Wii Music

Nintendo has just announced the launch of Wii Music in October of this year. They are hoping that "blue Ocean" lightning strikes thrice after the successful Wii Sports and Wii Fit llaunches. According to the press release this game hopes to bring music to the "not good at guitar hero" set. The game will feature more than 60 instruments and more than 50 (bad) songs. I do not see how this can be successful. I may stand to be corrected, but this simply cannot compete with the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I think that demographic is already maxed out on the music making games... Perhaps this will find a way into the old folks homes and even possibly into music therapy circles. That could be a very interesting proposition... digital Orff instruments. I have definitely heard of weirder things. Perhaps my friends over at Mustech.net will be able to comment on the actual use-ability of this product within the realm of music education... Now that would be an interesting thesis.

Musical Gaming's Hall of Shame: Some other lesser-known games that attempted to bring music to the masses.

R.I.P T.R.L. - Why MTV's TRL was doomed anyways

The news has finally broken. MTV is canceling TRL for good. This news comes as bitter sweet to me since after all, 10 years ago when it launched, I actually watched TRL. Albeit between classes while I was attending University... This also strikes home with me because of the fact that in my short tenure with Viacom / MTV as a production assistant, I actually worked TRL while it was filming on location in Miami. (Carson Daly is a lot taller than you'd think!)

The loss of TRL is directly associated with the networks move AWAY from music. Music Television was after all the original name of the network before it reduced itself to MTV. Lets face it though... have any of us actually seen a music video on MTV in the recent past? I certainly have not. MTV's focus has completely changed to Reality based television. TRL was really the last holdout from the good old Music days. Obviously the change in format was due to increased pressures from Advertisers... Reality based programming means repeat customers. Episodic television almost guarantees a regular audience while simply airing videos does not guarantee any audience retention.

I think it is sad that this great bastion of the 1980's.. "Music Television" has moved so far away from it's original format. I look back on my years as a teenager watching MTV in the afternoons because it was literally that or Soap Operas with great joy. I think it is sad that generations to come wont get to enjoy such great afternoon entertainment.

While TRL is dead, they are planning on keeping some sort of conceptualized version of it alive with a Friday night show hosted by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz. FNMTV will be the "new" TRL... I guess this is a good thing although I didn't like the Videos that TRL replaced.

I want my (old) MTV.

Activism... how far do YOU want to take it...

So as I was discussing an upcoming Ron Paul (I am NOT a supporter) march on Washington, my memory was jogged of another interesting march I have been hearing murmurs of in the music community. This August, as If our nation's capitol didnt have enough else going on, there will be a Million DJ March on Washington. As a former turntablist, and consummate fan of DJ's, DJ music, and the culture in general... this kind of sets off some mixed emotions floating around in my head. First of all... as we all know, Million Whatever Marches rarely accomplish anything other than press coverage by TV news crews that would rather report on the event than real news and raising public awareness of a cause. What ever came about from the Million Man March? Anything? Well, other than great press for the movement, there was an influx of Black Male voter registration following the march. This may be the gleaming success story in the long litany of groups who have marched on Washington since the civil rights marches of the 60s (these actually worked!). The primary objective in most cases is to bring awareness to a cause though. The thing that bewilders me about the Million DJ march is WHAT CAUSE ARE THEY MARCHING FOR? Respect? My problem with this is where do you draw the line? When does it stop. Should the club owners that own danceclubs that promote music march on Washington?

My issue is, I have DJ'd for 15 years. Both Professionally and as an amateur.

I chose to DJ because I enjoyed playing music for the crowds of people who danced for me. Not because I wanted an industry to recognize and thank me for all that I do. Radio DJs are much in the same vein as club djs... most of the folks working in radio do so because the love what they do, not because they want recognition...

The following lines are taken verbatim from the march website.

"Labels and major businesses who reap the rewards of default publicity, need to pay more attention and give more recognition to DJ's for the promotion they provide."

This whole event seems to be an excessive abuse of taxpayer's dollars. I certainly don't want to foot the bill for crowd control and police presence simply to convince major business to say "Thank You for all that you do to a bunch of DJs."

My Solution: In an effort to settle the debate on this and avoid the inordinate expense of such a rally, I am willing to help the cause by making the following statement on behalf of the recording industry (I am NOT in any authority to make this statement!)... hopefully hey will now call off this silly march. Thank you DJ's!. I am one of you, but I also work for a Major Independent Label (albeit Classical). I (we) certainly appreciate all that you do to help promote and support the music industry. I also appreciate the fact that (like me) you chose your career not because of major financial or social aspirations, but because you LOVE MUSIC and want to spread that love to all that are willing to listen. We love you for all that you are and all that you want to be (Jerry McGuire line). You truly are the Sunshine of our lives! Thank You again! Now Hug it out bitch!

Three things I learned at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Convention

Just returning from NAB in Vegas, my mind is ripe with new and reinforced ideas about the broadcast industry. In my short two days attending functions and working my way through scores of exhibits, I came away with a few ideas about what is going on in this industry as it pertains to Music Licensing and the Music providers in the field. 1. IP TV is king The hot topic around the exhibit floor was IP TV. According to Wikipedia, IPTV (IP Television) is a system where a digital television service is delivered using Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection. A general definition of IPTV is television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks. There were loads of various back-end providers peddling their wares. As a general rule of thumb, more access is better for everyone. I dont believe that the proliferation of IPTV will actually bring more music revenues, but it does offer more people the chance to experience the production...

2. Music Library Competition is STIFF In the realm of production music there is some stiff competition. Production libraries and falling prices continue to make my job more difficult as a licensing agent. This combined with the fact that major labels and publishers are now buying their way into the game with the purchases of companies like NonStop Music and others makes it ever so important that the independents learn to compete in this market. (Two of the most disturbing things I saw were companies named Gratis Music , and of course Royalty Free Music . com)... Disgusted.

We are going to have to start playing the game their way in order to compete (unfortunately). One great thing we have going for us is the fact that our music is actually performed by musicians, rather than midi keyboard and it appears that there is little competition in the Classical field. So this ought to be an interesting year as we embark on bringing in more content revenue competing with a mass market of inexpensive alternatives.

3. The NAB is an event to hit every year and to prepare for on the backend. For us, that means laying tons of infrastructure groundwork to create a real product to take to that market. It is no longer going to be acceptable to simply roll in saying "we've got a crapload of music". The customer today wants to hear that music. They want to search that music and experience that music. That is where the good companies are separated from the greats in the industry. The same applies to anyone in the broadcast field... not just music libraries. This show is FOR REAL. It is the closest thing I have found to CES size-wise. I am looking forward to putting my gameface on and rolling into town with my guns-a-blazin next year.