Posts Tagged ‘Music’

New figures have been released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) that says that ninety-five percent of downloaded music is illegal.

The global music trade body said that the biggest challenge it faces is ensuring the artists and their record labels are actually getting paid for their work.

Although the figure remains high, there has been a 25 percent rise from last year with downloads now accounting for a fifth of all recorder music sales. However the IFPI said that worldwide music revenues fell by 7 percent last year. The fall was blamed in dipping CD sales, and that the increase in digital sales could not balance the books.

The IFPI represents 1,400 companies across 72 companies, and estimate a staggering 40 billion music files were illegally downloaded in 2008, compared to just 1.4 billion legally downloaded tracks. The top selling download of last year was Lil Wayne’s awful “Lollipop” which somehow managed to shift 9.1 million copies.

Even though companies have been launching download services, such as Amazons MP3 store, many people prefer to use file sharing systems like Soulseek and LimeWire to get the latest tunes for free.

The IFPI’s report revealed that the digital music business has grown in the last six years and is currently worth around £2.5bn. UK music fans downloaded 110 million singles and 10.3 million albums from companies like iTunes – accounting for 7.7 percent of the music market.

IFPI chairman and CEO, John Kennedy, said that the industry has had to change its approach to doing business.

“There is a momentous debate going on about the environment on which our business, and all the people working in it, depends.

“Governments are beginning to accept that, in the debate over ‘free content’ and engaging ISPs in protecting intellectual property rights, doing nothing is not an option if there is to be a future for commercial digital content.”

As someone who prefers to buy CD’s as opposed to a digital copy, I have to feel a hint of sadness that to all intensive purposes the music industry is swiftly dying.

People have still not realised that record companies won’t pay artists their wages if no-one buys the CD’s, and if there are no wages, then there will be no music. As a musician myself I’ve had to work hard to sell CD’s to people at gigs, at my last show had to cut my price in half because people know they can download our material for free.

Now when you take into account the amount of money we spent on recording, mixing and mastering, then the album artwork and promotion, it left us in a serious negative – financially and emotionally – so you can understand why I think that people need to start buying music again.

On Saturday over 14 million viewers tuned in to watch Alexandra Burke destroy the competition in an X-Factor that had it all…again…

Burke is a phenomenal talent, showcased by going toe to toe with the legend that is Beyonce. As Cheryl Cole said, it was amazing that she could even utter a note.

So I have to admit to being massively impressed, as she blew away JLS and the Quiglett with one great performance after the other. She may have won, but does she have the “X-Factor”? Well bejewelled old grump Elton John has had a foul mouthed tirade at the shows credentials – even though he is due to duet with Alexandra on New Years Eve.

The ever colourful Elton was playing at a concert in the 2 Area on Saturday night – while the hit TV show was on TV. He thanked the 20,000 strong audience for coming to watch him rather than sitting at home watching the show, adding that  he would rather have his “c**k bitten off by an Alsatian” than watch the X Factor. Crumbs!

Brilliantly as the concert ended an announcement came over the tannoy in the area talking about Elton’s duet with Burke. Meanwhile, Elton presumably sat in his dressing room with his foot firmly in his mouth.

This is not the first time he’s had a go at the yearly TV show as two years ago, he said: “The X Factor is a cruise ship show. I’ve got nothing against the people who go on - good luck to them. But I hate how they’re treated.

“They’re given an awful sense of stardom and pressure straight away but they’re only successful until the next series.

“The record companies sell a lot of records and those people are gone. It’s f***ing cruel.”

He is right though. I can’t actually tell you who the winner was in the first series, or the second or the third. I know that a Scottish guy won last year, but I think I’ve seen him once on TV since his win. This show does give the contestants a taste of fame, but you’d have to be really groundbreaking to have any last-ability – the fact that they always release a cheesy cover right before Xmas pretty much grinds my gears.

They get shipped about in limos, and get to play god gigs, but do they pocket the cash? Not according to the leaked contract that was published a week or so ago. They only get a tiny portion of the cash, and have to pay all their expenses out of it. And the guy pocketing all the money? The Stupid haired, high-waisted trouser wearing Simon Cowell. And in all honesty, fair play to the man. He’s had a great idea for a show, and all he has to do is slag people off for 99 percent of the show, before turning in to Mr Nice Guy for the final.

