Before I jump into my Jeff Daniels experience at The Barns this past Saturday, I wanted to divulge a news item that many of you may have already seen, but is very relevant to the industry especially on the heels of my entries about Qtrax.
It is reported that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has lobbied the Copyright Royalty Board to lower songwriter royalties on digital downloads, allocating 8% of the wholesale price to record labels down from the previous rate of 13%. Joining record labels in the fight, digital music companies like Apple, Napster, and Yahoo want the rate lowered to half that, at 4%. This statement was included in documentation presented by the NIAA to the Copyright board, "Record companies are suffering a contraction of their business at a time when music publisher revenues and margins have increased markedly. While record companies have been forced to drastically cut costs and employees, music publisher catalogs have increased in value due to steadily rising mechanical royalty rates and alternative revenue streams made possible, but not enjoyed, by record companies."
We will see what develops, but if this is pushed through, we might see a lot of artists emerging in favor of Qtrax, where their royalties might be paid through standard advertising dollars. Also, it seems like this business model (not Qtrax, but the reduced royalty fees) could somehow encourage more people to illegally download songs, given that a smaller percentage will be allocated to the songwriter? But that's just speculation. On the other side of the coin, if digital music companies are only required to pay out 4% to songwriters/publishers, maybe they will cut consumers a break by significantly reducing the cost of each track?
Ok I don't know your feelings on the matter, but I can't wait for Jeff Daniels' next Wolf Trap performance. I caught his 9:30 show at The Barns on Saturday night, and let me tell you, the man is quite the entertainer. I likened his performance to Christine Lavin at The Barns in the Spring of 2007 - both combine folk and blues heavy acoustic guitar instrumentation with disarming, humorous lyrical content drawn from everyday, human situations like driving an RV, teaching your daughter to drive, or getting shot by Clint Eastwood! (ok not so everyday for you and me) He steamrolled through 90 minutes of material that gave his audience substantial insight into the life and mind of a major Hollywood star. His son Ben joined him on stage for an original tune written by the younger of the two Daniels called, "Fake a Smile," which was one of my favorite portions of the show. I couldn't find a MySpace page for him, but watch out for this kid, he's the real thing.
Prior to the show, Jeff sat down to speak with AP radio correspondent Michael Weinfeld, and I luckily had the chance to shoot the breeze with him after the interview. The first thing he said to me was "Have you ever seen the movie RV?" Laughing, and caught slightly off guard not realizing just how casual this man actually is, I inquired about his monstrous RV sitting outside The Barns, assuming that a related story would follow. I said that I hadn't yet seen the movie and he went on to tell me a hilarious story that I probably shouldn't repeat about a mishap along the highways of southern Virginia two days prior. Check in with me later this week.
Until later,
Graham
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