Monday, May 31, 2010

[Zebra_Trucks] Windows Media Player scrobbler fail.

 

Dear various Last.fm email addresses (none of them being the one that I really want - "support@last.fm"):

I think it's a MISTAKE to make it so hard to get tech support. This is so often the case when a website goes corporate.

My problem is simple. When I play something on Windows Media Player on a Vista platform (a pretty standard approach to playing music on one's computer, I would think) it does't scrobble. I thought I might simply reinstall the plug-in.

Boy, have things become complicated since the last time I checked in!  I went to the "build" pages dedicated to scrobblers, and found three pages for all kinds of esoteric (to an old fart like me, anyway) devices and systems, but I didn't see one download that would work for Windows Media Player. There was a link for one that would turn Windows Media Player into a last.fm player - I thought it might do what I wanted it to do, but the link was no good.

The forums look to be pretty useless - lots of questions, and not one response that I could see. Anyway, I don't want a peer-to-peer dialogue, I want some good old fashioned tech support.

I was going to start paying for the last.fm service - I hear there's lots of new things on the horizon, but it's brand loyalty and nostalgia as much as anything... you introduced me to tons of new music, and even to some dear, dear freinds (I'm in a band with one of them now). But the whole site is getting harder to navigate through, and when nothing I scrobble shows up on it, it's more and more alienating and impersonal.  I want to be loyal to you, but you have to be loyal to your users, too.

Yours,

Matt Love

PS: what the heck, I'll add "support@last.fm" on the slim chance it exists, even though you don't advertise it.

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Sunday, May 30, 2010

[Zebra_Trucks] Fun on Facebook

 

It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt....


Matt Love

Matt Love We crushed it at the Highlands Neighborhood Festival. The entire audience (both Anne AND Monica) went crazy. I'll be auctioning the set list off on Ebay.

Yesterday at 3:26pm · · ·
Richard Mott likes this.
Robert Hayes
Robert Hayes
How long can you maintain this high-amperage rocker lifestyle, Matt?
Yesterday at 3:32pm ·
Matt Love
Matt Love
I've promised to go anywhere in the world to play for 3 or more people: http://www.youtube.com/mattlove1#p/u/7/8M05c46wdXU but I may have to hang it up if I have too many more audiences of 2 or less. I'm playing "The Ugly American" but so far only in Brazil and Canada. I want to take it back to the homeland. Don't taze me, bro!
Yesterday at 9:13pm ·
Georgeanne Olive
Georgeanne Olive
Rock on Matt!!
4 hours ago ·
Matt Love
Matt Love
As promised, the set list is now available as an eBay auction item:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170493174267&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT
I am pleased after the success of our Indie Rockers For Haiti event to be able to offer this item in the name of charity. 100% of revenues will go to the British Petroleum Legal Defense Fund. Bid early, bid often!
2 seconds ago ·




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Friday, May 28, 2010

Updates in Your Groups, May 28, 2010

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[Zebra_Trucks] Fwd: State Of The Industry

 

At our favorite local chain bookstore, they used to have a big, boxed-in section in the middle of the store devoted to CDs.  Last time I was in, they've eliminated the whole thing they just have a couple of shelves now, with about as much selection as you'd find at Starbucks.

They've moved the music magazines to the lower shelves. They put the extreme fighting and physical culture magazines at eye-level. 

I had to kind of awkwardly kneel down on the floor to get at the magazines... I picked up a copy of "Uncut" and "Classic Rock Presents Prog." 

When I got to the checkout, I had a familiar feeling of unease and embarassment. I later identified it as the feeling I used to get when I was in high school, buying comic books. 

I made a conscious decision when I started dating and courting popularity, to get out of comics and into rock music, because I didn't want to be a nerd anymore.

It was successful, and it worked for me for a long time, but I realize now that excessive prooccupation with rock music has become just another way of being a nerd. 

I'm glad I didn't stay a prog fanatic, this stuff is as risible as heavy metal.  But I kind of suspect that any genre of rock music will look at least faintly absurd if you look too closely.

Bob is right, people don't care much.  He says it's the quality of the music. Sounds like old fart talk to me, I think music is better than ever. I think that market and technological and cultural forces are pulling musicians down off Mount Olympus, where we put them for a few brief, abnormal decades, and they are back in the service sector with cab driver and waiters.

