Description 39 - Resignation

A simple brunch gets over-analysed as I review some life changes and how they relate to Podcasters Across Borders - because doesn't everything relate to Podcasters Across Borders? Includes music by Mantler, a wind machine and a rooster in a bag.

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(the flu has left me too weak for snappy link similes)

Associated links:
Future Bakery (reviewed by the King of Kensington's real life widow!)
Podcasters Across Borders (Is that enough mentions, guys?) :-)
Mantler: at tomlab and on myspace
CBC Museum
Why CBC has Mr. Rogers' first trolley.
Foster Hewitt @ Histori.ca
"Sesame Park" @ the Muppet Wiki
Remembering Mr. Dressup
A history of CBC English radio drama
Cart machines!
The Friendly Giant
CBC Broadcast Centre
Castella @ Wikipedia
Poko kicks ass!

Man, I sound so weak in this episode, like I'm just getting over the flu or something.

And okay, it's been more than 10 years since cart machines were the main means of playing stuff on the radio. The first time I dealt with digital spots was in the fall of 1995 in Belleville. The music was still on CD, but in this elaborate computerized digital jukebox thing, which would provide much comedy when it screwed up - even more so when I had already recorded my bits digitally (voicetracking, the first nail in radio's coffin) and would outro the wrong song. Ah, modern radio...almost like being there...

At the beginning of that year, I was working away at CKDR in Dryden, Ontario (holy crap! they have FM now!), and here's how that system went: every week, all the music came from head office in order on eight full-size reel-to-reel tapes - four for day, four with more hip and happenin' stuff for evening (and I was usually the lucky gal who switched them). Each tape had one category of music, and the "clock" (what category got played when) was pretty much pre-programmed - we only stopped it to do our short bits and fire off the commercials, which ran on...wait for it it...NINE CART MACHINES! A three-cart deck for central Dryden, and a deck for each repeater station in Red Lake and Sioux Lookout. And did I mention the live phone-in Shop'n'Swap show I had to do middays? Yes, it was an I Love Lucy episode waiting to happen. And it happened.

Damn. Now that I think about pulling that off, how hard can this new life direction possibly be?

Dubber Takes the High Road

You may have noticed in the last episode and post, I mention Andrew Dubber, one of the people who inspired me to start podcasting and an otherwise funny and clever guy who recently released a free .pdf e-book that anyone who is or cares about a musician should read and share (which he encourages). His ideas in that book originated in his blog New Music Strategies, which is basically about how new media can help people who are passionate about music; whether they make it, listen to it, share it, or sell it.

Recently, Dubber linked to an editorial in Download Squad (and now, so have I) about someone bringing legal action against the RIAA. He blogs about stuff like that, so cool.

Ah, but maybe not. A few days ago, he got an email from a label guy who's a member of the IFPI and BPI (somewhat equivalent organizations in the UK) which went like this:

Looking at your site I do think allowing indiscriminate criticism of the RIAA is inappropriate for a Government funded institution.

This started an email conversation that Dubber reprinted with permission here. You really should check it out. A whole lot of other people did, because it got noted and linked in Boing Boing and other big-shot blogs. So suddenly, my friend became a little bit of star :-) but his host account got suspended for half a day before it got fixed. I like to think it was from too much traffic so fast; others may want to think other things.

For their part, the Download Squad kids responded to all this in a big way, and garnered even more attention. The differences in tone are interesting. DS's Grant Robertson is all-guns-blazing toward the IFPI/BPI dude, which frankly feels good to me, because I don't like when my friends get threatened, and that's how that email exchange ended. Then again, I come from the U.S.A. Of course, it's inspired a ton of go-get-em vitriol that I'm not as quick to spew. Dubber (a New Zealander living in England), meanwhile, is an academic at heart. He's been nothing but classy, and the only bias he's expressed in laying this stuff out is symbolised by how he started talking about the temporary suspension:

...I’m determined to salvage some sort of lesson for independent music business out of all this. That’s what I do.

