Live Music Explodes Across Multiple Platforms

There has been a recent flush of new activity surrounding live music capturing , EMI announcing their new arm dedicated to recording shows and making them available afterwards (Pixies), U2, Foo Fighters, Wilco and Shakira offering webcasts of their performances, Universal/Sony creating VEVO, an online video destination, AEG announcing their relationship with a 3D film maker and distributor to release performances from their festivals and recently EMI announced a relationship with Hulu with their artist Norah Jones airing a performance from NYC venue Le Poisson Rouge.

What does all this mean? For the fans of these artists it is a fantastic way to stay connected to your bands. For the labels I think it's a pitch to try to save their businesses and for the artists that are associated with it, please make sure your manager and lawyer haven't made the costs of capturing these events be cross-collateralized against your recoupables as a promotion and marketing cost.

I think these moves are great, I only hope they create the runway for artists that could truly benefit from these platforms. To put it in perspective, Total Live Music's current data base consists of over 77K artists having close to 1.7M events performed in over 125K venues from around the world and we have only just begun!

While I'm glad to see the likes of Dave Matthews and Ben Harper utilizing these platforms, it's the up and coming artists that could truly benefit. Time will tell if that does become the case.

The Dead Weather Book Pacific Rim Dates for Spring

The Dead Weather, featuring Jack White, have announced some upcoming dates in March performing in New Zealand, Australia and Japan. For ticket and show info follow the band link.

RJD2 to Headline US Club Tour in 2010

RJD2 will be performing in the US in 2010 in 28 cities on the east and midwest. Beginning in Washington DC on Jan. 9 at the famous 9:30 Club the tour will wind around the east and end in Urbana, IL on Feb. 20. For those in New York, he will be in a support slot at Terminal 5 on Nov. 28. Touring and ticketing info can be found here.

Dirty Projectors To Perform With Los Angeles Philharmonic

The Brooklyn band Dirty Projectors are scheduled to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA on Feb. 27 of next year. Following in the current trend of young upcoming artists playing with a city's Philharmonic, frontman Dave Longstreth will also help choose orchestral pieces for the Philharmonic to perform. Tickets and other info are available via the band link above.

Yo La Tengo Eliminates Ticket Surcharges

Yo La Tengo has taken positive steps by eliminating ticket surcharges on the sale for their upcoming run of dates in middle-America in January. Although sometimes this means "burying the fees" in the overall price, fans will be happy to note most tickets cost $20 or less. For the list of dates and the ability to buy tickets please go here

Wilco: Live from Amsterdam

For those of you who may have missed Wilco perform via webcast from the The Paradiso in Amsterdam today they will have it archived for viewing here

Sights with Sounds: Ben Gibbard/Jay Farrar

Ben Gibbard/Jay Farrar

Although I find the album a bit sleepy, this recorded performance from the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. on October 27, 2009 is fantastic!