It's probably better for society and the musicians themselves to not be viewed as superhuman... but newspaper venders and sanitation workers can't give us a glimpse of a transcendent reality as the best cultural workers can...

What now?  Do you know? I don't have a clue.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bob Lefsetz <bob@lefsetz.com>
Date: Fri, May 28, 2010 at 2:23 PM
Subject: State Of The Industry
To: mattlove1@gmail.com

People just don't care.

Every day I get e-mail castigating me that I've pissed on someone's favorite act, or haven't given enough coverage to another.  I don't doubt that you like these acts, but what fascinates me is most people don't.  Music is now niche.  Kind of like knitting or needlepoint, but a bit bigger.

Maybe we'll spread the analogy to sports.  Music is tennis.  Gargantuan decades ago, most people just don't care today.  Billie Jean King, Jimmy Connors, even McEnroe...  Today we've got Federer and Nadal and I can't tell them apart and might turn on a match once a year, whereas I used to watch religiously.  But now there are few stars.  Few personalities.  And on the men's side, the game has become so damn fast as to be something completely different, the same way music veered off into hip-hop and divadom and most people stopped caring.  Sure, some people cared, but relatively few, otherwise Mariah Carey would be selling out arenas every night, and she's not, and a rapper other than Jay-Z could do 20,000 a night too.

Or maybe we should look at golf.  There's one superstar, Tiger Woods, getting the whole nation golf-crazy, but if he's not playing, viewership drops dramatically.  Sure, Phil Mickelson is a great golfer, but only golf devotees care about him, the average citizen might know his name and nothing more.

We're under the illusion that music is king, that it drives the culture, but it's not.  Music has become the sideshow.  Even on "American Idol"...does anybody expect Lee DeWyze to make it?  We're interested in the comings and goings of Simon Cowell, not the contestants.  Sure, music is featured on the show, OLD MUSIC!

And many people will go to hear old music live.  But fewer each year at higher prices.  After you've heard that famous act do its hits live, do you really need to go back?  And the old acts are truly in it for the money, they've got no dignity, otherwise, why would they be shilling on TV, appearing on "American Idol"...I'm stunned they didn't lobby for a crawl with a link to tickets.  Then again, everybody knows you go to ticketmaster.com for an experience you endure, but hate.

This business will not be vital again until there's a stable of stars, hopefully a plethora that people follow and want to see.  And it would be great if they had something to say, if they were three-dimensional.  GaGa is a start.  Sure, she's got train-wreck value, but people believe there's substance underneath, and it's not what you think, it's what they think.  Then, who else?

Everybody else lives and dies on the hit single.  If Christina Aguilera had fans, she'd be able to sell tickets without airplay.  But she needs hits to get bodies into seats.  In the old days, bands could tour without hits whatsoever.  But that was back when music drove the culture, when you knew the players like sports team members, when you had to go to the show, when you were addicted to the radio.

The radio.  And then MTV.  They centralized focus.  They delivered a platform for star-building.  Someone left of center could get exposure and make it.  Like Culture Club.  MTV broke Boy George big, radio followed.  But FM radio built Hendrix and Cream, the music was so exciting you listened every night.  Because everyone was different, everyone was testing limits, everybody wasn't the same.  And if you don't think everybody's the same today, try listening to Top Forty radio.

So where do we go from here?

Attention without substance is worthless.  In other words, if you shoot someone, we'll all know your name, but soon we'll be on to the next headline.

The audience demands universality, something mainstream.  And mainstream does not mean compromised, it means quality!  Something so good that it cannot be denied!  Do you really think people care about a black/Asian golfer?  Of course not, what drew people to Tiger was his ability, his greatness!  So you've got a band that you like, are they so good that you can drag almost anybody to see them and they'll like them too?  If not, they're niche.

But, like I said, the whole business is niche.  Labels believe if file-trading is stopped, an impossibility, sales will go up dramatically.  I doubt it.  People don't care about music that much, they're satisfied with free YouTube play.  And certainly most people don't care about the individual acts purveyed...how do we get them to care?

