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The US music industry is asking 50 Ohio University students to pay $3,000 each to avoid lawsuits accusing them of pirating songs off the Internet.

Posted on March 14th, 2007 by Devo.
Categories: Guitar News.

The Recording Industry Association of America asked the university in Athens to pass along letters to the students with Internet addresses believed to be used for illegal sharing of copyrighted music. The university notified the students on Monday.

The downloading has occurred and we can’t change that, but we can let them know what their options are,” OU spokeswoman Sally Linder said Wednesday.

No cases have gone to trial

Patrick McGee, a local attorney the university arranged to meet with students, said $3,000 US is the standard offer, although cases have been settled for up to $5,000. He has represented four Ohio University students in file-sharing lawsuits

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Press Release

Posted on March 5th, 2007 by Devo.
Categories: Guitar News.

Press Release

Recorded in Hollywood, ModernBeats.com debuts its first guitar loop library entitled “Urban Guitar Loops” covering a variety of modern Hip Hop, Urban, and Pop musical styles for today’s musicians. The Loop library features over 350 sample accurate acidized WAV loops, compatible with all major software and hardware samplers.

‘Urban Guitar Loops’ contains a wide collection of original live recordings, plus “hard-to-attain” urban guitar styles from some of Hip Hop’s and Hollywood’s most renowned urban guitarists. The guitar loop library contains many styles including guitar styles of the Neptunes, Kanye West, Swizz Beats, Dr. Dre, Timbaland, DJ Premier, and more.

‘Urban Guitar Loops’ features a user-friendly design, organized into 4 popular hip hop industry tempos: 87bpm, 92bpm, 97bpm, and 102bpm. Each of the tempo groups contains up to 30 original loop themes including up to 4 variation loops within each theme: “Hook1″, “Verse1″, “Verse2″, “Verse3″, “Verse4″. ‘Urban Guitar Loops’ works seamlessly in combination with all other existing ModernBeats drum loops sets by utilizing same group and tempo layouts. This allows users to build full productions within minutes by layering instrument loops and drum loops from a variety of ModernBeats loopsets together.

The ‘Urban Guitar Loops’ library is offered on CD-ROM or for Download. Prices start at just $59.95. Universal Format Compatibility: Sample Accurate Acidized WAV, Stereo

For more information and audio demos, visit:
http://www.modernbeats.com/loopsets.php

Direct Sound Sample:
http://www.modernbeats.com/demos/UrbanGuitarLoops1-Demo1.mp3

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Roger Waters DSOTM Concert Review

Posted on February 13th, 2007 by Devo.
Categories: Guitar News.

by Michael Meloni

Surrounded by Poms on my train ride to see Roger Waters, I had to remind myself that I was not in England and in fact only 30 minutes from home in Brisbane, Australia. Thankfully, the drunken Kiwi sitting beside me left me firmly stranded in reality.

To be honest I was a little worried that Roger might not be able to pull the evening off. After his Live 8 performance I was largely disappointed and decided not to bother with front row centre tickets (something which I would have killed for had it been Gilmour playing). I wasn’t even that excited until the day before. Was I trying to set myself up for a dismal night so I wouldn’t feel ripped off? All I know is I couldn’t have been any further off the mark.

No fancy entrances, just fancy lights, the first half of the concert was made up of mainly Pink Floyd hits. Opening with In the Flesh, the audience gave an unexpected sound of joy when Waters’ slowed things down with Mother. And whilst I’ve heard better performances of Wish You Were Here, hearing Waters sing it live for the first time will not be something I forget.

However, it was Roger’s solo number Leaving Beirut where he really shined. His performance and lyrical jabs at George W and the Christian Right had the crowd roaring. His energy was peaking so high I thought he might have been able to tell us if there really was anyone up there.

After a 15-minute line up at the toilets (for me, not Roger), He didn’t mess around and got straight into the second half of the gig, Dark Side of the Moon. Waters took a step back and allowed the band to perform a lot of the vocals early on, while he showed off to the crowd with some nifty playing and seizure like body jolting. He absorbs his own music like no other when playing live. Money really highlighted what a great bassist Waters is.

