Waist Deep in the Media Swamp

Bottom line – Apple is being very careful about allowing the creation of indie artist profiles on Ping, just as they do with evaluating apps, but I think I am on a pathway to success.

–Update– we have received some clarification via a comment from Jeff Price, one of the founders of TuneCore (see below)

I assist the legendary independent blues and rock musician Jimmy Z with his website and social media. His music has digital distribution via his membership on CD Baby.

As soon as I upgraded iTunes earlier this week, it became my mission to get his profile on Ping and was very, very frustrated to begin with – like everyone else. No clues on the Apple website.

My first call was to CD Baby and they told me they did not have any solutions as yet.

I started writing Apple iTunes Support early Thursday morning, essentially asking how an independent artist who had his music on iTunes could get a profile created. I got a reply quickly. This person was an  ‘iTunes Store Adviser’ who termed me an ‘iTunes Store Content Partner’ and he suggested I contact my label representative.

When I replied that I had no label representative and CD Baby was the entity that arranged the digital distribution, we went back and forth for a few rounds of emails before my request was escalated.

I finally got a reply Saturday morning from someone who understood the situation and what CD Baby was. They are treating CD Baby, TuneCore, Reverbnation, et al, just as they do major labels – which does make sense – sort of – since faux-profiles have already appeared and going through the label ensures authenticity.

He asked for some basic information from me and about Jimmy Z and assured me that  “this will be in our first CD baby batch” without giving a time-line.

I also mentioned that I had many friends who were independent musicians and asked what they should do.

The reply was that they should “contact their person at CD Baby to get going…” Well, there is no specific contact at CD Baby. We don’t have an assigned rep and I told him that.

He then replied that…

“For now, you can give them the address:

itunesping@apple.com

We’re manning that one for inquiries now.”

I await more replies and, of course, my ability to create a Ping profile for Jimmy Z.

I will post any updates.

As their reporter says  “Direct from the Googleplex…” there is now a weekly web series reporting on the top search trends taken from Google Trends.

New Tee Vee comments that “The valuable thing that Google Beat provides is some brief context as to why a particular search term is trending, which is something anyone who regularly checks analytics will appreciate.”

Watching the show, it sounds like someone reporting on the weekly Hollywood Box Office. Do people at Google actually come in on Mondays to check the charts? Will there be a market for search trends in the future?

Engadget’s Richard Lawler points out  Logitech is now promoting its new Revue with Google TV box/service with a series of seriously creepy “Lonely TV” series of advertisements. Presumably, this is going to tie the Internet and TV together. But these ads are way too freaky-deaky.  It will be interesting to what TV shows they place them on, if any.

Can fear sell tech? Here’s a taste:

Here are 15 facts you may not have known about what neutrality on the Internet actually means.

Via: Online MBA Programs

Kevin Rose of Digg has a great post about how Email Sucks. 5 Time Saving Tips.

Though I’ve been doing most of them, the cool new one to me is:

“Treat all email responses like SMS text messages, using a set number of letters per response. Since it’s too hard to count letters, we count sentences instead.

three.sentenc.es is a personal policy that all email responses regardless of recipient or subject will be three sentences or less. It’s that simple.”

Example signature:
——————————————–
Q: Why is this email three sentences or less?
A: http://three.sentenc.es
——————————————–

Here are two humorous examples of what creatives have to deal with when discussing projects with producers.

I’ve met too many producers like these. They are not exaggerations.

The Pitch

Cinematographer vs Producer

I stopped by a SES/SEO Marketing Expo at Moscone earlier this week.

It was humorous to see Google & Microsoft Bing next to each other. And it was fun asking the reps why they were better than each other. Spin, spin spin…

I asked the Googlers about the Verizon-Google stance on Net Neutrality and though they didn’t want to comment, they did mention it had come up a lot.

Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST.

Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. ~ Composer & guitarist Frank Zappa

While most of the media and blogosphere centered on Google and Verizon and their stance on net neutrality and wireless, the MPAA and the Writers Guild are taking sides on other sections of a new FCC proposal.

From the LA Times Technology blog by Jon Healey:
“The main point for the MPAA and its allies is stopping online piracy and imposing the lightest regulatory burden possible on broadband providers. For the Writers Guild, concerns about piracy are balanced against a desire for maximizing outlets for their work. While the major studios in the MPAA may like the idea of paying broadband providers for superior access to Internet users, the Writers Guild sees such online toll lanes as a threat to their ability to compete online.”

I recall in the early days of the Internet, it was compared to the ‘Wild Wild West.” It now looks like everyone wants to appoint their own Sheriff that does their bidding – like the cattle ranchers in the past. No surprise.

Meanwhile – Comcast, my ISP, has raised my cable modem rate by 3%, despite record profits.

We shot No Way Out in the late spring. It debuted on MTV in June (I think) when the album Nuclear Furniture was released.

In July, Irv got approved to direct another video with the Starship. In the interim, founder Paul Kantner had left the group and was suing them over the word ‘Jefferson’ in the band’s name. The song was Laying It On The Line which had a number of political references – political abuse of power, the fighting at that time in Nicaragua, Mid-Eastern oil problems, etc.

