Avant Music News

Bassist Dresser discusses the possibilities of Telematics:

In 2004 I left New York to accept a teaching position at the music department at UC San Diego. I was able to stay in close contact with my community of friends and colleagues in New York through email and cell phone. I made a point to come to New York to perform as much as possible and through filesharing of sheet music and sound files, a lot of the musical preparation that, in an earlier day, might be the sole domain of the live rehearsal could be done at a distance. I certainly missed the casual gig, at which one could perform new music with new colleagues. In the not-so-distant future this may not be the case because of telematic performance. Through the development of telematic music there is the opportunity to regain access to local scene dynamics, not only in New York but also to scenes worldwide.

Telematics generally refers to the interface of computers, communication and performance. It has a modern history of about 20 years. Due to the dedicated work of pioneers, generosity of friends and colleagues and support from a university that is invested in the potentials of technology, I have been able to collaborate, rehearse and perform with other musicians in multiple locations.

The New York Times writes about how Peter Gabriel is embracing the Internet rather than cowering in fear of it.

While major record companies have spent heavily on the Internet with relatively little to show, Mr. Gabriel and his partners started OD2 on a tight budget, built it into a digital delivery platform that retailers like Virgin used on their Web sites, and sold it in 2004 for $40.5 million.

“When most labels were banging their heads, he got it and saw the liberating value of Internet distribution to artists, and that’s what excited him,” says Mr. Grimsdale, a partner at Eden Ventures, of Mr. Gabriel. “He has a very good sense technologically of what’s going to work.”

OD2’s success also catapulted Mr. Gabriel, after decades as a top-selling artist, into a second career as a powerful player in the emerging online music industry, a move that once seemed more outlandish than the costumes he wore in the early 1970s as a singer for the rock group Genesis.

But Mr. Gabriel, the son of an inventor, keeps devising new ways for musicians and record labels to use the Web to control their work and to make — not lose — money.

His two newest Internet ventures — We7, an advertising-driven music site, and TheFilter.com, which offers personally tailored multimedia recommendations — have received strong financial backing and positive user reviews in early tests.

The BBC no longer maintains its web pages on experimental music.

Sad, but no major disaster. The news will still get reported, and people will just go elsewhere to find it, instead of to the BBC.

An article explores the shifting focus of new music.

“New music is gorgeous again,” writes Scott Speck, co-author of “Classical Music for Dummies,” in the current issue of Symphony Magazine. A new wave of composers who make only nice waves is rising, and these composers have history on their side. When times get tough, as in America during the Great Depression and the Second World War, music gets soft. The times, surveys say, are once again tough, and they’re likely to stay that way. A sustained period of stylistic regression is thus a possibility.

Shocking News about trademark lawyers running amok!! Call your representative today!

PepsiCo, the world’s second largest soft drink company, has claimed trademark protection on the word “Jazz” and has issued cease and desist orders to anyone currently using the word other than in reference to their diet cola product of that name.

PS: Consider today’s date.