Covering the arts for creators and fans
When my husband asked if I wanted to watch the new film about the legendary Bonnie and Clyde, I said yes, but without much enthusiasm. By the end of the film we watched on Netflix, I was singing a different tune. The Highwaymen is well worth viewing. There’s another takeaway too, though, and there’s a lesson for indie artists.
CD Baby is getting a new mom and dad. Downtown Music Holdings is acquiring the group that owns the 21 year old music publisher and online seller. How will this affect indie artists who rely on CD Baby for distribution?
The European Union, a work of art itself in many ways, is addressing what media refer to as “copyright reform.” The consensus on doing this seems to be that the digital age requires such reforms and artists aren’t getting what they deserve for their content. Advocates include Paul McCartney, although it’s hard to accept he hasn’t gotten gobs of money without copyright reform. Web titans like Google and Facebook will be impacted, and so will anyone in the US working on music, blogging, news writing, and in other genres. Why?
In a recent column I mentioned a fraudulent transfer of funds from one of our bank accounts. The bank worked with us quickly to resolve it because the account in question is one we use a lot. Temporarily, because of the size of the fraud, that account was useless to us. Fact is this type of fraud can affect anyone. Chances are you’ve seen ACH on your own bank statement. There’s a good reason—the Automated Clearing House Network moves trillions of dollars each year. For many of us, fraud is rare, but I had no idea about specifics of these
Saturday evening Rebecca had planned a rare weekend night off. Her husband Joshua had received an award at work, and she thought we had a great opportunity to celebrate that and take in some music together. So we headed out to Green Cove Springs to a place we’d heard about but hadn’t had a chance to visit—Red’s Wine Bar in Green Cove Springs. Considering the abundance of musical talent in this area—Clay County—I think it’s time to rename the area “Musicville.”
If you’re a fan of the TV series ‘Deadwood’, you’ll understand enthusiasm for the forthcoming HBO film based on that series. I mentioned this film to my daughter this morning, and her response came across as your standard hallelujah. A cast of very talented actors converged to be part of the film, and if you check out the trailers, this looks like it will be vintage ‘Deadwood’ with an update set in the time after South Dakota became a US state.
Texas country singer Justin Carter died on March 16 when a gun discharged while he was filming a music video. Details in various media have been cloudy, but it appears Carter died in a manner similar to that of Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts star Bruce Lee. Carter was only 35 years old. Fans believe he was about to make it in the industry he loved.
A blockbuster film is coming from Quentin Tarantino in July, 2019, and the film has something in common with others being created in the USA. Tarantino got help from interests in China to make his film. The controversial filmmaker isn’t alone when it comes to money from Asia.
Jacksonville has musicians of all types, a diverse poetry non-community, and enough visual artists to sink Noah’s Ark. What we don’t see a lot of in our midst are comics. Thing is, they’re there, and Tez Brooks, who was born in Jacksonville, has just released his new comedy special “I Can’t Breathe.”
Maybe it’s the Ides of March. Or maybe it’s the water. Of late, the crazy has really hit home with the Crazy Daysies. It’s a given that running a music business is a challenge that runs on adrenalin. We have that in droves right about now.
