http://downhillbattle.org Music Activism Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:48:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en More soon... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=602 After decades of manipulating artists, radio, and music fans, it seems safe to say that death has come to the corporate record labels. Variety reported last week that "overall music sales during the Christmas shopping season were down an astounding 21% from last year." No industry can survive a drop ... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=601 Claire Chanel has dropped a new project: Media Defendr. A step-by-step illustrated how-to guide for sampling and remixing. Essential for the DJ in all of us. There's a cliche that if you don't use your freedoms, you lose them. In this case it's true and the story ... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=600 Update: Some folks where having problems submitting an order, but this should be fixed now. We've been selling Downhill Battle t-shirts for years. They've been great publicity and lots of folks like them-- we've sold a few thousand, I think. But we're not selling a huge amount any more ... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=599 An indy label and legal team are looking for additional plaintiffs to take a lawsuit against the major labels for payola. Here's the details: Call to Action http://downhillbattle.org/?p=598 Here's a cool video of Dick Dale telling musicians not to sign to a record label. http://downhillbattle.org/?p=597 The Wall Street Journal reports that CD sales are down 20% this year compared to a year ago. The major record labels have entered the death spiral that we've been talking about for the past couple years-- CD sales decline, retailers reduce space for CDs or go out of ... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=596 I am very proud of a new project that some of us have just launched, called OpenCongress. It's the best way to track legislation in the US Congress and get the real story about what's happening. We hope that it will allow bloggers to finally start linking to ... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=595 Hey ya'll! It's uncanny that what Apple CEO Steve Jobs is saying is: a) completely reasonable b) considered radical c) seems to be a huge corporation very audibly capitulating to and educating about the failure of Digital Rights Management (DRM) for digital music formats.  Originally at : http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ THOUGHTS ON MUSIC by (Apple Computer CEO) Steve Jobs February ... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=594 For years, the major label music industry has turned a blind eye to hip-hop's vibrant mixtape trade. Artists with major label deals regularly appear on mixtapes to freestyle, talk to the streets, and even leak their own unreleased tracks. This has launched and re-launched dozens of careers: 50 Cent ... http://downhillbattle.org/?p=593