Damped Frequencies

Treat your ears right. Listen to this album.

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:04:16 -0400

Treat your ears right. Listen to this album.

My dear friend Niia in the studio

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:03:17 -0400

My dear friend Niia in the studio

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Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:15:57 -0400

I miss indiepop.

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:40:30 -0400

I miss indiepop.

30 years of music sales, an info graphic from Crazed Hits

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:57:00 -0400

30 years of music sales, an info graphic from Crazed Hits

Chairlift recently premiered an incredible new interactive video...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:46:17 -0400

Chairlift recently premiered an incredible new interactive video for their song “Met Before” that takes you on a choose-your-own-adventure tour of the world of Caroline Polacheck & crew where you start off in class and you might end up doing drugs and hallucinating or you might end up making out with Starfawn’s Amber Schaefer…you might be a scientist or a film director. Either way, I encourage taking the ride a few times over to explore Caroline’s world in all of its details…

Caught The Pass at the Studio at Webster Hall again last night....

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:22:00 -0500

Caught The Pass at the Studio at Webster Hall again last night. Always a great show.

I caught Starfawn again last night at Spike Hill opening for and...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:39:12 -0500

I caught Starfawn again last night at Spike Hill opening for and outshining Something in Spanish (also pictured above). I first learned about Starfawn a few weeks ago at Lit Lounge and I’ve been a huge fan ever since.

I highly recommend checking out their Bandcamp page to stream the debut EP, then heading to Moodgadget to buy it.

Other Lives, Lucius, & WIM performed at Bowery Ballroom on...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:16:18 -0500

Other Lives, Lucius, & WIM performed at Bowery Ballroom on February 17, 2012. Other Lives begins their tour with Radiohead 10 days later.

I caught Starfawn at Lit Lounge in the East Village last night...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:37:04 -0500

I caught Starfawn at Lit Lounge in the East Village last night and they put on an incredible show. Having recently released their debut EP on Moodgadget, Starfawn combines a heavy and sometimes aggressive synth with an almost psychedelic vocal styling. Responsible for the sounds are Producer Misha Mross who creates the beats and Amber Schaefer who fronts the band as vocalist and controller. As a special treat, we caught the first performance with a new base player last night who provides a good balance on stage, visually and sonically.

They have 2 upcoming dates, namely Feb 21st at Glasslands Gallery and Feb 29th at Spike Hill, both of which are in Brooklyn. I highly recommend it, and find the live performance to outpace the recordings. That said, I can anticipate a lot of great things coming out of Starfawn. In the meantime, check out their Bandcamp page to stream the debut EP.

Die Artwoord’s latest video, “I Fink U...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:50:00 -0500

Die Artwoord’s latest video, “I Fink U Freeky,” keeps pace with their history of quasi-horror show videos. My favorite scene though was smashing the Beats by Dre, surely a stab at Jimmy Iovine, founder of Interscope, who created the brand, and whom Die Artwoord recently left (or were they kinda pushed out by creative differences).

Catch the video on the official ZefRecordz YouTube page HERE.

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Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:43:44 -0500

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Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:52:22 -0500

Brooklyn Vegan is reporting that Lookout Records is closing....

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:59:32 -0500

Brooklyn Vegan is reporting that Lookout Records is closing. We’ve known it’s coming for a while, but it’s terrible to hear as SO MANY of my childhood memories were spent loving Lookout Artists…the label who helped give a start to Green Day, Mr. T Experience, Screeching Weasel, Queers, OpIv, Fifteen, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, Cub, Bratmobile, Tilt, etc. and later in life, Go Sailor, Ted Leo, Pretty Girls Make Graves, etc. While most of these artists achieved a greater level of success releasing on different labels (for most of those punk bands, it would be my other favorite, Fat Wreck Chords), it was Lookout who gave them their start. While my punk days are relegated to my past, they fit perfectly into my nostalgic sweet spot and Lookout, above all other labels, will be greatly missed.

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Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:12:15 -0500

Pirating music back in the day.

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:53:46 -0500

Pirating music back in the day.

