BLURT is coming. Scott Crawford, founder of HARP, along with Managing Editor Fred Mills and Senior Editor Randy Harward, will unveil BLURT digital magazine and the accompanying BLURT-online website in June. In addition to the Joan As Police Woman cover story, artists featured in the BLURT debut will include My Morning Jacket, Ray Davies, My Brightest Diamond, Sally Shapiro and many others.
Brought to you by the creative team behind the lauded HARP magazine (called “America’s best music magazine” by NPR’s Bob Boilen and “the best… ]]>
What’s more, it’s a really good album. I’d even go… ]]>
But what if this… ]]>
Speaking of industry woes, music publications are suffering also, with ad revenue way down… ]]>
I get lots of promos too and while I’d love… ]]>
In an old game of ‘she said’ and ‘they said,’ Alicia Keys is peeved about a Blender article where she claims that she didn’t say what they claim that she did say (about Tupac and Biggie being killed by the government, which even the Los Angeles Times’ Chuck Philips hasn’t come up with yet). It’s not the first time (or will be the last time) a magazine published a story where a star said “I never said that!” I was just curious about what could… ]]>
The latest strategy by major labels to monetize downloads comes from one of their consultants, Jim Griffin, who’s proposed that the Internet providers add on a service charge to their customers. The money would then go to the labels and everyone will be happy, right? Not exactly.
The Tech Crunch site calls this plan ‘extortion’ on the part of the labels. A bit harsh but maybe not too far off the mark. Since they found that they’re not selling enough albums and singles online… ]]>
Along with JFK, one of the greatest murder mysteries in modern American history is death of Tupac and Biggie (not to mention Jam Master Jay). Like the JFK assassination, theories fly around but there’s still no definitive answer (unless you believe the Warren Commission and/or the LAPD). One reporter who’s been tireless tracking the story of Tupac’s demise and circumstance surrounding it is Los Angeles Times writer Chuck Philips. Initially, the big story was Philips’ recent revelation of P. Diddy’s involvement in a savage attack on Tupac but now that’s turned into… ]]>
After the Saul Williams album he produced didn’t tear the charts, a frustrated Trent Reznor got pissy, saying that fans didn’t want to support artists at all, even when they provided a quick, direct, cheap way to get the music online. Williams took a much more mature view, saying that offering music to fans online for what they wanna pay is a new experiment and that it will pay off long term. As such, I didn’t have much hope when Raznor offered RIP Net Radio?
This has already been quite a year for quick releases. A few weeks ago, it was Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts I-IV and then soon after, it was the Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley who decided to rush their latest albums on to the market. What’s significant isn’t just the speed that these are coming out (no doubt to try to thwart downloads) but also that they were sprung on the marketplace without giving reviewers an early start. Bad movies are usually released without any critic previews because… ]]>
Harp Magazine Discontinues Publishing after Seven-Year Run
March 17, 2008, Silver Spring, MD: Guthrie, Inc., the company that publishes Harp magazine, announced today that it has discontinued publishing Harp, effective immediately. The last issue sent to subscribers and newsstands was the March/April issue with Dave Grohl on the cover.
Founded in 2001 by editor-in-chief and art director Scott Crawford, the magazine entered into a partnership with the owners of JazzTimes in 2003. The result was a sophisticated rock and pop magazine that was critically… ]]>
You may have noticed a posting here about Harp magazine going under, wondering what happened to that piece of news. Well, Harp magazine is indeed kaput though I made the mistake of posting internal information that was circulated about it which might get the people involved in trouble. As a contributor to the magazine and a booster of said publication, I don’t want anyone there involved in any hot water. I know that goes against journalist impulses to get the story out about what happened but I’m not willing to do that… ]]>
When composer/saxist John Zorn invited journalists to a pair of weekend shows, his one request was that they would not write about it. Of course, the next thing that happened was that a flurry of angry exchanges were unleashed with some defending Zorn and others calling him crazy and conceited. I was there for one of the shows but I paid for my ticket and wrote about it. Later though, I wondered again about the strange relationships that develop between artists… ]]>