Not a good time to be in the GOLD RECORD business. The Wall Street Journal profiled Darryl Sage who owns a company in NJ that makes awards for gold and platinum records. Small businesses like Ill-Eagle Enterprises and Jewel Box Platinum, a supplier of gold-record awards in Los Angeles, are some of the victims of the massive downturn in record sales.

With sales slowing, the RIAAÂ last year certified just 407 albums and singles as gold or platinum — down from 976 in 1999.

“We only work four days a week now,” says Michael Goldstein, a partner in Dejay Products. “We used to do 50% of the business in the ’80s with MCA Records,” he says, making awards for records by Bobby Brown, Tom Petty, Elton John, Boston and others. “I was walking in the office twice a week to deliver or pick up stuff.”

The record sale slump has caused the GOLD record making business to venture into NEW businesses.

“We had to learn how to make money again,” he says. “If you told me eight years ago when I was partying backstage that I would be making art prints, I would have laughed.”

In other news……………….

UPDATE: Concerns Emerge Over iTunes User Data…

New Study claims that physical product revenue will drop 61% by 2009……

Legitimate physical sales of music (LPs, cassettes, CDs, DVD audio, and so on) have been falling or remaining stagnant this decade and the $29.3 billion in worldwide sales the industry raked in last year is expected to fall 61% to $18 billion by 2009, according to a joint study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Canadian metal act Arise and Ruin has signed to Victory Records.

Do your ears hurt when you listen to new music on your ipod?

Why do records sound much different/better in the 90’s rather than today?

Well, you can thank the producers today and some of the A&R guys that are left who think LOUDER means BETTER, of course this is a MYTH. But with knowledge, comes power. This can change.

Music Chiefs were blasted last night for using computer wizardry to make new albums louder than ever.

Producers are artificially enhancing sound levels as they believe the noisier a record is, the more copies it will sell.

Music lovers say some tracks are now so distorted they can make listeners feel nauseous.

And Britain’s leading studio engineers have launched a campaign to make records range in levels to avoid one loud blur.

Among records blasted by engineers is the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication which some branded “unlistenable”. An online petition has even been launched to have it “remastered”.

Other albums slated by studio experts are works by Oasis, the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen.

Peter Mew, senior mastering engineer at London’s Abbey Road Studios — where The Beatles made many of their hits — said: “Record companies are competing in an arms race to make their album the loudest. The quieter parts are becoming louder and the loudest parts are just becoming a buzz. This could be the reason CD sales are in a slump.”

Geoff Emerick, an engineer on the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s album, said: “A lot of what is released today is basically a scrunched up mess.

“Whole layers of sound are missing. It’s because record companies don’t trust listeners to decide themselves if they want to turn the volume up.”

Singing legend Bob Dylan, said: “Modern records are atrocious. There’s no definition of anything — just static.”

On another note, producers today like artists are much different than YESTERDAY. Many producers today are more or less engineers. Do you remember producer Mutt Lange? (Def Leppard, AC/DC, The Cars, Bryan Adams, Romeo’s Daughter,The Corrs). He is the real deal, hands down.

Check out the production of Back and Black. The personality, the tones….It feels so good. Mutt is one of the best.

Â

Apple has embedded personal information into music files bought from its iTunes online music store. Techonology websites and computer geeks discovered that personal data, including the name and e-mail addresses of purchasers, are embedded into the AAC files that Apple uses to distribute music tracks.

The information is also included in tracks sold under Apple’s iTunes Plus system, launched this week, where users pay a premium for music that is free from the controversial digital rights (DRM) software that is designed to safeguard against piracy.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation, the online consumer rights group, added that it had identified a large amount of additional unaccounted-for information in iTunes files. It said it was possible that the data could be used to “watermark” tracks so that the original purchaser could be tracked down were a track to appear on a file-sharing network.

Is Apple using steganography to include personal information about the buyer’s account as a way of tracing illegally shared files?

Of course you didn’t see this in the latest APPLE Press Release.

Melissa Mathes who hails from nashville has been dubbed by some as a female version of Tom Petty”. From an early age of 11, Melissa was busy preparing to make her mark as she appeared on Ed McMahon’s “Star Search.” She has since sang the National Anthem for former President Bill Clinton, compared high notes with Mariah Carey, and performed along side such artists as John Denver, Ray Charles, Sheryl Crow, Cheap Trick and The Dixie Chicks.

Melissa Mathes has already collaborated with some of the best in the business, including Danny Wilde (The Rembrandts), Sammy Llanas (The BoDeans), Joe Puerta (Bruce Hornsby, Ambrosia), The Warren Brothers (RCA), Victor Delorenzo (Violent Femmes), Joe Pisapia (Guster), John Deaderick (Patty Griffin) and Daniel Tashian (The Bees) to name a few.

When asked about the future, Melissa stated, “Music has become something spiritual to me. It’s my way to give myself. I want to practice on it, expand on it, explore through it, and share it, to move people. That is my art.”

Check out the track Waiting For Your Life to Start , I Wont Worry and Cool Down the Mercury.

Next Show:
Jun 19 – The Basement (Nashville, TN)

For more info, contact Karl Rybacki at Songwise Music