DailyFinance http://www.dailyfinance.com DailyFinance http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.dailyfinance.com/media/feedlogo.gif DailyFinance http://www.dailyfinance.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Merge Records: A Q&A looking back at two decades in the guitar-hero industryhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/20/merge-records-a-qanda-looking-back-at-two-decades-in-the-guitar-h/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/20/merge-records-a-qanda-looking-back-at-two-decades-in-the-guitar-h/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/20/merge-records-a-qanda-looking-back-at-two-decades-in-the-guitar-h/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Long before real estate and Wall Street collapsed, the music industry was already swooning. Executives were in a panic as consumers deserted the megastores and stayed home to download files illegally. But even as the biggest recording labels endured wrenching pain, a small label in North Carolina existed in a parallel universe: a topsy-turvy world where advances stretched into the four figures, where successful artists routinely got paid, where feasible budgets and modest revenues made the business of making music something resembling a traditional enterprise.

For 20 years, Merge Records, based in Chapel Hill, has been one of the favorite independent rock-music labels in the U.S., a home to such artistically cherished artists as Magnetic Fields, the Arcade Fire, Lambchop, Spoon and M. Ward. It's no coincidence that its founders, Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance (pictured), were musicians before they were label execs. Singer-guitarist McCaughan and bassist Ballance comprised half of a hard-driving quartet called Superchunk, a favorite among critics and fans who followed the indie-rock stampede of the 1990s that was set off by Nirvana.

Continue reading Merge Records: A Q&A looking back at two decades in the guitar-hero industry

Merge Records: A Q&A looking back at two decades in the guitar-hero industry originally appeared on DailyFinance on Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>chapel hillChapelHillfilesharingkurt cobainKurtCobainlaura ballanceLauraBallancemac mccaughanMacMccaughanmergemerge recordsMergeRecordsnirvananorth carolinaNorthCarolinaour noiseOurNoisesuperchunkTodd PruzanSun, 20 Sep 2009 14:00:00 ESTOne Year Later: The art of the collapsehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/17/one-year-later-the-art-of-the-collapse/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/17/one-year-later-the-art-of-the-collapse/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/17/one-year-later-the-art-of-the-collapse/#commentsFiled under:

Was it really just a year ago? Was it really just September of 2008 when several of our august financial institutions, already teetering, abruptly toppled, proving they weren't too big to fail? The whole world was wincing, but one group refused to panic: visual artists.

In the past 12 months, illustrators, photographers, graphic designers, even graffiti artists have addressed the unfolding economic calamity with anger, humor, bemusement, emotion -- and above all, striking imagery.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=723892&pid=723891&uts=1253201147
http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf
The Art of the Collapse
Click through the gallery for visual commentary on this year's financial crisis.
Aaron Draplin - Will Staehle - BLU
Aaron Draplin - Will Staehle - BLU

One Year Later: The art of the collapse originally appeared on DailyFinance on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>artcollapsewall streetWallStreetTodd PruzanThu, 17 Sep 2009 19:00:00 ESTSurprise Hits: 'A Million Little Pieces' shocks readers, Oprah -- and the authorhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/28/surprise-hits-a-million-little-pieces-shocks-readers-oprah/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/28/surprise-hits-a-million-little-pieces-shocks-readers-oprah/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/28/surprise-hits-a-million-little-pieces-shocks-readers-oprah/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Six years ago, a young memoirist named James Frey smacked the rarefied literary world with A Million Little Pieces, a down-and-dirty memoir of addiction and recovery whose hard-boiled prose spurted his blood and broken teeth into startled readers' cappuccinos. As he threw elbows at popular peers like Dave Eggers -- "I hope I'm a bullet in the heart of that bullshit," Frey told The New York Observer in early 2003 -- Random House imprint Doubleday ordered a confident first printing of 50,000 copies. "Mr. Frey said he originally shopped the book as a work of fiction," the Observer reported, "but Ms. [Nan] Talese and Co. declined to publish it as such."

As a memoir, A Million Little Pieces stormed the august New York Times bestseller list for nonfiction. And then things really got shocking -- for James Frey.

Continue reading Surprise Hits: 'A Million Little Pieces' shocks readers, Oprah -- and the author

Surprise Hits: 'A Million Little Pieces' shocks readers, Oprah -- and the author originally appeared on DailyFinance on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>a million little piecesdoubledayjames freymemoirnan taleseoprahrandom houseSurprise HitsthesmokinggunTodd PruzanSun, 28 Jun 2009 16:00:00 ESTOn the brink: Clear Channel saddled by debthttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/08/on-the-brink-clearchannel/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/08/on-the-brink-clearchannel/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/08/on-the-brink-clearchannel/#commentsFiled under: , ,

No media corporation is immune to today's advertising downturn, and Clear Channel Communications, an immense and fearsome force in radio, is no exception. A radio conglomerate in business since 1972, Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, Texas, seemed invincible back in 1996, when new regulations allowed it to snap up multiple stations in many markets. Today, however, company fortunes have fallen so fast that it's said to be weighing a prepackaged bankruptcy.

Though it spent its first two decades as a sleepy owner of stations mostly in the Southwest, Clear Channel exploded across the nation after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 relaxed station-ownership restrictions. A glance at Clear Channel's current roster reveals a still mighty empire that encompassed some 900 stations, controlling much of the dial in markets great (11 stations in Los Angeles) and small (eight stations in Huntington, West Virginia). No question Clear Channel seemed invincible when private-equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners acquired it less than a year ago, in a leveraged buyout, for $27 billion.

