Derek Sivers offers this reminder of a story about why we need the arts in our lives. It reflects Derek's perfect pitch for the psychology/philosophy of human existence. I am just mamaloosing it further into the universe

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Kyle Bylin takes on a historian's role in identifying books that deal with the devolution of an industry. It is a rare thing to actually be conscious during the process of one's own demise, but Kyle captures many of the threads in this erudite tapestry.

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A good checklist for singer/songwriters especially those that think it's the easy life. It isn't. But this article and barcode service provided by Independent Records will help your bottom line.

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Google is on the right track with search engine for ALL music. Thanks to this daily newsletter on Hypebot I can see the latest envisioneering in the rapidly changing music business. Google's idea seems like a game changer to me.

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Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, offers a state of mind that will help you center yourself in the new music business. And a surprise tag line that will make you chuckle.

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There seems to be a growing sense that musicians must cover all the bases in this devolving industry. The argument rages about the benefits of focusing our energy vs staying in the game. This is the atom bomb of questions and the comments on this article are a fascinating read.

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If you were a S.F. nut in your youth like me, you will hear strains of "Harry Seldon" in this book review of Surowiecki's book "The Wisdom of Crowds".

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Sometimes singer/songwriters are tempted to write songs targeting an existing "brand" in hopes of hopping on the PR (or even more crazy-making trying to respond to Taxi's hot sheets.) Forget that noise.

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Bylin's probing interview of Amanda Palmer is a hard hitting perspective about the relationship of musicians to the larger entities they aspire to have relationships with in order to "Make It".

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History is made not by the protagonists, but by the interpreters. It takes the perspective of one person to organize the facts and shine the light from a particular angle to highlight truths and lessons.

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Now we're talking! A new company called Polyphonic has been started to fund indie musicians who want to operate as a business entity. Another is in the works called "Self Serve" at William Morris Endeavor.

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If Indie musicians start thinking in business terms, they could get out of the starting blocks a lot faster. You would pay a business manager a lot of money to give you this same advice and information about branding.

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Indie Record Labels show impressive results in the Music Industry.

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It surprises me that Michael Lynton is still pointing to the internet as the evil force.

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How many times a day do you do it? Well now you can add your profile to Google. As singer/songwriter Google has turned out to be very useful. When I first started my music seriously, I noticed that I only had 3 citations on the internet.

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This is big news for Indies: Paypal has started a new program that reduces their fee to 5%+$.05. So for a $.99 track they would only charge about $.10. Now how do you get it to work with a download file directly from an iWeb site. Anyone out there have a clue?

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Derek Sivers, founder of the incredible indie cd distribution company, CD Baby which he recently sold to DiscMakers, is on to something new that I think may also revolutionize the industry. A service oriented towards aspiring indies to provide the services they need.

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Here's some actual numbers for independent artist Mike Hale. This is the face of reality without the propped up platinum perspective. His new album "Lives Like Mine" is being released on his own website with a FREE DOWNLOAD. The album is not even listed on iTunes. Pretty gutsy.

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Billboard Magazine hires edgier bloggers as editors - good news for those of us following the INDIE path in a period of devolution. Hypebot e-zine keeps and eye out for the small indicators of big things.

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If all musicians want a model for the future-you could do worse than look to Dylan for his very own "360" model and continued creativity - his way. I love it.

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The Spiritual Call of Twitter vs. Our Stomach

After some consideration, here's my take on Twitter: The reason it's so popular is because it meets a basic human spiritual need of connection. On the other hand, the reason it's insidious is that it has the appearance of truth without the time to consider one's own truth.

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Mike McCready is going in the right direction with Music Xray. A new way for songwriters to present their material across the web in a professional manner directly to content users with intelligent "screening" and sophisticated hit monitoring for feedback to the writer/artist.

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If you are embarking on the INDIE music path, the best strategy is to keep your eyes and ears open to the new ways for exposure to your audience, kind of like swinging on vines through the jungle.

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Rio Caraeff, Exec VP of eLabs at Universal Music Group suggests a concept where listeners essentially build their own portable album (sounds like radio station?).

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This I-pod interview of Seth Godin, author of "Tribes", "Idea Virus" and other marketing books should be required reading for everyone in the music business, any business and all business schools. It is a long interview, but well worth the listen.

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