Keep On Rockin' in the Expensive, Not Free, World

I like the sentiment behind this opinion piece on the price of supporting arena rock, even if I don't always practice what the lady preaches. Nice thought (pity no staffer on the SMH came up with it.)

I like Neil but left it too late to buy tix. I have an aversion to the barn that is the Sydney Entertainment Centre and sitting in a seat near the roof. He's also playing the Big Day Out (headlining, no less) but I'm reluctant to endure that. I did hear BDO promoter Ken West on radio the other day talking about the decision to book Neil and had to laugh that he said it took a while for the Greendale Tour to slide from the memory.

How the record rack lost its groove, SMH style

I don’t know if this treatise by the Sydney Morning Herald’s Bernard Zuel on the state of the music industry adds a lot to the debate (it’s largely stating the bleeding obvious, for much of the way) but it’s a fair read. It's probably being hanging around for a week or so as one of those "timedless readsw" that newspapers roll out only when they have space.

The real questions though are how the industry needs to change and if it’s adept enough to do so.

Two more things:

- Bernard writes about “low profile” independent bands not needing the music industry but scarcely goes near anything that's not high-profile folk-pop in his reviews. And indie as he may be technically speaking, you’d hardly call John Butler “low profile”, would you?

- The SMH wouldn't know rock if it bit them on the arse.