Remember when Sara Barielles wrote Love Song as a protest to record execs who wanted her to do more ballad-y songs? Well, she’s been trumped by Amanda Palmer, who’s pulled out all the stops in an attempt to get RoadRunner Records to drop her.

OK, so before now, we had no idea who Amanda Palmer was. But she’s got our attention now!

From what I can glean of the situation, RoadRunner records decided that Palmer looked a little chubby in a recent video and wanted to either airbrush the offending belly shots or cut them completely. Amanda explains on her blog. Needless to say, her fanbase mobilized and responded angrily to RoadRunner’s offensive comments with a Rebellyon website featuring messages of support written on people’s bellies.

I was shocked at the attitude of the label bosses, which can best be described as condescending and rude:

a few weeks later i had a meeting with the owner of the label. he said he thought it was a shame that someone as smart and talented as me could not make a commercial record that they could sell. and he thinks that someday i’ll see the light and write some better songs.

And while I’m sure that there are two sides to the story, Palmer paints a compelling picture of an out-of-touch record label “trying to sell pieces of plastic in a digital world”.

In a follow-up blog post, she sings a song to the label trying to convince them to drop her, but apparently they have refused to cancel the contract, despite her having fulfilled her contractual obligations. Apparently they make a decision whether to renew the contract some time in June.

Via The Lefsetz Letter

As you all know by now, the massive entertainment retail chain, Zavvi have gone into administration (here’s why).

I read a very good post over on PopJustice the other day, and wanted to share it with you, because it raises some interesting questions about the future of music, certainly in the UK:

You can complain about Zavvi as much as you like – and we have done – but its disappearance from high streets is terrible for music. With Woolworths also going, it means that supermarkets will overnight become even more powerful not just at dictating what music people buy but also – this is the important bit – which artists record labels sign and what music they produce.

Certainly a nightmare scenario, but the PopJustice gang believe that there will be a veritable famine of creativity and diversity:

you are in for a difficult few years as major label A&R departments aim for the lowest, blandest, risk-freeiest common denominator options, and a generation of future music fans grows up listening to the results.

Funnily enough, I had a bizarre music-buying experience before Christmas: I drove over to a nearby shopping town looking for some chart CDs for presents.

Trying to find a record shop in the first place was difficult. I tried a couple of department stores, but their stock was woeful. They didn’t even have a chart section. So, after a couple of hours dragging my son around the shops, I eventually tracked down a HMV which had everything I needed.

However, the point is that there aren’t many places left on the high street to buy music. If you’re relying on Tesco to pick up a vintage album, or to discover the back catalogue of your favourite band, think again.

So, the choices are: succumb to the mass market and what the industry tells you to but or start fully sourcing your music online.

It sounds bleak, but are things really that bad, or were they heading this way anyway?

Chad Kroeger’s Nickelback are the latest big-name band to sign on with Live Nation. According to reports, it sounds like the band have entered into a 360 degree deal that encompasses albums, tours and merchandise.

The new deal is thought to be worth $50-70 million for the band, which should keep them in ripped jeans and t-shirts well into their retirement.

There’s a small spanner in the works though – Nickelback are still contracted to produce 2 more studio albums and a greatest hits package to Roadrunner Records before they can finally jump ship.

There’s no doubt this news will spark a wave of “death to the record companies” posts, but when you look at the Live Nation client list – Madonna, U2, Jay-Z – these are all established artists who arguably got to their current status via the benefits of being a major label act. Promotion, distribution and everything else that comes with a major label deal made them what they are today.

Are Live Nation scooping up unheard-of acts for their roster? Are they helping to bring new bands to the public and develop those bands into career acts like Madonna, etc?

Play Devil’s Advocate for a moment and it seems Live Nation is really only catering to the established players. You still need a major label deal to get there in the first place.

Yesterday’s announcement from Iron Maiden that they’d be releasing a Best Of compilation for free download isn’t quite what it seems.

The reason? That download is restricted to three listens, then you’ve got to purchase the album if you want the music for keeps. Iron Maiden is a band who’ve released more compilations and live albums than any other I know of. Why are they releasing another one?

Well, as their manager Rod Smallwood tells it, it’s all about the fans. Specifically the younger fans who haven’t been exposed to Maiden’s back catalog in time for the summer tour. And they pass this off as innovation:

from flying their own plane around the world on a record-breaking tour to selling over 70 million albums Worldwide without mainstream radio or TV support — today Iron Maiden announce a revolutionary new way of delivering music to their fans [emphasis added]

A great new way of delivering music to your fans – give them three listens, then take it away again. Mr Smallwood, your orgasmic press release offends me. This is simply another way to get fans to pay for old content.

I understand that the Maiden back catalog is precious. Certainly more precious than their most recent albums. That’s what people will want to hear on tour. But don’t pretend you’re giving something away. This download is the musical equivalent of a free shampoo sample. Want more? Buy the full bottle.

Rod, if you truly want to reach out to younger fans, give them the damned album for free. No strings attached. They’ll thank you for it and know all the choruses for the big tour.

That’s if they haven’t downloaded the entire Iron Maiden back catalog from BitTorrent already.