Mailbag

Re: Beats At Half Price

Hey Bob

I really enjoy your emails. i just wanted to point out that BEATS are one of the top counterfeited products in the world, and monsterbeats33.com is not a valid distributor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoE4sbJMMFU

1.5 million views! That shows the power...

Thanks
Philip Pendleton

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Re: Beats At Half Price

Your article drove me to check out these great prices on Beats headphones. KSL was sold out. So I went to the link you said was for Monster. My sense is this is a bootleg or scam site based on their poor english and info on their about us page. I then just googled Monster Cable and found their true site here: http://www.monstercable.com. Likewise if you google Beats by Dre you get about 5 different sites that all look like authentic Beats sites and 4 of them have these huge sales going on but if you dig deeper (check the about us section or contact us or their actual URL name) you see pretty quickly that these are also of questionable authenticity. Anyway, you might want to look into this and send out a correction if you agree with me and save your readership the possibility of getting scammed as I almost did. Certainly this leads to a potentially even more interesting article about the bootlegging of headphones or using dummy sites to internet scam.

Best,

Carolyn Robbins

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From: Paul Rosenberg
Re: Xbox Music

Bob-

When I was in my last year of law school in 1995, I wrote a term paper for my copyright class on the necessary shifts coming for copyright law in the "digital age". Back then, the intellectual property pundits were calling it the "Celestial Music Juke Box". Today, we call it subscription music service.

Years before the invention of the Internet, the legal scholars saw something like this coming. The record labels did not, or chose to ignore it for far too long. They got stuck in the business of selling plastic discs and put on their blinders. The elephant started out merely in the room, then it became the entire building.

For years I've been saying to anyone that would listen that if a music service is created that is CONVENIENT and EFFICIENT enough, where consumers can listen to anything they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, people will pay for it. Forget owning a CD, or even a digital file- those take up space, who needs 'em?

For a long time this level of service wasn't CONVENIENT enough because the mobile bandwidth wasn't there and because our phones didn't integrate easily enough into our components and car audio systems. That's all over with 4G data delivery and WiFi/bluetooth connectivity.

Now, it's just a matter of racing to see who creates the most EFFICIENT service with the best interface and functionality. Spotify is great, but as your pointed out, it has some limitations (which I'm sure they are aware of and constantly tweaking).

I for one would welcome Apple with open arms into the race for the best music subscription service. They have already changed the way that most of the world consumes and enjoys music with the iPod, then iPhone, with iTunes and the iTunes store. Why would they stop there?

I'm a firm believer that the right subscription service will bring enough dollars into the business to bring it back close to where it was in the heyday of the CD revolution. It's up to us as an industry to figure out how to redistribute the income and make it work for everyone. Fighting the digital shift that was imagined almost 20 years ago is a waste of time.

And this is all coming from someone whose client has sold more plastic discs than anyone in since the turn of the century...

Paul Rosenberg
Shady Records, Inc.
Goliath Artists, Inc.
@rosenberg

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From: Chris Andrews
Subject: Re: Xbox Music

http://www.policymic.com/mobile/articles/16579/felix-baumgartner-jump-video-headcam-live-footage-shows-skydive-from-space-to-earth

You wanna talk about how streaming won. The link above is worth highlighting.

8 Million people streamed Felix Baumgartner's sky dive from Space on YouTube live. That until now was ratings only television enjoyed.

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From: Joe Pinder
RE: Beats At Half Price

I don't blame Monster, who have over-extended and over-hyped themselves anyway. What's going to happen is that Apple is going to take its new earpods wireless within a year and no one except those who want the Bose technology is going to want anything else. Don't believe me? Look where they moved the headphone jack on the iPhone 5. It's now actually in the way unless you have it upside down and at least on my 4S the accelerometer will not allow the screen to work at 180 degrees. Remember which company was the first to completely ditch the "floppy," as you have pointed out? And who was the first to make laptops without optical drives? Watch for that headphone port to disappear. It takes up a lot of real estate inside the phone. And it's a hole to let stuff get inside their otherwise-controlled environment.

