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Latest Musician News & Musings

Pandora boss reveals some figures Oct 17, 2012

Here's an interesting article on Pandora radio, and how it is doing for the artists whose music gets airplay. I have to admit, the numbers don't mean all that much to me without being able to compare to other channels. If, as he says, Pandora accounts for 6.53% of all radio listening in the US, that's pretty huge -- considering how many radio stations there are, online and off, I can't imagine that Pandora really takes that large of a share. Read more >>
Hear "Doom and Gloom," The Rolling Stones' First New Song in Seven Years Oct 11, 2012

I was riding in my car this morning and I hear them playing a song on the radio, and I'm like, "Hey, that sounds kinda like the Stones... except that if this was the first song they ever made, nobody would ever have heard of them." Naturally, when I get home I find out that it WAS the Stones, who have just released a new tune. Read more >>
Neil Young reveals HQ iPod rival Oct 3, 2012

Was Neil Young's new autobiography just a marketing ploy to get people to pay attention to his new digital music player? Whether or not that's the case, Mr. Young has strategically timed his announcement of his new "Pono" player to coincide with his increased publicity. The new player is even mentioned in his book, Waging Heavy peace, where he boasts that it will "save the sound of music". Read more >>
Fender Aims to Stay Plugged In Amid Changing Music Trends - NYTimes.com Oct 1, 2012

We mentioned a bit about Fender's IPO that got pulled at the last minute a few months ago. Now the company's troubles have become so tough that it's reached the hallowed pages of the New York Times! Check out this interesting article about the challenges facing the world's #1 electric guitar maker. Aside from the general fact of a shrinking industry, it looks like some Wall Street fat cats and industry execs managed to get involved and make things more difficult than they needed to be. Read more >>
Kirk Hammett's Latest Tour - no guitar, but lots of horror! Sep 20, 2012

I always like it when you learn about the non-guitar-related interests of our favorite guitar heroes. Kirk Hammett's hobby is kind of weird, although not too surprising, if you think about it -- he apparently has a passion for all things relating to horror. Read more >>
Stone Temple Pilots Take Stage 2 Hours Late, Cancel Next Night's Show Sep 18, 2012

If you're a rock star, the traditional standards applying to work ethic apparently don't apply. At least, not in the case of the Stone Temple Pilots, who showed up 2 hours late for their show in British Columbia last night and then decided to cancel tonight's show. Ah well, we waited so long for them to get back together, I guess we can't really fire them. Read more >>
Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benefits Sep 13, 2012

It has long been known that kids who study music perform better in school. Here's an article in the NY Times that goes over a few studies that have analyzed several of the benefits that have been found to early music education. Read more >>
Steve Vai's Dream Guitars Sep 12, 2012

Steve Vai has some pretty cool dreams -- apparently he dreamed of his whole career in advance when he was a boy. He's almost all the way there -- he even got to play on Hendrix's Woodstock guitar. But apparently there is more one guitar that he never got a chance to play that is still on his 'dream' list. Check out his dream here. Read more >>
Mysterious Countdown on Led Zeppelin Official Facebook Page Sep 10, 2012

We just posted about Zep a couple of days ago, but now the weirdness has broken out. Starting on Saturday, they posted "five" on their facebook page. Then "four" yesterday. Now "III" today. Read more >>
Led Zeppelin's 2007 Reunion Concert Rumored for 2012 DVD Release Sep 8, 2012

For those of you who just can't get enough Led Zeppelin, it looks like they are finally getting around to releasing a DVD of the highly-regarded Zep reunion that took place 5 years ago in London to raise money for the for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. The band played a set of classic Zeppelin tunes with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums. Read more >>