Category: Music
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Ane Brun
For some reason – two weeks after I went to see the gig, I haven’t mentioned that I saw Ane Brun at the always wonderful Union Chapel. It was absolutely superb – it’s really hard to explain how wonderful the sound was. Brun has a recent album out, possibly re-released recently with a couple of…
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Secondary Ticketing
What a foul expression “secondary ticketing” is. It’s the terminology used to refer to those sites that let the “fans” resell their tickets. Sites such as Seatwave and Viagogo allow you to buy and sell tickets safely and securely. They’ve grown out from the eBay ticket selling business. But are they really for the “fans”?…
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YouTube and PRS
Wherever music collection agencies and internet sites exist, there are problems. The latest disagreement is the very public falling out between Google, owners of YouTube and PRS the UK collection agency. And when that story reaches the Ten O’Clock News, you know that it’s a significant one. When thousands of music videos start to disappear…
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A Tale of Three Concerts
In the last seven days I seem to have seen a lot of music, although I did pay the price just a little. Last Sunday I went to The Junction in Cambridge to watch Bellowhead. Just to be clear, I don’t live in Cambridge, so it was a bit of a trip to see them.…
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I Still Hate The Brits
Have I mentioned before that I hate the Brits? Well – yes I have. Having studiously avoided them for several years now (despite working for a music radio station), I decided to watch this year simply because the Pet Shop Boys are getting the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. But this is dire. I…
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Radio On The TV
The new issue of Private Eye’s Ad Nauseum column highlights the recent BBC 6 Music TV ad which you may have seen, featuring Vampire Weekend on the soundtrack. (Also available here) It points out, as the person who uploaded the above version of the ad, that ad agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R were probably, um,…
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Chris Martin
(Needs to be seen large) Lots of live streaming (now over obviously) of Chris Martin from Coldplay at work. Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t have been taking photos, but I was standing behind non-performing band members, and couldn’t really resist. Most of the other photos have him gurning or are otherwise unlikely to be cleared by…
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Copyright Extension
A great film explaining why extending sound copyright is not in performers’ interests but just record companies’. And, of course, our worst interests. More at soundcopyright.eu.
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Celebrities Inappropriate Advertising
Last Friday was the last in Clive James’ current run of A Point of View (Harold Evans takes over this Friday). You have about 24 hours to download the podcast, otherwise you’ll just have to read his words. James got on to the habit of Hollywood actors promoting products that once they’d never have been…
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Copyright Extension
In just four days, we could begin to see the first of Cliff Richard’s singles re-released without Richard himself either profiting or having any say over what’s released. That could happen, although as I write, I can’t see any forthcoming releases at Amazon. Indeed he’s recently released a celebratory 50 years anthology, and gave away…
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Southbank
Two a couple of great concerts in the Southbank Centre over the weekend. On Saturday it was John McCusker’s Under One Sky. McCusker has put together a fascinating group of performers of Scottish and English origin who together make some wonderful music. So on stage, alongside McCusker we had Julie Fowlis (who I saw a…
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Amazon’s MP3 Store
So the long awaited Amazon MP3 store is finally here – with just days to go until the end of the year deadline. They’ve got quite a lot of music on it with a claimed 3.5m tracks on there at the moment (so they’ve been busy). Tracks are recorded as 256 kbps MP3 files –…
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Election Viewing
As America votes, there were a couple of fascinating films on TV recently which had well-timed screenings. On Friday there was a cracking film on BBC Four which isn’t available to watch on the iPlayer, so I can only recommend picking up the DVD instead. CSNY Deja Vu followed Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young on…