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From: Halloran
RE: Beats At Half Price

beats were beat the second they came out.

bad fashion accessory from day one.

from a guy that uses headphones all day at work I can tell you that the sony studio MDR-V6 are perfect for club DJing and radio work. this is ironic as sony makes the shittiest speakers for home use. I prefer genelec monitors for air and mixing or some of the JBL powered monitors.

but to be seen walking around with a pair of beats attached to ones head screams "poseur".

all you need is an affliction/Ed hardy/Von Dutch/aero postale/ t-shirt and the package is complete.

beat dis!

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From: Greg Khaikin
Subject: Re: Don'ts & Do's

One thing you forgot was "make your music easy to hear." I can't tell you how many bands I've tried to check out in anticipation of CMJ and they made it difficult for me to listen. If i have to "like" you before you'll even let me hear your music, then i'm out. If i have to give you my email address, then click three links just for you to play me a 30 second snippet, I'm done. and to top it off, if you don't have contact information online, then why are you even bothering?

-greg

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From: Lee Van Put
Subject: Re: Don'ts & Do's

As a recent grad, I'd also throw in "Don't go to law school" - currently working in a non-legal (not illegal) internship at a fashion house since the job market in NYC is about as saturated with lawyers as the radio is with shitty pop tunes. Still, it beats sitting on the couch sending out resumes like the majority of my fellow alumni. Too bad we all have to pay back the $x00,000s in loans we signed up for when a well-paying job was all but guaranteed!

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From: Rick Larson
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Fountains Of Wayne

The MILF crystallized and became okay for mainstream consumption once that song came out. It became okay for MILFs to admit to liking young boys to their friends and young boys to attempt to feast on MILFs. Up to that point, there was interest in both sides. After that, it was off to the races. And good for MILFs. Older guys had been chasing sweet young things for years while MILFs went begging. No more after that song and video came out. I discovered moms like Stacy's back in high school, in 1978. I had the market all to myself through that time and college. Guys my age were trying to make it with gals our age and making little progress. I was going to SMU, waking up at some divorcee's house in north Dallas in 1980, getting coffee and breakfast in bed and insatiable loving while guys my age had long taken their dates home. No strings, just fun. When they started taking me shopping, I rather liked it. As one said, "I don't know whether to fuck you or adopt you."

Rick

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From: Ed Rivadavia
Subject: RE: Sales-Week Ending-9/30/12

Pending the size of their second week sales drop, Mumford's massive debut seems to support the fact that album promo cycles are increasingly resembling movie openings - where all of the marketing and $ might as well be focused on that one shot at glory, not a long term plan. Adele's year-long reign notwithstanding, we keep seeing more and more one-and-done artists - not just in the sales column, but in the public awareness/curiosity departments too, as you yourself have pointed out a few times. It makes sense: with so much to consume, listeners will keep hopping from song to song, week to week, Gotye to Psy, and brand loyalty be damned. It takes too much commitment. What's more, the kids KNOW there's rarely anything there beyond the one hit smoke and mirrors - they ain't falling for it.

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From: Craig Skinner
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Fountains Of Wayne

A review of Fountains of Wayne is not complete without listening to Robbie Fulks' "Fountains of Wayne Hotline."
-----

Note: I did some research on this. Although there are many references in Google, there is no YouTube video. YouTube is the new radio, if you are not there, you really don't exist. Yes, there are live takes on YouTube, but we've been conditioned to expect those to be lo-fi and usually just ignore them unless we're hard core fans.

However, in the seven year old spirit of the song, you can download an MP3 here:

http://bit.ly/RnaNRR

Or here: http://bit.ly/QWa8X5

Don't forget, if you're on a Mac, and you click to download, you'll get a page with the track playing, not the download, to do that, you've got to hold down the Option key while you click and choose "Download Linked File" or "Save Linked File To Desktop."

If you're not that adventurous, or even if you are, you can read the lyrics here: http://bit.ly/TcXU9y

I'd like to tell you the track is more than a one listen exercise, but that would be untrue for most people. But for those of you under the age of forty, who were born before music ruled the world, by clicking above, you can experience the way it once was, when we were both hungry and interested, when it wasn't about bankers and money but creativity. Just imagine if Frank Zappa was twenty five today, he might go to work for Goldman Sachs as opposed to trying to be a professional musician, and how much poorer would we all be? Yes, there is only a minimal live circuit, it's hard to be a musician today, many people take the easy way out, which is to do something else.

