Now it appears that Sing Out!, the venerable folk music mag, is approaching its 60 year anniversary in a very tenuous state. The economic difficulties of print publishing in today’s market have hit them hard, and without the help of the many friends of the magazine, their fate is uncertain.

Co-founder Pete Seeger has written an open letter to the folk music community about Sing Out’s condition, asking for immediate financial help.

“Over the years, Sing Out! has grown, changed formats several times, and added songbooks like Rise Up Singing to its catalog. It’s created a resource center collecting music, books and photos, reaching back through our community of music and its revival. We even do a weekly radio show that you might be hearing on a local radio station.

Today, in these changing and challenging economic times, Sing Out! is struggling to survive. As we head toward our 60th anniversary next year, we need your support more than ever. I ask you to consider making a contribution to help Sing Out! get through this very difficult year AND to ensure another 60 years of sharing songs that we need to learn and sing.”

He also created a video appeal…

Sing Out! has an online donations page set up to accept whatever assistance loyal readers and supporters of the magazine may be willing to offer.

Their explanation of the legislation is that copyrights for sound recordings are soon going to be up for grabs.

If an artist or author sold a copyright before 1978 (Section 304), they or their heirs can take it back 56 years later. If the artist or author sold the copyright during or after 1978 (Section 203), they can terminate that grant after 35 years. Assuming all the proper paperwork gets done in time, record labels could lose sound recording copyrights they bought in 1978 starting in 2013, 1979 in 2014, and so on. For 1953-and-earlier music, grants can already be terminated.

In other words, artists will soon be able to take control of sound recordings produced before 1978. This could mean good things for artists positioned to take advantage of such a change, and it could possibly intensify the financial pressure the major labels are feeling due to declining CD sales.

I don’t see this being a huge issue for the bluegrass industry, though some important, first and second generation bluegrass music could find its copyright changing hands. Sound Recordings from artists such as Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, even New Grass Revival and The Seldom Scene, could be affected. We could potentially see the release, into the digital world, of music which the labels, for one reason or another, have chosen not to reissue.

I’m not a lawyer, and I certainly don’t understand all the ins and outs of the copyright law, but this article at Law.com contains a paragraph that seems to indicate a sticky mess could insue.

As of now, songwriters and performers — as well as producers, engineers and anyone else who helped create a song — can send a notice for songs created between 1978 and 1984.

In the end, who will own the copyright? I don’t know, but if you’re an artist it would be worth your time to speak with an entertainment lawyer concerning this issue, and what your rights may be regarding sound recordings you made in the 70’s and 80’s.

This 3 day program (March 9-11) brings together people from a wide swath of the bluegrass world for a unique, guided, networking and educational experience.

As they describe it officially…

The purpose of the Leadership Bluegrass program is to pull together a cross section of people with exhibited or potential leadership qualities into a network of learning and communication. The results will foster a broad-based understanding of the total needs of the bluegrass community, which will help participants better prepare to determine the goals of the particular organization, company or group in which they choose to serve.

Leadership Bluegrass seeks to explore bluegrass music and its place in the larger world of entertainment through:

• A systematic study of the business of bluegrass, its institutions and organizations, their needs, problems and resources
• Exposure to a wide variety of current music leaders and notable persons
• Encouraging independent thinking, fresh perspectives and approaches. It is not intended to “indoctrinate” or pass on the current leaders’ views and ideas.
• Acquaintance with relevant issues facing bluegrass, their history and future possibilities
• Involvement of all related facets of the music industry which impact bluegrass
• High quality interactive sessions for the participants.

The fee for Leadership Bluegrass is $300 for IBMA members and $370 for non-members. Candidates are selected competitively, so acceptance is not guaranteed.

Find all the pertinent details online.

Each of us spoke briefly about ways we have seen the industry change over the past 5 years, which led to some very interesting questions and comment from the folks in attendance. One remarkable thing about World Of Bluegrass is seeing prominent artists, record company heads, print publishers, major festival producers, entertainment attorneys and PRO reps sitting in the gallery taking it all in – and giving some back as well.