Congratulations to Alexandra, and good luck with Elton John, and well done to those attending the new year celebration in London – looks like you’ll get some extra  fireworks.

I was driving in my car last night after a long day at the office, and I heard something on the radio that made my blood boil…

Does anyone here watch/get-made-to-watch-by-their-girlfriend the X-Factor? If you haven’t, allow me to explain what this is. This show masquerades as a talent show, where they get a group of hand picked nobodies from a bunch of auditions to sing on stage over 12 weeks, and be publicly voted off the show. The eventual winner sings a “winner’s song”, and we get a 5 month break before it all starts again.

Doesn’t sound to bad right? Well, sorry, you’re wrong. You see I used the word masquerade earlier, and I meant it. This show is a pathetic example of how our society is full of pathetic people that need to win shows like this to “change their pathetic life”, blah blah blah. Get a grip please. If this show was actually about talent, I’d be happy to watch it, instead I’m treated? to an hour and a half of sob stories, and sympathy voting. It’s a total fix, and if you can’t see that you are being very naive.

Simon Cowell is the only non-idiot on the show. He knows that it rakes in millions of pounds; he knows that he’ll only have to give the winner a one album deal if he wants to, and he knows that controversy creates cash. If you honestly believe that that girl, who everyone thought was going to win (Laura), wasn’t a fix by the producers to gain more publicity, you are sadly mistaken. The media went mental, across every page was splashed “X-Factor Drama!!11!!” so what are you going to do if you read that on a news stand? Well you’re going to watch it to find out what happens next, right?

So you want to know what drove me mad yesterday? It was that loudmouth Rachael Hylton. She was on the radio accusing people of not being sympathetic enough – because she’s had a tough life and she deserves a break…RIGHT! Hold on one second. You were voted off NOT because of your shady drug dealing, granny beating, house breaking past, but because you were the WORST singer to have ever made it to that part of the show. You had no tonal control – shouting at the top of your voice does not make you a soul singer. Soul is supposed to move you, not knock your teeth out. Your image was terrible, you looked like a girl who would pick on people. You broke the rules by sacking Danni Minogue. You shouted back at Cowell. You are generally a terrible example to human kind, but it was because you sucked at singing and performing is why you were voted of the show.

I really hate how much I know about this show.

I want to have a moan about a popstar who I think deserves a slap, but first…I’m slowly driving myself a little mad. My eye will not stop itching. I made the school boy error of scratching it, and now its bright red. Good times. I’m starting to think it’s the heater next to me – when its on my head spins a little, and I feel a bit rubbish, so actually I now definitely think it’s the heater. Maybe it’s seeping out gas or something, who knows.

Anyway, that’s not what I’m going to whinge about today. It’s Madonna. You know, she’s the old women that gyrates in-front of young people at concerts because she thinks that makes her look hip and cool. Sorry luv, but it’s a plastic hip you’ll need soon (if she isn’t entirely made of plastic already).

You have to feel sorry for her now ex-husband, Guy, who has to see photos of ‘Madge’ “sticking the fingers up at her marriage” at her concerts in front of her young fans. What a top lady. If I had a wife like that I’d be glad to see the back of her, she’s horrific. She looks like an old bit of bacon that’s still to be cleaned off the cooker from last Sundays fry-up.

I think though all divorces are like this, but because she has a platform to shout from she’s using it. She’s not exactly setting a good example to her army of fans, and I think its massively unfair of her to do so, you can’t help but feel that it’s all just a publicity stunt to generate interest for her current tour. I mean, come on! Most people would be gutted at having to get divorced but instead she’s happily performing, and raking in tons of money. And that my friend’s is the problem…

It’s a simple thing: feed a person, they’ll get fat. She has a fat wallet because the general public insist on feeding her. It’s like that car crash Winehouse – whom I despise. If people stopped buying her digitally enhanced records – don’t tell me you think that either of these girls old women knows how to sing properly. You can make any of these ‘artists’ sound half decent with readily available auto-tune software, believe me, I’ve used it before for fun.

As a world we love feeding these terrible people, giving them longer careers than they truly deserve, along with special treatment when they deserve a slap for being so full-of-it. I’ve seen it first hand. I’ve cringed when backstage at festivals certain musicians have demanded something ridiculous – like a 7-seater van for they’re entourage to travel a whole 40 metres to the stage – I’m not even kidding.

