Will the Real Pandora Please Stand Up?

Everyone has been discussing the recent backlash of megastars as a result of the royalty cuts made by Pandora Radio.  Just last month, Congress held a hearing with the C.E.O. of Pandora, Joseph Kennedy, and other informed industry representatives (like Jimmy Jam, a representative for the Recording Academy).  This article discusses many negative effects of the failure to determine a fair way to set royalty rates for internet...

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Profitability of Music, Games, and Film

Many speculate that the mainstream music industry is witnessing an all time low point due to the change in business processes of music creation and distribution.  If one had to compare the three largest entertainment industry sectors (film, video games, and music), how would they rank the three by profitability (by amount of revenue generated)?              In mid 2011, an article...

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Listening With Resonance

Perusing through www.Ted.com, I stumbled upon a musician of incredible talent: Evelyn Glennie. Dame Evelyn Glennie is a virtuoso percussionist and the very first full-time percussionist. She performs at least 100 performances a year, owns over 1800 instruments, and has received over 80 international awards, according to Cheryl Sucher of The Listener.  A descendent of Scottish heritage, Evelyn Glennie attended the Royal Academy...

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What's Your Music Portfolio Worth?

How are you finding out about new artists these days? Most likely from surfing the web or from your friends.  TastemakerX is a website solely dedicated to bands and their fans. “It is a mobile, social game that enables players to build a portfolio of the artists they love, and the new ones they discover, and publish them to their social graph” according to the TastemakerX blog.  Here you can create your own...

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Elle Varner's "Perfectly Imperfect"

Elle Varner’s “Perfectly Imperfect” album released on August 3rd, 2012.  She’s no where near “new” to music at all.  Both of her parents are songwriters and she actually often accompanied her parents to recording studios for sessions.  She even divulged that at a young age, her parents would even ask her opinions and suggestions on their music.  Visit her website at ellevarner.com.  Elle Varner was born in Los Angeles...

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Elle Varner's Perfectly Imperfect

Elle Varner released her new album "Perfectly Imperfect" on August 7, 2012. Album review coming soon! -RashaunahA...

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Unoriginal or Extremely Limited?

     It seems like every time you turn on your tv, listen to the radio, or even hear your favorite artist’s new album, something in their song sounds strikingly familiar to you. Have you heard the song before? Is your favorite artist unoriginal or is it possible the artist is actually just musically limited? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – Bert Lance      We live in a time where instant gratification rules every single aspect of our livelihood. In addition, Western music (the music our culture...

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The Alter Ego of the True Artist

“Hip-hop avoids extinction by reinventing itself and challenging convention”.“Eminem primarily uses his alter-ego Slim Shady to manufacture this aura (a credible and indestructible aura).  Slim Shady is someone inaccessible and elusive, someone highly valued but who is also both deceptive and untouchable” according to this scholarly paper. Marcia Dawkins proceeds to conclude that Eminem has created success for himself by using an alter-ego. ...

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