I sensed a major change in the pulse of the group from when a similar discussion was hosted two years ago. At that time, the notion of free distribution of recorded music raised the hackles of most of the artists and songwriters, whereas now they are eagerly seeking other ways to monetize their music. It is a very unsettling time in the music business, with long-established models falling left and right, and I’m encouraged to see our little piece of the industry actively embracing and researching new methods and modalities.

The audio from this seminar will be made available, as will all held during this week, shortly after the World Of Bluegrass concludes. Information will be found on the IBMA web site.

Ted Lehmann was also in the audience, and he has a number of photos on his site.

After the session concluded, I had a chance to speak with Alan Munde about the discussion. Alan was also in attendance, and suggested that he had the perfect solution for monetizing free content.

“What I would do is have a form they had to fill out before anyone can download free music online. I would have them put their address, when they are least likely to be home, and where they hide their spare key.

Then I can burgle their homes.”

Better head back to the chalkboard, Professor Munde.

After June 12, IBMA members can register to attend for $25.

The Summer NAMM show runs from July 17-19 at the Nashville Convention Center, the same site as the annual IBMA World of Bluegrass event in the Fall. It is hosted primarily for the sake of music retailers with manufacturers of all sorts of music gear and services exhibiting their wares.

NAMM also hosts a myriad of educational seminars over the weekend, and the whole event offers the same sort of networking opportunities in the wider musical instrument, sound reinforcement and recording worlds that IBMA conference does in the bluegrass community.

To register through IBMA, contact Jill Crabtree by email or phone (888-438-4262). The space alloted to IBMA members is limited, so get your registration in soon if you would like to attend.

Several prototypes of the magazine were made available at the 2008 Jerusalem Ridge Festival and they were picked up very quickly as souvenirs. However, interest did not translate into an adequate number of subscribers and Malec’s proposals had to be reviewed.

An open letter of explanation has been posted on the ‚Äòmagazine’s’ website, and those have sent money for a subscription are invited to submit a claim for a refund.

“It is with great sadness, regret and humility that I write this message to those of you who, in good faith, subscribed to the Jerusalem Ridge Magazine, and have been looking forward to, and have patiently waited for news about it’s publication. Unfortunately, I must definitively inform all of you that JRM will not be published.

The concept for JRM grew out of my 7+ years involvement with Campbell Mercer, and his tireless efforts on behalf of the fledgling ‘Monroe Brothers Bluegrass Foundation’ and the Jerusalem Ridge Celebration. It was my vision that a publication that was dedicated solely to the traditional bluegrass music movement and it’s devotion to preserving the legacy of Bill Monroe and the music he gave us was not only necessary, but would finally give a voice to those who have worked so hard to keep Bill’s dreams. vision and legacy alive and growing for generations to come. I did then, and still do, believe in and support all that Campbell and his loyal friends and followers have accomplished to date, in spite of the many obstacles that have challenged their resolve.”

Read Ron’s full letter online.

Interestingly, so many inquiries about the proposed publication have been directed towards The Jerusalem Ridge Festival organizers that a message about Jerusalem Ridge Magazine appears on their website as well.

Bruce Warila, at the Music Think Tank blog, offered his ideas in a recent blog post.

Noting that the songwriter’s royalty stream is drying up thanks to file sharing, the consumer cost of music decreasing, etc., Warila presents an idea that may have some merit, though I think are still a few kinks to work out.

What seems to make sense would be to enable songwriters to sell future options where bidders purchase (today) the right to pay a set price (determined by the songwriter) in the future. Songwriters would auction these future payment rights along with all the rights and income streams legally attached to the song. Buyers would be obligated to make future payments (prices predetermined by the songowner and most likely escalating) at set intervals. Buyers would lose all rights, including the right to perform (if I had it my way), if a payment was missed. It even seems like this could be done on either an exclusive or non-exclusive basis.

If a song is a dry wellhole, the purchaser simply ceases to make payments. If a song is a gusher, the purchaser happily makes every payment on time.

