riskybusiness04  

Another week, another awesome interview.

Pete Berwick was an awesome guest on the show.  He kept us in stitches talking about the music industry, when he was on Wife Swap (which will repeat on Feb. 20th on ABC) and his upcoming album. 

Some of the things that we talked about go right to the heart of what we've spent the last couple of weeks talking about (and Deb even longer than that on her show <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/unsigned">Unsigned Musicians</a>).  Unless you are with a major label, good luck finding avenues to get your work out.  The major labels practically have a monopoly on the over the air radio stations, there are only so many gigs you can play, and keep a band together living in tight quarters, ect. ect.

But......

We do have the internet!

What the majors hate, is the fact that they can't control that aspect of it, although they are trying to.  JC Martin is having issues at Myspace again, YouTube is pulling videos down for copyright infringement because (you're gonna love this) of music playing on a radio <span style="font-style:italic;">in the background!</span>

How screwed up is that? 

I totally understand the need to protect copyrighted material, the copyright laws exist for a reason, and artists have every right to earn royalties on their work.

Herein lies the problem, unless you are a MAJOR success, you don't see a dime, and yet the licensing fees are paid.  Where does the money go?

Why the overkill on enforcement that benefits so few? 

Just a thought.

You can catch Pete Berwick on Myspace, and on his website <a href="http://www.peteberwick.net/">peteberwick.net</a>.  We played a few of his songs on the show, including a special live performance of "Hello Hand" which was freaking hilarious and a hell of alot of fun to listen to.  It really was an awesome show. 

It is over 3 hours long though, you can follow the blogtalkradio.com link on this page, or my homepage at <a href="http://www.geocities.com/jstrapus/">www.geocities.com/jstrapus</a> and download the podcast.  It'll be worth your while.