http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/ TheMusicBizTruth Mon, 27 Feb 2006 09:25:04 PST http://www.blogdrive.com Copyright 2006. Music Writing Entertainment http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/17.html Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:20:09 GMT Fuck You, Pay Me By "The Truth" February 26, 2006 A lot has been written about "payola" (the illegal practice of record companies paying radio stations to play their artists' songs more than others) in recent months. Even Dateline NBC has profiled the recent crackdown on bribery in the radio business. We have all been taught in the music business that payola = bad. However, the practice has been used since the inception of radio and I don't see it ever really stopping. Reading so much about it lately has caused me to ponder its supposedly negative repercussions. Why is it... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=17 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/15.html Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:08:01 GMT Stay In Your Lane By "The Truth" November 30, 2005 Creative Control. Artistic expression. Musical experimentation. There are many things that can cause an already established artist to record an album that goes off the beaten path of their typical sound and/or genre. A famous rock artist decides they want to do a techno album, an R&B sweetheart wants to do a country LP, or a Christian artist wants to release a heavy-metal offering. If you were said artist's A&R rep or labelhead, what would you think upon hearing this? What do you do? Now how about if you were one... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=15 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/16.html Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:14:05 GMT Empty-V? By "The Truth" September 7, 2005 So another MTV Music Video Awards has come and gone. Did you watch? Were you entertained? Were you disappointed? Round-ups have made the rounds in newspapers and on entertainment TV shows. Well now I have something to say about it all (big surprise). I'm not going to discuss Do Wah Diddy. Not that I don't have an opinion about his hosting skills (or lack thereof) but I think that has been the main focus of many reviews that have come out and I want to discuss a different area: the music. I know, shocking, isn't it? I actually... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=16 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/2.html Mon, 20 Jun 2005 17:25:18 GMT Aural Sex By "The Truth" June 20, 2005 Rap music is usually attacked for promoting violent acts and excessively violent lyrics. I do believe that violence is still glorified in rap, but there is now a larger issue at hand. The bigger problem now facing our nation's impressionable youth is rappers pushing porn. I know this is not a new topic, but it is now becoming an all too common topic. Rap videos regularly feature half naked women bouncing and bending over for the camera but that point has been disputed enough. The difference now is that MCs are making sure that just in case you... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=2 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/3.html Wed, 13 Apr 2005 17:01:29 GMT Time for a Reality Check By "The Truth" April 13, 2005 Hip-hop is suffering. The culture in general is faltering. This is nothing new. Tales of violence and misogynistic undertones ruining America's youth have been a common complaint for years, but lately it's exploding in the mainstream media largely because the 50 Cent/The Game shooting at Hot 97 sparked the current uproar. The Reverend Al Sharpton held his first Town Hall meeting last weekend to discuss possible solutions to the problem. Shootings and criminal trials are all too common amongst the major players in this genre. Radio... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=3 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/4.html Tue, 15 Feb 2005 17:03:23 GMT Are you in it for the long run? By "The Truth" February 15, 2005 At this years Grammys we saw the legendary artist Ray Charles posthumously win eight trophies. We saw another 70-something celebrated artist, James Brown, perform with the Michael-Jackson-du-jour Usher. And we saw yet another 70+ artist, Loretta Lynn, pick up the Best Country Album statuette. This made me think: do you think we'll be seeing Britney Spears, The Killers, and Kanye West doing the same at the Grammys in 20 years? Will Maroon 5 be able to release a Genius Loves Company-ish duets album that will win Album of the... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=4 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/5.html Mon, 03 Jan 2005 17:04:20 GMT Pres to the Izzo, Den to the Tizzay By "The Truth" January 3, 2005 Are people like Jay-Z qualified to run major record labels like Def Jam? About a month ago, Jay-Z was appointed President of Def Jam Records and certain old school executives balked. However, a lot of the "old school" executives are not so successful right now. So maybe they are not the best critics. Of course long time fans of Hova cheered. But then again, they also believe that Jay is qualified to be the President of the United States. Bottom line, the record business is suffering big time. Everyone knows that.... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=5 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/6.html Tue, 02 Nov 2004 17:06:03 GMT YOU NEED TO VOTE (You just don't need to tell me who you're voting for) By "The Truth" November 2, 2004 Do we really care as a nation whether or not Bon Jovi is voting for Kerry? Or that Madonna believes in Jewish mysticism? It seems that lately everywhere you turn an artist/musician/actor/etc. is lobbying for something, be it President Bush or Scientology. Call me crazy but I like my singers to sing and my actors to act and that's about it. If I wanted an opinion on how I should vote from The Dixie Chicks, then I'd be a real dizzy chick. Understandably, artists have marketing power. If... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=6 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/7.html Tue, 14 Sep 2004 17:16:01 GMT Déjà vu makes me blue By "The Truth" September 14, 2004 How annoying is it when you are browsing through the 'New Releases' section of your local record store and you see several albums that came out 5 months ago? Then you find out that these albums were originally released five months ago but that this is the re-issue. The what? Aren't re-issues issued when an album was out of print or hard to find for a while? Or better yet, re-mastered or released on CD when it hadn't been before? What's the point of re-issuing an album that came out no more than a year ago??? I'll tell you why.... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=7 http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/archive/8.html Tue, 10 Aug 2004 18:33:07 GMT And now for tonight's presentation of MASTERpiece Theater… By "The Truth" August 10, 2004 "It's not like we're against them or anything like that. The idea is that we find better ways of working with one another. It shouldn't be a situation where they own the album or the work. We're talking about intellectual copyrights. If they're going to, indeed, be a delivery service, then that's fine. But even FedEx doesn't say that they own the thing that they ship, right?" – Prince The above quote is excerpted from a recent interview Prince granted for Canadian television. Now I like where he's... (more) http://themusicbiztruth.blogdrive.com/comments?id=8