It would be great if there were a Website, like Yahoo or Amazon or Google, actually more like the Huffington Post, to focus attention and build acts.  But the site builders are only interested in money, not music, and therefore they focus on advertising, everything but the consumer experience.  MySpace had a music focus, but its user interface sucked, still, how come every year there's a new Net phenomenon, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and there's never one solely music based?  Ever think about that?

The new Spotify is great, the social-networking elements trump iTunes, playlist sharing with instant listening ability is so cool...but it still doesn't solve the problem that we're lacking hit acts.

I don't want a world of endless niches.  It's incomprehensible.

And the public doesn't want one either.  Which is why sales are so damn bad.  It's not like they just invented a new file-trading technique.  No, most people can live without the music that's being sold.

You solve the problem the way you always have, with hit music.  And the public doesn't believe today's music is full of hits.  Their opinion, not yours.  If you're happy in your private little backwater, salivating in front of the stage before your favorite niche act, fine.  But you're not, because you keep telling everybody they should like your act too.

But most people are never going to like the Hold Steady, the National or the Black Keys.  Never gonna happen.  And the fact that you're a big fan and react to my point by going ballistic and e-mailing me does not solve the problem.  I like "The Deadliest Catch", shouldn't you?  No, that's too mainstream...  I like A&E's "Intervention"...shouldn't you?  No, that's pretty successful too.  You can watch either of them even if you've never fished or never been addicted, because they've got underlying human elements that appeal to all.  That's the way music used to be.  And it's not that way now.


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Thursday, May 20, 2010

[Zebra_Trucks] Video: Matt Love - How do you Manage

 




YouTube Help Centre | email options | report spam

mattlove1 has shared a video with you on YouTube:

a classic from the golden age of matt love music
A great video by Dellani Lima of my song "How Do You Manage." I want to thank David Chamberlain for his great production, backup vocals, playing, arrangement.... he turned that sow's ear into a silk purse, boy howdy! Thank you also to the fabulous Grufs for their super playing on this song.

Check out more of Dellani's great vids on his channel: http://youtube.com/dellanilima
Also, more Matt Love songs at:
http://www.soundclick.com/mattlove
© 2010 YouTube, LLC
901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

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[Zebra_Trucks] Re: [progressive] LA Times 5/19/10: Elvis Costello cancels Tel Aviv concerts as 'matter of conscience'

 

The critics have their point... why sign a contract, then pull out?  It took him this long to figure out there are problems there?

Maybe he should have done a Paul Simon, go and perform with an all Palestinian band, and then go one better than Paul Simon and denounce Israeli apartheid from the stage.

Of course, that might get a guy shot.

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 10:01 PM, Rick Kisséll wrote:
 

Elvis Costello cancels Tel Aviv concerts as 'matter of conscience'

by Meris Lutz in Beirut
The Los Angeles Times
5/19/10

What's so funny about peace, love and understanding? Nothing for Israeli fans of Elvis Costello who will not see the legend perform in Tel Aviv this summer after he canceled all scheduled shows there, citing concerns over the treatment of Palestinians.

"There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act ... and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent," Costello wrote on his website.

"I must believe that the audience for the coming concerts would have contained many people who question the policies of their government on settlement and deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security," the statement continued. "I hope it is possible to understand that I am not taking this decision lightly. ... It is a matter of instinct and conscience."

Reactions in Israel have ranged from disappointment to outrage.

Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat lashed out at Costello, saying: "An artist boycotting his fans in Israel is unworthy of performing here," according to Ynetnews, the website of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Ariana Melamed, also writing for Ynet, said that although she understood and even respected artists who chose to boycott Israel over the occupation, to pull out after the contracts had been signed and tickets had gone on sale was hypocritical.

"After all, the occupation and oppression did not start all of a sudden, exactly in the period between the start of ticket sales and the show, right?" she wrote.

"The belated discovery of the local reality shows that the boycotters-cancellers actually have no ongoing interest in the state of human rights around here, but rather, a momentary interest in a politically correct label," she continued, adding that Costello did not call off shows in the United States and England after the start of the Iraq war.

Costello is one of several high-profile artists to cancel appearances in Israel this summer, including Gil Scott-Heron and Santana.

