Sound Recording Industries

SF Weekly Letters

The Cool Kids: Cool with Recording for Mountain Dew

Posting Copyrighted Music to YouTube Might Soon Earn You Jail Time

​You might want to think twice before posting that video of your cat "dancing" to a Lady Gaga song. Not just because nobody wants to see it, but because it might earn you a few years in the Federal pen. Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended a bill for the Senate that would ma ... More >>

Unpacking Pandora's 'Risk Factors'

​Every time a company offers stock to the public, it must submit a form called an S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form must provide a prospectus, which includes financial information as well as the risks potential investors would face in buying shares. Because lawyers and accoun ... More >>

Where the Blog Love Ends: Lessons for Lil B and Odd Future

​Every time a company offers stock to the public, it must submit a form called an S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form must provide a prospectus, which includes financial information as well as the risks potential investors would face in buying shares. Because lawyers and accoun ... More >>

Claim: Limewire's Shutdown Reduced Music Piracy by 7 Percent

​The nationally-recognized market research nerds NPD Group just released their latest poll, which suggests the shutdown of the file-sharing application Limewire this past October reduced peer-to-peer-based music piracy in the U.S. by a significant 7 percent. Wait, that many of you were still ... More >>

The Recording Academy Vows To Change the Grammys' Boring Ways

The Recording Academy​Remember when Steve Stoute took out that full-page ad in the New York Times after the Grammys a couple of weeks ago? Well the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was listening, as it's issued a public statement, co-signed by Stoute, promising to change its bo ... More >>

Pomplamoose Calls the Tune

No record deal? No CDs? No problem. How Pomplamoose is modifying the music industry.

Welcome to the Music Industry, 2011: Records Don't Sell, Touring Can Make Bank, and Major Labels Are (Mostly) Useless

​For whatever reason, today seems to be the day that the music industry reminds us that it's still in total upheaval. Soundscan tells us that relatively few people actually bought music in 2010, unless they were fans of Eminem and Katy Perry. Dave Matthews spent the last 10 years collecting $500 ... More >>

A Postcard from the Future

Or, how 2011 was the year everything changed in music.

Michael Jackson, Zombie

The dark art of posthumous releases

SF MusicTech: Has Over-Tweeting Killed the Mystery Around Musicians?

​​The only discernable displays of emotion at yesterday's S.F. MusicTech Summit -- the seventh such gathering of musicians, techies, and industry types -- came during the artist panel at the end of the day. Moderator Tamara Conniff (founder of The Comet and former editor-in-chief of Billboa ... More >>

Stopping piracy: How ultracheap downloads could save the music industry

​​The only discernable displays of emotion at yesterday's S.F. MusicTech Summit -- the seventh such gathering of musicians, techies, and industry types -- came during the artist panel at the end of the day. Moderator Tamara Conniff (founder of The Comet and former editor-in-chief of Billboa ... More >>

Dueling Dubs

​​The only discernable displays of emotion at yesterday's S.F. MusicTech Summit -- the seventh such gathering of musicians, techies, and industry types -- came during the artist panel at the end of the day. Moderator Tamara Conniff (founder of The Comet and former editor-in-chief of Billboa ... More >>

Ninja Tune celebrates 20 years of influential electronica

​​The only discernable displays of emotion at yesterday's S.F. MusicTech Summit -- the seventh such gathering of musicians, techies, and industry types -- came during the artist panel at the end of the day. Moderator Tamara Conniff (founder of The Comet and former editor-in-chief of Billboa ... More >>

Youngbloods -- Who Sang that Song, You Know It -- Sued for Millions

It ain't the checkered jacket that got The Youngbloods sued...​The 1960s-era rock group that sang one of the all-time odes to love, reconciliation, and collaborative methods of diffusing disputes has, naturally enough, become enmeshed in a nasty, multi-million-dollar lawsuit with its former re ... More >>

In Print: Francis & the Lights' iPad Album, Sammy Hagar is a Joke, All Shook Down Fest

Francis Farewell Starlite​Does the album matter anymore? Does anyone care? Do you know what a CD is? Okay, kidding on the last point (kinda), but clearly the music industry is looking for some new, marketable format to sell to music lovers. After all, CD sales ain't what they used to be, and it do ... More >>

50 Cent is the last of the millionaire rappers

Francis Farewell Starlite​Does the album matter anymore? Does anyone care? Do you know what a CD is? Okay, kidding on the last point (kinda), but clearly the music industry is looking for some new, marketable format to sell to music lovers. After all, CD sales ain't what they used to be, and it do ... More >>

DOJ Approves Live Nation-Ticketmaster Merger

​On Monday, the David and Goliath of concert ticket promotion and sales -- Live Nation and Ticketmaster -- joined forces to become Live Nation Entertainment, a music industry behemoth that promises to force other music labels and promoters to rejigger their business plans to accommodate. The U.S. ... More >>