As you’ve probably heard, Spotify is planning a “New...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:44:00 -0500

As you’ve probably heard, Spotify is planning a “New Direction” and are announcing it on November 30th with unnamed special guests. You don’t announce that you’re going to make an announcement unless you have something big up your sleeve and you want to get people talking in advance. The general consensus seems to be that Spotify will be announcing API bundled partnerships, a US download store, and merchandising oportunities, or some combination thereof. For those that don’t know, an API is essentially source code used by programmers within apps to interface with another program (in this case, Spotify). Spotify released its API back in late August, and has already partnered with Facebook, but my suspicion is that Spotify will be taking its free service’s social component and merging it with the premium mobile component. On the heels of Google Music, iTunes Match, and others, mobile social media is the baseline to make these services meaningful. Spotify could use some positive press after the report showcasing the cannibalism by Spotify of iTunes sales…which SOUNDS good, except that the pennies ending up in the pockets of artists via Spotify aren’t the same as those from the iTunes sales. Deep integration between mobile Facebook, mobile Twitter, maybe Turntable.fm, Last.fm, or other mobile platforms and providing limited free access to something like 20,000 free songs a year (that seems to be the magic number).

Of course those are just entirely off the wall guesses. It’s hard to imagine where the monetization comes from for a project of this scale, but the announcement can only mean something big is around the corner for Spotify, so this is my stab in the dark…

Ages ago it was, but since I’d somewhat lambasted Creators...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:59:12 -0500

Ages ago it was, but since I’d somewhat lambasted Creators Project for seemingly disaffirming reservations, I wanted to be sure to give the event it’s due props for hosting an incredible event with some of the best performances of the CMJ weekend. The standout for me was undoubtedly YUKSEK who absolutely slayed. Also, I really really want my engagement photos to be shot where the event was held as it was certainly the coolest outdoor venue I’ve been to.

To echo the sentiments resounding from the four corners of the...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:45:00 -0500

To echo the sentiments resounding from the four corners of the Internet, the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PROTECT-IP Acts are terribly frightening and Orwellian gestures by the legislature to prevent the theft of intellectual properties. As a patent attorney and an entertainment attorney, these acts which are fundamentally targeted towards the same objective leaves me in a minority of my peers. Theft of intellectual property and, in particular, IPs of an entertainment nature, such as musical, theatrical, and literary properties, are rampant. Nowadays, thanks to open source technologies and the death of DRM, if you want a new book, you download the ePub file from PirateBay just as you would any film or album and you’re reading it on your iPad in no time.

So as someone whose career is founded on protecting the rights of copyright owners, I recognize the distinct need to curb online piracy and the entitlement mentality of the Napster generation.

On the other hand, as a lawyer who occasionally paid attention in my law school constitutional and administrative law classes, I recognize that there is also a distinct need to protect the right of due process. The ability to cause the functional takedown of a website resulting in the denial of enjoyment of one’s property, based solely upon a complaint and prior to any substantive adjudication would certainly seem to constitute a denial of due process.

The fight between the content owners, who unanimously support the bills, and the providers, who unanimously oppose the bill, seems, to me, to largely mirror the great political divide in this country. As though everything were so black and white. Content owners are certainly happy to proclaim that if websites aren’t hosting infringing material that they should have nothing to worry about. Just like in an Orwellian society, where the denizens should thank Big Brother for watching their every move since they’re not doing anything wrong any way. We live in a society quick to dismiss the rights of the individual if they in any way obstructs our “right” to a summer home in the Hamptons.

And if the legal basis for whether copyrights were infringed were so easily distinguished, then why do so many people bother to litigate at all? The answer is because the standards are not so easily determined. OK, if I post a link to the new Drake album, then I probably don’t have the right to do so and I have probably infringed YME/Universal’s copyrights. But what if I write an article lambasting Spotify and I use the Spotify logo in the lead image, and what if Spotify doesn’t like what I have to say and reports my post as infringing their trademark. Who is deciding whether the complaint is legitimate and whether the use is infringing.

In fairness, provided that the standards for a preliminary injunction are applied I could ultimately support SOPA. To refresh your memory, the standard for a preliminary injunction is:

That there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of the claim;
That the complainant faces a substantial threat of irreparable damage or injury if the injunction is not granted;
That the balance of harms weighs in favor of the party seeking the preliminary injunction; and
That the grant of an injunction would serve the public interest.

Of course, as a preliminary injunction in this instance would be a content-based restraint on free speech, the injunction would need to be narrowly tailored and from my understanding of SOPA, an entire site would go “dark” if a complaint was successfully lodged against the site…and sites like Google and PayPal parties would have to cease to do business with the site…cutting off its access and finances. I can certainly conceive of a more narrowly tailored solution.