If you read his entire post, he seems to be eyeing the artist’s income from merchandise sales as a possible source of revenue. The problem I see is that even if a song isn’t a “gusher” the artist won’t want to loose the right to perform a song they’ve previously recorded. I do understand his thinking that songs are an important building block in an artist’s career.

His solution would rescue the artist from needing to make a large payment on the front end, and only compensate the songwriter largely, if the song was successful. How do you tie a song’s success to t-shirt sales though? Perhaps their is another way?

If you are in the business of writing songs, it might be worth your time to at least read the article and think about your options.

One of this year’s attendees was kind enough to write us with a copy of a paper he wrote summarizing his experience at Leadership Bluegrass.

Danny Clark attended the event, wrote this paper, and received 3 credit hours toward his Recording Industry Major at MTSU. The specific course he applied these credits toward is entitled Individual Problems in the Recording Industry.

Danny also wished to express his thanks to Stephanie Taylor, assistant professor of music business at MTSU, for her help in gaining university credit for his Leadership Bluegrass experience.

Here’s Danny’s report.

In March of 2009 I participated in an intensive informative program put on through the International Bluegrass Music Association. For three full days I was actively involved in Leadership Bluegrass. The goal of Leadership Bluegrass is to bring together musical insiders and to create a musical think tank.

There were many themes discussed in Leadership Bluegrass, topics ranged from using cloud computing to further my online marketing potential, to the advantages and disadvantages of having my own publicity and marketing team. The three day course was broken down into hour increments of concentrated information. Every hour a new guest speaker talked about their daily job routine and how I can use their insightful concepts to increase my job potential. Guest speakers included Grand Ole Opry General Manager Pete Fisher, Bobby Cudd who has worked for Marty Stuart and Ricky Skaggs, Dan Keen of ASCAP, professional musician Del McCoury, and many other remarkable presenters.

Leadership Bluegrass was a useful resource that will help further my livelihood in Bluegrass music. The intensive three day program kept me informed and updated on current trends in Bluegrass and Country music. I have gained an immeasurable amount of musical knowledge thanks in part to IBMA’s Leadership Bluegrass. I feel more prepared to tackle the everyday problems that surround a young industrialist musician.

Wikio is a blog and news aggregator, and a search engine for blogs developed in France in 2006. It is available online in French, Italian, Spanish, German and English.

Their rankings are automated, dynamic lists generated based on links to individual blogs within news articles and RSS feeds.

Thanks to all our readers – and those other blogs and news services who link to us – for helping us make the top 100!

Bruce Warila at the Music Think Tank blog recently posted about 360 deals. He explains what they are, why they are being done, and how to do one.

Basically, a 360 deal is an arrangement whereby a new corporation is set up which is jointly owned by the band, along with any other participants including, label, manager, investors, etc. The deal is structured so that “‚Äòmutual alignment of interests” is created. This means that everyone benefits from the band being successful. If something is good for anyone, it’s good for everyone. This prevents different parties from seeking their own advantage to the detriment of other parties involved in the band’s business.

If you have any interest, you should check out his post, which is complete with a zip file download containing all the legal documents you’ll need to get you started thinking about, or even setting up, your own 360 deal.

Here’s why,

If you are going to take on investors, if you are going to compensate employees with equity (stock in your entity), if you are going to compensate management with equity, if you want to treat everyone fairly, and if you want to align everyone’s incentives‚ĶI believe this (the concept) is the way to go.

Using these tools takes time. Time to learn the tool, and time to use it effectively. How do you manage your time? How do you decide which networks to use and which to ignore?

The PBS MediaShift blog has a few tips. Actually, they have five.

1. Add functionality that will connect to your fans.
2. Technology is not a “one size fits all” solution.
3. Do not underestimate time commitments.
4. Create a plan for implementation and awareness.
5. Use all available web properties.

Each of these five tips is briefly explained in this introductory post by their new music correspondent, Jason Feinberg. Presumably his continued blogging will address these issues, and more, in the future.

In his brief explanation of item one, Feinberg says this.

If the product being implemented does not encourage repeat use and add something to a fan’s experience, it is effectively useless. A great technology used once is barely better than nothing at all.

