Grammys?

Did you watch the 58th Annual Grammy Awards? I did not. (But I did look up the winners online.) Mike Doughty posted this online the next day. He has some really great ideas, and they deserve to be shared.

NINE REASONS THAT GUILT-TRIP GRAMMYS DUDE WAS RIDICULOUS

Did you listen to that guy at the Grammys, standing next to Common and a child pianist, scolding out-of-touchily about how music should be paid for? I hope not! Here’s what that guy—Neil Portnow, head of the Recording Academy, and once the music supervisor for “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child”—doesn’t know:

1. You can shut off the musical supply and demand to get paid.

Yeah, that’s right. Just shut it off. Set a fair rate, then open the pipeline again. The reason you’re not doing that is because you’re convinced those Napster kids and their evil downloading is inevitable. But there’s something you’re weirdly not aware of:

2. The span of time between Napster and today is equal to that between “Billie Jean” and “Hit Me Baby One More Time”

Those college kids--who are 35 now--accessed Napster on Netscape, on their Dell desktops, hooked up to the wall by Ethernet cable, while chatting on AIM. 
It's as if you were in the music business in 1981, and worrying that you need to get a band into matching suits and onto Ed Sullivan.

3. Music is an insanely valuable commodity.

If somebody other than you was in charge of selling it, it’d be profitable. Like, a junior engineer from Google, or a recently-fired IT person from Hulu.

4. It’s the Golden Age of Television.

They’re facing the same challenges are you, so they must be hurting, right? Wait, they’re not?! What?!
It’s $7.99 a month for Hulu, $7.99 a month for Netflix, and $99 a year for Amazon Prime. By the way, half the time the movies we want to see aren’t there—we have to rent them. I had to buy Boyhood from iTunes, for $15.
And, most importantly, they create fantastic, original content! Some of the most magnificent, complex, nuanced art in the history of modern media!

5. The film industry is insanely, incredibly profitable.

The 2015 box office total gross was about $11.1 billion. Adjusted for inflation, in 1982 (the year E.T. came out) it was $8.6 billion; in 1998 (the year Titanic came out), it was $9.3 billion.

6. People today will be bummed about paying, but they’ll pay. They pay more for other stuff.

Just get a line-item of $8.99 onto everybody’s data plan. People will grumble. Then, next month, we’ll forget about it, because we pay so, so much more for stuff that we forget about until we take that rare, painful look at our debit card statements. Our cable bills are hugely bloated, stuffed with weird charges we can’t explain. 
Do you know why surveys show that people think the streaming services are too expensive? It’s something along the lines of, “All things considered, I prefer the free sandwich.”

7. Every time somebody forgets to cancel their GoogleAmaAppleDriveBox, another dick from Stanford gets a Tesla.

Those people are so much smarter than you!

8. The music business is so very complicated. It’s so complicated! Nobody understands.

My theory is that, more so than in any other part of the entertainment business, people in the music business need to pretend they’re adults. So, if you ask a question of a person in the music business, you’ll get an indignant reply of, “Well, the BDS AAA non-comm monitored stations mechanical royalties post-structuralism hermeneutics exhaust manifold!”
Yes, you’re a very special smart person who knows so much more than everybody! Your industry is dead.

9. I want to own a house.

Yeah, that’s it. I’m not gonna get rich. My biggest hit was in 1998. You goons being unable to run a media industry, selling high-demand, extremely valuable content is, for me, the difference between having the down payment on a two bedroom in Memphis, Tennessee, and living in rentals for the rest of my life.
The best part of the Grammys, for an artist, was a line from Taylor’s speech: “Focus on the work.” I can make albums at home. I’ll try to make the best art I can, and, in time, someone smart, and versatile, with a modicum of executive talent, will show up eventually, and run circles around you.

My favorite things

Two of my all time faves came out with new albums yesterday. Paul Westerberg (and Juliana Hatfield) released Wild Stab by their new band The I Don't Cares; and Tortoise released The Catastrophist, their latest in seven years. Big day!

Modern Drummer Magazine (part II)

I've been reading Modern Drummer Magazine for almost as long as I've been playing the drums. Needless to say, it's a great honor to be featured in the January 2016, Special 40th Anniversary Issue. Special thanks to Adam Budofsky, Ilya Stemkofsky, and the MD crew. Looking forward to the next 40. Congrats!
The photo below is a review of my new album, Things Moving On Their Own Together.
Read the online interview here...
http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2015/12/drummer-stephen-chopek-discusses-his-new-solo-album-things-moving-on-their-own-together/

WFMU radio performance

When I was in New Jersey during my fall tour, I recorded a performance and interview at WFMU in Jersey City. It's one of the best radio stations in the country and it was an honor to play there. The audio was posted online earlier this month, and you can listen to the show's entire playlist: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/63397 or the performance from my Free Music Archive page: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Stephen_Chopek/

Fall Tour success!

Got home from tour a few days ago. Had a blast! I drove 6500 miles in 27 days to play 26 shows (and one open mic). I documented the journey with lots of photos. You can see some of them on my Instagram account. Big thanks to everyone along the way: the venues, the bands, the friends, the fans, etc. Getting ready to do it again!! See you next time!!!

FALL TOUR - Week #5

This is the last week of my FALL TOUR. It's been an amazing adventure! Playing fun shows at cool venues, seeing awesome bands, and meeting great people. Looking forward to the next trip!! Below is a list of upcoming gigs. Check the SHOWS page for details. Here's an article about me in the Oklahoma Gazette for my show at Guildhaul.

10.26 - ST. LOUIS, MO - Evangeline's
10.27 - OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Guildhaul
10.28 - RUSSELLEVILLE, AR - Penny University
10.29 - HOT SPRING, AR - Maxine's Live

FALL TOUR - Week #4

Tour has been going great! Yesterday, I recorded a performance and interview at WFMU in Jersey City. Broadcast date coming soon. My gig last night in NYC at The Treehouse at 2A was the highlight of my stay on the east coast. Enjoying a day off now in NJ. Seeing family and friends, and catching up on work. I'm hitting the road again tomorrow. This week I'll be in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Check the SHOWS page for details.

10.20 - HARRISBURG, PA - The Makespace
10.21 - LAKEWOOD, OH - The Root Cafe
10.22 - CINCINNATI, OH - Listing Loon
10.23 - NASHVILLE, IN - Big Woods Brewing Co.
10.24 - CHICAGO, IL - Transistor
10.25 - BLOOMINGTON, IL - The Bistro

FALL TOUR - Week #3

I'm in the middle of the third week of tour and it's going great! Below is the list of gigs. Check the  SHOWS page for details.

Yesterday, I performed live in the studio at WNHU for CT ROCKS! Here's a video of me playing "Nothing Happens"...
https://youtu.be/HaKrwmBNnao

10.13 - ANNAPOLIS, MD - Metropolitan Lounge
10.14 - HAMDEN, CT - The Outer Space
10.15 - MONTCLAIR, NJ - Groov Cafe
10.16 - BROOKLYN, NY - Pete's Candy Store (CMJ Showcase)
10.17 - RAHWAY, NJ - The Rail House
10.18 - NEW YORK, NY - The Treehouse at 2A