A chairde,
Cannot find the old version of the thread. However, the dynastic marriage of musical mediocrity and political unspeakability seems to have produced twins. Inevitably, it begs the question of how many real musicians in Ireland will be able to afford to have children. Part of the silent agenda seems to be breeding these genes out of the population. Looking at it in hard sociobiological terms, real music is not a successful evolutionary strategy.
A chara,
You really should be off those mushrooms by now.
So what's your solution? Should 'real music' be subsidized? Do musicians not already enjoy tax-free status on earnings, or am I mistaken?
The answer is 'yes, you are mistaken'. They get tax free status for original music which is published which for 99% of musicians is bugger all, particularly traditional musicians. Even U2 make most of their money from gigs, and that is taxable. Which is why they need expensive accountants.Originally Posted by Coles
Agreed, but it is considerably worse than that, as we discussed in the previous version of this thread. Some material on seanonuallain.com discusses the reality of the music biz here.The answer is 'yes, you are mistaken'. They get tax free status for original music which is published which for 99% of musicians is bugger all, particularly traditional musicians. Even U2 make most of their money from gigs, and that is taxable. Which is why they need expensive accountants.
Can Mr. Cochrane please find the previous version of this thread?
That's a disgraceful personal remark. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Go somewhere else with your bitterness.
Who the hell are you, disgracing the starry plough like that? You seem very free with the expulsion orders, Johnny, looking at your previous posts. .That's a disgraceful personal remark.
But again, David, please reinstate our old discussion.
Given recent events, thought it appropriate to dig out some of the old posts. Maybe alonso, merle, and sackville have copies of theirs?
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There always are Irish metal/punk bands with something interesting to say. It is the same urban environment in the larger Irish towns/cities as all over the Anglo-American world, and our bands are good for the same reason that James Joyce is good.
Glad you brought up the issue of the critics, Alonso. The Irish Times is a farce in music as in politics, post its PD makeover in 2001. For jazz and trad, it is exactly the situation you describe. In fact, it was inevitable that the main IT apologist for FF would get his version of “my lovely horse” inflicted on us. Finally, on this topic, the IT is a dinosaur; believe it or not, it used to feature the kind of lively discussion we're having here on p.ie.
I respectfully disagree with you about Louis Walsh. There seemed to be an unhealthy closeness between the CEO of IMRO, a FF hack, and Westlife. They admit to “investing” in acts; one that married into the M's family, perhaps? IMRO should be wound down, and da thuisce e is ea is fearr. In the meantime, the live scene will get a shot in the arm if IMRO is forbidden from collecting for live music. It may shock people to know that they do not have to account to their members for royalties, and that they claim to own all of Irish trad music. (They are a private company). We need to set up a rights/royalties agency along the lines of weedshare, if better.
Finally, it does look as though IMRO is going down in flames, and I wonder if our p.ie discussion had a role. Shay Hennessy was replaced 18 months ago by our friend c. Moore; it looks as though the chair and U2-connected vice chair just resigned. Having successfully sued U2's record distribution “service”, and been paid by a Paul McGuinness company, I smell blood.
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Thanks, sackville. Sorry about leaving this thread alone for a while; I gig in the US, and it's our busiest time of year. As you point out, it is vitally important that the Irish music business get sorted. We are making asses of ourselves with this transfer of money from quality music to pop crap. As for John waters, time to dig out the fr. Ted “my lovely horse” episode.
Wrt the post after you, who is Louis Walsh really? Alternatively put, where did he get the resources to finance the numerous failures as well as the few successes? Why is a return of Boyzone the best he can come up with now after apparently scaling the heights of the international music biz?Lest we forget, the brit charts are notoriously rigged, the sales numbers are low, and not even Paddy Power will take bets on them. Secondly, did anyone notice that the same Murdoch-affiliated publisher that gave Ms. Ahern her contract and uses numerous ghost-writers just gave GW Bush's daughter a publishing contract? Why did IMRO collect for Murdoch's sky?
As I have already pointed out, the real meat can be read on seanonuallain.com. For the moment, in this more cautious venue, I offer a few predictions
1.We will never hear of Louis Walsh again after the current media funeral services
2.Likewise, Mumba, Boyzone, etc
3.Ms Ahern will experience writer's block if FF fail to get in again. Permanently.
It is up to us to make sure this grotesquerie never happens again. I live in hope that the Rory Gallaghers and Phil Lynotts out there will come out of hiding soon.
Just returned from doing a gig in Santa Cruz, ca. My partner had been on radio the day before, and described meeting an irish mandolin player due to go on after her. He described how he can't get any work in Ireland, finds it sinister, and is moving to NY. Some discreet inquiries revealed this to be Jimmy Crowley, who had several national hits, and used to be huge.
Some weeks ago, Muireann nic Amhlaoibh (ex-Danu) said the same thing from the stage of one of the bigger clubs here.
Now look at imro.ie, board of directors. No cathaoirleach, no leas-chathaoirleach. Maybe, just maybe
This thread keeps disappearing. (Tumeltyi kindly pointed to this mark 2 version; can please he find mark 1? ) Rather a pity, as the topic is hotting up. Lacking a chair and vicechair for over a year, poor IMRO - described by Donal Lunny, no longer a member, as “the worst thing ever to happen to Irish music” - just fired its CEO for, inter alia, gross misconduct. Gaffney, the man in question, is FF connected. This one will run and run; obviously, the fact there are high Court proceedings prevents any further comment.
In the meantime, however, several of us have won royalties through the brit legal system and these cases are continuing.
SHE probably could, but you could always look properly yourself. I found it by going to your profile, then looking for all posts by this user, then looking back through them. I found that one in about two minutes, so I'm sure you'll find the other one too if you look.
I would happily contribute to any discussion of music, but I don't get your point. Explain yourself to the non-gigging audience. I suspect if people knew what you were on about it they'd keep the thread up a bit longer.Rather a pity, as the topic is hotting up. Lacking a chair and vicechair for over a year, poor IMRO - described by Donal Lunny, no longer a member, as “the worst thing ever to happen to Irish music” - just fired its CEO for, inter alia, gross misconduct. Gaffney, the man in question, is FF connected. This one will run and run; obviously, the fact there are high Court proceedings prevents any further comment.
In the meantime, however, several of us have won royalties through the brit legal system and these cases are continuing.