This sounds very similar to a piece of advice Tim Stafford shares with bluegrass guitar players. Concerning the use of different licks and techniques Stafford says,

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Play to the song.

Apply Stafford’s advice to your online efforts. Just because you can use all these different tools, doesn’t mean you should. Use the ones that will actually enhance the experience you are selling your fans. And remember, that’s what you’re selling, an experience, hopefully a pleasant one that entertains.

The show originates from Marion, VA at the exquisitely restored Lincoln Theatre, an Art Deco masterpiece built in 1929, designed to resemble a Mayan temple. It was reopened in 2004 and is listed as a Virginia Historic Landmark and is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

On the first Saturday of each month, a concert is held at the Lincoln, most of which are taped for later broadcast. Four bands appear at each taping, allowing the producers to create 24 episodes each year for distribution to public television.

The first show was taped in July of 2005, and in 2006, its reach grew from a single station (WBRA – Blue Ridge Public television in Roanoke, VA) to 30 stations. Their affiliates are unsurprisingly clustered in the southeastern US, but the show is also quite popular in the Los Angeles and San Francisco markets, and on numerous stations in both the midwest and northwestern states.

The first three seasons have seen some of bluegrass music’s brightest starts and living legends take the Lincoln stage. Rhonda Vincent, Larry Sparks, The Kruger Brothers, Lonesome River Band, Roni Stoneman, Curley Seckler, Steep Canyon Rangers and David Parmley are just a few of the acts who have been featured.

The 2009 season is set to begin in May, and Tim was excited about this year’s lineup. New shows on tap will have live sets from Lost & Found, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Larry Cordle, Beth Stevens, Tom T. Hall, NewFound Road, Donna Ulisse, Mike Seeger, Gold Heart, Cherryholmes and Dale Ann Bradley and several others.

Song Of The Mountains is offered royalty free to member stations and subscribers of the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). The presenting affiliate is WCVE in Richmond, VA.

The success of the TV show has led to the launch of an annual, three day Song Of The Mountains bluegrass festival, held at the Davis Valley Winery in Rural Retreat, VA in late June.

More details about the show can be found at songofthemountains.org.

The author isn’t sad to see the CD go the way of the DoDo, but he expresses a love for the vinyl record album that is sure to be unrequited in the main.

I did learn some things from the article. I had previously been unaware of this bit of the CD’s bio.

…in Europe [where the CD was developed], the CD was seen as ideal for presenting long classical music performances. 74 minutes was chosen for the first CD’s length because that was the performance time of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Bayreuth Festival.

Always interesting to see why things are as they are.

Here’s the full obit piece, the article is longer and more informative, less humor. I’m not quite ready to proclaim the CD as dead, but I’m willing to recognize that it is dying and there is nothing we can, or should even try to do, to nurse it back to health. Regardless of whether you welcome this development or bemoan it, the story is definitely worth a read.

Friends and family announced the death of Compact Disc — familiarly known as “CD” — this week. Its remains were said to be scattered over a few dozen remaining retail stores that continued to stock CDs. It is survived by millions of MP3s and thousands of vinyl LP records, which were themselves long thought to be missing and presumed dead.

Compact Disc was born in 1982 in Germany, after some years of gestation in the Netherlands. It first appeared in retail form in the form of Billy Joel’s 52nd Street on Oct. 1, 1982.

CD led a long, expensive and uproarious, if sometimes quarrelsome, life. It was never happier than when accidentally dropped on a hardwood or tile floor. It was then eager to make a disheartening noise upon striking the floor and springing open, scattering all its many pieces across the floor.

The cause of death of Compact Disc was said to be irrelevance. Symptoms of that lingering malady had become more noticeable of late. No memorial services are planned at this time.

This legislation (H.R.848) seeks to require broadcast radio (terrestrial transmitter-based) to pay royalties to artists and performers each time a song is played. These royalties are currently paid to copyright holders (songwriters) by statute, and this proposed legislation would extend payments to include the named artist and studio musicians as well.