We need to calm down with the molly-codling of these celebrities because they have such a ridiculous degree of self worth – yes you may be the big thing right now, but so were the thousands of bands before you, and the thousands there will be after your forgotten.

Hands up if you’re getting married, have been married, or intend to pop the question sometime soon.

I’m currently engaged, and with just under a year ‘till I get the old ball and chain on my ankle, myself and the luckiest girl alive have been sorting out loads of stuff already.

The venue is booked, the outfits are sorted, the cake is getting made, the photographer is almost confirmed, the band is booked, the families are almost all aware of dates, times and to bring massive presents, but there was one thing I never thought we’d be stuck on, and its already caused a minor argument…the first dance song. DUM DA DAAAAAHHHH…

Picking a song is not that hard I hear you say, but let me tell you; it’s the closest I’ve been driven to madness for a long time. It’s not that there aren’t loads of brilliant songs out there, because there are. The real problem lies in the fact, they are either too fast, to slow, too rocky, too soppy, too jangly, too seasonal, too cheesy, too loud for the older guests, too quiet for the younger ones, one of you likes it, the other doesn’t, honestly, the list is endless.

You go round and round in circles trying to find the track either in your CD collection (since I’m a heavy music fan, that’s that out of the equation), or looking around the internet for streaming versions of songs. YouTube is often handy; however, it’s amazing to see how quick a song becomes terrible when the video sucks.

So after a whole night of searching, are we any closer? Well, not really. We have exhausted lists upon lists of wedding songs, and when you see what people tend to choose, you’ll see where the problem lies.

Below is the list of top ten wedding songs in 2007:

• Lonestar - Amazed
• Bryan Adams - Everything I Do (I Do It For You)
• Robbie Williams - Angels
• James Blunt - You’re Beautiful
• Aerosmith - Don’t Want To Miss A Thing
• Shania Twain - Still The One
• Savage Garden - Truly, Madly, Deeply
• Van Morrison - Have I Told You Lately
• Shania Twain - From This Moment On
• Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Some classics in there huh… aside from Aerosmith, and maybe Van Morrison, this list is a girls list. The problem I think is that guys don’t ever consider thinking about a wedding song. Think how long it takes to think of your “favourite ever song”. A while right? Its because we don’t dream about wedding days and all that stuff when were young, instead we’re playing football, and chasing girls. When you’re posed with having to make a decision that has to make everyone happy, it’s horrible, but it’s got to be done.

Anyways, although were not totally set, I think were going to go with a jazz number, possibly some Frank Sinatra or some Michael Bubble. But with about a year to go it may well change if the music industry decides to provide us with an amazing song on the morning of my wedding so that we’re the only people to ever dance to it first. Music industry…we’re waiting…

When I was a kid I used to be driven to near insanity when on the way to the local supermarket my dad would insist on putting a Neil Young tape in the cars high-tech (at the time) player and I’d beg for it to be turned off – much to his hilarity. Much to my fathers dismay, I wanted to listen to 80s hair rock like Billy Idol, Bon Jovi, Kiss or anything off the Hot City Nights compilation album, but I’d have rather listened to silence than Neil Young.

But it’s funny how your music tastes change. When I was really young I was addicted to these glam-rock bands. Unusual for a toddler yes, but I think I wanted to be a rock star form an early age. I used to sing along to Whitesnake’s “Here I go Again” on repeat, and thought I was cool signing along with Kiss’s classic “Crazy, Crazy Nights”. In fact, I was cool dammit!

As I hit double figures in age, and headed to secondary school I have to put my taste down to peer pressure, and the inability to find anyone remotely cool in my school which was full of pathetic malcontents and buck-toothed reprobates. I call this my dark days of music. Oasis were beginning to emerge, along with the dreadful Blur, and a host of other moronic Indie bands. But before they came along was 2Unlimited, and other such faux-techno bands that populated the early 90s rave scene. I hang my head in shame.

The mid-nineties was when Indie was really taking shape, but at the same time as that mediocre, emotionless drivel, the saviours of my musical soul arrived. 1991 brought me Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, and my music taste was changed forever.

I remember listening to it and feeling connected instantly, this music had anger, passion, thought, and talent – everything my idiotic peers had tried to push out of me. Deciding that I was better off with music than friends, I went deeper in to a world that seemed like a billion miles away. By the time 1994 hit, I think I’d heard about every grunge band going and it was the time of Nu-metal’s birth with the band Korn.

