Pandora's Tax

(not very clever, I know...)

The following is a letter I was inspired to write this morning after reading that Pandora is on the verge of shutting down. This is ridiculous. I would encourage you to read up on the situation, and if you agree, please send this letter to your own Senators and Representatives. I'll post a template in the comments that you can copy and paste. [EDIT: make sure you stick something in there about supporting the Internet Radio Equality Act, H.R. 2060 and S. 1353.]

Dear Rep. Cooper:

I am writing to voice my concern about the recent increase in royalty rates for internet radio broadcasters. As I understand it, the new rates are so high that many broadcasters will be forced to shut down before the first payment can even be made.

Let me say that I am not involved in internet broadcasting in any way. However, I am affected by this situation on many levels.

On a professional level, I am a musician about to release my first record. With the demise of internet broadcasting, that is one less outlet I can use to promote my music, which means my chances for success (and my bottom line) are significantly reduced. I am not a rich record company - I am paying for all of my expenses out of my own pocket, like a lot of independent musicians in Nashville. If I lose money, I don't have the option of "restructuring" or "downsizing" or squeezing money out of someone who is lower in the hierarchy. If I lose money, it's game over and my career is finished before it even had a chance to get started.

On a personal level, one of my favorite websites is about to fall victim to the rate increase. Pandora (http://www.pandora.com/) is a very unique website that is designed to introduce people to new music. It does what terrestrial radio used to do, and it does it better - because it can ask users what kind of music they already like, and make suggestions based on that.

I would recommend that you try this service out, Rep. Cooper. It's free and I guarantee you will be introduced to something new that you like. I have purchased a lot of music based on Pandora's recommendations.

Pandora can't be blamed for the problems the music industry is facing. They have always played by the "rules" that the copyright owners have imposed on them. Users are not allowed to listen on demand, and they can only skip past a limited number of songs per hour. And now Pandora, along with its extensive network of users, is being punished for their willingness to comply.

The new rates enacted by the Copyright Review Board at the request of SoundExchange would require Pandora to pay over 70% of their gross revenue in royalties - an amount of 2.91 cents per listener, per hour.

AT THE SAME TIME, satellite radio - which is not nearly as useful and on its way out as evidenced by the terms of the recent Sirius/XM merger - is only forced to pay 1.6 cents per listener, per hour. That is nearly an 82% increase from one type of radio to another.

I won't even go into the fact that these kinds of fees shouldn't exist. The CRB is essentially mandating that internet broadcasters pay mechanical royalties on top of the licensing fees that they already pay to the PRO's. It's sad that the music industry sees a need to cannibalize itself like this. Radio was a big part of my life growing up, as I'm sure it was for you, too, and if these changes are allowed to stand it will all but die out completely. And then where am I supposed to turn to for new music? 30-second preview clips on iTunes? I don't find that acceptable.

A good solution to this mess would be to move the burden from the broadcasters to the user - not something I would normally support, but hear me out. A small tax on internet service - no more than fifty cents to a dollar per month - would generate a lot of revenue for copyright owners in the music, film, and print industries. Allow the people to do what they want, listen to, watch, read, and download what they want - and allow them to pay for the right to do so. Negotiate with the companies involved to determine how to pay out the revenues, and in turn stop harassing the content providers that are trying to give us valuable services.

I'm afraid I waited too long to write you about this. It may be too late to stop anything from happening, but I want to make sure that you know that I am very concerned about this type of behavior from a government agency (the Copyright Review Board) acting in the best interest of a select group of greedy corporations - who, in fact, don't even know what's best for themselves.

Please take the time to investigate this matter and join together with other Representatives and Senators in Congress to fight against this injustice. It would cost a lot less in time and money than the proposed bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and you would be helping out countless small business owners who have been more prudent and responsible than those two companies have been.

Thank you for your time. I hope you are able to find a way to address this problem.

Sincerely,
Brandon de la Cruz

cc: Sen. Alexander, Sen. Corker

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What's on my sonic plate?

...I'll tell you.

It all started tonight when I was trying to figure out what song was playing during an episode of House. I discovered that it was called "Kicked Out" by Pussy Galore, and I went in search of it.

Well, iTunes didn't have it.
Amazon didn't, either.