Yup. That's exactly what he does. And he's nice about people bringing meat-laden pizza into his family's home. So keep an eye on this guy and be kind to him.

Description 38 - Music

It's all about the music, playing some of the greatest hits of the podcast while I hang out at a North By Northeast event and talk about how I got to play those songs - and why shouldn't all podcasters be able to play whatever the hell they want?

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(Update, July 6: Finally figured out how to make my .mp3 44.1kHz and 96kbps, so a new version is now up that won't sound chipmunky in Flash players.)

Associated links:
Moe Berg and TPOH mp3s and CDs on sale at Maplemusic
Incompletely Conspicuous: The Pursuit of Happiness and the Press
Galore: offical site and on myspace
Kevin Hilliard is "The Clapper" (go bug him to get that National Anthem album I mentioned for you)
Memory Bank on myspace (with new music!)
Jennifer Foster: on myspace and CD Baby
The Supers on myspace
Danko Jones
Podsafe Music Network
North By Northeast
C'mon
The Diodes: on myspace and on BongoBeat

Download Andrew Dubber's The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online free as a .pdf
For more info and to give feedback, go to his blog New Music Strategies

Don't worry, the Duty Free episode is coming (in case you were actually worrying about a Duty Free episode).

While I was hanging out at the Indie Market recording, I blew not one, but two chances to snag some sweet music for the podcast. I ran into New Brunswick's own lovely and talented PJ Dunphy, previously known for proto-retro rawk of The Monoxides but now known for the mighty sludge metal of Iron Giant. Some buddies were kind enough to bring him in from Moncton for a week of debauchery, and he was looking around for them. Not long after, I exchanged hellos with the charming Thom D'Arcy of the terribly cool and frequently touring Small Sins (a band for which Kevin is "The Clapper"). Did I ask EITHER of these guys if I could play their stuff on the podcast? OF COURSE NOT! Why? Well, this time, it's not so much a matter of being a pussy as just being a dumb-ass and not thinking of it.

So hey, dudes! How about it? Huh?

(Keep in mind, though, that Thom's stuff is on a label, albeit an indie one, and I think they still get along, so I'm not sure about the chances there.)

I give big props to music podcasts in general for going through stupid crap for doing what they do, so I should mention some. To be honest, I don't listen to a lot of them, but I admire what they do and know what good they do for musicians and listeners. The biggest music podcast in Canada and probably the world is the CBC Radio3 podcast, which is now past 100 episodes and has spawned a couple spinoffs. However, they're the CBC and have lawyers and stuff to help out with the rights business. Still, they make the best of the advantages they have. The brilliant digital music store/label Zunior.com has their own fine podcast, though they have the advantage of being, well, a digital music store/label. The godfather of all music podcasters IMHO is Julien Smith of In Over Your Head, which keeps gliding along as its creator happens to approach social networking guru status. Then there's the less-glamorous but equally-busy Bob Goyetche, who besides doing the Canadian Podcast Buffet and The Bob and AJ Show (soooo, now you think you're gonna make 100 by PAB?), also shows his knack for music that doesn't suck with mostlytunes. Look for more shows fighting the good fight of music podcasting in the music category of the directory CanadaPodcasts.ca - which Bob also has something to do with, but whatever... :-)

One more thing Bob is involved in is trying to get some of the muckety-mucks in charge of publishing and related copyright organizations in Canada to turn up at the upcoming Podcasters Across Borders conference in Kingston. From what I could tell from the Buffet this week, at least one person agreed to come, while another has "scheduling conflicts" (on a Sunday. okay-doke.). It's a noble effort, which I hope is a first step toward getting these guys to understand that indie podcasters mean no harm, but wish to help with a promotional reach that goes far beyond anyone they've ever dealt with. If you look at situations in various countries around the world, there are many, many steps to be taken.

Meanwhile, artists who aren't Danko Jones who I played on this episode: would it KILL you to throw a couple songs up on the PMN?!?