This isn’t going to hurt your average iTunes user, but on the net – when you lose the geeks – you lose the buzz. Read the rest in this Slashdot thread.

The Inquirer writes a great story on the growing scene in Philly.

One of things that bugged me growing up (still does whenever I think about it) is the lack of places to go for music that were under 21.

There seems to be so much pain in the world to take pause for just one individual, but over the past year, Johnny Cash has had a greater and greater influence on me. His songwriting is powerful, deep, and spirtual in only a way someone seeking redemption can share. I never have seen a video as intimate or direct as the his take on “Hurt”. My prayers go out to him and his family.

By The Ramones

I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles ’cause I’m one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I’m still alive.

I’m out here kicking’ with the band.
I am no longer a solitary man.
Every day my time runs out.
Lived like a fool, that’s what I was about, oh

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

Tattooed your name on my arm.
I always said my girl’s a good luck charm.
If she can find a reason to forgive,
Then I can find a reason to live.

I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles ’cause I’m one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I’m still alive.

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

I close my eyes and think how it might be.
The future’s here today.
It’s not too late.
It’s not too late, yeah!

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

Not only are we using metal to break down prisoner resistence, but Metallica and Barney are being used together. That’s beautiful.

Not since the “Clash of the Titans” tour (early 90s) has there been a lineup I am looking forward to like this.

Mark has some good ideas that I hope Apple explores.

Many people are panning iTunes, but the more I think about it, the more I find reason to hope that independent artists may have found a very, very powerful distribution method and a way to earn some bucks. Having a song downloaded just a few thousand times could rake in the kind of money to finance writing another song!

Pro Tools is a software program that replaces the old infrastructure of recording – huge analog mixing boards, rolls of two-inch-wide magnetic tape – with a computer. Many musicians now cut tracks straight to a hard drive, which means that lots of expensive tape machines are now collecting dust. “We have analog at our studio in Minneapolis, yet we rarely turn those machines on anymore,” says R&B producer Jimmy Jam. Some estimate that four out of five current pop albums employ Pro Tools or one of its competitors. While Digidesign, the maker of Pro Tools, took in $136 million last year, many older studios are feeling the financial pinch. New York’s Greene Street Studios, where Public Enemy recorded many classic tracks, shut down in 2001. Other studios are finding that the only way to stay in business is to make sure they have Pro Tools workstations for their clients.

Since Pro Tools can run with just a moderately powerful laptop and a few accessories, musicians can get professional sound just about anywhere. “The traditional studio is a windowless place on a back alley somewhere,” says Brandon Boyd, lead singer of Incubus. “You can get horrible cabin fever, like being in a dentist’s office twelve hours a day.” So to make last year’s Morning View, Incubus used a Pro Tools setup in the living room of a Malibu house with an ocean view.

For established musicians, escaping the studio means better vibes; for acts that are just beginning, it means they can afford a professional-sounding demo or album without having to sell a kidney. It’s already happening: Dirty Vegas’ home recording of “Days Go By” became a club hit. The group could experiment with different sounds and vocal filters because the clock wasn’t running in a thousand-dollar-a-day studio.

Read the rest at RollingStone.com.

Go and read up over at Shannon Campbell’s weblog. Download some mp3s. Give a listen. I tell ya, her stuff is beautiful.

Fact is, her songwriting sounds like what I’d imagine my wife’s would be. Shannon’s voice is *almost* as good. And that is, by far, the greatest compliment I could ever bestow. I’ve never heard anyone as close. I need to record Richelle singing a song someday. It would simply knock you dead.

The iTunes Music Store is launching with a library of 200,000 tracks, with participation from all five of the major record labels. In addition, the store will list exclusive tracks from 20 artists, including Bob Dylan and U2.

The songs cost 99 cents to download, with no subscription fee, and include the most liberal copying rights of any online service to date.

CNET: Apple unveils music store. Look’s like my wife’s iBook just became more valuable to me 🙂 I wonder if they will open this service to independent artists? Maybe at a special rate?

Update: Salon: I have seen the future of music and it is iTunes.