Interview with Kurt Cobain’s Manager, Danny Goldberg

I was reading an interesting interview with Kurt Cobain’s manager, Danny Goldberg.  Here is a little piece that really caught my eye:

He’s the most talented person I ever worked with because he was talented in so many different ways. He’s a guitar player and a lead singer and he wrote all the songs. He did everything for Nirvana that it took Jimmy Page and Robert Plant to do for Led Zeppelin. Kurt also designed the album covers and wrote treatments for the videos. He even designed the t-shirts. He was really a comprehensive genius when it came to the art of rock and roll. As an artist he was the most talented and as a person he was the most tragic. I never worked with anyone who killed themselves, before or since. It’s just a terrible feeling and a terrible loss. I’ll never get over it.

Read the full article here.

Bon Iver

Go buy the album now. Amazing.

Wilco @ Lollapalooza

Click here for full Wilco set @ Lollapalooza. Enjoy

Trent Reznor Does it Again

Trent Reznor does it again.  To kick off the band’s upcoming tour, Nine Inch Nails decided to hold an exclusive concert in Los Angeles on July 19.  A few weeks ago, Trent Reznor posted a file to the NIN website with tour locations that could be opened with the Google Earth app.  With these locations, Trent sent some of his craziest fans on a treasure hunt to find hidden envelopes with guest passes to the Los Angeles show.

That event kicked off a viral campaign that puts fans in treasure-hunt scenarios, but with the pressure-cooker timing of an episode of “24.” Trent Reznor and Co. have a reputation for these unusual stunts. The band launched an alternate reality game in 2007 for its “Year Zero” album. That adventure sent fans digging through a digital trail of cryptic websites, calling phone numbers and analyzing digital files found on memory sticks in concert venue bathrooms.

Thanks, Nick. For more information read the article.

Listening Post’s Top 10 Hottest Music Sites

WIRED.com lists the top ten hottest music sites.  Check them out.

Change is the only constant in the music business, and that goes double for the digital music business. Nonetheless, we’ve assembled a list of the 10 hottest digital music websites in the world.

Criteria were simple and admittedly subjective: Sites were chosen based not only on what they currently do for music fans, but also on their potential to impact the future development of the music industry. Based on how things go with the first iteration, this list could be updated periodically and opened for voting.

In Rainbows Animated Music Video Contest

Radiohead recently had an In Rainbows Animated Music Video Contest.  There were over 900 entries which has now been narrowed down to 13.  The winner will receive a $10,000 prize to produce a full-length music video. View the final videos here.  There are some very creative videos.

No Respect for Kanye

I have to admit that I own the most recent Kanye West album Graduation.  And I have to admit that I think it was a pretty solid album.  And I have to admit that I AM a fan of Hip Hop.  So I guess its time to admit why I have absolutely no respect for this guy.  I do think that Kanye has lyrical ability, but that doesn’t mean that I like the guy.  I could go on and on about how he constantly whines and complains but I think his blog post explains everything:

I am  sick of negative  people who just sit around trying 2 plot my downfall… Why????  I understand if people don’t like me because I like me or if people think tight clothes look gay or people say I run my mouth to much,  But this Bonnaroo thing is the worst insult I’ve ever had in my life. This is the most offended I’ve ever been… this is the maddest I ever will be.  I’m typing so fucking hard I might break my fucking Mac book Air!!!!!!!!   Call me any name you want…. arrogant, conceited, narcissistic, racist, metro, fag whatever you can think of….  BUT NEVER SAY I DIDN’T GIVE MY ALL!   NEVER SAY I DIDN’T GIVE MY ALL!  THIS SHOWS NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY  TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING THERE WILL BE PEOPLE THERE TO LIE ABOUT YOU AND BRING YOU DOWN!  LIKE WAYNE SAYS PLEASE DON’T SHOOT ME DOWN CAUSE I’M FLYING!  I’M FUCKING HURT BY THIS ONE. ALL I CARE ABOUT ARE THE FANS.  JUST SAY THIS OUT LOUD IN  A ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE, “KANYE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT GIVING A GOOD PERFORMANCE.”  CAN ANYONE HONESTLY SAY THAT ?????????

Sigur Ros – The Museum of Modern Art

Sigur Ros recently played a show at The Museum of Modern Art in NYC.  The show was part of the MoMA’s PopRally series.  It was also Icelandic Independence Day!  Pics and Set List listed below:

SETLIST
01 “svefn-g-englar”
02 “glosoli”
03 “se lest”
04 “ny batteri”
05 “vid spilum endalaust”
06 “hoppipolla”
07 “med blodnasir”
08 “vidrar vel til loftarasa”
09 “saeglopur”
10 “inni mer syngur vitleysingur”
11 “olsen olsen”
12 “hafsol”
13 “gobbledigook”
—-
14 iceland national anthem
15 “popplagid”

Imeem Becomes The Top U.S. Music Streaming Site

   According to Wired.com and several other blogs, Imeem has passed Yahoo! as the number one music streaming site in the United States.

Imeem’s expensive label deals, which allow it to offer on-demand music from all four majors, plus indies — combined with emphases on social networking and reaching out to blogs — have paid off handsomely. The site’s unique U.S. visitor count rose 58 percent over the previous March to 10.3 million.

In what could become another blow to Yahoo, imeem has opened its massive media catalog to third parties with an API that allows outside developers to create music apps that access its library. It’s said to be expanding its relationships with music blogs over the next several months.

    Yahoo! can’t catch a break this year, and things aren’t looking any better for 2008.

 

New Opportunities for Smaller Indie Labels

  

 I was reading an article today about how over twelve thousand of the smaller indie labels have come together to create a virtual fifth “major” label, Merlin.

“80 percent of the world’s music releases come not from the majors but from independent labels. Getting access to this music is a hassle for stores like iTunes and webcasters like Last.fm, since it takes an incredible amount of effort to do thousands of different (and small) deals. It’s not a great situation for the indies, either, which individually don’t possess the clout needed to get the best deals.”

According to the article, Merlin launched a little over a year ago as a “one stop rights clearinghouse for indie artists”.  I think that this is a great idea for the indie labels because coming together will allow them to have more negotiating power in deals while simplifying distribution for services such as iTunes and Last.fm.