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From: Richard Arfin
Subject: Re: Pamela Hurley

I once asked my friend, Shadow Morton, about the end of "Society's Child" which he produced. He told me that when the song was finished, he felt that it needed a coda to resolve the song. He asked Artie Butler to come up with something. In Shadow's words, "I wanted an exclamation point." Artie came up with a riff and recorded it in one take. Shadow immediately added it to the end of the song. "I knew that the song was memorable by itself but I also realized that the coda was a hook unto itself. It's the first time that I can remember that a hook was placed at the end of the song. And it worked."

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From: Nelson Leonard
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Fountains Of Wayne

Good morning, Bob.
Always enjoy your posts.
Regarding Fountains of Wayne and "All Kinds of Time", here's a link to a promotional piece Allan Broce and I created for the NFL Network:

www.thenowtv.com/a/Bob/FF_NFL_Network_AKOT_60.mov

(Note: Let the video load completely before you play it, otherwise it will stall.)

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From: Nick Zieber
Re: Jimmy Iovine

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have had the #1 album on iTunes for a few days now. I just wanted to remind you that I wrote this to you in March 2011.

-----
Dear Bob,

Seattle is up to something. It has been a few years since Death Cab for Cutie, a few more since Nirvanna, and even longer since Jimmy Hendrix. There has been a movement that is about 5 years (or more) in the making. A so-called "Northwest Hip-Hop" group called Blue Scholars began on the University of Washington campus when two students joined forces. The two college students had a passion for hip-hop and recognized that labels had caused irreparable damage to artists, and that in order for them to succeed, they would have to go it alone without the aid of a record label...

Through the Blue Scholars and their community-driven leadership, another artist was propelled to the forefront of the movement. His name is Macklemore. Well, actually his name is Ben Haggerty, but he goes by Macklemore now. He may be Seattle's best hope for home-grown talent that blossoms on the national scene. Here's a recent article about him in the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2014178847_macklemore10.html?prmid=carousel_feat

Macklemore also did a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a music video. The goal was $10,000 and they raised about $18,500. Fans put their money where their demand is. I got in touch with the director for the short film, Zia Mohajerjasbi, and he said it would be great for me to come up to Seattle and help out once the money was raised. I got to experience the creative community in full-force. Never have I seen such professionalism and creative vision in my life. The video will be called "Wings" and will be so good that you will probably write an entire post about it. It will be the first music video to use the ARRI Alexa digital camera, and is scheduled for release sometime next month.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wings/macklemore-x-ryan-lewis-wings-dir-zia-mohajerjasbi?ref=live

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (the producer) are currently on tour, and have sold out every venue on the way, including Seattle's own Showbox at the Market three times in one week. That never happens. Macklemore is a very active twitter user, tapping into his fanbase through constant communication. The other day they sold out the Viper Room in Los Angeles, and before long Macklemore will be headlining at SXSW in Austin on St. Patrick's Day.

http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/550750/

Though the dollar figures are much smaller than would typically accompany an act of this caliber, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Blue Scholars will continue to gain support for their music through their loyal fan base, and you can count me in.

___________________________________

From: Arny Schorr
Subject: RE: Ed Cassidy

Apparently, Ed was found on the floor of his trailer, unconscious.
Conflicting reports said he had a stroke, others that it was severe
dehydration (which having spent a couple of hours in that tin can, was quite likely). He has been diagnosed with dementia and will likely require a caregiver.

His daughter and ex-wife plus Jay and Mark are aware and making efforts to help but Ed is the only one who can make certain decisions as he never granted power of attorney to anyone. He is paranoid and has a combative personality makes it difficult to help him. I understand there was a scene at the rehab center (in Arroyo Grande) with an ombudsman where Ed refused to sign anything in regards CPR or life support issues.

We're trying to get Music Cares to get him some assistance and any offers of support are probably best directed to them. It's very sad and very frustrating.

Thanks again.
Arny


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