Musicians Get More Money From Online Radio; Mr P Buys New BMW And Eats Baby Tiger To Celebrate

By Chris Gliddon on Mar 9 2007

Now here's something you don't hear of everyday -- artists receiving an actual increase in royalty revenues. The Copyright Royalty Board announced it will be increasing royalties paid to musicians and labels for material played by internet broadcasters via online radio stations. Currently, the royalty for a song play is 0.08 of a cent per play (yep, we're talking about heaps of money earned). The increase could potentially see this rate double in less than three years.

Perhaps this is good news for the artists, but this could be an outlandish tax to impose on internet radio stations, particularly those whose revenue is not based on advertising, such as various NPR stations or independents such as SomaFM or Radio Paradise. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, KCRW GM Ruth Seymour claimed that this could end up putting their station in a position where they would owe more than $350,000 for this year and last year's royalties.

Now, couldn't we just make everything fair for everybody and take all of the moneys raised by the various RIAA lawsuits and aid the stations to play the music, the artists to cut the records, and maybe even give some money to children who will die in Africa from preventable diseases? Wait, nevermind; I must have been drinking. I need a new BMW; let's just leave it the way it is and let those pesky little internet radio stations die, let the artists stay nice and skinny because they don't have money to buy food, and go out on the town for a nice evening of dinner and dancing.

Bubbly, anyone?

Yo La Tengo Tour, Casiotone Don’t, But… Well, They Do, But… Listen, We’re Talking About Yo La Tengo Right Now, Okay? Okay.

By Nunpuncher on Mar 9 2007

Right, you hear that thing a while back? About Owen Ashworth -- Casiotone For The Painfully Alone dude -- and how his flat burned down? And how he was okay, and so was his girlfriend, and his cat went missing for a few days, but it's back, so that's all fine, and a few bits of equipment got busted up, but for God's sake he probably picks up his keyboards at the Early Learning Center for a buck apiece?

Yeah, that whole thing pissed me off.

I mean, girlfriend? What the fuck? Doesn't that kinda go against the whole "Painfully Alone" shtick? If I was going to pin myself with a name like that, I'd make sure that I was pretty, y'know, alone. Do you think I picked Nunpuncher in a moment of idle fancy? No. I make sure that every single day, I hunt down a nun, and with a heavy heart, punch her, hard, in the face. It ain't pretty, but you've got to suffer for your art, you know? Or, at least, nuns do. Pretty much the same thing.

Seriously. Owen. Dude. We hung out one time. I bought your T-shirt. I thought we were bros. Dawgs. Tight. I told you stuff, you told me stuff. There can't be this kind of deception, y'know? I just? I just don't know what to think anymore.

Also, I just noticed Judy already covered the Casiotone tour (TMT News), like, a month ago. Er, fuck. No, it's cool, I think I've got it. I can turn this around.

So, uh, hey! How about that Yo La Tengo tour? I mean, no one knows what that name even means! Probably not even foreign people with all their words that we don't know! They've got to be pretty safe.

Ah, forget it:

Somewhere Between Repellent, Hilarious and Just Plain Ridiculously Stupid: Cock E.S.P on Tour

By Mr P on Mar 8 2007

"Somebody like Merzbow, or even Cock E.S.P. (I realize it's an exercise in absurdity) are at the point where they should simply be a concept, or a theory. To turn it into a business is a joke." - Assume Power Focus (Hydra interview)

"These longtime Minneapolis noise merchants dress up in ridiculous costumes, make sounds that will automatically loosen your stool and throw household appliances at each other." - Go-Go Magazine (Denver)

"I have never bothered to follow this band, and this hasn't convinced me that I missed out on anything." - Worm Gear

"Semen-encrusted fun for the whole family." - Torso

"My chair never knew what hit it." - Autoreverse

"A bunch of crap and a waste of time." - Quacky & Pigley's Big Huge Club

"Is this guerrilla performance art? Am I on a hidden-camera TV show? Am I just stupid for not 'getting it'? Are you fucking kidding me? These are all normal reactions and seemingly a part of the grand concept that the E.S.P.-ers have been pimping for a decade." - Cincinnati CityBeat

"Horridly obnoxious sounding." - Flipside

"Funny enough the first couple times, but tends to get boring rather quickly." - Sinkhole

"Minneapolis' Cock E.S.P.might be called underground or performance art, but is more likely a joke." - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"As Cock E.S.P. has eloquently proved throughout their career, it's hard to take anything too seriously when it includes someone in a donkey mask humping an amplifier." - Columbus Alive

"Almost dumb enough to be Falco." - CMJ

"I can't wait for the fucking tour." - TMT
03.10.07 - Minneapolis, MN - The Church $# with Knife World, Dianoga
03.11.07 - Chicago, IL - The Village $# with Panicsville
03.12.07 - Cleveland, OH - Embassy - Tusco Terror with Skin Graft
03.13.07 - Columbus, OH - Skylab - $# with Noumena
03.14.07 - Pittsburgh, PA - Smiling Moose $ with Plastered Bastards
03.15.07 - Rochester, NY - AV Room - 8 Public Market (2nd Floor) $# with Nuuj
03.16.07 - Brooklyn, NY - Paris London with $#Rubbed Raw
03.17.07 - Boston, MA - School of the Museum of Fine Arts $#!

$ Costes

# Mr. Natural

! Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck Suffering Bastard

I. Pit er Pat “Scooter” Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Case, Tours

By Hatchet on Mar 8 2007

I saw Pit er Pat play with The Fiery Furnaces back in 2005.

That reminds me of a teacher I had who often wore a black baseball cap that had nothing on it except an embroidered "2005" on the left side.

I stood on the right side of the stage when Pit er Pat played, which is really stage left.

My teacher often came out of left field with some of his comments. Whenever things got out of his control, he said we were a "clusterfuck of a class."

'Clusterfuck' is a military term that describes a process where too many people are involved in a situation, all trying to help, but only making things worse.

It was my first time seeing Pit er Pat, and I thought they played rather skillfully back in black-hat-embroidered 2005, and there's only three of them. Not a clusterfuck.

When someone in my class would be the first to do something, he would say that student "popped the class' cherry."

I enjoyed seeing Pit er Pat play, and I think The Fiery Furnaces' Eleanor Friedberger winked at me with her left eye later on that evening. I liked it, but she also seemed to wink at other people, too. I didn't like that.

My teacher often gave us sage advice, telling us to be an individual, original, and not "a bunch of Kool-Aid drinkers."

Nobody in Pit er Pat winked at me, but they were a lot of fun to listen to and watch. I even bought their album.

My teacher often carried a large case to which he fastened a handle made of string and rubber bands. He said it was a good "hand job."

Pit er Pat really impressed me with some great piano playing and some great songs.

If we gave my teacher excuses, or tried to pass one over on him, he would often tell us not to "tickle his balls."

Pit er Pat is going out on tour in Europe next week.

A clusterfuck of dates: