A Commentary

A Commentary: A Zeitgeist of Insignificance – The Problem with Our Musical Values

We are the ones who hold the means to reverse this destructive and dehumanizing trend – and all humanity will suffer if we fail.

By Dawoud Kringle

The economics of the digital age have had an unfortunate effect upon the music business. Digital piracy and the futility of competing with free downloads, and the payments offered by streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music have contributed to a constant economic devaluation of music. Progress is being made toward new models for rights and royalties in the new music economy that favor the professional musician as equally as the non-musician in the music business.

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Chris Reza

“MFM Speaks Out” EP 22: Chris Reza on Activism in the Broadway Music Scene

“Employers benefit from the disorganization of freelance musicians.  But when we come together and have conversations about our working conditions, there is a power that arises which brings about change.” – Chris Reza

In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, Adam Reifsteck interviews multi-instrumentalist Chris Reza about his work in the Broadway music scene and activism while serving as vice-chair of the Broadway Theatre Committee, the liaison between the Broadway Musicians Community and the American Federation of Musicians Local 802.

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CD Review: SoSaLa “Nu World Trashed”

Nu World Trashed: The New Release by SoSaLa

SoSaLaArtist: SoSaLa
Title: Nu World Trashed
Format: CD (limited edition of 300) ONLY! (Digital release will be February 2021)
Label: DooBeeDoo Rec
Genre: nu world trash/nu jazz/oriental/improv/contemporary

Buy here: https://sohrab.info/press-2/

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

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Karl Evangelista

“MFM Speaks Out” EP 21: Karl Evangelista on the Bay Area Improvised Music Scene

“An Alternative (music business) infrastructure is one of the things that helps us keep this sustainable.”

In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, Dawoud Kringle interviews Oakland, California based guitarist Karl Evangelista is among the new wave of  21st century experimental / improvisational musicians. His work blends contemporary improvised music with popular song, 20th century composition, psychedelic rock, free jazz, and multicultural concepts.

The topics discussed include his beginnings and inspiration as a professional improvisational / experimental musician, his work with Oliver Lake, Fred Frith, Eddie Gale, Trevor Watts, Hafiz Modizradeh, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell and many others, his involvement in music education (including lecturing at UC Berkeley and directed guitar ensembles at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and San Francisco Waldorf High School, and as a licensed instructor in the Kinderguitar method), his prolific recording output, his GREX project with Rei Scampavia, his iconoclastic interpretation of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, his approach to the music business, the production of four “Lockdown Festivals” during the coronavirus pandemic, music activism, and his involvement with MFM.

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Commentary: The Music Industry and the Mafia

How Organized Crime Shaped Our Business

By Dawoud Kringle

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” – Hunter S. Thompson

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