Proponents point out that these performance royalties are currently paid for satellite and internet radio, and that many other nations require them to be paid for broadcast radio as well. The Recording Industry Artist Association (RIAA) and record labels see it as a possible revenue stream to help offset declining income from CD sales, as do session players and artists.

Radio industry organizations argue that this doubling of payments would be an undue burden on their operating expenses, and that the airplay serves as important free publicity for the artists and labels.

Though bluegrass and traditional music formats are not likely to be discussed in the hearing, the legislation is being followed closely by industry folks in our community, with the same battle lines as described above.

The hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) and can be seen via online streaming video.

Witnesses expected to testify include:

• Billy Corgan – Vocalist and Lead Guitarist, The Smashing Pumpkins
• Mitch Bainwol – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Recording Industry Artist Association
• Paul Almeida – President, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO
• W. Lawrence Patrick – President, Patrick Communications
• Stan Liebowitz, Ph.D. – Ashbel Smith Distinguished Professor of Managerial Economics, University of Texas at Dallas
• Steve Newberry – Chairman of the Radio Board, National Association of Broadcasters

Casa Nueva is located in Watertown, MA, and headed by Brad San Martin, former product manager for bluegrass releases at Rounder. Brad worked as Director of Publicity at Compass Records before his time at Rounder, and has freelanced as a music writer since his graduation from the Berklee College of Music in 1999.

Their first project will be from King Wilkie, The Wilkie Family Singers, which is scheduled for release on April 28.

We chatted recently with Brad about his new venture, and the upcoming King Wilkie CD.

“I had been toying with the idea of starting a label for a year or so, but when King Wilkie approached me about collaborating on this release, that kick-started the effort.

This may be a terrible time to start a business, but, frankly, this record is too good — too heartfelt, innovative, and moving — to just languish. So I’m putting my money where my mouth is and trying to get this to the world.”

Brad tells us that Casanueva was his maternal grandfather’s last name, and that he chose it to identify his new company feeling that the words themselves implied the sense of renewel and reawakening appropriate for this new direction in his life. The Wilkie Family Singers – about which we will have more later this week – is the only project he is currently working. He says that others will be forthcoming, and that this first album encapsulizes what Casa Nueva is likely to become.

“King Wilkie’s Reid Burgess and I are in the same boat in a lot of ways. We’re both relatively young and very much in love with bluegrass, and yet we’re also inspired by a lot of other styles, sounds, and ideas. That makes this album the perfect first release for Casa Nueva — it has hard-won roots in classic American string band music, but also looks out over new vistas.

I’m a huge music fan, and I listen to pretty much every style out there with varying degrees of interest. So I’m not limiting Casa Nueva to any one genre. I will say that I’m inclined to not pursue much straight-up traditional bluegrass. It’s a kind of music that’s very important to me and that I love quite a lot, but I feel there are other labels that are better positioned for success in that field.

But who knows — there may be one act that has fallen through the cracks that I just can’t resist.”

President Clyde Scott has this message posted on the site’s front page:

It is with deep regret that I must announce Bluegrass Radio and BluegrassRadio.org will discontinue its streaming service effective April 1st 2009. Effective immediately, we will no longer accept donations of support and will close the web store. Thanks to you for our success over the past five years.

We contacted Scott yesterday afternoon, and he shared a few more thoughts about his decision to close up shop.

“With some of the decisions being made in our Capitol, I see a better investment in my grand children than this station. They will need all the help they can get in the future.

Bluegrass Radio has been by far the most successful bluegrass music stream in the history of internet radio. For that we are grateful. The friends I have made over the last five years will last a lifetime for me.

The financial support has always been there for us so it is not a financial decision. I’m just tired of the fight.”

A great many folks will be sorry to see Clyde and Bluegrass Radio disappear.

Following the launch on October 1, 2008, of NoDepression.com, now finds that it has to make a further tough decision regarding the format of its publication.

Publisher, Kyla Fairchild, said in a statement yesterday:

"While traffic to the website has been great and the response positive, we have determined that it is impossible to bring in enough revenue to support our basic business expenses, the largest chunk of that being the editorial budget. We have soldiered on for as long as we can, but are left with no choice but to discontinue the editorial budget at the present time."

