I grew up in (Northern) New Jersey. Went to college at James Madison University where I studied Media Arts and Music Industry. From 2000-2003 I played with the band My Blue Pill and also ran a college site called Stiggy-Dot-Net. I’ve also spent some time living in New York City and Osaka, Japan.
I created musicNeutral because I’d like to encourage action and dialog toward improving the state of the music industry.
The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, became so outraged when he discovered that iTunes was effectively pirating his music, that he uploaded copies of his latest album to BitTorrent. TorrentFreak caught up with Benn to learn more about the decision to stop distributors and ‘coked-up label reps’ from getting all the cash.read more | digg story
No commentsIt’s pledge season for NPR once again. Chris Anderson’s shares his thoughts on funding specific NPR shows - rather than the entire station - and how this trend may be stirring in other areas of our media. Read This Story
No commentsCD sales are down, major label revenues are sliding, and the music industry looks to be in recession. But music isn’t dying; it’s changing.read more | digg story
No commentsAs of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website. Additionally, Last.fm will start paying artists directly for the music they stream!
No commentsApparently the RIAA is so busy suing consumers that they forgot to hire a decent programmer. With a simple SQL injection, all their propaganda has been successfully wiped from the site.
No commentsThe RIAA has quickly become one of the most disliked organizations in the world. And now, they’ll be liked even less.
read more | digg story
An attempt to push through significant levies on digital music players (up to CAN$75 per device) has been quashed by Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal. Innovators and consumers rejoice.
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It is becoming more and more difficult for the music industry to ignore the basic economics of the their industry. All the big labels have now given up on DRM. They haven’t yet given up on trying to charge for their music, however.
read more | digg story
EMI is unhappy with its contributions to music trade groups. Now, the IFPI confirms to Ars that the organization is taking a hard look at its own budget and mission, with a special eye to its relationship with national groups like the RIAA. The RIAA as we know it might even cease to exist.
read more | digg story
In a twist for the music industry’s digital revolution, “In Rainbows,” the new Radiohead album that attracted wide attention when it was made available three months ago as a digital download for whatever price fans chose to pay, ranked as the top-selling album in the country this week after the CD version hit record shops and other retailers.
read more | digg story
