Industry

Sad news hit the indie rock world today when one of it's longest running major players Touch and Go Records announced that the company was drastically reducing in size, axing its distribution arm and laying off several employees. These harsh cuts are the result of the current state of the economy making it too difficult for the label to continue operating as is.

Just yesterday it came out that Madonna was the music artist who made the most money in 2008, nearly a quarter-billion bucks, and now a nude photo of her has prompted an unnamed European to plunk down $37,500 for a photo of her nekkid. The photo session was in 1979 when she was 20. The full-frontal shot previously appeared in Playboy in '85.

News today is that Live Nation and Ticketmaster may merge into a new corporation. Of course, this is conjuring up images of Godzilla in my mind.

Whatever happened to the simpler days of buying tickets? There was no Internet. It was go to a ticketmaster counter or call in on the phone. I remember "camping" outside of the local music store, huddled in my brother's Volvo as a few of us all waited for wristbands so that we could then try and buy Grateful Dead tickets.

VBS.TV has posted a teaser trailer for an upcoming short film that chronicles the Black Lips' shenanigans in India and their desperate flight out of the country to avoid being detained by the police.

The Black Lips' album 200 Million Thousand hits the streets via Vice Records on Feb. 24th.

Buddy Holly perished in a plane crash 50 years ago today. Whether that was "the day the music died" depends on point of view, but it was clearly a watershed event in rock 'n' roll history.

According to a post on the Black Lips' blog the group had it's current tour of India canceled and had to flee the country to avoid going to jail over a matter of indecent exposure on Campus Idol, which is pretty much India's version of American Idol.