Disposable Content Panel 

"Has the availability of affordable recording equipment and the permeation of the Internet devalued music? Explore how technology has changed the core value of musical content."

Panelists: Bob George, Founder of the ARChive of Contemporary Music

Adam Farrell, Head of Marketing at The Beggars Group/Matador Records

Marcy Rauer Wagman, Esq., CEO of MAD Dragon UNLTD

Anthony Batt, President/Founder of Buzznet.com  

Moderator: David Thomas Founder of Pere Ubu 

Choice Quotes (all from David Thomas):  

"Without the full range of the langauge of sound, we are doomed."

"Screw the audience, art is forever. The audience comes and goes, it's not a community, it's a marketplace."

"I'm so tired of his (Thom Yorke from Radiohead) whining and his sensitivity."

Points Raised: Radiohead got people to pay for their own album leak (nearly $10 million at last count). As old technology goes away and destroys jobs, new technology comes along and creates new opportunities.

Questions raised: Do mp3s strip the meaning out of sound? Is accessible technology destroying the profession of The Producer? Or is it allowing people previously barred by budgetary constraints to push the creative envelope?

What do The Consumer Electronics Industry, Public Interest Groups in Washington, and College Students have in Common? Probably next to nothing, especially when it comes to online file-sharing and digital rights management. Digital Freedom aims to change that.

"The Digital Freedom Campaign protects the rights of artists, innovators and consumers to use digital technology free of unreasonable government restrictions or punitive lawsuits.

New digital technologies create extraordinary opportunities for artists and fans. The Digital Freedom Campaign works to maximize these opportunities while ensuring that consumers, innovators and content creators are treated fairly."

Check out the mp3 for a brief interview.

download mp3

The Walkmen played a sponsored show at Avalon Wednesday night sponsored by Unsigned Artists. It's another social networking site that allows musicians to connect with their fans, but what separates them from Myspace.com? I stopped by their booth earlier today to find out and one of the answers is: affordable health insurance for musicians?

Unfortunately the booth staff didn't have the specific details and the website so far doesn't have any information. Check out the mp3 for the interview.

download mp3

Music Website Gurus Panel 

"Compares and contrasts the efforts of big budget and digital media outlets with music websites that started with a URL and a dream"

Panelists: Scott Boyd, former Managing Director of AOL Music , now General Manager of Music at Buzznet.com 

John Kuch, filling in for Bill Nguyen, Founder of Lala.com

John Lenac, Head of Programming & Label Relations at Yahoo! Music

Sean Adams, Founder/President of Drowned in Sound UK’s equivalent of Pitchfork

Wesley Verhoeve, Founder of Hip Hop Blog, Sit Down Stand Up

Moderator: Michael Copeland, Senior Writer for Business 2.0 Magazine

Points raised: The music business sites and players have started catering to the user, bringing content to them, particularly in the realm of widgets and Facebook applications, circumventing the need for users to have to go to a new site. 20 years ago, the only way anyone would have been likely to hear about a non-major band playing a show would have been on something like a flyer. The Internet allows the smaller bands to distribute their information that much more effectively and widely.

 Questions raised: How effectively will allowing users to stream full albums prompt commerce (in Lala’s case)? How will the role of music journalism/editorializing change as/if music online communities grow (hehe as if)? How does a tech-savy band, capable of promoting themselves online, stand out from the noise of all the other bands who can now easily do the same?

Ever wondered what's inside a CMJ gift bag? Maybe not, man these things are heavy.