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"We don't just entertain racist kids.... We create them." That statement appears on the website of Panzerfaust Records, a white supremacist music label based in Minnesota. This fall, the label launched "Project Schoolyard," an effort to distribute its music to kids through methods like direct mail and bus stop handouts. Minnesota Public Radio reporter Jeff Horwich compiled this profile of Panzerfaust.
In 1960, legendary disc jockey Alan Freed was indicted for accepting music industry money in exchange for radio air time. The scandal sparked anti-"payola" legislation, but loopholes have persisted. Last month, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched an investigation into modern forms of pay-for-play by the major record labels. Brooke speaks with New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki about "spot buys" and the gaming of the Billboard charts.
Even though more than 7,000 illegal music downloaders have been sued by the industry, there are indications that more people are file sharing than ever before. Ever since the early days of Napster, file sharers have blamed the commercial unavailability of quality music for their turn to the peer-to-peer services. NPR's Rick Karr looks at how major labels are actively driving musicians and fans to the Internet and other new technologies.
Most people - music lovers or not - know the dastardly feeling of getting a tune lodged in your head, and not being able to get it out. Brazilians call such tunes chiclete de ouvido, or "ear chewing gum." Here they're known as "earworms." Brooke offers this rumination on the kinds of ears most likely to be sticky, and the kinds of songs most likely to get stuck. Listen at your own risk.
How do you get to Nashville's famed Bluebird Cafe, the launch pad of dozens of country music's biggest stars? If you're Bob Garfield - and you're trying to make it big in country music in less than 36 hours - "practice, practice" is not an option. Luckily, Bob has chutzpah, and a brilliant song, just waiting for a record exec to bite. Join Bob as he tries to pen the next country music hit. You asked for it, you got it! A free, downloadable version of Bob's hit song "Tag You're It".... To start your download, just click here.
The 45 was once the dominant musical medium. From Elvis to the Beatles to the Supremes, that round little disc with the big hole in the middle defined the early rock 'n' pop era. New technologies have since swept the single aside, but there are some die-hards who refuse to relinquish their vinyl disks. OTM's Rex Doane reports.
While the recording industry presses on with its lawsuits against online music downloaders, there are indications that more people are file sharing than ever before. Ever since the early days of Napster, file sharers have said that a prime attraction of the peer-to-peer services has been the unavailability of quality music in stores and on commercial radio. NPR's Rick Karr takes a look at the ways in which major labels are actively driving musicians and fans to the Internet and other new technologies.
When a band refuses to play by the music industry's rules, does it thereby give up all chances of success? Not necessarily, if the story of Wilco is any indication. The band's brand-new album is yet another example of how it has continuously resisted categorization, and in doing so, defied the rules of the industry's game. Brooke speaks with Wilco chronicler Greg Kot about the backward business models that the band has rejected, and with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy about the values that it has embraced.