The problem as I see it becomes the need of providers to stir clear of the “zone of danger” so to speak. Because in a system governed without due process, providers are guilty until proven innocent. So in order to ensure conformity of conduct to the standards necessary to maintain access to search engines and online financial solutions such as PayPal and to keep their site up and running, providers stir clear of parody and other fair use-worthy uses of protected IP, thereby stifling creativity. Or on the other hand, massive websites go completely dark and thousands of social media and online marketing jobs (you know, the ONLY JOBS that people are still getting these days) are lost and there are that many more people who can’t afford to buy that new Drake album. In essence, the act presents a number of vagaries to stifle content and if owners cross that arguably invisible line, they risk very stiff penalties.

Mr Smith, I’m all for stopping truly rogue websites, and if the standards of a preliminary injunction are applied and the restraint is narrowly tailored I could be behind this. In fact, I could support the act even if a three strikes system were implemented in conjunction with it, where if, within a 24 month period, on three separate, distinct, and successive occasions, the particular site is adjudged to willfully infringe copyright (i.e. no reasonably justifiable basis on which the infringing material was posted and no reasonably valid suspicion of fair use or authorization), then the entire site may be taken offline and, if possible, the server database locked such that it couldn’t easily be exported to a new site. Of course the resources required to implement a system of this nature would be unduly burdensome. From Mr. Smith’s perspective as well as the perspective of his friends Mr. RIAA and Mr. MPAA, its easier just to forego constitutional mandates. It’s a dangerous precedent and I hope that the world isn’t looking upon the US as it does on China and its censorship. The objectives may be different but the net result could easily be the same.

As we are all now aware, following the default of EMI to...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:38:00 -0500

As we are all now aware, following the default of EMI to CitiGroup and its takeover, the “Big Four” has now become the “Big Three” with the acquisition of EMI’s music division by Sony ($2.1B), and the publishing division by Universal ($2.2B). Just to keep track, back on August 4, 2004, we were still talking about the “Big Five” before the merger of BMG and Sony (link).

Although not exactly rocket science, Martin Mills, founder of record company Beggars Group pointed out that “Even greater dominance would be bad news for almost everyone involved in the art and business of music.” Consolidating of any industry into the hands of a very few is inherently bad, but it cannot be worse for anyone than the starving artist with stars in their eyes. Getting a deal is going to be harder than ever. Worse yet, in my view, is that the major labels are machines that continue to drive radio and what is left of record sales and leaving the executory decision in the hands of fewer industry tycoons to make the decision for the availability of exposure of the world’s artists is devastating. Of course, unless, it isn’t. I raise the point because the majors have been suicidally bull-headed. The music industry is in a period akin to the Wild West and has been for some time. In creative advertising agencies, when complex problems are presented you would have massive brainstorming sessions and spread the burden of “finding gold” amongst a greater number of people. What the major labels should be doing is diffusing the obligation, breaking down into smaller labels and given each of those labels greater autonomy to make decisions and to get their records on the radio. Perhaps keep the PR and Radio machine of the parent label separate and supporting each of those smaller major-owned labels.

I find the timing ironical as well in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement…the 99% against the 1%. Perhaps further ironic is that the acquisition occurred during the same week as the eviction of the protestors. The goal of OWS is to put the power in the hands of the many. A takeover of this nature puts even greater power in the hands of even fewer. So to with Doug Morris’s consolidation of labels under Peter Thea at RCA. Now I’ve met and quite like Peter Thea and I’m really like him and am happy for his success, but now those still at what was left of Jive, J, and Arista now have to make A&R decisions based on what Peter will like. And Peter is going to like what will keep Doug happy. It’s not because those people are sheepish…they’re not…it’s just the nature of the corporate structure. So with that said, I’m actually not as bothered by Universal’s acquisition of the publishing component of EMI as I am with Sony’s acquisition of the music division. And it’s nothing against Sony…I really like most of the people I’ve met at the label, it’s just I genuinely think it is bad for business.

Of course, the SEC still needs to approve the deal.And then again, what’s the alternative? It would be a massive financial loss for CitiBank due to a bad load to EMI. And the artist’s would go free and clear to negotiate new deals. And when no other parties are able to buy EMI and CitiBank acknowledges not having the infrastructure to support the $4.3B label and goes under…the artist’s are still left with only three labels to pursue. At least this option keeps the jobs.

And best of all…maybe the bullheadedness of the remaining labels will result in their own demise, creating more than just room for the independents, but rather a need for the independents to furnish the content to radio as they have done with commercial advertising…and things will pick back up. A great Taoist concept is that the tea cup must be emptied before it can truly be filled. Who knows, perhaps this merger is bringing that day closer than anticipated.