Fire explosions, bubbles, smoke, everything just added to the experience. For the entire night only the floating pig managed to distract the audience from Waters and the band.

After DSOTM, Roger thanked everyone (for a moment I thought he thanked Perth, but the drum intro to Time probably though my hearing out of whack) and they left the stage. Luckily, he returned to perform the rest of his advertised set list.

Boy did the crowd love getting into Another Brick in the Wall. Who wouldn’t? While it might not be every Pink Floyd fans favourite song, maybe not even in their top 10, it’s undoubtedly an anthem. And to finish up with Comfortably Numb, what more can I say?

I don’t regret turning down front row seats for cheaper ones, I regret doubting if Roger still had it. If he is touring your part of the world this year don’t think twice. Prepare yourself for one hell of a concert.

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Prince, or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, tricked the press!

Posted on February 7th, 2007 by Devo.
Categories: Guitar News.

Guitar News

posted at 1:01 pm on February 5, 2007 by Ian
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Prince, or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, tricked the press at last night’s Halftime Show Press Conference. ‘Bout time someone shuts ‘em up:

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Guitar-makers make noise over threatened trees

Posted on January 25th, 2007 by Devo.
Categories: Guitar News.

Guitar-makers make noise over threatened trees

Thursday February 01, 2007
By Andrew Buncombe

WASHINGTON - Between them they have produced instruments used by some of the world’s most famous musicians, including Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Pete Townshend and Paul Simon.

Now this group of guitar-makers have come together in an effort to preserve the threatened Alaskan forests which provide the timber for a crucial part of their instruments. At the present rates of cutting, they say the old growth sitka spruce, so vital to the sound and performance of their guitars, could be gone in a decade.

“It’s time for us to self-govern and take responsibility to get in there and say these practices have to change,” said Bob Taylor, president of California-based Taylor Guitars, whose customers include Bryan Adams and Suzanne Vega.

“In reality, we are a small user [of sitka] but we have a really big voice and that is where it comes in. People show up when we show up.”

Taylor, along with Fender, Martin and Gibson, are calling on the suppliers of sitka spruce, an extraordinarily strong, vibrant timber that is used for the sound boards of acoustic guitars, to apply for certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The FSC - founded by a coalition of environmental groups in the early 90s - demands that forests are managed according to the best scientific and environmental standards and that timber is harvested on a sustainable basis.

“We are seeking to partner with people closer to the forest that are trying to manage these valuable, precious resources more judiciously,” said Chris Martin, chairman of Martin and Co.

The spruce used comes almost exclusively from the coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska and Canada where logging over the past 100 years has all but depleted stocks. According to an analysis of the logging industry in the region carried out by Greenpeace, more than 80 per cent of the timber is shipped to Asia, where it is used mainly for building homes. The bulk of the remainder is used in the US for door and window frames.

Campaigners say the overwhelming majority of the timber from southeast Alaska is supplied by Sealaska, a co-operative of native Alaskans which has more than 17,000 members and which is the largest private landowner in the region.

Greenpeace last summer arranged a meeting between Sealaska and representatives from the four guitar companies. They are trying to persuade Sealaska to apply for FSC certification.

“I think they are interested in finding options that can keep them involved and also provide social and economic benefits,” said Greenpeace’s Scott Paul. Sitka spruce - Picea sitchensis - is the world’s third tallest species of tree, after the coast redwood and coast douglas fir. Some of the oldest specimens are believed to be 700 years old while the tallest reach more than 90 metres. Only remnants of the original spruce forests remain.

An insight into the threat faced by the spruce of southeast Alaska can be seen by the history of the Adirondack spruce of the northeast United States, previously used by guitar-makers for the sound boards of acoustic guitars but all but decimated as a result of over-logging in the 1940s.

Mr Paul said: “Our coalition is starting with sitka spruce but in the future we hope to address other tree species under increasing threat.”

Sitka Spruce

* Sitka spruce - Picea sitchensis - is the world’s third tallest species of tree, after the coast redwood and coast douglas fir.

Provided by: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

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