My brother and I visited Elderly Music this past weekend. Wow, what a wonderful store. It was nice to see such a great selection of old, new, and NOS-type instruments all in a neat, old building. Friendly folks, too! I thought their prices were pretty good, too! Please check them out. I know that when I get enough clams together to buy my Taylor or Martin, I'll be giving them a call.

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I read a great deal (TechDirt.com, Slashdot.org, digg.com, others) of "on-line argument" this past weekend concerning Digital Rights Management (DRM), allofmp3.com, MP3 vs. lossless compression, and many more aspects to the world of internet-transferred music.

The Internet world is really buzzing with arguments about music, and the effects of Intellectual Property on music. There is a great deal of gnashing of teeth and twisting in the wind about unauthorized file sharing, selling compressed (vs. large lossless) files, companies in other countries that charge money to "sell" music for a fraction of the real cost (and, it seems from some posts, that don't pay anything to the artists), etc. Take a few minutes out to Google around and look at what people are saying.

I'm not going to espouse a particular opinion in this post about how I feel. I will, however, predict this: The music industry is evolving and will continue to do so for quite a while. Artists are already evolving pretty hard. Even I can make my music in my living room* and can distribute it with someone like CDBaby.com or even my own websites. It is astounding that Neil Young (not a negative towards Neil, a positive) can get in the studio, make a high-quality album, and have it out for people to hear within days!

I feel that the record companies need to really open their eyes, look forward to the future, and re-think their public position. I'm personally glad that record labels are out there - I just think that more money needs to be spent taking chances on new music and new artists (than on legalisms, public PR disaster battles, and only banking bands that can be played on the radio right now).

Anyway, to close, this is an exciting time for music! Enjoy the ride! Look to the indie sites for more cool sounds you might have never heard. isound.com, audiri.com, dmusic.com, purevolume.com, indie911.com, betarecords.com, and lots of others (I haven't ommitted anyone on purpose here, I've just listed the ones that seem to have lots of different and interesting stuff - plus, I'm tired of typing html code for links right now ;-).

*Footnote: there is no substitute for awesome producers, audio technicians, studio professionals and others who know how to make an album the right way. I feel that they are the unsung heroes of the music industry, and don't get enough credit for the work they do.