Brian's Music Musings

If you are familiar with Dick Plotkin's Debra label CD releases by the Aquatones, and other groups, you may or may not know that there was a Debra label in the late 1950's. From the Wilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania, Near You was the first record as by Dick And The Halos. They re-formed as the Precisions with Sweet Dreams, and then a female group called the Gales did Tommy for the Debra label. It's somewhat complicated, but the Precisions became the Palisades, and recorded Chapel Bells as Debra 1003 in 1962. The problem was that someone already had that name, so it was unavailable. Apparently the research was done after they pressed a small initial run that was reported to be 100 copies. The first thing they did was print some new labels - of which I have only seen as DJ typed on them - and pasted them over the labels that said Palisades. They didn't get them all, as the picture shows, but on their next pressing, they were all stock copies showing the new name, the Magics. Several thousand of those were made, and the record had some good regional action including airplay on WKBW in Buffalo New York. So there are three ways to find the record. First as the Palisades, next with a Magics label pasted over it, and lastly as the Magics. See my page for a couple Debra records. The Palisades will be there soon.

A reprieve for Internet radio. But only a stay while details are worked out. I don't read it as a total win, as the amount of royalties to be paid still has to be negotiated. No doubt in my mind that Soundexchange blinked. Over the next 3 months talks will continue to hammer out the rates, and the question(s) remain, just what triggered the decision? Could it have been that Congress, though no that close to proposing a bill, was attempting to draft a bill that would be fair? Did Soundexchange catch a clue and realize that when 1000's of stations stopped broadcasting, they would certainly be considered the bad guy? I'm not sure it's either of those. By granting a reprieve, it allows the talks between the two parties, which could really get heated. It also allows Congress to continue either working on their legislation, or at the very least, watching those said negotiations. Now is not the time to remove pressure from your Congressman, since this is far from over. Internet radio broadcasters and listeners can breathe easier, but it's just temporary until this plays out -all the way.

An interesting side note to Internet radio: I have seen several articles published TODAY where the authors did not o their research, and had no idea about the temporary agreement that was reached. I would be fairly embarrassed to publish an article about a Major event, without realizing the latest news.

I was pre-empted on my radio show last night. Our station broadcasted the Worldfest, live, for the day. I'll be back next week for sure. I'm also hoping to have an interview air in a couple weeks. I had the pleasure to talk to Al Sanchez of the Storytellers of Los Angeles. They made just one record that was pressed on two different labels.