Tom Petty Trashes EDM's Drug Culture
I love that Petty's getting slack for doing what he has always done, which is stick up for the little guy and tell shit like it is. These people have obviously forgotten that Petty is no stranger to ruffling the feathers of the establishment, having gone head-to-head with the suits at his label, and their lawyers, on more than one occasion. The last time was to save consumers money because MCA wanted to use his new album at the time to usher in their new "price hike". He not only succeeded in getting them to keep the price low for his new record, but to cancel the price hike altogether.
So when I hear critics suggest that Petty is "out of touch" with the EDM generation, I would only remind them that if giving a damn about kids dying senselessly - at a fucking EDM festival, for crying out loud - makes one "out of touch", well, they should try it sometime.
Brooklyn To Debut EDM-Based Escape Music Festival
Brooklyn used to be cool, now it's home to its own EDM festival. I've been to festivals just like this one and it's like being at a record convention in "Blade Runner". The fact that there are no records doesn't seem to matter because everyone seems to be staring into their phones, even the guy onstage.
I mean, I've literally watched a performer (and I'm using the term loosely) take a phone call during their set.
Sorry, but if you can take a call during your show and nobody even notices, you're not "performing" hard enough. You think Bruce Springsteen is gonna reach into his tight black Levi's right smack dab in the middle of a crowd sing-along of "Eighth Avenue Freezeout" and take a phone call?
Oh, but today's EDM musician is a multi-tasker, a jack-of-all-trades (master of none) and the conversation that couldn't wait until after the show probably went a little like this:
EDM Musician: Yo, what's up?
Roommate: Where's the remote?
EDM Musician: Check the cushions.
Roommate: Found it. So how's the show going?
See, it isn't bad enough that the performer took a phone call during the set, but that his roommate KNEW HE'D BE IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS SET AND CALLED ANYWAY.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is end times.
The thing that kills me about the festival, though, is that the one act I would pay to see perform - the Crystal Method - are just doing a DJ set, which, I guess, is great money if you can get it, but come on, guys. Show these kids how its done. Get up there and push some buttons!
Music Industry Barking At Cars Again, Sues Ford and Chevy For Royalties!
If the music industry can sue somebody, trust me, they're going to sue somebody. In this case, the dying industry's last bony-fingered clutch for spare change involves going after Ford and Chevy for installing car stereo systems that enable a person to transfer music from a physical CD to a hard drive in their car.
Of course, this lawsuit brings to light the little-publicized Audio Home Recording Act from 1992 that sought to place restrictions on devices that copied music. In 1999, the technology industry lobbied successfully to revise the law by ruling that devices that copied such files onto hard drives (like those found in an iPod) were exempt.
Notice how the music industry isn't going after Apple even though Apple, once again, is thumbing its nose at any law standing in their way of higher profits?
So it's a case they can't win and they certainly don't need the bad publicity, right? Ah, but this is an industry that believes it can sue its way out of any problem of their own short-sighted creation.
Next.