Today is environmental support day via the Blog Action Network so I thought that I’d post something about some environmentally friendly musical organizations. Aside from the big names like Bono, many artist support causes ranging from children’s health to the environment – here’s a starting list of organizations harnessing musicians to support the environment.

M.U.S.E. – Musicians United to Support the Environment. An umbrella group of musicians who travel the country, sell CDs and do events to support the environment. www.musemusic.org.
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Even though it is cliche’ to say The Boss is Back, I’m going to write it anyhow. Oh, by the way – he’s brought the band with him and created the most rockin’ Bruce album in quite a while. More guitars, more saxophone, more bangin’ drums and keys. Me likey! Bruce’s voice is more seasoned (as if that was possible) but strong. The songwriting is tight and the melodies fierce. Some of the songs like Livin’ in the Future could be right off the River. The first single Radio Nowhere establishes the pace of the album and general disillusionment with everything. Some of the songs are a little downish, like Your Own Worst Enemy, slow up the mojo but it’s quickly overcome by the ehteral to grinding Gypsy Biker. Definitely one of Bruce’s best in a long time and worth a listen. Signup for a free trial of Rhapsody and listen to Magic and all of Bruce’s other albums for free.

I’ve just added a new page in the How To’s section that describes how to create and burn a custom CD with Rhapsody. When RealNetworks acquired Rhapsody 4 years ago, one of the things they were able to add to the Rhapsody client was a really nice CD burning technology that is available in the premium version of RealPlayer. The CD Burner in Rhapsody creates a really good sounding, well balanced CD that burns in a .CDA format which is the widely distributed version in standard CDs. Click here to read how to burn a custom CD with Rhapsody.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) free MP3s are the same sort of buy it/use it where you want type music files you get when you buy a CD. As long as you are using it for personal purposes, not re-selling or swapping in the peer to peer networks – they are totally legal eagle. Better yet, because they are in DRM free universal MP3 format – they play on ipods, Sandisks or any MP3 playing device without the need for re-coding – FREE AT LAST! This is hot on the heels of releases by both iTunes and Walmart for selling DRM files – however there are some big differences. The table above helps separate the wheat from the chaff on what’s what.

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A ton of small businesses like chiropractors, doctors, espresso stands, taverns and retail need music to create the atmosphere for the customers and keep the employees pumped up. To get the right music into your establishment you basically have six options:
1) You plug a tuner into your sound system and listen to the radio.
Pros: Free, options from various type of stations, variety of music
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Rhapsody has the new Ann Wilson album, Hope & Glory, as an exclusive and it’s worth a listen. Ann’s voice is as strong as ever and she has a slew of people helping her out on 10 of the 12 tracks. If you are expecting Heart part II, don’t bother. The songs are much more melodic and richly textured than Ann’s boogie guitar roots. KD Lange helps out on Goodbye Blue Sky and Jackson which are slow burners better for a Sunday morning than a Saturday Night. Wynonna shows up on “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Get Together”. While I’ve always loved Heart, can’t say that I love this album. I would have liked to hear some more original songs (hers or others) rather a re-interpretation of some classic rock cuts although I do really like the Blue Grassy version of “Bad Moon Rising” with Gretchen Wilson. Ann still has the chops, but doesn’t do these songs justice. I give the album a C-. Listen for yourself at http://www.rhapsody.com/annwilson/hopeglory and see if it’s worth buying.

Thanks to the partnership with Viacom, we’re seeing some new music channels that we’re digging. I’m loving the TGIF Blues channel – lots of fun classic blues like Albert King, The Kinsey Report, Lonnie Brooks and Ruth Brown. They even throw in some Cream and Blues Brothers – Yes! My wife is enjoying the VH1 – I Love the 80′s channel. She is re-living her party peak with tunes from The Smithereens, Talk Talk, Pet Shop Boys and Sinead O’Conner. There is also a CMT (country music television) channel, VH1 Classic (Jackson Browne, INXS, The Byrds). All nice adds to the channel guide at Rhapsody.com!

I met Luciano Pavarotti in Vienna in the fall of 1986. I was a college exchange student in the EIS program when Bob Funk and I went from major hotel to major hotel in the city looking for a bar that had cold beer and was showing American football on TV. We stumbled into the Sheraton which was just off the Karnterstrasse and while investigating how cold the beer was we noticed a large glassed in room on the far side of the lobby. In the glassed in room was a gleaming black Piano, a small pianist and a larger than life Pavarotti, warming up for a performance of La Boheme at the Vienna Opera House later that week. Being a couple of young knuckle heads – we finished our beers and walked over to get a closer look. Fortunately, we had a camera with us and when we caught his eye we showed him the camera and he nodded his head. We waited about 15 minutes for him to finish and was very kind to take a picture with us and chat a bit. He seemed much taller from far away but was only 5′ 9″ or so but big around! He told us that he was performing and that we should see the opera and experience the music in the historic Vienna Opera House. We thanked him and left. But there’s more.

We learned later that day that in the Vienna Opera House, the royal boxes had been turned into standing room only sections. By arriving at the Opera House early in the day and waiting in a line on the side of the building, you could buy a very inexpensive ticket (about $14 dollars back then), enter around 4pm, secure your spot in the standing room only area with a scarf or coat wrapped around the railings in the box area, go get dinner, then return in time to see the show. It was fantastic! We ended up seeing 5 operas while in Vienna during that semester and I’ve been a low budget fan ever since.
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I’ve always liked Ben Harper, but never loved him. I saw him a few years ago at Bumbershoot and thought the whole lap guitar playing thing was fun and it was a boppin’ show, but never felt the urge to get his music. That’s changes with his new album – Lifeline. He’s a talented guitar player for sure, but his voice has gotten more textured and his music has a nicer groove – he sounds a lot more like Otis Redding than ever before. Less is more for Ben. Songs you have to hear are: Needed You Tonight (slow burner), Say You Will (great summer song) and Put it on me (major taste of funk and Ben’s guitar playin’ – hot!). Check him out on Rhapsody

The creation of Rhapsody American joins RealNetworks, MTV Networks (a division of Viacom) and Verizon Wireless in creating a broad scale offering of the music subscription service model. Up until now, Rhapsody has remained a relatively niche product compared to the mammoth that is iTunes/iPod. I’ve always felt that the Rhapsody model is superior from the stand point of enjoying lots of music for a low monthly price, but have always found it lacking in marketing muscle (when was the last time you saw a Rhapsody ad on the side of a bus?). Rhapsody, the service, is also harder to describe to someone whereas you can immediately understand iTunes. I like this deal for a number of reasons:
1) It gives Rhapsody access to the MTV Networks and their marketing clout. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot of GOOD Rhapsody ads come out. I like Eric Clapton and all, but the last set of ads I saw about Rhapsody and Sansa were lame.
2) Rhapsody goes mobile by getting on Verizon handsets and service. Verizon has it’s own 3G network and a relatively tight operating system/backend system combination making it easier to roll out new products and services across the network of it’s million of subscribers.
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