I was given this opportunity to get out of the record business and into the music business and from where I sit, coming from a major label to ATO, the music business is extremely healthy
- Bruce Flohr – from Before the Music Dies

In visiting Michael Geist’s blog looking for comments on previous posts last week I came across his post on the recently released report “The Canadian Independent Music Industry An Examination of Distribution and Access” [html, PDF].

Just reading it now myself but the tone is certainly optimistic overall for the Canadian independent industry and music in general. From Michael Geist’s comments:

It distinguishes between the music industry and the CD industry, with the former very healthy and the latter diminishing year-by-year. Left unsaid, though no less important, is to distinguish between the Canadian music industry, which is dominated by independent labels, and CRIA, which largely represents the industry outside the country.

So where the above speaks to the overall industry and addresses a range of issues how about sales? As far as actual sales go for last year, well things look good there too:

• Overall music purchases were up nearly 10% from 2005
• Nearly 15 million digital tracks were purchased; an increase of 122% over 2005

Via Hypebot

Personally, I think good times are coming for the independent musician/artist.
Forget the fluff and wanna bes. The ones that can get out there and perform will soon be benefiting.

As far as the end of the recording industry, and lawsuits et al. – think about this – in a country [Canada] where you can’t be sued for illegal downloading [so far], OVERALL SALES ROSE 10%.

Extra Credit Reading: An email sent to Bob Lefsetz addressing the lack of competition between the majors/within the music industry raises some very important points and provides much food for thought for anyone considering a career as an independent label owner today.

Hi everyone!

So, I wrote this song. And I submitted it into a songwriting competition.

And then it won the regionals. So now i get to fly to Toronto and stay in a nice hotel and play the song for some industry people and hope they like it.

AND>>>> you can all go online and vote for my song and if I win the

nationals I will buy you all a cup of coffee and give you love and hugs. Of course, you can listen to all of the finalists and vote for who you like the best..

My song is about quitting a job that I wasn’t passionate about and how that was a really good decision. I recorded it live on CKDU, Halifax’s campus community station. The song means a lot to me and I am grateful it made it into the finals.

Here is the link. If you have a minute i will be so karmically grateful if you go onto the site and play the voting game!

www.radiostar.ca

Thanks so much. Drop me a line if you can!

xo

Tanya

I voted – you vote!

The site is Day Trotter

The concept: Nice and simple, bands come in for a few hours and record a few tracks, usually four, live off the floor with no overdubs. You get re-workings, covers, new songs and all kinds of surprises.

Then it’s posted on the site available for free download [although bands can sell it if they choose].

Check out today’s newest addition – Canada’s very own Tokyo Police Club session!

Listing of all sessions

Here’s an article, A Gift Horse, from the Chicago Reader to introduce the site and folks behind it to you.

The images in this post are from the site as well, each session also has words and great art work contributed as well.

I thought this was going to be for the International round, pitting the Trews against Sam Roberts, but I some how missed that – Sam won regardless with 56% of the vote.

So now you can vote for Sam Roberts or The Rewinds to go up against Boys Like Girls or The Silent Years for artists of the year.

Weird day here at Radio 3. We’ve just moved to our new office space, and everyone is a bit disoriented. Nice space, but it’s a bit corporate. The florescent-lit cubicles don’t really say “rock & roll”, so it’s going to take a while for us to make it our own. That said, we could use your help. If you’re in a band, we need your gig posters to de-Dilbert our space.

So what’s in it for you? Well for one thing, bands sending ups their posters will instantly be entered into The Bucky Awards newest category for Best Artwork.

Yeah… it might seem early to be thinking about the Buckys, but we need artwork, and we need it NOW. Please help, cuz I think some of my colleagues are close to freaking out. You can send your posters as PDF files to: info@cbcradio3.com, or via snailmail:

CBC Radio 3
700 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC.
V6B 4A2
Attn: Bucky

I used to work at United Bookstore, about eight years ago, and when I did, I always wished I worked across the street. I was too insecure to ever apply for a job at Sam the Record Man. I thought it/they were way too cool for me. So I have kinda been living a dream.
- Now former staff from Sam’s

For plenty of music fans in general Sam’s was a dream place to purchase music with a knowledge and friendly staff, big supporters of the local scene [I know Their Majesties sold a good number of CDs there alone] and a selection unrivaled elsewhere in town.

