SnowGhost Music

Maybe you've seen the movie 'The Secret,' or maybe you've heard about it, or maybe I'll just tell you about it. It's actually not really a movie, so I'm not spoiling anything by giving away the secret. Whether or not you think it's corny, it is worth a look, but all you need to know for now is this: our thoughts create energy, and by the same laws of attraction that can be found behind pretty much everything everywhere, the energy we create attracts what we think about. If you are a pessimist and constantly broadcast negative thoughts, it is a certainty that you will create enough negative energy to keep you firmly wallowed in your very own pity party. You might even find yourself being invited to other people's pity parties, and between you and your naysaying buddies, you could probably power your own city of pity.

So I'm applying the principals of 'The Secret' to today's blog because we've been a bit negative in the past. We've even been downright Ted-like in our high horsery and pigeon-holing. It hasn't been an overwhelming giant spaceship forcefield of bad tidings, but it does seem to be at the very least like a pessimistic electric pet fence set up around our yard. Well, today we shed our collars and run free past the little white flags into the fields of positivity, hoping our tomfoolery and sundry hijinx will sprinkle a little sunshine into the otherwise gloomy blogscape. We also hope we will not be immediately run over by a Hummer or get caught pooping in someone's vegetable garden.

But before we can high-five Anthony Robbins and sign up with the yes people, we must first expunge our sins of boo hoo. Perhaps you'll recall in earlier blogs that we've declared the death of the CD, we've described the train wreck of the recording industry, and just last blog, we decried the utter ineptitude of FM radio. It's this last sin we are most sorry for. Actually, not sorry really. Mainstream radio truly does suck and will likely find ways to suck more, even if payola from the record companies no longer controls airplay. But like 'The Secret' explains, Mother Theresa never went to an anti-war protest. She only went to peace rallies. But what's the difference, right? Why does Mama T have to go throwing labels around? Because they're not the same. Think about it. 'Anti-war' brings up two negatives right off the bat in name alone. It causes you to think about war and inevidibly stirs up the anger or at least the bitterness that helps fuel war in the first place. A peace rally, however, simply promotes peace by bringing awareness to the idea of peace. Just writing that last sentence made me think of bunnies playing harps on fluffy clouds. Anti-anything almost assuredly brings about publicity and awareness (i.e. energy) to the very thing or things it seeks to thwart. It might even explain how someone who is universally despised and mocked can be president.

So we are here to try and create positive energy for radio. Not FM radio; we're not concerned with that. We're here to create good vibes for internet radio, our new friend who needs our support. If FM radio is Larry (see previous blog), then internet radio is Timmy. Picture a brave and genuine face falsely accused or terminally ill, in need of a pardon or a kidney, maybe both. Timmy, you see, has been severely impaired by a recent Copyright Royalty Board ruling that will effectively double the amount of money that Timmy is required to pay per song. It's as if Timmy is doing something wrong by offering virtually every type of recorded music available to anyone with a computer and speakers. You would think that some bands would even pay to have this type of publicity and instant playability, but that's where record companies come in.

At this point you might be wondering just who the hell is/are the Copyright Royalty Board, so I will tell you what I know. They are a very mysterious and possibly pointless 3-judge panel established by congress in 2004 to establish guidelines for handling digital music and the royalties it creates. At the likely behest of the record companies, they make rulings like their March decision to hike royalty rates on Timmy (even the non-profit ones!) . The people at SoundExchange (an evil spawn of the record industry) applaud the decision because it supposedly levels the playing field and gets more money into the pockets of the deserving musicians. We all love musicians and they rightly deserve money for their work, but what point is there in levelling a playing field in which both teams are winning? Old Larry doesn't pay royalties (he used to actually get paid to play) because everyone understands that it's basically free promotion to have your song played. Why should internet radio be any different? They might further argue that since some of the big internet radio stations and services are operated by companies like Clear Channel and Yahoo, the hike won't really hurt Timmy. But of course it will. Most smaller, often privately-run stations will be forced to pay more than they take in. Even stations like KCRW in Santa Monica will not be able to keep up with the per-song royalty raise and will have to seriously scale back the amount of songs they can play.

But enough negativity. Let's create some positive feelings and get to know a little about Timmy. There are of course the regular FM stations that offer internet radio as a companion to their usual mainstream or non-mainstream flow, but those are more like self-promotional devices and vehicles for interaction and communication with listeners. There are local non-profit, listener under-written stations that offer local music. There are... there are a lot, so I'll just cut to the chase and talk about the ones I really like. AccuRadio.com offers different types of specific themes, from new releases to bluegrass. They offer the abilty to customize playlists and avoid certain bands or songs if you don't like what you hear. Unfortunately, it doesn't work very well in playback and is often overwhelmed and unable to play the songs you're trying to hear. Which means that the jewel of Timmy's brave little crown is Pandora.com, which features the Music Genome Project. Go to the site, simply type in the name of the band you want to hear, and sit back as Pandora tells you the features that you might like about the band or song you are listening to, and then follows it up with other songs selected by their similarity and compatability to the previous song. It's like a mix tape, but you do none of the work. You just sit back and get your learn on. Plus, you get band bios, album art and info, and links to websites. You can't download anything, but you can create your own staion/playlist as you find songs you like. There is a limit to how many songs you can listen to by a certain band, but none as to how many bands you can listen to. It's like those listening stations that are popping up all over Barnes and Nobles and Best Buys, but you can hear entire songs and not have to actually be at Barnes and Noble or Best Buy. And the bands should be stoked because people like me will find them and be desperate for more and next thing you know I'll have their album in my virtual hand at their virtual store, ready to make a deal.

Sounds rad, right? Something worth protecting, right? So think positively, be proactive, and maybe even write your congressperson and ask them to do something about that ridiculous panel of judges that are trying to steal Timmy's kidney. And remember, we're not necessarily anti-anything here. We're just pro-Timmy.