Coincidentally and very conveniently, the Democrats had just completed their 1984 Presidential Convention in San Francisco, where Walter Mondale & Geraldine Ferraro were nominated. A good friend of the drug dealer/wannabe-producer was able to secure all the convention hall decorations.

The story for the video was that Mickey Thomas & Grace Slick are running for office in 1988 (Mike & Slick in ’88) and are addressing convention – their acceptance speech , so to speak. Irv storyboarded the basic shots and we started to plan it out.

We secured a great location for the pseudo convention – an emergency water pumping station. After the 1906 Earthquake when most of Sn Francisco burned down, the city had build a number of emergency pumping stations that, if needed, would be able to draw in seawater and hydraulically pump it into the system. It was essentially a big empty hall, surrounded by humongous pipes. It was never used unless there was an emergency, it was out of the way and almost soundproof – perfect.

For the convention’s attendees, Irv decided to use the wannabee-producer’s extensive contacts and rounded up as many local celebrities and politicians as we could. They included (in no particular order):

• Hon. Willie Brown (them Speaker of the California State Assembly, later to be Mayor of San Francisco)
• Bill Graham, the great impresario and promoter
• Comedian Pat Paulsen
• Members of Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Avant-garde music and visual arts group The Residents (known for anonymity – always dressed as big eyeballs)
• Grace & Paul’s daughter China Kantner
• Local rock writer & personality Sheila Renee
• The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
• Artist Gage Taylor
• Plus hundreds of colorfully clothed extras and dozens of babies

Later, Dr. Timothy Leary and convicted Watergate conspirator Gordon Liddy were used in a sequence shot in LA.

The 3 day shoot was about as fun as these things can be. It was a lot of work – especially wrangling the babies/kids – but the story worked, the energy of the crowd and celebrities was fantastic. It was inspired, but controlled chaos.

I also got to be a Secret Service Agent, guarding the stage.

There were a few scenes shot outdoors, but the majority was done at the pumping station.

For the final shot, we used a close-up with a phone number – perhaps the first attempt to do direct marketing in a music video.

I was probably more help during editing than I was during shooting, as I had much more experience there. Many of my suggestions made it into the final cut.

Though once again I was paid nothing, watching and learning as Irv and all the other crew worked was worth the effort.

I already had great work habits, but my experience here confirmed that showing up first and leaving last is the best way to stay organized and on top of things.

Music in July always means many outdoor events. This year was no exception.

Let’s begin indoors (on June 29th) at the Red Devil Lounge where there was benefit  to send volunteer builder, Christie Harbinski, to Jacmel, Haiti to help rebuild homes and buildings damaged by the earthquake. A number of San Francisco musicians donated their time – Ronkat & Katdelic, Broun Fellinis with Renee Wilson,  Black Quarterback with Eric McFadden, James Whiton, DJ ShOOey and others.

Broun Fellinis in their groove

Two New Orleans virtuosos, legendary drummer Johnny Vidacovich & jazz funk B3 organist Robert Walter did a rare duet performance at Coda. Here’s a little taste and the only time Vidacovich  or anyone, sang:

I went to the World One Festival, part of a larger July 4th Celebration at EL Cerrito Vista Park. Longtime Bay Area DJ Doug Wendt was responsible for most of it. I’d missed Afro Roots Reggae musician Rocky Dawuni a number of times, and I stopped by specifically to catch him.

Rocky Dawuni at World One

My good friends the Ukalady and Gabby Lala are now playing silly-funny music together as Kit ‘n Tenders. They did a gig at Larkspur Landing outside of the Marin Brewing Company.

Kit n' Tenders meeping out

I’ve been following the career of Michael Franti and Spearhead since I first heard them at the old defunct Kennel Club (now The Independent) back in the early ’90′s . Always positive, always rockin’.  I had not planned on going to this show, but I won tickets to go to the Greek in Berkeley at the last moment through Fusicology. Sweet!  There’s very few venues that can compete with the Greek on a summer night. Here’s a short video clip:

The Far West Fest in beautiful Point Reyes was a benefit for local community radio station KWMR. Some of the musicians I caught were Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, Pimps of JoyTime, El Radio Fantastique, and The Monophonics. All of them were local bands except the Pimps who were from Brooklyn.

Monophonics at Far West Fest

I’m not the most precise person with tools, so I’m going to try and get a friend to make one for me:

Read the complete post – aetherdrinker.blogspot.com

I thought rock n’ roll was a different form of show business. I thought it unlocked something different about the human spirit and about the artistic process.

Of course… it didn’t. ~ Guitar Virtuoso Pete Townshend

photo © Linda McCartney

I want nothing from Hollywood but money and anyone who tells you that he came here for anything else or tries to make beautiful words out of it lies in the teeth. ~  Supreme Satirist & Poet Dorothy Parker

Rahsaan Roland Kirk -  he could hear things most of us can’t.

Sometimes doing a search for people from your past brings you back together – other times it can deliver sad news.