While the decision is tinged with sadness, No Depression will not vanish completely.

The statement continues …………………….

"At this point the best option that we can envision is to create a No Depression community website where we will pass the torch to our readers. While our writers will continue to bring their unique expertise to the community site via regular blogging and forum discussions, we hope that No Depression may continue on as a meeting place where fans of roots music connect and share information with each other, our writers, and the artists behind the music they love."

Readers are invited to submit blogs, photos and videos via the "Connect" tab that has been added to the NoDepression.com website. Any posting will have an opportunity of being featured on the main community page, which will be updated often. The website will continue to be updated on a daily basis with a record or live review and links to the best content on the community site.

The full statement is available online.

Everyone who becomes a member of the No Depression community by next Friday, March 6, will be entered in a drawing, and two lucky winners will each receive a copy of the first No Depression bookazine signed by Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck, an ND T-shirt of your choice, 10 ND back issues, two ND compilation CDs, and the Best Of No Depression anthology.

The organization – and the June event – are focused on intellectual property rights for works of art regardless of genre, including music, drama, written word, multimedia and the visual arts.

This event debuted in Brussels in 2007 and an even larger contingent of international attendees are expected in ‘09. According to the Summit’s web site, registrants will include:

• Creators and artists: authors, composers, film directors, screenwriters, photographers, visual artists, painters, writers‚Ķ
• Creative content industry: music, audiovisual, book publishing, visual arts
• Delivery and access industry: broadcasters, ISPs, content service providers, telecom operators, cable and satellite operators, media platforms‚Ķ
• IT, consumer goods and equipment industry: technology providers, consumer electronics, video games producers, software developers‚Ķ
• Intellectual Property and copyright lawyers and law firms
• Policy and legal decision makers in Europe and North America
• Copyright societies worldwide
• Trade press and globally influential media

More details about the 2009 World Copyright Summit can be found online.

CD Baby reports that their CD sales for 2008 increased by 2% over 2007 numbers. Their digital revenue rose by 45% during the same period. 2% doesn’t sound like much, but compared to the 14% drop in the broader music industry, a 2% increase sounds real good.

All of this added up to a 28% increase in the amount CD Baby paid out to artists in 2008.

In total, CD Baby paid out over $34 million to artists in 2008 alone, up 28% from the prior year. That averages out to $228 for every artist with an active album for sale. (Yes, I know, not everyone got paid that much, it’s just an average, but you gotta like that number.) Who’s selling volume? Close to 4,000 clients got paid more than $1,000, and approximately 200 artists got paid more than $10,000.

An average is just that. Some artists made much more than $228, which means many many artists made less than that. Still, let’s not sneeze at an increase in music sales.

$2.4 million of CD Baby’s revenue was taken in through the CC swipers they now offer to bands for use at live shows. Some of that revenue, no doubt, was from the sale of non-musical merchandise.

For the average artist, CD Baby is not going to be the answer to declining revenues…but it could be part of the answer.

The decline in CD sales seems to be around 20% annually. Digital download sales have taken off in a big way, Soundscan reported more than one billion a-la-carte downloads for 2008. These numbers just aren’t making up for the decline in physical product sales though.

Digital Music News reported yesterday that Album Sales (both physical and digital combined) has dropped a staggering 54.5% since 2000.

Just how bad is the recording industry decline? Since peak year 2000, US-based album sales have dropped an unbelievable 514.6 million units, or 54.6 percent. In 2000, the climax of a dreamlike 90s, album sales surpassed 943 million units, according to figures published by Nielsen Soundscan…

…Overall, album sales in 2008 (both digital and physical) landed at 428.4 million, also according to Nielsen.

While some blame can be laid at the feet of illegal downloading, I think a bigger factor is the unbundling of music. Why buy the entire album if there are only 4 songs you really want?

I don’t think the effect has been as pronounced on our little corner of the industry, but the decline has hit bluegrass.

My suggestions for now? I offer only two…

1. Make sure every song is one your fans will want to own.
2. Free your mind from slavish dedication to the “album” (or CD) format.