Many of us have had the experience of going to a conference at which you end up in a cramped, fluorescently lit room for a panel discussion. And just when the introductions are finally over, the audience all caught up on the issues to be discussed, and everyone is finally positioned to dig into the topic at hand...um, time's up, thank you all for coming. This is how I felt after reading the highly publicized "Music Copyright in the Digital Age" position paper recently released by ASCAP. (You can … [Read more...]

Feeling left in the dust by internet development? Here's the CliffsNotes course. (Note the heroic inspirational background music, not that you could miss it. Don't you feel more optimistic about the future already?) Sometimes I wonder if we've put too many eggs in the technology basket for no good reason other than that we're attracted to the shiny new toy. But then I see how people half my age are using the platforms, and I realize that I'm the one overly fascinated with the delivery method. I … [Read more...]

If I haven't been to hear the local symphony in a while, I sometimes forget about this. In the 21st century, the tuxedo is still generally the costume of the classical musician. I don't mean to beat on this fashion choice--though in most cases I'm not sure how much of a choice it really is--but seriously, Patrick Dempsey and George Clooney aside, who really carries this look with conviction these days? But it's an iconic trope, with as much expressive weight in a music performance as flannel or … [Read more...]

Dear kindly readers of this blog: Often I wonder what the hell people are thinking, and now that I have been empowered with my own personal "publish" button, I am going to start asking them directly and sharing the results with you. If there is anyone you'd particularly like to see grilled here, please drop me a line!Steve, you wrote the title song for Morgan Spurlock's latest film Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? It's not every day that a composer gets to participate so directly in … [Read more...]

Wow. Is this thing on? Okay, thanks. This is sort of awkward. Um, hi, I'm Molly. For the last 10 minutes, I admit I've been making notes for one of those introductory blog posts filled with a lot of biography and a detailed explanation of what I hope to do in this space. But then I read it back and wondered who the hell would care. So--delete--let's jump right in, shall we? In part that makes it easier, because I'm not really sure what the conversation in this space will become. They let me … [Read more...]