Ashlee Simpson’s single ‘Outta My Head’ represents the lowest point in modern music.

“It was written by SIX!!! people. As a comparison, ‘Yesterday’, the most covered song in history, was written by Paul McCartney, one man, in his sleep”.

“So what’s gone wrong in the last 40 years, that we’ve gone from Yesterday to “Ay ya ya ya ya”?

Paul McCartney is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, painter, record producer, and film producer.

“Well, McCartney was a songwriting genius, right? Well maybe, but that genius didn’t spring out of thin air. He’d done his homework, and was steeped in rock’n’roll and blues, folk, ragtime, musicals, Tin Pan Alley standards, church hymns and classical music – all influences working on him when he composed”.

“The writers of ‘Outta My Head’ are influenced by market forces and the few hit records of the last 18 months, all of which eschew melody for the novelty of the studio and the tyranny of whatever rhythm is moving the club floors at this particular moment.”

“But for the last 3 years it’s been a downward spiral, with popular music across genres deteriorating massively as writers and performers completely misplace the melody.”

Do you want to be a better songwriter? well, you have to write more meaningful melodies and lyrics that touch the soul. If you have only listened to records during the last 10 years, the chances of writing songs that touch millions of people are slim to none. Start listening to these records now…

8 albums every budding songwriter needs to hear

Courtney Scraps Album: Courtney Love has reportedly scrapped an entire album recorded with pop songwriter Linda Perry. The Hole singer, who previously worked with Perry on 2004’s America’s Sweetheart LP, apparently ditched the record to work with British musician Micko Larkin.

Change Shmame: Several local figures including legal nut job Larry Lessig plans to support Obama’s plan. Larry ‘philosophical nutjob’ Lessig is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark and radio frequency spectrum. Do you know what that means my fellow artists? He doesn’t want you to get paid. There is a real sick psychology that exists that thinks getting paid for your art/creation is a mortal sin – and Lessig who is a staunch Obama supporter, is leading this crusade.

Lawsuit On Its Way: Dolly Parton intends to file a lawsuit against Howard Stern who manipulated recordings from one of her audio books into racist and sexually graphic sound bites. “I have never been so shocked, hurt and humiliated in all my life,” Parton said . “I cannot believe what Howard Stern has done to me. In a blue million years, I would never have such vulgar things come out of my mouth”. I’m thrilled Dolly is standing up for herself..

New Music: Local band based in the New Orleans, The Vettes, are getting airplay on WEZB (top 40). Upcoming film placements include MTV Movie Awards ’08’, Kill Theory, and “Final Destination 4”. Check out this video made by a fan.

Chicago Needs to Be Saved: Pete Wentz talks about Chicago’s promoters ordinance. As we mentioned yesterday, the city council of Chicago wants to bankrupt the local music community.

Recommended Listening: This Is It by Pete and J. These tracks are perfectly fitting for a soundtrack like Garden State or Juno. Hopefully these tracks will find a life of their own. Good songs, good dynamics and good songwriting…Can we say just good?

According to WIRED, Imeem has taken over Yahoo’s by becoming the No. 1 streaming music site in the United States.

New Anticipated Releases: Death Cab For Cutie’s new album, Narrow Stairs is out today. Pick up a copy at your local record store or pick up a digital copy at iTunes by clicking here. Death Cab is the benchmark for the indie bands, they got it down to a science. If you don’t believe us, just stream the album here..

10 Years new record, Division is out today. The album is #6 on the iTunes Chart and is expected to land in the top 15 on the Billboard album charts. Who said rock is dead? Rock is alive and well, just have to do it right. Pick up a copy on iTunes by clicking here.

Idol Ratings Continue To Slip: Even though American Idol ratings are slipping away, the show itself is still huge. Cowell suggests that the viewership may just be bored. We haven’t got the right personalities at the moment,” Simon Cowell told a reporter over the weekend. They’re “very media-savvy. They say the right things. They don’t argue with me. It’s too safe at the moment.”Things are too old-fashioned,” Cowell said.

TVT Records Set to Meet Its Maker? Pitbull, the top-10 rapper has been angry for months at both the label and its owner, Steve Gottlieb, and has even gone on the radio to urge listeners not to buy his 2007 release, “The Boatlift”. TVT Records is scheduled to be sold out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According The NY Post, “There are said to be about 30 investors weighing whether to make a bid on TVT. If the bidding is less than robust, unsecured creditors may only receive pennies on the dollar”. “I just want to make sure my artists are taken care of and I do right by my creditors,” Gottlieb said.

Rise Fast, Fall Hard: The queen of pop marketing wasn’t astute this time as in the past — or simply, her record company didn’t care since she was leaving. After one week, Madonna’s”Hard Candy” has fallen a whopping 71 percent in sales to No. 5 says Fox’s Roger Friedman.

But…

Leona Lewis “Bleeding Love” is a smash. And say what you will, but Lewis’ American success is directly related to Clive Davis and his team at J Records. Only in the record business would execs be dumb enough to tamper with that formula says Friedman.

Leeds Laid Off: Jeff Leeds the Los Angeles music biz reporter who wrote for The New York Times has been laid off. “I feel badly for him because he’s always had a good handle on his beat. He also writes regularly and breaks news. “It came as a surprise. H was upset to be cut,” an insider tells me. “But it’s an odd beat to cut because it’s not like there’s overlap”.

Thomas C. Rubin talks about the tremendous change in the media and entertainment industry at the 2008 Leadership in Media Forum.

The birth of the multimedia Internet, unlike previous technological changes, has been more like a giant comet strike upon the media ecosystem.

Are we creating a healthy and sustainable new media ecosystem for anyone, old or new?

“The facts suggest that the new ecosystem as presently configured is, in fact, not able to adequately sustain grassroots creators.

“Both the corporations and the kids, it seems, want the use of our music without having to pay for it. If musicians are to have a chance of enjoying a fruitful career, then we need to establish the principle of artists’ rights throughout the Internet – and we need to do it now.”

“The New York Times noted the decision had “incited talk of a revolution in the music industry.” Hardly. It’s not even the future of Radiohead. Just last week, without releasing sales figures, the band called the experiment “a one-off … moment in time” and announced they’d never do it again”.

“The problem is not confined to the music scene. Blogging site Valleywag recently cut the pay of bloggers by a third. And as for the creators of amateur video content, seemingly the web’s favorite medium, they are learning that while being an online video star is certainly fun, the reality is it just doesn’t pay”.

‘Can Anyone Survive In The New Media Environment‘ is a must read. We want to hear feedback and solutions…