Editorial November 2009
Greetings from the MBJ! It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to our November 2009 issue.
Just in time for the release the newly-revised 7th edition of his “All you Need to Know About the Music Business,” Donald Passman has been kind enough to give MBJ contributor Michael King his thoughts on many current issues facing the music industry today. Passman is one of America’s top music attorneys, and we are proud to be able to include his insights in this issue.
Elsewhere, Ricardo Gomez uncovers the fruits of fan-funded projects. Large recording advances take a back seat to the contributions of music fans that feel compelled to bypass the middleman and support their favorite artists directly. At the other end, we have a piece by Morgan Nusbaum on industry moguls. Nusbaum makes four of those moguls accountable for their actions—from commendable to most inappropriate! Also, Amy Mantis gives us an insider’s look at the new Google Music Search engine, while Silvina Moreno examines the breakdown of civil society and the emergence of the protest song in Latin America, while drawing too from examples in other regions.
Meanwhile in America, online hit-o-meters, though not quite the rage, are attracting investment, as Jamie Anderson suggests. Brian Orlando and me explore the right of a public performance when cell phones are involved, and Kerry Fee imagines the creative use of texting in concert. Katy Eggleton tells us about the integration of Lala software into the iPhone. Finally, Professor Peter Alhadeff uses a single iTunes statistic to epitomize the calamities of the recorded music business.
We thank you for reading and hope you enjoy this issue. Please remember to check out our newly revamped website at thembj.org, where you can read this and many of our past issues, while listening to our newest podcast.
Sincerely,
Michael Benson