If I thought grunge was angry, my 13 year old mind was not ready for the sheer aggression of Korn. Ok it’s maybe tame-ish by today’s heavy music standards, but you can’t deny it didn’t stop you in your tracks the first time you heard it. There was no going back, I was addicted to metal. From Korn I got into Snot, Limp Bizkit, Coal Chamber, Slipknot, and so many more I couldn’t possibly list.

I broadened my taste from the American Nu-metal to UK hardcore sludge with bands like the immensely heavy Iron Monkey, Raging Speedhorn, Charger, then onto metalcore bands like Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God and God Forbid, and onward to Gallows, This Is Hell, Comback Kid and Champion. All of these bands in their own way left something with me, whether it would be immense enjoyment at “finding! A band before any of my mates like Still Remains (whose demo I picked up three months before they got signed to Roadrunner), or disappointment like when Limp Bizkit went painfully commercial, or when kids started wearing Slipknot hoodies having never even heard the music.

I suppose the moral of this story is that everyone is entitled to a music taste. Be it my dad with his Neil Young CDs or someone covered in glow-sticks listening to the Prodigy. The best thing about a music taste is that it’s yours and only yours. Even though I listen to hardcore/metal/punk and everything in-between, I still find time to chill out to Vivaldi, or Buddy Holly. Appreciation of musical ability, dedication and conviction should drive music on forever, not some guy with his trousers so far up his body that he can tuck his man boobs in the belt.

If you’ve ever played in a band, then you will completely understand this. Do you remember your first show? I certainly do, and after speaking to a few of my mates who play in bands around the country, it all seems very familiar…

This seems to be how it happens if you are a guitar based rock band. A young band of mid-late teenagers are jamming in a garage or practice room for a couple of months, and decide we need to play some gigs. A friend tells them, “I know a guy who puts on gigs”, and they talk to him and arrange a headline show at ‘The Duck, Pond and Rifle’.

The band franticly promotes themselves, handing out scrappy fliers to their mates, (or these days) posting relentless Myspace bulletins with the title “Our first show!!11!!”, asking all of their relatives to come along and show some support, (although it’s usually to fill the venue, and they generally come through guilt).

The band turns up at 6pm (lets say the doors open at 8), apart from the singer who is never on time, and they start to find out hat amps they can borrow. Twenty frantic calls to mates of mates, and a lot of pleading with the other bands, they have a terrible sounding Squire Combo Amp with a broken distortion channel, a farty bass amp, a drum kit that is more tired than Elton Johns dress sense, and a microphone that smells of bacon.

At this point the singer strolls in with his butt-ugly girlfriend on his arm, doesn’t apologise, and then complains that his mic smells. Generally at this point a full blown argument takes place between the band’s sensible person (there’s always one) and the prima dona singer (again, there’s always one). At this point, always right in the middle of this power struggle, the ever helpful sound guy/bitter failed musician, shouts “right guys, do you want to run through a song please”.

At this point, the band unsheathe their instruments, that are generally fifth hand, and haven’t had their strings changed for six months, and take to the stage. The drummer brings out two sticks that don’t match, and the singer is still in a huff so refuses to sing, instead opting to say “1…2…1…2…3”, while looking at his feet.

The band runs through a sound check, twiddling knobs on amps all the way through and forgetting parts of songs. That’s if they get that far. I once saw a band fight each other literally on stage because they couldn’t decide which song to play in sound check. What experienced musicians in older bands have learned, is to do all this stuff before hand, choose your song at the practice studio. It stops you from looking like amateurs in front of a bunch of other bands, and venue managers.

If you make it through soundcheck then you have probably about half an hour to kill before show time, but you generally have had enough of everyone by that point so all hand around outside the venue, or in a dark corner, sulking and wishing you played in a big band. You’ll think to yourself, ‘I bet big bands don’t have these problems’, and ‘I wish we had a manager’, but you have to suck it up, and realise that is not the case.

When show time is about five minutes away, it dawns on you have no set list, or you’ve lost your plectrum or your bassist is AWOL. The trick is to ignore it all, it’s your first gig, and it’s just your relatives in the crowd. When the nerves kick in, the butterflies are going, and you strum your first out of tune chord, you know right there and then that you want to do it for the rest of your life.

What Music do you listen to..?