Blog betterment.

Hi folks.

I've decided to start doing a couple of things that will likely make Solidstate several times more exciting!

I was inspired by a recent talk by Gahlord DeWald and Bill Simmon during Art Hop; my blog will benefit from the knowledge gained.

First of all, I've decided to categorize my posts like a big boy. This might make it easier for folks interested in re-living the Great Flaming Lips Debate of '06, or even the Beard Wars of the previous year.

Categories thus far:

General Announcements

Local Music

Live Music

Non-local Music

Podcasts

YouTube Nonsense

Casey's Music

Crazed Letters

Absolutely Unrelated

Complaining

The last one will undoubtedly be chock full 'o posts.

Now for the really exciting part: I'm gonna do a monthly podcast. Think Ricky Gervais is fun? Wait 'til you get a load of me!

I'm planning on playing a bunch of music, some of it local, much of it not, interspersed with my always-precious commentary. It'll be like hanging out with me and drinkin' beers while I yell at my iPod. What could be more fun than that? I hope to have the first episode up in a couple of weeks.

Wanna help me come up with a title?

By the way, Art Hop ended up being pretty fun. Apologies to anyone who had the misfortune of speaking with me before I found my "zone." And congrats to Brooke, who busted her ass so our weird little community could bond.

Lastly, please welcome our pal Undead Molly to her "growed up," non MySpace blog.

Comments

[Molly]

Wow! Thanks for the plug and link, Casey. You guys are coming over soon for an Art Hop catharsis dinner. There will be food and a flaming pinata.

[casey]

Would've linked to you earler, but MySpace does indeed have virulent cooties.

Pinata!

[g-lo]

Be careful on your podcast dude. The part we left out of our talk was the bit about ASCAP/BMI and music. If anyone had asked I'd have said to use royalty-free stock for their intro-outro music or have a friend compose it or compose it themselves.

Given that you've got a music-centric blog I'd stick mighty-tight to the local music scene and make sure folks knew you were posting. Us Burlington musicians are more likely to be really psyched to be in the podcast than the Sony lawyers are. ;) Legal waters ahead.

Aaaaand.... congrats on categorizing. Don't call it Local Music though. Call it Burlington Music or something. Because someone logging in from East Bumblefark, Mongolia won't consider Burlington Local. Geography is a tricky thing on them interwebs.

Rock on Casey. Was fun hangin the Art Hop.

g

[casey]

Thing is, though, with a single stereo track podcast, a person would have to be kind of clever to break it into individual tunes. There are tons of audio blogs like that out there. It's like a radio broadcast, no?

[g-lo]

It's a lot like a radio broadcast (radio stations pay BMI/ASCAP licensing fees). That's why BMI and ASCAP (performance rights agencies) are keeping a close eye on things and Harry Fox (mechanical rights clearing house) isn't bothering with it much. It's not the piracy issue that will run you down. It's the performance rights. Anyway, don't get too panicky. Just be aware that the issue exists. Consult your latest edition of "This Business of Music" to see the current thinking.

Links of use:
Straightforward letter about the issue:
http://leepritchard.wordpress.com/2006/08/03/a-question-about-podcast-licensing-and-bmi-royalty-payments/

Discussion thread with some useful comments (the first one is useless but the rest is readable):
http://www.podcastingnews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6374

Overview of meeting in the UK between Performance Rights organization and podcasters:
http://www.podcastnation.co.uk/podblog/2006/06/broadcasters-not-podcasters-says-ukpa.html

[Murf]

I'm looking forward to the podcasts and strongly doubt you'll get any trouble from the industry.

As for chopping up a podcast into individual tracks, it isn't that tough. Here's a link for the software:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

It's open-source freeware.

[greg]

i hope BMI is collecting for me. haha.

casey, you forgot the category 'heavy metal nostalgia'

[casey]

Shit Greg, you're right! Better get that one in there ASAP.

Yeah, it's easy enough to chop the songs with Audacity, or any of the other cheap-to-free audio editors. But who's gonna want my icky voice all over them, not to mention the obnoxious fades?

I'm gonna create a separate, non 7D page to store my podcasts. You'll have to follow the link I put here. It'll be one extra click. But that way, the paper isn't holding the aural contraband.

Thanks to Murf for that last tip. Stay tuned!