing happened on morning TV.

Good Morning America presented Tiffany and Debbie Gibson.  From the tight shots of the audience, I don't think there was a large amount of people there.  It was an interesting booking choice.  Both looked like they were enjoying themselves and Tiffany had a surprisingly strong voice. 


Flip to the Today Show and Journey is performing.  Neal Schon and Ross Valory are founding members.  From there, the band has had a revolving door of players.  Steve Perry joined in 1977 as lead singer and the hits came.  He left in the late 1990's.  Current front man Arnel Pineda was plucked from his YouTube performances in 2007.  Schon, Perry and current member Jonathan Cain wrote "Don't Stop Believin'". 

Journey to no one's surprise performs "Believin;".  The song is finished and I switch over to GMA.  Tiffany and Gibson are singing "Believin'".  That's two performances in one morning.  I thought Steve Perry has to be on CBS.  He was not.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Dan Peek Founding Member of America, RIP

America started out as a trio.  I loved this band when I was in high school. One of older girls at school was a ticket scalper and I was able to get front row seats to see America. Eric Carmen opened the show.  Love him also.  If I remember correctly my friends Linda and Adrienne (sisters and twins) got the seats for Eric and part of America's set and then I switched seats for the rest of the show.  I saw them twice at the Nassau Coliseum.

Dan Peek, who was my favorite, died this week. As of now they have not named the cause of death.  He provided the high harmony and lead guitar for the trio as well as singing lead on their hit "Lonely People."


Dan left the band in 1977.  The road and living a rock star life became too much for him. He became a born again Christian. 

The other founding band members Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley has this to say on America's website:

"I am so sorry to learn of Dan’s passing. Dan, along with Gerry and myself, formed the band “America” as teenagers after being great friends in high school during the late 60’s. It was a joyous time for the three of us, full of excitement and laughter. We created lasting music together and experienced a life that we could never have imagined. Dan was an equal and integral part of that early history, and I have never forgotten the good times we spent making that music and learning about life together. Although we eventually went our separate ways, his contributions to the music of “America” have always been present and will last forever. This news brings great sadness. My sincere condolences go out to his wife, Catherine, and the entire Peek family. May Dan rest in peace, and his memory be cherished forever." -Dewey Bunnell

"I am deeply saddened to hear the news of Dans passing. He was a dear friend for many years. Dan and his music will live on in the great songs he shared with us all. My sincere condolences go out to Catherine and the entire Peek family. May he rest in peace...."
-Gerry Beckley

In what must be a bittersweet moment for the band, their record Back Pages, which is an album of covers (Beach Boys, Fountains of Wayne) is released today.

America is a big part of my musical tapestry.  I love their melodies and harmonies.  I loved their song from the film Music and Lyrics.  I always wondered what their lyrics were about.   Part of the fun was trying to figure out why we "shouldn't give up until we reach for the silver cup and ride that highway in the sky."    Now it all makes sense.

Cut The Middle Man

Fred Wilson pointed to a blog post by Mark Suster, who is also a VC.  The post is a warning not to ceed too much control to the middle, whether it be a lawyer, PR person or your banker.  You are the one who should be pitching the deal/story.  You should be negotiating or setting the terms of the deal you want. 

How true is this for the musician?  No one should know the music better than the musician themselves.  I've heard many a musician claim that they are misunderstood.  More times than not it was because they had someone else lay the groundwork for them.

I'm not saying that musicians shouldn't hire people to do PR, manage them, etc.  In most cases it's more than necessary to have these people on your team. It's important that everyone is one on the same mission with the same message. The musician is the one who needs to make sure that is the case.  Don't lay back and let the chips fall where they may.  Don't think that just because you pay these people they're doing your work.  As Mark points out, they have many other clients and sometimes their long term goals are not the same as yours.  Make sure that they are.  Pay attention.  Take the time to looks at contracts. 

Perfect example of this came out last week when Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the courts to not grant his ex-wife Maria Shriver spousal support.  He also asked that attorney fees and legal costs be jointly paid. Now according to TMZ:  sources said that although he signed the divorce docs he never read them, partly because he was dealing with a family medical crisis -- Christopher's boogie boarding accident ... and partly because he relied on his lawyer.  He is going to refile amended papers today. 

Perfect example of why you don't rely on the middle.  This of course could be an excuse by the ex-Governor to cover up his audacious first filing after he once again, got slammed in the media.

Make sure you are the one driving your ship.

Amy Winehouse RIP

Fellow musicians mourn the loss of Amy Winehouse:

Tony Bennett said in a statement to Spinner, "Amy Winehouse was an artist of immense proportions and I am deeply saddened to learn of her tragic passing. She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent has come to such an early end.
"She was a lovely and intelligent person and when we recorded together she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance. I was honored to have the opportunity to sing with her. It had been my sincere hope that she would be able to overcome the issues she was battling and I send my deepest sympathy to her father Mitchell, her entire family and all of those who loved her."

Mark Ronson, who produced Back to Black, said: "She was my musical soul mate and like a sister to me. This is one of the saddest days of my life."

Ron Wood said, "It's a very sad loss of a very good friend I spent many great times with."

She led a life akin to Sid and Nancy. Her death is currently being classified as "unexplained" by London police.  Amy recently tried to complete a 12-leg tour and as famously shown on YouTube, was booed off the stage in  Belgrade.  She canceled shows in Istanbul and Athens with the rest of the tour to follow.   Amy's last public appearance was Wednesday as she joined goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on stage during the iTunes festival.

With Dionne Bromfield on Wednesday Night

According to the Guardian The Metropolitan police said: "Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square shortly before 16.05hrs following reports of a woman found deceased. On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene."

Her father was set to play the Blue Note in New York and returned to London.  She was a talented musician.  She brought excitement back to music.  She'll be remembered for that.  She was 27 years old, which is the same age that Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin all left this world.

Cats On 45, Literally

Having a dance party?  You may want to think about hiring these three cuties to provide the music.  They seem to know their way around the turntables.



Mashable pointed me to this video.

John Mayer On The Pitfalls of Social Networking

The Berklee College of Music welcomed John Mayer (he attended Berklee for a short time), who gave the students a lot to ponder.  The Berkleeblog goes into great detail about his visit with the students. 

John Mayer was the king of Twitter for a time.  He had millions of followers, my husband being one of them.  It was most interesting when he was talking about working in the studio and on his music.  Other times he got into trouble, but not as much as he did for his Playboy interview.

He stopped using Twitter and explained why.

The tweets are getting shorter, but the songs are still 4 minutes long. You’re coming up with 140-character zingers, and the song is still 4 minutes long…I realized about a year ago that I couldn’t have a complete thought anymore. And I was a tweetaholic. I had four million twitter followers, and I was always writing on it. And I stopped using twitter as an outlet and I started using twitter as the instrument to riff on, and it started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I couldn’t write a song.

Interesting analysis which makes sense.  He cut out all distractions while making his recent record. When the recording day was over, he went home and there he could do whatever he wanted, but not during the work day.

Solid advice not only for musicians:

• Good music (substitute your area of work) is its own promotion.
• Manage the temptation of publishing yourself.
• Anybody who tells you to have a fall back plan are people who had a fallback plan, didn’t follow their dreams, and don’t want you to either.
• Anybody who’s made it will tell you, you can make it. Anyone who hasn’t made it will tell you, you can’t.

Read the whole article.  It's an interesting take from someone who's been there and done it all.