NewsTrust - Music - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Occupy Honolulu: Hawaiian Musician Makana Performs Protest Song to World Leaders at APEC Summit

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 14 (Interview) - within the heavily guarded compound where the summit took place, renowned Hawaiian musician and guitarist Makana carried out his own act of protest. Makana had been invited to play instrumental music at the gala dinner Saturday night. At the dinner, Makana opened his jacket to reveal a t-shirt which read, "Occupy with Aloha." Then, instead of performing the background instrumental he was scheduled to play, he started to sing a protest song he had released earlier that day.

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Billy Bragg: Legendary British Rocker on Norway Attacks, Activism & His Latest, “Never Buy The Sun”

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 01 (Interview) - Billy Bragg: Legendary British Rocker on Norway Attacks, Activism & His Latest, “Never Buy The Sun”

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The Legendary Bob Dylan Turns 70: Democracy Now! Airs Rare Interviews and Songs from Pacifica Radio Archives

Tue, 24 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Bob Dylan, Amy Goodman - May. 24 (Review) - The Legendary Bob Dylan Turns 70: Democracy Now! Airs Rare Interviews and Songs from Pacifica Radio Archives

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“Sing Your Song”: Harry Belafonte on Art & Politics, Civil Rights & His Critique of President Obama

Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Harry Belafonte - May. 16 (Interview) - Legendary musician, actor, activist and humanitarian Harry Belafonte joins us for the hour to talk about his battle against racism, his mentor Paul Robeson, the power of music to push for political change, his close relationship with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the U.S. role in Haiti

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Why the right hates Common

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Mary Elizabeth Williams - May. 13 (Opinion) - On Wednesday, the White House honored arts education with a Celebration of American Poetry. There was a poetry workshop for children during the day, and in the evening, performances by the likes of Elizabeth Alexander, Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith. This being the administration that can turn Jay-Z references into campaign rallying cries -- and campaign rallying cries into hit videos -- there were also musical artists on the bill, including Aimee Mann and Jill Scott. And, this being the administration that never fails to provoke the outrage of that holy trinity of right-wing attention gluttons -- Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin – there was controversy.

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OpEdNews - Article: Music or Guns, Choose Your Weapon

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Op Ed News - May. 13 (Opinion) - Cooperative teamwork is the opposite of violence and is the world's only hope for achieving a sustainable future. Music can lead the way.

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Blaming Piracy, Music Industry Says It's Lost a Third of Its Value Over Past 7 Years

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

ReadWriteWeb - By Audrey Watters - Jan. 20 (Opinion) - It's a familiar refrain from the music industry: sales are down and piracy is to blame. That's the gist of the the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) annual Digial Music Report, which points to a slowdown in the growth of digital music sales. While digital music revenue has grown 1000% over the past seven years, the entire music industry has lost a third of its value over that same time period. And while digital music seems to represent both the best hopes and the worst fears of the industry, even its growth is slowing.

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Street Sweeper Social Club: "Revolutionary Party Music" from Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Boots Riley of the Coup

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez - Sep. 14 (Interview) - As part of our ongoing series on music and resistance, we speak to Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Boots Riley of The Coup. Their band Street Sweeper Social Club has just released a new record, The Ghetto Blaster EP.

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Kenyan Father, White American Mother, from Illinois & Went to Harvard: President Obama? No, It's Guitarist Tom Morello

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Sep. 13 (Interview) - Guitarist Tom Morello, whose great uncle was Kenya’s first prime minister, Jomo Kenyatta, talks about the similarities between his background and President Obama’s. "Other than the fact that we’re devastatingly handsome, half-black dudes with Kenyan fathers, white American mothers, from Illinois, who both went to Harvard, there’s very little in common between us."

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Shirky: What "people must pay for content" really means - Boing Boing

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Boing Boing - Apr. 05 (Opinion) -

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The Man Who Put the Rainbow in 'The Wizard of Oz'

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

TruthDig - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - There’s more to the Scarecrow and the Tin Man than meets the eye, and Harburg’s message has renewed resonance today in the midst of the greatest financial collapse since the Depression.

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To All the Sharp Dressed Soldiers Shipping Out

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Op Ed News - By Eileen Fleming - Jul. 27 (Editorial) - "You can't understand the Taliban without knowing about America's covert operations in the region in the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan's administration, mainly through the CIA, used the Pakistani Intelligence services to fund, arm, and train Afghan and foreign Islamist jihadis to defeat the Soviet army in Afghanistan. Pakistan subsequently used "channels built with U.S. money" to install in Afghanistan a friendly government -- the Taliban. "As I write, 4,000 newly arrived U.S. Marines are trudging through the blistering heat of Helmand Province to push back the Taliban so local Pashtuns can turn out to vote next month for Karzai, their fellow Pashtun. What's wrong with this new Obama strategy?"