Scott-Heron and Costello, in particular, are known for their socially conscious lyrics and activism, making them vulnerable to accusations of hypocrisy for playing in Tel Aviv while Israel continues to occupy Palestinian lands.

Scott-Heron, who wrote the well-known "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," was one of the leading proponents of the boycott against apartheid-era  South Africa, which many pro-Palestinian activists had likened to Israel.

The artists may have been influenced by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, a broad movement calling for a boycott of Israel that has gained momentum since 2005 and persuaded a number of artists, universities and institutions to sever ties with Israel.

Sarah Colborne of the U.K.-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told the Guardian that Costello's decision was a sign the movement was working.

"We are increasingly seeing artists taking a stand against allowing themselves to be used by the Israeli state to normalize their occupation and apartheid policies against Palestinians," she said, according to the Guardian. "Principled artists understood it was unacceptable to play under the apartheid South African regime in Sun City."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/05/israel-elvis-costello-cancels-tel-aviv-concert-concerns-of-treatment-of-palestinians.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BabylonBeyond+%28Babylon+%26+Beyond+Blog%29




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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

[Zebra_Trucks] More Relentless Self Promotion

 

A guy in Brazil expressed interest in making a video of one of my songs, but he said he was having difficulty finding any of my music on the web.  Oh, dear!  I thought I was relentlessly self-promoting.

Well, here is a list of some of the music projects I've worked on in recent times, roughly in order based on which ones I had the most to do with writing the music, which ones I like the best, which ones I think need more exposure, etc.


The videographer said he does music videos as art, not as business. That certainly sounds good to me, these songs were certainly for the most part not created as business, I tried for art (you can judge whether I made it or not!) so I certainly support / believe in his approach.


1. Matt Love http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=83608
2. Remote Possibility http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=681303
3. Blood Paradise http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=104664
4. Mr Roboto http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=187657
5. The Frost Heaves http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=809122
6. The Mystic Knights of the Ooga Chakka http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=913509
7. Wayne N Cheeze http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=831458
8. Petrichor http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=786098
9. The Mere Mortals http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=819693
10. Tiny Little Pea http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=893120
11. Waiters http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=794496
12. The Blue Skype Boys http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=706909
13. Blind Kiwi Fillmore http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=824484
14. Children of the Grave http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=640382
15. Ernest Youngman http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=517202
16. Homeless Goats http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=329144
17. Manta Man http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=636013
18. Pseudojandek http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=430098
19. RxR http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=302257
20. That Stupid Love Experience http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=840364
21. The Farewell Project http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=1007663
22. The Extra Virgins http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=327304
23. The Mousetrap Project http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=503020
24. Wimps http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=540543
25. Big Baby and Dog Boy http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=634732
26. Knucklehead http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=294301
27. Song Poet http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=337249
28. The Cringeworthies http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=731077



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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

[Zebra_Trucks] Better than the Donnas and the Ramones put together

 



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Today I have launched a new project.  I have made friends with 12 guys named Matt Love on Facebook. I know at least two of them are musicians.  This is the message I sent them today:


You may wonder why I have gathered you here together...



Between Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love, Matt Love and You



Matt Love May 12 at 6:40pm

I don't know how this will look in your inbox, but I have addressed this message to 12 (with me, 13, an auspicious number) Facebook friends named "Matt Love." I have gone out of my way to befriend people I don't know but that have the same name as I do because I have long dreamed of forming a virtual band made up entirely of people named "Matt Love." It would go one better than the Donnas and the Ramones, in that we would all have both the same first AND last names, and best of all, it would be our name. I don't know about you guys, but I was born with this name, and I'm fond of it.

By "virtual" I mean we would write and perform music long distance. I have done this several times, and have a few ongoing projects (including a band called "The Waiters" made up of me and musicians in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I have since traveled there 3 times and performed live with them on several occasions, so who knows where this might lead?!?). I know a couple of you guys self-identify as musicians. For all I know, others of you might play a bit of spoons, or kazoo... anybody who shows a desire will be included.

Assuming people are interested in this project, we have guitarists and bassists. There are a couple of Matt Loves on Facebook that play drums, but I don't think either has answered my friend request.

I think this could result in a certain amount of fame or at least notoriety. However, it's only a matter of time before other people think of this idea, so who's with me? Let's start writing and recording, what do you say?



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