Microcaster DJs get screwed under new licensing fees

​On Monday, the David and Goliath of concert ticket promotion and sales -- Live Nation and Ticketmaster -- joined forces to become Live Nation Entertainment, a music industry behemoth that promises to force other music labels and promoters to rejigger their business plans to accommodate. The U.S. ... More >>

Crown City Rockers Sign to K7

Boom Bapster: Raashan Ahmad I caught Rashaan Ahmad opening up for Nino Moschella at the Shattuck Down Low last Friday. Got to give it up to Ra--he cannot be accused of keeping it "too real," yet he certainly keeps it 100% true-school hip-hop with his adidas sneakers and Cazal frames. Ra's rapid-fir ... More >>

In the Red plays favorites — and survives indie labeldom

Boom Bapster: Raashan Ahmad I caught Rashaan Ahmad opening up for Nino Moschella at the Shattuck Down Low last Friday. Got to give it up to Ra--he cannot be accused of keeping it "too real," yet he certainly keeps it 100% true-school hip-hop with his adidas sneakers and Cazal frames. Ra's rapid-fir ... More >>

360 Deals Demystified at SFSU

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money: Dina LaPoltThis Thursday, San Francisco State University hosts "The New Deal: 360 & Beyond," a one-day seminar and discussion on the new record label contract. A "360 Deal" is an agreement between artist and label which covers not only record sales, but also ... More >>

Justin Timberlake('s Company) in South Park? OMG!

Perhaps you've heard of Justin Timberlake? The singer/dancer/actor added record industry mogul to his brand when he launched a joint venture with Interscope Records called Tennman Records. But that whole label thing's kinda gone to pot nationwide in the past couple years, and Timberlake's company ha ... More >>

NARIP Presents Music and Advertising Seminar @ SFSU

NARIP.comJeff DanieMusic is only one part of the music business. The other part, of course, is business, and a big part of that business revolves around how artists are marketed. With that in mind, the National Association of Recording Industry Professionals, or NARIP for short, is offering a one-da ... More >>

The Big Studio Slump

The body count of legendary recording studios that have gone silent is undeniable.

Dolly Parton, Free Agent

The body count of legendary recording studios that have gone silent is undeniable.

The Dirtbombs Surround Us with Sirens

The body count of legendary recording studios that have gone silent is undeniable.

Remembering Miserable Major-Label Drones: Rock On

The body count of legendary recording studios that have gone silent is undeniable.

Macworld and Beyond: Independent Musicians and Digital Recording

The body count of legendary recording studios that have gone silent is undeniable.

Mobbin' Thru the Industry

How SMC Recordings built an indie rap empire

For Whom the Bottom Line Tolls

Hip hop's big Rock the Bells thinkers break free from industry shackles

Dream Girl

The making of Malika

One Band Clapping

The much-hyped Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and the phenomenon of the indie band as small business

Celebrate Good Times

Local soul music success story Goapele talks about getting to the top, and staying at the top

Quannum Mechanics

The amazingly true tale of the Bay Area's greatest hip hop success story

The Anton Newcombe Massacre

An underground band self-destructs in the hands of its damaged leader

Letters to the Editor

Week of November 5, 2003

Digging Up Roots

How Chris Strachwitz sparked a music revolution by releasing obscure, vernacular music

Dealing With the Devil

How two Van Halen fans became major label electronica stars and lived to tell about it. So far.

The Modesto Invasion

The San Francisco rock scene is alive and well -- 90 miles from San Francisco

Dead Set on Deconstruction

On what may or may not be its farewell tour, Negativland makes the most of an age of uncertainty

Rhyme Schemes

With an acclaimed single and album behind him, San Mateo rapper Rasco remains underground -- which is just fine with him

Old, Old, Old Ramon

Temporarily in Los Angeles working on a movie, Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek still doesn't know when his next record's coming out

Hip Pocket

In Austin, Texas, it's a neck-and-neck race between art and commerce at South by Southwest

Bombing Maneuvers

Bomb Records' David Paul single-handedly created a successful hip-hop magazine, launched artists' careers, and rescued the DJ from obscurity. Now what?

Hear This

Bomb Records' David Paul single-handedly created a successful hip-hop magazine, launched artists' careers, and rescued the DJ from obscurity. Now what?

Racket

Bomb Records' David Paul single-handedly created a successful hip-hop magazine, launched artists' careers, and rescued the DJ from obscurity. Now what?

Samples

Bomb Records' David Paul single-handedly created a successful hip-hop magazine, launched artists' careers, and rescued the DJ from obscurity. Now what?

Samples

Bomb Records' David Paul single-handedly created a successful hip-hop magazine, launched artists' careers, and rescued the DJ from obscurity. Now what?