, and they generate national and international interest
in the group and its music this way. With the Rio MP-3 player,
there could be even more interest generated, because if you found
something you liked on line, with this device (which retails for
less than $200 and is about the size of a pager) you can take the
sounds over to a friend's house on turn them on to it without
having to drag your whole computer along too. Apparently, however,
the RIAA won't consider Day By The River "artists" with "interests"
unless they sign with one of the majors.
It is not that Day By The River is against signing with a major; to
the contrary they probably will someday. But getting a large fan
base is one of the steps on that road, and MP-3 technology is just
one of the ways the Day By The River fan-base is growing.
The RIAA got a temporary injunction against Diamond, preventing
them from marketing the devices, but it was very recently
overturned in federal court. You won't be surprised, I bet, to
hear that the RIAA is now trying to secure a "tax" on the players
much like they "tax" consumer grade blank CD-Rs about five
dollars each.
NEGATIVLAND, the Bay Area sonic collage makers and artistic
social critics, is another group of artists with a beef against
the RIAA.
Negativland is certainly clear that the RIAA supports industrial
interests, not artist's interests. The group found this out
again late this past summer, when the people that usually press
their CDs would not press Negativland's most recent work because
of fear of RIAA lawsuits. Seems the RIAA sent "guidelines" to CD
pressing plants that warned of serious legal repercussions if the
plants pressed discs that had even one "uncleared" sample on
them. (This is a little bit like suing the United States Postal
Service because they didn't know that the UnaBomber was going to
send mail bombs to people.)
Since Negativland deals almost exclusively with "found sound"
samples -- recombinated in highly intriguing ways, I might add --
to make their soundscape collage art, this issue was no small
matter to them.
Negativland threatened to sue the RIAA on First Amendment
grounds, arguing that such a threat was an unconstitutional prior
restraint of speech. It is the courts who should decide if
copyrights have been violated, they insist.
After much public outcry, a slew of e-mails by Negativland fans
to the RIAA, and several high profile news stories in places like
the New York Times, and Washington Post, as well as the threat of
a lawsuit, the RIAA backed off its guidelines, begrudgingly
admitting that some uses of "uncleared" samples are legal under
the Fair Use provisions of US copyright law, just as Negativland
contended. The RIAA has since revised its guidelines for CD
pressing plants, but the last has not been heard on this issue.
For more on the situation, visit Negativland on the www at
.
One move the RIAA could make that would remove the stigma of
hypocrisy from over their heads is to stop claiming they
represent the interests of artists when clearly they represent
the big corporations in the music industry. Maybe their
overzealous anti-piracy division should just be called Lawyers
for Industrially Associated Recordings (LIAR). But then maybe
War Is Peace, Ignorance Is Strength, and companies like Microsoft
and BGP/SFX really do welcome and encourage competition.
IN OTHER NEWS:
IS SCI ENTERTAINING LABEL IDEA?
STRING CHEESE INCIDENT, or SCI, is certainly a band of
independent artists, and the good folks over at RumorMill say
that SCI plans on staying independent. SCI already has formed
its own concert ticketing and merchandise departments, as well as
handling its own record distribution through its SCI-Fidelity
branch. According to some who seem to be "in the know," SCI is
looking to grow with an independent record label of its own, much
as Ani DiFranco has done with Righteous Babe Records. If that
happens, the band would look to sign other artists to its label
roster, as well, it is said.
I'm not a gambling man, but if I was I'd bet that KELLER WILLIAMS
was among the first artists String Cheese Incident tried to sign,
*if* the label rumors are true.
Keller Williams is a one man band who manages to get bass lines,
rhythm and melody out of his modified twelve string guitars
simultaneously. He sings great in a nice smooth tenor, writes
fine songs (especially about being on the road). *Plus*, he can
emulate a trumpet, flugelhorn and/or trombone with his mouth.
You can find Keller Williams on the road with String Cheese
Incident often enough, opening their shows and playing between
sets, as well as sitting in the group.
Regardless of what the future holds, Williams' latest album is
called "Spun" (1998: Basil Leaf Music) and I recommend it to you
highly. Call the good folks at the Homegrown Music Network for a
copy if you're interested.
LoS: "TAPER'S REEL" CANNED; MULTITRACKS ROLLING
LEFTOVER SALMON (LoS), put a call out to its fans last year that
they wanted to release a live album culled from the best of LoS
concert tapes that its fans had collected. The idea seemed like
a great one to me; The Grateful Dead series of Dick's Picks
concert tapes are some of my favorite live recordings, and they
are culled from two-track concert tape masters that just get a
digital mastering and cleaning before they are pressed and
released. The album LoS had planned was to be called "Taper's
Reel: Live, Vol. 1" and was originally scheduled for release
last Spring. Fans responded enthusiastically, offering digital
soundboard and audience recordings for consideration.
Many months dragged on with no news on the record. Finally,
early this Fall, LoS frontman Vince Herman said that the project
had been canned because the tapes they collected were not of
suitable sound quality for a commercial release.
Leftover Salmon's is first and foremost a live concert band, so a
live record is still a good idea. The band rolled digital multi-
track tapes throughout their early Fall tour and hopes to release
a live disc culled from that source as soon as possible.
Leftover Salmon is also no slouch in the studio, as 1997's
"Euphoria" proves. LoS will go back into the studio in January and
February of 1999 to lay down tracks for another studio album.
Before that can happen though, LoS will roll through the West Coast
on a late Fall tour, including a stop at San Francisco's Fillmore
Auditorium on November 28, 1998, and will spend New Years Eve
1998/99 in Chicago with their friends from Blues Traveler.
_______________________flowerpunkprods_____________________
For more of the Flower Punk's musings on music, log onto
PauseRecord.Com by clicking right here <pauserecord.com>.