Continue reading On the brink: Clear Channel saddled by debt

On the brink: Clear Channel saddled by debt originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Bain CapitalClear Channel Communicationsmedia conglomeratesradio conglomerateThomas H. Lee PartnersTodd PruzanMon, 08 Jun 2009 11:00:00 ESTOn the brink: The New York Times tries to turn the pagehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/02/on-the-brink-the-new-york-times-sputters-along/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/02/on-the-brink-the-new-york-times-sputters-along/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/02/on-the-brink-the-new-york-times-sputters-along/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Reasonable minds may disagree on whether The New York Times is the finest newspaper in the country. Most of us, however, would at least allow that it has entrenched itself, over more than a century and a half of publishing, as our national newspaper of record. Anything that reflects a city as complex as New York -- or a country as complex as the United States -- is necessarily awash in contradiction. Whether you revere its high-minded conscience or despise its patrician snobbery, it's nearly impossible to imagine America -- let alone Manhattan -- without the Times.

Yet we may have to. If we've learned one thing over the past two years, it's that there's no big institution too big or too institutional to fail -- even the New York Times Co. (NYT) is vulnerable. Bear Stearns, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Chrysler, GM -- each time another one collapses, we hold our breath, transfixed like horrified citizens standing under a tottering skyscraper. The glowering face of Dick Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers, said it all last October, as he testified with uncomprehending rage before Congress about his capsized bank. Lehman Brothers? Who's next? The New York Times? No. Never. Well ... perhaps?

Continue reading On the brink: The New York Times tries to turn the page

On the brink: The New York Times tries to turn the page originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Boston GlobeCarlos Slim HelDavid CarrDick FuldMichael HirschornNew York TimesnewpapersNYTSam ZellTribune Co.Todd PruzanTue, 02 Jun 2009 10:00:00 ESTSorry, Microsoft, you're not the only Bing in townhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/29/sorry-microsoft-youre-not-the-only-bing-in-town/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/29/sorry-microsoft-youre-not-the-only-bing-in-town/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/29/sorry-microsoft-youre-not-the-only-bing-in-town/#commentsFiled under: , ,

TiVo. iPod. Prius. For years, global corporations' marketing teams and branding firms have had a bit of fun coming up with their own made-up words, leaving their dictionaries in the drawer. Making up words for the global market is so much fun -- and such big business -- that MacArthur "genius" grant winner Colson Whitehead even wrote a novel about it. Google (GOOG) went a little meta on the trend, whether inadvertently or deliberately, by corrupting "googol," a word coined in 1938 by the nine-year-old nephew of an American mathematician who wanted a snappy term for his concept of 10 the power of 100.

Continue reading Sorry, Microsoft, you're not the only Bing in town

Sorry, Microsoft, you're not the only Bing in town originally appeared on DailyFinance on Fri, 29 May 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>BingBing BunnyBingBunnyGOOGMSFTStanley BingStanleyBingTodd PruzanFri, 29 May 2009 14:30:00 ESTDean Wareham Q&A: A life in rock is still fun, despite hurdleshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/11/dean-wareham-qanda-a-life-in-rock-is-still-fun-despite-hu/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/11/dean-wareham-qanda-a-life-in-rock-is-still-fun-despite-hu/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/11/dean-wareham-qanda-a-life-in-rock-is-still-fun-despite-hu/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Rock veteran Dean Wareham remembers exactly where he was when he witnessed the asteroid that was coming to kill the dinosaurs.

At a party one night in 2001, someone turned off the CD player and fired up a computer running a music file sharing program. As the founder of the influential indie-rock bands Luna and Galaxie 500, Wareham had already survived as a starving artist. But when he heard his first digital riffs from Napster, he realized his entire industry would soon have to figure out a new economic model.

And today, it still does, Wareham told me in an extended interview.

Continue reading Dean Wareham Q&A: A life in rock is still fun, despite hurdles

Dean Wareham Q&A: A life in rock is still fun, despite hurdles originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 11 May 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Dean BrittaDean WarehamDeanBrittaDeanWarehamGalaxie 500Galaxie500LunaTodd PruzanMon, 11 May 2009 14:30:00 ESTFriend or foe? An author caught in Amazon's gay-books scandal isn't surehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/04/15/friend-or-foe-an-author-caught-in-amazons-gay-books-scandal-is/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/04/15/friend-or-foe-an-author-caught-in-amazons-gay-books-scandal-is/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/04/15/friend-or-foe-an-author-caught-in-amazons-gay-books-scandal-is/#commentsFiled under: ,

On Sunday evening, the blogosphere swirled with rumors that Amazon.com had dumped all books with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender content from its ranking system, rendering thousands of books nearly impossible to find. However, Nathaniel Frank just chuckled. Maybe that was an odd reaction for the author of a new book that was itself caught in the scandal's net, Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America. But at least now he knew it wasn't his iPhone's fault.

Amazon fixed its "glitch" on Monday, calling it an "embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error." Meanwhile, for Frank, a history professor at New York University and the University of California-Santa Barbara, coverage of the incident may have raised his book's profile. In effect, Amazon's "glitch" became an unplanned cog in the book's publicity machine -- just as visible as the book's review in The New York Times and the author's guest slot on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

As he explains in this DF interview, Frank (who, in full disclosure, is a college acquaintance) may never learn for sure whether, or how, the "glitch" affected the sales of Unfriendly Fire. It can be fun guessing, though.

Continue reading Friend or foe? An author caught in Amazon's gay-books scandal isn't sure

Friend or foe? An author caught in Amazon's gay-books scandal isn't sure originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Todd PruzanWed, 15 Apr 2009 18:00:00 EST