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GOP Ignores Copyrights, Raises Ire Of Multiple Recording Artists

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Dave Burdick - Sep. 05 (Opinion) - This campaign season, Republicans have been using a lot of songs from artists who wouldn't have given permission if asked, and some who have spoken up to ask that their songs not be used in the future.

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Pearls of Thunder

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Op Ed News - By Carolina Nickel - May. 17 (Opinion) - A truth about these latter days we are living in, which could make a difference towards real change.

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Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair Saga Repeat of Brook Sheilds in the 80's?

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Michelle Renee - May. 01 (Opinion) - Yesterday I got into a discussion with a good friend who said he believes Miley's parents are in on the "artistic prostituting" of their daughter. That conversation got me thinking back to the 1980's.

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Amazon MP3 vs. Apple iTunes: Where Should You Shop?

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:16:38 -0700

GigaOM - By Om Malik - Sep. 25 (Opinion) - Amazon (AMZN) has just announced that the beta version of its MP3 download store is live. The company claims it has 2 million DRM free songs, each priced from 89 cents to 99 cents. More than 1 million of the 2 million songs are priced at 89 cents. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. OK. Time to try this out and see if Amazon can make me switch from Apple's (AAPL) iTunes store. Hypebot has a great post about what the store is, and what it isn't. And that is why I am going to just stick to a head-to-head, hands-on comparison, which follows below the fold.

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McCartney reaches retirement age, Hendrix still dead - of time and rock stars

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:12:23 -0700

Scholars & Rogues - By Jim Booth - Jun. 18 (Opinion) - On this day in 1967, Jimi Hendrix burst upon the consciousness of American rock audiences with a blistering set of psychedelic blues rock at the Monterey Pop festival, at the climax of which he threw his guitar to the stage, squirted it with lighter fluid, and set it ablaze. That image of Hendrix - who would tragically be labeled a "sex machine/witch doctor" because of his action - burning his instrument would become the definitive moment of the first great rock festival and an iconic moment in a decade full of iconic moments...

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The New, New Music Industry

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:54:38 -0800

GigaOM - By Raghav “Rags” Gupta - Feb. 15 (Opinion) - The music business has been transforming before our eyes. Many players in the industry are struggling to survive amidst the tectonic shifts as the industry transforms itself for the digital age. And yet there has never been more demand for consuming music, and the ability to satifsy that demand, as there is today. The events of the past few weeks point to an acceleration of change that promises to make 2007 a landmark year in the music industry.

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The slow death of DRM

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 07:06:08 -0800

The Register - By Steve Gordon - Feb. 09 (Opinion) - Even if the legal attacks against DRM do not prevail, the majors should take note: get rid of DRM, because it's bad for business.

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Jobs' shot over the big four's bow

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:59:13 -0800

Public Knowledge - By Alex Curtis - Feb. 07 (Opinion) - So that was the quick-ish rundown on the letter. What do we learn by reading between the lines? Unfortunately, more questions than answers. Why did Jobs really write this letter? Is Apple, the media-market leader, really heralding the death of DRM, and with it the end of its competitors business models? Was the post written to address the hypocrisy of the European countries or the "Big Four", or to play-up to growing consumer concerns? Is Jobs' option 3 daring the majors to call his bluff? Lastly, why does this post specifically single-out DRM'd music, not on other media like videos that are also offered via the iTunes Store?

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A long time ago...

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 01:35:08 -0700

Abu Aardvark - By Marc Lynch - Aug. 27 (Opinion) - Bob Dylan: a long time ago, I used to be a big fan, but I haven't thought of him lately at all. Until a stroke of good fortune hit yesterday: my friend's daughter got sick, hurray! (sorry, M, feel better soon sweet-heart), one of her parents had to stay home, and I found myself with a ticket to an outdoor Dylan show. I went with somewhat mixed feelings. I had last seen Dylan in Syracuse in 1994, with Aimee Mann opening, and he had been pretty fabulous. That wasn't a bad last memory to have of the old man... better than what I feared would be an embarrassing, Rolling Stones-bad, performance by a doddering old guy who really should have known when to retire. On the other hand, how could I turn down the chance to see him?

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