ch-ch-changes

During a recent visit to San Francisco, I passed by a once-familiar storefront that was a sharp reminder how much the record industry has changed:

Quality vs. Sales

In the new issue of Electronic Musician, Nathaniel Kunkel has some interesting thoughts about the ongoing problems of the music business (especially record labels). An excerpt:

"Movie-makers increase resolution and improve viewer experience regularly. Whether it’s IMAX, 3D, or both, it’s constantly more and better. And guess what? They are making money hand over fist.

"The music business is all about how many corners can be cut. Compress it more, don’t master it, use the fake drums­ - just get it done. All good ideas to save money, but often bad ideas from a quality standpoint.

"So without oversimplifying this, the people who focus on resolution in entertainment are making record profits, and the people who aren’t are going out of business. Coincidence?"

Read the full article here.

Best 2009 has Starkland, MinMax

Here's another finalized Best of 2009 list. It's great to see 3 releases from Starkland and MinMax here:

Pushing The Envelope Best Recordings of 2009...finally

Joe Frawley Ensemble - Daughters Of Industry - Joe Frawley Music
http://www.joefrawleymusic.info/doi/doi.htm

Numinous - Vipassana: The Music of Joesph C. Philips - Innova http://www.numinousmusic.com/ or http://www.innova.mu/artist1.asp?skuID=356

The Ed Palermo Big Band - Eddy Loves Frank - Cuneiform Records
http://www.palermobigband.com/ or http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/palermo.html

Knitting By Twilight - Riding The Way Back ep - It's Twilight Time http://www.overflower.com/KnittingByTwilight_riding.htm

Jay Cloidt / Amanda Moody - D'arc: Woman On Fire - MinMax 
http://www.jaycloidt.com or http://www.amandamoody.com 

Ganesh Anandan / Hans Reichel - Self Made - Ambiances Magnetiques
http://www.actuellecd.com/en/cat/am_192/

Iain Armstrong - Electroacoustic Works - CD-R
http://iainarmstrong.net

Deep Wireless 6: Radio Art Compilation - New Adventures in Sound Art
http://www.naisa.ca/

Phil Kline - Around The World In A Daze -Starkland 
http://www.starkland.com 

Paranoid Entity - 4Closure - Paranoid Foundation
http://www.paranoidfoundation.com/

Danny Holt - First Jump -Innova
http://dannyholt.net/ or http://www.fitkin.com/ or
http://www.innovarecordings.com/artist1.asp?skuID=375

R. Stevie Moore - Phonography - ReR
http://www.rerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R...
or http://www.wtv-zone.com/rsmko/home.html

Beat Circus - Boy From Black Mountain - Cuneiform Records 
http://www.beatcircus.net/ or http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/press/BeatCircus-BFBM-PR.pdf

Markus Reuter / Ian Boddy - Dervish - DIN
http://www.din.org.uk/dervish/

Heiner Goebbels - The Italian Concerto - i dischi di angelica
http://www.heinergoebbels.com/ or http://www.aaa-angelica.com/aaa/disco-heiner-hoebbels-the-italian-con...
or http://www.rerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code...

Jody Diamond - In That Bright World:  Music for Javanese Gamelan - New
World Records
http://www.gamelan.org/jodydiamond/ or http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=82743

Susan Fancher - In Two Worlds - Innova (2009)
http://www.susanfancher.com or http://www.music.sc.edu/fs/bain/ or
http://www.innova.mu

Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra - Koch Records
http://www.bjorkestra.com

Nik Baertsch's Ronin - Randoori  / Sha's Banryu  - Chessboxing Volume
1 / Nik Baersch's Mobile - Aer / - Ronin Rhythm Records
http://www.nikbaertsch.com/en//shop/?article=1002

Hsia-Jung Chang - Inside The Piano: 21st Century Improvisations -
Mandala Studios
http://hsiajungchang.com/recordings.html or http://mandalastudio.com/

Sandor Szabo / Kevin Kastning - Parabola - Greydisc
http://www.kevinkastning.com/
or http://www.myspace.com/sandorszaboofficial

The Bad Plus feat. Wendy Lewis - For All I Care - Do The Math Records
http://www.thebadplus.com/

Morglbl - Jazz For The Deaf - The Laser's Edge
http://www.christophegodin.com/english/ or
http://www.lasercd.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=FES4009 

Ozric Tentacles - The Yumyum Tree - Snapper Music 
http://www.madfishmusic.com/ozrictentacles/

Amy X Neuburg & The Cello ChiXtet - The Secret Language of Subways - Minmax Music
http://www.amyxneuburg.com or http://www.minmaxmusic.com 

SoCorpo - On Becoming - self-release
http://www.socorpo.com

Noveller (Sara Lipstate) - Red Rainbows - No Fun Productions 
http://www.sarahlipstate.com or http://www.nofunproductions.com

Secret Saucer - Tri-Angle Waves - Salad Farm Studio
http://www.myspace.com/secretsaucer

T.D. Skatchit - T.D. Skatchit & Company -
Edgetone Records (2009)
http://www.edgetonerecords.com/catalog/4096.html

Charity Chan - Somewhere the sea and salt - Ambiances Magnetiques
http://www.charitychan.com/Home.html or http://www.actuellecd.com/en/cat/am_188/

Radiation - UKZ - Radiation
http://www.ukzband.com/