Last week on Accident Hash, C.C Chapman did a very interesting interview with Munk. Munk had some very interesting things to say about the music industry. Basically, he is making a good living as a full time musician, with no big label record deal, and no real physical distribution. He said that he may well never release another physical CD. He records all his music at home with a laptop computer, simple mixer, his guitars, bass and keyboards. He also has someone play drums sometimes. Take a listen to Munk’s music, you can hear it at emusic. It sounds as good as anything ever recorded in a big studio. The big music companies sign bands then take them into an expensive studio to record. Once the CD is released the costs of recording, promotion and distribution get deducted from the band’s royalties. The dirty secret of the music industry is that the vast majority of bands with recording contracts with labels never actually make a dime from record sales and often end up owing the label money. If they make any money at all it is from ticket and merchandise sales. Today with digital recording and downloads of music, a musician or band can record their own stuff and then distribute it on-line for a tiny fraction of the cost of actually pressing cds and getting them into stores, where many of them may sit unsold. There is also the issue of payola (money that record labels pay to radio stations for airplay).

Munk has bypassed this system completely. He sells his music directly through sites like emusic, itunes, and cdbaby. He has also had his music played on commercials and TV shows like The Sopranos. His songs have gotten lots of play on podcasts, and he doesn’t have to pay podcasters to play them. Go listen to the interview and you can hear what he has to say and also hear some of his music.

Brian Ibbott was one of the earliest music podcasters back in the fall in 2004. Brian had a distinct twist to his show though. His show is called Coverville and he plays covers exclusively. He found a way to legally play licensed music by playing the ASCAP/BMI fees because the songs are all cover versions. He does his show three times a week and typically plays 5-6 songs per show. Some shows have a special theme and he also does “cover story” shows where he plays covers of songs originally done by one artist. Some recent cover story shows included one where he played covers of Nick Lowe songs and another of covers of Johnny Cash songs. Brian manages to find some incredibly obscure covers of well known songs. A lot of the songs are really good, but some of them are really atrocious. Some of the more interesting songs I have heard on the show include Don Ho doing his rendition of the Peter Gabriel hit Shock the Monkey and Phyllis Diller covering (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

Brian’s two most recent shows were truly good for a laugh. Last Saturday on April 1, he released his first episode of Originalville which includes a marvelous rendition of the Men without Hats classic Safety Dance. You really need to listen to this one all the way through to get the full impact. Check it out, it’s worth it. Then yesterday Brian did an interview with Richard Cheese. Richard does lounge renditions of hit songs, including a peppy mambo version of Sunday, Bloody Sunday by U2. Richard is a very funny guy. Go over to Coverville and peruse the archives. I’m sure you’ll find some fun surprises in there.

I was listening to Insomnia Radio #69 the other day heard something really amazing. Lorenzo’s Music is a band I’ve heard on quite a few music podcasts over the past year. The band has really latched on to podcasting, and have come to the realization that the more people hear their music, the more they can make money by getting people ot shows, selling merchandise, and selling cds. They have realized that people sharing music is actually a good promotional vehicle. Because of this they have decided to make all three of their cd’s available for free download under a creative commons non-commercial share-alike license. This means that anyone is free to download, burn and share the music and use it for any non-commercial purpose. This band has a really unique sound that they describe like this:

Lorenzo’s Music is Tom Ray (vocals), Mark Whitcomb (guitar), Scott Beardsley (drums), Bryan Elliott (saxophone), and Chris Boeger (bass). They are not a punk band experimenting with 30’s-style swing, an indie rock band trying their hands at Chicago-style blues, or a hardcore band exploring their love of latin rhythms. They are simply a group of talented guys who obviously see no reason why they can’t just do all of the above.

Their sound is a really unique blend with almost Tom Waits like vocals. Here is a sample from their latest album Solamente Tres Palabras. If you like it go over and download them all. Then tell your friends.

P.W. Fenton, the wonderful guy behind the digital flotsam podcast has a new music podcast out that is definitely worth a listen. P-Dub plays a bunch of podsafe music of various styles. I don’t even know how to describe it, you just need to listen to it. You can find it at perfecthead.com I love the podcasts that P-Dub creates. He is a musician, and I think a former radio guy, and always a pleasure to listen to.