Just for a little levity, I came across this quote from Joel McHale on "The Soup" about American Idol contestant runner-up, David Archuleta mangling Beatles lyrics from a recent song he did on the show: "Congratulations Yoko Ono, assassins, cancer, and one-legged gold diggers: you're no longer the worst thing to happen to the Beatles". I don't know about you,...

Just in case you thought you'd seen and heard everything in music, along comes something surprising. An 8-year old Japanese guitar prodigy has emerged on the scene named Yuto Miyazawa. Apparently Yuto is already a pretty serious classic rock fan; he does covers of Clapton, Ozzy, and more. Not only that, he uses full-size instruments (like the Flying V pictured...

My long-time digital music futurist colleague (and sometime collaborator), Gerd Leonhard, has just published a book compiling some of the best of his blog writings and essays (over the past four years) on what's coming next for the music industry. It's aptly titled "Music 2.0". This book continues and expands on some of Gerd's ideas and emerging business models that...

I recently had the privilege of sitting in on an invite-only concert performance by two world class musicians, Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger -- who between them have sold in excess of 55M albums in their careers. They are also friends of mine. So it was a special treat to join them at MacWorld for...

There is a fantastic, informative article in the current issue of Wired (16.01) written by David Byrne, the former leader of the band The Talking Heads. David does a great job of providing perspective (by an established artist) on the changes that are taking place in the music business in recent years that allow artists to be more empowered, and...

For anyone immersed in the digital music space, the past couple of weeks have brought some shifts that are reasonably seismic in nature relative to the shifting balance of power from record labels to artists. Here's a summary of some the most recent (and significant) activities to highlight what's going on: Oct 1st -- Radiohead upsets the apple cart by...

I frequently moderate panel sessions at digital music/media industry conferences. Many are regular annual (or semi-annual) events that have been going on for years. Every once in awhile, a new one pops onto the horizon. One such event is Play Digital, a one-day conference held at UC Berkeley (this year on SAT October 27th), focused on uniting forward-thinkers in digital...

At first blush, it may seem odd to learn that National Geographic is making a respectable push into music-related initiatives (as outlined in Digital Music News in early August). With the launch of a new division last summer focused on digital music, National Geographic Music and Radio, the goal is to "engage listeners with great talk and sound, and also...

Social Networking is exploding -- that much is clear. But did you know that sites such as Facebook, Friendster, and MySpace are more than online watering holes where kids gather and socialize? They're creating social change in tandem. Facebook recent launched a "Causes" application tab, allowing members to participate in what the creators have dubbed "equal opportunity activism". Over 35,000...

I was speaking with an artist manager colleague of mine the other day. This esteemed colleague has represented the likes of Alanis Morissette, LeAnn Rimes, and Collective Soul among many others. He's a sharp guy. We were discussing how historically, recording artists frequently lost the rights to their master sound recordings (known as "masters") when they signed recording contracts with...