Archives / December, 2007

Data Point on Digital Music Distribution Revenue Splits

Following up on my post pointing to David Byrne’s excellent article about music distribution options for musicians, from the biggest acts to the smallest indies, I thought I’d offer a real world data point. My (very indie) record label, Toothless Monkey Music, distributes CDs through CDBaby, which I have to say is one of the…

Fun With Lasers

Armed with icicles hanging from my front porch roof, a green and a red laser pointer, a plush-toy velour pumpkin and a Canon EOS 10-D set for 30 second exposure, I set out to experiment with light painting.  I was inspired by my friend Carl Rosendahl’s excellent APAD (A Picture A Day) photoblog, and his…

David Byrne on the State of the Music Industry

Scotsman, musician and polymath David Byrne just penned an excellent article in Wired regarding the current state of affairs for record companies and artists for distribution of CDs and digital music. An authoritative must-read for anyone in the music business. Technorati Tags: Music

Lossless Audio on iTunes

From Slashdot, speculation that iTMS will offer tracks in Apple Lossless format as early as next year. Assuming they also make these tracks free of their evil DRM, I’d be happy to pay a premium over the standard mp3/AAC tracks available. As a recording engineer and studio owner, I definitely can hear and appreciate the…

Do All VCs Want to be Rock Stars?

I know I do, and I’ve played guitar in numerous bands for the past 20+ years, I have a recording studio in my house, an angel investment in an indie record label (About Records) as well as my own boutique label (Toothless Monkey Music), and my band Soul Patch (which includes my partner Jason Mendelson…

The Facebook Birthday (And Other “Aha” Moments)

I was reading Chris Fralic’s post about LinkedIn vs. Facebook, when he talked about his first Facebook birthday, which he described as a personal “aha” moment with the service after his recent birthday. I had this same same exact “aha” experience on my birthday several weeks (October 29th for those of you keeping score) when…

Comcast: Hurry up with TiVo Rollout!

Via Gizmodo:  Upgrading your Comcast Motorola/Scientific DVR to run TiVo software costs an extra $2.95/month and has been rolled out in New England.  More details from Comcast here.  And go sign up here to be notified when it rolls out in your neighborhood.  Comcast, please hurry up and get this rolled out in the Boulder/Denver…

Goodbye Pay Phones

From Slashdot:  AT&T is decommissioning their pay phones.  Video killed the radio star, p2p, Skype, and now this?  Probably a somewhat overdue capitulation on AT&T’s part given the ubiquity of the mobile phone.  I commented in a previous blog post about encountering a decommissioned pay phone — clearly they are on their way to becoming…