Hard News by Russell Brown

Chris Keall of NBR has a story on Pandora's exit from the New Zealand marker which expands into a survey of the developing carnage in the streaming music business.

Hope hope hope there’s some sort of release of more Direen material from the tour. The chch show was special – I’m sure they all were. Each combo had its own flavour (and there were at least 3 sets of musicians.) Just the extended version of ‘dirty and disgusting’ was a joy.

Hope hope hope there’s some sort of release of more Direen material from the tour.

Me too! The clip with Stephen Cogle from the Christchurch show is great and I thought the two-drummer lineup was great in Auckland.

That lineup’s playing at Golden Dawn the same week as the festival screening. Even if I didn’t love the music I think I’d go along just see how they fit two drummers on that tiny stage.

Gotta say my impression of "Sheen of Gold" was that it wasn't a normal music doco at all. Mostly because it was about, y'know, music. No soap opera, no sin/redemption bullshit, no manufactured happy reunion gig ending. Just the musical progression of some misfits from Palmy who slowly became a phenomenally powerful rock and roll band. And then fate intervened.

Very much looking forward to the Bill Direen film. Someone had to document him. Every Direen gig I've ever been to starts off with me thinking "Oh God this is a shambles" and ends with me wanting to give him an OBE. God bless him.

Every Direen gig I’ve ever been to starts off with me thinking “Oh God this is a shambles” and ends with me wanting to give him an OBE.

Ken, that is gold.

A badly recorded moment from up the back:

Up against the wall…
Speaking of Chchch phenomena, I’ll be fascinated to watch Jim Wilson channelled through some unsuspecting thespian in Sunday’s Dance Exponents movie on TV One – biopic immortality beckons.

I have been ephemerally clothed by Mr Wilson for decades now, from Army surplus to exotic bookstore caps, just recently I won one of Phantom’s nifty dark hoodies in an on-line competition, so by way of effusive thanks (and as per the T&C) I supplied the above picture of me wearing it, in situ…
Pre-pension Freaky Friday chic?

So, what is a decent streaming service that isn't Spotify or Apple? (If the latter pays decently, great, but I'm not putting their awful software on any computer of mine.)

On a broader note, I'd love it if there were some class action lawsuit on the secrecy around payment rates to artists. The "commercially sensitive blah blah" rationale seems to be antithetical to the basic principle of a contract being fair to both parties. Mind you, that one seems to have been eroding quietly for years.

It's not where you find the top 40 - or even top 4000, necessarily (in fact not really a streaming service :)) but bandcamp offers steaming of anything you buy, as well as everything else good they do.

So, what is a decent streaming service that isn't Spotify or Apple?

I know people who swear by Tidal, which offers lossless streaming (for twice the price of the normal service).

I came across this rather extensive look at the music business recently, and thought it did a good job of putting things (as in less money, more music) a touch more in context, possibly dispelling some misconceptions along the way.

https://redef.com/original/less-money-mo-music-lots-of-problems-the-past-present-and-future-of-the-music-biz?curator=MediaREDEF

Its long, but the essence is that the financial decline of the music industry began long before the emergence of streaming models, which have themselves pushed down unit costs due to greater competition. There is a good discussion of how the Spotify royalty model works, and some added context around their push for paying customers. It’s also pointed out that commercial radio is still more prevalent than streaming services (for now) and artists receive no compensation from radio play (that goes to writers and publishers).

There is a good discussion of how the Spotify royalty model works, and some added context around their push for paying customers. It’s also pointed out that commercial radio is still more prevalent than streaming services (for now) and artists receive no compensation from radio play (that goes to writers and publishers).

In the US, that's basically true. Indeed, the notable thing about Spotify's model is the way it reverses the balance from radio. Radio rights revenue is overwhelmingly in favour of the composer – and Spotify is strongly in favour of the master recording owner (usually, but not always, the record company).

In New Zealand, rights attach to the copyright in both the composition and the sound recording. Recorded Music NZ also shares some of the revenue from sound recordings with performers on the recordings, even though there's no statutory requirement to do so.

Here's a map of of the two sets of rights.

Thanks for that Russell - I wasn't familiar with the different approach within NZ. Thats a nifty map too.

some Progressive Studio ads, by Chris Knox, from Rip It Up…