In fact, the only place that did was eMusic. So away I went to sign up. 50 free downloads, you say? Yes, please. I purchased the cheapest plan ($11.99) and started grabbing some songs.

---->rewind

I take that back. This whole thing actually started when I heard about Paul Westerberg's new 49-cent record. What a great thing to do - at that price, who cares if it sucks? The part that did suck slightly was having to sign up for Amazon's MP3 service and download their little program. I guess it wasn't so bad. eMusic has one too. Eh.

---->back to present

So now here we are, in the present, and I can tell you about all the great music I downloaded today and will probably listen to sometime soon:

Paul Westerberg - 49:00
Pussy Galore - Dial 'M' for Motherfucker
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Deastro - Keeper's
Fugazi - Red Medicine (on the recommendation of David Bazan)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Everything Is (because the preview sounded wicked)
The Dark Romantics - Heartbreaker (imported the CD I got on pre-order)
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (also found this through House)
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Spoon - Telephono, Love Ways, Soft Effects, 30 Gallon Tank

Mahler - Symphonies 5, 6, 8, 9 (I had two of these already, and found good recordings of the other two)

There you have it. I'm sure I'll rave about whatever jumps out at me.

What I got:

not a lot

What I need:

some arrangements, pronto

What I am:

surrounded by cats

Studio - Day 3

Saturday has been the most exciting work to date. We took on the challenge of the newest songs, working and re-working the sections until we had drum parts that we were satisfied with. That's sort of an understatement - during the final takes, I couldn't believe the sounds I was hearing.

I don't want to hype this project into the ground, so I'll just say it's going well and there are some incredible sounds on it.

6 drum tracks down, 4 or 5 to go.

Studio - Day 2

We hit the ground running at about 11 AM on Friday. Caleb was running late because a dog wouldn't get into his car. Eventually he got there and we started kicking out jams.

We had some problems with a scratch track I recorded too slow. I fixed it while everyone else got lunch. We ended up finishing drums for two songs in about 5 hours. Not bad at all.

I'm hoping that we can do 3 or 4 songs tomorrow and the same on Sunday. If that works out, we'll be ahead of the game.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Studio - Day 1

There's no time for anything. I don't have time to think, much less sleep or eat. After a couple of weeks of false starts, we are finally go for the Fourth of July weekend.

I don't know what to expect, because I've never done a real record before. What I have done mostly involves layering part after part in the safety of my own room.

Working with actual people is something else entirely.

Meanwhile, I put off preparations because we hadn't really nailed down a specific time to start, so when I get the word about July 3rd, I only have about two days to get everything ready. That means cutting scratch demos at my house, and it's not very pleasant. But it goes quickly and I'm able to squeeze out 5 or 6 songs. The quality is terrible, but all they have to do is keep time so the drummer knows where to play. I'm so rusty at playing and singing my own songs to a click - I hope I can get my act together when it comes time for me to track.

Thursday - the first night of tracking - went very well. We nailed down a solid drum part and worked together to get it done. There was plenty of open discussions about things, and I felt like it was a good process. I spend so much time thinking about what to do with my own songs that it makes it difficult to accept anything except the track that's already in my head. Fortunately, we came out on top and in the end we will have something to be genuinely proud of. I don't feel like it's too much to ask.

All I want to do is make the best record that anyone has ever heard.

Fallout 3: Survival Edition

It sounds stupid, I know, but I'm hooked. I don't even have a PS3 yet. (Also, consider this on my wishlist for any upcoming occasions. If I break down and buy it for fear of it selling out, I'll let you know.)

As far as I'm concerned, Fallout 3 has progressed from a dubious Oblivion clone to a magnificent tour-de-force of mutants and guns and humor. I've spent many an hour at the official site combing through pictures, blogs, and interviews.

Whatever happens, I'm convinced it can't be as bad as Van Halen 3 was. That's a collector's edition I should have gone without, even though I bought it used for like 8 bucks.

cruddy guitar pick != an actual freaking PIP BOY

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So, Facebook...

Facebook used to be the cleaner, faster, more socially acceptable version of MySpace. Now, they're pretty much even. I'm not gonna lie. I enjoy posing random crap as much as anybody. But do we really need so many useless apps?