Square Room Records – Latest News on Music and Record Industry

For residents of the country of Singapore who enjoy listening to radio stations over their computers, March 25th will be remembered as the day the music died.  The efforts to work out new licensing fees with the Recording Industry Performance Singapore (also known as Rips) were sadly unsuccessful.

For those who follow the world of online music and Internet radio, you’re probably aware that licensing fees have been a major sticking point for the growth of online radio stations.  Like the rest of the burgeoning world of "new media," there isn’t really a standardized way to monetize the Internet in terms of broadcasting music.  When charged the same fees as AM and FM radio stations pay, many of these small websites quickly fold.  After all, it is a different medium and the concept of "times played" is completely different than it is when we’re talking about songs broadcast over the airwaves.  Listeners are generally looking for free Internet radio and often aren’t willing to pay to hear their music any more than they would pay to tune into the radio when driving in their car.

Previously, radio stations in Singapore weren’t required to pay the record companies when a song was played via the Internet for an online broadcast.  However, Rips wanted to charge an annual licensing fee for all stations that were streaming music over the radio.  This led to the stations in Singapore closing the Internet portion of their services.  Hopefully, a fee structure can be worked out so that once again, the world of radio can continue its natural transition to the Internet.

If you’re just starting to discover the world of online radio, you might be at a bit of a loss as to how to tune in to the wide range of stations available for listening.  Most of us are accustomed to turning the dial and scanning through stations on our analog radios.  In reality, listening to news, sports, talk, and free music on our computers isn’t really any more difficult.  All you need to do is make sure that you have the right setup on hand and then it should be smooth listening from there!

-In order to access the wide variety of free music online, you should have a fairly recent computer.  It doesn’t have to be state-of-the-art, but if it is older than four or five years, you might have some difficulty.

-An Internet connection is also essential.  If you have a dial-up connection, you might find that you have trouble getting your streaming media to play.  A broadband connection is much better for applications that use such high bandwidth.

-Obviously, you’ll have a bit of trouble hearing what the radio is playing if you don’t have any sound coming out of your computer.  Make sure that you have a sound card that works properly and that you have either speakers or headphones plugged in.

-Make sure that you have the right media player installed, if necessary.  Some radio streams are embedded in the webpage, while others require you to have software such as Windows Media Player or RealPlayer installed.

If you are a collector of rare and authentic rock & roll memorabilia, then you will love the collection of items at American Royal Arts.com. From autographed music memorabilia to autographed guitars to hand-signed vintage posters, the company offers a wide variety of items associated with rock and roll’s most influential bands, musicians, and entertainers.

For the true Elvis fan, American Royal Arts features some of the most unique Elvis memorabilia around, including authentic movie posters, Joe Petruccio paintings, still photographs, and rare framed albums. Joe Petruccio is a contemporary artist well known for his portraits of rock icons and sports heroes. Several of his Elvis Presley paintings are featured on the website, including his signature Rock Angel Elvis portrait and his Elvis painting on sheet music.

American Royal Arts also carries a wide variety of hand-signed memorabilia from the Beatles, including autographed vintage posters, albums, photographs, and limited edition art pieces. The collection also features several pieces solely related to John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The Paul McCartney collection currently features a black electric guitar signed by Paul McCartney himself.

In addition to offering entertainment-related art and hand-signed memorabilia, American Royal Arts is known for only selling authentic works of art. Each item is either authenticated by an independent third party or certified by a court-qualified forensic examiner. This is especially important when it comes to Elvis and Beatles memorabilia. As collectors know all too well, the Internet is cluttered with fake replicas that are being sold as authentic pieces. If you are ready to invest in authentic rock and roll memorabilia that you won’t find anywhere else, make sure you visit American Royal Art.com.

The Kora All Africa Music Awards could be good for local music - if we knew how to exploit them, writes Thebe Mabanga Next weekend’s Kora All Africa Music Awards - the sixth of their kind - will, one hopes, be better received than last year. It was an event fraught with logistical problems, gripes from artists and cultural clashes.

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With the initial clamour over whether the urban grooves genres was the right thing for the Zimbabwean music industry almost dying down, it’s time for the individual artists who play urban grooves music to take a look at themselves.

Initially looked upon as music copied from the western countries especially the United States of America, the local version of urban grooves music has grown such that one can list down more than 20 names of brilliant urban grooves artists.

And if Zimbabweans are honest, there has been some good music from urban grooves pot.

One need only think of Betty Makaya, Tererai, Jamal, Rocqui, Xtra Large, Decibel, Njikizana, 2BG, Mafriq and many others.

Of course, it’s true that most of these still use backtracks but with time most music lovers have come to accept them and appreciate the lyrics that have since changed from being mere rhyme to meaningful and infectious ones.

Their music is no longer a requirement for filling the void left by the removal of foreign music from the airwaves when the 75 percent local content policy was put in place.

Of course, there are some artists who are still seeking controversy for their names to be in the media but the majority are now working hard and when their names come out in the papers, it’s for the right reasons.

But be that as it may, a number of urban grooves artists need discipline. It’s true that fame can make people behave weirdly but when one is in music one is actually on a job and an form of lack of discipline does not augur well for any workplace.

Drunkenness is one of the most forms of indiscipline that plagues urban grooves artists today. There have been reports of urban groove artists who fail to perform after getting sloshed while on duty.

Next on the list are reports of public violence either between the urban grooves artists themselves or against members of the public.
Then comes casual sex at a time when the youth should be careful since they are the future.

And lastly, I don’t understand why most of these urban grooves artists crowd on street corners. It seems this is where all their misdemeanours emanate from. While some of the above forms of indiscipline are not only common with urban grooves artists, it must be pointed out that if urban grooves artists want their music to be accepted there is need for discipline.

The belief that controversy sells like what is done in the United States or South Africa does not apply here in Zimbabwe.

The music consumer in Zimbabwe is very selective and does not waste time in embarking on a silent boycott of musical products.

Others would talk about engaging managers but I think that as individuals, each artist must be responsible and be able to manage their fame. It’s difficult sometimes but it can be done.

By disciplining themselves, urban grooves artists would do themselves a great deal of favour because they would prove wrong those who view their genre as nothing but music for the misfits.

UMI, the international division of UMG, has filed a complaint with the Competition Authority of the European Commission (EC) concerning mechanical reproduction rights in Europe.

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Across south east Asia, traditional relationships between record companies and music retailers are being transformed, creating new challenges and opportunities for everyone involved.

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The contractual and working relationships between artists and record companies are currently undergoing a high-profile scrutiny as lawsuits over contractual disputes continue to eat up time and money in the music business.

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