Deconstructing Pop Culture

New blog post on the Music Industry Newswire: click on this link.

The Occupy Movement has had an important and beneficial effect in focusing social attention on disparities and inequities in resource deployment and consumption, and I strongly support it.  One of the main features of interest about it is its concept of spatiality.  Inherent in the concept of “occupy” is a kind of territoriality – that [...]

We attended the Buffalo Springfield concert yesterday evening at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.  I vividly remember seeing them some 43 years ago and always have been a big fan, so I was excited about going to the show.  It was sold out and I was far from the oldest person there.  It was [...]

The whole point of going to a movie is to see things you’ve never seen before; to be shocked, scared, informed, entertained, or simply to experience a new perspective, a different way of looking at the world. We have come to expect such unusual depictions – even peculiar ones – from the director Werner Herzog. [...]

The National Association of Recording Merchandisers (“NARM”) is holding its annual convention this week in Los Angeles. Members of NARM are music wholesalers (distributors that sell records to stores) and retailers (stores that sell records to consumers). The basic idea is that record companies (the companies originating, marketing and promoting the artists, then selling their [...]

Here are some memoranda re: interpretation of various issues arising under Capitol Records’ contracts with the Beatles. The relationships between the parties were unnecessarily complex and many of their disagreements arose primarily as a result of the loose contract standards and practices prevailing in the 1960s – early 1970s. The agreements did not envision, or [...]

Here is a collection of agreements and documents relating to this article on Music Industry Newswire.  From time to time I will post additional materials to this site. CEMA P&D deal format late 1980s Bust It Records – Joint Venture Agreement with Capitol Capitol Artist Agreement – basic contract Capitol Production Agreement – basic contract [...]

When I was on Capitol-EMI’s corporate staff in the early 1980s, I had a number of unvaryingly peculiar interactions with Guy Marriott, then head of EMI Music Business Affairs worldwide. I don’t attribute their oddity to Marriott, personally; for several different reasons, which I will endeavor to set forth; they just partook of an aura [...]

Here are some personal reflections about working with Russ Bach, President of CEMA Distribution (the distribution arm of Capitol-EMI Music in the U.S.) from around August 1987 to around March 1999. As set forth in various books and articles about their history, the activities and operations of publicly-traded record companies, such as EMI Music, are [...]

Here is a copy of it dated March 1993. CEMA Sales Policy Handbook – March 1993