Hangin' Out In 100b

I make no bones about knowing next to nothing about music news. I don’t follow it very aggressively and tend to zero in on those stories that light a fire under me. So, everytime my at bat for the Round-Up comes around I break out in panic sweats trying to find out what, if anything, happened in the world of music the past two weeks. This edition of the News-ish Round-Up is no exception.

John Rich of Big & Rich, a supporter of U.S. presidential candidate John McCain and responsible for “Raising McCain”, an anthemic ode to the candidate, has added a fine note of idiocy (Rich’s, not McCain’s) to the presidential campaign. Rich has been quoted as saying, “I’m sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around.” Now, why do dumbasses say this kind of thing and why do news outlets even validate this sort of stupidity. (That’s a rhetorical question.) To her immense credit, Cash’s daughter, Rosanne, didn’t respond by saying who she thought her father would have voted for. Instead, she retorted, “It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined and to try to further their own agendas by doing so. Even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt. This is especially dangerous in the case of political affiliation. It is unfair and presumptuous to use him to bolster any platform.” Kudos, Ms. Cash. Kudos.

Regular readers of my posts will already know almost nothing gets me whipped into a frothy frenzy like talking about the RIAA and the music industry’s Keystone Cops-like inability to cope with the Internet. To wit, two items in the news recently. First, it looks like Pandora – the innovative Internet radio and music recommendation site – is facing the chopping block. Don’t know why? Well, whether it is financially true or not, Pandora reports it’s slated to pay upwards of $17.5 million of its $25 million revenues on royalty fees. Well, you may ask, this is only fair. Normal radio stations have to pay royalties, too. Uh, nope. Your everyday radio stations pay no royalties (this is, in fact, they argue, free advertizing). Well, surely that other big vehicle for musical enjoyment, satellite radio, pays the same royalties? No, you’d be wrong again. Satellite radio pays a lesser fee. It’s only the Internet, that self-perceived enemy of the music industry, that bears the burden of these sorts of royalty fees.

Which leads directly into the second new items in this area.

Muxtape, the virtual mixtape generating site, is, according to the site, “unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.” Another testament to the constantly loosing battle the RIAA is fighting. Have we learned nothing from history? It is nearly impossible to win a guerrilla war, let alone what amounts to a virtual guerrilla campaign. What’s next? The forkin Hype Machine?

In case you missed the announcement, Bloc Party have come in under the radar and are releasing the digital version of Intimacy on their website. You can pre-order it now for download delivery tomorrow (August 21). You can’t get the CD until the end of the October and this is your chance to get the majority of the tracks earlier (there will be a few different tracks available in each of the two formats).

From happy news for Bloc Party fans to sad news for fans of old school R&B. Jerry Wexler, a producer for Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Dusty Springfield, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles – and the first to call the genre “rhythm and blues” – died at 91.

Speaking of sad, 50 Cent is the giant among hip hop entrepreneurs (I refuse to call them hiphopreneurs because it’s just too corny). According to the 2008 Forbes magazine list of Hip Hop Cash Kings, 50 Cent has turned his many ventures into a massive $150 million in earnings over the past year, knocking Jay-Z down to the second spot. Puff Diddy props up Jay-Z in the third spot.

Since we’re on the hip hop entrepreneur tip, here is some more. Master P is no longer badboy Master P. He’s now Percy Miller, which, interestingly enough, is actually his name. And, alongside his no-curse-words record label (Take A Stand Records), Mr. Miller is now creating his own cable television network, Better Black Television, to go head-to-head with Black Entertainment Television (aka BET). While we may all shrug our shoulders and assume this is another stunt, remember Master P used to be larger than life. And, while his new, squeaky-clean image will go some way to pushing these new ventures along, it doesn’t hurt he’s also put together a notable board of advisors for his new network that includes the likes of Denzel Washington, NAACP Executive Director Vicangelo Bullock, and hip hop legend DJ Kool Herc among others.

No music for you! Go buy some Jerry Wexler-produced classics instead!