No ifs, ands or BUTTS! That's 1.4 Million please!

More unbelieveable stuff from the hypocrisy that is the Federal government...you would think that people had better things to do:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $1.4 million fine against 52 ABC Television Network stations over a 2003 broadcast of cop drama NYPD Blue.

The fine is for a scene where a boy surprises a woman as she prepares to take a shower. The scene depicted "multiple, close-up views" of the woman's "nude buttocks" according to an agency order issued late Friday.

ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co. The fines were issued against 52 stations either owned by or affiliated with the network.

FCC's definition of indecent content requires that the broadcast "depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities" in a "patently offensive way" and is aired between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

The agency said the show was indecent because "it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs - specifically an adult woman's buttocks."

The agency rejected the network's argument that "the buttocks are not a sexual organ."

Got Music?...You're a lawbreaker!...probably.

Washington (DC) - The Recording Industry Association of America has filed a landmark federal lawsuit in Arizona, claiming that it is illegal for users to make copies of CD tracks to their computer for personal use.

The RIAA is going after Jeffrey Howell of Scottsdale, AZ. The group alleges that Howell shared 54 music files over the peer-to-peer network Kazaa. This kind of complaint has become commonplace for the RIAA, but they added something different to this lawsuit.

Ira Schwartz, an Arizona-based lawyer for the trade group, says Howell is also guilty of making "unauthorized copies" of CD tracks by ripping them to his computer, even though he may never have shared them with anyone else.

"It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies of Plaintiffs' copyrighted sound recordings on his computer," said Schwartz in a legal brief. "Once Defendant converted Plaintiffs' recording into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by Plaintiffs."

This means that the RIAA is saying it could actually come after anyone who has ever used a CD ripping program to transfer tracks from a disc to a computer, regardless of whether or not file sharing was involved. The organization's website makes this clearer by noting, "If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings ... you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages."

The case against Howell is believed to be the first to take this stance this far into the legal process.

Happy New Year! (How do you listen to music?)

Radio?!! We don't need no stinkin' radio!!

According to Radio And Internet Newsletter, fully two-thirds of consumers partake of "consumer generated media" (CGM) as a part of their general listening habits. Most consumers polled cited no specific reason for the change except that they found CGM to be "more entertaining" than traditional media outlets. The full article is available here:

Does this mean that "terrestrial" radio is dead? Not really, but it will slowly lose influence as a means of communicating much the same way that newspapers did with the emergence of electronic media. The corporate powers are trying desperately to hold on to their cash cows but it is a losing battle as inevitable as the passage of time.

So, what are you listening to? Is talk and sports the only reason to listen to your car radio now? Let me know.

Donny Hathaway most popular

According to Soultracks.com, in their latest popularity poll based on searches and reader visits to their web pages, the most popular artist for the month of December is Donny Hathaway, who's been dead for 28 years! Others on the list of 25 popular artists include the likes of The Stylistics, Angela Bofill, Phyllis Hyman and The Spinners. Now admittedly, these are all terrific artists and Soultracks is catering to a more mature crowd but what does it say about the state of Soul music when out of a list of 25 artists there are only only about 8 or 9 that are currently generating any kind of buzz in the industry?! Exclude the inevitable "One hit wonders" and you are down to maybe 3 to 4 that will stick around for any length of time. I guess my question is: Where's the music at?!!
In actuality, there are a number of new artists producing quality material, however the majority of "new release" material, seems to consist primarily of older artists releasing "lost" work, or rehashing a lot of old material. Labels have been in this mode for quite some time, Motown for example, has been repackaging and re-releasing its old hits for decades, while producing only a handful of new artists. The success of the "Now Thats What I Call Music" compilation series only goes to show that consumers are not really willing to spend their dollars on a complete album by a single artist, there just is not enough quality in the product being delivered to justify the expense. The latest releases by the likes of Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and Kanye West notwithstanding, these quality productions are too few and too far between to say that soul music is still the viable genre it once was. Again, where's the music at?!
What's the solution? Well, increased involvement in school music programs, reinstatement of many discontinued music curriculum particularly in urban centers would go a long way toward regenerating interest in the art of musicianship, rather than just playing the music as loud as possible. Kids today have a million distractions, so it's necessary to show them the relevance of yesterdays instruments and how it has affected todays technology. Show the drum machine for example, but also demonstrate how a skilled drummer can CREATE sounds that the programmer of the drum machine has not even imagined yet. Studying music has been proven to have beneficial results even beyond music appreciation. The Department of Education has reported that a comprehensive music education plays an important part in enhancing a child's intellectual development. The College Board has determined that Arts education is one of six essential subjects in preparing for a college education. The most important thing, however, is that studying music teaches an individual to think musically, artistically and creatively and to generate their own unique sound instead of relying on automation to do the thinking for us.