Free Republic

For the past two years, the music industry has been watching a series of lawsuits centered on an obscure aspect of copyright law: whether the performers on older recordings should get royalties when their songs are played on digital radio services. One of those lawsuits was settled Friday when SiriusXM, the satellite radio provider, announced it would pay $210 million to the major record companies over its broadcasting of songs made before 1972. ...two years ago members of the 1960s band the Turtles, whose hits included “Happy Together” sued Sirius in three federal courts, saying their songs before 1972 were...

Ray Charles Sings "America The Beautiful", Happy 239th Birthday America!

The most patriotic rock song ever? Happy Independence Day! http://youtu.be/7DxiluEqB7U By freexband.com

Enjoy! Thanks for being MY country!!!

Former U.S. secretary of state and accomplished pianist Condoleezza Rice teamed up with Grammy-nominated concert violinist Jenny Oaks Baker to perform a wonderful rendition of Amazing Grace. Proceeds from the download at iTunes go to the Wounded Warriors Project:

Download “Amazing Grace” by Condoleezza Rice and Jenny Oaks Baker on iTunes: http://apple.co/1LElsTB All proceeds will be donated to the Wounded Warriors Project. Music video by Condoleezza Rice and Jenny Oaks Baker “Amazing Grace”. (C) 2015 Shadow Mountain Records.

Anyone seen the new Pixar movie Inside Out? What did you think? Something for 12yr olds? Would older adults like it?

Above: Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs. Image Credit: Universal After mounting a campaign earlier this year to burnish the legend of Steve Jobs, Apple insiders will likely be tearing out what’s left of their hair when a new biopic is released in October.The first official trailer released yesterday for Steve Jobs depicts the legend in full jerk mode. Humiliating employees, alienating cofounder Steve Wozniak, and denying paternity of his daughter, Lisa.Starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs and Seth Rogen as Wozniak, every frame of the two-minute trailer shows us an arrogant, smug Jobs.The portrayal shouldn’t be surprising given that the script was written by Aaron Sorkin and...

Miss USA pageant is rescued by Reelz. The annual beauty competition which is held by Miss Universe organization partly owned by Donald Trump was previously dropped by Univision and then NBC after the real estate tycoon made derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants. "The decision on the part of REELZ to acquire the rights to the Miss USA pageant was based on our belief that this special event, and the women who compete in it, are an integral part of American tradition," says Reelz's CEO Stan E. Hubbard in a statement. "As one of only a few independent networks, we decided...

Legendary German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler directs the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in this great interpretation of Mozart's wonderful Symphony No. 39. Recorded in Berlin, July 2, 1944.

Terminator Genisys” tries to squeeze blood from a corpse, and the ghastliness isn’t confined to its star. At least Arnold Schwarzenegger has clearly been assigned the task of comic relief as the guardian robot who is now called Pops by the heroine he was sent from the future to guard. The whole thing is moribund, notwithstanding vast spasms of action gibberish, and despite the intricacies of good and bad outcomes that have been plotted on alternate timelines. On an alternate line with a better outcome, this movie, which was directed by Alan Taylor, would never have been produced. Yet here...

Apple directors have been somewhat talkative over the weekend about the imminent release of Apple Music. Former Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers, who now works as a Senior Director of Apple Music, blogged about the product’s launch. He reminisces on the history of digital music and radio saying that seeing Apple Music on stage at WWDC ‘it was hard not to feel like the last 20+ years was leading to this day’.Interestingly, Apple will be releasing iOS 8.4 at 8 AM on June 30th which includes the newly revamped Music app to support Apple Music. This is slightly earlier than the usual 10...

I wrote this song about the events of the past few days. I could have been less polite. (With greatest respect, Robert A. Heinlein didn't know the half of it.) I write and record my music under the stage name "Hopalong Ginsberg." I considered using "Caitlynn Jenner," but I got a cease-and-desist letter from some geriatric tranny. For a free MP3 download of "Welcome to The Crazy Years," click here or click here.

Just wondering if it worth my time/money to go see it?

The term "Yacht Rock" did not exist during the time when Yacht Rock was at its peak (roughly 1976-1984). I believe the term came into common usage when, in the late 2000s, an obscure TV show of that same name celebrated that era in "mockumentary" fashion. Yet Yacht Rock is a perfect description of the smooth, polished pop songs that came out of recording studios during that era by artists like Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, Little River Band, and Boz Scaggs, just to name a few. When listening to this music, one can almost picture oneself plying the...

Chris Squire—the bassist, vocalist, and founding member of Yes—died last night following his battle with leukemia, according to a statement from the band. Since he started the group with Jon Anderson in 1968 until he was diagnosed with Acute Erythroid Leukemia in 2015, Squire was the only constant member of the group. He was 67. Squire grew up in central London, where, in 1964, he was suspended from school for having long hair. He played in a few bands in the 1960s, including the Selfs, the Syn, and Mabel Greer's Toyshop. It was through that last band that he met...

The James Gang of the 70's had some very presaging songs about what the socio-politics of their day would progress into in our time. Thanks Madness Kick Back Man And The Bomber: Closet Queen/Bolero

The undercover cops didn’t help the vibe, most of all for Moondog. They wore jeans and t-shirts and carried backpacks that made them look almost like everybody else, except not really. They wouldn’t talk to me as they scooped up the spoils of the copyright shakedown – pins and t-shirts – and Moondog, growing uglier by the second as he stood helplessly next to his camper, cursed out the Dead, mocked Bobby and Phil Lesh, then pledged to return next time with bags of heroin decorated with Jerry’s face. Ouch... Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart won’t...

A beautiful, funny, inspiring film about music superstar Glen Campbell's struggle with Alzheimer's disease before and throughout his sold-out "Goodbye Tour."

TO JUDGE by the crowds making their way to Glastonbury Festival on June 24th, it is a good time to be in the music industry. This week nearly 200,000 revellers set up camp across several fields in Somerset, where the festival has been held nearly every year since it first started as a small, hippyish event in 1970. Now hundreds of live bands and DJs will perform on 90 stages over five days. Each punter pays £225 ($353) for the experience, which, thanks to the damp British weather, tends to be a muddy one. Glastonbury is perhaps the most striking...