To get some idea of where the music industry is going, it would seem logical to talk to the most powerful music CEO in the business, Universal‘s Doug Morris, but the interviewer at Wired walked away from the interview thinking otherwise.

Of some note is this quote:

There’s no one in the record industry that’s a technologist. That’s a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn’t. They just didn’t know what to do. It’s like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?

I wouldn’t be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me.

The article is available here.
Source Continue reading Wired profiles Universal Music CEO →

The Measure [SA] have announced a lineup change:

For those of you who have seen our past several shows, you probably noticed that Fid was playing guitar (instead of drums) and not Mike. Unfortunately, after three years playing together, Mike has chosen to move on from the band. The split is entirely amicable and while we are sorry to see Mike go, we understand that it is the best choice for him at this time. He recently joined the band Broom vs. the Combine and you should check them out here. Another member of Broom vs. the Combine, CJ Frederick, has recently joined us as our new drummer and Fid will continue on guitar and vocals. This is an exciting change and we are looking forward to writing our new album now with CJ on board. Since Mike’s departure, Mikey Erg has been filling in on drums (he is now in 1,365 bands). We are currently scheduled to record one of our newest songs, No Regerts, with him for an upcoming split with Blotto. The misspelling is intentional. Thanks everyone for listening and for the constant support. punkrockneverstop!

The band released Historical Fiction this year on Team Science, followed by a split 7″ with O Pioneers!!!.
Source Continue reading Mike leaves the Measure [sa] →

Nick Diener from The Swellers is filling in as a guitarist on A Wilhelm Scream‘s upcoming tour. He’ll be with the band for their upcoming dates with the Fall of Troy and Schoolyard Heroes as well as their jaunt with the Flatliners. Of course during this time the Swellers will be taking a break, that is unless there are clones involved, and we’re pretty sure there aren’t. We announced the dates previously.

A Wilhelm Scream guitarist Chris Levesque left the band in September. The group is supporting their recent full length Career Suicide.
Source Continue reading Swellers guitarist playing with A Wilhelm Scream →

The Loved Ones have posted the second studio update in video form for their upcoming album Build and Burn. The video includes footage of the band practicing a new song as well as producers Brian and the Pete of the the Bouncing Souls.

You can check out the video below.
Source Continue reading The Loved Ones post second studio video →

After taking the summer off touring, Brandtson have set a title and release date for the upcoming follow up to Hello, Control.

The new record looks to be titled Turn Me On Dead Man and is due out July 08, 2008. The album title is most likely a reference to the Beatles’ track, “Revolution 9” which, when played backwards sounds like the words “Turn Me On Dead Man.”
Source Continue reading Brandtson title new album, set release date →

Ted Leo of Ted Leo And The Pharmacists will be participating in a special reader-led interview via The Washington Post starting tomorrow.

The Washington Post’s Discussions section of their website facilitates questions and comments from readers to a wide variety of public figures; authors, politicians, athletes and professionals from just about every field are invited daily. On Wednesday, November 28 at noon EST, The Washington Post invites Ted Leo to participate in touching base with fans and curious readers who would like to submit questions to him regarding his career, music, politics and just about anything you’d like to hear Ted’s insight on.

You can submit questions right now, via this page.
Source Continue reading Ted Leo participating in reader-led interview via Washington Post →

Tom’s River, NJ’s One Win Choice will be touring the US in support of their debut full-length Never Suspend Disbelief. The album was recorded by Nick Rotundo (Paint It Black, None More Black) at Clay Creek Studios and produced by Boy Sets Fire’s Josh Latshaw,

Source Continue reading Tours: One Win Choice →

Coheed & Cambria have cancelled their upcoming appearances at the Soundwave festival in Australia. The band explained:

Linkin Park has personally invited us to support them in the US during this time and after a lot of thought, we have accepted. While this is good news for us and our fans in the US, we realize it is a blow to you down under and in mainland Europe, and we apologize for any inconvenience this will cause.

[We] will instead come to your shores at the end of March to play our own theater shows.

The first two dates for the Linkin Park tour are set to take place February 16th in Detroit, and February 18th in New Hampshire. More dates are expected in the coming weeks.
Source Continue reading Coheed & Cambria to tour with Linkin Park →

Black Fag, the “absolutely fabulous” tribute to Black Flag, will be embarking on a 16-date tour of Europe starting in December. They will be playing shows in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

Black Fag has opened for notable punk bands such as TSOL, NOFX, Circle Jerks, The Dickies, Angry Samoans, The Bronx, The Briefs, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Former Black Flag front man Keith Morris describes them as “awesome/hilarious!” This tour will be the band’s first outside of their home state of California.

Source Continue reading Tours: Black Fag (Europe) →

Deep Elm’s owner John Szuch, along with label representatives from Revelation, Lookout, 31G and Ninja Tune, were recently interviewed by the Norwegian music press regarding illegal file sharing.

John’s assessment is this:

It’s easy for multi-millionaires like RadioHead to give away their music, but not for true indie artists that are touring in vans, sleeping on stages and eating pizza every night. And it makes it impossible for true indie labels like Deep Elm to survive, develop and support their artists. Fans may be more apt to buy tickets for a tour and tee shirts when they arrive since they got the music for free, but remember that labels do not share in any tour revenue.

So how are we supposed to generate money to keep our doors open? If free music becomes the trend, we will be forced to stop releasing new records and supporting independent artists….like so many other indies have already done.

His solution? “ Sites are being used 99% of the time to share and illegally download copyrighted [material] and they should be abolished. ”

Revelation’s Vique Martin also comments:

Sales are way down compared to years ago. But I don’t think it’s just file sharing – I think it’s also a combination of cd burning along with entire libraries of music being shared via ipods. But it’s getting tougher and tougher to sell less and less cds, and if this continues I think we’ll see a lot of labels going the way of GSL over the next 2-3 years. It’s a shame.

Lookout!’s Molly Neumann shys away from too much government intervention, saying:

A larger conversation that is not just enforced by the government can happen with kids to help them understand that what they are doing is stealing. They know they can’t walk into a store and take what they want and they should feel the same way about music. The industry needs to understand that consumers are very sensitive to price and figure out ways to present music in a more economically viable way, and to help expose the consumers to the music they want.

Despite where you sit on the file sharing fence, many labels are becoming frustrated with the rather rampant downloading of music, and independent labels without deep pockets to weather the storm are often the first to shut down. You can check out the entirety of the label’s comments here.
Source Continue reading Revelation, Lookout, 31G, Deep Elm discuss file sharing →

The Vandals have unveiled their holiday plans for this year, deciding to announce only a single show set to take place at the House of Blues in West Hollywood on December 22nd, 2007.

For the show, the band has enlisted Hunter’s Revenge, the Prince-influenced side project from AFI‘s Hunter Burgan. Also set to perform is long-running power-pop act, Supernova and A Kiss Could Be Deadly.
Source Continue reading The Vandals announce holiday plans with Hunter’s Revenge (AFI), Supernova, A Kiss Could Be Deadly →