Thanks for the great deals and suggestions over the years, and best of luck to everyone who suddenly found themselves without a job.

Canadian music industry representatives are re-opening an old debate about MP3 players that could see the average price of the devices climb by as much as $75.
-Canadian Press/Globe & Mail

Wow that sounds good!

Why is this needed?

David Basskin, a member of the CCPC’s board of directors, said it’s time artists be compensated for the copying of their files onto the digital devices.

Wow again!
I guess the CPCC has different figures than those available to the rest of the world because according to one report [figure below] WELL OVER HALF OF ALL MUSIC on mp3 players was music paid for either via buying a Cd and ripping it or via a paid download.

Michael Geist has this covered in more detail [taking two posts] over on his blog.
CPCC Goes For Broke, Part One
CPCC Goes For Broke, Part Two

This is the same levy the Supreme Court previously quashed an appeal on from the CPCC in 2005.

If there’s anything we can take from this kids it’s to remember never give up on your dreams [even if they make no sense at all and will piss off anyone anyhow connected to what your dream is].

In the lead up to the ECMAs last week I was busy and missed posting about all kinds of news and reports so here goes:

This lady will make decisions that will affect us all – I am somewhat terrified.

In the ongoing fight over copyright laws in Canada pressure is building from US trade groups and media companies. Fox studios threatened to delay future film releases in Canada due to piracy while [CBC: Artists, entertainment companies battle over copyright law] a powerful coalition of U.S. software, movie and music producers wants the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to put Canada on a blacklist of intellectual property villains [CBC: Canada on U.S. blacklist over intellectual piracy].

Both sides agree there is a need for reforms of the existing laws, the problems arise over the degree of reformed required:

It’s too hard to prosecute people who copy videos, games, music or films and offer them on the internet under Canada’s existing laws, said Danielle LaBossiere, director of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada.

“It’s pretty difficult to pursue people under the existing laws because you have prove their intent to circumvent, which means you have to prove that they know what they’re doing is wrong,” she said.

But punitive laws that charge people for downloading material are not the way to go, some artists groups say.

Toronto musician Andrew Cash says the recording industry is ignoring the opportunity the internet represents by insisting on tight and rigid rules for downloading.

“The sooner the music culture, including major labels, embrace what’s going on, I think that’s going to raise everyone’s boat,” Cash said.

Michael Geist’s take In Good Company – the summary:

The U.S. approach is quite clearly one of “do what I say, not what I do” (fair use is good for the U.S., but no one else), advising country after country that it does not meet international TPM standards (perhaps it is the U.S. that is not meeting emerging international standards), and criticizing national attempts to improve education or culture through exceptions or funding programs. Moreover, it is very clear that the U.S. lobby groups are never satisfied as even those countries that have ratified the WIPO treaties or entered into detailed free trade agreements with the U.S. that include IP provisions still find themselves criticized for not doing enough.

Canadians should not be deceived into thinking that our laws are failing to meet an international standard, no matter what U.S. lobby groups or the Globe and Mail say. Rather, Canadians should know that our approach – and the criticism that it inevitably brings from the U.S. – places us in very good company.

Canadian Music Creators Coalition
International Intellectual Property Alliance

feeling like death today so this is it – damn flu that’s going around.
Go over to the superfantastics myspace and check out a great new tune from them called tonight, tonite.

Watch for their CD release on March 30th.

HearYa strikes gold again after compiling an easy to see [i.e. all in one place] collection of MP3s from artists performing at SXSW this year. Last year they had a zipped [??] download of all such tunes but I haven’t seen that yet. On the SXSW site you would have to view each artist individually but this is much easier if you want to quickly explore some artists [use Songbird and you can grab them all at once!]

Here’s an instant correction:
And actually from the comments on that page I’ve just seen:

For the really greedy, there’s this, released earlier today (Sunday 02/18/07):
http://player.sxsw.com/torrents/SXSW_2007_Showcasing_Artists-Release_1.torrent
That’s 739 songs in 3.1Gb.