I had not been in touch with Director and Cinematographer extraordinaire Irv Goodnoff in over 20 years. When I searched for him last week, I found he passed away in 2009. That brought back the memories of the work & time I spent with him. Irv had numerous credits, more than his IMDB listing indicates. Variety’s obituary said he’d worked on over 50 films & TV shows. It was interesting to learn had been teaching cinematography for the past few years, as that was his great love.

Though I had been writing, creating, shooting & directing videos for over 15 years, I had never worked in film or with a DGA Director. In the spring of 1984, a drug dealer/wannabe-producer I knew met Irv and I was asked if I’d be an Assistant Production Manager for a music videos for the Jefferson Starship. I was actually a glorified Production Assistant, since I was not paid.

Irv had just won MTV awards for his cinematography of Weird Al Yankovic’s Eat It video and Huey Lewis and the News’ Heart of Rock ‘n Roll, and he had recently started directing music videos.

He was repped by Fran Kapsalis, who later became my business partner. A few years later, we would open the first company distributing productivity software for the entertainment industry (scriptwriting, storyboarding, scheduling, budgeting, etc.) – but that’s a story for another time.

Working with Irv was a great learning experience and began to prepare me for working with other Hollywood professionals. Irv’s background was in commercials and his manic, shoot it fast, improvisational work style first appeared to me to be absolutely crazy. But I learned it worked for him only because of all the preparation he did prior to a shoot.

Irv was both D.P. and Director for these shoots. This worked well for him. When he’d grab the camera off the tripod to shoot hand-held he knew exactly what he was doing.  Again, his preparation allowed him to get inspired on the set and to go for it – without hesitation or questioning his creative-side. Sometimes the results were not usable, but the lesson for me was it was always worth a try. Happy accidents can make great art.

We were in San Francisco and it was 1984, so there was an abundance of Peruvian marching powder on the sets (even though by then Grace Sick was straight and sober). It may have taken a toll on some of the band and crew, but it did not hurt the budget as it was supplied mostly by the wannabe-producer. It did make for long hours, though.

It didn’t matter. I was psyched. I was working on a ‘real’ set with a real director and with some my long-time, much admired rock heroes.

No Way Out

The first shoot was for No Way Out, a story of betrayal and comeuppance… maybe. It was a 3 day shoot with some pickups done later in LA.

MTV was in its prime and every band tried to out-do the other bands in the outrageousness of their productions. This video was no exception. The wannabe-Producer had many connections to Bay Area celebrities and he was able to get Father Guido Sarducci (Tom Novello) as a special guest. Tom started his career locally and was then a semi-regular on Saturday Night Live.

We used graphics and titles from an Apple ][, which no one had done before. They look so archaic & rudimentary compared to what’s possible today.

We constructed some surreal sets. One was a confessional booth opening into a bedroom.

No Way Out was voted one of top 5 weirdest videos ever shown on MTV.

Watch it and you’ll understand why it deserves that honor.

British graffiti artist & provocateur Banksy is awesome and intriguing. I have followed his adventures as best I could over the years.

I still am not sure if his movie “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a total put on or not. We may never know if the main character “Mr. Brainwash” created the art work attributed to him or if it was Bansky that totally designed them.

Regardless, it is highly entertaining and challenges conventional concepts of legitimate art and the creative process.

Bansky re-created this creepy/weird animatronic art of hot dogs and salamis as part of an exhibit at a theater in a graffiti tunnel where “Exit…” previewed in the London. Definitely in a league of his own… Brilliant.

Earlier this week, I attended the San Francisco portion of the Mashable Summer Tour. If you don’t know, Mashable is the best social networking news blog.

The event was a lot of fun, lots of interesting people. It reminded me of  the late ’90′s dot com bashes that used to occur almost every night somewhere in San Francisco or the Valley. The difference was Mashable charged for the event ($30) and the open bar was only ‘open’ for beer and wine. The free snacks were fine. All in all, this is a much saner business/event model.

Mashable Crew

Ben Parr, Co-Editor; Pete Cashmore, CEO; Jolie O’Dell, Social Tech Reporter

attendees

For some reason, my photos did not come out great. I took the top one, the other two are (cc) Kenneth Yeung.

The skills of studio accountants are a legendary, never-ending story of deceit and flim-flam. Now that the studios are essentially doing all their TV production in-house, it’s getting worse.  But sometimes the good-guys/creatives get what’s theirs.

Celador, the creator of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ won an award of $269M (they will fight on appeal, of course).

Don Johnson is set to receive $23M from ‘Nash Bridges.’

Jack Klugman is still fighting NBC over money from the 1976 series ‘Quincy.’

And it goes on….

Here’s the net profits top sheet from the accounting for ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ (via Deadline Hollywood). read it and weep…

Amazing!

Everyone complains how the Internet is preventing artists & creatives from making money from their IP and efforts, but studio accountants do them worse.

We’re just a biological speculation, sittin’ here vibratin’ ~ Funkmaster George Clinton

photo © Brooklyn Vegan