Been getting kind of bored with Mambo. So many things to do in the real world, it's been hard lately to pay much attention to my web site. Still really just trying to get back to the way things were before Hurricane Katrina screwed everything up.

I've decided to move over to a regular old, basic blog. They're easier to maintain and I'll still be able to mess around without spending too much time doing it.

I'm going to keep my Mambo site up... and will probably periodically add new articles here and there... new songs too... but, you can always get to the music in my JamRoom.

In the meantime, surf over to my new blog.

Well, this is one way of making it I've never heard of... 24-year-old Sandi Thom of England has signed a record deal with RCA/SonyBMG after doing 21 straight live webcam performances from her living room. Over the course of 21 days, she reeled in a following of more than 100,000 people from all over the world.

More power to you, Sister! What an awesome use of the internet. Now, why didn't I think of that. Dang!

Click here to read the article and here to visit Sandi Thom's website.

Or, you can go listen to some of MY MUSIC, Dammit!

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The Official Press Release:

April 1, 2006 - Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) chairman Dan Glickman and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) president Cary Sherman today announced the historic merger of the two organizations. The newly-created entity is being called the Music And Film Industry Association of America, Inc. The announcement, made today at the MPAA headquarters in Los Angeles, CA has been a long time coming, according to Glickman.

"The RIAA and the MPAA have been persuing very similar avenues with respect to their fight against piracy of music and movies for many years now," Glickman said. "It just made sense to combine our efforts for maximum effectiveness."

Well, not really... but French courts recently ruled that downloading copywritten material from P2P networks is not illegal as long as it is done for personal use only.

A man was sued by the Société Civile des Producteurs Phonographiques after it was discovered he had almost 2,000 MP3 and DivX files on his hard drive.

The Judge in the case ruled that this constituted "private copying". Obviously, this case is being appealed, but confidence is high that the original verdict will be upheld in a higher court.

The French Parliament is also in meetings to consider applying a voluntary tax (there is such a thing?) or a surcharge of 5 Euros a month on P2P network users.

Click here to read more details.

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According to the film industry, German P2P'ers download more than 20 million movies a year. Often, before the films have even been officially released in Germany. Starting January 1, 2007, they can expect to spend up to 2 years in jail if they get caught.

Worse - up to 5 years of jail time - if you get caught downloading movies for commercial purposes.

Critics claim this criminalizes "consumer behavior" and claim that parents now have to worry whether or not the cops are going to kick in their doors to arrest them because their kid downloaded some movie from the internet. While defenders of the law claim that this is no different from shoplifting.

Of course, the German Music Industry is right there making their claims of loss to P2P stating that record sales have dropped almost 45 percent since 1998. This "translates" (and I use the term loosely) into 439 million CDs last year alone. The poor German record industry only made 1.7 Billion Euros (yes, with a "B") last year.

Guess record executives will have to stick to the cheap caviar this year. Times are hard.

Click here to read more at the Times UK Online.

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The U.S. Department of Justice opened a probe into the big music labels online song pricing. The probe seeks to confirm whether or not the major labels conspired to fix the price of online music downloads.

This investigation follows closely on the heels of a similiar investigation by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is also looking into alleged "pay-for-play" payola scandals in the radio industry. Sony got pounded on that one.

A few subpoenas have already gone out with more to come. I doubt seriously, though, that this will have any real impact on the music industry. Steve Jobs recently called them "greedy" for trying to impose variable pricing per song on music downloads... stating that some songs are "worth more than others". While others feel it is simply a way to blackmail new and existing artists when contract negotiations come around. After all, if the song is sold online "on the cheap" does that not give the potential buyer the thought that since this song is cheaper than some other song that the cheaper song is not as good as the more expensive one? You get what you pay for, right?

Let's see how this one turns out... Click here to read more about this over at CNet.

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It's a guitar player's dream... a guitar that keeps itself tuned. This new device that can be retrofit on existing guitars will tune the guitar at the touch of a button... even in front of a live audience.

Best of all, you don't have to mangle the body of your guitar (or it's natural sound) to install this system. NO drilling or cutting or chopping. The motorized machine heads will probably freak you out, but no more than motirized faders on a mixing desk.

The device is called the PowerTune System from Tronical and you should Check it Out.

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According to a recent study by the Canadian Record Industry Association, downloading music "illegally" doesn't necessarily hurt record sales.

Among the studies conclusions:

• Downloading makes up for less than one-third of the music on downloaders' computers.
• Downloaders often test run songs on P2P services before buying.
• The largest downloading demographic is also the largest music buying demographic.
• Dips in music sales have little to do with the availability of music on P2P services.

Of course, this certainly won't stop the RIAA lawsuits... but, one can dream. The article goes into more detail. Click here to check it out at CBC News Online.

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